Saturday, August 20, 2005

Practical guide to buying, procedure, costs and legal aspects

The purchase of a property in Italy is considerably different from the UK and some elements may seem difficult to understand, I'll try to clarify all the steps.

Estate agents in Italy must have an appropriate qualification to operate their business and they offer a wider range of services to their clients than their UK counterpart, however, these come at a price that varies between 3 and 5% of the price paid for the property.

Both the buyer and the seller pay the estate agent the same amount each. In this case though the sale is direct from the owner, thus you can cross that item off your list of expenses.

As a rule of thumb the additional costs involved in the purchase of any property in Italy usually amount to roughly 10 to 15% of the final price paid. These costs include tax, notary, surveyor and other legal expenses. Add a translator if you need one.

The Notary's fees usually correspond to 2 to 3% of the declared purchase price of the property. The owner of Vincenzini, being an architect, has all the documentation, including the cadastral (local land registry) certificates and maps indicating borders and classification of the various portions of the property.

These are important elements as different classifications at the land registry mean considerably different costs and taxes. Normally you would have to ask your notary to gain access to these and obtain a copy for a fee.


The steps of the purchase process:

Making an Offer (Proposta d'acquisto)
You need to fill a document that states the amount you are offering, an agreed date as to when the deposit will be paid and the latest date for the definition and signing of the final contract. Usually the owner will reply within two weeks, in this case it could be quicker.

The form will have to be signed and a deposit paid to the legal representative of the seller, who will hold the deposit until the seller has accepted the offer, if not the deposit is returned.

A private agreement between buyer and seller can vary the conditions and deadlines of this phase and is usually signed by both parties in front of their legal representative. In general every step and all documents in any transaction, however simple, require the witnessing of a notary, with corresponding fee paid; remember that there is even a small fee for each page of each document and these must be compiled on official stamped paper supplied by the government.

Both buyer and seller pay a duty proportional to the value of the sale.

Properties in the countryside are generally classified as rural estates. The tax and the official value that apply to rural properties is much lower than the one applied to residential dwellings and the market price; the official value of a country estate is still based on archaic concepts that relate the value of the property to the agricultural productivity of its land, whereas the actual buildings on the land have no or very little value. The tax paid on the purchase of a country estate is calculated at two different rates, one for the land and one for the buildings, we'll go into details further down this document.

After the contract has been exchanged, the price agreed and the tax paid, the seller proceeds to file a request for "reclassification" of the buildings from agricultural to residential. This will enable the buyer to reside in the place and/or use it for a non-agricultural activity.

Once the seller has accepted the offer the deposit is transferred from the legal representative to the seller and counts as a first instalment of the total payment agreed.

So, crucially, how much to declare at completion?
Property values are registered with the Comune (local council) on a Catasto (land and buildings registry). As we said there is a noticeable discrepancy between registered and the market value.

You have to pay stamp duty on the price indicated in the deeds. The Italian law states that as long as you declare a little more (say 10%) than the cadastral value you will be within the limit of legal acceptability.

For details regarding current registered value and other financial and procedural details please enquire directly.

Obtaining a Fiscal Code (Codice Fiscale)
In order to buy a property in Italy you must obtain a fiscal code. This is similar to your National Insurance Number. Any EU citizen can obtain one from the local tax office.

No legal contract can be completed without a Codice Fiscale.

You can apply for a Fiscal Code through the Italian Consulate, in my experience though the Italian Consulate in London is something of a shamble and local services in Tuscany are better and faster.

Opening an Italian Current Account (Conto Corrente Bancario)
Having a bank account in Italy will make your life easier from the beginning and you will need it eventually to complete the purchase. As a EU citizen you can open one, providing you have the codice fiscale. Some UK banks and building societies have opened branches in Italy, it is worth checking if yours is one of these.

Otherwise you will have to give an address in Italy, which temporarily can be that of your legal representative until the day you move in.

The preliminary contract (Compromesso)
The next step is the signing of the compromesso, the preliminary purchase contract, this is usually written by the notary, and the deposit of around 20 to 30% of the purchase price is paid at this stage.

After the compromesso the notary will go to the Registries to check if there are mortgages or other claims and ties on the property (in this case there are none).

Often this is a phase that can become complicated by the unpleasant surprise that the property in fact belongs to several members of the family, some of whom may be living on the other side of the planet and whose signature is essential for the conclusion of the contract. Beware of this risk! In this case Vincenzini is "clear" as all the portions of the estate, which did indeed originally belong to many members of several families, were incorporated nearly 20 years go into one estate belonging to the current owner.

Pulling out
If for any reason you pull out at this stage you will lose your deposit.
At the same time if the seller pulls out he has to pay the deposit back plus a compensation fee.
(In the case of a deposit called caparra confermatoria the owner is legally bound to sell). This anyway is not a concern in this case as the owner has genuine and unchanging reasons to sell and he is the sole proprietor.

The Final Contract (Atto di vendita or Rogito Notarile)
This is the moment when the contract is completed, the final amount is paid and you become the legal owner of the freehold.

The final signing of the contract has, again, to be completed in front of the notary and with witnesses.

If you need the documents translated you will need to pay an additional fee as these must be translated and verified by an appointed official translator with legal qualifications and it can cost around £ 500, according to length and complexity (Italian documents tend to be horrendously verbose!)

It is advisable to clarify all doubts, queries and details in advance as the time at the notary is very expensive and you don't want to spend a day sitting in an office, paying by the minute and possibly needing a translator with you to disentangle the intricacies of the procedure. It can all be clarified in advance, so that when you finally go to the notary it's just to sign the documents and have the notary confirm that it's all legal and cleared..

