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I have a small (5 people) team of developers working in a bunch of projects right now. How can I use some agile/extreme methodologies to keep an organized shop that always delivers projects in time ?
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Well, to start out with, agile doesn't REALLY help you deliver projects in time so much as let you give accurate estimations of when you will deliver projects--that can be a pretty big difference.
It involves accepting the fact that if someone says "The deadline is tomorrow"--it will still be ready when it's ready. Agile helps you be good at tracking when it will be here.
Learning about it without a coach can be tough. Part of the problem is that you tend to think there is a lot of stuff you don't need, but Agile only takes away process by giving you something else...
For instance, Agile takes away "Design", but that absolutely requires ruthless refactoring & extreme testing which--mostly--compensates for a lack of design.
It takes away comments in the code and documentation but ads pair programming and a continuous team (Your team should ALL know Everything about the code). Without the 100% constant pair programming, you may find yourself needing more documentation. Also pairing can be annoying as hell if you don't have someone to guide you through practices.
You may be mostly interested in the scheduling portions though. This mostly involves admitting that programmers are horrible at estimating their work and creating an ongoing "Map" as well as a "Burndown chart" to help you revise the map.
For instance, you ask a programmer to rate each task in difficulty 1-5 just in relationship to each other, then you track how long the tasks actually take and calculate a map between 1-5 and hours/days. This process is constantly revised.
I'm not trying to tell you how to do it--what I am saying is that it's not a freebie--it's actually kind of complex. You might try to hire one or two people who've already done it for starters.
I can say that if implemented well it can take a shop that isn't good at high level design and/or engineering management and help them produce a better products with less hiccups.
I'm including some book references because I don't think you can learn the kind of things you need to online. There's a few references at the end which are online, and which might help you. Please bear with me because I think the things I'm putting here will show you why you can't just learn from online materials.
Agile doesn't help you deliver projects on time. It helps you find out when you're not going to, so that you can adapt accordingly. Agile helps you fail fast, not succeed fast. Agile success is one of the big myths which a lot of "sellers" like to push, but really, it doesn't exist, nor should it. Some projects will never return their investment, and all Agile can do is to let you know that this is the case. This is of course amazingly powerful information and well worth having, so please don't let you put this off of Agile!
The big problem with that is that shops and consultancies often tie themselves into fixed scope, fixed timescale, fixed cost projects. If you want to do that then include contingency - exactly the same as Waterfall - and use the information which Agile is giving you early to do something different in case of failure, or at least start expecting the loss.
If you're still using contracts in which supplier and client are each trying to shift the risk of delivery off onto the other person - old-style Waterfall contracts - then it may be worth looking at some more collaborative models. I've seen Time and Expenses work pretty well when the client trusts you; otherwise there are several different models in Mary Poppendieck's "Lean Software Development".
If you want to learn more about Agile from a project / programme management perspective, I really like Craig Larman and Bas Vodde's "Scaling Lean and Agile Development" and David J. Anderson's "Agile Management for Software Engineering". Most Agile books don't really go into programme management - they're quite low-level compared to the problems you'll be encountering - so you may need to look in the Lean space, which has worked really well for me alongside Agile methodologies. Also pick up some Systems Thinking, start working out where your slowest feedback loops are and how you're going to reduce them.
For the lower-level technical stuff, I like Kent Beck's "XP Explained" and BDD, most of the resources for which are online anyway. A lot of people have picked up BDD from blogs, and it now covers analysis (through Feature Injection), acceptance testing (with scenarios) and unit-testing / TDD space. Dan North's blog is one of my favourite references, and I hope that this article I wrote might be useful to you too.
Best of luck!
Whether or not your shop will always deliver projects in time does not depend on using one method or another. It mainly depends on the skills and attitude of your people (including yourself).
Anyway, I imagine you have had a look at http://www.extremeprogramming.org; that's a good starting point. Google for "agile method" or "extreme programming" and that will give you a lot of results.
By the way, I also recommend radical project management, which fits well with an agile approach to engineering: see here: http://my.safaribooksonline.com/0130094862 for starts.
Pair Programming with TDD
It may be difficult to learn to use agile/xp methods by trying to learn about them online.
As @Bill K said, having a coach, someone who has succeeded with agile before and knows how to teach it and assess it and refine it is a big help.
Your team being on "a bunch of projects" is a challenge. I'm not necessarily saying that agile teams will fail unless they are dedicated to one project, but learning to be an agile team while being pulled in different directions will be additionally difficult.
You can try some techniques, but beware...
On the other hand, if you are committed to only improving your current methodology and not transforming to agile, you might get a lot of mileage from the Extreme Programming Rules. But keep in mind that it's easy to try a few random agile and XP techniques without understanding how they all fit together, get frustrated by how unnatural and difficult they are, get the same or worse results as you had been getting before, and decide that agile is a fraud. I think that's how most anti-agile folks came to their opinions, and I don't think it's an accurate assessment of whether or not agile methodologies can be effective.
Best way to get a job done quickly though is pizza, coke, great music and oh hrmmm....better pay.
There are many good practices that are used in agile development.
Here is a great presentation on how to do some practices : http://www.autumnofagile.net/
The presentation is very long, but you can skip most of it. Just take care not to skip important parts (for example where he presents how to do TDD, or where he tells to use MVP).
If you're looking for a primer, try this video series. It's clear and very well done.


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Dancing at Lughnasa: Brian Friel's Tony-Winning Drama
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I went with 5 friends. Easy to get my tkts at will call. Actors were great however did not care for theme of the play. We were unsure of what was the point. Our seats were not good, next to last row in a corner. A/C didn't get there and sometimes difficult to hear.
Although we had address for venue, it was not easy to find once we arrived on campus
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This my favorite little theatre. They always have great sets and great actors. The cookies were especially good today too.
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Story was boring, we left at intermission. The young student actors did the best they could with the material... It was often hard to hear the actors theater needs better sound system

subset: commoncrawl


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Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tags: straight, redhead, cameltoe, puffynips, shaved, skinny, tattoo, white, shower, 1on1, blow jobs, masturbation
Ami came by for a fiesta time. She was a sexy redhead, looking hot in that mini skirt. She had perky tits and gorgeous eyes. She did not hesitate to spread those legs and begin playing with that tasty fire crotch. Then, she got on her knees and stuffed that cock in her mouth. She loved sucking and licking every inch of that cock. She hopped on that dick and got her pussy crammed. She rode that cock as her juicy ass bounced around. Then, they continued the action in the shower where she got her pussy banged with her tits on the glass. She got that fiesta juice all over her pretty face.
Site: Money Talks
Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Tags: straight, redhead, bikini, bigass, skinny, tall, white, outside, pool, 1on1, blow jobs, handjob
We hope you guys came hungry today because we are serving up some serious poon tang on this weeks episode of Money Talks. First off we are taking a trip to the raw bar for some of the freshest clams America has to offer. Then we are hitting the street and getting two girls to lick one anothers sweet sweet tatas. After that Nadine propositions one hot coed to give us a good old fashion vagina wedgie. For this weeks big finale Money Talks teams up with the legendary Milf Hunter, in search of some pool side pussy. All that and a gallon cocktail on this weeks moneytalks.


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I have a CentOS 5.5 server running a local telnet daemon (which is only accessible from localhost) which prints out a list of active users on our accounting system when sent the correct commands through telnet. I need to make this information available on our intranet website which uses PHP.
I've written a Python script using the telnetlib modules to run locally on the CentOS server which simply captures the output of the telnet command and prints them to stdout. I've setup key based ssh between the web server and the CentOS server to run the python script remotely from the web server. I can execute the script successfully from the web server using ssh and it prints the list of users to stdout on the webserver. I was hoping to be able to execute this SSH command and capture the results into a variable to display on the website.
However, I can't get exec(), shell_exec(), passthru() or any other PHP exec function to display the data. I'm well aware that I may be approaching this from the totally wrong angle! What would be the best way to capture the output from ssh?


