Daily Archives: April 12, 2017

Donald Trump’s tax holiday ‘would help top US companies save $300bn’ – The Guardian

Posted: April 12, 2017 at 9:00 am

Apples CEO said the tech firm expected to bring home, back to the US, much of its offshore cash this year. Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty

Donald Trumps plan to encourage US companies to repatriate profits held offshore will allow the 50 biggest American corporations to save at least $300bn (240bn), according to research by Oxfam.

The US president has promised that he will get Americas biggest companies to bring their vast offshore cash piles back to US soil by offering a one-off tax holiday. The plan is to tax repatriated money at 10% rather than at the statutory rate of 35%.

Americas 50 biggest companies had combined offshore cash piles of more than $1.6tn in 2015, according to Oxfams research. Corporate America has been keeping the money overseas because through legal loopholes corporations can defer US taxes continually so long as income is not repatriated to the US.

The amount of money held offshore, much of it in tax havens, increased by $200bn in 2015, according to Oxfams Rigged Reform paper.

Trumps proposed tax holiday would be a big boost for US technology companies which make a lot of money overseas and often park the profits in low-tax jurisdictions, such as Ireland.

Apple holds more than $200bn offshore, and was last year accused of tax avoidance by the European commission and ordered to pay 13bn (11bn) in back taxes. Apples chief executive, Tim Cook, denied the charges and dismissed the EC investigation as political crap. However, he later said that he expected to bring home much of the offshore cash pile in 2017. He said Apple had set aside several billion dollars for the US for payment as soon as we repatriate some or all of the money.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised that his one-off 10% rate would bring back trillions of dollars from American businesses that is now parked overseas. He said at a campaign event in Michigan: Were going to get Apple to start building their damn computers and things in this country rather than other countries.

Oxfams research suggested that Apple would save $43.5bn in tax by taking advantage of Trumps one-off 10% repatriation tax.

Other companies sitting on vast fortunes parked offshore include the drugs maker Pfizer, with $193bn, Microsoft, with $124bn, and GM, with $104bn.

The Oxfam research suggested that the 50 biggest US companies could collectively save between $312 and $327bn by bringing back their offshore cash piles under Trumps tax holiday.

The charity said the companies were exploiting a network of 1,751 subsidiaries in tax havens to hold cash from the US tax authorities. There is no suggestion that any of the companies have acted illegally.

Ana Arendar, Oxfams head of inequality, said: These companies have deepened their use of tax havens and increased efforts to build influence to push for even greater tax breaks than they already have. Corporate tax dodgers cheat the US out of approximately $135bn in unpaid tax revenues every year and poor countries out of an estimated $100bn annually.

The report claims that the 50 companies spent $2.5bn on lobbying between 2009 and 2015, including an estimated $352m specifically spent on influencing the tax debate. The total amount spent on lobbying works out at about $46m for every member of Congress.

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Offshore Ale, Popular Island Brew Pub, Goes on Market for Sale … – The Vineyard Gazette – Martha’s Vineyard News

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Offshore Ale, the year-round brew pub that has long anchored the Oak Bluffs dining scene, has been quietly placed on the market for sale.

After 12 years at the helm owners Phillip and Colleen McAndrews are looking to find a new owner and steward for the restaurant, Mr. McAndrews said Monday.

Craft beer and ale brewed on site. Mark Lovewell

I need to find someone who I can train and pass Offshore off to, he said. So were just starting the process to find an individual who would love this place as much as we have, and carry it on.

The youngest of the couples four children will graduate from high school next year, he said, and at that point all four will be scattered around the country. None are interested in taking over the business, and their parents are looking for a flexible schedule that is hard to find running a year-round business.

The 20-year-old restaurant at 30 Kennebec avenue is listed for $4.2 million. The listing went online last week with Link MV, the Islands multiple listing service for real estate. The price includes the building, beer business, brand and a turnkey, fulled-staffed restaurant.

Mr. McAndrews said the restaurant has quietly been on the market since October, when the McAndrews gathered the staff together to tell them their plans. The restaurant is for sale lock, stock, and barrel, he said, and they are hoping to find someone who would carry on the current business.

