text:
Touching Bottom
(Article originally published in Nov/Dec 2016 edition.)
Recovery is in sight for the beleaguered offshore industry, but it may be too late for some companies.
By Jack O'Connell
The company that invented the offshore business is in trouble, big trouble. Its stock is in freefall at less than $2 a share, down from $7 at the beginning of the year and over $60 three years ago. Its market cap is less than $100 million, compared to debt of $2 billion. Earlier this year it borrowed the full amount of its revolving credit agreement – $600 million – in an effort to weather the storm. But it may not be enough.
The company, of course, is Tidewater, which has been in ongoing talks with its lenders for months now, seeking (and getting) temporary waivers to various covenants in its lending agreements. The latest waiver extension expires on November 11, at which point it may well have to enter Chapter 11 to shield itself from creditors.
For those readers with a sense of history, such a development is mind-boggling and exemplifies – like nothing else could – the depths of the depression in the offshore market. It wasn't so long ago, after all, that Tidewater had no debt at all. Its balance sheet was clean. Then it went on a building spree and had to borrow money for the first time to finance it and then the market caved along with the price of oil and, well, it's a familiar story.
But it's not supposed to happen to a company like Tidewater. For a long time it was the big kahuna, the biggest and bestest. It began the business in 1956 with the first purpose-built boat for the Gulf of Mexico. Other companies soon followed. Then, when oil was discovered in the North Sea, the "Cajun Mariners" – as they were famously called in Woody Falgoux's excellent book of the same name – taught the Scandinavians and Brits how to drive the boats to service the offshore rigs. Through it all Tidewater was the gold standard with the biggest fleet, the best safety record, long-standing customer relationships, and a top-notch management team.
It had been through downturns before, of course – lots of them – and survived them all, usually emerging stronger and farther ahead of the competition. But this one is different. This one is "lower for longer," and Tidewater is in a race against the clock: Will the market recover before one of its lenders decides to blow the whistle?
Market Bottom?
Tidewater's not alone, of course. U.S.-based Gulfmark and Hornbeck are struggling as well, and Paris-based Bourbon, which now bills itself as the world's largest oilfield services company, is not far behind. Already there have been some casualties – mainly among North Sea operators – and two Norwegian companies, Solstad Offshore and REM Offshore, recently agreed to merge in a desperate effort to stave off insolvency.
The carnage seems to be worst in the North Sea and in what was once known as the "golden triangle" – the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa and offshore Brazil. This has affected all of the big global players with farflung operations – the Tidewaters of the world. Faring better are small regional players in places like the Middle East, where companies like Zamil Offshore and Topaz, which has extensive operations in the Caspian Sea, are holding their own.
Topaz, for example, recently secured a $350 million contract with Chevron to build and operate 15 offshore service vessels (OSVs) in Kazakhstan. The vessels will be built in Norway by VARD and operated by Topaz for a minimum of three years. The company had earlier scored a similar 14-vessel contract with BP.
Non-public companies like Harvey Gulf and Edison Chouest are also keeping their heads well above water. Why? Because their owners have deep pockets and, as private companies, they're not subject to quarterly earnings expectations and all the other complications (and costs) that come with public ownership. Both are dominant in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, where projects tend to be more long-lived, and Chouest in particular has extensive government contracts that keep it going in good times and bad.
So all is not doom and gloom in the oil patch, as I wrote in these pages a year ago, and there are pockets of hope.
In fact, there is growing consensus that a bottom was reached in the third quarter, bolstered by firming oil ($50/barrel) and gas ($3/mcf) prices. The farsighted CEO of Bourbon Offshore, Jacques de Chateauvieux, predicted back in August that the market had bottomed, which seemed optimistic at the time. But with more than 500 vessels and operations in 45 countries (twice as big as its nearest competitor, Tidewater), Bourbon is likely to know what's going on well before the rest of us.
The company has four main segments: subsea, crewboats, deep water and shallow water. According to Chateauvieux, the subsea segment reached bottom in the first quarter of 2016, followed by the crewboat segment in the second quarter. The deep and shallow water segments, "due to the late cyclical nature" of these businesses, would follow suit in the third quarter. He cited the diversified nature of the company's operations (if you can call four aspects of the same market "diversified") as the reason for its being impacted "less and later" than its competitors.
"Less and later" is a nice counterpoint to "lower for longer," the depressing mantra of Big Oil. But Chateauvieux and his PR folks are just warming up. How about "Stronger for longer," the name given to Bourbon's strategic plan? That's even better. "Stronger for longer," according to Chateauvieux, encompasses "operational excellence, cost optimization, cash preservation and an appropriate debt structure." Now I'm not sure what all of that means, but in Bourbon's case it does seem to be working.
Pure Play vs. Diversified
It's a well-known fact that Wall Street loves so-called "pure plays" – companies that have only one line of business and stick to it. Diversification is frowned upon, despite its obvious merits, and the stocks of diversified companies tend to be penalized as a result. Shareholder activists constantly badger management to spin off "non-core" operations and thereby "unlock" the value in individual businesses by allowing them to stand alone, all on the theory that the individual parts are worth more than the whole.
It wasn't always that way. There was a time when conglomerates ruled, and the accepted wisdom held that the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. Being diversified made you bigger, gave you enhanced access to the stock and bond markets, and protected you from declines in individual markets. The more businesses you owned, the better. Cyclical declines in one area were likely to be offset by increases in others, and the chances of all your businesses rising or falling at the same time were miniscule. And that was the whole idea: Insulate your company from the ups and downs of the business cycle by being in a whole lot of different areas.
Contrast that with the "pure play" approach, where you essentially have all your eggs in one basket. When times are good, they're really good. And when times are bad, they're really bad. And that's what's happening in the workboat sector today. Times are really bad.
One company that has weathered the storm better than most is SEACOR Holdings. Its stock is down for the year, like everybody else's, though not as much, and it's not in danger of violating any loan covenants. One reason for this is its diversity. Though primarily an offshore services company, SEACOR also operates tankers, tugboats, inland towboats and barges, terminals and offloading facilities, and ethanol plants. The tanker business is thriving, as are the logistics and ethanol businesses, helping to offset the steep losses in offshore. And while the company is still losing money, it has substantial cash reserves and a solid balance sheet as a result of wise and diversified investments.
Bottom Line
The strategy of "cold-stacking" vessels (withdrawing them from the market), along with cash conservation and strict cost controls, is having an impact. Quintin Kneen, President & CEO of Gulfmark, says he is seeing signs that "the industry is withdrawing capacity to such a degree that certain geographic markets are beginning to show signs of balance." He adds that this is especially true in the North Sea, where Gulfmark is a major player.
And in an ironic twist, the company has actually benefitted from the decline in the price of its debt securities by buying them back at less than fifty cents on the dollar and thereby significantly strengthening its balance sheet.
With the International Workboat Show in New Orleans coming up in December, it will be interesting to see just how many attendees there are and what the mood is among operators and suppliers. Certainly the worst is over, and the long slow process of recovery and rebuilding can begin. And this seems to be the case not just in the offshore market but in container and bulk shipping as well – with the Hanjin bankruptcy, as pointed out by global maritime consultancy Drewry, marking the low point in the container cycle.
But while the worst may be over, it will not be business as usual. A s Bourbon's Chateauvieux says, "The model of tomorrow will not return to that of pre-crisis and we are already preparing new responses to changes seen in the clients' expectations." What the "model of tomorrow" will look like and the "new responses" will be remains to be seen. – MarEx
Tale of the Tape
12/31/14 12/31/15 Recent YTD
Bourbon (GBB) €18.81 €14.80 €12 -19%
Hornbeck (HOS) $24.97 $ 9.94 $5.20 -48%
Gulfmark (GLF) $24.42 $ 4.67 $1.45 -69%
Tidewater (TDW) $32.41 $ 6.96 $1.65 -76%
Source: WSJ
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.