Needless to say, if you speak Italian you will feel so much more comfortable and in control, and may even find it all surreally funny.

Official resident certificate (Residenza)
It is important that as soon as you move in you declare the property as your permanent residence, as this reduces considerably all tax and costs (holiday homes pay higher rates) as well as giving you all the rights of access to local services, doctor's surgery etc.

You will have to go to the local municipal office (Anagrafe, at the local council) to apply for a residence certificate, as a EU citizen you are entitled to it and it is merely a formality so that you can be included in the registry of local residents and effectively become a member of the community.

After a few days the local Guardia Municipale (a cross between local police and local government officer) will come to visit you at home and ask a few questions, mainly to verify that you really intend to live at the property. It may take up to three months before they give you the actual documents (nothing official is fast and everything has to be done in person and at different offices).

In some cases you may even receive a visit from the local Police or Carabinieri (there are two police bodies in Italy, and sometimes they compete with each other!). Don't be alarmed, they like to go around with machine guns wearing dark sunglasses and pretending they are LA cops in an American movie, they are just doing their job and showing you that you are well protected and they know you are there, and they like to poke their noses around to see what kind of person you are.

To obtain most documents in Italy you need several passport-size photographs, your passport, and an official duty stamp ("marca da bollo", you buy them from tobacconists and post offices).

If you are going to live in Italy get used to having to put your picture and a "marca da bollo" on any and every scrap of paper, and you will need lots of these, also get used to carrying ID all the time, it's compulsory and you can be taken to the police station if you can't produce ID and kept there for 48 hours or until someone comes to witness for you and present your documents.

Stamp duty (imposte di registro)
The standard stamp duty on the purchase of a house is 10% and 18% on farmland on the value declared in the deeds and contract.

However, if you are going to reside there permanently, the tax is only 3% for the house and 18% for the land.

In taht case the residenza (residency) has to be obtained within 18 months of purchase, otherwise you will have to pay the additional 7% plus interest and a fine. Also, you can't sell your property during the first 5 years, unless you buy another house for permanent residence, or pay the tax difference.

If you are planning to run any kind of activity that is related to the land, consider that there are various funds available through local administration to help agricultural businesses, especially if these are based on ecologically friendly principles, priority is given to environmentally friendly technologies and materials both in the use of land and in the restoration of buildings.

Right of pre-emption (diritto di prelazione)
This is a crucial item that can cause endless problems and you should be wary of it and always check carefully. When farmland is offered for sale, the neighbouring farmers have the first right to buy it. So any neighbour who is officially farming agricultural land adjacent to a property that is for sale which also has farmland, has first right to buy the property at the value registered in the deeds.

After the preliminary contract has been signed the owner (or the notary) will have to officially inform (by registered post) all those who could have this right.

These have 30 days to respond. If the person has not been informed, or if the price he/she was informed of is higher than registered in the deeds, he/she has the right to buy the land (at the price declared in the deeds), this applies up to one year after the sale.

In this case all the portions included for sale with Vincenzini are clear and unhindered.
In fact, if you look at the plan of the property with the individual original numbered parcels you will notice parcel number 7 is not included while it belongs to the seller who is not using it and for its position should ideally be part of the property.

The reason the seller hasn't included that parcel is that it is the only one that borders another property that is (on paper at least) farmland and whose owner could claim the "diritto di prelazione" – We have verified that the owner of the neighbouring land isn't interested to the purchase, however, out of precaution and to avoid any possible unexpected problem the seller has decided not to include parcel 7.

As an option, it would be possible to "rent" that portion of land at a nominal fee from the seller over a period of say 100 years, which would bypass any potential problem and would give you use of the land with the exception of building on it. [...]

http://www.robat.scl.net/content/Rsite/html/labirinto/Vincenzini/VinLegal.html

I was going to emphasise the.....aspects of this document that surprised me, but there are so many I decided that it would be difficult to distinguish the emphasised text from the undecorated text if I went ahead and did it.

Out of all the places I have visited, and I have been to countries all over the world, Italy has one of the best vibrations. Living there aparently, is a different thing entirely.

Lets pull out some of the more interesting facts from this.

As you, an avid reader of BLOGDIAL would imagine, the 'codice fiscale' number is one of the more alarm raising aspects of this text. It seems to the English, very wrong that a private legal contract cannot be executed without this number. A legal contract is a private agreement between two persons or a person and a corporation, who both agree to be bound by its terms and the jurisdiction of a place agreed within it. Executing it requires only the signature of both parties, and nothing else. Quite why a state issued number needs to be in there is puzzling; what if you, as an Italian want to make a contract with someone in the UK? When we licenced tracks to DFC, no mention of this requirement was made to us....hmmmm...this cant be right; if the text is right, its not right, and if its wrong, thats right. Yes.

Note that you cannot open a bank account without this number. Once again, banking is a private service, and has nothing to do with anyone other than you and your banker. We can see what kind of country the UK will turn into should ID cards be introduced here. Its not very pretty; we would have all the increased beaurocrazy and none of the lifestyle advantages the Italians do!

You have to go to the local municipal office to apply for a residence certificate. Actually, this is incorrect. The French 'Carte de Sejour' is a similar thing and it is a canceled requirement since the EU came into being...would you want to argue about it with the Italian authorities? That is the question.

