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Disclosure Statement
(Please note that Harmoney Limited (FSP373486), Harmoney Investor Trustee Limited (FSP396666), Harmoney Warehouse Limited (FSP617189) and Harmoney Nominee Limited (FSP590148) are being amalgamated with Harmoney Services Limited continuing as the amalgamated company.)
Harmoney Limited
Version 2023 - 1
Harmoney Limited (Harmoney) is required under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 (Act) to provide a disclosure statement in respect of its licensed peer-to-peer lending service to retail and wholesale investors who are investing using Harmoney's service. This document is Harmoney's disclosure statement.
Licensing and registration
Harmoney is licensed under the Act by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) to provide a peer-to-peer lending service in New Zealand.
Harmoney is also registered under the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008 to provide a peer-to-peer lending service and a broking service.
What is the service which Harmoney provides?
Harmoney provides a peer-to-peer lending service, under which individuals may seek loans to be funded by retail investors and/or wholesale investors through this service (the Peer-to-Peer Service). Some of the loans may include an optional service, such as the repayment waiver feature noted under "Payment Protect" below. Harmoney may also provide or make available ancillary services to its peer-to-peer lending service, such as credit checking.
Full details of the terms on which Harmoney provides its peer-to-peer lending service, and of the terms that apply to loans and optional services arranged or provided by Harmoney are available on the Harmoney website at www.harmoney.co.nz.
Harmoney also operates a separate Wholesale Funding Model, where individuals may have their loans funded by wholesale investors. When Borrowers apply for a loan on Harmoney's website they are automatically allocated to be funded through either the Peer-to-Peer Service or the Wholesale Funding Model. Borrowers are not treated any differently based on whether their loans are funded from either funding source. The Wholesale Funding Model is explained in more detail under 'Wholesale Investors' below.
What are the key risks of using this service?
Participating in peer-to-peer loans through Harmoney's service has the potential to provide Investors with greater returns, but may also carry a higher level of risk and provide for less liquidity than traditional investments, such as bank deposits and investment-grade bonds. It may therefore not be suitable for all investors.
Accordingly, prospective investors should assess for themselves whether investing through Harmoney's peer-to-peer lending service is suitable for them in light of their particular financial circumstances and goals and should if necessary obtain independent financial advice.
Some of the key risks of lending on Harmoney's peer-to-peer platform which investors should consider carefully before investing include:
|Key Risk
|Credit risk
Borrowers who are lent Investors' funds may delay making their repayments or default on loans. The sole recourse for repayment is to the Borrower. There is no security for the loan and no person guaranteeing the loan. Where a Borrower fails to make payments Investors will not receive part or all of their principal and interest payments that are due to them.
Harmoney has robust systems to determine the suitability of a Borrower and his or her ability to afford loan repayments. Harmoney may take debt recovery steps, which may or may not recover any funds. Harmoney may also sell loans to a collection agency or third party. If it does so, Investors will receive a proportionate share of the net loan sale proceeds.
|Borrower risk
Investors may be affected by differences in the creditworthiness of Borrowers in the event of late payment or default. In addition, a Borrower's creditworthiness may change over time, reducing potentially their ability to repay a loan. Harmoney's assessment of a Borrower's creditworthiness for a loan is made as at the date of their loan application. If a Borrower does not repay their loan Harmoney will take debt recovery steps and may sell loans to a collections agency or third party, as outlined above.
|Liquidity risk
Investors may suffer loss from other events through their inability to sell a loan investment or demand early repayment (should they need their funds early). Harmoney's licence terms do not permit secondary trading of investments and Investors cannot demand early repayment of a loan. Only Harmoney is entitled to require Borrowers to repay the total amount outstanding on a loan if Borrowers breach their loan contract.
Investors are only able to withdraw or reinvest their funds if they have funds available in their Investor account. Investor funds may also need to remain on loan beyond the initial term if the Borrower(s) to whom their funds are lent have not repaid their loan(s) in full when they fall due.
|Fraud risk
Harmoney has a thorough and robust credit assessment process to guard against fraudulent applications. There is, however, a risk that Borrowers may be fraudulent, with no intention to repay.
Borrowers may be the victims of identity theft, in which case the person receiving the money has misappropriated the details of the person whose identity has been used to apply for the loan.
Borrowers may also fabricate their expenses, liabilities, or income. In such cases, they may be unable to afford to repay a loan and may default on their loan obligations. It may also mean that Harmoney assigns a risk grade which does not accurately reflect the Borrower's risk and therefore that Borrower's ability to meet his or her loan obligations.
|Fraud source conflict risk
Harmoney sources funds for loans from investments made by Investors through its peer-to-peer platform. In addition, certain wholesale investors may also invest in loans through Harmoney Nominee Limited (acting as a trustee for those wholesale investors). When Borrowers apply for a loan on Harmoney's website, they are automatically allocated to be funded through the peer-to-peer platform or the Wholesale Funding Model in accordance with Harmoney's Loan Allocation Policy.
Harmoney manages the potential conflict that could arise between obtaining funds from these two different funding sources by maintaining an allocation model where loans are funded from both sources. This policy is designed to ensure funds are allocated to loans without regard to whether the funds were sourced from the peer-to-peer platform or the wholesale funding model (described under 'Harmoney's Loan Allocation Policy' below).
|Loan availability risk
There may be insufficient new loans available at any time on the peer-to-peer marketplace that meet an Investor's criteria for investing, and consequently the Investor's available cash (being the cash it deposits in the Investor Account for investment, together with any repaid principal and interest held for it in the Investor Account for reinvestment) may not be able to be invested.
|Early repayment risk
A Borrower can repay his or her loan at any time. Should a Borrower decide to repay early, then an Investor will not receive the total interest income that would have been earned had the loan run to its full initial term. Current experience shows that a substantial proportion of loans are repaid before maturity.
|Concentration risk
Investors who do not diversify their investment across loans and risk grades could face exposure to a concentration of Borrowers of the same type. Having a spread of investments across various Borrowers and risk grades should provide an Investor some protection from a Borrower default.
|Operational risk
Harmoney regularly monitors and updates its internal systems to seek to gain efficiencies and improve service standards and experiences. However, there is a risk of financial loss and/or damage to Harmoney's reputation if there is a failure of Harmoney's information technology systems, internal processes, people, or operating systems. This could also arise from external factors such as failure of a supplier to provide a service at agreed service levels or an unforeseen disaster. Should any of those events occur, this could have an adverse effect on Harmoney's financial performance and on the performance of loans.
|Regulated loan risks
Borrowers generally have protections under the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 (CCCFA). Investments in loans may be affected if a Borrower exercises certain rights under the CCCFA, including seeking a repayment variation due to hardship (which may affect the length of time taken to repay their loan).
|Macro risks
There are several factors that may affect Harmoney's Peer-to- Peer Service over which it has little control. These include an economic recession, political turmoil, changes in interest rates, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks, some of which may affect a Borrower's ability to make loan repayments.
Harmoney regularly monitors local and global economic and business conditions in order to identify and assess any potential risks that may affect Harmoney's business operations. However, economic conditions are not always predictable, and significant changes in the New Zealand economy could have an impact on Harmoney's business and the performance of loans.
|Cybersecurity risk
Harmoney is an online web-based business. As such, Harmoney relies heavily on information technology and computer based- systems that could be a target for illegal hackers. Harmoney is very aware of this risk and therefore has security measures and systems in place that are designed to ensure the system's security. A security breach is a possibility and should this occur it may materially affect Harmoney's ability to operate and to provide access to loan information and loan recoveries.
|Legislative and regulatory risk
Failure by Harmoney to comply with (or changes in) laws, codes of conduct and policies could result in loss of Harmoney's peer- to-peer licence, in legal action, and in financial loss.
|Risks with Payment Protect
Investors who fund a loan that has Payment Protect have the potential to earn a greater return on it, but also face additional risks, as detailed under "Payment Protect" below.
The information in this Disclosure Statement should not be taken as financial advice and is intended to provide information only, without considering an Investor's investment objectives, financial circumstances or specific needs. Other risks may exist in addition to those identified above. Investors should consider the risks in light of their personal circumstances and, if necessary, seek independent financial advice before deciding whether to invest.
