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A Manchester lawyer has been found guilty of exploiting a 14-year-old girl to produce child pornography.
Lisa Biron, 43, was accused of videotaping the girl having sex with two men. Biron faced eight federal indictments on charges of child sexual exploitation, transporting a child across state lines to produce child pornography and possession of child pornography, and was convicted on all of them after the jury deliberated for less than an hour.
The trial began Wednesday, with prosecutors calling to the stand two men who said Biron videotaped them having sex with the 14-year-old.
The final witness for the prosecution was an FBI agent who specializes in computer forensics. He testified that he retrieved pornographic images from a computer that had Biron listed as the owner. He said a confiscated iPhone also had a sexually explicit video involving the girl.
"It was difficult to present because you were presenting very graphic evidence to people who aren't exposed to this on a daily basis, but in terms of putting the case together, it was relatively easy because the evidence was created by the defendant herself, and it was video evidence that really does speak for itself," said U.S. Attorney John Kacavas.
A couple of phone calls recorded while Biron was in jail led off closing arguments for the government. In one call, Biron was heard talking to her father and saying of the 14-year-old girl that "she had a part in this."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Fitzgibbon said the call is typical of Biron placing the blame for her problems on a young girl.
Fitzgibbon told the jury that this is a very straightforward case about a woman who used the girl as a sexual object and videotaped it. She said the evidence is clear that Biron took the girl to Canada to make the video and that she exploited the girl, encouraging her to drink, smoke marijuana and have sex.
"It was just very difficult, and I don't think I should say much more than that," said juror Peter Evans. "The evidence was pretty overwhelming, and the decision, I'm sure, was accurate."
The defense called no witnesses. Defense attorney James Moir told the jury things are not as clear as prosecutors claimed. He said the case is not about whether Biron is a good or bad person but rather, whether the government proved each element of the charges against her.
Biron was emotionless during the verdict, but her lawyer said she is devastated.
"Well, this was a tough case from the beginning, as I think everyone on all sides knew," Moir said. "And I'm disappointed, of course."
Biron's sentencing is scheduled for April. Prosecutors said they will ask for a lengthy prison sentence.


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This week in new hires, Commonwealth Financial's tech guru Darren Tedesco was named to the 2013 Premier 100 IT Leaders list; Todd Scharf was named chief information technology officer by the SEC; nine FSI members won seats on FINRA's district committee elections; KPMG added several new faces; and the Hedge Fund Association created a new advisory board.
Also, Terrel Bressler joined Prairie Capital Advisors; Neil O'Keeffe went to U.S. Bank's Private Client Reserve in San Francisco; New York Life announced executive promotions; and Joe Bilsborough was named by Security Benefit to head business development for the western U.S.
Commonwealth Financial Network's Tedesco Named a Top 100 IT Leader
Darren Tedesco, Commonwealth Financial Network's managing principal, innovation and strategy, has been named to the 2013 Premier 100 IT Leaders list. The Premier 100, now in its 14th year, spotlights leaders from both the technology and business sides of companies for their exceptional technology leadership and innovative approaches to business challenges. Earlier this year, Tedesco was also named to InvestmentNews's "Power 20" list of people who will have the greatest influence on financial advisors and the industry in 2012.
Tedesco will be honored, along with fellow Premier 100 recipients, in a special awards ceremony at Computerworld's annual Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference, March 3–5, 2013, at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona.
SEC Names Todd Scharf Chief Information Security Officer
The SEC announced recently that it has named Todd Scharf Sr. as chief information security officer and associate director in the agency's Office of Information Technology. He will continue to lead the SEC's Office of Information Security, which is responsible for identifying and mitigating potential information-technology security risks and information breaches. He has been actively involved in directing SEC efforts to identify and resolve security risks and exposures and will continue those efforts in his new role.
Scharf joined the SEC in 2009 as assistant director for corporate information security. He began his civilian career in 1996 as a data security analyst at GE Information Services, and spent 11 years at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, where he worked in various capacities. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 1996 as a lieutenant after serving nine and a half years in various capacities, from propulsion engineer to data center manager.
FSI Members Win 9 FINRA Seats
FSI announced Monday that its members won nine seats in the FINRA District Committee elections, making a total of 31 FSI members serving on district committees. At least one member now serves in each of the eleven districts.
Election winners are: Kristina Cole, WBB Securities LLC and Richard Dahl, Sorrento Pacific Financial LLC (small firm representatives, District 2); Monica Daggs, CUSO Financial Services LP (large firm representative, District 2); Mary Simonson, SagePoint Financial Inc. (large firm representative, District 3); Richard Moran, Symetra Investment Services (vacancy, District 3); Susanne Denby, NFP Securities Inc. (large firm representative, District 6); Donald Runkle, Raymond James Financial Services Inc. (large firm representative, District 7); Aimee Blinder-Ullrich, National Planning Corp. (large firm representative, District 8); and James Seigel, Royal Alliance Associates Inc. (large firm representative, District 10).
KPMG Welcomes New Hires
KPMG, LLP announced that it is adding several new hires to its alternative investment funds (AIF) practice's national team, in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The practice is also making additional moves to boost experience and expertise in alternative investments in the firm's West Coast offices.
Martin Griffiths has joined the Los Angeles office as a principal in the federal tax practice and, with 27 years of real estate experience, will be KPMG's west coast real estate tax practice lead. Before joining KPMG, he was senior vice president at Irvine C. overseeing its income and property tax group.
K. Peter Ritter has joined KPMG as a principal in the San Francisco federal tax practice, with more than 19 years of experience advising clients on a wide variety of federal income tax matters. He came from the law firm O'Melveny & Myers LLP, where he was a tax partner resident in its San Francisco office.
Daniel Prager has joined KPMG as a managing director in its federal tax AIF practice. Based in Los Angeles, he will focus on helping grow the AIF practice in the west and has 13 years of domestic and international tax experience. Most recently, he served as head of corporate finance for Telefónica Czech Republic. Earlier, he was the vice president for tax at Ares Management and prior to that he held several positions at KPMG in the mergers and acquisitions practice.
Richard Hinton has joined the San Francisco AIF practice as a seconded partner with a focus on the hedge fund industry. He has 16 years of experience with the firm and has held several positions within the audit and advisory functions, both in the U.K. and globally. Previously he was an audit engagement partner in London. He also established and led the team responsible for rolling out KPMG's FATCA proposition to clients in the U.K.
Graeme Fletcher, a principal in international corporate services, transferred from the firm's Atlanta office to San Francisco, where he will work with the existing Bay Area alternative investments resources in tax, audit and advisory and develop and lead an alternative investment-focused international tax effort to serve the Bay Area.
New Leaders for Hedge Fund Association
The Hedge Fund Association announced Tuesday that it has created a new high-net-worth advisory board focused on developing educational programs and networking events globally for HNW investors. Its chairperson will be April Rudin, who has over 20 years of marketing experience in both corporate and financial services settings. In a separate move, the HFA promoted Ryan Mitchell to regional director of its west coast chapter.
Rudin, a native of Detroit, is also known in North America and Asia as one of the foremost thought leaders in wealth marketing, next generation, and digital and social media for this specialist market.
Mitchell has more than 12 years of experience in the alternative investments industry. He is currently a senior vice president at Triton Capital Advisors, where he conducts managed futures research and provides personalized portfolio construction and management services to investment advisors, family offices and individual investors.
Terrel Bressler Joins Prairie Capital Advisors
Prairie Capital Advisors Inc. announced recently that it has hired Terrel (Terry) Bressler as a managing director focused on mergers, acquisitions and capital advisory engagements.
Bressler brings over 25 years of investment banking experience. Prior to joining Prairie Capital, he held managing director positions with boutique investment banking groups including Stout Risius Ross and Cleary Gull. He was also an investment banking partner with William Blair & Co. and held senior investment banking positions with McDonald & Co. (now part of Key Bank) and First Chicago Capital Markets (now JP Morgan Chase).
U.S. Bank Welcomes Neil O'Keeffe to The Private Client Reserve
U.S. Bank announced that Neil O'Keeffe has been appointed vice president, wealth management consultant of The Private Client Reserve of U.S. Bank in the San Francisco area. In his new position, he will work with clients across the bay area, including San Francisco, Palo Alto, and San Jose.
O'Keeffe comes to The Private Client Reserve with experience in complex wealth and multi-generational estate planning. He previously served as a director at AllianceBernstein Institutional Investments; prior to that, he was a vice president and financial advisor at Bernstein Global Wealth Management.
New York Life Announces Executive Promotions
New York Life announced that John O'Gara and Richard Simonetti have each been elected senior vice president in the company's agency department, reporting to Mark Pfaff, executive vice president and head of agency.
O'Gara is responsible for wholesaling operations across all product lines within the agency distribution channel, and also oversees the firm's Dallas-based advanced planning group. He joined New York Life in 1984 and has held sales and marketing positions across various business operations.
Simonetti is responsible for agent and manager recruitment, training and development. He joined New York Life as an agent in the Long Island general office in July 1996. Since then, he has held several positions with increasing managerial responsibility, including serving as sales manager in that office from 1998 to 2002, managing partner of the Vermont office from 2002 to 2005, and managing partner of the greater Detroit office from 2005 to 2008.
Security Benefit Names Business Development Chief for Western U.S.
Security Benefit Cop. announced that Joe Bilsborough has been appointed field vice president for the company's financial institutions distribution team with responsibility for all states west of the Mississippi River.
Bilsborough has 25 years of experience in financial services distribution and sales. Prior to joining, Seattle-based Bilsborough spent a combined 18 years at Genworth Financial and Riversource Distributors as a regional and divisional vice president. Most recently, he served as director of institutional distribution for NWTM, a global precious metals firm.
Read the Dec. 6 New Hire Roundup at AdvisorOne.

