Charity Allocations
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I'll bet you've never seen a post like this one before. The Lounge is supposed to be a non-technical area, so I'm testing the limits here. I'm a member of the B of D for the local United Way. We had an emergency meeting this week, because the donations are down 37%. So many people responded, so generously, to the events of 9/11, that they are feeling tapped out and aren't donating to the UW this year. I don't in any way fault them for that - I am proud of the way Americans have responded to a domestic crisis. But at the same time, local needs are growing. Our economy is casino/hospitality based, and people are being laid off in droves because nobody's travelling anymore. Most of these people are single-parent heads of family, and the loss of medical benefits is killing them. The meeting was called to deal with the crisis, and the intent was to review which agencies we need to support, and to consider which we might want to drop. Hell of a tough meeting! We provide funding for 42 agencies, and they're all doing great work. The agencies are classified into three groups; Basic Needs, Health and Human Services, and Youth Services. In the first category are agancies which provide services which, without them, people start dying. In the second, the help goes to those who need rape counselling, assistance with substance abuse, mental therapy, and such to preserve their lives. The last, my personal favorite, funds programs for chidren, like Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, Youth Soccer. We couldn't define at this meeting a single agancy that we could justify cutting off. What we did decide to do is to re-allocate whatever funds we receive to agencies that provide life-saving services first. In a nutshell, we allocated 45% to Basic Needs, 35% to Health and Human Services, and the rest to Youth Services. My question to the forum is: is there a more fair and humane way that we could have done this? Make a decision, no matter that you haven't enough information. You can always change it when better information becomes available! Don't ever be indecisive...
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I'll bet you've never seen a post like this one before. The Lounge is supposed to be a non-technical area, so I'm testing the limits here. I'm a member of the B of D for the local United Way. We had an emergency meeting this week, because the donations are down 37%. So many people responded, so generously, to the events of 9/11, that they are feeling tapped out and aren't donating to the UW this year. I don't in any way fault them for that - I am proud of the way Americans have responded to a domestic crisis. But at the same time, local needs are growing. Our economy is casino/hospitality based, and people are being laid off in droves because nobody's travelling anymore. Most of these people are single-parent heads of family, and the loss of medical benefits is killing them. The meeting was called to deal with the crisis, and the intent was to review which agencies we need to support, and to consider which we might want to drop. Hell of a tough meeting! We provide funding for 42 agencies, and they're all doing great work. The agencies are classified into three groups; Basic Needs, Health and Human Services, and Youth Services. In the first category are agancies which provide services which, without them, people start dying. In the second, the help goes to those who need rape counselling, assistance with substance abuse, mental therapy, and such to preserve their lives. The last, my personal favorite, funds programs for chidren, like Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, Youth Soccer. We couldn't define at this meeting a single agancy that we could justify cutting off. What we did decide to do is to re-allocate whatever funds we receive to agencies that provide life-saving services first. In a nutshell, we allocated 45% to Basic Needs, 35% to Health and Human Services, and the rest to Youth Services. My question to the forum is: is there a more fair and humane way that we could have done this? Make a decision, no matter that you haven't enough information. You can always change it when better information becomes available! Don't ever be indecisive...
