text:
Phoenix FC vs. Dayton Dutch Lions - Game Preview
June 20, 2013 - United Soccer League (USL) - Phoenix FC News Release
PHOENIX, Ariz. - Phoenix FC looks to start its move up the USL PRO League standings with three points from an important match against Dayton Dutch Lions FC this Friday, June 21, at 7:30 p.m. at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.
The Wolves come off a draw with Real Salt Lake's reserve team at home on June 15. They need wins to get back into contention for one of eight postseason berths in the league.
Phoenix FC (2-9-4) has seven matches remaining at home, including this Friday's tilt. Only four more are on the road. Top goal scorer Donny Toia, who played a full match last week on a sore lower right leg and pronounced afterward that he was fine and able to play, leads the Wolves.
Toia has three goals on the season. Diego Faria, Netinho (Net-EEN-yo), Aaron King and Scott Morrison have two each in league play. No one has played more minutes than Morrison for the club this season, 1,350. That total is also tops in all of USL PRO.
In its last match, Phoenix FC played to a 0-0 draw with a Real Salt Lake reserve team that featured some players with a high degree of Major League Soccer experience. The Wolves had the better of play on offense and their defense came together to limit RSL's chances. The two teams also had a scoreless draw in their first meeting in Utah earlier this season.
Phoenix FC played without Diego Faria as a starter last week, and he is one of their top offensive threats. Hampered by shin splints, Faria played just 20 minutes as a substitution and will not be in the lineup against the Dutch Lions this week as he continues to recover.
Dayton is 5-2-3 and at 10 matches played, has played the fewest amount of games of any team in the league and five fewer than Phoenix FC. The Dutch Lions' record plus games in hand puts them at an advantage in the final two months of the regular season to make the playoffs.
Forward Gibson Bardsley leads the club in goals with five, and midfielder Joel DeLass is second with four goals. Eleven different players have been credited with an assist this season, and goalkeeper Matthew Williams is allowing an average of 1.7 goals per game.
• Discuss this story on the United Soccer League message board...
United Soccer League Stories from June 20, 2013
- Rhinos Host Antigua Friday Night - Rochester Rhinos
- Phoenix FC vs. Dayton Dutch Lions - Game Preview - Phoenix FC
- Riverhounds Set For Weekend Matchups - Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
- VSI PRO Hit the Road Again for Two - VSI Tampa Bay FC
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
Other Recent Phoenix FC Stories
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- Phoenix Rising Football Club Kicks off 2018 Season in Road Battle with Orange County
- Phoenix Rising Football Club Offers Sneak Peak of Proposed Major League Soccer Stadium
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- Phoenix Rising Partners with Danzeisen Dairy


