text:
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text:
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Next
The Neighbor's Club—a club founded for the purpose of making friends, where misfortunate boys and girls with few friends live out their regrettable lives.
Although Yozora Mikazuki faced a certain incident at the end of summer, the daily life of the Neighbor's Club goes on as usual. A strange nun, members of the student council and other new faces make an appearance, causing Kodaka Hasegawa's life to grow even busier.
While they all enjoy going to the amusement park, playing games, celebrating birthdays, and challenging the "school festival"—a symbol of the school life normal people live—the relations amongst the members slowly begins to change...
Let the next stage begin, on this unfortunate coming-of-age love comedy!!
Extra Info
Episodes: Unknown
Status: Currently Airing
Aired: Jan 11, 2013 to ?
Producers: Media Factory, Magic Capsule, AIC Build
Genres: Comedy, Romance, School, Seinen
Duration: 24 min. per episode
Rating: R+ - Mild Nudity
Opening & Ending
Be My Friend by The Neighbor's Club
Bokura no Tsubasa by The Neighbor's Club
First impressions
Not much but Sena getting a pretty weird hairstyle and her father spanking her and it looks like Rika's sister or mother
is dropping by next week. check out my first impression in the link below
lock if duplicate
Episode 1
Series is backkkkkkkkk.
Dat fruit head:
Oh God, Sena you silly girl. Anyways, the OP song was good imo, actually better than Season 1's. It's nice to see all the characters again like Maria, Yozora, Kodaka, and even Sena's dad!
That bath scene was kinda...uh, strange to watch. Otherwise, it was a fun episode. LOL @ what Sena's maid gift to Kodaka. Just LOL.
Animanga hunter extraordinaire
OMG Ive missed this series so damn much. <3 <3 <3
The ending scene with sena doing something hentai with the wig cracked me up. Its a strange sort of yuri, but it amuses me anyway.
Poi is the new Desu!
NEXT First Impressions
Well it's back but is as good as the first season?
Check out my channel: YouTube.com/BDT87
BDT87 wrote:
NEXT First Impressions
Well it's back but is as good as the first season?
This link is for Koutoura-san not Haganai.
My Jumbo Jet Flies Cheerfully.
YuSooKey wrote:
BDT87 wrote:
NEXT First Impressions
Well it's back but is as good as the first season?
This link is for Koutoura-san not Haganai.
Thanks for letting me know, changed it now.
Check out my channel: YouTube.com/BDT87
I've linked this thread as "Haganai NEXT" in the General Anime Discussion thread for those who do use it.
In loving memory of Cryska.
I've been waiting for a second season since last year.
You're back...I missed you so....
*sigh* I've had my Haganai fix for the week.
One of these episodes I hope to see Sena and Yozowa kiss.
Poi is the new Desu!
Have to wait until next week to watch, but I hope it's well worth the wait
Except for the farting sister and Sena's triumph over Yozora, episode two was pretty dull. Also, why is it when Sena gets one over Yozora it doesn't quite feel like a victory for the girl?
Boredom :I
Pardon me for asking but
What branch of Christianity has nuns that dress like that? I would like to convert
avoiding doing any work today
Okay, I've seen both Episode one and two this morning and I have to say that....
Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide
... Sena's desire for revenge on Yozora is way to creep. If she didn't say anything about it, I could of pegged her actually have a love obsession on her o.0
Then there's that sister of Maria's... yeah haha
All aside, I loved it and look forward to the next episode :)
PS: Loved the title of it
While not as good as the first season, I'm enjoying this nonetheless. Episodes right now seem to be split into two vignettes. The game in part 2 of episode 3... lmao.
The ED from the first season was fantastic. Too bad the ED this season isn't as good.