How do potential investors apply for and obtain access to the Harmoney service?
Investors can be either individuals or corporate entities.
Any person wishing to access and use the Harmoney Peer-to-Peer Service as a retail Investor must complete the Investor application process set out on the Website, which requires the person to:
- provide details about themselves (including full name and contact details, IRD number, New Zealand bank account number);
- provide suitable documentary evidence of their identity; and
- agree to the terms of the Privacy Policy, this Disclosure Statement and the Investor Agreement.
Harmoney can refuse to accept any person as an Investor if that person:
- has not completed the registration process to Harmoney's satisfaction; or
- does not satisfy the eligibility criteria for being an Investor (as set out below).
Harmoney's eligibility criteria for registering a person as an Investor are as follows:
- The person must satisfy Harmoney's "know your customer" requirements.
- In addition, if the person is an individual, he or she must:
- be a New Zealand resident (which Harmoney will verify through the person having a New Zealand residential address and a bank account with a registered New Zealand bank); and
- be 18 years of age or older when registering.
Harmoney may terminate (or in some circumstances, suspend) a person's status as an Investor at any time in accordance with the Investor Agreement.
How do potential Borrowers apply for and obtain access to the Harmoney service?
Only individuals can be Borrowers.
Any person wishing to access and use the Harmoney service as a Borrower must complete the Borrower registration and application process set out on the Website, which requires the person to:
- provide details about themselves (including full name and contact details and New Zealand bank account number);
- provide suitable documentary evidence of their identity;
- agree to the terms of the Privacy Policy, the Loan Disclosure Statement, the standard terms for a loan contract and the Things You Need to Know About Your Loan Contract and Customer Service Terms.
Harmoney can refuse to accept any person as a Borrower if that person has not completed the registration process to Harmoney's satisfaction, or does not satisfy the eligibility criteria for being a Borrower (as set out below).
Harmoney's eligibility criteria for registering any person as a Borrower are that the potential Borrower:
- must be an individual (that is, not a company, partnership, incorporated society, trust or other legal entity);
- must be a New Zealand resident, which Harmoney will verify through the person having a New Zealand residential address and a bank account with a registered New Zealand bank;
- must be 18 years of age or older when registering as a Borrower; and
- must have an acceptable credit record, as determined by Harmoney at its discretion.
Harmoney will apply its Fair Dealing Policy when considering any application by a person to be a Borrower.
Harmoney may terminate (or in some circumstances, suspend) a person's status as a Borrower at any time in accordance with the customer service terms.
How are loans made using the Harmoney Peer-to-Peer Service?
Investment through Trustee
Investors can invest in loans, in multiples of $25. All funds being invested in a particular loan by Investors will be pooled. A trustee (Trustee) will then use the pooled funds to make and hold the loan, as bare trustee for the participating Investors.
Accordingly, each Investor who has invested in a loan will have a beneficial interest in that loan and in the underlying loan contract, in proportion to the amount that Investor invested in that loan. That beneficial interest entitles the Investor to a proportionate share of:
- the principal amount lent to and repaid by the Borrower; and
- any returns on that loan (including any interest on that loan paid by the Borrower).
The Trustee must account to the Investor for that Investor's share of the money received from the Borrower (net of permitted deductions) as set out in the Investor Agreement.
The Trustee is currently Harmoney Investor Trustee Limited.
Loan Applications
A person who has successfully registered as a Borrower may apply for a loan. The Borrower's loan application will include:
- the amount sought
- the repayment term sought (which may be either 36 or 60 months)
- the purpose of the loan
- income and expenses
- assets and liabilities
- whether the Borrower wants Payment Protect cover for the loan, and if so what level of cover is sought.
Harmoney will generate a proprietary credit score for the Borrower. Harmoney will use that credit score and the financial data provided by the Borrower to determine the Borrower's loan affordability and the maximum amount and term for the proposed loan to the Borrower, together with the applicable interest rate. The Borrower may then select the loan amount and term from the information provided by Harmoney, requesting a loan for that amount and for that term.
Submitting Loans to the Peer-to-Peer marketplace
Details of loans requested by Borrower that are allocated to the peer-to-peer marketplace will be listed on the Website. Only persons who are registered Investors will be able to view the complete details of that loan submission, which will include:
- the amount sought (and if applicable, any lesser amount the Borrower is prepare to accept)
- the interest rate which will be payable on the loan
- the monthly repayments on the loan
- the purpose of the loan
- whether the Borrower has selected Payment Protect for the loan.
The Borrower's actual name and personal identifying details will not be made available in the loan submission, or at any other time.
A loan listing will be displayed on the Website for consideration for 14 days or until the loan has been fully funded (whichever occurs first). "Fully funded" means that orders have been placed for the full loan amount or (if applicable) the lesser amount the Borrower is prepared to accept, as specified in the loan submission.
Harmoney may allocate certain loans sought by Borrowers to wholesale investors for funding either via the peer-to-peer marketplace or through the Wholesale Funding Model marketplace as discussed under 'Wholesale Investors' below.
Placing Orders
A person who has successfully registered as an Investor will be able to access the Website to view submitted loans.
Investors may make an offer to fund a portion of any loan, by placing an order through the Website. The Investor must have sufficient funding in the Investor Account with Harmoney in order to cover that offer. Any order, once made, is a legally binding offer and cannot be revoked by the Investor.
Investors can see and assess individual loan submissions prior to placing orders on them. They also have the option of placing orders through the Website's auto-lend function (based on the investment criteria and subject to the investment limits they have specified), as described in the Investor Agreement.
Loan Contract
Once a loan is fully funded (as defined above), a loan contract will be formed between the Borrower and the Trustee (as bare trustee for the Investors who are funding the loan), under which the Borrower agrees to repay the loan amount plus interest at the specified interest rate, over the term of the loan.
Under the Investor Agreement, the Trustee (as directed by each Investor) appoints Harmoney to settle the loan and to provide collection services in respect of the loan. The Trustee (as bare trustee for the Investors) will pay certain fees to Harmoney for providing those services. Those fees will be deducted from the payments the Trustee receives from the Borrowers. The Trustee will then hold the balance of those payments for the Investors in accordance with their proportionate shares.
Even though there will be a loan contract between the Borrower and the Trustee (for the benefit of each Investor who has funded that loan):
- the actual identity of the Borrower and the Investors who have funded the loan to the Borrower will not be made known to each other unless required by law (only Harmoney will hold these details); and
- the Investors will not be able to enforce the Borrower's payment obligations directly against the Borrower; only Harmoney (acting as the Trustee's agent) will be entitled to take any enforcement action against the Borrower.
Any loans which are made through the Harmoney Peer-to-Peer Service are not guaranteed by Harmoney. There is no guarantee that any Investor will recover any or all of the amount advanced to any Borrower and/or any interest on that amount advanced.
Both Investors and Borrowers will be able to access details about their loans on the Website. Harmoney will not provide printed statements, but Investors and Borrowers will be able to print loan summaries from the Website.
Payment Protect
Borrowers are able to opt into a service called Payment Protect (for a fee). If a loan is covered by Payment Protect and a specified event occurs, the Borrower will not be liable to make certain repayments under the loan (being the monthly payments that would otherwise have fallen due after the Borrower provided written notice of the relevant event to Harmoney as agent for the Trustee, subject to applicable cover limits). The specified events covered by Payment Protect and the different levels of cover are set out on the Website. If Payment Protect applies to a loan, additional terms are added to the loan contract setting out the waiver arrangement.
If a Borrower notifies Harmoney (as agent for the Trustee) that an event for which the Borrower has cover has occurred, Harmoney will suspend direct debiting the Borrower's bank account for further monthly repayments while Harmoney assesses the waiver application. Consequently, there may be some delay before Investors receive payments in respect of which a Borrower unsuccessfully applies for a waiver.
Investors who fund a loan that has Payment Protect bear the risk that the Borrower may cease to be liable for certain loan repayments. However, for the extra risk they receive an additional fee that the Borrower pays over the term of the loan, and that fee accrues interest; together, this results in a higher yield to the Investor. This is because the fee the Borrower must pay for Payment Protect cover is added to the loan amount – and therefore the monthly loan repayments are higher relative to the amount actually invested by the participating Investors. However, Investors should be conscious that this capitalisation carries a risk: if the Borrower ceases to be liable for monthly repayments, they may not recover their interest in the unpaid Payment Protect fee for that particular loan in full or at all.
