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©2011 David Dietrick
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Capital Ship
13 comments:
Dietrick! Cool. Why not indeed. Loved the stuff he did for GDW and FASA back in the day. Very iconic style. It always reminds me of some of the the marker rendering styles in the early Star Wars concept art books too.ReplyDelete
It always reminds me of some of the the marker rendering styles in the early Star Wars concept art books too.ReplyDelete
Same here! That's a big part of why I hired him -- that and his long-time association with Traveller.
It's a ship? It looks like a gun. I mean, it's neat, but it looks like a gun.ReplyDelete
Zak: What do you think a military space vehicle is, anyway? ;)ReplyDelete
Cool. I love it when spaceships look like spaceships and not like "futuristic" airplanes.ReplyDelete
It's a ship? It looks like a gun. I mean, it's neat, but it looks like a gun.ReplyDelete
I thought that was a rather obvious feature myself. Of course I just saw Aliens again today and have to admit the Sulacco looks like a giant combat shotgun to me as well even without the inclusion of the muzzle design(s) of the illustration above. Maybe it's just I see guns in silhouettes like that (long bit 'barrel' + perpendicular jutting 'grip' & stubby 'stock' = gun) and figure the designer does too.
To me it suggests some sort of spinal mount, which I would think was a nod to Traveller while evoking a retro low tech form follows function 'hard sci' feel.
Maybe I assume too much however.
Good advertisement for your upcoming work! I like it.ReplyDelete
Marvelous. I love the dorsal and ventral turrets amidships--at least that's what I presume those are. Dietrick is a long-time favorite; his work is always eye-catching.ReplyDelete
Ship looks good. He got the solar sail, sort of. I am guessing that the nose is pointing upwards. What he missed is the propulsion part. I am guessing that the ship uses a version of the photon rocket propulsion, that would require a fission reactor, helium fuel, a version of a particle accelerator/gun to shoot the fuel, magnetic coils to control the fission/anti matter explosion in the propulsion par of the ship, its burner, which would be protected by an giant parabolic reflector screen, that would protect the ship from the heat and destructiveness of the controlled fission reaction. Taken together you would have a space vessel that would have constant acceleration to give constant consinuous acceleration to bring it to relativistic speeds.ReplyDelete
Combat oriented space opera genre seems to eschew this realistic terrestrial technology (and trhe bulky appearance) in favor of the mything warp drives/jump speeds/UFO anti-gravity magic, which allows open/diffuse designs for spacecradft (that couldn't withstand even the acceleration forces that were routinely endured by the airframes of the flying fortresses (30,000+ PSI on the wing root, when the plane is pulling out of the dive to avoid the flak) and for spectacular space battles, reminiscent of the terrestrial navies, while the realistic space ship will go out in a cloud of dust (a la Star Wars) if the reflector shield developsa a tiniest crack one molecule wide. Any kinetic particle inpact on the ship would generate it, so any single hit on the ship would be the end for that vessel. I think that George Lucas got that part right.
Very very cool, and even better that you have Mr. Dietrick's artwork.ReplyDelete
Great to see some new art from DD. He was/is one of my favorite RPG artists. His art was probably the best thing about the FASA Star Trek RPG.ReplyDelete
@Bear: The black part at the top is obviously thepropulsion, since it ends in a classic "Saturn V" cup-shaped nozzle is surrounded by mysterious "accelerator rings" and is shielded from the main ship by a giant plate. That would make the protruding bit at the bottom left a really big (compared to the overall size of the ship) weapon.ReplyDelete
I like the drawing. Just wondering if the components other than the propulsion axis are modular add-ons?ReplyDelete


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Kimono-style silk wrap dress with oriental print in black
Goods will not be delivered on weekends or bank holidays, unless otherwise stated. Orders placed after 12pm on Friday will be dispatched on the next working day, Monday.
Cut in a luxurious Italian crepe de chine silk, this intricate conversational print features oriental flowers and majestic floral birds which give the Akiko dress an extra special opulent elegance. It is cut in a kimono-style wrap front fastening with ties to help define your waist. The keyhole detail around the neckline fastens with a button and extends into a chic raised neckline. Complement with subtle accessories to let the bold print breathe.
- Liberty crepe de chine, 100% silk, made in Italy
- Wrap style
- Tie fastening
- Keyhole neckline with button
- Side slits
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- Fully lined
- Dress length: 100cm (39.5in)
- Model height: 1.79cm (5'11)
- Also available in Yellow and Black Flora Belle

subset: commoncrawl


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Hispanic teens more likely to abuse drugs, survey finds
(HealthDay)—Hispanic teens are more likely to abuse illegal and legal drugs than their black or white peers, a new report finds.
Fifty-four percent of Hispanic teens surveyed said they had used an illicit drug, compared with 45 percent of black teens and 43 percent of white teens.
"Hispanic kids in grades nine to 12 are at higher risk," said Sean Clarkin, director of strategy and programs at The Partnership at Drugfree.org, the nonprofit group that released the report Tuesday.
Hispanic children perceive these drugs as less harmful than other teens, he said.
Why is that? "They see drug use among their peers and in their community, and the messages they are not getting from their parents—these all may be contributing to this feeling that drug use is normal," Clarkin said.
The survey found that 62 percent of Hispanic teens have been offered drugs—including Ecstasy, crack/cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine—at least once, compared with 53 percent of white teens and 46 percent of black teens.
And schools are not drug-free zones, the report suggested. Forty-two percent of Hispanic teens have been offered drugs at school, compared with 30 percent of white teens and 28 percent of black teens.
Conducted yearly, the latest survey included responses from nearly 3,900 teens and more than 800 parents questioned in 2012.
In many cases, when it comes to teen drug use, parents aren't communicating disapproval, especially when it comes to marijuana, Clarkin noted.
According to the report, 21 percent of Hispanic parents "think it's OK if their teen smokes marijuana sometimes," compared with 11 percent of black parents and 6 percent of white parents.
In addition, 28 percent of Hispanic parents say using prescription drugs is safer than using street drugs, compared with 20 percent of black parents and 9 percent of white parents.
"Many parents feel there is nothing they can do; it's really the responsibility of the school. And parents are at a loss for what to say or what to do," Clarkin said.
"Parents, however, underestimate the influence and leverage that they have with their kids," he said. "The attitude of parents is often 'that's what kids do, I did it and I'm fine, so don't worry,' but the reality is the sooner action is taken, the lower the chance that this is going to develop into something problematic."
On the plus side, the report found that 85 percent of Hispanic parents know that teens who start using drugs and alcohol are more likely to have substance abuse problems later on. This awareness was seen in 74 percent of white parents and 73 percent of black parents.
Moreover, 94 percent of Hispanic parents say they are likely to take action when they find out their child uses drugs or alcohol at home. That compares with 93 percent of black parents and 86 percent of white parents, according to the report.
"It's all about parental guidance," said Dr. Metee Comkornruecha, at the department of adolescent medicine at Miami Children's Hospital. "It's about educating kids and changing views on drugs—not seeing them as harmless, but as potentially causing abuse."
Highlights of the report include:
- 47 percent of Hispanic teens used marijuana, compared with 39 percent of black teens and 36 percent of white teens.
- 13 percent of Hispanic teens used Ecstasy, compared with 8 percent of black teens and 6 percent of white teens.
- 13 percent of Hispanic teens used cocaine, compared with 8 percent of black teens and 3 percent of white teens.
- 62 percent of Hispanic teens drank alcohol, compared with 59 percent of white teens and 50 percent of black teens.
- 24 percent of Hispanic teens say they see frequent drug use in their communities, compared with 15 percent of white teens and 24 percent of black teens.
- 26 percent of Hispanic teens have abused or misused a prescription drug, compared with 15 percent for white or black teens.
- 16 percent of Hispanic teens have mixed alcohol with abusing prescription drugs, compared with 11 percent of white teens and 6 percent of black teens.
- 10 percent of Hispanic teens abused over-the-counter cough medicine in the past year, compared with 5 percent for both white and black teens.
More information: To learn more about teen drug abuse, visit the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved.


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Since 1997 South Korea has been on an economic and political roller coaster. Between 1997 and 1998 forecasts of annual economic growth swung from +7 percent to -7 percent, and the country elected Kim Dae-jung, former dissident, future Nobel Peace Prize winner (and University of Cambridge honoree), and avowed economic reformer, president. However President Kim's weak electoral position-he was with only a plurality of support and forced to form a governing coalition with an ideologically dissimilar conservative party-and the continuing regional nature of South Korean politics have impeded the formation of a stable political coalition in favor of reform.
Today, despite the enormous political power granted to the executive under the South Korea constitution, Kim is effectively a lame duck. Constitutionally limited to a single term, he confronts a hostile national assembly controlled by the political opposition, his personal popularity has fallen below 30 percent, and his party is trailing in public opinion polls in the run-up to December's presidential elections.
