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Speak Of The Devil ~ My Brushes With Outlaw Motorcycle Culture…Hells Angels [Third Pass Edit]…
I must preface this article by saying that I have never been a member of the Hells Angels or any other Outlaw Motorcycle Club. Also the intention here is for a nonjudgmental look at my experience in respect to the Hells Angels. No Hells Angels insignias are used herein, in respect of copyright control.
"If you have to ask, then you will never know"
It all began on the avenues, their was a nightly curfew from 8pm to 6am, this had nothing to do with the Hells Angels, it was because of the epidemic of drug activity from crack cocaine that was prevalent in the area. I never remember being harrassed by the local police for being out during the curfew as long as we were in a vehicle. I do remember watching out the front of our house window, people were getting busted for drug sales all the time. There was also some crazy situations we witnessed as well. One time there was a guy in a car, who was ramming it into the front of a house, over and over a hundred or more times before the police arrived to arrest him. At some point the car caught fire and the police arrived just in time to pull him out. I don't know what he was trying to accomplish, but he surely had to be out of his mind, doing something like this.
Just setting the stage here, other times we were part of the action. Our neighbors had just gotten married, and the guy I was living with came home with the (neighbors) bride right after the ceremony, and they were very drunk…they had sex in the room next to mine as the wedding after party was being held outside my window. I know, how sweet, arghhhh. I don't know whatever happened to the married couple as I did not know them personally, but whacked out shit just like this was always happening. It would not be the last time I would be thinking wide eyed with my jaw on the floor at some sort of incident that was going on in the neighborhood. It's safe to say it was a pretty rough area.
The guy I was living with, who is now dead from heart attack complications related to heavy cocaine and alcohol use (Again nothing to do with the HA), was friends with a Hells Angel and thus a couple of times we went to parties with him at two of their (HA) clubhouses. We never went inside the actual clubhouses, but would attend block parties that they would throw. It must be said that both of the clubhouses were in safe neighborhoods and many of the people that lived around them seemed to be content to have the HA in their area. No one would dare commit any crimes anywhere near the viscinity of the HA. I know a lot of people would have qualms with that statement, 'that they were happy' having them in their neighborhood. I'm not an idiot… again this piece is my experience, not my telling others what their opinions should look like about any OMC.
At some point my roomate brought home tickets to a Hells Angels pig roast and party blowout weekend that was being held at a local compound and plot of land then owned by one of the HA members. You've got to remember that this was just before the time of the internet and cell phones, and the only thing people knew of the HA was what had been passed down from mouth to mouth, what you saw on the local news, or read in books. There was a mystique and a legendary respect for the club because of their attitude toward freedom and secrecy. It must be said that because of the area that I lived in, The Northeastern US, the Hells Angels were the most powerful presence in this part of the country, if you were in Florida or Texas you would have had the similar prescence from another Outlaw Mortorcycle Club. With that said it's hard to argue with the fact that the HA is the most famous Club in history as a result of their prescence at many historical events over the last sixty plus years since their inception in California in 1948.
Anyway I did not know what to expect of the weekend pig roast and party that we were going to on that early Friday afternoon in June. We drove outside the city and took a sharp left down a long dirt road that I was not familiar with, which was way out in the woods and there were no residential neighborhoods nearby. After a mile or so of backcountry we came to an entrance that was fenced in and high with barbed wire. There was an unlocked fence gate with a heavy chain lock that was wide open for vehicles and bikes to enter the grounds. There were bikers at the gate drinking beers and tearing tickets to the event, and they asked my friend who had invited us to the private party. After he mentioned the name, they let us take our car in.
After a short drive up another short dirt road we came upon a grassy area where the cars parked as there was a separate area for motorcycles across the cleared field. After getting out the car we walked over to a refrigerated truck with ten Budweiser taps on each side, got keg cups and filled them up. There was one house on the grounds which I came to realize was one of the HA members' place, a private area that had signs to stay away from, with Pit-bulls and Rottweilers out front. On the other side of the lot there was an extremely large garage with five bays all opened where Club members and others were sitting on picnic tables drinking. There was a rock band inside one of the bays playing hard rock covers and they were quite good.
To the left of the garage was a bon fire as well as several meat smokers that where rotating large pigs by chain from several rotators…the smell of the roasting pork was heavenly. Just thinking about it brings that glorious smell to the tip of my tongue. Thus began our weekend descent into wild excess just about any way one could imagine. One thing that really stood out was the coming and going of different charters and other HA friendly clubs throughout the weekend. Groups of twenty to thirty bikers in formation would arrive whooping and hollering and kicking up dirt as the revved their engines announcing their arrival to the event. The most awe inspiring thing that I remember about this is when the same separate groups of bikers would leave, they would line up in formation with the highest ranking members at the front. Once all lined up, they would stand in place and rev their bike engines as loud as they possibly could…I tell you the hair stood up on the back of my neck as this amazing hellfire roar would go on for about five minutes for each formation before leaving. Then with a nod of the head of each pack they would ride out kicking up a cloud of dust that the revelers drinking at the bash would just absolutely rage in. This went on all weekend and I never got tired if it.
When the pigs were done roasting on the spit, they had large wooden chopping tables where they would hack them up. Inside the garage where hundreds of bags of fresh onion rolls, many gallon jugs of barbecue sauce. Anyone could just walk up to the cutting table with a plate and the cook would put a huge tender chunk of pork on your plate. Then after getting a huge roll and smothering it with barbecue sauce, oh my…it was the best tasting pork sandwich ever. We were wolfing these down and then they brought out several huge metal wire carriages which secured twenty or more whole chickens ready to cook and threw them on the fire, when they were done cooking we indulged in them as well. All the beer you could drink, a few fat joints and we were well on our way.
Now the thing that I found interesting is that throughout the whole weekend there was no hard drugs done out in the open. I know they had to be around but it was not noticeable which was surprising to me. No complaints here, everyone was having a good time getting stuffed and toasted. At some point, twice in the weekend, someone drove a bike up and said the cops were at the gate but no one cared. It was private property and no one was causing any trouble, they never came up the roadway. We heard that they were just making their rounds and checking to see that there was no trouble, as long as we stayed on the property everything was fine. I was a young teen at the time and was just taking everything in, almost everyone else was of drinking age and higher. The police at the time were not as hard on underage drinkers in my experience at other parties that I would go to at the time, they would just break things up and send everyone home.
As the day moved on to painters light, I remember at some point I went to refill my beer and as I was walking back to the party, I spotted this girl walking toward me and I froze she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She had this loose fitting flowing sundress with wild paisley patterns and she had flowers in her hair. I could see the sun passing through the wind swept fabric of her dress and the shadow silhouette of her nude body. She had this hair up in a purposefully loose fishtail braid…and those eyes, OMG I could see into her soul and it was so pure. I was instantly in love, I began to imagine and play through the thoughts in my mind of me taking care of her for the rest of my life. I stopped to say hello, we got to chattering and I shared my beer with her and I don't remember all of what was said be we got on quite well.
I do remember asking her if she was at the party with anyone, never want to be messing with someones lady…that would be really a bad scene as you could imagine. She said no and I asked her her age and she said eighteen and then asked me in return and I said seventeen. She laughed at me and said, ' you're not seventeen' (she was right I was actually thirteen and I did not tell her that), but I said would I have a tattoo if I was under eighteen, and I showed it to her. Eighteen was the age to get a tattoo in the state. She let it go and soon we were in each others arms playfully holding each other and leaning on to the front of someones car hood. As it began to get dark I asked if I could kiss her and she said yes. Yes ladies and gentlemen, this was my first time kissing a girl and as you know one does not forget that. We playfully made out for like two hours, and as you could imagine it felt like we were only there for a short time. I was in heaven…just kissing and embracing is very underrated. So hot!
Her womanly curves were so beautiful and intriguing. I can still remember how amazing she smelled. Again it felt like time had stopped, but it never went farther than that. In some ways I was glad for that, her leaving me wanting so much more. I respected her so much for that…sounds strange in this day and age but it was true. Well at some point she said she had to go and we swapped numbers. Then she left and my heart was on the ground, dragging in the grass trailing right behind her as she walked away. I stood there stunned and bloated from a head full of dopamine. I was confused and in love simultaneously and I had no idea what to do! So I shook it off (get your head out of the gutter, muahhh) and gathered myself and walked back to the party…when I emerged from the cars everyone at the party looked at me and started whooting and hollering and clapping. I think they thought I got laid or something, they were shoving shots of all kinds of liquor from Jägermeister to Sambucca in celebratory reckoning. It was fun nonetheless, my head was exploding, you know like fireworks going off on the Brady Bunch.
Soon after, my roommate wanted to drop some acid so he gave me my choice of blue windowpane or green gels. I went for a green gel because they were stronger, and after that there were a few different bands that played. One band was playing rock covers as before and they were good, the second band played all originals and they were awesome, kind of like an AC/DC meets Metallica sound…some hard rock and some thrash it was pretty fun. We were loaded after making several trips to the keg truck and joint after joint. They then began to stoke the fire into a twenty foot high rager with hundreds of wood pallets that had been stacked beside for just this occasion.