subset: commoncrawl


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In honor of Halloween, this week�s column is about to get spooky. I�ve got a man with no head to talk about, shadowy demons and gruesome murders. They all appear in a little town called Sleepy Hollow, which, in Fox�s new version, is less quaint hamlet and more ground zero for the arrival of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. This isn�t your mother�s Washington Irving.
�Sleepy Hollow� is a clever retelling of the classic story because it combines mystery with adventure and adds a good dose of humor. It�s a procedural monster-of-the-week detective story with a larger biblical/historical mythology and lots of buddy cop moments. It owes a lot to �Grimm� which owes a lot to the �X Files.� The success of �Once Upon a Time� has helped as well by bringing audiences into the world of highly re-imagined fictional characters.
In this version of Irving�s classic, Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) is resurrected in present-day Sleepy Hollow along with his headless nemesis who has been promoted from a cranial challenged murderer to a member of the four man apocalypse team. Crane meets Detective Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) who is on her way out of small town Sleepy Hollow to the big leagues of the FBI. She suspends her plans after she witnesses the headless horseman murder her boss by cutting off his head (naturally). So when she meets Crane, his resurrection/apocalypse story is suddenly not so crazy. It also forces her to revisit an event she�s suppressed all her life. Abbie and her sister Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood) saw a demon in the woods when they were teenagers. The events surrounding Crane�s appearance convince her to investigate the mystery, try and repair her damaged relationship with Jennifer and face what is perhaps, her destiny.
The central premise of the series is this: If headless is reunited with his head, his three friends will arrive in Sleepy Hollow along with the end of the world. Paving the way are various demons who inflict horrors on the unsuspecting people of the town. Crane and Mills must fight the monster of the week while solving a larger mystery that dates to the founding fathers. Will they figure it out before the horseman finds his head? More importantly, will Crane ever change out of his 18th-century clothes?
Putting a modern-day twist on Ichabod Crane�s encounter could have been really silly, and �Sleepy Hollow,� as many critics before me have pointed out, is kind of silly. But it works because it has a good blend of charm and emotional story points. For every scene of Ichabod being comically surprised by modern technology (the windows in the car rise and fall by touching a button!) or an overall mythology that feels like a supernatural storytelling mash-up (witches and demons and spirits, oh my!), there is a scene of emotional authenticity that makes everything feel less silly. You care about Abbie and Jenny as they learn to trust one another again. And thanks to Mison�s talents you even care about poor Ichabod�s wife Katrina (Katia Winter), a good witch trapped in purgatory by the chief demon. Will they ever be reunited? Treat yourself and tune in to find out.
�Sleepy Hollow� is on Mondays at 9 p.m. EDT on Fox.
Melissa Crawley is the author of �Mr. Sorkin Goes to Washington: Shaping the President on Television�s �The West Wing.�� She has a PhD in media studies and is a member of the Television Critics Association. To comment on Stay Tuned, email her at email@example.com or follow her on Twitter at @MelissaCrawley.
Stay Tuned: Treat yourself to Sleepy Hollow'
In honor of Halloween, this week�s column is about to get spooky. I�ve got a man with no head to talk about, shadowy demons and gruesome murders. They all appear in a little town called Sleepy Hollow, which, in Fox�s new version, is less quaint hamlet and more ground zero for the arrival of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. This isn�t your mother�s Washington Irving.


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Click inside to see what you should be watching on the Internet and on TV.
On TV
The live Season 4 finale of "The Voice" airs tonight at 9 p.m. EDT. Adam Levine, a coach on the show, predicted that teenage country singer Danielle Bradbery will win. Do you agree? 9 p.m. EDT, NBC.
Hot video: 'Star Wars' elevator prank
Trending topic
Robin Thicke recently announced that his new album will be released on July 30. Thicke's "Blurred Lines" single is currently tearing up the charts, and that will be the name of his sixth album as well.
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Carved Lapis Swan Charm - Yellow Gold
Item # IN-33060619TS
- Handcrafted in 18-karat yellow gold.
- Detailed in lapis and diamond. Diamond totals 0.08 carat.
- Swan measures 13/16-in. long and 1/2-in tall.
A native of Southern California, Irene's fundamental inspiration is the ocean. Its purity, power and colors are all key elements at the origin of her designs. Her fascination with intense colors and raw, un-manufactured gem cuts, have become signature trademarks of the line. From the moment she began designing jewelry in her early 20s, Neuwirth was inundated with requests to purchase her one-of-a kind pieces. In 2014 Irene won the prestigious CFDA Swarovski Award for Accessory Design. She was just nominated for the major CFDA Accessories Designer of the Year, the first Fine Jewelry brand nominated to this category in 18 years.
Neuwirth's line continues to explode in new directions, including most recently carved opal and turquoise roses, emeralds and Sri Lankan sapphires, Tanzanite, and one-of-a-kind stunners with mixed bold colors.
Any order of $100+ receives free ground shipping at YLANG23.com.
Ship times follow the processing of your order.
All orders are shipped with signature required upon delivery to protect your purchase.
We ship FedEx insured, and offer three shipping options within the continental United States:
- Standard/Ground (5-7 day delivery)
- Second-Day Air - Free with orders $150+
- Overnight Next-Day Air (does not include Saturday delivery)
For specific information on international delivery estimates, detailed shipping rates and more click here.
Holiday Return Policy:
Gifts purchased on the website between November 22, 2018 and December 24, 2018 can be returned for a full refund until January 4, 2019. Special orders may not be cancelled or returned.
We want you to be completely happy with your purchase, but if you are not satisfied for any reason, we offer free returns on regular-priced orders over $100 within seven days of receipt in their complete original packaging and in unworn condition. Please call us toll free at 1-866-952-6423 or email firstname.lastname@example.com for a prepaid return label that will be sent to the original email address associated with the order. Merchandise will be insured to YLANG23.com. Credit will not include original shipping charges.
Special orders may not be canceled or returned. We reserve the right to not ship special occasion jewelry or to ask for a written confirmation indicating your commitment of a final sale during holiday periods.
Unfortunately, exchanges cannot be issued at this time. If you wish to purchase a different item, the original item should be returned to Ylang 23 and a new order can be placed on the website.
Ylang 23 specializes in unique and one-of-a-kind designer jewelry, and we're happy to special order pieces on your behalf.
Special orders are outside the scope of regular designer production and, therefore, must be paid in full at the time of purchase.
All special orders are final sale and may not be cancelled, returned, or exchanged.
Our knowledgeable staff is happy to answer any questions about special orders and alterations to existing stock (ring sizes, necklace lengths, etc.). Timing and pricing will vary by designer.
Please email firstname.lastname@example.com or call 1-866-YLANG23 with your questions and requests.