Roger Wright wrote: My question to the forum is: is there a more fair and humane way that we could have done this? Interestung topic Roger ! My 4 cents! [ due to a bad exchange rate :-) ] There will never be a more "humane way" cuts like that will always hurt someone. But my logic says that kidz are the future and so the childrens causes should come first as they will teach the kidz useful social values that will not cause the other two classifications to be so needed in the future. As an analogy the same sort of logic says to me when buying a home to put down the largest deposit as possible and go without luxurious furnishings for a few years. Also I believe the youth organisations could be reclassified as to what decile of the population they cater to, and the lower decile average achieved the higher the funding, that way the youth orgs would actively pursue kidz from more disadvantaged socio economic groups. ( I know that soundz a bit like socialism but in these case the ends justifies the means ) Your local economy also probably means that you have a lot of transient visitors and workers, (just a guess) if so your locality would probably have more social problems then other comparable population bases. So do u get any govermental support ? And if so can it be redirected ? Heh kewl siganture you got once again. :-) Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
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I'll bet you've never seen a post like this one before. The Lounge is supposed to be a non-technical area, so I'm testing the limits here. I'm a member of the B of D for the local United Way. We had an emergency meeting this week, because the donations are down 37%. So many people responded, so generously, to the events of 9/11, that they are feeling tapped out and aren't donating to the UW this year. I don't in any way fault them for that - I am proud of the way Americans have responded to a domestic crisis. But at the same time, local needs are growing. Our economy is casino/hospitality based, and people are being laid off in droves because nobody's travelling anymore. Most of these people are single-parent heads of family, and the loss of medical benefits is killing them. The meeting was called to deal with the crisis, and the intent was to review which agencies we need to support, and to consider which we might want to drop. Hell of a tough meeting! We provide funding for 42 agencies, and they're all doing great work. The agencies are classified into three groups; Basic Needs, Health and Human Services, and Youth Services. In the first category are agancies which provide services which, without them, people start dying. In the second, the help goes to those who need rape counselling, assistance with substance abuse, mental therapy, and such to preserve their lives. The last, my personal favorite, funds programs for chidren, like Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, Youth Soccer. We couldn't define at this meeting a single agancy that we could justify cutting off. What we did decide to do is to re-allocate whatever funds we receive to agencies that provide life-saving services first. In a nutshell, we allocated 45% to Basic Needs, 35% to Health and Human Services, and the rest to Youth Services. My question to the forum is: is there a more fair and humane way that we could have done this? Make a decision, no matter that you haven't enough information. You can always change it when better information becomes available! Don't ever be indecisive...
Roger Wright wrote: The last, my personal favorite, funds programs for chidren, like Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, Youth Soccer Gee, you seem to have left Boy Scouts out of that list. Hmmm, I wonder why...?
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Roger Wright wrote: The last, my personal favorite, funds programs for chidren, like Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, Youth Soccer Gee, you seem to have left Boy Scouts out of that list. Hmmm, I wonder why...?
Stan Shannon wrote: Gee, you seem to have left Boy Scouts out of that list. Hmmm, I wonder why...? Just curious but who here ever was a Boy Scout? I was both a Cub and a Boy Scout. Never got many badges because I was more interested in the camping and hiking. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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Stan Shannon wrote: Gee, you seem to have left Boy Scouts out of that list. Hmmm, I wonder why...? Just curious but who here ever was a Boy Scout? I was both a Cub and a Boy Scout. Never got many badges because I was more interested in the camping and hiking. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
I was a cub and a scout for many years. As a cub I got more badges (nearly an arm full of them!) and even became a sixer :), but as a boy scout I soon got bored of all the monotonous crap that they put you through each week like half an hour of standing in line whilst various flags are saluted, chants are quoted, and awards are given out. I know that may sound slightly mean of me, but I joined the scouts like Paul to go camping, hiking, and play with guns - not to take part in some religion-based cult. Still, if I ever have kids i'd let them go to brownies/cubs/b-g scouts, etc, if they wanted to, as it is a great way of learning to be part of a team, and I learnt many things during my time with those guys that will stay with me for the rest of my life - not so much survival skills or first aid, but social skills; the stuff they don't teach you in schools. ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk "I wrote a program in Visual C++ that allows me to send over 5,000 GIGABYTES of Video to every computer and TV Set connected to the Internet in "0" SECONDS (YES! ZERO seconds!)" - Bill SerGio, Professional W*nker