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Afropop's Sean Barlow spoke with Ivoirian zouglou artist Soum Bill after his MASA 2016 performance in Abidjan. Soum Bill's euphoric audience was mostly teenagers and 20-somethings who jumped up and danced and sang along to all his songs. Important to note as you read Soum Bill's words here, his lyrics seem to focus largely on the central drama of the Cote d'Ivoire's recent history--the destruction, dislocation and pain caused by the bloody and traumatic civil war in the Ivory Coast which culminated in a settlement in 2011. Soum Bill says that difficult repercussions continue to this day. Note also that the MASA festival had to be canceled during the civil war but now views its role as an important platform for healing between people.
Sean Barlow: Hello, Soum Bill, welcome to Afropop Worldwide. Afropop is an award-winning worldwide radio program and web site which is based in the United States. Over the past 27 years we've traveled all over Africa to meet veteran and emerging artists and to gather sound for our shows. International broadcast personality Georges Collinet from Cameroon is our host. You can listen to our program anytime anywhere on demand. So Soum, how about introducing yourself?
Soum Bill: Soum Bill is an Ivorian musical artist, who started his career since the '90s, who excels in the genre called the zouglou. First album in '92. He was part of one of the biggest zouglou groups, Les Salopards, which unfortunately does not exist anymore. So yeah, a musician, who has five albums to this day: five solo albums, three other albums with Les Salopards, then Les Garagistes, who have a 20-year career to this day. So that is the path of Soum Bill.
Interesting, so what was your first group?
The first group in the '90s was called Les Garagistes. After Les Garagistes there was Les Salopards, a group who revolutionized the zouglou genre due to the committed lyrics, who talked about social facts. So we dropped three albums, and then I started my solo album.
For our American listeners who do not really know Ivorian music, what is zouglou?
Zouglou, etymologically means garbage, waste, society's trash, so we translated that into music with tam-tam drums, and percussion. For the youth of the unprivileged neighborhoods it was a way to bring ambience in the neighborhoods. You did not have to go clubbing, it was with percussion and chants, to translate their problems, their daily fights, and then it came out of the neighborhoods, then it got to the college campuses. So students created dance moves to explain their daily issues. Once this finished, we saw young people who make this music. So during college parties, soccer games, chill evenings, even funerals, it was young Zouglous who hit the tam-tam drum and who sang. It is really what evolved today. We went in recording studios. This is the zouglou story.
The time zouglou began was in 1990, right ?
Yeah, 1990.
Was it revolutionary? Aggressive? Was it against people who kept power?
Yeah, already in 1990, the first group that came out was called Les Parents du Campus (Campus Parents). It was a college group. Les Parents du Campus described students' problems, like, they did not have buses, they were 10 in campus rooms, they had problems to eat. Every college problem was described in their songs. Then the youth started from neighborhoods to neighborhoods to talk about the problems they faced. But it was only after my group that zouglou took a political engagement. To talk about power, power abuse, of this type of thing which nobody talked about. It was our engagement in the zouglou music, to denounce some social issues, some political abuse in our country.
Very good. It is necessary to have a way to express issues; music does not always talk about love.
Most definitely, we did not want to do zouglou just to do it. When we decided to do it, we wanted to have an engagement, see the youth, fast-foward in the future, think about our realities, and expose them to the public. Defend causes that we thought were right.
Very good. For your concert on Thursday at MASA please tell us the songs you will sing and what you talk about, and the universe around it.
The first song is called "Sêguê." Sêguê in Bambara means suffering. It is a song that talks about hope, it tells people to stay strong no matter what. It was our introduction song. After "Sêguê" there was "Qui Saura." "Qui Saura" talks about kids in misery. Kids in general. About inequalities that are getting deeper, today you have a lot of kids in the streets. A lot of kids who do not work. And on the other side you have a lot of buildings a lots of good things, a lot of cars, you have people who get richer in illegal ways in sight of people who do not have the minimum to live. After "Qui Saura," we sang "Ahosse." "Ahosse" is an anthem to work. It is said that work frees us, it makes us evolve, so it is an anthem to inspire the youth to not use the easy ways, to really work, no matter what you have to have a strong mind to resist. Inspire them to work. And then we sang "La Republique des Presidents" (The Presidents' Republic) a song that I dropped in Ivory Coast at a time where there was presidential elections, in everybody's logic the only way to exist was to be president. Everybody wanted to be a candidate, it was to believe as if the driver, the journalist or the musician, did not have a place in the society because everything people were interested about was having power and being president. So I said the republic has become the Republic of Presidents. Everybody wants to conquer. No matter what, by any means, by destroying and killing people. And when they are in power they want to stay by killing again. My thought was that we too had the right to live even if we were not in "power," we as well had the right to exist. And then we sang "Who Does Not Want Peace?" "Who Does Not Want Peace" is a single that I dropped during the elections too. After everything that happened because we live in a time of post-electoral violence when there was a lot of deaths. So I came by my own means, I recorded it to tell everyone that even among tensions there was an Ivory Coast that we had to preserve. That we had the right to be free, to support who we wanted, but the most important is for this to happen without violence. It was distributed freely. And then I sang some songs off my upcoming album, that is called "Zizi Clegnon," in our language zizi clegnon is the drummer, I say that the drummer cannot hit the drum and dance at the same time. So in "Zizi Clegnon" I speak of the political pole that was divided in two visions. You have pro-somebody, pro the other, you have two sides who want to tear Ivory Coast, who think that they have the universal knowledge, and that everybody that does not go with what they say is not intelligent. So I take both sides' case and I tell each its flaws. Because we all have flaws, I go around ironically. This was caused by mass hysteria.
So I note that your terms are rough, with a lot of realities, but I also note that your audience at MASA was mostly teenagers and 20 somethings and there was a lot of joy and participation with singing along to your lyrics and dancing.
Yes, because sometimes in concerts–I try not to think about it–but I tell myself that people enter the reality and hearing what they think is a relief for them. We do not do a music to cry, it is called zouglou, it has rhythms, you can dance to it. But in it we try to bring a message. So you can find yourself in the message, and through the music, so yeah, it created emotional poles for the youth. It's a pleasure, because it is a young generation who did not necessarily hear Les Salopards, the group I was in, but they find themselves in some stuff that continues to happen. It is a pleasure for me that the youth finds itself in this music.
In general, is your audience young?
I would say of every age, there are young people, some less young, because we started a long time ago, and we kept the same engagement and vision, so they know we are not there just to be there.
So Soum Bill, in West Africa you touch a francophone audience, Senegal, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, etc. Do you tour in West Africa?
Yes, I tour a lot in West Africa and also in Central Africa, in a lot of francophone countries. It has been this way for 10 years now. Even internationally, there are communities who get together, because within the songs there are love songs. I have a song called "L'un Pour l'Autre" [One For the Other]. That was a hit in West Africa. There is a little bit of every country in my concerts.
And you also said you had five albums?
Five solo albums. Before that we dropped three albums with my group Les Salopards. So yeah.
It's a lot. Do you have some discs here?
Yes I do have some discs here.
Perfect. Can you choose three songs from your disc, the name of the disc first?
This is second-to-the-last album that I dropped. It's called Escale. This one is 100 percent reggae, that I recorded with some friends at Paris. Terre des Hommes is my first album, you have "Gneze," "Bledji," "Hommage," "Mondialisation," which still speaks about issues. This right here is the single "Qui Ne Veut Pas la Paix" [Who Does Not Want Peace], that I was talking about. Featuring a Senegalese rapper, called Didier Awadi, with whom I am very close, Awadi and Smokey, who are mostly rappers but I find myself in the engagement, different styles but same fight.
Oh, so you invited Didier Awadi on this song?
Indeed, on the single called "Qui Ne Veut Pas la Paix. This right here is Que la Lumière Soit, my latest zouglou album at this time. You have "La Republique des Presidents," "L'Aveugle et l'Edenté." I talk about the diehard people who believe that it is either them or nobody else, who think that they know it all.
Do you start making your music based on a certain instrument? Are you learning an instrument now?
The first instrument for me is the percussion, every zouglou man must know how to play the percussion, percussion a bit, and then I also play the piano, and a little bit of guitar.
So for our listeners, like you said, zouglou changed from percussion, the songs do not only sing about bad stuff, maybe you can describe what is zouglou.
First, zouglou is percussion, at the rhythm it goes, [demonstrates] it's a 4/4. Now you have two speeds, this was for calmer songs where you speak to people's spirits, and you have the same groove but faster. When we play this, young people love it a lot. So it's really those two main rhythms now, it is the only music from the four poles, from north to south, and from east to west where there are every instrument of about every people. You have the [demonstrates] this is a percussion that comes from the north for example, then you have some percussions that does [demonstrates] which is more from the south, and the west. Every time we play you have the greylou, things that were brought from the south, you have every influence in zouglou, that's why it unites everybody, we say that it's the music that represents Cote d'Ivoire's identity. Here is a technical start point of zouglou.
Nice, It's not only for the Sénoufos only for the Boualés or Bétés or the Gouros.
Yes, it is for everybody, that's what is exciting and smart about this music. Every group which started, brought up an influence, before you played it with only 2 percussions [demonstrates], then you sang [demonstrates] and then other groups came, and added the dou doumba from the north [demonstrates]. It added up to another influence, others came up with greylou, another way of singing. There has been a lot of positive influence.
Very good, I love it, I can feel it. So you grew up in Abidjan?
Yes, I grew up in Abidjan but I was born in Aboisso in the south. My father is from the north, and my mother is from the south. So I grew up in that ethnic mix and I went to school in Abidjan.
It was very good to have an idea of the zouglou and your background, and it would be very precious to have an a cappella from you as a demonstration. Would do us that favor?
Yeah, of course. For example, my last song "Qui Ne Veut Pas la Paix" [demonstrates]. [A part of his demonstration of "Qui Ne Veut Pas La Paix" mentions] "How many more are going to cry? How many more are going to bleed? On top of our political hearts there is our country the Ivory Coast, on top of what can divide us there, our country the Ivory Coast. I want to help, and persist. Who doesn't want peace is not my friend."
During this crisis that I talked about, I lost my producer, whose house was bombed. So I came with the fear that things could degenerate. Then I tried to sing a song to make everybody acknowledge everything with lost during the war and that we can do better. It was distributed free, we played everywhere so that people understand the necessity of keeping peace.
So the crisis was between, Ouattara and Gbagbo?
Yeah, it is what led us to the crisis, unfortunately. I think that with everything we lost we had to acknowledge that the most important is not who supports who, but our country and we want to live no matter what.
So now after a lot of time do you think that Cote d'Ivoire is on the right path?
It is what we all hope. Today unfortunately in one party to another you have people who are amnesiac of power so it is something that can come at any time. It is a job that we have to do with time and all together. The population has to know that there are limits in everything. It is good to do politics but there are limits. So there is this fear due to what we saw and this traumatizing experience that people kept from what war really is. In Cote d'Ivoire we never saw that. But when you are held by politics and we know everything that interests politics is power so in five, 10 years, it is the same problems that they are going to put on the table. It is to the people to say no! Here are the limits. We won't go there. We won't follow you in stupidity.
Is there a zouglou community here in Cote d'Ivoire? Are there a lot of artists who get in the spotlight like you? Or even get identified as zouglou artists?
Yeah, there are a lot. Today around the world the most popular is Magic System. They are the most seen on an international level. But here, there are a lot of groups. Like I was explaining about the music, you have a lot of regions which have different styles, but it's the same zouglou. This community is called "La Famille Zouglou," the Zouglou Family, because from the start zouglou had a purpose to make the whole country function as a family. Because we all know that we came from nothing and we managed to have a spot under the sun because we believed in our music and that we helped each other. We have this important state of mind in zouglou. There are more than a hundred groups. There are young people who step up too. There is a big zouglou community.
The youth with a lot of ambitions.
You're right. A lot of ambitions and they all have their styles. They also have their own codes [slang], that we do not always understand. Because zouglou is also a way of speaking. We had our way of speaking that others did not understand. We had codes, ways of speaking that also came from the colleges.
So what's next for you?
Next… In two months there is the release of my sixth album, called Zougloumanity. Which means the zouglou who goes to meet humanity. We will use a lot of rhythms, have a lot of features, with people like Salif Keita for example. Anglophones too from Cameroon, to involve a good amount of artists. Now we are recording till the end of this month, and the album will be released in May.
Have you already invited Salif Keita?
We will meet soon, in Bamako. He is one of my idols, I saw him a lot of times here so I wanted to invite him on a song that we could share.