Behind the fire was an old broken down city bus with all it's tires flat and we went in to hang out, as there was a separate party going on there as well. Time continued to fly by as we got ripped, and before we knew it the early morning sun was starting to break and the most trippy thing happened. From all the way from the back of the bus there was a native american who stood up from sleeping on the farthest back seats. I was stunned because I had not noticed him at all from the day or night before. He had all the traditional garb that a Native american would wear at a ceremony, he had a breastplate that was made of feathers and bones and his dark black hair was pulled back in a braid. I kid you not, he adjusted a single large feather that was eminating from the back of his head. I was fascinated as my eyes fluttered to get a good look at him. He just walked by and got off the bus….not a word.
Well once the sun came up we got off the bus and heading toward the keg truck to get some beer, someone said they were out, and we would have to wait two hours. It was then that the guy throwing the party came out with several cases of Heineken green bottles until we could get some more kegs. Just to drive home how good of a party the night before was…We, all the revelers, had finished off one hundred full kegs of Budweiser in the first night! Then they rolled out this huge restaurant sized griddle and proceeded to make pounds of scrambled eggs and bacon and sausages…again jaw on the ground. At about nine in the morning the fresh kegs started arriving…this shit was crazy.
So anyway I come to the embarrassing part of the weekend, my roomate had been telling his friend that I could sing and play guitar really well, I downplayed it..yeah I'm ok. Anyway he said once the band starts playing I should get up and sing, I was like ahhhh alright. Sure enough there was a band playing a few hours later and they were without a singer and playing covers. They told me to get up there and sing, so as they were jamming away and tuning, I got up and I talked to the band. They said what can you sing, I said anything heavy and they suggested Judas Priest. I said sure and forget which song because I think I wanted to black it out.
Now I had listened to every Judas Priest album 100 times so I just thought the lyrics would come to me from the ether or memory. Well they started to play and I could barely sing one verse, I did know the chorus perfect and had them in my hands for a moment but then the second verse kicked in and I felt like I melted right there on the stage. I had lost the plot…I was frickin' out of my head. It really was not all that bad, no one gave me a hard time but I felt like an idiot. I remember thinking why did I not say Iron Maiden as I would have been able to pull that off easy, but it was not to be. I was in a band and we had a good following so I knew where I stood, I could do it…I just wasn't prepared like a true professional would. Again another learning experience, I never forgot the words again that's for sure.
That last day was also wild because it was the day that they would have straight way bike races. Two bikes at a time they would take each other on just like you see in Fast and Furious Movies but with Harley's. One after the other they would spin their tires and do burnouts sending smoked rubber into the sky to everyone yelling along. Then they had races with Bikers and their Ol' Ladies on the back…with no helmets of course. I remember specifically one of the bikers would launch a parachute behind him to slow him down at the end of the straitaway. Then people started doing tricks, standing and doing crazy movements while on the huge bikes…lying down while riding, all kinds of stuff.
Just before we were about to leave at the end of the weekend I remember standing by the fire with a few others and someone noticed plastic and metal burning at the ground level in the shape of car batteries. We all looked at each other and laughed ever so hesitantly realizing that we had been standing in front of a burning junk pile that had a lot more in it than wood. We had been breathing in the toxic fumes of a bunch of piled up car batteries. WTF, what else can you say to that…ahhh ok…that can't be healthy. Anyone got a smoke? So this party went on for three days and we left on Sunday afternoon and just went home and crashed out for two days. It was nice I remember not having to come down off coke or speed so I really slept. Every several hours we got up to eat and smoke a joint in the comforts of home.
Anyway the family that I was living with at that time decided to move to a new house down the street about a mile away. This house was further into a more dangerous part of the neighborhood but the rent was cheaper and the house was bigger. I remember we rented a moving truck and were probably hung over from the night before. We're loading everything onto the truck to bring to the new place and I remember thinking how this was going to take all day to get this done. Well it turns out that another friend of my roommate was a biker who was not HA but friends again with a group of them and next thing we know they come roaring down the street on their bikes and pull into our large driveway. What could this be about…I'm sure all of us there were all thinking the same thing. One of the bikers comes up to my roommate and says we'll help you guys move if you buy us beer. Now I should not have to point out that they could afford their own beer, but just so everybody knows, this was this group of guys way of helping out. I don't know if this is a common thing with other club members but I had heard of the old adage about the HA, "When we do something good no one remembers, when we do something bad no one ever forgets."
With that said, and after my roommate agreed to the beer thing, they got off their bikes and began helping us move. I'll never forget these huge bikers carrying boxes out the house and on to the truck. The funny part is what we thought was going to be an all day ordeal, turned into a packed truck in a half hour! We then proceeded to follow the bikers in formation in front of us to the new address. You know how you see the vehicle following the bikers in the make believe TV show Sons Of Anarchy, we got to experience it once for real. When we pulled up to the new address bikes roaring, we could see the neighbors in their yards and windows literally shitting themselves. All the people on their porches on this hot afternoon went into their houses as quick as they could and closed the doors behind them it was very strange. I did not realize that people would react so heavily.
Another thing that we noticed was that people would park anywhere they wanted and spaces were tight and hard to come by. Well from that first day on there were always two parking spaces left open for our vehicles and nobody would dare take them. It was really strange because we did not mean to intimidate anybody but just by the bikers presence that day led to this. Not one word was said to anybody, and it was worse when people in the neighborhood would walk down the street past our house they would literally cross the street to not have to walk near our porch. I never thought that was humourous at all…it was respect out of fear by proxy. They HA never came back to our house again and that fear never seemed to let up in the neighbors. There were even house break-ins in the area…not our house, ever.
So the bikers helped us move in to the new house and that took another half hour at the most…and I remember my roommate saying he was going to ride to the liquor store to get their beer. I assumed he was going to buy a keg and we would have an impromptu house warming party that afternoon…not the case. All they wanted was a couple beers each so my roomate bought a couple cases of Budweiser. They drank a case of beer, about two cold bottles each, which took about ten minutes. Then without saying a word they got on their bikes and drove off.
So that would be my first party and experiences with the HA, times to remember for sure. Other times would not be as eventful, which I will get to in a minute, as the law began to come down on the Clubs. A few years later I had moved to another city (Yes, I am constantly on the move), and we lived one street over from the Hells Angels Clubhouse. It was painted dark red and had black shutters and all the windows were blocked out, as well as cameras facing up and down the street. What was interesting about this Chapter of the HA was that it was the first Chapter of the HA on the East Coast. So the locals had a lot of pride in that…I remember them talking about it and when we would go up to Laconia for Bike Week, if you just said the name of the city everyone knew what Chapter it was. Now don't get the wrong idea, I was not a biker type in the sense of how you would think of or imagine. I was more of an party enthusiast and wherever there was one, I could be found there. It didn't have to be a biker party, as a matter of fact it often was other types of parties from Grateful Dead shows to Raves in the California desert.
Anyway getting back to a HA, The Club would throw street parties in our city and block off the whole street by parking bikes at both ends of the road so no cars could drive down. We would walk around looking at all the souped up bikes while walking the dogs. Soon after the local drug task force vehicle pulled up at the end of the street…It was a literal police station on wheels and I remember the huge trailer dropped metal braces onto the road making the unit immovable by any form of force. Then they announced over a loud speaker for everyone to clear the street. It was a pure show of force for what reason I had no idea. Nothing came of it at that point, but they were always trying to raid the place.
I remember years later while working at a rock show in the same city, it was 311 with Oysterhead (Supergroup feat. Les Claypool, Trey Anastasio, and Stewart Copeland) opening up and I was doing security from the side of the stage. Some members of the local HA Chapter just walked past some security guards around toward the back of the stage and they were all freaking out about what to do because they were worried about confronting them. They called out to the stage manager on the radios about what to do. I intervened and said don't worry just let them go, they were not trying to cause any trouble. Like I had said they just walked behind the stage, sat down for a while and smoked a joint, and then got up and kept on going. Again they were not looking for trouble, and we did not want any either. In closing, I'm not going to claim that I know anything about the outlaw life…and there is a reason that there are sayings that hold true in cases like this. It has been said many times before and will be said many times again, because it holds true to the letter; "Those who know won't say, and those who say don't know."
Whatever happened to the girl? That's a different story for a different time. ?
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Brian Brake News
Crowd-pulling Exhibition The exhibition Brian Brake: Lens on the World is now touring New Zealand and recently opened at Auckland Art Gallery, where it drew large crowds on its first weekend. This followed phenomenal attendances at its inaugural showing at Te Papa. An estimated 191,000 people visited the exhibition overRead more