Another risk arises if a Borrower decides to repay the loan in full early. If that happens, the Borrower is entitled to a proportionate rebate of the Payment Protect fee (which will have been capitalised into the loan principal, as noted above). The rebate amount will be deducted from the loan balance, giving the final repayment amount the Borrower has to pay. As a result, the Investors (through the Trustee) will not receive all the additional principal they would otherwise have expected in relation to the Payment Protect fee.
Under the Investor Agreement, the Trustee (as directed by each Investor) appoints Harmoney to arrange, enter into, and manage, the Payment Protect arrangement. Harmoney will receive a sales commission and a management fee for those services, as discussed under "What charges are payable by Investors".
Wholesale Investors
Harmoney uses two funding models in order to make loans to Borrowers. These are:
- the Peer-to-Peer Service, where Borrower loans are funded from investments by retail and wholesale investors through its peer-to peer marketplace; and
- a wholesale funding model, where Borrower loans are funded from investments by wholesale investors (Wholesale Funding Model).
Borrowers are treated the same regardless of whether their loans are funded from the Peer- to-Peer Service or the Wholesale Funding Model. Loans are allocated for funding from either source in accordance with Harmoney's Loan Allocation Policy described below.
Retail investors who invest via the Peer-to-Peer Service will be treated equally from a loan investment availability perspective. Loans will be made available to both classes of investor under the Peer-to-Peer Service as set out in the "How does Harmoney manage its marketplace" section below.
Wholesale Investors under the Peer-to-Peer Service
Harmoney may approve wholesale Investors to invest in loans through the Harmoney Peer- to-Peer Service. The terms on which a wholesale Investor may invest (including as to fees payable by the wholesale Investor in connection with a loan or related optional service) will be as agreed with Harmoney. Wholesale Investors may participate in funding loans similar to any other retail Investor using the Harmoney Peer-to-Peer Service.
Wholesale and retail Investors fund loans through the Harmoney Peer-to-Peer Service on a fractionalised basis. Loans funded via the Peer-to-Peer Service are made by Harmoney Investor Trustee Limited, which acts as a bare trustee for all the investors who fund the loan (see 'Investment by Trustee' above). Borrowers are liable to the Trustee and will deal only with the Trustee (through Harmoney acting as its agent) not with the underlying investors.
Wholesale Investors under the Wholesale Funding Model
Under the Wholesale Funding Model, loans are made by Harmoney Nominee Limited (the Nominee), which acts as a bare trustee for all of the wholesale Investors who choose to fund loans through the Nominee. The Wholesale Funding Model is not available for retail investors and is separate and distinct from the Peer-to-Peer Service described in this Disclosure Statement.
Loans are allocated for funding via funds sourced from the Wholesale Funding Model in accordance with Harmoney's Loan Allocation Policy described below. This means that a certain percentage of loans will be randomly allocated for funding from that source.
How does Harmoney manage its marketplace?
Harmoney endeavours to manage loan flow so that each marketplace will show a representative proportion of the overall risk spread of Borrowers approved to list (subject to the exclusions below), so that Investors to whom loans or participations in loans are allocated do not have any undue preference. Not all loans that are approved for submission to the marketplace are shown in the marketplace, for the reasons listed below.
Loan submissions not shown on the Website relate to:
- a new product, service, or feature
- change in risk underwriting process, or policy
- loan flow into the marketplace
- loans funded 100% through the auto-lend option.
Further information on Harmoney's marketplace management is set out on the Website.
Harmoney's Loan Allocation Policy
Harmoney's loan allocation policy is designed to allocate loans between the wholesale and retail investor marketplaces on a fair, reasonable and equitable basis to ensure that each marketplace receives a representation of the overall risk grade of Borrowers approved to submit their loan (Loan Allocation Policy).
Harmoney sets a loan allocation percentage for each marketplace. Harmoney does not select specific loans to be allocated to either marketplace. Harmoney may, from time to time where it receives high loan application volumes or a higher proportion of funds from wholesale or retail Investors, allocate a greater proportion of loans to be funded from either the Peer-to-Peer Service or Wholesale Funding Model. Harmoney's Loan Allocation Policy seeks to ensure that over time there is a representative sample of loan applications available in each marketplace.
How is money provided by Investors dealt with by Harmoney?
Harmoney holds an Investor Account with ASB Bank, into which Harmoney will deposit all funds it receives from investors for investment in loans. Any money paid to Harmoney by an Investor will be received by Harmoney into the Investor Account for the benefit of that Investor.
If an Investor makes an offer to fund all or part of a loan, the amount which has been offered by that Investor will be "locked" in the Investor Account until the offer is accepted (by the relevant loan being fully funded) or the loan submission expires. On settlement of a loan, the Investor's funds will be transferred by Harmoney to an Advance Account, which is a trust account held by the Trustee with ASB Bank. Those funds will be aggregated with the funds of other Investors who are investing in that loan and whose funds are similarly held in the Advance Account. Harmoney (acting as the Trustee's agent) will then use the aggregated loan amount to settle the loan. Additionally, Harmoney will at settlement transfer the Payment Protect Fees from the Advance Account into Harmoney's fee account.
A Borrower will make loan repayments to the Collections Account, which is a trust account held by the Trustee for the benefit of all Investors who are invested in loans (to the extent of their entitlements) and which Harmoney transacts on the Trustee's behalf. Any recoveries made from a Borrower will similarly be paid into the Collections Account. Harmoney will: (i) deduct any required tax withholdings, as well as the fees which the Trustee (for the Investors) must pay Harmoney for Harmoney's services in relation to the loan; and (ii) then transfer each Investor's proportionate share of the balance of the amounts received from the Collections Account to the Investor Account for that Investor's benefit (where it will be available for reinvestment in other loans or for repayment to the Investor, depending on the Investor's instructions to Harmoney).
An Investor may withdraw any available amounts from its Investor Account at any time (subject to any banking restrictions and any loan offers which are outstanding at that time). Harmoney may of its own accord transfer such amounts back to the Investor.
Harmoney and the Trustee are each registered under the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008 to provide a broking service, and are required to comply with that Act in respect of dealing with Investors' and Borrowers' money.
What checks and assessments are made by Harmoney in relation to Borrowers?
Harmoney will carry out credit checks and identity verification steps in respect of persons who wish to be registered with Harmoney as a Borrower.
Harmoney makes an assessment of the affordability of a loan for a potential Borrower based on the verified financial data provided by the potential Borrower, including income, expenses and debt servicing information.
It is important to note that a credit score attributed by Harmoney to a Borrower in respect of a loan:
- represents Harmoney's subjective interpretation of the information which has been provided to Harmoney by the Borrower and other information which has been obtained by Harmoney itself or through third party credit report providers;
- does not guarantee that the Borrower will in fact be able to (or will) repay all or part of any loan or all or part of any interest charged on that loan; and
- is a reflection of the information available to Harmoney at the relevant time and will not be updated by Harmoney during the term of any loan.
What happens if a Borrower gets into arrears?
The following key steps are taken by Harmoney (as agent for the Trustee) to ensure effective collection of debts.
- All Borrowers are required to agree to a direct debit authority as part of signing up for a loan. Borrowers can update their direct debit authority at any time online or by contacting Harmoney directly.
- A succinct and regimented debt collection procedure is systemised. Harmoney's platform methodically tracks and monitors all arrears transactions through the arrears lifecycle, to ensure appropriate action is taken at the right time.
- Arrears reporting is updated daily and monitored by Harmoney senior management.
- Regular internal reviews are undertaken by Harmoney to ensure that procedures are followed and are effective.
- Harmoney applies the use of automated technologies including e-mail and 2 way SMS to maintain contact with Borrowers, to ensure efficiency and effectiveness is achieved in managing loans.
- Automated workflow tools direct collections activity, ensuring that items are actioned as per the collections plan.
If a Borrower makes a successful application for undue hardship, the loan contract will be varied to provide relief to the Borrower as set out under the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003.
