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Vol. 19, #8 - March 4, 2013 - Issue #919
Persistence Pays Off
- Editor's Corner
- Managing Change
- From the Mailbag
- Persistence Pays Off
- Tip of the Week
- Recommended for Learning
- Quote of the Week
- Admin Toolbox
- Admin Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without
- Events Calendar
- Americas
- Europe
- Asia
- Africa
- Webcast Calendar
- Certified Career Day (Microsoft Learning)
- Register for Webcasts
- Tech Briefing
- VDI Solutions
- SCCM 2012 Client Deployment (Part 1)
- How Security Containers Protect Mobile Data
- Introduction to Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
- Going to the Cloud? Time to Make Security and Policy Decisions
- DameWare Remote Support - Voted WindowsNetworking.com Readers' Choice Award Winner - Remote Control
- Why More SMBs Are Reaching the Virtualization Tipping Point
- Windows 2008 R2 Domain Controller Promotion Guidance
- Windows Server News
- Fundamentals of the hybrid cloud computing model
- Pros and cons of four endpoint devices for VDI
- Why enterprise IT strategy should include an IaaS provider
- The best VMware backup options in the cloud
- WServerNews FAVE Links
- This Week's Links We Like. Fun Stuff.
- WServerNews - Product of the Week
- Free Trial: NetWrix Change Reporter Suite
Editor's Corner
- SAVE THIS NEWSLETTERso you can refer back to it later for helpful tips, tools and resources!
- FORWARD THIS NEWSLETTER to a colleague who you think might find it useful!
- SEND YOUR FEEDBACK to [email protected] if you have any comments or suggestions!
This week's newsletter is all about the advantages of persistent vs. pooled virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) with a guest editorial by Helge Klein, MVP. But before we go any further, did you know there's a word for the condition where someone has an abnormal and persistent fear of work?
Managing change
By the way, another thing those of us who manage IT systems tend to fear is change. It's important to keep close tabs on what's happening in your server environment so you can be aware of any changes that occur and act accordingly. That's where change management software such as NetWrix Change Reporter Suite can come in handy since it audits and reports on any changes that happen in your infrastructure:
NetWrix is the sponsor for this issue of WServerNews, so please be sure check out their line of products. Thanks!
From the Mailbag
In our issue Cloudy Thinking: Identity Management (Issue #916) we included the following Reader Needs Help item from a reader named Jim from Florida:
I've been struggling with find a method or software to block IP address from hackers that are trying a dictionary attack on my 2007 MS Exchange server. I have several clients that also have this issue. The ideal method or software would see that there is more than X amount of connection attempts from the same IP address and then block the connection. If you could post this question out to the community I would appreciate it.
Reader Tony Gore responded with the following:
I have found that the NETGEAR UTM5 (this is the smallest in the range -- there are bigger capacity models for larger companies) is a great way of keeping the malware out.
It lets you set up whitelists and blacklists, as well as a whole host of other stuff. I am not sure if you can do precisely what you want i.e. block after so many connections, but despite its low price, the UTM5 is a beast of a device which I have barely scratched the surface of.. There are couple of experiences I have had with it that are possibly worth mentioning. It does AV checking on the fly (with a subscription from Sophos) which means that you can use a different AV solution within the network. Previously it had been tricky to use two AV solutions. It also means that you can (if you want to trade risks and performance) slacken off the AV scanning a bit within the network if this is causing too much of a performance hit on older machines.
BUT, and this is a big but -- disable TLS on your mail server (TLS provides an encrypted channel for your SMTP mail). You may be thinking that this is a backward step. However, it is not as insane as you think. When I first started using it, I could not figure out why some emails were scanned and not others. Then I discovered that by default, the SBS2008 version of Exchange 2007 has TLS enabled by default. You would think that this is a good idea. However, encrypted email cannot be scanned by your peripheral protection. When I looked at what mail servers used TLS, I found it was mostly the junk emailers and the scammers. Then of course it hit me -- if you understand this, then using TLS to deliver virus laden emails gets you through all the peripheral protection -- right to the core of your network (unless you put a separate mail server in an intermediate zone separated from your main network by another firewall). So although TLS protects you on the outside, it can make you more vulnerable through your peripheral defenses.
For more info on the NETGEAR UTM5 and similar products, see the Tip of the Week section of this newsletter.
Here's one more item from this week's Mailbag:
I just read your write up at:
"Printing from Windows 7 to Windows XP in a workgroup"
I thought, "This is ridiculous. It won't work, just like most of the crap advice you see online." But I'm really trying to get my customer taken care of so I tried it. I didn't carry in the printer in here, just installed the driver from HP and followed your tip for pointing the port to the UNC path. WOW I COULD KISS YOU!
Thank you so much!
Thanks Corey but instead of a kiss I'd prefer it if you would tell others about WServerNews...lol
Persistence Pays Off
And now on to our guest editorial by Helge Klein...
A different kind of VDI
At the age of 7, VDI is ready for production, but not necessarily the way vendors try to sell it to you.
When the term VDI was coined by VMware in 2006, it started the transfer of a very successful business model from the server to the client: virtualization. In an effort to grow its business, VMware had discovered the existence of another market at least as big as the one they already were the undisputed leader of: desktop virtualization. Why not replace clunky physical PCs with agile virtual machines, centrally hosted in the datacenter? Management would be easier, security higher and the costs might even be lower! The VDI hype was born.
Today we know that some of the early dreams were a bit unrealistic. As it turned out, clients are very much different from the easily virtualizable servers. Clients have users sitting in front of a screen. If you move the machine from under the desk to the datacenter, you need something to replace USB and similar connections between peripheral devices and the computer: a remoting protocol like HDX, RDP or PCoIP. Remoting protocols are hard to get to work really well, especially over WAN links.
Another thing that changes when a PC is yanked from a user's desk and - virtually - stuffed into the datacenter: the client operating system is not the sole master of the hardware any more. There are many others just like it, and they each want part of the performance. Especially disk performance, since that is typically a scarce resource. With (spinning) disk latencies being high even in single-user scenarios, many VMs accessing the same set of disks does not improve the situation. Without very careful planning this results in varying response times: sometimes it is OK, sometimes slow. Users hate that.
The answer: fast SAN storage - which is expensive. Much more expensive than simple PC hard drives. So much more expensive that storing hundreds of virtual machine images, at dozens of Gigabytes each, is out of the question even for most large enterprises. In order to make VDI work, the vendors had to come up with a solution to the storage space problem. And they did.
The pooled approach
The VDI configuration most actively promoted by vendors does not give you a full, private instance of Windows that you can customize to your heart's desire. Instead you will get a desktop that feels like a - terminal server (the very platform VDI competes against). Such a pooled desktop is yours while you are logged on, but is destroyed the second you log off. Gone are any customizations not stored in a roaming user profile or on a networked home drive. Installing applications? Possible, but futile. Configuration changes? Gone after a reboot.
The reason pooled desktops work this way is that they are not booted off individual virtual disk files. Instead, one master image is put in read-only mode and used for all desktops. Any changes (that involuntarily occur) are written to a separate file, the so-called write cache. Each vendor has his own version of this technology. They work well, generally, but they all have the same disadvantage: whenever the master image needs to be updated, the write caches get out of sync and need to be discarded. With pooled desktops, user customizations survive at most till the next patch day.
That is a severe limitation and the vendors are well aware of it. To counter the shortcomings of the pooled VDI model, more software is added to the stack. The basic idea: if drive C: needs to be discarded whenever the master image is updated, why not use an additional drive D: for user apps and data? There are even solutions available where the system tries to determine automatically what needs to go to C: and what to D:. This generally works well, but it adds another layer to the stack and brings a lot of additional complexity. And such solutions are never compatible with all applications. There is always a certain percentage of apps that needs to be dealt with differently.
One thing we did not discuss yet is management. Most organizations have well-established tools and processes for managing physical PCs. VDI vendors ignore that. Their products are so revolutionary that traditional client management is not required any more, or so they think. You will be hard pressed to find terms like 'electronic software distribution' (ESD) on their websites. Yet many companies have considerable investments in both software deployment infrastructure and software packages.
An alternative to pooled virtual desktops
Is there no other path towards the future of the desktop than the pooled desktop route, adding multiple layers of complexity and forcing customers to relearn everything they know? A path where well-understood technologies are married with innovation, where existing software packages can be reused and administrators' skill sets do not become redundant over night? There is: persistent VDI with optimized local storage.
Until recently there was a big downside to using local storage for virtualization: vMotion (aka Live Migration) was not possible without shared storage, in other words a SAN. But luckily this has changed with the latest generation of hypervisors.
Think of a VDI machine as a PC. Manage it like a PC. Use the same tools and processes for physical and virtual PCs. That gets rid of most problems and leaves but one: storage. We cannot use a SAN to store hundreds or thousands of virtual disks, but we can use local storage. New enterprise SSDs like Intel's S3700 are easily fast enough for the 40 VDI machines a typical host supports. And they are finally inexpensive enough to put two of them in a RAID-1 configuration into each VDI host. With a size of 800 GB they are also large enough.
If you have been doing the math: no, I am not suggesting that 20 GB per virtual machine is enough for a modern desktop. It is not, of course. Windows 7 along with a typical set of locally installed applications requires disks of at least 80 GB. Often more. 80 GB times 40 VMs amounts to a total required net capacity of 3.2 TB. In order to provide that capacity we can either add disks, but even with 800 GB SSDs we would need 8 disks per server in a mirrored setup and that might prove to be a little expensive, although perfectly doable. Or we can be a little cleverer. If we were to take a good look at the 40 virtual disks stored per server, we would notice that their content is largely identical. If we could get rid of the duplicate bits, 800 GB of net storage capacity per server would be more than enough.
Deduplication as a technology has been around for a while. Nearly every SAN, NAS and even Microsoft Windows is capable of storing multiple identical blocks only once. But with these devices deduplication is an afterthought, they only do it in intervals. That is not good enough for VDI.
One company is doing it differently. Atlantis Computing has built their business around real-time deduplication. IO traffic from the VMs is moved through a virtual appliance that takes care of the deduplication (and reduces the number of IOs almost as a side-effect). This is the missing piece that allows us to serve persistent virtual desktops from local storage in an efficient manner. For more information see:
Replacing the SAN with local server storage has long been deemed too inflexible, too difficult to manage. Today it is a very interesting option that helps us deploy VDI the way it should be: as a true alternative to a physical PC.
About Helge Klein
Helge Klein (CTP and MVP) is an independent consultant and developer. He has worked in Citrix projects for various large German corporations and architected the user profile management product sepagoPROFILE whose successor is now available as Citrix Profile Management. Helge is also the author of the popular free tools Delprof2 and SetACL. Helge has presented at many conferences, including BriForum 2012 and Citrix Synergy 2011 and 2012.
Find out more about Helge here:
Send us feedback
Got comments or questions about VDI as an alternative to traditional desktop computing? Email us at [email protected]
Tip of the Week
This week's tip comes from reader Tony Gore who works at Aspen Enterprises in the UK:
NETGEAR make a range of devices for keeping malware out of your environment, with the UTM5 being the smallest and cheapest. Without subscriptions it is around $250 and the subscriptions are about $120 per year. There are three subscriptions available -- the AV, antispam and URL. The URL blocking is impressive -- sometimes a few pages browsing Google can result in a few hundred blocked URLs. It is pretty good at protecting you from drive-by downloads:
As an aside, there is no "per user" licensing of the protection, so for low use, large user networks it can be very cost effective. It is also a decent idea for cheap and easy protection of a "guest" network.
For personal use, Sophos have a free UTM software to put on an old PC:
Contact me at [email protected] if you have a tip you'd like to share with our readers.
Recommended for Learning
This week we have a couple of announcements from the Microsoft Virtual Academy:
New Microsoft Virtual Academy Course: Windows Server 2012 Essentials
Learn to deploy, manage, and use the powerful features and technologies of Windows Server 2012 Essentials with a free course from Microsoft Virtual Academy:
Microsoft Tools for VMware Integration & Migration Jump Start
Free half-day online Jump Start on March 14, 2013 8:00am-12:00pm PST featuring Technical Evangelist Symon Perriman and Principal System Center PM Lead Eric Winner, who will deliver best practices and insights on how to manage, monitor and automate VMware using System Center 2012. Register online today!
Quote of the Week
"Don't punish yourself for the past, aim towards the future." --Mitch Tulloch
For more nuggets of wisdom from me about business and life, follow me on Twitter:
Until next week,
Mitch Tulloch
BTW feel free to:
Note to subscribers: If for some reason you don't receive your weekly issue of this newsletter, please notify us at [email protected] and we'll try to troubleshoot things from our end.
Admin Toolbox
Admin Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be WithoutFree Trial: NetWrix Change Reporter Suite, a simple IT infrastructure auditing tool that tracks changes made to all critical IT systems and reports on the "4W detail" – Who changed What, When and Where.
Email Archiving made easy – Exclaimer Mail Archiver provides you with all the benefits of email archiving in a package that's simple to install, easy to maintain and low cost to own.
Download SolarWinds free WMI Monitor to monitor any Windows® application or server, giving you amazing insight into real-time performance with a slick desktop dashboard!
Accelerate Citrix XenDesktop and VMware View VDI deployments using Atlantis ILIO:
Events Calendar
- Microsoft Management Summit on April 8-12, 2013 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, USA
- Microsoft TechEd North America on June 3-6, 2013 in New Orleans, USA
- Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference on July 7-11, 2013 in Houston, USA
- Microsoft TechEd Europe on June 25-28, 2013 in Madrid, Spain
- NEW! - Microsoft TechEd India on March 18-19, 2013 in Bengaluru and March 25-26 in Pune
- Microsoft TechEd Africa 2013 on April 16-19, 2013 in Durban, South Africa
Add your event
PLANNING A CONFERENCE OR OTHER EVENT you'd like to tell our 100,000 subscribers about? Contact [email protected]
Webcast Calendar
Certified Career Day (Microsoft Learning)
Lead the way into the cloud-centric IT job market with industry panelists that include Paul Thurrott and Mark Russinovich. Register today for this broadcast event on March 12, 2013, 8:30 am PST and enter to win an Acer tablet!
Register for Webcasts
- Microsoft:
- VMware:
- Cisco:
- Oracle:
- O'Reilly:
Add your Webcast
PLANNING A WEBCAST you'd like to tell our 100,000 subscribers about? Contact [email protected]
Tech Briefing
We'll start with some links to some VDI products and solutions:
- Citrix XenDesktop:
- Citrix VDI-in-a-Box:
- NetApp storage for Citrix VDI:
- VMware Horizon View:
Pooled VDI is also available as a built-in solution in Windows Server 2012 as the following blog post describes (Ask the Performance Team Blog):
For additional discussion of persistent vs. non-persistent VDI, see the following post on Rob's Blog (VirtualDesktopManagement.net):
If you're planning on implementing a VDI solution using Windows 7 running on Windows Server 2008 R2, make sure you read through the following best practices information (Group Policy Central):
Note that VDI isn't always the best approach and sometimes plain old session virtualization can work better (BizTech Magazine):
Now on to some other stuff...
SCCM 2012 Client Deployment (Part 1)
This first part of a new series of articles by Scott Lowe discusses the discovery and client deployment processes (WindowsNetworking.com):
How Security Containers Protect Mobile Data
Containerization separates the business and personal use of smartphones and tablets (BizTech Magazine):
Introduction to Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
David Davis demonstrates that networking doesn't have to be expensive or complex. There are fewer network devices in the datacenter. Now, the network is in the software (WindowsNetworking.com):
Going to the Cloud? Time to Make Security and Policy Decisions
Many organizations are purchasing the right gear, deploying the right technologies, but still forgetting the policy creation process (Data Center Knowledge):
DameWare Remote Support - Voted WindowsNetworking.com Readers' Choice Award Winner - Remote Control
DameWare Remote Support was selected the winner in the Remote Control category of the WindowsNetworking.com Readers' Choice Awards. EMCO Remote Desktop Professional was runner-up while Smart-X ControlUp and and VNC Enterprise Edition were second runners-up (WindowsNetworking.com):
Why More SMBs Are Reaching the Virtualization Tipping Point
Corporate leaders share reasons for migrating to virtualized infrastructure (BizTech Magazine):
Windows 2008 R2 Domain Controller Promotion Guidance
In this article Derek Melber looks into ways to help you with your quest to get your Windows Server 2008 R2 domain controllers up and running smoothly (WindowsNetworking.com):
Windows Server News
Fundamentals of the hybrid cloud computing model
Many organizations are expected to explore the hybrid cloud this year, but that doesn't mean they fully understand it. In fact, most are unclear on the fundamentals of this dynamic cloud model. Inside this tip, learn how to define the hybrid cloud and review the top advantages it can offer.
Pros and cons of four endpoint devices for VDI
While thin clients may be the most popular endpoint devices used to run VDI sessions, they aren't your only option. Access this tip to explore insights on three alternatives – zero clients, tablet PCs and smart clients – and review the pros and cons of each so you can determine which is best for your business.
Why enterprise IT strategy should include an IaaS provider
Many IT pros are hesitant to leverage Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers, and as a result, they're missing out on a number of benefits. Find out what IaaS can offer your organization and why your enterprise IT department should embrace this evolving trend.
The best VMware backup options in the cloud
While there are some common concerns regarding cloud-based backup, when leveraged effectively, it can offer a number of key benefits. Inside this guide, explore insights on the top VMware backup options available in the cloud market and find out whether this approach is right for your business.
WServerNews FAVE Links
This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff
GOT FUN VIDEOS or other fun links to suggest you'd like to recommend? Email us at [email protected]
How single cats were spending Valentine's Day:
The million dollar 650-horsepower Ferrari Enzo is not usually driven as a rally car ...
Skier employs a backflip to outrun an avalanche during the Swatch Skiers Cup 2013 in Zermatt, Switzerland:
An amazing performance of "Shadowland" by the Pilobolus Dance Troupe:
And here's one from Tapani Laiho from Finland that shows cart racing on ice:
WServerNews - Product of the Week
WServerNews - Editors
Mitch Tulloch is Senior Editor of WServerNews and is a widely recognized expert on Windows administration, deployment and virtualization. Mitch was lead author of the bestselling Windows 7 Resource Kit from Microsoft Press and has published hundreds of articles for IT pros. Mitch is also a seven-time recipient of Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for his outstanding contributions in support of the global IT pro community. Mitch owns and runs an information technology content development business based in Winnipeg, Canada. For more information see www.mtit.com
Ingrid Tulloch is Associate Editor of WServerNews and was co-author of the Microsoft Encyclopedia of Networking from Microsoft Press. Ingrid is also Head of Research for our content development business and has co-developed university-level courses in Information Security Management for a Masters of Business Administration program.


