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The Congressional Budget Office has re-scored Obamacare in light of the Supreme Court's decision. The CBO finds that the decision's impact is fairly minimal — about 3 million fewer Americans insured in ten years, and about $84 billion less in spending over the next ten years (out of a total of about $1.7 trillion in spending on the law's coverage provisions) than would otherwise have happened.
Yuval Levin is not persuaded. First, CBO does not offer specific state-decision scenarios on which states will reject the Medicaid expansion. Instead, it offers an average of an unknown number of scenarios with an unpublished range of outcomes. This "helps to minimize the appearance of uncertainty and the sense that the Court decision dramatically affected the range of plausible outcomes, though it surely did."
Second, CBO assigns essentially no effect to the Court's decision that the mandate does not involve a penalty, just a tax. But the CBO's original analysis was based on its assessment of the extent to which people would comply with a requirement (supported by a penalty) that they buy insurance. On this basis, CBO made what Levin calls very optimistic assumptions about compliance:
The insurance reforms in Obamacare create huge incentives for young and healthy Americans to avoid purchasing health insurance until they get sick. CBO originally projected that the vast majority of these people would still buy coverage, despite the mandate's low penalty (relative to the cost of insurance), and in doing so the agency relied to a significant extent on evidence from behavioral economics suggesting that people obey legal requirements even when the penalty for doing otherwise is low.
The Roberts decision last month, for all its considerable incoherence, would seem to close off that particular argument, since it plainly stated that the mandate could no longer be understood as a mandate but only as a tax on the uninsured. Would a $695 tax make you buy a $5,000 insurance policy if you knew you could get the policy for the same price later if you needed it?
Thus, although the Court's decision probably won't significantly affect the number of uninsured who buy insurance, it does undercut the CBO's original estimate of that number, showing that CBO probably overestimated it considerably. Yet CBO clings to its original number.
But even if the CBO is right in its highly optimistic re-scoring, we still have a huge problem. Levin explains:
The agency projects that the federal government will spend about $1.7 trillion, increase taxes by about a trillion dollars, and cut Medicare spending by more than $700 billion without any real structural reforms of the program (though it's hard imagine that last one would actually happen in practice). It will create yet another unsustainable health-care entitlement program, expand the existing ones, micromanage the insurance industry in ways likely to make it even less efficient, employ even heavier price controls of the sort that have always failed in Medicare, and (especially through its taxes) stifle employment, investment, and medical research. And after all this, even the CBO's very optimistic assumptions leave it concluding that 30 million Americans will be uninsured a decade from now—so we will have gone from today's 80% coverage to 89% in 2023. If that's what the Left means by universal coverage, there are far, far less costly and counterproductive ways to get there.
JOHN adds: Jeff Sessions, ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, has just released this statement on the CBO's re-scoring of Obamacare:
CBO has now told us that total spending on only the coverage provisions of the President's health law is $1.7 trillion—a far cry from his promised price tag of $900 billion. But once the accounting tricks are removed—such as the delayed implementation of the major spending provisions—we know the law will cost more than two and half trillion dollars over its first full 10-year window beginning in 2014. Over the long term, it will add $17 trillion to our nation's unfunded liabilities—more than double that of Social Security. Repealing this 2,700-page monstrosity is an essential step in order to restore fiscal sustainability to our nation.
The score continues to cite the lower cost of the first two years when the law is not implemented. More importantly, it double counts over $400 billion in new revenue—one of the biggest accounting gimmicks of all time. Further, the CBO analysis does not take into account implementation costs or the cost of the 'Doc Fix,' which alone amounts to another $300 billion. I am amazed that the CBO score omits these facts.
For CBO to contend that this law will create a surplus is a colossal misstatement of reality. This kind of cost analysis helps explain why the nation is going broke.
The press reflexively refers to the Congressional Budget Office as the "nonpartisan CBO." A recent study of political contributions by employees of the CBO sheds light on that characterization. If I have time, I will get to that later in the day.


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Sam Koch is master of the mundane. Give the Ravens punter a tedious chore and he will excel at it. Give him a boring, repetitive task and he will turn it into his own form of artwork.
Whether it's maintaining his back yard in Westminster, playing corn hole in the team's spacious locker room, or dropping the perfect pooch punt in enemy territory, Koch wants to be the best. In order to be the best, he pays an inordinate amount of attention to detail.
Ever the perfectionist, it was not uncommon for Koch to keep Morgan Cox, his long snapper, late after four-hour practices in training camp to address their timing on snaps or his own drop technique on punts.
"Billy [Cundiff] and I describe Sam as very hungry to be the best punter," Cox said. "He never wants anybody to outwork him, and he never wants anybody to expect any less [than his best]."
It's not just punting, though, that has this effect on Koch. He took up golf a few years ago and already shoots in the mid- to low-80s. He is king of Ravens' corn hole; so rare are his losses that on one such occasion when he got beat by Michael Oher, Oher had to tweet about it. (Koch then beat Oher two straight matches and had a team public relations executive tweet that result.)
Search for a common denominator in Koch's portfolio of athletic accomplishment, as Cundiff did recently, and you find a unique trait that is often overlooked but always vital to a punter's success.
"Take his corn hole game, for example … seriously," the Ravens kicker said. "Corn hole is a monotonous skill. Same thing repeated over and over. Punting — same thing. Catch the ball, your steps have to be short and compact, you've got to be able to drop the ball perfectly and swing up through. Everything needs to be the same. But it's that mental ability to really focus in on what some would believe is a really mundane task. Sam does that extremely well."
Cundiff appreciates Koch even more for another overlooked attribute — the punter's athleticism. As holder on field goal attempts, Koch is charged with getting the ball down, laces to the front, angled just so. He does that with a deft touch that involves not only great hands but adroit body control.
In the Ravens' playoff game at Indianapolis during the 2009 season, Koch had to come off his knees to grab a high snap from Matt Katula, and he still got the ball down for a 25-yard field goal that tied the game 3-3. Those were the only points the Ravens scored in a 20-3 loss.
"People don't associate athleticism with holders," Cundiff said. "You're sitting down to start with. If anything, it does show athleticism because you're in a very unathletic position and he's being forced to make athletic plays."
Folks back in Seward, Neb., where Koch grew up, knew about his athletic prowess long before the onetime Nebraska punter entered the NFL in 2006 as the Ravens' sixth-round pick. He was born in Ulysses, a tiny rural town of 270 people and one grocery store, but moved to Seward at an early age.
He wanted nothing more as a youth than to play sports. He played year round — football, basketball, baseball and soccer. If he had one love then, it was baseball, where he was cleanup hitter for his American Legion team and a dominant pitcher with good control.
In football, Koch pretty much did everything for his Class B high school team. At 200 pounds, he could play any position in the offensive line, as well as tight end, fullback, linebacker, kicker and punter.
"He was always a gifted athlete," said Steve Kosek, who coached Koch in baseball, basketball and soccer and owns fast-food franchises in Winona, Minn. "Sometimes I don't think he knew how good he was. He was the biggest, fastest, strongest player. He never saw himself as a superstar; he was always a team player. Everybody loved Sam."
Bruce Potter was one of Koch's best friends in Seward. He played beside Koch on the offensive line and remembers him for his sterling work ethic, his one-liners, and his always-shining black Camaro Z28. Potter, a machinist in Lincoln, told Koch in high school he would watch him play in the NFL some day.
"I remember on Sunday, I'd be driving through town and he'd be at Concordia College kicking. He was always kicking. When it came to practice, Sam was all business," Potter said.
Even when Koch went home to visit friends last summer and played a round of golf with Potter, he was still all business.
"I wanted to go have lunch after golf," Potter said, "and Sam said he had to go kick."
That is the perfectionist in Koch. It is what allowed him to put 149 punts inside the 20, a franchise record, including 39 last year to tie Kyle Richardson's single-season team record. In five years, Koch is averaging 43.7 gross yards and 38.1 net yards per punt.
Koch's game escalated, however, with the arrival of special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg in 2008. Among the suggestions Rosburg made was a new drop. Perhaps not coincidentally, Koch had his best production (45 gross, 39.9 net) that season.
He also became more of a directional punter under Rosburg. That showed last season, when he was named the AFC's alternate punter to Oakland's Shane Leckler in the Pro Bowl. He also reaped a new five-year contract in the offseason.
The quest for perfection comes with a price, though. Koch, 29, seldom allows himself to enjoy the moment. Even when he punted the Ravens to an overtime victory in Houston last year — his kicks were huge field-position changers — he was unable to let go of what else he might have done to help win the game.
"He's the kind of guy where he could have eight punts — hopefully we don't — but if we had eight punts and he made seven good ones, he wouldn't be happy with his performance," Rosburg said. "He holds himself to a very high standard."
Even his wife Nikki notices the demands her husband places on himself in a game.
"He'll call after he showers and say he could've done this or that better," she said. "I understand how he is. Sometimes I wish he would give himself a pat on the back. He's so hard on himself."
Koch, who hit a 74-yard punt in Houston three years ago, acknowledged that his competitive nature has always pushed him to extremes.
"Trying to be a perfectionist in this job kind of ends up hurting you in a way because you're trying to be too precise in a way, rather than just relaxing and going out and hitting your ball," he said. "As far as never being satisfied, I always feel I can do better."
Being precise and meticulous is also Koch's mantra at home, where he and Nikki raise three boys. Off the field, Koch has a keen interest in construction and design. This summer, after hiring a contractor to renovate his basement, Koch reduced the cost by more than half by helping with labor. He mows his own lawn, too.
There are very few surprises with Koch. Cundiff said his teammate fits the industrious, hard-working profile of Midwesterners.
"You know what you're going to get," Cundiff said. "I think that's what the coaches really like. He's very dependable, you just see him for what he is. He's going to give you his best effort every time. He's so precise and that's the sign of somebody who really knows what they want to get accomplished."

