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As the American economy limps through its second "recovery summer," hobbled by trillions of dollars in bubble-era debt, politicians and regulators should take a long look at an unlikely place: Kingsbridge, a neighborhood in the northwest Bronx. In some ways, Kingsbridge's credit-bubble experience was no different from the rest of the nation's. As the bubble reached its greatest size in late 2006 and early 2007, the financial system—aided by dizzyingly intricate instruments and coddled by the government, which had long kept investors from facing the consequences of bad decisions—piled too much debt on Kingsbridge's modest dwellings. As a result, the buildings' owner abandoned them, leaving tenants to bear the brunt of somebody else's mistakes.
Yet Kingsbridge has also become a startling exception to what's happening in the rest of the country. A few people, acting within New York's regulation-strangled rental real-estate market, have produced a solution that harnesses the power of the marketplace to correct mistakes. They've pulled this off even as most of the country languishes in government-bailout purgatory. Washington should heed the lesson of Kingsbridge. If it doesn't, we're likely to spend another half-decade haunted by the bad debt of the past.
Kingsbridge, a mostly black and Hispanic hardscrabble neighborhood, is different from Las Vegas, Miami, and other go-go symbols of the mid-2000s credit bubble. Sergio Cuevas, an accountant at the nearby Albert Einstein College of Medicine, has lived in Kingsbridge for nearly three decades, in a brightly cluttered, rent-regulated two-bedroom apartment that he has shared with his two children since their mother died. "The baby got shot right over there," he says, gesturing out the window to the spot where a stray bullet wounded a three-year-old girl his mother was babysitting in 1993. Shootings are less frequent now, and the crime rate in general is lower. But this is still the northwest Bronx, nearly an hour from midtown Manhattan by subway. The median household income is just $29,000, and according to NYU's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, nearly a third of Kingsbridge's households earn under $19,000 a year.
Five years ago, though, a California-based real-estate firm called Milbank announced that this humble reality represented instant opportunity. Calling the Bronx "one of the last boroughs to offer affordable rent, which would also be positioned to undergo significant gentrification," the company decided to buy properties, mostly in Kingsbridge, and transform them into luxury buildings, which would allow for "an improved tenant base and increased rental income." So Milbank plunked down $42.4 million for 551 apartment units in ten apartment buildings, including Cuevas's building on Sedgwick Avenue. That was about seven times the buildings' estimated "rent roll," or annual gross rental income. Paying even five times a building's rent roll is aggressive, say Bronx real-estate veterans (Milbank didn't respond to an interview request).
That excessive $42.4 million was just the start of Milbank's investment. To upgrade the buildings to luxury status, as its plan dictated, the company would have to spend a lot more money. An electrical overhaul would be necessary, for starters, since the residences' aging electrical infrastructure made it difficult for apartment dwellers to use two appliances at once without blowing a fuse, and many outlets didn't even work. Milbank would also need to fix leaking roofs and replace plumbing and heating.
All told, the upgrades would cost tens of millions of dollars, making Milbank's total investment in the buildings far higher than its rental income would cover. That should have been especially troubling because the other part of Milbank's plan—boosting rents with an "improved tenant base"—ignored an immutable fact of New York real estate: replacing lower-paying tenants with higher-paying ones isn't easy. New York law constrains annual rent increases. If landlords make major capital improvements, they can pass those costs along to their tenants, but they must do so over several years, not all at once. Yes, owners can raise the rent more for vacant apartments than for occupied units, but they must renew existing tenants' leases if the tenants want to stay on, so turnover is low. Owners can evict tenants who have illegally sublet their apartments or who lag on the rent, but removals can take years and are fraught with public-relations risks.
And it's not just the law that curbs rents. Even if Milbank succeeded in ejecting tenants and hiking rents, it still would have to compete for wealthier residents with neighborhoods nearer Manhattan. Affluent families, especially those with young children, would be nervous in a neighborhood like Kingsbridge, with its menacing pit bulls and loitering toughs. Younger singles would prefer to be nearer Manhattan's nightlife. A quick stroll around Kingsbridge and cursory knowledge of the New York real-estate market would have made these realities clear and suggested to Milbank that it was paying way too much.
To understand why a company would be so feckless—and why investors would throw money at it—you have to know something about the 2006 securitization bubble and a quarter-century's worth of government financial policy. Since the early 1980s, Washington had made it clear that if investors lent money to a financial institution that was sufficiently big or complex, the government would bail them out in a crisis. The government, in effect, subsidized the financial industry—and, not surprisingly, got more of it, including its main product: debt. Finance used this unfair advantage over other industries to grow ever bigger and more complex (see " 'Too Big to Fail' Must Die," Summer 2009).
Washington and other Western governments also counseled (and sometimes required) big investors, such as mutual funds and money-market funds, to select debt investments that carried AAA ratings, which supposedly denoted safety. To meet this demand, financial firms went to great lengths to transform junky debt into AAA-rated debt. In many cases, they accomplished this alchemy by purchasing loans from mortgage lenders and brokers, pooling these individually risky loans, and selling securities, backed by the entire pool, to investors. Because some investors in the pool agreed to take on more risk for a higher return—that is, they agreed to shoulder the bulk of any hypothetical losses—other investors in the pool could take less risk. That's how risky loans became securities carrying AAA ratings.
So it happened that in late 2006 and 2007, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America created a $3.7 billion pool made up of "commercial mortgage-backed securities." The pool was a mix of 172 debtors, according to the trust's 500-page informational document. It included a $340 million loan against the Mall of America, a $240 million loan against the former Enron building in Houston, and smaller loans against everything from mini-storage facilities to RV parks across the country. It included, too, $35 million worth of mortgages against Milbank's Bronx properties (Milbank also borrowed another $3 million in junior debt separately from Deutsche Bank). Having won AAA ratings on $3.4 billion of the pool, the underwriters sold the securities off to investors, which eventually included mutual and insurance funds managed by such firms as Goldman Sachs, Putnam Investments, Prudential, and Wells Fargo. At least one of these investors added another layer of complexity by purchasing "insurance" on its supposedly supersafe investment via a credit-default swap. Adding yet more opacity, Deutsche Bank separately transferred Milbank's junior debt to another trust, which Deutsche Bank kept on its own books.
You can start to see why investors would trust Milbank with their money. After all, they were so far removed from the facts of the deal that they might as well have been on another planet. No wonder they lent freely to a Los Angeles–based company with zero experience in the Bronx, at a time when the real-estate bubble was already bursting and commentators were warning of disaster.
To spend a day with people who actually know the Bronx real-estate business is to realize just how crazy the financial markets were in 2006. Matt Engel, whose family has managed rent-regulated Bronx buildings for decades, remembers one bubble-era real-estate prospector who created a multi-tab spreadsheet featuring complex, long-term projections of everything from regional personal income to oil prices. Landlords who know the business don't rely on such soothsaying, Engel observes. Instead, they often consult a single piece of paper that shows the year's rent roll; expected losses from tenants who don't pay; and rough estimates of big-ticket items, such as heating oil, water, and taxes.
The piece of paper also, of course, shows mortgage costs. Conservative-minded landlords, Engel explains, know not to borrow so much that they lack the cash to cover emergencies. Many refuse to borrow more than 60 percent of a property's value, even though lenders are willing to offer much more. (Milbank borrowed 90 percent of the funds for its Kingsbridge purchase.) Even a small change in petroleum prices can cost tens of thousands of dollars per building in heating, Engel says; if you've borrowed too heavily, you may not be able to make your mortgage payment when petroleum spikes or when you have to make an emergency repair.
Veteran landlords also have at their disposal a trove of information that wasn't available to the bubble-era securities underwriters, ratings analysts, lawyers, servicers, and consultants—even those toting complicated spreadsheets. These landlords know which tenants run into money trouble every few months but always pay the rent in the end, and which won't send in their back rent until faced with eviction. They know which tenants disable smoke detectors and remove child-safety guards from windows. They even know which tenants smoke carelessly. Landlords can delegate their work effectively—provided the third party knows that the owner is looking over his shoulder and understands the business. An elderly Bronx property owner can retire to Florida and pay a manager to handle his buildings, say, but only because he knows enough to be suspicious of any big change in income and outflow. The mutual-fund and insurance-fund investors whose money eventually found its way into Milbank's hands had no such knowledge.
Engel remembers the credit boom well. "There was all this money, institutional money, coming in," he says. Those investors who actually understood Bronx real estate looked on dubiously as the bubble got bigger and bigger. "People who know the Bronx haven't bought in ten years," says one Bronx property owner who prefers not to be named. As the Milbanks of the world came calling, many small landlords sold out, knowing that they wouldn't see these prices again in their lifetimes. "It was time to get out of the business," one owner recalls with a chuckle.