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I seem to be the worst blogger lately, I cant share anything at the moment but I have been stitching lots, for upcoming projects!!!
This one Im currently working on needed to be soft and dainty so I chose to work the quilting by hand. Its been years since I handquilted anything, my Pfaff just makes machine quilting so easy, and Id forgotten just how relaxing it can be.
It took me awhile to get back into the swing of it and I could definitely benefit from more practice but Im pleased with how its looking so far. When I first started quilting, I hand pieced and hand quilted everything and you really do miss it!
I actually got to use some of my stencils which made me happy!! Hopefully over the next few weeks Ill be able to do some more and improve my stitching but Im really glad that I gave it a go!! It is quite relaxing and fun and I achieved the look I was after!!


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UNITED NATIONS - A United Nations inquiry Tuesday blamed Israel for six serious attacks on UN buildings during its Gaza offensive, drawing fury from Israeli officials who accused the UN body of bias.
The report was drawn up by an independent commission of inquiry set up to investigate nine cases in which UN buildings in the impoverished Gaza Strip were damaged by bombardments or arms fire during the three-week war.
The findings present the latest criticism of Israel over the war it launched against the Hamas-run territory on December 27 in response to ongoing rocket fire from Gaza militants. More than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died.
"In six of the nine incidents, the board concluded that the death, injuries and damage involved were caused by military actions, using munitions launched or dropped from the air or fired from the ground, by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)," the report said.
A seventh less serious incident was also blamed on Israeli light arm fire during the 22-day December-January offensive, while the eighth was attributed to a Palestinian faction, probably Hamas.
The probe by the United Nations Headquarters Board of Inquiry however could not determine who was to blame for the ninth incident.
The report accused Israel of failing to protect UN buildings and the civilians inside them, and recommended that the United Nations seek damages.
But Israeli officials, reacting even before the report was published, accused the United Nations of being misleading.
"The state of Israel rejects the criticism in the committee's summary report, and determines that in both spirit and language, the report is tendentious, patently biased, and ignores the facts presented to the committee," the foreign ministry said in a statement early Tuesday.
"The committee has preferred the claims of Hamas, a murderous terror organization, and by doing so has misled the world."
The headquarters for the UN Palestinian relief organization (UNRWA) was among the UN buildings damaged along with several UN-run schools during the offensive.
"IDF actions involved varying degrees of negligence or recklessness with regard to United Nations premises and to the safety of United Nations staff and other civilians within those premises, with consequent deaths, injuries and extensive physical damage and loss of property," the report said.
And it concluded "that no military activity was carried out from within the United Nations premises in any of the incidents."
UN chief Ban Ki-moon told a press conference: "I intend to seek reparations for damages incurred by the UN."
And he also countered the Israeli criticisms highlighting the "independent nature" of the inquiry, adding: "I have no authority to alter or to change the contents of the report."
The inquiry also demanded that UN leaders urge the Jewish state to formally retract allegations that Palestinians had fired from two UN-run buildings.
"The board recommended that the United Nations should seek formal acknowledgement by the government of Israel that its public statements alleging that Palestinians fired from within the UNRWA Jabalia school on 6 January and from within the UNRWA Field Office compound on 15 January were untrue and are regretted," the report said.
The Israeli foreign ministry hit back that even though Israel had cooperated fully with the committee and presented it with various intelligence material, "none of this information is reflected in the report."
"The report completely ignores the eight years of attacks against Israel that preceded the decision to initiate the operation, and ignores the difficult circumstances on the ground as dictated by Hamas and its methods of armed operation" from within heavily populated civilian areas, it said.


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Visit here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fuyumi/128/128/29
Info. and transparency page: https://wiki.casperdns.com/index.php/Orlando_Fund
This fundraiser in SL runs through July 12th benefitting the victims and families involved in the Orlando Pulse Nightclub 6-12-16 shooting incident. The signs say 100% of the donations go to "Equality Florida".
The pretty sim features a couple of person/store auction board offering goods, services, etc. with a wide variety of fabulous deals. The sim also has sale boards with products from over 100 top designers offering new or discounted items. For a list of items and much more related info. check out the Seraphim web site here: http://seraphimsl.com/2016/06/28/show-you-support-love-with-pulse/


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Posted on 04-30-2017
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6 months ago, I started a lace book Round Robin with 5 other amazing artists. My book went to Australia, thank you Suzy Quaife, you're a gem, to Alaska to meet Karen, and braved barely sub zero temperatures. It also travelled to WI where Deb found time to do gorgeous work in the middle of many distractions, it also went to Teri in New York, who is born distracted, but created beautiful pages, and last but not least, to Liz in Oregon, where the whole crazy Lacebook scheme was concocted in her studio G. And what a prized work she did in my book.
The RR theme was: Vintage or Victorian lace. My particular take on the theme was: A young woman in Paris.
Our pages travelled loose between the covers, as I suspected the spine would always be too small for the end work.
Look at this delicious edge:
A bundle of deliciousness for sure:
Here is how I bound the individual pages, with a stripe of lace on both sides, and some thinner lace to cover the stitches.
The left page is mine, right is Deb.
This page is from Teri, hand painted, if you please.
This right page is the BACK of page from Suzy, who, like all the others, did a gorgeous work on the back of the pages. They were too beautiful to cover, so I've just added a bit of lace.
These are the signatures with the lace that binds them together.
And the front and back covers with the spine, before they were all attached together. I found the pearls at Michaels. I'd bought them to study the attachment, and they were perfect on the spine.
I will post the individual pages in the next post.
Our next lace book RR is about the Medieval times. I can foresee lots of beautiful velvets and illuminated pages. Yum.


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The Basics: A very large map that starts you out by the ocean and has you work your way up the beach further and further inland until you arrive at a big Nazi compound.
What We Like: It's nice to progress from area to area and you are given a great feeling of accomplishment when you can finally see the compound off in the distance and knowing that you are so close. Once you get to the compound there are plenty of fun places to run around and even a specific way that you have to open up the PAP area. There is also a buyable ending where the PAP machine is which gives the map some closure to those who need it after a long hard fought day of zombie slaughter. The map looks good and is laid out nicely as well.
What We Didn't Like: There are no custom features to be had and no guns outside of the standard WAW guns. Also, there aren't really any objectives outside of buying the next barrier in front of you.
Final Word: Many maps are laid out to be more arena style where you open up a section of a city or a building, but this map captures the feeling of traveling a very far distance as you push further and further into enemy territory. It's a really fun experience, but bring friends, Private Ryan isn't going to save himself.


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At McGary Middle School we offer a wide range of after school programming to enhance the school day. Fall of 2016 we will be offering the following programs:
Board Games
Creative Encounters
Sports Mania (6th Grade Only)
Y-Cap (program lead by YMCA for 7th and 8th grade boys)
Computer Lab/Open Library
it's a girl thing
Garden Club
Sports Mania (8th Grade only)
Y-Cap (program lead by YMCA for 7th and 8th grade boys)
Pioneers giving back (Our community commitment to give to the community who gives so much with our student council & NJHS)
Computer lab/Open library
McGary Newspaper (A student lead newspaper)
Yearbook committee
These are in addition to our sports teams, cheerleading and dance teams.
We also offer Homework help/tutoring Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Students must sign up before 1:00pm the day they want to stay.


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Write up by Anthony Alaniz (Anthony_Alaniz). Video courtesy of Gary Hauser.
Growing up in southeast Michigan meant one of three things were likely true: Somebody in my family worked for one of the Big Three, I likely don't live in Detroit, and I was a devout fan of University of Michigan football.
All three were facts for me, and living in such close proximity to the Motor City meant its influence on the surrounding communities was immense. Ford practically owned Dearborn, Mich.
I recall visiting the Henry Ford/Greenfield Village area and an attraction called The Spirit of Ford. I had to be 10 at the time, eager to immerse myself in all things automotive. It was basically an exhibit on the history of Ford and where it was going, with numerous futuristic and improbable concepts on hand. Think of it as a tangible Ford advertisement that someone thought was a good idea before they were promptly fired.
One ride was a 4-D simulation of a Formula One car rocketing around a racetrack. I, eager, lunged at the opportunity for such an experience. I remember strapping myself into the wraparound seat, a smidgen too small for the full enjoyment of the ride, but legally tall enough to not sue.
The room darkened and the engine roared to life, the sound pumped through speakers in the headrests of the seats. The seat settled, with hydraulic hisses emanating below me as we got into position. I was flung back into my seat as the car accelerated, the seats simulating the gs of the car the best it could.
We bounced and bounded around the track, feeling every road-going imperfection, heads jostling back and forth, forwards and backwards. My neck took a beating. My father opined afterward that the ride was too rough and didn't seem real, adding that the road was smooth and such jostling was just an effect.
Watching the onboard video of David Hauser at the Course de côte de St. Ursanne from 2013 reminded me of that day in my life. You can see Hauser's head jostling almost violently as he twists his way up the hill.
The short, two-minute clip is insane, the tires spinning inches from guardrails and perilous edges and embankments. Around the 1:15 mark there is a sweeping right turn, the edge of the road melting into the countryside, the only barrier from spinning off the road lying in Hauser's skill.
How fast do you think Hauser got on his hillclimb event in the GP2 Formula car, because we know he's got cojones of steel sitting between his legs.


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When Christian Hardy suggested at one of our weekly meetings that we do a photography show, there was no debate. Within a week we had four artists who wanted to show their work. Then the number went up to five. It was on. So we started looking at dates.
Somebody suggested we tie into Second Saturday. One of the photographers in that first show said he was friends with somebody who had "started" Second Saturday. He said he'd get in touch, but we never heard back.
So, as any industrious New Orleanians would, we went ahead and put on a Second Saturday art show in March, and we've been doing one every month since.
I've done a little more digging since our first art show and I'm glad to say that the answer to who runs Second Saturday is ... nobody. It's one of those great New Orleans events that just happens. There are a lot of art galleries and a lot of patrons in the Bywater/Marigny and once a month we all get together to party.
The Saint Claude Arts District lists the venues that take part in Second Saturday, but they do not vet the venues or recruit new people. If you want to be listed, just send in your info.
Last weekend's Second Saturday listing included Veggie Fest. Nothing against vegans; my point is that Second Saturday is an amorphous thing. I'm sure somebody could claim that he or she started it and runs it. But nobody does. And that's awesome.
Over our next series of articles we are going to reach out to our venue neighbors and profile the different galleries in the Bywater/Marigny.
Author of this article Matthew Sheard of 1239 Congress writes bimonthly for NolaVie.