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I was a cub and a scout for many years. As a cub I got more badges (nearly an arm full of them!) and even became a sixer :), but as a boy scout I soon got bored of all the monotonous crap that they put you through each week like half an hour of standing in line whilst various flags are saluted, chants are quoted, and awards are given out. I know that may sound slightly mean of me, but I joined the scouts like Paul to go camping, hiking, and play with guns - not to take part in some religion-based cult. Still, if I ever have kids i'd let them go to brownies/cubs/b-g scouts, etc, if they wanted to, as it is a great way of learning to be part of a team, and I learnt many things during my time with those guys that will stay with me for the rest of my life - not so much survival skills or first aid, but social skills; the stuff they don't teach you in schools. ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk "I wrote a program in Visual C++ that allows me to send over 5,000 GIGABYTES of Video to every computer and TV Set connected to the Internet in "0" SECONDS (YES! ZERO seconds!)" - Bill SerGio, Professional W*nker
David Wulff wrote: the stuff they don't teach you in schools. Yeah! I learnt how to make a mud-catapult, a foofey slide, how to fill a sleeping bag with shaving cream and how to collapse tents in the middle of the night. Damned fine education and nothing they taught me in school came close! ;P David Wulff wrote: but I joined the scouts like Paul to go camping, hiking, and play with guns - not to take part in some religion-based cult. God yes, that whole chanting, flag waving, foot stomping crap made me wonder if I was going to be drafted into Hitlers child army. David Wulff wrote: but I joined the scouts like Paul to go camping, hiking, Some of my fondest memories. Some of my coldest too... we went on a snow hike but I had come from a warmer climate and the only warm gear I had was two track suits and a "tropical climate" sleeping bag. Arrgghh! :) Still fun showing people how blue my hands got though. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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I was a cub and a scout for many years. As a cub I got more badges (nearly an arm full of them!) and even became a sixer :), but as a boy scout I soon got bored of all the monotonous crap that they put you through each week like half an hour of standing in line whilst various flags are saluted, chants are quoted, and awards are given out. I know that may sound slightly mean of me, but I joined the scouts like Paul to go camping, hiking, and play with guns - not to take part in some religion-based cult. Still, if I ever have kids i'd let them go to brownies/cubs/b-g scouts, etc, if they wanted to, as it is a great way of learning to be part of a team, and I learnt many things during my time with those guys that will stay with me for the rest of my life - not so much survival skills or first aid, but social skills; the stuff they don't teach you in schools. ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk "I wrote a program in Visual C++ that allows me to send over 5,000 GIGABYTES of Video to every computer and TV Set connected to the Internet in "0" SECONDS (YES! ZERO seconds!)" - Bill SerGio, Professional W*nker
We dont have this stuff in India. I think there is soemthing called the NCC, national cadet corps which is somethin similar, they dress up in funny uniforms and stuff. I think they go for campin and bird hunting and helping old people cross the street even if it is an empty road, due to being under construction from both ends Nish Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain www.busterboy.org If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut
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Roger Wright wrote: The last, my personal favorite, funds programs for chidren, like Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, Youth Soccer Gee, you seem to have left Boy Scouts out of that list. Hmmm, I wonder why...?
Actually, they have been on the list for many years, but I didn't want to enumerate the whole list:-D
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Actually, they have been on the list for many years, but I didn't want to enumerate the whole list:-D
Fair enough.
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Stan Shannon wrote: Gee, you seem to have left Boy Scouts out of that list. Hmmm, I wonder why...? Just curious but who here ever was a Boy Scout? I was both a Cub and a Boy Scout. Never got many badges because I was more interested in the camping and hiking. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
I managed to come within two merit badges or so of Eagle, but back then we were required to wear uniforms on national holidays, and the harrassment from the other kids at school became unbearable. I dropped out:((
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Stan Shannon wrote: Gee, you seem to have left Boy Scouts out of that list. Hmmm, I wonder why...? Just curious but who here ever was a Boy Scout? I was both a Cub and a Boy Scout. Never got many badges because I was more interested in the camping and hiking. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
I spent about two weeks in the scouts as a young boy. I hated it. I was an 'out doorsey(?)' kind of kid anyway, but I just wanted to do my own thing (like turtle hunting) rather than the structured stuff. My son, however, loves the scouts. Go figure.