Belatedly, Milbank figured that out, too. In February 2009, two years after consummating its investment, the company realized that its business plan would never work; among other things, turnover among tenants was far lower than it had hoped. So Milbank walked away, deciding "not to throw good money after bad," said one person familiar with the company's thinking.
As the paperwork required, the trust that managed the debt for the ultimate investors—those mutual-fund holders, banks, and other institutions—transferred the Milbank "portfolio" to a "special servicer," a company called LNR Partners. The process looked straightforward. LNR would go to court to foreclose on the buildings, at a stroke wiping out much of the debt that Milbank had taken on. LNR would then sell the buildings to a new buyer—one who knew the business better—at a lower price. Investors in the mortgage trust would take big losses; Deutsche Bank, which still held the junior debt, would lose everything. And everyone—investors new and old, as well as tenants and neighbors—would get on with their lives. In an efficient marketplace, that would have been that.
LNR's actions in early 2009 followed the script. In March, it went to Bronx Supreme Court to start foreclosure. It asked for and got a court-appointed receiver—someone to collect rents and maintain the properties while they were in legal limbo. Everything seemed on track. But then LNR began to stall. The company repeatedly asked the Bronx judge, Stanley Green, to stay foreclosure. As the months passed and became a year, the ten buildings deteriorated. With effectively no owner, more than 3,300 housing-code violations went uncorrected. Tenants with means went elsewhere, leaving more than 100 units vacant across the portfolio. Meanwhile, the court-appointed receiver couldn't come up with the money for even elementary repairs. Some tenants stopped paying rent, while others sent more than $90,000 in rent to the wrong place—to Milbank.
Why the delay? LNR's reason for stalling was probably that foreclosure meant realizing a certain loss, whereas if the firm waited, it could hold out the hope of selling for a higher price later (the company didn't respond to an interview request). It had another incentive, too: investors in the trust could sue LNR if they thought that it hadn't done everything possible to get the best price. Plus, if Bank of America and Deutsche Bank thought that LNR was foreclosing too quickly and disposing of real estate at fire-sale prices, they might not recommend the special servicer for future jobs. Deutsche Bank would be doubly annoyed because the junior debt that it held would be rendered worthless if the senior debt suffered even small losses, as it likely would via foreclosure.
But why wouldn't the managers of the funds that bought the securities want their customers to take their inevitable losses and get them over with? The answer involves the way Deutsche Bank and Bank of America had created their pool of debt. Remember how $3.4 billion of the pool was AAA-rated? To this day, $2.5 billion of it still carries AAA ratings, and investors in that debt continue to receive their regular income because investors in the riskier "tranches," as they're called, have suffered all the losses as the performance of the underlying loans has disintegrated. But once the losses in a pool reach a certain point, even the AAA debt is affected and suffers ratings downgrades. The fund managers who hold AAA debt don't want that to happen, for obvious reasons.
LNR's policy of "extending and pretending," to borrow Wall Street's parlance, was encouraged, too, by the federal government. By keeping its key interest rate at zero percent, for instance, the Federal Reserve allowed the Milbank investors to keep borrowing cheaply and thus keep holding their bad debt. But the Fed went much further in discouraging a market solution for Kingsbridge. In autumn 2008, in a misguided attempt to keep the prices of mortgage-backed securities inflated, it started a program called TALF, the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, through which it would lend cheaply to financial firms that offered those securities as collateral. In 2009, a financial firm called DMR TALF and ABS Funding LLC took the Fed up on this deal, offering its holdings of Milbank-related debt securities in exchange for a nearly $30 million loan.
This mechanism is forbiddingly obscure. But the result is easy to grasp: it helped everyone involved in the bad Kingsbridge debt hang on to it as long as possible. Meanwhile, the Bronx buildings kept deteriorating.
More than two years would pass before the investors in the Milbank deal finally took their losses so that everyone could move on. In April 2011, Milbank sold the buildings to a new landlord at a price more than 25 percent lower than its original 2006 purchase price. Counting liens, fines, and the like to close out the sale, Milbank's senior lenders probably lost about 26 percent of their original investment, observers estimate. Deutsche Bank got nothing on its junior debt (except for its original underwriting fees).
It turns out, though, that the Milbank investors didn't take their losses entirely of their own volition. They did so because Kingsbridge residents organized themselves—a venerable New York tradition—and sought political and legal help. In early 2010, a legal-aid group called Bronx Legal Services took up the tenants' cause, arguing in Bronx Supreme Court that since the court-appointed receiver lacked the money for maintenance and repairs, the servicer, LNR, should have to pay up. When Judge Green agreed, ordering LNR to fork over $2.5 million, the investment equation for Milbank's investors suddenly changed. Waiting and letting physical assets deteriorate no longer promised the hope of full repayment but instead could cost money—and there was no guarantee that the payout would stop at $2.5 million. At the same time that Bronx Legal Services was going to court, two more nonprofits, the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board and the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, commissioned an architectural study that concluded that the buildings needed up to $25 million in repairs. Milbank's investors had to worry that a judge might order them to pay it all.
The investors had to keep an eye on New York City's government, too. New York has a long history of efficiently dispatching owner-abandoned properties. Back in 1986, the city owned 4,000 occupied apartment buildings and almost 6,000 vacant ones, the legacy of the high crime rates and white flight of the sixties, seventies, and early eighties. Gotham has worked relentlessly to put these buildings into private hands, and today it controls far fewer.
In late 2010 and early 2011, the city was showing signs of seizing the Kingsbridge buildings. New York subpoenaed LNR to learn more about the properties' finances, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and other officials pointedly toured the properties and announced a new program to deal with buildings whose indebted owners had abandoned them. It didn't hurt that a key staffer for Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz, Jr., lived in one of the buildings. Suddenly, cutting losses seemed the rational thing to do. Deutsche Bank went so far as to transfer its $3 million in junior debt to the city for a dollar, washing its hands of the matter.
New York has hardly become a free-market paradise for real estate, however. As many as 100,000 apartments remain in debt-laden limbo. In April, a 12-year-old boy and his parents died in a fire in a three-story rental in the Bronx. They had been able to remain in their illegal apartment, which violated city fire codes, in part because their landlord had abandoned the property after taking on more debt than he could afford.
The new owner of what are now known as the "Milbank buildings" is Steve Finkelstein, whose company has owned and managed rent-regulated properties in the Bronx for 40 years. He has already begun replacing windows and has promised the city to close out serious housing violations within a year.
Finkelstein is taking a risk, but it's a measured one, and he has years of experience to back up his purchase. He bought the buildings for $31 million and figures that he can do the necessary repair work for about $11 million more. He reasons that new tenants will be willing to pay in the high three digits and low four digits a month for renovated, vacant apartments—well within the range allowed by New York's rent regulations. Finkelstein figures that his purchase price will work out to about five times the rent rolls, not nine, as was the case with Milbank. Over many years, he thinks, the buildings will yield an annual profit of $800,000 to $1 million. "At $31 million, these work as rentals," he says. Milbank, by contrast, "was buried."
Finkelstein's deal illustrates that debt is fine, but in moderation, and only when lender and borrower alike know what they're doing and are accountable for the risks that they're taking. Finkelstein is borrowing about $30 million for his purchase—but he's borrowing not from an anonymous trust that is the agent of an agent of an agent of some investors, but from a bank that understands the rental market, is taking a calculated risk, and will hold its investment until it matures. Finkelstein's lender, Signature Bank, knows what to look for in such a transaction, says George Klett, who runs Signature's commercial real-estate lending shop. "Finkelstein is a very good client of the bank," says Klett. "You do repeat business, you bet on the jockey." Still, the bank's knowledge of the neighborhood, the properties, and the competition means that it's charging Finkelstein a comparatively high 6 percent interest rate on his loan. "Since the property is in poor physical condition and is in need of substantial repairs, we deem it to be additional risk," Klett says.
Some Bronx veterans still consider property valuations too high. In fact, some of Finkelstein's fellow landlords think that he is paying too much. But if that's the case—if it turns out that Finkelstein, like Milbank, isn't able to pay his debts—the results should be far simpler than they were after Milbank threw up its hands: either an ordinary foreclosure, a negotiation with his lender, or a prompt sale to another landlord.
The rest of the country looks a lot like Milbank in early 2010: rotting while investors play pretend. Between 2000 and 2007, Americans borrowed more money more quickly than ever before, mostly by using their single-family homes as ATMs. Mortgage debt exploded, from $4.8 trillion to $10.6 trillion; today, it still stands at a staggering $10 trillion. At least a quarter of American home borrowers owe more than their houses are worth; millions more are close to that line and grow closer as property values continue their slow descent; so many are delinquent on their mortgages that in Florida, for example, the New York Times estimates that completing all eligible foreclosures would take a decade. All this debt is kneecapping the economy. Americans are using their money to pay for bubble-era mistakes, rather than investing in companies that create jobs, saving money for their children's education, or putting away funds for their own retirement.