subset: commoncrawl


text: Sijun Forums :: View topic - IndustryBroadcast.com Launched! Looking 4 Industry Artists Log in to check your private messages Sijun Forums Forum Index >> Random Musings View previous topic :: View next topic Author Topic : "IndustryBroadcast.com Launched! Looking 4 Industry Artists" netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 1:03 pm Hey everyone! With some of the biggest and best minds from the Video Game Industry we have launched IndustryBroadcast.com . I won't go on about the details(as you can simply check out the about page for that) but what I wanted to do was put out a request from any articles from the Artists inside the Industry. Right now, and into the forseeable future it looks like we are going to be dealing with mainly articles of Management and Design Theories, which leaves a huge gap in our ability to educate and be of value to the largest population of people in the Industry- The Artists. As I mentioned I am primarily looking for Artists with Industry Experience who either already have written, or would like to write articles that will then be turned into Audio Broadcasts. They can be on any subject you like as long as they are appropriate to the Audio Format, meaning you can be referencing images, charts, diagrams, etc etc. Taking the Visual aspect out of a talk on something purely visual is a challenge to say the least, however I can't imagine that there is absolutely nothing worth talking about. Artist styles of adventure games in 1994 compared to today for example.. Where the lighting technologies are evolving to, how your team is run from an artists point of view and what can be done to improve this are just a few examples of what I can think of. It is a great way to get additional exposure as we promote the hell out of our writers, and with the articles being listened to about 200-300 times a day(after basically 1/2 a week day of promotion) there are a lot of people hearing your name and your blog url every day. Anyways, I definitely look forward to hearing from some of you and discussing ideas for articles in the future!! Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Sijun Forums Forum Index -> Random Musings All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Digital Art----------------Digital Art DiscussionWork in ProgressGallery/Finished Work Miscellaneous----------------Random MusingsArchive : Sep99 - Dec00 You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum Powered by phpBB © 2005 phpBB Group


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Fond farewells for Birthing Center staff
NEW MILFORD -- Pink and blue were the colors of the day at the farewell party for the staff of the Family Birthing Center.
All 20 birthing center staff members were joined by retirees from the floor and other New Milford Hospital staff Thursday to share hugs and memories.
"I've been here 32 years," said registered nurse Sandy Lewis, of Warren. "All three of my children were born here. It's been a wonderful place to be. The mothers say so many good things about us, but they're the ones who have truly added so much to our lives."
On Saturday, the Family Birthing Center closes its doors. Delivery services are being transferred to Danbury Hospital.
Birth rates have declined at New Milford Hospital, leading Western Connecticut Health Network, the umbrella organization that owns both hospitals, to make this decision.
The last baby born in New Milford was a boy, born Tuesday. The family name was not released by the hospital.
"There are generations of caregivers in this room today," said Deborah Weymouth, executive director of New Milford Hospital and the network's senior vice president.
"Many of these faces were the first face a baby saw," Weymouth added. "We are moving forward, remaking ourselves here at New Milford Hospital. But we can't move on without recognizing the devotion, dedication and commitment of these people."
Birthing Center volunteer Valerie Schmidlin remembered a six-week span, several years ago, in which seven sets of twins were born in the center.
"Lots of babies, lots of babies. That was a real run," Schmidlin said. "My grandchildren were all born here. I've worked with a great group of nurses over my nine years."
Dr. Frank Fanella, chairman of New Milford Hospital's pediatrics department, the closing of the birthing center "leaves a little hole."
"For the 15 years I've been here, these nurses have been taking care of children I care for," said Fanella, adding his two children were born in New Milford. "I knew my children were in good hands. These nurses are all fabulous."
Registered nurse Geralyn Turner joined the hospital in 1981. She has worked under Dr. Elizabeth Haple, Dr. John Sussman and Dr. Carol Papov as chiefs of the obstetrics department.
"When I was having my second child here, the doctor kept telling my friends and fellow nurses Sandy Lewis and Carroll Linabury that the baby would be here any minute," Turner said.
"They stayed with me all day and all night until Sarah was born at 4:17 a.m.," she continued. "They were off duty most of that time. That's the kind of friendships we've had here."
email@example.com; 860-355-7322


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I woke up early as I wanted to catch the sunrise which is reputedly a very beautiful sight at Golden Palm Tree. When I was walking along the wooden plank at around 6:30 a.m., I spotted a location just in front of the Bila Bila restaurant entrance where I could see the sun rise. It was indeed a beautiful sight to marvel as nature beauty has no boundaries. No regrets being an early bird for sunrise watching!
By 7:00 a.m. we proceeded for breakfast at Bila Bila restaurant. The restaurant was beautiful with a nice soft ambient light falling through the circular window roof illuminating the entire area. Located at the Club House, Bila Bila is a buffet restaurant which serves an extensive variety of food, both local and international cuisines to the hotel guests.
Food was obviously very good. I had the cereal for a change and it was definitely a good way to start off the morning with a lighter meal. Notice that the cereals are different from those that you normally seen elsewhere? These are definitely premium cereals available only at Golden Palm Tree Resort.
They also serve Sunglo yogurt which comes in a choice of mixed berry, blueberry, peach, mango and etc. The yogurt is definitely tasty and full of fruity goodness. The sweetness level was just nice.
Beside that, I also tried their baked beans with beef bacon and baked tomatoes. The bacon were thick and juicy as what I expect from a 5 star resort.
It was also a good thing that we got the opportunity to sit right in front of the infinity pool while having our breakfast. Trust me, the experience was unforgettable. With the splendid view of the sea on a clear blue morning and gentle sea breeze blowing onto our face, what can be a better way to wake up to a morning than this?
Suffice to say, it is an experience dining at Bila Bila Restaurant. I took the opportunity to walk around the area and took pictures of the surroundings and food.
Bila Bila (Opens Daily)
Breakfast 6:30 a.m. till 10:30 a.m.
Snack 11:a.m. till 12:00 p.m.
Lunch 12:00 p.m. till 2:30 p.m.
Snack 3:00 p.m. till 5:30 p.m.
Dinner 6:30 p.m. till 10:30 p.m.
Ala Carte 11:00 a.m. till 11:00 p.m.
Golden Palm Tree Resort & Spa Sdn. Bhd.
No. 67, Jalan Pantai Bagan Lalang
Kg. Bagan Lalang
43950 Sungai Pelek
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel: +603 3182 3600
Fax: +603 3182 3700
website: www.goldenpalmtree.com
email: email@example.com


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To a gathering of local community health leaders this week, Mayor Thomas M. Menino confessed a boyhood dream of becoming executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission. He wanted to make a difference in peoples' lives, he said.
Instead, he helped shape that office's work during two decades as mayor. His legacy will continue in part through the Mayoral Prize for Innovations in Primary Care, an annual award that his office helped create to recognize organizations testing new ways to meet the health care needs of the city.
The 2013 awards ceremony on Tuesday recognized projects at Boston Medical Center, Healthworks Community Fitness, and Bowdoin Street Health Center, which each received a $1,000 prize.
Dr. Paula Johnson, chairwoman of the public health commission board, said there is not enough attention paid to the role of public health in primary care.
"We tend to focus much more squarely only on the traditional health care delivery system. And it's critically important, but it really falls short of what we need to do to improve the health of communities today and for the future," she said.
Prompted by conversations in 2008 between Menino and members of the Mayor's Task Force on Improving Primary Care in Boston, the awards were established to promote the spread of new ideas throughout the city.
This year, Boston Medical Center's office-based opioid treatment program was recognized for using nurse managers to coordinate care for people being treated for substance abuse, helping 68 percent of retained patients to successfully complete the program.
Healthworks Community Fitness, a non-profit with two locations in Dorchester that serve more than 1,500 low-income women and children living in homeless shelters, was honored for partnering with local health care institutions to offer "prescriptions" for free exercise classes as part of patient care. The classes were aimed at preventing and treating chronic disease and empowering women to improve their family's health.
Bowdoin Street Health Center's 10-week "workplace wellness challenge" also was recognized. The center collaborated with the Boston Moves for Health campaign to create custom health improvement plans for 64 participants, about 89 percent of the center's staff.
"Innovation is not limited to biomedical technologies," said Dr. Julio Frenk, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, in his keynote speech. It "must be promoted in other realms. ... Whether technology, policy or service delivery, innovation on all fronts will drive the renewal of primary health care in the 21st century."
Danial Bernard is a research assistant for Harvard Medical School and a freelance writer. He can be reached at email@example.com.


