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Workshops are a new development for STAG, in an attempt to offer something to our membership outside of productions. With an increasing amount of industry professionals coming in to run these workshops, these are a great, accessible way for members of STAG to improve their skills.
We like to offer a range of workshops covering the basics such as audition workshops, writing workshops and directing workshops, as well as organising more unique opportunities such as practical talks from industry professionals on how to enter the theatre business, or clowning and physical comedy workshops. With these we hope to offer even our most experienced members something new they can try and above all, have fun with! We always aim to promote an environment that's friendly, open and welcoming to beginners. Workshops are open to members and non members, so even if you're entirely new to STAG and just want to test the water, feel free to come down! Workshops will be announced through our Facebook Page, Newsletter or What's On section of the website.


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Small Patio Chairs
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As adjective, smaller, smallest
of limited size; of comparatively restricted dimensions; not big; little:a small box
slender, thin, or narrow:a small waist
not large as compared with others of the same kind:a small elephant
(of letters) lowercase (def )
not great in amount, degree, extent, duration, value, etc
:a small salary
not great numerically:a small army
of low numerical value; denoted by a low number
having but little land, capital, power, influence, etc
, or carrying on business or some activity on a limited scale:a small enterprise
of minor importance, moment, weight, or consequence:a small problem
humble, modest, or unpretentious:small circumstances
characterized by or indicative of littleness of mind or character; mean-spirited; petty:a small, miserly man
of little strength or force:a small effort
(of sound or the voice) gentle; with little volume
very young:when I was a small boy
diluted; weak
As adverb, smaller, smallest
in a small manner:They talked big but lived small
into small pieces:Slice the cake small
in low tones; softly
As noun
something that is small:Do you prefer the small or the large?
a small or narrow part, as of the back
those who are small:Democracy benefits the great and the small
smalls, small goods or products
smalls, British
household linen, as napkins, pillowcases, etc
smalls, British Informal
the responsions at Oxford University
smalls, Mining
coal, ore, gangue, etc
, in fine particles
As Idioms
feel small, to be ashamed or mortified:Her unselfishness made me feel small
As noun, plural patios
an area, usually paved, adjoining a house and used as an area for outdoor lounging, dining, etc
a courtyard, especially of a house, enclosed by low buildings or walls
As noun
a seat, especially for one person, usually having four legs for support and a rest for the back and often having rests for the arms
something that serves as a chair or supports like a chair:The two men clasped hands to make a chair for their injured companion
a seat of office or authority
a position of authority, as of a judge, professor, etc
the person occupying a seat of office, especially the chairperson of a meeting:The speaker addressed the chair
(in an orchestra) the position of a player, assigned by rank; desk:first clarinet chair
the chair, Informal
electric chair
sedan chair
(in reinforced-concrete construction) a device for maintaining the position of reinforcing rods or strands during the pouring operation
a glassmaker's bench having extended arms on which a blowpipe is rolled in shaping glass
British Railroads
a metal block for supporting a rail and securing it to a crosstie or the like
As verb (used with object)
to place or seat in a chair
to install in office
to preside over; act as chairperson of:to chair a committee
to carry (a hero or victor) aloft in triumph
As verb (used without object)
to preside over a meeting, committee, etc
As Idioms
get the chair, to be sentenced to die in the electric chair
take the chair, to begin or open a meeting
to preside at a meeting; act as chairperson
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subset: commoncrawl


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February 20, 2011
Shinobazu-dori and Pond
I took the photo above on Shiboazu-dori(street).
You can see Shinobazu pond in the right side of the photo.
This pond is located in the southern part of Ueno park.
The pond is an oasis for birds.
These photos were taken on February 7, 2011.
This post is linked to Show me Japan , a weekend meme by Anna.
You can see many nice photos of Japan from there.
Please take a look!!
Posted by nobu at 12:51 PM
4 comments:
- A and Y Ikeda said...
Hahaha! Both you and Muzachan have photos from Ueno park for this weekend's Show Me Japan! What a fun coincidence!
- February 20, 2011 at 2:39 PM
- Y. Ikeda said...
Yes, your beautiful photos and Muza chan's stunning photo are complementing each other!!!
I like visiting Ueno park. The pond somehow reminds me of the one in the Central park in NYC!
Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful Sunday evening.
- February 20, 2011 at 8:23 PM
- Malyss said...
Hey, a small seagull! just the kind I like! :o)
I guess it will be happpy there, among ducks , in this wonderful place!
- February 21, 2011 at 12:49 AM
- Sarah said...
I always love gazing into the ponds. Any turtles in there I wonder. Nice photos!