text:
Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars
(Even When They Lose Elections): The Battles That Define America from Jefferson's Heresies to Gay Marriage
In this timely, carefully reasoned social history of the United States, the New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy and God Is Not One places today's heated culture wars within the context of a centuries-long struggle of right versus left and religious versus secular to reveal how, ultimately, liberals always win.
Though they may seem to be dividing the country irreparably, today's heated cultural and political battles between right and left, Progressives and Tea Party, religious and secular are far from unprecedented. In this engaging and important work, Stephen Prothero reframes the current debate, viewing it as the latest in a number of flashpoints that have shaped our national identity.
January 2016
Publishers Weekly (starred review):
Prothero (Religious Literacy), professor of religion at Boston University, does away with the idea that America's culture wars are a recent phenomenon, showing how such battles have been waged since the nation's founding and have molded the national character and traditions. Culture wars, Prothero writes, provoke change, serving as the catalyst for American democracy despite the nasty public disputes between conservatives and liberals over moral, religious, and social issues. Quoting conservative political pundit Pat Buchanan's 1992 claim that a " 'cultural war' was being waged 'for the soul of America,' " Prothero assembles five pivotal events as supporting evidence: the gritty election of 1800, the antebellum anti-Catholic crusade, the mid-19th-century anti-Mormon campaign, Prohibition, and the ongoing culture skirmishes that began in the 1960s. The right has taken the fight to the left in the current era of partisan politics, but liberals have had their share of victories: school integration, prayer bans in schools, busing, voting rights, the Equal Rights Amendment for women, the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), and marriage equality. Prothero's illuminating and absorbing take on America's growing pains reveals that when "each of our cultural battles comes to an end, we are left with a more inclusive country."
The American Bible Whose America Is This?
The American Bible Whose America Is This? is a provocative crash course in the great "American scriptures" — those texts that have both divided and
In God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World,
In God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World, New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy and religion scholar Prothero argues that persistent
Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know --And Doesn't,
Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know --And Doesn't, The United States is one of the most religious places on earth, but it is also a nation of shocking religious illiteracy.
A Nation of Religions
A Nation of Religions The United States has long been described as a nation of immigrants, but it is also a nation of religions in which Muslims and Methodists, Buddhists
American Jesus
American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon Jesus the Black Messiah; Jesus the Jew; Jesus the Hindu sage; Jesus the Haight-Asbury hippie: these Jesuses join the
Purified by Fire
Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America tells the fascinating story of cremation's rise from notoriety to legitimacy and takes a provocative new look at important transformations

