Alex Safian is associate director of the pro-Israel media-monitoring group CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America).
Safian is a graduate of Columbia University with a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Safian came to the Boston area to attend Harvard graduate school, and started as a CAMERA volunteer in the early 1990s after he got involved researching an anti-Israeli op-ed piece in a community newspaper. He calls himself "a news junkie" and says the trauma of following the news from Israel as a schoolboy during the 1967 war, a time when the nation's "fate hung in the balance"—was a "formative experience." Of his motivation in general, he says simply, "It motivates me when I see people misrepresenting things."
CAMERA Director Andrea Levin and Safian operate out of CAMERA headquarters in a Boston neighborhood. His articles have appeared in the Middle East Quarterly, Jerusalem Post and the Boston Globe.
Safian is a graduate of Columbia University with a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Safian came to the Boston area to attend Harvard graduate school, and started as a CAMERA volunteer in the early 1990s after he got involved researching an anti-Israeli op-ed piece in a community newspaper. He calls himself "a news junkie" and says the trauma of following the news from Israel as a schoolboy during the 1967 war, a time when the nation's "fate hung in the balance"—was a "formative experience." Of his motivation in general, he says simply, "It motivates me when I see people misrepresenting things."
CAMERA Director Andrea Levin and Safian operate out of CAMERA headquarters in a Boston neighborhood. His articles have appeared in the Middle East Quarterly, Jerusalem Post and the Boston Globe.
Shindaiwa Incorporated is a global manufacturer of welding machines and generators, agricultural and forestry machinery and outdoor power equipment.
History
The Shindaiwa Corporation originally manufactured electrical and industrial products before moving into the production of landscaping and gardening equipment. Shindaiwa launched its first chainsaw in Japan in 1955. In September 2008, the company merged with Kioritz to form the Yamabiko Corporation.
Production
Manufacture of Shindaiwa in Japan is centered around Yokosuka, Morioka and Hiroshima, with other major plants in Shenzhen, China and Lake Zurich, Illinois.
History
The Shindaiwa Corporation originally manufactured electrical and industrial products before moving into the production of landscaping and gardening equipment. Shindaiwa launched its first chainsaw in Japan in 1955. In September 2008, the company merged with Kioritz to form the Yamabiko Corporation.
Production
Manufacture of Shindaiwa in Japan is centered around Yokosuka, Morioka and Hiroshima, with other major plants in Shenzhen, China and Lake Zurich, Illinois.
Jim Zeigler is an elder care planning attorney, seminar leader, and author from Alabama. Zeigler was president of the Student Government Association at the University of Alabama, before being elected to the Alabama Public Service Commission. He has been a conservative advocate from 1974 to the present. On Feb 7, 2014 he qualified to run for the open seat for Alabama's State Auditor.
Biography
2014 race for Alabama State Auditor
Zeigler has qualified to run for the open seat for State Auditor. Incumbent Samantha Shaw is retiring. The Republican primary is June 3, the runoff is July 15, and the general election is November 4. There are four Republican candidates and one Democrat. It is a statewide race.
Zeigler announced a plan to "turn the Auditor's office into something it has never been - a tough monitor of wasteful government spending."
The other candidates for Auditor are: Dale Peterson, retiree and former candidate for Agriculture Commissioner; Hobbie Sealy, a retired official of the conservation department; and Adam Thompson, a 28-year-old Montgomerian working for the Secretary of State.
Oak Grove Community, Sylacauga, Alabama
Zeigler is a native of Sylacauga, Alabama (1948) where his father, Bloise Zeigler, was mayor of the suburb of Oak Grove, Alabama for 20 years. The elder Zeigler remained active in community and Christian affairs until age 98 years and eleven months. He was a speaker for the OASIS program explaining how he lived by himself though legally blind from macular degeneration. He founded an unusual ministry for work release prisoners when he was age 92. The prisoners, soon to finish their sentences and be released, were brought to First Baptist Church of Sylacauga for Sunday School, worship service, and Sunday dinner. The program, which continues, proved a blessing for the prisoners, their families, and the servant-members of the church. Some of the prisoners made decisions for Christ, continued to be active, and joined the church after being released.
Jim Zeigler was led to Christ by his pastor, Dr. William K. Weaver, who became the founding President of Mobile College, now the University of Mobile.
The Oak Grove farm on which Jim Zeigler grew up became known to thousands in central Alabama as "The Zeigler Christmas Tree Farm." Each year, hundreds of families would come there and cut their own live Christmas trees.
