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Name: Leonard Cohen
Followers: 3,359,919
Monthly Listeners: 3,257,099
Top Cities:
One of the most fascinating and enigmatic -- if not the most successful -- singer/songwriters of the late '60s, Leonard Cohen retained an audience across six decades of music-making, interrupted by various digressions into personal and creative exploration, all of which have only added to the mystique surrounding him. Second only to Bob Dylan (and perhaps Paul Simon), he commanded the attention of critics and younger musicians more firmly than any other musical figure from the '60s who continued to work in the 21st century, which is all the more remarkable an achievement for someone who didn't even aspire to a musical career until he was in his thirties.
Cohen was born in 1934, a year before Elvis Presley, and his background -- personal, social, and intellectual -- couldn't have been more different from those of the rock or folk stars of any generation. Though he knew some country music and played it a bit as a boy, he didn't start performing on even a semi-regular basis, much less recording, until after he had already written several books -- and as an established novelist and poet, his literary accomplishments far exceeded those of Bob Dylan or most anyone else who one cares to mention in music.
He was born Leonard Norman Cohen into a middle-class Jewish family in the Montreal suburb of Westmount. His father, a clothing merchant (who also held a degree in engineering), died in 1943, when Cohen was nine years old. It was his mother who encouraged Cohen as a writer, especially of poetry, during his childhood. This fit in with the progressive intellectual environment in which he was raised, which allowed him free inquiry into a vast range of pursuits. His relationship to music was more tentative. He took up the guitar at age 13, initially as a way to impress a girl, but was good enough to play country & western songs at local cafes, and he subsequently formed a group called the Buckskin Boys. At 17, he enrolled in McGill University as an English major. By this time, he was writing poetry in earnest and became part of the university's tiny underground "bohemian" community. Cohen only earned average grades, but was good enough as a writer to earn the McNaughton Prize in creative writing by the time he graduated in 1955. A year later, the ink barely dry on his degree, he published his first book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies (1956), which got great reviews but didn't sell especially well.
He was already beyond the age that rock & roll was aimed at. Bob Dylan, by contrast, was still Robert Zimmerman, still in his teens, and young enough to become a devotee of Buddy Holly when the latter emerged. In 1961, Cohen published his second book of poetry, The Spice Box of Earth, which became an international success critically and commercially, and established Cohen as a major new literary figure. Meanwhile, he tried to join the family business and spent some time at Columbia University in New York, writing all the time. Between the modest royalties from sales of his second book, literary grants from the Canadian government, and a family legacy, he was able to live comfortably and travel around the world, partaking of much of what it had to offer -- including some use of LSD when it was still legal -- and ultimately settling for an extended period in Greece, on the isle of Hydra in the Aegean Sea. He continued to publish, issuing a pair of novels, The Favorite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966), with a pair of poetry collections, Flowers for Hitler (1964) and Parasites of Heaven (1966). The Favorite Game was a very personal work about his early life in Montreal, but it was Beautiful Losers that proved another breakthrough, earning the kind of reviews that authors dare not even hope for. (Cohen found himself compared to James Joyce in the pages of The Boston Globe, and across the years, the book has enjoyed sales totaling well into six figures.)
It was around this time that he also started writing music again, songs being a natural extension of his poetry. His relative isolation on Hydra, coupled with his highly mobile lifestyle when he left the island, his own natural iconoclastic nature, and the fact that he'd avoided being overwhelmed (or even touched too seriously) by the currents running through popular music since the '40s, combined to give Cohen a unique voice as a composer. Though he did settle in Nashville for a short time in the mid-'60s, he didn't write quite like anyone else in the country music mecca or anywhere else. This might have been an impediment, but for the intervention of Judy Collins, a folksinger who had just moved to the front rank of that field. Collins had a voice just special enough to move her beyond the relatively emaciated ranks of remaining popular folk performers after Dylan shifted to electric music; she was still getting heard, and not just by the purists left behind in Dylan's wake. She added Cohen's "Suzanne" to her repertoire and put it on her album In My Life, a record that was controversial enough in folk circles (because of her cover of the Beatles song that gave the LP its title) to pull in a lot of listeners and get a wide airing. The LP's "Suzanne" received a considerable amount of radio airplay, and Cohen was also represented on the album by "Dress Rehearsal Rag."
It was Collins who persuaded Cohen to return to performing for the first time since his teens. He made his debut during the summer of 1967 at the Newport Folk Festival, followed by a pair of sold-out concerts in New York City and an appearance singing his songs and reciting his poems on the CBS network television show Camera Three, in a show entitled "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen." It was around the same time that actor/singer Noel Harrison brought "Suzanne" onto the pop charts with a recording of his own. One of those who saw Cohen perform at Newport was John Hammond, Sr., the legendary producer whose career went back to the '30s and the likes of Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, and Count Basie, and extended up through Bob Dylan and, ultimately, to Bruce Springsteen. Hammond got Cohen signed to Columbia Records and he created The Songs of Leonard Cohen, which was released just before Christmas of 1967. Producer John Simon was able to find a restrained yet appealing approach to recording Cohen's voice, which might have been described as an appealingly sensitive near-monotone; yet that voice was perfectly suited to the material at hand, all of which, written in a very personal language, seemed drenched in downbeat images and a spirit of discovery as a path to unsettling revelation.
Despite its spare production and melancholy subject matter -- or, very possibly because of it -- the album was an immediate hit by the standards of the folk music world and the budding singer/songwriter community. In an era in which millions of listeners hung on the next albums of Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel -- whose own latest album had ended with a minor-key rendition of "Silent Night" set against a radio news account of the death of Lenny Bruce -- Cohen's music quickly found a small but dedicated following. College students by the thousands bought it; in its second year of release, the record sold over 100,000 copies. The Songs of Leonard Cohen was as close as Cohen ever got to mass audience success.
Amid all of this sudden musical activity, he hardly neglected his other writing -- in 1968, he released a new volume, Selected Poems: 1956-1968, which included both old and newly published work, and earned him the Governor General's Award, Canada's highest literary honor, which he proceeded to decline. By this time, he was actually almost more a part of the rock scene, residing for a time in New York's Chelsea Hotel, where his neighbors included Janis Joplin and other performing luminaries, some of whom influenced his songs very directly.
His next album, Songs from a Room (1969), was characterized by an even greater spirit of melancholy -- even the relatively spirited "A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes" was steeped in such depressing sensibilities, and the one song not written by Cohen, "The Partisan," was a grim narrative about the reasons for and consequences of resistance to tyranny that included lines like "She died without a whisper" and included images of wind blowing past graves. Joan Baez subsequently recorded the song, and in her hands it was a bit more upbeat and inspiring to the listener; Cohen's rendition made it much more difficult to get past the costs presented by the singer's persona. On the other hand, "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy," although as downbeat as anything else here, did present Cohen in his most expressive and commercial voice, a nasal but affecting and finely nuanced performance.
In all, however, Songs from a Room was less well-received commercially and critically. Bob Johnston's restrained, almost minimalist production made it less overtly appealing than the subtly commercial trappings of his debut, though the album did have a pair of tracks, "Bird on the Wire" and "The Story of Isaac," that became standards rivaling "Suzanne." "The Story of Isaac," a musical parable woven around biblical imagery about Vietnam, was one of the most savage and piercing songs to come out of the antiwar movement, and showed a level of sophistication in its music and lyrics that put it in a whole separate realm of composition; it received an even better airing on the Live Songs album, in a performance recorded in Berlin during 1972.