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Self Catering Accommodation near Burnham-on-Crouch
Once a Dairy Farm in the early 1900's, Brook Farm is now a small agricultural holding of 20 acres, laid mostly to pasture, that is home to our small herd of horses, pet sheep and other animals. The babbling brook, two ponds and wooded areas make it a haven for wildlife. Hare, Game Birds and Muntjac deer are just some of our regular visitors.
Cyclists and walkers will love exploring the various tracks and footpaths in and around the farm. While the tranquil surroundings also make it the perfect place to practise yoga or meditation. Artists will also find inspiration in the stunning countryside and will never be short of things to paint or draw.
Our accommodation of three cottages have a range of facilities and are set in a courtyard. Each has its own small private patio/garden, and there is plenty of parking. For cyclists and hikers, we have a lockable cycle storage facility, dedicated wash down area for cycles and muddy walking boots and an area to dry any wet outdoor clothing and footwear.
Within the courtyard of our accommodation, one of the barns has a treatment room where your host and resident complimentary therapist Jane Gilbey can offer a range of therapies. Perhaps you would like to work on some healing for yourself or your pet. Jane is a qualified Bach Flower Essence Practitioner for people and animals. Registered with the BFVEA as an advanced practitioner.
Well-behaved dogs are welcome, and we even have stabling and paddocks available for people wanting to bring their horses. Equestrian equipment include grazing, with hay and bedding provided. We have an all weather ménage and a round pen plus some obstacles for ground work practice that horsey guests are welcome to enjoy. There is also some hacking in the area.
There are many local attractions to visit. The local town of Colchester is Britain's oldest recorded town and is steeped in Roman history. Other popular attractions in the area include Colchester Castle, Abberton Reservoir and Castle Park . Tiptree and Inworth can be reached by a footpath, and the nearest pub is just a mile away.
For Self Catering Accommodation near Burnham-on-Crouch, get in touch!
To book, check availability, or just for more information call us on 01376 572976 or fill in the form below


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As we lie perched on the fiscal cliff's very precipice, it's worth considering for a moment the dog that has not barked amid all the economic tumult of recent times: interest rates.
The Fed has succeeded, so far, in maintaining near zero rates. This zero-rate policy has encouraged investors to participate in financial markets, both stocks and bonds. If rates should spike, unexpectedly, stocks and bonds are likely to take a significant hit.
So too at the macroeconomic level, a rise in interest rates would be a game changer.
We already devote 6.31% of the budget to service the debt. That's significantly more than we spend on all U.S. military personnel. It's more than the combined total of what we spend on unemployment insurance, earned income and child tax credits and housing assistance to the poor. It's one of the biggest single items in the federal budget.
If rates rose, all the political deals Democrats and Republicans have hinted at but not had the courage to adopt will instantly be deficient in revenue by tens of billions of dollars. (We're currently spending $220 billion in annual net interest payments.)
To be clear, rising rates is not inherently a bad thing. It could even be the best thing that could possibly happen since Americans would once again be rewarded for the discipline of saving and politicians would be forced to make real choices between guns and butter.
But realistically, the void of leadership today signals a different path, specifically that the slow-motion train wreck Europe has been going through for the past three years may be our fate as well.
A little history will help. Europe's various sovereign debt crises started when investors began to doubt Greece's ability to pay its bond investors.
Bond yields and the cost of credit default swap insurance rose. When Greek bonds were downgraded to junk status, the EU and IMF crafted a bailout package.
But what seemed at the time to be a temporary scare that European Union summiteers would make go away has only widened in a domino-like chain of misery, first to other "peripheral" European countries, but soon enough to Europe's wealthy core.
It is not outlandish to expect the fiscal cliff to be the start of America's sovereign debt problem that just won't go away.
That's not how Americans currently view the problem. We had a debt ceiling crisis in the summer of 2011 that ended when politicians crafted a legislative compromise that included an expiration of Bush-era tax cuts and across-the-board spending cuts. The agreement also created a joint select committee – remember the "supercommittee"? – that was supposed to come up with more nuanced revenue hikes, spending cuts and tax and entitlement reform that would avoid the pain of sequestration.
The not so super committee utterly failed to reach any agreement and the country waited a year, post-election, for the president and the current lame duck Congress to solve the problem. As we know, only Sunday and Monday remain as working days and so far there's no deal in sight.
In any event, what may seem to Americans as an annual budget crisis, recurring at the end of each year, could starting now morph into a more European style perma-crisis.
Of course, the Fed has no intention of raising rates any time soon, but markets can raise rates. The rise in rates on Greek bonds is what lit the fuse of Europe's economic crisis after all.
A year ago, when S&P lowered its credit rating on U.S. government debt, the stock market fell 5.6% in a single day. But the other shoe – the bond market – never dropped. With Europe deep in crisis and stock markets worldwide falling, U.S. Treasuries were ironically seen as a safe haven.
We can't assume that will recur. Markets make unexpected moves. A bond market crash could occur if ratings firms move to downgrade U.S. debt after the fiscal cliff goes unresolved; or perhaps the market will crater if an ultimate tax on the wealthiest Americans brings in little (or declining) revenue, as has occurred in the U.K. recently.
Rising long-term interest rates could have devastating consequences for all the banks and insurance companies that have been lured by the Fed into buying bonds. The value of their portfolios would tank. For consumers buying mortgages or borrowing at today's cheap rates, these are the best of times for debt.
But suddenly and unexpectedly, we may be entering a time when debt is as cool as another failed Euro-summit.


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House Tour: Time to Collect
Salvaged chic
A mix of chairs looks casual around an old farm table. Vintage-and white-items are the heart of the French farmhouse decorating style in this 1909 Illinois home.
Timeless accents
Old pocket watches from a flea market provide a tabletop accent.
Stairway style
The homeowner's timepiece collection extends to a dozen antique and reproduction clock faces climbing the stairway wall.
Architectural add-ons
Displaying architectural pieces, such as an arched window frame, is interior decorator Denise Knickrehm's go-to trick for adding character to her home.Denise owns the home-decor and clothing shop Denise's Adornments in nearby Geneva, Illinois. Right now, her shop and home feature gloriously romantic whites and creams mixed with French signage and modern industrial metals.
Recycled storage
Hard-sided suitcases store files on a shelving unit.
Organized vintage
Wire baskets attached to an old barnwood plank organize odds and ends above a desk. A framed chalkboard displays quotes.
Reimagined space
A closet becomes a walk-in pantry with built-in cabinets, drawers and open shelves; a hutch just outside holds overflow pieces.
Architectural salvage
Denise and her carpenter husband, Greg, use pediments and pilasters to enhance the plain trim of doorways and windows. Leaning a diamond-paned window inside a kitchen bump-out was a simple way to improve the view.
Unified hue
Denise painted and distressed her kitchen cabinets. If she finds a great item that isn't her beloved white, she paints it.
Repurposed use
Figuring out new ways to use old things is a passion. Here, Denise used tarnished silverware to decorate a lampshade's framework.
Small collectibles
Grouping collections maximizes impact. Denise has flatware, pocket watches, perfume bottles and more. Glass containers show them prettily, but she also uses old pots, pitchers, baskets, trays, and bowls to corral and display.
Master bedroom chic
The master bedroom is one of the few rooms in Denise's house to feature a color other than white; the ceiling is painted a soft blue-gray.
Pretty and practical
Vintage hard-sided suitcases tucked beneath a bedroom side table are pretty and practical. They hold linens and clothes.
Dresser dress-up
Favorite items are grouped on the dresser: a vintage fur collar, a glass jar full of perfume jars and an old tiara.
Laundry decor
Even the laundry room gets an artful touch, with a pretty assemblage of lace-edged linens, a rusty iron and wooden clothespins.
Ladder linens
Snow-white linens hang from a white wood ladder in the laundry room.
Home office organization
Remember library card catalogues? This lookalike cabinet keeps envelopes and paper clips organized in the home office. It's topped with a whimsical mix of used paintbrushes, binoculars and a well-loved derby hat.
Guest bedroom
A vintage dresser gets a makeover with white paint and old-fashioned knobs.
Pinecone vignette
Denise is known for the carefully curated vignettes, such as this basket with cement pinecones, she creates at her shop and her home.
Texture contrast
Mixing textures-rough string, gauzy lace, nubby linen-keeps a monochromatic vignette interesting.
Repurposed tray
What to do with an old tray? Use chalkboard paint to transform it into a wall hanging with ever-changing inspirational sayings.
Farmhouse welcome
With four finished floors, this Bartlett, Illinois, farmhouse has more than enough space for Denise's seven grandchildren to visit.The rambling, four-level house was a two-flat apartment building when Denise and Greg, bought it. "It was trashed, disgusting and rundown," says Denise, who, nonetheless, could spot its good bones. The couple ripped up carpets to expose original wood floors, tore down walls for a more open floor plan, and replaced all the plumbing and electrical wiring. Then it was time to have fun decorating.


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Book Tee Times
Tee Times
Input Score
Cypress Tree Golf Course is a private golf course and does not offer online tee times to the general public. You may book discounted tee times at other golf courses In the Montgomery area of Alabama or other locations below. Contact the course for information on membership or view more detailed information about Cypress Tree Golf Course.