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Power Tools
Cordless tool with extra-short, adjustable drilling head: The GWB 10,8-LI Professional angle drill from Bosch excels in hard-to-reach areas
- Shortest adjustable head with professional quality Auto-Lock chuck
- Especially long handle with long accelerator switch
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- April 16, 2012
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The Power Tools Division of the Bosch Group is one of the worlds leading providers for power tools, power tool accessories and measuring tools. In 2015, its roughly 20,000 associates generated sales of 4.5 billion euros, about 85 percent of which outside of Germany. With brands such as Bosch, Skil and Dremel, the division stands for customer focus and great engineering progress. The core success factors are innovative strength and pace of innovation. The division generated about one third of its sales in 2015 with products that have been on the market for less than two years. In 2016, Bosch Power Tools will again launch more than 100 new products onto the German market in its four business segments power tools, accessories, measuring tools and garden tools.
PI7704 - April 16, 2012


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Double Take 'Toons: Benghazi Hearing Loss?
Promising "whistleblower" testimony, GOP Rep. Daryl Issa's House oversight panel held hearings about last year's attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Tim Campbell is convinced that the Obama administration is hiding something, while Mike Luckovich heard nothing new during testimony.
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clinical psychologist jobs near Nashville, TN
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Talk:Airport Security Unit (Hong Kong)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|This article is of interest to the following WikiProjects:
I'm thinking about removing the second external link beause its very flashy and slow to load but with little content. Any thoughts? Hellfire83 14:11, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
- I agree, you can remove it. --Nkcs 02:38, 26 March 2006 (UTC)


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Dr. Arabshahi works in Salem, OR and 1 other location and specializes in Podiatric Medicine. Dr. Arabshahi is affiliated with Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, Legacy Meridian Park Hospital and Salem Hospital.
Podiatric Medicine
Medical School: Not Available
Please verify insurance information directly with your doctor's office as it may change frequently.
*This physician has multiple office locations. See Office Information for details.
3474 Liberty Rd S
Salem, OR 97302
350 Miller St SE
Salem, OR 97302
350 Miller St SE
Salem, OR 97302
5125 Skyline Rd S
Salem, OR 97306
2235 Mission St SE Ste 150
Salem, OR 97302


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Both our Cubs (18-months to 3-years) and Lions (4 and 5 years) modules aim to use soccer as a medium for children to develop the following :
• Balance, Agility and Coordination
• Technical Skills
• Physical Development
• Confidence
• Teamwork
• Social/Communication Skills
• Color/Number Recognition
• Numerical Learning
• Decision Making
I just wanted to follow up with you guys and let you know how happy we were with the soccer program Sam and Luis did for our school. The teachers, parents, and kids all LOVED it! In the last 17 years of being a director of a preschool, I have worked with many different people to offer additional programs to our kids and I have to say this was by far the best run program I have ever been in contact with!!
— Michelle
Welcome to TinyTykes !
TinyTykes is an innovative program, created by childcare specialists, to introduce children aged 18-months–5-years to the basic skills of soccer. It allows children to explore and learn in a relaxed and fun environment whilst promoting social, physical and emotional development through the medium of soccer.
The TinyTykes curriculum has been created to promote and enhance the key areas of child development with a major focus on fun!! The program is broken down into two modules relating to a child's age:


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Induction set for Sunday night. Babies due Monday! 1 cm dilated right now! Meeting my girls in 5.5 to 6 days!!!
Induction (xp)...
ahhhhhhhh omgggggggg im so happy for u!!!!!! omgg this most be the most beautiful moment in the world... Congrats can't wait until you post pics!!
Awesome news Meg. We are meeting our little ones on the same day. So exciting, I can't wait to see your news!
yay for all the babies coming on monday, lindsay and meg!!! i really can't wait to see pics and hear how everything goes for both of you!
Great news, Meg! So excited for you and the rest of the girls who are ready to go! I feel like I'll be bringing up the rear, even though I'm due next Thursday!
I can't wait to start seeing some babies around here! Congrats! (And Amy you're definitely not bringing up the rear... I still have 4 weeks to go!)
Yay!!!! I am being induced Tuesday...so we will have lots of lovely babies around here.
So exciting!! Can't wait to see them and read all about it!
How exciting or all of you!!!! Can't wait to see pictures
Good luck ladies! This is so exciting!
So excited for you, Meg! Can't wait to see your LOs!
:lurk: Wow! So exciting! T&P's for a smooth delivery!!!


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2 Reviews
This is really good & really easy. I'm a huge fan of swiss chard which was looking really great this week plus I had 2c Le Puy lentils that needed using. The rest of the family ate & enjoyed but no overwhelming cheers. I think I'd cut back on the lemon juice next time, it was a bit too tangy. I kept the chard with a wee bit of crunch left & it was perfect. Enjoyed on the 1st day without running the a/c at all. Made for ZWT9 Family Picks, Mike & the Appliance Killers.**NO I DIDN'T, LOL. I made it for A Taste of Syria 9/13!!!
HOLY COW. This was absolutely *fantastic*! So fresh-tasting and rich. The lemon gives it a great tang, and even my two year old ate without complaint. I considered halving the recipe, since it's only my daughter and I eating, but I'm glad I didn't! What a fabulous way to use the chard I bought (on a whim) at the farmer's market. I used canned lentils for this, which also made it a super quick recipe. When I reheat the leftovers tomorrow I will add the carrots. Thank you so much for posting!


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5 Reviews
This is good!! Very rich pizza, so you definitely need lots of people to share this with!! I completely forgot the black olives at the store but it didn't need them! The saute of the mushrooms and onions is key and I used homemade pesto (Classic Pesto). It was so fresh and tasted like great Italian pizza, thanks for posting!!
I used Healthy Italian Breadsticks or Pizza Crust for the dough, added a bit of garlic to the onion/mushroom mixture, and left off the goat cheese. It tasted wonderful with each bite offering a different flavor. Thanks Kitchen Kozy!
We had pizza night for my birthday this evening. I made several small pizzas with whole wheat dough and this was one I liked a lot. I brushed roasted garlic and olive oil on my crust and prebaked it some then spread on my pesto and the other ingredients. I used a cheese blend of parmesan, asagio, romano, fontina, provolone, and mozzarella. I added chicken (Pesto Coated Chicken Skewers) because I like my protein and artichokes cause I had them. Made for ZWT4. Thanks for posting.
I love pesto so this was a successful pizza combo for me - I added some artichokes as well so all round it was very yummy.
Very flavourful. You're right about it being more grown-up, my kids didn't like it, but my husband and I thought it was really good. Used a focaccia dough I had made as the base, and my own pesto. The herbed goat cheese added an interesting twist to the cheese topping. Used kalamatas.


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Hotels You might also like
Book your room at Clarion Inn Strasburg - Lancaster
Get an overview of this hotelFamily-friendly hotel with free breakfast and restaurant
This family-friendly Strasburg hotel is located in the historical district, within 1 mi (2 km) of Sight and Sound Theatre and Choo Choo Barn. The Amish Village and Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania are also within 2 mi (3 km).
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This smoke-free hotel features a restaurant, an outdoor pool, and a 24-hour fitness center. Free continental breakfast, free WiFi in public areas, and free self parking are also provided. Additionally, a bar/lounge, a sauna, and a 24-hour business center are onsite.
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All 100 rooms feature comforts like pillowtop beds and premium bedding, while conveniences include refrigerators and coffee makers. Free WiFi and MP3 docks are standard, as are LCD TVs with cable channels.Would you like to give us feedback? Share it! Opens in a new window
Clarion Inn Strasburg - Lancaster1400 Historic Drive Strasburg PA 17579
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
In addition to an outdoor pool, Clarion Inn Strasburg - Lancaster provides a sauna and a 24-hour fitness center. The hotel offers a restaurant. A bar/lounge is on site where guests can unwind with a drink. Guests can enjoy a complimentary breakfast each morning. A computer station is located on site and high-speed wireless Internet access is complimentary.
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Clarion Inn Strasburg - Lancaster is a smoke-free property.
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Family Friendly Amenities
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Fireside Tavern - This restaurant specializes in American cuisine and serves lunch, dinner, and light fare. Guests can enjoy drinks at the bar. A children's menu is available. Happy hour is offered.
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Recreational amenities at the hotel include an outdoor pool, a sauna, and a 24-hour fitness center.
Children under 18 years old are not allowed in the swimming pool or fitness facility without adult supervision.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
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To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the "Special or Accessibility Requests" section of "Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
- Accessible bathroom
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Check-in time starts at 4 PM
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Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
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No elevators
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- Pet fee: USD 15 per accommodation, per night (maximum USD 200.00 per stay)
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Children 18 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. This property allows pets in specific rooms only (surcharges apply and can be found in the Fees section). Guests can request one of these rooms by contacting the property directly, using the contact information on the booking confirmation.


