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Thursday, September 19, 2013
Julie?s gadget diary ? choosing between the Motorola Moto X, Droid Ultra or Droid Maxx
I’m up to my eyeballs in phones right now because Verizon has sent me not one, not two, but three of Motorola’s latest Android smartphones to try out for a few days. Yeah, I know it’s a rough life, but someone has to live it I have the Moto X, DROID Ultra and the DROID […]
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Regulating Debt Management in the age of scrutiny | Much more ...
The debt resolution industry is facing changes in the way we are regulated from all different directions at the moment and, representing both ClearDebt and our trade association, Debt Resolution Forum, ?I?m in the middle of a whirlwind of change at the moment ? and just about resisting spinning out of control.
Right now, my industry and/or ClearDebt is dealing with (or about to deal with):
- The Introduction of the Debt Management Plan Protocol
- Development of Money Advice Service?s Quality Framework for Individuals
- Application for the Money Advice Service Quality Framework for Organisations
- Awaiting the imminent FCA consultation on detailed rules for debt management companies
- Creditor concerns on low value Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs)
- New creditors requirements for information from debt management companies
- Commercial structural opportunities that will come from FCA regulation
- Worries about handling client monies in debt management
- Trying to improve the way our industry deals with vulnerable clients.
So, writing this is, for me, the equivalent of taking a deep breath. All this change is good.
Really. Why? Well it?s another step on the road to fee-charging debt resolution being a trusted part of the UK personal debt scene.
After all, we do provide about 75% of the plans UK people use to help themselves get out of debt.
Debt Management Companies and the DMP Protocol
The DMP protocol is a voluntary deal between the government, the banks and debt collection companies and other creditors: Protocol compliant debt management companies are put through and successfully pass, independent annual inspections (as DRF members do already) carried out by the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA).
Big trust point ? Money Advice Service (MAS) will provide links to protocol compliant companies through their trade associations. Another plus.
It?s probably fair to say that, when MAS took on responsibility for debt advice they thought fee-charging debt resolution companies were the spawn of Satan.
That is no longer true ? MAS seem to recognize that a mixed economy for debt advice is needed and that transparency and standards are the route to ensuring consumers get a good service that they are prepared to pay for!
Independant Debt Research
Another positive thing that happened this week was that Money Advice Trust (another organisation that doesn?t like the principle of fee-based debt advice and also a very significant player in the area of public policy development) ?put some of our trade association (DRF -Debt Resolution Forum) research on it?s website.
We have been funding independent research (by Zero-Credit)?for two years now and the scepticism with which it was initially treated seems to have been overcome. I think the fee-charging debt resolution industry has developed a lot in recent years, now others seem to agree.
Keeping Clients Money Safe
Of course, that doesn?t mean we don?t have problems still to solve. I?m especially concerned about the standards we have for keeping safe the money clients send us and the risk that funds could go missing (as has happened, more than once, recently). We don?t think it is enough just to have a client account:
The way it is used must be monitored too ? ClearDebt has blogged about keeping clients money safe ? and hope to promote them in the forthcoming consultation on FCA?s detailed rules for Debt Management.
Full authorisation vs appointed representative
Speaking of which, the body that takes over regulation of the debt management sector, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have launched the process for application for interim permission. It looks like a doddle (it isn?t difficult ? I did it for ClearDebt last week): But this is just getting through the gate.
I think full authorisation by the FCA is going to require an attitude to compliance that really only the members of the two debt resolution trade associations currently have ? and that the costs, for many companies, are going to soar.
Establishing an independent, authoritative compliance function isn?t cheap. The one question in the interim permission application that gave me pause was the one that asked how many people do we have employed in compliance.
The answer is nine. I reckon the compliance burden is going to encourage many to choose to be appointed representatives or ARs, (where a fully authorised company takes responsibility for the AR?s compliance) rather than seek full authorisation (If you are thinking about this you still must get interim permission or you won?t be able to trade at all from next April ? FCA will delay full authorisation for those who say they want to be ARs in order to give time for people to build networks: If you want to speak to us now about joining our network then get in touch, we are ready.
