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OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Stevenson men's lacrosse senior Chris Dashiell totaled six points, including five assists while sophomore Callum Robinson held the nation's leading scorer to just one assist as the No. 3 Mustangs downed No. 7 Cabrini 15-9 in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship Saturday at Mustang Stadium.
Stevenson (19-2), who improved its NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship winning streak to seven, remained unbeaten in 10 NCAA tournament games at Mustang Stadium. The Mustangs have also won all four NCAA tournament meetings versus Cabrini.
With five assists, Dashiell tied the Stevenson NCAA tournament record held by Steve Kazimer who had five in a 19-9 victory over Cabrini on May 15, 2010. In 13 games in the NCAA tournament, Dashiell has totaled 32 points with 14 goals and 18 assists.
Dashiell tied his NCAA tournament high with six points, equaling the mark he had in an 18-6 win against Christopher Newport on May 8, 2013.
Meanwhile, Robinson had a goal, five ground balls and two caused turnovers, but his main contribution came in holding Corey Elmer, the leading scorer in Division III with 115 points, to just one assist.
In addition, Damian Sobieski, Cabrini's leading goal scorer with 73, was held scoreless until the 2:20 mark of the third quarter with
Stevenson holding its largest lead of the game, 12-3.
The Mustangs held the Cavaliers to their lowest goal total of the season despite being outshot in three of the game's four quarters,
including 25-16 in the first and third. Stevenson was also limited to just 1-for-12 on extra-man opoortunities.
Junior Josh Rufolo had three ground balls and three caused turnovers while senior Kyle Holechek had four ground balls and two caused
After scoring five goals in Wednesday's 18-4 win over Otterbein in the first round, junior Tony Rossi added four more on Saturday and now has 14 goals and 16 points in four career NCAA tournament games.
Senior Brent Hiken won 13-of-20 face-offs and totaled 11 ground balls while sophomore Dimitri Pecunes made 13 saves, two shy of his NCAA tournament high set versus RIT in the 2013 national championship game. Pecunes is now unbeaten in seven career starts in the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship.
Sobieski finished with four goals for Cabrini (17-2) while Mike Leyden and Evan Downey each had two goals and one assist. Hank Altschuler had seven saves in just under 50 minutes while Austin Marshall, who got the start, had four.
For the second-straight season, Stevenson will host in-state rival and sixth-ranked Washington College in the NCAA Division III Men's
Lacrosse Championship. Wednesday's quarterfinal contest is set for 7:00 p.m., at Mustang Stadium.
The Mustangs handed the Shoremen a 17-13 defeat a year ago in a game that featured 30 goals and 26 penalties. The game, which marked the first-ever meeting between the two teams since 2006, evened the all-time series at 5-5.


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Anyone want to tell Pestilence to buzz off so I can function enough to finish our Prophet?
Hi! Hope you guys don't mind if I join the party. I'm working on a medium.
*steals his ring and runs away with it*
Expressing some interest... Considering a Witch Sensitive working for/with the Demons -- maybe starting a cult dedicated to them or something. I'm a little iffy on the 'how.' I'd love a 'patron' amongst the Demons if possible.
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Joe Louis Fist
Morning Deliveries
Renissance Center Sunset Reflection
Let There Be Lights - Michigan Central Station
Joe Louis Arena - 25 Stanley Cup Playoffs
James Scott Memorial Fountain - Belle Isle
A photo of the historic James Scott Memorial Fountain located on Belle isle.
Winter at the Train Station
This image was taken in the winter of 2016 and features the Train Station filled with brand new windows as a part of the revitalization of the building.
Renaissance City
This image was taken in Spring of 2016 and features the GM Renaissance Center up close.
Joe Louis Arena
A shot of Gordie Howe Entrance of Joe Louis Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings since 1979
Comerica Park - Tiger
A shot of Comerica Park with the iconic Tiger out front.
Mighty Ambassador Bridge
This picture was taken in the Fall of 2015 looking east at the Ambassador Bridge located on the riverfront on Detroit's West Side.
Fox Theatre In A New Light
This photo was taken on Christmas Day 2015 and features the new LED lights on the front of the Fox Theatre located on Woodward.
Penobscot From The Guardian
This image was taken from the roof of The Guardian Building located in Downtown Detroit and features the Penobscot Building at sunset with The Book Tower in the background.
Rebirth Of MCS
This shot was taken in December of 2015, and is the first time the train station has been lit up since it's been abandoned.
Motor City Casino Sunset
Reflection At Sunset From Belle Isle
Taken in the summer of 2015 from "Sunset Pointe" at Belle Isle.
Moon Over Book Tower
This image was taken in Spring of 2016 looking up at the abandoned Book Tower on Washington Blvd in Detroit featuring the amazing architecture of the building with the moon shining above it.
Christmas In The D - Campus Martius 2015 (Horizontal)
Taken on Nov 20th, 2015 at the Detroit Christmas Tree Lighting taken place in Campus Martius Park in the heart of the city.
Renaissance Center At Night
Christmas In The D - Campus Martius 2015 (Vertical)
Amabssador Bridge At Sunset
This image features the Ambassador Bridge at Sunset with Zugg Island in the distance.
Renissance Center At Large
Sunset From Belle Isle
This was taken on one of the coldest nights of December 2015 from Belle Isle.
Book Tower Comes Back To Life
Close up shot of the Book Tower featuring brand new lights on the roof that have been installed due to the new rehab plans, and features the Renaissance Revival and Neoclassical architecture style.
MCS Windows
This image was taken as they were installing the new windows inside the abandoned Michigan Central Station.
Summer At The Renaissance Center
This image was taken in the Summer of 2015 and features the Iconic Renaissance Center with Windsor, Canada in the background.
Inside The Pontiac Silverdome
Taken in the summer of 2015 from the top row of bleachers in the abandoned Pontiac Silverdome, the home of the Detroit Lions from 1975 - 2001.
Welcome To Comerica Park
This image was taken in the Fall of 2015 and features the entrance to Comerica Park featuring the famous tiger that sits in front.
Detroit Sports
This image was taken in the Summer of 2016 and features Comerica Park, Home of the Detroit Tigers (Left) and Ford Field, Home of the Detroit Lions (Right).
Comerica Park
This image features the entrance to Comerica Park, the home of the Detroit Tigers.
MCS And The Ambassador
This image was taken from the roof of the CPA Building, which was the old bank across from the Train Station that was in operation with the train station.
Detroit Sports At Night
This image features Comerica Park Home of the Detroit Tigers (Left) and Ford Field, Home of the Detroit Lions (Right).
Book Tower Architecture
This image is a close up view of the iconic Book Tower that features the amazing Renaissance Revival and Neoclassical architecture that is unlike any other in the city.
Nights In Hart Plaza
This image was taken from Hart Plaza on February 2nd 2016 and features the One Woodward building (Middle), Detroit One Center (Right) and the Penobscot building in the background.
Belle Isle Nights
This image was taken in the winter of 2016 from Belle Isle Beach and looks over the Detroit River, The MacArthur Bridge, with the Detroit Skyline and the Ambassador bridge in the background.


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...generates XPaths while browsing or inspecting HTML/XML/*ML documents; evaluates your XPaths and inspects the results; extracts the content.
New version 1.4.5 avaiable on Feb 17th 2010. Firefox 3.6 compatible.
The XPather is a simple Firefox extension that integrates both with the browser and its DOMInspector. Thus, is't very lightweight and cross-platform. It is valuable mainly as a web/XML-app development and hacking tool.
Common Use-cases
- HTML, XML, *ML - DOM tree navigation, XPath generation
- Document debugging
- XPath testing and evaluation
- Simple data extraction (textual, web-clipping)
- Pattern recognition, searching
Get v1.4.5!
See details (28 kB)
- DOMInspector navigation toolbar
- Customizable XPath generation
- XPath evaluation
- XPath/Regexp syntax checking
- Feature rich XPath Browser
- Relative XPath support
- Frames, IFrames support
- Cross-frame XPath evaluation (NEW)
- Namespaces and default namespaces support (NEW)
- Cheatsheet
- Optional RegExp content matching
- Content extraction tool (text, HTML, WebClip, ...)
- Accessible from DOMi, or browser context menu
You may want to read some user comments and ratings of the XPather on the Mozilla official extensions repository - addons.mozilla.org.
Find a brief kick-off tutorial and the complete documentation in the documentation section.


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Kurt Nimmo
January 11, 2012
Guns and large soda drinks are just the beginning. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has once again extended the reach of the state, this time outlawing the use of painkillers.
The edict from on-high restricts or eliminates the use of the most common painkillers in New York City's public hospitals. Bloomberg has declared the move is his government's response to a national epidemic of prescription drug abuse.
"Abuse of prescription painkillers in our city has increased alarmingly," Bloomberg said from a lectern at Elmhurst Hospital Center, a public hospital in Queens.
According to the New York Times, public hospital patients will be limited to three days' worth of drugs such as Vicodin and Percocet. OxyContin, Fentanyl patches and methadone will disappear entirely.
Despite the fact Bloomberg and his commissars lack the regulatory authority to impose the new guidelines on private hospitals, several said they would voluntarily adopt the "legislative medicine" measure.
The end result is plainly visible – from now on in New York City, the government will decide what level of pain is acceptable for patients at both public and private hospitals.
Michael Bloomberg believes the government and its sprawling and ineffectual bureaucracy is far better suited to make patient decisions than doctors and medical professionals. Bloomberg's soda ban and his vendetta against law-abiding firearms owners once again reveals the insatiable drive of government to micromanage and control all aspects of human behavior and further extend its reach into the private affairs of citizen-subjects.
The Reopen America Back to School Special is now live! Earn double Patriot Points on our hottest items!