Cohen may not have been a widely popular performer or recording artist, but his unique voice and sound, and the power of his writing and its influence, helped him gain entry to the front rank of rock performers, an odd status for the then 35-year-old author/composer. He appeared at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival in England, a post-Woodstock gathering of stars and superstars, including late appearances by such soon-to-die-or-disband legends as Jimi Hendrix and the Doors. Looking nearly as awkward as his fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell, Cohen strummed his acoustic guitar backed by a pair of female singers in front of an audience of 600,000 ("It's a large nation, but still weak"), comprising equal portions of fans, freaks, and belligerent gatecrashers, but the mere fact that he was there -- sandwiched somewhere between Miles Davis and Emerson, Lake & Palmer -- was a clear statement of the status (if not the popular success) he'd achieved. (Cohen's performance of "Suzanne" was one of the highlights of Murray Lerner's long-delayed 1996 documentary Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Festival, and his full set was reissued in 2009, both on audio and video formats.)
Already, he had carved out a unique place for himself in music, as much author as performer and recording artist, letting his songs develop and evolve across years -- his distinctly non-commercial voice became part of his appeal to the audience he found, giving him a unique corner of the music audience comprising listeners descended from the same people who had embraced Bob Dylan's early work before he'd become a mass-media phenomenon in 1964. In a sense, Cohen embodied a phenomenon vaguely similar to what Dylan enjoyed before his early-'70s tour with the Band -- people bought his albums by the tens and, occasionally, hundreds of thousands, but seemed to hear him in uniquely personal terms. He earned his audience seemingly one listener at a time, by word of mouth more than by the radio, which, in any case (especially on the AM dial), was mostly friendly to covers of Cohen's songs by other artists.
Cohen's third album, Songs of Love and Hate (1971), was one of his most powerful works, brimming with piercing lyrics and music as poignantly affecting as it was minimalist in its approach -- arranger Paul Buckmaster's work on strings was peculiarly muted, and the children's chorus that showed up on "Last Year's Man" was spare in its presence. Balancing them was Cohen's most effective vocalizing to date, brilliantly expressive around such acclaimed songs as "Joan of Arc," "Dress Rehearsal Rag" (which had been recorded by Judy Collins five years before), and "Famous Blue Raincoat." The bleakness of the tone and subject matter ensured that he would never become a "pop" performer; even the beat-driven "Diamonds in the Mine" -- catchy children's chorus accompaniment and all, with a twangy electric guitar accompaniment to boot -- was as dark and venomous a song as Columbia Records put out in 1971. And the most compelling moments -- among an embarrassment of riches -- came on lyrics like "Now the flames they followed Joan of Arc/As she came riding through the dark/No moon to keep her armor bright/No man to get her through this night...." Songs of Love and Hate, coupled with the earlier hit versions of "Suzanne," etc., earned Cohen a large international cult following. He also found himself in demand in the world of commercial filmmaking, as director Robert Altman used his music in his 1971 feature film McCabe and Mrs. Miller, starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, a revisionist period film set at the turn of the 19th century that was savaged by the critics (and, by some accounts, sabotaged by its own studio) but went on to become one of the director's best-loved movies. The following year, he also published a new poetry collection, The Energy of Slaves.
As was his wont, Cohen spent years between albums, and in 1973 he seemed to take stock of himself as a performer by issuing Leonard Cohen: Live Songs. Not a conventional live album, it was a compendium of performances from various venues across several years and focused on highlights of his output from 1969 onward. It showcased his writing as much as his performing, but also gave a good account of his appeal to his most serious fans -- those still uncertain of where they stood in relation to his music who could get past the epic-length "Please Don't Pass Me By" knew for certain they were ready to "join" the inner circle of his legion of devotees after that, while others who only appreciated "Bird on the Wire" or "The Story of Isaac" could stay comfortably in an outer ring.
Meanwhile, in 1973, his music became the basis for a theatrical production called Sisters of Mercy, conceived by Gene Lesser and loosely based on Cohen's life, or at least a fantasy version of his life. A three-year lag ensued between Songs of Love and Hate and Cohen's next album, and most critics and fans just assumed he'd hit a dry spell, with the live album covering the gap. He was busy performing, however, in the United States and Europe in 1971 and 1972, and extended his appearances into Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. It was during this period that he also began working with pianist and arranger John Lissauer, whom he engaged as producer of his next album, New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974). That album seemed to justify his fans' continued faith in his work, presenting Cohen in a more lavish musical environment. He proved capable of holding his own in a pop environment, even if the songs were mostly still depressing and bleak.
The following year, Columbia Records released The Best of Leonard Cohen, featuring a dozen of his best-known songs -- principally hits in the hands of other performers -- from his previous four LPs (though it left out "Dress Rehearsal Rag"). It was also during the mid-'70s that Cohen first crossed paths professionally with Jennifer Warnes, appearing on the same bill with the singer at numerous shows, which would lead to a series of key collaborations in the ensuing decade. By this time, he was a somewhat less mysterious persona, having toured extensively and gotten considerable exposure -- among many other attributes, Cohen became known for his uncanny attractiveness to women, which seemed to go hand in glove with the romantic subjects of most of his songs.
In 1977, Cohen reappeared with the ironically titled Death of a Ladies' Man, the most controversial album of his career, produced by Phil Spector. The notion of pairing Spector -- known variously as a Svengali-like presence to his female singers and artists and the most unrepentant (and often justified) over-producer in the field of pop music -- with Cohen must have seemed like a good one to someone at some point, but apparently Cohen himself had misgivings about many of the resulting tracks that Spector never addressed, having mixed the record completely on his own. The resulting LP suffered from the worst attributes of Cohen's and Spector's work, overly dense and self-consciously imposing in its sound, and virtually bathing the listener in Cohen's depressive persona, but showing his limited vocal abilities to disadvantage, owing to Spector's use of "scratch" (i.e. guide) vocals and his unwillingness to permit the artist to redo some of his weaker moments on those takes. For the first (and only) time in Cohen's career, his near-monotone delivery of this period wasn't a positive attribute. Cohen's unhappiness with the album was widely known among fans, who mostly bought it with that caveat in mind, so it didn't harm his reputation. A year after its release, Cohen also published a new literary collection using the slightly different title Death of a Lady's Man.
Cohen's next album, Recent Songs (1979), returned him to the spare settings of his early-'70s work and showed his singing to some of its best advantage. Working with veteran producer Henry Lewy (best known for his work with Joni Mitchell), the album showed Cohen's singing as attractive and expressive in its quiet way, and songs such as "The Guests" seeming downright pretty. He still wrote about life and love, and especially relationships, in stark terms, but he seemed to be moving into a pop mode on numbers such as "Humbled in Love." Frank Sinatra never needed to look over his shoulder at Cohen (at least, as a singer), but he did seem to be trying for a slicker pop sound at moments on his record.
Then came 1984, and two key new works in Cohen's output -- the poetic/religious volume The Book of Mercy and the album Various Positions (1984). The latter, recorded with Jennifer Warnes, is arguably the most accessible album of his entire career up to that time -- Cohen's voice, now a peculiarly expressive baritone instrument, found a beautiful pairing with Warnes, and the songs were as fine as ever, steeped in spirituality and sexuality, with "Dance Me to the End of Love" a killer opener: a wry, doom-laden yet impassioned pop-style ballad that is impossible to forget. Those efforts overlapped with some ventures by the composer/singer into other creative realms, including an award-winning short film that he wrote, directed, and scored, entitled I Am a Hotel, and the score for the 1985 conceptual film Night Magic, which earned a Juno Award in Canada for Best Movie Score.