University of Alabama
Zeigler graduated from the University of Alabama in 1972 with a Bachelor's Degree in Public Administration. He was President of the Mallet Assembly, a scholastic honors dormitory with a colorful history of political activism.
Student politics at the University have been dominated since 1914 by a semi-secret coalition of fraternities and sororities called "The Machine." In 1968 Zeigler and other students founded an anti-Machine party called "The Coalition" and succeeded in electing Zeigler President of the Student Government Association (SGA) in 1970, one of only a few times in which UA students defeated The Machine.
In May 1970, after Zeigler had been SGA President only two weeks, four students were shot and killed by National Guardsmen at Kent State University. Protests broke out at colleges across the nation, including at the University of Alabama. One older building already slated for demolition, Dressler Hall, burned on the UA campus. Dozens of students were arrested by Tuscaloosa police, some at protests but others simply walking to dormitories or on dates. Reports began that there was a danger of escalating violence on the Tuscaloosa campus. Security personnel wanted to make it through the end of the school year with no violence, hoping that the summer vacation would cause a cool-down. UA President Dr. David Mathews considered closing the school but did not want to do so due to: The heated runoff for governor between Gov. Albert Brewer and former Gov. George Wallace; the image of the University; and the legislative budget needs. Zeigler devised a plan to empty the campus quickly without having to close it -- make upcoming final exams optional. He presented the plan to President Mathews, who decided to do it. It worked. The campus mostly emptied out, and the protests did not resume in the fall semester.
Zeigler served during his senior year as the student representative on the University's Athletic Committee, along with legendary Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.
In 1971, on the night the Student Court had thrown out an attempt by Student Senators who were members of The Machine to impeach Zeigler as SGA President, his dormitory room in Mallet Hall burned. The cause of the fire was never determined.
In August, 2012, Zeigler was the speaker at the 50th reunion of Mallet Hall (the Mallet Assembly).
On April 1, 2014, Zeigler was in Tuscaloosa at historic Gorgas House on the program for the 100th anniversary of the UA Student Government Association. He was SGA President Number 55.
Alabama Public Service Commission
Called "the PSC", the Alabama Public Service Commission is a three-member body, all elected statewide, which regulates private energy utilities, including Alabama Power Company, Alabama Gas Company (Alagasco), and Mobile Gas Service Corporation.
In 1972, Zeigler and his friends Tommy Chapman, Steve "Red" Wadlington, and Dennis Nabors, went to work for in his campaign against PSC President . Hammond won, and Zeigler and friends learned how to run a campaign for PSC.
In 1973, Zeigler filed a legal complaint before the PSC alleging that Alabama Power Company was earning excessive profits. He lost the case but generated state news coverage and highlighted the issue of rising electric bills. In 1974, he filed to run statewide against veteran PSC incumbent C.C. "Jack" Owen, a longtime PSC member who had voted in favor of the utility increase requests. Zeigler vowed to oppose them. In a four-way race, Owen led the first primary but lost to Zeigler in the run-off. In January 1975, Zeigler took office as the youngest statewide elected official. where he served 1975-79.
In 1975, Zeigler intervened before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to block the construction of two nuclear reactors planned for the Chilton-Elmore County line. He alleged that the Barton Nuclear Plant would have operated at the expense of Alabama consumers while generating electricity for other states. The application for approval of the reactors was then withdrawn.
After serving one term on the PSC, Zeigler did not run for re-election.
===Mr. 49% makes political comeback===
From 1982 through 2002, Zeigler lost by narrow margins in races for state supreme court, state treasurer, civil appeals court, and state auditor. He thus earned the nickname, "Mr. 49%." In 2004 he made a come-back, defeating a challenge from Republican National Committeeman and former Chief Justice Perry Hooper Sr. for statewide delegate to the Republican National Convention.
===Activism against "wasteful government spending"===
In 1983, Zeigler filed a successful legal action against what he termed "illegal extra paychecks" to over 400 political officials. A year-long court battle ended in a Zeigler victory at the Alabama Supreme Court and return of the money to state coffers.
In 1984, he challenged paying legislators full pay and expenses during a 13-day Christmas holiday break. He won a circuit court injunction blocking the "holiday pay" but was later reversed by the state supreme court.
In 1985, Zeigler and Montgomery businessman Malcolm Brassell formed The Taxpayers Defense Fund (later called Taxpayers Defense Force), a legal action group. It contested government spending decisions for 20 years.
In 1985, Zeigler filed suit to stop public officials from disguising state cars by purchasing private license plates called "cover tags." The suit was settled by executive order of the governor outlawing cover tags.