"After a few days the local Guardia Municipale (a cross between local police and local government officer) will come to visit you at home and ask a few questions"... amazing, and to the English, unthinkable that the police or the council would visit you at your new home to answer questions for no reason.
If you are going to live in Italy get used to having to put your picture and a "marca da bollo" on any and every scrap of paper, and you will need lots of these, also get used to carrying ID all the time, it's compulsory and you can be taken to the police station if you can't produce ID and kept there for 48 hours or until someone comes to witness for you and present your documents.
This to us, is the most horrifying and incomprehensible thing of all. It is alien to us, contrary to our nature, weird, far out...and if they suceed in bringing ID cards to the UK, will come to pass.

I wonder if anyone in Italy ever asks why their picture "needs to be on every scrap of paper". To us, this makes so little sense, and is so offensive it makes you wonder....about alot of things.

Firstly, it makes you wonder why the British, who live lives that are demonstrably more free than that of the Italians; why would they want to throw it all away?

We wonder why the Italians put up with this stuff day in and day out; is there something that we have missed about all this, because frankly, it doesn't make any sense that people should willingly submit to this sort of insanity when for generations there have been countries where life is simpler, free and with the same level of legal guarantees for property and the person, creating an environment where you can simply get on with what you need to without interference from the state.

Why is life (on the surface at least) so very pleasant in Italy, with all their entrenched and invasive beaurocracy making you jump through hoops like a horn honking seal? People are giving up the UK to move there despite all of this (surely not because of it)....what does the complete picture look like? Something isnt right, it doesnt add up.

Reading this guide might not give you the real impression, but what is there is interesting enough, and compared to living in the UK, where you can come and go as you please, live where you like witout telling anyone, contract with people in private, never have to register with anyone for any reason, are not going to be visited by the police/council just because you have moved into a house...it looks on paper to be a nightmare.

All the British should read this and the other guides to living in Europe that no doubt exist, and then reflect on how this country works, and what it is like to live here.

It's something worth preserving.
posted by Irdial , 8:01 PM Þ 



I can't believe its butter!
posted by Irdial , 5:18 PM Þ 

Students Charged as Felony Hackers - Password Written on Back of iBooks
19 August 2005 06:15 EST
Jason D. O'Grady
From the Opinion Dept.

Arrest Me I Know The PasswordIn other educational news - 13 high school students in the PowerPage's home state of Pennsylvania (the Kutztown 13 as they're known) were charged with third-degree felonies for misusing their school-issued Apple iBooks. Their heinous crime? They used the administrator password (which was taped on the back of the computers, no less) to install unauthorized software. Not BitTorrent, not Limewire, but iChat AV. Sheesh.

Now that's not the only thing that the kids are accused of doing, they also turned off the monitoring software (Apple Remote Desktop?) and even used it to monitor the admins. In addition, they're accused of using hacking tools to find the new admin password when it was changed from the password that was taped on the back of the machines.

James Shrawder uncle of fifteen-year-old John Shrawder set up a Web site, CutUsABreak.org, to tell the students' side of the story. The even posted the letter sent to the students charged with the felonies. The sells t-shirts and bumper stickers, including my favorite: "Arrest me, I know the password!"

The Kutztown Area School District issued a press release detailing the laptop policy violations but the charges still smack of heavy-handedness to me.

Do they really want to graduate a class of students that must check "Yes" for the question "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?" Give them community service and suspend their computer or Internet privileges, maybe, but felony convictions for being kids? Give me a break.

UPDATE:

New charges were filed yesterday against the teens. A charge of computer theft has been lodged against all 13 defendants, so that they are now charged with three variations of computer trespassing.
posted by Irdial , 4:59 PM Þ 

BBC NEWS | UK | Sir Ian urges context on Menezes:

Sir Ian Blair has urged the public not to let the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes overshadow the deaths of 52 victims of the London bombers.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner told BBC Radio 4 the police took responsibility for the Brazilian man's death on 22 July, and had apologised.

But he said: 'We can't let that one tragic death outweigh all others.'"


So Sir Ian has asked for context over the death murder of Jean Charles? I think it goes without saying then that he should also ask for context over the murders of the 52 killed in the tube explosions against the murders of all the civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan and not let "52 tragic deaths" outweigh all the others.

With all his lies so far, that he "resisted" the IPCC investigation, why else but to perpetrate a cover up (sorry, get their stories straight), sometimes a picture just says it all:

posted by chriszanf , 11:05 AM Þ 
Friday, August 19, 2005


Pay special attention to the loudspeakers.
What an astonishing work.

That and this:

http://www.yoomedia.com/yooplay/

Say "you are in the future"... Just like they said it would be.

See Yoo Play on Astra 279. Pay special attention to the games where you are asked to call in with an answer. Note how it appears that the presenter is taking part in half of a conversation. Its more like a wild feed than a TV programme.
posted by Irdial , 6:55 PM Þ 

I finally manged to no longer evade the dulcit tones of Coldplay this week. I will fix you I think it was, I don't know all the ingredients are there for an avant-rock masterpiece, Labradford b-side backing drone complete with organs, someone doing a valiantly bad Tiny Tim impression and a cheeky foray into maudlin MOR for the final verse.
It should work in a 'it-can't-possibly-work-but-they-pulled-it-off' way, but it doesn't the organs don't overwhelm, the Tiny Tim has far too narrow tonal range and the MOR sounds too real. But not exactly the MORMOR that I'd been dreading.
posted by meau meau , 4:35 PM Þ 

Ye Wankest.

More than any other rapper, West embodies the oppositions that rack hip-hop's body politic: art versus commerce, innovation versus mainstream success, social conscience versus ego and ambition. West believes that if anyone can bridge those polar divides, he can - he wants it all.

"I want it so no one can front on it. People say you can't please everyone all the time. I don't believe that. I think you can. I'm not like, 'Oh I'm Kanye West.' I'm like, 'Oh you don't like it? Oh wow!' To the point where I know you have to like it."