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Senior Julie Marshall scattered eight hits, allowed two earned runs and struck out six in six innings as the visiting Guardians won a mercy-rule shortened game over the Warriors (1-1) in Sturbridge. Senior Skylar Shugrue was 1 for 2, scored twice and stole four bases, while classmate Beth Wright was 3 for 4 with three runs for St. Peter-Marian (1-0). Kayla DiBiasie was 2 for 3 with two RBIs for Tantasqua, whuile Jeszy McGuire added two hits.
St. Peter-Marian 16, Tantasqua 4
Monday, Apr. 1, 2013, at Fiskdale
Updated: Monday, April 1, 2013, 8:08 p.m.


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Dukes of September Information
The Dukes of September formed in 2010 by Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, and Boz Scaggs. The members were formally part of the New York Rock and Soul Revue that went from 1989 to 1993 and released the popular album, New York Rock and Soul Revue: Live at the Beacon.
Donald Fagen is a musician/song-writer who was a lead member of the band, Steely Dan. He is best known for creating jazz/blues sound and plays a number of instruments, ranging from the piano, to the keyboard, and the saxophone. In addition to his work with Steely Dan, who broke up in 1981, Fagen has had a successful solo career. His debut solo album was called The Nightfly and was released in 1982, and charted at #11 on the US Billboard 200. His sophomore release, Kamakiriad, came in 1993 and charted at #10. Fagen released a third album, Morph the Cat, in 2006, but only reached #26 on the charts. He has a new album coming out this year with details still pending.
Michael McDonald is a five-time Grammy Award winning singer/song-writer baritone. He plays the piano, keyboard, and guitar, along with his vocals and is known for his blues sound. He sang back-up for Steely Dan to start his career, but joined the Doobie Brothers in 1976 until 1981. McDonald has released eight studio albums and eight compilation albums in his successful solo career. His debut album, If That's What It Takes, came in 1982 and was his highest charting album in the US at #6. Though he released a number of albums in the eighties and nineties, McDonald didn't have high-charting success again until the 2000s. His latest album, Soul Speak, was released in 2008 and charted at #12.
Boz Scaggs is a singer/song-writer/guitarist who plays soul, jazz, soft rock, and the blues. He was a member of the Steve Miller Band in 1968 and released two albums with them, but his debut solo album, Boz, came in 1965. Through the 1960s to the 2000s, Scaggs has had 20 studio albums. His highest charting album, Silk Degrees, was released in 1976 and charted at #2. His latest album, Speak Low, came in 2008 and charted at #128. Scaggs most famous single is "Lowdown,†coming off Silk Degrees and having charted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at #3.
Fagen and McDonald have worked together since the 1970s, and along with other musicians, worked in the Revue into the 1990s. 2010 marked a rejoining for the pair and Scaggs, when they announced a new tour called the Dukes of September. Members who they collaborate with include, Jon Herington on guitar, Freddie Washington on bass, Michael White on drums, Jim Beard on organ, Jay Collins, Michael Leonhart, and Walt Weiskopf on horns, and Carolyn Escoffery and Catherine Russell singing background vocals.


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Is the notion of clinging to British heritage stopping their engineers from building truly great and amazing cars? Matt thinks so.
Matt Swarts
Welcome to Drive News!
Hello there. Thanks for clicking through to us.
Let me introduce myself. My name is Matt Swarts, and I'm am the digital publisher of Drive News. What is Drive News? Well, for starters it's the site you're looking at, but that doesn't really tell you much.
What is Drive News?
Drive News is a brand new, digital, consumer motoring publication. What exactly makes us a 'consumer' publication vs a 'petrol head' publication? Well, the buying process for a car is a highly involved, generally well thought out process. To make this decision, many people will research all steps of the process online. Everything from determining what kind of vehicle to look for, how much to spend, determining finance and whether you need finance or not, what vehicles fit your need and budget, if any of those are any good and finally where to buy or test drive your chosen vehicle. All of that, and no one is servicing you, the South African motorist, with this information online.
This is where Drive News comes in.
So, we offer a range of purchasing information, but to really understand the motoring climate in South Africa, we have to look at a range of happenings. Fuel prices, where vehicles are manufactured and how that affects the price of purchasing a vehicle and what changes are happening with vehicle brands and manufacturers. Sound confusing or daunting? Don't worry. We're here to help you, report back the latest and most relevant news to you and what it will mean for your motoring lifestyle, either as a commuter or a petrol head.
Who Are We
Who is the "we" I speak of? Well, Drive News cannot be a success with just one person. Our core team consists of me, Matt, as well as two experienced writers.
First to join us is Dr. Sarah Britten. Having come from the head of strategy at Y&R, she is now a freelance brand and strategy consultant, working with some of the hottest brands and agencies in the country. She become involved with writing about cars after she become one of the 'City Shapers' who helped launch the Range Rover Evoque in South Africa.
Next up is Dirk Vale. If his name sounds familiar to the petrol heads reading, it should be. His mom is Clare Vale, 1st lady of motor racing in South Africa. While Clare drives V8 Supercars and SupaDrift in her race-built Ford Mustangs, Dirk handles the PR coverage for her and all the associated sponsors. He is also an accomplished writer, with a regular column on All Things Jabu and Run, Ride, Dive!.
Get Involved
That describes who we are, and what Drive News is. Now to get you involved. Naturally your first point of call is the comments section. For any and all posts, feel free to leave your two cents at the bottom. If you agree, disagree or think we missed something, leave it in the comments section.
Your next stops, if you would be so kind, are our social media platforms. On the right of this post (or at the bottom of it if you're on mobile) you'll find all the Drive News accounts. Twitter is our primary point of contact, but join our Facebook page and subscribe to our YouTube channel to make sure you receive all you're motoring posts sent to you. We're busy setting up Google+, but we want to make it outrageously cool, so for now, it's a work in progress.
So there you have it. A basic introduction to Drive News. Please join our social profiles, so you can hear the latest motoring news first as well as have the highest quality motoring essays shown straight into your social feed.
I look forward to you joining us!
Matt Swarts
Digital Publisher


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By: Stephen Glauz-Todrank
When the Heart Waits : Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions
A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life
Or search Amazon.com for books related to GLBT people and Christianity.
If you live in Canada, follow this link:
GLBT Christianity Book Search -- Amazon.ca
If you live in the UK, follow this link:
GLBT Christianity Book Search -- Amazon.co.uk
As people who are Christian and LGBT are redefining the traditional idea of what marriage can and cannot be, I cannot understand why it is that so many are so apprehensive of the idea of a bisexual person in a relationship with two partners, provided such a relationship is entered into consensually and with the full agreement of all involved, and given as much reverence and meaning by all involved as a monogamous commitment between two members of the same or the opposite gender would be.
Life without a sense of humor to me would be very dark and depressing, and I honestly feel that along with the many gifts God has blessed us all with to navigate the adventure of life as we know it, humor and the ability to laugh is truly one of the greatest.
Common Ground, Holy Ground


