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How To Get A Chinese Visa in Hong KongIt came to my attention recently that a few travellers have had problems and issues getting visas for China. Everyone wants to visit the world's most populated country so I'm here with my latest visa advice for China!! I'm heading to China again soon for my 6th visit and I want to explain an easy and simple way for you travellers to get your China Visa - it's easy! All you need to do is... get yourself to HONG KONG! In terms of defining a country, as far as I'm concerned Hong Kong is one. It has its own currency, flag, visa regulations and national football team. It was also British for a while, and that ended back in 1997. These days, lots of nationalities can get to Hong Kong without a Visa. You will get a stamp on arrival at the airport. If you arrive on a UK passport you can stay for 180 days no problem! A lot of nationalities also get a 90 day entry stamp - check with your embassy. Hong Kong borders China, and there are about 5-6
Why Custom Water Bottles Are An Excellent Way To Promote Your BrandCustomized water bottles featuring your logo or branding are an excellent idea for a promotional giveaway item that will fit in well with almost any event or situation that you can think of. These days pretty much everyone uses a reusable water bottle, not just for going to the gym but also to carry water with them on a day to day basis wherever they are going. A growing number of people take water to work, when out walking and even when running errands. When you put your brand on their water bottle you are guaranteeing some extra exposure for your company. Let's take a look at some of the main reasons why custom water bottles are a great tool in your marketing arsenal. Increasing Your Brand's Visibility As touched on above, handing out some customized H2O bottles can help to increase your visibility simply by getting your name and/or logo in front of as many people as possible. Even if we consider only the person who ends up receiving
Saturate Your Market With the Right Promotional ItemsMany businesses approve of the idea of being able to purchase promotional items and products from an exporter or a wholesaler. This is because buying corporate gifts allows businesses to save the most money possible on promoting their business. Furthermore, due to the large quantities of corporate gifts that can typically be purchased, it is often far easier for a business to saturate their market with promotional items that bear the identity or logo of their company. Through this method, your business can easily become a household name. One of the keys to making this type of advertising and marketing successful for your company is to choose the right promotional materials. The solution can be found by considering the numerous advantages offered by many of the most common corporate gifts and promotional products. Corporate clothing is often one of the most popular types of promotional products. This type of product includes co
Made-in-China Medicine Testing the World MarketMany pharmaceutical companies in China are hoping to pass major international certifications, such as certifications from the WHO, EU and Australia. "It is likely that 20 pharmaceutical companies can obtain international certifications this year," said Mr Yu Mingde, a vice-director of China Pharmaceutical Enterprises Management Association. Temptation from the outside 2007 was another record year for China's western medicine export value, up 56% to US$784 million. However, most medicines that went to big markets such as Japan, Korea and Australia were products from foreign companies in China, mainly in the form of export processing trades. Products made by domestic Chinese companies were exported to low end markets such as Nigeria and Pakistan. As Chinese pharmaceutical companies are still weak at proprietary R&D, most of their products are generic copycat drugs. Yu revealed that "the big three markets of EU, US and Japan
A Water Bottle With A Straw - A Useful ToolA water bottle with straw is a useful tool for a marketing tool or as an addition to any athlete's kit of equipment. Hydration is an important part of good health, which makes bottles of all sorts an ideal candidate for a good advertising campaign. As all people, not just sports enthusiasts, can benefit from having a high quality water bottle, companies are taking advantage of this to reach large audiences of individuals with a broad range of interests. This can lead to a unique situation for both the company and for the consumer. Whether you are looking for a bottle to call your own, or if you represent a company seeking to do expanded promotions, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind. A water bottle with straw can be used to ensure proper hydration. This is the most obvious use of this style of bottle. However, most people do not realise how useful these bottles are at preventing you from drinking too much too quickly. When the


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Pacemaker is a device that is usually used to solve heart rhythm disorders that have the character of bradycardia (i.e. heart beat below 60 per minute).
Pacemaker is a small metal box with electrodes. The pacemaker can regularly produce electrical discharges and those are by the electrodes transmitted to the heart muscle where they cause contractions. The frequency of these signals can be modified according to the needs of the patient and the doctor. In addition, many types of pacemakers are able to monitor the patient's heart rate and work only when needed or leave the patient's own rhythm. This is advantageous in a person who suffers only from bouts of bradycardia. Does such person have a normal heart rate at the time? The pacemaker monitors the situation and does nothing. When the heart rate drops below a certain value (which can be preset), the pacemaker activates and begins to transmit impulses.
It should be emphasized that the stimulator can not cope with heart rhythm disorders that are associated with a rapid heartbeat. The pacemaker can "only" ensure that the heart does not beat too slowly, but that is all. Normal pacemaker can not help when the patient begins to suffer from a rapid atrial fibrillation or even ventricular fibrillation.
The stimulator is inserted subcutaneously into the chest right under the clavicle and its electrodes should be in close contact with the heart muscle. The procedure is performed under local anesthesia and after the insertion of the pacemaker, an ECG is performed to assess the pacemaker's function. The wound is small and it is closed by few stitches. For one day after the procedure, the patient should obey strict bed rest and not elevate the upper hand at the side of pacemaker implantation.
Patients with implanted pacemaker are regularly checked by a cardiologist who checks the status and function of the device and indicates replacement of the battery when needed. The presence of the pacemaker can be usually determined from the ECG, where there are special vertical lines - electric discharges of the device.
The battery of the pacemaker should be replaced every few years. The procedure is a little bit similar to the introduction of a new pacemaker. The electrodes stay intact and the doctor just replaces the old metal box for another. The procedure is again performed under local anesthesia. However, as the electrodes are not changed, strict bed rest is not necessary after the intervention.
The pacemaker should not come into close contact with strong magnetic field, which is the problem in magnetic resonance imaging. For this reason, pacemaker presence is a contraindication for MRI examination. People with pacemakers are also advised not to carry a mobile phone close to the pacemaker and when making a call, it is advisable to hold the phone near the ear opposite to the implanted pacemaker.
Author of texts: Jiri Stefanek, MD
Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com
Sources: basic text sources

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Rapport Open APIs Increase Employee Productivity
By: Richard Hatheway, Director, Enterprise Communications Product Marketing, Rapport for Large Enterprise, Alcatel-Lucent
What is one of the biggest factors affecting employee productivity today? Recent studiesby the National Business Research Institute and the Pew Research Center indicate that not having the right technology tools to do their jobs is one of the most critical. From something as simple as having a cell phone to as advanced as having a customized app, having the right tool provides employees with a productivity boost.
Unfortunately though, many large enterprises are unable to take advantage of advances in technology due to old or outdated infrastructure and ICT technology silos. In addition, being locked in to one technology vendor often stymies the enterprise from being able to update the tools necessary to increase employee productivity.
For instance, something as simple as developing and deploying a new app is often a frustrating experience, as the enterprise must submit a request to the technology vendor for a new app to be developed, then wait until the vendor adds it to their development queue before finding out when to expect it. This often takes months, if not longer.
In the meantime, instead of waiting for the new app, many employees take the "shadow IT" route. They download rogue (i.e., non-IT-supported) apps that will allow them to move forward with at least some of the functionality they seek, even without IT support. While this work-around may provide some degree of productivity enhancement for the employee, wouldn't it be better if the enterprise was able to either plug in existing best-of-breed third-party apps or develop and deploy its own apps without having to wait for a vendor to become involved?
Alcatel-Lucent thinks so, which is one of the reasons our new solution, Rapport™ for Large Enterprise, is generating so much interest. Rapport is a private cloud-based communications and collaboration solution designed specifically for the large enterprise.
BT leverages the power of Rapport™ APIs to drive service innovation in a 3 days hackathon
By: Gilles Duboué, Marketing Director, Communications and Collaboration, IP Platforms, Alcatel-Lucent
I crossed the English Channel to spend a few days in Ipswich. Not to explore its beautiful port but to participate in the hackathon organized by BT, hosted by its Innovation Hub in Adastral Park (7th to 9th July).
Hackathons are flourishing these days. These are fast, dynamic, creative
events in which software developers collaborate intensively around ideation and prototyping with specific Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and on dedicated themes such as mobile apps, internet of things, home automation, connected car, etc.
BT leveraged our Rapport APIs and Rapport Sandbox to run their first hackahon. Rapport is our communications software platform, used by service providers and large enterprises to deliver voice, video and messaging.
How Service Providers Can Capitalize on the Enterprise Cloud Market
By Beecher Tuttle
With the demand for cloud services expanding rapidly, service providers are in a unique position to exploit new markets and generate new revenue, in addition to benefiting from the significant capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX) savings associated with a cloud infrastructure.
However, to fully capitalize on this market opportunity, service providers need to develop an accurate sense of current and future market conditions as well as enterprise attitudes and perceptions of the cloud.
In an effort to provide a more granular look at these conditions and attitudes Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) recently conducted a global study, "Soaring into the Cloud," involving nearly 4,000 IT decision makers (ITDMs) from medium, large and multi-national companies.
ALU researchers found that 78 percent of companies are currently employing at least one cloud-based application, with organizations in tech, professional services and manufacturing/defense leading the way. Healthcare, government and education enterprises rely less on the cloud, but not by any significant margin.
It Takes a Village to Deliver Rich Communications
By Erin Harrison
As service providers (SPs) shift to all IP-networks, users expect features to become standardized. This gives SPs an opportunity to provide their customers a new conversation experience.
A recent Alcatel-Lucent Enriching Communications article, "RCS Success Requires Community-based Ecosystem," highlighted how the market for Rich Communications Services (RCS) has changed based on two developments that have converged — accelerating deployment of wired and wireless end-to-end IP networks and the rapid rollout and adoption of rich communications applications and services.


