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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) J. Borkenhagen Request for Comments: 8642 AT&T Updates: 1997 R. Bush Category: Standards Track IIJ & Arrcus ISSN: 2070-1721 R. Bonica Juniper Networks S. Bayraktar Cisco Systems August 2019 Policy Behavior for Well-Known BGP Communities Abstract Well-known BGP communities are manipulated differently across various current implementations, resulting in difficulties for operators. Network operators should deploy consistent community handling across their networks while taking the inconsistent behaviors from the various BGP implementations into consideration. This document recommends specific actions to limit future inconsistency: namely, BGP implementors must not create further inconsistencies from this point forward. These behavioral changes, though subtle, actually update RFC 1997. Status of This Memo This is an Internet Standards Track document. This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841. Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8642. Borkenhagen, et al. Standards Track [Page 1]
RFC 8642 Policy Behavior for Well-Known BGP Communities August 2019 Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2019 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Manipulation of Communities by Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Community Manipulation Policy Differences . . . . . . . . . . 3 4. Documentation of Vendor Implementations . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4.1. Note on an Inconsistency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5. Note for Those Writing RFCs for New Community-Like Attributes 5 6. Action Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 8. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 9. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1. Introduction The BGP Communities attribute was specified in [RFC1997], which introduced the concept of well-known communities. In hindsight, [RFC1997] did not prescribe as fully as it should have how well-known communities may be manipulated by policies applied by operators. Currently, implementations differ in this regard, and these differences can result in inconsistent behaviors that operators find difficult to identify and resolve. This document describes the current behavioral differences in order to assist operators in generating consistent community-manipulation policies in a multi-vendor environment and to prevent the introduction of additional divergence in implementations. This document recommends specific actions to limit future inconsistency: namely, BGP implementors MUST NOT create further inconsistencies from this point forward. Borkenhagen, et al. Standards Track [Page 2]
RFC 8642 Policy Behavior for Well-Known BGP Communities August 2019 The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here. 2. Manipulation of Communities by Policy [RFC1997] says: A BGP speaker receiving a route with the COMMUNITIES path attribute may modify this attribute according to the local policy. One basic operational need is to add or remove one or more communities to or from the set. The focus of this document is another common operational need: to replace all communities with a new set. To simplify this second case, most BGP policy implementations provide a syntax to "set" a community that operators use to mean "remove any/all communities present on the route and apply this set of communities instead". Some operators prefer to write explicit policy to delete unwanted communities rather than use "set", i.e., using "delete community *:*" and then "add community x:y ..." configuration statements in an attempt to replace all communities. The same community-manipulation policy differences described in the following section exist in the syntax for both "set" and "delete community *:*". For simplicity, the remainder of this document refers only to the "set" behaviors, which we refer to collectively as each implementation's '"set" directive'. 3. Community Manipulation Policy Differences Vendor implementations differ in the treatment of certain well-known communities when modified using the syntax to "set" the community. Some replace all communities, including the well-known ones, with the new set; others replace all non-well-known communities but do not modify any well-known communities that are present. These differences result in what would appear to be identical policy configurations having very different results on different platforms. Borkenhagen, et al. Standards Track [Page 3]
RFC 8642 Policy Behavior for Well-Known BGP Communities August 2019 4. Documentation of Vendor Implementations In this section, we document the syntax and observed behavior of the "set" directive in several popular BGP implementations to illustrate the severity of the problem operators face. In Juniper Networks' Junos OS, "community set" removes all communities, well-known or otherwise. In Cisco IOS XR, "set community" removes all communities except for the following: +-------------+-----------------------------------+ | Numeric | Common Name | +-------------+-----------------------------------+ | 0:0 | internet | | 65535:0 | graceful-shutdown | | 65535:1 | accept-own rfc7611 | | 65535:65281 | NO_EXPORT | | 65535:65282 | NO_ADVERTISE | | 65535:65283 | NO_EXPORT_SUBCONFED (or local-AS) | +-------------+-----------------------------------+ Table 1: Communities Not Removed by Cisco's IOS XR Cisco IOS XR allows well-known communities to be removed only by explicitly enumerating one at a time and not in the aggregate -- for example, "delete community accept-own". Operators are advised to consult Cisco IOS XR documentation and/or Cisco support for full details. On Extreme networks' Brocade NetIron, "set community X" removes all communities and sets X. In Huawei's VRP product, "community set" removes all communities, well-known or otherwise. In OpenBGPD, "set community" does not remove any communities, well- known or otherwise. Nokia's SR OS has several directives that operate on communities. Its "set" directive is called using the "replace" keyword, replacing all communities, well-known or otherwise, with the specified communities. Borkenhagen, et al. Standards Track [Page 4]
RFC 8642 Policy Behavior for Well-Known BGP Communities August 2019 4.1. Note on an Inconsistency IANA publishes a list of well-known communities [IANA-WKC]. Cisco IOS XR's set of well-known communities that "set community" will not overwrite diverges from the IANA's list of well-known communities. Quite a few well-known communities from IANA's list do not receive special treatment in Cisco IOS XR, and at least one community on Cisco IOS XR's special treatment list, internet == 0:0, is not formally a well-known community as it is not in [IANA-WKC] (it is taken from the Reserved range [0x00000000-0x0000FFFF]). This merely notes an inconsistency. It is not a plea to protect the entire IANA list from "set community". 5. Note for Those Writing RFCs for New Community-Like Attributes When establishing new attributes similar to those in [RFC1997] (large communities, wide communities, etc.), RFC authors should state explicitly how the new attribute is to be handled. 6. Action Items Network operators are encouraged to limit their use of the "set" directive (within reason) to improve consistency across platforms. Unfortunately, it would be operationally disruptive for vendors to change their current implementations. Vendors MUST clearly document the behavior of the "set" directive in their implementations. Vendors MUST ensure that their implementations' "set" directive treatment of any specific community does not change if/when that community becomes a new well-known community through future standardization. For most implementations, this means that the "set" directive MUST continue to remove the community; for those implementations where the "set" directive removes no communities, that behavior MUST continue. Given the implementation inconsistencies described in this document, network operators are urged never to rely on any implicit understanding of a neighbor ASN's BGP community handling. That is, before announcing prefixes with NO_EXPORT or any other community to a neighbor ASN, the operator should confirm with that neighbor how the community will be treated. Borkenhagen, et al. Standards Track [Page 5]
RFC 8642 Policy Behavior for Well-Known BGP Communities August 2019 7. Security Considerations Surprising defaults and/or undocumented behaviors are not good for security. This document attempts to remedy that. 8. IANA Considerations The IANA has listed this document as an additional reference for the [IANA-WKC] registry. 9. Normative References [IANA-WKC] IANA, "Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Well-known Communities", <https://www.iana.org/assignments/ bgp-well-known-communities>. [RFC1997] Chandra, R., Traina, P., and T. Li, "BGP Communities Attribute", RFC 1997, DOI 10.17487/RFC1997, August 1996, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1997>. [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>. [RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>. Acknowledgments The authors thank Martijn Schmidt and Qin Wu for the Huawei data point as well as Greg Hankins, Job Snijders, David Farmer, John Heasley, and Jakob Heitz. Borkenhagen, et al. Standards Track [Page 6]
RFC 8642 Policy Behavior for Well-Known BGP Communities August 2019
Authors' Addresses
Jay Borkenhagen
200 Laurel Avenue South
Middletown, NJ 07748
United States of America
Email: email@example.com
Randy Bush
IIJ & Arrcus
5147 Crystal Springs
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
United States of America
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Ron Bonica
Juniper Networks
2251 Corporate Park Drive
Herndon, VA 20171
United States of America
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Serpil Bayraktar
Cisco Systems
170 W. Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA 95134
United States of America
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Borkenhagen, et al. Standards Track [Page 7]


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Correction appended, Oct. 21
Nearly a year after Colorado and Washington State voted to become the first states to legalize recreational marijuana, the detailed rules governing how pot will be grown, sold and taxed are finally complete. And as the two states implement their different approaches to getting high, the whole world is watching.
This week, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced a new panel, headed by California Lieut. Governor Gavin Newsom, to draft a possible 2016 ballot measure to legalize pot in the Golden State, where an earlier attempt failed in 2010. The panel will study the implementation of Washington and Colorado's laws to see how they might serve as a model for California, according to member and ACLU attorney Alison Holcomb. Lawmakers and academics from Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Canada and the U.K. have also expressed interest in learning from the states' experiences.
Think of it as an A/B test for legal pot. While Colorado and Washington's laws are based on a similar model — they both tax and tightly regulate legal markets for marijuana, require rigid security and third-party laboratory testing, limit sale to people over 21 and the amount an adult can carry, prohibit out-of-state investment, and track marijuana closely from "seed-to-sale" — there are important differences between the two approaches.
Washington has imposed a heavy 25% tax on each of the three parts of pot production: producer to processor, processor to retailer and retailer to customer. Regulators say that will put the price of marijuana pretax at an average of $12 a gram, a price that the ACLU's Holcomb says is competitive with illicit pot on the street. Colorado votes on its pot tax — a less onerous 15% excise tax and 10% sales tax — next month. Sam Kamin, a professor at the University of Denver who advised Colorado on its regulations and who will also be serving on the ACLU's panel to devise a plan for California, says finding the "sweet spot" for taxation is key. "We want this to be self-funding regulation that is robust, but we don't want the price of legal marijuana so much higher than the black market that it becomes attractive again."
Unlike Colorado, Washington has imposed a cap on the total amount of marijuana that can be produced per year in the state. On the advice of UCLA professor Mark Kleiman, dubbed the "hemperor" because of his deep involvement in marijuana policy, regulators at the Liquor Control Board decided to cap the legal market at 80 metric tons — 40 for usable marijuana and 40 for other marijuana products. The chief rationale behind limiting annual production is to avoid "diversion" — when surplus legal pot is illegally smuggled to other states — says Brian Smith, a spokesman for the Washington State Liquor Control Board. Diversion is a major concern of federal authorities, and while Colorado has not imposed a cap, regulators say they might do so in the future if it is necessary.
Representatives from the marijuana industry differ on the merits of a cap. Stephen DeAngelo, president of the Arc View investment group, which focuses on marijuana investments, says caps are necessary because if there is too much marijuana flooding the system, retailers fight to keep prices down, which incentivizes them to cut corners on quality and safety measures like lab testing. Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, disagrees. "By limiting the legal market, they are enriching the illegal market," Smith says.
Colorado and Washington will also license pot businesses differently. For the first few months of the new market, Colorado requires "vertical integration," which means that every marijuana business must be involved in all parts of the business — growing, processing, and selling — to get a license. Barbara Brohl, the state's regulator says they did this because they thought it would initially limit the number of businesses, making it easier to control the new market. Starting this summer, Colorado will open the market to those interested in specialized roles. By contrast, Washington prohibits "vertical integration" and instead only permits businesses to get licensed in one stage of production: growing, processing or selling. Washington's intent, says Smith, the spokesman for Washington's Liquor Control Board, was to avoid allowing monopolists to keep prices artificially high.
Washington's regulations aren't stricter on all fronts. Colorado has a stringent two-year minimum-residency requirement for any owner or investor, while Washington has only a three-month requirement. These rules essentially prohibit out-of-state investment in the growth and production of marijuana (though they don't bar investment in ancillary businesses like, say, a phone app that offers a map of different providers). One reason for this, regulators and experts say, is to reassure the federal government that illegal drug money from across the country and around the world is not entering their legal marijuana markets. DeAngelo, who opposes the restrictions, says they might also stem from a fear of competition from growers in other states, particularly in Colorado where medical-marijuana growers have already gained a foothold in the industry.
Kamin is hopeful that the evidence that comes out of Colorado and Washington will be able to help California devise its own plan for a regulated marijuana market by 2016. "We'll have good data on what happens in Washington and Colorodo by then," he says.
A previous version of this article misspelled the name of Colorado's marijuana regulator. It is Barbara Brohl. TIME regrets the error.

subset: commoncrawl


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Nauticam Super Macro Converter 2 (SMC-2, 4x Magnification with 100mm Lenses)
Introducing Nauticam Super Macro Converter 2 (SMC-2, 4x Magnification with 100mm Lenses)
Breakthrough Lens Design
Prior to the Super Macro Converter, achieving "super macro" underwater meant using tools that were designed for in air use. These tools simply do not take into account the physics of shooting in water. The SMC takes a radically different approach: treat the system – camera, lens, port, air, and water – as a whole, and account for the air-water interfaces in a conversion lens design to achieve the best image quality possible. The improvement is stunning, measurable and a new standard in underwater macro imaging has been established.
Two key advantages to this internationally patent pending new optical design:
- Higher Magnification Than Other Popular Super Macro Tools with Increased Working Distance
- Better Edge to Edge Image Quality, Higher Contrast, and Lower Color Fringing
Edward Lai, Managing Director of Nauticam, has utilized a revolutionary approach in developing the SMC-2. This is a completely new lens design, developed through hundreds of engineering hours utilizing computer software to model the optical properties of the complete underwater imaging system. Incorporating these factors into the design yields amazing sharpness, contrast, and clarity that isn't available from a simple magnifying lens for use in air sealed in a waterproof enclosure.
Uncompromised Optical Quality
The Super Macro Converter -2 is constructed from lenses are precision crafted of specially formulated low dispersion optical grade glass, ground to the most demanding standards. These exceptional measures, enhanced by broadband anti-refective coatings effectively reduce common optical issues such as chromatic aberrations, coma, spherical aberration, and field deformation associated with underwater macro photography using traditional magnifying lenses. These optics are assembled in a rugged hard anodized aluminum housing, and nitrogen purged during assembly to eliminate fogging.
Stunning Magnification
When combined with a full frame camera and a 100mm or 105mm macro lens, the device converts the optical system to provide a maximum of 4X magnification factor.
Improved Sharpness and Contrast
As the Super Macro Converter 2 is optimized explicitly for using together with a macro lens underwater, images captured exhibit exceptional sharpness compared with conventional magnification lenses. Thanks to the broadband multi-layer anti-reflection coating on each surface of the lenses, images also exhibit higher contrast.
Superb Light Transmission
All the lens elements installed inside the SMC-2 are optically optimized to appropriate diameters so as to provide maximum light transmission. The SMC-2 doesn't suffer from vignette issues under even the most extreme conditions. The broad band multi-layer anti-reflection coating on all surfaces also greatly improves light transmission.
Optimized for Autofocus
By utilizing a specially developed algorithm in the optimization process, the SMC-2 renders superior image quality over the full focusing range of the camera lens (which becomes ~20 to ~40 mm in front of the SMC). Also benefitting from the high brightness and contrast of the image, the autofocus system of the camera usually works acceptably well within this range.
High resolution was a primary design goal of the SMC-2 project. This has been achieved using computer aided optimization and high grade optical glasses with unique refractive and dispersion properties. Images taken with this new system exhibit very high resolution and quality. Results have exceeded expectations, and these images rival the quality of the macro lens in air.
Smooth Bokeh
The Converter retains the optical properties of the macro lens for the whole system underwater, resulting in a blurred (out of focus) background that has a pleasing smoothness and creamy look, without the normal purple and green fringing.
Avoiding Diffraction
Due to the overall superior optical performance of the SMC-2 it is possible to shoot larger apertures with excellent image quality. This avoids reaching the diffraction limit of high resolution sensors, and allows selective focus effects with narrow depth of field in super macro images.
Coming soon...


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The ultimate track focused driver's car
The name alone suggests how significant the car is - the first McLaren to use the GTR moniker was the F1 GTR that won the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Without road-car regulations to hold it back, the P1™ GTR pushes everything to the limit. Available only to P1™ owners, production of the track-focused GTR began upon completion of the 375th and final road car. The mid-mounted powerplant has an output of 1,000PS (986bhp) and includes an ERS-style push-to-pass system. The large fixed rear wing features a Formula 1™-derived Drag Reduction System and the wing mirrors have been repositioned to the A pillars to put them closer to the eye line of the driver and reduce aerodynamic drag. The car sits at a fixed ride height on race-prepared suspension over 19-inch motorsport alloy wheels. Below the rear wing is the exposed, centrally mounted inconel and titanium alloy exhaust. This all new straight cut twin pipe design has been developed exclusively for the GTR.
McLaren P1™ GTR ownership can include participation in driving events at some of the world's most iconic circuits with specialist vehicle support. Also available is access to McLaren racing simulators with driver training from experts that have helped develop and train Formula 1™ champions. In addition, exclusive consultations with the McLaren driver fitness team and Design Director Frank Stephenson are included in the programme. Together with one of the most exciting track-focused cars ever developed, the programme offers unprecedented access to the technologies, resources and people throughout the McLaren Technology Centre. Every experience is unique and tailored specifically for each participant.
Contact a retailer or register your interest to be kept up to date with the latest McLaren Automotive news


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MATERIAL: 30 Mil PVC Plastic Cards
SIZE: 3.375" x 2.125" (CR-80)
AVAILABILITY: In Stock
Red Blank Plastic Cards with a magnetic stripe are 30 mil thick with a gloss finish. 30 mil blank PVC plastic cards are the same size and thickness as a standard CR80 credit card, measuring 3.375" x 2.125". Red blank plastic cards are available are available with several magnetic stripe options including .330 LoCo 300 Oe, .500 LoCo 300 Oe, .330 HiCo 2750 Oe, or .500 HiCo 2750 Oe. Inquire about additional mag stripe options. Our blank PVC plastic cards are proudly manufactured in the USA with the highest level of quality and comply with ISO card specifications.
Don't see exactly what you are looking for? Click here for a custom quote on unique colors, thicknesses, or finishes.
If you are looking to buy blank plastic cards, you have come to the right place! We manufacture our plastic cards in-house which allows us to offer incredibly low prices on blank PVC cards. We are one of the largest manufacturers of blank PVC cards in North America, offer the largest selection of blank colored plastic cards online, and our cards are proudly made in the USA.
Some of the most popular uses for our red blank plastic cards include printing ID cards / identification cards, gift cards, membership cards, business cards, security access cards, and loyalty cards.
Blank plastic card printing cannot be done using a standard inkjet or laser printer. Our plastic cards are designed for use in direct to card plastic printers (compatible with most thermal Photo ID card printers like Evolis, DataCard, Zebra, and Fargo / HID), silkscreening, and other plastic card printers. Before using our blank plastic cards, confirm that your printer is designed to print on plastic cards and compatible with 30 mil PVC plastic cards. Prefer to order printed plastic cards? Our sister company, Print Robot, can help!
Magnetic stripes are available in LoCo (Low Coercivity 300 Oe) and HiCo (High Coercivity 2750 Oe). A LoCo mag stripe is usually selected for gift cards and cards that are not scanned frequently. A HiCo mag stripe is more durable and often required when advanced security features are needed or for cards that are scanned frequently. Blank plastic cards can be purchased with a thinner .330 ABA magnetic stripe or the standard .550 Thrift magnetic stripe which is a bit taller and can hold more data.


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Contact Hiring Employer
Licensed Nursing Assistant (LNA)
Concord Regional Visiting Nurse Association
Warner, NH
Since 1899, Concord Regional VNA has been committed to meeting the health needs of our patients, clients, and families. Today as the largest home health and hospice provider in the state, our not-for-profit, community-based agency offers people of all ages a wide range of personalized services and programs including home care, hospice, palliative (as part of Capital Region Palliative Care and Hospice), personal home services, pediatric and maternal child health services, and wellness programming
If you're interested in this position, complete the form below. Information will be sent to the hiring employer.
Once you've submitted your information, it will be sent directly to the employer. Any further communication should be handled with that employer.


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About Us
NetKnowledgy™ is a small New Zealand based business. It was established in 2003 by Peter Love, NetKnowledgy's Principal, after 14 years working in the university sector in New Zealand and Australia. Peter has strong technical knowledge combined with practical experience in both teaching and the management of online learning systems.
Past clients for custom services include: University of New South Wales, Central College, Murdoch University, University of Sydney, University of Western Sydney, BestTraining Auckland, Auckland College of Education, Macquarie University, University of Tasmania, University of Newcastle, Australian Public Services Commission.
Work performed includes: general consultation, performance investigation, custom software development and installation, student system integration (consultation and software development), LMS upgrades and migration, API advice and training, LMS troubleshooting, and web-interfaces to databases and real-time data streams.


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Within the past few decades we have become a global economy, which adds great opportunity but also risk. Our global economy is affected by many more factors today and is connected deeply with other countries. How does this affect the United Sates?
It can affect us in many ways. Before analyzing our global economy it's important to understand the basics of economics and apply them today in a global perspective. Even though, government and other country's policies differ, it is still important to understand the basic concepts.
Some of the key economic concepts to be familiar with are: supply and demand, fiscal policy, monetary policy, economic indicators, business cycles, inflation, deflation and stagflation.
Supply and demand
In regards to supply and demand, the supply is the amount available of a particular good or service, and the demand is what buyers are willing to pay for that particular good or service.
The price of the good or service is the primary element that can control the supply or demand of the good or service. Typically if a business lowers the price of a good or service the demand will increase. Whereas, by raising the price of a good or service, the demand will decrease.
Fiscal and monetary policy
Fiscal policy is another major influence in our economy. This is when the government, under the direction of congress, influences our economic activity by taxing, borrowing or spending. Monetary policy on the other hand, controlled by the Federal Reserve, can increase or decrease the U.S. money supply. The Federal Reserve has many tools to assist with monetary policy:
1) Reserve requirement for banks
2) Increase or decrease the discount rate
3) Open-Market Operation (the purchase and sale of U.S. Treasury securities)
4) Margin requirements
With these tools the FED can act immediately to tighten credit or encourage it. Many times both fiscal and monetary policy are used together to control inflation in the hopes of having real economic growth.
Economic indicators
Our economic activity can be measured by several factors and by using some leading indicators we can get a better feel on its activity. Some indicators that are important to track are: the average weekly hours of manufacturing production workers, average weekly new claims for unemployment, building permits for new housing, stock prices and our nation's money supply. These allow us to see trends in our economic activity.
Business cycles
For many years economist have used business cycles to learn about trends in the market place. Typically, they can track expansion and contraction activity. Through research and historical market studies we have been able to provide an estimate on the time frame that our economy is in an expansion period or how long it has been in a contraction period. This may help investors to understand what stage we are at in the business cycle (Peak or Trough).
Inflation, deflation and stagflation
Next is understanding how our economy may react to an inflationary, deflationary or stagflation period. Each of these is very different and will cause our government, consumers and investors to treat their money differently.
During an inflationary period, we will experience a general increase of prices. This process will decrease the purchasing power of our U.S. dollar, hence, will slow spending. Whereas, in a deflationary period we will experience the opposite and see a decrease in the general level of prices. Usually consumers will spend more during these times. Stagnation is another concern and occurs when the production of a good has become stagnant and the price continues to rise. This can be very dangerous and cause an economic recession or even a depression. All of these must be in balance. If they get out of hand they can cause major shifts in our economy.
Having a general understanding of economic concepts can help investors learn about why our economy shifts and some of the important factors that need to be considered when investing in our evolving global economy.


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The 2022 Tandem Meetings
Thank you again for participating in the 2022 Tandem Meetings of ASTCT & CIBMTR! Session recordings from the 2022 Tandem Meetings are available to both attendees and non-attendees through the online agenda. Attendees will continue to receive complimentary access to all available recordings through the online agenda. As a reminder, CME Credits will be granted to attendees for viewing 2022 Tandem Meetings session recordings if Session Evaluations and the Overall Meeting Evaluation are completed by June 3, 2022. Non-attendees may now purchase access to all session recordings, individual session recordings, or session recordings by track. ASTCT and CIBMTR members are eligible for discounts. Follow the "Access Session Recordings" link below to view instructions and links for purchasing recordings: 2023 Tandem Meetings Save the date for the 2023 Tandem Meetings | Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings of ASTCT™ and CIBMTR® taking place February 15-19 in Orlando, Florida. The Tandem Meetings are the premier event in the field of BMT and cellular therapy. Throughout the Tandem Meetings:
Registration for the 2023 Tandem Meetings will open in fall 2022. Join the Conversation


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He Speaks to the Point with New York Reporters,
Here Tomorrow
An artful and accomplished reporter for the Evening Post shall write the prelude: "It was a small man without a coat who opened the door of Suite No. 1477 in the Hotel Ansonia. His bald head was shiny and his hands showed the marks of straps hastily opened on trunks and suitcases. He smiled shyly and gestured the way between the piles of luggage in the hall. He was taking his caller to a living room at the end, but just before reaching it there toddled out of a bedroom into the hall a little thing in a white gown.
The small man, murmuring some admonitory words, gently pushed the little thing back into the bedroom and closed the door. He did it with an air of embarrassment, as if he felt that the presence of the little thing out there, when a stranger was ushered in, constituted a kind of public scandal. He could not so easily dispose of a little gray thing with four legs and a tail. It was at his heels as he opened the room at the end of the hall and signed his guest to a sofa. That seemed to bother him, too, and he began murmuring apologies to the effect that he and his family had arrived only an hour or two before and that everything was in confusion.
This small, mild man, fluent with deprecatory gestures over the state of his household, was Arnold Schönberg, one of the several foremost living composers, and one so bold in his artistic adventures that men have come to blows over the merits of his music in the leading concert halls of the world. This man, so quaintly sweet in his hospitality that the reporter had a positive affection for him before reaching the end of the hall, was the most-hissed composer of his time. The little thing in white was Nuria, his daughter, eighteen months old, bearing a Spanish name because she was born in Barcelona. The thing on four legs was Witz (joke in both German and English), a mite of a dog.
Schönberg is a small man, shy and extremely modest, with a sensitive face and expressive brown eyes. He spoke some English and some German. He admitted studying English in school forty-five years ago, but has had very little occasion to use it since. [The Times]
Short an stocky in appearance, looking much younger than his fifty-nine years, he was engagingly modest and unaggressive in manner. [The Herald Tribune]
New Works
Schönberg briefly enumerated his latest works: a concerto for 'cello and orchestra freely transcribed from a clavier concerto by Monn, a virtually unknown contemporary of Bach; a concerto for string quartet and orchestra based on a concerto grosso of Handel; an opera on a Biblical subject, "Moses und Aaron," with a libretto of his own. He completed the second act in March, 1932, and is working on the third and last. He hopes to complete the piece during his stay in Boston. [The Herald Tribune]
Of Himself
"I have no style. I do not write for the sake of being original. I cannot help it if my music happens to have this quality. I seek only to express my thoughts and my emotions. My greatest desire is to compress the most substance into the least possible space and time." He is searching more and more intensively for concentrated expression. A composition like the "Gurre-Lieder" was written in a broad, expansive manner. But that was long ago; now he sought compactness and intensity [The Times]
Although Schönberg has long been regarded as one of the two or three principle creative figures in contemporary music, and his works often have been occasions of warm controversy, he had no manifesto to issue. He will not, he assured his interrogators, try to develop a group of disciples in this country; he never has asked his pupils to imitate him, nor to adopt any particular manner, but has sought to help them develop their creative individuality. [The Herald Tribune]
With American music Schönberg has had little chance for acquaintance, although a few Americans have studied with him abroad. He is sure, however, that it will be possible to develop widespread and significant musical talent in this country. Among foreign composers he expressed admiration for Hindemith, Milhaud, Stravinsky, Ravel and Bartók. Among his noted European pupils, Alban Berg of "Wozzeck" is working on his second opera, "Lulu," based on plays of Wedekind; von Webern is composing chamber music and is also engaged on a piano-concerto. [The Herald Tribune]
A full fortnight awaits Schönberg … This evening he will be guest at a concert in the Library of Congress at Washington at which his Second Quartet for Strings and Voice will be heard. On Saturday he will go to Boston to begin, on Monday, his work as teacher; on Thursday next he will be guest of Yale University at a similar concert; on Friday likewise at Harvard. On Saturday, week, the League of Composers will give him a concert and hold a reception for him in New York. On Tuesday, Nov. 14, he will lecture there at the New School of Social Research. Yet he comes hither seeking rest from the tumults of Berlin.
"There are cycles with music which are fashions. There would have been jazz had there been no war. We had the cakewalk and the tango before a gun was fired. Before that we had gypsy music and Negro Spirituals. But real music goes on and on without noticeably feeling within the little external eruptions."
Boston Evening Transcript (November 3, 1933)


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Bringing blessings to Ghana
Published 12:00 am Saturday, September 28, 2013
Matthew Harrison followed in his father's footsteps earlier this year, traveling to the jungle of Africa to deliver school supplies, teaching materials and backpacks to the children of Enchi, Ghana.
The elder Harrison, a doctor with Novant Health Rowan Medical Center, has been to the region six times with Catholic World Mission and Helping Hands Medical Missions to run a makeshift medical clinic.
Matthew, 15, worked with five churches in three states, Boy Scout Troop No. 5 in Mount Pleasant and two schools to collect $45,000 worth of supplies and raise $6,000 to buy more.
His home church and former school, Sacred Heart Catholic, were part of the team that helped him complete the Eagle Scout project.
Dr. Matt Harrison traveled with his son to deliver the supplies to a nine-room school house with more than 400 children.
Harrison's daughter, Mabel, and her peers in Betsy Knauf's third-grade class wrote letters, painted watercolor pictures of their homes and made "Good Deed" chaplets to give out to the children at the St. Therese Catholic School.
Knauf has been working with the elder Harrison to build relationships between her class and the Ghana children.
"This is such a wonderful opportunity for these children to learn such valuable lessons in science, social studies and humanity," she said. "They have taken such an interest in helping these less fortunate children and really want to build relationships across miles, cultures and political barriers."
Troubles in Ghana
This part of Africa has beautiful landscapes, but an extremely poor population who have no access to toilets or paved roads.
There is no fresh water, only a pond that they use to drink, bathe, wash clothes and clean animals.
The medical problems of the Ghana people are very advanced in the disease process because they lack consistent medical care.
One of the more prevalent problems involves their feet, due to a lack of footwear.
The Ghana people get thorns stuck deep in their feet that must be extracted very painfully and their feet are often infected due to lack of hygiene.
They also have severe respiratory problems, because they burn all their trash, making the air quality very poor.
Another major medical problem is neck and musculoskeletal issues, due to hard work in the fields and carrying water buckets on their heads for such long distances.
The story continues
The Harrisons' trip to Ghana was so successful that Father Anthony from St. Therese came by Sacred Heart earlier this month to express his appreciation.
Father Anthony and Matthew explained to the students how poor the children of Ghana were, describing their living conditions, lack of food and water supply and their school life.
They talked about how the students wake as early as 4 a.m. to begin their walking journey to Mass and school each day.
The Ghana children are so thankful for the school supplies and they loved the bookbags, Anthony said.
Now, they can carry their books in their bookbags which makes it much easier to walk long distances.
While more than 610 bookbags were handed out, it was not enough for the 1,500 school children in the area.
Father Anthony explained that bookbags are very special and have been given out to children as an incentive to come to Mass and school daily, behave in the classroom and complete their studies.
But many good students don't have a bookbag yet,
But Dr. Harrison, Matthew and Knauf's third grade class are not giving up; they want continue to help these children of Ghana.
They are combining with the school's Student Government and Beta Club to continue to find ways to improve the educational conditions and collect more bookbags and school supplies.
"A bookbag goes a long way in Ghana," Matthew said. "The children are very humble and so excited to come to school to learn.
"It's just the smallest way to make a big impact.


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Vizio P502ui Review (P502ui-B1)
50 inch 4K LED Smart TV
by Robert Wiley, Senior Editor
The Vizio P502ui-B3 is a value oriented 50 inch 4K LED TV that we were eagerly awaiting nearly the whole of 2014. The price for 4K technology sure is coming down quickly in 2015. Pricing for this new Vizio offering looked to be a gamechanger for this year, however performance isnt as robust as we initially thought it would be. The P-series Vizio 4K LED TV is produced in 5 popular sizes. The TV is packed with all sorts of picture quality features like full array local dimming with 64 zones, Ultra HD upscaling, and a 960 Clear Action Rate for fast motion processing. Top it off with updated Smart TV features and you have a worthy 4K contender.
- Strong Black Levels and Contrast
- Gaming Input Lag
- Smart TV options
- Side Angle Viewing Contrast and Color loss
- Price
- Processing/Up-scaling aka Over-processing
- Visual artifacts and image edge enhancement
- No 3D compatibility
Picture Quality Rating: 8.6/10
There is a lot to discuss in picture quality. There are not a plethora of options out there for 4K content and this makes testing and evaluation more difficult. This means that upscaling to the native 4K resolution of the panel takes on significant importance in our evaluation since most everything you will currently watch (1080p HD, 720p HD, 480p/i standard def) will have to be up-scaled – putting pressure on processing engine and software performance. For this reason, we choose to render the picture quality rating and notes based on those lower signals rather than 4K.
Vizio P502ui-B3 is an exceptional value with the picture quality it delivers. The 64 LED dimming Zones are a big plus as well
Upscaling and Processing
This is the most important aspect of 4K UHD TVs. Vizio gets a passing grade but nothing more as the TVs Sharpness is too much even after picture setting adjustment. Call the processing in the P-series Vizio hyperactive if you will. Light flow through from on screen lights can be too much. Detail and edge enhancement ditto. No matter whether the signal is 4K or 1080p, the picture is over-amped. If you are the type of person that prefers the preset picture setting on the Vivid mode or the Dynamic mode, then this might be the perfect TV for you.
Black Levels and Contrast Benefit from Full Array Backlighting
The most notable positive picture quality features of the P-series 4K LED are the full array LED backlighting (as opposed to edge lit LED backlighting) with 64 active zones of local dimming. These have a direct effect on contrast, peak whites, and deep blacks and we were pleased with the results. Blacks are inky and contrast is impressive. The 64 employed zones are double that of the M-series HD LED by Vizio.
960 Clear Action Rate – 120 Hz Panel (240 "Effective")
A 960 Clear Action Rate is Vizio's backlight scanning feature that amps up the native resolution of the screen for better fast action performance. There are times when this is helpful, but it shouldn't always be enabled. The Pure Pixel Processing Engine is another welcome addition that reduces noise and improves picture quality from a compressed source.
Side Angle Viewing Quality
As usual with all LED backlit LCD TVs, the P-series Vizio is no exception in that contrast and coloration degrade at side angles. The screen is not curved to try to diminish this effect as are some of Samsungs. By our best estimation, contrast begins to degrade at around 40 degrees off center. The P502ui-B3 is the only Vizio in the P-series lineup with an IPS (in-plane-switching) panel which does a better job from side angles than it's counterparts.
Light Flowthrough Extreme
One of the greatest traits of local array LED backlit TVs is the beautiful lighting effects from on-screen windows and on-screen in room lights. It can add a neat visual effect and make programming more 3-dimensional. My only problem with the P-series Vizio is that it sometimes overdoes it. The on-screen image lighting can be extreme enough to cause the picture to look less realistic, basically diminishing natural background blur. The good news about this is that it did not often bleed over in any way on shadows. When watching a couple of darker scenes from Netflix's House of Cards in 4K we did note some uneven backlight (contrast) performance.
Clarity of detail looks amazing on the Vizio P series. Depth is also a strong suit
Backlight Uniformity – Strong Performance
We mentioned before that there are 64 separate backlight zones in the P-series Vizio. We recommend leaving the local dimming setting on for enhanced contrast and black levels. Performance here was very good as this can be such a detractor with LED backlighting. This category of performance often changes over time but at the time we tested the P-series, we noted a bit more light coming from the center of the screen which makes sense since it has full array LED backlighting rather than edge lit
Color Rendition
I thought color rendition was very good on the P-series post calibration, while certainly less realistic than our highest picture rated Sony 4K X950B series. It does not present any better nor worse than the M-series by Vizio. Greens can sometimes be a bit unrealistic looking.
Picture Settings: In addition to the already pretty complete menu options on the M-series Vizio, the P-series also gives you the ability to turn the local dimming feature off if you so desire. There is a 10-point grayscale and gamma preset control as well to enhance calibration. Overall, it's a very complete menu of settings and with more preset Picture Modes than most competitors.
This is a great example of the color the Vizio P series is capable of
Clear Action and Smooth Motion Effect Picture Settings
We recommend turning off these two picture settings especially for movies and normal TV programming due to the unwelcome effects they produce in reducing natural background blur in scenes. It creates an artificial kitchy cutout effect and is not the way the original producers meant for the programming to be viewed. Turning these features off does cut down on how detailed and refined image edges are, so be prepared for that. Leave it on for sports and super fast action to cut down motion blur and create a more 3 dimensional image.
Features Rating: 8.8/10
Internet Features and Vizio Internet Apps Plus
802.11ac dual-band MIMO wireless is built right into the TV for the fastest connection available. This really helps when streaming HD content, and hopefully 4K content soon. The Vizio P series pushes the updated Smart TV platform, Vizio Internets Apps Plus. This provides all the apps you'll need for streaming video and music. One of the best upgrades is the processing power behind it all. The V6 processor provides a quad-core GPU and a dual-core CPU. This should handle all the video and computing that you'll need on a smart TV. Second screen interactivity from your smartphone is another big plus here as well.
The Netflix app works wonderfully on the Vizio Internet Apps Plus platform
The Via Plus Apps and Internet options are complete enough an the system allows you to organize the icon choices to create a more user friendly platform. This allows you to avoid the Apps you dont want. The Netflix App allows 4K UHD streaming in the P-series, although at the time of writing it did not have the same for Amazon Instant. The options are plentiful with all the main movie and TV Apps and sound Apps like Pandora, Spotify. Not that I like them much, but there is a lack sports Apps.
4K streaming is possible with the HEVC H.265 codec and the latest HDMI standard for full resolution 60fps playback. HDCP 2.2 also allows for playback of copyright protected 4K content.
Backlit Remote Control
The buttons on the standard remote are too small in many cases and operation is not smooth. There are dedicated Smart TV buttons for Netflix, M Go, and Amazon allowing quick access to those Apps. The front side is not backlit but the more helpful QWERTY keyboard remote on the back is. The QWERTY side of the remote really helps speed any kind of search.
Gaming Mode
The P-series Vizio is an excellent gaming model with a Game picture mode but also a Game Low Latency setting that helps reduce input lag no matter what Picture Mode you are using. The TV has incredibly low input lag in the Game Mode and we do not hesitate to recommend this model as a gaming TV.
5 HDMI Ports
It's always nice to have more HDMI ports. 4 of these are normal 1080p, 4K (30Hz) ports, while the 5th is 2.0 for 4K (60Hz) or a PC at 1080p(60hz).
Appearance and Design – Not too Flashy
The P502ui has is very similar in design to the M series from last year. The biggest difference is the color of the finish. The P series features a dark metallic finish on the sides of the bezel. The ultra slim 8mm black bezel that surrounds the edge to edge glass of the screen is fantastic. The base and neck are made out of metal to give it a solid construction and feel. The profile is razor thin and competes with the best LED TVs on the market. It's not nearly as flashy as the other 4K TVs on the market, but that may not be a bad thing for those who want a traditional looking TV.
Value Rating: 9.4/10
With the price now just above the M-series Vizio, why not spring for the P-series. Actually, the M-series may deliver you a preferred 1080p HD picture rather the the over-processed on on the P-series 4K TV especially given the dearth of 4K content. If you were wondering whether the up-scaling conversion of Vizio would be sufficient with HD signals, wonder no more, Vizio has even overdone it, and could not avoid visual artifacts in the the process. Nevertheless, we have to give the P-series Vizio an exceptional Value Rating with prices this reasonable. The P502ui-B3 sells for just $800. Granted, it does not compare in quality with our favorite picture on the super high quality X950B Sony, but neither does the price.
Overall Rating: 8.9/10
Quick Specs
- 49.5" Screen Diagonally Measured
- 3840x2160 Resolution
- 64 Active Dimming Zones
- V6 Six-core processor: Quad-core GPU + Dual-core CPU
- Spatial Scaling Engine for Upscaling
- 10W x 2 Speakers
- Without Stand: 44.13"W x 25.86"H x 2.07"D
- Weight without Stand: 35 lbs
- With Stand: 44.13"W x 27.71"H x 9.93"D
- Weight with Stand: 39 lbs
Having reviewed and written about Television Technology for over 10 years, Wiley never tires of researching the newest qualitative trends related to the technology. Most people do not get excited about possibilities behind the latest video engine...Wiley does. Read more about Robert |


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After two solid years of development, I am overjoyed to announce that WarpAcademy.com is a reality and open for business! We are a highly affordable, full-featured, cutting edge online academy for learning any/every aspect of Ableton Live, offering Tutorials, Courses, and Webinars. As Lead Trainer, I am responsible for the curriculum content. Please stop by and say hello!
Warp Academy is Here!
January 29th, 2014Ableton Live 9 / Push Launch Event in Seattle–March 6th, 2013
February 16th, 2013Ableton, Seattle Live Users Group and the Vera Project are proud to be partnering with Jake Perrine for Seattle's exclusive Push and Live 9 preview workshop on March 6th. Come be the first to see and experience Push, the first hardware instrument designed specifically for Live. Jake Perrine will be demonstrating Push in combination with Live 9, highlighting Live's new features while creating a simple track from scratch. We'll conclude our presentation with some hands on time with Push and a Q&A session. Whether you are a seasoned pro or just discovering Live for the first time, expect this event to be an insightful and exciting experience for all attendees.
Grace – From the Direct Box of the Soul
October 30th, 2012"Finished, it's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished." –Samuel Beckett
Finally done! After many many months of hard work, Grace McCune's spectacular new album is complete and ready for purchase! I'm honored to have helped this project along from the initial Kickstarter campaign video, to the recording, arranging, mixing and mastering, right through to the CD artwork layout. I guess I'm the One-Stop-Shop! Grace's songs and performances are one of a kind, and I hope you check them out. I'm super proud of this one!
Brief interviews with Jake about his books
April 5th, 2012Bill Gibson interviews Jake about Producing Music with Ableton Live:
Bill Gibson interviews Jake about Sound Design, Mixing and Mastering with Ableton Live:
The Emergence of the Laptop Producer
April 4th, 2012Here's a little blog post I did for Onstage and Backstage, a blog by Hal Leonard Performing Arts, talking about the emergence of a new kind of recording artist over the last decade: the Laptop Producer.
Cafe Musica album recording
December 9th, 2011Isaac and Esther Olson are truly masters of their craft. This brother / sister duo not only played breathtaking violin and viola for this recording, but also seamlessly overdubbed multiple parts, adding additional parts alongside their previous takes, which is hard to do. Finally, they arranged all the music for this collection of songs because they didn't like what was commercially available: "Its all too simple and cheesy," says Esther. In just three short days we tracked, overdubbed, mixed and mastered 11 songs for their upcoming release. Amazing work.
Enchanted Forest at the Orcas Center Black Box
October 22nd, 2011Admittedly, its been a while since I've acted in a play, but I had a feeling this show was going to be a hoot, so I got on board – and what a ride its been! From the creative recesses of director Deborah Sparks' subconscious, onto the stage comes Enchanted Forest, a semi-steampunk cabaret romp through an eclectic mix of songs and silliness. I played Dr. Livingston, a bumbling British chap constantly on safari. Included were two "Chap-Hop" rap numbers – nothing like having to rap in an upper-crust Brittish accent with a glued on mustache… The photo is of Grace McCune and myself – she played the female lead, Carmen, and in this scene we sang the Carpenter's "Close To You" to each other over iPhones patched into the house PA. Fab!
Grace McCune – Direct Box of the Soul
September 19th, 2011Grace is a force of nature: singer, songwriter, piano player, teacher, actress… I've only been on the island a short year and her name just keeps coming up – clearly a big fish in our little island pond! We were in Enchanted Forest together at the Orcas Center these past two months, and Grace was a true pleasure to work with: punctual, professional, fun to be around, worked hard and complained not at all. Then she asked me to help her put together an EP of her songs for a mini tour she is doing in Europe presently, and Direct Box of the Soul is the result. Five songs, recorded in one day, mixed and mastered in another. She was prepared and nailed it each song in under three takes, with few overdubs if any. I look forward to working with her again. Here is my favorite song from the album, She Is Water.
Katie Gray – Love Like Fire
July 21st, 2011Once in a while you find yourself in the perfect place at the perfect time. This mixing and mastering project fell in my lap after playing Bloom for Jim Bredouw, the producer, arranger and recording engineer for Katie Gray's epic second album, "Love Like Fire." Liking what he heard of Bloom, Jim immediately asked me to mix Katie's album for him. After picking my jaw up off the floor and stammering an emphatic "YES", I spent a month polishing Katie's staggeringly beautiful voice and songs and Jim's masterful and lush arrangements into a finished album. It is one of the finest projects I've had the honor of working on. Here's my favorite track from the album, "Shelter."


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Seeing an opportunity to engage and ultimately monetize an enormous new fan base, the major leagues of North America and Europe are investing time and resources in China. These are wide-ranging strategies, covering everything from sponsorship acquisition and activation to strategic partnerships designed to develop sports from the bottom up, broadcast rights arrangements to staging events and opening dedicated offices in the country.
It has become common practice for Europe's major soccer teams to travel to China for pre-season matches during the summer, while the National Hockey League (NHL) played pre-season games in Beijing last year and will again this season, and the NBA—international pioneers in China—created a dedicated NBA China offshoot a decade ago.
Consumers under age 30 in China are of particular interest to sports properties and brands due to their wide range of interests, international sports fandom and receptiveness to sponsorship.
As global and Chinese properties find a foothold in this fascinating market, a deep and rich understanding of the Chinese consumer—who they are, what they like and don't like, how they behave, how they are changing and how they are different from fans elsewhere in the world—becomes ever more critical, in order to create, drive and maximize commercial partnerships.


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Murphy Abigail Shuler, as a puppy in 1993: She is the real schnauzer who inspired this blog. |
Americans must love end-of-the-year lists. We certainly have plenty of them, so I've decided to join the crowd.
My all-time favorite such list was Casey Kasem's countdown of the year's biggest pop-music hits on American Top 40. Casey is getting way up there in years, but as far as I know, he still might be doing his "best of" list. If so, I don't know how he manages to find enough decent songs these days to fill a countdown.
As for Legal Schnauzer, it had never occurred to me to do a "best of" list at the end of the year. But a reader suggested one a few days back, and I thought, "Well, why not?" After all, many of my best ideas--and many of my most intriguing pieces of information--come from readers.
So I started thinking: What posts this year best represent the kind of reporting I hope to do here? Which ones were best written? Which ones best covered important subjects, in Alabama and beyond? Which ones addressed issues that most touched lives? Which ones seemed to resonate with readers? Which ones generated a high volume, and quality, of comments?
Those thoughts led to this question: What kind of impact is our little blog having? The year 2012 marked our fifth full year of blogging, plus about a half year of pieces in 2007. What do the numbers show? We churned out 322 posts this year, bringing our total to 2,334. Our audience continues to grow, with roughly 387,500 page views in 2012, up from 379,156 last year--and way up from the 187,571 in 2008, our first full year.
Our all-time page views top 1.57 million, with almost 1.1 million unique visits. (The real numbers are higher than that because I blogged for four to six months before signing up for a statistics service.) Those totals represent only visits directly to Legal Schnauzer, and do not include readers at a number of national Web sites where my work appears.
Gauging readership in the blogosphere is an inexact science, but I took a crack at it in July 2011, when we reached 1 million page views. Totaling our audience from all sources, my best guess is that we've had between 5 million and 10 million of what I call "significant reading experiences" (SRE). From all of the statistics available to me, our readership and influence seem to be growing steadily. For that, I am deeply grateful--especially when you consider that many of our posts deal with complex subjects and are not easy reading. Keeping up with Legal Schnauzer takes some work, and it's heartening to know that a significant number of people are willing to put in the effort.
With a variety of questions and numbers swirling in my head, here is my shot at Legal Schnauzer's Top 10 posts of 2012. I like to think we are getting better at this blogging thing as we move along. If so, this list should represent some of our best work. And early indicators hint that 2013 will be very interesting, indeed.
It's traditional to publish these lists near the end of the year in question. We are running out of time on that front, so I will start this post here on New Year's Eve 2012--with details to follow, in the first few days of 2013.
As always, we pay tribute to Murphy Abigail Shuler (1993-2004), our precious girl and the real schnauzer who inspired this blog. Her memory keeps us moving forward, toward a day when we hope Americans can enter courtrooms with some assurance that the rule of law will prevail.
With that in mind, this seems like a good time to rerun Murphy's appearance on a Birmingham news program, commemorating a Blessing of the Animals on St. Francis of Assisi day. Murphy is the schnauzer being held by her mom near the beginning and end of the clip.
Happy New Year to all of our readers. Thanks for your tips, your inspirations, your support, your constructive criticisms, your witticisms, and your determination to join us in this effort to help resuscitate a broken justice system. Most of all, thanks for your time and your interest.
Quite a few of you have become friends and acquaintances. Getting to know many of you--via phone, e-mail, snail mail, in person, or a combination of all the above--has provided some of my fondest memories of the past 5 1/2 years.
Burton Cummings, one of my favorite musicians, says, "Without the audience, you have nothing." I know from first-hand experience that he is right on target about that.
(To be continued)


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Eel biodiversity region discovered
A recent analysis of more than 40,000 leptocephalus (larval marine eel) specimens, collected by the CSIRO in the North West Coral Sea in 1997 and preserved in the Australian Museum, has revealed a surprising level of biodiversity.
Dr Michael J Miller, an expert on leptocephali and the biodiversity of marine eels from the Ocean Research Institute of the University of Tokyo, recently spent 4 weeks at the Museum categorising and analysing around 10,000 specimens from the collection to produce the first evaluation of the biodiversity of marine eels in the North West Coral Sea.
The variety of leptocephali Dr Miller observed was indicative of high species richness of Muraenidae (moray eels) and Ophichthidae (snake eels and worm eels) and congrid eels in the region. His preliminary analyses suggest at least 110 species of marine eel leptocephali were present, along with Anguilla obscura, a tropical freshwater eel.
Each of the families of muraenids, ophichthids, and congrids were likely to be represented by more than 30 species - far more than have been recorded in the region as adults. Initial findings indicate that a further 12 species of the Chlopsidae (false morays) have been collected, including several new species.
In total, as many as 10 new larval species may have been detected, including several moray species and a new species of garden eel. The collection has also provided an opportunity to analyse assemblages and learn about the life histories and depth distributions of species or taxa of the leptocephali.
'The North West Coral Sea is a unique zoogeographic region', said Dr Miller. 'It has a major ocean current system flowing into an enclosed basin and a wide variety of habitats, including coral reef, shallow shelf, slope and deep water. That's why there is such an abundance and diversity of marine eels.'
The study also highlights a key role for museums in preserving collections of specimens whose immediate value is not apparent. The CSIRO collected the specimens while studying lobster larvae; the eels were 'by-catch' from the project and were acquired by the Museum in 2002. At the time, resources were not available to analyse the specimens so they were simply catalogued and stored.
Kept as a resource for researchers for many years into the future, the collection has now revealed new insights into biodiversity and the natural histories of this interesting group of marine organisms.
Michael Miller's research was supported by an Australian Museum Visiting Collection Fellowship.


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DragonVale: How to breed a Diamond Dragon
DIAMOND DRAGON: (limited: Only Breedable in April)
INCUBATION TIME: 30 Hours
BUY-IT Price: 1750 GEMS
HOW TO BREED:Ice and Mine
(This guide is part of a larger DragonVale breeding guide. For the full list of breedable dragons, click here.
If you would like to help support my rushing breedings & incubations to discover the latest dragon combos for you, please send me gems – GameCenter ID = "Dr Macenstein" & "MacensteiniPad". Of you can give us BOTH gems by entering my Friend code in the REDEEM section under SOCIAL. It's 5074276. Thanks!


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When my first niece, Chantel was born, my parents were so excited about being grandparents. Chantel was just so little, and still is for that matter. Her small size brought about the nickname that my dad came up with…Teensy. That name progressed into, or perhaps from teeny tiny, and then to little teensy, and teens (not to be confused with the adolescent). Maybe my dad just knew something the rest of us didn't, because, Chantel has grown into a beautiful 4′ 10″ woman…and I do use the word "grown" pretty lightly, since we can all tell from my description that growing was not something Chantel excelled in. She is definitely vertically challenged, but that is the extent of her "challenges" in my opinion.
Chantel, always had flair. From the very first picture, you knew she was special. She was very much a girly girl. She loved posing for pictures, and is very photogenic as you can see. She loved makeup and bling. It was one of the things about her that made her fun. I don't know, maybe we were biased, because she was our first niece/granddaughter, but everyone in our family was pretty taken with teensy. For much of her early life, she was like another sister to my younger sisters. She went a lot of places with them, and while they did fight some, they all had a good time.
Chantel is grown now, and many grandchildren/nieces and nephews have followed in her little footsteps. She has moved on to motherhood and one day soon I'm sure she will become a grandmother, although there is not big hurry for that. While she has become an adult, her flair for the beautiful has not diminished. She adds her special touch to every part of her life and the lives of those around her. She has a knack for interior decorating, and her home shows it. She has created a lovely home for her family…something not everyone can do. She could easily be an interior decorator. She is a natural when it comes to style. After watching her from birth to adulthood, I know that her sense of style is something she was born with, because it has always been there.
While Chantel can be as tough as the next woman when she needs to be, it is her sweet spirit that most impresses me. She would choose to love others over any other way of life. She has a kindness about her that is very endearing. Her smile and laugh can lift the clouds from a dreary day, and bring back the sunshine. She is as much a blessing today as she was the day she first arrived, if not more. Love you Chantel!!


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Smartedge 50m Grey
50m Roll of Smartedge Lawn Edging
Smartedge is designed to be simply installed in both small and large gardens with stunning results.
It is flexible so it is perfect to use for curved and straight edges alike and it's easy installation means that both amateur and professional gardeners can save time and effort in keeping their gardens looking great all year around.
Smartedge is manufactured from heavy duty 2mm thick polypropylene and has a unique patented A-frame system which allows the grass on the top of the edge to grow through and bind the Smartedge to the ground.
Smartedge is extremely hardwearing and when installed, is strong enough to drive over with small garden tractors. The product is light in weight, very weather and stain resistant and non-toxic.
Supplied with 450 fixing pins.


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It isn't easy to be original when writing a book about trees, one of the most frequently visited subjects for environmentalists, horticulturists and many others. However, Daniel Butler's contribution is certainly unusual, not least in the rather unconventional structure and eclectic mix of subject-matter, evidently reflecting the author's very broad interest in and passion for the subject. A pocket-sized hardback with some beautiful illustrations, this book is a real pleasure to hold in the hand.
In many ways this is a reference book, something to dip into rather than read from start to finish. Nevertheless, there is a narrative journey of sorts. The author takes the reader through a series of commemorative tree-planting occasions, starting from birth and moving through the various stages of life – coming of age, marriage, retirement and bereavement.
Interspersed with these are short descriptions on the characteristics of particular tree species. These are far from exclusively native or commonly found in the UK. So we learn about the oak and the ash but also the ebony and rarities like the Wollemi pine. The book also has practical sections on techniques such as grafting and cloning, as well as short pieces on wildlife in woodlands and using timber responsibly. This variety and interweaving make the book intriguing and distinctive.
At its heart is the author's real interest in the commemorative role of tree planting, but the book offers so much more. It is in part a beginners' guide to sylviculture and in part a miscellaneous collection of short pen-portraits of particular trees that appeal to the author, such as the redwood and baobab. I like the fact that this book shuns the divide that so often keeps the scientific and spiritual appreciation of trees separate, and I rather like the idiosyncratic approach that has the reader thinking about how to celebrate an engagement on one page and learning how to grow a bonsai on the next. However much we harvest, study, categorise and prune trees, there is something about them that I suspect will always be essentially wild and ineffable – which is of course a big part of what draws us to them – and Butler's approach reminds us of that.
As a tree lover, I enjoyed reading this book. Two things would, in my view, have made it even better. The first is an inevitable consequence of addressing such a broad subject in such a short space. I found myself wanting more information all the time – for example, useful though the sections on looking after your tree are, you would be unlikely to rely on them as your sole technical guide. Perhaps some further references would have been useful. I had the feeling of too many things being touched upon or mentioned in passing, with not enough of them being explored sufficiently to satisfy.
Secondly, I wanted a bit more of a narrative, something that linked the different sections of the book together a bit more. Much as I enjoyed leaping from the plum one moment to how to combat climate change the next, I wanted more of a thread to help me make sense of the journey. I wanted to know why I was being told about the bristlecone pine – fascinating though it is – but not the beech, which I am much more likely to plant in my garden.
I'm not suggesting there is no organising personality behind the book's structure; it's just that I didn't feel it speaking to me clearly as I read. Neither of these criticisms should deter you from buying the book. Even if you don't get around to reading all of it, it is a lovely thing to own or to give and a reminder that physical books can have personalities of their own, quite distinct from the information they contain.