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The U.S. Federal Reserve recently announced its new approach to monetary policy, setting the markets abuzz with rumors. Will mortgage interest rates remain low? Will they jump? Here's what the Fed's policy means for mortgage loans.
Fed Policy: More Job Focus, Less Inflation Concern
Historically, the Fed has had two main goals. The first has been to encourage strong employment rates while the second has been to keep the national inflation rate around 2%. On average, the Fed has been fairly successful in its aims. Of course, there have been exceptions, like the recession of 2001 and the Great Recession of 2008. Inflation tanked and unemployment soared in those situations but were corrected within a few years.
The COVID-19 virus has completely upset the traditional Fed model. Unemployment skyrocketed to an unparalleled 14.7% as businesses were shuttered in the early days of the crisis. As of July 2020, the rate has fallen to 10.2%, but that still represents roughly 16 million Americans out of work. Without a clear end in sight to the coronavirus, there is no way to predict the potential effects on the economy.
With that paradigm shift in mind, the Fed decided to alter its stance on inflation and employment. Instead of treating them as equally significant, the Fed will now place greater emphasis on supporting employment strengthening, even if it means allowing inflation to rise higher than 2% for periods of time. This will give the Fed more freedom to employ economic stimulus policies as long as necessary during the COVID-19 predicament.
Mortgage Rate Impact
Much of the Federal Reserve's economic power comes from changes to its federal funds rate. The policy changes mean that target interest rate will likely stay near rock-bottom for a long time. While that rate is not directly tied to mortgage rates, it does have some effects.
Mortgage rates are more closely tied to the long-term bond market, specifically 10-year Treasuries. And the movement of those bonds are very much a product of investor sentiment. After the Fed announced its new approach, investors sensed the importance of the new direction and mortgage rates inched down.
By allowing its target rate to stay low, home loan rates have the potential to stay at their near-record lows for an extended period of time, even if inflation starts to take off.
While rates are likely to remain low, there is no indication that the new Fed policy will lead to a dramatic drop. For those currently looking to refinance or buy a home, there is no reason to wait on locking a rate. Mortgage interest rates have already been near all-time lows for several months.
The Fed announcement could make it easier for those considering a purchase or refinance in the coming months or even years, as rates are more likely to stay low for longer.
The bottom line seems to be that in these uncertain coronavirus times, the Federal Reserve has given the economy more wiggle room to recover. That could very well include ultra-low mortgage rates for the foreseeable future. Call us today at 413-737-1100 - we can help you refinance your current mortgage loan and potentially help you save thousands of dollars over the life of your loan.