Debt Regulation One Year On
So, what will things look like in a year?s time? fewer ?top companies? with wider, deeper networks? I think so.
More IVAs and fewer DMPs? I think that will happen too as long as creditors accept that an IVA is often the best deal for the debtor and that they ought not to insist on fees so low that it restricts access to the market.
Robust but costly compliance: That?s inevitable and a good thing for the consumer and the industry ? but some will baulk at the impact on their organisation and will either get out of the market or try to operate non-compliantly. Our industry?s reputation will suffer, yet again because of this.
More trust by policy-makers, creditors and consumers. This is the big win and I think it is on track to happen. If we can keep pace with this whirlwind of change.
Source: http://www.cleardebt.co.uk/blog/regulating-debt-management-scrutiny_91824
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Sunday, September 15, 2013
Learning to Sing Together in New Zealand and Zambia ? Pure Church by Thabiti Anyabwile
I?m still not over this jet lag thing. It?s the worst case I?ve ever had. On the one hand, I?m up early in the morning and finding those hours spiritually fruitful, but on the other hand rising at 2:30 or 3:00 a.m.?every day is probably going to be a problem long term. I nearly fell asleep on the way to Bible study last night?and it?s a short walk down a flight of stairs from my office study to our meeting place! Pray for a brother!
But the early morning has allowed me opportunity to continue reflecting on the Lord?s grace in our time in New Zealand, Australia, and Zambia. This morning He has turned my mind to the ?singing we enjoyed while visiting the saints abroad. I?m no ?music guy,? but I know great congregational singing when I hear it. And we heard a lot of great congregational singing.
Singing with the Saints on the Other Side of the World
In New Zealand, we spent our time with the saints at Howick Baptist Church and fellow believers from about fifty congregations who attended the Stand for the Gospel Conference. Our time at the church and conference featured a variety of arrangements led by different members of the church all with an emphasis on the congregational voice as the main instrument. We had accompaniment by strings, brass, wood winds (I think) and probably some other things I?m not recalling now. But all of it was accompaniment; it went along with the singing to aid and encourage the singing. Different leaders provided useful comments along the way and helpful focus so that we sang with understanding and with emphasis. They even provided brief footnotes on the slides to teach and improve knowledge of what we were singing. The result was a congregation of people?Maore, Kiwi, Afrikaans, Nigerian, American, and many more!?singing together and with joyful zeal great truths about out God. We even learned to look at one another and sing to one another as we worshiped.
Zambia provided a really different and equally edifying experience. In Zambia there was hardly any musical accompaniment at all. Whether we were in rural Chirundu worshiping under a tree or in the major city of Lusaka singing at the beautiful Lusaka Baptist Church building, the emphasis was almost entirely on the human voice. The role of the individual leader was more pronounced. No praise teams up front, just a lone elder announcing the hymns. Usually a sister in the congregation sounded the opening words and set the tune, then the congregation joined in. Time was often kept with energetic clapping, especially in the rural gatherings. But, oh, the voices! Sometimes in Bembe or Nyanga, sometimes in English, but always ringing out with joy to the Lord. We were swept up in the rushing sound. And when the congregation did not stand and deliver, the worship leader set things to right. It?s been a long, long time since I?ve seen a leader stop the congregation mid-verse, rebuke them for lackluster effort, and re-start the hymn from the top. But one young brother did exactly that. And the amazing thing to us is that we thought they were singing beautifully already!
Some Lessons from Those Who Sing
As I return to this side of the planet, I?m left musing on a few things we could learn from our siblings on the other side of the world.
Turn the volume down. Please. The decibel level sometimes hearing impairment zones in our gatherings and conferences. We don?t need that much amplification in order to render praise to God. He can hear our whispers and even our quiet thoughts. We won?t be heard for our much speaking or our loud instruments.