subset: commoncrawl


text:
by Nguyen Hien Luong
The Hanoi-Saigon SE1 train would set off from the Ha Noi station at 7pm, so I still had a lot of time. I stepped into the lounge to idle away my rare moments. Opening the The Thao-Van Hoa (Sports&Culture) magazine, I began reading. All of a sudden, I was startled by a greeting.
"Good evening, Sir! You're Mr Lam, aren't you?"
"Yes, ma'am," I answered, looking up in bewilderment. By my side stood a woman of about 40 with her little daughter in hand. They were staring at me attentively. After a few seconds, she introduced herself to me.
"Sir, I was your student Toan in the Department of Literature and History, Course K8, under teacher Quan's charge. Do you remember?"
I felt a bit nervous, for she was making me recollect a heart-rending matter over 30 years ago. I wiped my glasses with a small cloth to get the seriousness of a collegiate lecturer and spoke to her.
"Oh yes, I see, I see: Toan of Course K8, coming from Van Yen district, Yen Bai province," I answered. "Now, please sit down by my side, both of you. I'm lucky enough to have an old friend on the same North-South train. But, where do you live?" I went on.
"My dear little daughter, say good evening to him, there's a dear. He is my former teacher," she urged her child.
"Sir, I live in Vung Tau. We're coming back home after a visit to my native place. Where are you going, Sir?"
"Vung Tau, that far!" I blurted out, not answering her immediately. "I'm on my way to Vinh. By the way, why and when did you settle down there? You're a factory worker, aren't you?"
"No, sir…!" she stopped short. Her voice sounded choked a bit, eyes in tears.
I felt utterly embarrassed. It turned out that what had happened to me on a Saturday afternoon, a long time ago, when I commenced my teaching career, was now conjured up in my mind.
That afternoon, while I was packing my belongings to return to my hometown before going to Ha Noi to attend a half-month refresher course, Mr. Quan, the dean of the Department of Literatue - History, Course K8, came to me.
"Mr Lam, please mark these essays carefully before they go to our Department's Board of Examination early next week to check if they might meet our requirements or not," he said to me.
Receiving the papers, I took a glance at them and then read them over. Both were nearly four pages. In terms of number of words, they were ok. As to their contents, I found their wordings uninteresting, but eligible for a pass. While I was going to give each of them a 5-mark score, the indecisive norm, Quan turned up again.
"Mr Lam, please spare me a few minutes," the dean insisted.
"OK, what's the matter, Brother Quan? Is there anything so serious that you have to condescend to me about it? High points for one of the papers?" I asked him. "Take it easy! I've just given both of them a five although they aren't up to our standard. Honestly, I don't want either of them to repeat the class," I added, showing my generosity.
"No, no, far from that! I wish to do otherwise," he replied bluntly.
"What d'you mean? Let them both fail?" I asked worriedly.
"Oh no, just one dropout is enough. Between ourselves, the unlucky student is Toan. Can you recognise her handwriting?"
"Why? But what's the matter with her? Perhaps you've got a deep grudge against her?"
"Oh no! The reasons are as follows," he began disclosing a secret. "Rumour has it that she's a prostitute for she goes to a rest house every evening. The collegiate board told me to investigate her case, find out the truth. If it's true, we'll hold a caucus for the whole class, then come to a conclusion that she should be expelled from campus before sending her back to her clan. If we waver, we'll be bothered by the police and our college will get a bad reputation."
Sometimes I heard about her night work at a certain rest house. Yet I found it rather common because her job was, among other things, to do the laundry or to tidy rooms and so on, not a dirty job at all, on the grounds that in daytime she was busy studying, but she needed to earn a living to support her family. "But why does Quan wish to punish her groundlessly?" I asked myself. Between the two jobs - prostitution and housework - there was nothing in common. When I asked Quan, he explained to me, "If she fails, firstly I don't have to see into her secret activities any longer, secondly she'll have to stop her studies and return to her native place with dignity. Therefore, in her home town she might choose another suitable job and get married as usual. Otherwise, if she is found guilty by the police, she'll be sent to a reformatory with a bad record, resulting in leading a shameful life for good. In your opinion, which of the two is better?"
I had to recognise that Quan's argument sounded reasonable, but I was still anxious and worried.
"However, have you investigated the issue carefully?" I asked him. "Are you sure that she has sold her honour for money? If we assess her conduct wrongly, what will happen to her and will we feel repentant all our lifetime?" I insisted.
"Don't worry. I've got a secret informant," he assuaged me. "Moreover, in your abstract subject, you'll be able to find fault with her essay easily," he concluded.
At that moment it was already four in the afternoon. The coach that usually left Yen Bai township for my home district of Luc Yen would make the last trip. No more time for hot debates! Consequently, I gave Toan's paper three marks and handed it to him.
When I was back at the campus later, the Board of Investigation had finished its work. Everything took place in the way Quan proposed. Toan was sacked for not meeting the institution's requirements! Curiously, his measure was highly appreciated!
On second thought, I deemed that I had abused my power and accused her of this behaviour wrongly to some extent. "Anyhow, the die is cast," I assuaged myself.
Without that encounter on the train, my misdeed would have been forgotten forever!
"All aboard, please," echoed the voice of the train mouthpiece.
I sat in the fifth carriage with an ordinary seat, for I only went to Vinh, whereas Toan's destination was the Vung Tau station, nearly three times further than my distance, so she bought a ticket with sleeping births at the end of the train.
In a hurry, we said farewell to each other.
Surprisingly, a few minutes later while my mind was still wandering somewhere with both joy and sadness, she approached my seat.
"Excuse me, would you like to change my birth for your seat, Sir?" she entreated an elderly man sitting next to me. The man agreed at once and Toan sat down beside me with her little one. "I'll take advantage of this opportunity to talk to you since I'm afraid that we could hardly meet each other again," she told me.
On the way from Ha Noi to Vinh, she let me know briefly what had happened to her when she was expelled. Her lifetime was full of ups and downs, misery and disappointment, bitterness and shame. Finally, feeling unable to bear it, she followed one of her elder cousins working for an oil and gas company in Vung Tau. Thanks to that kind-hearted woman's recommendation, she was recruited for a seafood processing company for export with a basic wage. With the passage of time, her grief was gradually burnt out. Soon, she was promoted to a higher post: assistant to the teaching staff of a kindergarten in charge of keeping the building clean and orderly. Discovering her flair for singing, dancing and storytelling, they encouraged her to attend an examination to the nursery department of the Vung Tau College of Advanced Education. Being a successful candidate, she was admitted to the institution as a part-time student. In sympathy for her hard situation, the dean accepted her as an adopted daughter so that she might join the canteen staff of the school. After three years' assiduous study, she graduated with honours and was admitted to the elder cousin's place, the oil and gas company, as a nursery teacher. It was there that fortune smiled upon her: she fell in love with an engineer of Northern origin, and soon became his wife. Now she had a cosy nest with two children and a magnificent building.
Hearing her narrative, I felt deeply moved. Holding her hand tightly I said in a soft voice:
"Congratulations! Your living conditions are indeed beyond my expectation," I told her.
However, I found her face sadden a little. Then in a highly emotive voice she said, "Thank you, Sir! But living far away from my native place and my mother, I felt terribly homesick. Moreover, I prefer the career of a literary teacher."
"But you have your occasional visits to your mum," I assuaged her. "There are also a lot of people who stay away from home, and living far from home doesn't matter much to them. Besides, you're lucky to get a job in a major urban centre. Every type of education has its own pleasure as far as we do our best for it," I went on.
"Yes, sir!" she said softly as she had often done formerly. Then after a long silence, she hesitantly put a question to me.
"Dear Sir! Might I ask you one question, just one? It's about my paper at that time. Frankly speaking, after studying the subject very carefully I did it with all my efforts. I thought that Huong also did the same. Yet, she passed while I failed," she blurted out slightly.
Being upset, I tried to find a reasonable justification.
"Sorry! I almost forgot it," I said in a regretful voice. "Nevertheless, the outline of an essay is one thing, like a skeleton, but its full contents are another matter. It must be illustrated amply with the writer's wide gamut of emotions. In a word, the plan is fairly different from the full text," I added.
Once again, her soft "Yes Sir" made me confused. I bent down my head to evade her glance.
Silence! She looked out attentively. She was lost in thought.
"What's she thinking about? The campus in Yen Bai? My deadly marks given to her?" I asked myself. I felt as if hundreds of tiny insects were crawling on my body. All of sudden she wiped away her tears with her handkerchief. My mind seemed to turn empty. All the efforts for my educational career now turned meaningless simply because I had been deprived of the right to learning of a young woman and to respect her, as well.
"Sir, did you know anything about my so-called bad behaviours those days?" she suddenly asked me.
"What was that?"
"About my alleged prostitution in a rest house near our college?"
"But why do you ask me so?" I asked her to evade her question. "On the other hand, if things appeared otherwise, why didn't you prove it?"
"A long time later, when I had been back home, Oanh, the prefect of my class, let me know the truth," Toan said to me. "During that period of time I did work for that rest house in the evenings because in the day I had to go to college. Frankly speaking, I wasn't a whore, not at all! Just a young girl in charge of tidying the rooms and doing the laundry with an income of 50 dong per night. Sometimes, the landlady suggested that I should have done something else with a higher pay, but I refused point-blank. Believe it or not, it's up to you. Anyhow, this is the first time I have dealt with that matter and you're the only man I dare to pour out my heart to."
"Is this the naked truth?" I asked myself. Looking into her eyes, I realised that she had told me the truth.
"Yes, I believe in you. Today, you are a woman teacher who was brave enough to lay bare the truth for me. But why did you have to work overtime then, and why didn't you clarify your problem?" I asked her.
She wiped away her tears and looked squarely at me.
"My family was in trouble," she told me in a moved voice. "My father was in so serious an accident while he was felling forest trees that he had to confine himself in bed. My mother was then a worker in a State-run tea farm. She had to accept its produce instead of wages, which cost half of her monthly income. My parents knew that they could hardly afford money to cover the school fees and other items for both of us. My mother intended to force my younger sister to leave school. However, I didn't have the heart to face such a dilemma, so I made up my mind to help support the family. At last, I worked for a rest house in the district. I knew that my job there might be wrongly assessed, yet I was unable to find a better job. Moreover, I thought that if I earned money honestly, I wasn't afraid of anyone. Clearly, things went bad for me, beyond my imagination. What I regret is that I had no opportunity to clarify my difficult situation. On the other hand, the college let me know that I was expelled because of my poor results in my study, not because of my immoral conduct. When I came to know that my essay got three marks I tried to look for your help, but you were away. I resorted to Mr Quan's support in vain. He told me, "The die is cast, we can't do anything else."
I stared at her. Instead of having given her a five that day, I just put down a three which would fatally put an end to her beautiful dream. Unexpectedly, such a bad record had invited a lot of trouble for her in her future. Poor us, we only deemed that we would have opened a humanistic way for her during her lifetime after her hard days in the campus.
"Really? I was then…" I said hesitantly because the issue was related to Mr Quan, who passed away two years before with the title of "Excellent Teacher" and I didn't want to hurt his soul in the other world. At that moment I only wished that the train would reach Vinh Station as soon as possible. I would get off and avoid Toan's inquisitive look. In other words, I might put aside the past in order to keep my soul sane, although I was not worthy of that bad reputation. When the train crawled to Vinh, I hurriedly got off before saying farewell to her as if I was trying to escape the chase.
Back at the college, I kept my encounter with Toan a secret. Nevertheless, her image, especially her eyes, always turned up in my mind. "Come what may, her dream of becoming a teacher has been fulfilled. Furthermore, she has a happy family with two nice children and a decent-looking house in one of the most beautiful coastal cities of our country," I told myself.
Finally, I wrote a long letter to express my heartfelt apology to her on the one hand and to lay bare the truth on the other with our so-call goodwill to save face for her at that time.
A few days later, she sent me a reply in which she advised me not to think much about my wrongdoings. "To the final analysis, your decision came from your good idea to save my honour and dignity, and to pave the way for a reasonable outlet for me. That fatal underrated mark took me to Vung Tau, where I was able to put my teaching career into practice and to enjoy a life of plenty," she said. "In reality, I knew Quan's motive through my dear classmate Oanh's account about the guy who had spread the bad news about my work, and also one of my unsuccessful suitors, with a view to getting revenge for his failed attempt to woo me. To tell you the truth, I've kept the rest house owner's certificate of my job as an honest helper, not a whore. Yet at that time it was too late for me to show it to the college principal. In the eyes of everyone, I was a dropout because of my failure in study, not because of my bad conduct. Come what may, I'd needed to turn over a new leaf. That would be the most meaningful verification of mine."
"Anyhow, that problem is a useful lesson for me, although it isn't inclusive in any syllabus," I consoled myself.
During the next summer, I paid a visit to Toan's family in Vung Tau, where we had a good time together. It was their warm welcome that got rid of my guilt complex. I requested her to jot down her whole story, not to support me, but to provide any teachers with a good example to avoid such a disastrous mistake of mine.
Translated by Van Minh


text: Yesterday was a bit of a washout in the end. I didn't make one final pilgramage to the Fantasy Centre. I made it to the London game though and kinda regretted it as it ended up being one giant 3 hour comabt scene which apparently everyone enjoyed. But I certainly didn't enjoy it and the people that weren't involved who just walked out of the game due to boredom didn't enjoy it either. I can't really see how it was ever meant to last only 40 or so minutes. Plus I ended up missing the train cos I some how managed to last right until the very end and was one of the last 4 still standing.