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Welson bass from 1962. According to Fetish Guitars, "...the trade name Welson belonged to a Castelfidardo-based accordion making company founded by Orlando Quagliardi in 1921." They may seem somewhat eccentric nowadays, but the pushbutton pickup selection switches and the roller volume and tone controls and typical for Italian guitars of this period.
For more information see: www.fetishguitars.com/index/welson.html
G L Wilson
Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!
1962 Welson bass
12:08 PM | Labels: bass, Italian guitars, vintage guitars, Welson
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Top flight deals to Guangzhou (CAN)*
Fly to Guangzhou with KLM
Together with our global network, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines offers flights to Guangzhou, serving Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN). The Chinese newspapers and delicious Chinese food on board will get you in the mood for your trip.
Top Guangzhou attractions
- Guangzhou Sculpture Park: a cultural theme park with a collection of magnificent sculptures.
- Sunflower Garden: an ecological park centred around sunflowers.
- Chimelong Paradise: an amusement park with safari tours and water slides, among other attractions.
- Huaisheng Mosque: one of the oldest mosques in the world, with interesting architectural features.
- Museum of the Western Han Dynasty Mausoleum of the Nanyue King: the final resting place of Nanyue King Zhao Mo, who ruled China from 137 BC to 122 BC.
What's the best way to get around Guangzhou?
While the city might seem eternally busy – it does have a population of over 12 million people – it's fairly easy to travel around Guangzhou. There is a very elaborate but easy-to-navigate Metro system, as well as both regular bus services and a Bus Rapid Transit System which connect all areas of the bustling city. If you're staying in Guangzhou for an extended period of time, it's best to get a multi-purpose Ling Nan Tong - Yang Cheng Tong value card which allows you to pay for travel on the metro, bus and local ferries. As a bonus, you can also use it to pay for public phones and vending machines and for transactions in certain shops.
What's the weather in Guangzhou?
You won't notice the seasons changing much in Guangzhou, as the weather stays warm and humid throughout the year. However, there will be small amounts of frost and snow during the winter months. The weather is at its best from late September to early December. If you go to Guangzhou in July or August, brace yourself for heat. These months tend to see at least 40 days when it's above 30°C (86°F).
Weather in Guangzhou
Powered by: OpenWeatherMap.org
31 °CFriday14/08/2020
33 °CSaturday15/08/2020
34 °CSunday16/08/2020
33 °CMonday17/08/2020
30 °CTuesday18/08/2020
33 °CWednesday19/08/2020
35 °CThursday20/08/2020
*All amounts are in EUR. Taxes and surcharges are included. No booking fee is applicable, but a payment surcharge may apply. Prices shown may vary depending on fare availability. You will see the final amount when selecting your payment method.


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You are here
Overview of Changes in the 2009 World Languages Standards
Principles of the Standards Review Process
The Colorado Model Content Standards revision process was informed by these guiding principles:
- Begin with the end in mind; define what prepared graduates need to be successful using 21st century skills in our global economy.
- Align K-12 standards with early childhood expectations and higher education.
- Change is necessary.
- Standards will be deliberately designed for clarity, rigor, and coherence.
- There will be fewer, higher, and clearer standards.
- Standards will be actionable.
Notable Changes to the Colorado Model Content Standards in World Languages
The most evident change to the Colorado standards is replacing grade-band standards (K-4, 5-8, and 9-12) with range level expectations. These are explained here in addition to other changes that are apparent upon comparison between the current world languages standards and the proposed changes.
- World languages versus foreign language. The current Colorado Model Content Standards in foreign language have been revised and renamed World Languages. The World Languages Subcommittee explains that world languages is a term that connotes an international, focus encouraging students to become competitive citizens of the world.
- Impact of standards articulation by grade range. The original Colorado Model Content Standards for world languages were designed to provide districts with benchmarks of learning for grades 4, 8, and 12. The standards revision subcommittee was charged with providing more of a specific learning trajectory of concepts and skills across range levels, from early school readiness to postsecondary preparedness. Articulating standards by range level from novice-low to intermediate-mid in each area affords greater specificity (clearer standards) in describing the learning path across levels (higher standards), while focusing on a few key ideas at each grade level (fewer standards).
- Standards are written for mastery. The proposed revisions to standards define mastery of concepts and skills. Mastery means that a student has facility with a skill or concept in multiple contexts. This is not an indication that instruction on a grade level expectation begins and only occurs at that grade level. Maintenance of previously mastered concepts and skills and scaffolding for future learning are the domains of curriculum and instruction, not standards.
- Intentional integration of technology use. The proposed revisions to standards encourage using appropriate technology to allow students access to concepts and skills in ways that mirror the 21st century workplace.
- Intentional opportunities for integration. The subcommittees in world languages worked within content area and also within multi-content area grade level groups. The purpose was to create a viable document for P-12 to provide a long-range, sequential program. In addition, the subcommittees were focused on the consolidation of standards.


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Please use the form below to request your report.
Securities and Investment Advisory services are offered through NEXT Financial Group, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. None of the named entities are affiliated with NEXT Financial Group, Inc. To view NEXT Financial Group's privacy policy and other important information, visit the "Customer's" section of nextfinancial.com. NEXT Financial Group, Inc. does not offer legal or tax advice. This firm is not a CPA firm.
Investment products and services available only to residents of: CA, CT, FL, HI, IL, LA, MA, MD, NY, OH, TX, & VA. Insurance products and services available only to residents of: MD, OH, and TX.


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Woman Sues Police After Her Breast Blows Up!
"A North Texas woman who says a Pantego police officer caused her breast implants to rupture during an arrest is suing the town. Rebecca Van Hooser said the officer threw her against her car when he arrested her during a traffic stop on Bowen Road. The Pantego officer pulled her over on a headlight violation and arrested her after learning she had a warrant for an unpaid speeding ticket" - 5 News. Submitted by @BOBBYTHEBLUE
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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Penguin Days enable local non-profit organizations to explore the range of issues and options involved using Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS).
Upcoming Penguin Days
Penguin Day San Francisco 2012
Join us on April 6, 2012, at The Women's Building in the Mission District!
Register Now! Registration scholarships are available, Contact Us!
Check out the latest agenda and let us know what else you want to see on there!
Penguin Day San Francisco is sponsored by Mozilla and co-organized with PICnet, NOSI, and CiviCRM.
Organize a Penguin Day!
If you'd like to organize a Penguin Day in your town, feel free to contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Like the demise of Blockbuster, the surprise with the news that Marketing is likely to go monthly is more in the fact that it hadn't closed years ago.
That a weekly controlled circulation title has survived this far into the decade deserves some sort of award, but at least we will now all be spared dozens of poly wrapped magazines clogging up the post room because they are addressed to people who left the company years previously.
Haymarket have not yet confirmed that Marketing will change frequency, but if by the end of 2013 either it or Centaur's Marketing Week are still publishing every week, I'll eat my sporran. The bigger question really is whether they will still be publishing at all.


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Twenty per cent of female students say they have experienced bullying, while a shocking 54% suffered sexual discrimination at university
International students in education, year-out students and Part 2 architectural assistants make up almost a third of all respondents to the survey. Of these, 79 per cent are women and 93 per cent under the age of 30.
Despite being at the start of their architectural careers, 54 per cent of all female students say they have suffered some form of sexual discrimination. Thirty per cent say they have suffered or witnessed sexual discrimination monthly or quarterly, with 11 per cent experiencing sexual discrimination on a weekly or daily basis – the same level as reported by women architects around the globe.
The number of female student respondents who say they have been bullied at architecture school is also on the rise. Twenty per cent say they have experienced bullying – up five points on last year.
Citing the demands of the profession, long hours, and the lack of affordable childcare amongst the reasons, a shocking 88 per cent of female student respondents think having children puts women at a disadvantage in architecture. Just 3 per cent of women students have children.
However, female students are optimistic about the future, with 64 per cent believing opportunities for women within the profession are on the rise. But they still think there is plenty of room for improvement – 82 per cent say the industry is too heavily male-dominated.
More than half (51 per cent) of female students think economic downturns are likely to be harder on women architects. When it comes to recommending the profession, 58 per cent of male architects who responded to the survey say they would encourage a woman to start a career in architecture. But less than half of women respondents (49 per cent) agree.
Does the current system of architectural training disadvantage women?
Women students respond:
'Women don't get enough experience out of university before they want to start to have a family.'
'Women are less competitive and architecture school is an ego-machine between both students and tutors.'
'There aren't enough women teaching – it is very male dominated.'
'The education system breeds a belief in 'doing it for the love' – that it is acceptable to work incredibly hard and not be paid properly for it. This works against women from the moment we graduate – low pay, poor job opportunities, a need to work very late to prove yourself. The competitiveness of this attitude is macho and suited to men far more than women.'
'Many male students at university had first-hand construction experience from working on building sites that a female student would not have had the opportunity to gain.'
'Women architects are never discussed or celebrated in school. It is almost perceived as a negative to be a woman in architecture. Graduating young women are headed into an industry that is still dominated by 'the old boys club'.'
'Women do well in school. It is when faced with the challenges of corporate employment that they suffer.'
'The education is far too long, only a few years after graduating you are at an age where it is normal to have a family. In this short amount of time it is difficult to establish a career and permanent role within a company.'
'The length of study puts many women off finishing it.'
About the survey
More people than ever completed this year's AJ Women in Architecture online survey: 926 respondents took part – 710 women and 216 men.
Fifty-three per cent of all those who responded to the survey are architects, but it was also filled out by developers, PRs, consultants, structural engineers, quantity surveyors, academics and students, giving a broad insight into the way women are perceived across the industry.
The respondents are predominantly young – 80 per cent are under 40. Half of these are architects, including associates, directors, partners and sole practitioners. More than a third are students.
Of the architects who responded, almost a third are based in London; 24 per cent are in the rest of England, 8 per cent in Scotland, less than 1 per cent in Wales, 2 per cent in Northern Ireland, and 4 per cent are based in the rest of Europe.
Interestingly, the number of respondents completing the survey in the USA has increased sixfold, from just four per cent in 2013 to nearly a quarter – 24 per cent of responses – this year. The increase is likely linked to the impact of Denise Scott Brown's interview with the AJ last year, which sparked international coverage of the petition to have Scott Brown retroactively included in her partner Robert Venturi's 1991 Pritzker Prize win.
This survey, now in its third year, is a vital part of the AJ's on-going campaign to raise the status and profile of women in architecture. The data, collected annually, allows the AJ to track progress in perception, equal pay and position over time. The survey also informs the Women in Architecture campaign's focus for the coming year in response to concerns shared by women in the industry.
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Alanson Burton Walker was a very successful magazine cartoonist working at the beginning of 20th century. His work was much in demand and he drew for all the important magazines of the time–Life, Harper's, Atlantic Monthly, Saturday Evening Post, Judge and Collier's–where he created gentle, wry cartoons on issues of the day.
Walker was born in Binghampton, New York on November 19, 1878, attended Buffalo Central High School, and later Rochester University from which he graduated in 1897. He spent the next four years taking classes at the Art Students League in New York, studying under Frank Vincent DuMond. His brother William H. Walker, also a cartoonist, became the chief editorial cartoonist for Life at the end of the 1890s. Both brothers lived and worked in Flushing, New York. A. B. Walker died of a heart attack while shoveling snow on January 22, 1947.
Most of the work on display dates from 1909-1913 and was created by Walker while he was in his early thirties. All were drawn for Harper's Magazine and focus on topics of the time: changes in transportation (automobiles and aeronautics); observations on women and women's suffrage; and love and marriage. Walker's work captures the preoccupations of early 20th century life with wit and charm. His cartoons, with their fluid lines and gentle humor, remain as pleasing to us today as they were to the audience he created them for a century ago.
These cartoons form part of the International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection and were donated by A. B. Walker's son and his wife, Keith and Mary Lou Walker.
Curated by Lucy Shelton Caswell, Professor Emerita, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and Ann Lennon, Project Registrar, International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection.
This is our second-to-last show in our current space, and will be on view until April 26th.
We hope you will come by and check it out!