subset: commoncrawl


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Ira J. Schaefer
Senior Counsel
New York
Ira Schaefer has a wealth of experience litigating patent, trademark, and copyright cases, with particular emphasis on complex electronic, computer, and software cases.
He has participated in numerous Markman hearings; tried patent cases in jury and non-jury trials in federal courts throughout the United States, including the International Trade Commission (ITC); conducted arbitration trials, and has participated in mediations. His prior experience in patent prosecution enables him to prepare petitions for Inter Partes Reviews (IPRs), Post-grant review (PGRs), and covered business method (CBMs) and to advise clients on strategies for both the patent owner and the petitioner in post grant PTAB filings.
Ira successfully first chaired a patent jury trial in the Southern District of New York and has successfully tried patent jury cases in Delaware. Ira represents companies in a wide variety of industries. He has particular knowledge of bar code scanning technologies, mobile payment systems, and wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), LTE and Code division multiple access (CDMA), Radio-frequency identification (RFID), and Near field communication (NFC).
Prior to joining Hogan Lovells, Ira was a partner at two other major law firms and at a patent law boutique firm, he also served as U.S. patent counsel for Olivetti Corporation of America. Before becoming a lawyer, Ira was a digital design engineer for the Missile Systems Division of Raytheon Corporation.
Representative experience
Represents a major cellular carrier in a patent litigation relating to CDMA cellular network infrastructure.
Represented a wireless carrier in a patent suit relating to mobile payment and NFC technology.
Represented a Wi-Fi infrastructure manufacturer in patent litigation relating to Wi-Fi security hardware and software.
Successfully defended a photographic laser engraving company in a patent jury trial in the SDNY relating to laser inscription of diamonds.
Represented a manufacturer of mobile data capture and delivery equipment in patent litigation concerning RFID technology.
Represented a bar code equipment manufacturer in a jury trial in in Delaware regarding a two dimensional bar code.
Represent a lighting company in patent litigation relating to LEDs and driver circuits.
Represented a manufacturer of mobile data capture and delivery equipment in in back-to-back jury trials in Delaware involving the IEEE 802.11.


text: Ulf Wiger wrote: > It's late, and since you're still up and about (and the ERTS experts perhaps > aren't), I'll take a wild stab and suggest that it has something to do with > generational GC etc. The process_info(P,heap_size) only looks at the > youngest heap, so it misses all data on the old heap. > There is also the process_info(P, memory) to consider. {memory, Size}: Size is the size of the process in bytes. This includes call stack, heap and internal structures. /klacke


text:
- olfactory rod
- the slender apical portion of an olfactory bipolar neuron, a modified dendrite, extending as a cylindrical process from the nucleus to surface of the epithelium.
Medical dictionary. 2011.
Look at other dictionaries:
Cell — The basic structural and functional unit in people and all living things. Each cell is a small container of chemicals and water wrapped in a membrane. Each cell in the human body there are 100 trillion cells in each of us contains the entire… … Medical dictionary
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nervous system, human — ▪ anatomy Introduction system that conducts stimuli from sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord and that conducts impulses back to other parts of the body. As with other higher vertebrates, the human nervous system has two main… … Universalium
human embryology — ▪ biology Introduction the process encompassing the period from the formation of an embryo, through the development of a fetus, to birth. The human body, like that of most animals, develops from a single cell produced by the union of… … Universalium
chemoreception — chemoreceptive /kee moh ri sep tiv, kem oh /, adj. /kee moh ri sep sheuhn, kem oh /, n. the physiological response to chemical stimuli. [1915 20; CHEMO + RECEPTION] * * * Sensory process by which organisms respond to external chemical stimuli, by … Universalium
Brain — This article is about the brains of all types of animals, including humans. For information specific to the human brain, see Human brain. For other uses, see Brain (disambiguation). A chimpanzee brain The brain is … Wikipedia
List of anatomical topics — This page aims to list articles related to anatomy. This list is not necessarily complete or up to date if you see an article that should be here but isn t (or one that shouldn t be here but is), please update the page accordingly. NOTOC A… … Wikipedia
primate — primatal, adj., n. primatial /pruy may sheuhl/, primatical /pruy mat i keuhl/, adj. /pruy mayt/ or, esp. for 1, /pruy mit/, n. 1. Eccles. an archbishop or bishop ranking first among the bishops of a province or country. 2. any of various… … Universalium
nervous system — Anat., Zool. 1. the system of nerves and nerve centers in an animal or human, including the brain, spinal cord, nerves, and ganglia. 2. a particular part of this system. Cf. autonomic nervous system, central nervous system, peripheral nervous… … Universalium
animal development — Introduction the processes that lead eventually to the formation of a new animal starting from cells derived from one or more parent individuals. Development thus occurs following the process by which a new generation of organisms is produced by … Universalium


text:
What does DW mean in Police?
This page is about the meanings of the acronym/abbreviation/shorthand DW in the Governmental field in general and in the Police terminology in particular.
Drug War
Find a translation for DW in other languages:
Select another language:
What does DW mean?
- drug war(noun)
- conflict between law enforcement and those who deal in illegal drugs
Discuss this DW abbreviation with the community:
Use the citation below to add this abbreviation to your bibliography:
"DW." Abbreviations.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2018. Web. 22 Mar. 2018. <https://www.abbreviations.com/term/372810>.


text:
MMM Chiapas 2014: Successes and Lessons Learned
There were pitfalls and lessons learned, especially in terms of case loads and O.R. scheduling. But from an organizational standpoint this was a highly successful mission on a number of fronts. We are now in serious discussions about establishing an annual mission to San Andrés./ read more


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Three hours after staring down a two-sets to love deficit and two break points at the start of the third, Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs yesterday lost a momentous five-set doubles match to Swedes Jonas Bjorkman and Joachim Johansson at Memorial Drive, thereby conceding the point on which this Davis Cup tie may ultimately be seen to have turned.
The only compensation for the Australians was that, as each hour passed - the marathon lasting longer than Friday's two singles combined - the Swedish options for today's reverse singles were compromised a little more. "Jonas (is) probably less of a chance now that we've kept him out there for four-and-a-half hours," Arthurs said later.
The Australian pair had been unbeaten since Argentina swept the clay-court tie in Buenos Aires two years ago, and the three most recent matches, including last year's final, had been their best.
Yesterday's was a brutal but unsuccessful struggle, and the 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 2-6, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5 defeat, featuring five breaks of the Woodbridge serve, and the failure to capitalise on a service break in the fifth set, dilutes their record to 4-3.
"Wayne and I played good quality today to get back in the match and you look at it sometimes and go, 'How is it possible to not win it?' " Woodbridge said. "But that's momentum and we just have to go on. We found a way to gut it out, and we made them have to go all the way."
Bjorkman had lost his past five Davis Cup doubles matches, after winning 18 of his first 20, including three in finals. While combining with Woodbridge for 12 tour titles, the right Davis Cup combination has since proved elusive. Until yesterday, at least.
The Swedish strategy was always geared around the required three points and the doubles was a key plank. Without it, Mats Wilander had conceded that victory would be virtually impossible, which prompted him to save Bjorkman, his top-ranked singles player, for day two.
In the second new chapter from the Davis Cup book of the unexpected, there were two surprises yesterday: the highly impressive debut in a live rubber of 21-year-old Johansson, whose doubles experience is minimal, but his audacity in belting 200 km/h second serves quite extraordinary, and Woodbridge's repeated struggles on serve.
The first real sign of trouble came at the end of a tight first set, Woodbridge needing to save four set points in the 11th game to force a tie-breaker, in which the Swedes finally converted their seventh opportunity after 51 minutes.
Australia took the early advantage in the second set, with the help of a let non-call dispute at deuce on Bjorkman's serve in the second game, but Woodbridge immediately dropped his serve to love, then faltered again four games later as the Swedes won six of seven games to seize the match by the throat.
Or so it seemed. As the temperature climbed towards its 37-degree peak, and was considerably more brutal for the players on the notoriously toasty Rebound Ace, the degree of comeback difficulty multiplied.
Still, the Australians refused to capitulate, claiming the third set 6-2 as Johansson, so solid early on his debut in a live rubber, and first match ever with Bjorkman, started to fray, particularly on serve.
Australia seemed on the victory march after gaining the controversial early break in the fourth, Johansson interrupted twice by crowd disturbances. But the Swedes drew level and, from there, it was about who would melt first.
Just when it seemed that the Swedes had, with Bjorkman dropping serve in the first game of the fifth, Australia's early advantage evaporated into a 7-5 defeat, Woodbridge suffering the indignity of being broken twice more in the eighth and then the final game, by a pair playing together for the first time.
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text:
This feature is new in the Software Express pilot program. This feature is included in the Solaris 10 3/05 release.
For login accounts that are defined in local files, a password history of up to 26 previously changed passwords can be enabled. When a user changes a password, the attempt fails if the new password matches one of the passwords in the history. Also, login name checking can be disabled.
See the passwd(1) man page for more information.