text:
Pity the poor monster man unkind – as vengeful HULK HOGAN on war path after "coitus BFF ex-wife-us" footage is leaked.
In an interview Hulk boo-hoos he's "devastated" by the release of a sex tape featuring him and Heather Clem, the former wife of BFF and wrestler Bubba the Love Sponge.
The tape, he says, has "rattled" his new wife, Jennifer McDaniel.
A clearly embarrassed Hogan (aka Terry Bollea) blabbed about the tape with TODAY's Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford.
During the puff piece, Hogan said the tape was made without his knowledge more than six years ago while he was still married to his now ex-wife, Linda Hogan.
"It's just something that has devastated me and totally … I've never been on something on this level," he told them.
Hogan says he was at a "friend's house" (cough–Bubba?) when the incident occurred, and "I had no idea there was a camera in the room."
Hogan says he was at a "very low point" when he was taped without his knowledge, but added, "I'm not making excuses, I'm accountable, I was the guy, I was there, I made the choice."
Hogan also ballyhooed his re-emerging masculinity on The Howard Stern Show on Sirius/XM earlier on Tuesday, confirming his sex partner was Heather Clem.
Calling the tape "appalling" and a "bad choice," he vowed to find out who secretly shot it and made it public, RadarOnline.com warned a waiting world. (pssst Bubba—look OUT)
"I'm going full-blown to try to find out who did this to me and why and what's the motivation," he said.
Ka-CHING, Hulkster – and hey when was the last time you were Mr. Front Page? Hmmmmmmmmmmm….????
pssst BUBBA LOOK OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!


text:
We have a "sur-prize" for our Oodlers! We are offering a Crosley Cruiser Turntable. Experience the superior, rich, warm sound of vinyl.
~To check out details for the Crosley Cruiser Turntable, click here.
There are two ways to win – you can bid in the Auction AND enter the Sweepstakes. Bid and enter today (just click on the tabs above the prize). Hurry! This auction & sweepstakes will end on 3/24.


text:
State & National Resources:AIA National
State & National Resources:
AIA National
Events Contract DocumentsContinuing EducationCareers
Contract Documents
Continuing Education
AIA Michigan
EventsJob BoardSpeakers Bureau
Job Board
Speakers Bureau
Zingerman's Deli Hard Hat Tour
Zingerman's Deli, Ann Arbor
Thursday September 13th, 2012
4:00-5:00 pm
*Hard hats, eye-wear and closed-toe shoes are a must! These items will not be provided.
1 AIA HSW/SD continuing education credit


text:
Vivien preferred performing before an audience, on stage, as opposed to making movies. Therefore, she only made nineteen films, in her 32 year career as an actress.
Here she is as Titania, from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, in a 1937 theater production.
In the movie, Dark Journey, she plays the very fashionable spy, Madeleine Goddard.
Vivien also posed for many fashion magazines and famous photographers. Angus McBean, Cecil Beaton, Lazslo Willinger, Vivienne and Bassano are just a few of the photographers who attempted to capture her beauty.
I first saw Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind when the movie debuted on television. My mom was so excited about this movie, that my sisters and I caught her enthusiasm for GWTW before we ever saw it. It aired over two nights and we were allowed to stay up past our bedtime, which was a really big deal, to finish watching it each night.
No matter how many times I watch this movie, I still love it. The barbecue scene is one of my favorites. Below, Scarlett and Rhett embrace. This image is from a lobby card.
While filming Gone With The Wind, Vivien was involved (& had been for a couple of years) in a real-life, love affair with Laurence Olivier. Since both were still married to other people, the studio kept it hush-hush. This photo is one of my absolute favorites of the two of them.
This candid of Vivien was snapped in a parking lot, near Lux Radio Theater, circa 1940, in Los Angeles.
Here, Vivien tries her hand as the Egyptian Queen, Cleopatra. This movie was based on George Bernard Shaw's play, Caesar and Cleopatra. A few years later, Olivier and her would bring the play to the stage.
Simply a lovely portrait.
Laurence Olivier in make-up for his stage role in Titus Andronicus, along with a bewigged Vivien Leigh. This pic was taken in Paris, opening night, 1957. In the 1950s, it was fashionable for "older" women to wear their hair short. This was a trend that Vivien followed. When I see her in wigs, such as this one, I can't help but think that longer hair made her look years younger.
As the beautiful Karen Stone in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, costarring Warren Beatty. Vivien played an aging actress preyed upon by a young gigolo.
In the garden of her home, Tickerage Mills, with her friend Godfrey Winn.
I hope you've enjoyed this photographic journey in the life of Vivien Leigh.
Thanks for your visit today!


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Diary of a Worm
- This quirky worm's-eye view of the world makes these ubiquitous invertebrates a little more understandable and a lot more fun.
–School Library Journal
Arnold, Tedd. Hi! Fly Guy. Scholastic, 2005. (And others in the Fly Guy series.)
Arnold, Tedd. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Fly Guy. Scholastic, 2007.
Cannon, Janell. Stellaluna. Harcourt, 1993.
Child, Lauren. That Pesky Rat. Candlewick, 2002.
Cronin, Doreen. Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. Simon & Schuster, 2000.
Cronin, Doreen. Diary of a Fly. Simon & Schuster, 2007.
Cronin, Doreen. Diary of a Spider. Simon & Schuster, 2005.
Cushman, Doug. Inspector Hopper's Mystery Year. HarperCollins, 2003.
French, Jackie. Diary of a Wombat. Clarion, 2003.
McMullan, Kate. I Stink! HarperCollins, 2002.
Provensen, Alice. A Day in the Life of Murphy. Simon & Schuster, 2003.
Taback, Simms. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. Viking, 1997.
Teague, Mark. Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School. Scholastic, 2002.
(And others in the Ike LaRue series)
Tyson, Leigh Ann. An Interview with Harry the Tarantula. National Geographic, 2003.
Westcott, Nadine Bernard. I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. Little, Brown, 1980.
Wheeler, Lisa. Old Cricket. Atheneum, 2003.
Wilson, Karma. Sweet Briar Goes to School. Dial, 2003.


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Upper-Division Seminar: Beowulf
Course Number: ENGL 197
Prerequisites: Upper-division standing, English majors only
Advisory Enrollment Information: This course cannot be repeated and is limited to upper-division English majors only.
Catalog Course Entry: ENGL 197
Quarter: Winter 2018
Instructor: Blurton, Heather
Day(s): MW
Time: 12:30pm - 1:45pm
Location: GIRV 2135
Content will vary with each instructor. Students will be asked to do a project that acquaints them with some of the resources of the library and results in their reading beyond the primary course materials.


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infrared Emitters
The infrared heater to warm body and just material, not the air. The infrared radiation ensures a similarly pleasant feeling of warmth, such as the solar radiation on the skin, thus also an effective, targeted and instant heating becomes possible. IR heaters require no warm-up and the heat is available immediately after power on, it is not possible that you can be blown by the wind, the heat radiation. Since the device works with electricity it consumes no oxygen, is silent and odorless and emission-free, which makes it also suitable for indoor use. It consists of weather-resistant aluminum, enabling a high quality stylish design.