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Thorogood Commando Boots
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Can anyone help me with frame sizing advice.
I am 5'10" and would like to buy a new wilson carbon frame.
I have looked at Devinci's website for sizing info and looked at the sizing of my current bike (Yeti 303rdh). Also looked at the frame sizing of other bike makes.
My problem is they all vary. I have read the 2012 bike medium came up small. Also a UK seller who listed the new medium being the same as last years large bike (although frame sizing chart does look like that is the case)!
So a bit confused by it all. Of cause at £2600 for the frame I want the size to be correct.
Any help from your experience would be great. Thanks


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A Conversation about Adobe Youth Voices, Part 2
Our recent conversation with Miguel Salinas, senior manager of Adobe Youth Voices, continues today with the second of a two-part series.
Whether or not you're already familiar with Adobe Youth Voices – which focuses on empowering youth around the globe with 21st century tools to communicate their ideas, exhibit their potential, and take action in their communities – we think you'll find this conversation interesting and hopefully inspiring.
Today, Miguel discusses:
- 0:05 – A collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education
- 1:15 – His most memorable experience managing Adobe Youth Voices
- 2:20 – What the future holds for the program
If you haven't already, check out the first part of our conversation with Miguel here.
You can learn more about and stay in touch with the Adobe Youth Voices program by following the team on Twitter @AdobeYV.
And stay in touch with all things Adobe Government by following us @AdobeGov.


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Director Peter Berg looks to finally have found that last piece of the puzzle for his Lone Survivor cast. Based on the non-fiction book by Marcus Luttrell, Lone Survivor tells the harrowing story of a Navy SEAL team's fight to stay alive during a Taliban ambush in the midst of their 2005 mission to kill a terrorist leader in Afghanistan. Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, and Ben Foster are already set to star, and now Variety reports that Emile Hirsch is in early talks to take the final lead role in the pic.
Though I didn't dislike Berg's latest directorial effort (Battleship) near as much as many others, I'm hoping that Lone Survivor gives him the chance to really flaunt his skill for capturing drama in an incredibly realistic manner. Hit the jump to read a synopsis for the book.
Here's the synopsis for Marcus Luttrell's Lone Survivor:
Four US Navy SEALS departed one clear night in early July 2005 for the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border for a reconnaissance mission. Their task was to document the activity of an al Qaeda leader rumored to be very close to Bin Laden with a small army in a Taliban stronghold. Five days later, only one of those Navy SEALS made it out alive.
This is the story of the only survivor of Operation Redwing, SEAL fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, and the extraordinary firefight that led to the largest loss of life in American Navy SEAL history. His squadmates fought valiantly beside him until he was the only one left alive, blasted by an RPG into a place where his pursuers could not find him. Over the next four days, terribly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell crawled for miles through the mountains and was taken in by sympathetic villagers who risked their lives to keep him safe from surrounding Taliban warriors.
A born and raised Texan, Marcus Luttrell takes us from the rigors of SEAL training, where he and his fellow SEALs discovered what it took to join the most elite of the American special forces, to a fight in the desolate hills of Afghanistan for which they never could have been prepared. His account of his squadmates' heroism and mutual support renders an experience that is both heartrending and life-affirming. In this rich chronicle of courage and sacrifice, honor and patriotism, Marcus Luttrell delivers a powerful narrative of modern war.


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One man was smoking a cigar Saturday night on a bench in the Streeterville neighborhood when his evening was interrupted by a group of young men who robbed and beat him. Another man was parking his motor scooter outside Northwestern University's downtown campus when the same group apparently made him their next victim, police said.
Police believe the group of about 15 to 20 youths in their mid- to late teens also was responsible for two more attacks moments later along the lakefront.
At least seven people thought to be part of the group were arrested Saturday in connection with the robberies and mob action, a crime that has become a problem in Streeterville, the Gold Coast and the Magnificent Mile, authorities said.
Five youths were charged early Monday in connection with a series of robbery events that occurred about 8:30 p.m. Saturday in the area of the Chicago Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, police said.
Dvonte Sykes, 17, of the 7500 block of South Normal Avenue was charged with two felony counts of robbery and one count of mob action violence to person and property.
Two 16-year-old boys also were charged in a juvenile delinquency petition for the same incident. One boy was charged with a felony count of robbery and one count of mob action violence to person and property, police said. The other boy was charged with one count of misdemeanor theft, control of stolen property of less than $300 and mob action. The youths were not named because they are juveniles.
Two other youths, Trovolus Pickett, 17 and Derodte Wright, 18, were charged in connection with a robbery on the 300 block of East Chicago Avenue, police said.
Pickett of the 8400 block of South Dorchester Avenue was charged with three felony counts of robbery, this includes the robbery committed on the North Lake Shore Drive. Wright of the 3500 block of South State Street was charged with one count of felony robbery for the incident on East Chicago Avenue, police said.
In mid-May, Chicago police started implementing strategies to address mob action incidents, which are often coordinated via text messages or social networking websites, in downtown and neighborhoods near it. Police said the youths in many cases come downtown using mass transit.
Police, however, have stressed that this phenomenon, involving large groups of teens, is not unique to Chicago. Philadelphia has had problems with mobs of teenagers, who also used social networking technology, assaulting pedestrians and vandalizing property since at least last year, according to media reports.
The latest incidents in Chicago apparently started about 8:20 p.m. Saturday, when a 68-year-old man from Washington state was sitting on a bench smoking a cigar in the 300 block of East Chicago Avenue as the young men approached, authorities said. The group beat him, robbed him of an iPad and BlackBerry and fled the scene, authorities said.
What authorities believe was the same group also approached a 34-year-old man as he parked his motor scooter outside a building on Northwestern's downtown campus along East Chicago Avenue, just west of Lake Shore Drive. One of the males in that group threw a baseball at the victim's face and knocked him to the ground, and several others allegedly punched and hit him multiple times.
Authorities said the group attacked two more men moments later on a nearby bicycle path. One was a 42-year-old man visiting from Japan, who was beaten up and had his iPod stolen from him. The other was a man in his 20s who was punched and had his bike, wallet and iPhone taken.
None of the victims was seriously hurt.
On Sunday afternoon, the buzzing of a Chicago police helicopter flying back and forth along Lake Michigan could be heard nearby at Lake Shore Park, at Chicago Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. Police also said they are monitoring surveillance cameras on Michigan and Chicago avenues, State Street and the beaches.
Nellie Maldonado and her boyfriend, Pete Tirado, who operates a hot dog stand outside the park's field house, said that during the weekdays they have seen packs of 10 or more teens occupy the benches several feet away from where Tirado sets up shop. The way they talk and how they dress, Tirado said, makes it appear as if they were part of a street gang.
"When I see these (benches) get loaded with (those teens), I pick up and leave," said Tirado, who also had his stand at the same spot last year.
Tirado and Maldonado were working at the stand Saturday, but they left during the afternoon thunderstorm. They said they heard on Sunday about at least one of the attacks from customers.
"I'm not going to run away from here, but I don't stay after a certain time," said Tirado, who added he usually leaves the park around 7:30 p.m. at the latest.
Other recent mob actions downtown include one in April, when a group of about 70 youths stormed a McDonald's restaurant at State Street and Chicago Avenue and created a disturbance. The restaurant was closed for nearly three hours.
In February, Loyola University Chicago warned its Water Tower campus students and staffers about "flash mob offenders" who would exit from Chicago Avenue's CTA Red Line station and allegedly steal items from retail stores around the campus.
Although there were reports of violent disturbances on North Avenue Beach on Memorial Day, acting police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters later in the week that the beach was closed early because overcrowding made it difficult for ambulances to respond to people on the beach suffering from heat exhaustion.
Saturday's attacks happened in the Near North Police District, which includes areas of downtown such as Streeterville, the Gold Coast and the Magnificent Mile.
Crime statistics for those particular portions of the district weren't immediately available. But districtwide numbers show there were 141 robberies between January and the end of April, compared with 128 during the same time period the year before.
Although police have said retail theft was down by nearly 2 percent in the district between January and the end of April, there was an increase of at least 10 percent in juvenile shoplifting arrests.
Police and merchants stepped up security efforts after a rash of youth shoplifting incidents in February, said John Chikow, president of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association. Chikow said police and individual merchants are monitoring social networking sites, the lines of communication apparently used by some teens to coordinate mobs.
"The best indicator that the police are doing their job and the community is reporting the incidents is an uptick (in arrests)," Chikow said.
From inside his newsstand on the corner of Chicago and Michigan, Jignesh Moodi said he has watched teen shoplifters apparently coordinating group assaults on stores via cellphone.
"They're on their phones and you see one outside say, 'Go!' and the ones inside grab stuff and run out," Moodi said. "They try to run up and take my magazines."
Pausing from passing out fliers for a discount men's store in the 400 block of North Michigan on Sunday, Joseph Reyes recalled being roughed up by a mob of about a dozen teens in October while he was wearing a gorilla suit to promote a Halloween store. Similar groups tried to shoplift from the store, prompting owners to hire private security.
"I'm from a bad neighborhood, and these kids are from some messed-up neighborhoods," Reyes said. "This is the best part of the city. This is our bread and butter. Why would you want to mess that up?"
Skyes, Pickett and Wright are scheduled to appear in bond court later Monday.
Tribune reporters Andrew L. Wang and Caroline Kyungae Smith contributed.