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Hammerin' Hero
A whack or smack is all that's required to solve your problems in the new PlayStation Portable game Hammerin' Hero.
Gamers have the mission of helping carpenter Gen save the town from the evil schemes of the Kuromoku Corporation, which seems to operate rather like the yakuza (Japanese mafia), forcing small businesses to sell so it can take over.
An old-school, 'side-scrolling' game, Hammerin' Hero takes players back to the early days of eight-bit and 16-bit gaming - remember the old-school games Contra and Final Fight?
Carpenter Gen has two main types of attack - weak and strong. The weak attack hurls items back in the direction they came, while the strong attack - although somewhat slower - sends things hurtling into the distance, with fun results.
Gen also has a special mode of attack that can be used three times in each stage of the game, though skilled gamers will likely make it through each level without having to use it.
Our carpenter has to fight his way through 12 levels - each full of cartoon-character bad guys - in locations that include city streets, an amusement park, a TV studio and a baseball stadium.
Starting out armed only with a giant mallet, as he completes levels, Gen acquires new professions, such as sushi chef, baseball player and diver. These provide him with new uniforms - and modes of attack.
He also collects groceries along the way, and these are made into bentos - lunch boxes - by his girlfriend, Kanna. The nutritious power-ups give Gen points and they can be eaten at any point during the course of the game. Bentos also provide Gen with points that make it possible to change jobs when his current one isn't working out.
Unfortunately the game's two-player mode is a major disappointment. All it does is allow players to compete for the best score on each level over wireless play.
In summary, Hammerin' Hero is a simple side-scrolling 'beat 'em up' game of the old-school variety - an exercise in nostalgia - that provides gamers with a few hours of fun. But it's not worth breaking the piggy bank for - even if Gen probably would.
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Test packages written for built-in test (BIT) and mobile automatic test equipment (ATE) systems for the forward support of electronic and thermal imaging equipment used by the British Army are currently scrutinized and subjected to objective tests by test package evaluation and acceptance teams (TPEATs) before being accepted for field use. This is a time-consuming and costly exercise that can result in the rejection of unsuitable software. The result of such rejection on equipment logistics is for reaching, since the hardware will enter service without adequate maintenance support. In an attempt to address this problem a suite of programs aimed at assisting the verification and validation activities of the TPEAT at every stage of the software life cycle from requirements analysis through to testing and acceptance is being devised. The development of these tools is discussed.<>
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Princesa de la Luna is a true unique experience. If you're looking for a luxurious resort you should look elsewhere. However, if you're looking for a unique and authentic Costa Rica experience this is perfect. The location is absolutely beautiful. I recommend taking a walk in the morning and taking in nature's beauty.
The house is truly amazing. The architecture is unique and almost one with nature. The common areas are open so you have an amazing view anywhere you go. There are plenty of sitting areas to relax and Jonathan (the owner) is incredibly helpful and can help book any activities you might be interested in. Something to be aware of is that the house is a little off the beaten path so it's difficult to find at night, I recommend trying to check-in during the day time. Also, if you're driving keep in mind you need to drive on a dirt road uphill so SUVs might be better. Another thing to keep in mind is that because you are in the middle of nature and the house is open you will see insects, bugs, lizards, etc but it's part of the whole experience.
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
- The Park Princess of the Moon Ecolodge is nestled in a lush tropical plant farm with a great location. This magical place is unusual, with more than 100 types of fruit trees, including many threatened and endangered species. The area is one of the most biodiverse and fertile in the world so wonderful to understand, observe and experience wildlife and nature. The aim is to integrate the principles of permaculture and creating a lifestyle self-sufficient and sustainable in harmony with the local biodiversity. Swimming pools, waterfalls, jacuzzi and many hiking trails on the farm as well as many other activities in the area. This is an interesting place for a honeymoon or a romantic adventure. ... more less
- Also Known As:
- Princesa De La Luna Eco Lodge Costa Rica/Arenal Volcano National Park


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The summer is always hot for motoring enthusiasts in the UK, even if the climate itself leaves a lot to be desired. Most racing calendars, for vehicles on two wheels and four, are approaching their midway stage as August approaches – ...Read More »
SoCal Burn Ride 2016
From the SoCal Burn Ride: When burn survivor Trevor Holtan and US Marine Corps Captain David Kuntz each separately approached the Grossman Burn Foundation and Firefighters Quest for Burn Survivors in the summer of 2014 about starting a motorcycle benefit ...Read More »
Yamaha FJR1300 Review 2016
Wobbly Cat offers an in-depth and comprehensive Yamaha FJR1300 review after spending a week on the Yamaha's sport touring icon.Read More »
2 Friends, 3 Months, 15 Countries, 10,000 Kilometers
About a year ago Evert and Willem rode from the small nation of Georgia to their home in the Netherlands. The two were 25 and 24 years old. Their trip was roughly three months and 10,000 kilometers. It took them ...Read More »
How to Ride a Motorcycle in the Rain
Captain Crash has been been making videos to help motorcyclists improve their skills for over half a decade. He's also written a couple books about it. Don't let the name fool you, Crash is a great guy to learn from. His ...Read More »
Motorcycle Trailer Accessories You Need – Towing Tuesdays!
A motorcycle is the ultimate escapemobile, and on it you will always be able to vanish at a moment's notice. The right motorcycle trailer and motorcycle trailer accessories can help. But let's be honest. In this world time is a ...Read More »
How To Ride a Motorcycle on Grooved Roads
Captain Crash has been been making videos to help motorcyclists improve their skills for over half a decade. He's also written a couple books about it. Don't let the name fool you, Crash is a great guy to learn from. His ...Read More »
Motorcycle Ride Out to Inishowen & Malin Head, Ireland
Irish translation: Inis Eoghain, meaning island of Eoghan. Eoghan Mac Neill was the son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, once High King of Ireland. It's Saturday morning and it's time to roll the Caponord out of the garage for ...Read More »
Toronto Motorcycle Towing $60 – Towing Tuesdays!
Our folding motorcycle trailer build is complete! If you've been following our Towing Tuesdays column for the past two weeks you've seen the tweaks we've made. On it's own the Harbor Freight folding trailer is good enough and gets the job ...Read More »
5 Days Biking Through British Countryside
Sometimes its like dancing, sometimes skiing, occasionally its even like driving. 5 days biking through British countryside. As commuters scattered through a drizzly Dublin early one Friday morning, I threw a tightly packed dry bag into my back-box, donned my helmet, ...Read More »


