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Eeveryone sleeps in today after the triumphant party celebrating the success of the Jimny. Nearing noon, we all pack up and head into town to pay the local mechanic a visit. Unfortunately, when we arrive, we realize that Richie and Freddie have fallen behind. Tom and Mette volunteer to drive back in the Doblò to see what's happened; the rest of us settle in at the restaurant next door: The Loving Hut.
A few days ago, Rob and company told us not to miss this unique and bizarre vegan / vegetarian establishment. Apparently, the place is run by a cult: the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association, but more importantly: they serve up a half-decent pizza!
Inside, there's a big screen TV tuned to the Supreme Master Channel, currently showing hilariously bad home videos of the Supreme Master of the Universe herself, playing with puppies and bunnies and birds. After a few minutes, we've deduced that you should "Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet!" and that everyone should be more like gentle, fluffy vegetarian bunnies.
Ages later, Richie and Freddie arrive, having had to put the wheel back on five times during the short drive into town. The guitar string must have loosened up overnight? In any case, they've made it! The guys head over to talk to the mechanic next door while we get the pizzas.
There don't seem to be any toppings to choose from, so we just order eleven; one smallish-looking pizza for each ravenous member of the team. When we're done, a lone woman in the kitchen gets down to work.
Nearly two hours later, the first three pizzas arrive. The rest trickle in over the course of the next six. We don't mind too much, though, since the guys are still working on the Jimny, and the everyone else is busy playing cards or using a pair of computers in the corner to start the process of booking their travel home.
The pizzas are gigantic, covered in roasted vegetables, an inch or two thick, and deeply filling. We'll have enough leftovers to feed a small army! The pies are fairly tasty, though a bit bland. Some come from the kitchen burning hot, while others arrive oddly lukewarm, causing the fake cheese to look curdled and unappetizing. The dough is more like foccaccia than any sort of pizza crust. As far as we can tell, they're vegan?
I can't help wishing the Supreme Master would serve supreme pizzas! In an effort to spice up my slices, I unearth our seasoning bag from the car and bring it inside to share. Everyone's meals get a lot more delicious with chili flakes and garlic salt and a bit of dried basil.
Outside, Richie and Freddie have learned that the garage can do nothing to repair their strange axle dilemma. But, in a fortuitous twist of fate, they have a lone Suzuki Jimny axle in the shop! According to Richie, it seems to be the only spare part they have.
The shop wants $150 US, and all four of their good tires for the swap (they have a set of crappy wheels to replace them with). As per usual, the mechanic disappears and work doesn't begin for a few hours. When it finally does, the guys have to do much of it themselves.
Eventually the waiting, both for the pizzas and the Jimny, gets to be too much. So, we leave to check out the marketplace. Now that we know what to look for (a bunch of shipping containers), it is easy to find. Maybe I'll buy some boots!
There are old women doing their shopping:
…and friendly guys who ask for their photos to be taken and then pose for the camera:
I try on some boots…
…but I've become increasingly picky about what possessions I'm willing to add to my life these days. I really like the look of them, but they aren't totally comfortable, so I pass. This is a big deal for me – at one time, I had a closet full of cute shoes, each pair inflicting some sort of minor pain because they didn't fit properly. These days, I'm content with my comfortable hiking boots and travel-worn sandals.
I'm happy to pass on the Mongolian garb, too, though this woman is mighty pleased to dress me up. Tyler, snickering, correctly recognizes the "Okay this is not fun anymore, get me out of here!" look on my face.
As evening approaches, the Jimny still isn't ready. Tim and Charlie need to be in UB tomorrow to get their Russian transit visas sorted before the weekend, so we have to get moving. Richie and Freddie will catch up with us tonight or tomorrow.
On our way out of town, we stop for a round of cash-obtaining at a nearby ATM, once more becoming an entertaining scene for the locals in the process. This cute girl is just one of our many onlookers.
And then we wave goodbye as we head out on a paved road, towards Ulaan Baatar. We drive with the intention of traveling through the night to reach the edge of the city. Charlie and Tim only have one headlight, and it barely works, so they will tailgate us until daybreak.
Just when we're starting to make good time, Mongolia delivers one last curve-ball: Mette's tire violently explodes:
Mette quickly gets to work changing the tire. She is no stranger to this particular problem. Lately, it has to be done at least once a day. Usually the tires just go flat, though. This is the first, and hopefully last blowout. Pretty cool looking!
It is getting late, and everyone is tired, so we decide to make camp and leave early in the morning. Tim and Charlie and Tyler and I vow to wake up at 5:00 AM, offering to rouse everyone at the crack of dawn. For once, everyone agrees to this prospect, eager to make it at last to Ulaan Baatar.
Meanwhile, we're all feeling a bit barfy. Maybe the vegan cheese was off? Gem is properly sick, and Alex doesn't feel well either. With most everyone asleep or ill it's a very small contingency that sits around a late-night bonfire, still awake when Richie and Freddie show up with their new and improved Jimny.
Apparently the swap job was pretty bad because the ride is worse than it has ever been. No matter though, at least they'll be able to finish the Rally tomorrow, thus bringing and end to their saga.


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Comments on the draft guideline will be accepted via the WHO web site from 5 through 31 March 2014. Anyone who wishes to comment must submit a declaration of interests. An expert peer-review process will happen over the same period. Once the peer-review and public consultation are completed, all comments will be reviewed, the draft guidelines will be revised if necessary and cleared by WHO's Guidelines Review Committee before being finalized.
New draft guideline proposals
WHO's current recommendation, from 2002, is that sugars should make up less than 10% of total energy intake per day. The new draft guideline also proposes that sugars should be less than 10% of total energy intake per day. It further suggests that a reduction to below 5% of total energy intake per day would have additional benefits. Five per cent of total energy intake is equivalent to around 25 grams (around 6 teaspoons) of sugar per day for an adult of normal Body Mass Index (BMI).
The suggested limits on intake of sugars in the draft guideline apply to all monosaccharides (such as glucose, fructose) and disaccharides (such as sucrose or table sugar) that are added to food by the manufacturer, the cook or the consumer, as well as sugars that are naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit concentrates.
Much of the sugars consumed today are "hidden" in processed foods that are not usually seen as sweets. For example, 1 tablespoon of ketchup contains around 4 grams (around 1 teaspoon) of sugars. A single can of sugar-sweetened soda contains up to 40 grams (around 10 teaspoons) of sugar.
The draft guideline was formulated based on analyses of all published scientific studies on the consumption of sugars and how that relates to excess weight gain and tooth decay in adults and children.
Note to editors
Papers published with findings of two systematic reviews (analyses of published scientific studies) commissioned by WHO that informed the development of the draft guidelines:
- Dietary sugars and body weight: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials and cohort studies
Conducted by the University of Otago, New Zealand) published in the BMJ
- Effect on caries of restricting sugars intake: Systematic review to inform WHO guidelines
Conducted by Newcastle University, UK) published in the Journal of Dental Research
For more information please contact:
Tarik Jasarevic
WHO, Geneva
Communications Officer
Telephone: +41 22 791 5099
Mobile: +41 79367 6214
E-mail:[email protected]
Glenn Thomas
WHO, Geneva
WHO Communications Officer
Telephone: +41 22 791 3983
Mobile: +41 79 509 0677
E-mail:[email protected]

subset: commoncrawl


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What is snapshot isolation (SI)?(I took these definitions almost verbatim from the paper.)
SI is a multiversion concurrency control scheme with 3 properties:
1) Each transaction reads from a consistent snapshot, taken at the start of the transaction and identified by a snapshot timestamp. A snapshot is consistent if it includes all writes of transactions committed before the snapshot timestamp, and if it does not include any writes of aborted transactions or transactions committed after the snapshot timestamp.
2) Update transactions commit in a total order. Every commit produces a new database snapshot, identified by the commit timestamp.
3) An update transaction aborts if it introduces a write-write conflict with a concurrent committed transaction. Transaction T1 is concurrent with committed update transaction T2, if T1 took its snapshot before T2 committed and T1 tries to commit after T2 committed.
When a transaction starts, its snapshot timestamp is set to the current value of the database version. All its reads are satisfied from the corresponding snapshot. To support snapshots, multiple versions of each data item are kept, each tagged with a version number equal to the commit timestamp of the transaction that creates the version. The transaction reads the version with the largest version number smaller than its snapshot timestamp. If the transaction is read-only, it always commits without further checks. If the transaction has updates, its writes are buffered in a workspace. When the update transaction requests to commit, a certification check verifies that the transaction writeset does not intersect with the writesets of concurrent committed transactions. If the certification succeeds, the database version is incremented, and the transaction commit timestamp is set to this value.
What is the innovation in the Clock-SI paper?The conventional SI implementations use a centralized timestamp authority for consistent versioning. This is because local clocks on different nodes may differ a lot (NTP synchronization may have 10s of ms of inaccuracies), and is not suitable for consistent versioning.
Clock-SI, instead, proposes a way to use loosely synchronized clocks to assign snapshot and commit timestamps to transactions. Compared to conventional SI, Clock-SI does not have a single point of failure and a potential performance bottleneck. It saves one round-trip message for a ready-only transaction (to obtain the snapshot timestamp), and two round-trip messages for an update transaction (to obtain the snapshot timestamp and the commit timestamp). A transaction's snapshot timestamp is the value of the local clock at the partition where it starts. Similarly, the commit timestamp of a local update transaction is obtained by reading the local clock.
If you read Google's Spanner paper, you know that Google Spanner solves this problem by introducing TrueTime, which uses atomic clocks.
How does Clock-SI work?Clock-SI essentially response-delays a read in a transaction
1) to account for clock synchronization differences (epsilon) as in Fig1, and
2) to account for the pending commit of an update transaction.
In Fig1, the read arrives at time t′ on P2's clock, before P2's clock has reached the value t, and thus t′ < t. The snapshot with timestamp t at P2 is therefore not yet available. Another transaction on P2 could commit at time t′′, between t′ and t, and change the value of x. This new value should be included in T1's snapshot.
T2's snapshot is unavailable due to the commit in progress of transaction T1, which is assigned the value of the local clock, say t, as its commit timestamp. T1 updates item x and commits. The commit operation involves a write to stable storage and completes at time t′. Transaction T2 starts between t and t′, and gets assigned a snapshot timestamp t′′, t < t′′ < t′. If T2 issues a read for item x, we cannot return the value written by T1, because we do not yet know if the commit will succeed, but we can also not return the earlier value, because, if T1's commit succeeds, this older value will not be part of a consistent snapshot at t′′.
EvaluationThe paper does not include a performance comparison to Spanner. The NTP synchronized clocks in the evaluation experiments have an NTP offset/epsilon less than 0.1 msec, which is actually more precise than Spanner's atomic clock! I guess this is thanks to the Gigabit Ethernet they use in their LAN deployment.
Discussion: Use of Hybrid Logical Clocks (HLC) for the Clock-SI problemHLC is a hybrid version of logical clocks and physical clocks, introduced by us recently, to combine the advantages of both clocks, while avoiding their disadvantages. Since HLC captures happened-before relationship and uses this extra information in ordering, it does not need to wait out uncertainty regions of physical clock synchronization. Dually, since HLC is related to physical clocks it allows querying with respect to physical time. We had shown HLC's advantages for the consistent snapshot problem in our work.
Here we find that HLC indeed improves the clock-SI problem of snapshot isolation if it is used instead of physical clocks. HLC avoids the delay in Figure 1. HLC would not incur the delay because it also uses happened-before information as encoded in HLC clocks.