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Letter Pp: Lift-the-Flap Alphabet
Letter Pp: Lift-the-Flap Alphabet
An easy-to-assemble manipulative–with interactive activities–to introduce and reinforce the letter Pp, and words that start with the letter Pp. Children will love to make and use this engaging tool.
Our Price:
Printable Details
- Grade: Pre-K - K
- Subject: Reading Intervention, Alphabet Recognition, Phonemic Awareness, Initial Consonants, Early Writing
- Theme: Pigs
- Number of Pages: 2
- Type: Research and Study Tools
- Common Core: L.K.2.C, RF.K.1.D, RF.K.2.D, RF.K.3.A


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Researchers at UCLA have identified a novel molecule in the brain that, after stroke, blocks the formation of new connections between neurons. As a result, it limits the brain's recovery. In a mouse model, the researchers showed that blocking this moleculecalled ephrin-A5--induces axonal sprouting, that is, the growth of new connections between the brain's neurons, or cells, and as a result promotes functional recovery.
If duplicated in humans, the identification of this molecule could pave the way for a more rapid recovery from stroke and may allow a synergy with existing treatments, such as physical therapy.
Dr. S. Thomas Carmichael, professor of neurology, and colleagues
The research appears online this week in the journal PNAS.
Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability because of the brain's limited capacity for repair. An important process in recovery after stroke may be in the formation of new connections, termed axonal sprouting. The adult brain inhibits axonal sprouting and the formation of these connections. In previous work the researchers found, paradoxically, that the brain sends mixed signals after a strokeactivating molecules that both stimulate and inhibit axonal sprouting. In this present work, the researchers have identified the effect of one molecule that inhibits axonal sprouting and determined the new connections in the brain that are necessary to form for recovery.
The researchers also developed a new tissue bioengineering approach for delivering drugs to the brain after stroke. This approach uses a biopolymer hydrogel, or a gel of naturally occurring brain proteins, to release neural repair molecules directly to the target region for recovery in strokethe tissue adjacent to the center of the stroke.
Last, the paper also shows that the more behavioral activity after stroke, such as the amount an impaired limb is used, the more new connections are directly stimulated to form in the injured brain. This direct link between movement patterns, like those that occur in neurorehabilitation, and the formation of new brain connections, provides a biological mechanism for the effects of some forms of physical therapy after stroke.
|Contact: Mark Wheeler
University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences


text:
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Add an imprint for your resort or city to any of our items and watch your tourism business grow.
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Weird pointy Marina guitar, possibly 1980s Japanese
But if you know differently...
(Thanks to Lewis who spied this guitar listed on eBay).
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
11:51 AM | Labels: 80s guitars, 90s guitars, pointy guitar, Weird guitars, What's that guitar?
Dalek's Handbag: Roland G-707 Guitar Synth controller from the mid 1980s
From Roland's first guitar synth to its last with dedicated guitar controller, the guitar being known as the Roland G-707 and partnered the over-sized stomp box making up the GR-700 synthesiser itself.
They were produced from 1984-86. I'm guessing the example pictured above is one of the earlier ones, being finished in silver which over the years has started to turn gold. Later examples were optionally available in red or black finishes.
This example (guitar only - no synth unit) is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $699.99. I don't really see the point of buying the guitar without the synth, not unless you are really into the shape or else you want to buy something for your pet dalek's birthday.
For more information see Vintage Synth Explorer.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
3:11 AM | Labels: 80s guitars, Guitar Synth, Japanese guitar, Roland, Weird guitars
The Fosse Electric Sitar
The above would appear to be a prototype. The production model, looking more akin to a traditional sitar in shape, is shown in this next YouTube clip:
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
1960s 4-pickup Greco solidbody "surf" guitar - but does anyone know the model?
Amy Osbourne wrote the following on our Facebook page:
Hey all! I own a shop in Indianapolis. I came across your info while researching this Greco that just came in. There is no serial. Would anybody be able to tell me more about it? Anything is helpful! Thanks!Well, it's very similar to a Greco we looked at before but has four pickups rather than two.
Wikipedia tells us that:
...in the mid/late 1960s, Kanda Shokai produced Greco branded guitars based on Hagström and EKO designs for Avnet/Goya in the USA and these guitars were made by the Teisco and FujiGen guitar factories and were very similar to the late 1960s Ibanez guitars based on Hagström and EKO designs.I wonder if they also used Framus guitars as a design influence, for this Greco is very reminiscent of the Framus Strato Deluxe, especially with the large metal plate behind the bridge.
Guitars were so much more interesting back in the 1960s, it seems. You had companies all over Europe producing all manner of weird and wonderful designs, and then you had the Japanese copying them so that with some guitars it's very hard to tell which is the original design and just who copied who.
But if anyone does have any further information about Amy's 4-pickup Greco, please chip in under the comments section below this post.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
11:21 AM | Labels: cool guitars, Greco, Japanese guitar, vintage guitars, What's that guitar?
Sekova hollowbody electric: another 1960s Japanese-made oddity
However, I take one look at these photos of this 1960s Japanese-made Sekova and I can't help imagine it rattling like hell when played and producing a boxy tone.
I confess that I know nearly nothing about the Sekova brand, so I'm not going to throw random Japanese brand names about (Teisco, Kawai, Guyatone, etc...) hoping that one will stick. However, if I was to make an educated guess, I can't help noticing the similarity of the headstock shape with that of this Greco guitar produced by the Kanda Shokai company (which had guitars built at the FujiGen and Teisco factories).
This may be a "rare" or unusual guitar in this day and age, but once again we see a totally unrealistic hyper-inflated Buy It Now price on eBay, a downright crazy $1,440.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
2:39 AM | Labels: Greco, Japanese guitar, Sekova, semi-hollow body, vintage guitars
Vintage Japanese 1960s TeleStar Green Goblin
Thanks to Eric who spied this one for sale on eBay.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
11:15 AM | Labels: cool guitars, Japanese guitar, Kawai, TeleStar, vintage guitars
New guitars from the resurrected Musicvox company include the (soon to be renamed) Strataspear guitar and bass
We recently looked at a "New Old Stock" Musicvox Space Cadet 12-string bass but today I want to focus on a couple of their new models.
As you can see in the above photo, this new Musicvox is a slim arrow-shaped - or spear-shaped - beastie called, appropriately enough, the "Strataspear". EXCEPT, Musicvox are going to have to change the name because of the objections of a certain American guitar giant. That is, the same company who in the 1980s objected to some forward thinking headless, graphite-constructed guitars and basses going by the name of "Strata", and who forced that company to change their name to "Status". So, forget the name "Strataspear", for these guitars will soon be renamed (but don't forget the name Musicvox!).
The S*****spear guitar is of through-neck construction with an easy-access full two octave fingerboard. The guitar is strung through the body for enhanced sustain and has locking tuners for tuning stability. It is equipped with three pickups: hum-cancelling single coils in bridge and neck positions and mini-humbucker in the middle. (It's interesting that after I was questioning why more guitars don't adopt the S/H/S pickup configuration last week, along comes another guitar with that exact pickup layout!)
The controls are simple: 5-position pickup selector and a stacked pot for volume and tone. That's about as uncluttered as you can get without dispensing with controls altogether, and I do like this no-nonsense approach. Sure, with some guitars you have individual volumes and tones for each pickup, but there's so much fiddling around involved in such a set-up. You can spend days searching the precise positions to give you that optimum tone, but isn't it better to keep it simple and let your fingers and your playing dictate the tone you achieve?
Both guitar and bass are available via the Musicvox website priced at $849 and $899 respectively. Alternatively you might like to bid on either the S*****spear guitar or bass currently listed on eBay. There is a reserve on each auction, but who knows, you could end up with a bargain.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
3:40 AM | Labels: bass, cool guitars, MusicVox, Product news
Handmade through-neck electric guitar with piezo and magnetic pickups
The guitar is equipped with a piezo bridge pickup with battery powered pre-amp and a blade style humbucker in the neck position. Each pickup is switchable independently and has its own volume control, whilst the humbucker can be switched between parallel and series.
It's probably a very usable guitar; it's a pity it's not too pretty.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
eBay seller thinks that crudely chopping up a Peavey Predator S-type guitar makes it "cool"
Hopefully Guitarz readers can see this for the atrocity it truly is.the ease of a strat without looking a prat,......every strat i have ever had has made me feel like a bit of a prat when i am playing it , like im hank marvin or something ..now what have jimmy page and slash got in common , well appart from being uber cool they play the coolest guitar the les paul.last week my mum rang me from the charity shop she works at saying that some bloke had broght in a guitar and did i want it , well as im a guitar maker of course i wanted it so my mum bought it for 10 quid and i arranged a courier, when it arrived i was shocked to see a really nice flight case. when i opened it inside it was like a time capsule from the 80's inside was a peavey preditor from the late 80's when they were still hand made in america, a boss ds1 japanese pedal all boxed and as new and a ibanez stereo chorus jap pedal boxed in mint condition as well as a analoge korg tuner 3 good leads and a strap.the guitar was a bit beat up on the body so i stripped the parts for other projects and then i had a brain wave.....why not try to make a les paul shape out of the strat body so i got out the jigsaw and here we are....as i said the body was a bit gnarly so i decided to try a glitter finish to buff out the knocks so i put on 3 layers of silver glitter and 5 layers of varnish sanding between each to get a really good finish, did my custom headstock with 5 tuning pegs on 1 side and 1 on the other that goes on all my guitars and did a glitter finish and my trademark lightning bolt in red glitter, cut and shaped the scratchplate and voilla , oh the knobs are just some that i stuck on but when you get it it will have standard strat knobs in black that are winging their way here as i type. the action is set low and the intonation is good and it looks a million bucks as im sure you will agree. the glitter finish is just on the front and sides , the back is sprayed silver and a bit gnarly. also i sort of rushed this so the shape it isnt as perfect as i would like (the back is smaller than the front bevause i angled it by 2mm to scallop it to fit the body better) but still pretty wicked . it sounds great through my session amp but i have not really played this because i am a leftie and normally i make one off guitars to order but i think this could be a good seller and as there are zillions of strat shaped guitars going cheap so i might make a few more of these so i cant say its a one off. so if you are looking for something a bit different that will turn heads, play and sound great and is cheap then this guitar could be for you.
Thanks to Jason Summer who spotted this eBay listing.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
10:26 AM | Labels: Hideous guitars, Peavey, Stratocaster, weird customisations
Vintage Japanese 1960s Greco Shrike with V-shaped pickups
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
5:37 AM | Labels: cool guitars, Greco, Japanese guitar, optimistic sellers, pickups, vintage guitars
Roland GR500 guitar synth with GS500 guitar controller, circa 1977
The guitar controller itself was, I believe, built for Roland by Ibanez (but feel free to correct me via the comments section below). On the example pictured, the original guitar humbucking pickup has been replaced by an open coil unit. Note the hex pickup (essentially a housing containing individual pickups for each of the strings) which is situated between the guitar pickup and the bridge. There is no neck pickup. These Roland guitars have this strange black plate in the neck pickup position (covered in this instance by a hologram) which looks like it ought to have some purpose but probably doesn't. I wonder if it was just to conceal a pickup hole that had been drilled before the Les Paul style body was destined by become a guitar synth controller.
It's not too often that these guitar and synth units come up for sale together. (There was very recently a GS500 guitar in original condition up for sale on eBay but alas it was without the synth unit). This guitar and synth pair is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a starting price of $1,050. It's an interesting museum piece, but a cumbersome piece of kit, and it's not going to be especially useful for the guitarist interested in playing guitar synth, unless they are more or less content with producing simple sound effects.
For guitar and/or synthesiser historians only!
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
3:12 AM | Labels: Guitar Synth, Ibanez, Les Paul, Roland, vintage guitars
1980s Westone Thunder III guitar with S/H/S pickup formation
The controls on this Westone consist of a master volume and two tones, a 3-way pickup selector for the single coil pickups, a 'mix sound' switch for centre humbucker, plus 3-way coil tap switch for the humbucker, and a phase switch. I reckon that ought to make for a pretty damn versatile guitar!
Thanks to James Davies who saw this being auctioned on eBay, where it has a starting price of £249 and with no bids as I type this.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
11:07 AM | Labels: 80s guitars, cool guitars, Japanese guitar, Westone
WEM Sapphire 12-string - rare 1960s solidbody from this classic British maker
Watkins Electric Music was formed in 1949 in London by the Watkins brothers, Charlie and Reg. Their first solid electric guitars appeared in 1957.
Guitars made by the Watkins brothers have appeared under the WEM (Watkins Electric Music) brand and, after 1968, the Wilson brand. The Watkins brothers had decided to market their guitars under a separate brand from their amps, and chose Wilson as it was their mother's maiden name.
This WEM-branded Sapphire 12-string is a rare model and should appeal to collectors specialising in this maker or of British guitars. This guitar, with bidding on eBay currently at a measley £25, ought to fetch some good money but I feel that the seller is shooting himself in the foot by demanding "Cash on collection, No post collection only".
Some eBay sellers are - how shall we say this politely? - very naïve. It's not as if it is difficult to arrange to send a guitar. You don't have to lug it down to the Post Office. It's easy enough to book a collection online, have the courier pick up the guitar from your house and deliver it in 24 or 48 hours to the destination given. And you can track the whole thing online. Some people don't seem to realise that we are living in the 21st Century yet.
However, you DO have to package the guitar carefully. Perhaps this seller is too lazy to do this. "I haven't got a box big enough," is a poor argument. I have sent guitars packaged in boxes I have made from an assortment of pieces of cardboard that I have found, and have been complimented afterwards by the buyer on how well packed the guitar was. I once sent a Vox AC30 piggyback head to Madrid in a box made out of bits and pieces of cardbaord and that survived the journey admirably and the buyer was extremely happy with it.
So, this is a tip to eBay sellers: Don't be lazy! If you insist on "collection only" then be prepared for your item to sell for peanuts, if it sells at all. Be prepared to do a little work, and package your item carefully. Oh, and good clear, preferably LARGE photos on the eBay listing are a must. The above photo, was the best I could lift from the Sapphire 12 auction. Quite frankly, it's bloody awful.
Enough of the rant. For more on Watkins/WEM/Wilson guitars, see Watkins Guitar World (where there are some better photos of a similar Sapphire 12-string).
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
2:18 AM | Labels: 12-string, British guitars, cool guitars, vintage guitars, Watkins - WEM - Wilson
Cybertech Custom with Sustainer, Midi pad and Death Ray
• Arched Les Paul shape Basswood body"The Cybertech guitar is a one-off custom guitar made by Hutchinson Guitar Customisation. It's designed to look like a futuristic robotic based instrument. Part Mech robot part stormtrooper. Its a blend of complex electronics and brutal power. Featuring an on-board midi controller and sustainer like Muse's frontman Matt Bellamy has on his Manson guitars.• 22 fret Telecaster maple fretboard and neck with 12th fret circuit board inlay• Genuine Fender Black nickel hard tail bridge• Black nickel Gotoh machineheads• Kent Armstrong Motherbucker Bridge pick-up• Fernandes Sustainer Humbucker in Neck position.• Midi pad controller• Blue LED Push button selector switches• Push/pull Volume and Tone• Kill switchThe Motherbucker can be coil tapped and put into series or parallel wiring. This allows a wide range of tones: 1 single coil, 2 single coils in parallel, 2 humbuckers in parallel, or all four coils in series!The Midi pad can control midi based devices such as the Kaoss pad, Digitech Whammy or Synth intrument and features a hold button and program selector encoder. While the Sustainer is operated through Jack plug insertion the Midi pad is individually switchable by its own power switch. This is the same for the LED push buttons which can be both lit by a switch on the back. The Antique white paint has been chipped and aged. The 9v batteries are accessed from pull out side draws. Batteries included. Guitar comes complete with hard case."
1969 Fender Custom a.k.a. Maverick - a thinly disguised chopped-down Fender Electric XII
The Custom uses body and neck from the Fender Electric XII, the body being chopped (or "re-modelled") in places to achieve a different look, and the hockey stick headstock - designed for a 12-string - looking decidedly odd with only six machine heads. Although the head looks as if it was never drilled for 12 tuners, the extra six holes were filled in and the front and back of the headstock were veneered over. I have also read that the headstock was also shortened slightly before being veneered over, and comparing these photos with that of the Electric XII this seems highly possible.
Pickguard and split pickups are stock Electric XII hardware, but the bridge is from a Mustang.
This example is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $4,999. If you're after a quirky vintage Fender but can't quite afford that, the same seller has a Fender Swinger in Olympic White finish for $2,999.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
10:17 AM | Labels: cool guitars, Fender, vintage guitars
Musicvox Space Cadet 12-string bass - NOS from 2000
Meanwhile, here is a NOS (new old stock) Musicvox Space Cadet 12-string bass from 2000. Apparently this actual instrument was the last white 12-string bass made, the model no longer being offered by the re-launched company.
The bass features four courses of tripled strings (root plus two octave strings) and other attributes include neck through body construction, twin double truss rods, brass nut, custom cast 12 string bass bridge and tail, locking tuners, dual output jacks (not sure if this means the bass is wired for stereo?), passive and active electronics, and a rosewood fingerboard with block pearloid inlay markers.
The 12-string bass was an instrument originally created in 1978 by Hamer Guitars' Jol Dantzig at the request of Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick who wanted "a huge sound". You can read more about "The Creation of the 12-String Bass" on 12stringbass.net.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
2:42 AM | Labels: 12-string bass, bass, cool guitars, MusicVox, Weird guitars
The Telecaster who wanted to be a Jazzmaster
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
7:31 AM | Labels: Fender, Jaguar/Jazzmaster, modifications, Squier, Telecaster
Gilmour Choi Hee Sun Signature Telecaster
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
4:00 PM | Labels: Korean guitars, small company, superstrat, Telecaster
Four Nick Page Baron Interceptors made in Berlin
The non-reverse Baron was conceived as an hybrid of Fender and Rickenbacker, this simple procedure added a strong Mosrite/Ibanez Iceman feel (and I noticed since GL's post last week that it also has similarities with the Quest Manhattan series but I don't know if it's deliberate or a coincidence), but the Interceptor is unique and one of the most beautiful guitars ever - and it is my new dream guitar - I would even choose it over a Mosrite (I finally saw and tried a vintage one last week at my local guitar shop, it weighs almost 6 kilos, you can't play that on stage!).
As you can see all the Interceptors are one-off custom models and I know already how would be mine if I could order one: it would combine the Junior style metal pickguard and the wood texture of the Tiki with transparent black finish and white binding like on the Stingray, the stoptail and two Filtertrons of the Blue Paisley and the telecaster control plate of the 1813...
Thanks again to all the small luthiers who keep the spirit of innovation in the electric guitar field alive, when the big companies, once pioneering, are just busy cashing in.
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
7:21 AM | Labels: cool guitars, custom, German guitars, Luthiers, Nick Page, one-offs, Personal Narrative, wacky finishes
Left-handed Rickenbacker 340 Rose Morris model complete with f-hole
So, what makes this example so special? Rarity-value, I guess. It is left-handed, for starters, and being a Rose Morris model it sports an f-hole as opposed to Rickenbacker's more usual "cat's eye" soundhole. These guitars were originally created by Rickenbacker for import into the UK by Rose Morris Co, Ltd, of London, back in the 1960s. For a while Rose Morris Rickenbackers were the guitar of choice for Pete Townshend of The Who, before he figured out that if he used and abused Fender guitars with bolt on necks, for every four guitars smashed he could mix and match parts and build another three. Which was more economical than smashing a hollow-bodied set-neck Rickenbacker and being left with firewood.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
12:00 AM | Labels: cool guitars, left-handed, Rickenbacker
Diodati doubleneck made by Tokai and with fluorescent artwork by El Daga
Diodati use the same factories as the big companies; in the case of the doubleneck pictured here, it is made by Tokai (Tokai Gakki Co., Ltd) although whether that is at their original facility in Japan or one of their Korean or Chinese plants, I couldn't tell you.
This particular doubleneck features fluorescent artwork by the artist El Daga. I can't work out if the the black circle between the pickups on the 12-string side of the guitar is a soundhole or part of the artwork.
This guitar is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,995. That doesn't appear to be one of the affordable prices that Diodati pride themselves on, but then this would appear to be a rather special model.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
12:00 AM | Labels: 12-string, Diodati, doubleneck, one-offs, Tokai, wacky finishes
Celtic Moon - giant balalaika-like triangular acoustic guitar
Looking for all the world like a giant Russian balalaika (although not as large as the contrabass balalaika), the seller says that this guitar "... has a comfortable low action with no 'buzzing' and has a full and mellow tone, holding its state of tune over an extended period."
Perhaps it might appeal to some folkie types, but I feel that its size may be a bit restrictive, and maybe the seller is being optimistic asking £299 as a Buy It Now price.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
12:00 AM | Labels: acoustic, one-offs, optimistic sellers, Weird guitars
1966 Guyatone LG-120 with rotating neck pickup
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
11:53 AM | Labels: cool guitars, Guyatone, Japanese guitar, pickups, vintage guitars
Fernandes YB-75 N Teardrop Bass in natural maple - made in Japan
This is, I believe, a Fernandes Made in Japan model produced exclusively for the Japanese market, although invariably one or two examples escape to the West.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
3:49 AM | Labels: bass, Fernandes, Japanese guitar
The inevitable Hopf Saturn 63
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
2:23 PM | Labels: cool guitars, German guitars, Hopf, Personal Narrative, semi-hollow body, vintage guitars
1970s vintage British-built Ned Callan bass
Peter Cook developed the Ned Callan range in the 1970s, guitars being initially handcrafted by Cook himself from his small workshop in London's Notting Hill, and later for Shaftesbury with Shergold Guitars being commisioned to make Ned Callan guitars as designed by Peter. Shergold produced both the "Cody" and "Hombre" models under this arrangement and these odd-looking guitars earned themselves the nickname "Nobbly Neds".
This Ned Callan bass is, I'm guessing because of the lack of the Shaftesbury name on the headstock, one of Peter Cook's earlier hand-built instruments, which seems to take its cues from the early Gibson EB-0 designs.
This rare piece of British guitar-making history is currently being auctioned on eBay UK with a starting bid of £150 (and with no bids currently as I type this), although I would warn prospective buyers that the lacquer is very cracked which could present the buyer with a dilemma: to leave it as it is so that it is as original as possible, or to refinish it?
Peter Cook is still in the guitar business, but these days he sells them via Peter Cook's Guitar World rather than making them himself.
As as aside, the Shaftesbury name was also used by Rosetti Music as a brandname on various imported guitars from Japan and Korea.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
9:17 AM | Labels: bass, British guitars, Ned Callan, Shaftesbury, Shergold, vintage guitars
Vintage MIJ Teisco Silvertone Bizarre Guitar! Awesome!
This is a vintage 1960's teisco electric viola-guitar.A truly collectable bizarre guitare!!!Solid mahogany body, beautiful german carved top with sunburst finish and triple layered binding!!Neck is one piece mahogany, with rosewood fretboard , frets show no wear, and has vintage style zero fret.Original whammy bar too!The guitar is in great overall condition, chrome is good too!, guitar has a few minor scuffs and scrapes, normal for a fifty year old guitar.
It is a cool little guitar, sounds quite beefy for 4-5K pickups when you push it, and distorts nicely too. If I didn't already have one, I'd be after this beaut!
3:39 PM | Labels: cool guitars, Japanese guitar, Teisco, vintage guitars, violin bass and/or guitar
Westone Spectrum MX from 1985 in red cellophane finish
The Westone Spectrum MX was produced between 1985-1986 and was also offered in an all-over blue finish.
This guitar is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $429, and the seller points out that the middle pickup is currently not working and so will need some attention.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
10:46 AM | Labels: 80s guitars, Japanese guitar, Westone
Teisco Spectrum 4 - another four pickup equipped solidbody from 1960s Japan
A couple of interesting features are the four pickups, each marked with the Spectrum legend plus "Bass" and "Treble" alongside the respective group of three polepieces, and the trem-equipped bridge which comes complete with a mute bar, which is especially useful for surf-type sounds.
I'm a little perplexed at how the four pickups are selected, as there appear to be three individual ON/OFF switches, plus a 3-way(?) toggle marked RHYTHM, SOLO and BASS. Can anyone enlighten us further about how these operated? [Edit: looking closer to the photo, there appears to be FOUR on/off switches but one is missing its cover].
As was common with Japanese guitars from this era, the neck is made up from multiple laminates similar to that on the Bruno Bass that David took a look at recently and questioned if it could have been made from bamboo. (We don't think so, but it does look bamboo-like).
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
12:30 AM | Labels: cool guitars, Japanese guitar, Teisco, vintage guitars
1982 Hopf 06325 HW8 acoustic steel strings guitar
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
10:57 AM | Labels: acoustic, German guitars, Hopf
Dave Hill plays the Superyob in the promo for Slade's "My Friend Stan"
The Superyob was reportedly not a very playable guitar and despite the insinuation in the above video that it was used in recording sessions, was in fact mainly used for mimed television appearances - and promo videos (obviously). The original Superyob is now owned by Marco Pirroni (ex Adam & The Ants guitarist - I had a very complimentary email from him a year or so ago about how much he enjoyed reading Guitarz) but is currently, I believe, on loan to the British Museum Experience.
For more about the guitars used by Dave Hill and his bandmates in Slade, Noddy Holder and Jim Lea, see this page.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
3:25 AM | Labels: Dave Hill, John Birch, one-offs, Slade, Weird guitars
Univox violin guitar (not bass) project with that Hofner/Beatles vibe going on
EDIT: And yes, I am aware that The Beatles never used a violin-style six string guitar. I did say "vibe"!
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
10:49 AM | Labels: cool guitars, Japanese guitar, Univox, vintage guitars, violin bass and/or guitar
Electra guitar from Japan with MMK 45 pickups
Anyway, it's a fine looking guitar from 1980s Japan, and for a guitar which is basically derived from the Les Paul (two pickups each with a volume and tone control, three-way selector switch, tune-o-matic style bridge and separate tailpiece) I much prefer this layout with the pickup selector adjacent to the other controls, i.e. somewhere I wouldn't be hitting it by accident.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
2:28 AM | Labels: 80s guitars, cool guitars, Electra, Japanese guitar
1965 Standel Custom Deluxe
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
11:19 AM | Labels: cool guitars, Mosrite, pointy guitar, Standel, vintage guitars
Japanese Mustang wannabe with Competition stripe doesn't quite hit the mark
A lot has been written about the high quality of Japanese guitars and the immaculate attention to detail on copies of famous brands such as Fender and Gibson. We are often told that those giants of the American guitar were so worried about such copy guitars emanating from Japan that they legitimised them, introducing the Fender Japan and Orville by Gibson brands.
However the guitar pictured here, a half-arsed attempt at a copy of a Fender Mustang with Competition stripe, serves to remind us that the Japanese didn't always get it right and that they produced a fair number of horrors, guitar-wise.
OK, if you squint, or perhaps view the guitar at a great distance, you might be fooled into thinking this was the real deal. All the elements are there but it looks as if somehow in assembly it all went horribly wrong. It looks like a Mustang built by someone from memory alone, with no access to blueprints or plans or even a genuine Mustang (or a photo of the same) for reference.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
5:44 AM | Labels: Hideous guitars, Japanese guitar, vintage guitars
Fender Japan Mini Stratocaster MST-32
If I remember correctly, it's ideally tuned to A (equivalent to having a capo at the 5th fret on a regularly tuned guitar), although no doubt with heavier gauge strings and appropriate set-up you could achieve lower tunings.
Unlike it's full-size sibling, the Mini Strat has just two pickups and one less tone control than usual. Despite the "Original contour body" legend on the headstock, the slab-like body is almost devoid of the usual Stratocaster contouring, the only concession being an almost imperceptibly shallow forearm contour.
Around this time, Fender Japan also issued a Mini Telecaster and Mini Precision Bass, neither of which I've seen since they were originally made available. More accurate Fender Strat Minis with the correct number of pickups and controls plus all the contouring you'd expect were also produced solely for the Japanese market.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
12:23 PM | Labels: Fender, Japanese guitar, Stratocaster
Vintage 1960s Kent electric mandolin
Unfortunately the photos of the item in question give very little indication of scale, but to us at least, the 8 strings and rather compact body design should give away that this is in fact an electric mandolin. The Kent 744 is a Japanese mando, built in a factory near Tokyo, and in fact uses a longer than usual scale for a mandolin so that it is somewhere inbetween a mandolin and a mandola.
For more information please check this page at the excellent eMando.com website, where if you scroll down you'll also see a photo of Neve Campbell with a left-handed example of this Kent mando, giving a very nice indication of scale.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
2:40 AM | Labels: cool guitars, electric mandolin, Japanese guitar, Kent, mandolin, vintage guitars
Soviet-era USSR Aelita-2 guitar by Rostov
Currently being auctioned on eBay with a starting price of $175.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
2:44 PM | Labels: 80s guitars, cool guitars, Russian guitars
ESP Ltd EC-CZ II Clockwork Zombie with artwork by dark artist Mr Sam
ESP Ltd EC-CZ II Clockwork Zombie, currently being offered for sale on eBay UK at a knock-down Buy It Now price of £499, caught my eye. It's a limited edition issued as part of ESP Ltd's Graphic Series and features original artwork by Sam Shearon, a.k.a. dark artist Mr Sam.
Almost exactly two years ago as I write this, I spent some time in the company of Sam Shearon, who is an absolutely charming fellow with a seemingly endless supply of stories and anecdotes on all matter of subjects, and from having had a close-up look at his artwork I can testify to his considerable talents. We did speak about doing an interview for Guitarz about Sam's work for ESP Guitars among others, but there were so many other distractions that weekend, some involving sampling the delights of various alchoholic beverages, that sadly we never got around to it.
One thing that amazed me was that although Sam's intricate artwork looks airbrushed, he said that he does all his artwork on a PC using a mouse! Wow, he must have a very steady hand.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
4:11 AM | Labels: Art, ESP, wacky finishes
Burns/Baldwin Virginian from the late 1960s
I can't help thinking also that this guitar must have been the inspiration behind the later Burns Steer.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
7:38 AM | Labels: acoustic, Baldwin, British guitars, Burns, cool guitars, hybrid guitar
Since we are Burns Guitars fans, check out this clip of The Honeycombs
Thanks to Jeremiah for recommending this clip (pun not intended).
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
2:17 AM | Labels: British guitars, Burns, cool guitars, video, YouTube
Quest Manhattan M-3X - another 1980s guitar from legendary Japanese makers Matsumoku
This guitar is currently being auctioned on eBay France with bidding currently at €300 as I type this.
Check here for a Quest Guitars catalogue from the 1980s.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
11:43 AM | Labels: 80s guitars, Japanese guitar, Quest, vintage guitars
Zeta Prism bass from 1990 with original BP-410 quad piezo pickup
In a way, it could be considered the Variax bass of its day.
Currently being auctioned on eBay UK with a starting price of £450.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
2:47 AM | Labels: bass, innovations, Zeta