- February 22, 2011 at 1:44 AM
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Wellesley, United States of America
Available: Yes
Parker Morse is a journalist based in Wellesley, United States of America. After starting out at Runner's World, Parker has written for Running Times, New England Runner, the Eugene Register Guard, and Reuters.
Opinion column on the state of the sport of athletics.
Feature story, athlete profile, on one of the runners in Roger Bannister's sub-4:00 mile race.


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Friday, March 20, 2009
Friday Night Lights - The Giving Tree
First daughter up to bat is J.D. (that's right, I called him a daughter,) as the episode begins with him attending a party, no doubt his first since the infamous one a few episodes back ("It Ain't Easy Being J.D. McCoy"). It's here our golden boy gets a glimpse of his father's worst nightmare: A cute redhead named Madison. In a bit of foreshadowing fun, the song playing is "Dita Dimone" by Pop Levi, featuring the refrain "Daddy daddy don't be mean to me / I'm forever hearing Dita's plea." After daddy meets Madison a bit later, the lyrics make a lot more sense, and it's quickly apparent that J.D. is treated more like a daughter that needs protection. Leave it to mommy McCoy to aid and abet young J.D. in the re-securing of his balls.
Another storyline from "It Ain't Easy Being J.D. McCoy," that gets revisited is the one of "Matt and Julie doing it." Despite the lack of visibility over the past few episodes, the lovebirds are apparently still shaking the sheets, so to speak, as we find them clothesless in bed early in the episode, while Joseph Arthur's "Could We Survive" plays in the background. That song begins with the telling lyric: "Hallelujah stop and stare, when will Jesus find us here? Could we survive?" Coach, fresh from doing a little savior work at the jail with Buddy, is indeed going to find them there, and the way the scene was shot was quite wonderful. Shot entirely away from the action, the camera focuses instead on the exterior of Matt's house as we only hear Julie scream and see Coach come storming out, which is really all we need. In dealing with Julie, it's Tammi who naturally ends up taking the reigns, and we're treated to a wonderful sequel to the mother-daughter conversation from season one's classic episode, "I Think We Should Have Sex."
Buddy and Lyla inhabit the final father-daughter relationship explored, and after attempting to portray him in a more positive light earlier this season, he's back to being the old unlovable scamp, losing Lyla's college savings and ending up in jail after a scuffle at the Landing Strip. Exactly how does one cause $30K in damages at a dilapidated strip joint, anyway? The only hint we get that he's willing to recognize he's wrong with Lyla is through the backing music. "Till I Get it Right" by John Doe and the Sadies plays during the first Buddy rant, and the episode ends with him leaving a message to Lyla to the tune of Soulsaver's "Revival." "Forgive what I have done...it means my soul's survival," the song goes, and its use also underscores Tyra's recognition that Landry is more to her than someone she takes advantage of. That ties together the title's implied theme, which Landry brings up in referencing the children's book "The Giving Tree." (And how about Crucifictorious sounding like a real band now? They might be aping old Kings of Leon, but it actually sounded pretty promising.)
I guess there was another playoff game this week as well, right? The game again took a backseat to all that was happening, but what happened on the field did two great things. First was a callback to the troubling referees from season one's "Black Eyes & Broken Hearts" episode, where Coach Taylor turned the other cheek repeatedly, late hit after late hit. Still stinging from the Matt and Julie discovery, Taylor loses his sh*t and his voice, tearing into the referees, backed by one of the most daring music choices the show has had, the joyously angry "adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood" from Future Of The Left. The Welsh band, who rose from the ashes of the great mclusky, does angry very well, and, as FNL has occasionally shown, sometimes a well-timed cathartic release can do a world of good.
Playlist: Friday Night Lights - Episode 3.10
1. "Dita Dimone" - Pop Levi - Madison's party.
2. "Could We Survive" - Joseph Arthur - Matt & Julie talk in bed.
3. "Till I Get It Right" - John Doe and The Sadies - Buddy rants to Eric about his money problems.
4. "The Debtor" - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Tyra tells Landry she got his band a gig; Matt arrives at the Taylors'
5. "Remember When (B Side)" by The Black Keys - The game starts
6. "Sound Of Madness" by Shinedown - End of the first half
7. "adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood" by Future Of The Left - Coach Taylor leaves the game
8. "To West Texas" - Explosions In The Sky - The game ends
9. "Revival" - Soulsavers - Tyra watches Landry perform; Buddy leaves Lyla a message.
Previously: Man-Hatin' Music (Episode 3.09)
8 comments:
- Carrie said...
Hey, so this is random - I'm trying to find the artist for the song that played on this episode during Tyra's stint to get Landry's band to play at the bar, coming into Matt at the Taylor's house. Everyone says it's "The Debtor" by Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, but those lyrics just don't match up. Do you have any idea??