To this end, he is an incorrigible tinkerer. .... Take his recent Shirley Bassey-sampling single, Diamonds From Sierra Leone. It started life as simply Diamonds, a chest-puffing anthem....
But then Q-Tip.... alerted West to the issues surrounding conflict diamonds. Having boned up on the subject, West promptly changed the title and themed the video accordingly but it was too late to alter the lyrics. The result is a curious compromise, a protest song in name only[...].

Diamonds has been a headache for its maker, too. Negative reactions from West's core fanbase stung him into dropping four of the album's more outre songs, including one that features John Mayer and a harpsichord, and replacing them with more conventional hip-hop tracks. Never one to understate his case, he proclaims on the crunching, martial Crack Music: "This is black music, nigga!"

"All this is saying is, OK I see now, the 'hood does not quite want Shirley Bassey yet, so let me still give them this. Crack Music was made after Diamonds. After black people were like, 'I don't know about this one.' It was like me reaching too high for the cookie jar." [...]



Oh, my aching sides! Artistic integrity at it's most hiphopcritical.

Similarly, see the genuine concern of Universal Records as a marketable asset goes a-wandering on the eve of an album release...

A record label has hired a private detective to trace jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux, whose album has been steadily climbing the UK charts.

A Universal spokeswoman said: "She should be overjoyed with the album's chart position, but she has now returned to America and is proving impossible to track down.

"Anxious record company bosses and her management company have been trying to contact her for nearly a week to no avail. She has simply disappeared."

The company said it had gone "to great lengths to protect Madeleine from burn-out through too much promotional work".

"But it would seem that despite these efforts Ms Peyroux has had enough," said the spokeswoman.

"She is that rare thing, an artist more interested in her music than in the glitz and glamour of showbusiness."


.... You can almost hear them finishing that last sentence in their heads ..."the stupid fucking ungrateful bitch. What about our targets? Fuck fuck fuck!"


.......

Additional: Alex Petridis sucks Ye Wankest

5 stars, despite opening the review with...
You could, if you were so inclined, debate his originality. His trademark production technique - speeding up old soul vocals to chipmunk squeakiness - was pinched from the Wu-Tang Clan, while the samples on his second album, Late Registration, suggest that West has spent not hours painstakingly sourcing rare breakbeats, but minutes raking through the kind of records drunk aunties ask wedding DJs to play [...]

Debate his originality? Why, Alex, you've just provided enough evidence to negate the need for debate. And then Alex fails to read the interview with Miss West in his own paper...

Still, you would have a hard time arguing that West is less than unique. He is currently the only mainstream rapper willing to tackle politics: the links between the jewellery trade and Sierra Leone's civil war on Diamonds ... [...]

And the summary...
West announced the album's arrival in typically retiring style: "It's killing everything out there ... I'm carrying the whole of hip-hop." On hearing Late Registration, that sounds less like rampant egomania than a bald statement of fact.

Then Ye Wankest is dragging around the whiplashed, skinless, bloody, stinking, rotten carcass of Shergar.
posted by Alun , 12:05 PM Þ 

Those are some huge discrepancies you got dangling there.

There are 4 conclusions you get from this piece:

1) The police deliberately lied to make this seem like on honest mistake
2) The police deliberately fabricated "eyewitness" reports
3) The police's operations were unco-ordinated, poorly-planned, sloppy and knee-jerk
4) The police had NO CLUE as to who/what they were looking for.

They are liars and have been found out. Nasty. I bet they are all having hissy fits. What will happen?
posted by Barrie , 4:20 AM Þ 
Thursday, August 18, 2005

Procurement launched amid fresh criticism
Sarah Arnott, Computing 17 Aug 2005

The government has taken the first steps in the technology procurement
for its national biometric identity cards programme.

But experts are already questioning the maturity of the biometric
systems at the heart of the proposals.

The legislation required for the scheme is not yet law, but the Home
Office last week issued the first notice alerting potential suppliers,
to ensure the procurement can start as soon as the bill is passed.

The formal tender will include the creation of a national identity
register, biometric technology, and the production and distribution of
cards.

The scheme will create a gold standard of identification to help fight
fraud, terrorism and illegal immigration, according to the government.

But biometric technology is not accurate enough to support such a claim,
says Neil Fisher, director of security solutions at defence technology
supplier QinetiQ.

'Telecoms systems are judged on an availability of 99.999 per cent, but
even that level of accuracy of biometrics, across the whole population,
would mean 6,000 people in the country being mistaken, and no biometric
technology is anywhere close to that reliable yet,' Fisher told
Computing.

'Unless there is a strategy to overcome that lack of accuracy, the
system will be flawed as soon as it starts,' he added.

Plans to include multiple biometrics - two eyes, 10 fingers and one face
- offer some improvement, but checking all 13 will be a long and
expensive process, says Graham Titterington, principal analyst at Ovum.

And the belief that biometrics mean no one will be able to register
twice is incorrect.

'At the moment, the whole reliability of biometrics is up in the air.
There have been lots of studies done with very different results,' said
Titterington.

'The government needs a dose of reality because its trust in the system
is unfounded and doesn't match up with experience.

'The plan is working on the assumption that, by the time it is live, the
technology will have come on in leaps and bounds. But that is not a
reasonable basis from which to start.' [...]

http://www.vnunet.com/computing/news/2141259/biometric-flaws-mar-start-id

My emphasia. Yes, 'emphasia'.

This style of report always contains the implicit assumption that everyone will willingly register in the system. Most people will opt not to obey, and the closer the date of rollout comes, the more people will understand precisely what all of this means, and the number of refusniks will number in the millions.