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Monthly Archives: June 2015
Search a beautiful heart,not a beautiful face.Beautiful things are not always good,but good things are always beautiful../..Güzel bir yüz yerine güzel bir kalp arayın.Güzel bir şey, her zaman iyi değildir; ama iyi bir şey her zaman güzeldir.
1. If you are right, then there is no need to get angry.
2. Patience with family is love
3. Never think hard about past, It brings tears.
4. Every test in our life makes us bitter or better.
5.Search a beautiful heart, not a beautiful face.
They claim we claim gooses are like ganders
And ganders are like gooses
Their goodies, the same
Their bothers, the same
So circumcision is a decision
None fights for a cock
So none must fight for a hen
Abena, I say bullshit!
Leave your danglers if you like
But leave them clits alone
It is cruel
To take away the pleasure
It is mean
To clamour for a treasure
It is savagery
To roast, burn and ground a godly pleasure tool
Making feelings wooden
Making hearts stone
Clouding conception
And making it rain pain within when night bells wake
Stop the bullshit!
Stop the savagery!
Stop the sillines!
Be humans!
Be sane!
Sanity is humanity!!!
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia (c) 2015
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I don't Know and I don't Care!
My Remark: It's Not Danger just for Students; It is Danger for Mankind.
Two kids are sitting in a high school auditorium, listening to the principal give the welcoming speech for the year.
The principal says, "The two greatest dangers that students face are ignorance and apathy."
One of the students turns to his friend and asks, "Dude, what's ignorance and apathy?'"
The other student, bored and restless and wanting for the speech to end says, "I don't know and I don't care."
From: http://newbloggycat.com
Copied and Pasted because I could not find the 'Reblog' button.
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Love, Seventeen Lines Long, a poem
Love, Seventeen Lines Long
Why love?
Because… human.
Love is the point.
If not love, what?
Why not love?
Absent love, no meaning.
Encourage love, not hate.
Eternity — in love forever.
Love creates the universe.
Your own love burns.
Live as you love.
Don't forget to love.
Love creates worlds inside.
Love yourself as compassion.
Though difficult, always love.
Is any love bad?
To love, first understand.
Your love saved me.
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Ornette Coleman, "We in the Western world suffer…" & song
"We in the Western world suffer from too many categories and classes; we've forgotten that we all still have diapers on. We've separated music from life." – Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman Quartet, "Turnaround"
What Does It Feel Like to Be Empathetic in the World Today?
Carol A. Hand
Have you ever felt a deep sense of kinship or overwhelming revulsion upon meeting someone for the first time? Seen someone's face change as you gazed at them, like the layers of an onion dissolving to reveal deeper layers of light or darkness? Felt the weight of too many conflicting thoughts and emotions as you looked out at an audience when you lectured or entered a crowd? Been the person in the crowd whom strangers gravitated to in order to seek help or share their stories and troubles? How can you deal with this level of unwanted sensitivity in a household, organization, or world that is too often filled with chaos, unkindness and violence?
Drawing: Carol A. Hand
We are told by religions that compassion is essential for a world at peace, that empathy – "the feeling that you understand and share another person's experiences and emotions:…
View original post 564 more words
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Amid Words
Accurate, and beautifully expressed.


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The Tata Group will set aside $500 million to incubate new businesses in areas such as clean technologies, renewable energy and defence.
The Tata Group will set aside $500 million to incubate new businesses in areas such as clean technologies, renewable energy and defence.
The Rs 3.25 lakh crore company has incubated a lot of businesses since 1945
The Tata Group's efforts to identify and incubate new businesses is in line with some of the world's large corporations like Unilever and Samsung that continuously incubate new ideas with a potential to grow to a full-fledged business opportunity in future.
Tata Industries has invested Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 1,600 crore in various businesses.
The interest of the company is determined by the scale of benefit (in terms of sections and magnitude of human population they can impact), disruptiveness of the technology, innovativeness of the business model or approach, potential of the opportunity to become a large business and linkage with the operations of our current companies.
The company is not limited by geography and have investments in companies located in cities ranging from Kanpur to Boston to Zurich to Israel. Tata Industries will either pick up a stake or acquire a start-up business with a potential to grow. It would invite some other group companies to either invest or take up the business as an independent unit within that company. Tata Industries also has to option to exit the business by selling part of the business to either to a company within the group or to an outside party.


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1) In large saucepan over high heat, combine the pumpkin puree, water, milk, sultanas, salt and pumpkin pie spice (or alternative spices). Bring to a boil.
2) Add the oats. Turn the heat down and cook according to your porridge instructions; mine usually takes about 15 minutes. Stir often.
3) Meanwhile, in a small cast iron skillet over medium heat, toast the pepitas until they're fragrant and a gentle golden brown, about 10 minutes.
4) Once the porridge is cooked (each grain should be tender), serve with honey or maple sugar on the side, pepitas to sprinkle on top and cream if so desired.


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How to become a musician? Are you a good singer and don't know how to become a musician? Have you ever thought of startup career in music? If yes, then it is important for you to understand the each aspect that is associated with the becoming of musician. Do you really know what exactly the job of a musician is?
A musician is a person who is considered as the singer for the main line which is a vocal track. The best part of being a musician is that the total emphases are on him or her. There are very less chances that you get success easily as a musician in the music industry. Because, it requires a talent that is out of reach from others and also needs a lot of hard work.
The main activity of a musician includes performing music for the live audiences and recordings. Secondly, there is the initiation of the audition for positions in the bands, choruses, orchestras and other sort of music groups. Another aspect is associated with the practice for playing instruments or singing for improving the techniques. Rehearse to prepare for performances is another activity of the musicians.
Their job also includes going on the locations for performances or concerts, travelling at times huge distances to perform in the venues. The musicians can promote their careers through maintaining the website or social media presence or through doing the photo shoots or interviews.
Becoming a musician is not a simple task. But, if you are dreaming about and if this is your passion then you can accomplish the dream through working hard for it. To continue the career of musician it is important that you initiate some research so that you can achieve the task. Here we are going to discuss 8 awesome tips to startup career in music and they will help you in understanding that how to become a musician.
1How to become a musician?Know your aims:
This tip is very obvious but people at times underestimate it and doesn't realize the importance of this. This is one of the 8 awesome tips to startup career in music and here we doesn't mean that you should know your goals in life but it represents that how should aim your career.
Suggested: How to start a music career at age 16
Firstly, it is important that you should focus on the goals that are of short-term. If you are a musician but never done a show in an open slot then you can start through organizing a local show. Having a small goal in your music career helps you in achieving the long-term targets. Just follow this tip and you will reach your goals of becoming a musician easily.
2Practice techniques:
This again seems like obvious like the first one but the whole point is that through simply playing the instrument or singing is necessarily not similarly to practicing. Hence, it is significant that the tip from all the 8 awesome tips to startup career in music is going to work for you in an efficient manner.
When a professional musician practices their instrument they make sure about the scales improvement and improve their techniques of playing instrument and singing. You should put yourself as a dedicated practice or a regime of warm up for every day for burning those scales into your mind. You should not only practice the scales and exercise for maintaining the abilities. But, you must also challenge yourself for mastering to achieve something new.
You need to be very sure that you are practicing the instrument and singing in regular basis because if you are going to miss it then it will only affect your dream of becoming a musician. Thus, follow this tip and achieve your goal of becoming a singer or a musician.
If you don't have patience then singing is the career that is not meant for you. This is also one of the useful tips from all of the 8 awesome tips to startup career in music. Patience is very important to be a musician because this is a career that can take a lot of time to begin in initial period. Fame and success doesn't come in a night and it is very important for struggler musician to know this. There are points when people give up on this dream because they don't early recognition among the audience.
This is a career which is not meant for the people who just want to earn money. Instead, you need to make sure that you actually follow the passion of being a musician. This is the most significant quality in a musician who are looking to improve the instrument ability and singing as well. It is going to take a lot of time and effort to be a successful and great musician. It is one of the best tip on how to become a musician. Hence, make sure to follow this tip in the path of becoming a musician so that you don't feel any sort of hassle.
4Attend musician classes:
To make your career in music this is tip is going to benefit you effectively from all the other 8 awesome tips to startup career in music. If you want to know how to be a musician then attend the classes. Musician classes will not only help you in accomplishing your dream but will also help in understanding that whether this career is really meant for your or not.
You can work on your singing skills through attending musician classes. If you like playing some specific instrument then also you can work on that is you don't have an appropriate idea of playing that. You just need to make sure that you are attending some musician classes because it can really help you in growing your music career.
5Look for online help:
In this era of internet, all the works are initiated through the help of internet and musician is a career that can also be followed online. You just need to take an online help and make sure that whatever help you prefer is reliable. For instance, if you are going for online music classes then try investigating about the reviews from other learners.
You can also through online videos and they are also very helpful in accomplishing the target of becoming a musician. Therefore, if you are looking for the ways on how to become a musician then you can consider this one in an efficient manner.
6Learn to handle criticism:
This is a fact that you should not be ignoring because music is a career that comes with a lot of negativity and criticism. If you are already successful then you can become a musician. But, if you don't belong anywhere then you know what's going to happen. In the initial period of career you will have to face a lot of comments that are bad about you and about your signing. This is the point where you need to learn that how to handle criticism.
Even if you become a successful musician then also people will criticize you so this is something which should not be taken care of. You should take that criticism positively as it will help you in growing in a positive manner. Hence, this is again one of the best tips that are going to help you in comprehending that how to be a musician.
7Prepare for failures:
This is one of the traits that a musician should hole in him or her. If you are not getting success it is important that you should be prepared for failure so that it doesn't affect you a lot. In a music industry, there people who are struggling form a long time but are not getting success so you can also be one of them but one thing that you need to keep in mind is that the failures are the part of life.
It can come your way anytime and anywhere but a person who has the ability of overcoming it naturally achieves the high ladder of success. Therefore, this tip from all of the 8 awesome tips to startup career in music is going to benefit in you several manners for accomplishing the target of being a musician.
8 Seek guidance from professionals:
Success doesn't come your way easily especially when your aim is to become a successful musician. To be a musician it is significant that you should seek guidance from professional musician. Their experience in the field is going to let you know about the perks and the challenges that can come your way while being in a struggle journey.
The final word on how to become a musician is becoming a musician is not that easy task. As, you really need to be very passionate and hard working about it. You cannot be a musician if you want to do it for money as it requires interest and a lot of enthusiasm. You should be very sure if you want to be a successful musician. The above tips are going to help you in comprehending the ways that are adaptable for accomplishing the goal of becoming a musician.