Just as LNR should have foreclosed promptly on the Kingsbridge buildings, financial firms should foreclose on delinquent mortgages, speeding up the painfully slow process of getting rid of the nation's surplus debt and freeing up money to start rebuilding the economy. But many of the mortgages are trapped in layers of securities at least as complex as the loan pool that held Milbank's debt—and for the investors who hold those securities, it pays to wait. The four big banks that hold nearly half of the nation's second mortgages—junior debt—don't want to be wiped out, any more than Deutsche Bank wanted its junior debt on Milbank to vanish.
Homeowners, too, have good reasons to delay. The federal government's policy is to keep housing prices artificially inflated—for example, through President Obama's 2009 tax break for first-time homebuyers. No surprise, then, that homeowners are hanging on, hoping that somehow they'll be able to sell high.
Solving the problem won't be easy. One obvious step: the Fed could allow interest rates to rise, raising costs for borrowers and forcing them to give up bad debt. Regulators could also set a deadline on foreclosures, giving banks and servicers six months, say, to take back property whose mortgage holders are more than 90 days delinquent; banks that couldn't comply would be compelled to write down the principal on such mortgages, thereby reducing the nation's debt. Whatever the solutions are, one thing is clear: America, like the Kingsbridge buildings a half-decade ago, owes too much money. Until it reduces its enormous debt burden, economic recovery will continue to flag.
Research for this article was supported by the Brunie Fund for New York Journalism.


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Chime's challenge
The founders of Chime saw a big opportunity in the financial services landscape: A younger demographic was on the lookout for a people-first, tech-driven approach to banking that didn't include hidden fees.
But the challenge for Chime was considerable. You could have innovative technology, but how do you get consumers to trust a different approach to banking when you didn't have many of the things that most people associate with banks – like cashiers and physical branches.

subset: commoncrawl


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Thanks for including our link Ashley!!!
Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some awesome articles on how to be on a gameshow, lifestyle changes that can help you travel more, and how to get rich.
How to Be On a Gameshow (18 Shows Looking for Contestants) — Want to be on a gameshow? Consider trying out for Wipeout or Minute to Win It! [The Penny Hoarder]
Lifestyle Changes at Home That Can Help You Travel More — If you want to travel more, learn how to prepare your own meals. [Green Panda Treehouse]
Mark Cuban Tells You How To Get Rich — According to Mark Cuban, to get rich you need to be a smart shopper. [Budgets Are Sexy]
5 Things To Do Before Starting a Business — Before you start a business, make sure you test your idea. [PT Money]
Are You Ready For Christmas? — To get ready for Christmas, start shopping sooner rather than later. [Canadian Finance Blog]
How Your Smoking Affects Your Children — Did you know your smoking can cause your child to have behavioral issues? [Parenting Squad]
11 Great Gifts For Your Co-Workers — This holiday season, consider getting your co-worker a Starbucks gift card. [SavvySugar]
35 Veterans Day Freebies -- This Veterans Day if you can prove active military service, take advantage of discounts at Home Depot or TGI Fridays. [Coupon Sherpa]
5 Tips for Choosing a Mentor — When picking a mentor, be sure to pick someone you respect. [Financial Highway]
7 Fundamental Foundations for Fixing Financial Failure — To fix financial failure, start by admitting your failures. [Money Help for Christians]
Wise Bread Tweetchat (#WBChat) — Don't miss our weekly tweetchat at 12pm PST! We will be giving away prizes and talking about frugal lessons from our grandparents.
Be sure to check out our News & Events Calendar to see all the awesome upcoming events in the personal finance world!
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This article is more than 1 year old
Rootkit unearthed in network security software
Hidden process developer linked to Sony USB fiasco
Researchers have unearthed rootkit-like functionality in an enterprise security product.
Network security software from a Chinese developer includes processes deliberately hidden from a user and, even worse, a hidden directory, Trend Micro reports. Files in the hidden directory could exist below the radar of antivirus scanners, potentially creating a stealthy hiding place for computer viruses that their creators might seek to exploit.
Trend Micro has written to the software developers involved in what looks like a case of misguided software design, rather than anything worse. Pending a fix from software developers, Trend Micro has slapped a "hacking tool" warning on the rootkit-like component of the network security tool (called HKTL-BRUDEVIC).
It doesn't name the developers except to say they are the same firm which bundles rootkit-like software with USB storage devices featuring fingerprint authentication.
Sony got a further black eye from issues with its MicroVault USM-F fingerprint reader software last year, which emerged a little over two years after its thorough mauling for including rootkit functionality on its music CDs. The feature, designed to stop fans ripping music tracks, created a security hole exploited by a number of Trojans. ®


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Disney streaming service just got a lot bigger
Disney is adding more firepower to its upcoming streaming service .
Its "Star Wars" and Marvel comic-book movies will be included in the service, making it the only way to stream those movies on demand in the U.S. as part of a monthly subscription. (So, not on Netflix.)
A price hasn't been announced yet. The service is expected in late 2019 after Disney's current deal with Netflix expires.
Previously Disney announced the inclusion of just Disney and Pixar movies and Disney TV shows. Adding the "Star Wars" and Marvel movies could make the new service appealing to teenagers and adults, not just families with young children. The Marvel movies include the "Avengers" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchises.
The service will also have original Disney movies, TV series and shorts. Disney CEO Bob Iger said thousands of TV episodes and hundreds of movies will be available, though shows from Disney's ABC network aren't coming to the service.
Disney said last month that it was considering moving "Star Wars" and Marvel to the new service, but a decision wasn't announced until Thursday.
Disney's offering is one of many online film and TV options coming from entertainment and tech companies, with more in the works. Disney, for example, is also launching an ESPN sports streaming service early next year. It won't replicate what's on ESPN, for now, so it's expected to be somewhat niche.
The company's shares slid $4.05, or 4 percent, to $97.46 in Thursday afternoon trading. Investors may have sold because Iger said earnings per share for this fiscal year will be similar to the level for the year that ended on Oct. 1, 2016. Wall Street analysts had predicted growth.
© 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


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If you're the principal caregiver for an older person, you may have already faced age-related health challenges with them. Good preventive care, however, can ease the impact of health problems. This is especially true for their teeth and gums: with your support you're loved one can have fewer dental problems and enjoy better health overall.
Here are a number of things you should focus on to protect an older person's dental health.
Hygiene difficulties. With increased risk of arthritis and similar joint problems, older people may find brushing and flossing more difficult. You can help by modifying their toothbrush handles with a tennis ball or bicycle grip for an easier hold, or switch them to an electric toothbrush. A water flosser, a device that uses a pressurized water spray to remove plaque, may also be easier for them to use than thread flossing.
Dry mouth. Xerostomia, chronic dry mouth, is more prevalent among older populations. Dry mouth can cause more than discomfort—with less acid-neutralizing saliva available in the mouth, the risk for dental diseases like tooth decay or periodontal (gum) disease can soar. To improve their saliva flow, talk with their doctors about alternative medications that cause less dry mouth; and encourage your loved one to drink more water and use products that help boost saliva flow.
Dentures. If your older person wears dentures, be sure these appliances are being cleaned and maintained daily to maximize their function and reduce disease-causing bacteria. You should also have their dentures fit-tested regularly—chronic jawbone loss, something dentures can't prevent, can loosen denture fit over time. Their dentures may need to be relined or eventually replaced to ensure continuing proper fit and function.
Osteoporosis. This common disease in older people weakens bone structure. It's often treated with bisphosphonates, a class of drugs that while slowing the effects of osteoporosis can cause complications after certain dental procedures. It's a good idea, then, for an older person to undergo any needed dental work before they go on osteoporosis medication.
Keep alert also for any signs of dental disease like unusual spots on the teeth or swollen or bleeding gums. Visiting the dentist for these and regular dental cleanings, checkups and oral cancer screenings could prevent many teeth and gum problems.
If you would like more information on senior dental care, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article "Aging & Dental Health."
Tags: Oral Health


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"Global Scientific Solutions for the Development and Production of Cylindrical Polymer/Plastic Material Processing, including Manufacturing of Micro Structured Optical Roll Surface Mold Components Used for the Management of Light".
JacoTech is in the optical micro-machining business of CNC diamond turning, milling, and fly-cutting unusually (big and heavy) cylinders/rolls/mandrels/drums used to either extrude/emboss/cast/calendar polymer film sheet and roll materials. These engraved molds contain simple to complex optical patterns, which perform a number of complicated light management control functions.
+ learn moreJacoTech, through its parent company, LentiClear Lenticular Lens, Inc. also provides optical engineering/design services, including lenticular, micro structured plastic optical lens design, diamond tool design, optical lens system optimization and full metrology.