I have a great staff here, he said. Many of them have been here for many years . . . . its really a turnkey business. Theyve helped make this place a success.

Offshore was opened by Robert Skydell in 1997 as City Ale and Oyster, a restaurant that included the first brewery on the Island. After about a year the name was changed to Offshore Ale Company, named after the most popular brew on the menu. The original name remained on the outside of the building at the corner of Kennebec and Healy avenues. The restaurant became well-known as a year-round gathering place for all ages, featuring beers brewed on-site with names like Beach Road Nut Brown Ale and Inkwell Imperial Stout, wood-fired pizza, local seafood, live music and peanut shells littering the floor.

Kennebec avenue hot spot first opened in 1997. Mark Lovewell

In January 2006 Mr. Skydell sold the business to the McAndrews, who lived in Rhode Island. Mr. McAndrews was a businessman selling beer, wine and spirits, and had long dreamed of one day running a small Irish pub or something similar. On a weekend getaway to the Vineyard, the couple saw Offshore was for sale. Mr. McAndrews was 40 at the time, he recalled, and we just jumped on it.

The couple has been here ever since and its been a great experience, he said. The only thing he will not miss is the paperwork.

They are taking their time with the sale, he said, starting with getting the word out. The listing is with Jon Hartzband of Marthas Vineyard Island-Wide Realty, who is well-suited to represent the property: he worked at Offshore for 17 years as a bartender. He knows the whole story, Mr. McAndrews said. Hes a great person to really represent and actually have the inside knowledge of all that this place is.

He continued: I dont know how easy or hard its going to be to find someone that would be a good fit for it. Its just important to take some time and be able to go trough the process and be selective about it.

But for now it will be business as usual at Offshore. Were still here, on site, and doing everything we did before we listed it, he said. Were here, hands on. Its going to be that way until someone else takes over.

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Offshore: Light at the end of the tunnel? | WorkBoat – WorkBoat (blog)

Posted: at 9:00 am

Its been three years since we first issued a warning concerning the U.S. Gulf. Back then, several majors announced that they would reduce capital expenditures. Most, however, thought that it was just a bump in the road, a short-term softness instead of a major slowdown.

Well, we can safely say that it was the latter and more a major depression in the offshore energy market.

Bill Pikes annual report due out in the May issue on the offshore industry again contains no shortage of bad news. However, at least some operators are now offering a glimpse of hope, albeit a faint one.

Stacey Stanley, president and CEO of crewboat operator Muchowich Offshore Oil Services in Clute, Texas, said she can see a light at the end of tunnel, but it is just a flicker. But Stanley and other crewboat operators have seen their fleets reduced in size. Offshore Oil Services had eight crewboats in its fleet, but the company sold two to boost cash reserves to weather the rough market.

Nearly half of SeaTran Marines 19 crewboats are stacked, and another crewboat operators entire fleet of eight vessels is stacked. But Charlie Tizzard, SeaTrans executive vice president and chief financial officer, is more optimistic than most. He believes that the market could begin to improve as early as next year due to the new administrations commitment to the energy industry.

Wes Bordelon of Bordelon Marine is somewhat positive about a recovery but it is still a long ways off. He said the key to staying healthy in this depressed market is a reliable, sustainable budget for 2018, and a realigned industry rebuilt through mergers and consolidation.

But others arent as bullish. Matthew Rigdon of PSV operator Jackson Offshore Operators said an increase in global oil demand is needed to stimulate the market. Without this, he doesnt envision any boost in drilling in the Gulf.

The bottom line is that there is still too many boats in the market. As Bordelon conceded, There is just too much steel out there for the level of activity.

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Hansa Heavy Lift transports subsea equipment for offshore gas … – WorldOil (subscription)

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4/11/2017

HAMBURG, Germany -- Hansa Heavy Lift has successfully transported two dozen reels, as well as a range of subsea equipment for the Jangkrik Complex Project, off the coast of Indonesia.

HHL Richards Bay picked up the cargo at three different ports: Rosyth, UK; Le Trait, France; and Tanjung Langsat, Malaysia.