Yet in spite of these challenges, a hundred other countries would envy the forecast of 5 percent growth and five percent unemployment in 2002. In the six months between mid-September 2001 and mid-March 2002, the stock market has risen by nearly 90 percent, and the only thing hotter on Wall Street than South Korea funds are…Russia funds (which may say something about Wall Street). Property prices are up in Seoul, credit card lending more than doubled last year, and household debt has risen from 18 percent of GDP to 62 percent in two years, the fastest growth rate in the world, achieving in two years what it took notoriously profligate US households a decade to accomplish.1 Despite such signs of overheating, four interest rate cuts, and two supplementary budgets in the past year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the South Korean government to cut interest rates further and spend more money.2 With an election coming up, the government may be all too willing to oblige.
The state-led process of restructuring begun in 1997 has largely run out of steam, and the challenges that South Korea now confronts is less the wolf at the door than the termites in the foundation. And while the IMF and the government sort out whether South Korea is currently in a crisis, a bubble, or macroeconomic nirvana, it is worth recalling the lessons of South Korean economic history.
First, progress in policy reform is the greatest where international involvement is the highest. Over the course of the last 50 years, international trade policy has stood out as the arena of most successful policy reform. It also has been the area in which there has been the greatest consensus about and articulation of international norms (such as free trade in goods) and international institutions such as the World Trade Organization have been the most developed.3 In the financial arena, there is less consensus about best practices either with respect to domestic institutions or external relations, and the international institutions (Bank of International Settlements, the IMF) have been relatively less successful in promoting an international consensus about desirable norms. In areas such as labor policy, there has been little consensus beyond some minimal standards (i.e. prohibitions on forced labor or child labor) and the international institution (the International Labour Organisation) has been, and remains, weak. In the area of competition policy, there has been little consensus about desirable practices, and really no international organization (except perhaps the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)) has addressed these issues.
Perhaps it is not surprising then that South Korea has made the greatest progress in international trade liberalization, arguably the next best performance in financial reform, and probably the least achievement in the largely "domestic" arenas of labor and competition policy. The reason is straightforward: the existence of international norms gives policymakers a goal at which to aim, and the existence of the international institutions (and other avenues of international diplomatic pressure) help in overcoming the historical weakness and parochialism of South Korean political institutions.
A second lesson is that rules are better than discretion. Economist typically regard simple transparent rules as preferable to discretion on the part of the policymakers, in that rules tend to reduce uncertainties about future policies. The stabilization of expectations then enables decision-making on the part of private agents, and thereby contributing to more efficient economic outcomes.
Such rules-based systems are difficult to develop in political systems with weak political institutions, yet the pay-off can be considerable. In the aftermath of the crisis, the relatively liberal government of President Kim Dae-jung has, at time, undertaken relatively illiberal policies to promote economic restructuring and recovery, most notably in its promotion of so-called "Big Deals" the government's attempt to engineer a restructuring of the chaebol by pressuring them to swap business assets and consolidate production in particular industries. The prime example was pressure to put on LG to sell its semiconductor business to Hyundai. DRAM prices subsequently dropped and the Hyundai group encountered financial difficulties, at least in part attributable to its assumption of the LG semiconductor business at government behest. To some observers, this in turn created a moral obligation for the government to bailout Hynix (née Hyundai Electronics) in the Hyundai disintegration.4
In this environment, it is desirable to promote rules-based changes that involve foreigners and foreign institutions whenever possible. The emphasis on rules and the inclusion of non-Korean actors should help overcome the weaknesses of South Korean political institutions and push change in a constructive direction.
Old Economy, Old Problems
The 1997 crisis, though triggered by external events, was largely a product of internal problems, relating at base, to a weak system of corporate governance, a dysfunctional financial system, and poor labor relations (Noland 2000, Krueger and Yoo 2001). South Korea has made considerable progress (at significant cost) since then. In the financial sector, prudential regulation has been strengthened through the creation of the Financial Supervisory Commission and the introduction of new regulatory practices, approaches, and standards. The government has been forced to inject 155 trillion won (roughly 30 percent of national income) into banks and other financial institutions, while shutting down 498 non-viable financial institutions, reducing the number of commercial banks from 33 to 11, with a consequence reduction of financial sector employment of roughly one-third.5 In the corporate sector, South Korea has experienced the largest corporate bankruptcy in history (Daewoo) and has come close to another (Hyundai). South Korean chaebol have embarked on a process of restructuring encouraged by market forces, political prodding, and legal changes, but to date, their actions have consisted largely of disengaging from uneconomic activities rather than implementing forward-looking strategic plans to enhance shareholder value. In the labor market, the government has greatly broadened and strengthened the social safety net, but employers still face militant behavior on the part of unions. Given the state's prominent role in the economy, labor unrest has been an impediment to public sector reform, and has inhibited the process of denationalization or privatization of public corporations. Labor market problems have also deterred foreign investment.
Nevertheless, South Korea has arguably made better progress on economic reform in the last four years than the other heavily affected Asian crisis countries, or Japan for that matter. Yet the lack of a stable, forward-looking political coalition for reform, President Kim's premature announcement in December 1999 (the second anniversary of the IMF agreement) that the crisis was over, and the cyclical rebound of 1999-2000 have impeded reform and increased public disenchantment with subsequent events. The result is a lingering inability to address unresolved issues.
South Korea's financial system remains weak. McKinsey (2001), on the basis of 1999 data, estimated that firms with interest coverage ratios of less than one (that is earnings do not cover interest costs) accounted for 64 percent of total debt outstanding, and that non-performing loans (NPLs) could eventually reach 245 trillion won, necessitating writing off 150 trillion won (net of recoveries). The economic recovery since 1999 has surely improved the health of some of those borrowers and their debts (under a much more narrow official definition, NPLs in 2001 were 4 percent of commercial bank loans outstanding, down from a peak of 14 percent in 1998), but the situation remains worrisome. After falling in 1999 and 2000, chaebol leverage is again rising, and according to the FSS, 11 of the top 15 chaebol had interest coverage ratios of less than one. On a scale of A to E, with A indicating a system of exceptional financial strength and E indicating a system with very weak intrinsic financial strength and in which many banks will likely require outside support such as from the government, in 2001 the ratings agency Moody's assigned the South Korean banking system an D-, worse than Mexico's and on the same level as Thailand's and the Philippines'.6
Due to nationalizations of failing banks, at the height of the financial crisis in 1998, the state directly owned more than three-quarters of the banking system, and it now appears to be reluctant to give up control. In September 1999, significant foreign competition was introduced into the South Korean financial services sector, when, after months of contentious negotiations, the government sold the failed Korea First Bank to Newbridge Capital for $415 million, after indemnifying the firm against debts hidden by opaque, and at times, illegal, accounting practices. The government was severely criticized for the indemnification, despite the fact that it was permitted under South Korean regulations and is used in intra-Korean deals, and though the new American owners' stewardship of the bank appears to have been a success, after the Newbridge takeover, things slowed down considerably.
As Thomas Byrne of Moody's has observed, the government missed 10 deadlines in three years to sell nationalized Seoul Bank, allowing negotiations, first with HSBC, the with Deutsche Bank, to collapse. In October 2001, the Ministry of Finance and Economy eased restrictions on chaebol ownership of financial institutions, and now speak of engineering an intra-Korean merger as a solution to Seoul Bank's problems-an outcome that one suspects many preferred all along. In a similar case, negotiations between the government and US insurer AIG over the disposition of Hyundai Securities and two other affiliates broke down after 18 months of negotiations. In the case of Cho Hung Bank, the government has indicated its interest in selling a 30 percent stake next year through the issuance of global depository receipts and a strategic partnership, yet this would leave the government with 50 percent ownership and effective control of the bank. Similarly, its plans to sell off half of Woori Financial Holdings (the product of the merger of five failed banks) would leave it in effective control.7
Similar obstacles have been encountered on the corporate side, involving the dispositions nationalized firms such as Hanbo Iron and Steel, public corporations such as the Korea Electric Power Company (KEPCO), and private firms effectively in state receivership.
Daewoo Motor is a case in point. The company has been kept alive by its creditors, most notably banks under direct or indirect state control. As a string of scandals have revealed, those financial institutions have continued to channel capital to politically preferred borrowers. The new loans extended to Daewoo Motors in the fall of 2000 temporarily preserved 50,000 jobs, at a cost of $80,000 per job. Even with this infusion of cash, internal documents indicated that Daewoo Motor would have to shed more than one-third of its workforce.8
The problem for South Korea, of course, is that as restructuring in the financial and corporate sectors is delayed, the ultimate cost rises. In retrospect, it is clear that the government should have accepted General Motors' 1999 bid for the failed automaker. Since then, the government has engaged in a fruitless negotiation with Ford, and is now again negotiating with GM. This delay has cost beyond the obvious one cited above.
Firms are more than collections of machinery. As time has elapsed, the value of the automaker to any purchaser has declined. Talented staff have departed the firm. New product models have not been developed. The retail distribution system has atrophied. Whoever takes over the remains of Daewoo Motor in 2002 will possess assets worth considerably less than what they were worth in 1999.