If a Borrower to whom Investor funds are lent defaults on a loan, and Harmoney is unable to recover the outstanding debt owing, Harmoney may assign the defaulted loan to a third party, such as a collections agency, for an amount it is able to negotiate. Once a loan has been sold to a collections agency, Investors may not benefit from any recoveries that may then be made from that Borrower, but Investors will receive their proportionate share of the net loan sale proceeds.
See further the section "The Collections Process" on the Website.
What will happen if Harmoney goes into liquidation or fails to carry out its collection activities?
If Harmoney goes into liquidation or ceases to hold its licence to provide a peer-to-peer lending service in New Zealand for a period of 5 business days, a back-up servicer has been contracted to carry out collection services in respect of the loan portfolio, and will collect repayments from Borrowers and make payments to Investors as the Trustee's replacement agent.
What disclosures are made in respect of any loan?
Harmoney will make a formal loan disclosure to the Borrower in compliance with the requirements set out in the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 when Harmoney notifies the Borrower that its loan has been fully funded. The loan contract will be formed immediately after that loan disclosure has been provided to the Borrower.
What interest is payable by Borrowers?
A Borrower is charged interest on the amount he or she owes, calculated as a percentage of the loan amount (as set out on the Website).
If a Borrower repays a loan or any portion of it early, the prepaid amount will not bear further interest. Similarly, if a Borrower repays a loan and that loan is rewritten, the original loan will have been repaid in full with no further interest earned on it. As a result, the Investors (through the Trustee) will not receive interest on the prepaid or rewritten amount as the loan has been repaid.
What charges are payable by Borrowers?
Harmoney will charge Borrowers an establishment fee for using the Harmoney service. The establishment fee is due under the Customer Service Terms, and is paid at settlement, by way of a deduction from the principal amount of the loan prior to the balance of the loan amount being advanced to (or for the benefit of) the Borrower.
Borrowers are liable to pay monthly account fees on their loan accounts, as well as overdue fees or dishonour fees where loan repayments are late or dishonoured.
If enforcement action is required against a Borrower, any legal and associated third party costs incurred will be charged to the Borrower's account. The costs charged are due in the Borrower's next payment.
If a Borrower takes out Payment Protect, he or she must pay the Trustee a separate fee for that cover. The Payment Protect fee will be calculated as a percentage of the loan amount (as set out on the Website) and will be capitalised. If a Borrower who has taken out Payment Protect repays the loan in full early, he or she will be entitled to a proportionate rebate of the Payment Protect fee. This rebate will be calculated in accordance with a statutory formula.
A Borrower who has taken out Payment Protect will be responsible for certain costs, such as the costs of a medical examination required by Harmoney if the examination shows that he or she does not qualify for a waiver being claimed. If the Borrower does not pay those costs, Harmoney can pay them and add them to the loan.
A list of the current fees charged to Borrowers is available on the Website. The amounts (or calculation methods) and the types of fees charged in connection with the Harmoney service or under loan contracts are subject to modification from time to time in accordance with the Customer Service Terms and the Loan Contract (as applicable).
What fees are charged to Investors?
Fees for loan administration and collection services – retail Investors
Harmoney will receive two types of fees for the administration and collection services it provides to the Trustee for the benefit of a retail Investor in respect of a loan:
- Harmoney will charge a retail Investor (through the Trustee) a fee ("Lender Fee"), being a percentage of that Investor's share of the interest amounts Harmoney recovers. The Lender Fee will be calculated on the basis of a percentage-based tiered structure that recognises the principal amount which the particular Investor has outstanding on the platform. It will be paid as a deduction from the interest component of loan repayments recovered. Harmoney is not entitled to payment of the Lender Fee except out of the interest component of loan repayments it actually recovers.
- Additionally, Harmoney will be paid a fee ("Loan Administration Fee") that is equal to the retail Investor's share of all fees and charges payable by the Borrower under the loan (not being fees for optional services such as the Payment Protect Fee) – eg of all account maintenance fees and any overdue fees and dishonour fees the Borrower must pay. Harmoney is not entitled to be paid the Loan Administration Fee except out of the fees and charges it actually recovers from the Borrower. In practical effect, the Loan Administration Fee is not a net cost to retail Investors (through the Trustee).
Fees for loan administration and collection services – wholesale Investors
Harmoney will charge a wholesale Investor the fees from time to time agreed between Harmoney and the wholesale Investor.
Fees for Payment Protect services
If a Borrower takes out Payment Protect, Harmoney will charge Investors a sales commission for arranging the Payment Protect as well as a management fee for administering it. The sales commission and management fee are each calculated as a percentage of the Payment Protect fee, and are payable by the Investors (through the Trustee) on drawdown of the loan (with the Investors then having the ability to recoup that expense from the higher monthly payments made by the Borrower). If a Borrower who has taken out Payment Protect repays the loan in full early, Harmoney will refund the Trustee (for the benefit of the participating Investors) a proportion of the management fee and (if the prepayment was due to a refinancing through the Harmoney service) of the sales commission Harmoney received.
If a Borrower who has Payment Protect does not pay costs for which he or she is responsible under the Payment Protect terms, Harmoney may meet those costs. In that case, an amount equivalent to the costs Harmoney paid will be added to the loan balance. The Trustee (as trustee for the Investors) will then refund Harmoney's costs when the Borrower repays the amount added to the loan. Neither the Trustee nor the Investors have any liability to refund Harmoney's costs except out of the additional payment actually recovered from the Borrower. (In this way, the costs repayment is channelled from the Borrower to Harmoney, and the Investors do not bear those costs.
A list of the current fees charged to retail Investors is available on the Website. The amounts (or calculation methods) and the types of fees charged are subject to modification from time to time in accordance with the Investor Agreement.
What other financial benefits may Harmoney receive?
Harmoney and its related companies may be paid a commission or other financial benefit by any person in connection with any loan or the Harmoney Peer-to-Peer Service.
Can Harmoney (and its related companies) use the Harmoney service?
Harmoney, its related companies, and their directors, shareholders and employees are not entitled to use the Harmoney Peer-to-Peer Service as Borrowers.
Harmoney, its related companies, and any of their directors, shareholders, employees and advisers (in their own capacities) may use the Harmoney Peer-to-Peer Service as Investors at any time, subject to compliance with the Harmoney Conflicts of Interests Policy set out on the Website. Although Harmoney has the ability to be an Investor, it does not invest in loans arranged through the Peer-to-Peer Service. Harmoney may invest in loans via the Wholesale Funding Model from time to time through Harmoney Nominee Limited.
What interests does Harmoney have which may materially adversely impact on Harmoney's ability to have fair, orderly and transparent systems and processes?
Harmoney makes every attempt to align interests of all stakeholders including shareholders, employees, Investors, and Borrowers. Conflicts of interests are pro-actively sought out and wherever possible Harmoney will attempt to align interests. Where this is not possible Harmoney looks to ensure the following:
- That the conflict is clearly disclosed in a timely fashion and wherever possible on our website and in documentation.
- Harmoney systems and processes are designed to ensure that operations continue in a fair and orderly way pro-actively managing any conflict of interest to a set of agreed principles or within a committee charter.
- Wherever possible Harmoney looks to separate compliance roles including managing conflicts from those other roles focused on revenue.
Potential conflicts for retail Investors
Known potential conflicts for retail Investors that Harmoney manages include:
|Potential Conflict
|Assessing, grading and pricing of Loans
Harmoney recognises that a conflict may arise when it assesses, grades and prices loans, between its interest in earning revenue from fees (such as Investor fees) and the Investors' interest in ensuring that all loans are assessed, graded and priced accurately.