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Another Man Shows Photos Of The Same Tranny Huggin Up With Other Artists! (Ludacris, Twista, Mario & More)
Submitted by MakellBird. Showing more proof of that tranny that looks like a woman
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text:
German, School of Ulm, active 1450s
Saint Mary Magdalene, ca. 1450
Oil on linen affixed to panel (spruce?)
19 7/8 x 15 5/16 in. (50.5 x 38.9 cm)
R. T. Miller, Jr. Fund, 1941
The Master of the Sterzing Altarpiece was the foremost painter in Ulm during the third decade of the fifteenth century. Paintings by the Sterzing Master show strong ties to contemporary Netherlandish painting, and are characterized by clearly delineated, monumental forms, and a realistic sense of space. The extraordinarily well-preserved Saint Mary Magdalene is probably a fragment from a larger altarpiece, as yet unidentified.
Identified by her characteristic attribute of a majolica unguent jar, Saint Mary Magdalene is seen at half-length, posed before an elaborately tooled gold background. Her apple-green, fur-lined robe, open at the neck and cinched by a decorative belt, is paired with a rose cloak trimmed with a delicate gold and pearl border. A turban-like headdress adorned with a large brooch rests atop her flowing hair; a simple halo is incised in the gold ground about her head.
Stange dated the Oberlin painting to the 1470s and tentatively related it to two other panels attributed to the Master of the Sterzing Altarpiece, representing Saint Barbara and Saint Ursula (Colmar, Unterlinden Museum).1 Although difficult to judge in their present (damaged) state, the Colmar panels do not appear to be by the same hand as the Oberlin painting, which is moreover in an excellent state of preservation. In his review of Stange's study, Bushart further suggested that the date proposed there for the Saint Mary Magdalene (1470s) was too late, and that in fact the Oberlin painting was much closer in style and date to the Sterzing Altarpiece (ca. 1456-58, now Vipiteno [Sterzing], Italy, Museo Multscher).2 Panels from the latter work share the combination of bold, monumental forms--the large, simply draped figures--and meticulous attention to detail, as displayed in the magnificent costumes and flowing hair. The use of a decorative patterned gold ground is similar in all works.
The panel representing Saint Mary Magdalene has probably been somewhat reduced in size (see Technical Data), and was originally incorporated into a larger altarpiece. Stechow proposed a reconstruction of the original context of the Oberlin Saint Mary Magdalene and its companion, a Female Saint (Martha?) (last recorded in the collection of H. Kisters, Kreuzlingen).3 In his view the two panels formed the interior face[s] of shutters to the predella; half-figure saints holding attributes were not uncommon subjects in this format.4
Alternatively, the two half-length figures may have formed the extreme upper right and upper left panels of an opened altarpiece; when the altar was closed, these panels would have covered the raised center section of the altarpiece.
Stechow (followed by Musper) further suggested that the Saint Mary Magdalene (and its companion) may have come from the Heiligenkreuztal Altarpiece, one of the finest works by the Sterzing Master.5 Other panels from this altar, in Karlsruhe (Staatliche Kunsthalle, invs. 32 and 33) and Stuttgart (Staatsgalerie, invs. 32 and 38), are stylistically very close to the Oberlin painting. The Heiligenkreuztal Altarpiece can probably be dated to the mid 1450s, slightly earlier than the Sterzing Altar.
M. E. Wieseman
The artist known as the Master of the Sterzing Altarpiece was active in Ulm, Germany, in the 1450s and later. He seems to have worked in the workshop or immediate circle of the sculptor Hans Multscher (1400-ca. 1467). The Sterzing Master's artistic identity is based on two painted altarpiece wings representing scenes from the life of Mary and the Passion of Christ, dating from about 1456-58 (now Vipiteno [Sterzing], Museo Multscher). The wings were originally part of a carved altarpiece commissioned of Multscher by the Pfarrkirche in Sterzing (now Vipiteno, Unsere Liben Frau im Moos) and installed there in 1458/9. The Sterzing Master was influenced not only by Multscher, but also by Netherlandish painting, especially that of Rogier van der Weyden (ca. 1399-1464). The latter influence is manifested in his elongated figures and facial types, and his distinctive representation of landscape and interior spaces. The Sterzing Master's works are characterized by clear, monumental forms, a sense of movement in the compositions, and a wealth of detail skillfully integrated into the whole.
General References
Stange, Alfred. Deutsche Malerei der Gotik. Vol. 8. Berlin, 1957, pp. 5-9.
Stange, Alfred. Kritisches Verzeichnis, Die Deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer. Vol. 2. Munich, 1970, pp. 124-27.
Possibly with Julius Böhler, Munich (1927?)6
Collection W. C. Escher, Zurich (sold ca. 1933)
With Henry Schniewind, New York (1936)
With Richard Ederheimer, New York (1936)
With Schaeffer Galleries, New York (by 1939?), from whom purchased in 1941
Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1936. An Exhibition of European Art 1450-1500. 8 May - 8 June. Cat. no. 36.
Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University, Germanic Museum, 1936. Cat. no. 20.
New York, Schaeffer Galleries, 1936-37. Winter. No cat.
New York, R. Ederheimer, 1936. A Selection of Paintings by the Old Masters. Cat. no. 11.
Toronto Art Gallery, 1938. Paintings of Women from the 15th to the 20th Century. Cat. no. 3.
New York, Schaeffer Galleries, 1939. Early German Paintings. Cat. no. 16.
New York, Durlacher Brothers, 1947. German Painting of the Fifteenth Century. 10 - 29 March. Cat. no. 8.
Oberlin, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, 1953. Paintings from College and University Collections. 20 January - 15 February. Cat. no. 12.
New York, M. Knoedler Co., Inc., 1954. Paintings and Drawings from Five Centuries: Collection Allen Memorial Art Museum. 3 - 21 February. Cat. no. 19.
The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1975-76. Extended loan for exhibition withe permanent collection. 9 April 1975 - 22 December 1976. No cat.
Kuhn, Charles L. A Catalogue of German Paintings of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in American Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1936, p. 59, no. 225, pl. XLIII.
An Exhibition of European Art 1450-1500. Exh. cat., Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1936, cat. no. 36, ill.
Exh. cat., Harvard University, Germanic Museum, Cambridge, Mass., 1936, cat. no. 20, pl. 9.
A Selection of Paintings by the Old Masters. Exh. cat., Richard Ederheimer, New York, 1936, no. 11, ill.
H[eld], J. S. In Pantheon 20 (1937), p. 227.
Paintings of Women from the 15th to the 20th Century. Exh. cat., Toronto Art Gallery, 1938, cat. no. 3.
Early German Paintings. Exh. cat., Schaeffer Galleries, New York, 1939, cat. no. 16.
Francis, Henry S. "The Lovers: a Swabian Gothic Picture of Secular Life in the Fifteenth Century." Gazette des Beaux-Arts ser. 6, vol. 24 (December 1943), pp. 351-52, fig. 7.
Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 1, no. 2 (1944), p. 33, no. 38.
German Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. Exh. cat., Durlacher Brothers, New York, 1947, cat. no. 8.
Stechow, Wolfgang. "The Art Museum at Oberlin." College Art Journal 6 (Spring 1947), p. 196.
Stechow, Wolfgang. In Maandblad voor Beeldende Kunsten 24 (1948), p. 59, ill. p. 54.
Stechow, Wolfgang. "Die Sammlung des Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio." Phoebus 2, no. 3 (1949), p. 120, ill. p. 118.
Thieme, Ulrich, and Felix Becker, eds. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antieke bis zur Gegenwart. Vol. 37. Leipzig, 1950, p. 317 (see also the review by E. Buchner, in Zeitschrift für Kunst 4 [1950], p. 319).
Stechow, Wolfgang. "Notes on the Master of the Sterzing Altarpiece." Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 8, no. 3 (Spring 1951), pp. 87-94.
"Exhibition of Paintings from College and University Collections." Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 10, no. 2 (Winter 1953), pp. 47-48, no. 12, ill.
Stange, Alfred. Deutsche Malerei der Gotik. Vol. 8. Berlin, 1957, pp. 8-9, fig. 15.
Bushart, B. "Studien zur altschwäbischen Malerei, Ergänzungen und Berichtigungen zu Alfred Stanges 'Deutsche Malerei der Gotik.'" Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 22 (1959), pp. 136-37.
Musper, H. Th. Gotische Malerei nördlich der Alpen. Cologne, 1961, p. 89 fig. 70, p. 90.
Lauts, Jan. Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Katalog Alte Meister bis 1800. Vol 1. Karlsruhe, 1966, p. 199.
Stechow, Wolfgang. Catalogue of European and American Paintings and Sculpture in the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College. Oberlin, 1967, pp. 105-6, fig. 15.
Stange, Alfred. Kritisches Verzeichnis, Die Deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer. Vol. 2. Munich, 1970, p. 125, no. 573.
Rettich, Edeltraut. In Staatsgalerie Stuttgart: Alte Meister. Stuttgart, 1992, p. 260.
Technical Data
The present piece is clearly a fragment of a larger construction. The panel, composed of four radially-cut boards (spruce), covered by a layer of canvas fabric, has been thinned, cradled, and trimmed at least slightly on the left, right, and bottom edges. There are two thin vertical splits extending the length of the panel, approximately 6.4 cm (2 1/2 in.) from the left and 3.8 cm (1 1/2 in.) from the right edges. There is minimal loss to the paint surface associated with these splits; other minor losses are found along the edges of the panel, but on the whole the paint surface is in exceptional condition. The white ground is built up of several layers, with a coarser undercoating (gesso grosso) followed by finer layers of gesso sottile. The paint layer appears to be an egg tempera base, with localized glazes in an oil-based medium. The tooled background is covered with gold leaf, with mordant gilt decoration at the edge of the figure's cloak and in other details. Underdrawing is visible in the figure's face, neck, and turban.
1. Alfred Stange, Deutsche Malerei der Gotik, vol. 8 (Berlin, 1957), pp. 8-9.
2. B. Bushart, "Studien zur altschwäbischen Malerei, Ergänzungen und Berichtigungen zu Alfred Stanges 'Deutsche Malerei der Gotik,'" Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 22 (1959), pp. 136-37.
3. Oil on panel, 50 x 38 cm; Wolfgang Stechow, "Notes on the Master of the Sterzing Altarpiece," Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 8, no. 3 (Spring 1951), pp. 89-94, ill. fig. 1. The companion painting was in the collection of W. C. Escher, Zurich, before 1933, and was most recently recorded in the collection of H. Kisters, Kreuzlingen; see Alfred Stange, Kritisches Verzeichnis, Die Deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, vol. 2 (Munich, 1970), p. 125, no. 573b. Stange tentatively identified the figure in this piece as Saint Dorothy.
4. This possibility had first been proposed by Ernst Bucher, in an expertise of the Saint Mary Magdalene dated Munich, 27 July 1927.
5. H. Th. Musper, Gotische Malerei nördlich der Alpen (Cologne, 1961), p. 89.
6. Noted by Alfred Stange, Kritisches Verzeichnis, Die Deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, vol. 2 (Munich, 1970), p. 125, no. 573.


text:
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Dahl Chevrolet Buick GMC Sales Reviews
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text: Here at Knifemule.com we strive to ease your outdoor experiences. Smaller sized pocket tools equipped to do the same job as their larger counterparts make it easier on hunting, camping, fishing and any outdoor adventure to carry everything you may need. From flashlights to pocket sized ratchet tools we have everything you need.


text:
You are here: Root > By Topic > UtilitiesView the dependency graph for this library
A parser for unix style command line options. Can act as a simple Getopt for Lisp or can automatically bind values passed in from the CLI.
|Web site
|Mailing list
|0.2.4 -
|OS compatibility
|Linux on x86
Other Posix/style systems should work but aren't tested.
|ASDF installable
|Official Download
|Mirrored Download
|Source code repository
Unix-options is a small Common Lisp library for parsing unix-style command line options.
This library is very new and not widely tested so suggestions, bug-reports and patches are welcome.
An example of usage:
(with-cli-options ()
(print ¶meters in-file out-file)
(if print
(with-open-file (in :direction :input)
(with-open-file (out :direction :output)
(while (peek-char in)
(write-char (read-char in) out))))))
$ sample-program -p -i input.txt -o output.txt
=> write input.txt to output.txt
Full instructions can be found in the README
Please send any feedback to unix dot options (at) librelist dot com
LispWorks | Allegro Common Lisp | OpenMCL | CLISP | SBCL
Utilities | Parsers | ASDF installable | Unix family
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text:
10 Gauge Body Jewelry
Willow Blossom. bone 10g body jewelry.
GARUDA : Wood Earrings & Organic Jewelry
Willow Blossom.
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Enjoy your exotic nature.
Willow Blossom. bone 10g body jewelry.SKU # bj-70-b-10g


text:
These are all the photos from the galleries for Sailor Moon. They are pulled from both convention galleries and albums not marked as photoshoots from our photographers. Click on a photo to view more details about it.
ACP, ACE, ACS are part of the ACParadise.com Network, Copyright © 2000-2018
""definitely prefer my @acparadise account over the others. The photo upload menu is a lot easier to navigate, and costume info!""