text:
Granny seduces her young friend 2/6
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I just fucked my ex gf's mom who was a little slimmer than this one. I went over to leave some things, and mom was in the living room, watching a porn and rubbing her pussy. I just couldn't let her just sit there, now could I??
OMG !!! GIMME .... looks like he knows how to lick pussy ....
nanny was just too excited for a fuck. XD
i would love him to fuck me hard
holy shit he is gorgous! too badd he culdnt keep a hard on though, his facial expressions looked totally into it. I bet to her he was her fantasy while masturbatin, he sould cum into my dreams!!!!!!
Haiiiiiii..... i love you allll....
OMG, she deserves to be fucked so hard with my thick young cock. What a dirty, sexy, horny babe!
fuck me! he's hot
eat that cunt out dude go for it she needs it
A 6 part video is too long to view.
i think they cut the bit wer he accidently blows his load in her after 10 seconds. cos i know i would
I had just broken up with my gf and had gone by her house to pick up some of my things. Her mom was there, from out of town, and she let me in to get some stuff. I noticed she looked a little flustered and when I walked by the tv, I noticed she had been watching a film that was on "pause". I clicked the remote and it was a porn. Her mom was turned on from watching, so I paused it again and she followed me back to the bedroom where I was to pick up some things. I brushed against her twice and she was almost clingy when she put her hands on me. So I thought. what the hell, so I put my arms around her, pull her up agasint me, gave her a big kiss, and her knees almost buckled. She was pressing hard against my hard dick and when I cupped her ass, she put one hand on my dick and was grabbing hard. We fucked for over 2 hours and then as we were cleaning up, my ex walked in and said ... I thought you'd already be gone, then she said...I smell sex. Her mom said, damn right you do, and he's damn good and you are a fool to let him get away. I busted out laughing, but my ex wasn't amused.
I'd eat that pussy......mmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Bhahahaaha ! Such uncomfortable positions. This was a joke.
Mit welchem Genuss er leckt, voll geil, ich komm schon vom hinschauen!
whats her name please?
I must duck you
Get a life shit porno watcher
it sounds like shes sayin "ewwwww"
her body still looks pretty good.... some grammas stay in shape more than others lol
poor kid cant even crack a hardon
did you notice (I missed it last time) that she was not at all surprised when he walked in lol oh well, I guess the script should have called for "look surprised"
lmao gran?!
she loves young cock.
i would love to lick her pussy like that
i want to fuck any humannnnnnnnnnnnn
So are you
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Stopbullying.gov-kids Find facts, webisodes, and quizzes about bullying for kids. A federal government website managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services is interactive, attention getting and engaging. The four sections children can choose from on this site are: "the facts", "what can I do", "kid videos" and "games". This format allows for both classroom and individual use.
i-SafeInc. is the largest provider of e-safety digital instructionalprogramming for grades K-12 in the world. Floyd County Schools uses i-Safe for all grades.
John Greer Hunt