This problem is not limited to Daewoo Motor. The lack of transparency imposes a penalty on financial transactions in the South Korean market ("the Korean discount"), inhibiting the ability of good firms to access capital. In the 2001 Transparency International "corruptions perceptions index," South Korea ranked 42nd out of 91, tied with Greece, and lagging such countries as Malaysia, Costa Rica, and Jordan. In the more narrow "bribe payers index," a measure of bribe-taking by senior public officials, South Korea ranked 18th out of 19, surpassed only by China on the sleaze meter. The transparency risk premium, separate from and in addition to conventional country and currency risk, inhibits investment in the South Korean economy.
The impact on foreign direct investment (FDI) is particularly acute. In the 2001 A.T. Kearney annual survey of corporate executives, South Korea was placed 17th in the "FDI confidence index" lagging such countries as Poland, the Czech Republic, and Thailand. The consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers actually calculates an "opacity index." South Korea ranked 31st out of 34, beating out Russia, Turkey, and Indonesia, but trailing countries such as Egypt and Romania.
These perceptions of South Korea as not fully hospitable to foreign direct investment have real repercussions. South Korea experienced a surge of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 1998-99, but a substantial part of this took the form of a one-time boost due to foreign firms buying out their South Korean joint venture partners. Even with this surge however, South Korea was still only placed 18th as a destination for FDI. In 2000, with opportunities for this relatively easy FDI largely exhausted, inward FDI slowed, and in 2001 fell by 25 percent. According to PwC's econometric model, if South Korea could achieve the average transparency level of the United States, Chile, the UK, and Singapore (the least opaque economies in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, respectively), admittedly a tall order, it would triple its FDI inflow. This is more than just theory or an econometric exercise. For example, in its internal evaluations, one large institutional investor places South Korea in its "tier three/semi-transparent" category, and imputes a significant "transparency risk premium" in its calculations of hurdle rates for investment in the South Korean economy.9
Sadly, a portion of what capital is available for use in South Korea is sucked up by dying businesses such as Daewoo Motor and Hyundai Engineering and Construction (HEC). Despite repeated assurances that "this will be the last time," the government time and again bailed out the Hyundai group, extending preferential treatment to HEC, Hynix, and Hyundai Petroleum.10 In the queue are literally thousands of other unprofitable firms with similarly dubious prospects.
The unwillingness of creditors (ultimately, the government) to impose hard budget constraints on these firms contributes to union militancy: organized labor will not compromise on wages or job security until it is convinced that the government will allow enterprises to fail and jobs to be lost. As long as the government bails out managements, any union leader who would compromise would, in American parlance, be a chump. Ergo, as long as bail-outs continue, so will labor turmoil.
The Promise of the New Economy
The implicit costs of this misallocation of the nation's wealth are obvious. It is apparent that the world is in the midst of a technological revolution that is having a profound impact on productivity, organizational relationships within and among firms, and the distribution of income and wealth.11 South Korea has adopted information technology faster than any other economy in Asia. More than one-third of the population regularly uses the internet, a higher figure than for other high-income economies such as Japan, Taiwan, or Hong Kong, and average monthly usage is 18.1 hours, the highest in the world. South Korea boasts the highest broadband penetration rate in the world, double that of Canada, its closest rival.12 More than three million South Korean homes have high-speed internet access, double the number in Japan. Internet access costs only one-third as much as in Japan, and South Korea websites are generally more sophisticated than those in Japan. In the stock market, nearly two-thirds of all share transactions by value, and a third by number, are now conducted on-line, again, the highest in the world.13 South Korean firms arguably lead the world in third generation mobile telephony.
The advent of information technology is changing the structure of the South Korean economy. Given the rigidities and uncertain futures of the chaebol, there has been an upsurge in start-up activity and initial public offerings in the stock market. In 2000, according to a survey jointly conducted by the London Business School and Babson College, nine percent of adults in South Korea were owning or managing new firms, by far the highest in the world.14 (The United States was second at less than 5 percent.) Admittedly, not all of these new firms were in high technology, and the creative destruction of 1997-98 may have generated a temporary surge in new incorporations, these figures nevertheless suggest that business does not end with the chaebol.
These new firms tend not to be path-breaking, pioneering, companies, but they do appear to have successfully carved out global market niches, many spending more than 20 percent of their revenues on research and development. Kodicom, for example, makes multi-channel digital security camera systems built around software-based sensors, so when movement is detected on the monitor screen, it triggers recording to the hard disk drive. This product should face growing demand in the security-conscious post-September 11 world. Likewise, the three listed South Korean digital video recorder companies (together with a few unlisted ones) supposedly have an 80 percent share of the world market.15 In the internet sector, firms such as Commerce21 Corp., Serome Technology Inc., and Internet Auction Co. (acquired by eBay in January 2001) are cracking the Japanese market.
These new firms are changing South Korean corporate culture as well. In contrast to the secrecy that has characterized the chaebol, the managements of the publicly-listed firms, hold regular meetings with institutional investors. In contrast to the strict seniority-based formulas that characterize chaebol renumeration practices, firms such as Locus, a supplier of communications and internet services, have introduced incentive-based pay and stock option schemes. The developments are partly due to generational change, as the ranks of South Korean corporate management are swelled by Western-educated business school graduates.
Paradoxically, this strong move into high technology, especially IT, is both a source of long-run strength and short-run vulnerability, the latter due to South Korea's deepening integration with the United States through both trade and financial market channels. In the short-run, the integration of South Korean firms into high tech supplier networks makes South Korea increasingly vulnerable to a slowdown in US investment demand as occurred in 2001.
In addition to this conventional direct trade channel, South Korean equity markets have become more integrated with those elsewhere. In part this increase reflects the natural integration of markets following the removal of restrictions on foreign ownerships of South Korean stocks (and the removal of restrictions on South Korean residents' ability to invest abroad). At the same time, the prominence of high technology stocks in various national market indices has increased. As a result, price movements in the South Korean market exhibit greater covariance with those foreign markets. The linkages between NASDAQ and KOSDAQ, and even the broader KOSPI, are particularly notable. This simply means that with technological upgrading and advance, South Korea is more vulnerable to downturns in the US market than it was at times in the past.
At the same time as the South Korean economy is becoming more integrated with the US economy in the technology area, it is becoming a cultural products leader in the rest of Asia. Today, South Korean pop culture (film, music, and fashion) trends are followed as, if not more, keenly throughout Asia than Japanese styles. South Korean firms are aware of this and are attempting to build franchise value on the back of the country's cultural cache, both at home and abroad. Whether the K-POP boom will amount to a long-lasting cultural development with significant commercial implications, like the 1960s British invasion in popular music that spawned numerous record labels and ultimately two global conglomerates (Virgin and EMI) or will more closely resemble a transitory fad like 1970s ABBA phenomenon when that singing group's recordings accounted for a significant share of Swedish exports, remains to be seen. My pop culture instincts tell me that Naughty Diva, however alluring, are unlikely to be the future of the South Korean economy, but in any event, it should be fun watching this development unfold.
The Search for Solutions
This is the core issue facing the South Korean economy today: the nation can allocate its saving to the innovative firms of the new economy or it can invest in zombie businesses, bankrupt firms that somehow defy death. The choice is that simple. Every won of investment that goes into failing firms is a won that productive firms cannot access. Every won of investment that goes to the zombies helps perpetuate dead-end jobs with no future and impedes the creation of new jobs with vastly better prospects.
What can be done? Enhanced financial transparency is key. This requires improved accounting practices and truly independent accounting firms capable of auditing accounts. The production of consolidated financial statements under improved accounting rules is a positive move, though more progress is needed to bring South Korean practices up to internationally accepted principles.16 The imposition of sanctions on firms producing substandard or fraudulent audits is a step in the right direction. In September 2000, the Financial Supervisory Commission threw the book at Santong, one of Daewoo's main accounting firms, for conniving with its clients to falsify audits. In February 2001, facing expiring statutes of limitation, Seoul prosecutors charged 34 Daewoo executives and accountants, including former chairman, Kim Woo-choong, with fraud, though there are questions as to how serious the government is about tracking down the fugitive industrialist.17 In March 2002, financial regulators accused seven of the largest accounting firms with malpractice regarding practices involving 13 corporate clients. The Securities and Futures Commission has sought criminal charges against two of the accounting firms and recommended the suspension of 26 auditors.18
With improvements in transparency, it becomes possible to impose capital market discipline on corporate management. Two institutional developments would facilitate this. The establishment of outside boards of directors would create an "inside" check on management abuse. As in other cases, South Korea has successfully put new laws on the books regarding corporate boards, but the problem has been in implementation as in a number of cases incumbent managements have stuffed the boards with pliant cronies or even government officials.