Harmoney manages this conflict by ensuring that all Borrower loan applications are assessed objectively using robust systems and processes in line with its Credit Policy. Harmoney also notes that the ultimate performance of loans is based on the Borrowers meeting their repayment obligations.
|Investment in loans
Harmoney considers there may be a conflict where it invests, or arranges, for a related party of Harmoney to invest, in loans through the Wholesale Funding Model. Harmoney manages this conflict by: (i) ensuring that loans are allocated to the Peer-to- Peer Service or Wholesale Funding Model marketplaces to ensure that each marketplace receives a representation of the overall risk grade of Borrowers approved to submit their loan; and (ii) ensuring that loans are treated equally regardless of their source of funding.
|Repeat Borrowers
Harmoney considers there may be a conflict between interests of Investors and Borrowers from its goal to retain good quality Borrowers by offering refinancing options and Investors' interest in continuing to earn interest on the original loans offered to those Borrowers. For example, if Harmoney offers a repeat Borrower refinanced credit to repay their existing loan, the Investors who fund that loan will be repaid early (and thereby lose the opportunity to continue to earn revenue over the full life of that loan). Harmoney manages this conflict through controls that set limits on refinancing loans.
|Allocation of Lending Capital between retail and wholesale Investors
Harmoney considers there may be a conflict between the differing revenue amounts it earns from retail Investors and wholesale Investors investing in loans via both the peer-to-peer and wholesale funding models. Harmoney seeks to manage this conflict by (i) ensuring that loans are allocated on a quantitative/volume basis rather than a qualitative/quality basis in accordance with its Loan Allocation Policy; and (ii) not including any preference over any other wholesale or retail Investor for credit quality.
|Loan volume allocation to wholesale investors
Harmoney has contractual obligations with wholesale Investors who may have either an expectation or a contractual right to a certain volume of loans. These arrangements are entered into in return for wholesale Investors providing liquidity to the platform. Harmoney seeks to manage this potential conflict by applying the Loan Allocation Policy, which requires that loan allocation does not prefer one investor over others for credit quality.
|Specific loans allocated to wholesale Investors
Harmoney may occasionally offer selected loans to wholesale Investors as part of its marketplace management role, e.g. if it is testing new features and services, including new products, or where it is testing changes to its risk underwriting policy or process. Harmoney may choose to test these changes exclusively with wholesale Investors.
Harmoney considers this may create a conflict of interest because selected loans will not be made available to retail Investors to invest in. Harmoney manages this potential conflict by ensuring that any such decision to test changes with wholesale Investors and offer selected loans to them is made in accordance with its Loan Allocation Policy, which is designed to ensure that loans are allocated between wholesale and retail Investors on a fair, reasonable and objective basis (see 'Harmoney's Loan Allocation Policy' above).
|Shareholders investing on the platform
Harmoney considers a conflict may arise if shareholders invest on the platform. Harmoney manages this potential conflict by ensuring that shareholder investments in loans are not treated any differently from investments made by others and ensuring that the majority of directors of Harmoney Corp Limited are independent.
Monitoring of compliance by the Borrower with its obligations and recovery on default
Under the Investor Agreement, Harmoney is appointed as the Trustee's agent to receive repayments of principal and interest from the Borrower and to seek to recover any amounts owing where the Borrower is in default of its repayment obligations.
The recovery action Harmoney can take includes:
- appointing a collections agency;
- suing the Borrower;
- entering into settlements; and
- selling a loan that has been "charged off". A loan is charged off if it is in default and Harmoney considers that it is not recoverable (which generally happens once the loan has been overdue for 120 days). Investors authorise the Trustee to assign loans for this purpose.
Importantly, an Investor does not have any right to pursue a Borrower directly where a default has arisen or at any other time. Only Harmoney can take this action.
For more details about the scope of these obligations, see the Investor Agreement on the Website.
Complaints and dispute resolution
If you have a query or complaint about any aspect of Harmoney's services, please contact Harmoney at the contact details set out above.
Harmoney is a member of the Financial Services Complaints Limited dispute resolution scheme. You may refer any dispute as to the provision of the Service by Harmoney to that dispute resolution service, details of which are available at http://www.fscl.org.nz/.
The Trustee is a member of the Financial Services Complaints Limited dispute resolution scheme. You may refer any dispute as to the performance by the Trustee of its obligations to that dispute resolution service, details of which are available at http://www.fscl.org.nz/.
Provision of information and contact details
You may contact us at any time as set out below to obtain at no charge an electronic copy of your Investor Agreement, this Disclosure Statement, and any other documents which relate to the licensed peer-to-peer lending service provided by Harmoney.
You will be able to obtain print-outs of your transaction information through the Website (Harmoney does not provide copies of transaction information).
If you have any questions, you can contact Harmoney as follows:
- by email at email@example.com
- by calling the Harmoney helpdesk on 0800 HARMONEY or 0800 427 666
- by writing to Harmoney the address on the Website.


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AKA Jason Andrew Varitek
Born: 11-Apr-1972Birthplace: Rochester, MI
Gender: MaleRace or Ethnicity: WhiteSexual orientation: StraightOccupation: Baseball
Nationality: United StatesExecutive summary: Boston Red Sox
Signed a $40M, 4-year contract in late 2004.
Brother: JaredBrother: JoeBrother: JustinWife: Karen Mullinax (m. 1997, three daughters)Daughter: Alexandra Rose (b. 14-Jan-2000)Daughter: Kendall Anne (b. 30-Sep-2001)Daughter: Caroline Morgan (b. 13-Jun-2005)
High School: Lake Brantley High School, Altamonte Springs, FL (1990) University: Georgia Institute of Technology
SPORTS FRANCHISE HISTORY Boston Red Sox Catcher (1997-2011)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR Knuckleball! (21-Apr-2012) Fever Pitch (8-Apr-2005)
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The Texans and Dez Bryant may have mutual interest according to sources, however, Vegas believes there's a VERY good chance it actually happens. According to Vegas, the Texans have the highest odds at +300 to sign Dez Bryant in the off-season. Many may not understand this move, but many reporters believe they will be a quiet match as well.
Many reports are linking the Ravens and Bryant as they are also the only team to have public reports of interest to Dez. The Texans have had no public interest relating to Dez Bryant but that is not stopping reporters linking his name to the Texans. Dez may want to be close to his hometown and take a deal with the Texans. The Texans don't necessarily need Dez at all in their wide receiving core, however a dual threat with Hopkins and Dez on the outside, and Fuller in the slot, Watson could possibly have a field day with this core. The Texans have been known to not allow outspoken players and emotional players play for them, and Dez is one of them. Dez has had a few moments on the sidelines, and many wonder if the Texans will even take a look at Dez as well. This is not stopping Vegas betters at MyBookie to keep the Texans on the top list. The Texans under new GM Brian Gaine may just take a shot to get better as Dez is an instant upgrade to the WR core.
More information will surely be out after the NFL Draft as Dez and his camp will most likely wait until after the draft to see if what teams could have WR needs and not fill it with a young high round pick. Dez does want to be a starter, but his production is certainly nowhere near where near it was a few years ago. He could help the Texans, but it may not be the best situation going forward giving an aging WR money compared to the young talent on the Texans.


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Do you think it can be linked with the look, or that something else is necessary? In this article, we offer you some keys to maximize the power of your gaze when it comes to arousing interest in another person, and when learning to modulate it. Today we share how to flirting with your eyes.
Also, at the end of the article, we also analyze the interpretation that we can give to different reactions that the other person has when we look at them, and what message these responses may contain.
The power of the gaze
They say that the gaze is a door to the soul. Through it, we can know many things about the person who is looking at us … there are all kinds of looks, and these also change depending on the moment and/or the emotional state of the person. Looking with anger is not the same as looking with desire, passion or indifference.
Thus, the information that a glance can transmit to us is enormous, especially if that glance is sincere. This is so because the looks are usually very expressive, although it depends on the type of person. Eye contact is one of the weapons of seduction, which we use in many cases to transmit things to the other person and awaken something in them.
If we learn to use the gaze well, and we accompany it with other aspects or actions that we will see in this article, we will be able to seduce someone effectively, or if not, to arouse their interest in us. Flirting with your eyes, but, it is not easy, and we must take into account several aspects.
First of all, clarify that this article is not intended to be a link manual, far from it. We are simply going to talk about the power of the gaze when seducing, and some aspects concerning it that you can enhance so that it has a more marked effect on the other person.
On the other hand, when we talk about seducing, we also refer to arousing the interest of another person, beyond a sexual or loving sense … although it is true that throughout the article we will frequently refer to the action of flirting.
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Flirting with your eye on how to do it effectively?
But how do you link with your eyes? And above all, how to do it successfully? We are going to analyze some aspects that can help us achieve this:
1. Attitude
The first thing that we must be clear about when linking with the gaze is that the gaze that we project or that we direct to the other must be accompanied by an attitude in us and that this attitude must go according to what we are trying to transmit with the look. Simply "looking" is not the same as looking with desire or passion, for example.