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PHOENIX (AP) — An immigration activist who's one of the leaders of the Dream Act movement is joining the staff of U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema as a district outreach director.
Erika Andiola is a founder of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition, a group of young immigrants who advocate giving legal status to people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Sinema's office announced Andiola's hiring Wednesday.
Andiola entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico but has work authorization for two years by way of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the deportation-relief offered by President Barack Obama to immigrants eligible for the Dream Act.
Andiola was in the news last week when federal immigration officers arrested her mother and brother at the family's home in suburban Phoenix. They were later released after a national outcry from immigration reform advocates.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials insist the two weren't targeted because of Andiola's activism.
Andiola said ICE agents told her there was a long-pending deportation order for her mother. Her brother was detained for refusing to answer agents' questions.
Last July, Andiola drew national attention when U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, a main proponent of the Dream Act, held up a large color poster of her on the Senate floor while describing how she graduated with honors with a bachelor's degree in psychology from Arizona State University.
Sinema, a Democrat, is in her first year in office after winning the new Phoenix-area 9th District in November.
On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, D-Illinois, announced he was hiring Jose M. Quintero as an employee in his district office in Chicago.
Gutierrez said Quintero, who was born in Mexico and came to Chicago with his parents at age 6, was the first young immigrant in Illinois to receive work authorization via Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. He received work authorization and his official two-year reprieve from deportation in October.
Gutierrez said he plans to hire an additional recipient of deferred-action status for his office in Cicero in the coming weeks.


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ON ARCHITECTURE- Going Down: Sutherland Farm demos wake preservationists
Unlike Charlottesville, which regulates everything from siding choices to paint colors, county historic preservation laws have about as much backbone as a nervous, drunken sheriff in a wild west town. In 2000, a historic preservation plan was adopted, but it has yet to be implemented.
Still, Margaret Maliszewski, the county's historic preservation committee director, says they do their best to track and document historic properties. So when a demolition permit was filed for two barns and the main house at Sutherland Farm (down 29 South near the North Garden fairgrounds), one of a handful of historically significant properties the committee has been watching, the alarm was sounded in the preservation community. Apropos, we'd say, considering this is Preservation Week 2009.
"We have wanted to save the buildings on Sutherland Farm, particularly a barn that has since collapsed," says Maliszewski, "but the whole property is important."
Indeed, according to UVA architectural history professor K. Edward Lay, the main farm house, called Solitude, was built around 1810, and it is alleged that Thomas Jefferson brought his slaves to a doctor there for inoculations.
Lay says he documented the house not long ago, which sits on 457 acres, and believes thr many features that display the era's construction techniques make it worth preserving. (Though Lay notes that the exterior porch, dormer, and asbestos siding came later and can be removed.)
The house has two double-ramped chimneys that exhibit the brickwork of the day, as well as a separate smokehouse and kitchen. It's original owner, Henry Gantt of Maryland, won $40,000 in the Maryland lottery in 1821 and returned home, says Lay, leaving the property to his son Dr. John W. Gantt, presumably the doctor who treated Jefferson's slaves. In 1837, the son sold the property to Joseph L. Sutherland, and it remained in the Sutherland family until it was sold four years ago.
"It's in sound condition and could be fairly easily restored back to its earlier appearance," says Lay, "which I would think would be an added value to the property."
In addition, he says the two log barns remaining on the property are in excellent condition and have some of the very longest logs in the county, about 25 feet.
"The wonderful 1810 brick English ground barn there, which was used to store grain, was badly damaged by a tornado in recent years and has now collapsed," he says.
According to Maliszewski, the farm manager says that the current owner, Boaz Mountain LLC, which bought the place for $6.4 million in 2005, believe the deteriorating structures are making it more difficult to sell the property, which is currently on the market for $6.495 million.
Shortly after purchasing the property, the new owner placed most of its 457 acres under an open space easement with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, perhaps to keep it from being developed like Bundoran Farm in North Garden. However, the property also has 16 development rights, including 6 on 18 acres of land that cover both sides of Route 29 South.
When asked why the seemingly conservationist-minded owners wanted to demo the historic structures, farm manager Thomas Bradley said, "I can't comment on that, and the owners probably wouldn't either."
So who are the owners? Bradley refused to say. But according to county deed records, Boaz Mountain LLC is a company registered in Texas, with Mark A. Lee listed as manager. Messages were left with the property's listing agent, Jim Faulconer, but he did not respond by press time.
Maliszewski says the owner, via Bradley, is allowing her team to photograph and document the structures before taking them down. She says the Virginia Department of Historic Preservation has also surveyed the property, though it hasn't been designated historic.
Some preservationists aren't taking the news of the demo lightly.
"I'm appalled at this turn of events for this property," says Steven Meeks, president of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historic Society. "We have already lost probably the most historic barn on this property."
Meeks says the collapsed brick barn was the only such structure in the county, and will be featured in the ACHS exhibit on lost Albemarle buildings.
"Due to neglect, it imploded over a year ago," says Meeks, unwilling to lay the blame solely on tornado damage.
"This should be headline news," he adds.
And so it is.
After years of the neglect, Solitude, the circa-1810 main farm house at Sutherland Farm needs considerable work. But UVA architectural history prof K. Edward Lay believes it's a treasure. Indeed, it's alleged that Thomas Jefferson brought his slaves to a doctor who lived in the house.
Lay says two barns remain intact– with, at about 25 feet, some of the longest logs in the county.