Sad to say, Various Positions went relatively unnoticed, and was followed by another extended sabbatical from recording, which ended with I'm Your Man (1988). But during his hiatus, Warnes had released her album of Cohen-authored material, entitled Famous Blue Raincoat, which had sold extremely well and introduced Cohen to a new generation of listeners. So when I'm Your Man did appear, with its electronic production (albeit still rather spare) and songs that added humor (albeit dark humor) to his mix of pessimistic and poetic conceits, the result was his best-selling record in more than a decade. The result, in 1991, was the release of I'm Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen, a CD of recordings of his songs by the likes of R.E.M., the Pixies, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, and John Cale, which put Cohen as a songwriter pushing age 60 right back on center stage for the '90s. He rose to the occasion, releasing The Future, an album that dwelt on the many threats facing mankind in the coming years and decades, a year later. Not the stuff of pop charts or MTV heavy rotation, it attracted Cohen's usual coterie of fans, and enough press interest as well as sufficient sales, to justify the release in 1994 of his second concert album, Cohen Live, derived from his two most recent tours. A year later came another tribute album, Tower of Song, featuring Cohen's songs as interpreted by Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, et al.
In the midst of all of this new activity surrounding his writing and compositions, Cohen embarked on a new phase of his life. Religious concerns were never too far from his thinking and work, even when he was making a name for himself writing songs about love, and he had focused even more on this side of life since Various Positions. He spent time at the Mt. Baldy Zen Center, a Buddhist retreat in California, and eventually became a full-time resident, and a Buddhist monk in the late '90s. When he re-emerged in 1999, Cohen had many dozens of new compositions in hand, songs and poems alike. His new collaborations were with singer/songwriter/musician Sharon Robinson, who also ended up producing the resulting album, Ten New Songs (2001) -- there also emerged during this period a release called Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979, comprised of live recordings from his tour 22 years earlier.
In 2004, the year he turned 70, Cohen released one of the most controversial albums of his career, Dear Heather. It revealed his voice anew, in this phase of his career, as a deep baritone more limited in range than on any previous recording, but it overcame this change in vocal timbre by facing it head-on, just as Cohen had done with his singing throughout his career. It also contained a number of songs for which Cohen wrote music but not lyrics, a decided change of pace for a man who'd started out as a poet. And it was as personal a record as Cohen had ever issued. His return to recording was one of the more positive aspects of Cohen's resumption of his music activities. On another note, in 2005, he filed suit against his longtime business manager and his financial advisor over the alleged theft of more than five million dollars, at least some of which took place during his years at the Buddhist retreat.
Five decades after he emerged as a public literary figure and then a performer, Cohen remained one of the most compelling and enigmatic musical figures of his era, and one of the very few of that era who commanded as much respect and attention, and probably as large an audience, in the 21st century as he did in the '60s. As much as any survivor of that decade, Cohen held onto his original audience and saw it grow across generations, in keeping with a truly timeless and ageless body of music. In 2006, his enduring influence seemed to be acknowledged in Lions Gate Films' release of Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, director Lian Lunson's concert/portrait of Cohen's work and career. A performance set, Live in London, was released in 2009. In 2010, the combined video and audio package Songs from the Road was issued, documenting his 2008 world tour (which actually lasted until late 2010), revisiting songs from each part of his career. The tour covered 84 dates and sold over 700,000 tickets worldwide.
Cohen didn't rest long, however: in early 2011 he began to craft what would become Old Ideas, his first album of new material in seven years. The sessions took place with producers Ed Sanders (renowned poet and leader of the Fugs), Patrick Leonard, Cohen's saxophonist Dino Soldo, and his partner, singer and songwriter Anjani Thomas. Old Ideas contained ten new songs dealing with spirituality, mortality, sexuality, loss, and acceptance, similar in sound and texture to Dear Heather. The tracks "Lullaby" and "Darkness" were staples of the world tour, while the cut "Show Me the Place" was pre-released in late 2011. Old Ideas was released at the end of January 2012. It was a tremendous success, debuting inside the Top Five in the U.S. and U.K., as well as reaching number one in Canada. Cohen's success in Europe was more impressive; Old Ideas reached number one in almost ten countries.
After yet another world tour that brought him universal accolades, Cohen, uncharacteristically, returned quickly to the studio with producer (and co-writer) Patrick Leonard, emerging with nine new songs, at least one of which -- "Born in Chains" -- had origins that dated back 40 years. Popular Problems was released in September of 2014 to positive reviews and chart success. (Just like its predecessor, it hit number one across Europe as well as Canada.) Cohen continued to tour internationally with impressive vigor, and in December 2014 he released Live in Dublin, his third live album since returning to the road. The album had been recorded in September 2013, during a concert at Dublin's O2 Arena, and a high-definition video release appeared in tandem with the audio edition. Yet another concert document, Can't Forget: A Souvenir of the Grand Tour, appeared in May 2015, with the album drawn from live takes as well as pre-show rehearsals at soundchecks. Cohen went right back to work on new material although he was in declining health. On September 21, 2016, his 82nd birthday, "You Want It Darker," the eerie, mortality-themed title track of a new studio album, appeared on the Internet. The full-length, produced by his son Adam, was issued on October 21. The record was his goodbye; Cohen passed away less than three weeks later, on November 7, 2016. Another album drawn from Cohen's final recording sessions, Thanks for the Dance, appeared in November 2019. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi


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Spring Onion
Photo: miansari66
A Spring Onion, also known as a scallion, is a young onion with a slender bulb. They have a stronger flavor and is commonly chopped and diced and used in salads or preparing salsa.
Other names: Onion Sticks, Salad Onion, Green Onion, Scallion
Translations: Svogūnai, Ceapă de primăvară, Proljeće Luk, Spring onion, Bosui, वसंत प्याज, Весенний Лук, Άνοιξη Κρεμμύδι, الربيع البصل, 봄 양파, Jarní cibulka, Spring sibuyas, 大葱, Ceba de primavera, Jarná cibuľka, האביב בצל, Vårlök, Спринг Лук, スプリングオニオン, Ciboule, Frühlingszwiebeln, Forårsløg, Vårløk, Cebolla de primavera, Весняний Цибуля, Kevätsipuli, Пресен лук
Physical Description
The upper green portion is hollow. It lacks a fully developed root bulb.
Colors: Green top and white bulb
Tasting Notes
Flavors: sweet
Mouthfeel: Crisp, Crunchy
Food complements: Salad, Stir-fry vegetables
Wine complements: Chablis (oaked), Graves, Gaillac, Semillon
Substitutes: Leeks, Shallots, Onion
Selecting and Buying
Seasonality: march, april, may, june
Peak: march, april
Choosing: Look for spring onions with crisp, firm, green leaves and unblemished bulbs. Avoid wilted, slimy, and discolored spring onions.
Buying: Green onions or scallions, which have a very slender shape and mild onion flavor like chives, can be found year-round at the grocery store. Spring onions, which have a slightly larger but still under-developed bulb, are more readily found at farmer's markets in the spring and early summer.
Preparation and Use
You can use your kitchen scissors or knife to cut the tops and the bulb horizontally. Both the whites and greens are edible.
Cleaning: Wash the spring onions and cut off the roots and ragged ends at the top. Remove any wilted or dry greens.
Conserving and Storing
When you buy spring onions, you can store them in the fridge but it's best to use them within 2-3 days, as they wilt quickly.


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As we wrap up Spitbucket's 3 part series on the 2017 Wine Spectator Grand Tour in Las Vegas, we come to our grand finale–my Top Ten Wines of the event. Of course this list is entirely limited and subjective. As I mentioned in the first part of this series, it is virtually impossible to try all 244 wines available in just 3 hours. While I thoroughly enjoyed the 68 wines that I did get to try, I undoubtedly missed out on several gems that may have found their way to this list.