text:
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Dear ladies and gentleman:
Here is an update on myself and The Poet and the Flea:
- Once again, I've been busy trying to crowdfund short film Death Is No Bad Friend about Robert Louis Stevenson. Please take a look at our Hatchfund campaign here : hatchfund.org/project/death_is_no_bad_friend.
- Last month, I had an amazing time as a guest speaker for Wendall K. Harrington's "Visual Storytelling" course at Yale University School of Drama. You can read more about it here (gegallas.wordpress.com/2015/01/05/yale-december-2014) and here (gegallas.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/yale-december-2014-yale-center-for-british-art-and-yale-university-art-gallery).
- Last week, I completed a huge freelance project of over 50 illustrations called Do More Good. Better. by Steve Scheier.
- This week, I begin a course called "Publication Design with InDesign."
- GUEST SPEAKER: I am so excited to announce I will be a guest speaker for Diane Critchfield's "British Literature II" course at Germanna Community College in Fredericksburg, Virginia this February 4th. If you're in the area, the talk…
View original post 143 more words


text:
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If You Are Having a Hard Time Finding Twinkies, Look Here!
We went to our local Walmart when we got off of the air earlier, and the Twinkies were gone! I was lucky to get the last box of Hostess Suzy Q's. But if you just HAVE to get some Twinkies we have your answer.
It took no time at all for the money minded to buy up all of the Twinkies they could and put them on ebay.


text: EBC Bluestuff Front Brake Pads for Volkswagen Scirocco Part # DP51517NDX 1.4 Turbo (122BHP) / 2008- - £107.99 1.4 Turbo (122BHP) / 2009- - £107.99 1.4 Turbo (160BHP) / 2009- - £107.99 2.0 TD (140BHP) / 2008- - £107.99 2.0 TD (140BHP) / 2009- - £107.99 2.0 TD (170BHP) / 2009- - £107.99 2.0 Turbo (210BHP) / 2008- - £107.99 1.4 Turbo (122BHP) 1.4 Turbo (160BHP) 2.0 TD (140BHP) 2.0 TD (170BHP) 2.0 Turbo (210BHP) Variant 2008- 2009- Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+ Quantity Quantity £107.99 Add to cart The EBC Brakes Bluestuff NDX race formula is an ultra high friction race pad with a friction level peaking above 0.6 under braking that will generate more G force than most, if not all pads out there. NDX is capable of street use as it bites well from cold. The big advantage of this pad is that it is one of the world's FIRST AND ONLY out of the box pre-bedded race pads that is surface "heat seared or scorched" at the factory. This gives amazing reductions in pad bed-in time on street or track. Also, being a non-metallic aramid base, NDX reduces rotor wear and eliminates the firework display spark emitted in high speed braking by competitive semi-metallics although NDX is NOT a low dust pad. There is an amount of dust with these pads. Disc wear is however drastically reduced and pad life enhanced. Discs wear smooth and flat without ridges. This product is for 1 set of brake pads (x4) Availability Most of our EBC parts are stocked and ship within 2 working days. Shipping and Returns All car parts are sent via a tracked delivery service or courier, depending on the size and weight of the shipment. Shipping to the UK can vary depending on manufacturer, but we advise customers to expect delivery of their order within 3-5 working days. If you aren't happy with your order for whatever reason, you are able to make a return within 30 days of purchase for a full refund. To find out more about our returns policy, visit our returns page Volkswagen Scirocco aftermarket parts and accessories Air Filters » Induction Kits » Forced Induction » Cooling » Engine Management » Exhausts » Service Parts » Coilovers » Performance Springs » Air Suspension » Top Mounts » Droplinks » Bushings » Anti-Roll Bars » Chassis Braces » Camber Kits » Brake Kits » Brake Pads » Brake Discs » Brake Lines » Clutch Kits » Flywheels » Differentials » Wheels » Spacers » Interior » Exterior » Steering Wheels » Hub Kits » Shift Knobs » Need advice? Contact us! Name Email Message Send


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GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The defense came up with six takeaways while the offense rushed for 278 yards and five touchdowns as the Bullets cruised by winless McDaniel College 35-3 on Homecoming in a Centennial Conference football match-up Saturday afternoon at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium.
The Bullets (5-0, 4-0 CC), who scored 21 points off turnovers and ended the game on a 28-0 run, continued their best start since 1987 while keeping pace with Johns Hopkins University at the top of the Centennial Conference standings. The Blue Jays defeated Juniata College 40-20 on Saturday.
Senior linebacker Larry DelViscio led all players with a season-high 13 tackles for a defense that has now allowed just 41 points halfway into its season. Junior linebacker Cody DiAmore contributed 11 hits and an interception while senior safety Drew Olsen made two of the Bullets four interceptions. Freshman cornerback Brian Calatozzo, making his first collegiate start, totaled nine tackles.
Gettysburg entered the game ranked fourth in Division III in rushing and received 95 yards and a touchdown from sophomore tailback Eddie Hutchins on just 12 carries. Senior tailback Ted Delia rushed for 68 yards and three touchdowns, pushing his season total to a career-best 11, while senior quarterback Kody Smith contributed 48 yards and a touchdown on the ground. He also threw for 108 yards on 11-of-22 passing.
Junior tailback Joe Rollins rushed for 138 yards on 28 carries for McDaniel (0-5, 0-4 CC). Sophomore quarterback Nick Valori passed for 117 yards and three interceptions while freshman safety Aaron Chester led the Green Terror defense with eight tackles.
The Bullets first touchdown was set up by an interception by junior cornerback Hugo Nolasco at midfield on McDaniel's opening drive. Nolasco returned it 23 yards to the McDaniel-27, and five plays later Delia rumbled in from 4 yards out to put Gettysburg on top 7-0 with 9:17 on the clock.
The Green Terror answered with a seven-play, 61-yard drive, capped by a 35-yard field goal by Bill Castor with 5:33 left in the first quarter that made it 7-3.
The two teams then exchanged punts twice before trading turnovers. Olsen came up with his first interception to thwart McDaniel's fifth drive, wrestling the ball from a Green Terror receiver in the end zone. The Bullets went on to drive 80 yards, with Smith capping the march with his fifth touchdown rush of the season. He broke through a hole in the line and sprinted down the left sideline for a career-long 36-yard dash, making it 14-3 with 3:18 remaining in the half.
Gettysburg's defense dug in its heels in the second half, allowing only one drive beyond nine yards. The Green Terror went three-and-out and punted on their first four possessions, and two of those punts led to a touchdown. Hutchins made it 21-3 with a 10-yard touchdown run with 11:08 left in the third quarter before Delia took a pitch left and raced 16 yards for his second TD of the game as the Bullets lead ballooned to 28-7 with 3:03 remaining in the quarter.
On the final play of the quarter, a Gettysburg punt glanced off the return man, and freshman Michael Kornegay fell on it at the Terror-11. Two plays later, after a 10-yard run, Delia pounded it in from 1 yard away to make it 35-3 and set the final score.
McDaniel put together its only sustained drive of the second half on its first possession of the fourth quarter, when it moved 51 yards to the Bullet-27. But backup quarterback Set McFall's pass was intercepted by DiAmore with 7:15 left. Gettysburg then drove to the McDaniel-14 before turning it over on downs, and senior defensive end Chris Nolan forced and recovered a fumble four plays later to effectively end the game


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On a comparatively quiet day for Colorado wildfires, blazes raging to the north in Wyoming covered the northern Front Range with smoke and haze, worrying residents and leading officials to issue a health advisory.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued a health warning until 9 p.m. Wednesday, saying particulates were in the moderate-to-unhealthy range for "sensitive groups." The Department on Thursday issued an ozone action alert until 4 p.m. saying concentrations were in the moderate to unhealthy-for-sensitive groups range.
Active children and adults, the elderly and those with respiratory illnesses were warned against prolonged or heavy exertion.
A cold front bringing air into the state from the north carried with it smoke from several large wildfires in Wyoming, said Steve Segin, spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. To a lesser extent, wildfires in Utah and Colorado are also contributing to the poor air quality.
The 9,085-acre Squirrel Creek fire near Laramie, the 88,000-acre Arapaho fire 28 miles northwest of Wheatland and the 56,000-acre Oil Creek fire near Newcastle were the biggest contributors to the thick smoke, Segin said.
"They're all fairly big fires," Segin said. "It's not too far away."
He said that later in the week, the cold front will bring conditions that will clear up much of the smoke.
"Unfortunately, the cold front is not that cold," Segin said.
Meanwhile, in Colorado Springs, nearly a half-inch of rain was a welcome respite Tuesday night for firefighters accustomed to triple-digit temperatures while fighting the Waldo Canyon fire.
Just after 4 p.m., an average of four-tenths of an inch of rain fell on the 18,247-acre fire that destroyed 347 homes since it began June 23.
"It's not going to put it out, but it is going to cool it down considerably," Tim Johnson, fire spokesman, said Wednesday.
But Johnson added that rain can be a double-edged sword, particularly if too much rain falls at once after a wildfire.
"It could knock the fire down, but it could contribute to flooding also," he said.
On Wednesday night, officials said the fire was 90 percent contained and expected it would be fully contained by Friday.