This will cause some problems. Will people be allowed to leave the UK on an expired passport? What is the law on this? Are the immigration officials meant to bar you from exit if your passport is expired? I have travelled on an expired passport several times, and never had any problem at either end.

Its interesting that even the QinetiQ staff are saying that it will not work "from the start". Maybe they dont want to live in a country with a biometric net thrown over it either. After all, these people have children, they have real lives - maybe the penny has just dropped that their secret affairs with the secretaries will now be easily discoverable. No more informal confidential lunches anywhere with anyone ever again. Maybe now they understand that their children's inevitable future indescressions will be instantly discoverable. No more pats on the head with a "don't do anything like this again son, its all forgotten". Everyone will know everything, and nothing will ever be forgotten.

That is a total nightmare, far worse than living under the Soviet Union era Russia, where photocopiers were kept under lock and key, and every other absurd paranoid control that we read and laughed about was a daily fact of life. Unless this database project is absolutely terminated, this total surveillance UK will come to pass, and because the system cannot work, tens of thousands will be hurt by it, and millions will be humiliated, inconvenienced and defrauded because of it.
posted by Irdial , 9:53 AM Þ 
Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Trust me
Believe me
It's all in the art of stopping
posted by meau meau , 2:35 PM Þ 
Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Unnecessary words

Some words add nothing but length to your prose. Use adjectives to make your meaning more precise and be cautious of those you find yourself using to make it more emphatic. The word very is a case in point. If it occurs in a sentence you have written, try leaving it out and see whether the meaning is changed. The omens were good may have more force than The omens were very good.

Avoid strike action (strike will do), cutbacks (cuts), track record (record), wilderness area (usually either a wilderness or a wild area), large-scale (big), the policymaking process (policymaking), weather conditions (weather), etc. This time around just means This time.

Shoot off, or rather shoot, as many prepositions after verbs as possible. Thus people can meet rather than meet with; companies can be bought and sold rather than bought up and sold off; budgets can be cut rather than cut back; plots can be hatched but not hatched up; organisations should be headed by rather than headed up by chairmen, just as markets should be freed, rather than freed up. And children can be sent to bed rather than sent off to bed—though if they are to sit up they must first sit down.

This advice you are given free, or for nothing, but not for free.

Certain words are often redundant. The leader of the so-called Front for a Free Freedonia is the leader of the Front for a Free Freedonia. A top politician or top priority is usually just a politician or a priority, and a major speech usually just a speech. A safe haven is a haven. Most probably and most especially are probably and especially. The fact that can often be shortened to That (That I did not do so was a self-indulgence). Loans to the industrial and agricultural sectors are just loans to industry and farming.

Community is another word often best cut out. Not only is it usually unnecessary, it purports to convey a sense of togetherness that may well not exist. The black community means blacks, the business community means businessmen, the homosexual community means homosexuals, the intelligence community means spies, the international community, if it means anything, means other countries, aid agencies or, just occasionally, the family of nations.

Use words with care. A heart condition is usually a bad heart. A near miss is probably a near hit. Positive thoughts (held by long-suffering creditors, according to The Economist) presumably means optimism, just as a negative report is probably a critical report. Industrial action is usually industrial inaction, industrial disruption or a strike. A courtesy call is generally a sales offer or an uninvited visit. A substantially finished bridge is an unfinished bridge. Someone with high name-recognition is well known. Something with reliability problems probably does not work. If yours is a live audience, what would a dead one be like?

In general, be concise. Try to be economical in your account or argument (“The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out”—Voltaire). Similarly, try to be economical with words. “As a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigour it will give to your style.” (Sydney Smith) Raymond Mortimer put it even more crisply when commenting about Susan Sontag: “Her journalism, like a diamond, will sparkle more if it is cut.”

[...]

http://www.economist.com/research/styleGuide/index.cfm?page=673919

???!! 'Lets find out'.

Here is a recent article from 'The Economist', with the above rules applied....by me.

Watch your mouth (this title is vague).
Aug 12th 2005
From The Economist Global Agenda


In the wake (after) of the London Tube and bus bombings, Britain’s prime minister, Tony Blair (spelling: 'Bliar'), thinks that European human-rights laws prevent Britain from dealing with supporters of terrorism. But the real obstacles lie closer to home (elsewhere)

EPA
EPA


WHAT makes a suicide-bomber? Long before the attacks that killed 52 people in London on July 7th, Britain’s security services had a clear pattern (they have patterns that are anything else but clear?) in their minds. A man who may drink beer, play football, chase girls and lead a life that is indistinguishable from those of most other young Britons starts looking around for something less ordinary. At that point, he comes under the influence of a charismatic imam (what is a 'charismatic' imam?), who rails (they dont rail, they preach) against the ill-treatment of Muslims around the world and suggests a straightforward (how is suicide straightforward?) route to self-fulfilment. He may eventually board a plane to Israel or a train to London, with the intention of killing as many civilians as possible.