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High School righty Shinta Hifumi gaining interest
by Gen on Nov.02, 2009 @ 11:12 am, under High School
Ten scouts from the NPB and MLB, including the Mets, Hanshin, and Softbank, were on hand to watch Shinta Hifumi (Tokai University Sagami HS) pitch. He tossed a 9-inning complete game while giving up a run and striking out 8.
Said Softbank scout Sasagawa said, "After one winter passes, I'm sure he'll be able to hit 150km/h on the radar gun and become a solid first round draft pick candidate."
Tags: Shinta Hifumi


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February 17, 2011
There are few events in the world that require as much money or infrastructure to stage as an Olympic Games » More
February 14, 2011
2010 Olympic quiz » More
November 21, 2010
Some of the chief architects of the Own the Podium program that helped put Canada over the top at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics have a new boss: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
» More
October 21, 2010
Post-Games, Whistler Olympic Park on a mission to become leading Nordic Centre in North America » More
September 28, 2010
The Canadian Olympic Foundation today officially launched a new design of the Canadian Olympic Team Red Mittens for fall 2010 » More
May 31, 2010
It may take several entries to fully explain the impact of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, just as it took several years of planning and building for them. » More
April 23, 2010
The House of Commons was a sea of red Thursday as MPs paid a proud tribute to Canada's Olympians and Paralympians.
» More
Thousands of Montrealers turned out to watch, as over 150 Vancouver 2010 athletes parade through Montreal. » More
April 22, 2010
Nearly 700 people turned out to show their appreciation for Bow Valley Olympians and Paralympians at a homecoming event at the Canmore Civic Centre plaza on Saturday. » More
April 9, 2010
Illness may have kept her from competing, but it couldn't stop the enthusiasm Caledon's Brittany Webster has for the Olympics. » More


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The excitement is almost too much to handle. My new book will be released to the general public on the 16th of September 2015. It is something that I have always wanted to create but had never really go about getting going with it. Now is the time and I couldn't be more excited. Keep an eye on my Twitter for more announcements! Dave
follow the link >>
How to pick a nutritious lunch when time is your enemy
Mornings are an extremely busy time for everyone. It can be hard enough to have a proper, balanced breakfast, never mind be prepared enough to make and bring a packed lunch for the day ahead. So what can we do?
When I retired from my life as a professional athlete, I started working full time and my job included time in the office and also a lot of time spent in the car. This was a big change for me; I was busy and wasn't best prepared. I was eating as I went, grabbing what was available rather than what was the best and for the most part I was eating out of shops and delis.
DISCOVER MY TV3 Videos
David, who won Celebrity Masterchef 2013 joined up with the TV3 team in the studio to cook up a storm. He had a large range of dishes to show the budding audiences from his famous "Gilly Bars" to Chicken, Quinoa and Mango Salads. These delicious, healthy recipes are all the rage nowadays. So why not click the link below to follow David in action.
follow the link >>


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Beef Jerky Wants to Be Your Healthy Snack
Beef jerky is emerging as a hot "health food" in supermarkets. Anne Marie Chaker has details on Lunch Break of new brands, artisanal and down-home, that are stampeding along with the trend. Photo: F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... in the ... she gets jerky sheen can actually become ... Tokyo Osaka Amery shaker she's joined us right now she's been reporting on this I am re ... when ... I'm holding right now some Terri Aki turkey jerky down on the stock ... pot smells pretty good that this thing is actually a lot more ... healthy business with Turkey I grew up ... with it was filled with nitrates Nostra to preservatives ... I know ... I met incredible price change and on ... whether that be it but word in that market right now and you know that that that that the story with a convent on the shelf space ... in Connecticut protein are taking shape ... on ... an economist at that time that he can trust that and it ... that helped the freaking cold ... when you say helping ... us through some of the stats in terms of the silly Yemen calories in that kind of thing that we might find in in jerky these days ... Thursday with one out there and on that anywhere between fifteen hundred calories ... pretty bad ... pretty well that newfangled the debt ... on the low carb we could see it with a ... low carb dieting they think that that that really appealing to you ... watching dieters ... the winds have yet with that that that that the original content aam ... rethinking anywhere from three hundred ... milligrams per serving which is ... much more than ... one out ... how to get to watch a second that's a big deal for a lot of people ... slim Jim for many businesses for the jerky anybody grew up on a new in the slim sticks it was ... odd they were in the in the convenience stores and flinch in sectionals an ad campaign to try make ... jerky seemed hip or let's take a listen to that ... why ... the ... I ... we look good ... to let them ... but the vintage commercial purged perversely genotypic I'm looking in a product called dear it's is really freaking hot that I think I mean ... it it tasted this is a really Hatanaka DEL hair up like a coughing fit that always happen ... I know that ... he talked about how I got her ticket and ten for ... high at ... that time ... period ... I'm that that that teenager that ... identifies it had been appointed to that ... so if they were trying to hold on to that I hang ... out with the whole marketing campaign on to ... what if it like ... it I ... an underfunded ... Panasonic's crisis London they can be and search engine on can be cooling can be healthier ... we've also got like Jack's links big differs Eisenstadt eruptions that with that chicken nuggets jerky ...


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Food waste is one of biggest challenges of our time. New figures from Wrap, released earlier this week, reveal nearly two million tonnes of food are being wasted in the UK every year.
A responsible food & drink industry cannot ignore this and has to step up to the plate. Much is being done to tackle food waste already, but there is still much further to go – and collaboration will be key.
See also: How to pledge your support for our campaign
That is why The Grocer has launched a major campaign to bring the industry together on food waste.
Reactions so far have been fantastic, and we've compiled a brief round-up below.
Please join us and the many leading industry figures who have already pledged their support, and help us make a real difference on food waste.


text: I'm looking at vintage Marshalls, and I'm a little overwhelmed by how much volume they have. It's just incredible. So Fing loud. They sound great, but it's kind of impractical and in this day and age. So volume control is obviously an issue- something that's paramount on small stages and in my home studio. Here are options that I know of for taming the beast along with their respective cons. I'm not sold on anything, because frankly I need to do more homework. What am I missing, what tricks are there that I should know about? BTW if my assumptions/factoids are wrong regarding the cons listed below- please set the record straight! PPI Master- good if not on a vintage amp, also the power section isn't working as hard as it should so tone and feel are different/suffer. Variac- expensive, heavy, only effective to 85v after that tube damage- squishy response (I like that BTW). Not that much attenuation. Damage amp's tranny and tubes is possible? Power scaling- expensive, and not an option on vintage gear. Questionable efficacy depending on tech who installs it. Inefficient speakers 96dB vs 100 dB. Not too much attenuation- but at least it's natural. Number of speakers 2 vs 4. Less air, less oomph. Attenuators. I'm told sacrifice tone/feel and can be dangerous to trannies Reamp. Ultimate attenuator- all this money to then go SS? Big $$$ still has risk to tranny. Load boxes to poweramp. Another thing to haul around and maintain! I'm already looking at smaller amps, like the JTM 45 which is closer to 30-35 watts- not 45 or 50 like the 1987 series. And I plan on using just 2 Heritage GB speakers @ 96 dB (G12m) rather than the 30 H mags which are 100dB I believe. I'd use a variac if it was safe, but how much does that really lower volume? I wont be running the amp full out, more with a touch of breakup, and plan on using boosters and fuzzes to get the gain cookin'. But still, is there a way to get the volume down say to 10-15 watts without any risk to the amp or irreversible mods.? Say... someway of fooling the amp into thinking it's feeding more speakers? By sending a portion of the signal out to a dummy load that just goes nowhere while a portion of the signal goes to the cab unaltered? Please let me know what you know works but wont kill my old amp, cost a fortune, add too much gear to my insanely cluttered world, or make my nice amp sound like poop. Thanks, Jack