The company discharged the reels and subsea equipment in Balikpapan, Indonesia, onto the offshore vessel Viking Neptun, in five mobilizations. Two more offshore vessels, the Seismic Supporter and the Deep Orient, were used to load and offload some of the equipment from HHL Richards Bay, which required additional planning.

This was a complex project which required a very careful planning process as well as continuous communication with all parties involved from the start, said Henry Woo, Head of Asia-Pacific, Hansa Heavy Lift.

Our P2-1400 vessel type was the ideal ship for this project, as she provided enough space to stow and handle the cargo and enough crane capacity for discharging.

The successful completion of this project demonstrates our ability to handle sensitive cargo during all stages of transport, whilst providing a safe work environment and complying fully with very high offshore standards and requirements.

Ahead of commencing the project, the stowage plan had to be prepared in accordance with the different loading ports and a pre-defined discharge sequence to follow the offshore installation procedure, without shifting any cargo unit.

During the final move, Hansa Heavy Lift transferred 19 empty reels to the Viking Neptun and loaded all the subsea equipment, whilst the remaining reels and equipment were discharged in Tanjung Langsat.

The seafastening calculation was prepared taking into account the sensitivity of the cargo, the strength of the reel structure and the special requirements from the product manufacturer.

Other engineering analyses performed during the planning stage included a finite element analysis to assess the strength of the vessels deck, as well as regular rigging, seafastening and stability calculations.

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FREE DOWNLOAD: Where will the next generation offshore marine seafarers come from? – Seatrade Maritime News

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The global crewing industry faces a long-term shortage of trained seafarers, including the high skilled area of offshore marine.

The downturn in offshore marine has resulted in job losses both on and offshore and this creates the potential for a serious skills shortage for the sector in the future. With requirements for the likes DP2 and DP3 trained officers offshore when the sector rebounds the competition for skilled manpower will become fierce. In the boom times this was met by paying extraordinarily high wages, but as oil companies re-engineer their costs for the long-term this may not be a solution in future.

As the latest White Paper from Seatrade Maritime News notes some experts believe the sector will rebound sooner, rather than later and : This is particularly important for offshore oil producing hot-spots such as the Arabian Gulf, the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil because offshore operators there must be prepared to make the most of a market recovery when todays reduced manpower resources come under serious supply-side pressure.

Access to an effective, well-trained and experienced seafaring workforce will be a top priority for offshore service providers.

How will the offshore marine sector cope with this challenge:

Download the White Paper: The Next Generation of Offshore and Workboats Seafarers

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Master of the high seas: Pomp, patriotism and politics as Navy’s … – Wicked Local Quincy

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Rick Holmes Opinions/Mass. Political Editor @HolmesAndCo

BATH, Maine - The orders of the day called for dress blues, so the crew of the USS Thomas Hudner marched in their sharpest uniforms into the biting wind and slushy snow of an April storm. It was a special occasion, the christening of the nations newest destroyer, and the men and women of the U.S. Navy dont mind getting wet.

Ship christenings have traditions that are well-practiced here in Bath, where they have been launching ships into the Kennebec River for 400 years. A Navy Band played. Dignitaries spoke, including all four members of Maines Congressional delegation. The wife of the ships namesake smashed a bottle of champagne on the bow of the 509-foot craft.

The honoree, Capt. Thomas Hudner, was on hand, a rarity when it comes to ship christenings. In 1951, when his friend and wingman, Jesse Brown, was shot down in Korea during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, he crash-landed his own plane in a vain effort to rescue him. President Harry Truman awarded Hudner the Congressional Medal of Honor for "displaying conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life."

There was no talk of jobs, money or politics as Hudner and his ship were honored that blustery morning. But the presence of Maines two senators and two Congress members was a reminder. Each was introduced with reference to the committee assignments most relevant to keeping the Navys ships being built by Bath Iron Works.

The 5,900 jobs at BIW skilled manufacturing jobs with good union pay and benefits are critical to the economy of Mid-Coast Maine. Every Maine politician, whether its the liberal Democrat from the states southern House district, the Republican from the northern district who based his remarks on America First, or the states moderate senators, Republican Susan Collins and Independent Angus King, makes preserving those jobs a top priority.