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'Catching Fire' wins best film at MTV Movie Awards
LOS ANGELES — Fast and loose and all over the place.
That was the vibe of Sunday's MTV Movie Awards, a blockbuster-friendly awards show with winners selected by fan votes.
Dystopian fiction ruled the night, with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire taking home the ceremony's biggest award: movie of the year.
Star Josh Hutcherson took a moment to thank the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, who played Plutarch Heavensbee in the franchise. "I know if Philip were here he would think this was really cool," said Hutcherson. "We think about him every day on set."
Jared Leto continued his winning streak for Dallas Buyers Club, picking up an award for best onscreen transformation. Like many attendees, Leto arrived in the nick of time from the Coachella music festival.
"Is anyone going back to Coachella? Because I need a ride back," he said. How has life changed since winning at the Oscars? "Robert Redford called me the other day," he said backstage, saying the legendary actor and director gave him some advice.
Earlier, Hutcherson had made another appearance onstage, winning best male performance for Catching Fire, and Jonah Hill took home best comedic performance for Wolf of Wall Street. "I used to watch this awards show at home with all my friends," said Hill, grasping his golden popcorn.
The best villain even turned green. "I just realized I was the only woman nominated. And I won!" said Mila Kunis, who earned the award for her Wicked Witch in Oz: The Great and Powerful. The engaged star covered up her small baby bump in a short black dress with a drop waist.
The best shirtless prize went to Zac Efron, who attempted to pick up the award fully clothed, until presenter Rita Ora ripped his denim shirt open to reveal his killer six-pack.
And, as always, the ever popular "Best Kiss" and "Best Fight" categories reigned.
"I've combined them into one amazing award!" said host Conan O'Brien in his opening monologue, rolling a sequence of himself and Will Arnett fighting while blowing kisses to each other.
The real best kiss went to the stars of We're the Millers. Young star Will Poulter accepted the statue for his double makeout with Jennifer Aniston and Emma Roberts. "Dating two women is hard," he cracked, while pretending to get a stern text from Aniston.
And best fight? That honor went to Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly, who fought the Orcs in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Onstage, Bloom thanked the real Orcs: the stunt men and women "inside each of those gnarly, sweaty, dirty latex suits."
O'Brien made sure to continuously tip his hat to the MTV generation, even inviting Grumpy Cat to sit in the first row. "(He's) asleep. A human being is performing for a sleeping pet," said O'Brien in disdain. "This is the end of civilization as we know it."
The host also threatened to play long speechmakers off — not with music, but with nude selfies of himself — and debuted Oscar-winning Vines.
"If you didn't have time to see the big movies we're celebrating here tonight … we've distilled them down to six-second Vine videos," he said, rolling truncated versions of Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle.
During the two-hour show, Rihanna and Eminem performed their hit Monster together, a humble Channing Tatum picked up the MTV Trailblazer Award and Mark Wahlberg scored the MTV Generation Award. "This is the 'you're too old to come back award,'" the Transformers star joked. "But you know what? It was a great run."


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Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood was arrested for allegedly assaulting his 21-year-old girlfriend in England last night, according to reports.
The 62-year-old rocker was released from jail after he posted bail, Sky News reported.
Wood has been involved with Russian gal pal Ekaterina Ivanova since the pair met last year at a London club where the then-20-year-old busty blonde stunner was working as a cocktail waitress, according to Sky News.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
Wood split from his wife of 24 years last year. The pair has two children together.
Ivanova told Grazia magazine in February that she wanted to start a family with the rock legend.
"Maybe it would be nice, but not for at least 10 years," she said. "I'm young, so I definitely don't want a baby yet. And Ronnie's a great dad, but I don't know if he'd want any more."
A rep from the band told Fox News that the Stones would not be releasing a statement but confirmed Woods had been arrested, according to Fox.


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COVID 19 UPDATE: We are pleased to announce that all 15 PMT Stores across the UK are Covid Secure and are now open. MORE INFO.
The philosophy of Eastcoast is simple - cheap guitars for any budget that don't compromise on quality, reliability or comfort.
Following a change to the design, parts and manufacturing process, Eastcoast Guitars have come a long way since their establishment back in 1991. Now hand-picked by a panel of industry experts, the new Eastcoast Guitar design makes use of premium tonewoods, pickups and hardware that rival some of the 'industry-standard' Guitar brand names.
Eastcoast guitars and basses make great beginner guitars and gifts for musicians. They are frequently featured in our 'cheap guitars that don't suck' blogs as they never fail to impress. Each Eastcoast instrument comes pre-checked by our in-house luthiers, set-up and tuned, ready to play straight out the box. Eastcoast Guitars feature comfortable shaped necks, contoured bodies and great shaped necks, helping to encourage a positive learning experience which then pushes players to continue on their musical journey.
Eastcoast guitars also appeal to more experienced players as well thanks to the combination of high-quality pickups, high construction standards and superb tone woods. These factors, combined with the low price tag, make Eastcoast guitars a great choice for players in need of a new option for recording, a 2nd guitar for touring, or just another addition to the arsenal.
While many of these Electric body shapes and designs may draw inspiration from some iconic solid-body and semi-hollow axes, everything about Eastcoast Guitars are designed to make life easy for beginners. With super-hot pickups, solid tuning stability and easy playability, you'll want to keep picking these up and playing. The Eastcoast GK20 is the mini-strat style guitar with a 3/4 size body and scale, making it perfect for a younger child's first guitar aged 8-15. Also check out the Eastcoast GS100, the full-size version with double-cutaway body and single-coil pickups. The GS100 is available in several colours - Black, Red and Arctic White. Priced less than £100, these are by far some of the best bang-for-your-buck Electric Guitars we've ever had through our doors!
The Eastcoast MKOA and MKOA-E Electro Acoustic guitars are some of the best value Acoustic instruments we've ever had in at PMT. All-Koa bodies, Fishman Pickup. Eastcoast have also put their name to a superb guitar amplifier - the G10R. A stunning little 10w portable home practice amp that is perfect for pairing with any Eastcoast Electric or Electro-Acoustic Guitar.
Eastcoast guitars offer exceptional value for money and uncompromising performance at a budget-friendly price tag. Their range of cheap Electric Guitars, Acoustic Guitars, Basses, and other instruments have been designed to offer new musicians rugged tools that will last a lifetime.
Find a full range of Eastcoast guitars at your local PMT Music Store - With over 200 in-store experts across the UK, we're always on hand to help you find the right guitar to fit your style and budget. Whether it's your first guitar or your 50th, there's a diverse range of Eastcoast guitars to suit you.


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Kali Kash (Ft. E-40) - She Got Cake [User Submitted]
Bookings: twitter: @thecreamery487
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Garett Jones - Economist at George Mason University. You can follow him on Twitter: @GarettJones
According to the arcane conventions of economic statistics, a "consumer durable" is any physical product that lasts longer than three years: cars, fridges, computers (Strangely, Levi's don't count as a durable).
Normal economics has two pieces of advice about how to buy consumer durables:
1. Buy them when interest rates are low (cheaper to borrow the money; and you weren't going to earn anything at the bank anyway).
2. Don't buy them when your income takes a one-time hit (if the 'crops' have been bad the last few years--like they've been since the Great Recession--it's best to focus on buying things that get used up: food, haircuts, doctor visits; you can keep driving the Corolla).
Recessions are times when 1 and 2 usually push in opposite directions, but in practice 2 wins the battle: Durable purchases collapse in a recession.
But the idea of a durable is more important than any official definition: And memory, wholly intangible, is quite durable.
People often shrink from driving to a distant, promising restaurant, flying to a new country, trying a new sport--it's a hassle, and the experience won't last that long. That's the wrong way to look at it. When you go bungee jumping, you're not buying a brief experience: You're buying a memory, one that might last even longer than a good pair of blue jeans.
Psych research seems to bear this out: People love looking forward to vacations, they don't like the vacation that much while they're on it, and then they love the memories. Most of the joy--the utility in econospeak--happens when you're not having the experience.
Vacation purchases jump around just the way you'd expect if they were a durable: People spend a lot less on them during recessions, about 15% less in the Great Recession. Food spending, by contrast, only fell 5%.
So people treat memories somewhat like durables, but most of us could do a better job of it. Yes, it'll be a hassle to find that riad in Marrakech when your GPS fails you, but complaining about it with your sibling years later will be a ton of fun. Get on with it.
A corollary: if memory really is a durable, then you should buy a lot of it when you're young. That'll give you more years to enjoy your purchase.
So it's worth a bit of suffering to create some good memories, since the future lasts a lot longer than the present. Bob Hope and Shirley Ross figured this out, reminiscing over their failed marriage:
And thanks for the memory
Of sunburns at the shore, nights in Singapore
You might have been a headache but you never were a bore
So thank you so much.
Yes, it's only a song from a movie. But it's pretty good social science.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to email@example.com.