subset: commoncrawl


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Death is interesting and has so many facets. My dad passed on 4/28/11 and we are close to closing his estate. With that, I'd like to respond briefly to a few comments below, as I'm just registering with this site:
140d2n....: death brings about all kinds of emotions and behaviors; its sad but true in most cases. The deceased children should divide the parent's belongings first. Then, if everyone agrees, give special items to special people.
E.R. My dad had a Jaguar and Taurus. As he considered purchasing the Jag, he questioned what would happen to the car if something happened to him. I told him, 'don't worry about that 'cause you'll be dead' jokingly.... just get the car. Worse case scenario, I can sell it back to the dealership. Well, I never thought it would come to fruition. With that, I had the dealership appraise it and worked with the same sells man. Everything worked out, but it was hard emotionally.
Geri: the biological dad, in my opinion, is out of order. If he wants additional money, he should pursue a law suit on his own. I wouldn't waste any energy and time on him.


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Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (Kǒng Fūzǐ, or K'ung-fu-tzu, lit. "Master Kung", 551–479 BC). It focuses on human morality and right action. Confucianism is a complex system of moral, social, political, philosophical, and quasi-religious thought that has had tremendous influence on the culture and history of East Asia. It might be considered a state religion of some East Asian countries, because of governmental promotion of Confucian values.
Cultures and countries strongly influenced by Confucianism include China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam, as well as various territories settled predominantly by Chinese people.
The basic teachings of Confucianism stress the importance of education for moral development of the individual so that the state can be governed by moral virtue rather than by the use of coercive laws.[1]
Neo-Confucianism is form of Confucianism which developed around AD 1960 in response to the growth of Daoism and Buddhism in China. It was essentially a mixture of Buddhism and traditional Confucianism.
- ↑ Levinson, David; Christensen, Karen "Encyclopedia of Modern Asia (2002) pg 157


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G'day friends! I'm so happy to be back home in Cali, catching up with my family. Today I welcome contributing writer Michelle from Ten June to share her insights on making the most of your outdoor spaces with ideas for stylish entertaining. 'Tis the season!
This article is like a breath of fresh air for me, filled with images of beautiful spaces that are sure to inspire you for your own summer soiree, so take it away, Michelle!
"It's almost that time of year again. Time to bring out your grill tools, pull out your picnic baskets and grab the bug spray. As our days grow longer and there's more daylight to enjoy, the best place to spend your spring and summer is none other than the great outdoors. One of my favorite aspects of spending time outdoors is hosting a great outdoor party.
Better Homes & Gardens, 100 Ideas
The key ingredient in outdoor entertaining is fun. Whether laid-back or slightly formal, there should be nothing stuffy about an outdoor party!
Whether you have the luxury of living in the country with twenty acres at your disposal, in the city with a ten foot by ten foot balcony, or something in between, hosting a dinner party outdoors can be fun, easy and done with incredible style.
When it comes to decorating when you are entertaining outdoors, it's always best to keep your decor whimsical and easy. Some of the key ingredients for decorating an outdoor space are color, comfort, and soft lighting.
Don't forget that you will likely have to work with the elements that Mother Nature has given you. Is it too windy? Lose the tablecloth. Lots of bugs? Flip colanders over to cover your food. Too warm? Create some shade.
When you're setting your outdoor table, keep things simple. Use bright, colorful foods or other natural elements to set the stage as your centerpieces. Hanging globe lights, lanterns or stringing twinkle lights is always enchanting in summer.
If you decide to use flowers, use inexpensive vessels to hold them, such as recycled mason jars or serving bowls. Don't be concerned about serving guests in the traditional, sit down fashion. Set up food and drink stations around the entertaining area so that guests feel comfortable mingling and enjoying your beautiful outdoor space.
Also, it helps if you stock up a bar cart or beverage station with the essentials- drinks, napkins, silverware, etc. so you don't find yourself running inside for each and every item needed.
Above all, remember to have fun. After all, it is a party! And what better a way to spend a beautiful day than by hosting your friends or family outdoors?"
Exactly! Thank you Michelle for such great tips and gorgeous inspiration! Be sure to pop over and say hello to Michelle at her blog Ten June.
I'll definitely be bringing out some outdoor place settings and also fluffing the outdoor cushions and pillows this weekend. Speaking of outdoor inspiration, here's a friendly reminder that the Home May'd link parties start next week beginning with Sarah, so get your spray paint cans ready!
We hope you'll join us for the par-tays!


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Happy Friday! Just a little note to self... "Do more of what makes you happy." It's pretty dumb but I read it to myself 3 times, picture what makes me happy and then I go and do it! x
LOVE my work? You can now purchase my prints from www.maikonagao.com


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Presenting our signature line of live edge wood wall clocks.
This timeless wall clock measures 21" in diameter and features laser cut gold painted wood bar time markers accentuated by modern, gold clock hands.
A beautiful piece of kiln dried, native Ontario Black Walnut wood is wrapped in a hand bent, raw steel hoop. Each piece of wood is sanded and individually cut to provide a perfect fit.
The wood is finished with a high quality, durable wax product and the clock work is a US made high torque quartz mechanism.
Each design element is purposefully thought out to provide a stunning, aesthetically pleasing piece of timeless, functional art for your home or office.
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I bought dozens of bananas and went to Dalhousie road in Delhi. Lots of beautiful, elegant, intelligent monkeys ran towards me to get bananas. I tried to distribute bananas among them in equal shares. But it was impossible to make them stand in a queue. I did not want alpha males to snatch bananas from oppressed monkeys.
They love bananas. Wish I could feed them everyday. But the traffic police around the road was not happy with me, they asked me to stop feeding monkeys. I didn't know that it was illegal to feed monkeys on the road. Why should love and care be illegal? They don't find food in the jungle, so they came to the city. Why shouldn't we feed them when there is almost no traffic and they are very hungry!
He is eating one, protecting another.
He got 3 bananas. But his hands are not free. So he is peeling the banana with his mouth. They are smarter than me.