Please call Dr. Gary Jacobsen today to discuss pricing of your particular standard or custom lens design and cylinder engraving applications. Large, contractual, volume-based discount pricing programs are offered. Please inquire if applicable.
© 2024, JacoTech. All Rights Reserved | Click here for Patents & Papers | Web Design & Hosting Provided By EZMarketing


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Pascrell says up to 22,000 Americans die yearly because they don't have health insurance
On July 30, 2009, PolitiFact rated as True a statement by Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey that "as many as 22,000 Americans die each year because they don't have health insurance." We based that ruling on the same study that Pascrell did. Subsequently, a reader pointed out a paper published last spring in the online edition of the journal HSR: Health Services Research that contradicts the study Pascrell relied on. So we are changing our rating to Half True and providing this new analysis.
Much of the push for reforming the nation's health care system has been driven by concerns about uninsured Americans. So it's no surprise that a statistic on the number of Americans who die every year due to lack of health insurance has been used frequently in speeches and opinion columns. However, this statistic, which stems from a report by an influential, quasi-governmental institution, is quietly coming under academic attack.
When Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey said on July 30 that "as many as 22,000 Americans die each year because they don't have health insurance," the number he cited was an updated version of one originally calculated by the federally chartered Institute of Medicine. In 2002, an IOM panel of more than a dozen medical specialists estimated that 18,000 Americans died in 2000 because they were uninsured. They came up with this figure by looking at long-term studies that measured the links between insurance status and death rates. The IOM then used annual statistics on insurance rates and deaths to determine an estimate of extra deaths attributable to the lack of insurance.
In January 2008, Stan Dorn, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, published a paper that sought to update the IOM's study with newer data. Replicating the Institute of Medicine's methodology, Dorn concluded that the 18,000 figure should be increased to 22,000 — the figure later cited by Pascrell. Given the Institute of Medicine's prestige and Pascrell's caution in saying that "as many as" 22,000 Americans die annually from a lack of insurance, which signaled some uncertainty about the exact number, we gave the congressman a True rating.
But a more recent paper raises questions about the IOM's conclusions.
The paper, published online in April in HSR: Health Services Research, is by Richard Kronick of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California (San Diego) School of Medicine. Using data on adult health and mortality from the National Center for Health Statistics, which is a part of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kronick concludes that the Institute of Medicine's estimate (or any that replicates its methodology, such as Dorn's) is "almost certainly incorrect."
Pascrell's office was not aware of the paper when he made his statement and we did not find it when we researched his claim.
The most notable difference between the Institute of Medicine's data — which were drawn from the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey as well as the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey — is that Kronick adjusted it for a number of demographic and health factors, such as status as a smoker and body mass index. When he did that, "the risk of subsequent mortality is no different for uninsured respondents than for those covered by employer-sponsored group insurance." In other words, once you compare death rates in an apples-to-apples fashion — comparing insured smokers to uninsured smokers, for instance — the likelihood of dying evens out. This, in turn, would mean that IOM's estimate of 18,000 deaths would drop essentially to zero.
In his paper, Kronick acknowledges that this is a "counterintuitive" result, possibly resulting from the safety net of public hospitals and community clinics providing "'good enough' access to care for the uninsured to keep their mortality rate similar to that of the insured."
Either way, he writes, "there would not be much change in the number of deaths in the United States as a result of universal coverage, although the difficulties of inferring causality from observational analyses temper the strength of this conclusion."
We ran Kronick's paper by a number of health care policy experts to see whether they thought it undercut the Institute of Medicine's death estimate. Everyone agreed that both Kronick personally and the journal that published him are credible. Because the significance of his finding could also have political consequences — on June 24, for instance, John Goodman, president of the conservative National Center for Policy Analysis, testified to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health that we "do not know how much morbidity and mortality is attributable to lack of health insurance" — we also wanted to determine whether there may be any ideological bias at work. But we found no evidence of it.
In fact, far from having ties to the conservative movement, Kronick served as a senior health care policy adviser in the Clinton administration, where, according to his biography, he contributed to the development of the Clinton health care reform proposal. Kronick's articles have appeared in the
New England Journal of Medicine
and the
Journal of the American Medical Association
, and his work has at times been funded by the Commonwealth Fund, whose mission is "to promote a high-performing health care system" that aids "society's most vulnerable," including "the uninsured."
Kronick even told PolitiFact that his finding was "not the answer I wanted" and, as a result, he agonized over whether to publish it or not. He said he's "grateful" that it has so far been unnoticed in the increasingly hostile debate over health care. "I don't have a whole lot of friends, and will probably lose a few over this," he told us. "And I might make some friends I didn't want."
But a number of experts we spoke to are glad that Kronick did publish it. Henry Aaron, a health policy specialist at the centrist-to-liberal Brookings Institution, said that he was impressed by Kronick's research from the time Kronick presented an early draft of it at a Brookings lunch seminar. "I found his reasoning compelling," said Aaron, himself a member of the Institute of Medicine. "In fact, after listening to his presentation, I had a hard time believing that the IOM had done what they had done."
In interviews, Aaron and other health care scholars agreed with Kronick that uninsured and insured Americans differ in many ways other than their insurance status. "To estimate the impact of the lack of insurance on mortality rates, one has to control statistically for all of those differences," Aaron said. That, he added, is exactly what Kronick has sought to do so.
Robert Book, a senior research fellow in health economics at the conservative Heritage Foundation, agrees with Aaron. "I would be more inclined to believe Kronick's than other studies," he said, "I'm just surprised the IOM did their study without controlling for other factors."
Book also praised Kronick's decision to run calculations with numerous alternative models, and to remove various factors, one at a time, from the calculations. "From the standpoint of a careful econometric study, Kronick's paper is excellent," Book said. "I've seen few papers that are this thorough in terms of seeking alternate explanations for their conclusions."
Featured Fact-check
Other health policy specialists we talked to were open to the idea of Kronick being right, while urging caution before overruling the Institute of Medicine estimate.
Dorn, the Urban Institute researcher, pointed to a second study published by the Institute of Medicine on Feb. 24, 2009. This 268-page volume, America's Uninsured Crisis: Consequences for Health and Health Care, provides a detailed analysis of subsequent studies on the topic. While it didn't provide a new estimate of extra deaths from uninsurance, the new Institute of Medicine study concluded that "the body of evidence on the health consequences of health insurance is stronger than ever before."
Karen Davis, the president of the Commonwealth Fund and an Institute of Medicine member, said that the existence of Kronick's study "doesn't convince me yet not to use the IOM study," but she added that "if I saw a few more, I might be convinced. I tend to believe things when I see multiple studies using different databases and methodologies come to the same conclusion." (Aaron said he agreed with Davis on this point.)
For the record, an IOM spokeswoman said the institute has not assessed Kronick's paper and thus had no comment on its assertions.
On one key point, the Institute of Medicine and Kronick actually aren't that far apart. Kronick said he doesn't doubt that individuals' health suffers when they're uninsured — he just hasn't found evidence that they die sooner. "No one would choose not to have insurance if they could afford it," Kronick said. "There's no benefit to having 47 million Americans uninsured."
When we asked Pascrell's office whether the Kronick study would change their view, spokesman Paul Brubaker said it would not.
"The point of the congressman's statistic is to show a direct correlation between one's ability to pay and the ability to have insurance, and therefore on their ability to be healthy," Brubaker said.
But for us, Kronick's study raises questions about the reliability of the Institute of Medicine's death estimate. We acknowledge that there is not yet a consensus among the experts. But in re-evaluating Pascrell's claim, we can no longer rate it True. We recognize that the Institute of Medicine is still widely respected, but an ideologically diverse group of experts is giving credence to Kronick's findings. That leaves us with something of a split decision, and so we downgrade our rating to Half True.
Our Sources
Rep. Bill Pascrell,
House floor speech
, July 28, 2009
Institute of Medicine,
Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late
, released May 21, 2002
Institute of Medicine,
America's Uninsured Crisis: Consequences for Health and Health Care
, released Feb. 24, 2009
Stan Dorn, "
Uninsured and Dying Because of It: Updating the Institute of Medicine Analysis on the Impact of Uninsurance on Mortality
," Urban Institute report, released January 2008
Richard Kronick, "
Health Insurance Coverage and Mortality Revisited
," in HSR: Health Services Research, volume 44, issue 4, August 2009
Interview with Urban Institute scholar Stan Dorn, Aug. 6, 2009
E-mail interviews with Brookings Institution scholar Henry Aaron, Aug. 19, 2009
Interviews with Heritage Foundation scholar Robert Book, Aug. 19, 2009
Interview with Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis, Aug. 19, 2009
Interview with University of California (San Diego) School of Medicine professor Richard Kronick, Aug. 19, 2009
E-mail interview with Institute of Medicine spokeswoman Christine Stencel, Aug. 19, 2009
John Goodman,
before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, June 24, 2009
Browse the Truth-O-Meter
More by Louis Jacobson
Pascrell says up to 22,000 Americans die yearly because they don't have health insurance
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Questions and Topics for Discussion
Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches, the thrilling debut novel in the All Souls trilogy, exploded onto the literary scene, becoming an instant bestseller and leaving fans breathless with its cliffhanger ending. Now, in Shadow of Night, Harkness returns with feisty heroine Diana Bishop and her continuing search for the enchanted manuscript known only as Ashmole 782. The new novel finds that Diana has traveled back in time, embraced her magical abilities, and confronted Matthew's complex past as a fifteen–hundred–year–old vampire—but is she risking too much?