text:
Certified Pre-Owned 2016 Cadillac CTS Sedan 2.0L Turbo I4 AWD Luxury
Internet Price $24,500
Finance for $355/mo at 4.99% APR for 72 months with $2,500 down payment. Payment expires on 04/30/20.
Estimated Finance payment based upon 4.99% APR for 72 months, with a down payment of $2,500. Excludes title, taxes, registration, and license fees. Some customers will not qualify. See your authorized dealer for complete details on this and other offers. Residency restrictions may apply.
CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED, NEW BRIDGESTONE TIRES, ONE OWNER, CLEAN CARFAX. 2016 CADILLAC CTS AWD LUXURY! It has gone through Cadillac's 172 point CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED inspection for the 6 year or 100,000 mile warranty. Numerous upgrades including NEW BRIDGESTONE TIRES, NAVIGATION, 17 inch PREMIUM wheels, ALL WHEEL DRIVE, driver awareness package, HEATED and COOLED FRONT SEATS, MOONROOF, bluetooth, backup camera, PARKING ASSIST, and much more! Call us today for a test drive or with any questions! Hill Cadillac is conveniently located at 3964 West Chester Pike in Newtown Square, PA 19073. Phone @ 610.356.4900 or Email @ firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Pai Gow Poker Strategies
Invented in 1985, Pai Gow is a relatively new form of poker that has attracted a wide range of systems and strategizing around how to improve the odds of winning. Like all types of poker, Pai Gow depends on probability. There are mathematical models to determine what to do in a given scenario, and memorizing them should be your first goal in learning the game. Here is a quick overview of basic Pai Gow strategy:
- At all times, try to play the best two-card (low) hand possible.
- Play your highest card in the high hand and the second and third highest card in your low hand if you do not have a pair, straight or flush.
- If you have two pair, always split if the top pair is aces. If the top pair is kings, split as well, unless the bottom pairs are twos. In that case, play the pairs together in the high hand and keep the remaining cards in the low hand.
- If you have three pair, keep the highest pair in the low hand.
- If you have a full house, split it, keeping the pair in the low hand and the three of a kind in the high. If you have a pair in addition to a full house, keep the lowest pair in the low hand.
- Keep together four of a kind of sixes or lower. Split a four of a kind of face cards unless you have an additional pair to keep in the low hand. Spilt a four of a kind of sevens through 10s, unless you have an ace to play in the low hand.
- Unless you have an additional pair, keep a straight or a flush together in the high hand.
As you become more familiar with Pai Gow, you will develop your own strategies. Our guide simply shows you some of the most common scenarios you can encounter, and what to do in them.
How to Play Pai Gow Poker
Pai Gow Poker blends the ancient Chinese game of Pai Gow with the American favorite of poker. Players play with the common deck of 52 cards and one joker. Players can use the joker to complete a flush, a straight or as an ace.
Play begins when the dealer gives each player a hand of seven cards. The player makes two hands, a five-card hand and a two-card hand. The game ranks each hand based upon the traditional poker ratings. A two-ace hand is the highest two-card hand, while a royal flush is the highest five-card hand. The player's five-card hand must rank higher than the two-card hand.
The player wins when both of his hands beat the Banker's hands. The banker wins all tie hands. If the player only wins one hand, neither the Banker nor the Player win – this is called a "push."
Winning hands earn even money, excluding a five percent commission. Losing hands lose all wagers.
Playing Pai Gow Poker
After shuffling the deck, the dealer gives seven face down hands of seven cards each, placing the four leftover cards in the discard holder. The Banker rolls three dice to determine which player gets the first hand, and all players place bets before the dice are revealed. The dealer places the hands in a clockwise rotation following the first hand; the Banker's position is always 1, 8 or 15.
The Banker and all Players arrange their cards into two hands each. Once everyone finishes, the dealer turns all cards face up. The dealer leaves winning hands face up; the dealer places losing cards in the discard tray, collects the lost wagers and pays the winners.
Dover Downs Hotel & Casino reserves the right to change game rules and regulations without notice.


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SBS On Demand with a chromebook
SBS On Demand with a chromebook
May 9 2018, 03:48 PM
Post #1
Group: New Members
Posts: 17
Joined: 4-August 11
From: Adelaide SA
Member No.: 14,444
Card: Leadtek DTV1000T
For some reason the On Demand system that SBS use does not work with a chromebook. chromebooks use chrome OS. There's no issue with similar services such as ABC iView, TenPlay etc. nor with a PC, Android etc.
I have tried disabling all privacy blockers like Privacy Badger and cleared browser data and being logged in.
Android can be added to recent chromebooks but not older ones like mine so I am stuck.
I have contacted SBS and they actually said they had fixed it but they haven't and when I reported back they say they "are working on it" but cannot advise when it will be really fixed.
If all the other broadcasters can do it I am puzzled why SBS is an exception. I am thinking something like they just need to add a plug-in or bit or similar. Anyone out there with a solution please?
Tuners: Leadtek DTV1000T, Leadtek DTV1000S, Nebula USB, Avermedia Twinstar A825 (dual tuner) USB.
|Lo-Fi Version
|Time is now: 1st April 2020 - 02:31 PM


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So Frank my 8 month old boy has been fitting. My vet decided to refer him to a neurologist. He went yesterday and stayed over night. I missed him! Anyway, he had a bile acid stim test - came back normal. MRI - normal. Spinal tap - normal. Turns out he has idiopathic epilepsy. So turns out he does have a brain in there. I have had to seek the advice and help ofba behaviourist as he was ridulous, I just could not train him and to see if he could help with the dog aggression issues. Basic training such as sit was difficult for him to learn butbhe is doing better now.
A picture of his shaven bit, you can see where they put the huge needle for his spinal tap.
A picture from one of our training sessions where he actually sat and ignored a dog walk by. I was so proud of him!
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Talk about diets, exercise, and disease.
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- Ilovethepits
- Addicted to PBF
- Posts: 16038
- Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2005 1:43 pm
- Location: Sitting on a Gold Mine
Re: Fitting
I am glad your vet and a behaviorist were able to help with your Frank. He is a very handsome boy and I hope you'll have continued progress.
- Naomi
- Newborn Bully
- Posts: 74
- Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2012 11:30 am
- Location: Wigan, United Kingdom.
- Contact:
Re: Fitting
Thank you. I hope so too. He is doing better
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text:
Let's assume I have two containers.
Both containers will hold a large number of possible values. However, they are mutually exclusive. Also, the containers are both already sorted.Code:std::vector<unsigned long> vec1; std::vector<unsigned long> vec2;
I want to search one particular value and the search will be done repeteadly for a large number of values. Naturally, I start with one container and if I don't find the value, I move on to the other.
But... what about optimizing this process based on probabilities? Instead of simply starting on Vec1 and then moving to Vec2, I'm thinking avoiding the best I can the linear compexity of the find algorithm and write my own, based also on the fact the vectors are sorted.
For this I first determine the distance of the value to search (lets call it val) from both containers boundaries:
Based on this info I decide which container to search first. Typically I want to first search the vector in which distance to the value to be found is less, doing a reverse search if appropriate. If I reach a value that is higher than the value being searched (or lower if doing a reverse search), I stop and move on to the next container.Code:unsigned long distVec1Max = *--vec1.end() - val; // and the same for vec2 unsigned long distVec1Min = val - vec1.begin();
Question is... Can you see a possible gain if I do this? The calculations prior to the search and the switching of containers can put a tax on the performance that is probabilistically not justifiable, considering the alternative of doing a linear search on each vector?
(note: A set would solve this, of course. But I just used a simple example here with containers of unsigned long. Let's assume the contents do not, and cannot, have a < operator.)
EDIT: Another alternative is searching both containers at the same time, one index at a time, still using the distance to determine what kind of search to do on each container (if normal or reversed)....