In 1985, Zeigler filed suit and successfully blocked political officials from entering the state retirement system.
In 1988 and 1999, Zeigler chaired the vote no campaign on statewide referendums to allow political officials to get into the State Retirement System. The proposed constitutional amendments were defeated both times.
Constitutional challenge to IRS regulation of conservative groups
In 2002, Zeigler won a declaratory judgment that regulation of political groups by the Internal Revenue Service is unconstitutional. He represented eleven conservative groups in challenging the "527 Law" passed by Congress in the waning days of the Clinton administration. The government appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the decision.
Ethics complaints against Don Siegelman, others
Zeigler has brought ethics complaints against Alabama public officials, including two against then-governor Don Siegelman. The first, in 2001, alleged that Siegelman used his position to orchestrate a secret settlement of a long-dormant lawsuit by the University of South Alabama against tobacco companies. The settlement committed the state to pay $20 million to the university, and required the university to pay 14 percent of the money to the law firm that brought the case, and to which Siegelman had formerly been associated. Zeigler's complaint tracked a Mobile Register story reporting details of the settlement and subsequent payment of an estimated $800,000 from the law firm to Siegelman. The Siegelman administration accused Register reporter Eddie Curran of helping to edit the ethics complaint — a charge refuted by Curran and the paper. Siegelman's press office sought to play down the complaint by issuing a rather bizarre statement about Zeigler. It read: "These false claims are among a long list of deranged acts by a man who believes America is being surrendered to a new world order and who has stated that the public education system has been taken over by communists." The Alabama Ethics Commission, composed of political appointees, voted three to one to dismiss the tobacco complaint.
The second complaint alleged that Siegelman sold his Montgomery home for over twice the appraised value and then appointed the buyer to the state securities commission. Subsequent reports revealed that the buyer, a Birmingham accountant, merely served as a middleman, and that the real purchaser was a Birmingham lawyer. Before Zeigler's second case concluded, federal agents seized the files from the ethics commission. A federal grand jury later indicted Siegelman on multiple charges. Siegelman was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in federal prison. After serving nine months, he was released pending an appeal, but returned to prison in 2012.
In 2002, Zeigler filed ethics complaints against State Sen. Sundra Escott-Russell and State Rep. John Hilliard. He alleged that both hired family members at non-profit organizations and then used their positions to divert state funds to the non-profit groups. The ethics commission voted unanimously that there was probable cause that ethics violations had occurred and forwarded both cases to the state attorney general for prosecution.
Challenge to new Medicaid nursing home restrictions
On February 8, 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA). Among other changes, the Act placed serious restrictions on senior citizens seeking to qualify for Medicaid to cover their nursing home costs. Five days later, Zeigler (who had been a Bush delegate at the 2000 and 2004 Republican National Conventions) filed a federal lawsuit seeking to void the law. He alleged that one version of the bill had passed the U.S. Senate and a different version passed the U.S. House, in violation of constitutional requirements.
National Conservative Activism
In June 2012, Zeigler was recruited by Jenny Beth Martin's Tea Party Patriots to go to Wisconsin to assist in fighting the recall of Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Democrat and liberal groups had initiated a recall vote. Zeigler stayed a month, working in Eau Claire and Wausau, WI. Walker was behind when Zeigler got there but turned it around to win by a modest margin. After the success there, Tea Party Patriots asked Zeigler to go for a month to Washington State in October, 2012 in a long-shot attempt to switch control of the state senate to Republicans. On election night, Republicans fell two senate seats short of control and everyone assumed they had lost. But in January 2013 when the senate met to organize, two conservative Democrats switched, giving control to the GOP after all.
Save the Mobile-Tensaw Delta
A plan to surrender local control of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta to a national park or reserve was started in Washington Aug. 1, 2013 with no notice to the public or the media. Supporters quickly and quietly won a resolution of approval from the Mobile County Commission. Zeigler discovered the plot and began blogging on al.com explaining the takeover plot and the dangers of federal control of the Delta. Baldwin County conservative activist David Peterson and Facebooker Troy Garrett then formed the group "Save Our Delta", with Zeigler as attorney. Since the August 2013 start, they have enlisted 7,200 supporters. In January 2014, it was announced that the Delta would be legally removed from consideration of nationalization. However, this removal has not actually been done, so Zeigler and Save Our Delta continue to monitor the situation in case the nationalization plan continues or is revived.