text:
Structure and Function of Cells
Lesson Plan
State Standards:
Structure and Function of Cells
Strand #2: Recognize that all organisms are composed of cells, and that many organisms are single-celled (unicellular) e.g. bacteria, yeast. In these single- celled organisms, one cell must carry out all of the basic functions of life.
Essential Question:
What does it mean to be alive?
Lesson Question:
What do plants and animals have in common?
Introduce students to the idea that all living organisms are composed of one or more cells. And, to be considered living or having lived the organism must exhibit the following: growth, respiration, reproduction, feeding, excretion, sensitivity, movement.
Post a KWL chart and ask students what they know about animal and plant cells. Then what do they want to know.
Present different objects and ask students to determine if they are live or not. Have students
explain their reasoning.
Introduce students students to "alive" criteria - what is means to be alive or have been alive. i.e. growth, respiration, reproduction, feeding, excretion, sensitivity, movement.
Break students into groups of 4 based on varied levels of understanding and learning styles. Assign each group an animal or plant. (simple to complex )
Each group will find a picture of the assigned plant/animal and a picture of a cell associated with that plant/animal.
Each group will present their findings to the class and will discuss/present in terms of criteria for being live and the complexity of the organism.
(Can post presentations/pictures on classroom web page using web 2.0 tools)
Facilitate discussion in comparing and contrasting different organisms in terms of complexity and similarities. Refer to what all organisms have in common, what it means to be alive, and basic commonalities in cell functions in plants and animals. Make connection between what the "whole animal/plant" does and the "individual cell" of the animal/plant does.
Post what the students have learned on the KWL chart.
Conceptual Knowledge Building Activity Types:Students will view video on cells. They could view video on their own computers/hand-held devices or the video could be shown using a smart board to all students.
Procedural Knowledge Building Activity Types:Students using the activities/labs mentioned above will observe and gather data which can be recorded on a spreadsheet, word processing software and or documented and shared with a flip video.
Knowledge of Expression Activity Type: Using presentation software or a video creation students can demonstrate findings and discuss/debate understanding and concepts within the classroom or on a class website.
Lesson Experiences:
It is difficult for students to conceptualize the idea that all living organisms are composed of one or more cells. Also, that plant and animal cells have common functions/structures and that one cell must carry out all the basic functions of life.
As an introduction to cells- and the understanding that all living organisms are composed of one or more cells this lesson works well. It can be easily differentiated to all levels on ability.
Informal: Science journals, classroom discussions, KWL chart
Formal: Tests, quizzes, presentations
Video to support understanding that all organisms are composed of cells.
Technology - computer access, overheard projector
Textbook, handouts


text:
San Francisco supervisors Tuesday will get one final chance to weigh in on the long-awaited redevelopment plan for the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.
While the board voted 8-3 two weeks back to approve the environmental impact report for the huge, 10,500-unit development, the supervisors still have to OK the specifics of the project and are expected to come up with a number of amendments to the current plan.
But that doesn't bother Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, who has fought for more than a decade for the project, which she is convinced will jumpstart economic development in her Bayview-area district.
"Things are looking pretty good," she said this afternoon. Most of the proposed amendments "are just peripheral things that already are part of the agreement."
Among the anticipated amendments are some designed to tighten the local job agreements already reached with Lennar, the project's developer, and to ensure that Lennar — or any successor company — actually provides the various benefits promised for the community surrounding the shipyard.
While a number of supervisors and environmentalists would like to block plans for a bridge across Yosemite Slough, there appear to be the needed six votes in favor of the span over the bay wetlands.
If the shipyard plan gets its final approval, the redevelopment effort instantly changes from a political fight to a legal and economic battle.
Once the plan gets the required six votes, "we have a fully approved project," said Michael Cohen, head of the mayor's Office of Economic and Workplace Development. "We expect that we'll be sued, but we have very good lawyers."
The challenge then will be for Lennar to come up with the money needed to get construction rolling, sometime after the Navy finishes its toxic cleanup and turns the first two parcels of the shipyard project over to the city next summer.