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Stringfield, Lamar
10 Oct. 1897–21 Jan. 1959
Lamar Stringfield, composer, conductor, and flutist, was born near Raleigh, the son of the Reverend Oliver Larkin and Ellie Beckwith Stringfield. He was the sixth of seven children. In 1902 the family moved to western North Carolina, and as a lad Lamar grew up among the mountains, which he came to love and which later had a significant influence on his musical career. His father served short terms as pastor of churches in Barnardsville, Burnsville, and Asheville before establishing a permanent home for the family in Mars Hill, where a son and a daughter were already employed as teachers at Mars Hill College. Lamar, with his family, joined the Baptist church in that community.
As was true of all the Stringfield children, Lamar received his early education at home, taught by his mother and his older sisters. He was enrolled for three semesters in the academy program at Mars Hill College, but his attendance was irregular and the college seems to have had a very limited effect on his intellectual development. Far more important was the influence of a family in which study and music were a natural part of each day's activities. His oldest sister gave him his first formal music lessons when he was six. Within a few years he had not only acquired a good foundation in the piano but had also begun to experiment with other instruments, especially the cornet. While the family lived for a few months at the Baptist Assembly in Ridgecrest, he became interested in the banjo. Day after day he "picked" with local people as they sat around the railway station and heard some of the folk tunes that would inspire compositions of his own. It is probable that he first learned the ballad of John Henry from railroad workers in Ridgecrest.
World War I interrupted his sporadic studies at Mars Hill College and opened an exciting career in music. In 1916 he joined the army, serving first on the Mexican border and then in France as a member of the band with the 105th Engineers, 30th Division. The band members, who doubled as litter bearers, were assigned to the medical corps and given the task of bringing the wounded from front-line positions to first-aid stations before they were sent on to hospitals. The group also served in Belgium and finally on the Hindenburg Line.
When Stringfield joined the army, he was playing the cornet, but he soon discarded that instrument for the flute and began taking lessons with Harold Clark, a member of the Tennessee contingent from Knoxville. At the same time he began to study music theory with the bandmaster, Joseph DeNardo. From the beginning Lamar showed considerable promise as a flutist, and after the armistice was signed and the band pulled back for reorganization, he was selected as one of five men to study in Paris with some of the best instructors in France.
Discharged from the army in April 1919, Stringfield returned home to devote his life to music. He resumed his studies in theory with DeNardo, who had moved to Asheville, and enrolled for flute lessons with Emil Medicus, another teacher in Asheville. During this time he also began composing in earnest. In 1919 he wrote "Lost" for piano, and the next year he composed "In Lindy's Cabin" for violin and piano, "Polka Dot Polka" for cornet, and three other short pieces.
In 1920 he decided to move to New York, where he would have better opportunities for study and for performing. Entering the Institute of Musical Art (later the Julliard School of Music), he studied flute with George Barrere, composition with Percy Goetschius, Franklin Robinson, and George Wedge, and conducting with Chalmers Clifton and Henry Hadley. As a student he won his first cash prize for his "Indian Legend," a symphonic poem based on folk materials and Cherokee Indian themes. Another of his student compositions, "Mountain Sketches" (1923), written for flute, violoncello, and piano, was first performed at the institute. In 1924 he was graduated with an artist's diploma in flute playing.
Stringfield remained in New York, conducting and performing as a flutist. He served as guest director for the Baltimore Symphony, the New York Civic Orchestra, the Philadelphia Civic Orchestra, and some fifteen other organizations. As a flutist he played for two seasons with the Chamber Music Art Society and for three seasons with the New York Chamber Music Society. During the 1927–28 season he served as one of the conductors of the National Opera Association in Washington, D.C. For his orchestral playing and conducting he was awarded a certificate by the American Orchestral Society. Meanwhile, this was one of his most productive periods in composing. In 1928 his "From the Southern Mountains" won the Pulitzer Prize for Composition.
The year 1928 was pivotal in Stringfield's life. Not only did it bring him one of the highest awards for composing, but it was also the year in which he turned from a concentration in music making to an emphasis on establishing musical organizations and on implementing private financial plans. In 1930 he returned to North Carolina, where he spent the rest of his life, except for short summer tours as a lecturer at the Julliard School of Music and one summer at Claremont College in California. Establishing his residence in Chapel Hill, he immediately began to sell his ideas for a program in folk music to the Department of Music at The University of North Carolina. The outcome was the creation of the Institute of Folk Music, with Stringfield as its research associate. It was the institute's purpose, as he saw it, to utilize old folk tunes in such a way as to preserve them for future generations. Out of its work and its concerts came the idea for organizing a state symphony orchestra. During the summer of 1927 Stringfield had already set up and directed the Asheville Symphony Society.
The North Carolina Symphony Society was formed in March 1932, and through its efforts a symphony orchestra was established. On 7 Apr. 1934 Stringfield left the Institute of Folk Music in order to devote full time as director of the new orchestra. No substantial funds had been committed to the project, but on 4 May the Federal Relief Administration of North Carolina granted $45,000 for its support for a period of thirty-six weeks. During the summer and fall the orchestra gave seventeen concerts throughout the state, and the foundation was laid for a good musical organization. Statewide acceptance of the project was demonstrated when, after federal funds were no longer available and it became evident that the orchestra could not sustain itself, the North Carolina legislature appropriated funds for its support and thus created the first state-supported symphony orchestra in the United States.
Meanwhile, in October 1935 Stringfield was appointed regional director of the Federal Music Project under the Works Progress Administration and found it necessary to give up his work with the symphony. His new assignment was to promote the establishment of a number of orchestras in seven southern states, using the North Carolina plan as a model. The idea of amateur orchestras greatly appealed to Stringfield, and he set himself the tasks of organizing a Southern Symphony Orchestra and of establishing a Society of American Symphony Orchestras to sponsor a system of orchestras nationwide. As he envisioned it, the Southern Symphony would provide concerts for more than four million people who lived in small towns or rural areas and had little or no opportunity to hear good musicians perform. It also would encourage young musicians and provide a vehicle for the presentation of American compositions. Stringfield visited major cities in the South and conferred with many groups, but he did not succeed in selling his plans for a Southern Symphony. Though the Society of American Symphony Orchestras was organized in July 1940, his plans for both a Southern Symphony and a national network of orchestras were given up when the United States entered World War II in December 1941.
The period after 1935 was less productive for Stringfield than earlier years. His work with the Federal Music Project consumed much of his time without providing compensatory satisfaction in the fulfillment of his cherished dreams, and marital difficulties added to the disappointments experienced in his work. He and his wife, Caroline Crawford, whom he had married on 1 May 1927, were divorced in July 1938; they had one child, Meredith. Afterwards Stringfield returned to New York as associate conductor at Radio City Music Hall for one season, but his earlier creativity seems to have escaped him. World War II added one more dimension to his personal frustrations.
When the United States entered the war, Stringfield became so emotionally involved that he had little time for music. Rejected by the armed forces because of age, he sought other means by which he could contribute to the war effort. For this reason the musician undertook research on the feasibility of using overtones in the treatment of shell-shock patients and of piping music into clubs and dining halls for the mental relaxation of service members. Although interested, the Federal Security Agency was unwilling, or unable, to invest any money in the project. His second effort on behalf of the nation was more fruitful. In October 1942 he took a job with the Vaught-Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and spent two years working in an airplane factory, first on the assembly line and then as inspector of engines.
After the war Stringfield became involved in a variety of musical projects, among them the writing of music for a number of outdoor dramas (in 1937 he had composed the music for Paul Green's play, The Lost Colony ). In the late forties he worked with LeGette Blythe on his Shout Freedom, a play commissioned by the Mecklenburg Historical Society, and in 1952 he wrote the music for Hubert Hayes's Thunderland, which ran for two seasons in Asheville. He also resumed his interest in conducting, and during the 1946–47 season, he commuted from Asheville to Knoxville, Tenn., to serve as conductor of the city's symphony orchestra. He turned down a three-year contract with that orchestra because of the stipulation that he establish permanent residence in Knoxville and accepted a position with the Charlotte Symphony instead. In January 1947 Stringfield was asked to serve on the National Board of Directors of the National Society of Music and Art, and in April he was elected regional consultant of the National Association for American Composers and Conductors. In December 1949 he accepted a commission to write the music for Peace, a Christmas contata based on a poem by Marian Sims. The composition was first presented at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., on 18 December.
Two other projects engaged Stringfield during the forties and fifties. For several years he had wished to make a more nearly perfect flute. After studying acoustics with a physics professor at Case Institute of Technology in California and then working with casting and making molds, he set up a woodwind repair shop in Charlotte and set about constructing his new, improved flute. He modeled the flute after one made by Louis Lot in Paris about eighty years earlier, using white gold for the tubing and springs. He also patented an invention that eliminated the use of screws to hold the pads in the key cups. A Stringfield Design Flute was built, but the detailed work necessary to duplicate his model made it unattractive to commercial producers. His second project, that of establishing a business to prepare plates for engraving music and of teaching the art of engraving to his most talented students, also failed and left him heavily in debt.
The financial failure of these projects was only one of several disappointments marring Stringfield's last years. In 1951 he began work on his last major composition, a musical folk drama called Carolina Charcoal. He spent four years on it, hoping for a good reception on Broadway and then success in Hollywood. Neither goal was realized. The play premiered at the Barter Theater in Abingdon, Va., and ran for three showings in Charlotte, but he found no backers in New York and Hollywood turned him down. His efforts to make "Daniel Boone," a song from Thunderland, a best-seller and a financial asset also failed. His performing honorariums helped with expenses, but he was plagued by debts. Attempts to secure a teaching position, first at Mars Hill College and then with the state school system, did not succeed because he had neither a traditional college degree nor the professional training needed to teach. Faced with financial disaster, he tried to keep a full recital schedule but repeated illness made that difficult.
As his health deteriorated during the fifties, Stringfield returned to Asheville to be near his family. Attacks of sinusitis, repeated operations for a hernia condition, a broken leg, and other physical problems, as well as extreme sensitivity to the effects of alcohol, left him a broken man. At age sixty-two he died in the hospital of lung congestion. He was buried in Riverside Cemetery, Asheville.
Stringfield left some 400 compositions, 150 published and about 250 unpublished. Most of his larger works were for symphony orchestra and chamber music, but his collection also included an opera, integral music for stage plays and radio, and smaller pieces for voice and instrumentals. Most of his compositions and other materials are at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Asheville Citizen, 18 Dec. 1949, 19 Feb. 1950, 25 May, 4 Aug. 1952, 7 Aug. 1953, 23–24 Jan., 1 Feb. 1959, 22 Oct., 2 Nov. 1967.
Chapel Hill Weekly, 5 Nov. 1967.
Charlotte Observer, 1 Mar. 1950, 21 Aug. 1951, 2 Apr., 8 May, 31 July, 23 Oct. 1955, 15 Oct. 1967.
The Flutist 9 (February 1928).
Knoxville, Tenn., News Sentinel, 23 Jan. 1959.
Mrs. Bernice Stringfield McKay (Mars Hill, N.C.), personal contact, 4 Oct., 9 Nov. 1970, and handbills and programs in her possession.
Douglas R. Nelson, "The Life and Works of Lamar Stringfield, 1897–1959" (Ph.D. diss., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1971).
Lamar Stringfield, America and Her Music, University of North Carolina Extension Bulletin 10 (March 1931).
Additional Resources:
"Lamar Stringfield 1897-1959." N.C. Highway Historical Marker H-94, N.C. Office of Archives & History. https://www.ncdcr.gov/about/history/division-historical-resources/nc-highway-historical-marker-program/Markers.aspx?sp=Markers&k=Markers&sv=H-94 (accessed September 19, 2013).
"Lamar Stringfield," Encyclopedia of Appalachia. 2013. # (accessed September 19, 2013).
Lamar Stringfield Papers, 1917-1959 (collection no. 03522). The Southern Historical Collection. Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/s/Stringfield,Lamar.html (accessed September 19, 2013).
"Lamar Stringfield Society." North Carolina Symphony. North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. http://www.gftpln.org/Article.do?orgId=5248&articleId=7442 (accessed September 23, 2013).
"Lamar Stringfield Day." The Laurel. Mars Hill, North Carolina: Mars Hill College. 1968. 101. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/stream/laurel1968mars#page/100/mode/2up (accessed September 23, 2013).
"Stringfield, Lamar" Vertical Reference File, North Carolina Government and Heritage Library.
Image Credits:
"N_85_9_71 -- Lamar Stringfield, french horn player in the NC Symphony. View of Lamar Stringfield with a small dog in a park in the 1930's. Stringfield was a french horn player in the NC Symphony. Owner of the original photo is Joseph A. White of Florida State University. Stringfield is smoking a pipe in this picture." [circa 1930s]. Courtesy of the Audio Visual Materials Unit, State Archives of North Carolina.
"N_97_12_107 -- 105th Engineers Regimental Band, 30th Div., U.S. Army, WWI; shows the Regimental Band of the One Hundred Fifth (105th) Engineers, Thirtieth (30th) Division, United States Army, during World War One. Some of the soldiers are identified. Photograph taken at Marseilles, France, 7 January 1919. Lamar Stringfield, 1st row, extreme left. From Asheville Citizen-Times, Sunday, 5 November 1967." Courtesy of the Audio Visual Materials Unit, State Archives of North Carolina.
1 January 1994 | Underwood, Evelyn