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Why Should Agilists Care About Capitalization?
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[The author is not a financial professional. Work with a financial professional when acting on opinions stated in this article.]
In many companies, agile software development is misunderstood and misreported, causing taxation increases, higher volatility in Profit and Loss (P&L) statements and manual tracking of programmer hours. I claim Scrum teams create production cost data that are more verifiable, better documented, and more closely aligned with known customer value than most waterfall implementations. Better reporting can mean significant tax savings and greater investor interest. Agile companies should change their financial reporting practices to exploit Scrum's advantages. It might not be easy, but I did it.
Scrum's production experiment framework aligns perfectly with the principles of financial reporting.
When I restructured software capitalization according to the principles here, during an all-company Scrum transition at a 900-person software company, we delighted auditors, gave more insight to upper management and raised more internal money to hire developers. We gained millions in tax savings, by using Scrum Product Backlog Items to more accurately document and capitalize our software work.
I hope to arm you with perspectives and resources to make the accounting argument for agile capitalization, potentially reducing your company's tax burden, increasing available funds for engineers, and making your auditors happy.
Software is a Capital Investment
Software development is an investment in the long-term future. We spend money up-front on engineer salaries and then (hopefully) profit later from cost-savings or revenue. If we invest wisely—converting cash (one type of asset) into software (another type of asset)—the company's value should go up. Tax authorities and investors rely on financial reports to understand a company's value, How we report development expenses matters.
First, let's define capitalization and expensing. "Capitalization" means spreading investment costs (sometimes called "capital investments" or "capital expenses") over a long-term asset's life of returning value. Capitalization is used in tax filings and financial reports (such as Profit & Loss Reports). Capital investments become part of the declared assets of the company. "Expensing" means "taking the hit" of a cost immediately, as an "operational expense" that returns short-term or no value. A company that expenses all of its software development has a hard time arguing that its software is part of its long-term value.
Some software development projects are not long-term investments; it depends on whether the software remains an asset. For example, a software contracting shop that builds and sells custom software, retaining no ongoing rights, cannot capitalize it (but the purchasing company might be able to).
It's easy to make damaging mistakes when classifying software costs. Some companies incorrectly treat all software investment as an operational expense, hiding its true value. Although this mistake could provide an opportunity for impropriety, classifying software investments as operational expense usually just results in the company overpaying taxes and understating its value, depressing its stock price and reducing its borrowing power.
Agilists Should Understand Capitalization
If finance people treat Scrum product development incorrectly, their policies could insidiously erode support for Scrum. Agile has confused some financial professionals who conclude agile software is somehow "temporary" due to its frequent release cadence.
Agilists should learn proper capitalization and teach colleagues. Misunderstandings in how to track and report agile project costs have cost many companies millions of dollars in improper taxation. Poor capitalization rules create choppy income statements for agile companies, making them look poorly managed. So-called "conservative" waterfall processes can rarely track which design efforts or management tasks led to which features, while agile methods can. And yet, accountants typically do not understand how to properly track and report labor in agile projects.
Companies can usually save on taxes, hire more developers and create value more rapidly when they capitalize software development. If they capitalize properly, they report their finances more responsibly to shareholders and regulators. To properly capitalize, we must capture labor costs involved in creating the asset and appropriately classify those costs as "capitalized" or "expensed".
Product Backlog Items, which explain the value delivered to a stakeholder, can be easily classified. But waterfall—with its endless design period and confused phases (check out a RUP phase diagram, and you will see muddiness everywhere)—rarely can track which design efforts or project management tasks led to which features. One would think that finance people and tax authorities would love agile practices.
But most finance experts and technical accountants do not have a deep understanding of agile practices. Accounting standards use waterfall examples to explain capitalization principles. Misapplied waterfall language can lead people to misclassify software development. Unless corporate agilists help finance departments capitalize agile software development properly, the company could suffer excessive tax liability and engineering staff cuts; and risks of audit exception findings and subsequent re-reporting of earnings.
Misunderstandings of agile capitalization principles have led to dramatic staff cuts. Pat Reed (another agile enterprise consultant) and I recently discussed capitalization with a manager at a huge engineering company. This manager told us his finance department capitalizes waterfall development normally, but treats agile development as "operational expense," because finance asserted (incorrectly) that all Sprints are effectively "Preliminary Project Stage" work. I asked, "So does this limit your headcount?" He admitted, "Yes, any department that choses to use agile practices expects its headcount to be halved."
On the positive side, ScrumMasters and agile department heads who understand capitalization can fix this, because good agile practices can enable more verifiable capitalization and because spreading investment costs over time often reduces the overall tax and helps find earlier funding to hire additional engineers. Here's why ScrumMasters have this power:
- ScrumMasters, often more than anyone else in the company, can correctly classify work as long-term investment or short-term expense, and usually have all the data needed to defend their classifications with financial staff and external auditors.
- ScrumMasters promote processes that align actual team behavior with documented goals more reliably. Scrum techniques have an adaptive statistical basis, backed by experimentation, which is absent in classic project management techniques. In my experience, auditors can trust agile-based reporting more than waterfall-based "actuals".
If, as a ScrumMaster, you want to tackle this opportunity, labor classification will then likely become your responsibility along with other ScrumMasters in the company. You will likely become, by necessity, an expert on the topics of software capitalization, depreciation and impairment. Welcome to the world of finance!
Proper classification Creates a Bright Future
Tax authorities and investors use operational expense and capital expense concepts to make better decisions. They usually want companies to invest in the long term, so they let companies spread investment costs over time, to offset revenues roughly in parallel as the investment earns money.
Software work can provide short-term value (all ROI in under a year) or long-term value (ROI over a multi-year period). Here's a short-term example: a contract software company might create a web site for a customer, get paid for it and retain no further rights. In this case, we say development cost is an "operational expense" .
Public companies usually must report yearly and quarterly profit to shareholders and tax authorities. Computing the profit seems easy:
profit = revenue – expense
Here's a long term example: a toy retailer builds a web site to sells its toys. Years after it built the web site, the long-completed work keeps generating revenue. In this case, we say development cost is "capital expense," a long-term investment. Computing the total profit, ex post facto, is easy:
total_profit = revenue(year_1) + … + revenue(year_n) – investment
Every year shareholders and tax authorities expect a financial report: what were our profits last year? If we have a long-term software project that gains no revenue in its first year, and if we have to treat it as an operational expense, we might post a loss. Fearful shareholders might sell shares of our company! Maybe we don't have to pay taxes this year, great! But next year we might have no development expense and a lot of revenues from our toy retail site, in some jurisdictions taxed in full! If we had to treat development efforts this way, it would discourage us from investing long-term.
Wisely, tax authorities and accounting groups let us spread these capital expenses over time, in a system called "depreciation." Most depreciation schedules spread a capital expense evenly over the expected lifetime of the software, so if the toy retail site we develop will likely stay in use over a 5 year period, we expense 20% of the development cost the first year after deployment, and 20% each year after through the 5th year. Contact an accountant for more information on depreciation schedules, which can vary depending on the expected lifetime of an asset.
An investment might not be usable immediately. Since we don't immediately gain revenue from it, we can usually defer depreciation until it goes into use. Accounting shorthand for this time before deployment is the "capitalization period." (Capitalization benefits continue after depreciation starts, by the way.) If we remove features in our web site software or stop using it entirely (possibly because we replaced it), either before or after deployment, we "impair" our old investment, and then we have to immediately expense all remaining costs.
Companies can gain tax advantages by capitalizing software development: by deferring costs they typically offset more taxable revenue and gain more interest income. Departments also gain some advantages in hiring: when a department can defer software investment costs, it often can spend that deferred cost on employee salaries (hiring more people, providing raises, etc.).
(Click on the image to enlarge it)
Profit and Loss with and without depreciation
The graph illustrates how profit and loss (P&L) can be affected by depreciation. The numbers shown are in thousands of dollars. As is typical for software projects, the major costs (Dev Cost) occur at the beginning of the project: $2 million in 2012 and $2 million in 2013. In 2014 and beyond, the costs are $200,000 per year, the cost of adding features to the software. The project doesn't start earning revenue or cost-savings until it is deployed in 2014, and at that point it earns $1.2 million yearly.
If project costs are not depreciated, but expensed immediately, the blue line tells the P&L story: Huge losses in the first two years, then enormous profits in subsequent years.
When costs are depreciated, the green line tells a different P&L story. No costs are taken from P&L until the software is put into use. When the software is placed in use, we compute our profit by depreciating the cost over a five-year window.
Why is this important? Governments typically tax P&L on positive amounts, and make it difficult to use negative amounts to reduce future year taxable P&L (unless you can justify it with depreciation).
Finance people often over-expense by treating all software expenses as operational expenses, claiming this is somehow conservative behavior. It isn't. If you are investing in the long-term, placing software investments in a short-term expense class will make your company look volatile—that's irresponsible to your shareholders. It can generate higher tax liability, which is both irresponsible to your company and out-of-line with the goals of your host country, which wants you to invest long-term.
A company with high profits can offset a product development department's production losses. This avoids the tax problem, but it doesn't avoid the poor-planning problem. In my experience, executives pay attention to departmental profits and losses, driving headcount from that. Who among us have not seen boom-and-bust cycles of hiring and firing in large software concerns? In part, this headcount volatility is caused by failure to properly recognize software as an investment.
Finally, if agile software projects are expensed and waterfall projects are not, it essentially dooms any long-term enterprise adoption of agile practices. If waterfall projects can hire more employees, but agile projects can't, guess what methodology managers will promote?
Recommended Accounting Practices Ignore Agile
Accounting practices are not completely dictated by tax and securities law. Instead, the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) interprets these laws to produce "generally accepted accounting practices" (GAAP). FASB guidelines for internal use software are in [ASC 350-40], and for externally sold software are in [ASC 985-20]. Their treatment is roughly equivalent for this discussion. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) produces the "International Financial Reporting Standards" (IFRS). FASB and IASB provide guidance on how to interpret law. Their recommendations, written before agile practices were popular, show how to classify work using waterfall examples.
(Click on the image to enlarge it)
Waterfall Capitalization Timeline
Misinformed people believe FASB and IASB guidelines force agile projects into a waterfall world of engineer time tracking, with RUP-like phases of analysis, prototyping, development, packaging and maintenance . Instead, guidelines state that market analysis prior to development is expensed, prototyping prior to a decision to invest is expensed, development for long-term value is capitalized, packaging for shipment is capitalized, and maintenance (fixing bugs) is expensed. The figure above shows capitalized items in green.
Auditors recognize that FASB and IASB guidance cannot be routinely applied to new situations. What tax authorities and auditors look for is conformance to law and its spirit, consistent application, and full transparency. We can give them all that, but because agile practice is new, we must understand the law and its motivations, document our capitalization policies and practices, track project work consistently, and be perfectly transparent. This aligns well with agile principles.