The year is 1590, Elizabeth is queen, and all of Europe is aflame with witch burnings. Into this world of danger and conspiracy arrive Diana and Matthew. She has timewalked them from today to sixteenth–century England in the hope that they will track down Ashmole 782 and unlock its secrets. But Diana must also find a guide to help her master her powerful yet unpredictable magic. From the moment they arrive in the past, Diana can see the threads of time unraveling, but has no idea how to control them.
Harkness draws on her talent for storytelling and her experience as a historian to create a richly textured, authentic world, surrounding her characters with details of Elizabethan life large and small: Diana mingles with Sir Walter Raleigh and Christopher Marlowe, is present for the invention of the telescope, and dances at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor. For Matthew, sixteenth–century life is a return home: to his country manor, to his family, and to his life of royal espionage and international intrigue. This meticulously researched milieu is the setting for an expansive and fast–paced adventure that stretches through centuries and around the globe.
In a world filled with supernatural subterfuge where even thoughts can be dangerous, Diana and Matthew discover unexpected allies; loyalties hundreds of years in the making are tested, and courage comes from the least likely of corners. From royalty to half–mad alchemists, Matthew and Diana find that they aren't the only ones seeking the manuscript. While Matthew attempts to make peace with his troubled past, Diana uncovers a disturbing prophecy for her future—one that could put those she loves most at risk—as Ashmole 782 begins to reveal its dark secrets.
Alchemy, history, and magic—Harkness is in her element, and her smooth control of plot and prose is a pleasure to read. By turns sexy and suspenseful, entertaining and exhilarating, Shadow of Night is a massive achievement that will leave her fans clamoring for the final installment in the gripping All Souls trilogy.
Deborah Harkness is the author of the bestselling A Discovery of Witches and is also a historian specializing in the history of science, magic, and alchemy. She has received numerous awards, including Fulbright, Guggenheim, and National Humanities Center fellowships, and is currently a professor of history at the University of Southern California.
Q. Because you are a scholar, your work is based on constant research and analysis; the novel is filled with details that could come only from extended historical work. Do you find a difference between researching for academic purposes and for creative writing? How long did it take you to gather the information for Shadow of Night?
In a way I've been researching Shadow of Night since 1982, when I first began studying this period in earnest, though my interest in Elizabethan England extends beyond that into my childhood and teen years. No matter how much I've read or how many documents I've consulted for my scholarship, however, when writing Shadow of NightI found there was still so much I didn't know, such as how far and fast a horse could travel in a single day in November or what people ate in December. It was an exciting, humbling experience to write this book.
Q. Your field of specialty is Elizabethan England and the history of science. Is there anything about the period you'd like readers to know that didn't make it into Shadow of Night? Did you have to leave anything out?
How much space do we have for my answer? Seriously, if I had put everything into the book I wanted to in terms of historical detail, the book would have been six or seven times as long! In the end, I set myself this test: If I was writing about the present, would I stop to describe this shoe/breakfast/shop? If the answer was no, I kept the story moving. If the answer was yes, then I tried to tell the reader the most important historical details, but it was still not everything that I might have shared.
Q. When we last spoke, you had just published your debut novel, A Discovery of Witches. At the time, you said, "Novelists, like the alchemists of old, know that true creation takes time and patience, and that it's likely you will have many disasters and failures before you achieve success." Does this statement still reflect your feelings about writing? Could you share a few details about your development as a novelist between the two books?
Writing a second novel was very different. Writers I've spoken to often tell me that books are like children: No two are the same. That was certainly the case with Shadow of Night. I really struggled with the beginning and the most effective way to arrange the plot, much more so than with Discovery of Witches. Even in the last month of writing, I was making major changes in the sequence of events.
Q. You added notes at the end of the book that some of the characters (major and minor) are historical figures. Can you say something about the interplay between real people and fictional characters in the novel?
Back when I started A Discovery of Witches and was first imagining this story about an ancient vampire scientist and a reluctant witch, I thought, "Wouldn't it be fun if my vampire was someone who really lived, someone mysterious who knew interesting people but remained in the shadows?" I knew of just such a person in Elizabethan England, the poet–spy Matthew Roydon. From that moment on—and this was in 2008, so it was some time ago—Matthew Roydon's life story determined a great deal about Matthew Clairmont's intellectual habits and his taste in friends. A historical figure like Matthew Roydon is a novelist's dream, because what little we know about him is so fascinating and leaves so much room for creative invention. I like to think that the historical characters add the same air of verisimilitude to this book set in 1590 as going to yoga and entertaining trick–or–treaters did to A Discovery of Witches. As for the minor characters, I drew them from interesting individuals I'd come across in my research. They are usually people about whom I wanted to know more, but there is, alas, no further evidence about them.
Q. In this novel, Diana learns to use her magic and Matthew comes face–to–face with his past. How does this empower and change them?
Facing who you are is the most empowering thing a person can do, so it isn't surprising that their experiences in 1590 change Matthew and Diana enormously. And long–lasting relationships are built on honesty and acceptance, so this changes not only Diana and Matthew individually, but also who they are as a couple.
Q. Two of our characters are Hancock and Gallowglass. How did they arrive on the scene?
One of the most exciting aspects of writing fiction is I never quite know what's going to happen next. In A Discovery of Witches, Matthew was suddenly driving around in a car and when he stopped, Hamish was there to greet him. I had no plans for Matthew to have a best friend, but now I can't imagine life without Hamish. It was the same thing with Gallowglass and Hancock—although slightly more dramatic as befits their characters! I was settling in to a cozy evening in front of a fire at the Old Lodge when a storm blew in, carrying Gallowglass and Hancock with it. Once they were there, I fell in love with their banter and the way they are constantly puncturing Matthew's confidence.
Q. In your personal reading, do you gravitate toward supernatural and/or historical fiction? How have your own reading tastes shaped this novel?
I don't read much fiction, to be honest, and with the exception of the Harry Potter series I haven't read supernatural fiction since I was a student and read Anne Rice. As for historical fiction, I like historical mysteries set in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but don't read much else. I find it hard to relax when reading works set in the periods of history I know best.
Q. If you had to pick one book (besides your own) to be a companion piece to Shadow of Night, what would it be?
That's a great question. I think it would have to be Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus or a book about Marlowe, like Charles Nicholl's The Reckoning, which brilliantly conveys how tricky it was to lead a double (or triple) life in Elizabethan England. Of course, a Shakespeare play like Loves Labours Lost or The Tempest would also be an excellent choice.
Q. Any hints about what will happen next to Diana and Matthew?
Diana and Matthew will face an interesting problem in the next book: They have been dropped into a world where time has passed and people have lived their lives as best they could, and they will be expected to step back into a whirl of action and reaction. I would expect some reunions and some farewells, some fascinating new characters as well as old friends and, of course, finally learning what it was that the witches discovered.. . . .


text:
In this link you can download an e-book written by Professor Valente's group at UNICAMP about the usage of the XO in one school.
The book registers the research done by his group with 520 XO's donated by OLPC in 2009/10, around a participatory methodology to deploy laptops at schools.
The book is in portuguese only.
This book chronicles some search results " XO in school and beyond: a proposal for semiochemical participatory technology, education and society"developed in EMEF Fr Emilio Miotti, Campinas (SP), between 2009 and 2012.Considering that digital technology has transformed the way we interact, communicate and live in contemporary society, the school as an institution and social organization, can not remain oblivious to these changes. In this space, building knowledge and skills sets technology serves as a catalyst for change. The book summarizes the studies and proposed solutions to problems raised by members of the school community – teachers, administrators, students, parents and researchers – from the use of a participatory methodology based guided the deployment of laptops through educational settings where technological resources are used in a significant way to school and bringing benefits to society.
Via: Juliano Bittencourt


text:
By: Hojjat al-Islam Muhsin Qara'ati
Bowing down {ruku'} is an essential pillar of prayer. Performing it in an excessive or inadequate manner, whether intentional or unintentional, renders the prayer invalid.
The word "rak'ah" {circle} which is used in counting the cycles of prayer is derived from the word "ruku'".