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This Technical Manual provides information about the release of microdata relating to the Participation in Sport and Physical Recreation topic that was collected in the 2009–10 Multipurpose Household Survey. These microdata are available in the form of an Expanded Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF).
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Some great car leasing Offers on all Vauxhall vehicles, click the model range boxes below to view the great lease deals on on the Vauxhall car range.
Any Car 4U has some fantastic contract hire and car leasing deals on all Vauxhall for both business and personal customers, choose one of the many special offers we currently have on our Vauxhall deals page.
Click on the images below to view our fantastic car leasing deals on the Vauxhall range.


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Crossroads College agrees to admit students of Teens for Christ Institute for Teen Evangelism who, at the time of their application, meet Crossroads College' admission requirements, and will accept transfer of credit from the Institute for Teen Evangelism according to our policy for credit by transfer as defined by Crossroads' current catalog. Primarily, transfer of credit requires grades of "C" or higher, and will be accepted as best applicable based on students declared program of study. Specific application of courses "in lieu of" may vary, depending on Crossroads' academic program.
Changes in the curriculum or course content, as listed in the catalogs of both Teens for Christ Institute and Crossroads College, may require reevaluation of transferability and application of credits for transfer. In some instances, transfer hours will need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, depending on the courses and the student's degree needs. The limit of credits transferable may vary according to the student's slected degree program. The following courses offered by Teens for Christ Institute for Teen Evangelism will be accepted by Crossroads College:


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There's a couple letters in MMORPG that kinda hang - the whole "Role Playing" thing. Some people can treat World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, the upcoming The Old Republic, or whichever their MMO of choice is as a numbers game - bigger numbers forever, all the time!
Metagaming is okay, you know? Munchkin out, munchkins, keep on trucking, 'coz we love you too. (But if you roll seven RIGHT NOW, our love for you is double all weekend)
|Kerain North, as drawn by @Outbirk
For some, the Role Playing may stop at the "get better gear, be better at game" - but, for others, they may have a personal attachment to characters they play. Might make stories for them, even!
I've felt bad about the recent offerings because I dump more fanfiction than anything useful here - but it felt like a good conversation piece!
What about you? Do you think of your "toon" as a character? Do you put thought into their motivation? Their history? Do you do this for every character, or just for your favorite?


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AXIS Camera Station S9001 Mk II Desktop Terminal
Effective surveillance for server installations
Discontinued product. Supported until 2022-06-30.After this date, please see the support documentation.
As long as the product is within the warranty period you will be supported.
- Ease of installation
- AXIS Camera Station client included
- Validated high performing hardware
- Up to one 4K stream
- Support for two monitors
AXIS Camera Station S9001 Desktop Terminal is a complement to AXIS S1032 Mk II or AXIS S1048 Mk II recorders to enable quick set-up of a surveillance workstation. The Small Form Factor (SFF) terminal is preloaded with an AXIS Camera Station client and preconfigured to minimize installation time.
Out-of-the-box ready
AXIS S9001 is designed for quick installation. The terminal is preloaded with all necessary software including AXIS Camera Station video management software client to enable quick connection to the server. System settings such as camera and storage configurations are preconfigured to further simplify system setup. AXIS S9001 supports multiple monitors for optimal overview. International keyboard and computer mouse are included.
Maximum reliability
Hardware components such as hard-discs and graphic card as well as storage capacity are optimized to meet the demands for reliable high definition surveillance. To further safeguard system uptime the package package include three year hardware and software support.
AXIS Camera Station S9001 Desktop Terminal is available as an option to complete server installations with AXIS S1032 Mk II and AXIS S1048 Mk II.
AXIS Site Designer
AXIS Site Designer makes it easy to select cameras, accessories and find the right AXIS Camera Station recorder.AXIS Site Designer
Get to know Axis mid-size solutions
Learn how simple it is to protect a mid-size business with a complete, end-to-end security solution from Axis Communications.Free online course to learn more


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Neve Embellished Quilted Coat
SALE | The Neve Embellished Quilted Coat in Ballet Black. The coat we have all been waiting for has arrived. This beautiful embellished coat is adorned with sparkling silver components with highlights of romantic pinks and lilacs. Crafted from luxurious soft satin with pretty frill detailing, adding romantic texture to this coat. Fall in love with this seasons must have coat.
- Quilted viscose satin adorned with multi-coloured beading
- 100% Viscose
- Fully lined in viscose satin
- Concealed hook and bar fastening at front opening
- Front pockets
- Made in India
- Delicate dry clean only
- Do not wash
- Do not bleach
- Do not tumble dry
- Cool iron on reverse
- Due to the delicate nature of the embellishment on this garment please handle with care
- Relaxed fitting dress coat
- Length finishes below the knee
- Model is 175cm / 5ft 9in and is a UK size 8
If you need assistance with this product, please email us at firstname.lastname@example.com .
or call us 0207 043 2363. Our Customer Care team operate between 8.30 and 5.30 in the UK.


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2015 Biochemistry Newsletter now availableTuesday, October 20th, 2015
The 2015 Biochemistry @ Iowa newsletter is hot off the presses and available for download. Alumni and friends should receive a hard copy in the mail this week. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please send your contact information to email@example.com. While you are at it, feel free to send us your news and updates! Previous newsletters are also available online.


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Contact Us
Seminary News & Events
What Others Are Saying
Matthew Francis
Graduate 2000, Pastor, Stirling Baptist Church, East London
Seminary has stretched me, my ideas, my views. I've learnt to think - mostly about graduating! I've learnt to trust God my Father as He applied His angle grinder to my life. I'm forever grateful to the lecturers for pouring into my life.
Mark Walters
Graduate 2000, Pastor - Grassy Park Baptist Church, Cape Town
My time at Seminary has molded me to be an effective contributor in the Church and wider community.
Bongang Lekoba
Graduate 2000, Pastor, Selebi-Phikwe Baptist Church, Botswana
My time at Seminary has adequately equipped me for the ministry to which God is leading me.
Nobuntu Matholeni
Pursuing further studies
I gained knowledge. The years I spent here at Seminary were my best years; years I will never forget. I also grew spiritually. I'm glad I chose to study here. It was a privilege for me to be taught by these men of God.
Nathan van Sittert
Graduate 2012, Available for a call
Academic standard was high and the camaraderie among the students was good. Was a good time of growing and developing both on a personal and professional level.
Frequently Asked Questions
Preference is given to students who live outside of Cape Town and then to those from Cape Town. Accommodation is offered at a subsidised rate. Please contact the office for more information.>
Yes, the seminary offers a limited amount of bursaries to successful student applicants as from their second year of study. Further details may be obtained from the Registrar's office.>