However, if you ignore the law and its motivations, inconsistently track work or fail to document processes clearly, you risk the wrath of tax authorities and investors. Adverse audit findings and the resulting submission of corrected financial reports can cause tax authorities and investors to lose trust in the company, subjecting it to higher scrutiny and a lower stock price.
If you are interested in the basis of FASB guidelines, and you are in the United States, refer to US Tax Codes [26 USC 167] [26 USC 197] [26 USC 179]. It turns out that most countries operate the same way for this topic.
Finance departments are justifiably conservative in their approach. If your finance department doesn't like how you do things, they could
- force engineers to track hours (degrading their creativity and productivity with mind-numbing work-tracking),
- undercapitalize software development (leaving huge sums on the table), or
- reclassify past expenses (raising investor questions about the stability of the company).
It's easy to make multi-million dollar mistakes in this area. Because the vast majority of companies make capitalization mistakes that increase tax receipts, the authorities don't complain. Because agile software practices are arcane to investors, they don't complain either. But they should.
If you involve at least one person that has a moderately good understanding of three fields—finance, engineering and process—you can dramatically improve your bottom line. Since the returns are so high, it may be worth it to hire a consultant to help get it right.
How to: Financial Reporting in the Agile Frontier
Until FASB and IASB guidelines are revised to explicitly discuss agile examples, responsible agilists must work directly with their own corporate finance departments and auditors to craft acceptable capitalization processes.
First, establish a clear and consistent bright line demarking when your company could start capitalizing work. ASC 350-40 states cost capitalization can begin when all work in the "Preliminary Project Phase" is complete, when management commits to funding it, and when "it is probable that the project will be completed … and used. Capitalization begins when you move from "what" to "how" you will design and develop the software asset."
In most cases, capitalization should begin when the whole production team assembles for its first sprint. Your company has likely completed initial market exploration and architectural design before it invests in a full team of designers, engineers and testers. However, if a research team runs a "feasibility spike" sprint to determine which architecture to use or whether the market warrants further sprints before it can create something that could provide long-term value, you are likely in a "Preliminary Project Phase," and your costs are operational expenses.
Once your company has committed funding to a project likely to be completed and used, you can start capitalizing the work. All work critical to designing, creating, testing and deploying the asset should be capitalized, including engineers, testers, user experience designers, product management, project management and ScrumMasters.
Second, establish whether the entire or only part of the project should be capitalized. In many cases after the "Preliminary Project Phase" the entire project cost can be capitalized. This happens when a significant percentage of the work (we felt 95% was sufficient) should be classified as capital expense. However, some common activities must be expensed.
If any of the following apply to you, you may have a mixed-mode project:
- Your team fixes regression bugs in a released product, while it develops new features,
- Your team is creating a product for international release, and is localizing the product for multiple languages,
- Your team (not just its software) manually converts data from one form to another,
- Your team helps train people to use the software,
- Your team participates in operations activities beyond deployment, such as monitoring, reporting, backup, machine configuration,
- Your team performs routine Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) or security reviews [15 USC 7211],
- Your team refactors code unlikely to be relevant to new functionality (you probably shouldn't do this anyway),
- Your team modifies software to support individual customers.
Whether these items or others should be expensed or capitalized will depend on your finance department and technical accounting advisors.
How to: Classify Mixed-Mode Projects
If you have mixed-mode projects, establish a way to apportion labor to operational or capital expenses. If you have strong Scrum practices within your organization, you can likely defensibly use proportional allocation of estimation points (also called "story points") for each team. If each team has a different point-scale, it can be accommodated. For a quarter, divide the total cost of the team by the total points completed by the team, (including product owner, ScrumMaster, team members and the appropriate percentage of part-time contributor salaries). You now have the "cost per point".
|Add international language capability
|Fix regression bug in English-language version
|Localize for Spain, France, Germany
|Customize software for Acme Corp client
|Restructure site with better graphics, information flow
|Fix bug that "export" never worked on Mac OS X
|Implement import function
In this example, the team completed 63 estimation points in its 4 week Sprint. 42 points were capitalizable. If the total team cost (the total salaries for the team) for those 4 weeks was $112,000, then the capital expense was $112,000 × (42 ÷ 63) = $75,000.
If product owners write Product Backlog Items in a ritualized story form, it can be easier to determine whether it is a capital or operational expense. My preferred PBI story form, a variation of a form promoted by Chris Matts and Dan North [North 2006], helps clarify most classification work. It looks like this:
As a <stakeholder>,
I can <perform an action>,
so our company <receives business value>
Acceptance tests:
- <acceptance test 1>
- <acceptance test 2>
- …
In this format, you substitute specific values for <stakeholder>, <perform an action>, <receives business value> and <acceptance test …>. The stakeholder is never the team, but can be anyone else consuming the product: a user, a customer, a systems operator, a business analyst, or an administrator. If you aren't serving someone outside the team, it isn't really a "user story". <Perform an action> should be something that the stakeholder can do that they couldn't do before the Product Backlog Item was completed. <Receives business value> is a phrase usually articulated with the developing company in mind: Why are we building this? Will we get more users? Will users pay more for the product? We will gain a competitive edge or match a competitor's features? Will we save operations costs? On rare occasions, the <stakeholder> can be a future developer, this accounts for focused efforts to reduce technical debt, however, make sure the acceptance tests confirm that future developers benefit.
Finally, we have acceptance tests. I counsel teams that acceptance tests should be written so stakeholders (usually non developers) can verify that the work was done, ideally in the Sprint Review. An acceptance test written for a team member to verify is not really an acceptance test.
Here's an example:
As a systems operator,
I can monitor the current load on the system,
so the company can add machines if the load approaches the point where new users will be denied access.
Acceptance tests:
- From the administration screen, a systems operator can easily find the load.
- If the load is in the green area, at least 50% more users can be added to the system without concern. If the load is in the yellow area, at least 20% more users can be added to the system without concern.
- When the load is in the red area, additional machines can be added to bring the load back to the yellow or green region.
This story should be capitalized, because it adds functionality not previously available, even though it serves a stakeholder inside the company. This subtlety is sometimes missed, but is clear from thoughtful reading of ASC 350-40, which contains the concept in its title "Internal Use Software." Because most cloud computing and web site development projects run in the developer company's machines, they are characterized as internal use software.
This format not only serves well for financial classification, but also has benefits in helping the team understand the context of its work.
What about tracking hours?
Whenever capitalization comes up, someone usually suggests that we "just track programmer hours." This is a mistake, not only because it disrupts agile behavior, but also because measurement is likely inaccurate and not as verifiable.
Hour-by-hour financial monitoring slows down software development. Software development is creative work, and interruptions to track hours disturb the creative process. If we enforced hour-by-hour tracking with engineers, we would pull developers from their Zen state of thinking about the stakeholder, stakeholder actions, the acceptance tests and the code into a self-conscious state of thinking about what they did in the last hour.
So, to avoid the disruption, companies almost always simply ask engineers to fill out time cards at the end of the week, at best. By this time, the work they've done is lost in the fog of the past. In my experience, their weekly reporting is quite inaccurate.
Auditors support accounting practices that provide honest transparency while maintaining high productivity. Those auditors I've encountered acknowledge that hour-by-hour tracking is problematic. When I have suggested that proportionally allocating actual cost by story points would provide honest transparency, they have, at first, cautiously agreed.
In doing so, I make an assertion that "estimated effort" is highly correlated with actual work time. This assertion is defensible. The Scrum framework is designed to help teams drive toward high correlation between estimation points and actual time. Scrum provides better forecasting accuracy than waterfall, and teams that embrace Scrum principles examine their estimation points and outcomes, trying to ensure that their sprint forecasts are roughly met by the sprint result.
Auditors become enthusiastic supporters of this approach when they see the effect. When we track PBIs, estimation points and completion dates (sprint end dates), we know exactly which team did the work, we usually have a day-by-day task burndown and we have a proportional allocation. The PBIs we report are well documented and understandable (thanks to the story form). When auditors visit team members, the team members say the same thing executives say. This is an auditors dream: that managers and executives reporting aggregate data are verifiably backed by statements from individual contributors.
What happens in a transition to agile?
If you are about to embark on a transition from waterfall to Scrum, this is a great opportunity to consider changes in financial reporting. Agile approaches to software development are radically different from waterfall, and so justify a significant change in financial reporting methodology.
First, you can create a nearly bulletproof system for tracking engineering costs that eliminates the need to track actual hours. Auditors and financial staff will at first be wary with this new approach, then delighted when they realize that everyone—from developers to ScrumMasters to Product Owners to managers to finance staff—discuss the work your company does consistently and thoughtfully.
You may find that transitioning to a more accurate and responsible capitalization approach dramatically increases the amount of work capitalized. Your finance department should expect a high rate of capitalization, because the work of software development is usually an investment in a long-term future. However, a dramatic change can be seen as a red flag to them and auditors.
Address these concerns head-on. Explain that agile software practices make this detailed approach feasible. It can be difficult for waterfall teams to responsibly track which design efforts or project management tasks led to which features, while agile methods expose this information naturally through sprint backlogs. So, for example, in the past your company might have lumped post-investment-decision design work into the "Preliminary Project Phase." This is not appropriate anymore.
Furthermore, because agile practices create releasable software every month, they can tie infrastructure development work with individual features, making them capitalizable. Some waterfall companies have felt that infrastructure work was so indirectly connected with user features that it had to be expensed.
Regardless of your situation, be completely frank with finance and auditors. If you expect your capitalization rate to increase dramatically, share that information with finance and auditors. Discuss why this will happen. And finally, explicitly connect it to your company's transition to agile. Your commentary may actually appear in a company shareholder report, which you should welcome, proud agilist that you are.
If you have read this far, you are likely an enterprise agilist; comfortable with the idea that agile thinking should affect not just engineering, but also finance and other departments. Welcome!
Now that you know more about agile capitalization, your company has an opportunity to report its activities more responsibly to shareholders and tax authorities. It can require a lot of negotiation, planning and process changes to do so. However, your engineering group may be able to hire more engineers; your company may be able to reduce its tax burden significantly; and your company's financial reports may stabilize. The value of these improvements may be in the millions.
For agility and the greater good, I remain your humble servant.
About the Author
Dan R. Greening (@greening) leads international enterprises in sustainable agile transformations. He led engineering department transformations at Citrix Online, Overstock.com and Skype. His current work emphasizes sustainable agility, which is resilient to reorganization. Dan has developed approaches for project funding and portfolio management, employee training and growth, transforming managers to contribute strategically, tracking dozens of Scrum teams, prioritizing coaching efforts, measuring and improving corporate agility. Dan developed the Agile Canon, a rigorous approach to measure and improve agility. He holds a PhD in computer science from UCLA and is a Certified Scrum Coach. Dan blogs at http://senexrex.com/blog
Thanks to Dr. Mark Lane, Pat Reed, Walt Wycoff, David Starr, Erik Gibson and Vince Mills for their editorial help. Thanks to Citrix Online for its permission to share this information.
- [ASC 350-40] Financial Accounting Standards Board, 350 Intangibles–Goodwill and Other; 40 Internal-Use Software, (paywalled).