A second desirable development would be the growth of institutional investors capable of monitoring management. To the extent that such institutional investors exist in South Korea, they tend to be affiliated with the major chaebol, though some foreign institutional investors and the nascent shareholder rights movement have exerted some salutary influence. Proposed legislation to expand minority shareholders' rights is a step in the right direction and could strengthen the hands of foreign investors and the domestic good governance groups. It would be desirable to separate financial and industrial groups, but this is unlikely to happen, and in fact, the October 2001 easing of restrictions on chaebol ownership of financial institutions goes in precisely the opposite direction.19 Short of wholesale restructuring, incremental improvements in regulatory oversight, for example, through the introduction of "Forward Looking Criteria" in asset classification standards for financial institutions, are positive steps.
Improved information is essential to resolving remaining problems in the financial sector. The primary tasks are to recognize financial losses, repair balance sheets, and recruit new investors. Already the government is allocating additional funds to recapitalize the banks. Similar problems remain in other sectors of the financial system. Beyond this balance sheet issue there it he critical requirement that financial intermediaries change their behavior and make investment decisions on economic, not political, grounds. There are grounds for optimism on this score: some of the measures introduced in the wake of the crisis appear to be having at least a modest impact in reducing the extent of cross-company financial links among chaebol firms, thus permitting investors to better separate good from bad chaebol businesses.20
The introduction of a partial insurance system should encourage the reallocation of saving toward better-managed intermediaries within the financial system itself. Increased foreign participation in the financial system, which can be accomplished through a variety of institutional arrangements, should also contribute to improving the quality of lending. Without improved financial information, a willingness to recognize losses on past investments, and a change in behavior with regard to future investments, the South Korean financial system will continue to hemorrhage.
Already one hears talk of a "credit crunch," and indeed, a reduction of credit due to financial disintermediation by distressed financial institutions is undesirable.21 This is not the whole story, though. Paradoxically, a "credit crunch" may be a good thing if it means that undeserving firms are no longer able to access capital on the favorable terms available in the past. The demand-side counterparts to improvements in the financial system are reforms to separate distressed though viable businesses from the capital-eating zombies. Like the situation with regard to the banks, with a few exceptions, the overall financial health of the chaebol appears to be bad. According to FSS figures in mid-2001, 11 of the top 15 chaebol had interest coverage ratios of less than one (i.e. technically bankrupt), the major exception being Samsung. As might be expected, Hyundai was the worst off, with a debt-equity ratio of nearly 500 percent.
South Korea needs a real market for corporate control and bankruptcy procedures that can actually kill off zombie enterprises, something like America's Chapter 11, which would permit insolvent businesses to restructure while protecting the interests of their creditors. The introduction of the corporate restructuring vehicle (CRV) and pre-packaged bankruptcy (PB) are steps in the right direction. Adoption of proposed further reforms of the bankruptcy and corporate reorganization system are desirable. Ultimately what is required is the political will to see that firms are forced to restructure according to these rules and procedures, not through a politicized process of negotiations with state-dominated creditors, a process that former Prime Minister Nam Duck-woo has memorably described as "akin to having some [hospital] patients assume responsibility for the treatment of other patients" (Woo, 2000, p.37).
The process of reconciliation with the North adds an additional layer of complexity to this problem. The fundamental issue is that as long as the state maintains direct and indirect influence over specific capital allocation decisions by financial intermediaries, it will be tempted to use this influence to promote its policy toward the North. Concern centered on Hyundai, the prime contractor in two of the government's high profile initiatives in the North, the Mt. Kumgang tourism venture, and the construction of an industrial park in the North Korean city of Kaesong. The Hyundai group reportedly last nearly $400 million on its Mt. Kumgang tourist venture, required an infusion of emergency loans to avert bankruptcy in November 2000, and beginning in December 2000 was unable to make its $12 million monthly payment to the North. It appealed to the South Korean government for assistance, and in the end, the government chose to subsidize the project directly through the national tourism authority. Not the first-best solution perhaps, but surely preferable to another response rumored at the time, namely saddling Samsung with the money-losing venture.22 The parastatal KOLAND effectively assumed responsibility for the development of the now stalled Kaesong industrial park project. State encouragement of economic integration with the North is not a bad thing-the government of South Korea has a legitimate national interest in promoting economic integration with the North. However, this could be done in a more efficient and transparent manner through the tax system in comparison to the current opaque and ad hoc approach.23
These problems relate to capital markets. There are problems in the labor market as well. Despite the fact that fewer than 11 percent of the South Korean workforce is unionized (less than that is the United States by point of comparison), the unions appear to have a disproportionate impact on economic policy. In August 1998, the government intervened in the Hyundai Motors strike and encouraged management to back down on its plan to release workers was regarded as a victory for the union. Since then, union opposition has blocked or slowed restructuring in the financial sector (Woori), in the corporate sector (Daewoo), and in the public sector (KEPCO). Foreign investors have cited labor unrest as the primary impediment to investing in South Korea. For many, the government is seen as beholden to, or intimidated by, organized labor.
A skeptic might rightly ask: if things are so bad and the zombies are chewing up a significant share of capital investment, then why does the economy continue to grow at 5 percent a year? At this point in time the answer is intrinsically speculative but probably contains the following elements. First, while the zombies do continue to eat up capital, at the margin, the allocative efficiency of investment has probably improved. The trend since 1997 has been away from indirect finance and many more firms have been able to access the deregulated equity markets. (As a point of comparison, in the United States, the banking sector supplies about 20 percent of corporate capital; for South Korea the figure is well over 50 percent (Brown, 2002).) When the crisis broke in 1997, literally hundreds of firms were waiting to be listed, and in a number of cases had to pay bribes to officials for their IPOs to go forward (Noland 2000). The increase in IPO activity has been one of the success stories of the economic recovery. And even within the banking sector, anecdotal evidence suggests that after the obligatory policy lending is made, at the margin bankers are behaving in a more rational way.
Second, South Korea has benefited from positive (and possibly transitory) terms of trade effects. Chip prices are up and oil prices are down. South Korean firms have profited greatly from in the US auto boom, increasing their exports to the United States 27 percent in 2001, and supplanting the EU as the second largest exporter to the US market after Japan. Conversely, any weakening of prices in either consumer electronics or autos, or an oil price hike, could take the wind out of the sails South Korea's net exports. The possibility of a significant yen depreciation associated with Japan's ongoing economic travails, is another cloud looming on the horizon of South Korea's external relations.
Third, South Korea is in the midst of a tremendous consumer spending boom that appears to be in significant part driven by high-end consumers. How durable this up-tick will prove is an open question.
Kim Dae-jung is the most classically liberal president South Korea has ever had. And yet despite his well-deserved accolades, one hopes that his charismatic leadership style recedes into history. At the start of a new millennium, South Korea needs strengthened economic and political institutions suitable to a mature democratic market economy. It needs political parties that are more than personal entourages or Japanese-style factional amalgamations based on corrupt fund raising. It needs inclusive parties capable of mobilizing citizens and channeling mass interests into effective democratic action. It needs a strengthened judiciary and rule of law. It needs transparent, rules-based government, capable of resisting narrow special interest and maintaining state autonomy, composed of officials accountable for their actions and their performance.
There is hope that the South Korean political system is moving in this direction. Half of the electorate is made up of voters under the age of 40 (the so-called 386 generation), and they exhibit some significant attitudinal differences from their forebears (Mo, 2000). On the one hand, they are more issue-oriented and reformist than their elders, while at the same time, like their counterparts elsewhere around the globe, their participation rates tend to be relatively low. These younger citizens comprise an important membership component of South Korea's rapidly emerging non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The prospect of someday incorporating North Korea's residents into a unified Korean polity underscores the urgency of strengthening South Korea's democratic institutions.
A similar need for strengthened institutions exists in the economics sphere. For the South Korean economy to continue to prosper, it must improve its mechanisms of resource, mobilization, allocation, and management. First and foremost this means increasing financial transparency. Better information enables improved allocation of capital. Improved accounting, the introduction of experienced, independent outside directors, the development of independent institutional investors, will improve corporate governance and encourage better management of resources. The development of efficient exit mechanisms is needed so that failing enterprises do not suck the life's blood away from efficient ones. Similar reforms are needed in labor and product markets. It is these structural reforms, not the quick fixes of monetary and fiscal stimulus, which will bring lasting prosperity to the South Korea economy.
Throughout Asia, political leaders have been asked to undertake actions that, at least in the short-run, will increase economic distress in their societies. While the experts assure them that in the long-run the policy castor oil will contribute to their economies' rejuvenation, political leaders are asked to make big decisions on the basis of essentially theoretical (if not theological) arguments about the behavior of markets. No elected politician could be expected to take on the painful task of economic restructuring with much enthusiasm, and it is not surprising the market participants are always on the lookout for backsliding. Yet South Korean politicians have a great advantage over their counterparts in the rest of Asia-the saplings of the high-productivity new economy are in overwhelming evidence. For them, to a much greater extent than their foreign counterparts, envisioning the gains from economic restructuring need not be an act of faith or exercise in imagination-they need only look out their office windows to see the future.