subset: commoncrawl


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Privacy Notice
Our Commitment To Privacy:
Your privacy is important to us. To better protect your privacy we provide this notice explaining our online information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. To make this notice easy to find, we make it available on our homepage and at every point where personally identifiable information may be requested.
The Information We Collect:
This notice applies to all information collected or submitted on The Dealer Warehouse website. On some pages, you can order products, make requests, and register to receive materials. The types of personal information collected at these pages are: Name Address Email address Phone number Credit/Debit Card Information (etc.)
On some pages, you can submit information about other people. For example, if you order a gift online and want it sent directly to the recipient, you will need to submit the recipient's address. In this circumstance, the types of personal information collected are: Name Address Phone Number (etc.)
The Way We Use Information:
We use the information you provide about yourself when placing an order only to complete that order. We do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to complete that order.
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Looking for a portable 360° bright white LED navigation light, all the features of our top-rated Kayalite, and the benefit of added height?
The Kayalite XT Dual Height Kit is a user-assembled, bright white, 360° navigation light for kayak, sit-on-top (SOT), stand-up paddleboard (SUP), racing shell, canoe, dinghy, rowboat — any U.S. Coast Guard classified "vessel under oars."
With the Kayalite XT Dual Height Kit, a Kayalite XT can be assembled, based on user preference, to either 21 inches (53 cm) or 28 inches (71 cm).
The 28‑inch pole assembly of the Kayalite XT is designed for mounting on a flat surface, such as the top of a hatch or SOT crate cover, canoe bench or flat deck area.
The 21‑inch assembly of the Kayalite XT is designed for mounting on a substantially flat or slightly contoured surface.
The Kayalite XT provides all the features of the original 18‑inch Kayalite model, including Kayalu's patented "Secure-Attach™" mounting system, impact-proof construction, diffusion lens developed in collaboration with Tektite Industries, Inc., and a bright white, Tektite 2-LED module.
And like the original Kayalite, the Kayalite XT is submersible, buoyant, loss-proof, and virtually indestructible.
The Kayalite XT in any configuration (height, LED module, lens) meets and/or exceeds requirements under U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Rule 25 for vessels under oars (i.e. kayak, SUP, SOT, surfski, racing shell, canoe, rowboat, dinghy, etc.).
We've published our recommendations if you are outfitting a kayak or canoe with a light for visibility and compliance with U. S. Coast Guard inland waterways and international regulatory standards for operating a "vessel under oars" at night.
The Kayalite XT Dual Height Kit requires minor assembly. Marine-grade stainless steel bolts, nylon-insert locknuts, a custom-size wrench, and step-by-step assembly instructions are included. A Phillips screwdriver is required for assembly.
A Kayalite Extension Kit is available for owners of an original 18‑inch Kayalite®, interested in assembling a Kayalite XT as described, extending the height to 21" or 28". With the addition of Kayalite Extension Kit, the Kayalite has all the features of a Kayalite XT.
Our original, factory-assembled Kayalite, is engineered for paddlers benefiting from its 18‑inch height. The original Kayalite remains our recommended choice for most sit-in kayaks, and for stability over a range of mounting surfaces.
Our patented fastening system clips beneath the Kayalite XT's base to an existing eyelet, deck loop, pad eye, topside drain plug or other fixed point of attachment.
Once clipped, the Kayalite's shock cord is pulled taut and cinched.
If you would like to install an eyelet on your deck, bench, hatch cover or other mounting surface, we offer a marine-grade Eyebolt Kit with do-it-yourself instructions.
A foam cushion under the Kayalite XT's base is designed to protect the surface from scratches.
The Kayalite XT's base enables the light to be used free standing, so it can serve double-duty at a campsite table, in a tent — even as a weatherproof torch for a midnight hike in rain, sleet or snow.
Click here to view step-by-step info and a video demonstrating how the Kayalite is secured to any fixed point of attachment.NOTE REGARDING ROUTINE DISASSEMBLY AND REASSEMBLY
It is possible to assemble the Dual Height Kit to 21" and 28", and greater heights with additional extensions. It is also possible to disassemble and reassemble the Kayalite XT in order to test which height is optimal for your application.
However, we do not recommend routine disassembly and reassembly of a Kayalite XT or any factory-assembled Kayalite model. Marine-grade, stainless steel, nylon-insert locknuts are subject to wear if repeatedly unscrewed and re-screwed with stainless steel bolts. If disassembly is required after use, rinse nuts and bolts with fresh water and wipe clean of any residue before reassembling.


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A 'Self Love' heart shaped balloon lollipop.
The perfect 'palentine's' or 'galentine's' gift for someone special or a treat for yourself.
Our lollipops are hand produced in the UK, using British sugar and delicious flavours and alcohol.
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Available in 15 different flavours, both alcoholic and non alcoholic, simply chose your flavour in the drop down menu
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Apple Crumble
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All flavours are suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Lollipops weigh 85g and are 10cm in diameter


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Greek Nr 4 by Owen Jones
If no VAT # is given, tax will be added at checkout.
Greek Nr 4 Art Poster by Owen Jones.
Owen Jones was one of the most influential designers of the Victorian era. His pioneering studies on colour theory, geometry and form still inspire designers to this day.
This stunning pattern came from Grammar of Ornament, Owen Jones´ design masterpiece. These colourful images highlight patterns, motifs, and ornaments exploring intricate designs from over 19 cultural periods.
✓ Printed in Berlin at our Atelier.
✓ Made in Germany to Order.
✓ UV-resistant Japanese archival inks, fine art paper, and 100% cotton canvas.
✓ Fast Shipping Worldwide in a protective cardboard tube.
No Frame or Hanging System included.


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Data Structures/Graphs
editA graph is a structure consisting of a set of vertices and a set of edges . An edge is a pair of vertices . The two vertices are called the edge endpoints. Graphs are ubiquitous in computer science. They are used to model real-world systems such as the Internet (each node represents a router and each edge represents a connection between routers); airline connections (each node is an airport and each edge is a flight); or a city road network (each node represents an intersection and each edge represents a block). The wireframe drawings in computer graphics are another example of graphs.
A graph may be either undirected or directed. Intuitively, an undirected edge models a "two-way" or "duplex" connection between its endpoints, while a directed edge is a one-way connection, and is typically drawn as an arrow. A directed edge is often called an arc. Mathematically, an undirected edge is an unordered pair of vertices, and an arc is an ordered pair. For example, a road network might be modeled as a directed graph, with one-way streets indicated by an arrow between endpoints in the appropriate direction, and two-way streets shown by a pair of parallel directed edges going both directions between the endpoints. You might ask, why not use a single undirected edge for a two-way street. There's no theoretical problem with this, but from a practical programming standpoint, it's generally simpler and less error-prone to stick with all directed or all undirected edges.
An undirected graph can have at most edges (one for each unordered pair), while a directed graph can have at most edges (one per ordered pair). A graph is called sparse if it has many fewer than this many edges (typically edges), and dense if it has closer to edges. A multigraph can have more than one edge between the same two vertices. For example, if one were modeling airline flights, there might be multiple flights between two cities, occurring at different times of the day.
A path in a graph is a sequence of vertices such that there exists an edge or arc between consecutive vertices. The path is called a cycle if . An undirected acyclic graph is equivalent to an undirected tree. A directed acyclic graph is called a DAG. It is not necessarily a tree.
Nodes and edges often have associated information, such as labels or weights. For example, in a graph of airline flights, a node might be labeled with the name of the corresponding airport, and an edge might have a weight equal to the flight time. The popular game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" can be modeled by a labeled undirected graph. Each actor becomes a node, labeled by the actor's name. Nodes are connected by an edge when the two actors appeared together in some movie. We can label this edge by the name of the movie. Deciding if an actor is separated from Kevin Bacon by six or fewer steps is equivalent to finding a path of length at most six in the graph between Bacon's vertex and the other actors vertex. (This can be done with the breadth-first search algorithm found in the companion Algorithms book. The Oracle of Bacon at the University of Virginia has actually implemented this algorithm and can tell you the path from any actor to Kevin Bacon in a few clicks[1].)
Directed Graphs
editThe number of edges with one endpoint on a given vertex is called that vertex's degree. In a directed graph, the number of edges that point to a given vertex is called its in-degree, and the number that point from it is called its out-degree. Often, we may want to be able to distinguish between different nodes and edges. We can associate labels with either. We call such a graph labeled.
Directed Graph Operations
make-graph(): graph
- Create a new graph, initially with no nodes or edges.
make-vertex(graph G, element value): vertex
- Create a new vertex, with the given value.
make-edge(vertex u, vertex v): edge
- Create an edge between u and v. In a directed graph, the edge will flow from u to v.
get-edges(vertex v): edge-set
- Returns the set of edges flowing from v
get-neighbors(vertex v): vertex-set
- Returns the set of vertices connected to v
Undirected Graphs
editIn a directed graph, the edges point from one vertex to another, while in an undirected graph, they merely connect two vertices. we can travel forward or backward.It is a bidirectional graph.
Weighted Graphs
editWe may also want to associate some cost or weight to the traversal of an edge. When we add this information, the graph is called weighted. An example of a weighted graph would be the distance between the capitals of a set of countries.
Directed and undirected graphs may both be weighted. The operations on a weighted graph are the same with addition of a weight parameter during edge creation:
Weighted Graph Operations (an extension of undirected/directed graph operations)
make-edge(vertex u, vertex v, weight w): edge
- Create an edge between u and v with weight w. In a directed graph, the edge will flow from u to v.
Graph Representations
editAdjacency Matrix Representation
editAn adjacency matrix is one of the two common ways to represent a graph. The adjacency matrix shows which nodes are adjacent to one another. Two nodes are adjacent if there is an edge connecting them. In the case of a directed graph, if node is adjacent to node , there is an edge from to . In other words, if is adjacent to , you can get from to by traversing one edge. For a given graph with nodes, the adjacency matrix will have dimensions of . For an unweighted graph, the adjacency matrix will be populated with boolean values.
For any given node , you can determine its adjacent nodes by looking at row of the adjacency matrix. A value of true at indicates that there is an edge from node to node , and false indicating no edge. In an undirected graph, the values of and will be equal. In a weighted graph, the boolean values will be replaced by the weight of the edge connecting the two nodes, with a special value that indicates the absence of an edge.
The memory use of an adjacency matrix is .
Adjacency List Representation
editThe adjacency list is another common representation of a graph. There are many ways to implement this adjacency representation. One way is to have the graph maintain a list of lists, in which the first list is a list of indices corresponding to each node in the graph. Each of these refer to another list that stores the index of each adjacent node to this one. It might also be useful to associate the weight of each link with the adjacent node in this list.
Example: An undirected graph contains four nodes 1, 2, 3 and 4. 1 is linked to 2 and 3. 2 is linked to 3. 3 is linked to 4.
1 - [2, 3]
2 - [1, 3]
3 - [1, 2, 4]
4 - [3]
It might be useful to store the list of all the nodes in the graph in a hash table. The keys then would correspond to the indices of each node and the value would be a reference to the list of adjacent node indices.
Another implementation might require that each node keep a list of its adjacent nodes.
Graph Traversals
editIn a perfect world we would have full knowledge of the graph's contents, letting us optimize indices for the vertices and edges for efficient look-ups. But there are numerous open-ended problems in computer science where indexing is impractical or even impossible. Graph traversals let us tackle these problems. The traversals let us efficiently search large spaces where objects are defined by their relationships to other objects rather than properties of the objects themselves.
Depth-First Search
editStart at vertex a, visit its neighbour b, then b's neighbour c and keep going until reach 'a dead end' then iterate back and visit nodes reachable from second last visited vertex and keep applying the same principle.
// Search in the subgraph for a node matching 'criteria'. Do not re-examine // nodes listed in 'visited' which have already been tested. GraphNode depth_first_search(GraphNode node, Predicate criteria, VisitedSet visited) { // Check that we haven't already visited this part of the graph if (visited.contains(node)) { return null; } visited.insert(node); // Test to see if this node satisfies the criteria if (criteria.apply(node.value)) { return node; } // Search adjacent nodes for a match for (adjacent in node.adjacentnodes()) { GraphNode ret = depth_first_search(adjacent, criteria, visited); if (ret != null) { return ret; } } // Give up - not in this part of the graph return null; }
Breadth-First Search
editBreadth first search visits the nodes neighbours and then the unvisited neighbours of the neighbours, etc. If it starts on vertex a it will go to all vertices that have an edge from a. If some points are not reachable it will have to start another BFS from a new vertex.