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Quantum Mystery of Light Revealed by New Experiment
Is light made of waves, or particles?
This fundamental question has dogged scientists for decades, because light seems to be both. However, until now, experiments have revealed light to act either like a particle, or a wave, but never the two at once.
Now, for the first time, a new type of experiment has shown light behaving like both a particle and a wave simultaneously, providing a new dimension to the quandary that could help reveal the true nature of light, and of the whole quantum world.
The debate goes back at least as far as Isaac Newton, who advocated that light was made of particles, and James Clerk Maxwell, whose successful theory of electromagnetism, unifying the forces of electricity and magnetism into one, relied on a model of light as a wave. Then in 1905, Albert Einstein explained a phenomenon called the photoelectric effect using the idea that light was made of particles called photons (this discovery won him the Nobel Prize in physics). [What's That? Your Physics Questions Answered]
Ultimately, there's good reason to think that light is both a particle and a wave. In fact, the same seems to be true of all subatomic particles, including electrons and quarks and even the recently discovered Higgs boson-like particle. The idea is called wave-particle duality, and is a fundamental tenet of the theory of quantum mechanics.
Depending on which type of experiment is used, light, or any other type of particle, will behave like a particle or like a wave. So far, both aspects of light's nature haven't been observed at the same time.
But still, scientists have wondered, does light switch from being a particle to being a wave depending on the circumstance? Or is light always both a particle and a wave simultaneously?
Now, for the first time, researchers have devised a new type of measurement apparatus that can detect both particle and wave-like behavior at the same time. The device relies on a strange quantum effect called quantum nonlocality, a counter-intuitive notion that boils down to the idea that the same particle can exist in two locations at once.
"The measurement apparatus detected strong nonlocality, which certified that the photon behaved simultaneously as a wave and a particle in our experiment," physicist Alberto Peruzzo of England's University of Bristol said in a statement. "This represents a strong refutation of models in which the photon is either a wave or a particle."
Peruzzo is lead author of a paper describing the experiment published in the Nov. 2 issue of the journal Science.
MIT physicist Seth Lloyd, who was not involved in the project, called the experiment "audacious" in a related essay in Science, and said that while it allowed the photons to delay the choice of being particles or waves for only a few nanoseconds, "if one has access to quantum memory in which to store the entanglement, the decision could be put off until tomorrow (or for as long as the memory works reliably). So why decide now? Just let those quanta slide!"
You can follow LiveScience senior writer Clara Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitz. For more science news, follow LiveScience on twitter @livescience.
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"It is actually what is happening now, what is happening in the real world," said Albert Osterhaus, head of virology at the Erasmus Medical Center, who designed "The Great Flu" game with colleagues.
The game can only be played online at www.thegreatflu.com and it is free. A World Health Organization spokesman said Monday the agency was not familiar with the game and had not had time to play it.
WHO has reported nearly 178,000 cases of swine flu including 1,462 deaths worldwide, though those numbers are believed to be a gross underestimate of the actual caseload, since hard-hit countries no longer test all cases with flu-like symptoms.
As the virus has spread worldwide, countries have tried different methods to slow it down and pharmaceutical companies are now racing to produce a swine flu vaccine.
The game begins with images of bedridden patients and graveyards from the 1918 Spanish flu. As the head of the fictitious "World Pandemic Control," players pick a flu strain, and then monitor that strain's spread around the world.
To fight the emerging outbreak, players use measures including setting up surveillance systems, stockpiling antivirals and vaccines, and closing schools and airports. Players also have a limited budget and are warned that "your actions to control the virus cost money, so keep an eye on it."
A running tally of the numbers of people infected and those who have died sit above the budget. Newspaper stories about the deadly virus and the global response to it -- like riots breaking out worldwide -- pop up to help players monitor the outbreak.
Messages from governments mirror the difficulties faced by international agencies like WHO. For instance, when players set up costly surveillance systems, the game often relays a message from governments that "we will comply with your directions...but we must inform you that the political support for this action is low in this region. Therefore, the effectiveness of the system may differ from your expectations."
Osterhaus said the video game's approximation of combating a pandemic, choosing between various interventions yet still watching the outbreak spread, gives people a sense of how difficult it is to make decisions in the public health world.
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Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes—an interpretation of FASB Statement No. 109 (Issued 6/06)
This Interpretation clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise's financial statements in accordance with FASB Statement No. 109, Accounting for Income Taxes. This Interpretation prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. This Interpretation also provides guidance on derecognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim periods, disclosure, and transition.
The evaluation of a tax position in accordance with this Interpretation is a two-step process. The first step is recognition: The enterprise determines whether it is more likely than not that a tax position will be sustained upon examination, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes, based on the technical merits of the position. In evaluating whether a tax position has met the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold, the enterprise should presume that the position will be examined by the appropriate taxing authority that would have full knowledge of all relevant information. The second step is measurement: A tax position that meets the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold is measured to determine the amount of benefit to recognize in the financial statements. The tax position is measured at the largest amount of benefit that is greater than 50 percent likely of being realized upon ultimate settlement.
Differences between tax positions taken in a tax return and amounts recognized in the financial statements will generally result in one of the following:
- An increase in a liability for income taxes payable or a reduction of an income tax refund receivable
- A reduction in a deferred tax asset or an increase in a deferred tax liability
- Both (a) and (b).
An enterprise that presents a classified statement of financial position should classify a liability for unrecognized tax benefits as current to the extent that the enterprise anticipates making a payment within one year or the operating cycle, if longer. An income tax liability should not be classified as a deferred tax liability unless it results from a taxable temporary difference (that is, a difference between the tax basis of an asset or a liability as calculated using this Interpretation and its reported amount in the statement of financial position). This Interpretation does not change the classification requirements for deferred taxes.
Tax positions that previously failed to meet the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold should be recognized in the first subsequent financial reporting period in which that threshold is met. Previously recognized tax positions that no longer meet the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold should be derecognized in the first subsequent financial reporting period in which that threshold is no longer met. Use of a valuation allowance as described in Statement 109 is not an appropriate substitute for the derecognition of a tax position. The requirement to assess the need for a valuation allowance for deferred tax assets based on the sufficiency of future taxable income is unchanged by this Interpretation.
Reason for Issuing This Interpretation
In principle, the validity of a tax position is a matter of tax law. It is not controversial to recognize the benefit of a tax position in an enterprise's financial statements when the degree of confidence is high that that tax position will be sustained upon examination by a taxing authority. However, in some cases, the law is subject to varied interpretation, and whether a tax position will ultimately be sustained may be uncertain. Statement 109 contains no specific guidance on how to address uncertainty in accounting for income tax assets and liabilities. As a result, diverse accounting practices have developed resulting in inconsistency in the criteria used to recognize, derecognize, and measure benefits related to income taxes. This diversity in practice has resulted in noncomparability in reporting income tax assets and liabilities.
How This Interpretation Will Improve Financial Reporting
This Interpretation will result in increased relevance and comparability in financial reporting of income taxes because all tax positions accounted for in accordance with Statement 109 will be evaluated for recognition, derecognition, and measurement using consistent criteria. Finally, the disclosure provisions of this Interpretation will provide more information about the uncertainty in income tax assets and liabilities.
How the Conclusions in This Interpretation Relate to the Conceptual Framework
In developing the recognition and measurement guidance of this Interpretation, the Board considered the qualitative characteristics discussed in FASB Concepts Statement No. 2, Qualitative Characteristics of Accounting Information. Those characteristics emphasize that comparable information enables users to identify similarities in and differences between two sets of economic events. This Interpretation establishes a consistent threshold for recognizing current and deferred taxes.
When a position is taken in a tax return that reduces the amount of income taxes paid to a taxing authority, the enterprise realizes an immediate economic benefit. However, considerable time can elapse before the acceptability of that tax position is determined. This Interpretation requires the affirmative evaluation that it is more likely than not, based on the technical merits of a tax position, that an enterprise is entitled to economic benefits resulting from positions taken in income tax returns. If a tax position does not meet the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold, the benefit of that position is not recognized in the financial statements.
The Effective Date of This Interpretation
This Interpretation is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2006. Earlier application of the provisions of this Interpretation is encouraged if the enterprise has not yet issued financial statements, including interim financial statements, in the period this Interpretation is adopted.