Brown, William B. 2002. "Saving and Investment in the Korean Economy: Kim Dae-jung's Reforms and the Challenges Ahead," paper presented at the Kim Dae-jung Peace Foundation, Seoul, Korea, 25 February.
Choi, Hyuck. 2001. "Overview of Korea-U.S. Trade Relations," Korea Focus, September-October.
Graham, Edward M. 1999. "A Radical but Workable Restructuring Plan for South Korea," International Economic Policy Briefs 99-2, Washington: Institute for International Economics.
Krueger Anne O. and Jungho Yoo. 2001. "Falling Profitability, Higher Borrowing Costs, and chaebol Finances During the Korean Crisis," paper presented at the Conference on the Korean Crisis and Recovery, Seoul, Korea, May 17-19.
Manyin, Mark. 2002. "South Korea-U.S. Economic Relations: Cooperation, Friction, and Future Prospects," CRS Report for Congress, 21 March.
Manyin, Mark and Stephen Cooney. 2002. "The Semiconductor Industry and South Korea's Hynix Corporation," CRS Report for Congress, 10 January.
McKinsey & Company. 2001. Korea in the Third Millennium. Seoul: McKinsey & Company.
Mo, Jongryn. 2001. "Internal Drivers of Korea's Future," Seoul, Yonsei University, processed.
Nam, Duck-woo. 2000. "Time to Reassess Economic Restructuring," Korea Focus, 8:6 November-December.
Noland, Marcus. 1993. "The Origins of U.S.-Korea Trade Frictions," in Jongryn Mo and Ramon H. Myers editors, Shaping A New Relationship: The Republic of Korea and the United States, Stanford: Hoover Institution Press.
Noland, Marcus. 1998. "U.S.-South Korea Economic Relations," in Tong Whan Park, editor, The U.S. and the Two Koreas, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Noland, Marcus. 2000. Avoiding the Apocalypse: The Future of the Two Koreas, Washington: Institute for International Economics.
SaKong, Il. 2000-1. "Korea Economic Restructuring: Current Status and Prospects," Korea Society Quarterly, Winter.
Yang, Jun-sok. 2000. "Korea's Trade Relations: Conflict and Opportunity," Joint U.S.-Korea Academic Studies, Volume 10.
Yusuf, Shahid and Simon J. Evenett. 2001. "How Can Asia Compete?," Washington: World Bank, processed.
1. Andrew Ward, Financial Times, 19 March 2002.
2. IMF External Relations Department, Morning Press, 13 November 2001.
3. Bilateral and regional pressures have contributed to liberalization as well (Noland 1993, 1998; Yang 2000).
4. For a highly informative analysis of the Hynix situation, see Manyin and Cooney (2002). As part of another "big deal," Hyundai Petroleum took over Inchon Oil Refining, formerly Hanwha Energy, from the Hanwha group. Hyundai Petroleum, too, subsequently received favorable treatment from the government.
5. The 155 trillion won figure is a gross expenditure figure. The recovery rate thus far has been just over 25 percent.
6. On an individual basis, the two strongest banks in South Korea (those that were not around during the HCI drive or did not lent to the chaebol) are rated D+. The Korea Development Bank is rated E.
7. Not all the news is bad, however. Germany's Commerzbank was permitted to take a controlling stake in the Korean Exchange Bank, and a consortium of the Carlyle Group and JPMorgan's banking fund, JPMorgan Corsair has taken a controlling stake in Koram Bank. See John Larkin, Far Eastern Economic Review, 28 March 2002.
8. Tim Burt, Financial Times, 5 March 2001.
9. See LaSalle Investment Management, "Opportunities in the Recovering Asian Real Estate Market," 23 January 2001, processed. Lack of transparency and labor militancy are not the only impediments to inward FDI. Many South Korean firms license technology from abroad, and many of the agreements contain clauses that nullify the agreement if ownership of the licensee firm changes.
10. In the case of Hynix, the state-run Korea Development Bank, agreed to purchase hundreds of millions of dollars of otherwise un-sellable bonds. In the case of HEC, it provided a $400 million payment guarantee. In the case of Hyundai Petroleum, state-dominated creditors extended the terms of existing loans and provided an infusion of new money as well. In doing so the South Korean government risked incurring the wrath of its trade partners: the US government has threatened to file a WTO case against South Korea for a Korea Development Bank financial program that the US claims, in effect, subsidizes dumped exports of Hynix. In December 2001 the immediate threat was set aside when Hynix entered into merger negotiations with the US firm Micron Technologies. If Hynix and Micron are unable to reach a mutually acceptable modus vivendi the WTO case could come back onto the agenda. Ssangyong, another deeply troubled chaebol, would be another beneficiary of the bond purchase scheme. See Choi (2001) and Manyin (2002) for an overview of South Korea-US trade issues.
11. For a comprehensive analysis of the "New Economy," see Economic Report of the President, Washington: Council of Economic Advisers, January 2001. Although this report is oriented toward the US economy, its insights have a broad applicability to South Korea. See Yusuf and Evenett (2001) for an Asia-centric discussion of the same issues.
12. Andrew Ward, Financial Times, 18 March 2002.
13. The Economist, 10 February 2001.
14. The Economist, 13 January 2001.
15. Chinese banks which purchase these systems reportedly demand higher frames per second rates than other buyers because the cameras are set not to catch intruders, but rather tellers with their hands in the till!
16. To cite an example: if a bank sells an NPL with a provision that if the loan does not meet certain performance rules the selling bank will buy back the loan from the purchaser, under South Korean accounting rules the bank is allowed to completely remove the loan from its books, despite the contingent liability associated with the buy-back provision.
17. Thus far, the government has not referred Kim's case to Interpol, and instead has merely asked South Korean embassies in countries where the fugitive industrialist is thought to be hiding. Many believe that he would implicate large parts of the South Korean political elite in the web of corruption.
18. Five of the accused firms have partnerships with the Big Five global accountancy groups, including Arthur Andersen of Enron fame. The accused clients included subsidiaries of the LG and SK groups. See Andrew Ward, Financial Times, 16 March 2001.
19. See Graham (1999) for an interesting proposal to use pension fund money to create independent institutional investors.
20. The disintegration of the Hyundai group, accelerated by the death of founder Chung Ju-yung, is a prime example. As SaKong (2000-1) observed, the Hyundai self-rescue plan actually facilitated the disintegration of the group by encouraging the liquidation of cross-affiliate shareholdings and guarantees.
21. See, for example, "Economic Policy Direction for the Year 2001," Economic Bulletin, January 2001, Seoul, Ministry of Finance and Economy, Center for Economic Information, Korea Development Institute.
22. Cross-debt guarantees to the Hyundai subsidiary responsible for the Mt. Kumgang venture subsequently became an issue in the disintegration of the Hyundai group.
23. See Noland (2000) for a proposal along these lines. Given the Kim Dae-jung government's commitment to engagement with the North, some have gone so far to argue that Hyundai's activities were undertaken with the intent that they would create a moral hazard problem for the South Korean government which would be unable to resist bailing out the chaebol should it encounter economic difficulties.


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With the right knowledge, the brush tool in Photoshop can be extremely powerful. In this tutorial, we will use digital painting techniques to create a photo realistic illustration of a swan inside a wine glass. This concept will begin as a sketch and then slowly build up to the final result. Let's get started!
Tutorial Assets
The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.
- Swan Photo
- Color Wheel Plugin Courtesy of Len White
- Brush File (Example)
First, let's take a look at the brushes that we will use. We only use two basic brushes here, brush 1 is used to soften hard edges and make gradient transitions, its advantage is no need to pick color when paint in grayscale, you can gradually build up a gray scale of any level with a pressure tablet using pure black and white. Brush 2 is actually a basic hard round brush with shape dynamics option on. Brush 2 has very vivid edge. We use brush 2 mainly as a texture brush and sketching pen. You can see the detailed settings in the following images.
Step 2
The concept of this painting is a crystal swan bathing in a glass of water, light shines directly from top. There are three materials in the painting: crystal swan, water, and glass. Before painting, we need a swan photo for reference.
Step 3
We will not just copy the outline of the swan in the photo. But extract the shape of the neck and mouth. We will draw a swan out of the two curves mostly. Wing and tail is minored to avoid competing with the curves that I chose. Let the audience focus on the neck and mouth. This is my initial intention.
Step 4
Create a new layer. Press "D" to set foreground/background color to black/white. Draw a basic shape of swan and glass with brush 2. The line doesn't need to be perfect, just enough to bring your idea down on paper.
Step 5
Let's do more on the sketch layer. Create a new layer on top of the sketch layer. Now we add more detail to the glass shape, and add a water level, also notice the mouth tip in the edge of glass rim, it's the detail I want exactly in my mind.
Step 6
Here is the final version of my sketch, detailed and cleaned for grayscale tone and coloring.