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Located in the Historic Brady Arts District, Hey Mambo is a true brick oven Italian restaurant and wine bar where the
control of the dining experience is placed firmly in your
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charming and timely service in a modern and vibrant atmo-
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Also let Hey Mambo cater you next event with a wide range of options to choice from!


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AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 Ashtabula County, OH Medicare Advantage Plan
AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 2020 Medicare Advantage HMO Plan for Ashtabula County, OH
AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 is a Medicare Advantage plan, from UnitedHealthcare, that's available to Medicare beneficiaries living in Ashtabula County, Ohio.
- It's a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) health plan.
- It includes a prescription drug plan.
- It has the same health insurance benefits as Original Medicare.
- It offers extras that Medicare does not cover.
- The maximum out-of-pocket cost with this plan is $3,900 .
- The monthly premium is $21.00 (plus your Part B premium).
AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 vs. Traditional Medicare in Ashtabula County
This HMO plan replaces your Medicare coverage with managed care in Ashtabula County. If you enroll in AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 you agree to let UnitedHealthcare manage your Medicare benefits, including:
- Medicare Part A (hospital insurance).
- Medicare Part B (medical insurance).
- Medicare Part D (prescription drug coverage).
- Additional benefits included in the plan not covered by Medicare.
The benefit of an HMO plan, like AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1, is predictable out-of-pocket expenses. Although more restrictive than Original Medicare, HMOs limit your annual out-of-pocket costs. With traditional Medicare there's no cap, leaving you vulnerable to excessive medical bills.
AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 Review
These are the areas of the plan that are important to compare and review:
- Premium: This is the amount you will pay monthly, above and beyond your Medicare Part B.
- Maximum-Out-Of-Pocket (MOOP): This is the most you will pay for co-pays and co-insurance before the plan pays 100%.
- CMS Ratings: Important measurements across 9 different areas that will help you understand how well this plan will care for you.
- Prescription Coverage: Medications are expensive, so you'll want to know how this plan covers your prescriptions.
- Co-pays & Co-insurance: If you see the doctor regularly, including specialists, you need to know what you'll pay for each visit.
IMPORTANT: With an HMO you are required to use healthcare providers in the plan's network. If you don't you will incur additional costs. Also, be aware that your primary care physician must refer you before you can see a specialist.
CRITICAL: AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 includes a Medicare Drug Plan which has its own deductible and co-pays. If you have regular prescriptions, make sure they are covered at a favorable price before you join this plan. Prescription drug plans vary significantly by plan. Make sure you have the best coverage.
How Much Does AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 Cost?
The premium on this plan is $21.00 per month. That includes your prescription drugs, as well. Plus, you must continue to pay your monthly Medicare Part B premium. Co-payments and/or co-insurances also apply with most healthcare services, except preventive care mandated by CMS (see H5253-050 Summary of Benefits below).
Although the health plan itself does not have a deductible, the prescription drug plan does. It's $150.00 per year. That means you pay 100% of your prescription costs until you've spent $150.00, then the plan will begin paying it's share.
IMPORTANT: When evaluating this plan, look past the monthly premium. Identify the costs of the healthcare services you use most. Only then will you uncover the plan's value for your personal situation.
What is the Maximum Out-of-Pocket (MOOP) Limit?
Unlike Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans must set an annual Maximum Out-of-Pocket limit on inpatient and outpatient healthcare services. The AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 plan MOOP is $3,900 . Once you reach this amount of spending on your co-payments, all of your Medicare Part A and Part B services will be covered at no additional charge.
Plans can set their MOOP at a voluntary level of $0 to $3,400 (for in-network services) or a mandatory $3,401 to $6,700 (in-network). Combined totals for in-network and out-of-network are generally higher.
NOTE: MOOP does not include what you spend on monthly premiums. It also does not apply to your prescription drugs or Part D deductible.
CRITICAL: It is important to evaluate the combined annual MA/MAPD premiums and MOOP versus what you might expect to pay for a Medicare Supplement in Ashtabula County. Some Medicare Supplements offer less overall financial risk than Medicare Advantage.
Medicare 5-Star Ratings
In this section we show you the quality rating for this UnitedHealthcare plan. Each year CMS rates health plans (Part C) in five broad categories and drug plans (Part D) in four broad categories. We do not recommend joining a plan with an overall rating less than 3.0. The following marks will give you an idea of the level of care you will receive if you join this health plan.
Does AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 include Medicare Part D?
This plan includes prescription drug coverage (Medicare Part D). If you have regular prescriptions, it's critical that you evaluate your costs using the plan's formulary.
In addition to the monthly premium and Part D deductible, the drug plan has copayments (fixed dollar amount) and/or coinsurances (percentage) that you must pay when you pickup your medications. Here's the drug coverage schedule for this plan:
How Much are the Copays & Co-Insurance?
In this Summary of Benefits section we outline high-level information about the plan's co-payment and co-insurance costs for inpatient, outpatient, preventive care, transportation and other healthcare services. For complete details or assistance call: 1-855-266-4865.
AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 vs. Medigap
To compare AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 with a Medigap plan (Medicare supplemental insurance), you need to evaluate your healthcare and financial needs. Look at the total potential cost with each plan type, not just the monthly premium, and choose how you want to use medical care (locally or nationally).
To help you make a better decision, we created our How-to Choose the Best Medicare Plan guide. It will help you understand how to compare AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 with Medicare Supplement plans in Ohio.
Contact UnitedHealthcare
For more information about this plan, call the Enrollment Assistance line, or visit the Enrollment Website or the plan website:
For assistance 24 hours a day, call 800-633-4227. TTY users should call 877-486-2048. If you qualify for Medicare but have not yet enrolled or verified your enrollment status, you can do so on the Social Security Administration website. You can learn more about the Medicare Advantage program on www.medicare.gov. To learn more about this plan, visit the UnitedHealthcare Medicare website.
Additional Medicare Plan Options in Ashtabula County
Are you eligible for a Ashtabula County, OH Medicare Special Needs Plan (SNP)? SNPs are a special type of Medicare Advantage plan designed to help people with special needs. Here are some of the SNP plans in your area:
- Allwell Dual Medicare (Local HMO), for Dual-Eligible beneficiaries
- UnitedHealthcare Nursing Home Plan 2 (Local PPO), for Institutional beneficiaries
- Anthem MediBlue Dual Advantage (Local HMO), for Dual-Eligible beneficiaries
- UnitedHealthcare Dual Complete LP1 (Local HMO), for Dual-Eligible beneficiaries
Not qualified for an SNP? Here are some additional plans you might consider:
- SummaCare Medicare Sapphire (HMO-POS)
- Aetna Medicare Premier Plus 1 (PPO)
- Lasso Healthcare (MSA)
- HumanaChoice H5216-051 (PPO)
- Anthem MediBlue Access Basic (PPO)
AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 is available to Medicare beneficiaries living in Andover, Ashtabula, Austinburg, Conneaut, Dorset, Geneva, Jefferson, Kingsville, North Kingsville, Orwell, Pierpont, Rock Creek, Rome, Unionville, Williamsfield, Windsor, and all other areas of Ashtabula County, Ohio; Medicare plans are the same throughout the County.
On this page our goal is to help consumers: Compare AARP Medicare Advantage Plan 1 with all 2020 Medicare Advantage Plans in Ashtabula County, Ohio: HMO plan, $21.00/mo, $3,900 MOOP. Did we succeed?
The Medicare Part C information on this page originates from CMS Landscape Source Files, is maintained by David Bynon, and was last updated on .


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Home Inspections in the Greater Montreal Area.
The purchase or sale of a home is one of the most important and expensive decisions you will make in your lifetime. We at Abitat Inspect will be there to provide you with the confidence you need to complete your transaction with peace of mind.
Following the inspection, we will provide you with a complete, detailed and comprehensive report including pictures, recommendations, and maintenance schedules. The report is designed to provide you with a better understanding of the property's condition. It will be reviewed with you to ensure that you are at ease in making an informed decision.
What differentiates us from other home inspectors is our availability once the transaction is complete. A 24 hour hotline is at your disposal for any questions that may arise.
From the moment you book your appointment, through to the delivery and explanation of your inspection report, the Abitat Inspect team is with you every step of the way.
We serve the Greater Montreal area.
Feel free to browse our Services, FAQ and Request for Quote pages for more information.
Did you know?
Service Areas
Abitat Inspect's team of professional inspectors serves most of the Greater Montreal Region, Laval, North and South Shores including; Ahuntsic, Auteuil, Baie D'Urfe, Duvernay, Beaconsfield, Blainville, Boisbriand, Bois-Des-Filions, Boucherville, Brossard, Chateauguay, Chomedey, Côte-des-Neiges, Cote St-Luc, Dollard des Ormeaux, Dorion, Dorval, Fabreville, Greenfield Park, Hampstead, Hudson, Ile Bizard, Kirkland, Lachine, Lasalle, Laval, Laval-sur-le-Lac, Longueuil, Lorraine, Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal, Montreal East, Montreal West, Notre Dame de Grâce, Notre Dame de l'Ile Perrot, Outremont, Pierrefonds, Plateau-Mont-Royal, Pointe-aux-Trembles, Pointe Claire, Pont-Viau, Rivière-des-Prairies, Rosemere, Roxboro, Senneville, St-Bruno, Saint-Dorothé, St-Eustache, St-Francois, St-Henri, St-Hubert, St-Jerome, Saint-Léonard, St-Therese, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Terrebonne, Valleyfield, Val-des-brises, Vaudreuil, Verdun, Ville St Laurent, Vimont, Westmount, Island of Montreal, East & West Island, Laval, North & South Shores.


text: The Penn State Blue Band performs during halftime in 1968. Both the band and the stadium have grown considerably since that time. This season marked the first of two consecutive perfect seasons for the Joe Paterno and his Nittany Lions. The 1968 team was Paterno's first perfect season. Despite going 11-0, the Nittany Lions finished behind 9-0 Ohio State and 9-0-1 USC in both college football polls.


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A Medicine and Health search engine for the general public and health care professionals.
The-Best-Medical-Search-Engine.org uses the power of Google, whilst prioritizing hign quality medical sites.
How can Google be used in medicine? - Google, a medical search engine?
The different versions of Google: Google, Google Scholar.
Current medical topics - medical news: Google News.
Medical images: Google Images.