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Scientists have succeeded in producing a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease in a laboratory animal model. The much-anticipated transgenic mouse model is genetically engineered with the human gene coding for a form of the brain protein tau. The new mouse strain will enable investigators to study tau-containing lesions in a number of brain disorders, including the insoluble tau-containing tangles that build up and form one of the key pathological features of Alzheimer's disease (AD). It joins several other partial models of Alzheimer's disease and may help to hasten the development of potential treatments for AD. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) funded the study, which appears in this month's issue of the journal Neuron. *
In the study, scientists inserted human tau genes into mice which later developed masses of abnormal tau filaments in nerve cells within the spinal cord, cortex and brainstem, three critical regions of the central nervous system. As the mice aged, insoluble masses of tau filaments grew in number. The animals also showed evidence of nerve cell degeneration and impaired movement, unlike their littermates lacking the inserted tau gene. The strain was created under the direction of Virginia M-Y. Lee, Ph.D., MBA, and John Q. Trojanowski, M.D., Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research in Philadelphia.
The mice do not completely model AD, but they more closely resemble other human brain diseases that accumulate AD-like tau deposits in regions deep within the central nervous system, Dr. Lee is careful to point out. "We know that tau-containing tangles are an important feature of Alzheimer's disease, but we're not sure about how it fits into the development and progression of the disease, so the tau mouse model is very important," says Dr. D. Stephen Snyder, who directs studies of the Etiology of Alzheimer's Disease at NIA's Neuroscience and Neuropsychology of Aging Program. "It should help us look at normal and abnormal tau function, for example, to study and measure the accumulation of tau and to determine how the known mutations lead to the death of neurons. Less clear is whether tau will eventually prove to be a useful diagnostic marker for the tauopathies and, importantly, for AD."
The two neuropathlogical hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease are senile plaques, which are made of a protein fragment called beta amyloid, and neurofibrillary tangles, which are made of abnormal twisted strands of the protein, tau. Tau formation is related to the severity of disease; the more advanced the stage of disease, the more tau deposits in the brain. Animal models already exist for other features of Alzheimer's disease, including strains bred with mutated forms of the human amyloid precursor protein, which causes amyloid to form, and mice bred with the presenilin and apoE4 genes, also implicated in Alzheimer's disease.
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Dementia refers to a loss of memory and reasoning and specifically to a progressive deterioration that is severe enough to prevent normal functioning. AD is the most common cause of dementia among people age 65 and older. AD affects as many as 4 million Americans in the United States. The prevalence of AD doubles every 5 years beyond age 65. Some studies indicate that nearly half of all people age 85 and older have symptoms of AD.
Researchers use the term "tauopathy" to describe a grouping of dementing diseases in which tau is implicated, such as a unique form of dementia which involves several mutations in the tau gene affecting over twenty distinct families. They also include Pick's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), which are not caused by tau genetic mutations. Tauopathies differ from AD in a number of important ways. Clinical signs associated with tauopathies vary widely and range from schizophrenia and Parkinsonian-like tremors to language and behavioral disturbances. In addition, people with tauopathies may have abundant AD-like deposits of tau filaments, but they may not have deposits of beta amyloid. Masses of tau filaments accumulate in different brain regions from those affected by AD and the tau filaments themselves often have a slightly different structure from those in AD. And because memory loss in some tauopathies is similar to that experienced by patients with AD, the prevalence of tauopathies – distinct from AD – remains uncertain.
Scientists do not yet know how tau and amyloid deposits form, or how they cause cells to die in AD. The two may form independently of one another, or one before the other. Scientists are also working to understand how the two produce disease in the brain, and to understand why and how tau deposits accumulate. But they know that the protein is critical to cell survival and helps maintain the cell's internal support structure or cytoskeleton.
*Ishihara, Takeshi; Hong, Ming; Zhang, Bin; Nakagawa, Yasushi; Lee, Michael K.; Trojanowski, John Q.; and Lee, Virginia M.-Y. "Age-Dependent Emergence and Progression of a Tauopathy in Transgenic Mice Overexpress the Shortest Human Tau Isoform," Neuron, Vol. 24, No. 1-20, November, 1999, pp. 751-762. (Accompanied by a mini-review, "Neurodegenerative Tauopathies: Human Disease and Transgenic Mouse Models," pp. 507-510.)
Other contacts: Univ. of Penn. Press Office 215-662-2560 Neuron: 617-661-7057
Source: National Institute on Aging Press Release: November 23, 1999
Contact: Stephanie E. Clipper, email@example.com, (301)-496-1752


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Alternate title: Messing Stuff Up, Writing It Down
These are my notes for a workshop next week. Comments/additions/criticisms? Please help, oh PLN of mine.
These are my notes for a workshop next week. Comments/additions/criticisms? Please help, oh PLN of mine.
Why Bother?
- Communication tools make widespread collaboration possible where it hasn't been before.
- If you aren't thrilled by the professional development or lesson improvement opportunities offered by your school, you have other options.
- Speaking for myself, being a learner makes me a better teacher. Continue growing, learning, and improving your craft.
- Network with other like-minded professionals.
- The ability to get ideas, and to get feedback about your work, no longer has to be limited to a planning period, an annual conference, or only teachers in your school and district. As a result, your teaching will improve faster.
Why Start a Blog?
I always had a hard time with reflective practice as a private exercise. I was told it was important, but it wasn't rewarding in a way that led me to pursue it regularly. All my writing landed with a dull thud. Publishing those reflections, successes, failures for an audience means my work is broadcast in a community of intelligent professionals who read, use, and comment on my work. The feedback from them is the reward that keeps me doing it. (Update: Read MizT's elaboration on this point.)
You Don't Have to Start Your Own Blog
There are plenty of ways to develop, benefit from, and contribute to a learning network without starting a blog of your own.
Read Blogs - Through the habit of reading other teacher's blogs, you will get ideas and insights in an easily accessible format, delivered to your computer. You can go to individual websites, but using an aggregator like Bloglines or Google Reader is much more convenient. Instead of bookmarking and visiting individual sites, an aggregator collects them all in one place for you. New posts in your subscribed blogs are automatically sent to the aggregator through the magic of RSS (Real Simple Syndication (you don't need to remember that.)) You only have to check the one site, the aggregator, to see if any of the blogs you read have been updated lately. For Google Reader you will need a Google account, then you can click Add a Subscription and type in an address.
If this is all brand new to you, here are a few to get started with (I chose these to represent a spectrum of math ed bloggers out there... through linking from posts that appeal to you, you will find more and more): 360, colleenk, Dan, Elissa, Jackie, Jason, JD, John, Sarah, Sam, Sue, and me.
Comment on Blogs - Don't be afraid to add to the conversation on a blog by commenting. Include your first and last name, unless you are cultivating a pseudonym (see below). If you start a blog later, you will have built a reputation you can use to draw people to read your posts. When it's available, I always check the box for "email me follow-up comments," so I don't have to go back to the post later to read the latest comments.
Twitter - It's more than celebrities and talking cats! Many educators are coming on board, and I'm finding more and more useful links and discussions on there. It can be a good way to get started. Set up an account and describe yourself in a few well-chosen words. If you are looking for ideas about who to follow, start by checking out who I and other math teachers are following. Once you follow someone, they will often follow you back, if they see that you are a teacher. Congrats, you have readers! (Of your tweets. Limited to 140 characters.)
Delicious - Save bookmarks that are available anywhere there's Internet. I use this as the place to save all those links that I want to remember later. Add tags so you can search them easily. It also has a social component, whereby you can follow people and see what they are saving.
How to Start a Blog, Considerations, and Potential Pitfalls
There are gazillions of articles about the technical aspects. Spend some time googling and reading articles. I use Blogger and like it fine. Lots of people like Wordpress.
Decide why you want to start a blog. To share your great lessons? To comment on education policy? To relate funny stories about your day? To post pictures of your lunch? It's good for a blog to have a focus. If you don't want to write original content and just want to share links or pictures, consider another solution like Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, or Delicious.
If you and some friends all want to start, consider a group-authored blog (example). You will immediately have each other as readers and commenters.
Decide whether you want to post with your real name or anonymously/pseudonymously. The decision to use my real name was a personal one and works best for me. Plenty of awesome blogs are written by teachers who would rather not identify themselves. If privacy concerns are keeping you from starting a blog, consider a nom de plume. Either way, I advise against publishing anything you wouldn't want a student, parent, or administrator to read.
Have several ideas for posts before you start. When you begin, you will want to update at least once a week. Otherwise people will lose interest and you won't generate a following.
When you write a new post, don't publish it right away. Several commenters made this suggestion, and it's a good one. Instead of "Publish", the blogging software should let you "Save as Draft." No matter how much you like your post, you will think of a crucial edit 5 minutes later. You will realize that the way you stated something could be taken the wrong way. You will think of more elegant phrasing. Of course, you wouldn't want blogging to put you in a bad light, or give you a reputation for being unprofessional. Write the first draft and let it marinate for 24 hours before publishing.
Stick with it. It will take time to generate a following. You can get readers faster by leaving comments on other blogs (and including the URL of yours,) linking to your new posts on Twitter, or submitting a post to a blog carnival.
It's generally considered bad form, not to mention lawsuit-inducing, to post identifiable pictures or videos of students' faces. If you want to do this, you should get guardians' consent in writing.
Further Reading/Watching
This post wants to convince you of the value of educational blogging.
In this TED talk, Seth Godin says we all have the potential to "change everything" by leading people just waiting to be led. Not specifically about education, but relevant.
This episode of Ze Frank talks about the meaning of creativity, and what it takes to go from 0 to 1.
This post at the Fischbowl describes the value of a Personal Learning Network for both teachers and students.
Darren has his students blogging to expand the walls of his classroom.
Sitmo is a relatively easy way to include mathematical equations in blog posts.