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About GFA
Contact GFA
News 2016
FEP: Signs of general market improvement
Researchers IC expect 3% annual sales growth
FEP: market progressively back to green figures
EPLF: laminate flooring sales minus 3.1%
News 2015 - archive
News 2014 - archive
News 2013 - archive
News 2012 - archive
News 2011 - archive
News 2010 - archive
News 2009 - archive
News 2016
FEP: Signs of general market improvement
According to the European Federation of the Parquet Industry (FEP) activity overall seems to be picking up again in most of Europe, after several years of a subdued market situation. The year started off well in many reporting European countries.
With a few exceptions, many countries were able to get out of the red zone during the first quarter of 2016, when compared to the same period of last year.
: Although the reported parquet sales figures are not yet spectacular, the trend is definitely turning to positive. A brief per country recap is provided in the table below.
The information provided to
points in the direction of an increase of parquet sales in the order of 2 to 3% despite a still subdued activity on the private housing segment.
Baltic countries
The Baltic countries parquet markets seem to be performing better than during the first quarter of 2015, with an estimated rise of 2% in sales figures.
The few indications available point towards stable consumption and production figures.
The Danish market remains on a slightly positive note, with a 1% improvement backed by building permits also returning to green figures.
The situation in Finland remains the most problematic among European countries, with an estimated decrease of 5 to 10% in parquet sales. The influence of the Russian context is considered as an important factor explaining this hesitant market development.
The French parquet market is also emerging from its torpor and is now slowly back to positive sales figures, with an estimated 3% gain during the first months of 2016.
Compiled data indicate that parquet sales in the first quarter of the current year increased by an estimated 3%, reflecting the slight growth in new housing permits. The migrant crisis does not impact the market as cheaper solutions are chosen for their housing. Competition from LVT remains particularly harsh.
Altogether, parquet sales found their way back to positive figures, with a reported increase of 1 to 2%. The main difficulties encountered are linked to a general liquidity shortage and huge competition from ceramic tiles.
The market is characterised by an increase in the order of 2% parquet in consumption compared to the first quarter of 2015.
Norway is another Nordic market facing difficulties, with parquet sales down by an estimated 4% in Q1/2016.
Polish parquet sales are improving by an estimated 2%.
Parquet sales follow a downward trend. Although Board members did not give a quantitative indication, they unanimously feel that the market activity has significantly dropped.
The year started out relatively well in Sweden, with +2% in parquet sales. However, the pace reduced compared to the end of 2015. The construction activity is following the right path. Here also, LVT proves to be a strong competitor. Renovation activities are slightly hit by the downward revision of subsidies (interest rates).
Spanish parquet sales are improving by an estimated 2%.
Switzerland reports a decrease of 2% in parquet consumption. This unusual evolution for a traditional parquet country is mainly due to the fall by 30% of the housing activity, which is directly linked to the second home initiative, forbidding new homes in recreational areas. Nevertheless, renovation is slightly increasing.
GFA/FEP, April 2016
Researchers IC expect 3% annual sales growth
After years of stagnation and a downturn, the European market for parquet and wooden floors can be optimistic about the future again. In 2015 sales increased by 2.2% to 82.7 million m2 in the top 11 European countries. An annual growth of 2 % in volume is expected by 2019. A recent study by Interconnection Consulting shows that increasing competition introduced by Eastern European and Asian manufacturers will not allow prices to rise significantly in the next few years.
By 2019,
Interconnection Consulting expects
an annual sales growth of 3 %, which is only one percentpoint higher than the volume growth and which corresponds to the expected inflation in the
. The reason for this is apparently the growing market presence of
. The
serve as
European test markets
Asian producers
. It is, therefore, no coincidence that the average prices have barely risen in the past years in those countries due to increased competition, or, as in the case of
, have actually declined, according to the reseachers. While sales rose by 1.4 percent in
, the turnover increased only by 0.7 %. In addition to the
Asian suppliers
who are entering the
European market,
Eastern European producers
accounted for intensified price competition in Europe as their production costs were cheaper than in
Western Europe
. However, price differences between the producers are also arising mainly due to the large range of products and the basis of qualitative differences. By using scaling effects
Western European manufacturers
try to remain competitive, according to
Interconnection Consulting
Last year, all the surveyed countries (
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, the Benelux, Denmark, Sweden, Great Britain, Poland
), except for
, noted a growth both in quantity as well as value in the market for wooden and parquet floors. Nevertheless,
to experience growth rates of 1.8 % in quantity from 2016 to 2019. The highest growth rates recorded in the past year were in the
( + 4.8% in value ),
(+ 4.5 % in value) and
(+ 4.3%). Even
, after years of decline, achieved positive growth figures again for the first time last year and increased its sales by 0.7 %.
Multilayer parquet floors have a 83.9 % market share in volume. Three-layer parquet floors make up a market share of approximately 70 % in volume and thus constitute the majority of floors in demand. The price of most multilayered wooden floors has hardly changed in recent years. The cost of the most popular variant in the studied countries averaged 28.4 Euros per m2, making it cheaper than hardwood floors (31,8 Euros ). Especially in the parquet floor industry prices have fallen by around one Euro per m2 due to strong competition since 2010. The market share of the solid wood variant constituted 13.5 % last year.
By providing certificates such as
, producers of wooden flooring are increasingly trying to meet their customer's growing demand for sustainability and resource conservation.
Interconnection Consulting
predicts that due to the costs related to laying wooden floors, part of the clientele of the wooden floor segment is going to withdraw. "Price-sensitive buyers will turn to resilient floor coverings (vinyl, LVT, etc.) as well as laminate flooring," explains Jan Hudak, author of the study. Nevertheless,
Interconnection Consulting
expects a trend for real wooden floors to become customized and exclusive. By 2019, this product group is expected to grow annually by 7% in value.
In addition to some Local Heroes with a very strong presence in the markets of a specific country, there are companies such as the
Bauwerk Boen Group, Kährs, Hamberger, Weitzer Parkett, Tarkett
, which are very often dominant in several markets. The 100 largest parquet manufacturers in the 11 studied countries made up a combined market share of 65.9 % in 2015 according to the sold quantity, representing an increase of 0.5 % compared to 2014 in terms of market concentration.
As far as the distribution of hardwood and parquet floors is concerned, mainly indirect sales dominate constituting a volume of 95.6% of total sales. Only 4.4% of the floors are distributed directly by manufacturers, and to be more specific - smaller manufacturers with a local production who adapt their products to specific customer requirements and are mainly active in the high-end area. Currently a small part is already sold online, however there is still an upward growth potential according to market analyst Jan Hudák. A view of the indirect sales shows that in
around 72.5% is distributed through wholesalers now. A closer look at the distribution channels reveals that a significant part of the market is made up by the wood trade (e.g. the wood land), while in some countries it accounts for even more than 50% of the market. If we were to consider the distribution channels that go directly to the end customer, 1/3 of the market would go to craftsmen (flooring installers, wood flooring contractors, decorators, carpenters / joiners) and around 20% to DIY. Specialist stores, chain stores, furniture shops and home decorators also play a vital role, concludes
Interconnection Consulting
GFA/Interconnection Consulting, March 2016
FEP: market progressively back to green figures
After a year in which the consumption figures of the European Parquet Industry contracted by more than 6%, the first estimates for 2015 - showing market growth of 0.5% - paint a more optimistic picture.
s (European Federation of the Parquet Industry) preliminary forecast for the year which just ended indicates a stabilisation in parquet sales across
, with an upward tendency during the last months. The slight global
European market
growth of 0.5% should be seen as a first prognosis subject to variations, in anticipation of the complete data to be communicated at
s annual
General Assembly
next June in Thun, Switzerland.
: As was witnessed in the past few years, the results show some variation from country to country but, for the first time since long, the
Southern European markets
, including
, seem to be gaining in momentum. From a regional perspective, the good news comes mainly from the
Hungarian markets
both showing a sound growth. The
and to a lesser extent
are also performing well while the important
Swiss parquet
markets remain stable at a high level.
As far as specific parquet products are concerned, wooden planks continue to attract customers, says
. The gap between large planks and 3-strip parquet products is slowly but surely closing. Competition from other flooring solutions is still fierce. This is especially the case with LVTs, which are gaining market shares, also in the residential market.
Generally speaking, the captains of the parquet industry point to increased prices of raw materials due to shortages in the market, according to
. The fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult for consumers to differentiate parquet from competitive flooring alternatives with a wood look surface, is also a growing source of concern for parquet producers. They are nonetheless convinced,
concludes, that parquet has a really bright future as it remains the only REAL product versus wood look-a-like products made from vinyl or ceramics.
GFA/FEP, January 2016
EPLF: laminate flooring sales minus 3.1%
In 2015, worldwide sales of 452 million m2 of European-produced laminate flooring (previous year: 467 million m2) were reported by the 20 ordinary members of the EPLF (i.e. the manufacturers of laminate flooring). The resulting minus of 3.1% is relativized in view of a Turkish member having left the association at the end of 2014.
Once again, the
explains, growth rates varied between regions during 2015.
Western Europe
(including Turkey) was weaker, whereas
Eastern Europe
saw a slight upturn. Figures rose positively as well in
, and the biggest gains were recorded in
North America
laminate flooring sales in
South America
also showed an upward trend last year.
With one
Turkish member
having left the
, the
Western European
sales of the laminate flooring industry (including Turkey) fell from 282 million m2 in 2014 down to 254 million m2 in real figures in 2015, i.e. a plunge by 10%. In
the largest single regional market in
Central Europe
the substitution trend continued: the
believes that a shift in favour of LVT flooring is the reason for the decline on the German market down to around 66 million m2 (2014: 69 million m2), showing a minus of 4.6%.
Also included in the
sales statistics for
Western Europe
, where laminate sales for the association experienced another significant drop during 2015, showing a decline of approx. 44% down to 32 million m2 (2014: 57 million m2).
: The reasons behind this are complex: a major Turkish member having left the
at the end of 2014, and the anti-dumping proceedings brought forward by the Turkish Ministry of Economy against some German flooring manufacturers, which ran until summer 2015, have both contributed to the decline. Another factor to be considered, according to the
, is the general weakening of the Turkish economy. Despite worsening figures, Turkey remains the third-largest target market for
has shown a slight downturn with 37 million m2 (2014: 39 million m2) and in 2015 now occupies second place in Europe. The
United Kingdom
, despite a booming construction market, did not continue its positive upward trend for the
members, showing slight losses of 3% with a sales figure for 2015 of 31 million m2 (2014: 32 million m2), which puts the country in fourth place after
. The
Netherlands market
grew in 2015 with +8%, and at 19 million m2 (2014: 18 million m2), managed to retain fifth place. With sales of 15.3 million m2 (2014: 14.6 million m2) and roughly +5%,
holds on to sixth place.
Despite a difficult situation in
Eastern Europe
during 2015,
laminate sales were able to keep up in this region. At 111 million m2 (2014: 110 million m2), European laminate flooring producers achieved a slight increase in this region of 1%. In
, 29 million m2 were sold (2014: 28 million m2), which resulted in a growth rate of 2%.
saw an improvement of 7% (2014: +6%) up to 28 million m2 (2014: 26 million m2). The subsequent places in the ranking are occupied by
with 11 million m2 (2014: 11 million m2),
with 6 million m2 (2014: 6 million m2),
with 5 million m2 (2014: 4 million m2) and the
with a good result after all, according to the
, of nearly 5 million m2 (2014: 8 million m2).
sales curve for
North America
has been rising steeply since 2013 and that trend has continued in 2015, with +32% up to 39 million m2 (2014: 29 million m2). At 25 million m2 (2014: 18 million m2), the
saw gains in 2015 of 37%.
achieved a good increase of 24% in 2015 with 14 million m2 (2014: 11 million m2).
Total sales in 2015 of European-produced laminate in
Asia Pacific
stand at around 17 million m2 (2014: 15 million m2), which means an increase of 14% (following +20% the previous year). Again, the biggest growth was registered in the
Chinese market
, including
Hong Kong
. Exports from high-end products made in Europe are increasingly well received here 2015 saw sales of 5.6 million m2 (2014: 5 million m2), which equates to an increase of 10% over the previous year.
has improved slightly at 2.5 million m2 (2014: 2.2 million m2) and
Saudi Arabia
has registered good growth with 3 million m2 (2014: 2 million m2). The markets in
, with their traditionally low turnover level, have also shown growth in 2015.
South America
showed an overall positive trend in 2015 with 17 million m2 (2014: 16 million m2) and +9%. Sales in
reached around 4.5 million m2 (2014: 3.9 million m2). Also
showed better results with 1.8 million m2 (2014: 1.4 million m2). Compared with the previous year, the
Chilean market
remained stable with sales of 7 million m2 (2014: 7 million m2).
Sales Statistics 2015 (source: EPLF)
GFA/EPLF, January 2016


text:
About the Author
Emily "Danger" Hedgecock was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is her first published novel. Emily is a freshman at the OSU Institute of Technology, studying culinary arts. Being a young author, she does not have a lifetime of experience to write in her author biography and looks forward to longer ones in the future. She currently writes in a cave in a classified district.