Elder Care Planning Law Practice
Zeigler has an elder care planning law practice. He represents seniors and veterans in protecting assets and gaining eligibility for elder care costs. He is 2014 state chairman of the League of Senior Voters. He publishes an on-line daily new service for seniors, veterans and baby boomers called ZeiglerSeniorNews.com. He conducts free workshops for seniors and their families showing how to develop family plans to cover elder care costs. He wrote the nationally-published elder care planning book, "Don't Let the Government Take Grandma's Home and Life Savings."
Biography
2014 race for Alabama State Auditor
Zeigler has qualified to run for the open seat for State Auditor. Incumbent Samantha Shaw is retiring. The Republican primary is June 3, the runoff is July 15, and the general election is November 4. There are four Republican candidates and one Democrat. It is a statewide race.
Zeigler announced a plan to "turn the Auditor's office into something it has never been - a tough monitor of wasteful government spending."
The other candidates for Auditor are: Dale Peterson, retiree and former candidate for Agriculture Commissioner; Hobbie Sealy, a retired official of the conservation department; and Adam Thompson, a 28-year-old Montgomerian working for the Secretary of State.
Oak Grove Community, Sylacauga, Alabama
Zeigler is a native of Sylacauga, Alabama (1948) where his father, Bloise Zeigler, was mayor of the suburb of Oak Grove, Alabama for 20 years. The elder Zeigler remained active in community and Christian affairs until age 98 years and eleven months. He was a speaker for the OASIS program explaining how he lived by himself though legally blind from macular degeneration. He founded an unusual ministry for work release prisoners when he was age 92. The prisoners, soon to finish their sentences and be released, were brought to First Baptist Church of Sylacauga for Sunday School, worship service, and Sunday dinner. The program, which continues, proved a blessing for the prisoners, their families, and the servant-members of the church. Some of the prisoners made decisions for Christ, continued to be active, and joined the church after being released.
Jim Zeigler was led to Christ by his pastor, Dr. William K. Weaver, who became the founding President of Mobile College, now the University of Mobile.
The Oak Grove farm on which Jim Zeigler grew up became known to thousands in central Alabama as "The Zeigler Christmas Tree Farm." Each year, hundreds of families would come there and cut their own live Christmas trees.
University of Alabama
Zeigler graduated from the University of Alabama in 1972 with a Bachelor's Degree in Public Administration. He was President of the Mallet Assembly, a scholastic honors dormitory with a colorful history of political activism.
Student politics at the University have been dominated since 1914 by a semi-secret coalition of fraternities and sororities called "The Machine." In 1968 Zeigler and other students founded an anti-Machine party called "The Coalition" and succeeded in electing Zeigler President of the Student Government Association (SGA) in 1970, one of only a few times in which UA students defeated The Machine.
In May 1970, after Zeigler had been SGA President only two weeks, four students were shot and killed by National Guardsmen at Kent State University. Protests broke out at colleges across the nation, including at the University of Alabama. One older building already slated for demolition, Dressler Hall, burned on the UA campus. Dozens of students were arrested by Tuscaloosa police, some at protests but others simply walking to dormitories or on dates. Reports began that there was a danger of escalating violence on the Tuscaloosa campus. Security personnel wanted to make it through the end of the school year with no violence, hoping that the summer vacation would cause a cool-down. UA President Dr. David Mathews considered closing the school but did not want to do so due to: The heated runoff for governor between Gov. Albert Brewer and former Gov. George Wallace; the image of the University; and the legislative budget needs. Zeigler devised a plan to empty the campus quickly without having to close it -- make upcoming final exams optional. He presented the plan to President Mathews, who decided to do it. It worked. The campus mostly emptied out, and the protests did not resume in the fall semester.
Zeigler served during his senior year as the student representative on the University's Athletic Committee, along with legendary Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.
In 1971, on the night the Student Court had thrown out an attempt by Student Senators who were members of The Machine to impeach Zeigler as SGA President, his dormitory room in Mallet Hall burned. The cause of the fire was never determined.
In August, 2012, Zeigler was the speaker at the 50th reunion of Mallet Hall (the Mallet Assembly).
On April 1, 2014, Zeigler was in Tuscaloosa at historic Gorgas House on the program for the 100th anniversary of the UA Student Government Association. He was SGA President Number 55.
Alabama Public Service Commission
Called "the PSC", the Alabama Public Service Commission is a three-member body, all elected statewide, which regulates private energy utilities, including Alabama Power Company, Alabama Gas Company (Alagasco), and Mobile Gas Service Corporation.