Among the wines that I regrettably missed out on:
Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona Brunello di Montalcino Pianrosso 2010 (94 pts. Wine Searcher average price $75)
Graham's Vintage Port 2000 (98 pts. Wine Searcher average price $98)
Marques de Grinon Domino de Valdepusa Petit Verdot 2011 (93 pts. Wine Spectator list price $40)
Perrier-Jouet Belle Epoque 2007 (93 pts. Wine Searcher average price $143)
Recanti Judean Hills Wild Carignan Reserve 2014 (91 pts. Wine Searcher average price $48)
Anthonij Rupert Cabernet Franc 2009 (92 pts. Wine Searcher average price $77)
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23 2012 (93 pts. Wine Searcher average price $227)
Now as for my Top 10 list, as frequent readers know I do have a bit of bias towards Bordeaux wines. While the geek in me seeks out tasty treats from across the globe, Bordeaux will always be my most enduring love in the world of wine. So it should not be a surprised that Bordeaux wines account for almost a third of this list with many of the other wines capturing my attention for their "Bordeaux-like" elegance and qualities. Again, this list is completely subjective.
My Top 10 wines of the night:
Adobe Road 2013 Beckstoffer Vineyard Georges III A1-Block Cabernet Sauvignon (94 points. Wine Spectator list price $175)
Still the undoubted wine of the event. Even glancing over my list of missed opportunities, I don't think any of them would have knocked this 228 case limited release from Adobe Road off the pedestal.
As I described in part 2, this wine was classic Napa but what set it far above its peers that I tasted was the fresh, lively acidity that gave sparks to tongue while the velvety soft and rich fruit was wrapping it up in a kiss. When you are "power-tasting" through a lot of great wine, you find that they start to meld together, making it hard to stand out. Especially in Napa where the check-list seems to be [x] Ripe dark fruit [x] Full-bodied [x] Soft but noticeable tannins and [x] Noticeable oak. It's easy to check all those boxes and make a wine that will give immense pleasure when being enjoyed by itself.
But for a wine to stand out when it is being tasted along such illustrious wines as the 2009 Caymus Special Selection, 2012 Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow, 2013 Alpha Omega Era, 2013 Beringer Private Reserve, 2012 Chimney Rock Elevage, 2013 Vine Cliff 16 Rows Oakville, 2005 Heitz Martha's Vineyard and 2013 Trinchero Mario's Vineyard, it is going to be that freshness that hits you like a finger snap in front of your face, commanding your attention. None of the aforementioned wines were bad and, indeed, two of those wines also ended up making my Top 10 list. The 2013 Adobe Road Beckstoffer Vineyard Georges III A1-Block Cabernet Sauvignon was just better.
Altesino 2011 Brunello di Montalcino Montosoli (93 points. Wine Spectator list price $110)
Outside of Burgundy and the Mosel, we usually don't talk about individual vineyards in Europe the same way we do with American wines. There are certainly legendary vineyards in Europe, and single bottlings from those vineyards, but the names don't easily roll off our tongues quite like To Kalon, Ciel du Cheval, Shea, Monte Bello, Red Willow, Sangiacomo, etc. However, you can make a fair argument (as James Suckling does here [subscription]) that the Montosoli vineyard owned by Altesino is one of the top vineyards in all of Montalcino. In fact, it was the very first vineyard to be bottled as a single cru of Brunello di Montalcino.
Despite being a very young Brunello (even for a warm vintage), this wine lived up to its lofty pedigree with an intoxicating bouquet of tobacco spice, orange peel, black cherry and savory leather. It had me picturing myself drinking an old-fashioned at a Victorian Explorer's Club gathering. The palate brought more richness to the cherry notes with enough acidity to keep it juicy without being "bitey". The tannins are still quite firm, again confessing its youth, but a silkiness emerges as you roll the wine around your tongue that holds much promise.
Emilio Moro 2011 Malleolus de Valderramiro Ribera del Duero (90 points. Wine Searcher Average price $85)
I am still a bit dumbfounded how this wine only got a mere 90 points from Wine Spectator. (As I was with several wines like this that I reviewed in the first part of the series.) While I can appreciate the palates and scores of critics like Thomas Matthews, its always important to formulate our own opinions on wine. While I try to avoid using the 100 point scale myself, with pegging wines down to just a number, I will say that this delicious wine from Emilio Moro far surpassed many 93-94 rated wines.
Heitz 2005 Martha's Vineyard Napa Cabernet Sauvignon (93 points. Wine Searcher average price $181)
Like the Adobe Road Beckstoffer Georges III, Martha's Vineyard located in Oakville is a legendary site for Cabernet Sauvignon. My adoration of this wine will again reveal my "Bordeaux-bias" a it had, by far, the most Bordeaux-like nose of all the Napa Cabs. Lots of savory herbal elements of what I like to call the "Chicken herbs" used for roasting–sage, thyme and particularly rosemary. The classic Martha's Vineyard eucalyptus was also there but I was surprised with how much St.-Julien like cedar box and tobacco spice was also present.
The mouthfeel though was tried and true Napa with rich, almost Port-like dark fruit and Belgium dark chocolate undertones. The medium-plus acidity added enough freshness to balance the weight. The tannins were mostly velvety but they had a firm grip along the edge which hinted at how much more time this already 12-year old wine could go. While some of the eucalyptus and tobacco spice carried through to the palate, most of the savory Bordeaux-like notes on the nose were gone. In many ways it felt like I was drinking two different wines and that kept my interest.
Ramos Pinto 30 year Tawny Port (95 points. Wine Searcher average price $85)
You can find my full review here. Again, simply a fabulous Port that is among the best I've ever had. If you can find it, its definitely worth grabbing and if you find it priced under a $100, grab two.
Ch. Pichon Longueville Lalande 2011 Pauillac (91 points. Wine Searcher average price $116)
You can't sugar-coat over how rough of a vintage that 2011 was. Spring was too hot and fraught with drought while summer was too cold with rains happening at the most inopportune times (if they happened at at all). Still, the blessings of modern viticulture and winemaking knowledge means that even in the roughest of vintages, wineries still have the skills and the tools to produce delicious wine.
Does this 2011 Pichon Lalande stack up to the 2010, 2009 or even the absolutely scrumptious 2005 (one of my all-time favs among all wines)? No. But neither does the 2011's price tag of around $116 stack up to the price tags of those vintages–Wine Searcher average of $229, $204 and $152, respectively. That is the landscape of Bordeaux with every bottle and every vintage needing to be evaluate both on a curve and within the big picture.
So judging this 2011 among its vintage-peers, I was exceedingly impressed with how well it was drinking this evening. With 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 8% Merlot and 2% Petite Verdot, this wine had far more Cab than typical Pichon Lalande and with the characteristics of the vintage, I was expecting something that needed far more time.
But this wine was ready to dance with a mix of black currant and red cherry fruit framed with the typical savory tobacco and cedar cigar box notes of a good Pauillac. The mouthfeel had a lot more noticeable vanilla oak notes than I would expect. Much as the vanilla works to coax early drinking approach-ability with New World wines, so here it was smoothing out the rough edges of youthful tannins. With a little dark chocolate and Christmas fruitcake spiciness on the finish, you end up with a delightful wine that has character and personality.
Marchesi Fumanelli 2009 Octavius Riserva Amarone (94 points. Wine Searcher average price $173)
Another wine that took me by surprised as I reviewed in part 2. This wine may be more difficult to find in the United States but it is well worth the hunt for any wine lover of bold, brooding reds with layers of complexity.