Thus, the attitude has a lot to do with the purpose of our gaze and with the emotion that we both want to transmit and that we want to awaken in the other.
We must ask ourselves, what exactly do we want to awaken in the other? Do we want to arouse interest? Wish? Curiosity? And based on it "adjust" our gaze. For this, we can practice in the mirror.
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2. Time
On the other hand, the idea is that the look we give to another person lasts only a few seconds (even thousandths of seconds). That is, very long looks are not effective, because they can cause just the opposite effect, that the other person is overwhelmed or intimidated.
3. intensity
Another aspect to take into account to link with the gaze is the intensity of it and how we modulate it. This characteristic is not easy to define, since how do we measure the intensity of a gaze? It is a matter, in a way, of common sense.
We can look very intensely (fixedly, without blinking, with an accompanying facial expression …) or, at its opposite end, look "without more", in passing and without too much fun.
So the intensity of flirting with the gaze also has to do with the duration of the gaze and with the facial expression as a whole, among others. The ideal, then, will be to find a midpoint in this intensity; for this, we can practice in a mirror, for example.
4. Body language
The gaze is one of the elements of body language (within a non-verbal language), but there are more.
So to connect with the gaze effectively, we must also attend to other aspects of our body that accompany that gaze, so that they are coherent with it (that is, the idea is that there is a certain harmony between our gaze and the rest of the body).
We must think that the gaze largely defines our facial expression and our face since it is one of its key points. Therefore, we should look at:
4.1. Smile
Do we want to accompany our gaze with a smile? If so, what type? A mischievous smile perhaps? Everything is important when it comes to flirting!
4.2. Position
What body posture will accompany that look? Ideally, it should be a natural posture and never forced.
4.3. Gestures
What gestures will accompany our smile? We must also keep this aspect in mind and modulate it so that it is consistent with our gaze and our expression. Let us remember that if the different elements of verbal language "agree", our message will arrive more effectively and more credibly.
4.4. Hands
The position of the hands is also important, although not always in excess. It all depends on the context in which we are flirting with the other person. Thus, it is not the same to be standing than sitting, far away as close, in a cinema than in a museum, etc.
5. Set your goal
But, none of the aforementioned is useful when it comes to flirting with your eyes if you have not previously set your "goal". This includes finding the time to turn that gaze to that special person; so, first of all, you should get that look match.
How to interpret the other's reaction?
Okay, okay … we have put into practice our best look at that person who steals our sleep, but … what happened then? What has she done Different situations can occur. We show you some of them and how to interpret them.
1. Keep your gaze
It may be that, while we looked at him, the other person also kept his gaze on ours. What can this mean? One possibility is that we have interested her, or that at least we have aroused a certain curiosity in her.
2. Take your eyes off
The opposite can also happen, and that is to look away. If you do it right at the moment when eye contact occurs, this may be a sign of embarrassment or intimidation.
If you do it a little later, it may mean the same or, simply, that we have bothered you or that you have no interest in us (although it is early to judge). It will also depend on whether it was the first time we did it or not.
3. Withdraw your gaze and fix it again
If the other person removes his gaze, to fix it on us again, this may be an indicator of interest.
4. Game of looks and smiles
On the other hand, when it comes to flirting with the gaze if the other person reacts by "playing" with his gaze as well and is accompanied by a smile, this seems to be a good indication that he likes you or, simply, that he has an interest in meeting you.
5. Avoid looking and never look again
If the other person not only withdraws his gaze once you establish eye contact, but also avoids your gaze, and does not look at you again, this is a probable indication that he is not interested in you.
Logically, this and the previous tips should be analyzed in their global context and taking into account other aspects of the interaction, so they are only intended to offer guidance when interpreting the game of glances and the reaction of the other person.
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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
This past year the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners appointed three (3) new Commissioners to the Washtenaw County Parks & Recreation Commission. We welcome them and are looking forward to the new perspectives and energy they will bring. The three (3) new Parks Commissioners are JoAnn McCollum, representing the Washtenaw County Road Commission; Jason Morgan, representing the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners; and Robert Joerg, representing the general public. We know these three new appointments will bring additional voices to the table, increase the parks perspective, bring new experiences, diversify the demographics and geography.
JoAnn McCollum joined the Parks Commission at the end of July, when her fellow Road Commissioner, Barbara Fuller stepped down from her role as a Parks Commissioner. JoAnn is a former social worker and educator with extensive experience in community development and organizing. She has a passion for civic engagement and serves as a member of the Health Department's Community Leadership Team and is president of the New West Willow Neighborhood Association.
Jason Morgan represents District 8 on the Board of Commissioners and formerly served as Chair of the Board. Morgan graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Political Science from Northern Michigan University and later received a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Michigan. Some of his passions include spending time as a community activist, working on issues around LGBT equality, economic inequality and public safety. His goal is to help find a way to provide all the services our residents need in the most efficient way possible to ensure we use our resources wisely.
Robert Joerg graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Albion College and currently works for the Michigan Laborers District Council. As a resident of Washtenaw County, he shares a passion for the parks systems in Washtenaw County and it is his goal to ensure good stewardship of our parks so that they may be maintained for years to come. He also looks to bring a youthful perspective to the Commission with a focus on the evolution of technology and how it can be incorporated into parks, as well as meeting the needs of younger families.
As we move into a new year full of opportunities and new challenges, we are safe in the knowledge that we have Commissioners that will help us guide and meet the needs of our residents, for now and into the future.
Coy VaughnDirector, Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission[email protected]734-971-6337
The Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission, founded in 1973, currently manages 14 parks and 33 nature preserves totaling more than 6,000 acres. Washtenaw County Parks provides recreational and nature-based programming. Visit us at washtenaw.org/parks on Facebook and Instagram, or call 734-971-6337.


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The first time we worked with the XF 50-140mm F2.8 lens we were impressed with its optics, superb image stabilization and build/weather sealing, but disappointed by its size and weight. As a result, we decided not to add this lens to our bag.
After a few weeks we had another an opportunity, this time while travelling to Death Valley, California. Upon returning from this trip we were dazzled by this lens' rendering, sharpness and, most importantly, ability to cushion camera shake (we were mostly shooting from the hand).
Then we had a photo session booked with an attractive couple and decided to do it exclusively with the XF 50-140mm F2.8 lens. We had such a good time and great results – all shooting by hand – that this time we decided to purchase this lens as our only telephoto zoom.
Due to its size and weight this lens doesn't go with us everywhere. It is a specialized lens for a particular purpose.
We like to use it for engagement sessions and some commercial jobs as long as there is enough light (at night we switch to the XF 56mm F1.2). We will share some engagement and wedding photos shot with this lens in our upcoming posts.
Another factor is that Kasia and I do a lot of travelling by car so weight doesn't really matter. In this way we can explore the less travelled vistas of North America where you are often forced to photograph from the road, for example the Palouse (it is not a good idea to enter private property). The XF 50-140mm F2.8 lens gives us a bit more flexibility to compose in such a situation.
Having said that, we wouldn't haul this lens on a trip if we had to carry it a lot, for example walking around cities.
Today, we would like to share with you some imagery shot this weekend near Pemberton, British Columbia. We headed there early in the morning to capture the cold and frosty countryside. We cannot wait for full-fledged winter, which simplifies the landscape and allows plain and lucid visuals to emerge. Stay tuned.
All images were captured with the Fuji X-T1 paired with the XF 50-140mm F2.8 and Fuji X100S. While the Classic Chrome film simulation is being viewed as a documentary-reportage domain, we sometimes apply this emulsion to our landscape and travel photographs (with some tweaks). We love the results.
2015 © Kasia & Olaf Sztaba Photography. All rights reserved.


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Thanksgiving is all about getting together over food — and I'm fine with that. But then comes that killer five-week stretch of yet more parties and food, with plenty of festive (and fattening) drinks thrown in.
Knowing that a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner can easily exceed 3,000 calories, how can health-conscious types survive the holidays unscathed? Many people succumb to temptation (the average holiday weight gain is 1 to 3 pounds, says the NIH), then repent — or at least resolve to — when New Year's Day rolls around.