text:
The effort by Community Health Systems Inc. to buy Tenet Healthcare Corp. - a so-far-unsuccessful quest that would leave Community with seven hospitals in this region - is an example of the kind of consolidation health leaders have been predicting in the wake of a shaky economy and health reform.
Some local health experts said that while Tenet's larger, more urban hospitals are not an ideal fit with Community's portfolio of small and midsize hospitals, the combination would give Community greater clout with insurers and could allow it to operate at lower costs. Both the economy and health reform are putting downward pressure on prices. Reform also will reward better coordination of care.


text:
"[The] unchallenged king of the comic Southern short story."
"Thank God for George Singleton, who makes us laugh and makes us think."-THE TIMES-PICAYUNE (New Orleans)
View All Available Formats & Editions
Acclaimed short-story master George Singleton follows the lives and schemes of the citizens of fictitious Gruel, South Carolina, in search of glory, seclusion, money, revenge, and a meaningful existence. In these nineteen tales, young Gruelites learn lessons when confronted with neighbors who might not be as blind as they appear, dermatologists intent on eradicating birthmarks, and fathers prone to driving on half-inflated tires in order to flirt with cashiers. Meanwhile, the town's older citizens try to make sense out of dogs that heal wounds, lawn-mowing dead men, wives who don't appreciate gas masks for Valentine's Day, and children who mix their mother's ashes with housepaint. Hilarious and tragic, George Singleton's unforgettable characters try to overcome their limitations as best they can.
"Thank God for George Singleton, who makes us laugh and makes us think."-THE TIMES-PICAYUNE (New Orleans)
When the stray, bighearted, mixed-breed female birthed twenty-four puppies all the exact size of a canned Vienna sausage, Watt Pinson made the mistake of calling up a friend of a friend who had an acquaintance at the local news station sixty miles away. At this point Watt hadn't even named the dog, hadn't let her in the house. She had been circling his property for a couple weeks, and ate what scraps he set out at dusk. Sometimes she slept next to the woodpile, other times Watt found her beneath his work van or in a tamped-down section of monkey grass edging his back deck. Watt's wife, Mattie, left the back door open one Thursday evening, the dog flashed inside, and began the long process of exuding a litter of runts between the couch and wingback chair. Watt came home, saw the mess, and remarked how lucky he was to own a carpet cleaning company.
Mattie said, "I wasn't paying attention. I left the door open while I took out the garbage. I didn't even see her around."
"Twenty-four has to be some kind of record. Even if it isn't a record, I bet if we get one of those fancy scales that drug runners use, we'd find out that all these dogs are the same. That never happens. There's always one big pup, and one really little one that usually dies off from not getting to a teat."
Mattie went and found an old comforter in the garage—something that a client gave them when even industrial steam cleaning couldn't get out the stains—and wrapped it around the bitch. Mattie said, "I'm tired of these yuppies driving all the way out here when they're bored with their dogs and throwing them out. Or when the dog eats upholstery."
The Pinsons owned another ten dogs, all ex-strays, that found their way from crossroads, around woods, through haphazard trailer parks, past a Christmas tree farm, to the Pinsons' yard in Gruel, South Carolina. They'd spent five grand to have a back acre fenced off, bought upwards of seventy pounds of dry dog food a week, and employed two different veterinarians—one for spaying and neutering, the other who made yearly shot house calls.
Watt pulled a hardback chair out of the kitchen and set it down five feet from the stray. "This dog must be Catholic or something, what with this many kids. Let's name her Sister. Like a nun, you know."
Mattie didn't say anything about how a nun wouldn't have kids. She looked at the dog and said, "Is your name Sister? Do you want to be named Sister?" in her highest voice.
The dog weighed not more than forty pounds, and looked mostly mottled hyena. Sister wagged her tail, raised her head, and nosed newborns toward her belly. "I need to call somebody up and see what the story is with hand-nursing these puppies. There ain't no way they'll survive otherwise."
Then Watt called his friend Yarbo, who called his friend Brewer, who called the man at WYFF to say that there was a human interest story going on somewhere in the middle of nowhere, between the towns of Forty-Five and Cross Blood. By the time Mattie had a saucepan of milk warmed on the stove and Watt found an eyedropper and an ear syringe beneath the bathroom sink, a news crew was on its way.
There aren't twenty-four people I know who'd take a free dog apiece, Watt thought. Mattie won't take a dog to the pound, and there's no way I can take another dog. He stuck the ear syringe down to one of the all-white puppies and said, "This might make you moo instead of bark."
Then he thought of how there was an empty burlap fertilizer sack in the garage and the Saluda River not two miles away.
Mattie scooped up two handsful of puppies and said, "Sister looks like a calico cat. I wonder why all these dogs are either all-black or all-white. I wonder who the father was."
Watt thought about taking a drywall bucket out back, filling it with water, and drowning one—maybe two—puppies at a time and nestling them back down in the ruined comforter after his wife went to bed each night. He said, "I don't understand the genetic makeup of people, much less dogs."
He knew that he couldn't harm Sister's puppies, though. He'd gone out of his way, while cleaning the carpet of a near Italian restaurant on Friday nights after they closed, of shooing cockroaches instead of sucking them up into his machine. He'd driven his van on two wheels for twenty yards once while veering from a raccoon blinded in the road. There were flying squirrels in the attic and mice living in the crawl space that he couldn't harm—vermin too smart to enter the live traps he set out. He held a one-ounce puppy and eased milk into its mouth.
"These dogs are so small I can't even tell which are male and which are female. They're like kittens," Mattie said. "It won't cost much to get them fixed, at least."
The other ten dogs—all relegated to the backyard while Sister continued her motherly functions—began barking. The cameraman and reporter pulled into the long gravel driveway, their high beams on.
"How'd y'all find out about this?" Watt asked. He didn't open the front door more than two feet.
The reporter was Celine Ruiz, and Watt recognized her. She appeared to be half Hispanic and half Asian, and much shorter than she appeared on the TV. Sometimes at night he'd watch the eleven o'clock news before going out to a carpeted Pizza Hut, Shoney's, or Kampai of Tokyo that he had on contract some fifty miles away. Watt's clients trusted him enough to give him keys, and most of the restaurant managers said he could partake of the beer coolers, the soft drink dispensers, that he could make a pot of coffee if he cared. Watt worked from midnight until six in the morning many days, came home to take a nap, then fulfilled his residential orders between noon and five. When he got enough steady clients Mattie quit her bank telling job, learned how to operate the steamer, and came along. Mostly she moved chairs and tables from one side of a dining area to the other, then back. She drank free Sprite some nights, Dr Pepper the others. Mattie liked to take a salt or pepper shaker, sugar packets, the cayenne pepper containers from the pizza joints. "I like to live dangerously," she said more than once.
"I'm Celine Ruiz," the reporter said. "We hear you have an amazing litter of runts on your hands here."
She was beautiful, with long straight dark hair and almond-shaped eyes. Watt Pinson said, "I gave at the office," because he could think of nothing else.
"This could make you famous," the cameraman said. He had his camera running. "Man, I've seen this happen before." The cameraman appeared to be an albino black man, an ex-student who studied communications in college before a professor finally said something like, "People will fear you giving their news, even the sports. And especially the weather."
"You are Watt Pinson, right?" Celine said. "Are you the man who owns Pinson Carpet Cleaner? We got a call."
Watt Pinson wanted to plain call his place Pinson Cleaners, but knew that PC might turn off prospective clients. He said, "Yeah, we got a dog in here with twenty-four pups. But I don't want to talk about it. We got a bunch of dogs, and some people might think we're weirdos or something." He looked at the cameraman and said, "Please turn that off. I don't want that on TV."
The albino said, "Oh, we promise not to show this part."
Celine Ruiz slipped through the door, and held her microphone up like a torch. The albino followed. Mattie Pinson got up from the floor, an eyedropper in one hand and a black puppy in the other. She said, "Hello."
Celine nodded. She looked back at the albino and said, "Hit that light switch behind you. I'll stand right here." She turned forty-five degrees. She backed up toward Sister and almost stepped on her front paws.