Diamond Creek 2012 Gravelly Meadow Cabernet Sauvignon (92 points. Wine Searcher average price $216)
This was only my second encounter with Diamond Creek after previously trying a 2009 Volcanic Hill. That one experience coupled with reading Cellar Tracker reviews of their wines helped form my expectation that this was going to be similar to other Diamond Mountain Cabernets that I've had in the past (Wallis Family, Lokoya, Martin Ray and Von Strasser)–powerful, rich but with a lot of structure and firm tannins that need time to mellow.
While this 2012 Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadow certainly had the power and richness, I was taken back by how soft the tannins where. In a blind tasting, I would be completely fooled that this wasn't something from Rutherford or Oakville. It was downright velvety with the opulent black fruit. On the nose there was some earthiness, like dusty crushed rocks with a tinge of smokiness, but it was no where near as herbal as I would have expected. This was another wine that I found myself excited at the thought of what enjoyment savoring a full bottle of this wine would bring.
Ch. Calon Segur 2003 (95 points. Wine Searcher average price $117)
As I wrote in part 2, it is easy for Bordeaux lovers to dismiss the 2003 "heat wave" vintage (especially on the Left Bank) but wines like the 2003 Calon Segur shows that there were still many great wines made that year.
Ch. Lascombes 2010 Margaux (91 points. Wine Searcher average price $118)
Oh you didn't think I could get through this list without slipping in a 2010 Bordeaux, did you? Of course not. I especially couldn't pass up tasting again and falling back in love with this wine from the 2nd Growth estate in Margaux. Since Dominique Befve took over in the early 2000s (after stints at l'Evangile in Pomerol and 10 years as Technical Director of Chateau Lafite), Chateau Lascombes has been going from strength to strength.
Lascombes is a little unique in that the fair amount of clay in the soils of their vineyards around the communes of Cantenac, Soussans and Margaux, allows them to grow more Merlot than you would expect for a highly classified Medoc estate. In 2010 that translated to a blend that was dominated by Merlot with 55% followed by 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot. While many of its 2010 Cab-dominated Left Bank peers still need ample time in the cellar, this Lascombes is following the path of Angelus, Canon-La-Gaffelière, Pavie-Macquin and Le Dome in being one of the best drinking 2010s right now on the market.
The nose has swirls of black licorice spice with smokey espresso that give way to black currant and Turkish figs. The tannins on the mouthfeel are silky with the same black fruits on the nose being wrapped with even more smoke and now chocolate espresso flavors. The finish is long and lingering, giving ample pleasure but making you soon crave another sip. While most 2009/2010 prices are in the stratosphere, this is still an absolute steal for how much this wine over-delivers.


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British Teen Sentenced to Life in Prison for Plotting to Bomb Elton John Concert
A 19-year-old London resident who was arrested last year for planning to carry out a terrorist attack at an Elton John concert has since admitted the attempted crime in court — and been sentenced to life in prison.
As previously reported, authorities arrested Haroon Ali-Syed on Sept. 8, 2016 — three days before John's concert in London's Hyde Park, where he planned to detonate a nail bomb. The arrest, which resulted after a joint operation between Scotland Yard and MI5, ended an investigation that turned up a number of unsuccessful attempts on Ali-Syed's part to finance his attack through thousands of dollars in rejected loan applications.
According to The Independent, Ali-Syed admitted he'd pursued a number of failed methods for carrying out his attack, and said he only settled on the idea of a nail bomb after coming up empty in his attempts to procure other forms of ammunition.
Although he's been sentenced to life in prison, there will still be opportunities for the would-be bomber to see release. Under the terms handed down by the judge in his case, Ali-Sayed will be eligible for consideration of parole after serving 15 years of his sentence — a decision hailed by London law enforcement as a victory as well as an example of how different components of society can save lives by working together.
"This case is another example of the severity of the current threat from terrorism, which we cannot tackle alone," said Metropolitan Police Commander Dean Haydon. "I urge communities to continue to support the police by reporting anything they feel is suspicious. Even if you think it is insignificant, please report it, and our specialist officers will decide the best course of action."
Elton John Albums Ranked Worst to Best


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Date, TIME pm – TIME pm
Fill out the form at the bottom of the page to sign up for this audition session. After you click "Send", you will receive an e-mail with the Zoom link.
About Auditions
The Philadelphia Girls Choir is looking for singers who have musical and vocal potential, not necessarily a polished performance. Auditions are for students in grades 1 through 5 for our young and intermediate ensembles. Once accepted into the program, singers can potentially remain in the Philadelphia Girls Choir through 12th grade.
Currently, all rehearsals are being held via Zoom, as we prepare for an upcoming virtual concert. To see some of the Philadelphia Girls Choir's recent virtual performances, click here.
This initial audition process is very low-key. No musical training or preparation is necessary. Everyone auditioning from your school will be in the Zoom session together, and each singer will be asked to sing a simple song that she knows (any song is fine) and repeat some simple singing exercises. Within two weeks after the audition, we will contact each parent by e-mail to let you know if your child can proceed to a final individual callback audition. For FAQ's and information about the final callback audition, click here.
There is a fee for students who enter the program, and financial aid is available to everyone who qualifies.
About the choir program
Philadelphia Girls Choir is a fun and educational choral experience for girls and young women in the Greater Philadelphia Area. PGC provides a comprehensive music education based upon the renowned Kodály Method. Nathan Wadley, music director of Philadelphia Girls Choir, teaches through the study of folk music and classical works. Divided into four distinct groups, Philadelphia Girls Choir provides the best fit for any girl who participates.
Our rehearsal spaces, voice studios, and offices are located on the northern Avenue of the Arts corridor (Broad & Spring Garden). The location is highly visible and easily accessible by car and public transportation.
To see how the choir has been handling virtual rehearsals and performances during the pandemic, click here.


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Bats are uniquely able to stretch and store energy in their bicep and tricep tendons during take-off and climbing flight, giving them an extra power boost. A new study on fruitbats, to be presented at the meeting of the Society for Experimental in Valencia on July 4, used cutting edge technology to image how these small mammals move through the air.
Dr Nicolai Konow (Brown University, USA), who led the research said: "Energy is stored in the triceps tendon, which is used to power elbow extension – in essence, elbow extension happens using "recycled" energy. State of knowledge, and our results, indicates that bats are unique among small mammals in stretching their tendons, as small mammal limb tendons are thought to be too thick and stiff to be stretched."
"By combining information about skeletal movement with information about muscle mechanics, we found that the biceps and triceps tendons of small fruitbats are stretched and store energy as the bat launches from the ground and flies vertically."
The researchers used a cutting edge 3D imaging technology called XROMM (X-ray Reconstruction of Moving Morphology) that allows visualizing rapid internal skeletal movement. XROMM combines 3D models of bone morphology with movement data from biplanar x-ray video to create highly accurate re-animations of the 3D bones moving in 3D space. The researchers also used a novel method called fluoromicrometry, where small radio opaque markers are implanted directly into muscle, which allows measuring length change with high precision and accuracy during contractions.
These findings indicate that the action of muscles powering animal movements through fluids may be influenced by series elasticity, and that at least some limb tendons in small mammals can be stretched by muscular and aerodynamic forces, enabling force control of joint movement.
This research will likely have relevance for the development of autonomous micro aircrafts and potentially also amphibious search and rescue vehicles.