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In Part One of an Exclusive Report, The Illinois Police and Sheriff's News Takes a Closer Look At
Sucker's Bets:
Murder & Intrigue on the Good Ship Lollipop
A recent Gallup poll indicates that more than 20% of all Americans place illegal bets on sporting events each year. Since 1974, legalized gambling in the U.S. has spread across the country at an astounding rate of 1,700%, as one state after another seeks to cash in on a jackpot formerly reserved for the sachems of organized crime. The rush toward legalized gambling is akin to a prairie fire out of control.
Common sense dictates that with all the casino boats "putt-putting" up and down our waterways, the nation awash in legal lotteries from Maine to California, that local political manipulators have finally decided to get a piece of organized crime's most important and enduring source of illegal income. And a piece of the action is all they are getting. The outfit continues to rake in billions of dollars each year, and the revenue pie is getting bigger for "the boys" all the time.
Law enforcement no longer has the resourcesand probably not even the motivationto enforce the city's antiquated anti-gambling statutes when the blue lines are drawn thin by spiraling gang violence and unprecedented street crime. Where is the incentive? In fact, a Justice Department study shows that only 40% of those individuals arrested and convicted of a gambling offense in 1988 served any prison time. It is only when the outfit gets tough with its deadbeat clients, and bodies begin turning up in the trunks of cars, that any remedial police action of substance is launched.
In Part One of our exclusive report on mob gambling, the Illinois Police and Sheriff's News examines the mercenary tactics used by one Chicago "street crew" to wipe out independent book making operations in Cook and its collar counties of Lake, McHenry, DuPage and Will. To these ends, the activities of the Joseph Ferriola-Rocky Infelise crew was code-named "The Good Ship Lollipop," according to statements given by informant William "B.J." Jahoda in federal court.
Part Two - Paying the Price
"Nobody wants to die, so nobody talks." The words of a police investigator echoed the fear and anxiety that many independent bookies were feeling in the summer of 1984 after syndicate "enforcers" battered down the doors of several Lake and Cook County independent wire rooms, demolishing telephone lines and furniture. The word was put out that the "street tax"the money paid to the syndicate for the privilege of making book while remaining in a health statewas about to go up to $5,000 a month, from $2,000. The real purpose of the tax increase was not just the added revenue, but a concerted drive to put the independents out of business, thereby building upon the outfit's existing customer base.
This was not the first time the mob had targeted small-time bookies who balked at paying the tribute. In the early 1970s, a dozen or so independents were murdered in a bloody 27-month period after refusing to pay a similar street tax extortion. One of the victims whose body was found stuffed in the back seat of a car was identified as William "Butch" Petrocelli. Investigators believe Petrocelli was one of the hit men doing a number on the independent bookies, but became a victim of mob vengeance himself because he couldn't resist the temptation to skim some of the street taxes he collected. Greed tends to corrupt the credo of "honor among thieves." Strong enforcement with fear as the common denominator is the real commodity that keeps the easy money troops in line.
Subterfuge and Death on Board the "Good Ship Lollipop"
Murder. Extortion. Loan Sharking. It was all a part of doing business on the "Good Ship Lollipop," the nickname given to a multi-million-dollar gambling enterprise overseen by the recently departed Joe Ferriola and the other members of his street crew. It was Ferriola who spear-headed what the mob considered a timely and violent drive against the independents; ordering the executions of bookies who had refused the demand to pay added street taxes (the mob dictated).
Details of the inner workings of the Ferriola crew, and fresh information about a series of mob hits fell into the government's lap in April 1989, when William "B.J." Jahoda, an Irish-Bohemian bookmaker from the Town of Cicero, and a linchpin in the sports gambling operations in suburban Lake and Cook County, agreed to wear a "wire" for the criminal division of the IRS and inform on his underworld pals. The vicious murders of two bookiesgangland executions which he unwittingly helped engineerwere grating on his conscience. The sounds of death were a permanent part of his mind. More than anything, Jahoda wanted to come clean and just get the hell out. In return for his much needed cooperation, the government promised to recommend a "downward departure" in the normal sentencing guidelines that could have sent Jahoda to prison for 12 - 19 years on racketeering and tax evasion charges. The nervous bookmaker-lieutenant, whose well-founded fear of being thrown off the ledge of a high-rise building by his betrayal of associates lingered in his thoughts at every step as he secretly recorded the first "bugged" conversation in May 1989. In the weeks that followed, he led the government investigators down a trail of mobster duplicity, and tales of murder.
Acting through his underboss, Rocco Ernest Infelise, head of one of the largest "street crews" in Chicago, Ferriola directed Jahoda to lure 51-year-old Robert Heyden Plummer to the outfit's elegantly appointed "Murder Mansion" in northern Libertyville Township. The secluded Lake County mansion in the woods once belonged to a local millionaire, Bruce Rouse, and his wife, Darlene, until they were brutally murdered in 1980. Their case was never solved. The mob bought up acreage and spent $50,000 converting the former residence into a high stakes casino that employed eighteen full-time people to accommodate the gambling high rollers and fun- loving clientele who parked their cars in the rear. Reportedly, the outfit raked in $400,000 for just fifteen nights of casino gambling. According to Jahoda, political protection was supplied by former Lake County Sheriff Tom Brown, whose elected term spanned 1978 - 1982.
The Murder Mansion was an appropriate setting for what Rocky Infelise had in mind. He told the skittish Jahoda a few short hours before a well-planned murder to lead the unsuspecting Bobby Plummer up the flight of stairs to the second-floor casino and "just keep going." Plummer was a "revenue collector" for Ferriola, and a gambler of long standing in the northern suburbs. He also operated the Front Runner Messenger Service, a horse-betting parlor in Highwood belonging to Michael Posner, a protégé of Ferriola and a kingpin in Lake County mob vice operations. Plummer, of north suburban Lake Forest, was attacked on the stairway and savagely beaten to death. His body was found in the trunk of his wife's Lincoln Continental in a Mundelein Holiday Inn parking lot. Jahoda still cannot forget the horrible death cries of Plummer as he was dispatched from this world.
Another well-known bookmaker and gambler, Hal C. Smith, lived like a rich and famous dude in his palatial Prospect Heights home, a modest bedroom suburb not known as a "millionaires' subdivision," as, say, Kenilworth, but nice. The father of four, Smith carried large rolls of money around with him as he made book in the north and northwest suburbs and sheltered even more in his Schoenbeck Road house. Hal Smith flaunted the trappings of his success, and the mob took note. He oversaw nearly a dozen wire rooms that grossed up to $400,000 a night. Toward the end of his days, Smith's estimated earnings ran in the neighborhood of $2.8 to $4.2 million, or two to three percent of the gross revenue from his independent bookmaking operation.
The IRS, like the mob, was cognizant of Hal Smith's flourishing operation. They raided his home and highly publicized the taking away of $606,000 in cash, stuffed inside a gym bag in the attached garage. Smith's Cadillac and his house were both seized under a federal law that allows the government to confiscate assets derived from illegal enterprises. Smith was able to recover the Cadillac, a tragic irony one would think, given the fact that the automobile would soon become his temporary coffin, and he, the "trunk music" of some of B. J. Jahoda's nightmares.
The mob's decision to put the arm on Smith's gambling operation began in earnest when Rocky Infelise and Louis Marino enlisted the help of underling Jahoda in locating the Smith residence in Prospect Heights. Hal Smith was put under constant surveillance for a period of three months or so, before being positively I.D.ed by Jahoda, who pointed out the gambler to Bobby Bellavia at a north suburban golf course.
Trunk Music: The Second Refrain
The underboss of the Rocky Infelise street crew was Salvatore DeLaurentis, an Inverness "businessman" who owned a liquor store and pizza restaurant in the Lake County Village of Island Lake. "Solly D" oversaw a massive gambling operation in Lake County involving rigged "video poker" machines installed in twenty-two area taverns. The electronic table games were a rip-off to the public, but the mob enjoyed a 50-50 split of the proceeds, which sometimes ran as high as $1,200 a week.
DeLaurentis had more on his mind, however, than video poker operations. Bringing the recalcitrant Smith, who had insulted Infelise by failing to show up for a meeting to discuss the payment of street taxes into line was top priority. Meeting personally with Smith, Solly "D" warned that unless he agreed to pay $6,000 in street taxes, there would be "consequences." Smith balked he said he could pay $3,000, then $3,500. The shouting grew louder. Then DeLaurentis foretold the future and advised: "You are trunk music, my friend."
The matter was not being resolved to everyone's satisfaction, and Infelise told Jahoda to "stay with" Smith, and remain on good terms. Establish a rapport.
Smith boldly continued to defy the intentions of the "wise guys" and, by now, Infelise's patience had just about run out. Jahoda was told to arrange a meeting with Hal Smith at the Village Tavern in the prestigious environs of Long Grove, not far from B.J.'s domicile at the time. The meeting took place on February 7, 1985, the day before Jahoda was prepared to leave the country on a vacation. The hit was scheduled to go down at Jahoda's house, where Lou Marine, Salerno, Infelise and Bobby Bellavia were lying in the weeds. Infelise had instructed Jahoda to bring Smith back to the house in Smith's Cadillac, if at all possible.
The murder of Hal C. Smith, high stakes gambler and man-about-town, went down much like the child's nursery rhyme; the one where the spider draws the fly into the web and devours him. In this scenario, Smith was easily overpowered and dragged into the kitchen. There, he was restrained, brutally tortured, beaten and strangled before he became the "trunk music" as Solly D. had prophesied. At the time of his death, Hal Smith was cooperating with a government probe into the mob rackets. Smith's body was pulled out of his Cadillac in the parking lot of the Arlington Park Hilton and Bill Jahoda was commended for his fine work in the deadly caper by Joseph Ferriola himself.
How the Infelise Crew Made Book and Collected Bad Debts
Jimmy Nicholas agreed to become a "50/50" bookmaker for Rocky Infelise's street crew in a meeting with Jahoda and Louie Marino at the Arlington Heights Hilton. He provided the "business" with players and agents, and shared equally in the profits and losses with the mob hierarchy. Nicholas became a "25% agent" of the crew in 1985, meaning that he was required to absorb 25% of the net losses of his own customers at the end of the betting season. The "business" assessed the bettors a 10% fee or juice on all losing wagers. Jim Nicholas' accounts were settled directly with Jahoda, Solly "D" and William DiDomenico. Money to pay off winning bets came from these "bosses," and street revenues from losing wagers were handed in at the appropriate time.
Each day, Nicholas called in to the wirerooms operated by the crew to check to see whether his bettors had won or lost. At the end of the week, he settled up with his customers and the "business." Bettors who welched on their losses became Nicholas' personal responsibility. An inveterate losing gambler had to pay Nicholas without delay or excuse. The outfit never believed in issuing long-term revolving credit when it came to gambling debts.
In late October 1985, one of Jimmy Nicholas' clients fell behind in his payments to the tune of $32,800. In a Melrose Park bar, the customer, Tony Belville, asked Nicholas and Solly "D" for an extension. Nicholas said that just wasn't good enough, and the money had to be paid now. Belville was repeatedly contacted by phone and threatened with physical violence. In a final effort to collect on the gambling debt, Belville was reached by phone at a funeral home, where he was attending his mother-in-law's wake. The voice on the other end of the line told him that someone was coming over there right now to collect the money and if he didn't have it, at least he was "in the right place at the right time." Two days later, Belville handed over to Nicholas a paper sack containing $32,800 in cash at a Lombard restaurant.
The crew had their own unique ways of dealing with dead-beat gamblers. The funeral home tactic was just one method. In the case of Steve Hospodar, a diminutive, 65-year-old gambler who fell seriously behind in his payments, Solly DeLaurentis and his partner and fellow underboss, Lou Marino of Palos Heights, decided to really put the fear of God into him.
What follows is a portion of a tape-recorded conversation at a south suburban restaurant between Lou Marino and the indebted Hospodar concerning the monies due the outfit. One can readily see that Marino is not a Shakespearean scholar but is a man that can emphatically make his point. The transcript of the following conversation was introduced into evidence at the Infelise racketeering and extortion trial in a federal court.
Marino: You will find some fuckin' money.
Hospodar: I'm gonna try. I
Marino: You will find some fuckin' money
Hospodar: Like I say, I'm gonna try.
Marino: You motherfucker.
Hospodar: I'm gonna try.
Marino: You will find money.
Hospodar: Well, we'll see what happens. I, I'll make every
Marino: Hey, I ain't seein'
Hospodar: Every effort
Marino: what happens!
Hospodar: I'll make every effort!
Marino: I ain't seein' what happens, you make a date you motherfucker, you cannot fulfill, you can't live with it. You will fuckin' get me money today.
Hospodar: All right.
Marino: I give a fuck where you get it.
Hospodar: All right.
Marino: You get me money. Go steal the motherfucker!
Hospodar: I'll have to.
Marino: You, I don't give a fuck! If I was in that spot that's what the fuck I'd be doin'! You just go fuck and do it, Steve, the, the game's over, Steve. I'll tell ya'.
Hospodar: All right.
Marino: Right now.
Hospodar: All right.
Marino: You'll fuckin' be here tonight. Here what I'm tellin' you, Steve?
Hospodar: Okay.
Marino: You fuckin' be here. What time?
Hospodar: You said between six, six-thirty.
Marino: All right. I wanna make it a right fuckin' time. I don't be
Hospodar: All right.
Marino: fuckin' sitting in this joint.
According to the testimony given by a 38-year-old government informant, one Sam Joseph Malatia, at the racketeering trial, DeLaurentis then led Hospodar into the men's room and "messed him up a little." Solly "D" was suspicious that Hospodar was wearing a wire. He was, as it turned out, but they didn't find it. "When he came out, his (Steve's) wig was wet. Sol had thrown the wig into the toilet and put it back on his head." Lou Marino and Solly "D" were good at their jobs and so was the entire street crew, as we shall see.
Reprinted from the Illinois Police & Sheriff's News
Sidebar 1
Betting on the Odds
While he may not rank right up there with Samuel Morse, Thomas Edison or Alexander Graham Bell as individuals whose inventions altered the course of history, in his own quiet way, Charles K. McNeil revolutionized the bookmaking industry by inventing the modern "point handicapping system" for betting on athletic contests. McNeil, whose name is all but forgotten today, earned a Master's Degree from the University of Chicago, and upon completion of his studies, taught math at the Riverdale School in New York. John F. Kennedy was one of his pupils.
McNeil occasionally placed small bets with New York bookies. His winnings, though not significant in terms of dollars and cents, were consistent enough for the bookmakers to sit up and take notice. McNeil told them that he based his selections on a point spread that translated into a favorable odds system.
The system was simple and effective. You take two football teams, for example. Team "A" is a powerhouse and the favorite by ten points. Instead of saying the stronger club is a 3-1 favorite, calculate the line in terms of points. You bet on Team "A" to win and ten points extra (Team "A" plus ten), meaning that you believe Team "A" will win by more than ten. If that happens, you win. If the final point spread is exactly ten, even though your team won, you lose. If you gamble on the upset and take Team "B," then you get "B minus ten."
The odds are calculated by the bookie, subject to "negotiation" with the bettor. Most bookies receive odds from a telephone "line" operated at legal sports "books" in Las Vegas. Some bookies, like Hal Smith, simply changed their point spreads and gambling lines to suit their own purposes.
A successful bookmaker will record an equal number of pro and con bets on a sporting event. If the ledger doesn't balance at the end of the week, the bookie very often has to bet on the outcome of a game to correct the imbalance. Sometimes the bookie will compare and exchange imbalances with another bookmaker. Failing in this effort, the bookie often has no other recourse than to try to unload his book imbalance with a larger bookmaker the outfit, usually. To prevent this from occurring, the bookie will raise the spread on certain heavy favorites like the San Francisco 49'ers or Buffalo Bills, thus discouraging a run on one single team, and a potential book imbalance.
If Mr. McNeil, a pioneer in his own right, were around today and could witness the $60-$200 billion in football wagering that changes hands annually, he might want to quote Samuel Morse and say: "What hath God wrought?"
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Return to the Cicero/Chicago Web Page
IPSN � 1997-2006 All Rights reserved. Not for republication on the
internet without permission.


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"I don't like a good sale" said no one ever… especially when it comes to beauty products. I love walking down the aisles of my favorite beauty stores specifically Sephora trying products until I have successfully accumulated at least $100 worth of stuff. EVERY TIME. #RougeMember Now I am sure that I will remain a loyal customer after Sephora just unveiled their new wave of fun called "Weekly Wow."
Sephora has announced its "Weekly Wow" as a sale series allowing a small selection of high demanded products at 50%… Mark your calendars for a weekly reminder every Thursday until death do us part. (Haha!) Once the week is over, the products will go back to its original prices and a new set of products will be rotated in. Also, it will be good to note that once the products are out of stock it may be gone for the week so make sure to check the sales as soon as they are released. This week is just a look at how fast the product is selling and its moving pretty fast so make sure to check back. Scroll to see the goodies on sale NOW! #RowWithM
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Lift Off! Read With The San Francisco Public Library
What will you be exploring this summer? Comment and win a San Francisco Public Library Summer Reading Prize Pack!
Library Love
Thank you to all of the librarians who put books into the hands of readers every day! We wish we could send each of you a cookie.
In Focus: The Public Library
Our celebration of National Library Week continues with this week's In Focus feature, The Public Library.
In Praise of Library Workers
These are portraits of just a couple of the people who make the San Francisco Public Library the exceptional place that it is.
Win a Library Cart Full of Books!
Enter the Library Love Letter Giveaway on Facebook and you could win a library cart full of books!
5 Unforgettable Love Letters to Libraries
Authors have long professed their love for libraries, and in celebration of National Library Week, we've collected five of our favorite quotes, from Jane Austen to Albert Einstein.
10 Reasons to Dust Off Your Library Card
In honor of National Library Week (April 13-19), we've collected the top 10 reasons you should dust off your library card and march through the doors of your local branch.