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NVIDIA Quadro K4000M
The NVIDIA Quadro K4000M is a high-end, DirectX 11.1 compatible graphics card for mobile workstations. It is a Kepler-based GPU built on the GK104 chip (but using only 960 shader cores) and is manufactured in 28nm at TSMC. The Quadro K4000M is built for the Intel Chief River generation (Ivy Bridge) and is the successor to the Fermi-based Quadro 4000M (Huron River platform).
The Quadro series offers certified drivers that are optimized for stability and performance in professional applications like CAD or DCC. OpenGL performance, for example, should be significantly better than GeForce graphics cards of similar specifications.
The Kepler architecture is the successor to the Fermi architecture that first appeared in laptops with the GeForce 400M series. The GK104 Kepler core offers eight shader blocks, called SMX, that are clocked at the same speed as the central core. In the K4000M, 5 blocks are active leading to the 960 CUDA cores. Although more shader cores are available in the Kepler architecture as compared to the Fermi design, the Kepler shaders are still expected to be up to twice as power efficient. However, due to the missing hot clock of the shader domain, two shaders of a Kepler chip offer similar performance to just one shader of a Fermi chip (as the latter is clocked twice as fast).
PCIe 3.0 is now supported by the mobile Kepler series and an optional Turbo mode can automatically overclock the Nvidia card by a theoretical 15 percent if the laptop cooling system allows it. The implementation of this boost mode is done in the BIOS, but it is ultimately dependent upon the manufacturer of the laptop.
The performance is significantly above the level of the older Quadro 5010M and also beats the GeForce GTX 675M. Therefore, the card will manage both CAD software and demanding 3D games of 2013 in high quality settings.
The improved feature set now includes support for up to 4 active displays. Furthermore, high resolution monitors of up to 3840x2160 pixels can now be connected using DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 1.4a if available. HD-Audio codecs, such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, can be transmitted via bitstream mode through the HDMI port. However, as most laptops will feature Optimus, the integrated GPU will likely have direct control over the display ports and may limit the feature set available by the Nvidia Kepler cards.
The 5th generation PureVideo HD video processor (VP5) is also integrated in the GK107 core and offers hardware decoding of HD videos. Common codecs such as MPEG-1/2, MPEG-4 ASP, H.264 and VC1/WMV9 are fully supported up to 4K resolutions while VC1 and MPEG-4 are supported up to 1080p. Two streams can be decoded in parallel for features such as Picture-in-Picture. Another novelty is the inclusion of a dedicated video encoding engine similar to Intel QuickSync that can be accessed by the NVENC API.
The power consumption of the K4000M is rated at 100 Watt (TGP according to Nvidia) and is therefore suited for large-sized notebooks 17-inches or greater.
Quadro K Series
|960 - unified
|Core Speed
|600 MHz
|Memory Speed
|2800 MHz
|Memory Bus Width
|256 Bit
|Memory Type
|Max. Amount of Memory
|Shared Memory
|DirectX 11, Shader 5.0, OpenGL 4.1
|Power Consumption
|100 Watt
|28 nm
|Optimus, PhysX, Verde Drivers, CUDA, 3D Vision, 3DTV Play
|Notebook Size
|Date of Announcement


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As it wages an escalating civil war, Libya has once again cut Internet service in and out of the country.
This latest cutoff happened just before 7 p.m. local time in Libya Thursday evening, according to Internet monitoring firms Renesys and Arbor Networks.
Libya blocked Internet traffic — and then quickly restored it — two weeks ago. But this time it's doing things a little differently. In February, Libya took a cue from Egypt and used the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to tell the world's routers to essentially steer clear of Libyan Internet space. Now, the country has erected a firewall around all of its Internet traffic. "They're blocking all the traffic," said Renesys General Manager Earl Zmijewski. "The routes are still up, but there's no traffic flowing. It's as if all the roads are open, but all the cars are blocked."
With international calls getting stronger for President Moammar Gadhafi to step down, this latest move appears to be an attempt to cut the flow of information to and from the north African country.
Withdrawing the BGP routes is akin to hitting an Internet kill switch, making it impossible for any Internet traffic to flow in or out of the country. With this latest firewall technique, Gadhafi's government could selectively allow some computer — the president's, for example — to use the Internet.
Zmijewski does not know what, if any, systems have Internet access in Libya.
Besides Egypt, other nations such as Myanmar in 2007 and Nepal in 2005 have taken similar steps to kill Internet access, and China selectively cuts access to certain parts of the Internet using its so-called Great Firewall of China. But with 400 million users — compared to hundreds of thousands in Libya — China's firewall is an extremely complicated work of engineering.
Putting up a countrywide firewall is a relatively simple thing for Gadhafi's government because the nation's Internet connections have a single choke point, the state-owned Libya Telecom & Technology (LTT). By simply changing router settings at LTT, the government could put up the firewall countrywide, Zmijewski said.
Robert McMillan covers computer security and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Robert on Twitter at @bobmcmillan. Robert's e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com