The albino said, "Whenever you're ready."
Celine did a countdown and said, "We're here in the den of Watt and Mattie Pinson, and it appears that a miracle has taken place between Forty-Five and Cross Blood. Twenty-four puppies were born to a stray dog that showed up in their yard not long ago." Watt Pinson looked at his wife and shrugged his shoulders. Why did he ever call up Yarbo? he thought. Why did he give up so much information? The cameraman zoomed in on Sister nursing a dozen of the puppies. Celine turned to Watt Pinson and said, "Mr. Pinson, come on in here and tell us about how all this got started."
"I wasn't there when it got started," he said. "It's not like I'm the father." He said it in all seriousness. "This poor dog showed up at our place a couple weeks ago, but she was so skittish she wouldn't come near us. I set out food for her, you know, because that's what you do. We just named her Sister a couple hours ago. She somehow snuck in and started dropping puppies like a faulty gumball machine."
Mattie said from off camera, "All those goddamn yuppies keep throwing dogs out their car doors, especially right after Christmas," but it got dubbed out before the piece aired on Friday's Hey, South Carolina! morning show.
Copyright © 2006 by George Singleton
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be mailed to the following address: Permissions Department, Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
GEORGE SINGLETON lives in Pickens County, South Carolina, with ceramicist Glenda Guion and their mixture of strays. More than a hundred of his stories have been published nationally in magazines and anthologies. He teaches writing at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.
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2 items from 2015
16 September 2015 10:47 AM, PDT | Indiewire | See recent Indiewire news »
Read More: Dinner and a Movie (and Drinks!) is the Future of Movie Theaters: Nitehawk Shows How It's Done Nitehawk, one of Brooklyn's foremost purveyors of niche indies and cult revivals, took September 15 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the teen cyberpunk thriller "Hackers." The director, Iain Softley, and members of the cast, including Jonny Lee Miller, Renoly Santiago, Laurence Mason and Fisher Stevens, were all in attendance to celebrate the film and its thumping tribute to youth and technology. The movie skids through the streets of New York City to follow a group of young hackers as they attempt to thwart the unleashing of a dangerous computer virus as they are tailed by the secret service and the evil tech genius who developed it. Featuring hacker names like Phantom Phreak, Acid Burn and Crash Override, as well as a young Angelina Jolie, "Hackers" has developed a cult following »
- Aubrey Page
14 September 2015 4:01 PM, PDT | Digital Spy | See recent Digital Spy - Movie News news »
Blazing a trail in 1995, Hackers tackled web culture on screen before the internet really took off. The cyber-thriller helped kick-start the career of a major Hollywood A-lister and swiftly became a cult classic thanks to its Hacker Manifesto.
As Hackers celebrates its 20th birthday today (September 15), here's what happened to the six stars who made up the cyber-punk crew.
Hackers handle: Acid Burn
In 1995, Jolie was a fast-rising 20-year-old actress with Cyborg 2 and some big music videos (including Meat Loaf, Lenny Kravitz and The Lemonheads) on her CV. New York Times critic Janet Maslin was non too plussed about Jolie's performance, saying of her character: "Kate stands out. That's because she scowls even more sourly than [her co-stars] and is that rare female hacker who sits intently at her keyboard in a see-through top."
Now, the 40-year-old is an Oscar-winning superstar with humanitarian work spanning more than a decade and »
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OC3D Reviews ›› GPU & Displays
OC3D News ›› GPU & Displays
ZOTAC Shows-off GeForce GTX 570 GPU
Gaurang Shah | 7th December 2010
NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 570 has just been released and ZOTAC has been quick to follow suit with its own version of the new graphics card.
AMD Quietly Adds Two New Radeon HD 6000M Series GPUs
Gaurang Shah | 29th November 2010
AMD recently added two new Radeon HD 6000M series mobile GPUs to its line up.
MSI Launches Two R6870 Twin Frozr II Cards
Gaurang Shah | 26th November 2010
MSI has finally readied its HD 6870 card and as expected, it has equipped the GPU with its proprietary Twin Frozr II technology.
Gigabyte Has Custom Cooled, Overclocked GTX 460 SE WindForce Ready
Gaurang Shah | 24th November 2010
Gigabyte has come out with a new GeForce GTX 460 SE model that has made some interesting changes made.
PowerColor Adds PCS+ to Radeon HD6870 Card
Gaurang Shah | 16th November 2010
AMD graphics card specialist TUL Corporation today upgraded their PowerColor PCS+ series of graphics card with the addition of the PCS+ HD6870 card.
ZOTAC Comes Out with GeForce GTX 460 SE
Gaurang Shah | 15th November 2010
ZOTAC today announced the launch of its own GeForce GTX 460 SE card – the release coincides with the official announcement of the new GPU by NVIDIA.
MSI Launches OC Ready N460GTX-SE Cyclone
Gaurang Shah | 15th November 2010
MSI has been quite active with new product releases off late – the manufacturer today came out with its latest N460GTX-SE Cyclone series graphics card.
ARM Launches Next-Generation Mali-T604 GPU
Gaurang Shah | 12th November 2010
ARM today announced the launch of the ARM Mali-T604 as part of its drive to upgrade its Mali series.
AMD Radeon HD 6900 Delayed to December 13
Gaurang Shah | 12th November 2010
AMD has officially confirmed reports of delay in the release of its Radeon HD 6900 series GPUs.
Colorful Joins the GTX 580 Club With Factory OC Card
Gaurang Shah | 9th November 2010
Colorful too has joined the bandwagon of manufacturers with GTX 580 cards by releasing a factory overclocked piece.
ZOTAC Unveils GeForce GTX 580, Claims World's Fastest Slot
Gaurang Shah | 9th November 2010
ZOTAC International today announced the unveiling of the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 graphics card, arguably the world's fastest graphics card with Direct X 11.
MSI Has Radeon HD 6850 Cyclone OC Edition Ready
Gaurang Shah | 5th November 2010
MSI is ready to go to market with its Radeon HD 6850 Cyclone OC graphics card and these are definitely interesting.
Vertex3D Releases Factory Overclocked Radeon HD 6850
Gaurang Shah | 4th November 2010
Graphics card manufacturer Vertex3D today placed its own offering in the market in the form of the souped-up Radeon HD 6850 X Edition.
Sparkle Releases the Single-Slot GeForce GTS 450
Gaurang Shah | 2nd November 2010
Taiwan-based graphics card manufacturer Sparkle has announced its special low-profile GeForce GTS 450 cards that has surprisingly been fit into a single-slot form factor.
Zotac Has a Dual-GTX 460 Ready
Gaurang Shah | 26th October 2010
Zotac has finally come up with the goods in the form of a dual-GTX 460 graphics card.
ASUS Pumps out Tweaked EAH6800 Series Cards
Gaurang Shah | 23rd October 2010
ASUS today came out with its own series of EAH6800 series graphics cards based on the AMD reference design.
Nvidia Goes Direct, Drops XFX
Derrick Huey | 7th October 2010
In a move that has surprised many, Nvidia has gone into direct sales and dropped one of their biggest American partners.
Evga Offers Chance At 4G G-Force Experience
Derrick Huey | 5th October 2010
Enter for a chance to win a flight in a fighter jet or to get a GTS450 for 30% off.
AMD 6000 Series Gets Delayed?
Derrick Huey | 28th September 2010
Just when the specs for the first Southern Islands cards get leaked, they get delayed a month.
AMD 6700 Series Charts Come Out
Derrick Huey | 27th September 2010
Leaked specification charts contain info about the upcoming Barts core AMD GPUs.
Lucid Chips on Graphics Cards?
Bryan Waters | 22nd September 2010
We've heard a rumour that was so ground-breaking we had to share.
Nvidia GTC Keynote Brings GPU And CUDA News
Derrick Huey | 21st September 2010
Nvidia's CEO talks briefly about upcoming GPUs and x86 CUDA in his GPU Technology Conference keynote.
NCIX Auctions Asus Ares For Charity
Derrick Huey | 26th August 2010
Canadian e-tailer NCIX has put up an Asus Ares card on eBay for Pakistan flood relief.
BFG Going Down For Good
Derrick Huey | 17th August 2010
Denial of service, liquidation, it's all bad news out of this former Nvidia card manufacturer.
MSI GTX 480 HydroGen Leaked
Ben Short | 13th August 2010
We've got our hands on some leaked images of the MSI GTX 480 HydroGen.
XFX launch single slot HD 5770
Ben Short | 11th August 2010
XFX launch a special single slot HD 5770 designed for HTPC systems.
New GF104 Card On The Way?
Derrick Huey | 27th July 2010
Nvidia may soon be releasing a fully-featured GF104 card to replace the GTX 470.
Some GTS 450 Details Revealed
Derrick Huey | 21st July 2010
A few basic details on Nvidia's upcoming GTS 450 card have come to light.
Zotac release their new GTX 465 card
Alex Myers | 2nd June 2010
It seems like just yesterday that the GTX 480 and 470 were released to much fanfare, but Zotac have been quick to announce the latest addition to their GTX400 series family.