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If you had any thoughts of selling your stocks between now and 2017, doing so within the next month may be strongly advisable from a tax point of view, says Wilmington Trust.
That is because it would take a minimum five-year holding period to outpace the advantage of today's 15% capital gains rate, says the century-old wealth advisory firm founded to manage the DuPont family fortune in a year-end report.
The report's authors, trust attorney Carol Kroch and financial analyst Sam Fraundorf, note that central bank intervention in financial markets has not only produced low inflation-adjusted returns, but has also narrowed return differences among asset classes–a trend they expect to persist.
But while the final results of current fiscal cliff negotiations in Washington remain unknown, the upward direction in tax rates is a certainty.
"… If you have been waiting to better position your investments, now is the time to make those improvements, since we do not think it will ever be cheaper from a tax standpoint to do so," Kroch and Fraundorf write.
Without a legislative fix, capital gains taxes are scheduled to rise from 15% to 20%; the tax on dividends will rise from to 15% to as high as 39.6%; the highest rate on income tax will rise from 35% to 39.6%; and the wealthiest taxpayers will pay an additional 3.8% rate on income tax and 0.9% on wages and self-employment income.
For those reasons, the Wilmington Trust report suggests that, generally speaking, high-net-worth clients will benefit from both realizing gains this year and deferring deductions until 2013.
But the report stresses that individuals need to "run the numbers," particularly since an itemized deduction phase-out for high-income earners is expected to be reinstated in 2013.
Not only will that rule limit the value of common deductions, but fiscal cliff negotiators are considering additional measures to cap deductions, such that deductions, unexpectedly, could have greater value to wealthy Americans this year than next.
The report also points out that accelerating income into 2012 will have the advantage of keeping some affluent individuals from falling under the new investment income surtax that kicks in in 2013 for families earning $250,000 or more.
The report's authors also highlight estate-planning issues and opportunities in the coming year, noting that in the remaining weeks of the year, a married couple still has the ability to transfer up to $10,240,000.
Barring congressional action, the current individual exemption of $5.12 million will drop to $1 million and the highest estate tax rate will rise from 35% to 55%. Kroch and Fraundorf therefore advise affluent households motivated to give to consult with legal experts on the appropriate gift (Delaware dynasty trust versus a QPRT, for example) and with investment experts on how best to fund the trust (i.e., which assets have the greatest appreciation potential).
Because of the time involved in estate planning, the report's authors advise clients to finalize any trust documents by early December.


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Stone Edge Design is a leading inground pool builder and restoration / renovation company for gunite pools serving Hudson, MA.
Conceived on the foundation of customer service and most basic principles of honesty, integrity and quality. Because of this focus the company quickly grew to become, and still is the largest and most recognized coping and tile contractor in all of New England. In fact, if you are an existing gunite pool owner there's a good chance that some of our craftsman had a hand in the construction of your gunite pool.


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18k Gold Multi-Color Citrine & Prasiolite Bracelet $5,200
A stunning and colorful yellow gold bracelet perfect for any occasion! It consists of oval faceted multi-color amethyst, blue topaz, critrine, and prasiolite gemstones (89.62 tcw). The center citrine boasts a halo of pave diamond (0.204 tcw). Handmade in Brazil.$5,200
18k Gold Amethyst Bangle Bracelet $14,750
A glamorous bangle bracelet handcrafted from Briolette amethyst and 18k gold. Handmade in Italy.$14,750
Measures 7⅝" long x ¼" wide.
The Achomawi people of southern California have a legend that the silver fox was created from fog. A fitting description for this beautiful animal whose color can vary from completely black (except for the tip of its tail) to a more cinereous color. As if still dripping from his formation in cloud of suspended water droplets, the artists at Herend have used a spectrum of moody fishnet colors to create this striking addition to the Reserve Collection. Limited edition of 150.
Measures 9 ¼" x 3 ¾" h.
The complex nature of smoky quartz paired with 18k yellow gold and rhodolite stones in beautiful multi-layered earrings.
Measures 2" l.
Add this beautiful mahogany credenza next to an empty wall or as a secondary work surface to that of another desk. Mahogany with satinwood inlay and hand-decorated flourishes. Three door breakfront sideboard. Exclusively at Scully & Scully.
Measures 56" w x 19" d x 36" h.
Classic blue and white color palettes with flower and leaf motifs. Entirely handpainted in Holland in the same workshop in production since the 17th century. Exclusively at Scully & Scully.
Measures 6" diameter x 3½" h.
These large sterling silver swans are handmade of hallmarked sterling silver in Sheffield, with fine workmanship that can be seen in the meticulous detailing of every single feather. Their impressive size makes them natural statement pieces for dining tables or large display cabinets. Goldplated beaks are 23k. Handmade in England. Exclusively at Scully & Scully.
Each swan measures 14" w x 8½" d x 10½" h.
We present the 44th in the annual series of Halcyon Days "A Year to Remember" collectible boxes. The 2020 box is inspired by the details of ceilings created by famed 18th century English architect Robert Adam: intricate gold detailing combined with clusters of flowers. Can be personalized inside base: please allow eight weeks.
History in the re-making ... Halcyon Days revives the 18th century art of enameling on copper for today's connoisseur. Exquisite little boxes from England are meticulously handmade and hand-enameled with 24k goldplated fittings -- the same techniques used by the original artisans.
Measures 2⅛" w x 1⅝" d x 1⅛" h.


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Developer Reading List, December 21, 2012 New books on C, C#, Node, Win8 Apps, Perl and Groovy.
Programming C# 5.0
by Ian Griffiths
This 800-page volume is a comprehensive tutorial and reference on C#. It's a thorough and complete discussion of the language and associated technologies written in a clear, if somewhat wordy, style. The book has been updated to cover more than the language per se. It also includes explanations of new features in .NET 4.5 and issues surrounding Windows 8 apps, such as packaging. Despite covering those technologies, the core theme is the language — not the libraries or the OS.
A useful chapter discusses, in considerable detail, the means of calling native code (both 32- and 64-bit), with lengthy coverage of COM and its specific requirements when called from C#. Both low-level calls to code written in C++ and to higher level languages such as VBscript or Jscript are discussed and thoughtfully explained.
My comment that the book can be used for reference is not an oblique suggestion that it contains numerous tables of APIs or anything of the sort. Rather, it contains a wealth of topics that are explained clearly and can serve as references and refreshers on how to do specific things, whether it's loading assemblies or determining which class library to write for, or figuring out how Windows 8's new stream for touch-based apps works. In all cases, you'll find several pages that lay out the material clearly.
The author fully expects you to have some background both in programming and in C#, so there is no primer. This choice of audience is possibly the reason for my only serious objection to the book, which is how little code it contains. Material is presented more verbally than I care for, but the clarity and thoroughness of the presentation make up for that. Recommended.


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Stuff Part 3
I'm kind of dumb that way. When I read the Bhagavad Gita a long time ago, I thought it was a story about God coming down and helping a guy in a battle. Someone had to tell me that the five horses of Krishna's chariot represent the five senses, that Krishna and Arjuna represent the personal self and the more elevated self riding in the same chariot of the body, and so on. I was too dense to get that on my own. Seems I'm the same way with my own writing.
Our personality, our ego, is like a storage unit in which we keep all the things we don't want to let go of. We know that eventually we'll have to let go of everything. But right now we don't. So we keep it. Some of us are very protective of our storage units. We spend a lot of time organizing the stuff inside, reminding ourselves of what's there, defending it against those who might want to steal it, or just defending it against the unavoidable decay that all things undergo. Others of us are less protective of our stuff. But we keep it anyway and we don't really want to let it go anymore than the more protective folks do.
If you realize that you have to let go of the stuff in the storage unit that is your self, and you know you need help to do that, who would be best to call upon? Going back to my own actual concrete and metal storage unit in Durham, NC, I was very lucky to have my friend Catie help me.
Catie understood very clearly what I was going through last weekend. She has her own stuff. She doesn't care much about Ultraman and Godzilla junk. But she's a huge fan of Morrissey. She's even gone so far as traveling to England or far flung parts of the USA just to attend his concerts. The way she tells it, even waiting in line for tickets to see Morrissey is a magical experience for her. She has, in her apartment (the Lady Cave) what she calls her Shrine to Morrissey. In this shrine is a collection of memorabilia collected during those journeys. She may not understand what I see in a kids' TV superhero show from Japan. But she knows what it's like to have stuff that's important to you and that other people can't really understand the significance of. In the more metaphorical process of cleaning out the self, you need that kind of helper.
A lot of people will reject certain teachers because they believe they are flawed and therefore cannot teach them the perfection that they seek. They search, instead, for teachers who they view as pure and untainted. But what they're seeking when they look for that is someone to help them get rid of the stuff in their storage unit who cannot understand why they're keeping stuff in a storage unit at all. I'm not really sure that would be the best kind of help one could ask for.
Besides that, I think these kinds of "perfected teachers" are mostly the stuff of legend. They're mythical creatures much like the Loch Ness Monster. I use Nessie as my example because I, Brad, the guy writing this, truly wants to believe that the Loch Ness Monster is real. I want to believe that there actually is a living plesiosaurus swimming around in a lake in Scotland. Seriously. But I've looked at the evidence and none of it holds up to careful scrutiny. As much as I wish it were true, I have to admit that it's probably not.
The greatest teachers, in my estimation, are those who understand what it's like to have a storage unit of the self. Oh Jesus what a horrible clunky metaphor! But I'm gonna run with it. My teachers, Tim and Nishijima, are not ego-less "perfected masters." They are, in fact, both people with very strong egos and very clear attachments. My troll Gniz was criticizing me recently for not pointing out the flaws in my own teachers. I refrain from doing so because they're also my friends, and you don't go on the Internet and reveal the hidden flaws of your friends. That's not nice. That's also a good way to lose a friendship.
But suffice it to say, they have flaws. It's not that they have no stuff in their storage units that appeals to me and works for me. Rather it's the way they deal with the stuff they've chosen to keep in there. It's very different from the way that most people deal with it. The differences are subtle, so subtle sometimes that most people would miss them completely. But they are deep and profound. These men have discovered a way to both keep that stuff in their storage unit and not keep it at the same time. It's the kind of trick that I would have thought impossible. And I've spent years and years and years with both of them watching very carefully for signs of sleight of hand. But I've come away convinced that what I'm seeing is actually true. And because it's true it cannot be magic. It must be something that I can do too.
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi said that, in practicing Zen, you have to clean out your room. He followed up by saying that sometimes you'll bring all the stuff back into the room after you've taken it out. But, he said, you have to take it all out first. I would also add here that most people will end up throwing away a lot of things, but still taking back the most important ones. This is precisely like what you do when clearing out an actual storage unit.
If you threw everything away, you'd also throw away those things that make you most effective in helping others clean out their storage units. You'd throw away the attachment to your stuff that makes you a good sympathizer to someone who needs it.
Understand that this stuff doesn't necessarily need to be actual physical stuff. Some people have no possessions at all, yet still manage to cling very hard to their personal stuff anyhow. Sometimes the very fact that they own nothing becomes a huge thing that they own and are completely unwilling or even unable to get rid of.
Anyway, those are the thoughts on this matter that were swimming around in my head and demanding to be written down when Crum the Cat woke me up this morning. I was unable to go back to sleep, even though I seriously needed to, until I typed them out. And so now here they are for you to enjoy.
And with that, I will begin another day of getting rid of stuff. Yesterday I sold six big boxes of books, DVDs and CDs. Today I'm hoping to cut things down even more. I will not get rid of all of it. Not just yet anyway. But the time will come eventually. Do please consider making a donation to help me move the important stuff I have to keep. I hate to say that shit and sound like a damned televangelist. But this move is costing me a god-damned fortune no matter how much junk I unload and my battered PT Cruiser is going to need some upkeep in order to make it out to the West Coast in one piece.