Defense contracting is big business, and General Dynamics, owner of BIW, is one of the biggest in the world. Theres an intense competition between BIW and the Huntington-Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, to build Arleigh-Burke class destroyers like the Hudner. Its the job of the Maine Congressional delegation, along with an army of General Dynamics lobbyists, to keep those contracts coming here.

None of the speakers mentioned the cost of the USS Hudner, but its your money, so you should know: $663 million.

The Hudner, which will be officially commissioned next year after more testing, is the 66th out of a planned 75 Arleigh-Burke destroyers. And thats just one part of the American fleet, which is far and away the largest Navy in the world. The U.S. has more destroyers than the next five countries combined. The advantage in aircraft carriers, the most powerful sea-going vessels, is even greater. No other country has more than one. The U.S. has 10.

Our large fleet is getting ever larger. We have about 272 vessels today, which was due to grow to 305 ships under Obama administration plans. President Donald Trump campaigned on a pledge to build a 350-ship Navy.

Thats just part of Trumps proposed $603 billion defense budget. Hes calling for a $54 billion increase in military spending, paid for by huge cuts in non-military domestic programs.

And theres the rub. To budget is to choose. The USS Hudner costs more to build than the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting ($445 million) and the National Endowment for the Arts ($145 million) combined two of 19 programs zeroed out in Trumps budget with their own political constituencies. Theres a large debate to come about the choices we make.

But the story of Capt. Hudners heroism in Korea is a reminder that national security isnt just about dollars and cents. Hudner disobeyed an order to stay in the air. He destroyed an expensive piece of military equipment in a futile effort to save a buddy. For that he received not a reprimand, but the nations highest military honor.

Even that decision may have involved some politics. Jesse Brown, the pilot Hudner tried to save, was black, the nations first African-American naval aviator, and Truman had taken intense criticism for his decision to integrate the armed forces.

Their friendship was spotlighted at the time, and again at the ship christening ceremony, sending a message about inclusion.

My father was a Navy man. Like the members of the future crew of the USS Hudner who marched proudly through the snow in Bath, he helped supervise the construction of the aircraft carrier that would carry him to war in the Pacific. We should all be proud of the ships Americans build, and of the men and women who sail into danger on them.

But we cannot forget that theres politics and money behind every line of the federal budget.

Rick Holmes can be reached at rick@rickholmes.net. You can follow his journey at http://www.rickholmes.net. Like him on Facebook at Holmes & Co, on follow him on Twitter @HolmesAndCo.

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Communes in San Francisco: Returning to the roots of communal … – Peninsula Press

Posted: at 8:57 am

As San Franciscos housing crunch continues, some residents are choosing to forgo traditional apartments and live in intentional, communal living under one roof echoing the type of housing that emerged during the hippie movement.

This year, on the fiftieth anniversary of The Summer of Love, many think that tech has changed the city for the worse, but the movement isnt dead.

The narrative is very much around how San Francisco is over and tech has ruined the city, but actually there is this strong counterculture all over the place, where people are providing mutual aid and shared learnings and doing all sorts of interesting things, and this isnt really seen, said Zarinah Agnew, a proponent of communal living and a resident and founder at The Embassy.

In this 360-degree, immersive video piece, take a tour of the Red Victorian, learn about the communities that have sprung up in the Haight-Ashburyand experience what its like to live communally in the 21st century.

A commune is an intentional community of people that live together, share common interests, collaborate on ideas, and often have common values and beliefs, as well as shared resources and responsibilities. A big part of it is the interpersonal dimension communes offer an escape from the cult of individualism, by connecting you with people to hang out with and grow close and intimate with, in a society where a lot of people lack social connection. Furthermore, there are also a lot of economic benefits.

I cook once a month and am cooked for the other 29 days of the month, explained Eric Rogers, a resident at The Red Victorian. I have this huge building at my disposal. I basically have the biggest house out of anyone I know. And thats a really nice thing to have in a city that has extremely expensive real estate

Built in 1904, the Red Victorian has been a cornerstone of the Upper Haight and a gathering place for revolutionaries, artists and travelers. Before it became a commune, the building was a historic peace and love hotel from the 1970s, and a meeting place through housing political protests, radical new ideas, artwork, creativity and conversations around creating world peace.