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The Sales Associate position is responsible for providing a complete shopping experience for our customers. The Sales Associate is responsible for the areas of customer service and sales, store merchandising and maintenance, environmental activism, store operations, and training.
Essential Job Functions
Customer Service and Sales
o Greet all customers promptly and courteously as they enter the store.
o Utilize the tools and training provided by the Company to develop selling and service skills, resulting in long-term customer relationships and increased sales.
o Direct customers throughout the store or to the specific area the customer requests.
o Determine the specific needs of each person that enters the store and provide appropriate service.
o Give accurate and current information about the product for all inquiries; if the correct information is not at hand, do everything possible to provide an answer before the customer leaves the store.
o Increase the customer base by adding new customers to the mailing list.
o Maintain the feedback loop to designers and buyers by turning in customer comment cards; participate in information-gathering requests from the Company.
o Handle product returns in a way that demonstrates the spirit of our "Ironclad Guarantee."
o Maintain a positive and cheerful attitude at all times.
o Understand the Patagonia Retail Philosophy and use this philosophy in all customer interaction.
o Apply the above standards to all phone inquiries.
Merchandising and Maintenance
o Check stock daily and restock when necessary to ensure that all products are available for customers; if stock is not currently available offer to put their name on the wish list and to call them when stock arrives.
o Perform merchandising duties: folding, hanging, and displaying product according to retail merchandising standards.
o Steam all hanging merchandise.
o Assist in displaying all featured merchandise prominently in each section.
o Help store merchandiser and/or store manager by suggesting alternative locations for products.
o Maintain store image by adhering to the dress guidelines for Patagonia Retail employees.
o Maintain a clean and well-organized back-stock area.
o Vacuum, sweep floors, and empty all trash each day if required.
o Clean employee break area each day.
Environmental Activism
o Understand and follow the Patagonia environmental principles.
o Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
o Participate in at least two events or campaigns each year.
o Assist in identifying appropriate tithing recipients. Align the stores with small grass roots groups that are focusing on direct action.
o Educate yourself on corporate environmental campaigns so that you can educate the customer on these issues.
o Get actively involved within the community on appropriate issues.
o Actively solicit input and action from customers on letter writing campaigns, petitions, voting, etc.
o Recycled all cans, bottles, cardboard plastic, paper and anything else possible.
o Report to work on time or notify in advance if absent or late.
o Operate the cash register; it should be each employee's goal to use the register without error and to be consistently accurate in money handling.
o Understand and utilize all reports including: item master, units location report, open order report, color and style masters, etc.
o Use correct procedures for processing mail orders, transfers, special orders, and rentals.
o Know and utilize the procedures for processing paperwork between the store and Retail Services.
o Practice security measures that help prevent theft; understand the procedures for handling shoplifters.
o Practice safety consciousness at all times.
Mentoring, Training and Employee Development
o Participate in all required Patagonia Retail employee training.
o Participate in the training of fellow employees, including New Hire Training and ongoing product, service, and environmental training.
o Be proactive in your ongoing education regarding the company, weekly reports, products, and the outdoor retail business.
o Take advantage of additional training opportunities that are offered.
Physical Requirements
o Continually able to stand/walk for extended periods of time, necessary to provide sales floor coverage related to customer service and loss prevention.
o Continually able to reach overhead, bend, squat, kneel, and carry product, necessary for customer service, inventory re-stock, and store merchandising.
o Continually able to walk up and down staircase, carrying boxes, product, and other necessary store related items.
o Ability to regularly perform store maintenance items: sweep, vacuum, empty trash, clean.
o Ability to safely lift boxes up to 55 lbs.
o Comfortable climbing ladders.
o Store is open 7 days per week. Number of scheduled hours per week varies. Must be available to work minimum of one weekend day, one opening shift and one closing shift throughout the week.
Minimum Job Qualifications
o Excellent customer service and sales skills.
o Previous retail or related customer service experience.
o Patagonia product use/knowledge.
o Surf-specific experience/knowledge required for surf store locations.
o Accuracy with money handling and register use.
o Excellent organizational skills.
o Accuracy and attention to detail.
o Effective communication skills.
o Self-motivated.
o Ability to effectively work with team.
Employee Conduct
It is the responsibility of every employee to contribute to a positive work environment through cooperative and professional interactions with co-workers, customers and vendors.
Equal Employment Opportunity
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors prohibited by law.


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WWE continues its image makeover
As election nears, wrestling giant emphasizes charitable efforts
The kinder, gentler WWE?
In recent weeks, the wrestling company, once renowned for its focus on smackdowns and stylized violence, has launched an online promotional blitz that emphasizes its appeal to women and its commitment to fighting breast cancer and bullying.
Is this in any way linked to the Republican U.S. Senate campaign of ex-CEO Linda McMahon? Not at all, the WWE says.
"Five Million Women Watch the WWE" is the slogan appearing next to the video that has been popping up on news websites throughout Connecticut over the last month.
The 30-second spot features "WWE Superstar" John Cena in a black T-shirt and pink "Rise Above Cancer" baseball hat promoting charities, including the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the WWE's "Be a Star" anti-bullying effort.
"WWE has always been about family entertainment and today all of our programming is rated PG," Cena says. "Today, WWE is a global entertainment company. We are proudly dedicated to putting smiles on people's faces."
The spot was on the WTIC radio homepage last week, right before the live debate between McMahon and Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, next to the link for the Senate debate.
The online ad campaign comes several weeks after the WWE disclosed it was removing from YouTube and other websites some of the raunchier videos that had once been synonymous with the company's product. Those videos no longer fit the company's family-values image, the company said in September.
Murphy's campaign believes the Cena ad is aimed at softening the company's image and possibly helping McMahon along the way. The WWE has drawn criticism for what some say is a misogynistic treatment of women.
"Linda McMahon is desperately trying to get voters to forget about her work as CEO of the WWE demeaning women and selling sex and violence to children, and now the WWE seems to be working equally hard here in Connecticut to convince women that their programming really isn't all that bad," said Eli Zupnick, Murphy's spokesman.
Brian Flinn, senior vice president for marketing and communications for Stamford-based WWE, dismissed such claims. He says the spot is part of the wrestling empire's digital "brand image" campaign.
"WWE's digital campaign, which began in September, appears on websites including MSN.com, Fox News, Yahoo News and iVillage.com as well as local news sites -- avoiding political coverage -- such as Courant.com, ctpost.com and stamfordadvocate.com," Flinn said in an email. "The purpose of the campaign is to highlight WWE's commitment to pro-social initiatives. Any implication or assertion that WWE is coordinating with Linda McMahon's U.S. Senate campaign is false; to do so would be unlawful and in violation of Federal Election Commission regulations."
Asked to comment on the advertising's proximity to the Senate debate and advertisements for McMahon's Senate bid on several state sites, Flinn said the WWE campaign "is part of a long-term initiative" in Connecticut "where WWE is routinely mischaracterized."
The women's vote in Connecticut is seen as critical in the Senate race. During her 2010 Senate bid, McMahon lost to Richard Blumenthal in part because of the Democrat's strong support among women.
firstname.lastname@example.com; 860-549-4670; twitter.com/KenDixonCT; facebook.com/kendixonct.hearst; blog.ctnews.com/dixon/