Put the instruments in the background. Whether you use various arrangements as our friends did in New Zealand or little accompaniment beyond hand clapping as our friends in Zambia, the instruments should play the background. They should assist, not dominate. They should help with rhythm, tone, enjoyment and beauty, but apart from some transitions or meditative moments in the service, they should not be the main attraction. They should play the background.
Emphasize the voice. If it?s not the case already, it might be good for the church?s leadership and congregation to answer a question along the lines of, ?What should be the major sound of Christian corporate worship?? For my part, I think it should be the human voice. I still stagger?sometimes?at the reality that God speaks and He has given us the same capacity. Our words are always extraordinary. No other creature in existence has the gift of language. We image forth our Creator in a unique way when we use words and when we sing. ?I think the voice will be the main sound of glory since?Heaven will resound with the voices of the redeemed and the angelic host. How marvelous that nearly all believers walk into the gathered service with a divinely designed musical instrument?the voice. We should emphasize it.
Charles Simoonga teaching at a village church near Chirundu, Zambia
Teach the people to sing. Of course, if our services are dominated by instruments turned up so loudly we can?t hear ourselves sing, we?re likely to find that most people in our gathering don?t sing and don?t know how to sing. Here?s where the leader makes a huge difference. What he says upfront and how he instructs people can make all the difference in the congregation?s participation, understanding and ability to sing. He can point out the mood of the song, guide people to meditate on the main theme, single out a refrain or verse particularly relevant to the morning?s text, call people to sing a chorus again for emphasis, or simply read a text of scripture that connects the song to God?s inspired truth so people know our worship is rooted in revelation. In these and countless other ways, the worship leader should actually lead. He should teach. Perhaps he?ll offer free voice lessons to the saints. Or maybe he?ll use slides a little differently. Or? brace yourself? perhaps he?ll use hymnals (gasp? remember those?) and help people learn to read music as they sing. There are countless ways to crack this nut. But the point is the guys up front during worship should be teaching the people to sing. Even though each saint walks into the service with a God-given instrument (the voice), we don?t automatically know how to use them well or how to use them together. We need to be taught.
Leaders are not performers. We don?t need flashy or dazzling. We don?t need to be wowed by someone?s wizardry with instruments. We don?t need fog machines and light shows. We need people up front who worship! That?s it. They lift their hearts to God and help others do the same. I know people can and do worship with fog machines and light shows and so on. But we don?t need those things, and if we do, we might want to think about the maturity of our thinking as leaders and the maturity of our congregation when it comes to the public praise of God. Such dependence might be a kind of idolatry. At the least it?s an over-reliance on performance technology. And wherever that occurs, it?s probably accompanied by to little emphasis on helping people prepare their hearts and minds for the gathered worship. Rather then readying themselves through communion with God before the meeting, we may be relying on a performance to ?ready? them once they arrive. And that impoverishes our gathered praise far more than we know.
It doesn?t take much. In none of the meetings did we sing a ton of songs. Even in the conference settings there was no concert feel. In most cases we sang about four songs total. But because the songs were so well introduced and congregations so well led, those four songs edified as much or more as an hour of singing. Sometimes we may be guilty of attempting to achieve good spiritual effects via quantity rather than quality. I know there are folks who are happy with both quality and quantity. But sometimes less really is more?especially if the ?less? is less volume, less instrumentation dominance and less repetition of weak choruses. Give a church gathering a collection of fewer songs, rich in gospel and biblical truth, introduced and led well, where people are called on to actually sing with understanding, and I think you?ll see more happen to the heart of the people week in and week out than if they were spending hours at really good concerts.