About 20 residents live and work together to build a rich community in The Red Victorian. It welcomes its residents to host and attend events from talks, classes and skill shares to music nights, book discussions and family dinners. It is also run as a small hotel, by renting out unoccupied rooms and making selected visitors staying in The Red Victorian feel like coming home to friends and family.

It is part of a greater international commune network, along with the flagship house The Embassy. Both communities work closely together and have great vision in bringing forth change they want to see in the world.

I would describe our community as a very creative and diverse group of people that are very interested in improving the world and also changing some of the systemic ways in which the world operates and perpetuates culture, Rogers said.

They are also part of the 11 houses that comprise the Haight Street Commons network, a group of communities united by geography. Every community operates differently. They make their own house rules and standards for housemate selection. Some are larger and house up to 30 residents; others are smaller and bring together a dozen people. When a new community starts, there is a lot of intention setting and meetings around what values the house should uphold and live by. As a result, you end up with a broad range of lifestyles and vibes in these houses whether it is creating a space to focus on art, or a place to experiment with consensus-based decision-making, or more inwards-focusing goals and creating meaningful bonds with housemates.

Our communitiesare about creating tiny pockets of experiments, Agnew said. I think its a great thing that we operate differently, it would be sad if we all do the exact same thing.

The members of these variouscommunities connect and attend each others events. As a result you see a lot of crossover and friendships, creating a greatercommunity of like-minded people, all diverse in origin, age and walks of life, but united by their choice to live their life with intention. And you really see them come together to support each other and learn from one another.

Until now, weve largely had a society that has evolved and weve never really had one that was designed. And weve certainly not had a chance to vote or experiment on the kind of society that we might like to have that actually represents all of us, and Id like to see the communes being these places where we get to experiment with how we might like to operate and sharing these learnings between us, Agnew explained.

People have been living communally for thousands of years, whether it is with tribes of hunter-gatherers or extended families. It is only recently that atomized livingbecame such a prevalent notion in Western society. Surges in popularity of communal living, such as the ones weve seen in the 1870s and the 1960s have been associatedto slums in our economy, so there are a lot of dimensionsat play political, cultural and economic among others.

For communal living to thrive in the future, there are a lot of systemic and legislative challenges that will need to be addressed. Financially, it is very difficult to start a commune or to find suitable buildings. Communal dwellings are frequently inspected, according to their organizers. City officials may notunderstand what communal living is, since itdoesnt always fit intopredefined boxes and categories. As a result, this movement has challenged the meaning of the word family.

There are two major ways that communes can compete with our notion of family. First, there is the dimension of company and emotional support, and second, from an economic perspective, shared domestic labor.Some states in the U.S. to this day, dictate that you cannot have more than four unrelated adults living in one household.

Generally speaking, American society has been told that you do that within a family. But weve realized that it can be a lot more effective if you do it on a larger scale, Rogers explained. In fact, The Embassy commune has seenfamilies with kids among its residents in the past.

Im in this in the long run, Rogers said. Im not doing this as a youthful thing that I look back gleefully on when Im an old person or a person with a family. For me Im really interested in redefining what family means.

Rogers will be pursuing his Ph.D. at Cambridge this fall, writing his thesis on Communes in the 21st Century.

EDITORS NOTE: ReporterAnna Yelizarova is a serial communal-living dweller and a current resident at Chateau Ubuntu, an intentional community in San Francisco.

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The Scattering of Campus Social Life | The Amherst Student – Amherststudent

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Its no secret that the destruction of the socials has had a big impact on the social scene at Amherst. If a group of students want to have a party, then they have to reserve a dorms public common room, or a venue like the Powerhouse, unless they live in one of the five suites in Jenkins. That has made it a lot harder to organize parties, according to Beau Santero 18, a member of the football team. On the flip side, residents of the Triangle dorms of Mayo-Smith, Hitchcock and Seelye have qualms of their own, with one Mayo resident speaking for many of his neighbors when he complained of sticky floors and trashed bathrooms after parties organized by non-residents.