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Feature on White Sox player and Chicago-area native Rob Mackowiak.
When the White Sox acquired him in a 2005 trade with Pittsburgh, Rob Mackowiak got a new contract, team and role. Everyone knows that. Along with all of that, though, Mackowiak got a few lesser-known changes that not too many people know about. He got a new cell phone number because his old one was blowing up. He got tons of new friends. He heard from family members whom he hadn't heard from before. He also got the pressure of playing in front of his hometown crowd every day. Things sure did change when the Oak Lawn native came home to play ball. "The beginning of last year was tough," Mackowiak said of his first year with the Sox. "I changed my phone number to make it a little bit easier. I gave it to a select few. I said, 'If somebody else gets it, you're in trouble. I gave you it — gave you it — I know where the source is coming from.' Not that you don't want to talk to people; you just can't talk to a lot of people. You can't talk to everybody you've been friends with your whole life. It's impossible." That doesn't mean people didn't try. All of a sudden the trade that brought him from the baseball wasteland of Pittsburgh to the Sox turned Mackowiak from a utility player into one of the most popular men in the Southland. People who hadn't talked to him in ages popped up out of the woodwork with requests for tickets, or a chance to talk with or even just be acknowledged by a real-life major leaguer. "It (his phone) was just ringing constantly, all day long," Mackowiak said. "Not randomly; just people you haven't seen since you were in the eighth grade. You'll see them up in the stands and they'll say, 'Hey, you don't remember me?' No. You're 30, you're bald, you were a little guy, now you're a big guy, whatever. It's hard, because we've changed so much since grade school. It's hard to remember everybody. "Every game, 'Hey, do you remember me?' You're like (long pause) then they say the name and you're like, 'I remember you now.' Face to face, we all look different after 10, 12, 15 years. Whatever it may be." One of the most awkward times is during batting practice, when people will just wave to Mackowiak, expecting him to know who they are, since they know who he is. "Yeah, just the wave. 'Hey, what's up?' " Mackowiak said. "You're not sure it's the same guy you're thinking it is. But that's good. I'm sure it's exciting for that person to see someone you grew up with on the field, maybe they played with me in high school or wherever that may be. That's a cool thing for both of us." Then there are the ticket requests. "We've had that (with people) coming out of nowhere, some family members you didn't see too often, then they want to see you," said Bob Mackowiak, Rob's father. "Everyone thinks if you need 100 tickets, you get 100. As time went out, they realized no (that's not how it works)." Major League Baseball set up a comp system, whereby each player can get up to six free tickets for most of his team's games, but have to pay taxes on all the tickets. Very few people calling for tickets understand that. "Sometimes, you're like, 'Yeah. I'm not sure who I'm talking to,' then they're like 'Can I get nine?' " Rob Mackowiak said. "Whoa, I mean, nine? You didn't just ask for 'me and my wife to go'. You asked for nine, or eight, or whatever is. Sometimes people take it a little out of proportion. Some people have a lot of gall to call and ask for however many tickets, but they do it." Of course, that makes it easier for Mackowiak to sort out who his real friends are, since they're the ones who don't call asking for an absurd number of tickets. In fact, some rarely even talk baseball with their major league buddy. "He has a job to do," said Jason Sikich, one of Mackowiak's friends and former high school mate. "That's his job. I have a job and I don't call him — I'm in sales and I wouldn't call him before a big sale and say 'Hey, Bobby, what's up?' "I don't expect him to give me advice on my job, and I won't give him advice on his job, even though his is a lot more fun." While there are problems, being the hometown hero has its upside, too. Mackowiak gets to play for his favorite childhood team — "it's a dream come true" — doesn't have a long commute, and there is a baby sitter system built in place. "It's fantastic for us," said Bob Mackowiak, who says he tries to attend every home weekend game and a few weekday games. "When he was in Pittsburgh, we used to come every weekend on the homestand. You don't really get to see your grandson (Garrett) that much. At a baseball game, half a night on Saturday, see him Sunday morning, at the game, then we had to go home. I think family (in Chicago) you have that, a little bit of relief, if something happens, we're here. "We can be at each others' house in 35 minutes." Or at the park in a flash. Mackowiak's son Garrett is one of the more frequent visitors among children in the Sox clubhouse. Garrett can often be seen playing catch with manager Ozzie Guillen, stuffing his face with licorice or just running around after the games. After that, the two can walk out and visit with the elder Mackowiaks. "I usually see him after the games," Bob Mackowiak said. "Usually after. Before the games is too early. It's just so hard because of BP (batting practice) and all that stuff, stretching and stuff like that. Usually afterward, we'll catch him for a little while, 15-20 minutes in the parking lot. It's short. "You know if it was a bad game. It's on his face. You can see it a little. You don't have to say anything. As years went on, I'm not saying you don't talk about it because you do, we don't dwell on it. (All we say is) 'Tough game.' " Mackowiak also gets to hang out more with his childhood friends, more so after the season. "I probably talk to him a lot more during the offseason than in the season because he's focused on the game, going to batting practice, stuff like that," Sikich said. "He's absolutely the same person (he was growing up), but during the season, he has to stay more focused on the day-to-day stuff." There's the bad — the unexpected visitors, the calls and the ticket requests — but the first thing Mackowiak mentions when asked about being a local player for the local team is the good. "As a kid I watched Ozzie, watched (first base-coach) Harold (Baines)," Mackowiak said of the former Sox standout players. "I watched these guys and idolized them as players. To learn from them, it's something every kid wished he could do." More Sox coverage is online at www.dailysouthtown.com/sports.


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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Supporters of longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno are marking the 1-year anniversary of his death with a candlelight vigil.
The Hall of Fame coach died of lung cancer on Jan. 22, 2012, at age 85. On Tuesday, supporters are holding a vigil at a mural in State College that includes a depiction of Paterno. A family spokesman has said the Paternos would not take part.
Organizers say they will light 409 candles, one for each of Paterno's victories before 111 were stripped as part of NCAA sanctions in response to the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
Sandusky was convicted in June of 45 counts of child sex abuse and is serving a lengthy prison sentence. His arrest tarnished Penn State's storied football program and led to Paterno's firing.