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Unlike the MPAA we do not assign one inscrutable rating based on age, but 3 objective ratings for SEX/NUDITY, VIOLENCE/GORE and PROFANITY on a scale of 0 to 10, from lowest to highest, depending on quantity and context.
[more �]
� Critics.com
� Official Site
� IMDb Listing
Based on a comic book character: A man (James McAvoy) seeks revenge against the murderer of his father, who is himself an assassin, and his father's partner (Morgan Freeman) arranges for him to train with a brotherhood of assassins, under the eye of his assistant (Angelina Jolie). Frightened and overwhelmed at first, he agrees to participate in assassination assignments. Also with David O'Hara, Terrence Stamp, Common, Konstantin Khabensky and Marc Warren. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov. [1:52]
SEX/NUDITY 7 - A man and a young woman have sex on a kitchen countertop: she is wearing a skirt, no shirt and a bra that reveals cleavage, the woman's bare thighs and the man's bare buttocks and thighs are shown, we hear a lot of groaning and screaming from both, and see much thrusting along with the woman spanking the man as he thrusts; the woman has sex on the same countertop with another man and we see bare thighs of both and her bra and cleavage, and we hear groans from both and screams from her.
► A nude woman steps out of a soaking tank and walks away from the camera showing intricate tattoos from her shoulders down the length of her body to the knees and across the lower portion of her bare back and buttocks. A woman wears a dress that is slit on the side up to the waist, and several scenes show a woman in a tight T-shirt that reveals cleavage. A man is shown in several scenes sitting in an herbal bath nude from the waist up. A man is pictured just out of the shower, nude from the waist up, fastening the belt on his jeans.
► In an apartment scene, a woman kisses a man twice, for a prolonged period of time.
► A woman wearing a knee-length dress that is slit up the side to the waist hangs out of a speeding car (please see Violence/Gore for more details) and at one point her knees and thighs are nearly around the head and face of the male driver.
► A man and a woman are briefly shown in bed, clothed and arguing. A man in an office looks at three different women from the back and states that they are "hot."
VIOLENCE/GORE 8 - The film depicts dozens of scenes with several individuals shooting automatic weapons at one another, with several deaths that show small red holes between the eyes or at the heart level of the chest; the scenes show the bullets entering the bodies in slow motion and several drops of blood spurting out from the wound or a large blob of bright red blood flowing out of the mouth, and additional wounds occur to arms and one foot, through a shoe.
► A man draws two guns and runs down a hall, through a glass window, and across a rooftop, firing at men holding guns: 5 or 6 are killed and one man is shot in the back of the head and dies (we see all the men, lying face down in pools of bright red blood).
► Two assassination scenes show a bullet emerging from the foreheads of the victims with drops of blood flowing out, and then the bullet goes back through the head, out the back of the skull, and is pictured flying back into the gun.
► An 8-year-old girl is held captive (we see a man running a knife blade down her back as she looks out a window) and when her father arrives, the man beats him up, duct tapes his and his daughter's mouths, ties the father to a chair, holds a BBQ lighter above his head, and we see the wild eyes of the little girl and we see flames reflected on her face as her father burns to death; we hear no sounds as a female voice describes what is happening in a voiceover and the scene ends as the voice states that the intruder branded her with a hot clothes hanger on the neck (we later see a scar).
► Several knife fights with foot-long blades occur between a young man and an older man: in several close-up shots we see the young man's jacket slashed and cuts on his arms, and knives are thrown past his head and stick into the wall behind him -- in one of these scenes the young man is stabbed cleanly through one hand and then in the abdomen (we see a little blood) and one such scene takes place in a darkened slaughter house amid hog carcasses that hang from meat hooks, with exposed bones and holes around the edges that look like they were made from gunshots.
► A gunshot sounds, a woman slams into a chair and we see small spots of blood on the wall behind her, but no wound. A gunfight involving four men occurs in an abandoned floor of a garage: one man is shot in the arm (we see a little blood) and one man is shot and killed (we see him fall to the floor and bleed from the mouth).
► Several scenes depict interrogation training sessions with a man and his trainer, who repeatedly punches him in the face after tying him into a chair (his face becomes covered in blood).
► A man is berated in a loud voice by a female supervisor at work: In one scene, the woman's face swells up like a beach ball, the man sweats as his face turns red and he grimaces, fumbles for medication as we hear a fast heartbeat (please see Substance Use for more details), takes a pill, sits back, and fans himself; in another such scene, the man's face turns red, he stands up, curses, tells the woman to shut up and picks up his computer keyboard and bashes a man's head with it (pieces scatter and the victim falls, with blood slowly flowing out of this mouth).
► A woman is shown giving a man CPR (there's a lot of blood on the victim's face and her own); the victim revives but dies and further CPR is useless.
► A man draws two guns and runs through a factory shooting several people; a knife wielding man sticks his blade down the barrel of one of the guns, and the man fires it into his chest, following it up with a stomping boot kick to drive it through the back, where we see a lot of blood. Several people are shot in the temple and we see the bullets passing through their heads and blood flows out from the wounds. Two men shoot at each other and one man dies from his wounds.
► A man knocks another man who is tied to a chair to the floor; the man in the chair unties his bindings, gets up and breaks the chair over the other man's back. A man stands up out of a bath, fully clothed, pulls down his sweater arm to reveal blood on his bicep, and reaches into the patch of blood to pulls out a bullet.
► A series of night scenes on a train show a man and a woman jump and ride train tops: The woman lies down to pass through a tunnel while the man jumps up to an overpass, two scenes show the couple together on the train roof with the man pointing his gun toward a window, and he fires and we see his target struck in the chest by the bullet (we see the bullet enter the heart area of the chest and splatter some blood outward from a small red hole).
► A number of car chases show many near-crashes and crashes with few people hurt: we hear police sirens, crashing metal, gunshots, explosions, screeching tires, shrieking brakes, and grinding engines, and we see smoke and a few flames. During a chase, a car jumps over a police barricade of cars, followed by a truck that hits two other cars first and deflects them. A car zigzags in and out of traffic quickly, the driver shoots out her own windshield, pushes it aside and climbs onto the hood after giving the passenger the wheel; she hangs off the hood, firing two guns at people in other cars and leans around the fender to avoid being struck by a bus in the next lane, and another bus flips and crashes on its side while several cars run into one. A car catches up to a limo, flips over and the driver shoots and kills a man in the limo through his open sunroof. A man driving a garbage truck speeds toward a man standing in a parking lot, a car speeds toward him from the other direction, spins sideways, and scoops him up in the passenger compartment while the truck turns away at the last second.
► A series of scenes involve handgun target practice in a slaughter house where four men and a woman practice curving their shots around a hanging butchered hog.
► A foot chase scene is taken onto a train where a man draws a gun, passengers scream, he chases another man through several cars, fires a bullet around a terrified woman, and more bullets are fired; then a car speeds into the train, becomes wedged in the side of the train and is dragged through a tunnel (there are lots of sparks), and the train derails and falls into a river.
► Thousands of rats booby trapped with explosives skitter into a textile mill and explode amid men who are trying to shoot them; a lot of smoke billows out of the windows and doors and some flames flare in one room -- we see several men lying down, some with small amounts of blood around their noses and mouths.
► A man is accosted by a woman in a convenience store, she pulls a large handgun from a bag and drags him to the floor by one arm, as she fires at another armed man across the store; gunfire ensues, no one is hurt, but glass shatters and food and sundries fly off shelves amid loud gunshots and people screaming.
► In three scenes, two men shoot at each other and the bullets split each other in mid-air. A man is threatened that if he does not shoot the wings off a fly, he will be shot in the back of the head, the man hesitates, picks up a gun and fires many times to a point off screen (we then see three wingless flies). Two men draw guns on each other, a woman appears, pulls another gun and all three drop their weapons.
► A man practices catching the fast moving shuttle out of an electric loom in several scenes, each time cutting his knuckles on the machinery; we see overly bright red blood splashed over the back of one hand each time.
► A man is told that his father was still alive, but died in a train. A man says that he killed his father. A man tells a man that a rogue assassin murdered his father. A man asks why assassins murder people and is told, "You kill one and maybe save a thousand." The film's opening scenes are made up of text describing a secret society of weavers that are actually assassins. An older man tells a younger man that he has superpowers caused by an increased pulse rate.
► A man experiences several nightmares where everyone around him moves in slow motion and he always wakes up with a gasp.
► An unkempt man in a dirty sleeveless shirt and showing underarm and chest hair bites his fingernails and spits them onto the floor.
PROFANITY 9 - 44 F-words, 1 obscene hand gesture, 21 scatological references, 25 anatomical terms, 13 mild obscenities, 3 religious profanities, 6 religious exclamations, name-calling. [profanity glossary]
SUBSTANCE USE - A man is given a shot of vodka. A man smokes a large cigar. A man says he has anxiety that requires medication, we see a vial beside his bed and later he is seen taking a pill; in another scene, he takes out the vial when he becomes nervous but a man takes it and throws it away. One man tells another: "You seem all pepped up. You OK?" -- the man had just stopped taking anxiety medication and we hear a fast heartbeat.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Murder and assassination, guns and knives, risk taking, superpowers, healing potions, revenge, brainwashing, justice, secret societies, mysticism and prophecy, reality vs. fantasy, relationships.
MESSAGE - Take control of your own life by determining what the facts are and by taking a stand.
Special Keywords: S7 - V8 - P9 - MPAAR
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Rajasthan Univ M.Ed Counselling 2015,1st 2nd 3rd Seat Allotment:
The University of Rajasthan would publish shortly the detailed Counseling Schedule (Ist / IInd / IIIrd) for Seat Allotment at the Colleges of Education affiliated to the University.
Raj Univ RU M.Ed Counseling Round 2015
The University of Rajasthan would publish on our Website https://edunews.xyz/ the Rajasthan University announced Counseling Schedule for the candidates looking forward to hearing the University of Rajasthan Press Release.
We are keeping a close watch on the most awaited announcement in respect of the Counseling for admission into M.Ed. Course for the Academic Year 2015.
Counseling Program to be declared by the University of Rajasthan shall include Counseling Fee, Document Verification and Reporting at the Allotted Colleges of Education among others.
Rajasthan University shall publish the Counseling Schedule for admission in M.Ed. Course for the Academic Session 2015 – 2015.
Even though we would publish on our Website https://edunews.xyz/ the Updates relevant to the M.Ed. Admission in addition to Counseling Schedule, however, the candidates declared Pre-M.Ed. Entrance Test – 2015 Qualified are advised to visit the Rajasthan University Website http://www.pmet2015.net/ for regular Updates.


text:
Results and patients satisfaction after implantation of the fully implantable hearing system Otologics MET in patients with congenital auricular atresia
Search Medline for
|August 8, 2007
Congenital auricular atresia is a malformation with an incidence of 1:8000. Whereas the inner ear anatomy and function is normal in most of these patients, they suffer from a conductive hearing loss with an air-bone gap of 60 dB. Conventional bone conducting hearing aids or bone anchored hearing aids (BAHA) are current treatment options with several disadvantages. Surgical construction of the sound conducting apparatus has been performed by others and modified by us into a three-step procedure with in-vivo prefabrication of the external ear canal and the tympanic membrane (Laryngoscope 113, 2021 – 2029, 2003). Although the results improved after inauguration of our modifications, there still remains an air-bone gap that makes air conducting hearing aids necessary in many patients.
We have modified the surgical instruments, the transducer and the operative technique of the only fully implantable hearing aid (Otologics Fully-Implantable MET) clinically available and implanted it in five patients with congenital auricular atresia.
After activation and fitting of the devices we see an improvement of the sound-field thresholds up to 50 dB HL. The mean functional gain in a three frequency pure tone average is about 38 dB HL. The discrimination rate in speech testing rises about 72%. Subscales of the APHAB show a significant improvement. Patients satisfaction is high, regarding the results of the used questionnaire.
The use of fully implantable hearing systems is a new promising therapy option in patients with congenital auricular dysplasia.