The tribe of Thaqif requested that the Prophet (S) excuse them from performing ruku' and prostration {sujud} in prayer, saying: "Bending down for us is a shame." This verse was revealed:
وَ إِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ ارْكَعُوا لا يَرْكَعُونَ
"When they are told, 'Bow down,' they do not bow down!"[80][304]
Others bow and show reverence in front of human beings like themselves, but you have to bow down and show reverence solely to your Creator.
When the verse, "So celebrate the Name of your Lord, the All-supreme,"[81][305] was revealed, the Prophet (S) ordered: "Show reverence to God while you are in ruku' and recite this dhikr {remembrance or glorification}:
سُبْحانَ رَبِّيَ ٱلْعَظيمِ وَ بِحَمدهِ
Subhana rabbiya'l-'azim wa bihamdih.
"Glory be to my Lord, the Great, and praise belongs to Him."[82][306]
We read in the traditions: "Ruku' is the sign of courtesy {adab} while the sujud is the symbol of nearness {qurb} to God. Once you do not perform the gesture of courtesy properly, you cannot be ready for the stage of nearness."[83][307]
Ruku' is the means of repentance {tawbah}, penitence and asking forgiveness in the presence of God:
فَاستَغْفَرَ رَبَّهُ وَ خَرَّ رَاكِعاً وَ أَنَاب
"Whereat he (David) pleaded with his Lord for forgiveness, and fell down bowing and repented."[84][308]
The effects of ruku'
Imam al-Baqir ('a) says: "Anyone who perfectly performs his ruku' perfectly will be safe from the horror of the grave."[85][309]
The more we bow down in humility to God, the more we shall have the power to confront the Satan and satanic ones. Imam as-Sadiq ('a) says: "Long ruku' and sujud makes Iblis angry, saying, 'Woe to me! With such quality of servitude, the people will no longer obey me."[86][310]
God says to the angels: "See my servants, how they express reverence to Me and they kneel down in front of Me. I shall also exalt them and give them honor and glory."[87][311]
Imam as-Sadiq ('a) says: "A long ruku' and sujud have effects on the longevity of life."[88][312]
The etiquette of performing ruku'
We read in the traditions that during ruku' the blessed back of the Messenger of Allah (S) would be so bent and so straight that if a drop of water was poured on his back, it would remain in the center of his back and not fall to either side."[89][313]
It is thus enjoined: "During ruku' stretch your neck as if to say: 'I have accepted the faith even if I am beheaded in His way."[90][314]
Among the other etiquettes of performing ruku' is that men have to position their elbows outwardly like the wings of a bird and not to attach them to their flanks. We have to place the palms of our hands on our knees and spread our fingers. The feet must be aligned, neither one of them should be placed forward nor backward. Between the feet there must be the distance of about one hand span.
During ruku' one must look between the feet and after the recital of the dhikr for ruku', while still in the position of ruku' one must invoke blessings {salawah} upon Muhammad and his progeny ('a). Of course, repetition of the dhikr for ruku' at least thrice has been recommended and is preferred.[91][315]
The ruku' of the saints of God
Imam as-Sadiq ('a) says: "Hadrat 'Ali ('a) would make his ruku' so long that his legs would perspire."[92][316]
Imam 'Ali ('a) himself thus says in the first sermon of Nahj al-Balaghah: "God has angels who are always in the state of ruku' and will never rise up {qiyam}."
Of course, tiredness and hunger are not applicable to the angels. So, those who are gnostics and lovers of God and who perform such long ruku' persuade the angels to praise God. This is the state of the saints of God. Yet, what about us? The Prophet (S) was once sitting in the mosque when a certain man entered and stood in prayer, but his ruku' and sujud were defective and done very quickly. The Prophet (S) said: "He is like a crow that would peck and go. If he departs from this world with such a state of prayer, he will not have died under my religion."[93][317]
The history of sujud
After creating Adam (Adam) ('a), God ordered the angels to prostrate before him. All of them prostrated except Iblis.[94][318] On account of this defiance, God expelled him from His Presence.
The Qur'an mentions this episode repeatedly and we know that repetitions in the Qur'an are not without wisdom. It is as if it wants to say: "O man before whom all the angels prostrated! Why do you not prostrate before God, the Creator? O man! Iblis was expelled for refusing to prostrate before you. Once you refuse to prostrate before God, what can you expect?
"Iblis did not prostrate before you. He was saying: 'I am superior to man.' Can you afford to say: 'I am superior to God'? You—who were once non-existent and once you came into the world, weakness and impotence enveloped your entire being, and in the end you shall also humbly depart from this world—how could you dare to be proud in front of the Creator of the universe?
At any rate, the first commandment of God after the creation of man was the command of prostration.
The importance of sujud
o Sujud is the best position of man in the presence of God.
o Sujud is the best way to attain nearness to God: "But prostrate and draw near {to Allah}!"[95][319]
o A sign of the loyal Companions of the Prophet (S) was that the effect of prostration could be seen on their foreheads: "Their mark is {visible} on their faces, from the effect of prostration."[96][320]
o Sujud makes man harmonious and concordant with all of creation. This is because all creatures in heaven and on earth—from the stars to the plants—prostrate and are humble before God: "To Allah prostrates whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth,"[97][321] and "And the herb and the tree prostrate {to Allah}."[98][322]
o Sujud means harmony with the angels of God. Hadrat 'Ali ('a) says: "There is no layer of the heavens without having therein a group of angels in the state of sujud."[99][323]
o Sujud is the highest degree of obedience and servitude because man places on the earth the loftiest part of his body, i.e. his forehead, and expresses humility and impotence in the presence of the Omnipotent Authority.
o Sujud is the most sublime station for the noblest men and women of the world. God commanded His Prophet (S) to prostrate, and that was not only during daytime but also during the night: "And worship Him for a watch of the night and glorify Him the night long."[100][324] And in addressing Hadrat Maryam (Saint Mary)—that pure and devoted woman—He says: "O Mary, be obedient to your Lord, and prostrate."[101][325]
o Sujud comes after the ruku'. It is a more perfect and higher stage than ruku', and brings the person praying to the peak of humility. As such, ruku' and sujud are usually mentioned together in the Qur'an. For example, "O you who have faith! Bow down and prostrate yourselves,"[102][326] and "You see them bowing and prostrating {in worship}."[103][327]
o Sujud is the symbol of faith in the divine signs: "Only those believe in Our signs who, when they are reminded of them, fall down in prostration."[104][328]
o Nightly prostration is one of the signs of the righteous servants of God: "The servants of the All-beneficent are… those who spend the night with their Lord, prostrating and standing {in worship}."[105][329]
o Sujud is the adornment of prayer. So, perform it properly. Imam as-Sadiq ('a) says: "Whenever you perform prayer, perform the ruku' and sujud well as God will give seventy times the reward or even more."[106][330]
o Sujud is the source of pride of God to the angels, and thus, it entails His favor such that in every sujud, one of man's sins is forgiven and a great reward is recorded for him.[107][331] Hadrat 'Ali ('a) said: "If man only knew what mercy envelopes him at the time of sujud, he would never raise up his head from that state."[108][332]
o Sujud extinguishes the spirit of egoism and pride, and delivers man from vanity.[109][333]
o The Prophet (S) used to say: "On the Day of Resurrection, I will identify my ummah by the mark of prostration that they have on their foreheads."[110][334] That portion of the earth on which prostration was made will testify to the devotion of man on the Day of Resurrection[111][335] and even in the world, a radiant point connect it to the heavens.[112][336]
o As in the case of ruku', long prostrations result in the permanence of favors and longevity.[113][337]
o Sujud is so important that God commands a great Prophet (S) such as Ibrahim (Abraham) ('a), to cleanse Masjid al-Haram for those who perform the circumambulation {tawaf} of the Ka'bah, ruku' and sujud.[114][338]
The wisdom behind sujud
The Commander of the Faithful 'Ali ('a) was asked concerning the wisdom behind sujud. The Imam ('a) said: "The first sujud means that I was dust in the beginning, and as I raise my head from sujud, it means that I came to the world from the dust. The second sujud means that I will again return to the soil, and as I raise my head from sujud, it means that on the Day of Resurrection I will rise up from the grave and be summoned."[115][339]
Imam as-Sadiq ('a) says: "Since sujud is for God, it must therefore not be done on anything that is eaten or worn which draws the attention of materialists. Sujud must remind man of God, not the stomach, clothing and material things."[116][340]
We read in the hadith that the reason behind the prostration for forgetfulness {sujud sahwi} for unintentional excess and deficiencies (in the number of any essential pillar of the prayer) or misplaced utterance, standing and sitting is that Iblis distracted your attention and created disorder in your prayer.