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Medicare Coverage Options Part C Medicare Advantage These private plans provide benefits and services covered under Parts A and B and may offer additional coverage such as vision, hearing, dental, and/or health and wellness programs. Part C plans often include prescription drug coverage. There is usually a monthly premium in addition to the Part B premium, as well as copayments or coinsurance for covered services. Part D Prescription Drug Coverage These plans help cover the cost of prescription drugs. Participants in Original Medicare Parts A and B — and those enrolled in Medigap or a Part C plan that does not offer prescription drug benefits — can purchase prescription drug coverage for an additional premium. In 2022, Medicare covered about 57 million people ages 65 and older and 7.9 million disabled individuals. Source: Boards of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds, 2023 Part A Hospital Insurance Helps cover inpatient care in a hospital (but not physicians' fees), a limited amount of post-hospital care in a skilled nursing facility, hospice care, and some home health care. The annual deductible ($1,632 in 2024) covers hospital stays up to 60 days, after which there are daily copayments for days 61 to 150. Part B Medical Insurance Helps cover physicians' services, inpatient and outpatient medical services, outpatient hospital care, and diagnostic tests. There are some fairly stiff deductibles, copayments, and limitations. Copays are generally 20% of Medicareapproved amounts.
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tl;dr: when answering a negative question, can いいえ be used to affirm what the question states as a whole?
I came to Japan at the age of six, and I guess I pass as a normal native speaker of Japanese to most people (aside from some personal quirks like long response time).
However, there's one thing, one very basic thing that I have a hard time getting right without a conscious effort: answering negative questions.
Consider this negative question:
車、持ってないんですか? You don't have a car?
The right way to answer is:
- いいえ、持ってます / いいえ。 Yes, I have one.
- はい、持ってません / はい。 No, I don't.
The problem is, I almost always mix up はい/いいえ and end up answering just like in English. i.e. Describing my situation rather than responding to what the asker has in mind. With a single word answer, with no clarifying comment, it could be a life-or-death mistake.
Over the years, despite the threat of death, I've developed a self-serving hypothesis that with most negative questions, the answer is predetermined and anticipated by context and it doesn't matter much if I screw up. This hypothesis seemed to work sometimes.
My question is, can I keep on believing my hypothesis? For example, if you were asked
- Answering はい implies what the asker has in mind "She looks full" is true; your meal is over. (the correct answer in Japanese)
- Answering いいえ implies you're not in the mood for another dish, just like the asker thought; your meal is over. (according to my hypothesis)
Or, is there no pathway for the kind of logic in #2 in the Japanese way of thinking?
Edit 1: to clarify the scope of this question, a few bullet points if I may...
- Assume the question is a simple, plain negative question
- that is, no double negatives (...じゃないんじゃない?), confirmation in the form of a question (...じゃないですよね?), etc.
- answered with a single word (はい/いいえ/うん/ううん)
- taking place between true, pure-bred native Japanese speakers
Edit 2: thanks to the feedbacks, I've come up with a definition of the problem in a more formal fashion. Here goes..
Conversations take place amid tensions (or harmony) between several norms:
- Grammatical norm - the correct usage defined by grammar books
- Social norm - accepted, default usage in practice
- Contextual norm - accepted usage defined by context
The question is, when answering a negative question with a single word, can contextual norm disagree with the grammatical one? i.e. can an utterance of "いいえ" mean "はい" as defined in grammatical speak? As of this writing, one answer says yes, two others say no.


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August 8, 2013 [Martin Savidge, Jason Hanna and Ed Payne, CNN]
Cleveland, Ohio (CNN) — The Cleveland woman who was held the longest at Ariel Castro's house of horrors was there to see it shortly before it was torn down Wednesday.
Michelle Knight handed out yellow helium-filled balloons Wednesday morning to people who'd gathered for the demolition of the 1,400-square-foot house where she and two other women were raped and held captive for roughly a decade.
Minutes later, a hydraulic excavator began reducing the house to rubble, destroying the site of one of Cleveland's most notorious crimes.
Knight told reporters that she was at the demolition site in part to remind relatives of abducted children that all is not necessarily lost.
"I want the people out there to know — including the mothers — that they can have strength, they can have hope, and their child will come back," she said.
Castro forfeited the house on Seymour Avenue as part of a July plea deal with prosecutors that took the death penalty off the table in exchange for a life sentence, plus 1,000 years in prison.
Castro's victims resilient after years of abuse
Demolition began around 7:30 a.m. as an aunt of another former Castro captive, Georgina DeJesus, made the first hit on the house, operating the excavator with assistance.
By 10 a.m. the house had virtually been leveled, and the excavator's arm was dropping debris into a garbage truck.
Before the demolition, Knight gave out balloons and, standing not far from the house where she lived an 11-year nightmare, she led a group in releasing them into the air. She said they represented abducted children who were never found.
"I go from here as being a motivational speaker and let everybody know that they are heard, that they are loved, and that there is hope for everyone," she said.
The goal is to tear the house down and get the property filled in, graded and seeded in a single day, said Gus Frangos, president of Cuyahoga Land Bank, which is supervising the demolition.
Castro pleaded guilty last month to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping. The charges stem from his kidnapping, rape and assault of three women: Knight, abducted in 2002; DeJesus, abducted in 2004; and Amanda Berry, abducted in 2003.
Also held was Berry's daughter, who was born at the home six years ago. DNA tests confirmed that Castro is the girl's father.
Berry and her daughter escaped from the home with the help of a neighbor on May 6, calling police in her now famous 911 call: "Help me, I am Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years. And I'm here. I'm free now."
Knight's visit to Castro's home was at least her second in a week. On Friday, she stood outside and looked at the house at 2207 Seymour Ave., a neighbor said.
Victim returns to Cleveland house where she was held for 11 years
She also attended Castro's sentencing Thursday, telling him "I spent 11 years in hell. Now, your hell is just beginning."
Castro's friends and family removed personal items from the home Monday, including musical instruments and photographs. Police said most of the items removed Monday were personal items left over after investigators collected evidence.
Berry also visited the house his week, collecting pictures drawn by her daughter.
Ariel Castro's son: I won't visit dad in prison
Castro reconfigured the home to keep the captives' whereabouts a secret, FBI agent Andrew Burke testified during the sentencing. The back door was outfitted with an alarm, bedspreads and curtains obscured parts of the home, and a porch swing was placed in front of the stairs leading to the rooms where Castro held the three.


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Visual Dolphin Job Costing is a powerful and unique tool, specially designed for advertising, public relation, event and digital agencies. It streamlines business operations starting from the client brief to estimating the costs of jobs, issuing client quotations, generating invoices, controlling the cost spent and leading to profit margin analysis.
Inspired from the working procedures found in hundreds of institutions in the communication industry, Visual Dolphin Job Costing was designed to be the perfect solution for small, medium & large groups of agencies with multiple branches. It is the result of more than 30 years of experience in implementing business solutions across the world.
Visual Dolphin Job Costing has streamlined and complete work cycle consisting of multiple satellite functionalities and features. This work cycle is highly flexible and can be adapted to the different business processes of agencies with their different work progression that use some features and not the others.
Quoting the client is an easy and complete procedure in Visual Dolphin Job Costing. It starts with the creation of jobs with all the related information such as client name, brand, market, contact person, job type, campaign, cost center, job brief etc…
A collaborative communication and tracking tool is also available for emailing client quotations directly from Visual Dolphin and to keep track of all communication related to the job by using predefined remarks, revision remarks, notes and internal memos.
When done, the quotation is generated using several user-defined layouts. Visual Dolphin Job Costing keeps track of the different versions issued for reference. A specific quotation for a client can be even saved as a template for future use. Are liable built-in system allows centralizing and archiving all important documents related to the job from job brief to client approvals, creative copies & supplier LPOs.
In Visual Dolphin Job Costing, the cost elements/sub cost elements, representing the production types, are the billable and cost components of the quotation. For example, for a radio production job, a cost element may include expenses such as radio script, voice-over, mixing and music rights…Markups can be added on the overall cost, while agency fees and discounts can be applied to the selling elements.
A rate card can be defined at the entire agency level or it can be specified by client. These rate cards comprise the agency services price list and the agency fees agreed with the client.