Trying to prevent rebellious (mischaracterises suicide bombers as being motivated by a naughty teenage motivation trivializes suicide bombers and their motivations) impulses from taking hold is a difficult thing for a parent to do, let alone a government. So Britain’s Labour government is looking instead at clamping down on (stopping) the people who inspire terrorists. Many of these people, it thinks, are foreign-born, and therefore the state ought to be able to deal with them, without the liberties that British citizens enjoy getting in the way. That was the impulse (use a synonym since you used it earlier) behind a plan launched by Charles Clarke, the home secretary (interior minister), to define what counts as unacceptable behaviour by Muslims in Britain. It was also behind the 12-point plan that Tony Blair, the prime minister, announced on August 5th, while Mr Clarke was on holiday, before he too headed for the beach. (went on holiday)

Mr Blair’s agenda is wide-ranging and vague. It includes speeding up the deportation of foreign-born radicals,(dishonest use of english: 'people who speak against the government' or 'dissenting voices') extending a proposed ban on glorifying terrorism to cover people who justify or glorify terrorism anywhere in the world, holding pre-trial hearings to allow sensitive (dishonest use of english, should use 'secret') evidence to be admitted (these have already been dubbed “secret courts”), banning some Islamist (religious bias. use 'political' then question why BNP faces no sanctions) organisations from Britain, and closing troublesome (dishonest english; infers speech is dangerous. delete word) places of worship.

That was more than enough to frighten libertarians. “Just having undergraduate debates about whether it is ever right to take up arms could get you into this,” reckons Shami Chakrabati, director of Liberty, a pressure group (dishonest use of english. 'Pressure group' infers that Liberty is on the outside of society putting pressure on HMG, when in fact, they are a 'lobby group' or 'lobby' just like any other). But then the attorney-general raised the temperature (inflamatory language. revise) further, by letting it be known that radical (delete) imams might be charged with treason, an ancient crime in English law that dates back to an era when having sex with the king’s consort was a capital offence.

Part of this is politicking. “Everything the prime minister said will go down well in Conservative associations,” notes Edward Garnier, the shadow home affairs minister with the main opposition Conservative Party. The treason idea was quickly scotched (dropped), though not before it had inspired some headlines.

But Mr Blair’s insistence that “the rules of the game are changing”, plus a nagging suspicion that Britain’s legal system might be less well equipped to deal with Islamic extremism (dishonest use of english; you mean 'free speech') than those of other European countries, has left the government looking for ways to make Britain a bit more like France (innapropriate ambush humor). The French have both experience of Islamic extremism and a reputation for toughness—they have long been exasperated by what they see as excessive tolerance of radical Islam in Britain. The French government has promised a new anti-terrorism law by the end of this month, designed to strengthen the hardline approach it has adopted in recent years (see article).

According to Mr Blair, the first step towards a tougher approach in Britain is to find a way around (use honest english: 'a way to nullify' or 'a way to cancel') the 1998 Human Rights Act. That’s (informal contraction. delete) odd, because the other members of the Council of Europe are also bound by the European Convention on Human Rights (which British civil servants played a big part in drafting). Though Mr Blair says that Article 3, which prohibits torture, makes it difficult to deport undesirables (use honest english. you will be deporting PEOPLE not 'UNDESIREABLES' the latter is a prejorative and introduces bias into the article.) to countries where their toenails might be pulled out, (torture) this has not prevented other signatories to the convention from doing so. So what is Britain’s problem? (flippant. 'So what is preventing Britian from implimenting these measures')

First, though the convention is the same everywhere, Britain’s adversarial legal system means that it works differently there. Defendants typically have the right to appeal at several stages of the legal process. That makes appeals against extradition protracted and expensive. In 2001, it took an average of eight months to extradite someone to Britain, but 18 months to send someone the other way. Contested hearings cost around £125,000 ($223,000). An attempt two years ago to streamline the process has not altered its fundamentally fractious nature. In France, by contrast, deporting suspects to countries with patchy human-rights records causes little fuss (is easy). Rights of appeal are more restricted and deportees may not be able to appeal until after they have left the country, by which time it might be too late. “Often you send a fellow back to Algeria and that’s the last you hear of him,” says Clive Walker, who studies terrorism laws at Leeds University.

Second, Britain has a long tradition of sheltering firebrands, (use plain english. this is a 'free speech' issue and nothing more) which is reflected in the law. Victorian London was an excellent place for foreign radicals to set up shop—whether they were scholarly types like Karl Marx, who plotted the overthrow of capitalism from the reading room of the British Museum, or militants like Johann Most, a German anarchist who was allowed to wander the streets despite penning a guide called “The Science of Revolutionary Warfare”. Ancient laws on free speech, a light touch from the censor and a lack of legal distinctions between citizens and non-citizens have appealed to African National Congress supporters and Islamist radicals (when 'The Caliphate' is established, no doubt this language will change to 'supporters of Islam'? This is how 'African National Congress radicals' turns into 'ANC supporters'. 'Radicals' is a loaded word and should be used only in the context of criticising its use in speech or writing, and never to describe people who merely excersise their right to free speech.) alike. If the government really wanted (wants) to overturn this tradition, it would need extensive legislation.

A more straightforward (another) option is to get agreements from foreign countries not to harm anyone who is extradited from Britain. It already has one such agreement with Jordan, and is seeking similar undertakings from nine other countries. On August 11th, police arrested ten foreign nationals in south-east England and the Midlands, with a view to deporting them. It will provide the first test of how judges respond to Mr Blair’s hectoring. (??? use simple english)

None of this helps much where the culprits ('culprits'? does this refer to people excersising their right to free speech? Or maybe The Economist thinks that free speech is only for journalists? These people can in no way be described as 'culprits'. They are 'defendants' at the very least and, 'victims' depending on who is doing the talking.) are British-born, however. For them, the government proposes to use more control orders—a new legal device that deprives people of some liberties without actually locking them up. Mr Blair also said that the government would look at stripping naturalised Brits of their citizenship if they support terrorists. In practice that is difficult: unless someone has dual nationality, revoking their citizenship means making them stateless.