- 1:15 PM, April 08, 2009
- drake lelane said...
on the tv airing it was indeed "The Debtor," but NBC will often replace these songs when cutting for the web, which I'm guessing is where you saw it, right?
- 3:01 PM, April 08, 2009
- Anonymous said...
So, what was the song on the web airing?
- 1:07 PM, May 07, 2009
- drake lelane said...
Rescue Records typically supplies the replacement music, and they've got all the music listed season by season here, available for sample and purchase.
Here's all the season 3 replacement songs.
They don't list which song was where, though... but they are in order so it shouldn't be too hard for you to narrow down.
- 1:20 PM, May 07, 2009
- Anonymous said...
Friday night lights is an interesting show and the characters of the show have played very good Role.I have seen all the season But some episodes i have missed to Watch Friday night lights online i found a good Source here.
- 3:46 AM, May 21, 2009
- Anonymous said...
Thanks to the tip on Rescue Records I found the song used for Tyra's scene to get Landry's band the gig. It is "Hello Hello" by Skin N bones on the Rescue Records website. A search on the Rescue Records site should locate it.
- 12:36 AM, September 27, 2009
- Spanco said...
The music of FNL episodes is very fine. I always get crazy to listen it. While listening these songs i always sleep and so i have no idea about matching of Lyrics.
- 10:46 PM, November 05, 2009
- Mr.Timmy said...
how do i get that song by skin n bones? i couldnt find it on the rescue records website
- 8:46 PM, July 17, 2011


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|Berin Loritsch <blorit...@apache.org>
|Re: is fortress will be support aop
|Fri, 03 Sep 2004 17:19:31 GMT
yueming wrote: > is fortress will be support aop? > I wouldn't rule it out, but it isn't currently on the TODO list. If this is something you would like to see, we would welcome your contributions. Just start getting involved on the excalibur-dev list and start submitting patches. -- "Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." - Rich Cook --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: email@example.com For additional commands, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Apache Excalibur Project -- URL: http://excalibur.apache.org/
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Time4Flash.com - Good times with playing flashgames > Puzzle > Cutaway Kitchen Escape
Cutaway Kitchen Escape
Fair Room Escape is type of point and click new escape game developed by games2rule.com. You are trapped inside in a Fair Room. The door of the Fair room is locked. There is no one near to help you out. Find some useful objects and hints to escape from th
Fair Room Escape, Logic, Finding, Trapped, Room Escape, Objects, Mind, Puzzle
Played: 638
Added: 10 May 2013
Added by: Time4Flash
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Reunion, Part 1
Part 1 of reunions are always a little slow and it didn't help that Kathryn was highly sedated. She is the one we can usually count on to bring it…. where were all of her crazy looks? Craig keeps getting more and more skinny – his face is looking skeletal. Kathryn's hair started off looking cute but begins to get wirey and disheveled as the day continues. Shep actually looked pretty good – must not have been hung over. Thomas looks old and creepy per ushe but the make-up seems to have helped a bit. Cameran is gorgeous as always and killing it in that adorable dress with her cute little baby bump. The make-up artists did not do so well with Landon. She looks tired, old, and grumpy – it's just all wrong: the outfit, the make-up, the hair. Help her Cameran! Austen looks cute as pie and nothing like Shep in my opinion.
Episode 13 Episode 12 Episode 11
Are You a Bro or a Douche?
Andy gets into the Craig/Shep relationship dynamic and if Shep is being brotherly or a douche bag. Shep thinks he's being helpful and the group is kind of on his side, agreeing that Craig just can't handle the truth. I think sometimes Shep is trying to be helpful but the way he says things to Craig is kind of harsh. And to top it off Craig is also extremely sensitive, so that doesn't help. Cameran says that Craig is sort of like a girl when it comes to his drama queen ways.
The group piles on Craig for being up in everyone's business all season. Shep again makes fun of his mediation skills and Craig fires back that Shep is a drunk.
Falling Back in Love
Naomi comes out to talk about her and Craig's relationship and all of their fighting. She explains "Craig wants a ride or die chick but I want to know where we're riding and why we need to die." Hit the nail on the head there Naomi. They said they had their low point just a few weeks ago – so way after filming had wrapped. Whaaat?! I thought we saw y'alls low point – how much worse could it have gotten? Craig says that they're "learning how to fall back in love".
Um y'all have not been dating that long to be having these huge problems or to be falling out of love with each other! If you're at that point, it's time to walk away before you go any deeper. After a few years y'all are not invested as much as you could be and you can still have a clean break rather easily.