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Dyson shows what speed can do with bunt
CLEVELAND -- Jarrod Dyson got his first bunt hit of the season on Tuesday night, but he's certain it won't be his last.
"That's part of my game," he said.
Dyson is getting his first chance to see regular duty as the Royals' center fielder with Lorenzo Cain (groin) on the disabled list. Because of Dyson's great speed -- he's one of the fastest players in the game -- the bunt is one of his weapons.
"I guarantee you I work on it every chance I get," Dyson said.
A lot of his work is done against pitching machines in batting cages under the stands and Dyson carries it over into on-field batting practice.
"Even in BP, you see me bunting, see me slashing all the time," he said. "That's part of my game. I can't get away from that, no matter how I'm swinging the bat. I just can't get away from my bunting game."
Bunting is an art and last year, despite his limited playing time, he tied for second in the American League with 10 bunt hits. But Dyson will tell you it's not as easy as it looks.
"Everybody thinks it's easy to get up there and just put a ball where you want to put it. If it was that easy, I think a lot more people would be bunters," he said.
"It's more difficult nowadays because pitchers are more effective with their pitches, they're cuttin' it, they're sinkin' it. Nothing is straight nowadays. You've got to really lock in when you bunt because it can easily miss your barrel by a half-inch and it can be a dead out."
It's tough on Dyson, too, because the other team is always looking for the bunt.
"That's my game and the more they try to defend it, the better I've got to get," Dyson said.
"I'm always stepping out of the box, reading the field to see what I've got out there -- if I've got a chance to bring it down third, if I've got a chance to bring it down first. Every now and then, they're going to take it from me, but you've still got to lay it down to let 'em know you ain't afraid."
Dyson's bunt on Tuesday night scored Alcides Escobar with the fourth run of an 8-2 victory over the Indians. The ball scooted right down the line toward first baseman Nick Swisher.
"I honestly wanted to get it past the pitcher," Dyson said. "I wanted Swish to come and try to get it because I know if I've got Swisher and the pitcher running toward it, I've got to beat the second baseman there [to first], and that's a foot race and that's pretty easy."
Not exactly where Dyson wanted the ball, but it worked as Swisher rushed in to field the ball and threw way too late as Dyson flashed across the bag ahead of the second baseman, and Escobar crossed the plate.
"It's like a doomed play, you don't have to do much there," Dyson said.
"I know if I'm playing every day I'm going to attempt a bunt every game. That's my game, I can't get away from it no matter what. I can be swinging a dead-red hot bat and I'm still going to bunt."
Sure enough, in the fifth inning on Wednesday night, Dyson dropped his second bunt hit in two games.
Trying to beat a chopper into the ground and beat it out is not part of Dyson's game plan.
"I don't try to do that. Honestly, I don't look good trying to slap the ball around," he said. "I'm not trying to get the head out and hit bombs, but I'm not trying to beat balls in the ground 24/7. My objective when I got to the box is I want to hit a line drive. Worse case scenario, I want a ground ball."
What Dyson tries to avoid is getting the bat head under the ball and hitting popups or lazy fly balls. That doesn't benefit his speed game. He's going for the line drive or a hard grounder through the hole.
"I'd rather hit a legit single and cruise on into first, steal second and take my chances from there," he said.
Nevertheless, Dyson did beat out a chopper for the second of his three hits in Wednesday night's 5-3 loss to the Indians.


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Dug out the scanner on Monday (now Friday) fired it off at my usual target frequencies and silence!
Have I missed something or has Llanelli turned into a complete black hole, I mean we're not exactly top of the tech list here and some places have only just heard of the invention of electricity but I cant help but question if I missed something?
Mastercabs - Gone
Storenet - Gone
WRT map search shows nothing as well (as reliable as that can be sometimes) only showing nationwide frequencies.
I'm going to have to give up this little hobby of mine if the only thing I can pick up is Debra asking Joan for a size 18 dress from the store room on PMR


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Latest Mental Health News
MONDAY, Feb. 20 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. National Guard soldiers have a high risk of developing alcohol abuse during and after deployment, and this risk is associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, researchers say.
The new study included 963 members of the Ohio Army National Guard who said they never abused alcohol prior to active duty. Between June 2008 and February 2009, nearly 12 percent -- 113 of the soldiers -- reported alcohol abuse disorder that first occurred during or after deployment.
Among these soldiers, 35 reported depression (31 percent), 23 reported post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD (20 percent), and 15 reported both conditions (13 percent) during the follow-up period.
Surprisingly, alcohol abuse was uncommon among the small number of soldiers who had a history of PTSD or depression before deployment, according to the researchers.
The study authors, led by Brandon Marshall of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, found that soldiers at risk for new-onset alcohol abuse were mostly male (97 percent) and younger than age 35 (74 percent). Most of them had been deployed only once and most recently to a conflict zone.
The study was released online Feb. 16 in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
"A novel finding of our study is that developing depression or PTSD during or after deployment were strong risk factors for having alcohol problems during the same time period," Marshall said in a university news release.
Soldiers who develop depression or PTSD may self-medicate with alcohol to cope with negative feelings and the stress of deployment, he suggested.
However, while the study uncovered an association between deployment and alcohol abuse, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
"The high prevalence of alcohol abuse during and after deployment observed here suggests that policies that promote improved access to care and confidentiality merit strong consideration," Marshall concluded.
-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.


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Thank You!
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Reiki - Linton
Linton is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the southward slope of the Greensand ridge, south of Maidstone on the A229 Hastings road. Wikipedia
Richard Wain Reiki Master and Teacher Dartford
Dartford, Kent, DA1 1DZ
01322 401388/07555456739
I am an Intuitive Healer. I have been a healer since before I can remember. I became a Usui Reiki Master 2002 and have [...]Distance: 19.83 miles.
Rachael Edgley Vibrational Therapies
Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, SS0 0RJ
Hello, I am a fully qualified Angelic Reiki Master Teacher/Practitioner and have been a facilitator of healing since 2004. I also hold a Level 3 [...]Distance: 24.27 miles.
Natural Health Studio
Maidstone, Kent, ME15 6JW
07809 505743
My name is Saffiere and I have been working as a Therapist and writer for many years. I offer a wide range of services and [...]Distance: 2.3 miles.
Nicola Russell Usui Reiki Master and Energy/sound healer
East Farleigh, Kent, Me150ju
Nicola is a Reiki Master, pure channeller, trance healer. Nicola also uses light language to activate and cleanse. This is a powerful form of [...]Distance: 2.6 miles.
Hayley Brown Therapies
Maidstone, Kent
07718935428 01622 735229
I am a qualified MBACP counsellor/ phycotherapist in maidstone kent. I practice clinical Hypnotherapy this has enabled me to work on a spiritual healing [...]Distance: 3.48 miles.
The Healing Tree
Maidstone, Kent, ME14 2TX
Do you want to free yourself from pain and are committed to helping yourself live a happier and healthier life? At The Healing Tree, I [...]Distance: 4.04 miles.
Natural Health Studio
Maidstone, Kent, ME14 2BJ
I am a fully qualified Reiki practitioner, Relationship counsellor, Tantra teacher, Hypnotherapist and I am an authorised Consultant for Neal's Yard Remedies and [...]Distance: 4.16 miles.
Reiki Vibrations
Maidstone, Kent, ME14 5NZ
07511 00 33 75
My healing journey started 20 years ago and have experience in many healing practices from Quantum Touch and working with the copper pyramid to [...]Distance: 4.2 miles.
The Reiki Practice
Tonbridge, Kent, TN12 7DG
The reiki practice provides reiki treatment on a 121 or corporate basis. Our aim is to make reiki accessible either at home or in [...]Distance: 5.27 miles.
The Reiki Retreat
West Malling, Kent, ME19 6QX
07903 056597
Usui Reiki is an ancient system of natural healing, rediscovered in japan over 100 years ago by Dr Mikao Usui. The word Reiki is [...]Distance: 6.63 miles.
Transition Therapies
Tonbridge, Kent, TN11 0DQ
01732 852253
Reiki is an intergral part of all the therapies I offer in a holistic way. You will have been guided by a deep [...]Distance: 7.57 miles.
Sandy Hartley
Rainham, Kent, ME8 8PQ
0844 682 5857
Since 2007 I have been privileged to work with many clients on all kinds of issues and problems, with one goal; to facilitate positive [...]Distance: 8.97 miles.
Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 3BL
Shirley Heyward has been a Reiki Master since 2002. She practises at her therapy room a conservatory in the garden in Cranbrook Kent. Over [...]Distance: 9.02 miles.
Oak Tree Centre of Health
Vigo Village, Kent
I am a Celtic Reiki Practitioner and Master. I offer Reiki treatments in your own home or at mine. I also offer Reiki Workshops [...]Distance: 9.89 miles.
Reiki Babies UK
Rainham, Kent, ME8 0BG
We are running weekly Reiki Babies Natural Healing Classes for prenatal mums and mums and their babies. These weekly sessions are designed to introduce you to [...]Distance: 10.31 miles.
Angel Therapy
Rainham, Kent, ME8 0BG
07875 992408
Intuitive Energy Transformation Coach & Teacher. Prenatal & Postnatal Healing Treatments. Teacher/Master in Reiki & Angelic Healing. Caroline provides a safe, healing space to encourage you to [...]Distance: 10.38 miles.
Sue's Healing Hands
Rochester, Kent, ME4 5EW
07753 639140
I have just become a Reiki Master/Teacher and will be arranging classes soon. I will add more later, I keep losing text!Distance: 10.78 miles.
Reiki Kyokai
Newington, Shropshire, ME9 7JR
I have studied Reiki for over 10 years with my Master Reiki Teacher who is directly connected in lineage to Mikao Usui; starting with [...]Distance: 11.12 miles.
Reiki Master
Rochester, Kent
. my name is Kevin and i live in Medway locality I follow the spiritual pathway that harminises with nature, its teachings. I am a Reiki [...]Distance: 11.33 miles.
Swale Reiki healing
Sittingbourne, Kent, ME10 1YQ
I have experience working with people who are angry, anxious or just need a general positive energy move.Distance: 11.5 miles.
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Simple secrets to a happy life . . . What a special treat to find another truly inspiring video from Simple Truths – "Finding Joy ~ Simple Secrets To A Happy Life" ~ sublime!!! Naturally I want to share it with all of you.
When life brings complications, it helps to remember that happiness is simple. With its beautiful pictures, uplifting quotations, and inspiring tone, 'Finding Joy: Simple Secrets to a Happy Life' will put a smile on your face when you need it most. So, today, take three short minutes to watch this movie. Your heart will thank you for it. Music – "Capture The Moment" by David London, uploaded on Jan 5, 2009 by Hafiz.
A difficult choice to make, but the following are a few of my favorites:
Nothing happens …but first a dream.
~ Carl Sandburg
The heart that gives, gathers.
~ Marianne Moore
Change your thoughts and change your world.
~ Norman Vincent Peale
The only things that stand between a person and what they want in life are the will to try it and the faith to believe it's possible.
~ Rick Devos
Sometimes in the winds of change we find our true direction.
~ Author unknown
Joy is the light that fills you with Hope, Faith and Love.
~ Author unknown
To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.
David Viscott
Link to Simple Truths site where you'll find an impressive selection of inspiring books. Many of these books also have an accompanying video which you can preview. Simple Truths offers frequent book sales. This may be the next one I order for gift-giving.
Once again I hope that you enjoyed the video and will find joyful inspiration in many of the quotes, and of course share with others. Have a great weekend everyone.