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Crunk music has been a staple in the southern cities of Memphis and Atlanta since at least the mid-nineties. The first "crunk" artists to break through nationwide came in late 1999/2000 when Drama and Miracle both had hits garner radio play. Since that time, the term has taken a life of its own and now is used to refer to almost anything southern. While original crunk music was more akin to Miami bass, today's crunk is simply a term used for bass-heavy music usually accompanied by synths. Lil' Jon has proclaimed himself the king of the current crunk movement and crunk music is usually either produced by him or mimics his production. So right off the bat, fans of real crunk music will be sorely disappointed by almost all the tracks on this compilation. Even fans of Lil' Jon's brand of crunk will probably be scratching their heads at about half of the tracks featured on this compilation. "Crunk Hits" is really just a collection of club hits not from NY or Cali. Taken in that context, the compilation does its job admirably as the 18 tracks packed into this CD are sure to get any party "crunk."
Lil' Jon makes countless appearances on "Crunk Hits," rightfully so since TVT is the home of his group and record label. From his own "Get Low," to Ciara's "Goodies," Ying Yang Twins' "Salt Shaker," Usher's "Yeah," and Youngbloodz's "Damn!," most of Lil' Jon's hits from 2004 are here. The only glaring omission would probably be Petey Pablo's "Freek-A-Leek," which probably couldn't get cleared by the label. But this collection of hits brings up the first problem with this compilation, it's dated. While all the songs included were hits during their time, the latest song would probably be Nelly's "Na-Nana-Na," which made a splash in early 2005. Songs like Khia's "My Neck, My Back" and T.I.'s "Rubberband Man" go back to 2003. Nothing from Lil Jon's latest album makes the cut, nor does anything from Lil' Scrappy or Trillville. It could be that TVT wanted to make sure these "hits" got to the public before those from 2005, but it would have been better to put out this particular collection earlier in the year.
The rest of the tracks featured on "Crunk Hits" prove that the term "crunk" is used only for effect and does not mean to convey any authenticity. Chingy's "Right Thurr" and Nelly's "Na-Nana-Na" have as much in common with true crunk music as did 50 Cent's "In Da Club." Lil' Flip's "Game Over" is also far removed from anything crunk in style and in region. Juvenile's smoothed out "Slow Motion" also defies the term crunk even in its name. Other suspect cuts include Khia's "My Neck, My Back" and Jackie-O's "Nookie," both of which feature lewd sex anthems over more subdued beats. Both tracks tore up the club circuit in their day, but none exhibit anything you'd consider crunk. Even artists with "crunk" material are featured on their less than crunk tracks. Thankful as I am for Killer Mike appearing on this compilation at all, the playful "A.D.I.D.A.S." should have probably been passed over for the much more crunk "Akshon!." Pastor Troy's "Are We Cuttin," while a banging track thanks to Timberland's beat, is nothing compared to his earlier work on real crunk tracks like "We Ready" and "No Mo Play." The only track that comes close to true crunk on this CD is Three 6 Mafia's "Ridin' Spinners." The Mafia's call and response "Buck" music is a direct descendant of true crunk music and the tracks bouncy sound captures more of what was once crunk than anything else on this CD.
Despite all the criticism I've spewed out so far, "Crunk Hits" is actually not a bad CD at all. For what it is, it's actually an outstanding collection of hit songs from 2004 that are sure to please any casual rap fan or hardcore fan that doesn't have the dough or time to peep every release. It's sure to get any party "crunk" and also is good music if you like a boost of energy when you drive. All the tracks on this CD should be familiar to you, except possibly Pitbull's "Toma," and should appease your need for hype, energetic music. Consider it the "Source Hits" of the south without the annoying and bad Benzino tracks attached at the end.
Music Vibes: 8.5 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 6.5 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 7.5 of 10
Originally posted: January 3, 2006
source: www.RapReviews.com


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The Effective Manager
I generally shy away from management books for they tend to put me to sleep. For a new manager or any manager who would appreciate some management tips, Work Happy by Jill Geisler is a one of those rare management books well worth having a look at. If you are short on time, simply peruse the chapter headings to decide on the segments that interest you. Even the headings are quite illuminating.
I have always believed that to be a good manager it was important to know yourself well and to be willing to face up to the good, the bad and yes the ugly aspects of your personality. Looking into the mirror and glaring at the blemishes is surely a bold thing to do. So, the chapter, Manage Yourself, So You Can Lead Others is a good one. Can you face up to your weaknesses and work on them? Are you able to see things as others do? Or, as a manager do you know that you are always on view as if in a glass fishbowl? So, keep in mind your staff will not be very forgiving of your bad mood or bad hair day.
I must say that the very last chapter says it all. Giesler, writes in the title of this chapter (15), For Great Bosses, It's Always About Values." She focuses on the values of integrity, humanity and levity. With "levity", we must not forget to have fun. Lastly, what will be your legacy as a leader and how would you like to be remembered?
To me, it's all about the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Posted on October 4, 2012, in business and tagged business, leadership, management. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.


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Gladys' Redemption
Event Data:
Wed, 2011-06-29 19:00 - 22:30
"I'm not sure how or why I deluded myself for so long. I tricked myself into believing that I wasn't hearing the voices, or realizing that my mind had been sliced into five parts. I didn't understand how deeply this corruption had embedded itself into my mind. When I stopped deluding myself, I believed that the source of the corruption came from somewhere else, and so did the voices.
"Now I have to accept that I was wrong. The voices come from me. I am the source of the voices, and I am the instrument of the evils I have done. I must now accept this fact, as well as accept responsibility for my actions.
"*I* was the one who attempted to trick Chell into dropping Inkwell down a very deep pit. *I* was the one who endangered Moon Star to see how Chell would react. *I* plotted against both Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia, even if I never acted on those plots. *I* endangered Chell in those tests.
"I am a danger to everypony around me, everything I care about... I cannot go on this way. Everypony, please stay away from me...
"...No. Somepony, please...come find me.
"Help me."
-End of Line-
EVENT DATE: Wednesday, June 29
LOCATION: "Other Room", in the chats
TIME: This is a tricky one for me. The life of a UPS driver is a frenetic one; I never know from one day to the next when I will be getting off work. Nevertheless, I am going to try to make 19:00 (that's 7PM for anypony who doesn't understand military time), as the ponies perceive time (EST).
RSVP: I have three requests. One, if you want to be involved, please PUB Chell from the character you plan to use, so I can try and plan out something for your character to do. Second, please RSVP with only characters that will add to the scene, not detract or distract from it. Third, please, please, PLEASE only one character per player. My rp time tends to be somewhat limited, but Wednesdays are the most open day of the week for me; all the same, if players run multiple characters, it will slow down the rp process, as I have to tend to more characters. Thanks for your understanding in that. ^^
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FamilySearch added over 700,000 New York naturalization records and one million more historical records and images from Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Ohio, and New Jersey. The BillionGraves Index has added over 600,000 indexed records and images to their database. Find your Italian ancestors from Naples with nearly 85,000 new records, and Jewish Records from Hungary. Other countries represented are Australia, Denmark, Honduras, India, Liberia, Peru, Portugal, and Sweden.
See the official announcement to learn more or to search these new free records:
New Historical Records on FamilySearch: Week of June 4, 2018
Over 6 billion searchable historic records are available from around the world on FamilySearch.org. Records are published with the help of thousands of volunteer indexers who transcribe digital copies of handwritten records to make them easily searchable online. To help make more historical records from the world's archives available online, volunteer with FamilySearch Indexing.
Source: New on FamilySearch


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The Dutch MIT scheme was published March 12. There is a total of €32 million available for SMEs with a need for innovation in nine top sectors.
First-come, first-serve as of 15 April
As of 15 April there are several tools available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
- MIT Knowledge Voucher: purchase knowledge for the innovation of products, processes or services (40% up to €3,750)
- Feasibility study: desk research of available technology and potential partners, market and competitive analysis (40 % up to €50,000)
- Innovation Performance Contracts: 10 to 20 SME entrepreneurs work on corporate and private innovation over a period of up to two years under the supervision of a coordinator (30% up to €25,000)
- Hiring highly qualified personnel for research, development and innovation (50% up to €50,000).
Tender between 3 June till 22 September
Between 3 June to 22 September, R&D cooperation support can be requested on a tender basis. Projects include industrial research or experimental development carried out by a partnership of at least two Dutch SMEs (30% up to €200,000).
Project development support
Partners for Innovation provides advice and support for the development of business and operational plans and can execute (parts of) the project management and the environmental impact assessments (LCAs).
More information?
- MKB-innovatiestimulering Topsectoren MIT
- Service sheet: Project development and financing (pdf)
- Questions? Contact Peter Karsch


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Fashion is a global business that is both stimulating and challenging. It comprises design, textiles, trends, technology, marketing and retail. Throughout the world, fashion designers influence the way people look, from luxury clothing and accessories to everyday apparel found on the high street.
There are a number of routes to becoming a fashion designer. Vera Wang began her career as a fashion editor. However, designing her own wedding dress was the impetus to opening a bridal shop and the subsequent launch of her own collection. Alexander McQueen made dresses for his sisters before becoming an apprentice for a tailor in Saville Row.
Nowadays, the best foundation for a career in design is to undertake a course in fashion.
Fashion Courses
After A levels, foundation courses in Art and Design, Textiles or Fashion provide a good grounding in the major areas of the industry before applying for a degree course.
There are over 300 degree courses in fashion in the UK. Degree titles range from Fashion Buying and Merchandising to Fashion Design Management, with a myriad others in between.
On most courses you can expect to cover such areas as sketching and illustration, pattern cutting, sourcing and sampling, construction and textiles. You will develop technical skills needed to work with different materials. An understanding of technology will allow you to appreciate how your designs will be made, and knowledge of designing software such as CAD programs are essential.
Most degree courses last for three years and many organise a placement in the fashion industry between the second and third years. This will provide invaluable work experience and is an opportunity to start building up contacts.
As design courses are practical in nature, students get plenty of opportunities to take part in competitions and fashion shows. It is important to keep a record of your best sketches and designs and develop a portfolio. Employers look for someone who is innovative and with a keen eye for detail. A creative portfolio can provide evidence of these qualities.
Career Path
Whether your ultimate aim is to work for a mass-market clothing manufacturer or for a top fashion house such as Dior, you will probably start your career as a design assistant.
Typical duties include sourcing and chasing samples and making up sample cards. With experience will come the opportunity to suggest design ideas and make up mood boards. Eventually, you could end up assisting with the development of a range.
The world of fashion designing is very competitive. However, with creativity, hard work, and a passion for clothes, there is no limit to what you can achieve.
Photo by tsuacctnt
Looking for ideas and stimulation for you fashion designs? Why not check out the latest high-street fashion designers like Lipsy clothing, Miso clothing or G Star Raw.


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Commissioner Week at the Philmont Training Center for 2014 will be Week 2: June 15-21. All of the conferences offered last year will be offered again this year and, as in the past, the Commissioner College will be held on Friday.
Conference offerings for 2014 include:
* Commissioner Service for Non-Traditional or Faith-Based Units is being offered for the first time this year. This conference has been one of the most requested in the past several years. Some of the topics in the conference outline include:
Rather than two faculty members, this conference will have facilitators and feature guest speakers who have knowledge in each of these areas.
How to Register
View the full 2014 conference schedule. Find additional information and register for courses at: http://www.philmontscoutranch.org/PTC/ConferencesE.aspx.
While visiting the PTC Conferences website, download the Conference Brochure for 2014 and the Family Program Brochure. Bring the family along! They will have a great time, and it will be a memorable experience for them.
Please consider making a personal commitment to attend one of the conferences offered this year. You will not be disappointed!


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November 9, 2016
After Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf stepped down in October after a month in the spotlight following a fake bank accounts scandal, executive management was not the only team at the company to see a shake-up. After new CEO Tim Sloan was named, lead independent director Stephen Sanger was elevated to chairman, and Elizabeth Duke was appointed to the role of vice chair.
The vice chair role is extremely rare on S&P 500 boards, with only 25 companies total having a director in this position. Indeed, an independent vice chair role—i.e. one that is not either affiliated with or a former employee of the company—is even more obscure. Prior to Duke being named on the board, just seven other companies total had an independent vice chair role.
Wells Fargo's move was unusual in this regard, but its splitting of the CEO-Chair role is certainly not uncommon. According to a recent Equilar report, Board Composition and Recruiting Trends 2016, the CEO-Chair role has been decreasing in prevalence—down to 50.3% of S&P 500 companies in 2016 as opposed to 56.2% in 2011. Indeed, three major CEO transitions occurred in October, and two of them immediately decided that splitting the executive and chair role would suit them best going forward, which means that a further decrease in that figure can be expected next year.
For more information on Equilar's research and data analysis, please contact Dan Marcec, Director of Content & Communications at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Waitrose to open new Leicestershire store
Waitrose has reached an agreement with Booker Retail Partners to acquire its shop in Mountsorrel in Leicestershire.
The new store will become the sixth Waitrose shop in Leicestershire and the first branch to open in the county since 2012.
The Budgens staff employed at the branch will transfer to Waitrose and a further 40 jobs will be created as part of the multi-million pound investment planned for the store. Recruitment is expected to start in February.
The Mountsorrel branch will continue to trade until the end of February. It will then be handed over to Waitrose in late March with the new shop opening in late spring 2016.
Nigel Keen, director of development at Waitrose, said: "This is an exciting opportunity to bring the Waitrose brand to Mountsorrel and we cannot wait to welcome our new customers in the spring. We look forward to becoming part of the community and making a positive contribution to the area for many years to come."
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Mobdro is a wonderful application to look at TV about Android with hundreds of programs worldwide free and wide open. Download that, you will not regret that.
Watching the TV on your portable is quite complicated if you do not use the data connection, but you will find adapters that work through the very fine USB. Though, if you actually want to have all the channels on your own Android, there is no better choice than Mobdro. This is a wonderful app pertaining to the task that is commissioned: a huge selection of television programs within reach of your touch screen.
Furthermore to overseas channels, Mobdro offers in real time access to the majority of Spanish stations. All in a simple way: search the channel and click on the link to notice it live. Cost-free, without neglect of press or licences. Do not know Mobdro yet? Discussing take a closer look at how this program works.
Mobdro offers all the channels in open that they can emit through the Internet
This app is definitely not in the Google Take up Store, consequently you'll have to download it from your website. There is no need extraneous permissions beyond network access and user documents to offer a premium service which is not yet available. And it includes advertising that is not exaggerated either: banners between list of programs and some headline at the beginning of the broadcasts.
The interface is incredibly simple: key screen with the various types of channels, the latest broadcasts shown, a search engine and little more: simply install it to begin watching TV from your Android in less than a minute. The quality leaves a thing to be wanted and can not be adjusted from the application, but it is definitely something with which Mobdro should not do anything: the resolution with the emissions is determined by the channel that emits in available..
Mobdro is continually updated, a thing that also questions the channel lists. I have found strings via all over the world and without the need to search them one by one on the Internet. And it opens the door to find out from the mobile phone the gatherings that are imparted in simple as well as motion pictures, series and other programs.
Down load Mobdro: it's free and without excessive promotion
As I said, the premium accessibility to the application is not as yet available: this possibility enables the recording of programs, provides Chromecast support( Mobdro is compatible with Chromecast as normal ) on the run and the associated with ads. To use Mobdro in your Android you must download this from your site your website move forward as follows:
Gain access to your Android os settings and search for "Security".
Check the container marked "Unknown sources. inches
Download Mobdro for Android from Mobdro App . Sometimes the download breaks down, retry.
When the Apk is usually downloaded, click the file: it can be installed automatically.


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Are we headed for another Great Depression?
By Doug Lorimer
"The severity of this economic contraction is a once-in-a-hundred-year phenomenon. It really does compare in severity to the Depression of the late 1920s and through the '30s", Donald Brean, a professor of finance and economics at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, told the November 11 London Financial Times.
Addressing his company's annual banking and financial services conference, Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain said on November 11 that the global economy is entering a slowdown of epic proportions comparable with the period after the 1929 Wall Street stock market crash. "This is not like 1987 or 1998 or 2001", said Thain. "The contraction going on is bigger than that. We will in fact look back to the 1929 period to see the kind of slow-down we're seeing now."
US President George Bush told the G20 summit in Washington on November 15 that he had agreed to a US$700 billion rescue plan for US financial institutions only after being told by his Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, that the US was at risk of falling into "a depression greater than the Great Depression" of the 1930s. Speaking at a November 26 reception at the Swedish embassy in Washington, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, a columnist for the New York Times, declared that the current banking crisis is "functionally similar to that of the Great Depression" and many symptoms were the same, including the "impotence" of monetary policy to remedy financial troubles.
The current economic crisis certainly surpasses any other experienced by the developed capitalist countries since the Great Depression of the 1930s. "It's a perfect economic storm, which is a combination of an ordinary recession, housing collapse, the credit crisis and major asset deflation", Barry Ritholtz, CEO of stock market trading software maker Fusion IQ, told journalists on November 20.
Massive government aid
On November 24 Bloomberg.com reported that the financial crisis had wiped out $23 trillion, or 38% of the stock market value of the world's companies, and brought down three of the biggest Wall Street firms, as well as American International Group, the world's biggest insurance company. It also reported that the "US government is prepared to provide more than $7.76 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers after guaranteeing $306 billion of Citigroup Inc. debt yesterday. The pledges, amounting to half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, are intended to rescue the financial system after the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.
"The unprecedented pledge of funds includes $3.18 trillion already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest response to an economic emergency since the New Deal of the 1930s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The commitment dwarfs the plan approved by lawmakers, the Treasury Department's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Federal Reserve lending last week was 1,900 times the weekly average for the three years before the crisis."
The next day, the US government announced a further $800 billion in loan programs, bringing its cumulative financial industry rescue initiatives to $8.5 trillion, equivalent to 60% of the total value of the US GDP last year. Most of the money, $5.5 trillion, comes from the US central bank, the Federal Reserve Board. About $1.1 trillion comes from the Treasury and the rest is commitments from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Housing Administration.
These massive loans, and the accompanying partial nationalisations of banks and other financial companies implemented by the US and other governments across the capitalist world, will probably ensure that the capitalist financial system does not experience a 1930s-style collapse, but at the cost of saddling the developed capitalist economies with an even more enormous amount of debt. This in turn will mean that the recovery from the present global economic recession, when it eventually comes, will be slow and anaemic.
The enormous government loans provided to the banks have been justified by the Bush administration as necessary to unfreeze an alleged complete lockdown in bank lending in the wake of the September 15 collapse of Lehman Brothers, Wall Street's fourth largest investment bank. However, the November 17 Wall Street Journal reported that US banks "are lending at record levels. Their commercial and industrial loans, at $1.6 trillion in early November, were up 15 per cent from a year earlier and grew at a 25 per cent annual rate during the past three months, according to weekly Federal Reserve data. Home-equity loans, at $578 billion, were up 21 per cent from a year ago and grew at a 48 per cent annual rate in three months."
Non-bank loans
What has frozen up is not ordinary bank lending, but the $10 trillion shadow banking system that has traded "securities" derived from loans made by non-bank financial firms, but backstopped by the commercial banks, for automobile, housing and commercial real estate purchases. As the WSJ noted, "Increasingly in the past decade, [these] loans were packaged into securities and sold to investors around the world — pension funds, endowments, mutual funds, hedge funds and others. Institutional investors gobbled up this and other kinds of credit that didn't come via traditional commercial banks, such as junk bonds or commercial paper … But investor confidence in credit markets has been shattered, in part because many debt securities performed so much worse than their credit ratings suggested they would."
According to data examined by the WSJ, "Issuance of asset-backed securities — instruments used to package credit-card and auto-loan debt during the boom — was down 79% in the year through October from last year, to $142 billion … In 2005 and 2006, investors snapped up more than a trillion dollars of these instruments. Junk-bond issuance was down 66% in the first 10 months of the year from the same period in 2007 …
"So too are bank loans to large corporate borrowers — the kinds of loans that typically get resold and packaged into securities. While overall banks' loan books are growing, this kind of lending fell by 46% in the August-to-October period from the same period a year earlier."
The global financial crisis was triggered by the deflation from late 2005 of the US housing market price bubble, which exposed the fact that many housing loans were "toxic", i.e., had been fraudulently made to people who didn't have the means to repay them.
Overproduction crisis
Underlying the crisis in the capitalist financial system is a long-term overproduction crisis in what is misleadingly called the "real economy" — the production for profit of goods and services. Markets for most goods and services are simply too saturated to provide opportunities for high profits to made through further big investments in their production. As a result, the super-rich families that own the big industrial corporations, banks and other financial businesses in the US and other developed capitalist countries have put more and more of their capital into financial markets, to reap higher speculative paper profits from these markets.
The crisis in the overproduction of goods and services is well illustrated by the huge levels of productive overcapacity in the automotive industry. A March 8, 2003, article in the Washington National Journal reported: "Vehicle sales are at near-record levels in the United States — 16.9 million in 2002 — but that is an illusory image of success. A rising portion of those sales comes from imports, which create no high-paying U.S. manufacturing jobs. Moreover, automakers' unprecedented and unsustainable low-rate financing deals, which amount to a subsidy for every car sold, have been artificially sustaining new-car sales. A slowdown in sales would pose problems for the industry, because production overcapacity haunts both US and foreign producers."
The article pointed out that automobile manufacturers "around the world have added about 19 million units in production capacity since 1990 and can now build about 77 million cars and light trucks per year, according to Autofacts, a PricewaterhouseCoopers subsidiary in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. But consumption of new vehicles this year is expected to total only about 56 million units. As a result, overcapacity in the auto industry is now about 27 percent worldwide. 'At some point, something has to give,' said David Snyder, director of business development for Ford."
Indeed, beginning in 2005, "something" did give — the profitability and potential survival of the three major US automobile manufacturers. In 2005, General Motors, at that time the world's biggest auto maker, recorded a loss of $10.6 billion. Ford lost $1 billion that same year. In 2006, GM lost $2 billion, Ford lost $12.7 billion and Chrysler lost $1.47 billion. Last year, GM lost a record $38.7 billion. Ford lost $2.57 billion and Chrysler lost $3 billion.
In the first nine months of this year, GM lost $21.2 billion, while Ford lost $8.7 billion. GM has announced that it would run out of cash before the end of the year. GM, Ford and Chrysler have sought a government loan of $25 billion simply, they claim, to be able to stay in business in 2009. Without it, they warn, 2.5-3 million US jobs in the automotive and related industries will be lost.
Union officials back CEOs
The Bush administration and a host of other US federal politicians have argued against granting such a loan. However, this is simply a ploy to give the executives of the Big Three US automakers and the pro-company officials of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union a weapon to blackmail auto workers into accepting plant closings, wage cuts and the slashing of health care and other benefits.
The November 21 Detroit Free Press reported that the UAW bureaucrats were secretly negotiating with the Big Three to revise current labour contracts in accordance with demands from both Democratic and Republican congressional leaders. Testifying alongside CEOs of the Big Three before the Senate banking committee on November 18, UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said: "Between 2005 and 2008 we have lost 47,000 workers at GM and we have virtually eliminated our jobs banks [which provide for laid-off auto workers to receive 95% of their weekly wages] at all three companies. We had to take the political heat for these kinds of decisions, but as a union leadership we are proud to work with these companies."
We may not experience an economic crisis as devastating as the Great Depression of the 1930s, when unemployment in the developed capitalist countries reached 25-30%. But the capitalists and their politicians will use the current global economic recession to deepen their neoliberal attacks on the livelihoods and social conditions of working people across the world. The only way for working people ultimately to defend themselves from this is to organise into a mass movement to take political power out of the hands of the capitalist financial oligarchy, establish a working people's government and use it to reorganise the economy along socialist lines.


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CAT CLYDE performs the song "THE RIVER" for BalconyTV.
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Cat Clyde is an emerging artist out of Stratford, Ontario. Her lush debut album, "Ivory Castanets", was released in May 2017 and her hit single, "Mama Said" has over 6.2 million streams on Spotify and counting. The official music video has over 1.4 million views on VEVO and Youtube. It has been added to British Airways in-flight playlist and she was selected as a LiveNation "Ones to Watch" artist. In addition, it has been featured in a video posted by The World Surf League and has over 2.6 million views.
Cat has premiered singles with Nylon Magazine, The Fader, Zane Lowe, and more. She has opened up for ZZ Ward and Rodriguez, the subject of the critically acclaimed "Searching For Sugarman" documentary. This December she headlined her first solo tour in North America and played in five major cities to wrap up a successful year. Her new single "The River" is out now.
Producer/Talent Booker: Cindi Avnet
Videographer: Jana Rose
Recorded By: James Schumacher
Mixed By: Jeff Bates
PA: Jana Rose
Tune in again to BalconyTV //


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Predictions Chart – Best Animated Feature 2013
Broken Circle Breakdown, La Grande Bellezza lead EFA nominations
Over the weekend, the European Film Academy announced the nominations for their European Film Awards in the most important categories. While these usually don't have much bearing on the race to Oscar, it's still interesting to see how these pan out for some of the hopefuls in the Best Foreign Language category. Leading with five nominations for instance is …Read More »
Ten Animated Shorts move on
The Best Animated Short category is one of those categories that will make most people go, "Right, we've also got that one", before they take a break from the Oscar ceremony. A shame, because this category often contains beautiful little gems that deserve their place in the spotlight. Today, the Academy announced the following ten titles that will advance to …Read More »
19 Films Eligible for the Animated Feature Oscar
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" "The Croods" "Despicable Me 2" "Epic" "Ernest and Celestine" "The Fake" "Free Birds" "Frozen" "Khumba" "The Legend of Sarila" "A Letter to Momo" "Monsters University" "O Apóstolo" "Planes" "Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie – Rebellion" "Rio: 2096 A Story of Love and Fury" "The Smurfs 2" "Turbo" "The Wind Rises"Read More »
Ridley Scott: Can He Get His Awards Mojo Back?
The Counselor appears to be one of the first big box office and critical casualties of awards season. Currently sitting at 35 % on Rotten Tomatoes and 49 on metacritic, with a tepid 8 million dollar opening weekend in North America, to call it a critical and commercial bomb would probably be understating matters. While this isn't quite a disaster on the …Read More »
The International Documentary Association nominations
In what's often a precursor the Oscar nominations, the International Documentary Association (IDA) nominations for the 2013 IDA Documentary Awards have landed. The IDA will honor Oscar and Emmy-winner Alex Gibney with its Career Achievement Award; he has two films in the feature Oscar hunt this year, "We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks" and "The Armstrong Lie." Geralyn Dreyfous, producer …Read More »
8 Doc Shorts On Oscar's 2013 Shortlist
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that the field of Documentary Short Subject contenders for the 86th Academy Awards® has been narrowed to eight films, of which three to five will earn Oscar® nominations. Voters from the Academy's Documentary Branch viewed this year's 40 eligible entries and submitted their ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers …Read More »
Meryl Streep and the Oscars: A Very Long Love Affair
There seems to be a consensus between public opinion, critics and industry in claiming Meryl Streep as the greatest living actress on Earth. It is not without justification that Meryl has become the person with the highest number of nominations in acting categories in the history of the Oscars, receiving 17 nominations in over 30 years of a professional career, …Read More »
Record 76 Countries Officially Submitted for Foreign Language Film Oscar
A record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 86th Academy Awards®. Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants; Montenegro is submitting for the first time as an independent country. The 2013 submissions are: Afghanistan, "Wajma – An Afghan Love Story," Barmak Akram, director; Albania, "Agon," Robert Budina, director; Argentina, "The German …Read More »


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by Mary Beth Brown
Condoleezza Rice rose from humble beginnings in racially segregated Alabama to become an accomplished classical pianist, Stanford University professor and provost, US national security advisor, and secretary of state. In this gripping and inspiring book, Mary Beth Brown artfully explores the roles played in Condi's life by her parents, mentors, faith, and key events and how those things have prepared her for her present position of power and global influence.
In 2005, Condi topped Forbes' list of the world's most powerful women. In 2007, she topped GQ's ranking of Washington's most powerful players. Not only does she appeal
to moderates and Republicans, she draws women, African Americans, and Hispanic voters from the Democratic Party. Additionally, Condi may emerge as a strong vice presidential candidate, a possibility the book explores.


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O Pioneers! (MP3 CD)
It's complicated, and may be unavailable. Place an order and we will contact you with the expected arrival date.
O Pioneers is a story of the immigrants who came to America to build new lives for themselves. Struggling against poverty, ignorance, drought, and storm, they came to love and understand the land, until it rewarded them with a richness exceeding all imaginings. The Bergsons are a family of strong-willed Swedish immigrants who have come to make a living on the great prairie. When the father, John, dies, worn out by disease and debt, his eldest daughter, Alexandra, becomes the head of the family. This is the story of her love affair with the land--an American Midwest that is vast and golden.


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The most important, in my opinion, is Graham and Dodd's 1934 classic, Security Analysis. I just finished re-reading it recently, and found many gems to share here:
"A moment's thought will show that there can be no such thing as a scientific prediction of economic events under human control."Free will makes precise economic predictions a fool's errand.
"There are no dependable ways of making money easily and quickly, either in Wall Street or anywhere else."That seminar you and 40,000 other participants paid for and sat through will make the speakers a fortune, not you.
"Investment theory should recognize that the merits of an issue reflect themselves in the market price not by any automatic response or mathematical relationship but through the minds and decisions of buyers and sellers"Take that efficient market clods!
"Perhaps [the intelligent student] would be well advised to devote his attention to the field of undervalued securities--issues, whether bonds or stocks, which are selling well below the levels apparently justified by a careful analysis of the relevant facts."Value investing...careful analysis of the relevant facts...there it is.
"Analysis connotes the careful study of available facts with the attempt to draw conclusions therefrom based on established principles and sound logic."Principles applied logically!
"The value of analysis diminishes as the element of chance increases."No, Virginia, everything is not worthy of analysis.
"The analyst must pay respectful attention to the judgment of the market place and to the enterprises which it strongly favors, but he must retain an independent and critical viewpoint. Nor should he hesitate to condemn the popular and espouse the unpopular when reasons sufficiently weighty and convincing are at hand."Lemmings need not apply.
"Analyzing a security involves an analysis of the business."It's shocking how infrequently this is the case.
"In general, the analyst should refrain from elaborate computations or adjustments which are not needed to arrive at the conclusion he is seeking."Occam's razor for investing!
I could go on (and on and on and on, as my wife can tell you), but you get the idea.
It's amazing how much wisdom can be derived from a book written 77 years ago, and how little can be found in thousands written since....
Nothing in this blog should be considered investment, financial, tax, or legal advice. The opinions, estimates and projections contained herein are subject to change without notice. Information throughout this blog has been obtained from sources believed to be accurate and reliable, but such accuracy cannot be guaranteed.


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[Caml-list] Delaying module initialization
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|2004-03-29 (03:37)
|Jacques Garrigue <garrigue@k...>
|Re: [Caml-list] Delaying module initialization
From: skaller <firstname.lastname@example.com> > On Sun, 2004-03-28 at 20:34, Jacques Garrigue wrote: > > > > The former is interesting but not industrially satisfying > > > because it doesn't allow dynamic loading of interfaces > > > to C, which must be native code. > > > > But, this is plain wrong: since 3.04 you can dynamically load C stubs > > through dynamically loading a bytecode library. > > This I do not understanding but I seem to have missed something. > > Are you saying I can write a module X.ml which wraps a C library > with function f(), and another Y.ml which wraps a different > function f() of another shared library, and then write a > program which can be run like: > > loadit X > loadit Y > > where the first script invokes X's f() and the second Y's f()? You are mixing here different problems, and I can interpret your question in several ways. If your question is: can I load simultaneously several shared libraries containing some C functions with the same name, then the answer is probably: only under windows. But I did not try, so maybe it works on other systems too, or maybe it doesn't work on windows for some reason. This is a question of C binary namespace, flat or hierarchical. To simplify writing libraries, ocaml uses the flat model (more usual on Unix), but windows happens to support only the hierarchical model. If it is: can I choose at runtime which shared library to load, and provide a unified interface independent of the library, then the answer is yes. IIRC, CamlGL uses that to allow choosing your openGL library at runtime. There are some pitfalls, like the fact you need to provide a different stub library (both C and caml part) for each shared library you want to load, or the fact you cannot unload a library. But in my opinion the main problem is that different libraries shall probably have different signatures under the refined ocaml type system, so that it will be very hard to use a unified interface (we have already trouble with the different version of Gtk+-2.x). If it is: can I dynamically generate stubs for a shared library, compile them (both C and caml part) and load the library in the same program, then this should be yes too. Automatizing all this might be a lot of work, but there is no theoretical limitation. Again there may be problems with name spaces, but if this is really your concern you just have to change one line in ocamlrun sources to use the hierarchical model. > If dynamic loading is as Jacques suggests, then it would > seem mod_caml has a strange design.. > > Given an HTML page containing some Caml script > which in invokes some functions which wrap > Perl modules .. the whole thing should be > dynamic automatically. > > I can't see how 'initialising all the Perl modules' > could happen. I'd have to try extremely hard to even > think about how to make that happen. Here we enter another problem: ocaml has dynamic loading, but not auto-loading/initializing. Looks like lots of people would want to have that: a module would be initialized only when one of its members is used. This is _not_ a problem of dynamic loading, and this could actually change the semantics of the language, since initializing one module might force initializing another one in its turn, and as a result module initialization might not be sequential. On the other hand, this should not be too hard to do with bytecode, at least java style: parse the .cma's, but do not load their dependencies immediately. Without auto-loading, you end-up loading everything in your name space; so that would result in initializing all Perl modules if you are initializing them on load. Some workarounds have already been suggested to delay this initialization. Jacques Garrigue ------------------- To unsubscribe, mail firstname.lastname@example.com Archives: http://caml.inria.fr Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/ Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners


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Sometimes There is Doubt
I will keep this sweet and short. Whatever you are striving for in your life, never give up. There will be doubt. There will be people that try to make you feel small and unworthy. There will be times where you feel like giving up. Don't. Keep reminding yourself of what it is that you … Continue reading Sometimes There is Doubt


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Originally Posted by
Now in possession of some berries, your first instinct is to rush to Cassie's side. Holding one out for the Herdier to wolf down, you see that - hard as it is to tell with the poison - she looks a little better than before. At the very least, the dog tests out her limp leg and finds it a bit easier to stand on. Not perfect - the leg buckles after a moment, bringing Cassie down to the ground - but not requiring immediate medical attention. Before returning to the fight, you call out to Annalise for some sort of antidote. Blinking up at you, she stammers a quick "I-I'll check," but otherwise doesn't immediately respond with anything.
You can't waste time, so you leave her for now, instead calling commands to Frieghya. The Espeon nods your way, focusing her forehead jewel for yet another
. As he had each time before, the Buneary clutches his head in agony, the sheer repetition of the mental stimulation having a profound effect. The rabbit staggers back a step, but catches himself from falling over. Huffing in anger, the Buneary responds with a brutal beatdown, taking all his
out on the Espeon. Frieghya cries out under the onslaught, attempting to dodge out of the blow's way with little success; the bunny moved too quick for the Espeon to flee. Eventually the rabbit lets up, more from physical exhaustion than any real desire to stop. Panting herself, Frieghya takes the opportunity to fire one more
. Tired as the Buneary is, by this point he's if not accustomed to at least mindful of the psychic power. Bracing himself mentally, he
s the attack. He doesn't fall unconscious, but the Buneary really can't take any more hits without some serious mental damage. On the physical side of things, Frieghya doesn't look much better. One lucky hit could swing things either way.
As that fight plays out, you try a risky move. Pulling out a Pokeball, you rush to the Scraggy. You make a heartfelt speech, offering the hoodlum a place on your team. For a long moment, the Scraggy stares at you, his face running the gambit of emotions so quickly you find it hard to catch any for more than the briefest of seconds. At one point, you think you see a glimmer of hope, but that could just have easily been your own desires clouding your judgment. By the end, the Scraggy has shut down, his face a blank mask. Slowly, he reaches out a hand. He reaches towards you, towards the Pokeball you hold out on shaking hand. You wait anxiously as the Scraggy lays his hand down atop the red hemisphere of the ball, picking it up into his own grasp. The Scraggy stares down at the orb in his grip, his mask slipping for a single moment, revealing a look of pure doubt. As he turns his gaze up to you, that doubt disappears, replaced by steely resolve. He takes the Pokeball in one hand...
...and chucks it right at your forehead.
You stumble back at the impact, luckily stepping right out of the way of a follow-up
from the Scraggy. Erin jumps to your side, ready to attack at your command and finish this battle. Unfortunately, he doesn't get the chance. With a faint pop, an Abra suddenly appears between the Scraggy and you. His eyes are closed, but even then, his glare is so strong you fight to repress a shudder. The Psychic-type grips the Scraggy's shoulder and - cutting off the start of a protest from the Fighting-type -
(Erin gained 1 level!)
With the Scraggy gone, you find yourself with one opponent left: the Buneary. Neither he nor Frieghya will probably last another round, and - her poison growing worse - Cassie won't last much past that. You turn to Annalise, hopeful for some remedy, only to find she's still searching. At this point, the only bright spot is that Erin is ready and raring to go.
In the distance, you hear a van begin to move.
What will you do?
(Declared 3/6: Espeon, Aron, Herdier)
Kawaii winced as the ball hit her head. She chuckled to herself, she tried her best, what had she been expecting? The pinkette still refused to just throw pokeballs at pokemon. She wanted her team to be created willingly. Her pokemon chose her as much as she had chosen them. The female trainer shook her head and retrieved the empty pokeball.
Kawaii had to think fast. She immediately recalled Cassie. She hoped that this would prevent her precious puppy from getting worse. The pinkette directed Erin at the Lopbunny, Use another harden before you charge it with another Headbutt. The Aron closed his eyes and his shell grew thicker before he hopped up and charged towards the weak Normal-type.
Meanwhile The female trainer was tending to her Espeon. She fed the phsychic-type one of the berries and petting her head and making cooing noises. "Hey," she murmured "Cassie is really sick with poison. Could you use wish on her to remove her status effects?"
Frieghya nodded getting up slowly. Kawaii let her herdier out once again and the Espeon closed her eyes. Her forehead jewl glowed and somwhere a shooting star crossed the sky.
Meanwhile the pinkette turned to her human companion "Do you need any help?" she asked croutching down besides her fellow trainer, "What are you looking for?"
Suddenly she smaked her forehead "I'm so dumb, hang on." she took out another pokeball and released a Woobat. "Go after that Van." the female trainer instructed "Observe only, report back to me once you know where it's going."
The psychic type nodded and took off into the sky. He used his Echo-location to find the van faster than any other method probably would have.
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Albion have asked supporters to stay off the Amex pitch after Saturday's home game with Bristol City.
Brighton will clinch the Championship title with a win but chairman Tony Bloom and chief executive Paul Barber have asked fans to stay off the pitch.
Bloom and Barber request that supporters remain in their seats, to allow the players a proper end-of-season lap of honour and - should the team secure the title - to receive the EFL Championship trophy.
Bloom said, "The players want the opportunity to show their appreciation to the fans on the lap of honour around the pitch. Some would also like their families to join them, so we would ask all supporters to stay in their seats on the final whistle.
"Also, if we secure the title over the weekend, we want the players to receive the trophy, at the Amex, in front of our home supporters - and any pitch invasion could scupper that."
Barber added, "It was a wonderful day at the Wigan game, and despite our requests, we saw a mass invasion from fans, which was an iconic moment. However, having had the pitch invasion, we would ask the fans to let Chris Hughton, the players and the squad the opportunity of a proper lap of honour - and hopefully receive the trophy!"
Albion have been asked by the FA for their observations following the pitch invasion following victory over Wigan Athletic, including preventative measures taken by the club to avoid such an occurrence.
Don't miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.
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1 Make this website your homepage
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Sweden has seemingly dominated the current death metal scene with its insane amount of quality bands - Necrovation, Tribulation, Repugnant, Morbus Chron, and Bastard Priest are just a taste of what the country has delivered in the past few years (which shouldn't be a surprise given the country's rich history). Be that is it may, though, Finland isn't too far behind (Kind of like back in the day too) and thanks to Dark Descent Records, it's pretty easy to find the cream of the crop of today's groups, like Krypts. "Unending Degradation" may be the band's first full-length album, but to say that these guys are a few rookies worshiping at the altar of their forefathers would be inaccurate. Sure, these Finns evoke a chilling atmosphere that could haunt a graveyard like Convulse and Sentenced did before, but the music on this record is fairly varied (as far as old-school death metal goes anyway) featuring riffs and moments throughout that cling to the ancient tenets of the US and Swedish bands of the past as well.
Of course, Krypts has their own sound, and aren't just an amalgamation of riffs and melodies from "Left Hand Path" and "Onward to Golgotha." It's almost mandatory that the atmosphere of this record be reiterated, because it's so crucial to what this band does best, and that's crush the listener with monster riffage while simultaneously sending shivers up and down their spine with chilling melodic sections and a lot of riffs that just scream "DOOOOOM." The intro to "Open the Crypt" is nothing more than simple powerchords and one doomy riff, but it feels like someone is releasing a re-awakened corpse from that crypt, as the sound is so bleak and heavy, creeping at the pace of a cadaver. This same sinister sound lingers throughout "Unending Degradation" and it serves well as an enhancer of sorts to the monolithic riffs and bellowing vocals of Antti Kotiranta, who do a hell of a job in making this album as heavy and dark as possible.
The backbone of this record, though, are the riffs. They're all kind of similar to be honest - plodding, midpaced powerchords find a spot in just about every song, and are usually accompanied by some kind of melody or doomy ensemble, while there are also plenty of riffs that feel like they could have found a nice home on an album like "Into the Grave," where headbanging constantly is the norm. And how remiss would I be if I didn't mention the tremolo sections that at times sound like Morbid Angel (evil and fast), and others sound more like Demigod and Incantation (HEAVY). "Dormancy of the Ancients" provides plenty of shifts from evil and slow to heavy and fast, making the seven and a half minute song painless to get through. After listening to "Unending Degradation" multiple times, it's pretty obvious that Krypts is a band who gets it, and knows what it takes to survive in the death metal underground, where for every 10-20 shitty bands, there's one like Krypts just making everyone else look foolish. As good as this album is (and, it's pretty damn good), it wouldn't surprise me to see this band release an even better one, the kind that makes people take notice like Necrovation did last year, or Tribulation with "The Horror," and I for one cannot fucking wait to be buried by it, but until then, this one should get me about 4 feet deep.
Be sure to check out and like Krypts on Facebook!
"Open the Crypt"
"Dormancy of the Ancients"
"Beneath the Archaic"
Final Rating
4.3/5 or 86%.


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Author Notes: This traditional sweet is often served with cheese and is similar, but less sweet, to the panforte from Siena. The recipe varies from region to region and the shape varies as well. In Calabria the mixture is wrapped in fig leaves. I often shape into a rectangle and spice like a panforte, baking it to dry it. —divinacucina
Makes: 1 salami
pound dried figs, stem removed
cup prune juice, ( will be reduced to 1/4 cup)
cup walnuts, chopped. Leave a few pieces whole
tablespoons sambuca or anice liquor or anice seeds, to taste
In This Recipe
- Reduce the prune juice from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup over medium heat. ( In Italy, we use vin cotto, a fresh grape juice reduction).
- Make sure the figs have any hard part of the stem removed. Cut into small pieces and place in a pot to cook.
- Add the reduced juice to the pot with the figs and if you are adding any liquor add it now, ( or the seeds). Cook to break down the figs a little. If dry, add a tiny bit of water.
- Remove from heat and stir in the walnuts.
- Place the mixture on baking parchment and tie like a salami and let rest a few days in the refrigerator before serving. I like to hang mine like a real salami and let in dry at room temperature in the kitchen.
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Recipe with Walnuts
More Great Recipes:
Fig|Fruit|Prune|Walnut|Winter|Fall|Rosh Hashanah|Christmas|Dessert|Appetizer


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An all-inclusive family resort, Malibu Dude Ranch offers a range of accommodations and on-site activities for all to enjoy. Choose from private cabins, chalet and motel-style rooms or lodge accommodations. Groups are welcome. Located just 75 minutes from New York City, Malibu Dude Ranch is a one-of-a-kind vacation destination.


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This portrait is Julia Anne Welter taken at three years of age, a child with a child's love for fantasy and life. This captures the love of life a now mature Anne Parent still holds close to her heart.
During the intervening years, she married her soul mate and they raised three glorious children. She now has six phenomenal grandchildren. She comes from a background of vital women, including a beloved grandmother, the last of the true Southern ladies. She has always stayed in touch with her Southern roots through her best friend Wanda, who happens to be the daughter of her mother's best friend and the sister of her brother's best friend.
She began her journey into higher education at the age of 18 at the University of South Carolina (nursing, math, and journalism) before finally deciding she needed life lessons in order to decide on a career. She pursued engineering at Greenville Technical College, before figuring out this wasn't the direction either, and studied at Butler University (couldn't decide between English and journalism). She took some time to build more life lessons in raising children before deciding on her final path, a degree in English from Indiana University – Indianapolis with a minor in American Studies, at the age of 45. A true late bloomer!
Anne now lives in Tennessee where she writes romantic women's fiction set in Southern towns, both imaginary and real. She adds a contemporary social issue to her books as part of the woman's journey. Her hope is that her characters will take her readers away from reality and they will come away feeling ready to tackle whatever they find holding them back in their own lives.
She is a member of RWA (Romance Writers of America), RWA-WF (Romance Writers of America Women's Fiction), Savvy Authors, WFWA (Women's Fiction Writers Association), and Heart of Dixie (an Alabama chapter of RWA).