In 1972, Zeigler and his friends Tommy Chapman, Steve "Red" Wadlington, and Dennis Nabors, went to work for in his campaign against PSC President . Hammond won, and Zeigler and friends learned how to run a campaign for PSC.
In 1973, Zeigler filed a legal complaint before the PSC alleging that Alabama Power Company was earning excessive profits. He lost the case but generated state news coverage and highlighted the issue of rising electric bills. In 1974, he filed to run statewide against veteran PSC incumbent C.C. "Jack" Owen, a longtime PSC member who had voted in favor of the utility increase requests. Zeigler vowed to oppose them. In a four-way race, Owen led the first primary but lost to Zeigler in the run-off. In January 1975, Zeigler took office as the youngest statewide elected official. where he served 1975-79.
In 1975, Zeigler intervened before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to block the construction of two nuclear reactors planned for the Chilton-Elmore County line. He alleged that the Barton Nuclear Plant would have operated at the expense of Alabama consumers while generating electricity for other states. The application for approval of the reactors was then withdrawn.
After serving one term on the PSC, Zeigler did not run for re-election.
===Mr. 49% makes political comeback===
From 1982 through 2002, Zeigler lost by narrow margins in races for state supreme court, state treasurer, civil appeals court, and state auditor. He thus earned the nickname, "Mr. 49%." In 2004 he made a come-back, defeating a challenge from Republican National Committeeman and former Chief Justice Perry Hooper Sr. for statewide delegate to the Republican National Convention.
===Activism against "wasteful government spending"===
In 1983, Zeigler filed a successful legal action against what he termed "illegal extra paychecks" to over 400 political officials. A year-long court battle ended in a Zeigler victory at the Alabama Supreme Court and return of the money to state coffers.
In 1984, he challenged paying legislators full pay and expenses during a 13-day Christmas holiday break. He won a circuit court injunction blocking the "holiday pay" but was later reversed by the state supreme court.
In 1985, Zeigler and Montgomery businessman Malcolm Brassell formed The Taxpayers Defense Fund (later called Taxpayers Defense Force), a legal action group. It contested government spending decisions for 20 years.
In 1985, Zeigler filed suit to stop public officials from disguising state cars by purchasing private license plates called "cover tags." The suit was settled by executive order of the governor outlawing cover tags.
In 1985, Zeigler filed suit and successfully blocked political officials from entering the state retirement system.
In 1988 and 1999, Zeigler chaired the vote no campaign on statewide referendums to allow political officials to get into the State Retirement System. The proposed constitutional amendments were defeated both times.
Constitutional challenge to IRS regulation of conservative groups
In 2002, Zeigler won a declaratory judgment that regulation of political groups by the Internal Revenue Service is unconstitutional. He represented eleven conservative groups in challenging the "527 Law" passed by Congress in the waning days of the Clinton administration. The government appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the decision.
Ethics complaints against Don Siegelman, others
Zeigler has brought ethics complaints against Alabama public officials, including two against then-governor Don Siegelman. The first, in 2001, alleged that Siegelman used his position to orchestrate a secret settlement of a long-dormant lawsuit by the University of South Alabama against tobacco companies. The settlement committed the state to pay $20 million to the university, and required the university to pay 14 percent of the money to the law firm that brought the case, and to which Siegelman had formerly been associated. Zeigler's complaint tracked a Mobile Register story reporting details of the settlement and subsequent payment of an estimated $800,000 from the law firm to Siegelman. The Siegelman administration accused Register reporter Eddie Curran of helping to edit the ethics complaint — a charge refuted by Curran and the paper. Siegelman's press office sought to play down the complaint by issuing a rather bizarre statement about Zeigler. It read: "These false claims are among a long list of deranged acts by a man who believes America is being surrendered to a new world order and who has stated that the public education system has been taken over by communists." The Alabama Ethics Commission, composed of political appointees, voted three to one to dismiss the tobacco complaint.
The second complaint alleged that Siegelman sold his Montgomery home for over twice the appraised value and then appointed the buyer to the state securities commission. Subsequent reports revealed that the buyer, a Birmingham accountant, merely served as a middleman, and that the real purchaser was a Birmingham lawyer. Before Zeigler's second case concluded, federal agents seized the files from the ethics commission. A federal grand jury later indicted Siegelman on multiple charges. Siegelman was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in federal prison. After serving nine months, he was released pending an appeal, but returned to prison in 2012.