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Thursday, February 14, 2013
Thoughts on Valentine's Day + Eye Candy
3 comments :
I love your honesty in this post; I've written a few posts that are stocked up for the coming weeks that are a little bit more about me and less about all of the pretty clothes and products out there. There's a time and place for both!ReplyDelete
I agree with you that we should all celebrate our love throughout the year, and I used to say that too, but I think it's about really reflecting on 2/14...and thinking about everyone that you love (parents, grandparents, friends, awesome co-workers, blog buds, etc.) and reflecting on them. I wish I did it more often, so Valentine's Day gives me an excuse to shower them all with a little more love.
This is a really long comment. I wish I could share some eye candy with YOU for reading it all :) Love ya! Happy Valentine's Day!
I love this post. I totally agree. Happy Valentines Day!ReplyDelete
We are actually the exact same! Don't get me wrong, I would love for my husband to come home with a fabulous gift and gorgeous flowers (oh, and some delicious wine) but at the end of the day, it shouldn't be something that only happens on that day, right?? I mean - he should do this on a regular basis! Ha!!! Hope you have a great Valentine's Day friend!! I am loving the heart cookie pan!!ReplyDelete


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COVER- Missing billion: how UVA's investment strategy worked... until it didn't
The University of Virginia has long been distinguished as a "public Ivy" comparable to pricey private colleges of the Northeast. Now, in this era of financial meltdown, UVA is being lumped with the Ivy League in a less flattering way: for using an aggressive investment strategy called the "Yale model" that veers away from traditional investments like bonds into the more profitable– and riskier– world of private equity and hedge funds.
And, unfortunately, nearly a billion dollars just disappeared.
The University of Virginia's long-term investment pool was $5.1 billion June 30. By October 31, it sank to $4.2 billion, and its managers warn that it could go lower. But no one really knows what it's worth because, it turns out, more than half its investments lie in the little-understood worlds of hedge funds and something called "private equity."
A risky 'fetish'?
Wachovia and General Motors have each lost over $20 billion this year, and the U.S. Congress is offering financial companies $700 billion. With so many billions tossed around like confetti, why should anyone fret over the loss of just one billion at the college that Thomas Jefferson built?
For starters, a billion is nearly 20 percent of UVA's endowment, and it's a third of the current capital campaign. And as the #1 economic engine of a bucolic Piedmont city, UVA is the proverbial elephant in the room.
Already, scholarship athletes have been told they may have to pay for their own summer school, an unknown number of open positions will go unfilled, and UVA employees have been informed that their expected two percent salary increases have been frozen, with no unfreeze in sight this year.
While UVA's Chief Operating Officer Leonard Sandridge and President John Casteen assure the university community that all is well, what's happening to its investment pool has already caught the attention of some of America's top investors.
The head of private banking at New York investment giant J.P. Morgan blasts UVA and other colleges for their "fetish" for risky investments. In his November 10 Eye on the Market newsletter, Morgan's Michael Cembalast, excoriates UVA for putting over half of its investments in highly illiquid instruments.
What's worse, Cembalast says, is that UVA has begun to explore selling such already-hammered investments in order to meet cash calls– such a recipe for losing money that others have taken notice.
"UVA may win the prize for the most wholesale destruction of alumni gifts," writes financial blogger Henry Blodget on Clusterstock.com. "Sorry, UVA alumni," Blodget continues, "you're going to have to make those gifts all over again."
Such allegations sent UVA's top brass into damage-control mode. On November 13, Sandridge sent an open letter denouncing the reports, which, he alleges, "have misinterpreted the status of our endowment and in some cases declared us to be in 'distress.' These accounts," Sandridge wrote, in an attempt to mollify employees, students, and donors, "are simply inaccurate."
But are they?
UVA's own literature concedes that the university is so cash-strapped that despite recently borrowing $450 million, it is now planning to sell $400 million in already-depressed stocks to cover its obligations. Moreover, UVA's own investment reports show an investment pool in which stocks, bonds, and cash combine to less than half what's been invested in illiquid instruments like hedge funds and private equity.
Still, Sandridge reassures employees that the endowment "has sufficient liquid assets to cover its obligations," which he estimates to be between $700 million to $1 billion over the next three years.
What is private equity?
At the center of the storm is something called private equity. Here's how it works.
Private equity firms gather multi-year commitments from large institutions– such as university endowments and pension funds– into pools, which then provide the capital for dozens of startups, mergers, and other non-publicly traded companies. (Chrysler, for example, is owned by a private equity firm.)
"Private equity is like buying and planting an apple sapling," explains Charlottesville financial adviser David Marotta. "You don't get apples for a long time; and you have to water, fertilize, and prune them for many years."
Public equity, by contrast, is simply stocks, and they "are like an established orchard," says Marotta. "UVA owns both, and both of them have been hurt by frost."
The bigger problem comes when someone wants to harvest the private equity apples before the tree is ready, and that's what's happening now at UVA, which has commitments to private equity pools.
With private equity, the money doesn't get invested until the firms identify the deals they want to fund. But now that there's a credit crisis, private equity firms are clamoring to receive most if not all of the outstanding commitments. And UVA made a lot of commitments.
It's got $1.6 billion invested in private equity funds, and $1.8 billion in uncalled commitments. And UVA's top investment manager has begun telling people that he's interested in selling some of these positions on the secondary markets.
But J.P. Morgan's Cembalast points out that the secondary market "only exists in the narrowest sense of the word." Not only, he notes ominously, are there very few investors in the secondary market, but they all want "very steep discounts."
And while UVA allowed private equity to climb to approximately 20 percent of its holdings, Cembalast says he advises his clients to keep no more than eight percent of their portfolio in private equity.
"This," Cembalast says in his newsletter, "provides the flexibility to respond to changing market conditions, which over-extended endowments may not be able to do."
"When you invest in private equity," explains professor Susan Chaplinsky at UVA's Darden School of Business, "you make a commitment to fund Blackstone or the Carlyle Group." She uses an example in which an investor pledges $200 million to a private equity firm.
"If they don't have an immediate option, the money stays there," says Chaplinsky. "Maybe the first year, $50 million gets called, and $150 million goes uncalled." However, the investor remains on the hook for the remaining $150 million.
In UVA's case, $150 million would be a dream come true. In actuality, its uncalled commitment is $1.8 billion.
Getting rid of a $1.8 billion obligation
Financial experts say that UVA has four ways to deal with its looming $1.8 billion commitments:
• borrow money
• sell assets
• sell the positions on the secondary market
• lose half of the public equity money it's already handed over
Borrowing has already begun. UVA documents show that it has borrowed $450 million since its last June 30 annual filing. Short-term borrowing is a normal part of the management of cash and bond portfolios, contends the university's investment arm, and all short-term borrowing was repaid in early October.
Normally, capital calls are funded by distributions from other private funds. But the September 30 third-quarter report from the University of Virginia Investment Management Company notes that in recent quarters, distributions have been much lower, and "we should not expect any distributions this quarter and few in 2009."
As for selling assets, UVA may already be selling some battered investments, but the person with all the answers isn't talking. ("He has better things to do," says a UVA spokesperson.)
He is Chris Brightman, the CEO of UVIMCO, and while he did not respond to repeated requests for comment from the Hook, the university put together its own Q&A with Brightman in which he downplays any crisis.
"An unfunded commitment is not an unmet commitment," says Brightman. "Under every scenario we have considered, we have ample liquidity to meet all commitments, including spending distributions to the University, with a comfortable margin of safety."
Whew, that's a relief.
Yet Brightman's Q&A admits he plans to sell $400 million in stock to meet capital calls.
"They have to sell some of the public equities to take care of the saplings with no return," says Marotta, who says he understands the private equity allure: market-beating returns.
"Investing like the Yale endowment, in the mean, they will do better," says Marotta. "Ninety-nine percent do, but one time you go broke."
Marotta isn't a fan of private equity. At his wealth management fund, he says, "We do not invest in things that are not liquid. The normal investor needs to have access to his funds."
And UVA numbers show that 19.7 percent of its current pool is sitting in private equity, not to mention the uncalled amount.
"It's a lot to be illiquid," says Marotta, "for an endowment that needs to make contributions to the university's operating budget."
Last month, the university took a $10.6 million mandatory budget cut from the state.
"This is a year the university could use extra funds from the endowment," says Marotta. "Endowments are supposed to help you through hard times."
Who is UVIMCO?
UVIMCO is a separate UVA foundation with its own board, its own tax returns, its own employees. And its own growth in spending. From a budget of $814,000 in 1998, UVIMCO's spending skyrocketed to $7.6 million in 2007. The money goes mostly to salaries for a team of experts to manage the investment pool.
In 2006, for instance, CEO Brightman was earning $1.3 million, and six deputies were making annual salaries of $248,000 to $380,000, plus benefit packages of up to $69,000 per person. And yet, the group's performance really does appear to be Wall Street caliber.
Earning an average return of 12 percent annually over 10 years, UVIMCO hasn't just beaten the Standard & Poor's 500; it's demolished it. As President John Casteen would point out, the return in the S&P 500 over 10 years is zero.