Here's why you don't want to ride that cycle: With every passing year, says another NIH study, it gets harder to drop those extra pounds. And if you're obese or just overweight already, you're at an even greater disadvantage: Those two groups generally gain an average of 5 holiday pounds. Indeed, says the NIH, this annual food fest may be fanning the "obesity epidemic" in the United States, where one-third of the population can now be considered obese — that is, having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher.
Which leads to my early holiday gift for you: Healthy eating expert Heidi Skolnik, who advises athletes employed by the Knicks, the Mets and the American School of Ballet, suggests these simple ways to manage your holiday weight:
Choose to lose — or at least not to gain. "Many people head into the holidays hoping to lose weight," Heidi told me. "That's unrealistic. Instead, shift your focus from weight loss to weight maintenance."
Decide upfront that this is a choice you control. Stay focused on your overall health and well-being, a mind-set that permits you to enjoy some of your favorite foods. This in turn will stave off those feelings of deprivation that we all sometimes use to justify a binge.
Don't starve yourself. If you plan to offset the calories you know you'll consume at a holiday party by scrimping on breakfast or lunch, think again; that pattern only sets you up to overindulge. Instead, eat a few small meals throughout the day (a good idea for anytime of year, come to think of it.) Start with a small bowl of oatmeal — no cream or sugar — in the morning, a cup of Greek yogurt with blueberries as a midday snack, then a salad heavy on the vegetables. Finally, just before you head out the door, grab a handful of almonds or sip a bowl of broth to give you energy.
Respect the 50 percent rule. In lieu of normal portions, put only half a serving on your plate. You'll be surprised how quickly your own special "tasting menu" fills you up without making you feel deprived.
Brew up a sipping strategy. One trick for cutting the calories in any drink is to mix it with sparkling water or seltzer. Steer clear of sugary drinks — both the alcoholic and nonalcoholic varieties, such as sodas. If consuming alcohol, follow each drink with a tall glass of water or seltzer. (This latter move verges on sheer genius when you think how balky it is to balance both a drink and a plate of food!)
Don't stress out. The most reliable holiday recipe I know is "Busy + Harried = Weight Gain." But you needn't follow that formula! Instead, try this one.
1. Do as much ahead as possible.
2. Accept help when it is offered.
3. Ask for help when it is not.
4. Employ a little home-grown meditation to keep your mind relaxed. Standing in a long holiday line, for example, you might inhale a deep cleansing breath, then expel it forcefully but slowly while repeating to yourself: "It really is the most wonderful time of the year!"
And listen — if you do wind up gaining a pound or two, take a look at this video on how to shed holiday weight.


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Dec 13, 2013
Tradecraft: The Missionary Dead at HBO
This is some bad news. I was looking forward to the prospect of a Berlin-set Cold War spy series from (in part) Malcolm Gladwell, but apparently it's not to be. Deadline reports that the cable network has decided not to move forward with its pilot The Missionary, which has been in the works since 2010. C'est la vie. At least we've got a lot of other Cold War spy series on the way right now to keep us preoccupied, what with The Americans returning to FX, The Assets debuting on ABC, The Game on BBC One, Legacy on BBC Two (which has already aired in the UK as part of their fall Cold War season), and of course that epic 18-part adaptation of Len Deighton's Bernard Samson series that's in the works! (If that one happens, it will eclipse all others anyway...)
Labels: cable, pilots, Tradecraft, TV
2 comments:
- teeritz said...
Oh, my God, an 18-part Samson series would be epic!
- Tanner said...
Yeah, it sure would. I really hope that one gets off the ground! The only thing better would be a 36-part Samson series! (With a separate six-part Winter prequel.) Because I don't quite see how they'll reduce each book to just two hours. But still, it would be epic indeed!
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Both sides claim gains after sleepover
What did 10 days of Iraq debate, 20 consecutive hours of speeches and more than a dozen cots accomplish?
For Democrats, they picked up two more votes in their months-long quest to stitch together the 60-vote majority needed to force President Bush to change his Iraq war strategy.
For Republicans, they were able to show that Democrats had indeed picked up only two more votes -- and remain far from muscling Bush into withdrawing troops by May.
After a rare overnight session, the measure failed Wednesday to clear a procedural hurdle, at 52-47, that required 60 votes. And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promptly pulled the Defense authorization bill from the floor, likely putting off further debate on the war until after Labor Day.
His aides were juggling the schedule Wednesday and had not finalized what would be on the Senate's agenda before the August recess. The Senate will debate an education measure for the next two days and then could move either to the Homeland Security spending bill or to another appropriations bill. Reid was also considering bringing up a children's health insurance package that state officials have been clamoring for during the last several months.
Within minutes of the Senate vote, which the senators cast from their desks in the chamber, both sides claimed victory.
"What we avoided was a signal from the U.S. Senate that would have emboldened our enemy and broken the backs of everybody who tried to reject this extremist agenda," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). "In this regard, it's been a good day."
Democrats chose a glass-half-full approach.
"We're all a little bit weary. But we're one vote closer to ending this war," said Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin. "This will come back. It will return again and again. Our colleagues in the Senate are going to have a chance to go home, explain their votes and vote again. And eventually, I am confident they'll join us in changing the direction in Iraq."
Democrats netted four Republican senators -- Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Gordon Smith of Oregon and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine. Hagel and Smith had previously supported Democratic-sponsored Iraq measures, while Snowe joined them for the first time with Wednesday's vote.
Collins, who is up for reelection next year, said she still opposes the measure from Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) requiring the withdrawal of some combat troops by May but voted to advance the legislation because she opposed Republican efforts to filibuster it.
After negotiations broke down and Reid pulled the Defense authorization bill from the floor, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) had some harsh words for the Democratic leader.
"We have had all of the effectiveness of the Iraqi parliament in dealing with this issue here in the Senate," he said.
Alexander said his amendment, which would implement the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, offers the best chance of reaching bipartisan consensus on the issue. "I believe there are 60 votes for it in the Senate," he said.
Alexander, however, repeated his assertion that Bush needs to be more flexible in his approach to Iraq policy and should start by embracing the study group's recommendations. "We are going to continue to talk to colleagues about it," Alexander said. "And I am going to encourage the president to be more active about it, to reach out to Democratic members of the Senate who support it."
The unusual series of events leading up to the 11 a.m. vote prompted more speculation than normal on what each side gained over the last week, which produced little in terms of tangible results.
The Senate did not pass the underlying Defense authorization bill, which includes a troop pay raise, funding for equipment and training, and improved services for wounded veterans.
"It's pretty pathetic to bring down the whole DOD bill because they didn't get their little stinking amendment," said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah).
And Democrats, despite softening Republican support for the war, still remain short the votes needed to pressure Bush into redeploying troops.
But by forcing an unusual all-night session and creating TV-friendly images such as setting up rows of cots for members to catnap, Democrats managed to inject fresh interest into a debate that has almost become commonplace in Congress. Since January, the House and Senate have taken numerous votes on the Iraq war.
"The public was paying attention to this in a way they haven't paid attention to a debate before," Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday. "For the last month, we've seen many of our Republican colleagues go to their home states and say, 'I want a change in course.' But with the focus of the debate tonight, the fact that they don't vote here in the Senate the way they speak back at home was crystal clear."
Reed has stated both publicly and privately that he is convinced that Army Gen. David Petraeus is on the verge of calling for a new direction in Iraq, potentially including a phased withdrawal or redeployment. Reed, a former platoon commander in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, recently met with Petraeus during a visit to Baghdad.
"I got the impression from Gen. Petraeus that he wasn't waiting," Reed said during a recent appearance on C-SPAN. "Now he might be overruled by people in the White House and, you know, wait until September. But he seemed very eager to come forward as quickly as possible with a new direction and policy."
Petraeus is scheduled to return to Washington in mid-September to report to Bush and Congress on the state of progress inside Iraq, and both sides have portrayed it as the pivotal moment in the debate. Bush and his top aides, including national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have been begging skittish lawmakers to wait until September before voting for withdrawal or redeployment.
In a turnabout from the earlier fight over the Iraq supplemental bill, when there was a backlash against Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, anti-war groups said they were pleased by the Senate vote.