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Product Details Heres a very busy bee. Turn your child into the busiest bumble bee of the all in the Bumble Bee Child costume. This bright and sparkly bee costume is a real insect pleaser.
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Product features: Bumble Bee Child Md, nature costume & bumble bee
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Bulletin of Materials Science
Published by the Indian Academy of Sciences
The Bulletin of Materials Science is a bi-monthly journal publishing original research articles, review articles and rapid communications in all areas of materials science. From time to time, the journal also offers important Conference and Symposia Proceedings which are of interest to materials scientists. The Bulletin accords high importance to the quality of articles published and keeps to a minimum the processing time of papers submitted for publication.
The Bulletin is published by the Indian Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the Materials Research Society of India and the Indian National Science Academy.
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Really loved this Inn! It is very cute and the inside lobby looks like an outside cafe, with a water fountain too! Our room was located in the corner and very large, it had a king size bed in the bedroom and a sauna tub in the bathroom, and a flat screen tv in the bedroom. The livingroom/kitchen was large, sink, microwave, coffee maker and frig, table with four chairs, couch with sleeper, and a flat screen tv. The Inn is located 15 min from Savannah, and located close to two malls. And about 20 min from Tybee Island. There are alot of parks in the area. Had a really great time, and look forward to going back and staying here. When going to Savannah, park and take the trolley and get on and off where you want up to 8 at night. The Inn has a contiennel breakfast and a pool.
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
- A Gem Among Midtown Savannah's All-Suite Inn Near Savannah 's Historic District,Oglethorpe Inn & Suites is an excellent and affordable alternative to the higher priced hotels in downtown Savannah. It's consistently one of the highest rated and most positively reviewed Savannah hotels on TripAdvisor, listed in the Top Twenty out of 108 properties. Easily accessible from I-16 /I-95 and Savannah International Airport, Oglethorpe Inn & Suites offers business travelers,vacationing families and sports teams accommodations close to all of Savannah's favorite spots, one block away from Oglethorpe Mall(over 140 stores) . Recently purchased all new bedding, sheets, comforters and pillows. Guests enjoy complimentary hot continental breakfast, high speed wireless internet with free lobby computers/printers, private outdoor pool / sundeck and a fitness center / laundry facilities on-site, free parking, 32" flat screen TVs in every suite with coffeemaker, microwave & mini-fridge, living room with over 450 sq. ft.all non-smoking, Free newspaper & local calls. ... more less
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Skip to comments.Stock Brokers Going Broke
Posted on 08/31/2002 10:55:16 AM PDT by shrinkermd
We are terribly sorry to say our prediction of April 2000 of 50-70% of stockbrokers and stock brokerage firms going under before the bear market is over is sadly coming true. Broker commissions are off 80% and payout has been dropped to 23-35%. We hear many stories of alcohol and drug abuse, and suicide and many of these young men and women, who found transitory fame in their 20s smashed on the financial rocks.
The cool bachelor pads of the 1990s have given way to one-room studios in the suburbs. They now struggle through life in menial jobs trying to get their lives and futures together again. Needless to say many have totally lost hope in the system. You might say what goes around comes around. No one ever told these poor souls what goes up must come down and usually does so when you least expect it. 29 months of a bear market has certainly taken its toll.
We figure that if the Plunge Protection Team hadnt been manipulating the market the Dow would now be near 5500-6000. It is stupefying to review all the scandals, bankruptcies and poor earnings and try to understand why the Dow isnt 3000 points lower. We guess well have to wait for the real estate, credit and derivative bubbles to break. As we have seen, deregulation has been a nightmare particularly since the Glass-Steagal Act was terminated. Wall Street brokerage firms, investment banking firms and banks have simply run amok. Its no wonder brokers have depression rates over four times the national average.
Its no wonder since brokers who made $100,000 to $3 million a year are out of work. Those left are making 20-35% of what they took home just three short years ago. It now seems like a lifetime ago. We see thousands of arbitrations and lawsuits. Strategists, analysts and bankers have been completely discredited. Worse yet, those of this group who warned of the impending problems have been shuffled into the background or fired. Wall Street and the banking community have fled under fire and are still fleeing and the battle of truth is only 1/3 of the way to being fully discovered. We can tell you that Wall Street wont be the same again for many years to come.
I am terribly sorry to say that I don't believe he's sad about it.
Struggling-one-room-studios bump.
Holy schadenfreude Batman!
Exhibit A. "While my income is down, Im still making more money than 95%+ of Americans.
Exhibit B. "moneyrunner"
I'll take you at your word, you're just a plain old, boorish greedhead.
I'm stealing this line, I hope you don't mind. Too funny! Too useful. Many thanks.
Here's a hint for him: Friday's NYSE volume was about 900,000,000 shares.
Ah-HA! You're obviously one of THEM! Probably a Trilateralist, a member of the CFR, the Bild-A-Burgers (with bacon and cheese), the Committee of 300, the Freemasons, the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs, and all of the OTHER secret conspiracies! :o)
In the great tradition of the Bully in the Simpsons: Ha ha!
My advice to these dudes & dudettes is to get off the pity pot and switch careers. Go into MLB where the AVERAGE annual wage is $900,000 plus you have a union that provides job security even if you suck ;-)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Profits at securities firms fell 29 percent in the second quarter as stocks slumped, and an earnings rebound isn't coming until next year, a U.S. industry trade group said on Thursday.
Brokerages and investment banks earned $2.0 billion in pre-tax profits in the second quarter, the third-worst quarter in three years, according to the Securities Industry Association, which represents more than 600 firms.
The trade group predicted a $10.0 billion profit for 2002, compared with $10.4 billion last year and $21 billion in 2000.
"With little hope for any revenue improvement near term, cost cutting, mainly employment and compensation cuts, will remain the main tool to simply maintain today's thin margins," George Monahan, director of SIA industry studies, said in a report.
The SIA is forecasting 2003 industry profits of $12.5 billion.
Big firms like Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MER - News) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MWD - News) are hurting as the 2-year bear market has choked off lucrative stock underwriting and merger advisory deals. Bond offerings, which have bolstered results somewhat, are also starting to dwindle.
Analysts have begun to cut their earnings estimates for the upcoming third quarter, as activity in the traditionally slow summer months has been more anemic than usual.
"Both equity and debt origination dropped significantly (in the third quarter), reversing improved results from the first and second quarters," Prudential Securities analyst Dave Trone said in a research note on Wednesday.
The industry has already cut 54,000 jobs since the beginning of 2001, but more layoffs are likely on the way.
"Layoff announcements are now occurring among those firms that tried to maintain employee talent for the expected rebound which is not likely to occur in any meaningful fashion for the near-term," Monahan said.
In respect to the discount brokers, Charles Schwab is the largest. Their problems are highlighted below:
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Discount broker Charles Schwab Corp.(NYSE:SCH - News) on Monday said it will lay off 375 employees, or about 2 percent of its staff, and close its Austin, Texas, customer service center, to slash costs in the prolonged stock market downturn.
San Francisco-based Schwab, the biggest U.S. discount broker, expects to take a $36 million charge in the third quarter, but cut 2003 operating costs by about $26 million. Schwab said it also plans to consider other steps in the next few months to reduce expenses by $200 million a year.
Sharp declines in stock prices sidelined Schwab's investors, knocking its profits, revenues and trading volumes. A string of U.S. corporate accounting scandals shook investor confidence in Wall Street, making them dump stocks. Customer trading volume dropped 20 percent in the second quarter, and the company's total client assets fell 7 percent after the stock market downturn damaged investor portfolios.
"These conditions, fueled by the continuing investigations of corporate accounting and governance practices at certain firms, have put ongoing pressure on our financial performance and deepened our belief that the environment in which we operate may continue for some time," Chairman and co-Chief Executive Charles Schwab said in a statement,
Schwab, which earlier this month put out a memo forecasting more job cuts from its staff of 19,100, had axed 25 percent of its work force last year in a restructuring. Schwab also shed about 490 jobs in the first half of 2002. Schwab Chief Financial Officer Christopher Dodds last month told Reuters the company would likely end the year with about 18,000 employees.
Shuttering the Austin center would eliminate about 300 jobs. In addition, Schwab said it is cutting about 75 support and administrative jobs at four other client telephone service centers located in Denver, Indianapolis, Orlando and Phoenix.
Over the next 30 to 60 days, Schwab said it executive committee will consider further actions -- including more job cuts and cuts in discretionary spending.
IMHO the retail trade of the brokers has been decimated. Chapman's figures could be on the high side, but, most likely, they are not. The cuts in the brokerage industry have hit the traditional, large brokers as well as the discounters. It would seem the public has a problem with the losses, volatility and all the gossip about the market "being rigged." For these reasons, the retail buyers--individual investors and small retirement accounts --are abandoning the stock market wholesale!