In other words, a billion dollars put in the S&P 500 would still be worth a billion dollars. But a billion dollars placed with UVIMCO ten years ago, earning an average 12 percent and compounding its gains, would have more than tripled to $3 billion dollars.
Another feather in UVIMCO's cap is its low cost compared to the size of its investment pool. Despite those stellar-for-Charlottesville salaries, UVIMCO's spending amounts to just two tenths of a percent of the pool. And that looks positively spartan compared to, say, Harvard, which, in 2003, stunned the higher education world by paying its top six investments managers a combined $107.5 million.
By contrast, UVIMCO's entire spending that year– including salaries, benefits, travel, and even office rent– was just $4.3 million.
Still, Harvard got the more impressive returns– about 15.2 percent annually in the 10 years that ended in June 2006. The median return during that time for endowments and foundations was 8.9 percent, according to Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service.
One difference between Harvard and UVA is that Harvard runs many of its own funds, thus saving itself the steep cuts from hedge fund managers right from the start. UVA's team simply hires an array of outside funds and managers, each of which takes its own fee before turning over the net proceeds to UVA.
Change in strategy
In the early 1970s, UVA's Board of Visitors decided to commit to a "then unconventionally high" 75 percent of its endowment assets in domestic equities and 25 percent in bonds, according to a 1999 report by President Casteen.
The report boasts that UVA's endowment had reached $1.2 billion and consistently ranked among the five largest public institutions and among the 30 largest of all colleges and universities in the country.
In 1998, the Board of Visitors formed UVIMCO, headed by UVA treasurer Alice Handy, who has been widely credited with the endowment's market-beating performance. In the fiscal year 2000, for instance, when the S&P rose six percent, Handy delivered an eye-popping gain of 43.8 percent.
"To be in this business, you have to be willing to take risks," Handy, who declined to comment for this article, told the Hook back in 2003.
In 1999, UVIMCO upped its equity allocation from 75 to 80 percent, and made the decision, the Casteen report says, to make investments that are "more inefficient and less liquid in order to capture the return premium offered."
Stocks were 20 percent of the picture. Private equity was now 35 percent of UVA's equity pool, and a relatively new creature– hedge funds– got 25 percent of UVA's money.
Another big-boy investment, hedge funds are unregulated investment pools whose managers typically charge what's called "2 and 20." That's an annual fee of two percent of the total investment, as well as 20 percent of the gains.
Handy liked them because, she said in 2003, "We can short stocks and go long."
Eyebrows rose, but Handy continued delivering market-smashing returns. She left UVA that year to form her own company, Investure, to invest money for smaller colleges that didn't have their own endowment offices.
"I do not believe they've been imprudent," says Mark Giles. The founding president of Virginia National Bank and a UVA donor, Giles says that even the recent stock market crash has validated UVA's strategy.
"It's not going to stop me from making contributions," says Giles. "If they'd been in plain-vanilla blue chip investments, they'd have gotten killed."
Casteen gets involved
Yale first started this trend of non-traditional investments under the theory that universities have a long time horizon, so why should they be stuck in traditional, low-performing, liquid investments like bonds and government notes? And there was another, more local, reason for UVA to consider such a strategy shift. State support of Virginia's flagship university had steadily declined, from nearly 30 percent in the 1980s to about eight percent today.
With his decision now under fire for letting UVIMCO assume a more aggressive posture, Casteen leapt back into the fray a day after Sandridge. On Friday, November 14, he sent an open letter promising to respond to what he called "generally mistaken" coverage.
Although he didn't actually name any coverage errors, he relates two prior panics. During the 1987 stock market crash, Casteen notes, the UVA endowment dropped 12.2 percent in the fourth quarter but closed out the fiscal year at no loss. Three-and-a-half years later, during the first Gulf War, the endowment lost 10.2 percent in the third quarter but finished the 1991 fiscal year 1991 at with an 8 percent gain.
"Our endowment bounced back from those losses," says Casteen. "It will bounce back from these current losses."
But how long will that take?
One shocker this time is that UVIMCO admits that it's so cash-strapped that it's now planning to sell assets like stocks and hedge funds– not to mention it may market older private equity stakes.
That's what many financial professionals call "locking in your losses," and it indicates that UVIMCO wasn't liquid enough to simply hold on for a long-term rebound. Casteen doesn't address this in his letter, nor would he grant an interview.
This isn't the only area where Casteen's investment strategies have brought him unwanted attention.
In late September, when hundreds of Charlottesvillians saw their holdings in Wachovia, which took over homegrown Jefferson National Bank in a 1997 stock swap, nearly wiped out, the Hook approached Casteen at a dormitory ribbon-cutting.
"It's sad," said Casteen. Pressed for more, Casteen– who earns $220,000 annually for his part-time work as a Wachovia director– was whisked away by a handler.
Now that the financial crisis has struck his full-time job (where he makes a reported $797,048), however, Casteen appears more involved.
His open letter to the community talks of recent UVA borrowing as a good thing– because it affirms the University's AAA bond rating. And he notes that the Board of Visitors is sticking by its June decision to spend five percent of the endowment– $161 million– on operations instead of the usual 4.5 percent.
"Our schools and departments," he claims, "will have more resources at their immediate disposal for the remainder of this year than they had before the state cuts."
Still, that's little consolation for faculty and staff who were expecting a two percent salary hike on November 25. At least there's this: "We have never used layoffs here as a means to balance budgets," he writes. "Layoffs are not a strategy for us now. We are cutting expenditures in many areas throughout the University."
And while donations have slowed, Casteen notes that they have added $150 million to the university's long-term pool since July 1. And even after the post-June turmoil, including the financial bloodbath of September and October, UVA reports claim its endowment has lost just 18 percent. The S&P lost over 24 percent.
Clearly, these are not normal times when, in one day, the stock market's bellwether, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, swings down 500 points, then up 900. And it has continued to fluctuate wildly nearly every day for the past two months.
"Any time your portfolio goes down is cause for concern," says S. Buford Scott, chairman of venerable Richmond brokerage Scott & Stringfellow and a former member of the Board of Visitors. "These times are the most unusual I've ever seen in 50 years."
He notes that UVA isn't alone in trying to unload some of its commitments.
"Several large university endowments are trying to sell private equities," says Scott. "There are lots of sellers and few buyers."
He suggests UVIMCO may have to tough it out. "UVIMCO has done a wonderful job," he says. "This is something they'll have to live through."
"Are they experiencing tough times?" asks Darden's Chaplinsky. "Yes. Can you point to someone not experiencing that now?"
In the current "unprecedented" market turmoil, "I don't think there's a single class of investment that's not experiencing stress," she says.
The problem for private equity capital calls: "Anytime you have to sell in a market like this that's stressed, there's going to be fallout," says Chaplinsky.
She does see a bright side to getting capital calls.
"Private equity investors are seeing opportunities right now, really good opportunities to put money to work at very attractive prices. What you have here is a timing problem."
The problem, in other words, is that UVA might be selling private equity when now appears like the time to buy.
Brightman admits that illiquidity is forcing his hand in a recent UVIMCO report. "If markets continue to fall," says his report, "we may need to sell more liquid securities and redeem more from hedge funds."
But officials dispute the notion of any fire sale.
"We are not a distressed seller," says UVA spokesperson Carol Wood. "We may sell some things to go buy other things. If we don't get the price we want, we're not going to take just anything."
As for critics who question whether UVA's endowment should have ever been in riskier markets, Chaplinsky points to the state's ever-shrinking funding.
"I don't think the university wants to be in high risk investments, but risk is a corollary of return," she says.
"Funding needs to grow six, seven, eight percent," says Chaplinsky. "If you want to be safe, you could be in Treasury bonds at one, two, or three percent."


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Top flight deals to Antananarivo (TNR)*
Fly to Antananarivo with KLM
Thanks to our global network, we as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines always offer convenient flights to Antananarivo, serving Antananarivo Ivato International Airport (TNR) in Ivato, just 16 km from Antananarivo, Madagascar. Top rated for our punctuality, we care about your time and getting you where you need to be as scheduled. With us, there's no need to frantically adjust your itinerary.
Top Antananarivo attractions
- Gare Soarano: old train station that's been transformed into a shopping centre.
- Analakely Market: packed and teeming with market stands of all sorts.
- Parc de Tsarasaotra: these wetlands are an essential refuge for 14 threatened bird species.
- Musée d'Art and d'Archéologie: museum highlight the island's archaeological digs.
- Rova: historic palace crowning the highest hill in the city.
While it may not have all the infrastructure needed for an increasing number of tourists, the bustling Madagascar capital thrives with world-class restaurants, colonial and religious buildings, markets and wilderness!
What's the best way to get around Antananarivo?
Taxis are one of the best, most affordable options, and you can find them almost everywhere. Make sure to negotiate the fares before getting in, as they may change drastically from one driver to the other. While the 'taxi-be' minivans are more budget-friendly, the routes are not easy to understand for foreigners. They could also be somewhat unsafe, so keep an eye on your belongings if you end up using them.
What's the weather in Antananarivo?
The city features pleasant temperatures varying from 10°C (50°F) to 27°C (81°F). The sky is clear for most of the year, so you can usually enjoy activities without worries. The best time to visit is from May to October, when it's dry and cool. The wet period begins in November and ends in April, but March is usually the wettest month.
Weather in Antananarivo
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