- [ASC 985-20] Financial Accounting Standards Board, 985 Software; 20 Costs of Software to Be Sold, Leased, or Marketed, (paywalled).
- [North 2006] Dan North, Introducing BDD.
- [15 USC 7211] 15 USC Chapter 98 – Public Company Accounting Reform and Corporate Responsibility (related to Sarbanes-Oxley)
- [26 USC 167] 26 USC § 167 – Depreciation
- [26 USC 197] 26 USC § 197 - Amortization of goodwill and certain other intangibles
- [26 USC 179] 26 USC § 179 - Election to expense certain depreciable business assets
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Well siad
Udayan Banerjee
Excellent idea, couldn't be more timely.
Tarang Patel
The question that comes up in mind is -
Is there not the danger that this exposes managers to start comparing team velocity in the endeavor to create uniformity in the "story point" sizing across teams and feel for productivity? Not only that but doesn't this also lead teams to game the sizing of stories, score everything big as after all it is relative size, and now give the appearance of attaining higher value.
Currently many environments have gotten in the habit of having their teams report time spent using time cards, usually wanting to pull this data from their agile tool of choice. This hinders agile adoption more than most realize, and as you rightly point out is inaccurate - mainly due to human nature and a thing called Goodhart's law. In essence, ask anyone "how much time did you spent?" is in a sense an onerous question and seen as micromanagement. This often leads to a defensive mindset, and focus on justifying time spent. Here in U.S and in particular California many companies do the time card thing without realizing they may open themselves to a rude awakening one day with the labor board on employee categorization viz-a-vi time carding.
Fundamentally, It is difficult to tease away the time measure given that taxation is based on $ spent/accrued over time. This aside were you able to verify this technique by looking back at the data and P&L charts?
Re: Excellent idea, couldn't be more timely.
Dan Greening
Regarding Tarang's concern that managers will feel the need to unify story point sizing, we did not see this at Citrix Online. The practice I described in the paper allowed us to satisfy Finance, while also allowing each team to use different story point units. In fact, it removed some pressure and showed that more innocuous questions could be responsibly answered. For example, "what proportion of the time are engineering department employees working on Feature X?" could be answered without interfering with individual teams or exposing them to dangers. (Of course, when a team is operating as Scrum-of-Scrums from a single backlog, you <em>want</em> them to use the same reference stories and the same point scale. But that is a different topic.)
On the gaming question, no this does not lead to gaming. Each team has its own story point unit. We are interested in the relative amount of time a Scrum team spends on different features, we then compute the cost per PBI, we classify as expense or capital, and then we roll up. I suppose one concern could be that technical debt repayment, if put in a separate story, could be disadvantaged if classified as "expense". In our case, technical debt repayment leads to long term productivity improvements, so most such stories were classified as "capitalize". At the same time, our primary pressure was not to drive more capitalization or more expensing. People were most interested in accurate classification.
We did not process time cards. Of course, this would have been an interesting experiment, comparing reported actuals against pre-work relative estimates, but my motivation for creating this story-point based process was to avoid people having to use time cards. I was loath to introduce time-reporting as an acceptable behavior, because of the cost to productivity.
Thanks for your interest in this topic. It encourages me.
Capitalization and Software Development
Earl Butler
Question on bounding iterations.
Steve Morley
How do you determine which iterations should be part of the software asset? For some large development projects the iterations seem to continue on for a long time and it's difficult to set a date for when the capitalization effort should be stopped, i.e. when the project has ended.
Re: Question on bounding iterations.
Dan Greening
All iterations following the "prototyping phase" should continue to be classified as capex or opex. In agile there isn't really a time when capitalization efforts should be stopped (unlike RUP/waterfall, where there's a "maintenance phase" that is only about fixing bugs, agile work has no such distinction). It's possible that your company can set a minimum spend when you stop trying to classifying work, and just send everything to the expense category. If you do this, you should document it.
I'm happy to chat about specifics by email email@example.com or phone +1 (415) 754 8311.
NO, NO, NO! Capitalization of software is a bad idea!
Capitalization can, in theory and in very specific circumstances, be useful, but for the most part, it should be avoided like the plague.
Item 1)In general, capitalization leads to less income, not more.
What? How can that be? Capitalization does not reduce expenses, it simply spreads them out over time. So instead of having $100,000 in expenses this year, you'll put down $20,000 for 5 years. Why is this bad? Expenses reduce your tax burden. So without capitalization, you pay less this year and more in the next 4 years. In econ class, we learned about the "time value of money". 1$ today is worth more than $1 in the future. So if we can arrange our taxable income over a 5 year period, ideally, we want our lowest taxable income to be this year and the highest to be 4 years from now. Capitalization does exactly the opposite. It increases our taxable income this year, thereby going against the time value of money.
The special exception to this rule is when tax brackets or losing money are involved. If you have enough expenses that it drops your income below zero, then the government doesn't give you extra for your losses. Similarly, if you can use capitalization to prevent tax bracket jumps in future years, then it may make sense.
Item 2) It forces managers to incorrectly prioritize work. I works at a company where software capitalization is a priority and can verify this first hand. An employee wants to take a 3-day course on Node.js and proposes it to the manager. Well, "I would," says the manager, "but training expenses are not capitalizable and Bob has been sick, so we haven't met our cap numbers for the month. Maybe next month." Similarly, another employee wants to spend some time investigating whether a switch to a CQRS architecture would be appropriate. That is not capitalizable and likely to be declined. A 20% free time policy, like Google has. Nope, not capitalizable.
The follow up result is then to play games with the work. Well, you can't learn about Node, but let's add a feature to an upcoming project that requires Node and then we'll throw the expense for Node training under that project. Let's make a CQRS architecture investigation part of another project. Play games with the work so that you can get what's most important to be capitalizable.
Item 3) It is a method of stock manipulation. This is the main reason for capitalizing software expenses. By capitalizing the expense, only part of the expense goes down as a expense and the rest gets classified as an asset on the books. This makes your company seem more valuable. When you buy a building worth $100,000 and depreciate it over 10 years, you do it, because you know that the building is going to last 10 years. Someone buying the company knows that they've got a building that has value and, if necessary, sell that building. At any time, an auditor can go out and say, look, there is the building that we've got on the books.
Classification software development as capital puts on the books holds no such reassurances. I can spend $1million on software development for a new section of the site and then shut down that section of the site 1 month later and yet it will remain on the books as an asset, because actual classification of the true value of software isn't done, because it is too difficult.
Re: NO, NO, NO! Capitalization of software is a bad idea!
Dan Greening
- Argue that waterfall software development isn't capitalizable either (John W's argument). Companies that can invest in software development and non-software assets will favor non-software assets, leading to less profitable outcomes. Executives should be free to make unbiased decisions to help the company succeed.
- Show that agile software development is capitalizable (my argument). This creates an even playing field for agile and non-agile software development. If agile generates more long-term value, agile will eventually win. If software generates more money than non-software assets, software will eventually win.
Let's go point-by-point through John's claims:
- Item 1: Thoughtful capitalization can lead to lower taxes and more stable P&L statements. My article shows this. The "special exceptions" John mentions are more common that he implies, because few companies make money every year. You can't suddenly decide to capitalize software because you happened to have a money-losing year. You have to decide how you are going to handle software and stick to that practice long-term.
- Item 2: John cites that training is not capitalizable. True enough, and appropriately so. If programmers were required to stay at the company after we invested in their training, i.e., if people were "assets" we could own, we could claim training should be capitalized. However, they can easily leave and take their learning with them: slavery is outlawed in most countries. Research has a similar problem, that we have little certainty whether it will generate an asset.
- Item 3: Classification can be misused, but misuse can go either way. A company developing a slam-dunk software package with market evidence showing large future profits could elect to expense its development, resulting in a loss, making the company's stock unattractive and causing its price to drop. Insiders could then buy the stock at a low price, knowing that the stock will have big gains later on. Now we have stock manipulation by applying John's absolute that all software development is expense.
Of course, some software efforts are speculative, just as many non-software investments are speculative, but impairment takes care of those. John cited a false example: If we invest $1M in a new section of our website, then shut it down a month later, this is called an "impairment" of our asset, and we must immediately expense our previously capitalized development. This is discussed in the article.
I wrote this article carefully, recognizing that capitalization wasn't necessarily the right answer for all software development.
We treat shareholders and tax authorities most responsibly when we capitalize long-term investments. Software development is often a long-term investment, otherwise most companies wouldn't do it. If software development was just an expense, copyright and other types of intellectual property protection would be pointless.
Agile practices make software's value apparent very early in development, making agile software a better investment. Agile development creates more predictable outcomes, like most good assets.
Re: Question on bounding iterations.
Randy Ratkowski
Regarding bounding iterations, the approach I'm taking is using the idea of themes or epics. Bottom line, when the epic or theme is "released" to customer facing product, I send info to finance stating how much of the accumulated sw cap applied to that feature and should be amortized. Released in our form, is available for sale and customer use so I believe it lines up with the finance terminology. I track accumulating sw cap using a similar approach with story points and ratio-ing them to the hours logged in the time system. Yes, we are logging our hours but I think it is not excessive and still provides appropriate control for the finance folks. The part that is eating me up a bit is stuggling with the granularity of our themes and epics. However, I like your approach of tagging sw cap within the product backlog tool. Our problem is our backlog doesnt overtly address grooming, which we have categorized as non sw cap. Additionally, we have several roles like BAs and algorithm engineers that support the team who's work is not represented on the back log.
I love the thread and will be watching for more insights!!!
Great Article
Patricia Petrous
I do have one question that relates to User Experience. I understand that design time should be capitalized, but what about the time expended during testing. We typically have outside users (docs and nurses) testing our releases, lead by our UEX staff. Should our UEX staff time also be capitalized during the "testing process"?
Thanks again for making this difficult concept more understandable!
Pat Petrous
Re: Great Article
Dan Greening
In cases where the outcome of UX testing intends to learn more and thus direct how to improve the value of the asset and where the overall project is budgeted and approved, User Experience testing is capitalizable. This is the majority of cases, in my experience.
In cases where UX testing is used to qualify products for purchase, to assess whether to invest in otherwise speculative prototype projects, or to tune a particular bespoke solution for one customer, of course, UX testing would be expensed.
In short, if you are capitalizing the software development, you should be capitalizing the UX testing, as well.
How do you handle threshold requirements for capitalization?
linda greifenstein
Amortization crisis!
Melanie Hill
Re: Amortization crisis!
Dan Greening
Re: How do you handle threshold requirements for capitalization?
Dan Greening
So your 1000 hour threshold and other companies' dollar thresholds, in my experience, are best ignored when you follow this approach. Consult with your accountants, of course. Since the presumption is that including data less than 1000 hours would "make no real difference," you should be able to just include all the data you have. In my experience, this makes your life easier rather than harder.
Re: NO, NO, NO! Capitalization of software is a bad idea!
Mike Mast
How about Kanban?
Todd Meyer
Excellent article, extremely informative
Curtis Reed
I can't tell you how many times I have spoken with an agile coach who touches on the subject but can't explain it.
I can't wait to work on a presentation so I can add this knowledge and approach to my own growing toolbox!
Thank you.
Re: How about Kanban?
Dan Greening
In Kanban, if the work items are approximately the same size, you can just count the work items. If not, should you be using Kanban at all? Flow improves when the work items are the same size, so this could be an argument you use with auditors for just counting the number of items.
Re: NO, NO, NO! Capitalization of software is a bad idea!
Dan Greening