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Chickpea Flour - The Underrated Egg Replacer
I am often shocked when I read egg replacing tips written by other vegans, because chickpea flour never seems to be there. While my go-to egg replacer used to be ground flaxseeds, since discovering chickpea flour I have never looked back.
Chickpea flour is readily available in health food shops, along with Indian, Italian and French grocers. It is also known as besan, chana flour, gram flour, cici flour and garbanzo bean flour. You can even make your own out of whole, dry chickpeas if you have a grain mill or very powerful food processor.
Veganising recipes with chickpea flour could never be easier. Simply add 1/4 cup of chickpea flour to the dry ingredients, making sure to break up any lumps in it, and increase the liquid in the recipe by 1/4 cup.
I've successfully veganized and created recipes that would normally be very egg-heavy with chickpea flour. Even in my version of a lemon slice (published in Triumph of the Lentil), where the topping normally consists almost entirely of eggs, the chickpea flour not only replaced the texture that I remembered, but also added the yellow colour that eggs would normally add.
Nutritionally, it provides the protein that would normally be found in eggs, not to mention the many vitamins and minerals that are found in chickpeas including folate, iron and calcium.
The only drawback to using chickpea flour is that it has a terrible taste before cooking. So if you're using it heavily in a recipe and want to eat the uncooked batter, you may be in for some disappointment. But given the benefits I've explained above, this is something that can be overlooked.
To replace one egg, use ¼ cup of chickpea flour and ¼ cup water or non-dairy milk.
About the author: Hilda is the author of Triumph of the Lentil: Soy-Free Vegan Wholefoods for all Appetites
Get a price on the 8 Inch Round Cake Pan I Recommend at Amazon.
User reviews
7 reviewsView most helpful
Thanks so much for the recipe. Looks delicious. I cook a lot in my outdoor kitchen - get less weird smells in the house that way. Always looking for new recipes.
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thank you
very tasty stuff! I highly recommend this.
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I definitely enjoyed every bit of it and I have you bookmarked your blog to check out the new stuff you post in the future.
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I've spent ages looking for this on the web. Thank God someone did post it. Thanks. https://www.abcpressurewashingorlando.com
Great Idea!
Wow, I never thought to use chickpea flour. It's such a great idea! I normally grind my own oat, almond or other flour for all my baking. But chickpea might be an interesting alternative to include in my next batch of muffins! I'll definitely be trying this out!
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Chickpea Flour - The Underrated Egg Replacer
I recently came across your recipe and have been reading along.
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Please tell me the substitution in grams and ml. Thank you.
Great Egg Replacement
Thank for your clear, useful article. I used chickpea flour to substitute for eggs in a Pumpkin Pie recipe. It worked very well. Adds a nice creamy texture. When baked I did not notice any negative taste from the chickpea flour. I found that chickpea flour is a better thickener than ground flaxseeds.
Top 500 Reviewer
View all my reviews (1)
Thank you for this article. I had no idea chickpea flour could be used as an egg replacer. That's awesome! I'm definitely going to use it soon.
You say the taste is terrible uncooked. Does the flour affect the taste of the food overall then?
Egg yolk
Thank you for this article!
Do you know in what proportion can I replace 4 egg yolks with chickpea flour to make a filling for a sweet pie?
Thank you!
White bean flour works the same way and has a milder flavor.
thanks for the good idea!
I've just tried it in a lentil roast, the texture and binding was good.
But... I think it still had a too strong chickpea taste AFTER baking (40 min).
Thus I wouldn't use it in a sweet recipe like brownies...
This works great in semi-liquid "eggy" batter that is then fried: french toast, omlettes, pancakes, I didn't try it in baking, but I make very good eggless french toast, not kind of 'desperate vegan delight" ;) So I belive, that chickpea flour could work fine in baking.
To Christina
Hi Christina,
I haven't tried the ultimate brownie recipe myself, but I imagine that replacing the flax/water mixture with 1/4 cup chickpea flour and 1/4 cup water would work.
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Question for chickpea flour egg replacer in browni
I want to make your Ultimate Brownies (http://www.veganbaking.net/brownies-and-bars/brownies/616-ultimate-brownies#.UburBOcp9u4) using the chickpea flour instead of the flax eggs. Do you think this would work?
Awesome.. But egg equivalent?
Just wondering what equivalent would be per egg? If it's a large batch or a small batch, the 1/4 cup estimate wouldn't help.