Friendly and fast way to define tasks, and assign them to team members with scheduling in date and time. Tasks may be linked to a job or simply to a customer.
Pleasant way to clicking the start button on a task, then clicking again when it ends.. No more hassle in entering your timesheet manually, at end of day. The system does it for you!
Through a calendar, view the individual tasks of any team members over weeks & months, or, view all tasks given simultaneously to a team on a specific day.
By dragging and dropping you may move tasks between teams, reschedule the starting date & time, and stretch a task length to estimate its duration.
Monitor and review all tasks in the pipeline, the ones under execution, requested or accomplished. Monitor the queue of tasks for each employee and compare the estimated time against the one spent during execution. Sending mail to concerned account handlers every time a task is created, assigned or accomplished.
As soon a task is assigned & scheduled, it may send a notification to the concerned person through Job DOR mobile app. From a mobile, the team member may review his tasks, start a new one, write notes, enter his time sheet, and schedule his client visits accordingly.
Several graphs and analysis reports to measure employees performance and productivity.
An indispensable feature in Visual Dolphin Job Costing is cost estimation. It can be done at the cost element/sub cost element level and down to their cost component breakdown (supplier expenses & time sheet). During the job execution phases, all expenses related to the job are allocated to the Work in Progress accounts. These expenses consist of the local purchases from suppliers and employees' time sheets. At any time, the realized cost of the job can be checked and compared to its initial estimation. When the job is delivered, the expenses are reallocated from the WIP accounts to the expense accounts.
Visual Dolphin Job Costing offers a tendering function that issues several requests for quotation (RFQ) for the execution of a specific task. It tracks and compares the proposals submitted by the different suppliers before preparing an LPO to the supplier selected for the job.
Visual Dolphin Job Costing includes a workflow functionality that helps in defining the work cycle through which the purchase requisitions will go through to get a final approval. Notes can be even exchanged between actors to improve communication and turn the office to a paperless environment.
Easy tractability of the history of prices received from various suppliers on a certain item or service is also included.
Visual Dolphin Job Costing Timesheet allows the management to measure and track employees' productivity on one hand and client profitability on the other. Time sheet is designed to adapt to the creative and design agencies' non-conforming individuals.
Key Features:
- The timesheet is extremely user friendly and also accessible through the web and mobile.
- It may be assigned to a client in general or to a specific job.
- The timesheet analysis report may be done by selecting a combination of employees or clients or reasons, for approved or cancelled jobs between any 2 dates.
- Reports may be in the shape of a listing or summarized over 31 days, monthly or across several years with the possibility to compare estimated hours to realized ones.
- Reports highlight the employees' vacations & official holidays clarifying the productivity analysis.
- Time Sheet entries can be subject to managerial approval process and then locked to stop changes onwards.
Invoices are issued totally, partially or by cost element where you can add markups, discounts and agency fees.
It becomes very common practice in the communication industry where advertising agencies work for companies on retainer basis. Visual Dolphin Job Costing offers you this option where you can issue invoices on monthly basis or any other frequency.
Visual Dolphin Job Costing provides agencies with centralized capabilities for budgeting and forecasting at client, brand, production types & account handler levels, providing decision makers with the required elements for taking the appropriate decisions.
Visual Dolphin Job Costing provides client, supplier & employee relationship management (CRM) functionalities which are fully integrated into the job management system. Consequently, there is no need to re-enter the third parties' information data; a benefit which dramatically improves its uptake amongst users.
- Detailed company information including name, location & address, classification& company phone numbers (private and public).
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- Records of Third Party Changes – SOX anti-fraud compliancy.
Prior to dealing with third parties, certain agencies may require a financial and legal investigation as part of their internal procedure. After gathering and reviewing the required information, Management approval is needed to render the third-party active and available to the operation.
- Sensitive third party information such as the supplier bank details and client credit limits can only be changed by users having the appropriate privileges.
- Copy of financial & legal documents such as company registration, trade license, tax license, authorized signatories and banks documents can be stored for each third party.
Listing of jobs, invoices, LPOs, supplier expenses& time sheets showing the financial (SOA, TB, Aging, etc…) and workflow status (awaiting approval, approved, under process, lost or cancelled, etc…)
- Clients
- Suppliers
- Employees
- LPO's
- Time Sheet
Like any other Visual Dolphin product, Visual Dolphin Job Costing ensures that rights to use all crucial business processes is secure. Security groups are created to restrict users' access to specific functions or programs: a handler is given a limited access to the institution jobs; he can only view his allocated jobs. Staff in a branch part of a multi-branch organization has access to the branch jobs but not the whole organization.
Access limitations can even be defined at the level of certain fields in Visual Dolphin Job Costing where, for example, a production manager can see the cost but not the sales conditions while a sales manager sees the sales but not the cost.
- Time sheet data entry, attendance sheet Check in/Check out
- Client contact info
- Supplier contact info
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- Client jobs list with their status.
Visual Dolphin Job Costing presents a powerful set of reports that helps the agency analyze the profitability of each job.
Some sample reports:
- Monthly Profit Margin
- Monthly Billing
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- Cost Accrual
- WIP Aging
- Cost Control – Comparison between estimate and realized
- Cost Accrual
- Time Sheet
- Planned Vs Actual Billing/Profit
- Top 10 clients based on turnover – gross margin
Media agencies, using Visual Dolphin Media booking along with the Job Costing module can benefit from a consolidated report detailing client profitability.
Visual Dolphin Job Costing seamlessly integrates with all Visual Dolphin Financial modules. Therefore, management of receivables from clients and payments to suppliers on pre-defined due dates is possible, affecting the appropriate accounts in the General Ledger.
The integration with Visual Dolphin Financial modules provides access to the following modules and features:
- General ledger
- Accounts Payables
- Accounts Receivables
- Clients& Suppliers aging
- Payments & Receipts
- Budget &Forecast


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Free forum : Riders group and forum dedicated to the guys who ride hard and play hard with the Polaris RZR
free, southern, riders, group, forum, ride, hard, play, polaris, side, nation, ranger, trail, riding, #windrock, brimstone, coal, creek
Full sized Off Road vehicles of all flavors are welcome here. This is the place to openly discuss and share within our community. From Jeeps to Buggies we all share the same trails. Rock Crawling
road, east, tennessee, four, wheel, drive, forum, et4wd, sfwda, jeep, rock, crawler, buggy, #windrock, coal, creek, knoxville


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The Fountain of Eternal Life in downtown
Cleveland, Ohio, via WikipediaBy CHARLES M. BLOW
In June, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published a controversial survey in which 70 percent of Americans said that they believed religions other than theirs could lead to eternal life.
This threw evangelicals into a tizzy. After all, the Bible makes it clear that heaven is a velvet-roped V.I.P. area reserved for Christians. Jesus said so: "I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." But the survey suggested that Americans just weren't buying that.
The evangelicals complained that people must not have understood the question. The respondents couldn't actually believe what they were saying, could they?
So in August, Pew asked the question again. (They released the results last week.) Sixty-five percent of respondents said — again — that other religions could lead to eternal life. But this time, to clear up any confusion, Pew asked them to specify which religions. The respondents essentially said all of them.
And they didn't stop there. Nearly half also thought that atheists could go to heaven — dragged there kicking and screaming, no doubt — and most thought that people with no religious faith also could go.
What on earth does this mean?
One very plausible explanation is that Americans just want good things to come to good people, regardless of their faith. As Alan Segal, a professor of religion at Barnard College told me: "We are a multicultural society, and people expect this American life to continue the same way in heaven." He explained that in our society, we meet so many good people of different faiths that it's hard for us to imagine God letting them go to hell. In fact, in the most recent survey, Pew asked people what they thought determined whether a person would achieve eternal life. Nearly as many Christians said you could achieve eternal life by just being a good person as said that you had to believe in Jesus.