In 2002, Zeigler filed ethics complaints against State Sen. Sundra Escott-Russell and State Rep. John Hilliard. He alleged that both hired family members at non-profit organizations and then used their positions to divert state funds to the non-profit groups. The ethics commission voted unanimously that there was probable cause that ethics violations had occurred and forwarded both cases to the state attorney general for prosecution.
Challenge to new Medicaid nursing home restrictions
On February 8, 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA). Among other changes, the Act placed serious restrictions on senior citizens seeking to qualify for Medicaid to cover their nursing home costs. Five days later, Zeigler (who had been a Bush delegate at the 2000 and 2004 Republican National Conventions) filed a federal lawsuit seeking to void the law. He alleged that one version of the bill had passed the U.S. Senate and a different version passed the U.S. House, in violation of constitutional requirements.
National Conservative Activism
In June 2012, Zeigler was recruited by Jenny Beth Martin's Tea Party Patriots to go to Wisconsin to assist in fighting the recall of Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Democrat and liberal groups had initiated a recall vote. Zeigler stayed a month, working in Eau Claire and Wausau, WI. Walker was behind when Zeigler got there but turned it around to win by a modest margin. After the success there, Tea Party Patriots asked Zeigler to go for a month to Washington State in October, 2012 in a long-shot attempt to switch control of the state senate to Republicans. On election night, Republicans fell two senate seats short of control and everyone assumed they had lost. But in January 2013 when the senate met to organize, two conservative Democrats switched, giving control to the GOP after all.
Save the Mobile-Tensaw Delta
A plan to surrender local control of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta to a national park or reserve was started in Washington Aug. 1, 2013 with no notice to the public or the media. Supporters quickly and quietly won a resolution of approval from the Mobile County Commission. Zeigler discovered the plot and began blogging on al.com explaining the takeover plot and the dangers of federal control of the Delta. Baldwin County conservative activist David Peterson and Facebooker Troy Garrett then formed the group "Save Our Delta", with Zeigler as attorney. Since the August 2013 start, they have enlisted 7,200 supporters. In January 2014, it was announced that the Delta would be legally removed from consideration of nationalization. However, this removal has not actually been done, so Zeigler and Save Our Delta continue to monitor the situation in case the nationalization plan continues or is revived.
Elder Care Planning Law Practice
Zeigler has an elder care planning law practice. He represents seniors and veterans in protecting assets and gaining eligibility for elder care costs. He is 2014 state chairman of the League of Senior Voters. He publishes an on-line daily new service for seniors, veterans and baby boomers called ZeiglerSeniorNews.com. He conducts free workshops for seniors and their families showing how to develop family plans to cover elder care costs. He wrote the nationally-published elder care planning book, "Don't Let the Government Take Grandma's Home and Life Savings."
Negligible refers to the quantities so small that they can be ignored (neglected) when studying the larger effect. Although related to the more mathematical concepts of infinitesimal, the idea of negligibility is particularly useful in practical disciplines like physics, chemistry, mechanical and electronic engineering, computer programming and in everyday decision-making. A quantity can be said to be negligible when it is safe to ignore (neglect) it in the present case, within the margins for error that have been agreed to be acceptable in this case. Examples of quantities that are often considered negligible are the electrical resistance of a wire, and the contribution to an object's mass by electrons.
Examples
In physics
Any macroscopic system is always much more complicated than any idealized mathematical model describing it. In order to simplify real situations, some effects are generally regarded as insignificant because their magnitude is so small as to be negligible. Given a system described by a formula it is sometimes possible to make a Taylor expansion of the expression and then identify negligible terms.
An example would be a car moving at 10 km/h along a straight horizontal road. In total, there are five main forces acting on this car, gravity on the mass of the car (the weight), the reaction force of the road opposing the weight, the friction of the wheels on the road, the force of the engine, and air resistance against the car. The forces that have the most effect on the car will be the weight, the reaction opposing the weight and the friction. In order to describe the motion of the car mathematically, to a reasonable precision, only four of the forces have to be included, weight, engine, reaction and friction. Air resistance is "negligible" and can be disregarded because the car is moving at such a low speed. Even though air resistance has an effect, the effect is so minuscule that for most purposes it is safe to regard it as not being there at all, so to avoid any unnecessarily complicated calculations. At greater speeds, air resistance becomes significant and can no longer be neglected.
In electrical engineering
Electronic circuit designers make use of ideal circuit concepts in the design process. These include the perfect voltage source, the perfect current source, the perfect amplifier, a perfect ground and many others.