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The New MLP Landscape
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The U.S. is so awash in hydrocarbons that Hollywood is making movies about the boom, yet one energy investment that should benefit -- master limited partnerships -- hit the brakes in 2012.
MLPs have been perennial favorites of individual investors, thanks to their unique tax structure and high income. Indeed, until last year they had outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 for a dozen years in a row. Last year, however, the Alerian MLP Index returned less than 5%, to the broad market's 16%.
So what happened, and can a strong case still be made for these securities? The short answer is yes, but finding your way in this market is getting trickier.
Nearly 100 energy companies are structured as MLPs, which allows them to avoid corporate taxation. They pay out the vast majority of their cash flow to partners (i.e., shareholders). This encourages high payouts -- today on the order of 5.5% -- and creates an advantageous, albeit complicated, tax structure for investors as well.
The most common MLPs are companies that transport and store oil and gas, which gives them reliable cash flow. These pipeline and storage companies typically charge a steady fee for their service, regardless of commodity prices. But the MLP landscape has changed dramatically in the past year.
For starters, there has been an explosion in U.S. drilling for crude oil and natural gas, which should funnel an estimated $250 billion into the U.S. energy infrastructure over the next 25 years. In October, the Internal Revenue Service expanded the types of energy assets that can qualify for MLP status.
And, let's face it, investors have been desperate for yield, making MLPs particularly appealing. All of this has been a red carpet for a huge number of new MLPs -- 30 brought to market in the past two years -- and a spate of new funds. The newest MLPs are a small percentage of the $400 billion industry, but some carry more risk.
A Year in the Life of MLPs
Collection of previous Barron's stories on Master Limited Partnerships, click here.
Hmm. Poor performance, an onslaught of new products, all amid a rapidly changing industry -- Barron's decided it was time to consult a couple of experts to see if the MLP heyday is over and how investors should proceed. Their answer? With caution -- though the U.S. energy boom should fuel many more years of solid MLP returns.
We called on Texas native Chris Eades, 43, for his considerable experience as an MLP analyst, and because he co-manages about $4 billion across three ClearBridge Investments closed-end MLP funds. They are the ClearBridge Energy MLP Fund (ticker: CEM), the ClearBridge Energy MLP Opportunity Fund (EMO), and the newer ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return Fund (CTR).
We also included Kyri Loupis, 42, a Cyprus native, in the conversation. Loupis spent nearly a decade in energy investment banking and MLP investing at Lehman Brothers before Goldman Sachs hired him in 2009 to launch its MLP investing strategy. He oversees more than $5 billion in MLP assets as head of energy and infrastructure investing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
Here's what they had to say.
Barron's: How is the MLP landscape changing?
Loupis: MLPs are a corporate structure with a different tax treatment. Those businesses can include different types of energy assets, each of which has different levels of volatility, risk, and cash-flow stability. Not all MLPs are created equal.
Eades: Over the past 10 years, MLP growth was driven by energy corporations, typically pipeline companies selling assets into MLPs, a strategy known as a drop-down. Today, the explosive growth in the production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural-gas liquids like ethane and propane has resulted in a massive build-out of new energy infrastructure, including new pipelines, processing plants, and storage facilities, which will drive the sector's growth. The second change in the MLP landscape is the recent creation of MLPs with atypical assets. These new, riskier MLP offerings have garnered a lot of attention, and some have done well, but they make up less than 5% of the sector's market value.
How are these new MLPs different?
Loupis: Many are nontraditional assets. They're refiners, fertilizers, frac sand [a material used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a process of extracting oil, natural gas, and natural-gas liquids from rock]. Most of these companies have a "variable distribution policy," not the traditional policy of stable, growing distributions. For example, U.S. refining is going through a major boom, and refining MLPs will certainly participate in the sector's up-cycle, but whatever distributions they pay in boom times may not be there when the refining cycle goes in the other direction.
Are MLPs with variable distributions riskier?
Eades: The distribution will go up and down with the underlying cash-flow streams.
Loupis: In the Alerian MLP Index of 50 names at the end of last year, the spread between the lowest and the highest yielder was 10.3 percentage points. That reflects the growth, risk, and volatility of the assets in these nontraditional MLPs. Some nontraditional MLPs that are not in the index have yields as high as 20%. But that's not sustainable.
Eades: We try to limit our exposure to commodity prices, so we didn't buy any of the new, nontraditional MLPs.
Explain the MLP business model.
Eades: MLPs pass on 80% to 90% of cash flows to investors, and retain a little bit for internal purposes. Since they distribute virtually all their cash, growth, such as buying or building an asset, is typically financed by issuing new shares or debt.
How is an MLP's distribution taxed?
Loupis: Investors receive distributions that reflect their share of an MLP's cash flow. Their K-1 tax form reflects their share of the business' taxable profits. An MLP's assets—such as pipelines—produce cash and have a long life, but can be depreciated over a shorter period, reducing the amount of profit that is taxable. Taxable profits are typically about 20% of the cash distribution an MLP pays out annually. That's why sometimes you hear "MLP distributions are 80% tax-deferred."
The part of the distribution that isn't immediately taxed is considered a return of your capital, which reduces your cost basis. When you hold an MLP for a long time, your cost basis can whittle to zero. At that point, annual distributions are taxed as capital gains.
Eades: Which is still better than the tax rates on ordinary income.
What are the tax implications when selling?
Eades: You incur what is called recapture, similar to owning real estate. Let's say you owned an MLP for 10 years and went from a $20 cost basis to zero, because you received $20 worth of distributions that were not taxed. When you sell, you'll owe ordinary income tax on that $20.
MLPs are equities, but you use different methods to value them?
Eades: Price/earnings ratios are not relevant because an MLP's ability to depreciate its assets reduces its reported earnings. Ebitda [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization] is useful, but the enterprise-value-to-Ebitda multiple reflects unlevered cash flow, and MLPs finance much of their growth from issuing debt. We look at distributable cash flow, which is Ebitda minus interest expenses, capital spending, and after the general partner is paid.
Kyri Loupis, Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Loupis heads GSAM's energy and infrastructure investing, and manages more than $5 billion in MLPs. Some of his favorites:
|Company / Ticker
|Recent Price
|12 Mo. Chg
|Access Midstream / ACMP
|Gas gathering/processing
|Contracted volumes and prices should mean 15% distribution growth.
|MarkWest Energy / MWE
|Gas gathering/processing
|Significant growth opportunity in Marcellus, Utica shales.
|Genesis Energy / GEL
|Crude oil logistics
|One of the few pure-play MLPs in crude oil logistics.
|Tesoro Logistics / TLLP
|Crude oil logistics
|Young MLP. With asset additions, likely to produce 12%-15% growth.
|Delek Logistics / DKL
|Crude oil logistics
|Pricing power as fee-based contracts renew; underleveraged balance sheet.
|*Since Nov. 1, 2012 IPO.
|Index / Ticker
|Alerian MLP Index / AMZ
|Benchmark of 50 largest
|Market cap weighted.
|Sources: Thomson Reuters, Goldman Sachs
What other metrics do you look at?
Eades: The distribution coverage ratio -- which is the distributable cash flow an MLP generates divided by the cash flow it distributes to investors. Anything greater than 1.0 means the MLP has cash flow in excess of what it is paying investors. It shows how much cushion the MLP has.
That's all well and good, but most investors are interested in MLPs for their yield.
Eades: Yes, most MLP investors are maniacally focused on yield, yield, yield as the only valuation metric. But they should also consider the yield's growth. The total return of an MLP is the yield plus the growth rate of that yield over time. In the past three years, stocks in the Alerian MLP Index that grew distributions up to 3% annually generated an annualized total return of 8.5%. Those that grew distributions by more than 10% every year generated a 27.7% annualized return. Yield by itself? Not so interesting.
Gives us an example.
Eades: Oneok Partners [OKS]. It operates pipelines that gather, process, and transport natural-gas liquids. It could grow distributions 13% in 2013 and 2014. Its 4.7% yield is lower than the sector average, but this is one of the best organic-growth stories. It has $7 billion in projects that should help generate a 17% total return over 12 months.
How much distribution growth do you want to see, generally?
Loupis: Our bias is toward consistent and above-average distribution growth -- at least 8% growth. Safety of distributions, the coverage ratio, is important to us. Three MLPs cut distributions in 2012 -- and they weren't structured with variable distributions.
Where are the most appealing MLPs operating today?
Loupis: We stick to what happens in the exploration and production sector, where there is drilling activity, where there are oil-and-gas-production trends. Three things matter: product, function, and location. The area to be in over the next couple of years is logistics for crude oil and natural-gas liquids.
Logistics MLPs transport oil and gas liquids via pipelines, rails, trucks, and ships. Which do you like?
Loupis: MarkWest Energy Partners [MWE] is on the natural-gas-liquids side. Genesis Energy [GEL] is one of the few crude-oil logistics pure plays. They have assets in Texas, Florida, and the Gulf of Mexico. It trades at a 4.4% yield, and we expect it will grow distributions by 10% each year over the next three years.
Eades: We also like Genesis Energy.
In crude-oil logistics, there are some new MLPs?
Loupis: We like one IPO from 2011, Tesoro Logistics [TLLP], which was spun out of refiner Tesoro [TSO]. They have a large crude-gathering system including rails in the Bakken shale. They also bought an asset from Chevron [CVX]. Over the next few years, with potential drop-downs, distributions could grow 15%. Its yield is 3.9%.
Chris Eades, ClearBridge Investments
Eades manages about $4 billion in three closed-end funds. He favors MLPs with stable payouts that are likely to grow significantly.
|Company / Ticker
|Recent Price
|12 Mo. Chg
|Oiltanking Partners / OILT
|Crude oil logistics
|Gulf Coast storage expansion could result in two years of 16% total returns.
|Western Gas / WES
|More assets added by parent mean 16% distribution growth in 2013.
|Targa Resources / NGLS
|More fee-based business should produce 17% total returns in next year.
|Oneok Partners / OKS
|Pipelines, gathering/processing
|Among best MLP growth stories, 13% distribution growth in 2013, 2014.
|Sources: Thomson Reuters; ClearBridge Investments
What MLPs do you favor today, Chris?
Eades: Targa Resources Partners [NGLS], which gathers and processes natural gas and natural-gas liquids, and sells to other energy companies and retail distributors. Half its revenue is from steady fees, while half is exposed to commodity prices. In 2014, as a laundry list of new projects come into service, they will be 65% fee-based, 35% commodity-exposed. The market is still treating this stock like it's the old Targa, with an enormous amount of commodity-price exposure. Given the organic-growth opportunities, you're looking at 11%-to-12% distribution growth in 2013 and 2014. Total return over the next year could be 17%.
What else?
Eades: Oiltanking Partners [OILT] is my "geography matters" pick. Where assets are located is extremely important in determining an MLP's growth prospects. They own two primary assets, one in the Houston Ship Channel, and one in Beaumont, Texas, and they own storage assets. Nothing sexy, [but] they are completely fee-based assets. As we see more and more barrels moving from the Bakken, from the Rockies, from the Permian Basin, from Canada, to the Gulf Coast, this company is extremely well positioned to deliver growth in storage capacity along the Gulf Coast. The yield is lower than the average MLP company, but they have an above-average distribution-growth profile. They'll grow the distribution by 13% in 2013, and another 13% to 15% in 2015. Total return over the next year could be 16%.
Chris, one of your funds beat the S&P's 16% total return last year. Yet some of the biggest MLP exchange-traded products, the ALPS Alerian MLP ETF [AMLP] and the JPMorgan Alerian MLP ETN [AMJ], underperformed the nearly 5% return of the Alerian index. Why such disparity?
Eades: All MLP strategies are not created equal, much like the stocks themselves are not created equal. I looked at various products and ways to get exposure to the asset class: open-end funds, closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds, exchange-traded notes, the Alerian index. What is amazing is that over the past two years, the range in total return is 5% to 37%. That is remarkable for an asset class that most investors think is rather homogenous. That can be due to the leverage used by many funds.
What role do MLPs play in a portfolio? Are they a commodity allocation? Or income?
Loupis: MLPs are equities. There is this misconception that they are a hybrid. They are not. As people take on more risk, the MLP story is easy to understand: equity exposure with high income. In the move from fixed income to equities, MLPs are well positioned.
How do MLPs compare to REITs?
Loupis: MLPs trade at a 300-to-350-basis-point [three-to-3.5-percentage-point] higher yield. MLPs delivered three times the growth, but the ownership and tax complexities keep MLP yields higher than REITs. Some MLP income doesn't fit well in a retirement account; REITs do not have that. Mutual funds can include no more than 25% of their assets in MLPs, otherwise the fund becomes a taxable C-corporation. The S&P 500 includes REITs now, but there is not a single MLP.
MLPs have produced a nearly 400% total return over the past 10 years. Is it too late in the game?
Eades: I get this question all the time. The answer unequivocally: We're in early innings. The growth we are seeing in production of oil, natural-gas liquids, and natural gas is very early. If energy companies do nothing but maintain their current level of drilling activity, we have 20 years of production growth, probably longer than that. This is not a multiyear story, this is a multidecade story.
When should a new investor get in?
Loupis: MLPs are a long-term, strategic allocation. But in the past two or three years, if you timed it right, you could have done very well. The postelection selloff was an overreaction, and an opportunity: MLPs were up 12.6% in January.
What happened last year?
Eades: We had $35 billion in new equity hit the market, and that had to be digested. The second thing was the fiscal cliff: Investors were trying to lock in lower capital-gains tax rates, and there were investors selling MLPs on the mistaken notion that the dividend-tax increase would affect MLPs. MLPs don't pay dividends.
What is your outlook for 2013?
Loupis: MLPs had distribution growth in 2012 in excess of 7%, the highest since the financial crisis. That growth should be similar or higher over the next two years. Some of the nontraditional MLPs may deliver little or no growth this year, but they'll perform well because retail investors will chase them for yield. Total returns this year could be 15%.
Eades: MLPs underperformed in 2012, but their fundamentals were solid. Over the past 10 years, the annualized total return for MLPs has been 13.5%. We expect 13%-to-15% annualized total returns over the next three years.
Thank you so much.
The New Breed of MLPs
Like most other income-oriented asset classes, master limited partnerships have increasingly tempted investors into riskier areas with the lure of higher yields.
Traditional midstream pipeline MLPs are known for producing dependable distributions. Essentially tollbooths for oil and gas shipments, they're backed by long-term contract fees, and reliably telegraph their payouts.
Not so with many newer offerings. As a wider range of businesses -- including refineries, producers, and chemical-processing outfits -- have adopted MLP structures, four of the 17 MLPs that have come to market in 2012 and 2013 have adopted a variable distribution model, meaning they make no promise regarding how much they will pay out from one quarter to the next. Most provide unusually high yields at the outset -- some as astounding as 20% -- but operate in industries like refining, which have high cyclical risks and elevated exposure to commodity prices, which could imperil distributions down the road.
When it came to market last July, refinery and gas-station operator Northern Tier Energy (ticker: NTI) offered no minimum-payout guarantee. What it did offer: a 19% yield. Much like dividend stocks, such lofty yields can prompt concerns about sustainability, and some investors are already approaching it as a bifurcated market. "We like MLPs a lot, but we prefer pipelines rather than those that are heavily dependent on energy prices," says Krishna Memani, chief fixed-income investment officer at Oppenheimer Funds, who has lately been urging bond investors into more equity-like income investments. "If an MLP is entirely resource-based, the variability is very substantial," he says.
J. Michael Bollinger of Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management sticks exclusively with traditional MLPs, seeking stable income and distribution growth over time. He compares the recent trend of refinery and variable-pay MLPs with an influx of exploration and production MLPs such as Linn Energy (LINE) nearly a decade ago. Unlike pipeline contracts, Bollinger says, E&P assets naturally decline in value over time, and it took the market a while to figure out how to price the two sectors, relative to one another. He sees a similar challenge now. "Investors have no idea what the discount or the spread should be between the yield on these [new offerings] and the yield on a traditional MLP," he maintains. "Maybe four years from now, there will have been 10 more and we'll know where to price them, but right now the risk is that the whole subsector could be repriced."
A KEY QUESTION IS whether investors will regard any distribution cut as a calamity, as they might with a traditional MLP, or just par for the course. Case studies so far are few but already include Northern Tier, which on Feb. 11 reduced its quarterly distribution to $1.27 from $1.48. Its unit price -- the MLP equivalent of share price -- fell by only 6% and has since recovered. It now trades at $28.91, more than double its $14 initial public offering price.
Contrast that with what happened to Inergy (NRGY), a more established MLP that stores and supplies natural gas and propane. After mild 2011 winter weather cut into fuel demand and cash flow, Inergy in January 2012 halved its distribution. Its unit price plunged to $14.07 from $18.42 in one day. It has never fully recovered, most recently trading at $19.92.
Another variable-pay MLP that has had a tough time, even without a dividend cut, is PetroLogistics (PDH), which operates a dehydrogenation plant. It came to market last May at $17, but fell to $10.22 in less than two months and hasn't made it back to its IPO price, trading recently at $15.13.
Greg Reid of Houston-based asset-management firm Salient Partners says that unlike midstream MLPs, most recent variable-pay MLP IPOs, particularly in the refinery space, tend to be dominated by institutional investors, and that the newer varieties best serve different purposes for investors. "We view them as three- to 12-month holdings, not 12 to 60 months, and sometimes you've got to move out of them before the cycle turns against you," Reid says. "They're not buy-and-hold stocks."
-- Michael Aneiro
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


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The Awakening Lyrics
The spark that lights your torch, life burns like the flame. Some mistakes are forgiving. You're not the one to blame. Is this the life that you have longed for? I know you won't forget it; these things in life won't let it. It seems like days away. It's just too much to take. Could you give it your best shot now? Cause you're on. I wouldn't forget it. The days we live the fullest. How can we go wrong? This day feels like a new day. It's all to the last breath. It's all the way you live and learn. Open your eyes. You control your own life, not the other way around. Your head's held high. You will rise where before you would stand aside and in self confide. You sound off and with plenty of time. Hold your head high and keep your eyes open. Success in life; a form of love for what is right from my heart.