ABC – Aging Bachelor Condition
Shep has cut down on his partying since moving to the beach. He can't seem to cut it out completely and I don't think he's actually cut down that much. He's going to bed earlier but that doesn't mean he doesn't start drinking earlier. Cameran says that Shep is an angry drunk and he does have a tendency to get in fights with people. Thomas says that Shep has ABC – Aging Bachelor Condition.
Mary Jane Rehab
But that was just the warm up for a more serious topic – Kathryn's drug issues. Kathryn says she's been sober for "probably about 8 months." Then how does she explain what's happening to her right now?
She blames Landon for leaking the story to the press at last year's reunion, but the story was already out by that time. Delusional! Landon doesn't feel bad about her comments saying Kathryn wanted to meet her next rich victim in rehab. What a bitch!
Kathryn admits that her drug of choice was marijuana. What whaat whaaaat?! Sorry but no way… there's no way! Someone who is high on weed does not act like she has acted in the past. Even Andy is like "wtf? People go to rehab for pot? Well I'm screwed!"
Landon starts crying when she hears that Kathryn doesn't trust anyone…. ok Landon, two seconds ago you were judging her and now you feel so bad that you are crying on her behalf. Take that dolphin ass home.
Jennifer Snowden comes out and explains how she testified against Kathryn in the custody case. Kathryn accuses Jen of lying under oath but we don't get to hear what the alleged lie was because of the gag order. "I'm not under your gag order!"
This is where Kathryn's condition really starts to go downhill – something must've kicked in. She can barely keep her eyes open, she's having a hard time speaking, and she does not understand what anyone is saying. She has to, has to be high af on some sort of pills.
Thomas jumps in and it gets really dark – as it usually does with the two of them. He is threatening to reveal secrets about court issues and past things that Kathryn has done.
Next week we get an appearance from Chelsea – I'm surprised she hasn't been out there for the whole thing. I know she wasn't in the main intro but she was just as involved with everything as Austen was. Craig and Shep get into it again and Cameran tries to act innocent about her involvement in the Chelsea/Shep/Austen love triangle. It looks like Chelsea goes in on Landon! I am ready for that and hope that Chelsea really brings it – I mean she has to cement herself for next year's season. Also, where is Whitney?
What did you think of Part 1 of the Reunion? More crazy or tame than past seasons? Is Kathryn on some sort of something or am I just not used to seeing her fight sober?
Let me know in the comments below!


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Here at VIEO, we find ourselves arguing pretty regularly about the important issue of cats versus dogs.
Mac, Maria, and Emily are strongly dog people, and Paul and Melanie are passionate cat supporters. Everybody has an opinion, but there's no way to win. Until now!
As a design and marketing firm, we love innovative visual approaches, and so we've decided to put the question to you in this way –
The post "If cats were fonts." was originally published on I Waste So Much Time, and takes a humorous approach to the idea (appropriate, given the subject matter).
In response, Vienna-based studio Grafisches Büro created elegant designs of Dogs as Fonts that was featured recently on Design Taxi.
Judge for yourself:
Let us know your favorites in the comments!
As VIEO's content director, Emily Winsauer was responsible for content strategy for VIEO and our clients for over 5 years. She recently moved to Seattle where she's still creating compelling content in her new role.
Related Post:


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The Zanzibar Serena Inn is the classic grand old lady of Stone Town. This old colonial building has a wonderfully quiet location on a garden square right beside the sea. From here it's just a short walk into the winding alleyways and old streets of town.
The rooms are light and airy- with twin or double standard rooms on the ground floor, and similar-sized prime rooms (double beds only) with views out over the sea, as well as several suites. There's a reasonably sized pool – the best we've seen in Stone Town- and helpful, friendly staff. In all, this is a pretty failsafe Stone Town hotel, and one that we've had consistently good feedback for over the years. There's a good restaurant here, but one of our favourite things to do in Stone Town is to try some of the local food-with so many restaurants right on the doorstep we'd recommend going out to explore.
Feel good factor at the Serena Inn, Zanzibar:
As befits a hotel owned by the Aga Khan Foundation the Serena has a strong commitment to the local community and environment. It helps subsidise medical care and supports orphanages in the local community, provides training to school-leavers and is committed to reducing waste, conserving energy and serving local produce whenever possible.
Want to know more? We've stayed here, so just


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1955, Austin, Texas On the first day in Austin, Texas, I stepped onto the bus and saw all the black faces in the back and the white faces in the front. I was stunned and wondered, 'I'm not black. Neither am I white. Where do I sit?'
The same day, I went to a Greyhound bus station to go to a restroom and saw two signs at the doors: 'Whites Only' on one door, and 'Colored Only' on the other door. 'Which one do I use?' I asked myself.