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NEW BEDFORD — The state Attorney General's Office found no evidence to warrant criminal charges in its investigation of land deals involving the Fairhaven Mills-Home Depot project and the Portuguese cultural club site during the administration of former Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz Jr.
NEW BEDFORD — The state Attorney General's Office found no evidence to warrant criminal charges in its investigation of land deals involving the Fairhaven Mills-Home Depot project and the Portuguese cultural club site during the administration of former Mayor Frederick M. Kalisz Jr.
But the attorney general also did not completely rule out possible ethics violations or future criminal charges stemming from the way those deals were handled.
Attorney General Martha Coakley said in an interview Wednesday that her office's investigation for potential criminal action involving Mr. Kalisz and former City Solicitors George Leontire and Matthew J. Thomas has concluded and "criminal action was not warranted."
She said the matter has been referred to the State Ethics Commission for its review.
In response to a request by The Standard-Times, the Attorney General's Office released this week a Jan. 23 letter it sent to Mayor Scott W. Lang stating its findings. Mayor Lang received the letter months ago. Asked to release it recently, he declined, saying it should come from the attorney general.
The investigation included "an extensive review of documents, interviews of the key players and participants in both proposed land transfers, and discussions with the Inspector General's Office concerning their report into the matter," the letter states.
"Ultimately, we determined that further criminal investigation is not warranted at this time. The Office of the Inspector General concurs," wrote Richard D. Grundy, chief of the attorney general's criminal bureau.
"The record should be clear, however, that our determination that criminal proceedings are not now appropriate should not be construed as a conclusion on the part of the Attorney General's Office that the bidding processes at issue were appropriate or complied with state ethics or other guidelines," the letter states.
A spokesman for the State Ethics Commission would not discuss the case.
David Giannotti, a spokesman for the commission, said the body has the power to impose fines of up to $2,000 for a violation. Multiple violations can increase that amount.
After taking office in January 2006, Mayor Lang moved to stop some real estate and development transactions begun during the administration of Mayor Kalisz that he said he believed were inappropriate. Mayor Lang subsequently called for an investigation of certain transactions and the role public officials and politically connected people played in setting them up.
In April 2006, the Office of the Inspector General issued a report which included among its findings that the Fairhaven Mills-Home Depot project involved a "sham" request for proposals "with a pre-ordained result."
"I find overwhelming evidence that this procurement was a sham process designed to reward a faithful political ally of the previous administration, and not to serve the best interests of the City of New Bedford," Gregory W. Sullivan, the inspector general, concluded.
Mr. Sullivan noted that former City Solicitor Thomas was involved in a "clear effort ... to stop my office from intervening in this land disposition at a much earlier date, an effort that involved mistruths, omissions and deception."
Mr. Sullivan also wrote that critical documents related to the Fairhaven Mills-Home Depot deal that should have been in the possession of the city or redevelopment agency "have apparently been lost or destroyed."
"That such documents went missing raises serious questions," Mr. Sullivan wrote.
Mr. Leontire, who later was a political adviser to Mayor Kalisz and worked in real estate development, was city solicitor for the first four years of the Kalisz administration; Mr. Thomas served as city solicitor for the remaining four years.
Asked to respond to the attorney general's letter, Mr. Leontire said Thursday, "I am glad that they issued the letter. It is consistent with what we said all along. I did my best to put together a good proposal (on Fairhaven Mills) that would have created 400 jobs, hundreds of thousands of dollars in new tax revenue for the city ... we did the best that we could.
"The fact that for 30 years nobody has been able to put together a project for that site, and it continues to lay undeveloped — I am proud of the work I did," he said.
Mr. Kalisz said Thursday he had no comment at this time in response to the attorney general's letter.
Mr. Thomas did not respond to a message left at his office Thursday.
Mayor Lang on Thursday said he was disappointed in the investigation's results, how the investigation was conducted and he remains convinced that not all the pertinent information has become known. He said, however, that he had done all he could to air the matter.
He said his expectation was a grand jury would be convened, people would testify under oath and subpoenas would be used. Instead, the investigation was conducted by state police and other investigators asking questions.
Mayor Lang, a former assistant district attorney, blamed a "code of silence — the same type of code of silence in any kind of criminal activity" for keeping investigators from the truth. He said he would be "more comfortable" if a grand jury said no crimes were committed.
The two projects the attorney general's office investigated were Fairhaven Mills-Home Depot and the Portuguese cultural center.
The Fairhaven Mills-Home Depot project involved about 15 acres north of Interstate 195 and west of the Acushnet River. Under the Kalisz administration, the city attempted to bring a Home Depot and other development to the site. More than one developer was interested in the project, but the city required the winning bidder to control 75 percent of the 12 private parcels in the development zone. The Inspector General's report details deficiencies in how the city handled that project.
The Portuguese cultural center involved an option to purchase land on what is known as the Goodyear site, a vacant parcel on Cove Street across from the former Shaw's market. The cultural center is a city project intended to bring together elements of the Portuguese community with a new multi-use facility.
Contact Joe Cohen at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Our research, news, ratings, and assessments are scrutinized using strict editorial integrity. Our editorial staff does not receive direction from advertisers on our website or our Partnerships Team. Our company may receive compensation from partners seen on our website. Here's how we make money.
Interest rates for student loans and student loan refinancing change all the time. Whether the market changes, the government makes a change, or something else – it is important to stay on top of the current student loan rates.
If you are looking for a new student loan to pay for school or are considering refinancing your existing loans, knowing the current interest rates can help you make an educated decision on which lender to choose.
We created this post to help you do just that. As soon as we are aware of changes in interest rates, we will update this page.
Below you will find current interest rates for federal student loans, private student loans, and student loan refinancing. To learn more about the numbers behind student loans, check out our Student Loan Debt Statistics page.
On this page:
- Federal Student Loan Interest Rates
- Private Student Loan Interest Rates
- Student Loan Refinancing Interest Rates
- More Information About Student Loan Interest Rates
Current & Historic Federal Student Loan Interest Rates
Since 2013, all federal student loan interest rates have been set based on the 10-year Treasury note. To learn more about how these rates are set, read the How Congress Sets Federal Student Loan Interest Rates section below. In the following table you will find the current and historic federal student loan interest rates. These rates coincide with the academic year that the loans were taken out (ex: Fall 2016 to Spring 2017). It should be noted that all of these are fixed rates, meaning that they do not change over time.
|Loan Type
|Direct Subsidized (Undergrad)
|Direct Unsubsidized (Undergrad)
|Direct Unsubsidized (Grad)
|Direct PLUS (Grad & Parent)
Current Private Student Loan Interest Rates
Unlike federal student loans, the interest rates for private student loans change much more than once a year. Private banks and lenders that offer these loans constantly update rates depending on the market.
It is also important to know that these lenders offer different rates depending on a variety of factors. The most important of these factors is creditworthiness. The better your credit (or your cosigner's credit), the lower the interest rate you will receive.
Below you will find current private student loan interest rates for some of the top lenders in the industry. If you are interested in learning more about our top choices, check out our Best Private Student Loans guide.
Undergraduate Private Student Loan Interest Rates
|Variable APR
|Fixed APR
|4.94% – 10.10%
|5.58% – 11.79%
|College Ave
|4.20% – 11.44%
|5.29% – 12.78%
|4.38% – 13.38%
|5.35% – 14.05%
|Sallie Mae
|4.62% – 11.47%
|5.74% – 11.85%
|Citizens Bank
|3.12% – 11.22%
|5.74% – 11.99%
Graduate Private Student Loan Interest Rates
|Variable APR
|Fixed APR
|5.03% – 11.23%
|6.01% – 12.29%
|College Ave
|4.07% – 9.37%
|5.29% – 10.45%
|4.38% – 9.35%
|5.35% – 9.88%
|Sallie Mae
|4.87% – 10.23%
|6.25% – 10.23%
|Citizens Bank
|3.12% – 10.87%
|5.74% – 11.75%
Parent Private Student Loan Interest Rates
|Variable APR
|Fixed APR
|College Ave
|4.07% – 9.05%
|6.62% – 11.58%
|Sallie Mae
|4.50% – 10.87%
|5.74% – 12.87%
|Citizens Bank
|5.43% – 8.75%
|5.95% – 6.55%
Find the Best Student Loans
Compare rates from 4.07% APR
Current Student Loan Refinancing Interest Rates
Like new private student loans, student loan refinancing is offered by private banks and lenders, not the government. When you refinance your student loans, your old loans will be paid off and you will be issued a new loan with a new interest rate and term length.
Typically, borrowers receive lower interest rates that can save them thousands over the lives of their loans. Alternatively, some borrowers may choose to extend their repayment terms to make repayment more manageable. Regardless, you can find the current student loan refinancing interest rates for the top lenders in the industry in the following table.
|Variable APR
|Fixed APR
|2.47% – 6.99%
|3.90% – 7.98%
|College Ave
|2.88% – 7.63%
|3.25% – 8.00%
|Citizens Bank
|3.00% – 9.74%
|3.90% – 9.99%
|2.68% – 8.96%
|5.10% – 8.93%
|2.57% – 6.97%
|3.89% – 7.89%
|2.61% – 7.35%
|3.67% – 7.25%
|2.80% – 6.01%
|3.39% – 6.69%
Refinance and Save on Student Loans
Compare rates from 2.47% APR
How Congress Sets Federal Student Loan Interest Rates
Have you ever wondered who sets the interest rates on your student loans? The answer is Congress, which passed the Higher Education Act in 1965 and has subsequently renewed and amended it several times. The law governing the setting of interest rates on federal student loans is set down in the U.S. Code, in Sections 20 U.S.C. § 1077 and § 1087. Congress passes legislation to set the interest rates, which are updated every year and apply from July 1 of Year 1 to June 30 of Year 2.
In August 2013, the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act was signed into law, tying federal student loan interest rates to prevailing market rates.
In their current form, the interest rate levels for the various types of federal student loans are based on the yield of the 10-year Treasury Note auction, plus an increment. For example, Direct Loans to undergraduates are about 2.05 percentage points above the reference 10-year T-Note yield, while those for graduates, professional students and parents cost more. Here are the rates in place from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017, when the reference T-Note yield was 1.71 percent:
- Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans (for undergraduates): 3.76 percent. In a subsidized loan, the government pays your interest until you graduate, whereas interest accrues on unsubsidized loans throughout. The maximum annual award on these loans is $5,500 for subsidized, $20,500 for unsubsidized.
- Direct Unsubsidized Loans (for graduates and professional-degree students): 5.31 percent. The maximum annual award on these loans is $20,500.
- Direct PLUS Loans (for parents, graduates and professional-degree students): 6.31 percent. The maximum annual award on these loans is the cost of attendance minus any other financial aid that the student receives.
- Federal Perkins Loan (for undergraduate, graduates and professional-degree students): 5 percent. The maximum annual award on these loans is $5,500 (with a lifetime cap of $27,500) for undergraduates, or $8,000 (with a lifetime cap of $60,000) for post-graduates.
How to Calculate How Much Interest You Will Owe
Every month, the interest amount you owe on your loan is recalculated using a daily interest formula:
Interest amount = outstanding principal balance x number of days since last payment x interest rate factor.
The interest rate factor is your annual interest rate divided by the number of days in the year. Your loan servicer is responsible for billing you monthly and explaining how your payments are applied to your principal balance.
Federal Student Loan Fees
In addition to federal student loan interest rates, student loan borrowers must pay an origination fee that is applied directly to the loan balance. That is, the loan fee is subtracted from your loan proceeds, although you must pay back the full loan amount. The latest fees range from 1.069 percent for Direct Loans to 4.276 percent for Direct PLUS Loans. There are no fees for Perkins Loans.
Two other points:
- All federal student loans issued on or after July 1, 2006 are fixed-rate. Before then, most student loans had a variable interest rate.
- Private student loans providers can charge higher interest rates, fixed or variable.
Differences Between Variable, Mixed, and Fixed Interest Rates
If you are a student (or the parent of a student) taking or refinancing a student loan for the first time, you'll need to understand certain basic concepts so that you can choose the options that make the most sense in your situation. One of the most important facets of any loan is how much interest you'll have to pay, and whether your monthly payments will change over time.
Interest is the fee lenders charge on the money you borrow. Federal law dictates that consumer interest rates be expressed as an annual percentage rate, or APR, thereby allowing you to compare different loan offers on a consistent basis. If you were to take out a $20,000 student loan at 4 percent APR, you'd expect to pay interest charges of $800 a year. However, the APR also includes one-time and/or monthly fees, so your total charge might be more than $800 in the first year and less in subsequent years.
Normally, you pay back student loans in monthly installments that include interest and principal, meaning that higher interest rates require bigger monthly payments and a higher total cost for the loan. You normally don't have to begin repaying your student loans until you finish your schoolwork, but interest might accrue while you are in school – this is called an unsubsidized loan – for federal student loans. Conversely, the government might pay the interest while you're still in school – a subsidized loan. About 93 percent of all student loans are from the federal government, and the remainder from private lenders. Among the important distinctions between federal and private student loans is the fact that federal ones initiated after July 1, 2006 are all fixed-rate loans.
Interest on student loans comes in three versions:
1) Fixed Interest Rates
The interest rate you pay remains stable over the life of the loan. This means your monthly payments won't change until the loan is paid off, forgiven or refinanced. All federal student loans have had fixed interest rates since 2006.
Generally, federal student loan interest rates are based upon the yield on May 10-year Treasury Note plus an increment that varies by the type of loan program. The federal fixed rate is reset every year on July 1, and the ones set on July 1 2016 range from 3.76 percent to 6.31 percent, depending on program type. Note that federal Perkins Loans always carry a fixed interest rate of 5 percent. Many private lenders offer fixed-interest-rate student loans, and they are free to set their rates as they see fit.
Fixed-Rate Pros
- Certainty: You know exactly how much interest you'll pay each month, so it's easier to budget. Also, you won't be affected if interest rates climb after you take out your loan. Bear in mind, however, that your monthly principal payments may change over time if your loan is an income-driven plan, an optional feature on most federal student loans.