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Towards The Light
No, Towards The Light is not some sort of pixelated existential crisis in game form. Nor is it some touching art house game where one gains inner peace through the manipulation of abstract objects that serve as a visual metaphor for people and God. Well, maybe that last one a tiny little bit if you squint and tilt your head just so, but what Towards The Light really is is a challenging but fun classic platform game with a twist.
In each level you have two goals. Reaching the white door in the level will save your progress from that level as well as unlock the next. Meanwhile, you are going to want to collect all of the light blue spirits in each room in order to power up the giant soul cannon and launch yourself to who knows where. To do these things, you'll use your [arrow] keys to run and jump using [X]. Oh, and you'll also want to hold down [C] to go into ghost mode. While in ghost mode you will pass right through most spikes and platforms and walls. Also, if you happen to connect with an enemy while in ghost mode, you will possess that enemy, and more importantly, you gain their abilities.
Borrowing heavily off of MoneySeize, Towards the Light is a skill testing, spike hopping, bullet dodging platform game. What sets this platform jumper apart from the rest is the nicely implemented ghost mode that, combined with nice level design, allows the player to explore conventional platforming in new and unique ways. Towards the Light might not appeal to a wide swath of gamers, but lovers of all things platform should find this a decently juicy morsel to snack upon.


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June 17, 1988, Section A, Page 35Buy Reprints
This month, Californians are observing the 10th anniversary of Proposition 13, the famous voter initiative that rolled back property tax assessments and sparked a wave of tax revolts across the country.
To believers, Prop. 13, as it is known, amounted to a primal scream by The People against Big Government. No longer would homeowners, particularly elderly people on fixed incomes, have to watch their property taxes skyrocket just because land values soared. No longer would governments grow wildly, their treasuries swollen by soaring real-estate prices. The people had finally had their say: ''Enough!''
These goals may well have been accomplished, but at unforseen costs. Yes, government services may have declined somewhat, and streets and sewers may be in danger of falling into disrepair, but that's not where the real damage has been done. There has been a huge shift in the tax burden to young families from older homeowners and owners of businesses. Also, Prop. 13 has fostered a perverse bias toward construction of shopping malls and hotels rather than low-cost shelter. Beyond that, because of lower revenues some communities are trying to circumvent the consequences of Prop. 13 by imposing ''user fees'' on tightly targeted groups of taxpayers to finance such general services as sewers, parks, education and electric power.
The biggest beneficiaries of Prop. 13 were not homeowners but businesses. The law curtailed assessments on all property, not just homes, and there is considerably more commercial property than residential. According to the sociologist Clarence Lo, author of a forthcoming book on tax revolts, California homeowners received just one-third of total tax relief in the first five years under Prop. 13. A whopping 57 percent of benefits went to owners of commercial and industrial property.
Insofar as Prop. 13 did benefit homeowners, it did so by picking the pockets of people buying houses. Since the latter tend to be younger and less affluent than those already ensconced, this isn't exactly progressive. Here's how it happens:
First, home buyers still get slammed on property taxes, because their rates are pegged to current land values. By contrast, folks who bought their homes before 1978 pay taxes based on their home's 1975 assessment, which can be hiked by no more than 2 percent a year. Since the median price of homes in California has doubled since 1978, the disparities between identical homes can now be huge. According to Jeff Reynolds, head of research for the state's Board of Equalization, pre-Prop. 13 homeowners pay one-quarter to one-third the tax rates of more recent home buyers.
The undemocratic effects of Prop. 13 go further. Starved for revenues, California cities have been aggressively hunting for new sources. They could raise rates, but that would be political suicide. They could stop repairing roads and schools, but that wouldn't be much better.
Their solution, instead, has been to charge vastly higher ''impact fees'' on new homes. Theoretically, impact fees cover the cost of new streets and sewers associated with new homes. When tax revenues financed these costs, impact fees were minimal or nonexistent. Since Prop. 13, though, they've been soaring. In 1983, they averaged about $5,700. By 1987, they had zoomed to $11,807, according to a survey by the National Association of Home Builders. On top of that, cities now frequently demand that developers also foot the bill for new parks and schools.
At first blush, this might seem fair: New home buyers pay for new infrastructure. In reality, it's a shakedown. If you combine higher tax assessments with sharply higher impact fees, the upshot is that newcomers, many of whom struggled mightily just to make their first down payment, are subsidizing public services for low-taxed landed gentry.
A more subtle effect of impact fees is to bias development toward more upscale housing. Why? Because in most cities the fee remains the same regardless of the cost of a house. Obviously, it's easier to roll $12,000 into a $300,000 quarter-acre home than a $100,000 starter.
Small wonder, then, that California lags below the national average in home ownership and home affordability. Since 1979, the proportion of owners to renters has dropped every year, from 59 percent homeowners to 53.4 percent. By contrast, the nationwide percentage of homeowners slipped between 1980 and the third quarter of 1987 from 65.6 percent to 64.2 percent. This might not be surprising, except that California's per capita income has always outpaced national averages and has jumped by about half just since 1980.
Prop. 13's most perverse effect, given its stated purpose, has been to stimulate a bias toward shopping malls and hotels over housing. Again, there's nothing complicated about this. A shopping mall generates 6 percent sales taxes, and California cities get to keep 1 percent of that. Hotels are even more seductive, because cities impose their own ''transient oc-cupancy taxes,'' typically 6 to 10 percent of a room charge. Those funds go entirely into city coffers.
New residents, by contrast, bring traffic, crowding and comparatively little revenue. And people are demanding. They want schools, libraries, police protection, child care.
Thus it's no coincidence that California is now ablaze with ballot-box initiatives to slow or stop new housing. Dozens of local measures have come on the books in the last two years; on this month's primary ballot alone, 13 measures appeared that were aimed at controlling growth; 7 of them passed.
Yet many of these new initiatives imposed no comparable limits on commercial or industrial building. According to one recent study, the metropolitan area surrounding San Jose generated 24,000 new jobs in 1986 and 1987. But only 7,500 homes were built. Likewise, in the greater Oakland area there were 45,000 new jobs, but only 17,800 new homes. Though there is no nationwide standard on the desirable ratio of jobs to housing, clearly something is out of kilter here.
The most obscene case of seeking only the most lucrative form of development comes up in tiny, wealthy Indian Wells, a residential community near Palm Springs. City fathers there want to boost tourist trade with a 640-acre hotel/retail complex - 4,500 hotel rooms, a 400,000-square-foot convention center, two golf courses and 100,000 square feet of shops and restaurants.
And what about the people who will clean the hotel rooms, caddy for the golfers and punch the cash registers? State law requires the city to channel some of the tax revenue from this project into low- and moderate-income housing. But Indian Wells can't seem to find the space. Instead, it modestly proposed to build the housing in Palm Desert or Rancho Morales. These neighboring cities, of course, don't want it either, and both have responded by suing Indian Wells.
In time, the twisted legacy of Proposition 13 could leave us with yet another novel idea from the nation's trendiest state: apartheid, California-style.