Therefore, after prayer you perform two prostrations so as to rub his nose in the ground and to inform him that every time he creates disorder, you will again perform prostration before God.[117][341]
Hadrat 'Ali ('a) said: "The external appearance {zahir} of the sujud is the placing of the forehead on the ground with sincerity and humility, but its esoteric essence {batin} is the detachment of the heart from all perishable things, attachment of the heart to the eternal abode, and relief from pride, fanaticism and all worldly attachments.[118][342]
The etiquette of performing sujud
We shall point out some of the rules of etiquette of performing sujud as recorded in the traditions:[119][343]
After ruku' in preparation for the performance of sujud, the hands must be placed first on the ground before the knees.
During the sujud the hands must be placed parallel to the ears. For men, the elbows must not be placed on the ground and must remain open on both sides like wings. Not only the forehead but also the nose must be placed on the ground. In between the two prostrations, the person praying must place his left foot under the right foot in such a manner that the weight of his body is on the left side because the left is the symbol of falsehood while the right is the symbol of truth.
During sujud the person praying, apart from the obligatory recital, has to send salawah, supplicate and weep out of fear of God. While rising from sujud, he has to recite takbir and during the recital of takbir, he has to raise both his hands.
The soil of Karbala'
Although sujud on any ground, nay on any clean stone and wood, is permissible and correct, the soil {turbah} of Imam al-Husayn has great merits. It is said that Imam as-Sadiq ('a) would not prostrate on anything but the soil of Karbala'.
Sujud on the soil of Karbala' tears away seven types of veils {hijabs} (that separate man from the Source of Light). It uplifts the prayer and makes it accepted. It also brings the person praying out of the abyss of material things, and acquaints him with jihad, blood and martyrdom.
Sujud on the soil of al-Husayn ('a) means prayer accompanied by divine guardianship {wilayah}.
Sujud on the soil of al-Husayn ('a) means prayer accompanied by martyrdom.
Sujud on the soil of al-Husayn ('a) means commemorating the memory of the martyrs of Karbala' who offered their blood for the sake of prayer and in the way of prayer.
Sujud on the soil of al-Husayn ('a) means that every day is 'Ashura' and everyplace is Karbala'.
Sujud on the soil of al-Husayn ('a) means that in the struggle against falsehood, one should offer his head and soul, but not subject himself to humiliation.
Yes, the shrine of al-Husayn ('a) is one of the gardens of heaven and one of its gate.
Supplication under the dome of al-Husayn ('a) is accepted and prayer in that place is beloved and accepted.
If the beads of a rosary {tasbih} made from the soil of Karbala' are rotated in the hands, there shall be the reward of reciting "subhan Allah" {glory be to Allah} for the owner even if he is silent. If he does dhikr {the remembrance of God} and uses the rosary, there shall be 70 times the reward for each dhikr.
The importance of Karbala' as mentioned in the traditions is not concealed so as for it to encompass so far as four miles away from the shrine of Imam al-Husayn ('a).[120][344]
Prostration of thanks {sujud shukr}
Prostration is not exclusive to prayer. In fact, it is also discussed in other areas and it is even obligatory sometimes such as after the recital of one of the verses for which prostration is obligatory.
One of the ways of expressing gratitude is the prostration of thanks {sujud shukr} which is highly recommended.
Sujud shukr means giving thanks for the incessant divine blessings which have been showered upon us and our family.
Imam as-Sadiq ('a) says: "Whenever you remember a blessing, place your forehead on the ground as a token of thanks and if you see that the people are looking at you, as a respect for that favor, bend a little bit."[121][345]
The Holy Prophet (S) was seen dismounting a camel. He performed prostration five times and said: "Jibra'il came down to me and gave me five types of insight, and for every insight I made sajdah."[122][346]
Hadrat 'Ali ('a) sometimes would faint while performing sujud shukr[123][347] and it has been narrated from the Imam of the Time ('a) that the most necessary of the recommended acts {sunnah} is sujud shukr.[124][348]
During the sujud shukr any dhikr or supplication is permissible, but the recital of "shukran lillah" {thanks to Allah} and "al-hamdulillah" {all praise belongs to Allah}, and remembrance of the great blessing of the guardianship {wilayah} of the Ahl al-Bayt ('a) are recommended.[125][349] God said: "The reward of the person who performs sujud shukr is that I also give thanks to him."[126][350]
Although there is a specific time and place for sujud shukr, the best time nevertheless is after every prayer as a supplement to the prayer.
The blessings of sujud shukr
Many blessings and benefits of sujud shukr have been mentioned in the traditions. We shall briefly state some of them below: If there is deficiency in prayer which is not removed through the recommended and optional prayers, sujud shukr will compensate for it. It entails the pleasure of God and removes the distance between man and God. Supplication during the sujud shukr is recommended and has the reward of ten salawats and the removal of ten major sins.
Concerning the station and status of sujud shukr, it is enough to say that God would be proud of it and express this pride to the angels.[127][351]
The prostrations of the saints of God
Imam as-Sadiq ('a) says: "The reason behind Ibrahim's ('a) attainment of the station of Friend of Allah {khalilullahi} was his many prostrations on the ground.[128][352]
On the night when Hadrat 'Ali ('a) was supposed to sleep on the bed of the Holy Prophet (S) in order to protect him from the swords of his enemies, he asked the Messenger of Allah (S): "If I do so, will your life be safe from danger?" When the Prophet (S) gave an affirmative reply, Hadrat 'Ali ('a) smiled and performed sujud shukr as a gesture of gratitude for this opportunity.[129][353]
When the head of Abu Jahl, leader of the polytheists, was brought to the Prophet (S), he performed sujud shukr.[130][354]
Imam as-Sajjad ('a) would perform sujud shukr as an expression of thanks. Whenever a calamity was taken away from him or he initiated the reconciliation between two Muslims, he would make sujud shukr. His sujud was so long that he would perspire profusely.[131][355]
Some points
1. The place of prostration is so important in that we thus read in the traditions: "After prayer, touch the place of prostration with your hand and apply it to your face and body in order to remain safe from diseases, plagues and unpleasant things."[132][356]
2. Try not to forget sujud shukr after the maghrib {dusk} prayer as the supplication after it is accepted.[133][357]
Imam as-Sadiq ('a) said: "Anyone who performs prostration between the adhan and iqamah and thus says while in prostration, "I do prostrate before You humbly, submissively and meekly," God will place love for him in the hearts of the believers and fear of him in the hearts of the hypocrites {munafiqin}.[134][358]
3. Prostration is solely for God and it is not permissible to prostrate before anyone including the Prophet of Allah (S),[135][359] let alone in front of the graves of the Imams ('a) and their descendants {imamzadehs}, in front of which some people do prostrate as an expression of respect.
When a group of Muslims migrated to Abyssinia, the infidels of Mecca dispatched a delegation to King Negus in order for him not to accommodate the Muslims in his country and thus expel them. In accordance with the customs at that time, the representative of the Quraysh prostrated before the Negus (king of Abyssinia). On the contrary, the Muslim representative, Ja'far, the brother of Hadrat 'Ali ('a), did not prostrate, saying: "We do not prostrate to anybody except God."[136][360]
The prostration of Hadrat Ya'qub (Jacob) ('a) and his sons to Hadrat Yusuf (Joseph) ('a) was also not for Yusuf but for God as a token of gratitude for the blessing of reunion with Yusuf: "And they fell down prostrate before him."


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WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State University is conducting an internal investigation into allegations that men's basketball coach Gregg Marshall mistreated players, the school and Marshall have confirmed.
Stadium, a multiplatform sports network, said the inquiry began after the university learned it was conducting an investigation in which it interviewed 36 players and former coaches.
Former Wichita State forward Shaq Morris told Stadium he was punched twice by Marshall, the school's all-time winningest coach, during an October 2015 practice, and former guard Ty Taylor said he saw it happen.
They were the only players who agreed to be identified; the others said they feared retribution and community backlash because Marshall's winning record has made him popular, Stadium reported.
"I love my teammates, the city and Wichita State," said Morris, who played at Wichita State from 2014-18. "But if I could go back to that day when he punched me, I would have left."
Taylor transferred to the University of North Carolina Wilmington after the 2015-16 season.
Last spring, six scholarship Shockers players plus a walk-on also transferred. In addition, 2020 commit Ja'Dun Michael asked out of his letter of intent.
Wichita State said in a statement Friday that it "acknowledges the allegations within its Men's Basketball program brought forth by media" and that the investigation was being handled in an "expeditious and deliberate manner."
"We have received full cooperation from university staff, coaches, and current student-athletes, and Coach Gregg Marshall and support any individual who chooses to participate in order to conduct a fair, impartial and thorough investigation," the statement said, adding that team activities will continue as scheduled while the probe is underway.
Marshall on Thursday wrote in a text message to The Athletic, a subscription-based sports website, that he was fully participating in the process.
"I look forward to having it wrapped up as I continue to focus my energy on our team," said Marshall, the school's all-time winningest coach. He did not immediately respond to an email from the AP to his assistant or a phone message seeking comment.