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Roger Wright wrote: My question to the forum is: is there a more fair and humane way that we could have done this? Interestung topic Roger ! My 4 cents! [ due to a bad exchange rate :-) ] There will never be a more "humane way" cuts like that will always hurt someone. But my logic says that kidz are the future and so the childrens causes should come first as they will teach the kidz useful social values that will not cause the other two classifications to be so needed in the future. As an analogy the same sort of logic says to me when buying a home to put down the largest deposit as possible and go without luxurious furnishings for a few years. Also I believe the youth organisations could be reclassified as to what decile of the population they cater to, and the lower decile average achieved the higher the funding, that way the youth orgs would actively pursue kidz from more disadvantaged socio economic groups. ( I know that soundz a bit like socialism but in these case the ends justifies the means ) Your local economy also probably means that you have a lot of transient visitors and workers, (just a guess) if so your locality would probably have more social problems then other comparable population bases. So do u get any govermental support ? And if so can it be redirected ? Heh kewl siganture you got once again. :-) Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
I live in Bob's HungOut now
Colin Davies wrote: Your local economy also probably means that you have a lot of transient visitors and workers, A very good guess! And all of them are very poorly paid. What isn't obvious is that we have a huge population of retired, fixed-income residents as well. Most of them are in serious trouble; many have to choose between eating and buying the meds they need to stay alive. Government funding is limited to their Social Security benefits, though, and the only HMO in the county ceased operations a year or so ago, so their access to health care is very limited. Another consideration is that the youth agencies tend to have a broad funding base, of which UW is only one. Many of the Basic Needs group have only us to rely upon. If we reduce funding to the Boys and Girls club, for instance, it would certainly have an impact, but they'd still be in business. Not so with the Meals on Wheels programs, which ensure that the shut-ins get at least one meal a day. And, not incidentally, it also means someone is checking on these people each day - it's not uncommon to find one expired, or in dire need of emergency assistance during a meal run. These groups are living so close to the edge that even a small cut in funding could mean their demise. As you can see, it's not an easy call. And while I agree that the best use of funding is an investment in the future, in a time of (hopefully temporary) crisis, it may be better to retrench and preserve to truly critical services, and hope to a return to normal. As poor as this region is, these are the most generous people I have ever known. Despite their low income, they give, they donate their time, they take care of each other. Last year, for the first time ever, the contributions exceeded the amount asked by the agencies by a small margin - unheard of in this business! I can only hope that as we put the events of the past year behind us, conditions will improve... Overall, I think the Board made as good a choice as is practical, but I keep hoping someone smarter than me will have a better idea :-D Thanks for your thoughts! Time spent playing with children is not deducted from a man's allotted hours...
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David Wulff wrote: the stuff they don't teach you in schools. Yeah! I learnt how to make a mud-catapult, a foofey slide, how to fill a sleeping bag with shaving cream and how to collapse tents in the middle of the night. Damned fine education and nothing they taught me in school came close! ;P David Wulff wrote: but I joined the scouts like Paul to go camping, hiking, and play with guns - not to take part in some religion-based cult. God yes, that whole chanting, flag waving, foot stomping crap made me wonder if I was going to be drafted into Hitlers child army. David Wulff wrote: but I joined the scouts like Paul to go camping, hiking, Some of my fondest memories. Some of my coldest too... we went on a snow hike but I had come from a warmer climate and the only warm gear I had was two track suits and a "tropical climate" sleeping bag. Arrgghh! :) Still fun showing people how blue my hands got though. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
Paul Watson wrote: God yes, that whole chanting, flag waving, foot stomping crap made me wonder if I was going to be drafted into Hitlers child army. My Scoutmaster was a retired naval officer who treated us like boots. I always got even, though... It was my job to locate just the perfect spot for Sunday services; I was a born Mountain Man, and I blazed trails to some of the most goforsaken remote locations a human could aspire to reach. The old man couldn't lose face in front of us kids, but he was usually fairly whipped by the time he reached the spot:laugh: What a great experience it was, though. We had to light a fire with no more than two matches; I showed 'em how to do it with none. We had a competition among patrols to cross a creek. While the rest struggled with a single rope, my patrol built a monkey bridge and walked across in style! If I had kids, they'd be in scouts - boy or girl - for as long as they want...