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Bloomberg Features Dr. Wright Op-Ed
An op-ed that explores how the Woonsocket Investment Company swayed the South Dakota electorate to its shareholders' advantage, resulting in the decision to locate the capital of South Dakota in Pierre instead of Huron in 1890 by Dr. Robert Wright, Nef Family Chair of Political Economy and director of the Thomas Willing Institute at Augustana, is featured in "Echoes," the business history blog of Bloomberg View.
How a Corporation Legally Bought an Election
By Dr. Robert Wright
Recent changes in campaign-finance laws, prompted by the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case of 2010, have some people worried that corporations can now legally buy a presidential election.
Of course, directly paying citizens to vote for a certain candidate seems unlikely. Ballots are secret and can't easily be traded, and voting contracts couldn't be monitored for compliance, much less enforced in court. Under certain conditions, however, companies can almost buy votes outright – and it has happened before.
Any fifth-grader worthy of promotion can tell you the capital of South Dakota is Pierre. What few people of any grade can tell you is why, in 1889 and 1890, South Dakotans voted to make that tiny hamlet their temporary, and then their permanent, state capital. The story of these two obscure plebiscites in South Dakota is one of the oddest in the annals of campaign finance.
Pierre was located at the geographical center of the state, more or less, but was in the far western part demographically as most South Dakotans, then as now, lived in the eastern third of the state. In fact, Pierre was at the end of the Chicago and North Western line, directly across the Missouri River from a huge Indian reservation that still bubbled with trouble. (The massacre at Wounded Knee occurred in late December 1890.)
Money Pours In
Pierre's main rival for the capital, Huron, was also on the Chicago and North Western line but lay 110 miles to the east, far from potentially dangerous natives and close to the prospective state's demographic center. Huron was voted the temporary capital in 1885 and by 1890 was its de facto convention center due to its location. Even denizens of the Black Hills, in the far western part of the region, found it easier to get to Huron than to Pierre, which from the west was accessible only by horse and wagon through desolate tracts. Moreover, Huron was larger than Pierre and better appointed with hotels, newspapers and telephone exchanges.
Money soon poured into the campaign. The winning town was sure to experience a real-estate boom as the state government built a governor's mansion, statehouse, court building and other offices. Moreover, government employment would bring with it long-term local economic stability.
Much of the campaign money canceled itself out as boosters of both towns competed to outdo each other with banners, buttons, newspaper puff pieces, parades, rallies and songs. Some resources, however, were used more effectively by aligning the interests of voters statewide with one of the two cities.
Enter the Woonsocket Investment Co., or WIC, named for a small town south of Huron. In an era before the Securities and Exchange Commission or even state "blue sky" laws, WIC was able to sell shares of itself to some 10,000 South Dakotans, about a fifth of the electorate. Although the historical record is sketchy, the company probably sold the shares via direct public offering, not intermediated by an investment bank, a common practice at the time.
WIC's executives initially asked the town of Huron for land grants, hopeful that the local government would realize that WIC stockholders would then have a strong incentive to vote for Huron in the plebiscite. After being rebuffed there, they solicited Pierre, which wisely granted the company a number of city lots. Realizing that the value of those lots would increase if Pierre won, WIC's thousands of stockholders turned out en masse, clinching the election for the tiny hamlet on the big river in 1889, the year South Dakota officially became a state. The following year, with taxpayer resources already sunk into Pierre, and WIC stockholders still eager to boost the isolated outpost for their own gain, Huron lost the election to be the permanent capital, too.
Sharing Profits
Huronites were enraged by WIC's actions, but it was all legal. What WIC did, in a sense, was to share the profits created by the selection of a state capital with the broad segment of the population astute enough to buy its shares.
The consequences of this episode may seem minor. With fewer than 14,000 people, Pierre remains the second-least-populous state capital in the nation. But there was a more important legacy: South Dakota responded to WIC's shenanigans by implementing a number of Progressive electoral reforms and became the first state to adopt initiative-and-referendum legislation, which allows citizens to force a vote on specific issues.
Today, with independent groups empowered by Citizens United to spend unlimited amounts on unrestricted attack ads and other political speech, the corporate ability to influence voters' intentions seems ever more powerful. About 122 years after WIC cleverly swayed the South Dakota electorate to its shareholders' advantage, how will the country respond to similar threats to its democracy?
(Robert E. Wright is the Nef Family Chair of Political Economy at Augustana College in South Dakota and the author of numerous books, including, with David Cowen, "Financial Founding Fathers: The Men Who Made America Rich." The opinions expressed are his own.)


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Customer Escalations - Why You Should Reward Customers Who Complain
Be prepared for those rare escalation cases that are critical
Customer escalations not only signify a dangerously dissatisfied customer, but they can also put undue pressure on even the most organized customer service chain of command. As an irate customer works their way up the ranks, employees may be forced to deal with situations they are not trained for, which can result in the further mishandling of the customer in question.
How to avoid such a mess? Create a customer service department that is built to prevent customer escalations, but be prepared to use those rare escalation cases to improve your company.
- Be proactive.
- Create a strong first line of defense.
- Amaze and delight!
- Keep asking for more.
- Make it personal.
- Take advantage of a customer "crisis."
- After the Escalation: Keep the customers happy.
- Perform rigorous customer satisfaction surveys.
- Quote your customers.
- Woo them.
Additional Whitepapers
IT Help Desk Whitepapers
- How Does Your Help Desk Measure Up? - A Help Desk can cut costs and enhance productivity. Is yours meeting the mark?
- Considerations for Outsourcing: Service Desk - A guide to improving your Service Desk and Service Delivery performance through outsourcing
- Looking Beyond the Sticker Price - "What it really costs to operate a call tracking system" - Summary of Acquisition and Lifetime Costs
- How Does the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) Impact the Hospital and Healthcare Industry


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PASS 2013 – Another year, another role
After taking a year off, I'm heading back to the PASS Summit in Charlotte. This year will be a little different for me since I'm attending to help represent my company, SQL Sentry. I'm looking forward to seeing some people that I haven't seen in a couple of years. I'm also looking forward to seeing a bit of Charlotte – SQL Sentry is actually located in Huntersville, close to Charlotte, but I've never really been there.
The first year that I went to the Summit in 2009, I went as a regular attendee. I met some people, attended a ton of sessions, went to some evening events, most notably a very late night breakfast on the last day of the Summit where I met Allen Kinsel (Blog/Twitter).
As a result of that meeting, I worked on the Program Committee for the next two years. Working on the Program Committee is great, a ton of work, a smidge of stress, but I had the opportunity to meet so many people including wonderful volunteers. It's also one of those volunteer experiences where you actually get to see the results of all of your hard work. Unfortunately, since there is still work to do during the Summit, I probably only went to one or two sessions those two years.
This year, I'll be working at our booth throughout the Summit. I'll be demo-ing our awesome software, spending time with our team and talking with Summit attendees. We'll probably also spend a decent amount of time trying to get Kevin (Blog/Twitter) into a kilt. I'm excited to talk with the folks that come to our booth, to let them know how SQL Sentry might help them, but even to pass on some knowledge that I may have gathered during my time as a production DBA. One of the things that I love best about my job is that – the opportunity to help people out. I doubt that I'll even make one session this year, but I know that, once again, the Summit is going to be a great experience.
Before attending my first Summit, I had read that meeting other database professionals was equal in value to the knowledge that you get from the sessions. Admittedly, I was skeptical. The Summit has a huge number of great sessions by great speakers. That was the reason that I wanted to attend. Now, though, heading into my fourth Summit, where I know that I'm not going to be attending sessions, I'm just as excited as my first Summit. I'm going to have the opportunity to see old friends and meet new people. The learning, while not in a session hall, continues during discussions with other professionals and hearing the challenges that they experience in their jobs.
The word community, as much as it gets passed around, really applies at the Summit. I'm glad to be a part of it and I'm looking forward to participating in this new role. When you have a moment, come by and say hi to me and the rest of our team!


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Verso Skincare
Verso is latin and means reverse, as in the backside of a painting or the back view of a dress. It is what is normally hidden underneath. In a metaphorical sense, it means going your own way, being different. And Verso is a very different kind of skincare. It has a formula that helps the skin cells to mimic how young cells behave. This formula is called Retinol 8, and has 8 times more effective than the typical Retinol in the same dosage. It stimulates the skin's own production of collagen and hyaluronic acid, which can substantially reduce the signs of aging. This first non-prescription has a high dose Vitamin A that can be used safely in the daytime. Using only pure formulations, it's free of parabens, mineral oils or other harmful substances. In addition to its revolutionary antiaging effect, Verso Skincare has been developed to minimize the risk of irritation so it is suitable for those with sensitive skin. The packaging itself is so sleek and refined with its air tight containers that prevent any type of oxidization and helps preserve the active ingredients. It is clinically proven to smooth the appearance of wrinkles, strengthen the skin barrier, reduce pigmentation and supply the skin with more energy and oxygen, resulting in finer, more radiant looking face. Made in Sweden, the products are numbered from 1-6 and are housed in beautiful minimalist packagings. For Verso Skincare, reversing truly means reversing time.


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News Release 2010-139 | December 7, 2010
OCC, Bank of America Enter Agreement Requiring Payment of Profits Plus Interest to Municipalities Harmed by Bid-Rigging on Financial Products
WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced today that it has entered into a Formal Agreement with Bank of America, N.A., Charlotte, North Carolina, related to the bank's participation in a bid-rigging scheme involving the marketing and sale of certain financial products to municipalities and other non-profit organizations, variously, during the period November 1998 through January 2004.
The Formal Agreement requires the bank to enhance and strengthen its policies, procedures and internal controls regarding competitive bidding in the particular department where the illegal conduct occurred, and to take steps to ensure that adequate policies, procedures and controls are in place related to competitive bidding on an enterprise wide basis. The Formal Agreement also requires the bank to make payment of profits, plus prejudgment interest, derived from 38 collateralized certificate of deposit transactions to the municipalities or other non-profits harmed in those transactions. The total payment, including interest, is $9,217,218.
The OCC's formal enforcement action against the bank is part of a global resolution of actions coordinated with the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and several State Attorneys General.
A copy of the OCC's enforcement action is attached.
Related Link
- Formal Agreement (PDF)
Media Contact
Kevin M. Mukri
(202) 874-5770
- Topic(s):


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Last Friday night, Shane surprised me on date night.
Well, surprised is putting it mildly....truly--he blew me out of the water.
He took me out to dinner (normal) and then he pulled into the Best Buy parking lot (not normal). He informed me that we were going inside, and that he was buying me a new camera.
Not just any new camera--our point and shoot is not that old, and still works well--but the camera I have been drooling over for several years now--a Canon Rebel.
I nearly died from excitement, and have spent the last several days getting to know some of the basic ins-and-outs--reading about aperture, f-stops, ISO, and shutter speed on Pioneer Woman's photography section. I bought a Canon rebel for dummies book (oh yes I did!) from Amazon, which should be arriving any day now. I can't wait to learn more, but for now, I am having so much fun taking a zillion and a half shots each day. I thought I'd share some of my favorites from yesterday.
Photography experts would tell you I have a lot to learn--but I can't wait to! I am thinking there are going to be a lot of posts like this in the coming weeks. Thank you, Shane--I truly love my camera!!


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Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936 / Bombay)
» Click to list general statistics » OR, select a date :
The Lovers' Litany
Eyes of grey -- a sodden quay,
Driving rain and falling tears,
As the steamer wears to sea
In a parting storm of cheers.
read more >>
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