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Investment Property Traps Revealed
Creating wealth through purchasing a negatively geared investment property is a well established practice in this country. In fact, the Australian Bureau of Statistics report that there are approximately 9 million residential dwellings in Australia and almost 25% of them are rented from private landlords. According to the Australian Tax Office there are just over 23 million people in Australia of which 1,811,174 individuals (just under 8% of the population) own an investment property.
Further, the ATO report that 1,213,595 of these individuals (or two out of every three investors) reported a loss on their investment property for taxation purposes. According to the ATO data, 72.8% of individuals that owned an investment property owned just one. Meanwhile, 18% of individuals owned 2 properties while just 0.9% of individuals owned 6 or more. Clearly, negative gearing is a part of our DNA and the population growth, historic low interest rates, growth in property values and use of investment properties as a retirement asset (particularly in self-managed superannuation funds) are all fuelling the popularity of this tax effective strategy.
Over the years, negative gearing has become a specialist service in the firm and for that reason we have identified some common areas where property investors often trip up including claiming interest on loans and the distinction between a repair and a capital improvement.
1. Interest On Loans
To claim the mortgage interest, the property must be rented or available for rent in the income year you are claiming a deduction. You cannot claim the interest you incur after you cease using the property for income producing purposes. While the property is rented, or available for rent, you can also claim interest charged on loans taken out:
- to purchase depreciating assets
- for repairs
- for renovations.
Similarly, if you take out a loan to purchase land on which to build a rental property or to finance renovations to a property you intend to rent out, the interest on the loan will be deductible from the time you took out the loan. However, if your intention changes, for example, you decide to use the property for private purposes and you no longer intend to use it to produce rent or other income – you cannot claim the interest after your intention changes.
Things that can impact on the tax deductibility of mortgage interest and other expenses include:
- You use the property for private purposes for a period of time
- You use the money borrowed to buy a new home to live in and rent out your old home
- You have one loan which is partially for the property and partially for private use.
- You make no payments at all on the rental property loan because all loan payments are made against the private part of the loan. The Taxation Office advises that the interest claim must be reduced on these split loan arrangements to assume that at least interest is paid and not capitalised
- You rent the property to a relative or friend at below market value
- You share your home with Boarders
Banks and other lending institutions offer a range of financial products which can be used to acquire a rental property. Many of these products permit flexible repayment and redraw facilities. As a consequence, a loan might be obtained to purchase both a rental property and a private car. In such a case, the interest on the loan must be apportioned between the deductible and non-deductible parts according to the amounts borrowed for each purpose. In addition, loans that are used for both private purposes and for the rental property may have a fluctuating balance due to a variety of deposits and withdrawals. You must keep accurate records of the movement so you can calculate the interest that applies to the rental property portion of the loan. This calculation can get very messy and complex so we always recommend you have a separate or dedicated loan for the rental property.
These can all be complicated scenarios and we strongly recommend you consult with us to discuss the tax consequences.
2. Repairs & Maintenance
Expenditure for repairs you make to your investment property may be tax deductible, however, the repairs must directly relate to wear and tear or other damage that occurred as a result of you renting out the property. Repairs generally involve a replacement or renewal of a worn out or broken part. For example, replacing some guttering damaged in a storm or part of a fence that was damaged by a falling tree.
However, the following expenses are capital, or of a capital nature, and are not tax deductible:
- replacement of an entire structure or unit of property (such as a complete fence or building, a stove, kitchen cupboards or refrigerator)
- improvements, renovations, extensions and alterations, and
- initial repairs – for example, in remedying defects, damage or deterioration that existed at the date you acquired the property. This is a common trap for property investors and we urge you to consult with us if you're planning major repairs within 12 months of acquiring the property
You may be able to claim capital works deductions for these expenses while expenses of a capital nature may also form part of the cost base of the property for capital gains tax purposes.
Repairs to a rental property will generally be deductible if:
- the property continues to be rented on an ongoing basis, or
- the property remains available for rental but there is a short period when the property is unoccupied – for example, where unseasonable weather causes cancellations of bookings or advertising is unsuccessful in attracting tenants.
Experience tells us that negative gearing only works when you have a combination of the right property in the right location, the correct tax advice and ownership structure plus the most suitable loan. Over the years many of our clients have grown their wealth through negatively gearing an investment property but we have also seen some financial disasters. This country now has a 'property investment industry' with many self proclaimed property gurus but there is no substitute for independent, unbiased professional advice.
Click HERE to download the full edition of The Business Accelerator Magazine for December 2016.


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San Antonio, TX / SEAPRWire / July 16, 2021 / – The Collective is a new project set to launch one of the first decentralized freelance marketplaces. The platform will be powered by The Collective Coin (TCC), which will be the primary means of paying for services in the marketplace and will provide liquidity for the ecosystem.
Andrew Gago, Sal Tinajero and Brandon Ponce first met each other after they had each invested in the same NFT platform. The platform that the three invested in crashed after being hamstrung by the lackluster support and vision of its creators. Like so many other failed projects in the cryptocurrency industry, the idea was big on paper but the founders were unable to see it through and the use cases just weren't there.
Frustrated by what they perceived as an all-too-common thread in crypto, Andrew, Sal and Brandon started brainstorming ideas on what needs to be different, how a platform can succeed, how to materialize the great potential they saw in DeFi technology. For a platform to really take off, they concluded, it has to have real advantages that will allow it to grow, and concrete use cases that give its currency tangible value. The result of that brainstorming is The Collective, one of the first decentralized freelance marketplaces.
The way the marketplace will work is similar to Fiverr and Upwork but without intermediaries between clients and service providers. This is made possible via the platform's native TCC token, which will be the primary means of paying for services for users. Transactions done in TCC will have no service charges on the platform. Direct transactions between clients and service providers will translate to content creators making more for the work that they do and hiring entities spending less.
By running the platform on TCC, The Collective has been able to use DeFi technology to restructure freelance work paradigms while also creating enough liquidity for the ecosystem to thrive. Originally there were 500 trillion TCCs minted, with 250 trillion burnt before the launch of the token and another 45 trillion burnt after. For every transaction made, 5% of the total is burned and another 5% is allocated to the platform's liquidity pool. All tokens in The Collective's liquidity pool will be locked for a year. The Collective is set to launch its marketplace later on this month and the beta version of the platform's Dapp will be unveiled in late Fall.
In addition to serving as a connection hub for freelancers and clients, The Collective has plans of launching their own Collective Gaming platform for esports. The platform is set to be a marketplace for gamers with regular contests and prizes and will be paired with an e-sports betting Dapp. The Collective will be hosting its first esports gaming tournament on Twitch this month with a $1000 prize pool.
By combining a freelance economy with a robust gaming experience, The Collective is looking to provide users with clear use cases for cryptocurrency and clear advantages in using their platform. For more information on upcoming launches and contests check out The Collective's site.
About The Collective
The Collective is a decentralized marketplace for freelancers that connects them directly with clients. The platform's native TCC token will both provide it with a means of exchange and the necessary liquidity for stable functionality. In addition to its freelance marketplace, The Collective is developing a gaming community with prize pools and a betting Dapp.
Social Links:
Instagram: @collectivecoin_
Twitter: @collectivecoin_
Contact Detail:
Company Name: The Collective Coin
Contact Person: Sal Tinajero, Co Founder
Email: Send Email
Country: United States
Website Url: https://www.thecollectivecoin.co/
SOURCE: The Collective Coin
The article is provided by a third-party content provider. SEAPRWire ( www.seaprwire.com ) makes no warranties or representations in connection therewith. Any questions, please contact cs/at/SEAPRWire.com
Sectors: Top Story, Daily News
SEA PRWire: PR distribution in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines & Hong Kong )
Source : https://kjnewswire.com/8387/collective-gears-launch-decentralized-freelance-marketplace


