Let's Get Honest! Absolutely Uncommon Analysis of Family & Conciliation Courts' Operations, Practices, & History

Why I Haven’t Posted Since January 8 (See New Front and Posts Pages!) (This one, published 1/28/2018; case-sensitive short-link ends “-8uV.”

Been working on a few things…  That Front Page contains at least 60 images AND at least a half-dozen multi-image galleries.  Plus the writing, as it explains up front!

Temporary Technical Obstacle — How to Display the “Posts Page.” Separately (not shown here) — How to get abbreviate {click to ‘Read More’} function to work on a page (vs. post), especially this very long “Front Page” !

Already published, this is an excerpt from my recent Page (not post) on the Nat’l Children’s Alliance. Relates to some recent work on the other pages..

That Archive for January is rather blank for a reason…

See those top three posts Pages (from “Vital LInks Info-Links (Menu)” on right sidebar), just published 1/27/2018. [I’ll also add just these few closer to top of sidebar also. //LGH 1/29/2018

From “SkillsGarage.net”

Credits as shown, found in a 2014 Huffington Post article on how puzzle-solving is good for kids. Found that (and the other images here) by Google image search…

I certainly agree, particularly on the first, second, and next to last (despite its typo) item in this list! From Problem-Solving by Varduhi Surmalyan (found via Google Image Search) (2 images)

Yep, on all three four points… But this presumes someone has identified a problem in the first place, and stating it well. Well-stated problems have a way of getting solved. Problems that undermine reason and contain built-in exclusions and assumptions don’t, but they do create more problems, usually for others….|| From Problem-Solving by Varduhi Surmalyan (found via Google Image Search) (2 images)

See other Nietzsche image.  (Ditto). Words are indeed symbols of relationships. Symbols by definition are not the things they represent. Symbols are powerful, efficient, and communicate far more than surface similarities. 

“Bingo!” (Note to Self: Read Nietzsche…)

Looking at the “Archive” for January on this blog, you’ll notice it’s rather blank.  This isn’t idleness — I’ve been working (hard!) over two weeks on a new front page to this blog, and the subsidiary pages generated from it, while looking at current activities of some organizations I’ve been blogging for years.  Obviously, these organizations don’t stay static meanwhile, but have followed their own courses.

Check out that home page’s section, with images, on “HolisticDivorce.com” (peddling the usual series of AFCC-authored books on coparenting and divorce, which was how it came up), a Boston-based LLC which tries to (but didn’t succeed in my case) NOT mention that it’s being run by two, probably related to each other (mother/daughter or mother/daughter-in-law seems likely) individuals, one of which is a partner in a family law firm which has been around for 30 years, and which website, while acknowledging owner is AFCC member (among many other notable memberships), for “Resources” Apps features three.  The second was “Our Family Wizard” (Diamond Sponsor to the 54th Annual Conference, last held in Boston, May 31, 2017, in fact).

The first was an app whose company was only started in 2011, and whose owners are in Belgium. Which led to the discovery of who helped with its startup crowd-funding (also based in Belgium).  This is crowd-funding + professional investors, the European way:  fast, flexible, and so far, between the AFCC recommending it (I’m sure the Boston law firm must not be the only one), and it being made available through iTunes (!!), it’s quite a good deal.

Incidentally, though the law firm in question is obviously all-woman, it’s rather favoring the fathers (through the usual “Parental Alienation/High-Conflict” rhetoric accompanied by references to “bogus use of restraining orders” and “litigation abuse” with NO reference to potential legitimate need for restraining orders (or prevention of domestic violence or abuse….), and like the other famous (in these circles) digital platform — this one backed by the force of “force” (i.e., an appeal NOT be forced to use it was struck down in 2014 — see also my home page near some very colorful images) — it was a father who invented.

Most definitely “which way the wind is blowing.”  All I’m doing is calling for better attention to it. More details on the home page.  What’s below is a sampler  (in slideshow/gallery format) from it.  One way you can tell the difference from individual vs. “gallery” images on my blog is that the latter, as I’ve seen it so far (it’s a new function to me) may be overlapping; individual images likely to have space or individual borders (which I add) around them.

The purpose for creating a “gallery” is viewing related images in sequence, and grouping them together on a blog.  Sometimes during writing, otherwise, text wrap on the images can result in some strange layouts, where the images are simply nowhere near the text relating to them…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The above images are in gallery/slideshow format, medium sized images.  Click on any one and use the navigation keys to move through them.  This represents some I just added (post-publication) to the new home page, and which in context are explained better there.