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If stress is giving you high blood pressure, blame the immune system. T cells, helpful for fighting infections, are also necessary for mice to show an increase in blood pressure after a period of psychological stress, scientists have found.
The findings suggest that the effects of chronic stress on cardiovascular health may be a side effect of having an immune system that can defend us from infection. The results also have potential implications for treating both high blood pressure and anxiety disorders.
The results are published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.
"Chronic stress has long been known to have harmful effects on the immune system as well as being a risk factor for hypertension," says lead author Paul Marvar, a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University School of Medicine. "Our goal was to examine the role of T cells in stress-dependent hypertension."
Marvar began his research under the guidance of David Harrison, MD, who moved from Emory to Vanderbilt University in 2011. He completed his work in the laboratory of Kerry Ressler, MD, PhD. Ressler is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory, and maintains a laboratory at Yerkes National Primate Research Center.
In the current study, researchers subjected mice to psychological stress by confining them in a small space for one hour and then putting them in cages where other mice had already left their scents. Two hours of stress per day, for a week, results in a short term rise in systolic blood pressure in normal mice.
However, mice that were genetically engineered to lack T cells did not display an increase in blood pressure under the same regimen. Introducing T cells into mice that lacked them made their blood pressure sensitive to stress again.
Harrison and his colleagues had previously shown that T cells are needed for the increase in blood pressure coming from high dietary salt or the hormone angiotensin, which regulates blood pressure, and continue to investigate the role of T cells in high blood pressure.
Several studies in animals have suggested that medications now used to control blood pressure, such as angiotensin receptor blockers or ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitors, may also be helpful in the reduction of stress and anxiety, Marvar says.
"Further understanding the mechanisms underlying these observations and determining whether they may benefit people with anxiety disorders, for example post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is a current goal of my research," he says.
High blood pressure is a risk factor for heart attack and stroke, and many people take medications to reduce their blood pressure. Yet some find that medications are not effective in controlling their blood pressure, and researchers are investigating various alternative approaches.
"There are still many unanswered questions about clinical relevance and safety in treating hypertensive patients by targeting the immune system," Marvar says. "Understanding what triggers the immune response in hypertension will ultimately guide the feasibility of future clinical applications."
The research was supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and by the Emory University Scholars Program in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Emory University. Original written by Quinn Eastman. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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At Mankato Public School System in Minnesota, students bring their homework, their lunches, and books to school like most students across the country. But they also bring whatever tech devices they own — and they don't have to hide it or turn it off when they walk into class.
Mankato has joined the growing Bring Your Own Technology movement that allows students to use their own Netbooks, laptops, and tablets — anything that connects to the school's wireless network — during class time.
"By allowing kids to bring in their own devices, you free up school resources for the kids who don't have access," says Doug Johnson, director of media and technology for the Mankato Public School System. (Johnson wrote the book — literally — on the subject; The Classroom Teacher's Technology Survival Guide is published this month.) For example, in classrooms that have a group of four computers, finding time for all 30 students to use them can be challenging. In Mankato, 90% of the students have some sort of wireless-capable device, which leaves only eight students in a typical class who will need to use the class computers.
This kind of unconventional approach to schooling, in a public school system that's tangled with strict rules and regulations, was one of the tactics being hailed this week when President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke about the importance of bringing schools to the 21st century by finding smart ways to integrate technology into the learning process at the inaugural Digital Learning Day.
For schools that are lucky enough to have the money to carry out this mission — whether it's providing a computer lab, laptops and tablets for students — the rewards of the technology are abundant. But the fiscal reality makes this difficult for most public schools that struggle with dwindling budgets and can't afford to hire enough teachers, let alone computers.
That's why school districts like Mankato are experimenting with what could be a very obvious solution: Let kids bring their own tech devices to school. Truth is, at last count (in 2010) more than 75 percent of American kids age 12 to 17 owned cell phones, according to a Pew Research study. And 19 percent of Americans now own a tablet. So it's no surprise that the Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) movement is taking shape across the country with school districts that allow students to use their tablets, smart phones, and other mobile computing devices in the classroom for learning.
Conceptually, that makes a lot of sense. Why not let kids use the tech tools they're already familiar with to enhance their learning? But as schools try to figure out the best way of transitioning to this new world, some thorny issues must first be sorted out. How do teachers and school systems prepare for all the different platforms, when some kids are bringing in tablets, others are bringing their parents' old laptops, and the remainder are on mobile phones? And what effect does this change have on the dynamics of a classroom?
For starters, schools and districts are beset by myriad rules and policies they must follow in order to qualify for state and federal funding. And if district policy does allow kids to bring their own devices, schools must also make sure they have enough bandwidth to deal with all the new devices that need Internet connections.
Schools have long looked at providing Internet-capable devices as the only way to ensure equal access to education for all students, but these endeavors are extremely expensive and, many districts believe, unsustainable without long-term grant funding. That's where kids using their own devices could work.
What's so great about having a mobile device in class? Instant access to information is the main reason for allowing kids to use their devices: to search for information online. Some teachers also use mobile devices to gives quizzes or take instant polls. How they use their devices depends on what teachers decide to do with them.
Though there continues to be a large gap in those who own laptops and can afford broadband at home and those who can't, mobile devices can potentially serve to bridge gaps in access, allowing kids to use them in and outside of school for learning.
But allowing kids to use their devices at school might not be as simple a solution as it sounds. Educator and technology consultant Gary Stager believes the BYOT movement "diminishes the otherwise enormous potential of educational computing to the weakest device in the room." He contends that "cell phones are not computers! They may both contain microprocessors and batteries, but as of today, their functionality is quite different…The computer is an intellectual laboratory and vehicle for self-expression that makes it possible for children to learn and do things in ways unthinkable just a few years ago. We impair such empowerment when we limit educational practice to the functionality of the least powerful device."
Mobile phones, and especially those that aren't smart phones, obviously don't have the same capabilities as computers. But when tablets and Netbooks enter the picture, it becomes less of an argument against insufficient technology and more an argument against managing multiple technologies. Stager adds that in a class full of students handling his or her own device, each one different from the other, will only "amplify [teachers'] anxiety and reduce use."
But as one who's taken to using all kinds of devices in school, Johnson believes in the power of the cloud to provide tools that any device can access. In Mankato, they rely heavily on Google Docs and other platform-agnostic tools that serve information to any Internet-accessible device.
And although Johnson admits that more traditional teachers resist or are overwhelmed by this type of learning, students will need little support because they're already familiar with their own devices. If the bandwidth and infrastructure are in place for students to access the school network, Johnson says they'll be able to do their work with little oversight.
Johnson has enlisted parents' help to make sure teachers aren't overtaxed with trying to help kids figure out how to use the devices that don't meet district guidelines. He sent a letter home to parents before the holidays with a checklist of things to look for if they were already planning to buy a mobile device for their child's holiday gift.
The common theme he hears from parents is, "If I spend $500 on an iPad for my kid, I hope the teachers uses it!"
This post originally appeared on Mind/Shift.


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The faculty Assessment Committee, representing Chapman's ten schools and colleges with members appointed by the Faculty Senate, oversees and evaluates learning outcomes assessment at Chapman University.
The Committee's role and responsibilities are to:
- Oversee implementation of learning outcomes assessment plans by departments and programs as they relate to majors and general education at Chapman University.
- Work with the Office of the Provost to create an annual schedule of assessment activities, plans, and reports.
- Review guidelines, policies, and templates/forms for assessment plans and reports.
- Review program annual assessment plans and reports and provide recommendations/criticisms.
- Review the results of program review and make recommendations from the perspective of student learning and assessment evidence as they relate to curriculum and resource allocation.
- Provide support, workshops and consultation with faculty and program leaders regarding learning outcomes assessment.
- Promote campus discussion and reflection on learning outcomes assessment.
- Coordinate with the Office of the Provost, the General Education Committee, the Undergraduate Academic Council, the Graduate Academic Council and the Long Range Planning Council to develop links between institutional priorities, assessment, program review, and general education.


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In the biggest data compromise of the year, Social Security Numbers (SSN) belonging to about 3.6 million residents in South Carolina have been exposed in an intrusion into a computer at the state's Department of Revenue.
Another 387,000 credit and debit card numbers were also exposed in the September attack, the state Department of Revenue said in a statement Friday. However, out of that number only about 16,000 of the credit and debit cards were unencrypted, the department added. The SSNs, meanwhile, do not appear to have been encrypted.
Anyone who has filed a South Carolina tax since 1998 has been impacted by the breach and will be offered one year of identity protection service from Experian. The service includes a $1 million identity theft insurance policy. (The state department has set up a Web page with contact information for people to call.)
"The number of records breached requires an unprecedented, large-scale response by the Department of Revenue, the State of South Carolina and all our citizens," South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said in the statement. "We are taking immediate steps to protect the taxpayers of South Carolina, including providing one year of credit monitoring and identity protection to those affected."
The department said the data theft appears to have occurred sometime in mid-September. An ongoing investigation of the breach by security firm Mandiant shows that the perpetrators first made an attempt to break into the system and steal the data in August and twice again in mid-September. The hackers appear to have accessed the data during the mid-September intrusions, the department said in its statement.
The Department of Revenue first learned of the intrusion only on Oct. 10 after being notified about it by the S.C. Division of Information Technology. Federal and state law enforcement authorities were immediately informed about the breach and Mandiant was brought in the next day to begin remediating the situation. It is not immediately clear what systems were breached, or how.
Mandiant has closed the vulnerability that led to the intrusion and has finished installing surveillance and monitoring tools across the department, the statement added.
The breach is easily the biggest involving Social Security Numbers this year. The previous biggest loss of SSNs this year happened when hackers believed to be operating out of East Europe broke into a Medicaid server at the Utah Department of Health in March and accessed closed to 280,000 SSNs and close to 500,000 other records involving less sensitive personal data.
In that incident, hackers were able to gain access to the system by exploiting a default password on the user authentication layer of the system. The attackers were able to bypass multiple network, perimeter and application level security controls to gain access to the data. The incident prompted the resignation of Utah's CTO, a couple of months later.
It's too soon to say what kind of fallout this breach will have, especially considering the fact that the SSNs appear to have been stored in unencrypted fashion.
Security experts have long advocated the use of encryption to protect SSNs and other sensitive data and some states such as Massachusetts even mandate it. The fact that this basic precaution appears not to have been taken in this case could expose the state to potential lawsuits as well.
Jaikumar Vijayan covers data security and privacy issues, financial services security and e-voting for Computerworld. Follow Jaikumar on Twitter at @jaivijayan or subscribe to Jaikumar's RSS feed . His e-mail address is email@example.com.
See more by Jaikumar Vijayan on Computerworld.com.