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Five things to watch for when Barack Obama and Mitt Romney meet in their first presidential debate tonight:
1. ROMNEY MAKES HIS MOVE: He needs to re-energize his campaign after slipping in the polls. Can he do it by going on attack? Watch for Romney to lay into Obama's policies with gusto while trying to avoid getting too personal with his criticism, which could backfire. Obama needs to stay calm and hold his ground.
2. OBAMA ON DEFENSE: He's stuck trying to defend a painfully slow economic recovery. Can a sitting president sell the idea that he knows how to make the next four years better than his first four? Or does Obama mostly try to divert attention by slamming Romney's economic plans?
3. ABOUT THAT 47 PERCENT: Romney faces his biggest audience yet in the wake of his remarks about "47 percent of Americans." He'll try to dispel the notion that he's uncaring toward people who depend on government benefits or don't pay income tax. Can he recast his remarks as a critique of an economy that leaves so many needing food stamps and unemployment checks?
4. HOW THEY SAY IT: Watch for a clumsy gesture or errant look that says more than words — remember Al Gore sighing, George H.W. Bush checking his watch. Listen for tone of voice, too. Does Obama come across as arrogant or aloof? Does Romney seem awkward or out of touch? Did that zinger sound natural — or forced? Humor is welcome relief, but it's tricky to pull off.
5. A SURPRISE: They try to prepare for every scenario, but something will catch the candidates off guard. That's the telling moment. How well do they respond? Romney occasionally lost his cool with GOP primary opponents. Obama tends to lapse into long-winded answers and troublesome phrasing. Will either man be flustered into a mistake?


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An interesting question came up recently on Securities America's internal advisor discussion board:
I would be interested in hearing what policies or procedures other advisors use when an employee makes a mistake that costs the advisor money. I am specifically speaking about a situation when the employee did not follow documented procedures. Do you give the employee a certain amount of leeway, after which the cost of the mistake comes out of their paycheck? Or do you treat this as a cost of doing business and not charge the employee anything? I am looking for ideas as I'd like to address this situation in my employee handbook.
Before we look at best practices for handling employee mistakes, let's get one idea out of the way. As justified as it might seem to dock an employee's pay to recoup the money lost due to the mistake and as a preventative/warning measure to underscore the seriousness of the offense, this is not a viable option. First, it's fraught with legal risks. Second, it's the equivalent to swatting your dog on the nose with a newspaper for having an accident. You get the behavior you want out of fear—which in humans isn't motivating and could actually backfire on you the next time the employee feels your behavior justifies taking a few office supplies or worse.
Rather than focusing on who pays for the mistake, advisors should focus on the possible causes of the mistake and then identify the best way to prevent it from happening again. Most job mistakes are caused by faulty processes, not people. Ask yourself if the mistake resulted from:
- Lack of training: Have you set the employee up for success by providing timely and thorough training in tasks? Does the employee (or the whole staff) need a refresher training?
- Lack of documented procedures: Has the procedure been handed down from employee to employee verbally or has it been written down? When was it last updated?
- Lack of focus: Are the factors in the employee's work environment or personal life that may be distracting?
- Lack of clear expectations: Were your instructions specific enough for the employee to deliver what you had in mind? Did you set up the employee to succeed – or fail?
- Lack of ability: Is the employee capable of doing the task assigned?
- Lack of motivation to do the job right: Does the employee want to perform this task and do it well?
If you're thinking you can't control the last two possibilities on that list, you're wrong. I've had a few conversations with advisors about the importance of "knowing your players."
I don't know which basketball coach to whom I should attribute this story, but it goes like this. A coach approaches his star player after a horrible game and an overall recent decline in that player's performance. The coach yells, "I can't decide what's wrong with you. Is it ignorance or apathy?"
The player responds: "I don't know, and I don't care."
If your players know, and your players care, then the Corrective Action Procedures listed below are effective in addressing and ceasing
costly mistakes, or effectively ceasing employment for players that just aren't effective.
- Verbal Counseling: The advisor meets with the employee to explain the current job performance issues, how they negatively impact job performance and future job performance expectations. Advisors should document the discussion, including the agreed-upon steps to correct employee performance.
- Written Corrective Action: The advisor documents the job performance issue on a Written Corrective Action form. As in the verbal warning, the corrective action form describes the job performance issues, how they negatively impact job performance and what must be done to correct the situation. The written corrective action takes the additional step of outlining any consequences (i.e. terms of probation, reduction or loss of bonus, etc.) if the performance issues continue.
- Final Written Corrective Action: If the problem/issue is not resolved after the written corrective action, or if progress is not maintained, a final corrective action or employment termination may be initiated.
- Employment Termination: Some employee behaviors, such as insubordination, theft, inappropriate actions or gross misconduct, may result in immediate dismissal without the issuance of a verbal or written corrective action.
Mistakes are an important part of the employee learning process, but they definitely represent risk to a financial services practice. How you train and manage your employees, including how you handle their mistakes, improves the return on your human capital investment in them and reduces the risk they will make mistakes. With the new year around the corner, take time now to review areas like training and written procedure updates to help you and your staff have a successful and error-free 2013.


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text:
The Amazing Race's shocking finale Sunday did nothing to boosts its numbers.Season 21's two-hour closer averaged 9.3 million viewers and a 2.6 in the adults 18-to-49 demographic to tie last season as the show's lowest-rated finale. Lead-out The Mentalist (7.9 million, 1.6) was down 11 percent.NBC won the night with Sunday Night Football (18.9 million, 6.9).Fall TV Report Card: How's the new class doing?Fox's The Simpsons (7.5 million, 3.4) was the top scripted program, buoyed by a football lead-in.8 p.m.CBS: The Amazing Race 9.3 million viewers (2.6 demo rating) [8-10 p.m.]ABC: Prep & Landing 4.9 million (1.4)Fox: The Simpsons 7.5 million (3.4); Bob's Burgers 4.6 million (2.1)NBC: Sunday Night Football 18.9 million (6.9) [8-11:30 p.m.] 9 p.m.ABC: Christmas with Holly 7.7 million (1.8 million) [9-11 p.m.]Fox: Family Guy 5.6 million (2.8); American Dad! 4.6 million (2.2)10 p.m.CBS: The Mentalist 7.9 million (1.6)
View original Ratings: Amazing Race Finale Ties Low at TVGuide.com
Related Articles on TVGuide.com
Fall TV Report Card: How's the new class doing?
Other Links From TVGuide.com
Family GuyThe SimpsonsAmerican Dad!Sunday Night FootballThe MentalistBob's BurgersAmazing Race 21Christmas With HollyPrep & Landing