The timing of 2Houses crowdfunding (2011, closed 10/31/2012) is interesting to me for two reasons:  1, one of the founders of “MyMicroInvest” (see images or its website) had a background in microfinance from Brazil; others were from Bear Stearns, DeutscheBank, and Fortis bank, etc.  Their model centralizes professional investors on the digital platform and attracts crowdfunding, fast startup, and MyMicroInvest actually issues its own securities, has become a lender at times

Jan. 2011 article (just found) in The Atlantic discusses some problems with “MicroFinance” — for example, when it’s Robin Hood in Reverse:

“Lies, Hype and Profit:  The Truth About Microfinance.” by Kentaro Tomaya. January 28, 2011 — so make that EXACTLY seven years ago….

Modern microfinance began in Bangladesh, where economist Muhammad Yunus discovered that a stool-maker from a poor village was effectively enslaved because she did not have the 22 cents that would let her to bypass usurious middlemen. Yunus made an interest-free $27 loan to her and other villagers the next day.

And so, microcredit was born. Until recently, it was a darling of international development. By making small loans between $50 and $500 to low-income individuals and small businesses, microfinance was believed by many to offer a ladder out of poverty. Though accurate numbers are hard to come by, estimates suggest that worldwide, there are now over 600 million microcredit clients with combined loans of over $100 billion outstanding. The United Nations declared 2005 to be the Year of Microcredit, and in 2006, Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Note:  Neither MyMicroInvest  nor “2Houses S.A.” are promoting themselves as solutions to poverty.  Also, yes I know it’s not ‘microcredit” involved there, but as it says MicroInvesting…

Investments do provide tax shelters for Belgian natural persons tax and from the (Belgian) non-resident persons tax of up to 30% (see image or site for exact#) for their investment…I wonder when the Belgian company started its operations….

…The backlash against microcredit questions the myth that the poor can easily climb out of poverty with some credit; or that microcredit can be financially self-sustaining. Microcredit is supposed to be a lifeline for borrowers, a winner for investors, and a self-funding route out of poverty for the world.

The reality is far more complex.

To understand the backlash, let’s go back to August 2010. SKS Microfinance, the country’s most rapidly successful microcredit organization, held a public IPO that made millions for its founder, ex-McKinsey-consultant Vikram Akula. Many hailed the achievement as proof that microcredit could be financially self-sustaining. Local politicians saw it as Robin Hood inverted – a plot to steal from the poor and give to the rich. They persuaded borrowers to stop paying back their loans.

Another controversy occurred in Mexico in 2007. Banco Compartamos, a non-profit organization turned for-profit bank, raised nearly half a billion dollars in its IPO. Compartamos makes loans at an APR in the range of 75-100%. Yunus blasted Compartamos, saying, “Microcredit was created to fight the money lender, not to become the money lender.” Most microfinance institutions justify their high rates by arguing that they need to absorb costs of administration. Compartamos further adds that it if it were to drop rates any lower, it would shut out its competitors, who charge even higher interest rates.

Interesting food for thought… Moving on, with blog restructuring news:

You’ll now see three new pages under “Vital Links/Alpha-Chrono” sidebar (pretty far down on it; an image provided at top of this post), and may have noticed the main area of the blog looks differently. I’ve also over time learned a few new investigative “tricks” (not really– just websites leading to databases which I search) as in looking up things on charity and company websites in other countries — like the UK.  This was helpful in tracking certain organizations taking their clues, and receiving training from US organizations.

The new page has been hanging over my head for weeks, even as the subject matter is fascinating on its own. I’m posting here (and will probably expand this post too) in part to call attention to those new pages.**  It may take a while to get used to the new blog (Static Home Page) format, and for me to work out its remaining technical challenge — how to abbreviate it, if possible, with a “Read More” instruction like the ones used in the posts. Although at about this time, I’m thinking of leaving it as is, with a link to the “Posts” page provided near the top.

**Actually, to even get to them you’d have to look at the first one and click on the “Current Posts, Most Recent on Top” link shown above here. So count this post, the first since accomplishing that major task, as also wanting to have another January entry on the blog’s “Archive” page.

I also know that publishing a post generates a Twitter announcement, and want this information out.  (Who wouldn’t, after all the effort of putting it together?)

…This post is just about 1,000 words, which I hope makes up for the new “Front Page” which certainly isn’t! Well, since I added the image gallery and quote on Microcredit, that’s closer to 2,000 words.  Still much shorter than most of my posts….

Images above, not from my own blog (not including the added gallery around 2Houses and Holistic Divorce, Boston Law Firm, etc.), are

Miscellaneous Google Images Search Results, search string:  “People solving puzzles..”