Fixed Rate Cons
- Cost: In most cases, the interest rate on a fixed loan will be higher in the early years than are the introductory rates on a variable loan. Thus, you may pay out more money in the short term with a fixed-rate loan.
- Falling rates: If you take out a fixed-rate loan during a time when interest rates are high, those rates are locked in unless you refinance the loan when interest rates drop. Refinancing may require additional fees.
2) Variable Fixed Rates
The interest rate you pay changes every reset period, depending on changes to a base rate, such as LIBOR or the fed funds rate. The new interest rate applies for the reset period, which can be a month, several months, or a year. For example, interest on a 20-year variable-rate student loan with an annual reset period would be recalculated every year and apply for the following 12 months.
Rates might go up, down or remain unchanged, depending on economic conditions, the lender's costs and prevailing interest rates. Only private lenders currently offer variable rate student loans. Federal variable rate loans, which were predominant before July 1 2006, were reset every year on July 1.
Variable Rate Pros
- Cost: The initial interest rate on a variable loan is usually lower. This makes it easier to afford during the first year. In addition, if the base rate remains steady, the overall cost of the student loan over its lifetime might be lower.
- Caps: Many of the private variable-rate student loans have annual and lifetime caps on interest rates, which protects you during times of wild inflation.
Variable Rate Cons
- Uncertainty: It's harder to predict your monthly payment amount, which can confound your budgeting efforts.
- Cost: You will pay much more with a variable rate loan if the base rate rises substantially. Caps help, but some loans have outrageously high caps that don't really protect you.
3) Mixed/Hybrid Interest Rates
Mixed-rate student loans are hybrids, with an initial multi-year (usually five years) fixed-rate period followed by a variable-rate period for the remainder of the loan's lifetime. These loans are only offered privately.
Mixed Rate Pros
- Certainty early on: Mixed-rate loans provide certainty during the early years when students experience dynamic employment conditions, and convert to variable rate loans at a time when, hopefully, borrowers are financially better able to handle the possibility of higher rates.
- Feeling lucky? These loans might work well if you feel interest rates are going to rise in the short run but decline in the long run. Admittedly, that's a tough call to get right.
Mixed Rate Cons
- Crap-shoot: Mixed rate loans can be the most expensive variety if your luck runs bad. First, you start off paying a fixed rate that is higher than the rate on a comparable variable loan. Then, if prevailing rates are high when you enter the variable phase, you'll be paying more than you would have for the fixed-rate loan. That's a double whammy that could cost you dearly.
Other Considerations
Even though the Federal Reserve raised the fed funds rate twice in 2016, rates currently are low from a historical viewpoint. It seems likely that rates are now in an uptrend, which favors locking in low rates with a fixed-interest student loan. Rates can balloon during hyper-inflationary periods, but bear in mind that federal student loans are capped at 8.25 percent to 10.5 percent, depending on the program.
If you prefer variable or mixed student loans, remember that they are only offered privately, which means you must have a good or excellent credit rating to pass the lender's underwriting standards. On the other hand, federal student loans are based on need, not credit score, although you can be turned down if you've proven to be an unreliable borrower in the past.
Also, the federal loan's monthly principal payments can be keyed to your income, and there are available provisions for refinancing, debt reduction and debt forgiveness. However, if you are dead set on a variable rate student loan, you have no choice but to use a private lender.
If you decide you want a variable rate loan, then comparison shop among banks and other private lenders and ask these questions:
- How often are the loan's interest rates reset?
- How long is the reset period?
- What are the annual and lifetime caps on the loan?
- What is the minimum credit score necessary to obtain to obtain the loan?
What Congressmen Have Said About Student Loan Interest Rates
The modern era of student loans began in 2010 when Congress passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act that eliminated guaranteed student loans made by commercial banks, leaving only direct loans originated and funded by the Department of Education as the vehicle for obtaining federal student loans. The Act effectively cut out the middleman for the vast majority of student loans.
Students of legislative history can revisit the news stories about student loans and quickly identify the main players in Congress. For example, in 2010, Representative George Miller, a California Democrat, was chairman of the Education and Labor Committee and a force behind passage of the Act. His comment at the time was, "Why are we paying people to lend the government money and then the government guarantees the loan and the government takes back the loan?"
Republican Senator Lamar Alexander was fiercely opposed to the Act, calling it a Washington takeover of the federal student loan program.
Debate on Interest Rates
After the passage of the 2010 Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, Democrats and Republicans got into a perennial debate as to how to determine the interest rates for federal student loans. Congress voted to set the rates every year, a process that often resulted in a deadlock. Each year the rhetoric became more heated until it reached a crescendo in 2013.
The Democrats wanted to simply extend the existing fixed 3.4 percent interest rate on undergraduate direct loans, in order to keep the loans relatively affordable. The Republicans instead wanted to peg student loan interest rates to market forces. In 2013, Democrats controlled the Senate, but the House had a Republican majority and had passed its bill in June. A standoff was inevitable. The following are some of the comments made at the time.
Rep. John Boehner (R – Ohio)
House Speaker Boehner was easily able to shepherd the Republican proposal through the House, in part because 2013 was an election off-year and his party didn't fear voter repercussions. "White House and Senate Democrats have let these students down," Boehner said. "The House has done its job. If you look at what the House passed, it is very similar to what the president offered in his own budget earlier this year."
Senator Harry Reid (D – Nevada)
In 2013, Reid was the Senate Majority Leader. He led the fight to extend the 3.4 percent interest rate on undergraduate loans for another year. In July, Reid said of the House bill, "What is [House Speaker John Boehner] talking about? They've acted and now we should act? I guess we could talk about what he didn't do last year on the farm bill. I guess we could talk about what they didn't do last year on the post office. I guess we could talk about what they haven't done this year on the farm bill." Clearly, passions ran deep over this issue. "If the legislation passed by House Republicans or the plan by Senate Republicans becomes law, student loan rates would more than double over the next few years as interest rates increased," Reid said. "We should support a plan that would be better for students, not worse for students."
Senator Richard Burr (R – North Carolina)
Senator Burr opposed the Democratic proposal. He commented in June about the Democratic bill, "If you believe that it's appropriate for Congress to pick winners and losers then support this bill. If you believe that that's not the congressional role and that we need a long-term, permanent, transparent, predictable solution then vote against this bill and let's sit down between now and July 1 and write a bipartisan approach that solves this problem once and for all."
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D – Massachusetts)
Senator Warren gave a speech in May on the Senate floor supporting the Democratic proposal. She remarked, "Some may say that we can't afford this proposal. I would remind them that the federal government currently makes 36 cents in profit on every dollar it lends to students. Add up all of those profits and you'll find that student loans will bring in $34 billion next year. Meanwhile, big banks pay interest that is one-ninth the rate that students will pay. That is wrong. It doesn't reflect our values. We shouldn't be profiting from our students who are drowning in debt while we're giving great deals to big banks. We should be investing in our young people so they can get good jobs and grow this economy, so let's give them the same great deal the banks get."
Senator Lamar Alexander (R – Tennessee)
Senator Alexander, a former Education Secretary, leveled some dubious charges in July against the Democratic approach: "The Democrats, when they passed the health care law, took $50 billion from over-charging students and used it to reduce the debt, pay for Pell grants, and to pay for the health-care bill. And they're still doing that." At the time, the Washington Post analyzed the Senator's facts and gave him Four Pinocchios, meaning it felt his statement was basically untrue.
Representative Virginia Fox (R – North Carolina)
As we shall see shortly, Congress was able to work out a compromise by the end of July. Rep. Fox, the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training chairwoman, took a victory lap: "We've all seen how Washington's involvement in rate-setting is a recipe for uncertainty and confusion. Students deserve better. The Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act, much like the House's Smarter Solutions for Students Act, ends the temporary fixes that have failed to strengthen our nation's student loan system and offers long-term simplicity, rate caps, and an assurance that interest rates are immediately in line with the free market. It's a shame that it took Senate Democrats this long to join us and correct the problem, but it's better they complete the assignment late than never."
The Outcome
The final legislation was indeed keyed to market forces, but the Democrats succeeded in placing caps on interest rates:
- Undergraduate Direct Loans use a formula based on the 10-year Treasury note plus 2.05 percent, with an 8.25 percent interest rate cap
- Graduate Direct Loans use a formula based on the 10-year Treasury note plus 3.6 percent, with a 9.5 percent interest rate cap
- Graduate and parent Direct PLUS Loans use a formula based on the 10-year Treasury note plus 4.6 percent, with a 10.5 percent interest rate cap
These rules continue to the present day.
About the Federal Reserve Raising Interest Rates in 2017
Just about every country on the planet has a central banking system responsible for controlling monetary policy, and in the U.S. it's known as the Federal Reserve. Created in 1913, the Federal Reserve has several responsibilities, including the setting of a key rate, the federal funds rate, that affects all other interest rates in the nation and all over the world.
The Fed's Mission
The Fed is charged with controlling inflation consistent with maximizing employment. When inflation looms, the Fed raises the fed funds rate to slow down economic activity and relieve inflationary pressure.
Banks must maintain a certain amount of cash reserves on hand, and often borrow or lend money to other banks overnight to meet reserve requirements. The fed funds rate is how much a bank charges to lend to another bank overnight. When the Fed raises this rate, banks have less money to lend out because they are paying higher interest costs. This drives up interest rates throughout the economy, causing credit to be rationed based on borrowers' willingness to pay more for a loan. If interest rates rise high enough, borrowers will stop borrowing and economic growth will stall, which should help slow down or reverse inflation.
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (made up of the Fed chairperson and a rotating list of regional fed governors) meets several times a year to consider changes to the fed funds rate. Committee members are called hawks if they favor aggressive control of inflation by quickly raising the fed funds rate, while committee doves are slower to raise the rate out of fear of damaging the economy and the job market.
The Rate Environment
The fed funds rate was a little over 5 percent in 2008 when the mortgage meltdown triggered the Great Recession. The rate dropped quickly in 2009 – 2010 to a 0.0 to 0.25 percent range, a historically low rate meant to stimulate borrowing and reinvigorate the economy. Fed funds remained at that rate until 2016, when the Fed raised the rate twice in 0.25 percent increments.
At the beginning of 2017, the fed funds rate stood in the 0.50 to 0.75 percent range, and the Fed indicated that it would boost the rate three times this year, up from the previous forecast of two rate hikes in 2017. The additional hawkishness derives from relatively full employment coupled with Republican plans to cut taxes while increasing the deficit, thereby stimulating the growth rate of the gross national product and igniting inflation.
How the Rate Hikes Affect You
A higher fed funds rate ripples through the economy, boosting the prime rate and the yield on Treasury debt. Almost every corner of the economy will feel the impact, including:
- Savings: The interest rates on savings accounts, annuities and certificates of deposit tend to be "sticky," that is, to rise more slowly than do the rates for borrowing. Those who depend heavily on savings, such as retirees, will see some relief from years of punk interest income, but dramatic changes are not yet on the horizon.
- Mortgages: The most popular mortgage is still the 30-year fixed-rate variety. The rate on this mortgage bottomed out around 3.5 percent in recent years, but now averages around 4.3 percent and is predicted to climb another percentage point in 2017. For an average-sized mortgage of $237,000, a one point rate increase means new mortgages would cost an additional $138 per month, or almost $50,000 over the 30-year lifetime. Naturally, higher mortgage rates will slow down home sales and make refinancing less attractive. Mortgage brokers might try to compensate by loosening the underwriting requirements for new borrowers. Very loose credit standards were a prime cause for the 2008 mortgage meltdown.
- Credit cards: The average annual percentage rate (APR) on credit cards has been bumping around in the 15 to 20 percent range for years. If your card uses a variable APR, expect to see your rates jump by a one or two percentage points. That might seem benign, but don't forget that credit cards use compound interest, which increases the pain of higher rates. Now would be a good time to pay down your credit card balances.
- Student loans: The causal chain works like this: A higher fed funds rate boosts the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which in turn raises rates on new student loans. Each July 1, rates on new federal student loans are adjusted to reflect the 10-year T-Note yield, so students should be prepared for a one or two percentage point bump in rates over the next few years.
- Car loans: If you are contemplating a car purchase, it behooves you to move quickly, before the rate on car loans starts rising seriously.
- Rent: Landlords will raise rent because their own credit costs will increase, and higher mortgage rates will drive demand for renting rather than home purchasing. If your wages also rise, you may be able to afford higher rents.
Author: Dave Rathmanner
3 Comments
Agera. E
how can I apply for this students loan? is there website that I will enter and follow the instructions for the application?
Tom Flynn (Community Manager)
Hey Agera,
Below is an article that will give you some more information on the best private student loans available:
Good and amazing information about low interest rate loans and i am hoping that you keep on sharing such kind of useful information daily….
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text:
According to Barack Obama's White House schedule today, he has some time after 2:10 p.m. to do anything in the world he'd like to do. But apparently he still won't meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Instead, his press secretary told the media that Obama may call Netanyahu on the phone tomorrow.
Obama does have time, however, to have his campaign send out more fundraising emails announcing that he's getting ready to hit the trail with President Clinton.
No wonder Obama didn't want to meet with Bibi in person. If he had, Bibi might have given Obama his graphic of the Iranian nuclear bomb program, explained it to him slowly, and forced him to acknowledge that we have a problem with Iran that talking incessantly won't solve.


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Mostly just my books, but also some reviews (they might contain spoilers, they're imported from GR and don't parse).
I'm an avid reader of all types, but be warned that I mostly enjoy: horror, sci-fi, fantasy, romances and M/M erotica.
I got this book free from a giveaway.
The premise sounded interesting, although I can't say I much believed the title. Since I'm delving into writing, I figured I'd join and see if I could win it and if so, how it was. I did, and so here we are.
Please note: I have not actually tried the method yet, so I can't vouch for how good it works (or not), but I will review the book itself.
The book offers a general review of things that will help you build up to a book release (and how to live up to it, according to it). It's reasonable enough, with sound (if slightly obvious sometimes) advise, and it promises to be good for self-publishing as well as traditional publishing.
One thing that annoyed me was the self-quoting (little red squares of text quoting the thing that is either on that same page right next to the bos or on a page before/after). They were a little distracting because, in a ~190 pages book that has no walls of text, it was really not necessary.
Basically, the book treats your author name as a business brand, and I think it has a solid point in telling one to behave as if they were a professional business; after all, as a professional writer, that's what you'd be. They called this your "brand", a word I didn't much care for when it was first mentioned, but that made a lot more sense towards the end of the book.
Some sections have little exercises for you to do as you go along, which is kind of cute. It also has resources (read: several liniks) for helpful things: bookformatting, editors, examples and other such. However, I don't feel telling you "these sites do it great" is good content, when some things can be explained directly.
This also talks a lot about blogging, as it seems to be the basis of this social platform. I understand why it would be so and the need for it, however I've been reading lately that it might not be good for some writers (read: If you abandon your blog later, because even if you DO manage to go through with the 90-day proposed here, someday you're just bound to run out of ideas on what to blog about, particularly if your subject matter has a rather finite set of topics to cover).
Sometimes the book feels a little repetitive. Things that are explained are then either re-explained in slightly different wording or merely expanded upon.
I did find the pinterest tactics/suggestions (as brief as that section was) interesting. Some ideas are pretty out there ("Spend a month living as one of your characters (e.g., exploring the Amazon) and post the video documentary series", for instance), but not bad (if you're rich and can do that ;) ).
Although it promises to view a writers platform, it also provides a general overview on editing and other such advise. In fact, up to about ~130 pages in, it's all a general overview of things: of what the social platforms are, of what you should and shouldn't do, etc. After that you really go in-depth on a step-by-step of the program you are to follow.
It does look like a time-intensive program, the 90 days you decide to do it should be spent quite a bit on it. It's definitely not apt for the socially reclusive (of course, you're building a social platform, so you're not -supposed- to be reclusive, but if you have a hard time maintaining your regular social circles, then creating a social platform might not be for you... )
The best advise this book gives is "You're building a successful platform. Behave as if you already have one."
Overall though, the information found here is nothing that can't be found all around the internet, but I suppose it's good to save yourself the googling and have it all in one place. It's a quick read, it doesn't hurt to give it a look even if you won't (or can't) go through with the calendar right away.
If you know nothing of how to build a writer's platform, this book might just be great for you.
If you have a basic idea already, then you may not find it as useful or as interesting, but you may still find some tips and examples to build on that spark your own creativity.