Michelle Basi, an attorney at Tueth Keeney, the St. Louis-based law firm handling the inquiry, didn't immediately return a phone message from the AP.


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Liberals Balk at Nancy Pelosi Tax Proposal
A coalition of liberal interest groups is pushing back on a proposal by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to extend the Bush tax cuts for individuals earning less than $1 million a year, instead pushing a proposal from President Barack Obama that would draw the line at $250,000 a year in income.
Pelosi said in a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday that he should bring up a vote on extending tax cuts for individuals earning less than $1 million a year "as early as next week," when the House returns from recess.
Americans for Tax Fairness, a coalition of nearly 30 liberal organizations including the AFL-CIO, the Center for American Progress and Citizens for Tax Justice, announced it was launching today and in its inaugural press release criticized "proposals on the table to end the Bush tax cuts for those making $1 million a year."
Frank Clemente, manager of the coalition, said that the new group "very much appreciates the president's strong position on this" and that "we just can't afford" the revenue that would be lost by drawing the line at $1 million.
Clemente noted that the coalition had been in the works for two months and deferred to Pelosi's knowledge of the legislative process.
White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage said: "The president has been clear that Congress must extend the tax rates for all families making less than $250,000 a year and let the rates for the very wealthiest expire at the end of the year. The question now is whether Republicans in Congress will vote to give millions of middle-class families the confidence that they won't see their taxes go up at the end of the year, or whether they will continue to hold the middle class hostage so they can extend big tax cuts for the very wealthiest Americans that our nation can't afford."
A Democratic leadership staffer pointed out that Pelosi has long-used the $1 million line in rhetoric and suggested the move is as much about forcing Republicans to adopt an extreme position as it was a negotiating position.
Drawing the line at $1 million "will clearly demonstrate whether Republicans stand with millionaires or the middle class," the source said.
But the letter clearly rankled some liberals. For instance, Citizens for Tax Justice released a preliminary study late Wednesday slamming the proposal, saying it would raise 43 percent less revenue than Obama's plan and that 50 percent of the tax cuts in Pelosi's plan would go to millionaires.
Pelosi's letter also struck a different tone from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who on Tuesday, in a terse letter to 41 Senate Republicans, had dismissed the possibility of a deal on the issue before the November elections.
The Nevada Democrat was responding to a letter signed by those 41 Senate Republicans that demanded immediate action on extending Bush-era tax cuts that expire at the end of this year.
In his letter, Reid suggested the GOP Senators' concerns were not legitimate unless they agreed to compromise on a deficit reduction package that includes tax increases on the wealthy and corporations.


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San Angelo, Texas -- The New Year's deadline given to followers to prove their faithfulness to imprisoned polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs came and went, and the dust has yet to settle.
Members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints had until Dec. 31 to show they were completely loyal to Jeffs, 56, who is in prison for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl. Jeffs retains control over the sect through his brothers and members still loyal to him.
"The fallout is extremely far reaching as far as the social aspect," said Willie Jessop, who once acted as a spokesman for the sect but now opposes Jeffs' leadership.
Between 1,000 and 1,500 people have been kicked out of the sect in the latest round of excommunications, according to those close to the FLDS and social organizations that offer help to those who try to leave the sect behind. The sect is estimated to have had about 10,000 members in the United States and Canada.
To show loyalty, FLDS members were told to get rid of pets and toys, to abstain from sex and to give $5,000 per month to the church.
"The problem is, they had to turn in their assets to qualify," Jessop said. "Now, with the realization that they were swindled out of everything including their religion, it's an overwhelming social issue."
Sam Brower, a private investigator who has written extensively about the sect, said he saw people lined up outside a main FLDS meeting house in the FLDS-run, twin border towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, late on Dec. 31.
The next morning he saw hundreds of trucks around the meeting house and, elsewhere, several groups meeting in separate school houses.
"It has really divided the community," Brower said.
Warren Jeffs, meanwhile, has continued to send messages throughout the world, to public officials in particular. Some have reached Tom Green County commissioners.
Paul Murphy, a spokesman with the Utah Office of the Attorney General, said he has a box full of them, including two copies of a 149-page book full of the revelations.
He checks them to make sure there are not any direct threats to individual members of the public.
"He seems to single out Cincinnati," Murphy said of one particular "revelation." He wasn't aware of any reason Cincinnati would be singled out.
"They all seem to be natural disasters," Murphy said about the general fires, floods and whirlwind judgments often described in the writings.
Despite the letters, Jeffs' communication has been limited lately. At the Powledge Prison Unit in Palestine where he is being held, Jeffs may have placed calls against prison rules.
"There were allegations that he made two phone calls on Christmas Day," said Jason Clark, a spokesman with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. "An investigation was initiated and is ongoing at this time."
The calls might have been broadcast or recorded, which is not allowed, Clark said.
Jeffs has lost his phone privileges until the investigation is over, and two people were removed from his call list, but Clark couldn't say who they were because of the investigation.
"He could face disciplinary measures that would potentially restrict his phone privileges," Clark said.
Jeffs had been scheduled to go on trial Feb. 15 on charges of bigamy, but a pretrial has been postponed indefinitely, court staff said in Schleicher County and Tom Green County. The bigamy trial of Wendell Loy Nielsen, a former FLDS president, also has been postponed indefinitely.
The attorney general of Utah, in speaking about Jeffs' prophetic warnings, said his office is pursuing 10 "houses of hiding," locations that the AG's office believes may hold girls against their will for sexual purposes.
"From the beginning, we heard about girls being taken and put into homes away from their families," Murphy said.
The girls who disappear are called "poofers" as a slang term, Murphy said.
The toll on the FLDS in the new year has been difficult, Jessop said.
"The hard reality is just starting to settle in," Jessop said. "People are stunned."


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Heredity helps determine why some adults are persistently lonely, research co-authored by psychologists at the University of Chicago shows.
Working with colleagues in The Netherlands, the scholars found about 50 percent of identical twins and 25 percent of fraternal twins shared similar characteristics of loneliness. Research on twins is a powerful method to study the impact of heredity because twins raised together share many of the same environmental influences as well as similar genes, thus making it easier to determine the role of genetics in development.
"An interesting implication of this research is that feelings of loneliness may reflect an innate emotional response to stimulus conditions over which an individual may have little or no control," the research team writes in the article, "Genetic and Environmental Contributors to Loneliness in Adults: The Netherlands Twin Register Study" published in the current issue of the journal Behavior Genetics. Psychologists had previously thought loneliness was primarily caused by shyness, poor social skills, or inability to form strong attachments with other people.
Scholars are becoming increasingly interested in the role loneliness plays in health. Other work by John Cacioppo, the Tiffany & Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor in Psychology at the University of Chicago and a member of the research team, shows that loneliness is a risk factor for heart disease. Loneliness is also at the base of a number of emotional conditions, such as self-esteem, mood, anxiety, anger and sociability.
A caring environment can help lonely people overcome their feelings, but the research also shows that in some cases, the impact of heredity is stronger, said Cacioppo, who was joined in the study by Louise Hawkley, a Senior Research Scientist in Psychology at the University.
The lead author of the article was Dorret Boomsma, a Professor of Biolgoical Psychology at the Free University in Amsterdam. Boomsma is one of the world's most prominent researchers on twins and heredity. Other researchers with the project are Gonneke Willemsen of the Free University and Conor Dolan of the University of Amsterdam.
The study was based on data from 8,387 twins in The Netherlands, who have been surveyed regularly since 1991. Smaller, earlier studies done with children suggested that the tendency toward loneliness could be inherited. The Dutch-U.S. study is the first to be done on adults and shows that heredity persists in playing a role in loneliness as people age.
As part of the study, the twins were asked to rate to what extent certain descriptions applied to them, such as "Others don't like me," "I lose friends very quickly," "I feel lonely," and "Nobody loves me."
People noted a wide variety of responses to the descriptions, with 35 percent of the men and 50 percent of the women reporting moderate to extreme feelings of loneliness.
The researchers write that loneliness may have developed early in human evolution as a response by hunter-gathers facing conditions of undernourishment who may have decided not to share their food with their families. By surviving a famine, those early ancestors would be able to propagate during periods of plenty, the researchers theorized. In developing loneliness as an adaptation to survival, these early humans also developed dispositions toward anxiety, hostility, negativity and social avoidance, they said.
The research was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and the U.S. National Institute of Aging.
"The genetics of social behavior is an intriguing and expanding area of research," says Jeffrey W. Elias, cognitive aging specialist at the National Institute on Aging (NIA). "This study suggests there may be a genetic component to loneliness, such that people with a predisposition to loneliness may process social interaction and information differently. This is important to know as we investigate the effects of behavior and emotion on health and longevity."
From University of Chicago