Some have suggested that the flurry of announcements, coupled with a lack of detail on how they might work, is really aimed at scaring the firebrands away (doshonest use of english; this really means 'supressing free speech'). If so, it might be working. Omar Bakri Mohammed, a Syrian-born imam who could be caught out by the new laws, recently left Britain to visit his mother. He told reporters he would be coming back (not to foment terror (this is a libel. he has never 'fomented terror'), but to have a heart operation on the state-run National Health Service). On August 12th, however—following Mr Mohammed's brief detention by the Lebanese authorities—the British government said that he would be barred from returning as his presence was not “conducive to the public good”.

So. We see how

A) the economist lets through all sorts of garbage english, and
B) it is an extremely biased publication

I wonder if this had passed throught the style guide filter, and if it had, what it had looked like BEFORE it was trimmed down.
posted by Irdial , 11:15 PM Þ 

A watched pot boiling...

Harvard denies study is a response to creationism

Polly Curtis, education correspondent
Tuesday August 16, 2005


Harvard University today dismissed reports that it was stepping into the politically charged debate about the origins of life by conducting a major scientific investigation into how the world came to be.

American newspapers and the international news agency Reuters today reported that the university was planning a new research project entitled "origins of life in the universe" in a move which propelled the university into the conflict over the teaching of creationism in schools.
[...]

"This is ... a stunning admission that the current theories do not explain [the origin of life], and [have] not refuted the idea that things are the product of intelligent cause," John West, a senior fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, a thinktank that backs intelligent design theory, told Reuters.
[...]

Well, I wouldn't go that far, John. Most scientists already know the origins of life are unknown, which is why this study might help more than simply saying 'Well, we reckon pixies did it. And fossils are just there to fuck with our heads.'

Some other views...

[...]But the university's bias against a God-created world is already showing. Harvard has announced it is assembling a team of researchers, with a budget of $1 million a year, to investigate the origins of life. News reports say the project begins with an admission that some mysteries about life's origins cannot be explained. Still, Harvard chemistry professor David Liu is quoted by Associated Press as saying he expects the research team "will be able to reduce this to a very simple series of logical events that could have taken place with no divine intervention."


But then again, maybe I'm wrong about dinosaurs...

learn: Why Aren’t Dinosaurs in the Bible?

Actually, they are; dinosaurs are mentioned 25 times in the Old Testament. The reason the actual word dinosaur doesn’t appear in the Bible is simple: it did not exist when the Bible was written. The first complete English translation of the Bible appeared in 1380. The word dinosaur is a relatively new word coined by the English anatomist, Richard Owen in 1841, well over 500 years after the Bible had already been translated from Hebrew.

However, the Hebrew word meaning “great lizard” is found throughout the Old Testament, including the creation account.
[...]

Brought to you by the Museum of Earth History, Arkansas.

Which brings us to thee great bandwagon-jumper, George Monbiot.
There's no point reading what he says. But let's anyway...

He points out that: "As G Thomas Sharp, chairman of the Creation Truth Foundation, admitted to the Chicago Tribune, "if we lose Genesis as a legitimate scientific and historical explanation for man, then we lose the validity of Christianity. Period"."

Because... It is important to many creationists that man and dinosaur lived simultaneously because they believe there was no death in the world until Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. If the Genesis story is false, they say, then there would be no need for Jesus Christ to redeem the sins of the world. Thus, at the Museum of Earth History, Genesis dictates gentle, vegetarian dinosaurs sharing Eden with Adam and Eve [...]


(In passing, CTF says ...

The West has become Pagan!
It is now a matter of historical record that Western thought and culture has come under the total domination of a “scientific” based mind-set called evolutionary materialism. In his recent book The New Paganism, Dr. Harold Linsell said that, for the most part, American thought and life is no longer influenced by the Hebrew-Christian ethic.

[...] Wow! If only it were true. Anyway...)

So George concludes... "It seems to me that we are the happy ones. We, alone among organisms, who perceive eternity, and know that the world will carry on without us."

Dust to dust. It's hard to accept as a personal truth. Deep down, most people would like to 'live' forever in some form or other... mind, spirit or body. Hence religion. But I'm with George, whether I like it or not.





Additional: My favourite bit (so far) from the MOEH site...

There are some indications that dinosaurs lived after the flood. For example, in the Book of Job, the author discusses the behemoth in chapter 40. The animal described clearly matches the description of a Sauropod (commonly known as a Brontosaurus). However, the Book of Job was written about 300 years after the flood; the present-tense description of the beast indicates that the animal alive at the time had to have descended from the survivors on Noah’s ark.[...]

So there we have it. Conclusive, indisputable proof not only that dinosaurs lived alongside man, but that Noah had 2 brontosauruses with him on the ark!

Magnificent logic. If only so-called "scientists" worked with such rigour.


Hang on, there's more...

NOTE:

The dinosaurs on Noah’s ark were probably juveniles. We can speculate this for two reasons; first, since dinosaurs were reptiles, they probably continued to grow throughout their lives. In their adult stage, the dinosaurs would have been quite large (e.g. the Sauropod could grow to 40 feet (12 meters) in length, 60 feet (18 meters) in height, and weigh 70 to 80 tons.).

It would be much easier to house young dinosaurs on the ark. Secondly, God put the animals on the ark specifically to repopulate the world after the flood. Since the animals had to be able to reproduce after the flood year, God would have saved younger animals to secure their reproductive viability. [...]


PHEW!

But, to end, I will quote Dawkins' thoughts on religion, teaching and children...