Tom Matzzie, Washington director of the group MoveOn.org, said he did not believe the anti-war movement would be able to exert sufficient political pressure on GOP moderates like Collins and Snowe until later in the year.
"I think we're ahead of schedule," Matzzie said.
Daniel W. Reilly contributed to this report.


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This is the testimonial headline. You know that when someone says you are good, it is more effective than when you say it yourself. Writing a good headline is an art. There are several kinds of headlines you can use. I've used many, including:
- The "how to" headline - for example, How to Build a Social Media Strategy. I noticed that I write variations of that like How a Blog is Born and How Social Networks are Disrupting Everything you Know About Business.
- The "question" headline - there are many here. From Should Comments be Portable? to Your Face, Everywhere, Are There too Many Social Networks?
- The "reason why" or a version thereof - like 3 Trends and Top Ten Reasons to Work with a Smart Agency and Top Ten Reasons Why Your Customer Service Fails.
- The "command" headline - for example Forget Influentials: in Viral Marketing Context Matters.
There are more. Today at The Blog Herald, we talk about taking the best ad headlines and making them yours, building on the tradition of P.T. Barnum, N.W. Ayer and others - some of the master copywriters of years gone by. These people have blazed a trail for all of us inventing new ways to persuade and move people to action.
What magic promise is in your titles? Share which ones you use the most here. For a limited time only!
UPDATE: In case you are Christian Bale, the title was an example, but do feel free to read.


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A few days ago, my piano teacher recommended a book to me: Play It Again: An Amateur Against The Impossible by Alan Rusbridger [commission earned], formerly editor-in-chief of The Guardian. I devoured it within three days.
Rusbridger recounts how over about 18 months, he learned playing Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23—all the while being pretty busy with managing how the Guardian handled affairs like Wikileaks and the News Corp. phone hacking scandal.
My piano teacher highlighted that it's interesting to see how with mostly just 20 minutes of practice a day—or often less—Rusbridger managed to learn a very challenging piece of music. The important thing is the regular habit of practicing, not necessarily the number of hours you put in.
But you also need to use that time wisely. Pick out the things that are hard for you and work on them deliberately—or even just a single aspect of them. After a few minutes, move on to the next challenge, no matter how well it goes. Finally you also need to build your understanding of the whole piece, so regularly try playing from start to finish.
Here is a recording of Adam Gyorgy playing the ballade. I like this recording because you can really see the exhaustion at the end.
Rusbridger also had access to many interesting people, such as world-famous concert pianists and researchers in fields like the neurology of music and human memory.
The book is a great read—it's entertaining and exciting, but also insightful. You learn a great deal about how people learn, how we understand music, and what music does to the brain (mostly good things).
But here I want to focus on one part that stood out for me: at one point, Rusbridger asks a researcher whether one could calculate the information contained in the ballade, and how much information that would be?
Measuring the Information in a Song
The researcher gives a solid (if simplified) answer. He says that "information" is the same as "surprise"—i.e., when you look at a note in a score, what is the probability of some note appearing next?
If the probability is high, the note doesn't add much information. It's not surprising. It doesn't add much information. If the probability is low however, it adds novelty.
So summing up the probabilities of the notes appearing in the score could give you an approximation of the information contained within a song. The lower the sum, the higher the information content.
If you have, say, 36 different notes that can appear in a given score, that would give each note a probability of 1/36 of appearing as the next note.
But of course that's not how music works. Depending on the key the piece is written in, certain notes are just more probable to appear than others. And those probabilities also depend on the cultural context the music was composed in.
In addition to the rules of harmony, every composer also has their own style. This also influences the probabilities.
Imitating Style
We could say, then, that every composer has their own pattern of how they surprise their audiences. And that pattern, this really, really long list of probabilities, we could call a composer's style.
Let's rephrase that:
For a wide range of input patterns, find a similarly wide range of output patterns.
This is a problem being worked on in the computer science sub-field of machine learning. By looking at lots and lots of data, algorithms figure out probabilities for certain symbols appearing after certain other symbols.
A common example is recognizing hand-written zip codes. To a machine, a photo of a number is not a number yet. A photo is just a very large list of dots of different colors—it doesn't mean anything yet. And we can't just give a computer a simple pattern of how every single number may look—hand-writing is much too messy for that.
To solve this, we are now feeding an algorithm lots of photos of numbers and tell it what kinds of numbers it is supposed to recognize on those photos. This data trains a neural network, a method of creating learning programs that uses neurons from biology and their connections as its central metaphor. For given input patterns, it calculates probabilities for the possible output patterns. The end result is a machine that can also "recognize" things it hasn't seen before.
This works reasonably well for recognizing images. What about music? A composer's style can also be learned by a neural network. Given an input pattern, the network—through firing different neurons at different weights—produces a certain output pattern that matches the probabilities inherent to the composer's style.
We can now have a machine generate—"compose"—new music that uses, say, Mozart's style [Dubnov et al., 2003].
But data is just data, right? We can as well capture the style of an artist or of a single painting in a neural network [Gatys et al., 2015].
If we add another innovation—applying a learned style to existing data—we can devise an algorithm that takes an existing picture and re-draws it in the style of Van Gogh's Starry Night.
Playing Games
I think this is incredible, but we're not done yet. We can also encode, in a neural network, how to play a game.
Since games have rules that decide whether a player is winning or losing, we don't even necessarily need lots of input data. The machine can just play against itself, over and over again, until it has figured out a way to beat the game. Watch a computer learn how to win at Super Mario:
Let's take a step back here: playing music, painting a picture, playing a game—those are all patterns of behavior. We can teach a machine to behave in a certain way. Either to have it conform with a set of rules or to imitate an existing behavior.
What about flying a plane? That's a behavior, too.
We wouldn't know any exact rules that we could inspect for correctness, though. The behavior that enables the machine to fly a plane would be encoded in probabilities stored by a neural network that we couldn't possibly try to understand.
Would you board that plane? What about a car? A train, maybe?
I believe that at some point, we will have to start trusting algorithms that we are unable to understand the details of. We understand how neural networks work, but why a trained network makes its decisions is beyond us in many cases.
People, Machines, etc.
Yet, we do the same with people. I don't know how to fly a plane, I don't even know what lessons exactly a pilot went through. And most importantly, I have almost no understanding of how that behavior called "flying a plane safely" is encoded in pilots' brains.
Amazingly, I board that plane anyhow.
I have a certain amount of trust in pilots. There's something called a pilot school, and they probably teach the right things there. Those things probably adhere to some standards that somebody wisely decided upon at some point.
I don't have hard proof to trust the pilot. But I do, based on certifiations, cultural and social signals, and my current mood. It seems likely that the pilot has a high interest in landing the plane safely because they're a mortal human just like me, and beings like us usually prefer not to die.
Maybe something similar needs to happen for machine learning and AI as well. At some point. Imagine we have self-driving cars and self-flying planes in a few decades down the road—and nobody dares using them because we don't trust them.
Will we need certifications for neural networks as fit for driving a car or flying a plane? Will an algorithm have to get a driver's license? Will we trust the creators of the algorithms to not game that testing system?
And even if they'd pass such a test—how would we make algorithms appear trustworthy enough so people do board that plane or take that taxi ride?
Long-term, I don't think we can choose whether we want to do it—just how.
Any ideas?


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A daily blog on architecture in Chicago, and other topics cultural, political and mineral.
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Thursday, October 27, 2005
Tigerman, Venturi, Gang, Ross-Barney, Rubio, Garofalo and much more - November's architectural events in Chicago
Stanley Tigerman on his new design for Pacific Garden Mission, Robert Venturi on Mies (already sold out), Elva Rubio, Carol Ross-Barney and Jeanne Gang at CAF, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien at the Art Institute, Doug Garofalo's lunchtime lecture at CAF - November offers up another bumper crop of lectures, seminars and panels, and you can preview them all here. Repeat's monthly calendar of Chicago architectural events lets keep track of what's going on. Visionary Chicago Architecture at the Graham Foundation, Sustainable Architecture in Germany at IIT and CAF, a SEAOI symposium on anti-terrorism design for structural engineers - nearly 40 events in all, which you check out on the Repeat monthly calendar for November.
(Click on time for permalink) 10:46 PM
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