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How Will Mortgage Rate Hikes Impact Home Sales?
How Will Mortgage Rate Hikes Impact Home Sales?
How Will Mortgage Rate Hikes Impact Home Sales?
Posted: 18 Jun 2015 04:00 AM PDT
When mortgage interest rates begin to climb, experts immediately begin to discuss home affordability indexes. They calculate how an increase in rates will slow home purchases as more and more potential buyers are priced out of the market. Today, with home prices also increasing, many believe that home sales may slow down rather dramatically. This may prove to be true in the long term. However, in the short term, increasing mortgage rates may have the opposite effect. Many buyers who have been sitting on the fence may realize that delaying their purchase no longer makes sense. Last week, in a CNBC article, Matt Weaver of Florida-based PMAC Lending explained the impact an increase in rates will have:
"These increases really help the home-buying market. It really gets buyers to really understand that 'wait a minute, rates are at an all-time low, let's react now, let's react before they go higher'."
As an example, we can look to 2013 when interest rates spiked up by a full percentage point over a two month period. The result is that many buyers rushed to the market on the fear that rates would continue to climb. It didn't necessarily increase the number of sales that year dramatically. However, it did seem to move some sales up in the year as evidenced by the chart below: We can see that the sales cycle did not follow a more normal cycle (2014) with more sales being pushed into July and August and slightly less sales in September and August.
Bottom Line
If you are waiting to put your house on the market, think twice. Now may be the perfect time to sell as buyer competition will continue to heat up as more purchasers jump into the market. You may also save a pretty penny on the monthly mortgage payment of your next home by selling now before rates shoot up.


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Oprah Winfrey has said several times throughout the years that she looked to Maya Angelou as a mother. Now that Angelou has passed, it was a wonder how she would deal with someone so close to her heart.
She revealed her thoughts through Instagram about just how much Angelou meant to her, and how she will go o without her.
I've been blessed to have Maya Angelou as my mentor, mother/sister, and friend since my 20's. She was there for me always, guiding me through some of the most important years of my life. The world knows her as a poet but at the heart of her, she was a teacher. 'When you learn, teach. When you get, give' is one of my best lessons from her. She won three Grammys, spoke six languages and was the second poet in history to recite a poem at a presidential inauguration. But what stands out to me most about Maya Angelou is not what she has done or written or spoken, it's how she lived her life. She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace. I loved her and I know she loved me. I will profoundly miss her. She will always be the rainbow in my clouds.Following
Angelou, who has been featured many times on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" as well as OWN, revealed the best advice she was ever given and received on OWN's "Super Soul Sunday." Watch below.
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At the Grand Hotel Excelsior, we are eagerly anticipating the Festive Season and its associated joy, goodwill and celebrations. Our talented Chefs and Food & Beverage Teams have carefully prepared tantalising menus and packages. Whether you are seeking a celebrative meal with loved ones, an enjoyable event with your colleagues, or to relax and pamper yourself in style, we are sure to satisfy your requirements.
We invite you to browse through our Festive Season brochure for more information about our enticing menus. You can also enjoy snippets from our take on the classic tale, The Wizard of Oz – this year's festive theme!
Should you wish to be part of our Festive celebrations kindly contact our Christmas Desk on firstname.lastname@example.com or on 21250520.


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Child Mauled to Death by Dogs at Pittsburgh Zoo
A toddler was mauled to death today after falling into the African painted dog exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo.
The boy, who was around 3 years old, fell 14 feet over a railing and into the exhibit, said Barbara Baker, director of the Pittsburgh Zoo.
"Visitors alerted the staff immediately and they went into emergency response mode," she said.
Zoo officials tried firing darts to scare the dogs away from the child, but the animals, which are pack hunters, did not immediately respond.
The dogs were eventually moved from the exhibit, with the exception of one, which had to be shot by a police officer after it continued to "be aggressive" to the boy, Baker said.
"Unfortunately by the time EMTs were able to get to him, the boy had passed away," Baker said.
The zoo has been closed until further notice.
The identity of the boy, who Baker said was visiting the zoo with his mother and family friends, has not yet been released.
"We've had the exhibit up since 2006 and we have not had any issues with the dogs," Baker said. "This is a tragic accident."


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Show off your love of the beach!!This circle Myrtle Beach Sand Pendant is a great way to show your South Carolina pride. It is the perfect piece to wear as a memory of a family vacation, favorite beach, family reunion, or special event.ThisMyrtle Beach pendant is made from the sand collected off the shores of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.Each pendant is unique and handmade.Each pendant is unique and handmade and will have it's own unique appearance due to the variance in the sand.Custom orders are always available, just contact me.
Myrtle Beach Sand Small Circle Pendant
SKU: P11b
- Silver jewelry requires great care. Silver does tarnish and needs to be polished. Your jewelry should not be worn while showering, spraying perfume, hair , lotions, etc. It should be the first thing you take off and the last thing you put on. A polishing cloth is all you need to maintain your jewelry, do not use any type of cleaner, it can harm your silver and sand piece.