The first Sunday, I went to University Methodist Church by the campus about 10 minutes before the service. The front pews were filling up, and the rear pews were filling up with people. But nobody came to my pew to sit. 'How come the people don't sit beside me?' I wondered. 'Do I smell?'
While in Austin, I had a friend, a black student, one of about a dozen black students, at the university with over 10,000 students. One day I said, 'Let's go down to the hamburger shop for a hamburger.' 'You go alone,' was his reply. 'Why?' I asked. 'They will not serve me.' 'Why?' 'Because I'm black.' He told me that he had to go down to the black ghetto to get a hamburger, to get his hair cut, to do his laundry,…, all because the shops by the university would not serve black people.
1962, Canton, Ohio In the1960s, an interracial marriage was frowned upon, especially in the mid-west.
While doing my graduate work at Ohio State University, I fell in love with Phyllis, a white coed from Canton, Ohio. One day I went to her parents to get their consent.
"I want to marry your daughter," I said.
"Are you out of your mind?" Her mother screamed. "Leave my daughter alone and go back to your country."
August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King spoke on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington: I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
1969 and 1973, Binghamton, NY – David, our son, was born in 1969 and Julie, our daughter, in 1973. Children of a mixed marriage. I was not sure how they would be accepted by their classmates in a conservative town. Fortunately, Martin Luther King's speech and the following civil rights movement had a positive effect on the nation. Our children grew like mushrooms without experiencing discrimination in their schools.
1990, San Jose, California – Phyllis mother supported us throughout our married years, even though she had told me to go home when I asked for her consent to our marriage in 1962. In 1990 her parents visited us one day. Her mother wanted to talk to me in private. I was nervous, not knowing what to expect. We walked to our living room. She said, 'Thank you for taking good care of my daughter for all these years.' I wish that I held her in a warm embrace and said, 'Thank you for raising a wonderful daughter, letting her to be my wife and supporting us for all these years', but I was too timid. All I could say was 'Thank you.'
October, 2017, The Terraces of Los Gatos – We are celebrating a multicultural day! Instead of just meat and potatoes, we are sampling various dishes from all over the world. We are enjoying music from the Mariachi's. We are entertained by dances and talent representing various parts of the world.
October, 2017. No longer I have to figure out where I should sit in a bus. No longer I have to figure out which restroom I should go to. No longer I worry about sitting alone in a pew because people come and sit beside me at a church. Americans have come a long way. And I am very proud and grateful to be an American.
As one who grew up in Korea under Japan during WWII and under North Korea during the Korean War and experienced much suffering with the loss of my loved ones, I often asked as a child, 'Why do we hate? Why do we fight? Why do we kill?
Why don't we love, instead? Why don't we play together and have a good time, instead? I didn't have answers to those 'whys?' I just dreamed for peace and brotherhood of mankind.
In my adult years, I often pictured a scene where the people from diverse cultures hold hands across the vast continents and over the deep oceans, form a giant circle, look at each other with broad smiles, and sing a mighty song of brotherhood, Ode to Joy in Beethoven's Symphony 9.
Joy, thou source of light immortal,
Daughter of Elysium
Touched by fire, to the portal
Of thy radiant shrine we come.
Thy pure magic frees all others
Held in custom's rigid rings;
Men throughout the world as brothers
In the haven of thy wings.


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In this 4-part series (concluding next Friday), Ben Reynolds, CEO and editor of Sure Dividend, highl...
Trading Basics – MACD – The MACD-Momentum (MACD-Mo) – Part 2
05/22/2008 12:00 am EST
Focus: STRATEGIES
In the last article, I gave an introduction to my modifications of the MACD, a convergence/divergence indicator originally developed by Gerald Appel. The examples last time demonstrated the basic interpretation of the MACD-His, and also illustrated that the MACD-His can be a very useful indicator, especially when two different time frames are used in conjunction. The slope of the MACD-His was also discussed, as sharp rallies or declines can reflect a change in buying and selling pressure. The weekly signals from the MACD-His do occasionally lag, and for that reason I developed the MACD-Momentum or MACD-Mo. It can be more sensitive to changes in the MACD-His and will often cross the zero line one to three weeks before the MACD-His.
First, it is probably important to illustrate how the MACD-Mo is calculated. In early years, while testing the MACD, I found that instead of the default values of 12, 24, and 9, the signals were more accurate when 10, 20, and 10 were used to calculate the exponential moving averages. This means that the MACD line (mentioned the last article) is derived by taking the difference between a 10- and 20-period exponential moving average, and then using a 10-period EMA of this difference to form the signal line. The MACD-Mo is then determined by running a 10-period momentum (with 3-period smoothing) of the MACD-His.