A couple of weeks ago I noted a report that 44% of all trades on the NYSE that day were program trades (over 1 Million per trade);furthermore, they only counted the smaller financial houses and did not include either JPM or C. This probably means that on any given day half of all the trades are "wholesale." Add in the market makers, those reconciling index options and I think there is a minority of retail trades going on.
This is true, but the problem is the majority of trades are probably "wholesale" trades with substantially reduced commissions paid to the brokerage house and not to an individual broker who depends on the "retail trade" which is you, I and most investors. Wholesale trades are usually a million plus and instituted by a computer program. My contention is, reading Chapman and the two articles I posted under comments, that brokers are going broke and disappearing en masse from brokerages.
most discount brokers will NOT route a listed order to NYSE, even if you raise a fit. Some route to the most penny-ante exchanges (i.e. boston, where they may have done 5 trades all day in your issue, presumably most from your same broker). Trimark used to honor nyse size for auto-executions (maybe they still do for some customers).
It ws grate to meet you in Vegas Mr. Chaney...
This guy has no idea how brokers make $$$. He thinks they get rich when the market goes up. Not necessarily true. Here's a hint for him: Friday's NYSE volume was about 900,000,000 shares.
Most people have no real idea bout how the brokerage business works today. They thing a modern broker is one that feeds his clients an endless stream of hot stock tips. Those brokers exited the business a few decades ago.
The modern broker creates financial plans (roadmaps?) for his clients designed to accomplish various life goals: buying the fist house, college education for the kids, retirement income, estate planning, multi-generational transfers, etc.
Ill get to he issue of on-line trading vs. full service investing in a later response.
Actually, no, not if you define personal brokers as brokers in full service firms. Many brokerage firms are reducing staff, but the staff being reduced is support staff such as back office personnel. Discount and on-line firms have seen the biggest reductions in brokers being laid off. This is because of the financial structure of the business. Brokers in discount firms are a cost center; in a full service firm they are a revenue center.
Discount firms saw a huge increase in volume during the 90s when everything was going up and the average investor began to believe that they could do it themselves. Why pay $100 to buy Lucent though a full service firm when you could do the same trade for $5 on-line, or $25 through Schwab?
The only problem was that your on-line or discount firm never cautioned you about Lucents P/E ratio in January of 2000. And CNBC had wall-to-wall buy recommendations on every dot.com stock.
True story: the guy who owns the gas station I frequent asked me about 5 years ago to suggest an investment program for him and his wife. I asked a few questions and made a few suggestions. They decided that I was being too conservative and opened an account on-line. After getting sucked into the Tech bubble and making a few bucks, they are now $200,000 in the hole. But they can proudly say that they did it themselves and the cost to lose 200 grand was very small. But are they giving up? No way. They are now handcuffed to a corpse.
So what are the discount and on-line firms now doing when the speculative bubble burst and the day-traders go back to driving trucks? Well, they have to get rid of their people before they shut off the lights.
The truth is, the wealthier people become, the more they rely on professionals. You may see a multi-millionaire have an on-line account, but its for his play money. And that is why I have more job security than almost anyone working right now.
This has been the case for many years. After all, how much do you think the typical mutual fund or pension fund pays to trade? Most of the volume has been institutional for many years, done at pennies a share.
Do they compliment me on my wit, my good looks, my charm or my money?
Bingo! My wife's CPA firm predominantly caters to high-net-worth individuals and family groups. They have a couple people in a related firm (under the same roof) that do fee-based financial planning, no commissions or brokerage fees involved.
You get what you pay for. They do excellent work.
Exactly, which is why his sorrowful words -- terribly sorry to say our prediction ... is sadly coming true -- rang so comically false.
Let us bow our heads and recite the Goldbugs' Prayer:
"Dear Lord, please send us war, famine, pestilence and death, so thy Sacred Metal may rise above $800."
It used to be about fine dining, buff bodies and a fistful of dollars - but now it's a few beers, a knotted stomach and lots of frowns for the formerly high-flying traders of Wall Street.
In bars and restaurants across the Financial District, the scene is the same.
As the stock market plunged in recent weeks, the drinking sessions immediately after the four o'clock bell suddenly were no longer "happy" hours for the men and women whose lifeblood is tapped out by the ticker.
"I used to go straight to the gym every day after work, and now I'm drinking every night," said trader Kevin Cooke, 30, of Manhattan. "Work sucks, the money sucks, everything is just horrible right now, and I want to get drunk faster."
Cooke last week was drowning his sorrows with workmates at Fraunces Tavern - a popular hangout for those who trade on the stock- exchange floors.
The traders and brokers reminisced about last summer, when average bonuses were healthy six-figures, and sometimes more.
With a seemingly endless well of cash, they partied in the Hamptons, purchased flashy cars and tried to outdo each other with new Palm Pilots.
Sept. 11 and the corporate crisis of recent months changed all that.
Last Thursday, Cooke and his pals, whose company cannot be named for professional reasons, were coming to grips with how the money they had made that day had disappeared in the final half-hour when the market plunged.
The same story was being told down the road at Beckett's Bar & Grill, another popular watering hole for financial-types.
"My money's shrunk to a fraction of it's original worth," said Joe Bowler, 39. "And now I'm worried about my job."
At Fraunces, George Fernandez, 33, of Yorktown, said the market plunge had prompted him to curtail his wife Ellen's shopping sprees.
"I've told my wife to cut the spending," he said. "She buys anything and everything - armoires, furniture, clothes. It's out of control."
In the days when money was plentiful, Fernandez and fellow broker Sam Nifkin, 32, teamed to form a musical band called G-5. But what used to be a fun hobby has turned into necessary activity to help them relax, they said.
"I've become more aware of my musical talents - there's more important things in life than money," Fernandez said.
They are doing remarkably well, considering.
First, I truly am a financial planner. That is, I determine what my clients objectives are and the resources they have. I then determine how to achieve their objectives with the lowest risk. If someone comes to me with impossible objectives (e.g. make me a lot of money with no risk.) I refer them to someone else.
I generally deal with my clients serious money. My clients typically are either retired or planning to retire. So we determine their retirement income needs and the sources of that income (pension, social security, interest, dividends, annuities, etc.). It is almost always possible to assure their income requirements without speculating in the stock market.
That is not to say that I dont invest in stocks. However, I dont gamble. Its like going to Las Vegas. You can choose to be the gambler or you can choose to be the house. I choose to be the house.
I counseled my clients to stay out of the technology bubble during the 1990s. Some listened and some didnt. I have to admit that I bought some of the tech stocks after they were off by 50% or more. They went down more. The ironic thing was that the Blue Chip stocks that I favor for the equity portion of my portfolios did relatively poorly during 1997-2000 because everyone was dumping International Paper and Philip Morris to buy Yahoo and Lucent. That being said, Im doing better than the broad averages, but still down for the last 2 years.
So the question each client must answer for himself is: is an advisor who keeps me out of serious trouble during the worst Bear market since World War 2 worth keeping? Is it worthwhile to have a trusted advisor around if I should die and my wife is faced with the challenge of making the serious financial decisions, when Ive done it for all of our married lives? Most of my clients have answered in the affirmative.
Different people in the investment business are paid differently. The people you are reading about in the NY Post article get paid a base salary, but most of their annual income is in the form of a bonus, usually determined by the profitability of their department, or their particular contribution. Bonuses the last years have been way down.
But notice something, Fraunces Tavern is not some neighborhood dive that serves boilermakers for $1 a pop. To go there to get loaded requires some serious cash. So were not talking about people with minimum wage jobs here. And, yes, the yuppies in the article were probably living on the edge of their incomes and speculating in the dot.coms. Young people do foolish things. My own 24 year old son has dropped a few thousand in learning the lesson that speculation is for fools. But I let him, because you only really learn by making mistakes. The time to make mistakes is when youre young and you have plenty of time. Thats how you become wise.
On the other hand, if they were telling all of those investors who trusted them to put their money in stocks, and did something saner with their money, that would've been really, really hypocritical.
The stock analysts deserve an awful lot of the blame. They are the ones who collected the big bucks to dig into companies and find things that diminished the value of these stocks. I don't want to see them commit suicide or become drug addicts or anything, but time spent at some menial job might give them a clue of the damage they've done to the financial security of others.
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