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We dont have this stuff in India. I think there is soemthing called the NCC, national cadet corps which is somethin similar, they dress up in funny uniforms and stuff. I think they go for campin and bird hunting and helping old people cross the street even if it is an empty road, due to being under construction from both ends Nish Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain www.busterboy.org If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut
Nish [BusterBoy] wrote: We dont have this stuff in India. Hey Nish - Check out this web site http://www.tbsgi.org/ Scouts/Guides have been in India for more than 100 yrs. We had a very active boy scout community in Mysore, where I grew up. I was a boy scout from 5th - 8th Std. We learnt 2 climb trees (even the tall eucalyptus, coconut), build rope bridges, construct tents, social service, etc. My most exciting experience was a night time trek into the beautiful Chamundi hills, although we didnt make it all the way to the top because of rumors of leopards roaming around. The NCC guys/girls in Mysore were also doing exciting things. later- Vivek
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Nish [BusterBoy] wrote: We dont have this stuff in India. Hey Nish - Check out this web site http://www.tbsgi.org/ Scouts/Guides have been in India for more than 100 yrs. We had a very active boy scout community in Mysore, where I grew up. I was a boy scout from 5th - 8th Std. We learnt 2 climb trees (even the tall eucalyptus, coconut), build rope bridges, construct tents, social service, etc. My most exciting experience was a night time trek into the beautiful Chamundi hills, although we didnt make it all the way to the top because of rumors of leopards roaming around. The NCC guys/girls in Mysore were also doing exciting things. later- Vivek
Vivek Rajan wrote: Scouts/Guides have been in India for more than 100 yrs Its more like 93 years. :)
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Nish [BusterBoy] wrote: We dont have this stuff in India. Hey Nish - Check out this web site http://www.tbsgi.org/ Scouts/Guides have been in India for more than 100 yrs. We had a very active boy scout community in Mysore, where I grew up. I was a boy scout from 5th - 8th Std. We learnt 2 climb trees (even the tall eucalyptus, coconut), build rope bridges, construct tents, social service, etc. My most exciting experience was a night time trek into the beautiful Chamundi hills, although we didnt make it all the way to the top because of rumors of leopards roaming around. The NCC guys/girls in Mysore were also doing exciting things. later- Vivek
I humbly aplogize to all fellow Indians for this ignorance And thanks Viv Nish Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain www.busterboy.org If you don't find me on CP, I'll be at Bob's HungOut
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Nish [BusterBoy] wrote: We dont have this stuff in India. Hey Nish - Check out this web site http://www.tbsgi.org/ Scouts/Guides have been in India for more than 100 yrs. We had a very active boy scout community in Mysore, where I grew up. I was a boy scout from 5th - 8th Std. We learnt 2 climb trees (even the tall eucalyptus, coconut), build rope bridges, construct tents, social service, etc. My most exciting experience was a night time trek into the beautiful Chamundi hills, although we didnt make it all the way to the top because of rumors of leopards roaming around. The NCC guys/girls in Mysore were also doing exciting things. later- Vivek
Vivek Rajan wrote: Scouts/Guides have been in India for more than 100 yrs I thought so! I mean India was a colony and you don't get much more colonial than Boy Scouts! Baden Powell must have found India an amazing and wonderful place to recrute new Boy Scouts. All the jungles, mountains and monsoon rains make for perfect Scouting terrain. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
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Vivek Rajan wrote: Scouts/Guides have been in India for more than 100 yrs I thought so! I mean India was a colony and you don't get much more colonial than Boy Scouts! Baden Powell must have found India an amazing and wonderful place to recrute new Boy Scouts. All the jungles, mountains and monsoon rains make for perfect Scouting terrain. regards, Paul Watson Bluegrass Cape Town, South Africa "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love, and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge Martin Marvinski wrote: Unfortunatly Deep Throat isn't my cup of tea Do you Sonork? I do! 100.9903 Stormfront
What a fun challenge that would be! All we had to worry about were rattlesnakes and the occasional bear. Imagine having to deal with jungle fauna - leopards and such... I'm sure Baden Powell would have been unable to resist!
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What a fun challenge that would be! All we had to worry about were rattlesnakes and the occasional bear. Imagine having to deal with jungle fauna - leopards and such... I'm sure Baden Powell would have been unable to resist!
Baden Powell is definitely one of the more popular Britishers in India. Our scout song even went, "Baden Powell tere chayle hum.." (Baden Powell we are your followers..") There are versions of that song in 14-15 languages. My scoutmaster was my role model and the coolest guy around in the eyes of all the kids. I think Scouts/Guides (and for Nish - NCC ;-) ) are excellent organizations. They instil a sense of teamwork, adventure, and caring in kids. These are great values irrespective of country, color, wealth, or religion. On a side note: The most famous jungle Britisher is probly Jim Corbett. They named one of the biggest wildlife sanctuaries after him. However, I suspect a lot of folks loved the jungle for the game rather than trekking :mad: