text:
Tushar Samant, the webmaster for the Umbrella Music organization, has just launched a new live music calendar for the jazz, experimental, and improvised music communities. The calendar attempts to fill the large void left by Malachi Ritscher's Chicago Rash Audio Potential (which itself was a replacement for Seth Tisue's Chicago Now list). It doesn't have a name yet, and the current URL is temporary, but it's good to see someone stepping up to advocate music that has too few reliable supporters.
Sometimes I wonder if some of the PR agents out there—mostly the ones lurking in the shadowy realm of the novelty compilations—might be psychic. I'd just struggled through half a review of Malajube's decent set last night at a Fader party when a press release about the Bossa n' Roses comp landed in my in-box with an angelic beep. One 30 second clip of "November Rain" later, I was thinking, "This is much easier."
Bossa n' Roses is part of a bossa nova tribute series that includes one album of Bob Marley songs and two of Stones songs, with album art designed by or for the crotch enthusiast. According to the press release, the comps are supposed to be, "cool, intelligent, modern and a little bit ironic!" If this string of blandly buzzy adjectives appeals to you, you are probably either the owner of an expensive Wicker Park boutique, have opened or are considering opening a tapas lounge, or you are an insufferable dick who does things like throw dinner parties just so you can show off your new ice-cube trays. If you are any of these things, please order Bossa n' Roses right now: its combination of Casio-strength synthstruments, kittenish whisper-singing, and "cool, intelligent, modern" irony is totally your jam. Play it as background music while people shop for overpriced shoes/dog outfits/baby-sized AC/DC shirts. Buy extra copies to give to your friends at your next party, because when you put it on they will so be in your face all, "Dude, what is this?"
Did you know that Bossa n' Roses is number nine on Spain's iTunes album chart? And what comes from Spain? That's right: tapas bars. Do the math.
For the second year in a row, my ladyfriend's mom sent back a gigantic jar of homemade kimchi after Thanksgiving. Last year she sent the regular cut cabbage variety (tongbaechu) which she ever so lightly sweetens with asian pear (another excellent use for this most versatile of fruits, one that the Pear Lady declared "fancy.") This year I'm in possession of about six year's worth of whole-radish kimchi, aka chongak kimchi, aka "bachelor's kimchi," named for the long strand of greenery left dangling at tip of the white stubby radish. It's meant to resemble the the unshorn locks of young unchained Korean men of yore. I really like this bit of shrubbery, which is saturated with peppery juice, but the radish itself is still very fresh and slightly but nicely bitter. Personally, I like my kimchi on the funky side and I've been told this stuff needs a good three more weeks in the fridge before it's at its prime. Unlike Martha I can't give the recipe because the chef is strangely mercurial about her methods, but if anyone's really interested (and willing to come get it), I'll donate a small jar in the spirit of paying it forward, and reducing the the aggressive aroma dominating my fridge. First come. . .
Is this bumper sticker (which apparently still has to be imported from the U.K.) sarcastic or not? Does it depend on the gross weight of the vehicle to which it's attached? (Thanks, Treehugger.)
And here's a glimpse of the world where sarcasm can go entirely undetected: "The November 15 edition of 'The Colbert Report' on Comedy Central offered more proof of comedian Stephen Colbert's ineffective charade at pretending to be a conservative." (Hat tip to Pharyngula, where commenters indulge in a discussion of whether there has been an intentionally funny conservative since Evelyn Waugh. Your thoughts?)
And finally, just for fairness and balance, here's an unbelievably ignorant comment from the liberal side by David Shenk, author of The Immortal Game, published in the Toronto Star and republished at 3 Quarks Daily:
"Q. Do you ever fantasize about teaching chess to some religious fundamentalists?
"A. What a great question. I should actually try to do this some time—just spend time studying how someone who thinks in this fundamentalist way most of the time is also a chess player, because I really see it as a contradiction."
Here I wish he was being saracastic! Having played tournament chess for decades, I can assure Mr. Shenk that strong chess players can hold every imaginable kind of preposterous opinion without damaging their game at all. George Orwell still rules—he had to make this same point about Ezra Pound, who spoke for fascism and wrote great poetry. Deal with it, folks.
This story in today's New York Times discusses a new music-critics poll hosted by the New York blog Idolator, a music-oriented spinoff of Gawker. The project, overseen by one-time Reader contributor Michaelangelo Matos, is seeking the opinions (i.e., top-ten lists) from some 1,200 music journalists. The new poll, Jackin' Pop, was conceived as a challenge to Village Voice's Pazz & Jop Poll, which lost much of its credibility this fall, when the paper dismissed longtime critic and poll "poobah" Robert Christgau. Idolator tried to enlist Christgau to run the show, but he declined—although he will contribute his list and comments to the new poll, as well as the old Voice poll, which will continue under the direction of the paper's current music editor, Rob Harvilla.
I understand the impulse to create a new forum now that the Voice looks so stupid and clueless. But I don't see a mass exodus of the old guard from Pazz & Jop happening anytime soon, especially when Christgau says he's still going to contribute. Now we have two competing critics polls, but isn't one enough? Most of us get some kind of begrudging kick from compiling these lists—Reader music writers will be submitting their top-fives soon—but the Internet has made the whole enterprise feel like overkill. What was good, even noble, about the Voice poll was that it aimed for a critical consensus, even if the consensus was sometimes mediocre. The zillion lists that will pop up on the Web over the next month or two (and I'll surely produce a top-40 list for this blog) start to look like a comprehensive catalog of every album released the previous year, which makes the utility of lists questionable. And it looks like those lists are only going to keep propagating more lists.
Being that the Idolator is a Web-only publication, I suspect that some veteran critics won't be involved in Jackin' Pop—more out of laziness that anything else—and I'll bet that if it does take root it will skew more toward younger bands; I doubt the new Yusuf album will turn up anywhere. My ego will probably guarantee my participation, if only to make sure Olivia Block gets represented, but I still yearn for the days when too much information was just that, not the current mental detonation every new Web page threatens to create.
"I don't believe in life after death," Natalie Angier wrote in the American Scholar two years ago, "but I'd like to believe in life before death. I'd like to think that one of these days we'll leave superstition and delusional thinking and Jerry Falwell behind. Scientists would like that, too. But for now, they like their grants even more."
Angier's eloquent plaint is getting a second life on the Web thanks to Edge magazine. Her prize examples revealing how scientists malign some superstitions more than others were drawn from two installments of Cornell University's "Ask an Astronomer" online feature.
On religion: "Modern science leaves plenty of room for the existence of God and that there are plenty of places where people who do believe in God can fit their beliefs in the scientific framework without creating any contradictions."
On astrology: "Astronomers do not believe in astrology. It is considered to be a ludicrous scam. There is no evidence that it works, and plenty of evidence to the contrary. There is also no mechanism by which distant planets could possibly influence personalities."
Logically, of course, it's equally possible to find hidey-holes in the currently known universe for astrology, suitably interpreted. But the stars haven't been aligned to get those believers' hands on NSF funding.
Grieving fans of the late Lo-Cal Locale might be excited to know that a new restaurant is moving in to punch their yogurt cards. Charlie Trotter today announced plans for his first new restaurant in Chicago since he opened his namesake spot in 1987 and fundamentally changed the restaurant scene in this town. He did open the takeout Trotter's To Go on Fullerton in 2000, but this time the idea is much grander: Trotter will be responsible for all food and beverage operations at the Elysian Hotel, the planned luxury hotel and residence set to open in 2008 at 11 E. Walton.
The Elysian is a monster: 60 retro stories occuping the entire trapezoid bounded by Walton and Delaware, State and Rush. Designed by Lucien Lagrange, of the teeteringly ginormous Park Tower at Water Tower, among other buildings, it is already loaded with the kind of intent and marketing that makes it seem funny we still talk about the 80s as the decade of excess. Their website teases: "Coco Chanel. Frank Sinatra. The Duchess of Windsor. At one time, all of them resided in world-famous hotels. And now that life can be yours." I always thought there was something tatty as well as glamorous about globe-trotting old mooches like Wallis who lived in hotels, meself, but I understand the appeal. The Elysian will have, in addition to approximately 150 hotel and condo units, what looks like a mansard-roof hat, a four-story spa, and a "European auto courtyard."
Trotter has had high-profile expansions in the works in the past, but for one reason or another they haven't panned out. Most recently (and publicly) he cancelled plans to open a seafood restaurant in the Time-Warner Center in New York and in 2003 he pulled out as anchor tenant at Paul Allen's Hospital complex in London. (He did open C at the One & Only Palmilla resort in Los Cabos, Mexico, in 2004.) However, as Crain's points out, this development is slightly different. In addition to being in town, Trotter is aligning himself tightly with a hotel, as Rick Tramanto and Gale Gand of Tru have recently done with the Westin North Shore in Wheeling. And founding partner and CEO of the Elysian's development company, David Pisor, is no stranger to the fine food world. His aunt is Alice Waters, of Berkeley's Chez Panisse, and his father founded an artisanal bread company in Traverse City, Michigan.
The food will supposedly be much the same as found on Armitage, at least in the one Elysian restaurant that will be open for dinner only; there'll also be a more traditional hotel dining room open all day. But the across-the-board plan is not for "a stamped-out, high-end experience," says Charlie, "but something that is really personal and has a genuineness about it."
Chris Wood, the bass player in Medeski, Martin & Wood, takes a simple approach when he gets together with his guitar-playing, singing brother, Oliver, in the Wood Brothers. They hadn't played together for years, but not so long ago Oliver discovered that Chris had a National Steel guitar, one of the most beautiful looking (and sounding) instruments ever made. I guess they started this band so that he could play it.
Earlier this year the Wood Brothers released Ways Not To Lose on Blue Note Records, and frankly, it's hard to imagine the label would've put it out if MMW—who themselves play in Chicago with guitarist John Scofield at the Vic on December 9—hadn't already released records on Blue Note. It's not really bad, but calling it slight is a compliment. Oliver plays simple, low-key slide patterns over his brother's nicely woody lines and sings in a relaxed, almost catatonic warble. The music, which kind of reminds me of early Little Feat without the depth, is hushed blues-rock, with a damper on the rock part of the equation. They perform tomorrow night, Thursday, November 30, at Schubas.
I just got clued in to a free Rhymefest thing happening tomorrow (Thursday, November 30) in Chicago. He's playing some sort of Courvoisier-sponsored party down at Dragonfly, 832 W. Randolph, and it looks like if you show up by 9:30 you can hit up the open bar. This will be something like the kajillionth free Rhymefest show in Chicago in the past two years, but given his dedication to not sleepwalking through any show, big or small—a rare quality in MCs these days—it should be worth getting down to. The first time I saw Rhymefest was a launch party for the Puma store at Four, where he rapped from the stairs to the second level and went on a tear about something to do with Kanye being responsible for him not being able to pay his gas bill. As a concert it was a mess, but as a shock of frenetic weirdness intruding on the sedate open-bar scene, it was gold.
In other non-sucky hip-hop concert news, Keith Murray is off the bill of the December 6 Redman/Raekwon show at House of Blues. He's being replaced by Ghostface, which could make it the most bananafied rap concert of the year. Check out the videos on Raekwon's MySpace page to get a taste of the insanity I'm expecting him to bring.
An excellent story in The Reeler, which covers "New York City cinema, from the art house to the red carpet," details how the reorganization of the Village Voice has affected the paper's film criticism. To quote writer S.T. VanAirsdale, "The interim replacement for fired section editor Dennis Lim . . . lasted only two days before giving his notice, the budget [amounts] to just a third of its size prior to last winter's merger with the New Times chain, the popular year-end critics' poll [has] been cancelled, a number of respected freelance critics and feature writers . . . have disappeared from [the Voice's] pages and its de-emphasis on local independent and repertory releases may end up alienating some of its advertisers."
Losing the Voice's year-end poll was particularly tough for film lovers across the country because it focuses on alternative newspapers, which are more inclined to cover independent and foreign films. By organizing these disparate voices into a single chorus, the Voice poll provided a valuable counterweight to the ten-best lists of the nation's dailies, which tend to favor big-studio releases. It's hard to believe that David Cronenberg's harsh A History of Violence would have picked up any Oscar nominations this year if it hadn't topped the Voice poll in 2005. In addition, the contributors' comments, collected and edited by Lim, could always be counted on for some of the liveliest and most provocative film writing of the year.
Now word arrives that Lim and critic Anthony Kaufman will be continuing the poll on the Web site IndieWire, with the same rules, categories, and opportunity for critics to sound off. Ballots are due by December 15, and Lim hopes to post the results before the holidays.


text:
Header tabs
Elliott is a trusted partner to the healthcare sector providing innovative, high-quality design and healthcare building solutions, clearly focused on meeting the needs of customers. We have significant experience of providing for a range of healthcare needs including hospital wards, health/medical centres, operating theatres, outpatients clinics, medical research centres, care/nursing homes and a range of other ancillary accommodation needs during hospital design and hospital construction.
Elliott is fully conversant with the requirements and need to comply with the Health Technical Memoranda (HTM) and Health Building Notes (HBN) on healthcare construction and hospital construction projects. Our track record includes a range of diverse buildings for a multitude of healthcare applications. Please take a look at our case studies which further demonstrate the significant experience we have in the healthcare industry.
We are committed to ensuring absolute health and safety is achieved on all of our healthcare construction projects. We are particularly aware of the sensitivities required where we are constructing healthcare buildings on live and operational healthcare facility sites.
Our off-site healthcare building solutions use modern methods of off-site construction to provide you with a traditional looking healthcare building cutting construction time by up to a half.
Elliott healthcare solutions include:
- NHS compliant buildings
- G P surgeries
- Open plan wards
- Student accommodation
- Extensions to existing facilities or new build
- Constructed and fitted out to stringent healthcare standards
- Building rated BREEAM Excellent
- Building Information Modelling (BIM)
- Unlimited design options with single and multi-storey solutions
- Cost certainty – cost effectiveness coupled with financial transparency and no hidden costs
- Service – you can have a turn key solution providing everything from start to finish including a whole host of FM (Facilities Maintenance) solutions for both your Elliott building and existing facilities
- Programme – rapid deployment, installation and practical completion compared with traditional systems
- Minimal disruption – the disruption to your business during the installation and duration of the site works is minimal
- Flexibility – your building can grow and adapt over time to suit the needs of your business
- Quality - comparable or improved quality compared with traditional systems
- Sustainability - environmentally considerate with reduced life cycle costing
- Longevity - In excess of 60 year design life verified by external consultants
- Warranty - ongoing commitment through market leading warranties for peace of mind
Elliott buildings can be designed to meet your requirements. Available as single storey or multi-storeys for optimum footprint size.
360° services
Elliott provides a turn-key solution providing everything from start to finish including a whole host of value added services (VAS) for both your Elliott building and existing facilities
A wide range of healthcare building solutions using modern methods of construction cutting traditional construction time by up to a half

subset: commoncrawl


text:
With a sufficient universal dividend and a 50% discount-rebate policy there would be absolutely no reason to worry about unemployment as we re-industrialized the nation in the most modern, efficient, innovative and ecologically sane fashion possible. If we imported much less because we produced domestically, how stable and integral could the economy be? Answer: Incredibly more so. The same of course would be the result for every other advanced economy, and less advanced ones could develop much faster with the same policies while fitting the size and percentage rate of the above two policies as the job quickly progressed.
The two policies of Wisdomics-Giftonomics and the rates of each have so many positive "knock-on" effects its amazing everyone isn't on its bandwagon.


text:
Earphones Bluetooth Woozik S102 - Black
Earphones Bluetooth Woozik S102 - Black
- $12.99
- 45% discount
- Warranty: 12 months
- - 2 oz of electronic waste
Choose the esthetic condition What is this?
Choose the esthetic condition What is this?
No scratches and have exteriors that look brand new. For smartphones and tablets: the screen is completely intact and without scratches.
Refurbisher comments:
Look no further for a hardy pair of headphones-- The S102 Sweatproof Earbuds will last through anything. These are our athlete-in-mind designed headphone. They're tough like you, and they stay in place for optimal performance in whatever activity you choose! With Bluetooth 4.2 technology, connect to any device you desire. The secure latch for your ear ensures the S102s will never move out of place. Just like all Woozik headphones, the sound quality is exceptional.
10 products in stock
- Warranty: 12 months
- 30-day money back guarantee
- Free shipping available on every product!
Read more
This product was refurbished by:Woozik
If you have the slightest doubt or a question about this product, share it with us. FAQ / Contact Us
These functions have been tested by Woozik on this product
Earphones Bluetooth Woozik S102 - Black specs
- Color : Black
- Model : S102
- Bluetooth : Yes
- Noise Reducer : Yes
- Earbud : Yes
- Brand : Woozik
- Weight : 2 oz
Earphones Bluetooth Woozik S102 - Black
Our partners are electronics experts who test and verify that each product is 100% functional before it leaves the factory. This is the reason you benefit from a minimum 1-Year warranty with the purchase of a refurbished device at Back Market.
We go the extra mile - so you don't have to look far
money back guarantee
minimum warranty
Certified Merchants
Secure payment
with Adyen
"Meet the clique" - similar products
Customer reviews
Here's what our 2 million customers say about us around the world.


text:
Practical and Helpful Tips: Resources
Learn About Ways of Setting a Home Office
In order for you to be able to brainstorm and also focus on tasks that are important whether you are a full time worker or not, then you will need to have in mind some aspects when setting up the place. House offices are no longer based within the basement or the nook of the room.Since many people are doing their work from home, the home offices are playing an important role to aid this.It will be essential for you to have in mind you requirements and comfort, irrespective of whether you need a big or small area for the home office.
Individuals doing their work at home are able to balance their work and life, forget about the stressful transport and also they are independent to design their workspace in such a way to suit their needs, budget as well as like.The home workspace need to enhance productivity, happiness as well as comfort.This article will provide you with some necessary tips that you will be required to consider as you set up a working place in your home.
The first thing to do will be identifying the space where you will set up your workspace.In case you have a restricted space, you will not be having numerous options. In this case, it might be a just right thought to transform unique areas of your house where you feel that you'd be productive. You could convert a closet or a nook of your living room into your office.In case you convert your basement or attic into a workspace and you realize that there are some animals such as spiders, ants and mosquitoes it will be advisable for you to seek advice from a company dealing with pest extermination.
The second tip to consider a you set up a home working area is following the ergonomic rules. Designing a working area in your home might make you consider buying furniture items that are eye pleasing. Nonetheless, it's main to put the display at eye level or somewhat below.
The keyboard should also be place in such a way to keep the forearms parallel to the ground.Ensure that you also have such a chair which will enhance your working and one that makes you feel happy as well as comfortable. Keep in mind all aspects that would strengthen your productivity, including the temperature and also the rooms lighting. Have a portable phone available and remember window coverings so that you can control the quantity of light that gets in the workplace.
You should also ensure that you get the best concepts on storage.


text:
Introduction WordPress Browswer Caching Plugin
Don't you Just despise slow sites? Well, you are certainly not alone. Your visitors despise them and, to make things worse, so does Google. That's right, if you want your website to rank highly in search engines, sell more products, generate more leads, earn more revenue, or simply deliver a more positive user experience, it needs to load fast. WordPress Browswer Caching Plugin
click here to begin with WP Rocket today!
So just how Can you make your WordPress website quicker? Well, if you're still using a generic shared hosting company, one of the best options will, naturally, be to just change to a higher performance hosting company. But what if you simply have not got the money or time to make the switch?
Well, Fortunately, there is something different you can do that is extremely quick and simple — something which needs next-to-no technical know-how whatsoever! I'm talking, of course, about using a caching plugin.
Today, I will be taking an comprehensive look at a few of the primary caching plugins around. WP Rocket. In the following review, I will show you by exactly how much — and how readily — it can speed up your site (using real-life tests and real data).
What is WordPress Caching?
Caching Involves generating — and storing — a readymade static (i.e. unchanging) variant of your site on your own server ready to show to people at a moment's notice. This decreases the need for your site (and/or the user's browsers) to communicate back and forth with the server to build the behind-the-scenes information that generates your website's webpages.
With less Communication happening between servers, and much less information being loaded whenever your site is obtained, the time necessary to load your articles and pages is considerably reduced.
WP Rocket Will potentially.
· Cache all the articles and pages on your website
· Allow browser caching
· Defer loading of JavaScript documents
· Decrease bandwidth usage with gzip compression
· optimise Google fonts
· minify and concatenate CSS and JS files
· Defer loading of pictures.
You may Be wondering what happens if you publish a new blog article on a cached site, since, presumably, an unchanging cached version of your site would not take this recently created data into account.
Not so! WP Rocket will regenerate the cached pieces of your site each time you update your articles, thereby ensuring your visitors will always find the most up-to-date variant of your website.
Characteristics of WP Rocket
It's worth Pointing out that, in terms of features independently, WP Rocket compares pretty favourably using its competitors. Granted, you are probably more curious about how much faster your website will probably be following installing WP Rocket (and rightfully so), however it's wonderful to know you are not overlooking any significant features.
With WP Rocket, you get page caching, cache preloading, gzip compression, browser caching, Google Fonts optimization, picture and movie Lazy Load, minification, and a whole lot more.
The Fundamental SETTINGS
If you do Decide to learn more about the further settings and options WP Rocket provides, you'll see it's a couple of tricks up its sleeve to get possibly improving speed even further, such as the choice to simply load media files (like pictures ) when the visitor reaches them onto a page (a feature known as Lazy Loading).
One of The highlights of WP Rocket is its simple installation process, making it a pretty much fool proof caching choice for busy WordPress webmasters. It is called being'childishly easy to set up' — something customers who just need to get the work done and proceed will almost surely appreciate. WordPress Browswer Caching Plugin
click here to get started with WP Rocket today!
In fact, Once the plugin has been uploaded and activated on your website, the cache will be automatically generated whenever someone visits the site. Everybody visiting your site thereafter should immediately begin experiencing significantly faster loading times. Simple!
WP Rocket Aims to remove all such confusion by being automatically up-and-running right from the box — without being so rigid that it is not able to deliver great results. After activating WP Rocket, you will see only a few tabs on the admin panel, each with just a couple of easy-to-understand settings.
You can See the remainder of the basic settings display here. When there are a couple more choices to work with, the plugin works just fine without any of them enabled. This truly is plug'n' play caching for WordPress!
Of Course, it is recommended that you browse the online documentation to really determine what this plugin could do and just how much additional performance you can squeeze from it, but, for all those in a rush (or using a zero technical interest in the ins-and-outs of caching), it's safe to say that speeding up your site using WP Rocket could not be made easier.
FAST AND Effortless SETUP
The main Selling point of WP Rocket is how simple it makes allowing caching on your site. With most other caching plugins, you're confronted with the sometimes daunting task of understanding — and filling out — multiple pages of configurations and options. Based on how you configure them, you could easily wind up accidentally doing something a bit screwy (and even, in rare cases, inadvertently breaking up your website ).
WP Rocket Is also compatible with content delivery network (CDN) services. if your site is big enough to warrant dispersing its documents to multiple servers around the world for faster loading times, you'll find WP Rocket more than accommodating.
There is In addition, the choice to alter the default cache interval. However, unless you are displaying especially fast-changing or significant external dynamic content onto your own website (such as critical content from social media feeds), the default option 24-hour lifespan should be fine.
Cache — Fundamental Cache Options
The Cache tab lets you control How your page caching functions at a basic level? You can. WordPress Browswer Caching Plugin
· Include/exclude mobile users from seeing cached pages.
· Include/exclude logged-in users from visiting cached pages.
· Enable caching on HTTPS pages.
· Choose how long a webpage remains cached before the cache gets cleared (the default is 10 hours).
The Majority of the timeyou can Leave these as the defaults.
Media — Lazy loading + More
In the Media tab, you can enable Lazy loading for videos or images, in addition to disable WordPress emojis and embeds.
1 feature That is really nice here is the choice to substitute YouTube movie frames using a static preview picture. If you embed lots of YouTube videos on your site, this really is a excellent way to accelerate your website without sacrificing much, if any, usability.
Document Optimization — Minification And Concatenation
The File Optimization tab is Where you can set up WP Rocket's minification and concatenation functionality.
· Minification — shrinks the size of your site's code by removing unnecessary characters (such as whitespace) without changing any functionality.
· Concatenation — reduces the amount of files on your website by blending multiple CSS/JS files into a single.
You can also install some other Settings such as.
· Remove gender-blocking CSS/JS (PageSpeed Insights is notorious for yelling at you concerning this issue).
· Combining Google Fonts files (useful if you use multiple Google Fonts in your site).
· Remove query strings out of static resources (this one will not have a major impact, but it can enhance your GTmetrix score, should you really care about that).
I recommend Enabling as a number of these settings as possible. I state as possible because some of those settings for CSS or JS may cause issues with your site (this isn't WP Rocket's fault — it is always a potential issue with minification/concatenation).
What I enjoy is that WP Rocket Makes this clear once you go to trigger one of those configurations.
Three cheers for great UX Layout!
Preload — Preload Your Cache File
Without Preloading, your website only"assembles" the cache for a page when someone actually visits the webpage. That means the first visitor following the cache lifespan expires does not see the cached version (since the cache has not been built yet).
Cache Preloading enables you to ensure all visitors view the quick-loading cached page by"warming" the cache yourself, instead of waiting for a person to see the page.
One of the Benefits of WP Rocket is the fact that it provides you two distinct strategies to preload your cache, whereas a few caching plugins don't even provide one.
· Sitemap preloading — Reload your cache according to each of the pages in your sitemap.xml file. It's low impact, however the drawback is that it does not cache freshly edited or published posts.
· Preload bot — automatically crawls URLs after you publish/edit a post to make sure that newly edited/published content can be preloaded. The only downside is the fact that it is a little bit more resource intensive, which could cause difficulties on"weak" web servers. WordPress Browswer Caching Plugin
You can choose to utilize zero, One, or the two methods to preload your cache, depending upon your requirements.
Database — Clean Up Your Database
As your website ages, your Database will pick up all types of"gunk" from the form of revisions, trashed comments, transients, etc..
This area helps you wash out All that unnecessary crap from the database with one click.
Personally, I find this to be The least exciting area of WP Rocket because there are loads of free plugins that do a great job cleaning your database. However, I guess the main advantage here is that WP Rocket eliminates the need for you to put in a separate plugin.
CDN — Integrate With Your CDN
Should you use a CDN to speed up The global delivery of your website, WP Rocket can help you.
· Rewrite your URLs to use your CDN
· Exclude specific files from your CDN
As You can Discover complimentary Plugins to perform the first component, the next part, plus the fact that you can book CNAMEs for particular document types provides you more flexibility than many of these free choices.
For example, you could use one CNAME for your images, and another for the remainder of your documents.
If you're using Cloudflare, WP Rocket also comprises a committed Cloudflare add-on which could help you to get setup with Cloudflare and control certain facets of the Cloudflare service right from the WP Rocket interface.
And that pretty much sums up The new WP Rocket 3.0 interface!
Through The plugin settings, you could even enable caching for both mobile users and logged-in users — all with a simple click. After moving to this'advanced' tab, however, things begin to get a little more complicated.
To give you greater control over how caching Works on your website, you are also free to exclude pages from the cache by adding their URLS to the'not cache the following pages'
Through The CDN tab, you can configure the plugin to work together with your content delivery system of choice, whereas the tools section provides you fast access to the clear and preload cache buttons.
What's More, should you get stuck, the FAQ and support tabs make it incredibly easy to access the online documentation, and even open a service ticket from inside your WordPress dashboard — a beautiful touch!
In General, WP Rocket intends to be everything to all people. On the other hand, it is very easy to set up and start using on your website with default settings that truly create great outcomes, yet, on the flip side, there's also a much large selection of settings and options to cater to more sophisticated users with particular needs, or those who need more control over how caching works on their site.
By Default, each time you print a new post or add fresh content to your website, WP Rocket will regenerate that part of the cache. Not only that, but will also refresh the related areas of the cache (such as the archive pages, menus, or widgets). WordPress Browswer Caching Plugin
If You need to refresh everything in the cache, however (not just recently updated or altered content), it is possible to induce WP Rocket to regenerate it from scratch. Going a step further, you'll also find options to have unrelated components of your website automatically regenerated when a new post, page, merchandise, remark, or another type of content has added.
field. (Note. Shopping cart and checkout pages are automatically excluded in the cache as part of the eCommerce service of WP Rocket.)
Documentation And Support
Even though Using WP Rocket from the box is quite straightforward, should you get stuck or need to know more about the intricacies of how it functions, there's quite a bit of high tech documentation supplied — including a getting started section, various tutorials, helpful FAQs and a handy troubleshooting section.
As long As your licence remains active, you can also open tickets with support to receive whatever WP Rocket-related help you need?
My WP Rocket Testing Results
As Mentioned at the peak of this guide, I had excellent results from using WP Rocket to cache my WordPress site. By testing the rate of my site using GTmetrix — with the default settings of WP Rocket and uploading and activating the plugin before generating the cache and running the tests — the average page loading times dropped from 2.2 minutes to 0.9.
The Website I tested the plugin was a WordPress blog using the free Twenty Twelve motif, with about 80 articles and 37 plugins. The website is hosted on an entry level shared hosting plan in HostGator, and has no CDN in play.
No two WordPress websites will be the same, however, so that these results may not be typical for many sites. They do, however, show that even a very basic WordPress site on the lowest priced hosting will almost surely be able to achieve significantly improved load times using the plugin.
Other Ways to Accelerate Your WordPress Website
Whether You decide to use WP Rocket in your site or not, there are a number of other ways to speed up your WordPress site that are worth mentioning, such as.
· Deactivating all redundant plugins (many plugins will significantly slow down your site)
· Compressing and optimising all images
· Using a CDN support
· Upgrading into a WordPress-specific high-performance web host, such as WP Engine or Flywheel(if your budget permits ).
All of All these are well worth trying in the event that you haven't already.
WP Rocket Pricing
With Prices starting at only $39 for use on one WordPress website, WP Rocket is an inexpensive alternative for many. Additionally, there are some other strong free selections available — such as WP Super Cache, also, for the technically minded, W3 Total Cache (to name but two of many). If you're looking for something which's exceptionally easy to set up and use, though, and also provides access to a very helpful premium service desk, WP Rocket is a strong contender.
The full Pricing choices are as follows. WordPress Browswer Caching Plugin
· Personal. $39 (1 sites)
· Business. $99 (3 websites )
· Pro. $199 (unlimited sites)
All Options include one year's access to plugin updates and service. Following this period, you may continue using the plugin unsupported or renew your licence to maintain access. There's also a 30-day refund available if you are not entirely pleased with the plugin later purchase.
WP Rocket Is really quite impressive. Not only is it incredibly easy to use, in addition, it delivers great results.
Most of The activities you'll be able to execute to optimise the speed of your site take substantial time and effort — if that's optimising media files, reviewing and consolidating your plugins, migrating to a new web host or changing topics. WP Rocket, on the other hand, can be applied to your website in only a couple clicks.
What's? More, if you're a WordPress freelancer, whether helping customers with their existing sites or creating websites from scratch, having something like WP Rocket on your toolkit could be of enormous benefit. In only a couple of minutes, you will have the ability to speed up a client's site and deliver them concrete outcomes (in the form of'before and after' online speeds evaluations ), and, when the very best way to distinguish yourself from the competition would be to offer more value to this client, things like this can really help.
As a Data-backed article over on Moz sets it. "Quick websites have more visitors, who visit more pages for longer periods of time, who return more frequently, and are generally more inclined to buy goods or click ads."
Thanks to Its quick setup process, speeding up your site with WP Rocket is an easy triumph in the war against slow loading times.
click here to begin with WP Rocket today!


text:
We have two Sunday morning worship services, a monthly Messy Church service, and we meet at other times for prayer and worship. Worship is not what we do, it's who we are, a community responding to God honestly and sincerely as we seek to grow deeper in our faith in Him. Each Sunday we gather to worship God together and discover more of his love and life for all people. Most weeks at 9.15am there is a more traditional service, followed at 11.00am by a service with a more contemporary feel , along with groups for children and young people.
After each service there is an opportunity to meet people informally over refreshments. To help people know one another, one Sunday a month , between the services, we hold a brunch at 10.15am with drinks, pastries and fruit. Every second month we join together for a Whole Church Worship at 10am.
Please see our Church Calendar for further, up-to-date details.
Music and singing form an important part of that worship, but they are not everything! Our music group meets for practice on Friday evenings at 8pm.. Please email us if you'd like to be involved email@example.com.
As a family friendly church, we offer a variety of childrens/youth clubs on a Sunday, see below:
If you are unable to attend church, or would like to recap on a particular service, see our Past Sermons page, where you can download video and enjoy from home. For upcoming sermons and themes, see our Future Services page.
Further Information
If you have any further questions, please email email@example.com. We will be happy to help you and will respond as soon as we can.
If you have any further questions, please email email@example.com. We will be happy to help you and will respond as soon as we can.


text:
|Senusret II
Pyramid of Senusret II at el-Lahun
| Khakheperre
The form of Ra has appeared
| Senusret
Man of the strong one
| Sekha Maat
Who causes Maat to appear
| Seshem Tawy
Who leads the two lands
|Golden Horus
| Sehetep Neteru
Who appeases the gods
|Burial Place
Senusret II was the fourth Pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1897 BC to 1878 BC. His pyramid was constructed at el-Lahun. Senusret II took a great deal of interest in the Faiyum oasis region and began work on an extensive irrigation system from the Bahr Yusuf through to Lake Moeris by means the construction of a dyke at el-Lahun here and the addition of a network of drainage canals. The purpose of his project was to increase the amount of cultivable land here. The importance of this project is emphasized by Senusret II's decision to move the royal necropolis from Dahshur to El-Lahun where he built his pyramid. This location would remain the political capital of the 12th and 13th Dynasties of Egypt. The king also established the first known worker's village in the town of nearby town of Kahun whose New Kingdom prototype would be Deir el-Medina.
Unlike his successor, Senusret II maintained good relations with the various local and influential nomarchs or provincial governors of Egypt who were almost as wealthy as Pharaoh. His Year 6 is attested in a Wall painting from the tomb of a local nomarch at Beni Hasan.
Reign Length
Of the rulers of this Dynasty, Senusret II's reign length is the most debated amongst scholars. The Turin Canon gives an unknown king of the Dynasty a reign of 19 Years (which is usually attributed to him) but Senusret's II's Highest known date is currently only a Year 8 red sandstone stela found in June 1932 at Toshka. Some Egyptologists prefer to ascribe him a reign of only 10 Years and assign the 19 Year reign to Senusret III instead. Other Egyptologists, however, such as J. Von Beckerath and the late Frank Yurco have maintained the traditional view of a longer 19 Year reign for Senusret II given the amount of work which the king performed in his reign. Yurco noted that limiting Senusret II's reign to only 6 or 10 years poses major difficulties because this king "built a complete pyramid at Kahun, with a solid granite funerary temple and complex of buildings. Such projects optimally took fifteen to twenty years to complete, even with the mudbrick cores used in Middle Kingdom pyramids." (Black Athena: p.69)
Senusret II may have not shared a coregency with his son, Senusret III, unlike most other Middle Kingdom rulers. Some support the idea that he did, noting a scarab with both king's names on it, a dedication inscription celebrating the resumption of rituals begun by Senusret II and III, and a papyrus with dates from Senusret II's 19th year and Senusret III's first year on it.[1] None of these three things necesitate a coregency, however the last one proves that even if there were one, it was no more than a few months long.[2]
- Mark Stone, Reading the Highest Attested Date for Senwosret II: Stela Cairo JE 59485, GM 159(1997), pp.91-100
- Frank Yurco, "Black Athena: An Egyptological Review" in Black Athena Revisited,(editor: M. Lefkowitz), University of North Carolina Press: 1996, 544 pages (ISBN 0-8078-4555-8)
- W. Grajetzki, The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt: History,Archaeology and Society, Duckworth, London 2006 ISBN 0-7156-3435-6, 48-51
- ↑ Murnane, Willaim J. Ancient Egyptian Coregencies, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization. No. 40. p.9. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1977.
- ↑ Murnane, Willaim J. Ancient Egyptian Coregencies, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization. No. 40. p.9. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1977.
External links
|Preceded by:
Amenemhat II
| Pharaoh of Egypt
Twelfth Dynasty
| Succeeded by:
Senusret III


text:
Be sure to check this page often as we will post monthly newsletters during rodeo months, meeting info, using this as a place to keep our members current on happenings. We also encourage you to follow us on Facebook.
About COPWRA
The Central Oregon Pee Wee Rodeo Association was established in 1985. It's known to be one of Oregon's largest youth rodeo associations, an all-volunteer organization, consisting of 200+ contestants from all of Oregon & the Pacific Northwest contestant's ages 3 to 14.
Thank you Sarah Teskey, WT Bruce & Lindsey Wiley Photos for the use of your rodeo photos.
Contact us
General Info & Questions: email@example.com


text:
Sample wedding invitation card
Sample wedding invitation card – Creating wedding Invites was unheard of in the past. Most brides chose the standard route of picking a layout, a font and an "out with the box" invitation with a little wording modified listed here and there. But currently, it is not only attainable to make a wonderfully crafted hand-made invitation that rivals any professionally printed just one, but a very acknowledged means of executing matters specifically in today's rough economical climate. Generating sample marriage Invites prior to deciding to force the button is a great way to not merely begin to see the end result before you decide to leap, but will give you the liberty to experiment if you are looking for that ideal invitation.
Now according to no matter if you decide on to build your invitation from scratch or make it applying on the list of numerous on-line web sites which allow you to decide and decide on your layout, fonts and paper stock, carrying out it oneself is a good choice for present day bride. By generating some samples 1st, you can present them to pals and kin to acquire some thoughts before you make a call.
Creating samples goes a good distance in alleviating the most significant strain issue of all when arranging any function. The "unfamiliar" issue. Getting a sample in hand will give you the peace of mind that the ultimate solution will probably be exactly what you envisioned without having surprises. And no bride wishes the incorrect form of "surprises" on her journey. The next are some secrets and speedy suggestions to generating your very own sample marriage ceremony invitations.
Word processing application. Necessary if you intend on producing your personal invitations from scratch. Term is considered the most universally acknowledged and functions extremely perfectly. Open up Business office is additionally a totally free program which will work excellent. It might be a little bit more quirky than phrase but All round for the price it cannot be defeat. Most software program apps have downloadable templates for wedding ceremony Invites. Just look through by the selection of templates and opt for a handful of favorites so you can Consider diverse styles. You can also find numerous on-line web pages which have templates that could be downloaded free of charge.
Go with a Card Stock. Make a decision on the type of card inventory and purchase a small amount very first To make certain it works very well together with your printer. For anyone who is opting for levels or can't make a decision on the colour, then acquire a little quantity in the various hues simply to get an notion of how Each and every will glimpse. Go tiny when building samples. The whole thought Here's to discover what you wish before you shell out. Make sure you use a similar stock quality check here that you program on working with for your invite so you will get a real picture of the appear and feel with the invitation.
Decide on printing. Since you are building wedding ceremony invitation samples, it truly is a smart idea to make sure you might have a top quality printer. Most Invites and card inventory perform properly with dwelling printers but some card stock is too large and may be skillfully printed. By printing them off at your home 1st you're going to get a a lot better idea of how the paper stock performs with the printer. If you do not have a good quality printer, then you can constantly print a sample duplicate on simple white paper and acquire it to an area printer and have them duplicate the invitation on different shares. The typical wedding day invitation sizing is eight one/2 x 11 but select no matter what measurement fits your preferences.
Remaining Touches. If your invitation is folded, then fold your invitation and trim away any excess. Embellish Every invitation in a different way including your very own personalized touches to every so you have a good suggestion of which of them seem ideal.
Generating your very own sample marriage Invites is a terrific way to get yourself a glimpse to the type and sort of marriage ceremony invitation that can seem ideal to your affair without having shelling out a small fortune up front. Removing the "unidentified" aspect will go a long way in reducing the stress and anxiety that comes along with scheduling a marriage and can make certain that your invitation will likely be just what you had envisioned.


text:
Table of Contents
Comparing Litecoin vs Bitcoin
Litecoin and Bitcoin are popular cryptocurrencies that are decentralized funds without the need for a 3rd party. Bitcoin is still the most popular form of cryptocurrency, but there still is a major market for Litecoin.
Learning about the key differences is important in determining which is right for you. This includes transaction tie, fees, user experiences, and availability. We'll fully outline all the necessary information so you can make an informed decision.
Fundamentals of Litecoin vs Bitcoin
Litecoin is slightly newer than Bitcoin, having been released a full 2 years ahead in 2020. The time it takes for a block to be produced is roughly 2.5 minutes for Litecoin, compared to over 9 minutes for Bitcoin. There is a major difference in the market cap as Bitcoin shares $145 billion USD and Litecoin is capped of at $8 billion USD.
The difference in their market cap is major but this does not mean that Litecoin isn't of use.
The similarities are that both offer online transaction of funds that are completely decentralized and not likely struck by major drops in value caused by political influence.
They are both widely distributed for making purchases as well, though with Bitcoin there are more locations to purchase from.
The transaction volume for Litecoin isn't as high, though it is faster and less costly to initiate a transfer. Still, the fees for making a global transaction will be less when trading Litecoin.
Looking Deeper into Litecoin vs Bitcoin
There are many key differences between these 2 cryptocurrencies which we will help distinguish in the following chapters.
Bitcoin has an established base
Bitcoin is currently the king of cryptocurrency to the point people unexperienced with crypto believe it's the only coin. This has a much higher market cap and it is the most traded cryptocurrency by a large margin. ATMs will often have "Bitcoin" on the front of them even though they offer other forms of cryptocurrency.
Litecoin is still widely used and distributed, but popular opinion has influenced Bitcoin to the point where it's the most known.
Litecoin offers more coins
With Bitcoin there is a total 21 million coin limit; Litecoin can offer around 84 million coins. Litecoin has 55 million coins on circulation, while Bitcoin has 16 million so it won't be too long when all the coins will be accounted for in Bitcoin.
There's the speculation that perhaps after this is fully realized that it will help determine which true cryptocurrency or currencies will be most used. The market will then decide that the dominant coin is, and it's also speculated that Litecoin may pick up new buyers when Bitcoin hits it cap.
Litecoin is processed faster
Bitcoin can take over 9 minutes to confirm a transaction while Litecoin is significantly less at around 2.5 minutes. For business owners and people who need to make fast transactions, it may be in their best interest to side with Litecoin.
There still is the possibility for merchants to accept this transfer to prevent additional charges to the byer however, liming the possibility for disputes.
Litecoin is centered more towards beginners
The algorithm used for Litecoin is much simpler. Litecoin uses Scrypt which is considered to be an easier way to mine. With Bitcoin mining can be much more difficult and less optimized for beginners. Since Bitcoin is also more popular and pricy, the amount of competition is much higher with rigs that are better suited to mine.
For people who are not well suited for mining either by a lack of tech or knowledge, it can be much more difficult to start accessing Bitcoin mining. Litecoin offers mining on less expensive hardwire without having to set up an elaborate rig.
Bitcoin has a comprehensive network
The overall sheer price tag for Bitcoin makes it a more popular coin for a reason. People want to access Bitcoin since it's valued much higher than Litecoin, and even though Litecoin is faster, many still see the name and associate BTC with quality. Litecoin isn't much different and because of this, it's harder to see much of a difference in their network. Other coins have stepped up and made themselves much different than BTC which is likely why the cost of Litecoin is much less than BTC.
There are more popular coins which ae quickly making bigger waves than Litecoin like Ethereum, which uses a much more different approach than BTC as well. There is also an upcoming Litecoin fork which may affect its influence.
Litecoin vs Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin Cash came after a fork in Bitcoin resulted, and it is a form of electronic cash that is faster and operates with low fees. This is made on a more dynamic blockchain than regular Bitcoin, as it retains more storage capacity. BCH is also completely decentralized and is also a very popular form of cryptocurrency.
Litecoin vs Ripple
Ripple is a coin offered for making quick and safe transactions. This is currently the 3rd largest market cap coin. It is available on many different marketplaces, and is quickly becoming a very popular coin. Bankers, financial services, and those dealing with the need for global payment can take advantage of it.
Litecoin vs Dash
With Dash people can make instant transactions that are completely private. This is also decentralized and operated on a blockchain. It is trading around a volume of $100 million USD daily, and it is in the billions when it comes to their market cap. This is a form of digital cash that is completely global.
Bitcoin vs Ethereum
Ethereum is a major cryptocurrency that is run on the Ethereum platform. This is fully decentralized and able to provide smart contacts which are more streamlined for easier use. It allows for the spread of data without any kind of censorship or 3rd party. They also offer a free wallet to store ETH.
Bitcoin vs USD
Comparing a fiat currency to Bitcoin is difficult since it's not decentralized and backed by a government. USD is of course a major fiat currency that is at this time less volatile than BTC. Both are offered widely, but with USD you have the ability to use it in more locations as its long been used as a staple currency.
Litecoin vs Bitcoin FAQ
- What is the current Litecoin value?
$158 USD, but this price can change drastically in even a few seconds.
- Where can I buy Litecoin?
Many major marketplaces including GDAX, Bitfinex, Binance, Bittrex, Poloniex, Kraken, and many others.
- Where can I trade Litecoin to Bitcoin?
A lot of trade markets offer trading such as GDAX, Bitfinex, Binance, Poloniex, and several others.
- Where can I find a Litecoin chart?
Coinmarketcap.com is a good resource or any site that has updated market evaluations.
- Is there a Litecoin Reddit page?
Yes, their Reddit page is: https://www.reddit.com/r/litecoin/
- What are some solid Litecoin predictions?
We don't know for certain due to the many changes that occur on cryptocurrency.
- What is the current Bitcoin value?
$8,653.30 USD per BTC.
- What is Bitcoin?
A fully decentralized form of currency that works without the need for a 3rd party.
- Can I buy Bitcoin at Walgreens?
Some Walgreens do have ATMs that offer Bitcoin but they are not owned by Walgreens.
- What are some places that accept Bitcoin?
There are many retailers which now accept Bitcoin including Newegg.com, Microsoft, Expedia, Subway, and Overstock. You can find others by doing a quick Google search.
- How much is 1 Bitcoin?
It is valued at $8,653.30 USD, though this can change drastically.
- What is the current Bitcoin value in USD?
The total price is $8,653.30 in USD.
- What is the easiest way to buy Bitcoin?
Many marketplaces offer it as well as local ATMs. It just depends on what your limit is for fees and how much you're looking to get.
- What are some companies that take Bitcoin?
This includes a long list which can be read on Steemit. It includes Microsoft, OkCupid, Namecheap, Wikipedia, Square, Subway, and several other companies.
- Where can I find information about the Bitcoin market?
Any cryptocurrency market website has a lot of information on Bitcoin since it's the most popular coin right now.
Litecoin and Bitcoin are popular forms of cryptocurrency for a reason. Though Bitcoin is more popular, both are found as staple cryptocurrencies on many different marketplaces. Their fully decentralized use prevents the need for a 3rd party and it ensures that there is less interference and possible interruption. Bitcoin is currently the most popular cryptocurrency but it's impossible to know what the market will look like in the future.
With Litecoin there's the ability to make faster transactions and it currently costs less to own it. The average block time for Litecoin is around 2.5 minute, and with Bitcoin it is over 9 minutes. Picking a coin that best suits your needs depends on numerous factors and what your goal is for owning cryptocurrency.


text:
Before the private-equity nonsense struck, Transocean (RIG) was rivaling National Oilwell Varco (NOV) and Schlumberger (SLB) for king of oil service.
It should have been: Transocean has the longest contracts, the best day rates, the least leverage to North America -- essentially none -- and the best deepwater profile. Then Transocean went and did the smartest thing it could possibly do: merge with GlobalSantaFe (GSF), offering a fantastic new company to shareholders. It was a brilliant move.
Interestingly, the deal put the stock in the hands of arbs, the worst possible place to be. The arbitrage style has been bunched with so many other strategies that have been failing that if Transocean had done nothing at all, instead of bettering itself with this transaction, its stock would be much, much higher -- probably closer to $120.
You can only imagine, though, if you are an arb in lots of fields, including fixed income, and the redemptions are coming all at once and fast and furious from the funds of funds -- what are you going to sell: CDOs or Transocean?
So Transocean got tagged.
Now is the time, with oil at $73 a barrel, to buy some Transocean and take advantage of the arb throwaway. Transocean is so much cheaper than Schlumberger at $95, and it could be up gigantically as the deal draws to a conclusion and is fully funded.
I know people don't even want to touch this stuff. But I know that everyone is going to be rooting around and dusting off their oil and gas plays now that oil declined to slide into the $60s.
Transocean's the play.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Transocean's Swell
Jim Cramer: Transocean's Swell
Posted by OilIsMastery at 3:18 PM 1 comment:
Zacks Likes Halliburton
Halliburton Spin-Off Positive.
Seeing Halliburton's (NYSE: HAL) latest moves as positive steps, Zacks senior oil & gas industry analyst Sheraz Mian is keeping his Buy recommendation in place on the company. From his most recent update:
'The KBR spin-off and an increased push in the Eastern Hemisphere through a headquarters in Dubai are both positive developments. The spin-off of the high volume, low margin KBR business removes distractions, improves operational focus, and makes Halliburton a pure-play on the oilfield service market.
'We believe this will aid valuation by narrowing down, if not altogether eliminating, its valuation discount relative to Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) and other large-cap peers. Our Buy recommendation remains unchanged as we continue to view Halliburton as a core oilfield service holding.
'Management is targeting industry-leading revenue, earnings, and returns performance metrics over the next few years, highlighting the breadth and depth of the company's oilfield franchise. Our unchanged price objective of $44 is based on 2007 P/E and EV/EBITDA [enterprise value-to-earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] multiples of 17.0x and 9.2x, still below most of its large-cap peers.'
Posted by OilIsMastery at 8:07 AM No comments:
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Noble Opportunity
Noble shares down as Chevron cancels rig early
HOUSTON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Shares of offshore oil and gas drilling contractor Noble Corp (NE) fell more than 4 percent on Thursday after the company said Chevron Corp (CVX) put an early end to a contract for a rig in Nigeria.
In its fleet status report filed with regulators on Wednesday, Noble said Chevron had ended its contract for the "Noble Roy Butler" jackup rig about four months early.
Jackup rigs are used to drill in shallower waters.
"It had nothing to with rig performance or safety," said John Breed, a spokesman for Noble. "It allows us to market the rig four months earlier with the goal of achieving a higher dayrate in a high rig demand period worldwide."
Shares of Sugar Land, Texas-based Noble were off 3.3 percent to $49.49 in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange after falling as low as $48.82.
"Early termination of Noble's jackup 'Roy Butler' in Nigeria is going to raise eyebrows (raised ours)," Tudor Pickering & Co. Securities Inc wrote in a note to clients. "Is this simply Nigeria instability or something broader? Probably former, but datapoint will bring out offshore drilling skeptics saying rig oversupply."
Noble also reported that delivery dates for four newly built rigs have been pushed back by a couple of months.
A Houston-based spokesman for Chevron was not immediately available to comment on why it canceled the contract early.
There are a number of new jackup rigs currently under construction, which has led to investor worry about those rigs flooding the market and pushing dayrates down.
The daily rate paid for use of the "Noble Roy Butler" was $129,000 to $131,000, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 12:51 PM No comments:
Without Oil Sands Reserves Would've Fallen Last Year
Global oil reserves up only 1% last year
CALGARY -- Record global oil and gas profits of US$243-billion and record spending of US$401-billion have resulted in a marginal 1% increase in world oil reserves last year -- all of it coming from a 1.9-billion-barrel addition from Canada's oilsands, according to a new study.
Without Canada's contribution, 228 public oil and gas companies active globally and included in the study would have collectively produced more oil than they found, John S. Herold, a U.S.-based independent petroleum research company, and Harrison Lovegrove & Co., a global oil and gas advisory firm, said in the 2007 Global Upstream Performance Review, released yesterday.
The challenges are heating up the debate over peak oil, the report says.
"Without expressing a position on the matter, we believe that the issue has become part of the industry's long-term planning," the study says.
"If the peak oil theory is correct, and a decline in world production is imminent, a company must choose among four alternatives -- try to become a dominant participant, find a niche operational talent, harvest assets or liquidate quickly."
Posted by OilIsMastery at 12:47 PM No comments:
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
S&P Bullish On Drillers
Oil Drillers: Well-Positioned for Gains
Based on the subindustry's solid relative strength, combined with favorable overall fundamentals, S&P believes the group has additional price appreciation potential. S&P's top pick in the group is Noble (NE), ranked 5-STARS (strong buy).
Posted by OilIsMastery at 7:33 PM No comments:
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
OPEC Sets Oil Price @ $70
OPEC policy will hit the poorest hardest, says IEA chief
PARIS (AFP) - The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) criticised OPEC for setting a target price of around 70 dollars per barrel, saying in an interview published Tuesday that it would hit the poorest hardest.
"The market is clearly aware that OPEC has set itself a new implicit price target or a new price band of around 70 dollars (51 euros) per barrel and that the organisation will endeavour to defend this level," Claude Mandil told Arab Oil and Gas review.
"I deplore this, because it is a factor that could, whatever people often say, weigh on world economic growth and which represents a very heavy burden for the poorest people and the poorest countries," he added.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 1:56 PM No comments:
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Getting Back Into the Water
Getting Back Into the Water
I know the oil service sector has come a long way in the last few years and oil is at or below 70, but unless you feel there will be a world wide recession how can we pass up an industry with stocks trading at single digit multiples.
Transocean (RIG) and Noble (NE) both fit the bill with huge growth this year and next. RIG is expected to earn $11.41 next year. That is 43% growth on the bottom line from a 2007 number of $7.93. Even if I give that estimate a 20% haircut you still end up at 11x with 15% growth. This analysis is even more compelling for NE. Take a good look at these stocks if you aren't involved.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 3:24 PM No comments:
Tar Sands' Profitability Questionable
Tar Sands: The Oil Junkie's Last Fix, Part 1
For this week's article, I collaborated with energy journalist Roel Mayer, a freelance writer on earth, energy and economy, based in Canada. Roel is a keen observer on energy, and the Canadian tar sands in particular, so he was a natural research partner for this short study on the state of oil production from tar sands.
He was also the one who coined "The Law of Receding Horizons." For those who missed my previous articles on receding horizons, it is a simple concept: as the cost of energy rises, the cost of everything else made with energy (like building materials) also rises. So an energy project which was expected to be profitable when energy costs were x amount higher than today, turns out to still be uneconomical when you get there.
And the tar sands of Alberta are shaping up to be the oil industry's poster child of this phenomenon. With oil well over $60 today, the low-grade sludge called kerogen that we recover from tar sand--actually more like a putty, at room temperature, which is why I refuse to use the whitewashing term "oil sands--should be highly profitable.
But paradoxically, the impending decline of global crude oil production, which is now coming clearly into view, has led to a mad rush to produce the tar sands. And this, in turn, has led to skyrocketing costs...such that now, the real "profit" in producing the tar sands seems to be in government tax breaks, not in actual profit on the resource itself.
In fact, the Canadian tar sands operations are facing a whole host of challenges, beyond economic--so much so, that one wonders why we try to harvest them at all.
But trying we are: according to the respected energy analytics firm Wood Mackenzie (WoodMac), about $117 billion is going to be spent on the tar sands by 2015.
Let's look at some of the challenges.
Cost Inflation
In a fine demonstration of the receding horizons paradox, WoodMac issued a report in March entitled "The Cost of Playing in the Oil Sands," which showed a 55% cost increase since 2005 for a peak flowing barrel of oil derived from the tar sands.
They further noted that in 2006 alone, many of the large tar sands developers announced cost increases and project delays, as they experienced an average 32% cost increase for integrated mining projects, and a 26% increase for in situ projects.
For example, last year Shell Canada shook investors when it revealed that its Athabascan tar sands operation would cost $11 billion Canadian to expand its operation by only 100,000 barrels per day-six times the original cost estimate, which was made only about eight years earlier.
Around the same time, a research report by Merrill Lynch said the cost increase would mean that the Athabasca project would only make about a 10% return on its investment if oil were to remain at least $50 per barrel!
WoodMac analyst Conor Bint issued a clear warning about the tar sands' receding profitability horizon, saying, "Companies in the oil sands will have to control capital expenditures going forward to ensure that project breakeven prices do not exceed current levels in order to remain profitable."
And what are the cost-inflating culprits, according to Bint?
The usual litany: labor shortages and skyrocketing material costs. "With the sheer number of oil sands projects together with the future arctic pipelines and conventional oil and gas developments in Alberta, labour demands in Canada will be pushed to their limits."
Which sort of calls bullshit on their helpful tip that good project management and contractor scheduling will help keep costs in line. No doubt, you must carefully watch your labor hours when your typical field hand is pulling down "combat pay" in the six figures. But that isn't going to help you a bit when tires, steel, machines, and basic metals are all going through the roof under the crush of increasing global demand, primarily driven by Asia, and primarily due to high oil costs. For example, the price of steel is up 70% in just the last five years.
In a recent essay on the cost inflation of conventional oil projects ("Upstream Economics and the Future Oil Supply"), oil analyst Dave Cohen made the shrewd observation that "the situation presents a classic Catch-22," where "the cure for industry inflation is a slowdown in upstream activity, whereas the initial goal was to accelerate upstream development to meet growing global oil demand."
Cohen notes that the cost of finding and producing oil has outpaced the growth in the price of oil. While oil has risen about 32% since 2005, costs have increased about 79%.
Given that the cost of finding and producing conventional oil is in the neighborhood of one-fifth that of producing tar sands, this is not an investment-friendly scenario.
Naturally, the aforementioned factors are leading to questions about the long-term viability of the tar sands industry, and slowing the pace of financing for its projects.
For not only are costs rising, they're rising faster every year, across the board: for labor, materials, and energy. And in all likelihood, taxes and pollution-related costs will soon join the list.
For example, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. said in March it wouldn't move forward with its plans to build an upgrader plant due to runaway costs, and Synenco Energy Inc. shelved its upgrader in May. Likewise, last year France's Total SA announced that it was pushing its tar sands project back by three years, again due to soaring costs for labor and materials.
"I don't think it's an anomaly," says Mark Friesen, a Calgary-based analyst at FirstEnergy Capital Corp. "I think it's an indication of how difficult the environment is. If we're not careful, more projects may end up being delayed or cancelled."
Delays are now becoming endemic to tar sands operations. Major equipment such as cokers and metallurgical towers now have waiting times of two years or more, more than double the wait of three years ago. (Now there's an obvious investment opportunity.)
A shifting landscape of taxation also dogs tar sands ambitions. The removal this year of a significant tax advantage for Canada's income trusts, which have been among the largest backers of tar sands projects, caused Canadian Oil Sands, one of the largest trusts, to post its first net loss in its 10-year history.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 10:47 AM No comments:
Friday, August 24, 2007
Investing For $100 Oil
Investing For $100 Oil
Transocean (nyse: RIG - news - people ) also deserves a central place in your positioning for $100 oil. I have raised our buy price to $100 for RIG. Don't be put off by the $100 per share price. Investing is a matter of percentages. If you buy 100 shares of a $25.00 stock or 25 shares of a $100.00 stock, the investment is the same. If either doubles, you will have doubled you money, regardless of how many shares you buy.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 10:20 PM No comments:
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Lehman Boosts Targets For Offshore Drillers
Lehman Boosts Target Prices for Offshore Drillers, Favors Deepwater Companies
NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of offshore drilling companies rose on Wednesday after a Lehman Brothers analyst raised price targets for several and forecast strong earnings for the sector, citing solid revenue and high demand for rig services.
Angeline Sedita estimated offshore drillers's earnings growth from 2007 to 2009 to range from 30 to 97 percent, with Rowan Cos. on the low end and Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. on the high end.
Most offshore companies have about 55 to 70 percent of 2009 revenue locked into current contracts, Sedita noted, but there is still potential for substantial growth. Deepwater drillers, which perform drilling operations thousands of feet below the ocean floor, have the greatest potential for a rise in earnings, she said.
"We continue to favor companies with deepwater exposure given our belief of the long-term strength of the market," Sedita wrote, "and that demand will continue to outstrip rig supply, even with new rig construction."
Sedita initiated 2009 profit estimates for several companies, including Noble Corp. and Diamond Offshore, which she called "top picks." Sedita raised Diamond's price target to $125 from $103 and Noble's target to $124 from $98.
Diamond shares rose $4.38, or 4.8 percent, to $96.08 in afternoon trading. Noble shares rose $1.30, or 2.2 percent, to $59.47.
Sedita also raised Ensco International Inc.'s price target to $63 from $60; Pride International Inc.'s target to $43 from $39; and Rowan's target to $45 from $44.
Ensco shares rose $1.10, or 2 percent, to $55.81; Pride shares rose $1.45, or 4.5 percent, to $34.03; Rowan shares rose 67 cents to $36.
Lehman Brothers suspended price targets and ratings for GlobalSantaFe Corp. and TransOcean Inc., which are merging, because the firm is advising the former during the process.
GlobalSantaFe shares rose $2.29, or 3.5 percent, to $67.29; TransOcean shares rose $2.87, or 2.9 percent, to $100.86.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 7:33 AM No comments:
Labels: Offshore, Transocean
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Transocean Upgraded By Stifel Nicolaus
Crude Oil Finds Buyers
Among ratings changes, Transocean (RIG) was upgraded by Stifel Nicolaus to buy from hold, lifting its shares 4% to $99.60.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 8:27 PM No comments:
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Transocean Sets Nigerian Deepwater Record
Deepwater Pathfinder sets Nigerian deepwater record
HOUSTON -- Transocean Inc.'s ultra deepwater drillship Deepwater Pathfinder has set the record for drilling in the deepest water depth offshore Nigeria. The vessel drilled the Opukiri 1X well for Devon Energy offshore Nigeria in 2,766 m (9,075 ft) water depth.
The previous Nigerian water-depth record was 2,690 m (8,826 ft) set last year for Petrobras on the Kiniun 1X well by the Transocean ultra deepwater drillship Deepwater Discovery.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 7:08 PM No comments:
China's Dependency On Oil Imports Hits Record High In July
China's Dependency on Oil Imports Hits Record High in July
BEIJING -- China's dependency on crude-oil imports hit a record high of 48.8% in July on a drop in domestic oil production and record volumes coming in from abroad.
Analysts say it is inevitable that the key 50% threshold will be broken as China's efforts to increase oil output won't be enough to offset increases in crude consumption.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 6:20 AM No comments:
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
How To Profit From Global Warming
Russia's seabed flag heralds global ocean carve-up.
No firm is able to drill anywhere near the North Pole, but global warming may make the region more accessible.
Drilling group Transocean says its Discoverer Deep Seas holds the world depth record for oil and gas drilling, set in 2003 at 10,011 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico.
"We are building four new enhanced Enterprise-class drill ships (in South Korea) that will be able to work in water depths of 12,000 feet and drill wells 40,000 feet deep," said Guy Cantwell, spokesman for Transocean.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 7:47 PM No comments:
Soros Reveals Stake In Conoco
Soros fund reports stakes in Conoco, Freeport-filing
WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Billionaire investor George Soros reported in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that his fund has taken on stakes in U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.
Soros Fund Management reported in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission its holdings as of June 30, which included 432,243 shares in ConocoPhillips and 407,474 shares in Freeport-McMoRan.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 4:29 PM No comments:
Labels: ConocoPhillips, Soros
Monday, August 13, 2007
Sterne Agee Upgrades Transocean/GlobalSantaFe
Research Reports: Barron's Online
Transocean - RIG-NYSE
Buy - Price 100.40 on August 7
by Sterne Agee
After analyzing GlobalSantaFe merger terms, we have raised our ratings on both stocks from Hold to Buy. The 12-month target for RIG is 122 a share; for GSF, 81. The combined entity should earn in excess of $12 a share in '08. Given a high level of firm contract backlogs, confidence in this estimate should be higher than normal...Transocean is the dominant player in the deepwater offshore-drilling industry.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 12:26 PM No comments:
Labels: GlobalSantaFe, Transocean
Jefferies Upgrades Transocean/GlobalSantaFe
Ahead of the Bell: Oilfield Services
Jefferies Analyst Upgrades GlobalSantaFe and Transocean to "Buy" From "Hold"
NEW YORK (AP) -- A Jefferies & Co. analyst upgraded Transocean Inc. and GlobalSantaFe Corp. on Monday, saying the decline in the oilfield services providers' stocks since the companies announced a merger is overdone.
Last month, GlobalSantaFe and Transocean Inc. agreed to join forces to create the world's biggest fleet of oil rigs. These companies operate ships that oil companies use to drill for oil, as well as other oil services.
Shares of both companies are down more than 13 percent since the deal was announced. Jefferies analyst Judson E. Bailey said investors are worried that decaying credit quality could drag the economy into recession, which would stanch demand for energy.
He said while the risks have increased, the sell-off is too much. He upgraded both companies' shares to "Buy" from "Hold."
He said the $16 billion in contracts the two Houston-based companies have lined up should assure they can close the deal despite the volatility in the debt markets.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 6:24 AM No comments:
Labels: GlobalSantaFe, Transocean
Friday, August 10, 2007
Zacks: Conoco Still A Buy
Minus Venezuela, COP Still a Buy
News reports that ConocoPhlllips is exiting its Venezuela businesses has not caused Zacks senior energy analyst Sheraz Mian to lower his Buy rating on the shares to this point. Here's why:
The $15 billion share buyback announcement, expected to be completed by year-end 2008, followed the company's exit from Venezuela. While Venezuela is no doubt a setback, we were positively surprised by the buyback program, which will effectively reduce the company's share count by almost 9%.
Our continued positive view of ConocoPhillips shares reflects the company's strong position in the politically stable OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] markets and attractive valuation. The company has significantly strengthened its upstream portfolio through its Burlington and LUKOIL transactions and remains a premier domestic refining player.
The recent joint partnership agreement with EnCana will enhance the company's upstream and downstream prospects further. Our new target price of $90, up from $80 before, results from applying 2007 P/E [price-to-earnings] and P/CF [price-to-cash flow] multiples of 8.7x and 5.4x, respectively. These are still at discounts to the super majors.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 12:17 PM No comments:
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Leon Cooperman: Why I'm A Bull
Why I'm a bull.
(Fortune Magazine) -- The stunning drop in stock prices dominated the headlines for days in late July -- and not just in the business press. The major market averages in the U.S. fell approximately 5% in a week, the largest weekly decline in five years.
The steady rise in share prices that preceded the plunge contributed to investor complacency; bond buyers were not demanding enough compensation for the risks they assumed. Now fear has replaced complacency, and risk is more appropriately priced.
As a result -- and most important because I do not believe recent credit-market turmoil will derail the economy -- I view this market drop as a long overdue correction rather than the end of the bull market.
My outlook for the next 12 months has not changed. I believe there's limited downside risk in the U.S. stock market from current levels, and returns over the coming year should be in the low double digits.
One key reason is that we are enjoying steady employment growth, averaging 145,000 jobs a month so far this year, which should mitigate the effects of recent debt-market troubles and housing weakness.
In defense of my notion that the equity market is unlikely to fall sharply from current levels, I would note the following: First, bull markets do not die of old age, they die of excesses such as accelerating and above-trend economic growth, rapidly rising inflation, and interest-rate hikes from a hostile Federal Reserve.
Those excesses are simply not with us today, nor do I expect their arrival anytime soon.
Second, the current bull market has experienced no price/earnings ratio expansion -- unlike every other bull market in the past five decades. In effect, this bull market is not characterized by speculation; rather, its expansion has been restrained compared with earnings growth and the trend of inflation and bond interest rates.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 8:50 AM No comments:
Buffett Ups Burlington Northern Stake
Berkshire Buys More BNSF Shares
Tuesday August 7, 10:58 pm ET
By Anna Jo Bratton, Associated Press Writer
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Buys 1.62 Million Shares of Burlington Northern
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. bought 1.62 million shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. in the past few days, according to a filing late Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The acquisition increases Berkshire's stake to 40.65 million shares -- about 11.5 percent of the Fort Worth, Texas-based railroad.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 8:47 AM 1 comment:
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Calyon Securities Upgrades Oil Services
Ahead of the Bell: Oilfield Services.
NEW YORK (AP) -- A Calyon Securities analyst upgraded the oilfield services sector on Tuesday, saying the stocks have fallen too far.
Calyon Securities analyst Mark Urness hiked the sector to "Overweight" from "Marketweight" and upgraded a number of stocks including Baker Hughes Inc., Ensco International Inc., Halliburton Co., Oil State International Inc., Transocean Inc. and Weatherford International Inc.
Urness said fear has overcome greed. While it was only natural for prices to pull back from their peaks, an index of oilfield services companies is down 11 percent since mid-July. He said this is too far.
Investors appear to believe that the credit shocks enveloping the market are going to lead to "a dramatic slowing of the U.S. economy, eventually spreading globally and bringing down oil demand and prices," he said.
But fundamentals for the industry remain intact, he said. Economies in places like India and China continue to grow, leading to more demand for oil.
That will help these companies, which operate rigs helping energy companies extract oil and perform other services like drilling.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 3:26 PM No comments:
Monday, August 6, 2007
More On Transocean
Oil Stocks Look Good on Overdone Selloff
Sorry, but I can't back away from the oils or the oil drillers here. They had that huge run up and now are pulling back so heavily that you have to presume that oil, the commodity, is going to the $60s. I am not buying it. I think that oil could be heading down, but this selloff is overdone. Here's why: 1. It is true that most oil companies did not grow their reserves this quarter. That's what I keep hearing is the reason for the downturn. But many did: XTO, Devon, Anadarko and Apache, for example. 2. Those who didn't grow, which includes ExxonMobil and Occidental, have to drill more. The CFO of Occidental said that to me on Friday's "Mad Money". 3. The offshore drillers in particular are acting totally nuts. Who knows where Transocean would be if it chose not to do a deal? So what's going on?...
Posted by OilIsMastery at 4:51 PM No comments:
Transocean Selloff Presents Buying Opportunity
7 Trading Ideas for Monday
5+ Consecutive Down Days: These are stocks that have closed down for five or more consecutive days and are trading above their 200-day moving average. Our research shows that stocks trading above their 200-day moving average that close down for five or more days have shown positive returns, on average, 1-day, 2-days and 1-week later. Historically, these stocks have provided traders with a significant edge.
Transocean (NYSE:RIG)
Posted by OilIsMastery at 4:48 PM No comments:
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Oil Close To $79
Oil Hits New Record on Inventory Report
Oil Prices Rise to New Record After Government Reports Drop in Crude Inventories
NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices jumped to a new record Wednesday after the government reported a steep drop in crude inventories last week as refinery utilization surged.
Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 55 cents to $78.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That surpasses the previous record of $78.40, set in July 2006.
Posted by OilIsMastery at 8:12 AM 1 comment:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text:
Members of the African-American community already had big plans to hold its "Occupy Dream" rally today to recognize the April 4, 1968, assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. But sadly, the group has yet another more reason to draw attention to their cause: The recent string of gun violence among San Francisco's black youth.
Just two days before today's planned rally, 21-year-old Lawrence Richardson -- an African-American -- was shot to death as he walked out of a corner store in the Western
Addition. No suspects have been named in the shooting, which is San Francisco's 18th homicide
this year. On Sunday, police found another black man, 20-year-old Jahmad Karriem, shot and killed at a Ingleside home.
Rev. Amos Brown, president of the local NAACP chapter, said "his heart is heavy" as he is still grappling with the death of Richardson, and many other black youths as of late.
Brown said today's rally -- which starts at 11:30 a.m. -- is a continuation of what happened on March 30 when clergy gathered with community groups at San Francisco City Hall to call for justice in the Trayvon Martin case while also addressing the need for policies that will help curb this gun violence and untimely deaths of young black men.
Today's rally is meant to "motivate a
movement to change the climate that is an impetus for deaths of people
like Trayvon Martin, Lawrence Richardson, and too many others that have
been killed due to senseless violence," Brown said.
Anyone with information regarding these recent deaths is encouraged to call the SFPD anonymous tip line at 575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and include SFPD in the subject line.
Follow us on Twitter at @SFWeekly and @TheSnitchSF