Also, many Christians apparently view their didactic text as flexible. According to Pew's August survey, only 39 percent of Christians believe that the Bible is the literal word of God, and 18 percent think that it's just a book written by men and not the word of God at all. In fact, on the question in the Pew survey about what it would take to achieve eternal life, only 1 percent of Christians said living life in accordance with the Bible.
Now, there remains the possibility that some of those polled may not have understood the implications of their answers. As John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum, said, "The capacity of ignorance to influence survey outcomes should never be underestimated." But I don't think that they are ignorant about this most basic tenet of their faith. I think that they are choosing to ignore it ... for goodness sake.


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Selling a home is already a complicated process. But when you throw in dealing with a lien, it can get downright stressful. While having a lien against your property is no fun to deal with, the good news is that there are steps you can take to clear the lien before you sell. Here's what you need to know.
What is a lien?
Simply put, a lien allows someone to take possession of your property if debt to them remains unpaid. When you put your home up for sale, a title search will be conducted on your property. Think of it as a background check to see if anyone has a legal claim on your property before you sell. Sometimes the title search will uncover issues such as liens against your title, which you will have to deal with before you can close.
Common types of liens
Liens are obtained through the court system and prevent the sale of a home until the lien is paid. If the lien remains unpaid, that person (or entity) can take possession of the home in order to pay off the debt. The most common types of liens include:
- Mortgage lien — When you owe back payments on your mortgage, you may have a mortgage lien on your property.
- Tax lien — If you owe back taxes, you may have a tax lien against your home.
- HOA lien — If your home is an HOA (homeowners association) and you haven't paid your dues, then the HOA can place a lien on your home.
- Mechanic's lien — If you failed to pay a contractor for work, they can place a lien against your property.
- Child support lien — If you haven't paid your court-ordered child support, then the court may put a lien on your home.
How to clear the lien
While dealing with a lien while selling isn't a walk in the park, it can be resolved so that you can close on the home. There are four main ways to settle the lien, they include:
- Pay off the debt — The quickest way to clear a lien is to immediately pay off the debt. If you can't pay the full amount, you may be able to negotiate with the creditor to resolve the lien for less or agree to a payment plan.
- Use your profit from the sale to pay off the debt — If you can't afford to pay off the debt upfront, then you may be able to use the proceeds from your sale to do it. Your real estate agent should write the lien into the agreement, and the amount of the lien will be deducted from your profit when you close.
- Dispute the lien — Sometimes there are errors, just like with a credit report. If you think a lien was placed on your home in error, you can dispute it. You will likely have to hire an attorney to help you with this process, but it could save the sale of the home and potentially thousands of dollars.
- Take out a bond — If you can't pay the lien, you may be able to take out a bond to settle the debt, though this can be an expensive option.
Compliments of Virtual Results


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"The Danish foreign minister demanded an explanation from Israel on Monday regarding an incident Saturday in which a senior IDF officer hit a Danish protester in the face with his rifle at a demonstration near Jericho.I agree wholeheartedly.
"We don't yet know the circumstances surrounding the episode. The Danish ambassador has therefore immediately asked the Israeli authorities for a report," Foreign Minister Villy Søvndal said in a press release.
"Our ambassador demanded answers from Israel immediately. The Danish citizen (Andreas Ayas) will obviously receive consular aid, should he desire," he said." (Times of Israel)
I demand an explanation why Denmark can't learn from Israel when it comes to non-violent demonstrators.
Here's an important example of how Denmark's police deal with non-violent protestors.
A lesson for us all.
Visiting Israel?
Learn to Shoot at Caliber-3 with top Israeli Anti-Terror Experts!
Follow the Muqata on Twitter.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד


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Diseases and disorders of the pancreas can be challenging to diagnose and treat. Their care is best handled by a multidisciplinary team of specialists who regularly see such patients. Such a team forms the hallmark of care available at the Pancreas Program in the Center for Advanced Digestive Care (CADC) at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Our program is one of only a handful of centers in the nation designated as a National Pancreas Foundation Center for the treatment and care of patients with pancreatic cancer.
The program is closely aligned with the Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health, whose efforts supporting screening and prevention of GI cancer in at-risk patients go hand-in-hand with the work of the Pancreas Program to innovate and advance the treatment of pancreatic disorders.
The Pancreas Program features a multidisciplinary team of specialists from surgery, gastroenterology, medical oncology, radiation oncology, pain management, nutrition, radiology, and pathology. Our physicians perform a high volume of the procedures used to diagnose and treat pancreatic cancer, cysts in the pancreas, and pancreatitis. Studies have shown that patient outcomes are better at hospitals with such high volumes and a multidisciplinary approach. As part of a large academic medical center, we are also able to link patients with experts who can care for other illnesses and conditions they may have, such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
The patient care we provide is compassionate, individualized, and seamless. Patients benefit from clinical program coordinators (nurses who facilitate communication with the healthcare team, family members, and referring physicians) and nurse practitioners (who act as intermediaries between hospitalized patients and others involved in patient care). Social workers, registered dietitians, genetic counselors, and other support professionals work as key members of the team to meet the needs of patients and their families.
Education also forms a big part of what we do. The Center for Advanced Digestive Care regularly provides seminars for patients and their families. We also collaborate with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, which funds research and links patients and families to support and education.
Who We Treat
We care for patients with the full range of cancerous and noncancerous pancreatic diseases, including:
- Pancreatic cancers (adenocarcinomas)
- Pancreatic neuroendocrine/islet cell cancers and other rare tumors
- Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) — both acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term)
- Pancreatic cysts and pseudocysts (sacs containing pancreatic fluid that may develop in patients with pancreatitis)
- Blockage of the pancreatic ducts (such as that due to a stone, pancreatitis, or cancers of the pancreas or nearby structures)
We excel in early diagnosis, minimally invasive interventions, surgical services, and palliative treatment to relieve patients' symptoms and improve their quality of life.
Advanced Diagnostic Techniques
The diagnosis of pancreatic disorders can be as intricate as their treatment. CADC physicians use the following approaches to visualize — and in some cases treat — disorders of the pancreas and achieve a diagnosis as early as possible:
- High-resolution computed tomography (CT)
- State-of-the-art ultrasound to detect gallstones
- 3D CT angiography to stage pancreatic cancer
- High-resolution 3D magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography
- Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography with secretin stimulation
- Positron emission tomography to stage pancreatic cancer
Advanced Endoscopy Techniques
To obtain a definitive diagnosis and glean more specific information about a patient's disease, CADC doctors may employ advanced interventional endoscopic techniques, such as:
- Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
- Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) with fine-needle aspiration
- EUS-guided ERCP
- Probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy
- Choledochopancreaticoscopy with biopsy
Palliative and Supportive Care
Pancreatic diseases can cause patients pain, jaundice (yellowing of the skin), and malnourishment. We can offer patients endoscopic interventional techniques to relieve pressure and pain and restore a patient's ability to eat. Such techniques include:
- Celiac plexus neurolysis, anesthetizing the celiac plexus nerves in the abdomen to relieve severe pain
- Ablation of diseased tissue using laser or radiofrequency ablation
- Insertion of a stent in a blocked duct remove an obstruction, allow drainage, and restore function
- Insertion of an enteral stent or (feeding) tube
Our registered dietitians work one-on-one with patients to create a dietary plan to ensure they receive adequate nutrition.
Contact us
Call for an Appointment
Center for Advanced Digestive Care
Weill Cornell Medicine
Liver Transplantation, Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery