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Operator: Good day, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the First Horizon National Corp Second Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded.
I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference call Ms. Aarti Bowman, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Aarti Bowman - IR: Thanks, Alley. Please note that the press release and financial supplement which announced our earnings, as well as the slide presentation we'll use in this call this morning are posted on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.fhnc.com.
In this call, we will mention forward-looking and non-GAAP information. Actual results may differ from the forward-looking information for a number of reasons outlined in our earnings announcement materials and our most recent annual and quarterly report. Our forward-looking statements reflect our views today and we are not obligated to update them.
The non-GAAP information is identified as such in our earnings announcement materials and in the slide presentation for this call and is reconciled to GAAP information in those materials. Also, please remember that this webcast on our website is the only authorized record of this call.
This morning's speakers include our CEO, Bryan Jordan; and our CFO, BJ Losch. Additionally, our Chief Credit Officer, Susan Springfield will be available with Bryan and BJ for questions.
I'll now turn it over to, Bryan.
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: Thanks, Aarti. Good morning and thank you for joining our call. I'm pleased with our continued progress in the second quarter. Our core businesses delivered solid results, we made headway in realizing our efficiency initiatives, the non-strategic segment drag diminished and we prudently deployed capital.
We're managing our Company for improved sustainable profitability and higher returns. Our focus is on structuring a profitable balance sheet that will drive long-term earnings growth.
We are not where we want to be yet, but with each quarter we are getting closer. The economic environment is, of course, a factor and how quickly we reach our goals. We have seen some recent improvement or positive data points and with rising employment higher consumer confidence, solid home price appreciation and reasonably steady yet modest GDP growth. While our markets in and around Tennessee are generally in line with national trends, certain areas such as Middle and Southeast Tennessee are doing better than average. We are increasingly well-positioned to make the most of our regions opportunities.
In late May, Fed comments spot concerns that monetary tightening would occur sooner than it been expected; (calls) in the 10-year treasury rate to jump and igniting fears about the effect of higher rates on the economy, businesses and the banking industry. BJ will discuss later First Horizon is well positioned for higher rates and should be the beneficiary over the long-term. Near term though, our borrowers seeing somewhat cautious about the strength of the recovery resulting in restrained credit demand.
Our second quarter loan production was steady and our bankers focus on making quality relationship-oriented loans will ultimately benefit our balance sheet and enhance long-term profitability. On the mortgage front, rising rates have slowed refinancing, but purchase activity has picked up impacting our loans to mortgage companies line of business.
Mortgage warehouse lending is a good profitable lending area for us and we don't expect that to change in the second half of 2013. We are taking market share, adding new customers and expanding lines to existing customers.
FTN Financial, our fixed income business was negatively affected by the unprecedented rate volatility and the significant rise rates, which occurred in the later part of the quarter. Through the first two months of the second quarter, fixed income average daily revenues was $1.05 million in line with the past several quarters.
However, market factors experienced in late May and June led to an overall average daily revenue for the second quarter of $915,000. We've recently begun to see some pickup in activity and with greater market stability we expect this business to generate average daily revenue in the range of $1 million to $1.5 million per day. As you are aware revenue headwinds have intensified cost cutting efforts across the banking industry. We have been lowering cost to the past several and have shown significant progress. We are looking at all of our businesses but the regional banks improvement and its efficiency ratio and revenue per FTE clearly shows that our productivity initiatives are paying off. Keep in mind that we don't want to reach our targeted cost cutting goals and stop. We want efficiency in productivity to be engrained in our way of doing business. Credit quality strength is also a priority for us. As anticipated non-performing loans did increase in the second quarter, reflecting further implementation of a regulatory change that required us to classify second liens as non-accrual if the first lien was non-performing. Core asset quality trends though cause us to expect stable credit quality metrics in the second half of 2013.
Our capital ratios remained strong and the Basel III framework recently approved by regulators will not have a significant impact. The Tier 1 common ratios under a fully implemented Basel III would be approximately 9.8%.
In the second quarter, we deployed capital through continued share buybacks and we also acquired a small bank in East Tennessee from the FDIC. Again, I'm pleased with our second quarter performance with improvement in our cost structure, building our core businesses, broadening our customer base and continuing to wind down the non-strategic businesses.
I'll now turn it over BJ to discuss our financials. BJ?
William C. Losch III - EVP and CFO: Thanks Bryan, good morning everybody. I'll start on Slide 6. Our net income available to common shareholders for the second quarter was $41 million with diluted EPS of $0.17. Our total revenues declined 5% linked-quarter, NII held up relatively well. Regional bank revenues were up. Fixed income and mortgage related revenue accounted for all of the linked-quarter decline due to the back-up in rates in the later part of the quarter.
Expenses were down 5% linked-quarter to $14 million, with most expense categories decreasing. Our loan loss provision was flat to last quarter's level of $15 million and credit trends continued to remain solid.
Moving to segment statement highlights on Slide 7, our core businesses continue to show solid performance and the regional bank net income was $43 million in the second quarter. Pre-tax pre-provision net revenue was $80 million or 7% above first quarter in the bank. Linked quarter non-interest income grew 5%, driven by growth in deposit transactions, brokerage, management, and trustee, while expenses in the bank decreased 1%. Loan loss provision was $13 million in the second quarter compared to a provision credit of 2.5 in the first simply reflecting a continually conservative view of reserving for the commercial loan portfolio.
In our FTN business, the net income was $8 million, positive in second quarter of '13. As I said, fixed income revenue declined 14% linked quarter and as everyone knows Fed's commentary around tapering led to significant market volatility and spike in rates adversely impacting our fixed income revenues in the quarter. Expenses also decreased 3% linked quarter, reflecting lower variable comp as expected which was somewhat offset by the modestly higher legal and professional expenses. As Bryan stated earlier, during the first two months of the quarter average daily revenue was a little over $1 million, but June was substantially lower. Our management team and our traders at FTN did an excellent job managing our loan positions down efficiently during June to keep our business as efficient and nimble as possible.
Moving to the non-strategic segment, I may never get to say this again so I am going to say it now, we actually had a positive net income in that segment for the quarter. It was 2.5 million in the second quarter positive compared to the loss of 9 million in the first. Revenues declined 17%, mainly driven by mortgage warehouse valuation adjustments of 2.5 million in the second quarter. Expenses were down 31% from lower litigation, reduction in professional fees, occupancy cost as well as other expenses related to continued wind down of our legacy businesses. Loan loss provision was down significantly from 17.5 million in the first two, just under 2 million in the second. Provision decreased there with the result of lower loan balances, improvement in the home equity portfolio from lower delinquencies, then a decline in charge-offs and improve recoveries in the commercial portfolio.
Moving to the regional bank balance sheet trends on Slide 8, our average core deposits remained steady at $14.6 billion and average loans were relative steady as well at $12.2 billion. Period-end loans to mortgage companies were up 23%, but down 6% on an average basis. In that business yields are around 4.5% to 4.75% making these loans a significant contributors to net interest income.
As Bryan mentioned the recent rise in rates has slowed mortgage refi volumes. However, we still expect relative strength in this business since rates remain historically low. Purchase activity is likely to become more of a driver versus refis over time and we have started to see that shift in our mix.
For the remainder of the year, we anticipate balances to fluctuate up and down in line with market conditions. Our commercial pipeline remained solid with existing customers representing about 60% of the pipeline or so. Linked quarter uptick and fundings reflected a higher volume of loans leading the pipeline and closing in the second quarter.
Moving onto the consolidated balance sheet trends on Slide 9; our total assets were $25 billion, roughly flat to last quarter. Our consolidated loans decreased just slightly reflecting modest growth in our bank and runoff in the non-strategic. Our average core deposits in aggregate were stable. We also repaid about $250 million of debt at the bank level and $100 million at the parent.
Our securities portfolio averaged $3.2 billion in the quarter, and linked quarter yields declined 12 basis points as reinvestment rates faced continued pressure. Securities that are rolling off yield about 3% to 4%, and we're now reinvesting at about 2% to 2.5% given the recent rise in longer rates. The recent rise in mortgage rates caused our unrealized gain to decrease from a positive $80 million in the first quarter to a positive $60 million in the second.
Our investment portfolio strategy continues to be to buy securities with structure not stretch for yield thus protecting us a bit more in short scenarios. Our net interest spread was stabled linked quarter, while loan yield decreased 3 basis points, deposit costs also decline 3 basis points, reflecting strong discipline around pricing across all of our businesses.
If you look at Slide 10, our consolidated net interest income was relatively flat due to lower average loan balances which were partially mitigated by higher day count, lower deposit rates and an increase in loan fees. Our net interest margin was up slightly linked quarter at 2.96% in the second.
Lower cash balances improved the margin and was somewhat offset by continued yield declines in securities and fixed-rate loan portfolios. Sitting here today, we continue to expect the quarterly net interest margin in the range of 285 basis points to 295 basis points fourth quarter of 2013.
Currently our assumptions include macro rate staying at current levels arising modestly over time. Continued modest loan yield decline due to competitive pressures, loans to mortgage company somewhat below current levels, limited buying opportunities with the securities portfolio, debt balances similar to 2Q, and flat to modest growth in our loan portfolio in aggregate.
Over the long-term our asset sensitivity has positioned us well for rising rates. Our consolidated loan portfolio is comprised of about 67% floating-rate loans tied to LIBOR, so all else equal in a rising rate scenario 100 basis points increase would equal about a 6% increase in net interest income and a 300 basis points rise would be about a 11% increase to NII. We continue to believe that an asset sensitive balance sheet is key to our ability to generate strong profitability and returns over time.
Moving to Slide 11 and mortgage repurchase trends, GSE mortgage repurchase expense was zero for the fourth consecutive quarter. Linked quarter the repurchase pipeline declined 9% to $235 million and our lending reserve was down to $123 million. New requests were up 24% reflecting an anticipated acceleration of requests. Our total expected aggregate requests remain unchanged and we still expect any ongoing GSE related provision to be immaterial. We have not been named in any new lawsuits related to our private securitization since October '12 and we had no loan repurchase request from our first lien private securitization. And at this time based on our private securitization origination mix deal size, age and performance we continue to believe that law suits from our private securitization should be significantly less than our GSE experienced.
Moving to expenses on Slide 12. We continue to be proud of what our employees have been able to accomplish with expense efficiency efforts and you can see that in the bottom graph. Total expenses this quarter declined 5% for $14 million and our consolidated efficiency ratio also improved. We lowered expense across several categories including compensation, occupancy, FDIC premiums and foreclosed real estate costs. We have seen continued benefits from our efficiency initiatives and they continue to show up in our numbers. Year-over-year the regional banks efficiency ratio improved 500 basis points from 67% to 62%. We now expect to exceed our regional goal and anticipate consolidated annual expenses below $925 million by the end of 2013.
Moving to asset quality on Slide 14, our total net charge-off declined 32% linked quarter. Linked quarter total loan loss reserve decreased $3 million to $262 million. As Bryan mentioned, non-performing loans were up as a result of the implementation of regulatory guidance around first and second liens. Since we do not service or earn the majority of our first liens in front of second, we needed a third-party vendor to provide first lien status, which we received information on in the second quarter.
The increase in NPLs did not have a material effect on our allowance, since we already had contemplated the risk associated with the standalone junior liens in prior quarters. We do not expect further significant impact on the NPLs or reserve from this regulatory guidance. You'll note that our ORE levels were up due to the Mountain National acquisition.
Moving to Basel III highlights, our actual 2Q '13 Tier 1 common ratio is 10.3% and as you might recall the originally proposed Basel III rules about a year ago would have had more of the negative impact on us primarily because of the higher risk-weighting applied to our home equity portfolio, you would remember probably a 240 basis point spot rate impact.
However, the recently approved Basel III final rule did not raise the residential loan risk-ratings. We now anticipate only an incremental 50 basis point hit to our 2Q '13 Tier 1 common ratio. This would put 2Q '13's estimated Tier 1 common ratio at a 9.8% spot rate under fully phased in Basel III, well above the 7% threshold.
Wrapping up on Slide 15; core business trends are generally encouraging. As we've discussed with our 12 month trailing quarter ROA at 1.02% and our core ROTCE at 11.8%. Solid returns in our core operating businesses, the regional banking and capital markets continue to demonstrate the progress we're making towards our long-term goals by controlling what we can control.
So with that I'll turn it back over to Bryan.
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: Thanks BJ. We're building the platform for long-term success, a platform that will enable us to fully take advantage of the opportunities that are attractive to operating regions and are strengthening the economy offer.
We're executing on our strategic priorities of differentiating our customer service, improving our productivity and efficiency and prudently managing our capital. We also have significant asset sensitivity embedded in our balance sheet. We will continue to work towards improving profitability, reducing the overhang of our legacy businesses and achieving our long-term bonefish targets.
Please remember that we're hosting an Analyst Day on November 21 here in Memphis. Finally, thanks to the First Horizon employees for their commitment and hard work. With their ongoing support I'm confident in our ability to make additional progress in the second half of 2013.
Allie with that we'll now take some questions.
Operator: Steve Alexopoulos, JP Morgan.
Steve Alexopoulos - JP Morgan: Bryan, I'd like to start. Regarding the commentary in the 10-Q for potential update on HUD this quarter, is there anything you could share with us? I did see in the slides that you said that you met with them during the quarter and any initial thoughts on potential for settlement here?
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: There is enough data in one of the slides on mortgage repurchase. You will remember that's a matter that's been out there for about a year. I think (indiscernible) investigation or file request was about a year or so ago. As you noted, we mentioned on that slide that we have had we (weren't) meeting at this point. We have exchanged some information that they provided us to review they looked at a small sample. It will take us a while to evaluate that. As we noted on that slide, we don't have the ability at this point to estimate any range of losses or provide any estimates around reserves. My guess is at this point given the time that it is taking to get to this point in their investigation what we need to do in terms of evaluating the loan files and so on and so forth, it is going to take quite a while before we have any real information that is helpful in providing the estimates around potential impact.
Steve Alexopoulos - JP Morgan: And I just had one other question on the buy back. Why was it so light this quarter at 8 million and then why step it up to 40 million and then accelerated in 3Q are you just making up for being a bit light in 2Q or is this a new run rate given the updated capital rules?
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: If you look at – it is an accounting thing more than anything. We bought back in the open markets 8 million shares, the shares and the capital came out the prepaid repurchase. They actually saw the capital come out, but not to shares. It started in the middle of the quarter and it is running across quarter end. So, it will take some time to complete it but that's sort of a continuation. So, the actual buying under the $40 million program will occur throughout the latter half of the second quarter, end of the third quarter. So, it's just a timing thing in terms of the way we account for it, but the capital has already been reduced.
Steve Alexopoulos - JP Morgan: So, we think of $40 million as a good quarterly run rate to buybacks?
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: Well, if you look back on the last couple of quarters, that's where we've been. But as we look forward, we'll do as we always have. We'll look for opportunities to invest capital in organic growth. We'll continue to evaluate transactions like Mountain National and things that are going on the economy and otherwise, and we'll evaluate the opportunity to put capital back. As in the past to the extent, we have excess capital we'll be using the dividend and the buyback is a way to return that to shareholder.
Operator: Nicholas Karzon, Credit Suisse.
Nicholas Karzon - Credit Suisse: I guess first on the capital markets business, just a couple questions. I think that capital market expenses were down around $2 million quarter-over-quarter and trading revenues were down about $10 million. If we stay in this rate environment, are there additional costs that can come out of that business?
William C. Losch III - EVP and CFO: It is BJ. That business out there is very efficient from a fixed cost versus variable. I'd probably tell you that two-thirds or more variable versus fixed. So, it does actually look good proportion if you will the revenues versus the expense decline. We did mention that there were some legal and professional fee costs that offset the decline in the variable comp. But you should generally see something like 40% to 50% variable to the fluctuation in the revenue.
Nicholas Karzon - Credit Suisse: Then within the mortgage company balances. Can you give us an idea of the mix between refi and purchase in that portfolio and how that changed quarter-over-quarter?
William C. Losch III - EVP and CFO: Yeah I think we've had been running in the 70%, 75% refi range. I think we are still positive, but it's come down, it's more in the 60/40 range refi. I think if we go out we think that it'll start to continually shift more toward purchase volume than refi. I can't sit here today and tell you when that's actually going to cross over, but we certainly have started to see that mix shift.
Operator: John Pancari, Evercore Partners.
John Pancari - Evercore Partners: Could you give us some additional color on existing FHFA litigation. I know there is probably limited amount you can say being that it's ongoing. But I guess, could you just update us on the status and maybe just help us think about the likelihood of a settlement there or just how we could think about it?
William C. Losch III - EVP and CFO: Yeah, not too much on the FHFA front. Last quarter you would have seen us put up a RPO in that and that had taken probably 12 to 18 month to get to that point. So it's a pretty slow and complex process as you might imagine. So there is -- unfortunately I can't give you much of an update because there is just isn't one at this point.
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: Keep in mind, this is process where there are number of people involved in this litigation. The litigation has been divided up into tranches and we are in one of the later tranches of litigation. So, right now we are just in a bit of a holding pattern as this continues to unfold.
John Pancari - Evercore Partners: And then on the capital market side can you give us a little bit more color and your confidence in that reiterated ADR range of 1 million to 1.5 million, particularly given the back up in rates here. I mean, is there risk that you are going to start communicating a lower normalized range here?
William C. Losch III - EVP and CFO: It is BJ. If you look at what happened again as Bryan and I both kind of mentioned April and May were over the $1 million a day threshold and then June just really (tanked). If you think about what happened in fixed income businesses there were multiple players trying to reduce long inventory as quickly as they possibly could to avoid marks as rates continue to spike up. And so there wasn't a lot of buying activity in the market. So, everybody was kind of doing the same thing trying to reduce their position. But what we have seen in the last couple of weeks and we will see if it continues to stay is much less variability in what the (10-year) has been doing. So, just to give you an example, I think the intraday range is the (10-year) over the quarter was something like 8 basis points or 9 basis points, whereas usually historically over time it is 1 basis points or 2 basis points. I mean, that is just math, it is dislocation and it started to come back and start to normalize a little bit more in terms of intraday. So, all of that leads us to a cautious outlook on it, but the belief that getting back to that lower end of the range, where we were in April and May it is certainly possible.
Operator: Marty Mosby, Guggenheim.
Marty Mosby - Guggenheim: BJ, I wanted to ask a question. You went out of the way on Page 10 to say that no expect to material actions to reduce asset sensitivity. When you look at the long end performance of about $9 million favorable 4 basis points, and then if you look at the increase in short-term rates, which is much more material. Can you see how at some point if we keep getting this, let's say, two years before short-term rates go up, you would begin to reconsider that last bullet point to start to accelerate the benefit if we can see a little more movement on the long end?
William C. Losch III - EVP and CFO: What we've got is we've naturally got some fixed rate lending in our non-strategic portfolio that we are purposely letting run-off. So, we are not trying to retain a lot of that. So, what that giving us is incremental opportunity to build more relationship-oriented lending in the regional bank that might have fixed rate characteristics? So, in aggregate though as fixed rate or non-strategic is running off you are adding fixed rate relationship in the bank your net asset sensitivity isn't changing all that much. So, again, that's why we don't think we're going to see a material change in what our profile is. We think we are well-positioned. But we are taking advantage of pockets of opportunity to grow relationship-oriented blending on the left side of the balance sheet to help us a little bit more both in the near term and the long-term.
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: As BJ described, we want to use our long-term interest rate exposure or positioning to do customer activity, do customer business. Fundamentally we don't believe in putting the carry trade on just to generate short-term earning. Taking interest rate risk is not where we think we create a lot of value for shareholders. So, we're very deliberate about how we use the balance sheet, we think the securities portfolio, in particular, ought to be used to provide liquidity, to provide collateral, and to manage that aggregate interest rate risk. But we don't believe that we ought to put on long-term rate just to generate carry. And so when we do, as BJ described, we do it for customer oriented activity.
Marty Mosby - Guggenheim: That kind of – Bryan -- my follow-up question was, this is a kind of an inflection quarter BJ highlighted that the non-strategic actually now was making a little money, at least for this quarter. So a lot of the overhang issues are kind of dealt with and now we're kind of starting to move over to the profitability and the overall kind of returns that you can generate. Lot of the catalyst or things that happen like you kind of condition as long-term. How does that time frame accelerate or how do you sort to see the earnings power beginning to improve as you're able to find more strategic opportunities.
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: I'm going to go back and look at the transcript to what BJ said and make sure. I think he said he was going to point it out because he might not get to it. We're not looking at that non-strategic segment as a profit center. I think a lot of it had to do with improvement in credit quality and credit trends and who knows how that plays out. But we think we have made significant progress there. The non-strategic portfolio is down about 18% year-over-year and we feel good about where we are positioned there, but we also want to see it run-off and get that segment of our history behind it. We are still doing the same fundamental things as we think about our balance sheet for the long term. We want to focus on growing our customer relationships in the core banking business. We want to win all the business that we can win on a profitable basis in the state of Tennessee and beyond. We are expanding our efforts in the Mid-Atlantic region under John Fox's leadership. We are making progress there. Our capital market FTN financial business is going very, very well. We are adding to our municipal capability. So, our focus is to continue to focus our capital allocation and our resources towards driving those activities that allow us to produce what we have laid out in the bonefish. Those high teens up to 20% range ROEs and so we are taking a real disciplined approach about the balance sheet and how we deploy that capital to grow the business for a sustainable long-term shareholder returns.
Operator: Ken Zerbe, Morgan Stanley.
Ken Zerbe - Morgan Stanley: Just a question in terms of your net interest margin it sounds like one of the reasons that it went up a little bit this quarter was because of the excess liquidity reduction. How much excess liquidity do you have left? I got the (2.85 to 2.95) margin guidance, but I am just wondering if this potentially could be an area, where it might actually drive margin above your current guidance?
William C. Losch III - EVP and CFO: Yeah, there is a not a lot more that you would have seen in the second quarter in terms of excess balance opportunity going forward. Now, again, that's going to fluctuate and it's actually a good thing sometimes that they happens, which means more customer deposit inflows that we can't find a short-term way to put the work. So, yeah, I'm not sure, if you're going to see a lot there, but I did in my comments give you some of the assumptions that I had around the outlook. You will generally see that they're pretty realistic maybe more towards the cautious side. So, if we see a little bit more loan growth that can certainly help. We certainly have done a good job. Our bankers have done a good job of managing the private costs down that can certainly be helpful. Depending on what the competitive environment does to pricing pressures. We could do better there. So, all that said, I think I still feel pretty good about our range and hopefully we can get more towards the higher end of that range than lower.
Ken Zerbe - Morgan Stanley: With the range that you're referencing, is there anything – what would materially get you out of that range? Aside from – or is there anything aside from like materially higher interest rates, because it just seems a little bit – starting loan growth, little bit less or more something else, might kind of keep you in that range? I'm just wondering if there's anything where we could be surprised one way or the other aside from rates.
William C. Losch III - EVP and CFO: I'll give you three impacts that are always material and they were three that really impacted us in the first quarter, when you saw from fourth to first, we saw pretty material decline in margin. The first is fluctuation in balances from loans to mortgage companies. As those yields 450 to 475 and they can move around pretty materially from quarter-to-quarter. So they could have a pretty big impact up or down on net interest margin in any given quarter. The second is like you mentioned excess balances at the Fed, they can have a pretty material impact depending on the size of the excess in any given quarter on the margin. Third is our capital markets net interest margin. Now, we don't focus on that in that business that's a fee based business, but depending on whether or not we use the balance sheet to hedge our positions on the balance sheet or off the balance sheet can have a material impact and that's what we saw from fourth to first, it was pretty benign from first to second, but those three are probably the biggest that are going to move it around one way or the other.
Operator: Paul Miller, FBR.
Paul Miller - FBR: Can you talk a little bit about your C&I lending in your market. Have you seen any release over the last. We know short term rates haven't really moved, but on the competitive front, from some of the bigger players or even some of the smaller players?
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: I'll start, and then I'll ask Susan to go into detail. It's still an extraordinarily competitive environment out there. We're seeing still a lot of cautious activity from borrowers in terms of new investment. There might be just a marginal leaning towards a little bit more activity this quarter than there has. But it's still very competitive, so most of the opportunities or opportunities to win existing debt from competitors or so on and so forth but it is still a very, very competitive environment.
Susan L. Springfield - EVP, Commercial Banking and Chief Credit Officer: Paul, this is Susan. I would agree with Bryan. I think there was little bit more activity in the second quarter, some additional conversations with clients and prospects about potential growth but a lot of what we are seeing are opportunities to refinance debt (indiscernible) other banks. I think our bankers are doing a great job of staying focused, talking about the fact that we are a relationship bank oriented so that we get great asset quality maintenance as well as good pricing.
Paul Miller - FBR: Are you guys going after some of the multi-family stuff that's out there?
Susan L. Springfield - EVP, Commercial Banking and Chief Credit Officer: Yes. Paul, we all are seeing some good opportunities in multi-families typically stick within our footprint and surrounding areas as it relates to that. We've got some great commercial real estate clients and we are active in that market and we have done a very good job in the multi-family lending arena.
Paul Miller - FBR: And back to the C&I. My last question is have you seen any movement in the utilization rates are they still – are they I believe in the high 20s?
Susan L. Springfield - EVP, Commercial Banking and Chief Credit Officer: I guess, on the commercial side our utilization rates are 43% they've been roughly that same amount the last three quarters. In a more normalized environment you would see C&I commercial utilization in the 55% to 58% range.
Operator: Kevin Fitzsimmons, Sandler O'Neill.
Kevin Fitzsimmons - Sandler O'Neill: You all spent some time earlier talking about the asset sensitivity and you got your position well forward. Can you give a little color on what part of the curve the margin is most sensitive to? Specifically, do you need the short-term rates to move up to get the margin benefit or is there another part of the curve that you would benefit from as we look forward?
William C. Losch III - EVP and CFO: Primarily, the short end of the curve. If you think about our floating rate assets 67% of them are tied to LIBOR and it's virtually all of those are tied to one month LIBOR. So, we really need over time the short end of the curve to rise to really see the most positive impact to our asset sensitivity.
Kevin Fitzsimmons - Sandler O'Neill: Just a quick follow-up. I know you just recently had a failed bank acquisition and there hasn't been all that many of them in your footprint, but how has that process gone and what's your latest outlook on M&A opportunities in or around your current footprint, in terms of – do you get a sense there is more conversations activity or is there less willingness to sell out there?
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: The Mountain National transaction has gone very, very well today. We're very pleased with the progress that we've seen there. We've brought on our great group of folks. We acquired 12 branches there will be some consolidation opportunities for us, as we convert later in the year. The integration process is working well, lowering out our credit processes and credit standards and reengaging our lending efforts or their lending efforts in that market have gone very, very well. So, we're pleased with the progress we see there. We think the conversion for later this year is – the planning for that is going very, very well. This is in integration conversion process is not something that First Tennessee, First Horizon has done organizationally for a few years, so it's a great opportunity to test those processes, and do it in a way that we ensure that it positions us to do additional activity in the future. I don't know what happens in Tennessee in the short run. We run strings all the time and look at things. My guess is that we want to get very far down the path of getting Mountain National integrated and done right before we do anything else. But as I say, we think later this year, we'll have Mountain National converted and we'll see what unfolds between now and then. I don't sense, in terms of the overall M&A market, a significant pick up in conversations of any real significance that's here, anecdotes from time to time about what may be going on in the smaller institution market. But my sense is there is probably a whole lot today, it's a whole lot like it has been for the last 12 to 18 months. It's still fairly slow.
Operator: Emlen Harmon, Jefferies.
Emlen Harmon - Jefferies: Just on the expense progress in the quarter, you guys have kind of gotten to where you're hoping to be in terms of fourth quarter run rate. Could you give us a sense of just a reflection of your ability to get expenses sooner than expected or is this more a reflection of, as you said just kind of like ongoing expense controls and maybe finding a little bit more there than you thought initially?
William C. Losch III - EVP and CFO: I think it's a little bit of all of that. I think we started really focusing on this effort maybe three years ago and so it takes a while to really kind of get through the entire organization and not just identify efficiencies to build the culture around efficiency. So, I think, we've really started more towards the end of last year and on into this year really have started to see the fruits of those workings from the last two years. So, we've certainly seen – we identified efficiencies coming out and we are very pleased with that. But culturally it is showing us more and more better ways to deepenings which is giving us incremental expense reductions that we hadn't been claiming on. So, we are pleased with that and again we updated our guidance to say we now believe we are going to exceed our goal. As we've talked about in the past as revenues continue to be pressured we will manage to our bonefish and understand that there are things that we can control and things we can't. The ones we can control like expenses we will continue to work those down as effectively as we can without sacrificing revenue opportunity in the process.
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: This is Bryan. I want to sort of echo, BJ's last point. Cost control is important and as you said we have done a lot of work in that area, but growing revenue, supporting our customer activity, providing high levels of quality services is very, very important. And so reducing cost is not a strategy in and of itself it is a part of our strategy to improve profitability. BJ and his team had done a lot of great work over the last several years on it and continuing to disaggregate the organization, allowing us to continue to look at our organization in greater and greater levels of granularity, and when you do that you see more and more pockets of opportunity they may not be as big dollar wise, but you continue to see opportunity to improve profitability around products or regions, or the way we're doing this with that activity. So, as I said in my comments earlier, this is not so much a target driven process. It's process driven around driving long-term sustainable profitability, which set to take that you do things in a high-quality manner, but you are also doing as efficiently as you possibly can. So, I'm encouraged by the progress we've made to-date. I think BJ as well as our line of business leaders, our bankers, our folks all throughout the organization in support areas are doing a great job focusing on how we get more efficient, more profitable over the long-term.
Emlen Harmon - Jefferies: Then additionally just, your expectations for the pace of run-off and the non-strategic book changing at all is that kind of a mix of economic factors, I guess, to consider between improving home prices and at least in the near-term kind of rising rates. How are you thinking about just a pace, there is a pace at which that book comes down?
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: This is Bryan again. It hasn't changed an awful lot I guess in the last couple of quarters as CPR rate on the home equity portfolios picked up to about 20%, I think it's down about 18% year-over-year. I think there is some natural acceleration as rates pickup and that portfolio continues to age. The vast majority, if not all of it was originated five years or more ago. More of it gets into amortization phase. Now, it continues to run down. So, it may pick up a little bit, but there is nothing as we sit here today, that we think is going to cause us to pick up significantly or change significantly over the next several quarters.
Operator: Matthew Burnell, Wells Fargo Securities.
Matthew Burnell - Wells Fargo Securities: I guess I'm just curious as to whether or not, what was contributed to the downturn in the capital markets revenues aside from the market volatility was just your bank customers holding off and buying securities until they felt little bit more confident about where yields were going. If the tenure does continue to rise a little bit, does that potentially bode for pressure on capital markets revenues going forward? Or how sensitive is that revenue line to rising rates?
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: Movement in the rates is going to influence it in short-term. We think with stability and tenure rates or stability in the market, all of the fundamentals are still there for customer activity in terms of investing or reinvesting in their securities portfolio. So, we think rates sort of gapped up a little bit here, that created some stability. It did lead to lower activity in terms of customer buying. As I noted in my opening comments, we did have seen a little bit of pickup in the early part of the third quarter. The third quarter seasonally is a little more difficult. But we're overall reasonably optimistic about where we see those average daily revenues for the foreseeable future, I mentioned the 1 to 1.5 range. A lot of the impact in the second quarter was the impact of not only customer activity but as you see these moves the value relations on inventory and all that impacts the revenues and I will just report it on a net basis. So, I think, our folks out at FTN did a fantastic job managing through it. I think we are well positioned. I think we brought liquidity to customers that wanted to move securities during this period and in the market, in general, but I think we are extraordinarily well positioned for the next – for the cycle that we are about to go through.
Matthew Burnell - Wells Fargo Securities: Bryan, maybe a bigger picture question for you. Given your outlook for loan growth which still I think remains relatively muted and in line with a lot of other banks we've heard from this week and your better than expected Basel III ratios. Does that give you any greater level of confidence as you head into the capital planning process for '14, and if that's the case are buybacks any less attractive as your share price gets closer to 1.5 times book than they might have been at 1.1, 1.2?
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: I guess, in broad terms, as Susan pointed out, utilization rates are low. We think in some respect we put a lot of very high quality relationship activity on the balance sheet over the last several years it is going to lead to a lot of fundings when the economy picks up. We think we are going to be the beneficiary of an upturn in the economy that will allow us to use some of that capital. I was never quite as pessimistic on Basel III as the original proposal dictated, I felt like it would come back. So, I've never really thought about the full impact of Basel III impacting our capital strategy. As we said in the past, we look at capital in the context, what are our growth opportunities. Clearly, if we have opportunities to put the capital to work in the business that allow us to produce our bonefish type returns that is our first choice, whether that's organic or whether that's something like of Mountain National. Then to the extent, we have excess capital, buyback and dividend are important tools in our ability to return that. We are analytical about it too. We look at what price and so and so forth. But as we said here today, it's hard to think about any big differences about how all of this might impact 2014 and beyond.
Operator: Christopher Marinac, FIG Partners.
Christopher Marinac - FIG Partners: Just I wanted to ask about the increased income. Net interest income from higher rates whether it's 100 or 200 what are some of the – your thoughts about your ability to lag upon deposit pricing as well as sort of retention of deposits as the higher rates scenario plays out?
William C. Losch III - EVP and CFO: Generally speaking, I think the first maybe 50 basis points, 75 basis points move you will see very little movement in deposit rates in terms of historical proportional movements. As banks try to recapture some of the lost fee income and some of the lost net interest income that we've seen over the last couple years. After that it starts to get a little bit more interesting because in aggregate deposits are very valuable. So, it remains to be seeing what the competitive pressures will be. The other wildcard, I think, from my perspective is what happens to the money funds? The money funds have historically been a very strong competitor to deposits, and there is a lot of pressure on that side on this money fund. So, in the first move, the rising rate environment and I think they're going to be very competitive, and depending on what rules change there they may not be as competitive, as they might have been in the past. So, all of that to say is we're expecting some modestly better deposit rate lag than what we would historically see. But we're little bit more cautious on what competitive pressures are going to be over the long-term.
Christopher Marinac - FIG Partners: I guess your caution is more after the first (indiscernible)?
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: Yes.
Operator: Ryan Nash, Goldman Sachs.
Ryan Nash - Goldman Sachs: Just a follow-up on the rate sensitivity question. It seems like – it has come down a little bit over the past quarter or so. I just wanted to – given that a lot of your sensitivity comes from the C&I book, as well as the home equity portfolio, which is in run-off, or part of home equity of run-off. I guess what are you doing to maintain the level of sensitivity, whether it's reducing duration or is it adding floating rate securities to the securities portfolio. And then just to that, BJ, you talked about competition on the deposit side, but what are your underlying assumptions in terms of competition on the lending side, are you assuming that as rates rise, we see more competitive pressures laying on spread?
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: Maybe I will start with the last. As rates did start to rise we continue to believe there will be competitive pressures, but I don't think that they – we don't believe that they intensified. So, generally speaking, in rising rates we would expect on like assets to maintain the spreads that we have today on the asset side where we would see the benefit certainly is lagging on the deposit side.
Ryan Nash - Goldman Sachs: And then, Bryan, as a follow-up to one of the questions that we heard before regarding capital. Now that we know the final rules and they have come in more positive just in terms of both AOCI and lower mortgage risk rates. Does this at all change the way – the level of which you think you have to run that. We've talked as part of the bonefish at 8 to 9, but given that the capital volatility will probably be lower. Do you think this ends up pushing you closer to the lower end of that target relative to the higher end?
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: I don't know that I feel any differently about that range at this point. I think what's going to be important as you know $10 billion to $50 billion banks are going to start the stress testing process in the late part of this year on a formal basis with the OCC and the Fed. We will submit result in 2014. We will go through it again in 2015 and actually report the result as I think the way the rules are set up in 2015. We will learn a lot through this process this year but as we say here today I don't think I feel any different about the 8% to 9%. I think I would said if the rules came out with the 220 basis points, 240 basis points impact you would probably say given those high capital levels on some portfolios you might lean towards the lower end of the range. But I think at that point, we'll continue to be detected by our stress test. I think the 8% to 9% still a fair range to think about for a long-term capitalization of an organization, where the business makes it looks like ours.
Operator: Jon Arfstrom, RBC Capital Markets.
Jon Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets: Just two quick ones here. BJ on the provision just the non-strategic being down and the regional bank being up, are either those shift permanent or is this just kind of quarterly nuances?
William C. Losch III - EVP and CFO: It's probably quarterly nuances. But generally speaking, we think that non-strategic continues to improve. Whether or not it's the magnitude of improvement that you saw first and second, that's probably a little bit big, it will probably normalize a little bit more. On the regional bank side, we're still seeing very good asset quality trends and metrics. But if you look back at our quarterly results there, we've actually had a provision credit in the regional banks through the last several quarters, and this time we moved to an actual provision. So, I think the charge-offs in the regional bank were somewhere in the $8 million to $9 million range, which is still a fantastic result. It's just dependent on what our reserving models tell us about individual portfolios and where we believe it's prudent to set those reserves.
Jon Arfstrom - RBC Capital Markets: Then Bryan just a quick one for you. You talked earlier about middle Tennessee and Southeast Tennessee being better. So, I'm guessing that Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville, but give us an update Memphis what's going on there? How you see the recovery progressing and a little bit on the outlook?
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: The Memphis, West Tennessee market continues to recover at a modest pace, unemployment is lately a little bit higher in this marketplace but it continues to recover nicely sort of in line with the U.S. recovery. I am very, very pleased with the work that I see our bankers doing here and across the (states) here in terms of winning customer relationships and growing in a market where we have a significant presence to begin with and I am encouraged how we are positioned here and as the West Tennessee, Memphis recovery continues to pick up pace I think we will do very, very well here.
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, that is all the time we have for today. I'd now like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Bryan Jordan for any closing remarks.
D. Bryan Jordan - Chairman, President and CEO: Thank you, Alley. Thank you all for joining our call this morning. Please let us know if you have any additional questions or need additional information. Please remember our Investor Day in November. We'd love to have you join us. I hope you all have a great weekend. Thank you.
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference. You may all disconnect and have a wonderful day.


text:
Solar Fence Light (2-Pack)
The Solar Fence Light in a Bronze finish has 2 Super-Bright Amber LED Bulbs that Outshines Standard Solar Lights The solar fence lights are great for Illuminating Decking or Fencing with Ease. They also come with 2 High-Performance Rechargeable Ni-Cd AA Batteries.
- Illuminate Decking or Fencing with Ease
- Bronze Finish
- 2 Super-Bright Amber LED Bulbs Outshines Standard Solar Lights
- Assembled Dimensions: 4-7/10" W x 2-3/10" H

subset: commoncrawl


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La Sportiva Trango S EVO GTX Mountaineering Boot - Mens Size 44. 3 season Mountaineering boot. Lightly used and broken in. Great shape. Just a little small for my feet. They go for about $285 new. Asking $200. Small thumbnail pic on bottom.
Just PM my Profile.My Forum Profile (PM and Email Links)


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I am not being cynical at all but the timing of the new single....well all I can say is there are no co-incidences and God willed it...no-one on Earth could have orchestrated publicity like this...thank you Almighty One xxxoooxxx
U2 Promoted By God!
Posted 06 December 2013 - 07:50 AM
Posted 06 December 2013 - 11:28 AM
What an amazing chance for anyone involved in teaching school children.. Africa's no 1 son has now stepped into the pages of History, we can now include him in our school curriculum. As a school governor and chair of the p.t.a I can now go and hustle my local cinema for discount tickets. It's for educational purposes. We must ensure he is never forgotten by teaching our children about him. If not suitable for 10 year olds then I will blag tickets for my daughter's secondary school...
Posted 06 December 2013 - 01:25 PM
Thanks Shirley, I completely agree with you. This morning I watched and listened again Ordinary Love and for me and for many people it are historical days. And what a blessing to have such good memories about Nelson and..........that we have this great song to mourn with. Indeed, what an amazing timing this is!!


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Tue. Feb. 7
Donate Your Piano For A Tax Deduction
Society of Unique Artists is a registered 501(c)(3), non-profit art organization, that accepts piano donations from all around the country. We are a reliable and expedient source to rid yourself of your old piano. We provide a no-hassle experience by making all...


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Ormerod, Thomas C. and Mariani, J. and Moreley, N. J. and Rodden, T. and Crabtree, A. and Mathrick, J. and Hitch, G. and Lewis, K. (2004) Mixing Research Methods in HCI: Ethnography Meets Experimentation in Image Browser Design. Working Paper. , Hamburg, Germany.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
We report the specification and evaluation of a browser designed to support sharing of digital photographs. The project integrated outcomes from experiments, ethnographic observations, and single-case immersiveobservations to specify and evaluate browser technologies. As well as providing and evaluating new browser concepts, a key outcome of our research is a case study showing the successful integration of ethnography and experimentation, research and design methods that are often viewed as orthogonal, sometimes even mutually exclusive, in HCI.
Item Type: | Monograph (Working Paper) |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | Ethnography ; controlled experimentation ; digital photographs ; browser design and evaluation |
Subjects: | ?? bf ?? |
Departments: | Faculty of Science and Technology > Psychology Faculty of Science and Technology > School of Computing & Communications Faculty of Science and Technology > Lancaster Environment Centre |
ID Code: | 10128 |
Deposited By: | Prof Tom Ormerod |
Deposited On: | 07 Jul 2008 14:24 |
Refereed?: | No |
Published?: | Published |
Last Modified: | 24 Mar 2017 01:14 |
Identification Number: | |
URI: | http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/10128 |
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Nominations for both the Nevada Regents' Teaching Award and the University and Regents' Academic Advisor Award are due Sept. 17.
The Nevada Regents' Teaching Award, an annual recognition of outstanding faculty in the Nevada System of Higher Education, is a prestigious award granted to one full-time faculty member who provides instruction as their primary assignment at UNLV, University of Nevada Reno, Nevada State College (NSC), or to a Desert Research Institute faculty member who provides instruction as part of their regular assignment. The winner receives a special medal and a check for $5,000. University winners in past years include Gene LeMay, chemistry; Meggin McIntosh, Excellence in Teaching program; Phil Boardman, English; Gary Hausladen, geography; Cheryll Glotfelty, English; Paul Starrs, geography; Scott Casper, history; Tom Nickles, philosophy; Scott Mensing, geography; Eric Wang, mechanical engineering; and David Ake, music.
To nominate a faculty member, send a formal letter of nomination through the candidate's dean addressing how the candidate has accomplished a significant record of excellence in teaching that has brought recognition to the university. More information regarding this award can be found at the Provost's Awards and Grants page. Nominations are due to the deans' offices by Sept. 17, at 5 p.m. After obtaining supplementary materials from the candidates, a campus-wide committee will select one of the nominations to send forward to the Chancellor's Office in November. A system-wide committee will consider the candidates submitted by UNR, UNLV, NSC, and DRI and make a selection for approval by the Board of Regents.
The Academic Advisor Awards and the Nevada Board of Regents' Academic Advisor Awards are given annually to faculty or professional staff members who have a distinguished record of student advisement. One $1,000 award for undergraduate advisement and one $1,000 award for graduate advisement are granted. In addition, the names of the recipients of the University Undergraduate and Graduate Advising Awards will be forwarded to the Chancellor's Office for consideration for the Nevada Regents' Academic Advisor Awards. The system-wide award will be $5,000 each for the Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Advisors.
Full-time faculty and professional staff who have at least five years of cumulative service in the Nevada System of Higher Education and who provide academic advising as part of their regular assignment or who provide academic advisement as their primary assignment are eligible for the award. DRI full-time faculty or professional staff who have at least five years of cumulative service in NSHE and who provide academic advisement to graduate students at the university as part of their primary assignment are also eligible for the graduate award. Although these awards are intended for individuals, groups who have made outstanding contributions in academic advising may be recognized as well.
Any employee or student of the university may submit one name in nomination for this award. To nominate, send a letter of nomination to the nominee's dean. Since the nomination letter becomes part of the nomination materials submitted to the University of Nevada selection committee and the Board of Regents, it should describe in as much detail as possible why the candidate is deserving of this recognition. Also, please specify if you are nominating your candidate for the Undergraduate or Graduate Advising Award. The nominees will then be contacted and asked to submit additional materials in support of their nomination. Nominations must be received by the deans' offices by Sept. 17 at 5 p.m.


text: Please Do Not Cry For Those Poor Polygamist Wives, Fox NewsMoe4/17/08 3:30pmFiled to: fundamentally evilFox NewsTopfundamental church of latter-day-saintspolygamistsstop your sobbingWarren Jeffs1532EditPromoteShare to KinjaToggle Conversation toolsGo to permalinkSlate did the universe a service (yet again!) and read the memoir of a "fourth wife" in the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints so we wouldn't have to puke all over the outfit we never took off after getting in last night. In summary, Carolyn Jessop was forced in her teens to marry a 50-year-old named Merril (though never forced to see him naked) who once became outraged when she ordered shrimp at a restaurant because he didn't like it, and wives should never like things their husbands don't. (Interesting philosophy!) They attended "public" schools staffed for and by Fundamentalists which taught children that dinosaurs and walking on the moon were lies. They reared their kids on spooky apocalyptic cowboy-indian games that underscored their belonging in a Master Race. One woman's childbirth involved being "given an episiotomy with sewing scissors and then stitched up with dental floss."AdvertisementSurely you can understand, then, my utter batshit state of batshithood over people like this Fox News anchor who insist on muddling everything with "compassion" for these poor folks getting separated from their kids.THIS IS WHY WE FOUGHT THE COLD WAR, YOU GUYS.AdvertisementYeah, okay, it sucks to be them, sure. Someday they will understand how seriously it sucks to be them. But cry over the hurt these brainwashed propagandists are feeling over the death of their soul murdering cult when you are ready to call up Egypt and weep for the mom of Mohammed Atta. You are the reason Howard Pyle lost his job and this fucking miniature North Korea on our own land wasn't broken up in 1953.Chaotic Hearing For Children In Polygamist Case [NYT] Carolyn Jessop's Memoir Of Life With FLDS, Condensed When The Polygamists Came To Town [Time] Fact Net [Fun anti-cult website]Reply153 repliesLeave a reply


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The VIC-20 � a "family" version of the PET series (using the same microprocessor and Basic language) � was the first computer to sell more than one million units. Once dubbed the MicroPET during the 1980 Computer Electronics Show, it later became known as the VIC-20. VIC referenced the VIC-I (Video Interface Chip) chip used for graphics and sound. There does not seem to be any obvious rationale behind the usage of the number 20, other than the fact that it was close to the 22 characters per line and to the combined RAM and ROM memory in the machine (5 KB RAM + 16 KB ROM), or the total 8 KB Basic, 8 KB Kernel and 4 KB Character maps... Regarding the name, Michael Tomczyk, (manager of the VIC project) recalls: "VIC sounded like a truck driver, so I insisted on attaching a number. I picked �20� and when Jack Tramiel asked, �Why 20?� I replied, �because it's a friendly number and this has to be a friendly computer.' He agreed. The number 20 has no relation to any technical feature -- just my idea of a friendly sounding number. That sounds a bit bizarre looking back on it, but we did a lot of things by instinct in those days." The VIC-20 was designed by Bob Yannes who also created the SID chip for the C64. He later joined Ensoniq to design synthesizers. The Video Interface Chip (or �VIC� as it is commonly called), is one of the most important silicon chips in the VIC-20 microcomputer, coming second only to the 6502A microprocessor itself. The VIC is a specially constructed input-output (I/O) chip that offers a large variety of functions, but as suggested by its name, is primarily concerned with the production of the video output signal. It was originally intended to be sold to third-party manufacturers for use in video game machines. Demand for the chip was low, and so Commodore decided to make their own system to recoup their losses. The VIC-20 was initially launched in Japan in late 1980 (under the �VIC-1001� name) with a Japanese 'Katakana' set of characters. It was subsequently released in North America in May of 1981. Though these are the "official" release dates, several prototypes of the Commodore VIC-20 were reportedly available in late 1979. These early machines offered only 4 KB of RAM and used a different set of game cartridges. Thanks to the colorful graphics and low cost, the VIC-20 was an immediate success. At its peak, more than 9000 units rolled off the assembly line each day. Adding to its success was the fact that it was the first color computer to break the $300 (USD) price barrier. A wide range of peripherals and software were developed for the VIC-20. The failed Commodore 16 eventually became the successor of the VIC-20. ___________ Contributors: Brian Bagnall, Rick Melick
My parents went out to buy a computer for my 3 bothers and I, I was hoping for a ZX Spectrum or even a C64, imagine my disappointment when this appeared in front of the TV, 2 years of early mornings and paper rounds later I did save up for the 48K Spectrum, I�ve never truly forgiven them and always ask my kids exactly what they want.
Hey, I had hoped that "lodger" from Germany would have posted the explanation to why the VIC20 was renamed to VC20 when released in Germany. It''s quite funny linguistically when you think of it: Commodore didn''t want to launch it using the name VIC because in German, "V" and "F" sounds very much alike, so the name would have sounded like the German word "fick" (Google the translation all)... $-)
i had a fit when myparents bought me a vic 20 instead of a 48k speccy... but then i grew to love it. usedtolove the tape based mags with little games and demos on. crazy cavey too and i had a 16k expansion so i could play submarine commander. pity i went and bashed it so hard when i was playing scramble. i got so far but you had only one life... the poor vic went haywire and i eventually got the speccy i wanted about 6 months later.


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A Gran Turismo 5 Demo is hitting the PSN on December 17th in conjunction with a new GT Academy 2010 competition.
On 17th December exclusively via the PlayStation store, we will be launching the GT Academy 2010 Time Trial. The time trial will be the only way into this year's Academy, and if you've got what it takes it could be the start of a life-changing journey.
Whilst This isn't strictly a demo of GT5 it will still be from the newest build of the game and is rumoured to feature a new track along with the new Nissan 350z pictured above.
Here's a video detailing the competition;
The closing date for GT Academy 2010 is 24.00 CET on 24th January 2010.
GT Academy 2010 Launches December 17th With Downloadable Time Trial [blog.eu.playstation.com]
Written by: Trev
- Contributing Editor


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Allardyce accepts substantial damages from former Blackburn boss Kean
PUBLISHED: 11:48 16 January 2013 | UPDATED: 11:48 16 January 2013
PA Wire/Press Association Images
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has accepted substantial undisclosed damages over a claim that he was sacked from his previous post at Blackburn because he was a crook.
Mr Allardyce brought defamation proceedings in London's High Court against Steve Kean, who was Blackburn's manager during a summer 2011 pre-season tour of the Far East.
His solicitor, Hanna Basha, told Mr Justice Eady that the "false and defamatory" allegation, made while Mr Kean was drinking in a bar in Hong Kong, was filmed on a camera phone and subsequently published to many hundreds of thousands of people over the internet and reported in the national press.
She said that Mr Kean had acknowledged the allegation was completely untrue, withdrawn it, and agreed to pay a substantial sum in damages.
Mr Kean's counsel, John Mehrzad, offered his apologies for the hurt and distress caused and said he was pleased to set the record straight.
Ms Basha said that Mr Allardyce's claim against Blackburn had been settled and as the club had published an apology on its website, it was not a party to today's statement in court.


text: First of all Rex will not be with us next year...unless he has a perfect game and the Defense loses us the game. We did not sign Brian Griese to a 5 yr $40 million deal to be sitting on the bench. Rex's mechanics are worse than Vince's and he is taking no time to correct them. You can't throw sideways off your back foot over a 6'7" lineman and expect the DB not to the see the ball just floating in the air, while the receiver has been severely under thrown and has no chance at catching the ball. And I GUARANTEE you that if he is sucking it up in the first quarter and the Bears are down 10 or 14 at the end of the first...Griese will be strapping em up. Haha we will not win the Super Bowl and that is a positive, unless McMahon dresses in Rex's uniform, but come on man Dallas are you ****ting me... i would give the NY "football" Giants a better probability of beating the Eagles then Dallas even beating Seattle in the first place..let alone make it to the Super Bowl...This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote


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Blue Estate is a "dark comedy shooter" (but aren't they all, in a way?) based on the comic, and designed to show off the Leap Motion controller. Leap Motion, in case you aren't familiar with it, is a hand-tracking system, not unlike the good ol' Kinect. Anyway, what's interesting about Blue Estate is that you play Tony Luciano, a gangster with a black mop of greasy hair, and that hair occasionally flops in front of your face. Which suggests you must need to brush back your fringe with hand motions in the game? The trailer and other promotional clutter doesn't make that requirement clear, but surely it MUST be the case. And if not WHY NOT.
Read the rest of this entry »


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Please, please dont be true
Please, please dont be true
Inc Bob=money in the bank.
Haven't been this sure since Leaf over Manning.
Sanchez to Arizona?
For Kolb and a defensive player?
god i hope we dont trade him
please dump this thread. Anything posted by Incarcerated Fraud is NOT newsworthy.
I can't believe we're on the 3rd page of this thread and no one has mentioned that it's almost impossible for us to trade Sanchez.
Not an opinion, a fact. It doesn't work under the cap.
$13M of bonus money accelerates onto this year's cap if we trade him. If they planned on moving him, they wouldn't have extended him. The extension made him next to untradeable.
1. We just re-signed the guy. Would they change course that fast? Seems unlikely at best.
2. Can't get decent value for him. 4th round pick maybe (without contract issues)? Worth more to us to see if he pans out in his fourth year.
3. Contract issues make it awfully tough.
Last edited by RIJetFan; 04-07-2012 at 04:55 PM.
Thank you for providing this little nugget of reality to the insanity that this tread is. It is contractually IMPOSSIBLE for the Jets to trade Mark Sanchez, even if there was a team certifiably insane enough to take on $20MM of guaranteed money AND give the Jets a draft pick....ANY draft pick
He is saying Sanchez has asked to be traded and Rex said ok, now that is a little more believable. Still won't get traded tho
For the Jets to trade Sanchez before June 1, the Jets would have to drop another $8.5 in salary (based on Jason's cap page)... and this would not include signing draft picks. More realistically, the Jets would need to find an extra $13M in cash to get rid of Sanchez.
For anyone who thinks this is a possibility, read that again.
THere is, quite literally, no upside for the Jets trading Tebow for a draft pick. Even if Tebow was Matthew Stafford, there would be no upside for the Jets to trade Sanchez for a draft pick
The options
Current Jets +3rd Round Pick
Current Jets - Sanchez - $13M Salary (Either major contract adjustments, or cutting Keller, Dustin, DeVito, Mike, Moore, Brandon, Smith, Eric, Landry, Laron, Tebow, Tim, Slauson, Matt, Maybin, Aaron, Pitoitua, Ropati)
Even if Tebow turns into Steve Young a trade of Sanchez doesn't benefit the Jets.
Most likely Incarcerated Bob did not realize this when he was making **** up. Because even those who hate Tannenbaum don't believe that he would make a deal that would require the Jets to either mortgage their future badly or cut 5 more starters.
This is false, the jets don't have enough cap room to trade him. he has a SB of over 3 mill a year with 4 years to go. That is 12 mill dollars to be absorbed in this years cap.
sorry posted before reading this last page.
How much longer before one of the mods sends this to the DUMP?


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Ready to craft a few hearts for a good cause? My good friend, Kristen, owner of the Seattle toy shop Schmancy Toys, has a challenge for us all! Her friend is building a children museum in Johannesburg, South Africa. The first… Continue Reading →
Every new mom knows the importance of burp cloths when it comes to babies. Love this simple DIY burp cloth tutorial from The Thinking Closet seen at the Make and Takes Spotlight, and think that whipping up a few of… Continue Reading →
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© 2007-2017 Make and Takes — Up ↑


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Astra Revolver Nylon Concealment Bag Holsters
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Nylon Concealment Bag Holsters for Astra Revolver
Choosing the right Nylon Concealment Bag holster for Astra Revolver is not a simple task, so you should better bet on craftsmanship and quality that is proven by years. With quality holster, you can rely on your self-defense setup in every situation and your gun will have a safe shelter for a lifetime. Our offer includes Astra Revolver Nylon concealed carry and duty holsters from traditional European holster producers, known for their quality materials and hand crafted manufacture. Concealed carry bags for Astra Revolver offer the carrier an option to conceal the firearm without having to carry it on body. Concealment bags differ in materials and finishes. They can be simple, with sport or tactical design to be put around the shoulder or designer ones, made of premium leather to be carried around. Our concealment bag holsters always have a special compartment for the gun only that acts as a holster, guarding the trigger. Apart from the gun compartment, the bags act as practical everyday carry bags.Holsters above are made of cordura nylon material. It features a waterproof finish on the top side, a slim foam layer inside and soft a anti-scratch finish on the bottom. Astra Revolver Nylon Concealment Bag holsters are custom made for this gun model for perfect fit and smooth draw and allows you to wear your gun in comfortable and safety way. See all available holsters for Astra handguns, or just holster designs for Astra Revolver in all materials.
About Astra Revolver
Astra is the brand name of Esperanza y Unceta (later on Unceta&Co) firm, Spanish gun manufacturer, established in the Eibar in 1908. Nowadays, the company is called Astra-Unceta S.A.Astra was producing pistol models only from the 20s for nearly 40 years. Successful models were the Model 300, the Model 900 and Model 902 that were adopted by several armies including European countries and Chinese.
Astra One of the most popular and legendary models is Astra Model 400, which was exported all over the world and used in service life of dozens of armies. And Astra became one of the largest and most successful European gun manufacturers at that time. From 1959, Astra started production of revolvers, with "Cadix" revolver model. It was the first model of successful Astra revolvers series. From WWII until the late 1990s, Astra produced millions of the handguns for professional and civilian use. In 1977, founder of the company Augusto Unceta was killed by the Basque terrorist organization (ETA), which strongly influenced Astra philosophy ("keep the freedom spirit and fight against terrorism").
New Astra manufacturing facility was built in Sion, Switzerland lately, where production of air-cooled rifle AR15 started. Today, as before, the Astra's philosophy remains the same, give a perfect tool to any shooter that will help to protect his own life as well as others and can rely on the firearm on 100%.
Astra revolvers are double-actioned with swing-out cylinders. Chambers vary with the variation of uses. Chambers include .357, .44 Magnum, .45 Colt for the longer barreled versions such as the Astra Model 44 and .22 LR, .22 WMR, .32 S&W Long and .38 Special for shorter barreled versions such as the Astra 680. The longer revolvers found their use in civilian, military and hunting use, the shorter revolvers served as backup guns for spanish gendarmers and now they are used as concealed carry handguns.
Craft Holsters offers quality represented by the combination of Old World holster production legends and top quality service. This quality comes with a guarantee that safeguards the whole purchase. It's the features implemented into the ordering process and credit card checkout that make your order safe. It's the email communication that we provide that tells you every single detail of your order because we want you to be in touch and informed. It's the tryout period and money back guarantee that turns the whole purchase into a relationship between our quality and your satisfaction. We thank you.


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Simply irresistible: offer steaming cups of decadent mocha with hint of Irish cream, surprisingly easy when you start with instant cocoa mix.
Avoid last-minute preparation—prepare this coffee drink a day or two ahead and store it in the refrigerator. Reheat on top of the stove or in the microwave oven.


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Polenta Tamale Pie
Tamale pie, made with a cornmeal-mush crust, dates back to 1911. In this recipe, we use ready-made polenta packaged in a roll. The spicy beef filling takes...
ground beef, chili powder, cumin, salsa, chicken broth, polenta, cheddar cheese, refried beans
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Beefy Bean Burritos OAMC
These burritos can satisfy the pickiest eater. Very versatile! Can be frozen and reheated assembled or unassembled.Assembled: microwave 1 at a time...
cheddar cheese, chili powder, salsa, cumin, ground beef, refried beans, +flour tortillas, +garlic, +jalapeno, +onions
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Beef & Bean Enchiladas
Found this in an American Heart Association cookbook. With a few of my add ins this is the result.
chili powder, refried beans, cumin, ground beef, cheddar cheese, salsa, +black pepper, +corn tortillas, +garlic powder, +onion powder, +tomato sauce
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Beef Burritos Recipe
ground beef, cheddar cheese, chili powder, cumin, salsa, refried beans, +olives, +cilantro, +flour tortillas, +garlic, +lettuce, +onions, +vegetable oil
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Tex Mex Lasagna Recipe
This recipe is tried and true. It is from my regional collection and one that I make often. Hope you enjoy as much as weo do. Prep:15m
salsa, refried beans, chili powder, cumin, ground beef, cheddar cheese, +sour cream, +green chilies, +tomato, +corn tortillas, +oregano, +garlic, +green onion
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Ground Beef, Corn and Black Bean Chimichangas
The filling for these chimichangas is delicious! Adjust all seasonings to suit taste, I add in 2-3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped in with...
cheddar cheese, chili powder, cumin, ground beef, refried beans, salsa, +green pepper, +black pepper, +canned corn, +cayenne, +tomato, +thyme, +flour tortillas, +garlic, +lettuce, +vegetable oil, +onions, +salt, +sour cream
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Beef Burritos
i used to make this a lot when the kids were younger and i guess i forgot about it. i had several pounds of ground beef and wanted to do something different,...
chili powder, cumin, ground beef, refried beans, cheddar cheese, +flour tortillas, +green chilies, +onions, +tomato sauce
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Blue Ribbon Beef Nachos
Chili powder and sassy salsa season a zesty mixture of ground beef and refried beans that's sprinkled with green onions, tomatoes and ripe olives.
cheddar cheese, chili powder, ground beef, refried beans, salsa, +green onion, +onions, +olives, +salt, +tortilla chips
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Mini Taco Cups
ground beef, cumin, chili powder, salsa, cheddar cheese
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Mexican Lasagna
ground beef, salsa, chili powder, cumin, cheddar cheese, +onions, +green pepper, +corn, +corn tortillas, +cottage cheese, +olives
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The hottest dance show of the year!
Be mesmerized by a theatre-style production featuring some of the best salsa dancers in the world, local professionals, and troupes from all over North America, flown in for one weekend only. Spectacular salsa showcases will take place Friday March 24 our amateur showcase featuring some of our international stars, and Saturday March 25 our international showcase featuring some local professionals at the elegant Hyatt Regency Imperial Ballroom. Sunday March 26 features showcases and our exciting Masters Jack & Jill
On March 24 to 26 Calgary will welcome the Salsa world's best international performers and world famous salsa dancers for a weekend of workshops, performances, salsa music, and dancing.
Nightly salsa showcases feature amateur and professional salsa dancers. Friday evening features local and amateur dancers, and our international guests. Saturday showcase features local dancers, professional dancers, and our international guests. Sunday features showcases and our exciting Masters Jack & Jill
Finish each night with our exciting dance party. Rub elbows with the show's stars and dance the night away on our huge dance floors. (Friday evening: Salsa and Bachata dance rooms, Saturday: Salsa, Bachata, and Kizomba rooms.)
Optional daytime workshops are available for experienced and beginner dancers who want to take part in the action. Learn from the best teachers in the world in many styles of dance. Over 25 hours available. Workshops include salsa, bachata, kizomba, cha cha, tango, burlesque, body movement, stretching, and many more!
The Calgary International Salsa Congress will have something for everyone! Amazing shows, inspiring workshops, exciting competitions, great music, a beautiful location, and the warmth of the people of Calgary.
Please visit our site often as we announce our new line-up of international guests and breaking news here first and please don't hesitate to contact us personally if you have any questions.
We look forward to seeing you in March!
Kelly Lannan, Eric Caty, David & Olga Joseph
Eric Caty and Kelly Lannan
Eric and Kelly are the owners of Alberta Dancesport – Calgary's best place to dance, the directors of Salsa Rica Productions, and the organizers of the Calgary International Salsa Congress, and the Rocky Mountain Dancesport Grand Prix.
Eric and Kelly are proud to be choreographers on So You Think You Can Dance Canada, and to have been finalists at many World Professional Salsa Championships. Eric and Kelly perform and teach on the international salsa circut and judge many events including the Global Salsa Championships at the World Salsa Summit.
David and Olga Joseph
David and Olga Joseph are the founders and directors of Dando Dance Company and also proud organizers of the Calgary International Salsa Congress. They are extremely busy dance consultants that have been active in spreading the love of dance in schools, senior homes, corporate Calgary and have been creatively collaborating with numerous dance companies. They are recognized as two of the city's friendliest and most warmhearted teachers that love the work of bringing people together.
David has been a most popular and well known teacher in Calgary for more than 20 years. He is recognized for his contribution to the international salsa scene and has been ranked 6th in the Mayan World Salsa Championship in 2002. Since then he has been actively involved in promoting and growing the salsa scene. He has acted in movies with Farah Fawcett and Jamie Lynn DiScala, and is known for his guitar and bagpipe playing.
Olga acquired degrees in education, social work and psychology in her native Russia and began teaching children's movement programs. She has been teaching dance in and around Calgary for 9 years. She applies her training in her everyday teaching and coaching to students of different age groups. Her students appreciate her for the attention to detail and her gift of finding and enhancing the strengths of each dancer.
future events
11th Annual Calgary International Salsa Congress
April 5-8, 2018
12th Annual Calgary International Salsa Congress
March 28-31 2019


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I am so excited to announce a new feature on The Party Dress today! If you notice on the left side bar, there is a new section called Picture Galleries. I have taken the categories that we focus on the most – napkins, centerpieces, placecards, cupcakes and wedding cakes – and set up picture galleries so that it is easier for you to find specific images to use as inspiration. If you click on one of the galleries – this is what will pop up:
The galleries will be updated weekly with ideas I use in our daily posts. So check back often….but for now, enjoy!


text: Schnockered Napervillians Can Get a Tow HomeMurilee Martin5/07/07 5:30pmFiled to: NewsDuiIllinoisTow Truck20EditPromoteShare to KinjaToggle Conversation toolsGo to permalinkSo you and your buddies in Naperville, Illinois, drive the Chrysler over to the nearest watering hole on Dollar Sidecar Night. Next thing you know, all that Cointreau has you using parking meters as walking sticks, the whole bit. In the old days, your options were limited: Take a cab home and come back the next day to pick up your car, or crawl behind the wheel and risk death and/or jail time on your swervy course home. But now there's a third option: a local tow-truck company offers a service called NDUIT (No DUI Tonight), and for $85 ($65 if you reserve ahead of time) they'll take you and your vehicle home. Wait, doesn't AAA already do this? AdvertisementBar patrons can get a tow home [Courier-News]Related: Drunk Dad Passes Out While Pumping Gas [internal]


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Editors: Keith G. Tidball and Marianne Krasny
Published by Springer-Verlag (2014), Greening in the Red Zone explores how people use greening activities to aid in recovery following disaster and conflict, and how their actions contribute to the resilience of the communities and ecosystems in which they live. Examples include post-Katrina New Orleans, reconciliation initiatives in Cyprus and the former Yugoslavia, and soldiers and military communities turning to nature-based activities in the US. Visit the Greening in the Red Zone Blog for more examples of greening in the red zone from news media and personal accounts.


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Power, Politics, and Universal Health Care
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- Synopsis
- Why was the Obama health plan so controversial and difficult to understand? In this readable, entertaining, and substantive book, Stuart Altman--inter-nationally recognized expert in health policy and adviser to five US presidents--and fellow health care specialist David Shactman explain not only the Obama health plan but also many of the intriguing stories in the hundred-year saga leading up to the landmark 2010 legislation. Blending political intrigue, policy substance, and good old-fashioned storytelling, this is the first book to place the Obama health plan within a historical perspective. The authors describe the sometimes haphazard, piece-by-piece construction of the nation's health care system, from the early efforts of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman to the later additions of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. In each case, they examine the factors that led to success or failure, often by illuminating little-known political maneuvers that brought about immense shifts in policy or thwarted herculean efforts at reform. Despite its importance in history, few people know that Richard Nixon marshaled the best attempt to enact universal health care; or that he arranged secret health policy meetings with aides to Ted Kennedy in the basement of a Washington, DC, church. Who knew that the American Medical Association (AMA) publicly questioned the surgeon general's report that tobacco was harmful in order to defeat the Medicare bill, or that three separate sex scandals obstructed the road to universal health care? The authors look at key moments in health care history: the Hill-Burton Act in 1946, in which one determined poverty lawyer secured the rights of the uninsured poor to get hospital care; the "three-layer cake" strategy of powerful House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Wilbur Mills to enact Medicare and Medicaid under Lyndon Johnson in 1965; the odd story of how Medicare catastrophic insurance was passed by Ronald Reagan in 1988 and then repealed because of public anger in 1989; and the fact that the largest and most expensive expansion of Medicare was enacted by George W. Bush in 2003. President Barack Obama is the protagonist in the climactic chapter, learning from the successes and failures chronicled throughout the narrative. The authors relate how, in the midst of a worldwide financial meltdown, Obama overcame seemingly impossible obstacles to accomplish what other presidents had tried and failed to achieve for nearly one hundred years. This book is essential reading for every American who must navigate the US health care system.
- Copyright:
- 2011
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Publisher Quality
- 9781616144579
- Related ISBNs:
- 9781616144562
- Publisher:
- Prometheus Books
- Date of Addition:
- 04/10/13
- Copyrighted By:
- Stuart Altman and David Shactman.
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Categories:
- Nonfiction, Medicine, Politics and Government, Social Studies
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- Bookshare Staff
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- in Nonfiction
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Lauren Rudd
It is that time of the year again, the time for holiday parties, gift giving and a good time to be had by all ... well maybe not all. There are many for whom the adversities of life, not to mention the economic downturn, have wrenched away most, if not all, of the holiday spirit.
Yes, many of you know what is coming next if only because I have been an orator of the same discourse for more years than I can readily recall. Yet, the need for the message is so compelling it bears repeating each and every holiday season.
So, if you are among the faithful, please sit back; pour yourself a glass of eggnog and think of it as a refresher course. For new readers this is the one time of the year when I stray a bit from my normal investment fare in order to show you how to achieve some guaranteed exceptional returns.
Our story begins with the concept of compounding; a force that Albert Einstein once said was the most powerful in the universe. It is 1947, in Los Angeles. Diane Hendricks has created a handmade Raggedy Ann doll that she wants to donate to charity. She asks her husband Bill to give the doll to any organization in the area that would forward it on to a needy child. Unfortunately, Bill was unable to find such an organization.
In relating this predicament to his wife, Diane's suggestion was that maybe Bill should start one. As luck would have it, Bill was also Major Bill Hendricks, a Marine Reservist. He and his fellow reservists proceeded to collect and distribute 5,000 toys to needy children.
Their campaign was so successful that the Marine Corps officially adopted "Toys for Tots" and expanded it into a nationwide effort. Their mission is the same today as it was back then, to bring holiday joy to America's needy children.
Toys for Tots received an added boost because in civilian life Mr. Hendricks was also the publicity director for Warner Brothers. Therefore, in addition to drafting various celebrities to help publicize the program, he was able to persuade Walt Disney to design the "Toys for Tots" logo. That logo is still in use today. Mr. Disney also designed the first poster used to promote what had become a nationwide program.
The investment of one Raggedy Ann doll, in the life of one child 64 years ago, is today the Toys for Tots Foundation; a non-profit organization that has collected and distributed more than 370 million toys to 173 million needy children. This charitable endeavor has made the Marines an unchallenged leader in looking after needy children during the holiday season. Now do you see what compounding can do?
Now as you sit there contemplating your eggnog, I have a favor to ask. This is the one and only time that I actually recommend a specific investment, an investment that will pay dividends far in excess of what you will receive on Wall Street.
Yes, the call for help is never ending. Still, try to imagine what it must be like for a child not to receive a gift this holiday season. Right now there are more than 13 million children living in extreme poverty and the number has increased by 2.5 million over the past ten years.
According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, another 16 million children live in very low-income families that are ineligible for public aid. You are going to fight the crowds anyway so please take the time to purchase at least a small toy or two for a local charity or the Toys for Tots program.
One other small favor. When you are out shopping, you will no doubt notice the volunteers outside your favorite store ringing a bell to try to get your attention. Think about what it must be like to stand outside for hours on end trying to raise money for the needy.
Consequently, this is what I would like you to do. Instead of just walking by, take a moment to pause and reach into your purse or pocket. No, do not reach for the coins. Please, dig a little deeper. Work your way down to where you keep the folding stuff. Find that picture of old Abe Lincoln and drop it in the pot. I am sure old Abe would approve.
Finally, in the event no one takes the time to express his or her appreciation for your efforts, let me: Thank you.
bizopinionLauren Rudd is a financial writer and columnist. You can write to him at email@example.com. Phone calls accepted between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at (941) 706-3449. For back columns, visit www.RuddReport.com.


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The US Rainbow Sash Movement (Lesbian/Gay Catholics) Condemns the Violence That is Being Promoted Against Lesbian and Gay People in Both Russia and Poland
May 28, 2006, 01:00 ET from Rainbow Sash Movement
CHICAGO, May 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Eastern Church and Western Church have failed to uphold the Gospel call of Jesus Christ by promoting violence against Gay/Lesbian people. In Catholic Poland we are witnessing the same views and behaviors that promoted anti-Semitism, only now it is being promoted against Gay and Lesbian People. Gay and Lesbian People are being bullied and attacked in the streets. In Moscow the circus of Orthodox religious leaders promoting violence against Gays and Lesbians reminds us also of the dark days of anti-Semitic behavior of hate. Lesbians and Gays wish to have a Gay Pride Parade in Moscow, why the violence over this? Both religious communities inhabit different moral universes, avoiding the challenge of understanding and communicating with Gay and Lesbians. Both Catholic and Orthodox leadership's mindsets are unthinking prejudice, or a rationalization for the desire to control others. They operate out of fear and a theology of lies. We are calling on the World Council of Churches to raise their voice in the protection of innocent gay and lesbian lives. You can no longer sit on the fence; either you support the gospel call to respect all life with dignity and love, or you do not. Gay and Lesbian Catholics now understand how hallow are the words of the Vatican that all Gay and Lesbian Catholics must be treated with dignity and respect, because of their silence on this matter. We call on our brothers and sisters in both Russia and Poland to protect their lives, and be safe. Yours and ours is a just cause. We will hold you in our hearts as we enter Catholic Cathedrals on Pentecost Sunday across the United States. To find out more about the Rainbow Sash Movement and how you can join us please visit our web site at http://www.rainbowsashmovement.com, or email us at email@example.com
SOURCE Rainbow Sash Movement


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Full profile →'">
The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
Ask an E*TRADE baby and he will tell you to "grab the reigns, man; do some analytics; do some research and take charge." Of course you can manage your own investments. After all, shankopotamus, even a baby can do it.
Approach a financial advisor with the same question and you will probably get a very different response.
Rather than looking to someone with something to sell for advice, investors should take time for introspection before deciding to manage their own investments. Here are four questions to ask yourself: Do I have (1) the desire, (2) the time, (3) the knowledge and (4) the temperament to do it?
Answer "NO" to any of these questions, and you may as well shift your focus to finding the right professional advisor.
Let's survey each of these topics..forbes.com/advisor/files/2012/08/trans54.gif" alt="" />.forbes.com/advisor/files/2012/08/trans54.gif" alt="" />
Having the time and ability to manage your own money effectively is of no use if you lack the desire. Motivation can come from many sources but is largely a function of interest in investing and incentive. There is no better incentive than the cost savings potential.
An investor with a $1 million dollar portfolio, often pays $10,000-$12,000 per year to an advisor, such as a fee-based broker or Registered Investment Adviser. At $3 million, the cost of professional management rises to about $25,000-$30,000 per year. These annual costs continue to rise as your portfolio grows. Over the course of your lifetime, the cost of professional management can amount to a small fortune.
Before you start spending this new found money, recognize that your desire to manage your own portfolio should be sustainable. Without the dedication to maintaining diligence over your investments, good intentions can go awry and the harm to your portfolio can exceed the fee savings.
Investing your own portfolio is not a full time job once you are up and running. It may, however, require a substantial time commitment at the outset. How much time, depends on your prior level of knowledge and experience, along with the complexity of your chosen investment approach. Whether or not you can find someone to help you develop a strategy may be another factor. Be prepared to invest a significant amount of time upfront and be patient through the process.