I have found it useful for traders to combine both the weekly and the daily MACD-Mo and MACD-His readings as a way to gauge how much weight the individual signals should be given. For example, when the weekly MACD-His and MACD-Mo are both positive, short-term peaks in the weekly MACD-Mo can be used as a signal to take some profits or to tighten your stops.
Figure 1
Click on Image for a larger version
The first chart shows the weekly and daily MACD-His and MACD-Mo readings for the S&P 500. On the bottom of the price chart, the blue histogram represents the MACD-His while the solid red line is for the MACD-Mo. For this discussion, we will look at just the last few months of this year and give you some ideas for what may lie ahead.
The weekly MACD-Mo made its low the week of October 21, 2005 (point 1) and then rose the following week, suggesting the correction was over. Four weeks later the S&P 500 closed above major resistance (line A) in the 1250 area. The daily MACD-Mo, as one would hope, gave an early warning of the weekly signal. It formed a bullish divergence in early October lows (line B) and then moved above the zero line on October 20, 2005 (point 2).
I have found that changes in trend in the MACD-Mo should be confirmed in 2-5 periods by the MACD-His. You will note that on the weekly chart the MACD-His did turn positive within five weeks of the MACD-Mo turning up. When the MACD-His on either the weekly or daily data fails to confirm the MACD-Mo it is consistent with a technical rebound, not a significant new up or downtrend.
The daily MACD-Mo for the S&P 500 did drop below the zero line in mid-November but the MACD-His stayed positive until early December. The fact that both the weekly studies were positive suggested a correction was likely, and that this was not an end to the rally from the October lows. In fact, the daily chart shows a classic continuation pattern (lines C and D). For those not comfortable or knowledgeable about classic chart analysis we will be doing several articles on this topic in the near future.
After the sharp rally from the October lows, the daily chart pattern does favor an upward resolution, and the daily MACD-Mo just moved above the zero line with the close on December 23 (point 3). The levels to watch are 1276 and 1249. A daily close above 1276 would signal a resumption of the recent uptrend, while a drop below 1249 would indicate that a deeper correction is likely.
Figure 2
Click on Image for a larger version
So, what types of stocks are likely to do best if the market does move higher in early 2006? The chart above (figure 2) shows the iShares S&P MidCap 400 Growth Index (IJK) and the iShares S&P SmallCap 600 Growth (IJT). As a group, the mid-caps performed well over 2005, up 12%, while the small-cap growth stock funds are up just 8.3%. This compares to a 4.3% gain for the S&P 500. The weekly MACD-His and MACD-Mo on both exchange traded funds (ETFs) are positive (not shown) and still rising. The daily MACD-Mo does act stronger for the Mid 400 Growth, as it could move above the zero line before year end (point 1). The recent corrective chart pattern (lines A and B) also looks stronger for the mid-caps. This suggests that the mid-caps should continue to do better than the small-caps in early 2006.
What stock markets did best in 2005? The overseas stock markets have clearly been the star performers, led by Latin America and Asia. The weekly charts below (figure 3) feature two ETFs, one of which is composed of Japanese stocks and the other by Latin American stocks. The iShares MSCI Japan Index (EWJ) is up slightly over 29% in the past year, while the iShares S&P Latin America (ILF) is up 56% and has been in a strong uptrend for the past 18 months.
The MACD–Mo on EWJ moved through the zero line in May 2005 (line A) and was confirmed by the MACD-His five weeks later. The fund had begun to accelerate to the upside. The MACD-Mo dropped below zero in November but this was not confirmed by the MACD-His, as it stayed positive. Now the MACD-Mo has turned up once more (point 1).
Figure 3
Click on Image for a larger version
The MACD readings for ILF have not been nearly as clear, which gives us a good example of how some momentum indicators do not work in strongly trending markets. The MACD's both turned positive on June 6, 2005 (line B), as the fund accelerated to the upside. They remained positive until October when both dropped below the zero line. While the MACD-His is now back above the zero line, the MACD-Mo is not. Despite these conflicting signals ILF has continued to make new highs as it broke through the $130 level in early December.
The action of ILF illustrates the danger of just using momentum type indicators, which is why I favor combining a series of technical studies to help one filter out misleading signals. The OBV or On Balance Volume, discussed previously, is one of my favorites.
Figure 4
Click on Image for a larger version
For example, the weekly OBV on EWJ (figure 4) turned positive in April (point 1), a bit earlier than the MACDs, and then surged to the upside in late August. It still looks strong as it is well above its rising WMA and shows no divergences. This indicates that the weekly trend for EWJ remains quite positive.