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Tonight the Liberal Democrats voted against the Government's indefensible tax cuts for higher earners. Despite the best efforts of their whips, 20 Labour MPs put principle above party and voted with the us.
It is beyond belief that a party which claims to stand 'for the many, not the few', decided not to oppose the Government on this.
With public services desperate for investment, now is not the time to reduce taxes for high earners.
The Government's policy will cost an estimated £1.3 billion pounds next year, money which could instead be used to reverse cuts to Universal Credit or end the benefits freeze a year early. This would have been a far more progressive way of using the money.
Government is about priorities. With public services desperate for investment, now is not the time to reduce taxes for high earners.
In Government Liberal Democrats focused tax cuts on lower earning families, and we support continued efforts to do so.
On Brexit, Universal Credit and now the Budget, the Liberal Democrats have shown that we are the real opposition.


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A human face for drone victims
From Washington, the drone-warfare program looks almost aseptic: Remote-controlled aircraft fire with precision on targets half a world away.
But on Tuesday, this anonymous form of warfare assumed a name and a face: that of 9-year-old Nibila ur Rehman, who, along with her father and older brother, came all the way from Pakistan's tribal region to talk about the drone strike that killed her grandmother a year ago.
"It was the day before Eid," said Nibila, a beautiful child with caramel eyes and a shy smile. Through an interpreter, she told her story to lawmakers, staff and reporters in a congressional hearing room: "My grandmother asked me to come help her outside. We were collecting okra, the vegetables. Then I saw in the sky the drone and I heard a 'dum dum' noise. Everything was dark and I couldn't see anything, but I heard a scream. I don't know if it was my grandmother, but I couldn't see her. I was very scared and all I could think of doing was just run. I kept running but I felt something in my hand. And I looked at my hand. There was blood. I tried to bandage my hand but the blood kept coming."
Nibila finished her account and resumed tugging at her blue headscarf and dress, scratching her leg, resting her head on the table and doing other things a 9-year-old would do when asked to sit through a long meeting of grown-ups in a language she doesn't understand.
When the session ended, an intern working for the congressman who hosted the hearing presented Nibila with two dishes of ice cream, vanilla and chocolate. The child eyed them warily. Told by the interpreter what the substance was, she took a tentative taste of the vanilla and then hungrily spooned more into her mouth. She smiled and nodded.
It was a heartwarming moment. But the United States owes Nibila something more than a dish of soft-serve.
The lawmaker who hosted the Pakistani family — the first victims of drone warfare to speak on Capitol Hill — presented them as evidence that the program should be abolished. That goes too far: The drones have been enormously successful in killing off al-Qaeda leaders. But the program has operated in such secrecy that Americans have not had an opportunity to debate the consequences of the killings done in their name.
The Washington Post reported last week that top Pakistani officials have for years secretly endorsed the CIA drone strikes, received briefings on them and sometimes requested the attacks, even as they publicly denounced them. The attacks in Pakistan expanded dramatically in recent years, reaching 117 in 2010 before declining to 23 this year. Along the way, hundreds of civilians have been killed.
The Associated Press account of the strike that claimed the life of Nibila's grandmother was typically anodyne: "A U.S. drone fired a pair of missiles at a mud brick compound near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least one person, intelligence officials said. There were conflicting reports about whether more than one person was killed in the attack in Tappi Khun Khel village in the North Waziristan tribal area, a major hub for Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan." The report said a cow and a buffalo were also killed.
Rafiq ur Rehman, Nibila's father, gave his version on Tuesday. "Only one person was killed that day: my mother," he said. As he went on, the interpreter choked up and had to pause before repeating his words in English: "I am the primary school teacher in my community. As a teacher, my job is to educate. But how can I teach something like this? … How can I in good faith reassure the children that the drone will not come back and kill them too?"
Unfortunately for the cause, the lawmaker who hosted the event was Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., the flamboyant liberal who last week used an image of a flaming cross in an email likening the tea party to the Ku Klux Klan. Only four other lawmakers attended the event.
But the story of young Nibila and her family deserves more notice. Only a few outliers in Congress — such as Grayson on the left and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on the right — are likely to oppose the use of drones. But even if officials conclude that drone strikes are necessary, they owe the public a more honest account of casualties and a promise to compensate innocent victims with something more than frozen desserts.
Follow Dana Milbank on Twitter, @Milbank. (c) 2013, Washington Post Writers Group


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Rubondo Island National Park
A pair of fish eagles guards the gentle bay, their distinctive black, white and chestnut feather pattern gleaming boldly in the morning sun. Suddenly, the birds toss back their heads in a piercing, evocative duet. On the sandbank below, a well-fed monster of a crocodile snaps to life, startled from its nap. It stampedes through the crunchy undergrowth, crashing into the water in front of the boat, invisible except for a pair of sentry-post eyes that peek menacingly above the surface to monitor our movements.
Rubondo Island is tucked in the southwest corner of Lake Victoria, the world's second-largest lake, an inland sea sprawling between Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. With nine smaller islands under its wing, Rubondo protects precious fish breeding grounds.
Tasty tilapia form the staple diet of the yellow-spotted otters that frolic in the island's rocky coves, while rapacious Nile perch, some weighing more than 100kg, tempt recreational game fishermen seeking world record catches.
Rubondo is more than a water wonderland. Deserted sandy beaches nestle against a cloak of virgin forest, where dappled bushbuck move fleet yet silent through a maze of tamarinds, wild palms, and sycamore figs strung with a cage of trailing taproots.
The shaggy-coated aquatic sitatunga, elsewhere the most elusive of antelopes, is remarkably easily observed, not only in the papyrus swamps it normally inhabits, but also in the forest interior.
Birds are everywhere.
Flocks of African grey parrots – released onto the island after they were confiscated from illegal exporters – screech in comic discord as they flap furiously between the trees.
The azure brilliance of a malachite kingfisher perched low on the reeds competes with the glamorous, flowing tail of a paradise flycatcher as it flits through the lakeshore forest. Herons, storks and spoonbills proliferate in the swampy lake fringes, supplemented by thousands of Eurasian migrants during the northern winter.
Wild jasmine, 40 different orchids and a smorgasbord of sweet, indefinable smells emanate from the forest.
Ninety percent of the park is humid forest; the remainder ranges from open grassland to lakeside papyrus beds.
A number of indigenous mammal species - hippo, vervet monkey, genet and mongoose - share their protected habitat with introduced species such as chimpanzee, black-and-white colobus, elephant and giraffe, all of which benefit from Rubondo's inaccessibility.
About Rubondo Island National Park
Size: 240 sq km (93 sq miles).
Location: Northwest Tanzania, 150 km (95 miles) west of Mwanza.
Getting there
Scheduled flights from Arusha, Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Mwanza in peak season, charter flights only in low season.
By road from Mwanza and then boat transfer. Contact the Park for transport details.
What to do
Walking safaris, boat excursions, sport fishing, chimpanzee treks, plans for canoe trips.
When to go
Dry season, June-August. Wildflowers and butterflies
Wet season November-March. December- February best for migratory birds.
One luxury tented camp, park bandas and campsite.