At the end of the day, some of these conflicts are inevitable when students have such different ideas of a good time. Some people look forward to Friday, because it means a board game night in a friends dorm room. For others, it means getting a good nights rest before waking up early for a hiking trip with the Outing Club. Still others pine away, lighting candles to the memories of Pond, Stone, Coolidge and Crossett.

However, after talking to a few of our fellow students, we have come to the conclusion that a lot of the tensions, which arise when students with different interests compete for a limited number of viable social spaces, are due to the dynamics of party registration and dorm governance unique to Amherst. This is good news, because it means we can try and fix things.

The key problem of partying at Amherst after the socials demolition is that the interests of partygoers and dorm residents are less aligned than at any point in the colleges history. Before 1984, residential fraternities hosted most parties. After 1984, a mixed regime of parties within on-campus suites, parties in common areas of dorms and parties in off-campus houses prevailed. Under both systems, a large share of parties were held by residents in a suite or house. Obviously, this helped reduce the negative effects of noise and mess on students less interested in partying. Now, with all options other than parties in common rooms and public venues like the Powerhouse eliminated by architectural fiat, living and partying have become spatially scattered with negative effects for all. Moreover, there are fewer and fewer opportunities for people to form intentional communities with their peers that are grounded in a fusion of social and residential space a formula that has been essential to the success of theme housing at Amherst.

In exploring these issues, we spoke to four students: a football player, a Mayo-Smith resident, a theme house residential counselor (RC) and a three-year RC who has supervised both first-year and returning-student dorms. We know our research is far from exhaustive. The sample size is tiny, and our respondents were drawn from our extended social circle. Thats why we intend for this to be a starting point. We hope others will raise new ideas and call us out where they think we are mistaken.

Our conversations with a resident and partygoers on the Triangle help illustrate why the current situation is a crummy deal for partiers and non-partiers alike. One Mayo-Smith resident said he wouldnt choose to live in Mayo-Smith or a similar dorm again. Indeed, according to statistics provided by Director of Student Activities Paul Gallegos, 29 percent of all registered parties in the 2016-2017 academic year to date have occurred in the three Triangle dorms (Mayo-Smith, Seelye and Hitchcock).

That burden is perhaps a contributor to the divide between partiers and residents perceived by the same Mayo resident. On weekends, the bathrooms are frequently trashed, with spilled alcohol, cups, and garbage on the ground, he said. Our first-floor common room is disgusting, smelly, sticky and unusable.

This lack of accountability is a natural result of a system in which residents and partygoers have distinct interests. Conversely, Santero described a parallel group of problems faced by people trying to organize parties: demolishing the socials, he says, was a shock to the system. Now, its a scramble to get a giant group of guys who are really excited to go out on a Saturday all together in a social space while also trying to be respectful to students who, quite simply, never wanted to live next to the football team in the first place.

One RC, who asked to remain anonymous, painted a picture of exceptionally toxic relations between his residents and students using the dorms common space for registered parties. I know that there have been dorm damage incidents in the past in all dorms, but this year damage has skyrocketed, he said. Damage has gone beyond just simple accidents to outright destruction of property and disrespect. The basement has had eight holes [made by students] these are holes the size of a chair or a human body.

The tenor of relations described by the people to whom we spoke belies the effectiveness of a technical or administration-driven solution. We are not at all anti-party. In fact, were the opposite. And new rules, or a new formal party registration system, seem like half-measures at best. What has happened is the complete dissection and rearrangement of student life in space. Strong communities are based on the richness of overlapping social, residential and academic experiences. When these different functions are scattered across campus, its a no-win situation.

Our interview with Bryan Doniger 18 was a refreshing counterpoint to the horror stories we heard from our other respondents. Bryan is the RC of Marsh, the arts theme house. Marsh is an intentional community. Members have to apply and interview. They contribute to the life of the house with Marsh-sponsored art projects. The dorm has an e-board and a president alongside the RC.

Doniger says that when his residents have objected to a planned party, weve been able to work out all objections without cancelling any parties the goal is to host events while still keeping everyone relatively happy. As a result, Doniger has had to do much less to resolve conflicts between residents and partygoers than RCs of other dorms, noting that even when he had to shut down parties, things went smoothly.