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British Triathlon has launched new membership scheme aimed at enticing youngsters into triathlon
In a news release the organisation described it's new junior membership scheme as "jam-packed with fantastic features to take advantage of across the coming year."
The scheme aims to further engage youngsters, aged 8-18, in the sport by offering bespoke content and initiatives, tailored perfectly for the developing triathlete.
A key change to the current membership offering is the introduction of an ongoing reward scheme, giving junior members the opportunity to log training sessions, races and volunteering hours, unlocking a series of collectable medals and certificates in the process.
In addition, now's the time to get familiar with a new, fully dedicated section on the British Triathlon website, set to hone-in on hot topics on everything from the various ways to get involved in the world of triathlon to what to eat before a training session. Delve further and reach the info-packed athlete education zone, explore fun activities to take part in and discover profiles of Britain's Olympic heroes.
The innovative membership package is available for all new and renewing Triathlon England and Welsh Triathlon juniors, and from today, will see the welcome pack include a membership card, bespoke British Triathlon membership gifts and top advice from some of Britain's biggest triathlon stars so young athletes can feel fully prepared to begin their journey within the sport.
Jack Buckner CEO British Triathlon, said: "The new British Triathlon Junior membership package will really bring the sport to life for both youngsters beginning their triathlon journey and those already involved.
"To have a package with key information dedicated to children and young people is fantastic and we hope membership will continue to flourish."
Amongst the newly improved package, members will have access to a vast range of discounted products and offers from a catalogue of brands and organisations ranging from YHA (England and Wales), to Garmin and Training Peaks. To view all current benefits, please visit here.
British Triathlon Junior Membership is available for all new and renewing Triathlon England and Welsh Triathlon members from 2pm, Monday 3 April. Visit here to become a member today.


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Singapore win two gold medals in table tennis
The Republic's dominance in the Commonwealth Games table tennis events were never in doubt.
In the women's singles final, World No. 4 Feng beat world No.10 Yu Mengyu 4-1 (11-7, 11-8, 11-9, 10-12, 11-2),.
The bronze was won by 18-year-old world No. 41 Lin Ye, who beat Lay Jian Fang of Australia 4-1 (11-5, 11-4, 11-7, 11-7) in the third-place payoff.
In the men's doubles, world No 12 Gao Ning and Li Hu bounced back to beat India's Sharath Kamal Achanta and Amalraj Anthony Arputharaj in the final 3-1 (8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5) to win Singapore's first gold medal in this event.
In the men's singles, Singapore are also assured of another gold medal as Gao and world No. 34 Zhan Jian meet in the final early on Sunday.
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Hi all,
Here's one from last night to be getting on with while I look through the rest - The modern stuff will be on soon, so it's in the correct thread!
Thanks to Phil and all the team for yet another cracking night and for securing such great participants! It was great to catch up with and meet a fair few people last night.
DSC00276lr by rjlaker, on Flickr
More to come


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NB: This is the official registration form for conference speakers. If you plan to attend the conference as a visitor, please send an email to email@example.com with subject title "Visitor Registration".
Conference fee: € 200,00 (including coffee and tea during breaks, lunches, opening buffet and farewell dinner)
Conference fee PhD and MA students: € 140,00 (including coffee and tea during breaks, lunches, opening buffet and farewell dinner)
This information will be also in the confirmation email.
Please transfer the above amount and use the following information for international payments by bank transfer:
Bank: ABN AMRO
Beneficiary: Utrecht University
Attn: ASC
Accountnumbers: IBAN: NL17 ABNA 0555 0748 97 / BIC: ABNANL2A
To ensure proper routing your transfer must include the following information:
Your email address (as filled out in the field under personal details)


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Summer brings with itself many entertaining things. Mostly people run short of time. They don't have sufficient time to make their appearance look better. In the hectic routine, make up is the most vibrant element to make your skin bright and attractive and flourish your personality. If you are facing the problem of dark circles which appear on the faces due to lack of proper sleep. The time to worry has gone immediately after the arrival of three instant treatments.
Tips To Have Brighter Eyes In Few Minutes
Instant Brightening Eye Treatment:
Eyes are the most influential part of our body which draws the attention of observers. But many people are lacking in confidence due the presence of dirk circles on their face. Instant brightening formula is remedy for them. Apply it under your eyes and get instant positive effect. It will reduce your blackish circles and enhances radiance. Wild rose has a tendency to control culprit ingredients such as yeast and ruscus. Use it two times a day and find the instant result without any side effect.
Instant Energizing Eye Mask:
It is quite vivid from the busiest world of today that people don't have sufficient time to sleep properly. As a result, their eyes become dull and give tiresome look. In this tough routine, you don't need to worry because the instant energizing eye mask makes it convenient for you. The mask contains vitamin c and cucumber infused activating fluid. All you need is to soak the patches in fluid and apply them under your eyes for 15 minutes. After that, you will find a drastic change and u will feel your eyes light, bright and radiated.
Mud Eye Treatment:
The third one is the mud eye treatment. This mask has cooling ingredients. It makes your eyes refreshing and much lighter. Apply the mosque not more than three minutes and experience sensational results.


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About this Blog
Hi. I'm Sunny, the one authoring these posts. This blog will document my journey from not knowing how to thread a sewing machine to making my first handbags and working with a manufacturer to convincing my favorite boutiques to carry Taryn Zhang. This blog is about the development of Taryn Zhang New York, a line of corporate professional handbags and briefcases for the working woman.
All that said, focus has always been one of my weaknesses. In execution, this blog will really be about whatever I want it to be any particular day. There may be vacation photos, random and informal DIYs, rantings and ravings, food photos, spotlights on fellow designers and friends in the industry, or whatever else triggers my fancy.
If you are a much more focused person than I am and are here primarily to learn more about the line of handbags Taryn Zhang New York, visit the company website here: www.tarynzhang.com.
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About Taryn Zhang
The Taryn Zhang aesthetic finds inspiration from the accomplished, sophisticated, fiercely independent professional. Every handbag and accessory is designed with the corporate woman in mind, to complement her in and out of the office, from conferences and client meetings to cocktail parties, weekend outings, and date nights.
For the busy executive, the worldly pioneer, the intellectual, or the intrepid commander, Taryn Zhang offers a perfect balance of feminism and femininity, strength and elegance, luxury and social consciousness. The Taryn Zhang brand is an expression of the woman with an eye for style but a mind intensely focused on the substance of her life and the achievement of her goals.
The keyword is ambition. Every handbag highlights one aspiration, one facet of the female spirit's strength. The brand embodies who we are as women and who we strive to be, with bold designs that emphasize fearlessness, balance, and unity.
Recent Posts
Monthly Archives: September 2011
Progress Report (or lack thereof): Frustration and a Low Point
Please note: the above chart is not a real chart of anything. I've been dragging my feet about updating here because I have no good news and also because if I memorialize the situation in writing, then I'll have to confront the reality of … Continue reading
Posted in Business Development, Learning Curve, Musings 9 Comments


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Off Track (171/366)
Whenever I see this, a slough of depression falls upon me.
What you see here are tram tracks. When (if?) Edinburgh's trams finally start running, they'll come along here.
What used to be here is a guided busway.
A guided busway is essentially a concrete channel. Special horizontal jockey wheels on buses allow them to reach far greater speeds than would be possible on a normal road. Essentially it's a fast track for buses. Trouble is, the scheme was so poorly implemented that the busways were limited to 30mph, and there were 4 stops along its 0.95 mile length.
But that's not the worst thing...
As you can see, the busway has been converted into tram tracks. Nothing wrong with that per say, but the trams aren't here. And with the tram tracks, there are no buses.
No buses, no trams, no point.
Somehow the phrase "monumental screw up" doesn't even come close to describing this unutterable disaster.


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A glimpse of life in the Village of Primm.
Character gossip. Lost scenes. Village happenings. Magazine-style mashup of favorite things. Entertainment. Home decor. Libations. Project lists, bullet journals. Color and trend forecasts.
News of my latest book releases, contests, and promotions. Reader treats and goodies.
Your once-monthly "inside scoop" into my writing life and the world inside my books.
Julie Valerie's Monthly Newsletter
Frequency: Monthly. Unsubscribe at any time.


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Miss Wyoming 2010, Alicia Grove of Rock Springs, was crowned in June at the WYO Theatre in Sheridan. Next Tuesday, she'll be heading to Las Vegas to compete for the Miss America crown. She tells us what she's been doing to prepare.
Along with training for the big competition, Grove, who graduated last year with a nursing degree from the University of Wyoming, works as an EMS ambulance nurse. Even with that full schedule, she has managed to travel around Wyoming to make over fifty presentations on her platform, Heart Health.
So we had to ask; has she ever worn her crown while giving someone CPR? She good naturedly responded.
The Miss America Pageant will be broadcast live at 9 pm Eastern time on the ABC Network January 15th from the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.