The OBV on ILF (figure 4) has been generally positive since the third quarter of 2004, as it has generally stayed above its rising WMA. From March 15 through April 29 it dropped below its WMA, but soon reversed to the upside (point 2). In October it also turned negative for three weeks (point 3), but by early December, the OBV was again making new highs, signaling that demand was strong and that the uptrend was still intact.
I hope these last two examples will show you why I think it is difficult to trade successfully without using several technical tools, as well as why I think at least one of them needs to use volume. This is particularly true in strongly trending markets where price-only based indicators will eventually give misleading signals.
As always I welcome your feed back on these articles and I can be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.com. I would also appreciate any suggestions you may have for future articles.
Tom Aspray, professional trader and analyst, serves as video content editor for InterShow''s MoneyShow.com Video Network. Mr. Aspray joined InterShow full time in June of 2007 where he also does other editorial work for the site, including the bi-weekly trading lessons and the weekly charts to watch. Mr. Aspray has written widely on technical analysis and has given over 60 presentations around the world. Over the years, he has applied his methodologies not only to the stock and commodity markets but also the global markets, mutual funds, and foreign exchange. Many of the technical indicators that Mr. Aspray wrote about in the 1980s, such as the MACD, have since gained worldwide acceptance. He was originally trained as a biochemist but began using his computer expertise to analyze the financial markets in the early 80s. As a consultant, Mr. Aspray wrote daily institutional reports for firms such as Fleming Jardine and Barings Bank and was noted by the Wall Street Journal as one of the "top bond market technicians."
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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (Insure.com) -- People complain about insurers all over the Internet -- in chat rooms and on countless Web sites, in e-mail discussion lists, and on message boards. Their posted comments run the gamut from wry observations on corporate culture to profanity-laced rants on poor customer service. But even if these authors are unaware that their comments are being monitored, insurers are listening.
For example, State Farm, the nation's largest auto insurer, uses both internal and external sources to monitor newsgroups for any mention of the company name, according to State Farm spokesperson Zoe Younker. Allstate, the second-largest personal lines insurer, also keeps track of what is said about the company in newsgroups, according to company spokesperson Justin Schmitt.
Younker says, on a case-by-case basis, State Farm decides whether to step in and make contact -- if possible -- with the author of the information. Schmitt says Allstate prefers to monitor the action from the sidelines and will respond only when a customer makes a direct inquiry or complaint.
Listening in
Insurers say they employ a variety of methods to gather information about what's being said about them on the Internet.
They can hire a firm such as eWatch, a company owned by PR Newswire that monitors more than 65,000 newsgroups for its clients. Or they may use their own employees to lurk in chat rooms, monitor newsgroups or e-mail discussion lists, or scan Web sites that criticize a particular company, such as www.nmlcomplaints.com, a site that focuses on Northwestern Mutual, or bashes the industry in general, such as www.badfaithinsurance.com.
The information that is gleaned from this monitoring is shared among many departments, says Younker, including customer service, marketing, and legal.
"Every company varies in the kinds of data they want," eWatch Vice President Nancy Sells says. "Some want the really blasphemous stuff stripped away, so they can focus on very specific information."
According to Sells, eWatch uses sophisticated search strings, or inquiries, to parse extremely targeted information from the countless number of newsgroups, e-mail lists, and Web pages that are updated each day.
While her company can create a string to track news of a particular lawsuit for an insurer's legal department, another string can produce data that points to a "leak" posted on an investor relations board ahead of a big business deal.
Internet monitoring also helps an insurer gauge both policyholder and agent satisfaction, monitor how people view the company's public relations efforts, identify trademark violations, keep tabs on other insurers, keep tabs on individuals or Web sites that criticize the company and track what the press is saying about the company.
The Wild West
For businesses of all sizes and stripes, the Internet is like Dodge City when the James Gang is in town, Sells says. There is no end to the mudslinging, online bickering, complaints, rumors and innuendo.
"In many cases, you have disgruntled consumers out there talking or posting about companies without having all the facts," she says. "The misinformation spreads like wildfire."
Insurers may be particularly susceptible to bashing on the Internet because of the heightened emotions that usually accompany a claim.
"Something bad has just happened when a policyholder makes a claim," Schmitt says. "The person has just wrecked a car, or fallen ill or a family member has just died. There's a great opportunity there for volatility."
Volatility indeed. The "Corporate Wars" section of www.outofthedark.com ranks insurers, banks and petroleum companies by skulls or "death heads."
But not every Web site that criticizes an insurer features shrill bold black and red headlines. Sites like www.nmlcomplaints.com are no less adversarial, but they strive for a less high-pitched tone.
"We want to be very focused," says Richard Johns, the vice president of Policyowner Protection Services Inc. (PPSI), an Indiana company formed in 1999 by business owners who are former Northwestern Mutual Life policyholders that owns the nmlcomplaints.com Web site. "We don't want to let the importance of our message get smothered in the exclamation marks."