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Spanning 7,600 acres, Edmonton International Airport (EIA) is Canada's largest airport by land area. Discover how EIA improved construction operations for its $1.1-billion-dollar expansion project by leveraging web mapping applications. Read this article by Corinne Kozak, technical services manager at EIA, which was published in International Airport Review.
Finding the Right Balance: Using GIS to Protect the Environment, Improve Productivity, and Stimulate Economic Growth
Find out how governments can use technology to protect the environment while stimulating economic growth.
Have a comment or question?Contact Us
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Smart Opportunities
Find out how GIS technology helps build smart cities across Canada.
Web-Based Apps Help Agricultural Producers, Consumers Digest Information
Discover how self-serve maps and apps help agricultural producers and consumers make better decisions.
Focus on Canada — Esri Canada: Much More than "X" Marks the Spot
Learn more about Esri Canada's partnership with ITEA to create a 3D digital model enabling smart cities.
Interoperable Data Formats Enhance Policy Decisions in the Arctic
Find out how GIS creates policy workbenches, detects changes and maps food security.
Spotlight on Women in Public Works & Technology
Kristy Brown from the City of Prince George and Karen Stewart from Esri Canada share how they use GIS in their work.
Big Software: Small Town
Discover how the District of Sechelt enhanced several corporate initiatives.
Cloud Mapping Brings Government Services Down to Earth
Learn how Nova Scotia improves health services delivery and engages citizens in conservation efforts through web maps.
Marketing Fire Safety
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Streamlining Operations with Software
Find out how Hydro-Québec enhanced reservoir management using GIS.
At The Speed of Light
Find out how the City of Hamilton replaced 10,000 streetlights on time and under budget with GIS.
Mapping the Way to Smarter Communities
Discover how cities can use GIS to operate "smarter" in support of rapid population growth.
When the Lights Go Out
Learn how utilities can use web maps for proactive outage communications.
Turn the Lights Back On with GIS and Operations Dashboards
Discover how utilities can quickly restore service and minimize outages using GIS.
Transforming the Real Estate Industry and Valuation Using Technology
Learn how the real estate industry can enhance assessments with analytical and location-centric information and technology.
City of Peterborough Increases Efficiencies and Reduces Spending with GIS Solutions
Learn how the City of Peterborough improved public access to municipal data and services through web mapping applications.
Assessing Condos Using 3D GIS
Find out how BC Assessment launched an innovative pilot project to assess downtown Vancouver condo units.
GIS Improves Surveillance, Helps Prepare for Public Health Threats
Discover how public health authorities can effectively monitor disease outbreaks while tracking environmental health indicators.
Canadian Web Mapping Aids Epidemic Planning for London Olympics
Learn how London prepared for infectious disease outbreaks leading up to the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Revolutionizing Capital Planning & Development at Niagara Region
Discover how Niagara Region supports intelligent growth with GIS.
Blazing the Trail for Advanced Cadastral Mapping


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Mother's Day Weekend part I
We started the weekend on Saturday morning with a trip to Brimfield for the infamous Brimfield Antique Show more commonly known as just "Brimfield." I'd read about the famed "Brimfield" in Martha Stewart Living, Country Living, etc... Thousands of vendors gather in fields pedaling their treasures. Most booths are like stepping into trendy little boutiques that specialize in vintage linens, industrial salvage antiques, woodwork, illustrated books... much more than just antiques. The vendors take their curating craft very seriously.
And we're off...
This booth of linens was my favorite. She carried vintage linens - everything from European fine bed linens to homespun tablecloths and 1950s embroidered pillowcases.
Stacks and stacks of linens. I came away with a few finds...
Including this linen European Duvet with a pintuck and dot boarder... I love how modern it looks, but it is early 20th Century.
I really wanted to find an embroidered pillowcase from which to make a dress for Emma out of but I was being too picky... But isn't that a good idea? Just a simple little slip dress with the bottom embroidered.
These chenille coverlets remind me of the "Pink Room" at my Granny's house.
Paper-Source who?
This rural primitive aesthetic is right up my alley.
We almost walked away with this, but we would've had to make a trip back with my SUV to get it... Almost.
I bought these matted book pages for Emma's room. Mr. Darcy's favorite toy is Pooh - he is rarely without his Pooh, so I thought this would be cute for them to have.
Jade-ite everywhere... but out of my budget.
Only in New England.
Picnic 1 of 2 for the day.
We spread our blanket out on a shady hill - Emma loved the breeze outside... but the old man snoring behind us was a little frightening.
Smiles for Dad.
keep reading here >>
A little ice cream and then we headed back out to brave the piles...
and piles.
At this point we started to get a little overwhelmed...
Then a peek-a-booing puppy gave us a second wind.
Of course this caught Mike's eye.
These reminded of the botanicals we saw in Europe on our honeymoon.
Dream bed inspiration... pintrest here I come.
Blue Ball jar inspiration.
Bench envy.
Just as my captions have gotten more tired, so were we. So, we decided to spend a relaxing evening...


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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The benefit of renin-angiotensin system inhibition in systolic heart failure (HF) extends to older patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), a new study suggests.
The study found that being prescribed an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) at hospital discharge was associated with a "significant modest" 14% reduction in death from any cause over about 8 years in older patients with systolic HF and CKD.
"The benefits of ACE inhibitors and ARBs in patients with systolic HF are well established," first author Dr. Ali Ahmed from the University of Alabama at Birmingham told Reuters Health by email. "However, concerns remained about the safety and benefit of these drugs in older HF patients and in HF patients with CKD. The vast majority of HF patients are older adults and also have CKD. Findings from our study suggest ACE inhibitors or ARBs may improve outcomes in older systolic HF patients with mild to moderate CKD," Dr. Ahmed said.
The study, published online February 9 in the American Journal of Medicine, included 1,665 patients with systolic HF (ejection fraction < 45%) and CKD (eGFR < 60 mL/min); 1,046 (63%) were prescribed an ACE inhibitor (n=866) or ARB (n=180) upon hospital discharge. Seventeen patients received both drugs.
The study team used propensity score matching to assemble a cohort of 444 pairs of patients receiving and not receiving this therapy who were well balanced on 56 baseline characteristics. Of the 888 matched patients, 591 had CKD stage 3B or greater.
During more than 8 years of follow-up, death from any cause occurred in 75% and 79% of matched patients with CKD on therapy and not on therapy, respectively (hazard ratio [HR] 0.86; p=0.045), the authors report. A similar reduction in all-cause mortality was observed in a subgroup of matched patients with eGFR <45 mL/min (HR 0.83; p=0.046)
The apparent protective effect seemed stronger among those patients receiving these drugs at or above target doses, the authors say.
However, Dr. Ahmed told Reuters Health, "It also appears that the effect of these drugs on outcomes in those with CKD may be less robust than in those without CKD." Among 171 pairs of propensity-matched patients without CKD, renin-angiotensin inhibition was associated with a significant 28% reduction in all-cause mortality (HR 0.72; p=0.015) and heart failure hospitalization (HR 0.71; p=0.023).
In a telephone interview with Reuters Health, Dr. Robert A. Phillips, of the University of Massachusetts in Worcester, who was not involved in the study, called it "important."
"Specialists as well as primary care physicians are very wary about using renin-angiotensin system blockers, either ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers, when there is a decrease in GFR," he explained. "But it is those patients in particular who benefit. We showed that in the African American study of kidney disease and hypertension (Arch Intern Med. 2009;169:1587-1594) and in that study there was very little hyperkalemia."
Dr. Ahmed and colleagues say several factors distinguish their study from prior studies including "its larger sample size, longer follow-up, use of a more rigorous methodology, inclusion of both ACE inhibitors and ARBs, and use of contemporary therapy for systolic HF."
Nonetheless, Dr. Phillips noted, "It wasn't a randomized study so there could be some confounding by bias. Also, they didn't follow intermediate end points so they don't know about the incidence of hyperkalemia or adverse events, but for the hard end point of mortality it looks like treatment was beneficial in patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction and an eGFR that was pretty low. You still have to be careful about monitoring these patients when you put them on renin-angiotensin system blockade, but that doesn't mean they should be denied this therapy," he added.
Dr. Ahmed added: "As in all HF patients, these drugs should not be prescribed to those with a history of prior allergic reaction or adverse effect and need to use with caution in those with low systolic blood pressure, high serum potassium levels, and renal failure."
Renin-Angiotensin Inhibition in Systolic Heart Failure and Chronic Kidney Disease