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text: Strides Arcolab's subsidiary Onco Therapies Limited has received final ANDA approval for Oxaliplatin Injection 50mg/10mL and 100mg/20mL.The company had receive tentative approval from USFDA in November 2011 based on a Para III filing. This approval was later converted to a Para IV filing based on which USFDA has now granted final approval.According to IMS data, the US market for generic Oxaliplatin is approximately $1.5 billion.Oxaliplatin is part of the oncology portfolio licensed to Pfizer for the US market and the product is available for immediate launch.Oxaliplatin is a chemotherapy drug used to treat advanced cancer of the colon and rectum. It is used in combination with other medications to slow or stop cancer cell growth.The Strides Arcolab Ltd. stock was trading at Rs.754.45, up by Rs.30.05 or 4.15%. The stock hit an intraday high of Rs.760.05 and low of Rs.729.The total traded quantity was 0.49 lakhs compared to 2 week average of 0.40 lakhs.


text:
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As a NAPA AutoCare Center, we follow a strict Code of Ethics so customers will know up front what to expect. As part of this code, we pledge:
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text:
July 15, 2008
Houstonians From All Walks Pay Respects to DeBakey
By Todd Ackerman, Houston Chronicle
Jul. 15--Houstonians today paid their last respects to Dr. Michael DeBakey, steadily filing past the legendary heart surgeon's casket as he lay in repose at City Hall.In the first two hours of the public viewing, the visitors ranged from a homeless man to city officials to loved ones of former patients, who took a moment at the casket before moving on.
Some choked back tears.
"I loved the man," said a moist-eyed Francis Darr, a lifelong Houstonian who said DeBakey operated on her father in 1961.
"He was just such a wonderful, warm human being," Darr said. "I know some of his colleagues didn't see that part of him, but his patients felt his concern. Plus, he gave my father 16 more good years."
DeBakey died Friday night of natural causes, after an extraordinary career as a doctor, scientist, educator and medical statesman. He was 99.
A number of visitors to the viewing lamented that he didn't make it to his 100th birthday. DeBakey would have turned 100 on Sept. 7.
He lay in repose today in surgical attire -- including white scrubs and a pulled-down mask. In one hand he clasped a small cross.
A military honor guard and a doctor flanked the casket and a screen above it displayed historical photos and footage of highlights from DeBakey's long career.
The public viewing marks the first time City Hall has been used to so honor one of Houston's residents.
Lying in repose is not the same as lying in state, which is reserved for the U.S. Capitol or a state capitol.
To see more of the Houston Chronicle, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.HoustonChronicle.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, Houston Chronicle
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.


text:
Destination Map-Miami & the Keys - Destinations Map (National Geographic)
Now your customers can explore the World's great cities with National Geographic as their guide. Easy and fun to use, new Destination Maps combine finely detailed city maps with fascinating travel information. These handy maps fold and unfold in a snap, thanks to sturdy lamination that resists tearing and eliminates folding hassles. Vacation and business travelers alike will find them to be handsome and indispensable guides to the most popular destinations around the world.
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text:
2 reviews for 50% off "Apocalypse Elements" by Soundiron (Kontakt Player)
4 out of 5
Rick – :
I love this sound library (and it's worth every €/$, but.. issues:
Master > Megamixer > APE:
APE Elements All Megamixer.nki:
Instrument – Ensemble Dhol:
Articulation: Clack
-A sample in the round robin does not sound.
Same behavior (in the same instrument/articulation group) is present in:
–APE Elements Ensemble Clack Mixer.nki
–APE Elements Ensemble Ethnic Drum Mixer.nki
–APE Elements Ensemble Clacks Tuned.nki
–APE Elements Ethnic Drums Tuned.nki
–APE Elements All Megamixer Lite.nki
–APE Elements Ensemble Clacks Tuned Lite.nki
–APE Elements Ethnic Drums Tuned Lite.nki
(WORK AROUND: under the hood (mapping editor); In group "30 dhol clack" – Copy over another set of samples in the group, to the empty spot at D#-2 (or.. if you're REALLY adventurous.. try loading in all the appropriate samples and arrange them (in the same fashion as the others) in the mapping editor))
Instrument – Ensemble Frame:
Articulation: Hit 2
-Articulation does not load.
Same behavior is present in:
–APE Elements All Megamixer Lite.nki
Instrument – Ensemble Sticks:
Articulation: Hit 1
-Articulation does not load.
Same behavior is present in:
–APE Elements All Megamixer Lite.nki
No work around for the non-loading articulations, that I know of (unfortunately).. they are locked under a script.
Regardless of the issues.. totally worth the money. Just hoping for a fix/update from Soundiron in the near future.
4 out of 5
Rick – :
Everything you need to fix these issues (including the non-loading articulations) are basically in…:
-APE Elements All.nki
-APE Elements All Lite.nki
…if you don't mind putting in some cut & paste effort.
Turns out the scripting is fine.. it's just that, somewhere along the way, some of the samples weren't placed in their in the mapping editor. Kontakt is complicated, and $#!+ totally happens…
Still knocking off a star for these issues.. but would put this library up against anything Heavyocity has ever produced.