Where we might have said, 'knowing his father, I expect young Cowdrey will take up cricket,' we emphatically do not say, 'With her devout Catholic parents, I expect young Bernadette will take up Catholicism.' Instead we say, without a moment's hesitation or a qualm of misgiving, 'Bernadette is a Catholic'. We state it as simple fact even when she is far too young to have developed a theological opinion of her own. In all other spheres, a good school will encourage her to develop her own tastes and opinions, her own skills, penchants and values. But when it comes to religion, society meekly makes a clanging exception. We inexplicably accept that, the day she is born, Bernadette has a label tied around her neck. This is a Catholic baby.

That is a protestant baby. This is a Hindu baby. That is a Muslim baby. This baby thinks there are many gods. That baby is adamant that there is only one. But it is preposterous that we do this to children. They are too young to know what they think. To slap a label on a child at birth - to announce, in advance, as a matter of hereditary presumption if not determinate certainty, an infant's opinions on the cosmos and creation, on life and afterlives, on sexual ethics, abortion and euthanasia - is a form of mental child abuse.
[...]

Hmmm. Well, surely THIS is true (says Monday's child)...


Monday's Child is fair of face,
Tuesday's Child is full of grace,
Wednesday's Child is full of woe,
Thursday's Child has far to go,
Friday's Child is loving and giving,
Saturday's Child works hard for a living,
But the Child that is born on the Sabbath Day,
Is witty and wise and good and gay!
posted by Alun , 6:10 PM Þ 

"We didn't agree with the war, we thought the war was wrong, but I didn't protest against it or I didn't speak out against it until after he was killed, and I'll regret that for the rest of my life.
...
and another thing I'd like to say to him is to stop using my son's death to justify your continued killing."
Cindy Sheehan

Plainly and well said all through. This group of perfectly ordinary mothers know what is going on and know what is being done to them and their country. There MUST be many, many more like this. This is going be big, though I wonder if anyone in America actually knows it is going on, as there's no way any of this is going to be on any news network there.
Hmm.
posted by Barrie , 8:25 AM Þ 
Monday, August 15, 2005

HOWEVER,
I do think that many preachers' support of suicide bombings actually works CONTRARY to their cause, because since many people are stupid they will take this support as a direct correlation between the bombings and the preacher's religion.
These are the kind of simple judgements people make and it's obvious it is happening all the time, and look what pointless pain results! Now I don't think it is possible to blame the people who make this judgement mistake because there are far too many of them, but I do think it is possible to blame the preachers for this misunderstanding, because they simply aren't clear enough. By calling bombers "holy warriors" and etc. just confuses the situation and does not do any good for any body!
From the standpoint of such an argument, the deportation of preachers seems even more nonsensical, aside from a fascistic "religious cleansing" of Britain.

Also: The summer of 2005 did not exist for central Alberta! What a garbage few months!
posted by Barrie , 9:29 PM Þ 

An absolutely fascinating interview with Robert Pape, a University of Chicago professor who has studied every suicide terrorist attack since 1980. "The central fact is that overwhelmingly suicide-terrorist attacks are not driven by religion as much as they are by a clear strategic objective: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland." [...]

requothed:

RP: The central fact is that overwhelmingly suicide-terrorist attacks are not driven by religion as much as they are by a clear strategic objective: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland. From Lebanon to Sri Lanka to Chechnya to Kashmir to the West Bank, every major suicide-terrorist campaign—over 95 percent of all the incidents—has had as its central objective to compel a democratic state to withdraw.

TAC: That would seem to run contrary to a view that one heard during the American election campaign, put forth by people who favor Bush’s policy. That is, we need to fight the terrorists over there, so we don’t have to fight them here.

RP: Since suicide terrorism is mainly a response to foreign occupation and not Islamic fundamentalism, the use of heavy military force to transform Muslim societies over there, if you would, is only likely to increase the number of suicide terrorists coming at us. [...]


http://www.amconmag.com/2005_07_18/article.html

From the most recent Cryptogram.

Everyone everywhere who has been listening to what these people have been saying for decades knows that all of todays problems are to do with illegal and unwelcome occupation. This should be a surprise to absolutely no one, and yet...here we are, seeing people banned for speaking aobut the problems.

The IRA was banned from speaking through the UK TV; the BBQ used to hire actors to speak the words of Gerry Adams and co whenever they were interviewed. It was as totaly absurd as it seems today, and yet, it was done, just like banning preachers is being done today. Stopping Gerry Addam's actual voice didnt make anything change at all, and it made Britian look stupid.
posted by Irdial , 12:30 PM Þ 
Sunday, August 14, 2005
posted by chriszanf , 6:18 PM Þ 

Wesleyan Medical Home ,


> From the desk of : Dr.Jacob Williams


TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

My name Dr.Jacob Williams and I would like to make a reservation with you.

Reservation details is as follows

Arrival Date : 27th of september 2005
Departure Date : 15th of october 2005
Accomodation Type : 2 Double bed rooms
Number of Guests : 4 people

Thanks

Dr.Jacob Williams

****************************************************

followed by

****************************************************

Thanks so much for the mail and also we are ok by the two double rooms and
we will like you to make it booked all in the following in my name.


Due to our logistic interview that we are still on for the
poeple coming for the trip.we shall also make all payment
sort our before our arrival and The Total amount Due for
payment is required.


Payment shall get to you by our financial officer for the trip in
form of a Cheque/Bank Draft and this is due to the rate of
credit card scam that make us to stop the usage of cards on
the internet for any transaction.


Lastly, do let know the total charges for during our stay.


Thanks and I await your full contact information and
Phone number to make sure payment/deposit gets to you
before our arrival.


Regards.
Dr. Jacob Williams
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 4:33 PM Þ 
posted by Irdial , 1:28 PM Þ 
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