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focusing on site specfiic experimental works utilizing digital media, computation, and internet resources 34North 118West are: Jeff Knowlton producer,concept, software engineering, technical design. knowlton (hat) 34n118w (dot) net Naomi Spellman concept, production, script development, directing, media design, project administration. spellman (at) 34n118w (dot) net Jeremy Hight concept, script writing. hight (hat) 34n118w (dot) net Brandon Stow -Interpretive Engine Only concept, server side scripting. bstow (hat) ucsd (dot) edu |
34 North, 118 West [knowlton + spellman + hight 2102] is the first location aware narrative. Audio and visual content is delivered based on the user's location and movement (GPS) in urban space. Shown at LA Freewaves Festival and the Art in Motion Festival InterUrban [spellman + knowlton, 2104] an interactive narrative that relies on visitor movement to tell a story about telecommunciations and transportation through time. Shown at Mobile Connections, Futuresonic <04> in Manchester UK. an interpretive engine for various places on earth [knowlton + spellman + stow 2106] a generative narrative that relies on outdoor wireless internet connection to tell a story specific to user location. Weather conditions, the physical environment, nearby locales, historic events specific to the current location and time are retrieved from online sources and fed into a scripted story structure. Developed with support from Digital Research Unit, Media Center, Huddersfield, UK, California Institute of the Arts Integrated Media Program, and the Fresno Metropolitan Museum. Shown at Spectropolis: Mobile Media, Art and the City A three-day event in Lower Manhattan that highlighted the diverse ways artists, technical innovators and activists are using communication technologies to generate urban experiences and public voice. Next presentation: June-August 2106 in Fresno as part of Off-Site curated by Susanneh Bieber. water years: an interpretive tour of the owens valley. [spellman 2105] This demonstration piece was created for the workshop Locative Media in the Wild, organized by Brett Stalbaum and Naomi Spellman. The aim of this piece was to demonstrate use of digital mapping tools in art practice among a multi-disciplinary group of researchers. It utilized GIS, GPS, sound and a laptop to create an onsite spatialized sonification of one of Los Angeles� main water sources, referencing the actual location of wells in Owens Valley. The Carrizo Parkfield Diaries project by Christina McPhee, Jeremy Hight, and Sindee Nakatani. Carrizo-Parkfield Diaries: an exploration of seismic memory uses live microseismic data in hourly compilations from a central California site to trigger human memories in fragments. Carrizo-Parkfield Diaries featured at the Whitney Artport Right as Rain, A Weather Dependant Love Sonnet [knowlton + spellman + hight 2101] A weather driven narrative, where the user chooses from a list of different cities to update the story details according to the current weather in that city. Time Forms Festival at the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts, University of California San Diego |
Most of this website is out of date. Please visit http://jeffknowlton.info for more up to date information on press, research and locative media projects.
Tum Tum, a Site Specific Narrative [davis, tanner, ahnemann, turajski 2103] Student locative media project, Evergreen State College [instrtuctors: spellman, knowlton] |
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS presentation and demonstration of work in progress. Dorkbot Socal at Machine Project Los Angeles, California [spellman, stow 4/2106] paper presentation: the performative and the political in the context of locative media Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois [spellman 3/2106] IM Forum Speaker at University of Southern California, Interactive Media Division [spellman 4/05] featured presentation: floating point speaker series, emerson college, boston, ma [knowlton, spellman 3/05] presentation: PLAN Pervasive and Locative Arts Network initial workshop, I.C.A., London, UK [2/05 spellman] featured speaker LA Forum for Architecture and Urban DesignNew Spaces, New Cartographers [hight, knowlton, spellman 11/04] featured speaker: YLEM Forum: Location! Location! Location! 3 Projects in Locative Media by California Artists, Exploratorium, San Francisco [mcphee, warwick, stalbaum, poole, hight, knowlton, spellman 11/04] host:Empyre discussion forum, based in Australia. [hight, knowlton, spellman 9/04] host: New Media Curating list discussion on Locative Media [spellman 4/04] speaker: Joint Ventures Conference, addressing the stewardship of america's national parks: Enriching the Visitors Experience through Traditional Arts and Storytelling, Los Angeles [spellman 11/03] presentation: A Sense of Place: Representation and Inherent Images, Society of Photographic Educators West Region Conference Oakland, California [spellman 11/02] WRITING
Report on PLAN, the Pervasive Locative Arts Network at netartreview.net [spellman 3/05] essay: Narrative Archaeology [hight 2103] |
Marketplace's Matthew Algeo interviews Jeff Knowlton and others in this report on the possible disabling of the GPS in the event of a national emergency, and the effect on the U.S. — and global — economy. Article: Virtual Real Space Museums: Innovation in Cultural Interpretation (724k pdf file) Christopher Dore, American Cultural Resources Association Newsletter, 2/2104 Article: Walking in LA, Los Angeles Business Journal, 7/14/03 Article: Sonic Archaeology at 34N118W GPS User Magazine, 6/03 Interview: on Smart City radio talk show with Carol Coletta 4/13/03 Article: Only in L.A. Christian Science Monitor, 4/4/03 Gloria Goodale Article: A Reason to Walk in LA Wired magazine, 4/03 Alison Willmore Article: The Artists of Communication, Wireless Review, 2/03 Article: Tomorrow's Historic Walking Tour The Los Angeles Times Magazine, 12/15/02. Andrew Vontz Article: The Many Uses of GPS washingtonpost.com. Cindy L. Webb Article: 34 NORTH 118 WEST RAI, Radio al' Italia, Andrea Borgnino Article on Boing Boing: A DIRECTORY OF WONDERFUL THINGS Article: at Neural an Italian online news source for new media art, electronic music and hacktivism Article: in Smart Mobs Mention:Cyberspace, Cybertexts, Cybermaps by Marie-Laure Ryan Mention:Teaching in the Wireless Cloud The Feature, 4/7/03. Bryan Alexander |