Step 7
Now we will do our sketch in another way, you can see the route of sketching is really not important, no matter which way you take, the most important point is where to go, you must have the image in your head first. Know what you desire most. The decision making stuff is in the whole process of painting. We will begin with brush 2 but bigger brush size to draw a black curve block like this to indicate swan shape in pure simple way. Notice the beautiful curve of neck, mouth, belly, and little wings and tail, which I keep small to avoid distracting audience's attention.
Step 8
Detailing the shape.
Step 9
Pick a lighter value to paint glass shape.
Step 10
Clean the edge.
Step 11
Go to Filter > Stylize > Find Edges.
Step 12
Now you have the sketching layer in a different way.
Step 13
Before we block the sketch layer, use the image below to demonstrate the light and value of this painting. The widest light path shows the main light stream coming from top, traveling through semi-transparent swan, water and reflected mostly in the bottom of the glass, then reflected all the directions out, make a bright light source in the image. It's the first and brightest spot in the image. Some light goes through the bottom to light the glass holder. The other four light paths light the head of swan and wings and tail just emerged from the water. Create a beautiful highlight on them. Keep these light positions in mind, we will use it later in blocking and coloring.
Step 14
This is another demonstration made only by brush 1. We can see the tone mainly lies in three levels, 0, 50, 90. It transfers the idea clearly enough, though lots of brush strokes makes the image a little dirty.
Step 15
Now we start blocking the image on the sketch layer. Activate sketch layer, use Magic Wand tool (W) to click on the background, we will select the background area, then create a new layer on top of the sketch layer with the selection on.
Step 16
Choose Gradient Tool (G) to make a line as indicated below. This fills the background with a gradient look.
Step 17
This is more detailed version of the value we used to fill some of the blocks. But you have no need to copy it exactly as I do. Just play around the value I mentioned in Step 14.
Step 18
Here are the block layers we will make. Note we put them in separate layer for future selection and coloring.
Step 19
Now we select the head of swan as in step15, and use Paint Bucket Tool (G) to fill the value. These blocks are more flat than the blocks filled with Gradient Tool, so Paint Bucket Tool is preferred and also we can use brush 2 with big brush size.
Step 20
Here we have an image showing the exact value we choose. Again you don't have to copy the numbers exactly, just pick around the number I demonstrated in step 14.
Step 21
Make all the layers we have so far made visible including the sketching layer which will be at the bottom of these layers. Image like this will come out as below. Group all the layers. Name it whatever you want. Press Command/Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E to emerge all the layers, yet saving the original layers. It's useful when you want to go back to do some correction. This layer group will be used frequently later in selection for coloring and adjusting.
Step 22
Now we have the basic valued laid on the sketch layer. Every tool will be taken to make it more realistic and eye-catching. Look at the image, we will find the circled areas are a little bit too bright, so darken the areas.
Step 23
We will use a curve adjustment layer to darken the areas we mentioned above, this is how we do it. Activate the background layer, click the adjustment icon on the bottom of layer panel, or go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves, it will pop up a window as indicated below, click the hand icon and move it to the area you want to darken, then drag down a little bit. You will see the result come out. Stop at where you think is proper. Press "D", set color to black/white. We will use brush 2 painting on the darken areas to mask.
Step 24
Then press Command/Ctrl + I to reverse selection.
Step 25
Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, Radius 56.1, you can put in any number you like just make sure it's big enough to soften the edges. This blur technique will be used frequently afterward in any situation, which makes hard edges or borders.
Step 26
Apply the same technique to the other two blocks. And at last we have this image, no big change but you can see the difference.
Step 27
Now look at the belly part of swan in the water. How dull it is. In real world, distinctly separated blocks are unusual, let's make these part flow into the neighborhood a little bit, create some motions to let it look like more realistic and alive. Look at the arrows in the image, that's where brush works.
Step 28
Use brush 1 to lighten or darken the areas spotted in the image. Press "D" to set color to black/white. Press "X" to switch between black and white. Use white to lighten and dark to darken. That's the advantage of brush 1, no need to pick color during painting. All you need to do is press "X" to switch. Use very little pressure, make small alteration.
Step 29
Result seems not so good, but not bad either, so we will just keep it.
Step 30
Now we are going to make the sketch line emerge into the surrounding areas. Activate sketch layer, make foreground color to pure white by pressing "D", then press "X" to switch. Then Select > Color Range, fuzziness 30, click Ok. As the color picker is already set to pure white, which is the background color, so Color Range command will select the background area. Then activate the swan layer we are working on. Press Command/Ctrl + Shift + I, make reverse select. Now we have the sketch line selected.
Step 31
Choose brush2, with a brush size just a little bigger than the sketch line width. Press Command/Ctrl + H to hide the selections. Then pick color from both sides of the line then draw on the line. This will make the line disappear into surrounding blocks.
Step 32
Adding highlight. Use brush 2 with pure white. Highlight position is indicated in Step 13.
Step 33
Next is the detailing stage. In the image below we spot three areas need further improvement. Water level is flat, no reflection, and the part between wing and body is not filled yet. Light at the bottom has a very ugly edge. Use brush 1 to improve.
Step 34
Enlarge the image we will see some irregular white dots, let's eliminate these by median filter in a quick easy way. Go to Filter > Noise > Median, Radius 1 pixels, this is important; radius should be 1 pixels exactly. More will change the shape of swan.
Step 35
Still some dark dots left. This time we will use brush 2 to cover it. Just pick the colors around the dark dots by color picker. Then paint on it.
Step 36
Now we are going to work on the edges as shown below. Edges are quite important if you want to paint something realistic. Look at the mountains far away, you will notice that textures, details are lost first, then color lost in further distance, vivid edges still survive even at the farthest place. Interestingly, that's just how we paint reversely, edge with basic shape, color, then details. Look how I work on the edge of glass and its holder. It's a quick tip to make your picture convincing.
Step 37
Let's review our original concept, which is a bathing swan in a glass of water. Now the swan is in good shape and also glass. But water is just flat. It's time to work on "Water". As a swan is bathing in the water, the wing and tail must be wet. It should have more reflections, which means more highlights. And the left neck part of swan should receive more light reflections from glass. And we need more contrast below the wing. Again using brush 1 to improve. Note that all the changes we have made in every step are all very subtle separately, zoom in and out of the image frequently will help you to "see" the difference you made.
Step 38
In this step we work on three parts. Part one is cleaning some minor strokes in left part of glass, part two is softening the light bottom more, part three is smoothing the brush stroke part on the right and drag it along the rim of glass mouth to the left. Use Smudge Tool to work.
Step 39
Now work on the negative space to make glass step out from background. Use the curve adjustment technique mentioned in the previous steps to darken the space around the glass. Don't forget to mask and blur after curve adjustment. It's another way to bring a sharp edge.
Step 40
Remember the mouth I mentioned in the very first beginning of the tutorial. The mouth tip under the glass is a very small yet exciting part of this image. So let 's highlight it. And the crack in the back part of the belly. It seems not bright enough, but we don't want to break the balance we have already created so far, So let's darken the part around it to make it look more bright.
Step 41
Now let's take a little break. Try to move our eyes to other part of the image rather than swan. We will notice the two parts we found do not fit into the image really well. Again, use curve adjustment technique to darken it.
Step 42
Finally, look at our image, everything seems so perfect, all we need to do is coloring now. But wait, our initial intention is a realistic swan bathing in a glass of water. Realistic, The swan is beautiful and do have a shape which is convincing enough to make people believe it is a swan. But texture is missing. In a real world there is no perfection. Use brush 1 with brush size 1 pixel and color pure white to make these white dots over swan. And brush 1 to paint some cracks and shadows as indicated below.
Step 43
It really seems perfect now. We've done all we could. Use the technique in the previous steps, move your eyes from the part you want to perfect. Usually it is not the part you focus on causes the problem but the part you ignored. So let's try to unfocus the swan, move our attention to the water and glass. Yes, Water, glass is as transparent material as swan, or even more, yet they have no little highlight reflection, that's the weird part of this image. So use brush 2 with the same settings as previous step to add highlight. Note the highlight dots on the glass, the position is well chosen not randomly picked. It doesn't conflict with the edge of glass, yet implies the curve of the glass.
Step 44
Now let's go to the coloring part. When working with color, keep color temperature knowledge as indicated below in mind is important. It means that a color makes hue shifts as it goes lighter or darker. And middle tones are often more saturated than lightest or darkest part. So if you pick color from color wheel to paint, let the color goes in a curve as indicated below, also make sure hue changes as value and saturation changes. It's the key of coloring.
Step 45
Pick color and use selection we have already made separated layers for selections. You can use Paint Bucket Tool (G) to fill or brush 2 with proper brush size. The color layer will look like this finally. Pick color as mentioned
in the previous step, you can see a clear hue shifts from yellow to red, and saturation goes higher in the middle tone in the image below. A tip in realistic coloring is: most colors in real life are rather dull. Don't make mistake of
over-saturation. Keep it low at first. This is the principle of traditional painting. But in the digital painting era, it's always easy to go back. And over-saturation can help you identify the part you dislike quickly. If you don't like it, just de-saturate it. So next, we will go the step of over-saturation, lower it if we dislike, raise it if it's too desaturated. Until we find balance in color.
Step 46
Make the color layer on top of the grayscale layer. Change layer mode to
Step 47
Let's over-saturate it by click on the adjustment icon on the bottom of layer panel, choose Hue/Saturation. See more detailed settings in the image below.
Step 48
Use the sketch layers to select background, then activate image we are working on with selections on. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Radius 41.1 or any number it seems proper. Just to make image seem smooth.
Step 49
Now the whole image seems too saturated, we need to lower saturation down except the swan. Swan is the part we want our audience focus on. Good painting are always coming out from good contrast. When you find something wrong in your painting, don't blame the wrong part first, try to work the part around it. That's the negative space painting way. And in the following color adjustment steps, the exact color code will not be given. Actually, it's the fun part of painting, you could try for yourself under the tips mentioned in the previous step. Let your eye be your judge, if you dislike it, then just modify it. Eye tells you everything.
Step 50
Now we will de-saturate the part indicated in the previous step. Create a new layer, layer mode set to saturation. Pick any color just on the left of current color of the image that means a de-saturated color. With background and glass holder selections on, we paint it by brush2. And blur it if there are any hard edges. Final results will look like this. Don't worry about the ugly look of the results, it only affects the saturated part.
Step 51
Merge the layer using Command/Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E, we will have a de-saturated look. The left part seems not fully de-saturated. Let's do it again, using same technique. Pick a less saturated color and paint on a new layer with brush 2, layer mode set to saturation, blur it if there is any hard edges. As we are use hard brush 2, so a Gaussian Blur is always in need.
Step 52
Now it looks Ok with the whole image. But we still need some color highlight to make the image come to life. Select brush1 with brush mode "Linear Dodge (Add)", pick the color where you paint as pointed out in the image below. Then paint with pressure gradually increasing.
Step 53
Press Command/Ctrl + J to duplicate the image. Layer mode "overlay", down the opacity to 33% to make more contrast.
Step 54
Go to Hue/Saturation adjustment as in the previous steps.
Step 55
Paint some shadows on the glass holder with brush 1 to compensate the volume loss during the process of color adjustment.
Step 56
Zoom in/Out the image a little bit to observe. Find out the glass part is far saturated than we want. Ok, I confess I forgot this part in the de-saturation step. Let's do it again as in step 50.


text:
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La Puente City Manager Josi Kenline is on the hot seat again.
There will be a performance review of Kenline's performance during a closed session meeting of the City Council tonight. Insiders are suggesting that Kenline's future with the city is in doubt.
LA PUENTE — The City Council will conduct a performance review of City Manager Josi Kenline in a closed session meeting today, and several City Hall insiders believe members of the council will try to fire her.
Kenline, who started a year ago after spending several months with the city as a volunteer, is in the center of a divided council and has feuded throughout the year with Mayor David Argudo.
Argudo led a council decision last week requiring Kenline to obtain approval before hiring and firing department heads.
Kenline has had problems since she started with the city. In her first five months on the job, she had three performance reviews scheduled by the council. In the past, she has asked for reviews to be done in public, but tonight's review will be behind closed doors.
Her reason to ask for the public meetings is that she has accused Argudo of retaliating against her for personal reasons.
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Black Opal launches new concealer
NEW YORK — Black Opal, a line of ethnic skin care and color cosmetics, is launching in early 2011 its new total coverage spot and scar eraser.
The formula is an ultra-pigmented concealer that promises to camouflage blemishes, scars and imperfections to create perfect-looking skin.
The transfer-resistant concealer is available in several shades, including Kalahari Sand, Heavenly Honey, Truly Tropez and nutmeg. The suggested retail price is $8.95 each.


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Today, many people have a water feature trickling in their backyard or even inside their homes. There is something about being near water that refreshes us, even beckons us towards it. Waterfalls are nature's water feature. The sound of one bubbling down cliffs brings a feeling of tranquility. People hike to find them, and then sit to watch and listen for hours on end. It is a magical, almost supernatural experience to be in the presence of moving water.
However, the rush of hundreds of thousands of gallons of water spilling over tall cliffs from the Niagara River is more like a heart-pounding experience. The roar fills your ears and, if you stand close enough, the sprays slap across your face. From both the Canadian side and the United States side, thousands upon thousands of tourists flock to Niagara Falls each year to experience the majesty. Many pay hard earned money to ride in boats that get as close to the swirling, tumbling water as possible. Others wander up the trails and lean over the railings. Getting soaked in the process is part of the fun.
On the American side are the Bridal Falls, so named because the water resembles a white veil. On the Canadian side, the curved shaped Horseshoe Falls can be better seen. And at night, both of the falls that tumble from the Niagara River are lit up in a rainbow of backlights which highlight their beauty. The scene is unforgettably spectacular.
People come to Niagara for their honeymoons, but also for family vacations. All over the world, if shown the picture of the Niagara Falls, people know exactly what they are. They are also one of the most photographed sites in the world. So many movies and commercials have been filmed there. It doesn't matter if you have been to Niagara Falls or not, an excellent photograph of them can enhance your living room of den's décor. From modern to traditional design, or from Zen to tropical, these waterfalls make an excellent feature for your walls. We humans relate to water because we can't exist without it.
In fact, our bodies are mostly water, so maybe there is some almost primeval spiritual connection. Put an artistic photograph of Niagara Falls on your wall and see how many of your friends are drawn to it.
Viewing artistically beautiful images of Niagara in color, or in black and white, can soothe yet stimulate the senses. Because the water is constantly moving, every shot, though recognizable, is unique. Some capture rainbows as the sun bears down on the rushing gallons of water cascading over the cliffs. Others, in one click, catch the majestic power and suspend it for all time. Pat McNulty, a professional artistic photographer, has several excellent images of waterfalls, and Niagara in particular, on his website at www.premierphotographer.com.


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Rolling Stones Join the List of Bands Who Won't Play the Olympics
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has put another nail in the coffin of plans for the legendary band to play the London Olympics this summer. The 70-year-old tells the London Telegraph that he was never a fan of that idea. Pink Floyd and the surviving members of the Beatles have also shot down rumors of their potential reunions at the worldwide sporting competition over the past months.
"I didn't want to do it for a start," Watts says when talking about plans to celebrate the band's 50th anniversary. "I'd love to have done the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, because that's a great thing, I think, but I don't think we'd have the time to do it."
The meat of the article focuses on the jazz-loving drummer and his boogie-woogie band, The A, B, C, & D of Boogie Woogie (Watts is the "C"). "Boogie-woogie piano is the basis of swing piano-playing and rock 'n' roll, actually. They used to call it 'beat-your-daddy-eight-to-the-bar.' It's very physical and it's bloody hard to play, but it's wonderful."
It's never been a sound that Watts has hoped to incorporate into the Rolling Stones. The dapper drummer knows his roll is to support Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, to be the stem that holds the petals.
As for the Stones future, he wouldn't disclose any plans. "Many plans. I don't know. Nothing's been decided. I mean, I hope they'll ring me up if we do anything and let me know."


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- Home
- Departments
- Economic Development
- Industries
- Information Technology
Information Technology
Part of the 1.15-million-person Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama Metro Area, Hoover is an emerging hub for the information technology industry. Access to talent, partnerships with higher education, low costs of living and doing business create a rich ecosystem for the industry. Hoover is home to a federally funded training center, numerous nationally known companies with major IT operations, and many smaller, regional IT companies.
National Computer Forensics Institute
The National Computer Forensic Institute (NCFI), located in Hoover, is a federally funded training center dedicated to instructing state and local officials in digital evidence and cyber crime investigations. The NCFI was opened in 2008 with a mandate to provide state and local law enforcement, legal and judicial professionals a free, comprehensive education on current cyber crime trends, investigative methods, and prosecutorial and judicial challenges.
Run by the United States Secret Service's Criminal Investigative Division and the Alabama Office of Prosecution Services, the training model is based upon the Secret Service's successful cyber investigative strategy, which relies on partnering with and sharing information between academia, private industry and law enforcement/legal communities to combat the ever evolving threat of cyber crime. The curriculum reflects current trends in the field and addresses potential technological obstacles as they are encountered in active investigations.
Workforce and Compensation
The Birmingham-Hoover MSA cost for talent is lower than average creating a cost competitive advantage. The national median salary for the top 10 information technology occupations is $85,592, while a company would only pay $83,528 for the same talent in the Hoover area.


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Current Version: V9.32
File Size: 26.2 MB
Release Date: Dec 20th, 2015
Unregistered Version Limitations:
The unregistered version of Full DVD Ripper can only convert first 3 minutes of each video file. To unlock the limitation of unregistered version, you will need to register it and enjoy the excellent experience Full DVD Ripper provides.
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1. The file will automatically popup over your PC screen.
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4. Wait for the file to download; then close all applications including the browser.
5. Double-click on the saved file icon to start the installation process.
6. Follow the descriptions within the installer to complete the installation. For more detailed instructions on installation, please click here.
System Requirements
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For peat's sake: Alternative growing media
Peat, or semi-decayed vegetation matter, has been used by commercial growers and amateur gardeners since the middle of the 20th century. Peat is added to potting soil to help retain moisture and provide additional nutrients. As the demand for peat grew, acres of peat bogs were being drained and destroyed. Now, concerns about the environmental impact of extracting peat from wetlands are mounting. And as peat supplies are reduced, the cost naturally increases. Diminishing supplies and environmental and economical concerns are encouraging researchers to find viable alternatives to this popular growing medium.
A recent research study led by Federica Larcher and Valentina Scariot of the University of Turin's Department of Agronomy evaluated five materials as partial peat substitutes. The results, published in HortScience, show these alternatives have potential.
The study focused on growing camellia, a woody plant that prefers acidic soils and is often grown in containers for decorative purposes. Three varieties of camellia ('Charles Cobb's', 'Nuccio's Pearl', and 'Dr. Burnside' ) were tested using a combination of peat and the following peat alternatives: green compost such as grass clippings and leaves, pumice, coconut husks broken down into fibers, composted coconut "peat", and pine bark. Each variety was also grown using the standard commercial Sphagnum peat as a control.
Plant growth and the ornamental quality of each plant was evaluated during each phase of cultivation, potting, before repotting, before and after branching and at the end of the experiment. "The alternative growing media tested…performed as well or better than the standard substrate," the study reports. However, green compost was the exception. Plants grown in green compost had the lowest evaluations in all categories. Green compost also increased pH levels with negative effects on plants.
The impact of the different growing media seemed to be most notable during the first 2 months. After that time, no relevant differences were noticed. "Overall, coconut fibers and pine bark resulted in being the most suitable partial peat substitutes," stated Larcher, adding that none of the plants grown in any mixture showed signs of malnutrition or toxicity at any point during the study.
Coconut fibers are recommended as the best option considering technical and economic factors. The study recommends that adjusting fertilization and irrigation practices to make the most of coconut fiber and peat mixtures will help reduce the costs and losses for nurseries.
More information: The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS Hortscience electronic journal web site: hortsci.ashspublications.org/c … nt/abstract/44/2/312
Source: American Society for Horticultural Science


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www.larksperennials.com Lark & Dave's Front Yard
www.larksperennials.com My husband and I have worked on our yard for 13 years. We are now retired and enjoying gardening and landscaping. We have done all the work ourselves. I do the gardens and he does the hardscape, grass, shrubs and the woods. We are located in Wisconsin zone 4-5.
Curb Appeal Flower Close-ups Front Yard Garden Hardscape Large (5,000 - 10,000 sq ft.) Path / Walkway
4 of 18: The deep blue flower in that chair is a new variety of petunia \'Supertunia, Royal Velvet\'. No deadheading and just keeps blooming and blooming.
11 of 18: The hot pink plant is something I picked up at our local Farmers Market. The lady called it a bloodleaf plant. In Wisconsin I grow it as a houseplant and take cuttings for Spring. Its brilliant color looks good all the time. The purple hanging plant is also a houseplant I call Moses in the Bullrush. I think it is in the spiderwort family. Golden Scepter Hosta is peeking through.
12 of 18: PeeGee Hydrangea Tree that was planted Fall of 2007 and made it through our severe Wisconsin 4/5 Winter. My husband chicken wires the trunk so the bunnies don\'t eat it over Winter.
13 of 18: Sweet Autumn Clematis is blooming, tiny white fragrant flowers. In Spring there is Dr. Ruppel Clematis and William Baffin Climbing Rose which the Bunnies ate down to 10inches last Winter. Oh well it is coming back. I will chicken wire it for the Winter.
Comments / Questions
Your hardwork shows well. Lovely home w/beautiful yard!
Thank you Lark & Dave for peeking at our backyard... I see you are in Dousman.. my cousin had a place on Pretty Lake(?) near there... we would go there for family get-togethers when I was young (40 years ago!) A very beautiful area, and your nice gardens and yard reflect it nicely. Wish we had that much room!
Lark to answer your question about this (n) I don't type that in I think it gets there somehow when it goes through YARDSHARE. Lark I think Renee is right from (11/5/08) commit you all must spend a lot of wonderful time in your garden of flowers your backs are made of steel. I'm with Jeff Trader MERRY CHRISTMAS. nY'all take care nRon & Eydie from New Orleans nP.S. My E-Mail- (email@example.com)
Lark: Outstanding work!! Congratulations. I am thinking of adding Sweet Autumn Clematis to my garden after seeing Dave and your success! Consider a Patio Peach from Stein's next year. Great dark purple foliage and tasty fruit in a compact plant. I saw it on the Waukesha garden tour last summer and planted on this fall. As a side note, reflecting on a comment made above, Glucosimine and Chondroitin have allowed me to spend hours on my knees without pain. It is after Thanksgiving, so I think I can
I love your work...where are you located?
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you have a beautiful yard and home!
Thanks again Lark, My mother n law just moved to a senior home and she gave me two nice trellises, a flower pot and a neat bird bath. Can't wait till next spring to incorporate them into my yard. The bird bath is very deep, so I'm thing about doing a bubble fountain in it. The bird bath and the pot are beige and the trellises are black. I may paint some of them, not sure. anyway Lark, thanks for sharing your lovely ideas.
Lark, You have really got a wonderful yard front and back to work with. You have so many beautiful flowers and some really neat accents. You must spend all day working out there. My yard is so small in comparison to yours, and I'm hoping to make it look great but with low maintenance.
Karen, thank you for your compliments. The size of a yard doesn't mean beautiful. You have OUTSTANDING bones to your property. I am sure that you will find a perfect plan for a low maintenance landscape and YARDSHARE will be a big help.
Hey Lark, how are your knees holding up? Your back? nI think I'll open a therapeutic massage business in your neck of the woods and get rich off you and Dave.
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Millions Still Without Power as Recovery Efforts Continue
More than 1.3 million homes and businesses in New York and 1.4 million in New Jersey were still without power on Friday, four days after Hurricane Sandy slammed into the U.S. East Coast, the states' power companies said.
Most utility companies in the two states said it could take a week or longer to restore power to all customers in the wake of Sandy, the worst natural disaster to strike their customers.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo sent a letter Thursday to the CEOs of state power companies, saying he would "take appropriate action against those utilities and their management if they do not meet their obligations to New Yorkers in this time of crisis."
"I recognize there are men and women in the field now working hard to restore service ... but it is your job to provide them with adequate resources and support to get the job done in a timely and safe manner," Cuomo said.
New York's Consolidated Edison Inc, the biggest utility in the state, said Friday about 565,000 homes and businesses in New York City and Westchester County were without power, down from more than 900,000 affected by the storm.
Con Edison serves more than 3 million customers in New York City and Westchester County.
In New Jersey, Public Service Enterprise Group Inc said more than 716,000 customers were still out, down from 1.7 million. PSEG serves about 2.2 million customers in the state.
FirstEnergy Corp's Jersey Central Power and Light utility reported more than 712,000 customers were still without power, down from more than 1 million affected by the storm. JCP&L serves about 1.2 million in New Jersey.
Con Edison said it expects to make significant progress restoring electricity to all customers over the next seven days.
In lower and mid-Manhattan, Con Edison has said it expected to restore power by Saturday, November 3.
But the company warned that more than 100 buildings which have had their power restored were still without electricity due to flooding in basements or damage to local equipment.
"Utilities, like elected officials, are vested with the public's trust. In the case of utilities, in exchange for conducting business and generating profits for their shareholders, they are entrusted to provide safe and adequate utility service," Cuomo said in his letter.
"When they fail to keep the public's trust, they must answer," the governor said.
He warned: "If you failed to prepare ... I would direct the Public Service Commission to commence a proceeding to revoke your Certificates (of public convenience and necessity)."
To date, Con Edison said its crews have restored electricity to more than 320,000 customers affected by Sandy.
As of 5:00 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT) Friday, Con Edison said about 226,000 customers lacked service in Manhattan, 84,000 in Queens, 35,000 in Brooklyn, 54,000 in Staten Island, 31,000 in the Bronx and 140,000 in Westchester.
Elsewhere in New York, the Long Island Power Co (LIPA) said it still had about 532,000 customers without power, down from more than 900,000. LIPA serves about 1.1 million customers on Long Island.
"With respect to the Long Island Power Authority, I will make every change necessary to ensure it lives up to its public responsibility," Cuomo said.
"It goes without saying that such failures would warrant the removal of the management responsible for such colossal misjudgments," Cuomo said about LIPA.
UK power company National Grid operates the power system on Long Island under a contract with LIPA. That contract will end in 2014, when a unit of New Jersey's PSEG will take over the operation of the system.
The utilities in New York and New Jersey with much fewer current outages include units of Con Edison, Iberdrola SA, National Grid, CH Energy Group Inc and Pepco Holdings Inc.