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text:
- They like their position but would not say never to looking at acquisition offers.
- Charter assets are complete and well positioned. They have fire power if opportunities come up.
- Broadband and bundle offers are tough to compete with.
- Merger with Comcast is probably more feasible than in the past today but not probable.
- Wireless is a tough business with a difficult competitive position. The Verizon MVNO is good.
- 5G is an opportunity for Spectrum.
- There is attrition in cable bundle but the market is still huge: 94 million.
- There is still must see content, such as sports.
- Altice has strong margins (margin maximization). Charter is watching. If Altice can maintain the high margins it may lead to either other cable companies getting better or Altice acquiring them. If not they (Altice) will be acquired. This will probably play out over the next couple years.
- There was no formal sponsorship group. No soft drink, telecom, professional services, oil & gas, banking sponsors.
- CAA helped put feet on the ground all over the world.
- Results should start to come in next year.
- Packages and bundled offers are being made.
- Looking to maximize value and benefits with the right profitable mix of races. A U.S. presence is important but they also need U.S. driver and content to keep U.S. fans engaged.
- Direct to consumer is an opportunity. They also have tons of data on the cars that are not being sent out.
- Live Nation has been helpful in discussions about opportunities.
- Broadcast contracts (renewal) is an opportunity.
- Liberty now owns 70% and growing.
- Business has performed beautifully.
- They will continue to back stock if it looks attractive.
- At 80% ownership, dividends would be non-taxable.
- Liberty Sirius sells at a discount. They might take actions in the future when they may want to close the gap, perhaps to use the equity.
- They like Pandora as an advertising supported service. Could allow for a good, better, best offering.
- There are challenges in the pure streaming business.
- Sirius can help Pandora with curated content.
- Can it help Sirius migrate users to its service?
- Can Pandora light up "zombie" radios in used cars (Sirius radios not turned on).
- There will be more pop up channels to allow Live Nation and Sirius to support each other.
- Stadium and Battery have "been awesome".
- Minor league system has been improved.
- Charter has big opportunities as does Formula 1.
- QVC and HSN should have opportunities and synergies.
- They are not operators, they are investors.
- They have great managers. Incentives are well aligned.
The Security I Like Best Checklist #Buffett #GEICO
- Relative performance of industry (Is Mr. Market presenting an opportunity?)
- Recent performance of industry
- Nature of the industry
- Advantages
- Disadvantages
- History (brief) of the company
- Advantages of the company
- Growth – track record
- Growth – future prospects
- market opportunity
- competitive advantages
- Relative performance vs. industry peers
- Capital structure
- use of cash
- shares outstanding
- Management
- board
- senior executives
- stock ownership
- Normalized earning power
- Valuation
Greg Maffei at Morgan Stanley TMT Conference Notes $LBDRK, $FWONK, $LSXMK, $BATRK, $QVCA, $LVNTA
- Formula 1: great international sports franchise; 400 million+ TV audience; many parts of the business are under-exploited such as sponsorships.
- Chase Carey is a great manager who has brought on some top-tier talent to round out the management team.
- Race calendar is locked in for 2017 and probably 2018. Sponsorship has the most potential for near-term improvements.
- The races need to be more interesting. This will take some time.
- They think the opportunity is bigger than they first thought.
- Teams have an interest in a more balanced league will make the product more compelling.
- Best TV deal is in the U.K. There is a lot of potential to improve the TV deal in the U.S.
- Liberty Sirius XM.
- Pandora is way under monetized. The subscription streaming business does not have very good economics. The free radio market is still a $16 billion market. Perhaps Pandora could help Sirius to go after some of that money.
- Future of connected car. In some ways, this will threaten Sirius because there will be more options in the car. But the two-way connectivity can help Sirius provide a better service.
- The Agero platform has signed up a number of car manufacturers.
- Liberty Broadband.
- Lots of M&A discussion. The current administration is positive for more consolidation. There are not many cable targets left. Charter is very bullish on future prospects. They have a great management team and the comp structure is well aligned.
- Charter is confident on the mobile offering. There is upside here.
- Has grown for the past 30 years. Only a couple periods of no-growth. There were distractions around the election which persist. There are some green shoots. Some positive trends.
- Liberty Broadband sells at discount. That will go away when Broadband is merged into Charter or Charter is sold. They have borrowing capacity to take advantage of the discount to juice the returns.
- Howard is locked up for quite awhile. No other content provider stands out as a big threat.
Jim Meyer, SiriusXM CEO, at Morgan Stanley TMT Conference $SIRI
- Important stat is penetration rate in new cars; this is now in the 70-75% range.
- this builds a double acquisition chance: new and then used
- have invested heavily to monetize used car channel
- the conversion rate on used cars is not as high as on new. it is not just about income levels.
- the used market may be a little more sensitive to price.
- it is critical to get the trial started early – this matters.
- they try various offers to see what will move the needle. they also test their cadence. this has become more sophisticated.
- 1/3 of used cars are sold by new dealers; 1/3 by independents; 1/3 are private transactions. they are nailing it in the first group.
- they are now moving into the channel where you go to get your vehicle serviced. they also continue to work with insurance and finance companies. this is harder given privacy issues.
- the car industry changes slowly. they are coming out with the 360L product. Meyer does not care how people get the product, i.e. via sat, IP, etc. they are not wedded to satellites.
- it is not just compelling content. it must also be easy to use. 360L is a very easy to use interface. you should not care how you're getting the signal. 360L is two-way which allows Sirius to enhance the offering. also, it will make it easy for customers to renew and get information.
- there are 40 vehicles on the road running tests. they have learned a lot and they are excited about its prospects.
- 360L should make content discovery easier.
- they are deep in discussions with all OEMs on the rollout of 360L. The first car should be on the road Q1, 2018.
- they should have been more aggressive in their IP offering. they now have hundreds of people working on it. They have a highly rated app that works well. they fixed a lot of stuff and it can now roll out on any device. This should expand. It is all about getting the service more easily outside the vehicle.
- in-home engagement drives down churn.
- they do not need an acquisition to do IP. Radio is a $25 billion business. Sirius comprises 25%. A lot of the balance is free radio. Should Sirius pursue that space? They are looking at it but have not found anything. Some of the business models look weak.
- They are guiding 1.3 million net ads this year. They beat guidance last year because of churn performance. this may be the best indicator of customer satisfaction.
- the year started well. the economy is good. they watch home starts because it correlates to the truck market. they are looking for 17 million new cars. this would be great.
- they think churn rates should be steady but it is early in the year.
- churn performance last year was better a result of a lot of blocking and tackling. the marketing organization is expanded. the elasticity of product was strong last year as they worked through a price increase. They worry when they raise prices. they do not assume they can keep raising prices but were pleased to rate hike in 2016.
- they are in 100% of luxury cars. car companies do not want Sirius in all standard models. Penetration in this segment will probably not change much.
- they are spending more time on packaging. they are not in the ARPU business; they are in the cash flow business. they are testing a lot of things to improve this. they do not see ARPU going down. number one reason for churn is customers who do not want to pay.
- there will probably need tailored offerings to reach lower income households. this needs to be done without cannibalization.
- car business changes slowly. they just signed off on the 2022 year model for connected vehicles. After 2020 most vehicle makers will have an embedded modem to own the relationship with the customer and get more data to do that.
- 360L should future proof their product to be competitive with new connectivity offerings.
- They are looking hard at opportunities in the connected vehicle space.
- There will be more Agero rollouts in 2017.
- Satisfaction levels with Sirius content are strong. People pay for great content. They must evolve as the population ages. Biggest opportunity in next 3-5 years is Generation Y. Millenials don't pay. They look at many content opportunities. Howard is somewhat unique. They would love to find another.
- Most of the big content renewal deals are done.
- Music labels don't think Sirius pays enough; they think they pay too much. this will be settled by the Copyright Royalty Board. Meyer is optimistic that they can reach a reasonable rate.
- The popularity of country channels is off the chart. the labels need Sirius to create country stars. relationship with content providers is strong.
- Leverage target is 4X. they are below that. this is still the target, they have lots of firepower. they returned $500 million in Q4 2016. they have repurchased $8 billion of stock; this has been expanded by the board to $10 billion. they are funding the growth opportunities. they are looking at acquisitions but they will not be distracted.
- They initiated the dividend to reach a class of investors who only buy stocks that pay a dividend. They are reviewing if this is the case. They like their capital allocation strategy.
- Vast majority of capital will go towards buybacks.
- Meyer has met with Ted Weschler 3 or 4 weeks ago and other times in the past. They are thrilled to have Berkshire Hathaway as an investor.
- Sirius's royalties are not related to streaming royalty rates. it is a different dynamic.
Liberty Global at Morgan Stanley TMT Conference Notes $LBTYK, $LBTYA
- 2017 outlook calls for accelerated OCF growth of 6-7%
- Topline drivers: New builds such as Project Lightning in UK, B2B growth, expanding mobile business
- They are working to accelerate growth to 7-8%
- Goal is to keep costs as flat as possible over next two years
- Project Lightning is on track with regards to penetration and ARPU
- Looking for 30% unlevered returns on new builds
- Targeting 40% penetration after 3 years in new builds
- Quad play: still early days but ahead of U.S.; fueled by an incumbent in every market. Liberty has mobile launched in every market; the economic benefit is churn reduction. Each market is treated differently.
- Preference is a full MVNO that maximizes control over customer relationship. They want to own the SIM card.
- They have invested in making the WiFi experience in the home very good. This is very important to the customer.
- 5G will take a while to be market ready. Not a priority for Liberty.
- Video: Invested to make a multi-screen, beautiful interface available. Churn rate on Horizon is lower. Provides replay TV back seven days on TV and mobile devices. Apps like YouTube and Netflix run on the device.
- No home runs in content in Europe. They look for smaller incremental content investments.
- Guiding to $1.5 billion of FCF in 2017; this is the trough. More vendor financing in 2017. They expect FCF will grow in 2018 and beyond.
- They have a lot of flexibility to scale back new builds if returns do not materialize making it low risk.
- Project Lightning has not seen much of a response from BT.
- There is recent progress in turning around Ziggo.
Jeff Bezos' Criteria for a Great Business
Warren Buffett famously uses four filters when selecting an investment.
- Does he understand the business?
- Does it have a competitive advantage?
- Does it have able and trustworthy management?
- Can it be purchased at an attractive valuation (margin of safety)?
In Amazon.com's 2014 Letter to Shareholder, Jeff Bezos begins with his own set of criteria for a "dreamy business offering".
- "Customers love it,
- it can grow to very large size,
- it has strong returns on capital, and
- it's durable in time – with the potential to endure for decades."
Bezos writes that, "When you find one of these, don't just swipe right, get married."
Bezos makes no mention of valuation.
In my estimation, there are not many businesses that meet these criteria. Finding one a year and buying right would be more than enough.
On the Similarities of Underwriting and Investing
In 1999 Warren Buffet wrote, "In Ajit, we have an underwriter equipped with the intelligence to properly rate most risks; the realism to forget about those he can't evaluate; the courage to write huge policies when the premium is appropriate; and the discipline to reject even the smallest risk when the premium is inadequate. It is rare to find a person possessing any one of these talents. For one person to have them all is remarkable."
It is interesting that these qualities parallel those required to be a successful investor.
A successful investor must:
- properly assess the future prospects of a business;
- quickly pass on those businesses he cannot understand;
- have the courage to make a large bet when the odds are in his favor;
- not invest if the margin of safety is too small.
You can infer from Buffett's comments that finding (or becoming) an investor with these traits is difficult.
Scale, organic growth, levered equity driving Liberty Global
Notes from Liberty Global Annual General Meeting of Shareholders – Thursday, June 26, 2014
- Value creation drivers (all thriving in Europe)
- 1.) scale in core markets
- benefiting from fragmented market
- favorable regulatory environment
- winning share from larger telco incumbents
- scale aids technology procurement (set top boxes), content acquisition, leveraging services & human resources
- Virgin Media and Ziggo acquisitions were based on building scale
- substantial synergies to be realized
- 2.) organic growth
- targeting mid-single digit growth in revenue and operating income
- Europe has low penetration of advanced services
- Liberty's bundles are attractively priced and over best-of-breed offerings in video, broadband
- 1ooMbps broadband speeds anchor bundles and organic growth
- declining video losses from advanced digital platform
- growth will require continued innovation
- Horizon TV
- Horizon generates 30% more ARPU
- 20% less churn (vs. avg. digital customer)
- mobile and B2B businesses
- expects increased demand for quad plays
- Wi-Fi hot spots and Wi-Fi calling technology
- SOHO segment growing over 20% annually
- Horizon TV
- content
- with large video and broadband base makes sense to evaluate how select investments in content can help maintain and grow customers
- All3Media JV partnership with Discovery Communications
- 50% stake in De Vijver Media, Belgian free-to-air station
- More content deal/investments to come, particularly in the OTT space
- SVOD services, such as MyPrime, designed to get ahead of rising OTT threat (Malone is on record as thinking U.S. cable industry was slow to respond to SVOD threat.)
- 3.) Committed to growing FCF per share (levered equity capital structure)
- managing capital intensity
- optimizing balance sheet
- using excess cash to repurchase shares
- asset they know the best (circle of competence)
- best way to drive equity returns for shareholder
- 1.) scale in core markets
A Peek into Ted Weschler's Thought Process
On March 3, 2014 on CNBC's Squawk Box, Ted Weschler discussed Berkshire's investment in DaVita Healthcare Partners.
Weschler listed three broad filters he uses for investing in healthcare stocks.
- Does the provider deliver better quality of care than someone could get anywhere else?
- Does the company deliver a net savings to the healthcare system?
- Do you get a high-return on capital, growth and a shareholder friendly management? Presumably, Weschler looks for these same characteristics in other industries.
Weschler began studying the dialysis industry right out of college. Therefore he knows the industry well. The lesson here is to look for insights by studying an industry deeply over a sustained period of time. This echoes lessons from Warren Buffett.
Finally, Weschler is long-term oriented. He has no idea how DaVita will do in the short term (two years out) but he is confident that in five years it will be a more valuable franchise.
The takeaway: a value-oriented rational framework applied consistently over time will deliver (very) satisfactory results.
Links of Interest – 03/06/15
The Brooklyn Investor: Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report 2014
DLD15 – The Four Horsemen: Amazon/Apple/Facebook & Google–Who Wins/Loses (Scott Galloway) – YouTube
Charter Is Ready To Go After Time Warner Cable If Comcast Deal Falls | Deadline
How Buffett Is Changing The Future Of Berkshire's Float – From Insurance To Uncle Sam – Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK.A) | Seeking Alpha
What's the Best Way to Value Berkshire Hathaway? – Morningstar
The Brooklyn Investor: 10x Pretax Earnings! Case Studies: KO, BNI etc.
The Brooklyn Investor: JPM Investor Day 2015