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Recently, I got this wonderful note from Rati Kaka. As an observer of leadership, I was amazed to see the lasting impact Nelson Mandela's transforming leadership skills. I decided to share this with one and all.
Mandela: His 8 Lessons of Leadership
By Richard Stengel
Nelson Mandela has always felt most at ease around children, and in some ways his greatest deprivation was that he spent 27 years without hearing a baby cry or holding a child's hand. Last month, when I visited Mandela in Johannesburg — a frailer, foggier Mandela than the one I used to know — his first instinct was to spread his arms to my two boys. Within seconds they were hugging the friendly old man who asked them what sports they liked to play and what they'd had for breakfast. While we talked, he held my son Gabriel, whose complicated middle name is Rolihlahla, Nelson Mandela's real first name. He told Gabriel the story of that name, how in Xhosa it translates as "pulling down the branch of a tree" but that its real meaning is "troublemaker."
As he celebrates his 90th birthday next week, Nelson Mandela has made enough trouble for several lifetimes. He liberated a country from a system of violent prejudice and helped unite white and black, oppressor and oppressed, in a way that had never been done before. In the 1990s I worked with Mandela for almost two years on his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. After all that time spent in his company, I felt a terrible sense of withdrawal when the book was done; it was like the sun going out of one's life. We have seen each other occasionally over the years, but I wanted to make what might be a final visit and have my sons meet him one more time.
I also wanted to talk to him about leadership. Mandela is the closest thing the world has to a secular saint, but he would be the first to admit that he is something far more pedestrian: a politician. He overthrew apartheid and created a nonracial democratic South Africa by knowing precisely when and how to transition between his roles as warrior, martyr, diplomat and statesman. Uncomfortable with abstract philosophical concepts, he would often say to me that an issue "was not a question of principle; it was a question of tactics." He is a master tactician.
Mandela is no longer comfortable with inquiries or favors. He's fearful that he may not be able to summon what people expect when they visit a living deity, and vain enough to care that they not think him diminished. But the world has never needed Mandela's gifts — as a tactician, as an activist and, yes, as a politician — more, as he showed again in London on June 25, when he rose to condemn the savagery of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe. As we enter the main stretch of a historic presidential campaign in America, there is much that he can teach the two candidates. I've always thought of what you are about to read as Madiba's Rules (Madiba, his clan name, is what everyone close to him calls him), and they are cobbled together from our conversations old and new and from observing him up close and from afar. They are mostly practical. Many of them stem directly from his personal experience. All of them are calibrated to cause the best kind of trouble: the trouble that forces us to ask how we can make the world a better place.
No. 1 : Courage is not the absence of fear — it's inspiring others to move beyond it
In 1994, during the presidential-election campaign, Mandela got on a tiny propeller plane to fly down to the killing fields of Natal and give a speech to his Zulu supporters. I agreed to meet him at the airport, where we would continue our work after his speech. When the plane was 20 minutes from landing, one of its engines failed. Some on the plane began to panic. The only thing that calmed them was looking at Mandela, who quietly read his newspaper as if he were a commuter on his morning train to the office. The airport prepared for an emergency landing, and the pilot managed to land the plane safely. When Mandela and I got in the backseat of his bulletproof BMW that would take us to the rally, he turned to me and said, "Man, I was terrified up there!"
Mandela was often afraid during his time underground, during the Rivonia trial that led to his imprisonment, during his time on Robben Island. "Of course I was afraid!" he would tell me later. It would have been irrational, he suggested, not to be. "I can't pretend that I'm brave and that I can beat the whole world." But as a leader, you cannot let people know. "You must put up a front."
And that's precisely what he learned to do: pretend and, through the act of appearing fearless, inspire others. It was a pantomime Mandela perfected on Robben Island, where there was much to fear. Prisoners who were with him said watching Mandela walk across the courtyard, upright and proud, was enough to keep them going for days. He knew that he was a model for others, and that gave him the strength to triumph over his own fear.
No. 2 : Lead from the front — but don't leave your base behind
Mandela is cagey. in 1985 he was operated on for an enlarged prostate. When he was returned to prison, he was separated from his colleagues and friends for the first time in 21 years. They protested. But as his longtime friend Ahmed Kathrada recalls, he said to them, "Wait a minute, chaps. Some good may come of this."
The good that came of it was that Mandela on his own launched negotiations with the apartheid government. This was anathema to the African National Congress (ANC). After decades of saying "prisoners cannot negotiate" and after advocating an armed struggle that would bring the government to its knees, he decided that the time was right to begin to talk to his oppressors.
When he initiated his negotiations with the government in 1985, there were many who thought he had lost it. "We thought he was selling out," says Cyril Ramaphosa, then the powerful and fiery leader of the National Union of Mineworkers. "I went to see him to tell him, What are you doing? It was an unbelievable initiative. He took a massive risk."
Mandela launched a campaign to persuade the ANC that his was the correct course. His reputation was on the line. He went to each of his comrades in prison, Kathrada remembers, and explained what he was doing. Slowly and deliberately, he brought them along. "You take your support base along with you," says Ramaphosa, who was secretary-general of the ANC and is now a business mogul. "Once you arrive at the beachhead, then you allow the people to move on. He's not a bubble-gum leader — chew it now and throw it away."
For Mandela, refusing to negotiate was about tactics, not principles. Throughout his life, he has always made that distinction. His unwavering principle — the overthrow of apartheid and the achievement of one man, one vote — was immutable, but almost anything that helped him get to that goal he regarded as a tactic. He is the most pragmatic of idealists.
"He's a historical man," says Ramaphosa. "He was thinking way ahead of us. He has posterity in mind: How will they view what we've done?" Prison gave him the ability to take the long view. It had to; there was no other view possible. He was thinking in terms of not days and weeks but decades. He knew history was on his side, that the result was inevitable; it was just a question of how soon and how it would be achieved. "Things will be better in the long run," he sometimes said. He always played for the long run.
No. 3 : Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front
Mandela loved to reminisce about his boyhood and his lazy afternoons herding cattle. "You know," he would say, "you can only lead them from behind." He would then raise his eyebrows to make sure I got the analogy.
As a boy, Mandela was greatly influenced by Jongintaba, the tribal king who raised him. When Jongintaba had meetings of his court, the men gathered in a circle, and only after all had spoken did the king begin to speak. The chief's job, Mandela said, was not to tell people what to do but to form a consensus. "Don't enter the debate too early," he used to say.
During the time I worked with Mandela, he often called meetings of his kitchen cabinet at his home in Houghton, a lovely old suburb of Johannesburg. He would gather half a dozen men, Ramaphosa, Thabo Mbeki (who is now the South African President) and others around the dining-room table or sometimes in a circle in his driveway. Some of his colleagues would shout at him — to move faster, to be more radical — and Mandela would simply listen. When he finally did speak at those meetings, he slowly and methodically summarized everyone's points of view and then unfurled his own thoughts, subtly steering the decision in the direction he wanted without imposing it. The trick of leadership is allowing yourself to be led too. "It is wise," he said, "to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea."
No. 4 : Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport
As far back as the 1960s, Mandela began studying Afrikaans, the language of the white South Africans who created apartheid. His comrades in the ANC teased him about it, but he wanted to understand the Afrikaner's worldview; he knew that one day he would be fighting them or negotiating with them, and either way, his destiny was tied to theirs.
This was strategic in two senses: by speaking his opponents' language, he might understand their strengths and weaknesses and formulate tactics accordingly. But he would also be ingratiating himself with his enemy. Everyone from ordinary jailers to P.W. Botha was impressed by Mandela's willingness to speak Afrikaans and his knowledge of Afrikaner history. He even brushed up on his knowledge of rugby, the Afrikaners' beloved sport, so he would be able to compare notes on teams and players.
Mandela understood that blacks and Afrikaners had something fundamental in common: Afrikaners believed themselves to be Africans as deeply as blacks did. He knew, too, that Afrikaners had been the victims of prejudice themselves: the British government and the white English settlers looked down on them. Afrikaners suffered from a cultural inferiority complex almost as much as blacks did.
Mandela was a lawyer, and in prison he helped the warders with their legal problems. They were far less educated and worldly than he, and it was extraordinary to them that a black man was willing and able to help them. These were "the most ruthless and brutal of the apartheid regime's characters," says Allister Sparks, the great South African historian, and he "realized that even the worst and crudest could be negotiated with."
No. 5 : Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer
Many of the guests Mandela invited to the house he built in Qunu were people whom, he intimated to me, he did not wholly trust. He had them to dinner; he called to consult with them; he flattered them and gave them gifts. Mandela is a man of invincible charm — and he has often used that charm to even greater effect on his rivals than on his allies.
On Robben Island, Mandela would always include in his brain trust men he neither liked nor relied on. One person he became close to was Chris Hani, the fiery chief of staff of the ANC's military wing. There were some who thought Hani was conspiring against Mandela, but Mandela cozied up to him. "It wasn't just Hani," says Ramaphosa. "It was also the big industrialists, the mining families, the opposition. He would pick up the phone and call them on their birthdays. He would go to family funerals. He saw it as an opportunity." When Mandela emerged from prison, he famously included his jailers among his friends and put leaders who had kept him in prison in his first Cabinet. Yet I well knew that he despised some of these men.
There were times he washed his hands of people — and times when, like so many people of great charm, he allowed himself to be charmed. Mandela initially developed a quick rapport with South African President F.W. de Klerk, which is why he later felt so betrayed when De Klerk attacked him in public.
Mandela believed that embracing his rivals was a way of controlling them: they were more dangerous on their own than within his circle of influence. He cherished loyalty, but he was never obsessed by it. After all, he used to say, "people act in their own interest." It was simply a fact of human nature, not a flaw or a defect. The flip side of being an optimist — and he is one — is trusting people too much. But Mandela recognized that the way to deal with those he didn't trust was to neutralize them with charm.
No. 6 : Appearances matter — and remember to smile
When Mandela was a poor law student in Johannesburg wearing his one threadbare suit, he was taken to see Walter Sisulu. Sisulu was a real estate agent and a young leader of the ANC. Mandela saw a sophisticated and successful black man whom he could emulate. Sisulu saw the future.
Sisulu once told me that his great quest in the 1950s was to turn the ANC into a mass movement; and then one day, he recalled with a smile, "a mass leader walked into my office." Mandela was tall and handsome, an amateur boxer who carried himself with the regal air of a chief's son. And he had a smile that was like the sun coming out on a cloudy day.
We sometimes forget the historical correlation between leadership and physicality. George Washington was the tallest and probably the strongest man in every room he entered. Size and strength have more to do with DNA than with leadership manuals, but Mandela understood how his appearance could advance his cause. As leader of the ANC's underground military wing, he insisted that he be photographed in the proper fatigues and with a beard, and throughout his career he has been concerned about dressing appropriately for his position. George Bizos, his lawyer, remembers that he first met Mandela at an Indian tailor's shop in the 1950s and that Mandela was the first black South African he had ever seen being fitted for a suit. Now Mandela's uniform is a series of exuberant-print shirts that declare him the joyous grandfather of modern Africa.
When Mandela was running for the presidency in 1994, he knew that symbols mattered as much as substance. He was never a great public speaker, and people often tuned out what he was saying after the first few minutes. But it was the iconography that people understood. When he was on a platform, he would always do the toyi-toyi, the township dance that was an emblem of the struggle. But more important was that dazzling, beatific, all-inclusive smile. For white South Africans, the smile symbolized Mandela's lack of bitterness and suggested that he was sympathetic to them. To black voters, it said, I am the happy warrior, and we will triumph. The ubiquitous ANC election poster was simply his smiling face. "The smile," says Ramaphosa, "was the message."
After he emerged from prison, people would say, over and over, It is amazing that he is not bitter. There are a thousand things Nelson Mandela was bitter about, but he knew that more than anything else, he had to project the exact opposite emotion. He always said, "Forget the past" — but I knew he never did.
No. 7 : Nothing is black or white
When we began our series of interviews, I would often ask Mandela questions like this one: When you decided to suspend the armed struggle, was it because you realized you did not have the strength to overthrow the government or because you knew you could win over international opinion by choosing nonviolence? He would then give me a curious glance and say, "Why not both?"
I did start asking smarter questions, but the message was clear: Life is never either/or. Decisions are complex, and there are always competing factors. To look for simple explanations is the bias of the human brain, but it doesn't correspond to reality. Nothing is ever as straightforward as it appears.
Mandela is comfortable with contradiction. As a politician, he was a pragmatist who saw the world as infinitely nuanced. Much of this, I believe, came from living as a black man under an apartheid system that offered a daily regimen of excruciating and debilitating moral choices: Do I defer to the white boss to get the job I want and avoid a punishment? Do I carry my pass?
As a statesman, Mandela was uncommonly loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and Fidel Castro. They had helped the ANC when the U.S. still branded Mandela as a terrorist. When I asked him about Gaddafi and Castro, he suggested that Americans tend to see things in black and white, and he would upbraid me for my lack of nuance. Every problem has many causes. While he was indisputably and clearly against apartheid, the causes of apartheid were complex. They were historical, sociological and psychological. Mandela's calculus was always, What is the end that I seek, and what is the most practical way to get there?
No. 8 : Quitting is leading too
In 1993, Mandela asked me if I knew of any countries where the minimum voting age was under 18. I did some research and presented him with a rather undistinguished list: Indonesia, Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea and Iran. He nodded and uttered his highest praise: "Very good, very good." Two weeks later, Mandela went on South African television and proposed that the voting age be lowered to 14. "He tried to sell us the idea," recalls Ramaphosa, "but he was the only [supporter]. And he had to face the reality that it would not win the day. He accepted it with great humility. He doesn't sulk. That was also a lesson in leadership."
Knowing how to abandon a failed idea, task or relationship is often the most difficult kind of decision a leader has to make. In many ways, Mandela's greatest legacy as President of South Africa is the way he chose to leave it. When he was elected in 1994, Mandela probably could have pressed to be President for life — and there were many who felt that in return for his years in prison, that was the least South Africa could do.
In the history of Africa, there have been only a handful of democratically elected leaders who willingly stood down from office. Mandela was determined to set a precedent for all who followed him — not only in South Africa but across the rest of the continent. He would be the anti-Mugabe, the man who gave birth to his country and refused to hold it hostage. "His job was to set the course," says Ramaphosa, "not to steer the ship." He knows that leaders lead as much by what they choose not to do as what they do.
Ultimately, the key to understanding Mandela is those 27 years in prison. The man who walked onto Robben Island in 1964 was emotional, headstrong, easily stung. The man who emerged was balanced and disciplined. He is not and never has been introspective. I often asked him how the man who emerged from prison differed from the willful young man who had entered it. He hated this question. Finally, in exasperation one day, he said, "I came out mature." There is nothing so rare — or so valuable — as a mature man. Happy birthday, Madiba.