Anonymous or not
There's a joke that says that both the greatest and worst thing about the Internet is that it's anonymous: You can say whatever you want, under any name or identity you choose. This sometimes poses problems for insurers seeking to uncover the true identity of a complainant in order to respond or to catch an individual infringing on the company's trademark.
But this "implied" anonymity is also a problem for the consumer. Chat rooms and discussion lists that send "real time" messages via e-mail are the Internet spaces where disgruntled policyholders feel the safest about venting their problems with their insurer or insurance agent. Yet this cloak of anonymity can be an illusion, according to Dr. Harvey S. Frey, director of the Health Administration Responsibility Project (HARP) in California and moderator of HARP's e-mail discussion list. HARP's list subscribers receive e-mail messages regarding managed care issues.
Frey recalls at least one occasion when a list member was discussing her lawsuit against an insurer via the list without realizing the insurer's defense counsel was also a subscriber who didn't actively make his presence known, but monitored or "lurked" on the list.
"Fortunately, she didn't say anything that she didn't already say in her pleadings, but she was pretty shook up nonetheless," Frey says. "She stopped posting altogether when she found out."
Frey says he looks at the discussion group's member list from time to time and recognizes e-mail addresses from HMOs. "I'm sure there are others who use their home [e-mail] address," Frey says. "I encourage their membership, but I wish they'd speak up more often, rather than just lurking."
Johns says PPSI believes "every page at nmlcomplaints.com is monitored by Northwestern Mutual every day." This belief is based on computer logs that record a computer's Internet protocol, or IP, number that identifies a particular computer network and the individual's computer that is using that network.
Northwestern spokesman Mark Lucius says Northwestern does not have a policy of monitoring nmlcomplaints.com or any other Internet Web site or communications.
Fighting bad words with good
Insurers often have a difficult time defending themselves against criticism, says Forrester Research analyst Todd Eyler, because "their product doesn't give you the warm fuzzies. Let's face it, they're in the bad news business."
In order to counteract the image of an impersonal corporation that doesn't empathize with customers' concerns, insurers have increasingly tried to improve upon their Web sites. According to Eyler, insurers have done this by adding transactional capabilities to their own Web sites so that consumers can purchase or service their policies directly from the company.
Some insurers have also added e-mail links that send a customer's complaint directly to the customer service department where a representative will read it and respond within one to three business days. Other insurers use sections of their Web sites to highlight their service to the community and charitable contributions, such as Prudential's "Helping Hearts Program" that donates automatic external defibrillators to volunteer emergency medical squads nationwide.
One insurer, Northwestern Mutual, even has its own Web site -- www.nmlcompliments.com devoted entirely to customer compliments and flattering third-party reviews of the company by the media and by rating agencies. According to Lucius, the compliments site -- even though it was launched after PPSI's "complaints" site -- was not launched in direct response to PPSI's site.


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|Victorious: St. Thomas Law Trial Team members Luis Garcia, Chanae Wood, Karina Harduvel, and Jillian Tate.
Two teams of four students from the trial team represented St. Thomas at the competition. Leonard Caracappa, Gabriella Espaillat, Jose Leal and Vanessa Pressoir represented the other St. Thomas team and received rave reviews for their skill, advocacy and professionalism. The teams were coached by Jeff James, Esq., Dionne McDonald- Josephs, Esq., and faculty advisor, Michael Mayer, Esq.
The competition consisted of twelve teams from eight law schools around the country. In each round, the students represented either the Plaintiff or the Defendant. As the Plaintiff, the students argued to a jury that the Plaintiff, an employee of the Defendant, was discriminated against, and fired for, religious reasons. As the Defendant, the students argued to the jury that the Plaintiff was not fired for religious reasons, but rather, because the Plaintiff was harassing other employees.
In the preliminary rounds, one team competed against the Universities of Denver and Texas. The championship team competed against Washburn University School of Law and Florida Coastal School of Law. After going undefeated and seeded #1 in the preliminary rounds, the championship team advanced to the semi-finals against the Texas Law School and argued for the Defendant. Receiving a unanimous verdict, the team advanced to the finals and competed against Emory University School of Law. At the end of a zealously advocated round, St. Thomas Law was named winner.
The trial team would like to extend its thanks to Professor Kenya Smith for working with the team and offering his guidance, knowledge and support.
Congratulations to the entire trial team on this incredible accomplishment. After months of group and individual practice, simulated trials against other members of the trial team, these students exemplified the meaning of hard work, dedication and sacrifice - way to make the entire St. Thomas family proud!
Good luck at nationals!