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Forgiveness and Healing for the Paralyzed Man
Performing His great miracles had drawn so many crowds;
When Jesus came back home again, the people gathered 'round.
Not a bit of space was found – there were so many folks!
No room inside or outside of the home where Jesus spoke.
While Jesus preached and shared the Scriptures with the people near,
Four men approached the house to take a crippled man in there.
The man they brought could not stand up or sit or even walk.
Upon his mat, they carried him for healing that they sought.
In order to reach Jesus, they climbed on the roof so high.
They took the man upon the mat and lowered him inside.
For healing of this man, their faith was seen by Jesus then.
It touched His heart and Jesus forgave all of this man's sins.
Some of the teachers of the Law were thinking, "He's blaspheming!"
Since only God can forgive sins – was this man somehow scheming?
"Which is easier?" Jesus said, knowing what they thought,
"To forgive sins or tell this man to get up and to walk?"
Jesus gave the crippled man instructions to arise,
When he did, all were amazed, and praising God on High!
What Did We Learn? Jesus knew that the man needed to be forgiven of his sins even more than he needed healing in his body.
"He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, 'We have never seen anything like this!'" (Mark 2:12 / NIV)
Have you asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins?
Scripture Reference: Mark 2:1-12


text: Talent appears in mysterious ways. I have a friend who operates a hay and feed store in northern California whose husband is in a rock band that I saw at the House of Blues early this year. Things and bands change and before I know it he has been invited to join Jason Vanderford's new project, Junk Parlor, giving me an opening to invite Jason to join us on Music Friday and give us the inside story on his new project. This will be a preview of Junk Parlor's concert in Los Angeles which will I am sure be a festive evening of cajon, gypsy rock and pure fun. Jason and my friend R.T. Goodrich, Junk Parlor's drummer join is at 2:30 pm ET this Friday.