In none of these cases can the perfect circuit element actually exist in practice. To take one example, consider the perfect voltage source. If a perfect voltage source existed, it would have no internal impedance and would continue to maintain its rated voltage, say 5 V dc, across any load, no matter what current may become necessary to do this. As the load impedance reduced toward zero ohms (a perfect short circuit - which also cannot truly exist) then the current flow and power delivery would approach infinity.
However, a real circuit is not made to function in every imaginable case or be "perfect".
To continue this example, we need to derive a specification for this practical voltage source. Perhaps the current draw will never exceed 2 amps. Perhaps the input voltages between 4.999 V and 5.001 V will produce errors that in themselves are negligible for the practical purposes of the remaining circuitry. If the output impedance of the voltage source can drop 0.002 V (5.001 - 4.999) at a current of 2 A, it must be no more than 0.001 Ω or one milliohm.
The voltage source with its negligible 1 mΩ output impedance will produce voltages that only deviate from 5.0 V by negligible amounts, provided the current requirements remain within spec.
In another case these discrepancies may be far too much as any voltage less than 4.999999 volts, or more than 5.000001 V, would be unacceptable.
The electronic engineer may continue to look upon the device, to a first approximation, as an ideal voltage source because as far as this requirement is concerned, that is what it is. Its practical discrepancies are negligible compared to the specification at this point. It is an important part of the engineer's skill, however, always to remember the assumptions and simplifications inherent in this thinking and to be able quickly to identify when cost savings can be made by reducing a specification requirement as well as when new requirements invalidate previously acceptable assumptions.
Similar examples could be created for any of the 'ideal' circuit elements listed above, and many more, from RF frequency mixers to the simplest switch.
In risk assessment
The continuing success of the global travel industry depends upon the general public's perception that the personal risks involved in airline flight, as well as those involved in visiting foreign countries, are negligible compared to the pleasure to be gained by doing so.
Catastrophic failures or accidents however unlikely may, render the general public unable to neglect a certain risk however small, as seen in the by the economic effects arising from the September 11 attacks.
Similarly in technical design, there are probabilities, in each case, that an electronic product may be used in the vicinity of a powerful radio transmitter, that mains-borne power surges may occur, that its batteries may go flat while in use etc. The designer has to consider each of these and write some off as outside of the specified requirements, while others clearly are not. There are clearly a very large number of uncontrollable possibilities of misuse and accidents and that any designed product may have to contend with.
By ignoring cases that that are unlikely, or that do not worry the general public when they occur, designers may be able to make significant cost savings on products and services.
In software engineering
One might expect that a deterministic thing like a piece of software does not suffer from the vagaries of the negligible but this is not the case in at least two areas.
Representation errors
A computer system's internal representation of floating point numbers may normally approximate so closely to real numbers as to produce only negligible errors under most circumstances. An exception is if two very similar values are subtracted, the result may be strongly affected by the floating point rounding of the values.
There are many other ways that assumptions about the "negligible" errors involved in these digital representations may cause problems at run time or later including analog-to-digital conversion where resolution and bit-rates are necessarily limited, financial calculations where floating points or other imprecise number systems do not 'take care of the pennies' etc.
Interaction with the outside world
Digital systems that interact with the outside world, whether though a keyboard and mouse, a network or even via a disk drive gain an element of risk that also must be considered. There is a chance that the user may click another button before this calculation is complete, the network may be flooded with requests for this service quicker than the software can provide it, the disk may be full when we try to write to it, or the file we need to read may have been deleted or moved.
Modern computer programming languages provide the mechanism of throwing and catching exceptions so that the developer can handle these and many other possibilities without making the structure and logic of their code impenetrably complex to readers and future developers. Some languages, for example Java, are designed to remind the developer about the exceptions that may be thrown — and so that should be caught, handled or declared of negligible interest — at each point. Others, like , provide the mechanism but do not enforce the practice in this way.
These examples are related to probabilities introduced by the IO systems of the computer.
Examples
In physics
Any macroscopic system is always much more complicated than any idealized mathematical model describing it. In order to simplify real situations, some effects are generally regarded as insignificant because their magnitude is so small as to be negligible. Given a system described by a formula it is sometimes possible to make a Taylor expansion of the expression and then identify negligible terms.