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Celtic Brioche Burger Bun (pack 4)
In Stock
Delivery available from free for orders over £50
Pick Your Day (afternoon and evening slots) and Next Day delivery also available
Pick Your Day (afternoon and evening slots) and Next Day delivery also available
Product description
Celtic Bakers deliciously rich and buttery brioche buns are study enough to support your burger and soft enough for the perfect bite.
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Good morning! I love you. However, there are two (2) groups of people I don't want to hear a goddamn peep out of today, and those are:
You rode to work today? Good for you. Now shut up about it (assuming your mouth has even thawed yet). Certainly the bicycle is one of the greatest inventions ever wrought by humankind. However, here in New York we also have the greatest public transportation system in the country, if not the entire world, and it's called "the subway:"
Hey, it has its problems, and you do run the risk of having your smartphone swiped or getting kicked in the face by a breakdancer, but it's cheap and it's warm, and when it's five fucking degrees outside it ain't a bad choice.
So if today of all days you wanna be a schmuck and not use it that's fine, but I don't want to hear about it.
Yes, I know five degrees is downright balmy in other parts of North America. For example, I punched "Minneapolis" into a popular weather website just for the heck of it, and noticed that it was minus thirteen American degrees there yesterday--at its warmest:
Even so, I don't wanna hear from you people. First of all, the "We're colder than you" game is one you can't win, because I'm sure there were places that were colder than Minneapolis, and then they start chiming in, and before you know it it's a great big dick-measuring contest. (Albeit a reverse dick-measuring contest because everyone's all shriveled because of the cold.)
Also, let's not forget that we're getting your hand-me-down weather today, and the only reason it's 18 degrees warmer here is that the air has been slowly heated by your flatulence as it moves across the country. So do you think we take pleasure in this little bit of extra warmth when it consists entirely of Midwestern beer farts? Because we don't.
Of course, none of this should imply that I don't think we, as cyclists, have a right to the road in any weather--unlike the mayor of Watertown, NY, who a reader tells me thinks cold weather cyclists should be "arrested:"
I know I'm gonna get in trouble for this: People who are on bicycles out on streets like this — they should be arrested. I mean, that is a clear and present danger that is being created and if you're gonna sit there and make the argument that texting while driving is reckless, doing that is reckless and it creates a danger for them and the motorists.
Unfortunately, they've got their — quote — rights, so they can do it.
At first I was upset by this, but then I looked up where Watertown is and it all made sense:
See, Watertown is across Lake Ontario from Toronto, so it suffers from "lake effect flatulence:"
Basically, what happens is that every time Toronto mayors Robs Fords farts (which is often), the gases travel across Lake Ontario and intensify as they move over the water's surface, so by the time they reach Watertown they're powerful enough to turn the mayor into a complete fucking moron.
So I feel better knowing that the mayor of Watertown is just another fart-sucker, but for a moment there I was almost mad enough to ride my bike today.
Speaking of clueless people in politics, you may have read by now about how political consultant David Axelrod has absolutely no idea what bike share is or that it exists all over the freaking world:
Does any other city have these goofy rental bike stands-people riding w/out helmets, even in dead of winter-or is that unique to Chicago?
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) January 4, 2014
This burst of mental flatulence elicited the following response from Rahm Emanuel:
@davidaxelrod wow.
— ChicagosMayor (@ChicagosMayor) January 4, 2014
Wow indeed.
Wow indeed.
Speaking of cold, if you're basically like "Fuck it" and just wanna pack it in until spring, here's a video I saw on VeloNews about how to store your bike for the winter:
All of this is great advice, assuming of course you're completely neurotic and/or you're storing your bike at the bottom of the sea. For everyone else, here are detailed instructions for long-term bicycle storage:
1) Put it somewhere and don't ride it.
By the way, did you spot the total bicycle creampie porn in the video at 48 seconds? Because I did:
Salacious and outrageous.
Of course, if you're really neurotic--like replace-your-helment-every-six-months, write-letters-to-Lennard-Zinn-asking-if-it's-safe-to-run-two-different-brands-of-tire-at-the-same-time neurotic, you'll want to follow my personal bike storage checklist:
--Never hang bicycle by the wheel as the weight of your superlight crabon bicycle can cause the rim to go elliptical over time.
--Whenever possible, suspend bicycle from ceiling using invisible wires like they used to film "the Matrix."
--If you must leave your bike sitting on the floor, be sure to rotate the wheels every three to five days to avoid flat spots. Also, release and replace air at least weekly to prevent tire degradation.
--If your bicycle is equipped with a suspension fork, remove from bicycle and place on a slowly rotating gyroscopic device that will ensure fork oil keeps fork internals coated. (Entry-level suspension fork storage gyroscopes start at under $800.)*
--Brake pads should be stored at the optimal temperature. If you are storing the bicycle in an unheated space, be sure to remove all brake pads and store someplace warm, such as near a radiator. If you are storing the bicycle near a heat source, be sure to remove all brake pads and store someplace cold, such as the refrigerator.
--Turn bars to full lock in either direction at least twice a week to avoid headset seizure.
--Place a small piece of lube-soaked cloth between the plates of each chain link to prevent corrosion. This is known as the "pedicure technique:"
--The fluorescent lighting found in many basements can degrade crabon fiber, so be sure to cover your bicycle in opaque cloth. If your frame has been exposed to fluorescent lighting for more than 72 consecutive hours then replace frame before riding.
--When removing bicycle from storage in the spring, be sure to not to exceed speeds of 8mph for the first three (3) months or 1,200 miles, as sudden application of torque after prolonged bicycle disuse can result in catastrophic frame or component failure.
Happy riding!
Meanwhile, while I continue to ride my bicycles over the winter, on the worst days (like this one) I prefer to skip the riding and do some maintenance. For example, a couple of weeks ago I noticed my front rim was dented:
Probably as a result of my adventures on Mount Tampon:
This was causing a pulsing sensation in my front end while braking:
Which in turn was causing Mario Cipollini considerable excitement:
By the way, if you're wondering why Mario Cipollini is coated in oil, it's because he's about to go into storage for the winter.
Now, I'm pretty neurotic when it comes to bicycles, so in order to repair the dent I used a special high-tech proprietary rim-alignment tool, as well as a dedicated kevlar microfiber rim protection system:
However, utilizing the rim protection system felt like showering with a raincoat, so I threw it away and just bent the fucker:
Then I put everything back together and made a sandwich:
By the way, those faux utilitarian basement-style walls and floors in my bedroom cost me $50,000 but the effect is stunning and well worth it.
See you on the subway, which should be 10 degrees warmer by the time it gets downtown thanks to all the flatulence.


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Difference between revisions of "Hugin Stitcher tab"
(rearrange to match GUI)
(→Projection: Some hint what the thoby projection is used for)
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* [[Triplane]]
* [[Triplane]]
* [[The General Panini Projection|Panini General]]
* [[The General Panini Projection|Panini General]]
* [[Thoby Projection]]
* [[Thoby Projection]]
== Field of View ==
== Field of View ==
Revision as of 08:29, 4 April 2012
The rest of hugin is all about setting up the project and aligning images, the Stitcher tab is where the final output file is created.
Here you can set the output Projection of your project, there are lots to choose from, each with different advantages and disadvantages:
- Rectilinear, this is the same projection as a photo taken with a 'normal' camera and lens. Use this if you are just stitching a handful of photographs together with a narrow Field of View or correcting perspective in a single shot.
- Cylindrical, actually a simple Cylindrical Projection as used by traditional rotating panoramic cameras. A good projection for printing a 360 degree panorama, though you may prefer Mercator Projection.
- Equirectangular, the all purpose format for representing an entire spherical scene. It covers 360 degrees horizontally as well as the zenith and nadir.
- Fisheye, the same projection as a photo taken with a fisheye lens. Better for representing a wide Field of View than rectilinear, but in many cases Stereographic Projection gives less distortion than simple fisheye.
- Stereographic, a conformal fisheye image. Objects in a stereographic image keep the same shape and show less distortion than simple fisheye.
- Mercator, a conformal cylindrical image. A good projection for printing a 360 degree panorama.
- Trans Mercator, a mercator image rotated 90 degrees, suitable for displaying tall or overhead objects.
- Sinusoidal, an equal area projection of an entire spherical scene.
- Lambert Cylindrical Equal Area
- Lambert Equal Area Azimuthal
- Albers Equal Area Conic
- Miller Cylindrical
- Panini
- Architectural
- Orthographic
- Equisolid
- Equirectangular Panini
- Biplane
- Triplane
- Panini General
- Thoby Projection, is modeling the 10.5 mm Nikkor fisheye lens and was introduced with hugin 2011.0.0. The projection is called after Michel Thoby who was able to empirically find it.
Field of View
This is the horizontal and vertical angle of view of the output image, clicking Calculate Field of View will shrink or enlarge the field of view of the output to fit the arrangement of the input images - The Fit button in the Hugin Preview window does the same thing.
Note that some Projections have a limited field of view, notably:
- Rectilinear has to be less than 180 degrees both vertically and horizontally.
- Panoramic (cylindrical) has to be less than 180 degrees vertically.
- Stereographic has to be less than 360 degrees both vertically and horizontally.
- Mercator has to be less than 180 degrees vertically.
- Transverse Mercator has to be less than 180 degrees horizontally.
Canvas Size
Set the width and height of your output panorama in pixels. Calculate Optimal Size will estimate a size that has about the same resolution as your input images.
Some examples: a three megapixel image has pixel dimensions of 2048 x 1536, an A4 print at 300 pixels per inch will have a pixel size of 3500 x 2480, a full screen spherical Equirectangular Projection image will have pixel dimensions of 6000 x 3000 or greater and a gigapixel image has a pixel size of 32768 x 32768.
Note that the interpolation used by hugin doesn't handle downsampling very well, so output images smaller than about half the size of the Optimal Size will show aliasing artefacts. If you want to create high quality small images, it is better to create an Optimal Size image in hugin and downsize it later in an image editor such as Gimp.
The crop settings allow just a portion of the panorama to be stitched, there are various reasons to do this:
- When correcting perspective large areas of the panorama output will be empty anyway.
- Large 'gigapixel' style panoramas can be stitched in sections then blended later.
The cropped-out areas are shown darkened in the hugin Preview window.
The Fit Crop to Images button will automatically determine a crop that has a maximum number of pixels and no empty space. This is the same function as the Autocrop button in the Hugin Fast Preview window.
Hugin can output 'normal' stitched images, exposure fused images or high dynamic range (HDR) images. The following options determine which kind of image is created, and allow keeping the intermediate images created during the process.
If Exposure corrected, low dynamic range is enabled then enblend is used for blending. In the final stitching process nona reprojects and distorts images to fit, enblend takes these images as individual TIFF files and merges them using sophisticated seam positioning and blending. Further enblend settings can be found in the hugin Preferences.
Enable Exposure corrected, low dynamic range under Remapped Images if you want to keep the intermediate images that enblend uses as input - For example modifying the alpha channel of these images and then blending manually is one technique for including and excluding people or objects that move between shots.
Exposure fusion
If Exposure fused from stacks is enabled then hugin will group the input images into exposure stacks by comparing positions, any images with more than 70 % overlap are grouped like this. Each of these bracketed exposure stacks will be exposure fused with enfuse and the results seam blended together into a panorama with enblend.
Note that for this to work, the scene has to be photographed multiple times using exposure bracketing and the EV exposure values set either manually in the hugin Camera and Lens tab, automatically from EXIF data or by optimising exposure in the hugin Assistant tab or hugin Exposure tab.
Note also that unlike Normal and HDR merging options where images are exposure corrected as part of the remapping process, enfuse requires that each exposure layer is supplied uncorrected - Hugin takes care of this automatically and will not apply exposure correction in this case.
If Exposure fused from any arrangement is enabled then hugin will seam blend images with similar exposure with enblend and than it will exposure fuse them using enfuse. This variant is often much more successful than Exposure fused from stacks in two situations:
- Where entire panoramas have been shot at each EV level consecutively rather than each shot bracketed, in this case it isn't guaranteed that shots will line up into the approximate stacks expected by the Exposure fused from stacks option.
- When the panorama has been shot entirely on automatic exposure, in this situation it is useful to seam blend adjacent photos with small EV differences, but then exposure fuse larger EV differences - As effectively happens with this option.
Note that hugin uses a threshold of 0.5 EV exposure difference to determine which photos can be fused into each layer.
Enable Blended layers of similar exposure, without exposure correction from Layers to keep exposure layers from the Exposure fused from any arrangement step, these are useful for manual Contrast Blending.
Enable No exposure correction, low dynamic range from Remapped Images to keep the intermediate images supplied to enblend and enfuse.
Normal Format can be in one several output file types:
- TIFF, various compression options. 16bit and 8bit depth supported. None compression is supported by most other applications, LZW compression is common in Windows/Mac applications and Deflate compression is more common with Linux tools.
- JPG, lossy compression suitable for web/email. Quality can vary from 0 (extremely low quality, small file size) and 100 (high quality, large file size). A typical quality setting for web/email would be between 70 and 80
- PNG, lossless compression. 16bit and 8bit depth supported.
HDR merging
If High dynamic range is enabled then hugin will identify likely bracketed stacks of images, then create remapped HDR images which are then blended with enblend.
Note that like the Exposure fusion option above, this generally only makes sense if the scene has been photographed multiple times using exposure bracketing, and the EV exposure values optimised in the hugin Exposure tab.
Enable High dynamic range merged stacks from Combined stacks to keep copies of the remapped HDR images as supplied to enblend.
Enable High dynamic range from Remapped Images to keep copies of each image remapped in linear colour space before merging to HDR.
Click Stitch now! to generate output panoramas immediately. Selecting Save project and send to batch adds the current project to the Hugin Batch Processor stitching queue, note that the queue won't be processed unless this queue manager is running.
High dynamic range Format can be either:
- floating-point TIFF, various compression options.
- EXR, this is a high dynamic range format which is more compact than a high dynamic range TIFF.
nona is the default Remapper (stitching engine) supplied with hugin, normally there is no need to change this or any of the options below.
Set the Interpolator (i) to change the sampling interpolation. You probably won't notice much difference between the various options except that Nearest Neighbour is fast but with very low quality. The default of Poly3 (bicubic) is generally good for most purposes.
Cropped TIFF files are smaller and more efficient because unused parts of the image are not stored in the file. You should always save cropped images unless you need to open them in an image editor without Cropped TIFF support.
enfuse is the default for Exposure fusion, Options are similar to enblend.
The default HDR merger is hugin_hdrmerge.
enblend is the default Blender for use with hugin, normally there is no need to change this. Additional command-line Options can be set here or in the hugin Preferences for new projects.