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We all have questioned the existence of God in some moment… A moment when we were in extreme pain, when we incurred unfair treatment and when we lost somebody we love dearly.
Atheists in many countries and in many communities are discriminated against. They are sometimes considered ignorant or an anomaly. But what if they have a reason for their belief (or lack of belief to be correct)?
We have 24 atheists telling why they don't believe in God. Go ponder!
#1 So much pain and sorrow
Logic. When I apply my logic and my basic understanding of the world I can only reach the conclusion that there is no god.
First of all, it makes a lot of sense to me why people would conjure up the idea of a higher power. As humans we naturally want to understand what we do not understand. Why does it rain? What is the sun? Where do we go when we die? The concept of god and religion answers all these questions. We have science to answer these questions for us now. Coincidentally, the rise in our knowledge and understanding through science over the centuries coincides with the rise in our skepticism for religion.
Then we've got to ask ourselves, why do we believe in the existence of god today? Basically through a series of a two-thousand years game of Chinese whispers. If you make a grand claim, such as a higher power creating and controlling the earth, as a logical person I will naturally ask for adequate proof. A book of stories is not enough.
If you could provide me with undeniable evidence that god existed, I would have to conclude that not only do I dislike god, but actually find him to be a bit sick. For the vast majority of animal species the world is nothing but pain and misery. Bigger animals eating smaller animals alive so they don't stave to death, like why not just design the world so every animals eats fruit and plants? What's the deal with the botfly? Why introduce an animal that can only survive by burrowing itself into the flesh of bigger animals causing them a great deal of pain and discomfort? What's the deal with cancer and all those other debilitating diseases? So many questions for this god and his horrible creation.
#2 There are a LOT of them
Because having to choose 1 out of approximately 4200 choices makes me think there's a whole lot of going on.
Ricky Gervais summed it up best: "If you took every book and record of every religion and destroyed it, 1000 years from now, those religions would NEVER return as the same. Ever. There might be religions, but they would be different. If you took every book and text about science and destroyed it, 1000 years from now, they would ALL be back. Exactly the same with the exact same information."
#3 For this guy, things are pretty backwards
At some point I thought "Wait a minute, why should the default be to believe in god and the atheists have to justify their stance? It should be exactly the other way round: Default should be atheism and you have to give me a pretty darn good reason not to be one."
Haven't been presented with a pretty darn good reason yet.
#4 Sitting there, waiting for something to happen
I never had a spiritual experience in church. I tried, I wanted to believe. My family took me to church growing up but something always felt hollow and fake about it. It never felt real.
I also couldn't rationalize how my family's religion could be the "right" one when there were so many other gods and religions. So I kind of became agnostic for a while.
But I did finally have a spiritual experience on my first LSD trip. I can't describe it but anyone who has taken psychedelics knows what I'm talking about. THAT was real.
#5 Just accept things for what they are
There is no evidence of religion be true. Religious people have told me time and time again "Well evolution is just a theory yet you accept that. Why can't you accept religion?" I think religion makes no sense. It isn't feasible in my mind. Theories like evolution, the big bang, etc. have evidence, but can't be proven unless we could travel through time. Plus it's a whole lot easier believing in nothing and just accepting things for what they are.
#6 It's all about ME
The same reason I don't believe in Zeus, Odin, Ra, Krishna, Raiden, Quetzalcoatl, or Santa Claus.
Most religious people are 99% atheist, if they think about it. They are willing to dismiss and laugh at all the other gods in world, but somehow THEIR invisible sky friend is real.
When you apply the same lens that lets you laugh at other gods to your own god, its really hard to keep believing.
– jsreyn
#7 We each have our own way of seeing things
I developed a simple life philosophy just by observing the world and people around me. The philosophy is simple: Don't be a to people, and help out when you reasonably can. Everything else I do in life stems from that philosophy. No religious subtext or divine end goal is needed.
#8 People should never live in fear
I think as human beings we naturally fill in our cognitive blanks. Gods were created to explain un-explainable events. Now, however, science can fill in most of those blanks. The only mechanisms to continue belief in gods are fear, tradition, and metaphysical loneliness and insecurity.
I think of faith like an abusive relationship. The abused is afraid to leave because he or she is afraid of the consequences, fearful that no one else will love them, worried about ending a marriage and being a divorcee, afraid of being alone. They think about all the bad, but then remember that feeling when it was good. They defend their abuser. Then they finally get up the courage and leave.
They realize that all of these fears were in fact constructed by the abuser. They are not going to be alone forever. They are not worthless without their spouse. No one who's worth looks down on them.
This has been my experience with religion and faith. Now that I am no longer fearful, because I no longer believe, I live a much more authentic and free life. I still have the same values.


text:
How good do you lot think he is? And where do you think he will end up?
Averaging a goal a game at club level and just over 1 in 2 at international. That puts him up there with the very best in the world. Just got his 30th goal of the season, in 30 games.
I don't think England have had a player this good since Shearer and I would say he is a world class footballer at this point with no real weaknesses and at 24 has his best years ahead of him.
I'm quite excited about him I have to say.


text:
The best BitTorrent client for Mac has an unofficial version for Windows. Yes, you're right, we're talking about Transmission. Thus, you can get hold of a fork of this excellent P2P exchange program to download whatever files you need.
Fast and simple BitTorrent client.
This edition of the tool comes along with the modifications necessary to adapt its usability to Microsoft's operating system. The developers have come up with a minimalistic interface and made the corrections necessary for it to work in a speedy and nimble manner.
Main features
- Download files via the P2P network.
- Interface with a compact view.
- Includes the typical pause, resume and stop download options.
- Possibility to select the upload and download limits.
- Access to information about torrents.
All in all, it's a simple application to manage your downloads on the BitTorrent networks.


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Bourbon County "Knights 4-H Horse Club
Open Youth and 4-H Alumni Show
May 19, 2018 Starting 9am Bourbon County Fairgrounds,
Paris Entry Office opens at 7am.
Show contacts:
Michelle Straw at (859) 383-4000 or (859) 707-6439
Bourbon County Extension office at (859) 987-1895.
Open to all youth 5-18 yrs of age as of January 1, 2018 and 4-H Alumni 19 & over.
$7.00 entry fee for each class.- Exceptions: Class 9 Lead line is free.
Cash and Prizes: $15 for 1st Place, $10 for 2nd Place, $5 for 3rd place.
Trophy for 1st place and ribbons for 1st-8th places in each class.
4-H High-Point Eligibility (Must be a current 4-H member in any county):
One 4-H Junior (13 & under) and one 4-H Senior (14-18 yrs) High Point Award will be given. We will also be giving a High Point Award to our 19 & over 4-H Alumni
Exhibitor must show in a Showmanship class and at least 2 performance classes to qualify for High-Point Awards. Overall highest totalof points at the end of the day will be your High Point Winners. All Points must be with the same horse. If using more than one horse, each must have its own entry and back number.
Rules and Guidelines:
Kentucky State 4-H rules apply:
ASTMEI approved safety helmets required in ALL riding classes if under the age of 18. No exceptions. Proper boots or shoes with deep heels must be worn. No Tennis Shoes.
Riders under 18 yrs of age MUST have parent on-site to sign for permission to ride. Each horse must have a current negative coggins test certificate. No Stallions may be shown.
Show officials may excuse any entry for safety, health, lameness, or any other justifiable reasons at their discretion.


text:
When it comes to web design, it's all fun and games until someone wants revisions. There is no shortage of aspects that make this job a hard one. Some of them, like consistently emerging technologies, new techniques and a rapid pace might seem like aspects that make this job hard for those looking from the outside in. On the contrary, I find that a lot of these things make what I do exciting and serve as a method for keeping my interest peaked.Read the Rest
Monthly Archives: July 2011
Web Design is Easy
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I have come to accept that I have an easy job. Of course we live in a world where outside of high school having an easy job may not be something to be particularly proud of but I am. Now when I say that my job is easy I don't mean I don't put any effort or any time into what I do, quite the opposite really. Now you may say that this post already has a misleading title but you must understand that I don't consider either of these things a real factor in what makes a job easy or hard.Read the Rest
The Medium Is The Message
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Since the early days of communication, humanity has been captivated by the methods it uses to convey and preserve information. How we communicate with each other defines who we are and constitutes so much of what makes a culture and an individual unique. Over the centuries, we have seen media evolve across a wide array of channels, from print to radio to television to the Internet. Each one of these channels, or media, has its own unique characteristics, much like the people who use them.Read the Rest