An example would be a car moving at 10 km/h along a straight horizontal road. In total, there are five main forces acting on this car, gravity on the mass of the car (the weight), the reaction force of the road opposing the weight, the friction of the wheels on the road, the force of the engine, and air resistance against the car. The forces that have the most effect on the car will be the weight, the reaction opposing the weight and the friction. In order to describe the motion of the car mathematically, to a reasonable precision, only four of the forces have to be included, weight, engine, reaction and friction. Air resistance is "negligible" and can be disregarded because the car is moving at such a low speed. Even though air resistance has an effect, the effect is so minuscule that for most purposes it is safe to regard it as not being there at all, so to avoid any unnecessarily complicated calculations. At greater speeds, air resistance becomes significant and can no longer be neglected.
In electrical engineering
Electronic circuit designers make use of ideal circuit concepts in the design process. These include the perfect voltage source, the perfect current source, the perfect amplifier, a perfect ground and many others.
In none of these cases can the perfect circuit element actually exist in practice. To take one example, consider the perfect voltage source. If a perfect voltage source existed, it would have no internal impedance and would continue to maintain its rated voltage, say 5 V dc, across any load, no matter what current may become necessary to do this. As the load impedance reduced toward zero ohms (a perfect short circuit - which also cannot truly exist) then the current flow and power delivery would approach infinity.
However, a real circuit is not made to function in every imaginable case or be "perfect".
To continue this example, we need to derive a specification for this practical voltage source. Perhaps the current draw will never exceed 2 amps. Perhaps the input voltages between 4.999 V and 5.001 V will produce errors that in themselves are negligible for the practical purposes of the remaining circuitry. If the output impedance of the voltage source can drop 0.002 V (5.001 - 4.999) at a current of 2 A, it must be no more than 0.001 Ω or one milliohm.
The voltage source with its negligible 1 mΩ output impedance will produce voltages that only deviate from 5.0 V by negligible amounts, provided the current requirements remain within spec.
In another case these discrepancies may be far too much as any voltage less than 4.999999 volts, or more than 5.000001 V, would be unacceptable.
The electronic engineer may continue to look upon the device, to a first approximation, as an ideal voltage source because as far as this requirement is concerned, that is what it is. Its practical discrepancies are negligible compared to the specification at this point. It is an important part of the engineer's skill, however, always to remember the assumptions and simplifications inherent in this thinking and to be able quickly to identify when cost savings can be made by reducing a specification requirement as well as when new requirements invalidate previously acceptable assumptions.
Similar examples could be created for any of the 'ideal' circuit elements listed above, and many more, from RF frequency mixers to the simplest switch.
In risk assessment
The continuing success of the global travel industry depends upon the general public's perception that the personal risks involved in airline flight, as well as those involved in visiting foreign countries, are negligible compared to the pleasure to be gained by doing so.
Catastrophic failures or accidents however unlikely may, render the general public unable to neglect a certain risk however small, as seen in the by the economic effects arising from the September 11 attacks.
Similarly in technical design, there are probabilities, in each case, that an electronic product may be used in the vicinity of a powerful radio transmitter, that mains-borne power surges may occur, that its batteries may go flat while in use etc. The designer has to consider each of these and write some off as outside of the specified requirements, while others clearly are not. There are clearly a very large number of uncontrollable possibilities of misuse and accidents and that any designed product may have to contend with.
By ignoring cases that that are unlikely, or that do not worry the general public when they occur, designers may be able to make significant cost savings on products and services.
In software engineering
One might expect that a deterministic thing like a piece of software does not suffer from the vagaries of the negligible but this is not the case in at least two areas.
Representation errors
A computer system's internal representation of floating point numbers may normally approximate so closely to real numbers as to produce only negligible errors under most circumstances. An exception is if two very similar values are subtracted, the result may be strongly affected by the floating point rounding of the values.
There are many other ways that assumptions about the "negligible" errors involved in these digital representations may cause problems at run time or later including analog-to-digital conversion where resolution and bit-rates are necessarily limited, financial calculations where floating points or other imprecise number systems do not 'take care of the pennies' etc.
Interaction with the outside world
Digital systems that interact with the outside world, whether though a keyboard and mouse, a network or even via a disk drive gain an element of risk that also must be considered. There is a chance that the user may click another button before this calculation is complete, the network may be flooded with requests for this service quicker than the software can provide it, the disk may be full when we try to write to it, or the file we need to read may have been deleted or moved.
Modern computer programming languages provide the mechanism of throwing and catching exceptions so that the developer can handle these and many other possibilities without making the structure and logic of their code impenetrably complex to readers and future developers. Some languages, for example Java, are designed to remind the developer about the exceptions that may be thrown — and so that should be caught, handled or declared of negligible interest — at each point. Others, like , provide the mechanism but do not enforce the practice in this way.
These examples are related to probabilities introduced by the IO systems of the computer.