Some cultural diversity won?t kill us. Actually, it?ll likely help us. The more I travel the more it seems people everywhere sing the same stuff. The sound is the same. I love the Gettys, Sovereign Grace, Stuart Townend and the like. But have the culturally distinct forms of worship disappeared altogether? Part of what I enjoyed in Zambia was that even something as simple as clapping can communicate some appropriate cultural distinctiveness. The rhythm, syncopation and variance of hand claps said that another ethnic group had been brought under the Lordship of Christ. So did the occasional song lifted up in Bembe or Nyanga. So does singing widely enjoyed hymns and songs in a culturally distinctive way. Those diverse cultural elements beautify the congregational praise and exalt the Savior. We need more of that.
Conclusion
On the whole, I left New Zealand and Zambia (I don?t mention Australia because none of our meetings with pastors featured singing) with a sense that we need a revival in congregational singing. Plenty of people have sounded this note before. I want to add my hearty, ?Amen!? Let the redeemed of the Lord say so?in song!
Copyright ? 2013 by the author listed above. Used by permission.
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Saturday, September 14, 2013
Insurance - Central America, Mexico - Qu?litas' premiums fall in Mexico, rise in Central America during August
Mexico's largest vehicle insurer Qu?litas saw its year-on-year written premiums fall in Mexico and rise in Central America during August, according to Qu?litas' latest results...
This news article is one of hundreds published daily by Business News Americas about the commodities, markets, movements, companies, projects, economics and politics integral to the development of Latin America. Including news and insight from South America, Central America and the Caribbean, BNamericas includes Insurance insight and forecasts for business opportunities in Mexico. The business development service focuses on major projects, active companies, such as Qu?litas; and business and sales contacts, providing networking opportunities with leading executives throughout Latin America. Contact us today! Phone:+56 (2) 2941-0300
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Thursday, September 12, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Insignt into storing and organizing company data
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Many companies still find it a challenge to search systematically for in-house data wherever they might be stored -- and to actually find them. Enterprise search solutions are designed to provide support in that process. Now, new research has brought out a new market study that provides an initial glimpse into the little researched market of company search engines.
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Tuesday, September 3, 2013
US Sends Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier USS Nimitz To Red Sea In Anticipation Of Military Strike On Syria
The ships were ordered to move to the Red Sea, which lies between Egypt and Saudi Arabia and is connected to the Mediterranean Sea by the Suez Canal, as the Navy leverages its assets ?to have them in place should the capabilities of the carrier strike group and the presence be needed,? a defense official told Reuters.
The ships do not have orders, as of now, to be deployed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, which lies closer to Syria, but another defense source who spoke to Reuters said, the Navy is trying to be ?as ready as possible, should we be needed.?
The Nimitz strike group was slated to return to its home port in Everett, Wash., after ending its deployment in the Indian Ocean, where it was assisting U.S. operations in Afghanistan, but amid prospects of an imminent strike by the U.S. in Syria, U.S. defense officials decided to reroute it to the Red Sea, Reuters reported.
The U.S. Navy has six warships -- five destroyers equipped with cruise missiles and an amphibious ship, USS San Antonio -- stationed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, as part of preparations for a ?limited? strike on Syria, according to another Reuters report on Friday.
The San Antonio has hundreds of Marines on board, but defense officials stressed that the U.S. did not have plans to deploy them on the ground if a military strike occurred, but added that the ship could provide a temporary base for special operations forces, and could also help in evacuations.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama?s decision to delay the strike to seek congressional approval was met with accusations of ?indecision? and ?confusion? from the Syrian government.
?It is clear there was a sense of hesitation and disappointment in what was said by President Barack Obama yesterday. And it is also clear there was a sense of confusion as well,? Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said in Damascus, according to news reports.
Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally in the region, offered support to a U.S. strike on Syria, if the Syrian people supported such a move.
?We stand by the will of the Syrian people. They know best their interests, so whatever they accept, we accept, and whatever they refuse, we refuse,? Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said in Cairo, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Arab League on Sunday, according to Al Jazeera.
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