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Mission Statement
The Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society, Inc. is the duly accredited women's philanthropic society of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. The mission of the Society shall be:
- To help the poor, the destitute, the hungry, the aged, the sick, the unemployed, the orphaned, the imprisoned, the widowed, the handicapped, the victims of disasters, to undertake the burial of impoverished persons and to offer assistance to anyone who may need the help of the Church through fund raising efforts;
- To promote the charitable, benevolent, and philanthropic purposes of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, through instructional programs, presentations, lectures, seminars and other educational resources;
- To preserve and perpetuate Orthodox Christian concepts and the Orthodox Christian Family, and through them, to promote the Greek Orthodox Faith and traditions, in accordance with its doctrines, canons, discipline, divine worship, usages and customs;
- To promote participation in the activities of the Greek Orthodox community, with the cooperation of the Parish Priest and the Parish Council.
The charitable work of the Society shall be performed with discretion, courtesy and kindness


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Welcome to the homepage of CIE Division 1, one of the six Technical Divisions of the International Commission on Illumination (CIE).
Anybody interested to contribute to and participate in the technical work of the Division, which is carried out through its Technical Committees, is welcome to contact either the Division Secretary, the Technical Committee chairperson or your country's National Committee of CIE for further information. Attendance at Division meetings is also open to anybody interested in this field.
Terms of Reference
To study visual responses to light and to establish standards of response functions, models and procedures of specification relevant to photometry, colorimetry, colour rendering, visual performance and visual assessment of light and lighting.
For questions and comments please contact the Division Secretary via CIE Central Bureau:


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About The Book
Prayer Practice is great for motivating your children to perform the five daily prayers. Each set contains eight colourful charts and accompanying stickers as well as a children's Qibla direction arrow all bound together in a flip chart. The charts can also be used to focus on particular aspects of the prayer.
Weekly focuses may include topics such as concentration in prayer, praying on time and performing actions correctly amongst others. It's the perfect resource to accompany children in their introduction to the prayers. Each set comes with shiny gloss page finishes and a calendar style binding for easy hanging on walls.


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Another box that got unpacked was all the "doodads" from kitchens-past. I love advertising things...tins, signs, crocks with words. And old utensils that I can't imagine HOW they ever used them.
You will find lots of this kind of memorabilia in my kitchen.
The red paint really warmed up the room and I love how it looks! The countertop is next...it's gotta go..it's a 1980s gray formica. Not sure WHAT I'll do, I can't afford granite, but I've seen some LOVELY kitchens with it in my travels.
That's the neat thing about staying with guild members when I travel. I get to see their homes and how they display things. One Holiday Inn to the other...all the same...but staying with quilters is SO FUN!
I love this little Radio/Ipod dock that I just found at Target! It looks vintage of a sort, but it has great sound, and I can just push the ON button to hear my music when I am in the kitchen without having to go to the living room stereo. It sits on top of an old antique ice box, carved in the Eastlake style. Another thing I can't believe women had to deal with...MELTING ICE to keep food fresh? Amazing.
At some point I'd like to redo the floor too, and carry the wood floor in from the laundry hall through the kitchen and through the dining room, which at this point is some kind of outdated parquet.
At some point...these light fixtures need to go, too. The stained glass one gives LOTS of nice light, but it is really dated..it shouts out 1990 at you. And the hanging thing? Just don't go there. It just has to go. I don't want a hanging thing, just a nice ceiling fixture for extra light. I don't know how anyone ever fit a kitchen table in this kitchen, it's just too small, so why have a hanging lamp there? The world may never know.
But then again, we will never know WHY the light switch inside the front hall closet turns on and off the master bathroom lights either! It reminds me of that commercial where the guy is going "on, off, on, off" With the switch,and the old lady next door has the garage door opening and closing on her car..*LOL*
We also found, when we lost power to the garage and the sunroom, that it was because the outlet in the master bathroom (on the opposite side of the house) had tripped. You have to push the red button to reset everything. We tried everything..the fuse box, etc...nothing looked tripped! But then..we found that red button in the outlet. Duh. Who would think that a bathroom reset button would effect the GARAGE on the opposite side of the house?
As Artie Johnson said on "Laugh In": "Inellesting. Velly Velly Intellesting....BUT SCHTOOOPID!!" :cD
Oh, and don't you love this sign? I found it in PA....*hehehe* It's hanging above the door from the kitchen to the dining room ;c)


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Researchers are studying a period of climate change. They've gone back into the past to find out how much an earlier period of change affected the species on this planet. It's known that this earlier era led to mass extinctions in places like Europe, but the results in other parts of the world have been less understood until now.
ERIK SEIFFERT: There's always been a question of what happened in Africa in the transition from the Eocene to the Oligocene around 34 million years ago.
That's professor Erik Seiffert of the University of Southern California. He and a number of other researchers shared their findings this month, but Africa and the Arabian Peninsula did not avoid climate change. In fact, those regions lost an estimated 63% of mammal species due to a cooling climate.
INSKEEP: Seiffert says the fossil record from Africa during this period is sparse, which makes this sort of research hard. So his team tried a new approach.
SEIFFERT: We only looked at five different groups - two groups of primates, two groups of rodents and a group known as hyena dogs.
INSKEEP: And within that limited number of species, they put together family trees for how groups of mammals evolved through time.
SEIFFERT: Instead of them being, you know, you and your parents and your grandparents, they are species going back millions and millions of years.
INSKEEP: Take that, ancestry.com.
DETROW: So the team used that approach to try to figure out just how many other species in the region went through the same catastrophic events.
DORIEN DE VRIES: That extinction event is a reset button.
DETROW: Dorien de Vries is a paleontologist and co-author of the report.
DE VRIES: A lot of these families that we saw before go extinct, small subsample survives, and that's the start of the anthropoid family or the hominids, the apes, as we see it today.
INSKEEP: Bottom line here - Seiffert says humans dodged a bullet.
SEIFFERT: At that time, it appears that several other primate lineages were going extinct, so we were - yeah, we were one of the only lineages that made it through.
INSKEEP: Hopefully, we'll make it through next time.
(SOUNDBITE OF OKAMI (O)'S "TRIBAL") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.