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Before I get started on anything else, I wanted to let you all know for what fabulous occasion I made this (equally fabulous, if I say so myself) breakfast braid. If y'all don't already know her, Julie from Willow Bird Baking is hosting her first challenge series ever and all of you should join! She's fantastic. This week's challenge is breakfast braids. And at the risk of exposing you to yet another countless hours logged browsing awesome blogs, I'm sending you on over there to check it out.
Do it.
Admit it–it sounds better to you than washing that pile of laundry glaring at you from the corner of your room.
So about this pineapple custard coconut bun.
Breakfast braid.
Hybrid thing.
Have you ever had a Chinese pineapple bun before? I've always wanted to try this recipe from Christine's site, but a) I haven't quite worked up the courage to make "fluffy" pastries yet, and b) I'm scared (read: terrified) out of my size who-knows-what pants even thinking about replicating a food that I grew up eating.
Because usually it ends up with my parents poking at it and going, "Ehhh, why you make this? Give up and buy from store already. Much better."
Okay no, my parents don't have absurdly martian accents. I just like to add them in for effect, sort of like I adopt a really corrupt British accent every time I imitate the snooty people I occasionally encounter in my department, even though I'm pretty sure all of them popped out of the womb singing "America, The Beautiful."
It doesn't really make sense. Neither do a lot of things in my pell-mell life, and neither do these hybridized, slightly mutant buns/bread that are deliciously awesome.
What's special (or what I'd like to think is special) about them is that actually combine three awesome foods and jam them into one crazy concoction that actually resembles edible sustenance. We have, of course, the requisite breakfast braid base for the challenge, but I wanted to put an Asian spin on the whole ordeal. I love Chinese baked goods, and I love working with them
when my martian parents aren't around to poke fun at me, so it seemed natural to work that flair into this challenge.
I can just imagine my mad fantastic Zumba instructor screaming it at me now. Work it, girl–work those buns!!
So I stuffed it with my favorite filling from these traditional cocktail buns–and then, instead of your conventional breakfast braid icing, I jammed on a hunkin' layer of the sweet "pineapple" layer from pineapple buns on top.
(For those of you who have never eaten a pineapple bun: first, we need to fix that. Second, the bun gets its name from the pineapple pattern this layer forms on the bun post-baking, rather than any actual pineapple ingredient in the bun itself. I usually peel this part off and eat it while sneaking away in triumph. It is, unquestionably, the best part of the pastry.)
But then again, maybe it's a good thing not all of you know about it. More for me.
One final, CRITICAL note, and then I'll shut my selfish trap.
If you make this recipe, read this carefully: Make sure you leave a piece for me.
I am in the process of grading the last batch of papers from our first round of essays, and I need edible renumeration for my pains.
Shipping address available upon request.
That is all. Now go work those buns.
Pineapple Custard Coconut "Bun" Breakfast Braid
Yield: 1 medium braid For breakfast bun braid: Adapted from Willow Bird Baking
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
- 1.5 ounces cream cheese OR 1 ounce tofu + 2 tablespoons plain yogurt*
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in softened butter or margarine, as well as cream cheese (or substitute–see note below) and mix until a sort of coarse meal forms. Add milk and vanilla, and stir until a very loose dough forms. Be sure not to overmix–doing so might turn your pastry dough from a rocking good pastry to a plain old rock!
- Turn out onto floured surface and knead very gently about five or six times, until your dough just comes together. Julie notes that it will be a very rough dough at this point, and that this is "perfect" for our purposes! Roll out into a rectangle about 5″ by 10″–just as long as it's not too thin, you'll be good to go.
- In the vertical middle third of your dough, spread coconut custard filling (see below for instructions). Then, along each side, make diagonal cuts (all in the same direction) about 1.5-inch in length and 1-inch apart from each other. Starting on one side, carefully fold one of the strips over the filling, then fold the matching strip from the other side. Continue folding until a braid is formed. Ta-da! Not so bad, was it?
- Top with pineapple layer (see below for instructions) and brush with egg wash (see below for instructions). Bake in preheated oven for 14-18 minutes, or until your top pineapple layer becomes golden. Allow to cool slightly before serving–the filling will be hot!
*Note on cream cheese substitute: I'm offering my cream cheese substitute because I do a really good job of not checking all of my supplies beforehand (d'oh) and didn't have a package on hand. The tofu and yogurt will do the trick if you're making small batches like I did; however, if you're making a full-on breakfast honkin' braid, it's probably best if you use the cream cheese like a normal responsible human being.
For the coconut custard filling:
Adapted from Christine's Recipes
- 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
- 3 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1/4 egg, beaten (hold on to the rest of the egg–it's going into your pineapple topping!)
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
- Combine butter and sugar. Mix until light and fluffy.
- Stir in egg. Add coconut and stir in until just combined.
- Place mixture in fridge for at least a few minutes before using it, if possible; this will make it more manageable.
For pineapple bun topping:
Adapted from Rasa Malaysia
- 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
- 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- Beat butter or margarine, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy and light. Add in egg. Fold in flour.
For egg wash:
- Use remaining 1/4 beaten egg and brush onto pineapple-topped breakfast braids immediately before baking.


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