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Preheat grill (or broiler). Blend all ingredients together and spread liberally over chicken breasts. Place chicken on grill (or broiler pan) and grill (broil) for five to ten minutes on each side (or until the center is no longer pink). Serves 2.
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Are you a beach body coach by chance?
Are you a beach body coach by chance?


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ZTE is continuing its massive 2013 assault by introducing yet another intriguing new device called the the Blade C smartphone. According to the Bluetooth SIG, the Blade C smartphone will also be known as the V807, V889S, and T807 models and will be featured in Chinese and European markets. The Blade C is expected to be targeted at consumers looking for Jelly Bean-powered budget devices as each will not only feature a fairly low pricing point, but the V807 model will have a 4-inch WVGA display, 3MP rear camera, Bluetooth 4.0, a decent dual-core 1 GHz MediaTek MTK 6577 processor, 512MB of RAM and a 1,600 mAh battery— which should more than suffice for those looking to get the most out of a little.
The smartphone is available in China at this time and is on the way to European markets— so the Blade C should be in stores sooner than later. Oh and in case you're wondering— there's no word on whether or not we will see the smartphone on American shores, but it's probably wise not to hold your breath for this puppy.
source: UnwiredView


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Apple briefly got some of its shine back, after the company delivered a package of capital programs that shareholders have been clamoring for.
But the market turned on it quickly late Tuesday, sending the stock nearly 2 percent below its closing level, after immediately trading as much as five percent higher in the afterhours session. Even if Apple shares do not gain Wednesday, the company though may have put a floor under its stock with the announcement of its 15 percent dividend hike and giant share repurchase program.
Apple, however, disappointed with comments on slower growth and lower margins, and a lack of new products on the near horizon. The company late Tuesday reported fiscal second quarter earnings of $9.55 billion, or $10.09 per share on revenues of $43.6 billion better than expected on the top and bottom line.
Apple also announced plans to give $100 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015, the largest corporate buyback authorization ever, the company said. It increased its share repurchase program to $60 billion and said it would boost its quarterly dividend to $3.05 per share.
(Read More: False Rumor of Explosion at White House Causes Stocks to Briefly Plunge)
"The market was kind of setting up for Apple to lay an egg here, and it didn't. It kind of pulled a rabbit out of its hat, not to mix metaphors," said Art Hogan of Lazard Capital Markets.
With its stock crushed by some 40 percent since September, shareholders have been looking for Apple to dole out some of its cash hoard. The moves announced Tuesday makes Apple the largest dividend payer in the world, according to S&P.
(Read More: Yum Brands Earnings Top Forecasts; Stock Jumps)
But Apple also said it expects third quarter revenue of $33.5 to $35.5 billion, below forecasts of $38.25 billion.
"They had a better quarter than expected, both top and bottom line," said Hogan. "Their guidance was a little disappointing but as always, conservative. I think everyone's going to be happy about them raising the capital allocation for shareholders."
Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged the company's slowing growth and lower margins on an earnings call. But Steve Massocca of Wedbush Securities said the market expects Apple to be conservative with guidance. "It's clearly good news," he said of the dividend and buyback. "Just psychologically, you knew he was going to put out good news."
(Read More: AT&T Revenue Misses Estimates, Shares Skid)
There is a parade of major earnings Wednesday, including Boeing, Procter and Gamble, Eli Lilly, and Ford. But it could be Apple that has the most impact on sentiment.
On the data front, there is durable goods at 8:30 a.m. ET, expected to decline 2.9 percent. There is also a $35 billion five-year note auction at 1 p.m. ET.
(Read More: Gold May Have Hit Bottom, for Now)
Other companies reporting before the opening bell include Barclays, GlaxoSmithKline, Barrick Gold, Credit Suisse, Eni, General Dynamics, Hess, Lorillard, Motorola Solutions, Ericsson, Northrop Grumman, ABB, Nasdaq OMX, Thermo Fisher Scientific, WellPoint, Whirlpool, Owns Corning, Carlisle, Tupperware, and Dr. Pepper Snapple.
After the closing bell, reports are expected from Zynga, Qualcomm, Western Digital, F5 Networks, Stryker, Cabot Oil and Gas, Graco, Flowserve, Akamai, Aflac and Crown Castle.