Donigers experience with Marsh may be idiosyncratic. However, we think there is a more compelling explanation. Marsh as a whole has more social resources than other dorms. By that, we mean it is a real entity in a way that Garman, Seelye and Lipton just arent. Because it functions as a hybrid of a student organization and a residence hall, residents know what theyre getting into. We believe this web of social ties creates a sense of collective belonging and responsibility that is missing in other dorms (aside from the other theme houses). It is weakly institutionalized where it does exist, making it hard to perpetuate. Thus, Marsh is able to host regular open parties and biweekly Coffee Haus events with little fuss, even as other dorms have seen a huge increase in party-related conflict.

The question is not what to take away from other dorms, but how to make Marsh-like systems a bigger part of residential life. Marsh works because it is built on organic ties between students, not the artifice of administration-proposed follies like last years Neighborhoods scheme. Designating distinct loud and quiet dorms is a step in the right direction, but it is only a first step. Moving forward, we should explore ways to build Marsh-like institutional structures into the fabric of upperclassman dorm life at Amherst, learning from relevant models at other institutions, like the social houses at Bowdoin and Middlebury or the eating clubs at Princeton that have abandoned the selective bicker process.

This article is not a research note or a policy proposal, and it is not our place to make specific policy recommendations that our little bit of investigation doesnt justify. But it is safe to say this: In 1986, the Beastie Boys called on their fans to fight for the right to party. Now more than ever, we need to make sure that this is a fight we have with the administration, not with each other.

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Former NASA official Dava Newman speaks about space travel and … – CU Independent

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Dava Newman discussed developments in space technology and NASAs plans on journeying to Mars during a visit to CU Boulder.

Newman is the keynote speaker for this years Conference on World Affairs and gave an address Monday titled Humanitys Exploration: From Earth to Mars and Beyond to a crowded Macky Auditorium. Newman is the former deputy administrator of NASA, and, after resigning on Jan. 20, is now a professor of astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She beganby discussing space missions that are currently in progress, including Juno, New Horizons, OSIRIS Rex and CUs own MAVEN probe.

Newman said that she was inspired to get involved in space travel by watching the Apollo missions when she was young.

The Apollo program taught me as a young girl growing up in Montana that all dreams are possible, she said. If we can get to the moon, then whats the next goal for humanity?

Newman said she believes the next goal is to send humans to Mars. She said this plan has three phases: preparing astronauts to live in space for long periods with the International Space Station, capturing an asteroid from space and putting it into orbit around the moon, and then sending human crews to Mars in the 2030s. The ISS gives astronauts valuable experience in space and helps researchers study how long durations of time in space impact the human body, important knowledge in advance of the journey to Mars. Capturing and then sending manned flights to an asteroid would give astronauts experience in space above low-earth orbit and will help NASA test new technology.

Newman also discussed the development of the BioSuit, which she is well known for. The BioSuit is more mobile and less bulky than a traditional spacesuit. It functions more like a leotard than the conventional, hefty suit. It was developed to maximize astronautsmobility and is much more practical than a common spacesuit for long missions like a journey to Mars.

Newman ended her talk by imploring the audience to think bigger about who can engagein space exploration. She said instead of focusing on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) she was more interested in the potential of STEAMD: science, technology, engineering, art, math and design.

Its up to us to filter everyone in, not out, Newman said. She explained that as an aerospace engineer she can only do her work when collaborating with people from a range of other fields, and she implored people from all backgrounds to get involved in the space industry.

We need you, she said.

Contact CU Independent Copy Editor Carina Julig at carina.julig@colorado.edu.

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Most Americans Aren’t Volunteering for Space Travel – Rasmussen … – Rasmussen Reports

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Most Americans Aren't Volunteering for Space Travel

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Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Virgin Galactic owner Richard Branson insists he'll have commercial travelers in space by the end of next year, but a trip to space isnt high on most Americans to-do lists.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 30% of American Adults would travel into space on a commercial flight if they could afford it. Sixty-one percent (61%) would not. (To see survey question wording,click here.)

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The national survey of 1,000 American Adults was conducted on April 5-6, 2017 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Fieldwork for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted byPulse Opinion Research, LLC. Seemethodology.

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We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.

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