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Former Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Don Gilman and his team stormed the competition at the first Mayors Cup golf tournament Saturday at Birch Ridge in Soldotna.
Gilman, along with Mike Chenault, Alan Weaver and Rusty Weaver carded a 33 to trounce four other mayors and other politicos from the Kenai Peninsula.
Soldotna City Manager Tom Boedeker said there was not much doubt about the outcome when Gilman's team showed up.
"Those sand-bagging North Roaders," Boedeker laughed. "We pretty much knew who was gong to win, (because) Rusty and Mike are pretty much in the top ranks around here."
The North Road Marauders, as Boedeker called them, won by two strokes in the nine-hole best-ball scramble, edging three teams tied at 35.
Squads lead by Soldotna city council member Jane Stein, borough Mayor Dale Bagley and Kenai Mayor John Williams were forced into a chip-off after nine holes.
Bagley's team, comprised of Max Best, Holly Montague and Richard Atuk got closest to the pin in the chip-off, though it wasn't easy.
"The chip-off was brutal," Boedeker said. "George Navarre picked the spot, and instead of from the fairway, he chose in the rough behind the green between two trees."
He said some of the players didn't even make the green from that spot.
The Stein and Williams teams tied for third.
Stein had her husband David and Kathy and Dan Gensel on her team. Williams played with his son-in-law Orlando Mena and the father-son team of Art and Mark McComsey.
Fifth place went to the team led by Homer Mayor Jack Cushing. On his team were borough assembly member Drew Scalzi, Luke Wells and Carey Meyer.
The team winning the red lantern award with a 40 was led by Soldotna Mayor Ken Lancaster, host of this year's event. With him were Boedeker, Navarre and Sen. John Torgerson.
"We couldn't putt for anything," Boedeker said of his teams loss. "But we had a lot of fun, and that was the objective here."
The red lantern award was a box of National Bank of Alaska golf balls.
"If I knew these were the prize, I would have played for last," Torgerson said.
"We worked really hard for those," Lancaster said.
Boedeker said the balls will be collector's items soon, since NBA was recently bought by Wells Fargo.
With all the politicians on the links at the same time, politics would be a natural topic.
"We barred political conversation out on the course," Torgerson said.
Photos by M. Scott Moon
Above, Luke Welles follows his shot out of the woods as his partners, Homer Mayor Jack Cushing and Kenai Peninsula Borough Assemblyman Drew Scalzi, watch the progress during Saturdays Mayors Cup at Birch Ridge Golf Course. Below, Sen. John Torgerson watches as Soldotna City Manager Tom Boedeker lines up a putt on the ninth hole.
Photo by M. Scott Moon
"But that didn't last," Lancaster was quick to add.
"Everyone had a fun time this morning," Boedeker said. "It was a group where most people have known each other over the years, so it was a little more casual than your normal tournament."
Each player paid a $50 entry fee, and proceeds will go to Special Olympics, which lost much of its equipment in a fire on July 21.
Next year's Mayors Cup will be hosted by Bagley. The charity has not be selected yet, but Boedeker said they may look at one that does not already hold its own charity golf tournament. Next year, organizers hope to field 18 teams and play 18 holes.
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NEW YORK --A proposed mosque and Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero is now back on the table after a judge tossed out a lawsuit to stop it.
The American Center for Law and Justice is challenging a decision to tear down a building to make way for the mosque.
The suit was filed on behalf of a firefighter, but the judge ruled he didn't have the legal right to sue. His lawyers say they'll appeal.