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So, Instagram is dead, basically. Facebook may have backed-down on its stance that it can pretty much do what the hell it wants with your photos, but we all know that the company is, at a cellular level, incapable of respecting your privacy.
So, the hunt for an app to make your cameraphone photos look interesting continues. And, surprisingly the answer seems to come, in part, from Yahoo's Flickr. A well-liked photo storage site that's as old as the hills but - if we're honest - has seen better days in terms of features.
- Format
- Android and iOS
- Price
- Free
- Where
- Google Play or iTunes
But we're not here to talk about websites, we're here to talk about apps, and the Flickr app leaps beyond the abilities of the companion website, and brings with it all the things we need in a photo-sharing and capture app.
Of course, there are the filters. Take a photo of your latte, and the next minute you can be festooning it with all manner of digital effects. What was once a stupid photo of your stupid coffee now becomes an objet d'art, something that future generations will hang in the Tate with sighs about how the artist really understood coffee, and the story of how that humble beverage became a must-have morning accoutrement.
As an app, there's more to it than just filters though. You've got a news feed that hauls in the photos from your contacts. If you're a long-time user of Flickr, then you'll have lots of friends, and you'll see some great stuff here. Flickr really does have some amazing talent locked up in its vaults.
You can also look at photos that are either "interesting" or close to you. Interesting is already filling up with shots of coffee - we're sure these are ironic - and other things that people have been looking at. In our lonely Surrey corner of the country, there wasn't much happening when we looked, just a few aerial shots of London that were pretty impressive, but nothing "real".
One of the things we really like, that will appeal to proper photographers, is the ability to easily access the EXIF information from photos. So if you're browsing images, and you see one you admire, you can then see what equipment was used, and the settings. It's things like this that it that beyond the casual snapper tool that Instagram is, and in to a more interesting place.
To take this further, the camera tool also allows you to change the frame format. So if you have a camera that shoots in 16:9, you have the option to switch that to a more "photographic" ratio, more akin to 35mm that most cameraphones will manage. It's a small thing, but it might suit some photographers.
And that leads us to forgive the slightly limited filters. But then we didn't want or need filters in the first place, because we love photos for what's in them, how they are composed and the beauty that arises from the combinations therein. So from that perspective, Flickr gets a solid thumbs up.


text: This little virus is the cause of those winter coughs. Use the toy as an introduction to the spread of airborne disease... cover your mouth when you cough! Yes, we know that technically not a microbe!Width is approximately 10 cm (giant) or 30cm (gigantic). Please note that the 'gigantic' version is on a special order basis... allow up 5 extra business days of shipping.For children 3 years and up


text: A freelance journalist and independent commentator on hotel design, Guy writes for a variety of publications including Wallpaper*, Condé Nast Traveller, Business Traveller, various UK and European newspapers and travel websites plus regularly contributing to Sleeper, the specialist hotel design magazine. A frequent speaker and moderator at various hotel design related events (The Sleep Event, London, Hospitality Interior Design Europe and Asia, the Deutsche Hotel Kongress, the International Hotel Conference) Guy also facilitates roundtable discussions for manufacturers to the industry such as Bang & Olufsen, Philips and Zumtobel, bringing his autonomy and wide-ranging knowledge of all sectors of the industry into play. Formerly the UK Managing Director of Design Hotels in London, Guy has been a continuous member of the European Hotel Design Awards jury since 2003.


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Catholic News Service - Washington, DC
"If one is seriously trying to be faithful to one's marriage, one does not ask, 'How far can I go before I violate my marriage?"" said Father Frank Pavone, a U.S. official at the Pontifical Council for the Family.
Father Pavone and moral theologians in Rome, in interviews with Catholic News Service, said the questions raised by the media in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct by President Bill Clinton are not at all unclear from a moral point of view.
Catholic teaching is clear in stating that "any kind of genital activity outside of marriage is a violation of the marriage covenant," Father Pavone said
Approaching the moral questions involved from the point of view of how far one can go before violating one's marriage, he said, is completely backwards.
"It's like not asking, 'What can I do to please God?' but, 'How much can I do before I displease God?"" he said.
Some media reports about adultery have cited law dictionary definitions, but Dominican Father Francesco Compagnoni, a professor at Rome's Angelicum University, said, "Adultery can be a juridical term where the meaning could be very different from its meaning in morality."
The "Catechism of the Catholic Church," says: "Adultery refers to marital infidelity. When two partners, of whom at least one is married to another party, have sexual relations—even transient ones—they commit adultery. Christ condemns even adultery of mere desire. The sixth commandment and the New Testament forbid adultery absolutely."
Franciscan Father Gino Concetti, who writes about moral questions for L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, said, "Adultery according to the Gospel is also of the heart, which means without distinction according to the type of sexual relations."
Sex, he said, is always more than a genital relationship and "every provocation which betrays the biblical concept of marital fidelity is a violation of those values which are part of every human person, that is, natural law," he said.