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North East Storms: ICNA Relief Unveils a Broad Plan
JAMAICA, New York (October 29, 2012) – ICNA Relief Head Office unveils a broad plan for the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Along the east coast, from Washington to Boston, big cities and small towns are getting ready to face the super storm. According to the National Weather Service the metropolitan area could get hit with an 11-foot wall of water. A coastal flood warning remains in effect.
In the early response phase Points of Distribution (PODs) are being set up in cooperation with the local Islamic Centers along the Hurricane Path.
Depending on the needs in the affected area and of availability of resources, plans are underway to provide the following services. This plan will be implemented once the circumstances permits access to these areas:
Also see: Du'as to Remember During Storms
ICNA Relief USA is the only domestic, Islamic-faith based agency, actively participating in Disaster Response through Disaster Recovery, in the United States. ICNA Relief is members of NVOAD (National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) as well as several state VOADs. It is considered subject matter expert in the field of Disaster Case Management.
Press Contact: Umber Siddiqui
Assistant Director for Public Affairs
ICNA Relief USA
E-mail: email@example.com
Office: (718) 658-7028 Extension: 126
Disaster Support Hotline (888) 616-6865
The Islamic Circle of North America is a leading American Muslim organization dedicated to the betterment of society through the application of Islamic values. Since 1968, ICNA has worked to build relations between communities by devoting itself to education, outreach, social services and relief efforts.
Islamic Circle of North America
Office: (718) 658-1199


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Three Connecticut cities among worst for allergies
Those who greet each autumn morning with a sneeze, a sniffle and some watery eyes might want to consider moving.
Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford are three of the 100 worst places in the country for fall allergies, according to a new report from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
The 2013 Fall Allergy Capitals report ranks the most challenging places in the country to live with fall allergies, based on cities' pollen levels, residents' use of over-the-counter and prescription allergy medications and number of board-certified allergists. Hartford ranked as the nation's 53rd sneeziest city, New Haven was 62nd and Bridgeport was 66th.
That doesn't surprise Dr. Jacob Hen, chief of pediatric pulmonology at Bridgeport Hospital. Connecticut is something of a perfect storm for the allergic, he said, as it is a friendly environment for pollen and mold -- two of the major allergens.
"Unfortunately, we just sit in a very bad place," he said. "We're actually a pretty rural state. We have lots of trees (that can produce pollen). It's also damp at night, and when it's damp at night, you can get mold."
About 40 million Americans suffer from seasonal allergies, which produce such symptoms as sneezing, sniffling, coughing and irritated eyes. These unpleasant symptoms happen when the body's immune system sees harmless substances, such as pollen, as a threat and attacks them.
Bridgeport and the other cities are long-standing members of the sniffle-and-sneeze club, as all have been on this list before. New Haven and Bridgeport both improved their rankings from last year, when they were the 49th and 61st worst cities for allergies, respectively.
But Hartford actually fared better last year, when it was merely the 55th worst place for those with fall allergies.
More Information1. Wichita, Kan.
2. Jackson, Miss.
3. Knoxville, Tenn.
4. Louisville, Ken.
5. Memphis, Tenn.
6. McAllen, Texas
7. Baton Rouge, La.
8. Dayton, Ohio
9. Chattanooga, Tenn.
10. Oklahoma City, Okla.
The worst city in the country for the allergy-prone? Wichita, Kan., based on high pollen counts and a widespread use of allergy medications by seasonal sneezers.
Though fall hasn't officially started yet, fall allergy season is already in full swing, and experts are predicting an awful one. According to the Allergy Capitals report, ragweed -- the major fall allergy -- is going to be particularly troublesome this year, as rising temperatures and carbon dioxide levels could extend the plants' season by as much as a month. Also, an above-average hurricane season is predicted in the East, and high winds from the storms can increase the distribution of pollen.
Locally, doctors said they also expect this fall to be rough for the allergy-prone. Hen said he's seen the number of children coming in with asthma attacks "skyrocket" over the past week, and he attributes that to the onset of a nasty fall allergy season.
This year overall has been tough for allergy sufferers, as the spring season also was difficult, said Dr. Kenneth Backman, president of Allergy and Asthma Care of Fairfield County, with offices in Fairfield and Monroe. Like Hen, Backman has already observed a rush of allergy-related patients and assumes there are more to come.
"So far, it does seem to be a very bad season," said Backman, also chief of Bridgeport Hospital's allergy section. "And I do anticipate that it's going to continue."


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It's the food that throws you back to a time when calories didn't matter and edible ecstasy was everything.
Note: M.I.Y.O. Monday stands for Make It Your Own Monday, a question thrown out to DCF readers every Monday to jumpstart the week with lively interaction. I also welcome questions and suggestions for future MIYO Mondays. Email me.
My childhood memories center on food, I always have my priorities straight where food is concerned. Bread, specifically toast, is the food of my childhood. Up until I was 11, I thought that all bread came from the supermarket, a rectangular loaf neatly packaged. My naiveté was shattered in the 6th grade when I espied my classmate nibbling on what looked to be heaps of peanut butter slathered on two thickly sliced pieces of bread. "Where did you buy that bread?" I asked her, wide-eyed. "Oh, my mom made this," she replies almost flippantly. What an astounding concept – that you could actually make bread at home! (13 years later, that's exactly what I was doing, but that's another story).
When I was a kid, happiness was toast, almost anything on toast. I still remember my favorites: butter and sugar. The bread had to be toasted just til it was heated through and crunchy-golden. If it had even a few lashings of black, I'd refuse to eat it. The butter was often cold, coming as it did straight from the refrigerator. To warm it up, I'd scrape my knife repeatedly over the top, always in one direction of course, until I had a fine, oftentimes feathered "plume" of butter. I'd spread this butter thickly over the still-warm toast, the crunch of the knife hitting the bread was most gratifying. And I never forgot to spread all the way through to the corners, because really, how can you miss the corners?
Sugar now, white please, and lots of it. Always with a clean spoon because mom hated it when the sugar clumped up in the jar, evidence of someone forgetting the rules. Sugar sprinkled from a spoon silently lands on the toast's slick surface. Sometimes I'd get playful and try to sprinkle sugar from on high – what a mess I made!
Afterwards, nothing left to do but eat. Mouth open: crunch. Sugar: crunch. Butter: ooze. Happiness.
I had other favorites on toast, too. Condensed milk is one. Ohhh, I can't even remember the last time I had condensada on toast. Crunchy and creamy, gushing into my mouth's every corner, it was bliss. At the much-missed Ya Kun, I was introduced to Milo and condensada on toast. Now, I grew up on Milo but always as a drink, never a raw ingredient. On toast however, Milo assumes a more assertive chocolate note but retains its delicious grit. And with condensada, mmm… The version that Saint's Alp offers is also a delicious throwback to nostalgia.
I think it's time for me to make myself some toast. With butter. And maybe some Milo and condensada too.
Tell me, what is your favorite childhood food?


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Exclusive to Epson, DURABrite Ultra ink is a 4 colour pigment based ink technology that delivers brilliant, ultra sharp detail on plain and specialty papers. These fast drying inks deliver durable prints that are water, fade and smudge resistant and highlighter friendly too. 2.5x more prints with XL size cartridges!* - Approximately 2.5 times more prints per cartridge compared with the 200 Standard capacity ink cartridges.
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Details coming soon, or call one of our friendly customer service team.


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After making three films with Quentin Tarantino, Uma Thurman probably qualifies as a good judge of a writer-director to keep your eyes on. And the actress directs all eyes to newbie Max Winkler (the son of actor Henry Winkler and the helmer behind the cult mockumentary web series "Clark and Michael"), starring in his debut feature "Ceremony."
"I opened up the script and I could immediately tell it was no formulaic pitch for a studio film," says Thurman. "It was clearly an independent voice, an independent mind, totally. Which immediately lets you know that you're dealing with an original piece of material – and an original person."
The story centers on the romantic but likely deluded quest of a seemingly confident young would-be charmer (Michael Angarano), who drags his hapless former best friend on a road trip to win the heart of his fantasy woman (Thurman) in the midst of her wedding to an over-the-top documentarian (Lee Pace). "None of them are remotely clichéd characters," she says. "They're all contradictory. He renders people in a very lifelike manner. Unlike many female characters in films that are sort of devices of plot and so on and have no layers and no room to breathe, no room to tell the truth or lie about it. Max's characters, all, are not what they appear to be. They're much more…These are whimsical people and they kind of live in their own fairyland, and they make their own fantasies. And I think that there was sort of an aspect of ruthless people about them. They're sort of somehow skating through life trying to be unaffected by its causality."
U.S. & World
Thurman was impressed with Winkler's dexterity both on the page and on set , despite helming his freshman film. "You would have thought Max had made 300 films," she says. "He was very, very focused and organized, and yet completely available to be in the moment and work with the conditions that he had. That kind of flexibility and centeredness is something very experienced directors often don't have. Sometimes they don't know what they're doing, or sometimes they don't have a plan. Sometimes they do have a plan – they have such a rigid plan that if they can't make it happen in that one particular way they just get completely stuck. Max is a really dexterous dodger."
She also offers praise for another face among Hollywood's younger generation that she co-stars with in the upcoming film version of novelist Guy de Maupassant's "Bel Ami," this one with some substantial mainstream successes under his belt: actor Robert Pattinson.
"It is another movie with a younger man," she admits. "That's not bad – It's nice work if you can get it. Robert's a very good actor. He's going to have a long, long career."