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[50 Cent sample] Baby this is real sh** My record sales slow, I'm a show you my dick [The Game] Here the breakdown No 400 bars yet, I don't need that I'm gas, your whole click is a**, I mean that G-Unot co*ks**er, better believe that I say it one time, watch the whole world scream back G-U-N-O-T, now that's for Billboard, rest in peace And since my n***a died, I been stressed, no sleep Contemplating suicide in my Lexus jeep I tried twice but I couldn't make my d**h complete I guess you could say Mya got the best of me Came back from the dead to address the beef Kiss my Converse, b**h, and accept defeat Cause I hate it when bullies try to test the weak That's when I go Bishop in Juice and start flexin' heat You could get it in the stomach just like Raheem Cause runnin' with a snitch is not quite my thing I tried to take Buck with me, but he stayed on the scene Guess all I can do now is pray for Supreme While I finish my next album, five million and countin' Anticipating, tellin' the world I did it without him If Aftermath was a family that didn't have a mother I'd be Dre's newborn, you'd be the jealous older brother Yea, daddy love us but in the meanwhile You talkin' behind his back and in his face you smile You moved out the house, you a failure now And lil' Game grew up to be a problem child I whip ya head boy, that's for Kanye West I whip ya head boy, with the back of my tech Yep, your f**in' group fell flat without me You mad, what you gonna do, rap about me? Your bars is park garbage, hooks is mediocre And your new shoes look like Reebok pennyloafers Try to walk in my shoes a block Hurricanes in stores the day after Christmas, n***a; f** Reeboks You a steroid addict, you need detox Hopefully you make it out in time to be on Detox Cause Black Wall Street expandin', yeah I bought three blocks My CL so smooth, it should've came with Pete Rock And let's not forget who made me hot It was Dr. Dre that took me out the weed spot You want credit, forget it, I did it on my own Gave you 300 bars, then said I'm gone But I'm back, this is rap and a fact is a fact They say once you turn snitch, you never go back Here's a picture of Ja Rule, motherf**er hold that What goes around comes around, get used to the gold plaques Homie got cheese, but he don't feed no rats I show the world my dick if Lloyd Banks go plat I'm lyrically insane, Lloyd Banks know that He told me I was like a Big Daddy Kane throwback Started with one brick, built my own company And don't spread news about it unless it come from me Guess who's the boss, n***a my squad deep But Gla**es Malone is not signed to Black Wall Street n***a don't, don't, don't, don't, don't believe the hype Hear that Mike? And don't be alarmed, this is not a diss But missusing my logo kinda got me pissed And I got enough beef, now Lil' Eazy dissin He don't write his own raps, so I gotta forgive him I got love for ya pops and I always will So on behalf of Eric Wright, my n***a you gotta chill I'm the reason you new westcoast n***as got a deal While I was doin mixtapes, they was watching College Hill For real, you mothaf**as ain't got half my sk** I run this sh** like OJ in pads for the bills Trying so hard to be a gangsta, n***a you seethrough Posing like 50 on the cover of the GQ bu*ton up shirt with the cut off sleeves I got twin Desert Eagles, n***a s** on these I got that CEO flow, yea my bars are sweet Like Hova in Takeover, chewin' out Mobb Deep Like Pac on Hit Em Up, chewin' out Mobb Deep Don't one of you n***as got sickle? f** it, talk is cheap When I see you, and I'm gonna see you I'mma strip you down a**hole naked and that's how I'mma leave you Then I'mma find Havoc, make him walk through Queens nude With Black Wall Street tattooed on his back n***a signed to G-unit, now they bustin' guns But last week it was: "My n***a Game! What up, dun?" See that's what the f** I mean, you can't trust these rap n***as And you wonder why I always say f** these rap n***as So I'mma break it down for MC's and friends If you don't hear your name, let the beef begin Ain't got sh** against Hov, I like the n***a's style Nas is my n***a, I been bangin' him for a while I f** with Fat Joe, he got the streets locked And thats the same reason I f** with Kiss and D-Block Place Eminem in the number three spot And Snoop is like my big brother, we both raised by the Doc Young Jeezy you hot, we both new to this While I'm in the ATL, shout out to Ludacris Cause your uncle Scarface show me that crime pays Just like Paul Wall got me sittin' sideways And I can't forget about the homie Mike Jones Who? Mike Jones, Skeet screw the f**in' song I f** with Slim Thug and my n***a Bun B Can't do that without saying free Pimp C And thats the reason why 50 try to pimp me So I went window shoppin' and bought two Bentleys I'm in the drivers seat, motherf**er don't tempt me Turnin' Spider Loc against me, cause your scared to come get me Cuz know whats up, Bloods still got love for 'em Come to the block, I'll shake off the rug for 'em As for G-unit, motherf**er it's a wrap Ma$e made it out alive, thank God for that If Dipset don't get you, Jesse Jackson will And if all else fails, I'll see you in hell Wear that G-unit spinner when you come to L.A I have a n***a parkin' cars, dressed up like valet He gonna turn back pastor when the gun in his face The real chain still in Chicago but I'm takin the fake You can call who you want, I ain't givin back sh** Unless Olivia show the whole world she got a dick Can't sing to save her life, but she talk a lot of sh** And I want my ten G's cause Yayo caught a brick I guess my G-Unot tattoo was a smart move Cause in the end you lost a hundred mill to a cartoon Three years after you got tatted by Cartoon The beef is over, G-Unit gonna fall apart, soon Hahahahaha f*ggot a** n***as I guess I win n***a Life is a game of chess n***a Some king, some queens Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Young Buck, Pastor f**in' Ma$e You n***as is pawns 50, or Boo Boo, or Curtis, or Chicken Little, hahaha Stop Snitchin–Stop Lyin in stores December 6th The DVD, it's a tell all motherf**ers Yeah, my documentaries be better than your movies n***a, hahaha I drove by your house n***a Go buy the DVD, $16.99 n***a At your local record store, Blockbuster, Sam Goody, Warehouse Shout out to the moms and pops, for helping me slay them f*ggots G-gu-g-g-gu, G-gu-g-g-gu, G-gu-g-g-gu, G-Unot! Hahahaha Pop off n***a, hahahaha, pop off n***a, pop off It's me, The G-A-M-E, gone


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Cleveland, OH – The Cleveland Indians added a veteran presence to their starting rotation on Tuesday, signing Brett Myers to a one- year deal, according to MLB.com.
The deal, which includes a club option for a second year, will be official once Myers passes a physical.
Myers spent the entire 2012 season in the bullpen for the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox. He registered 19 saves and a 3.52 earned-run average as Houston's closer before being shipped to Chicago at the trade deadline.
Myers was drafted by Philadelphia as a starter in 1999 and played eight seasons in red pinstripes. He won 50 games as a starter for the club from 2003-2006 before closing games during the 2007 campaign.
He then reprised a starter's role in 2008 and helped Philadelphia win its second World Series title that season.
Cleveland acquired former Diamondbacks prospect Trevor Bauer during the offseason, but Myers will add a nice veteran presence to a rotation which includes Ubaldo Jimenez, Zach McAllister, Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber.


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1770 Neil Morris RD
Tuscumbia, AL 35674
ph: 256-383-7368
We have Propane and RV Supplies
Spray Ground (Seasonal)
When we say we are BIG RIG friendly............we mean it! Large Pull-Thru Sites.
Spacious Back-in Sites
We Want your stay in Tuscumbia to be enjoyable. Our Park is easily accessed and easy to maneuver in with Big Rigs and Fifth Wheels. Every campsite has Water, Sewer, 50 & 30 amp Electric, and 48 Channels of TV. Additionally, we broadcast WiFi Signal throughout the park.
You will love our Shower House. Trailer Life/Good Sam rated it a "9.5". It features Tile Floors and Walls, Walk-in Showers, Wheel Chair Accessibility, Heat and A/C, and a Baby Changing Station.
Our Coin Laundry is open 24/7 and has 4 Washers and 4 Dryers, Ironing Board and Iron, Tables, Chairs, Soda and Snack Vending, Heat and A/C.
Propane Dispensing Station on-site
RV Supplies and Accessories Store
Owned and Operated by the Williams Family
Please, Come be our guest!
We are truly Big Rig friendly. Come see for yourself!
We strive to give RVer's a comfortable, convenient place to park. Our sites are wide enough and long enough to accomodate any size RV, including slideouts. Sites have sod and pavers around hook-ups. Pull thrus are great for overnight stays when you just want to pull in, hook up and rest without unhooking your tow vehicle. Pets are welcome, no extra charge.
Heritage Acres RV Park and Campground, Tuscumbia, Alabama serves the surrounding area's rv and camping needs, including Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, Florence, Barton, Cherokee, Russellville, Town Creek, Courtland, Red Bay and the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Muscle Shoals. We invite to you to come camp with us next time you visit the Shoals area in North Alabama.
1770 Neil Morris RD
Tuscumbia, AL 35674
ph: 256-383-7368


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Leeticia is learning how to ride a surfboard on the beaches of Brazil. The way her instructor takes charge really turns her on making it hard for her to concentrate on surfing. The instructor is memorized by Leeticias gorgeous body. A perfectly, plump ass and mouth watering tits make his job harder as well. Leeticia manages to ride the board for a little, but she would rather be riding something else. They both retire to the beach and to their surprize there is a blanket with fruit waiting for them. They romantically share grapes from the stem and proceed to share a little more. After her instructor oils up her ass Leeticia shows off her cock sucking skills before getting pounded properly on this Brazilian beach. She shows off her riding skills here and they prove superior to her surfing ability. After taking and riding his cock in her ass Leeticia gets a face full of semen. Her instructor learned that this Brazilian beauty may not be hanging ten anytime soon, but she is more than proficient at banging men right now.
| 453 views
Channel: Mike in Brazil


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Whether it's
a bad relationship, a dead-end career, or a harmful habit, Dr.
McGraw's 10 Life Laws will empower you to take responsibility
for your own actions and break free from self-destructive patterns.
Drawing upon more than fifteen years of experience, Dr. McGraw explores
each of the 10 Life Laws necessary to succeed:
Law #1: You either get it, or you don't.
Strategy: Become one of those who gets
Law #2: You create your own experience.
Strategy: Acknowledge and accept accountability
for your life.
Law #3: People do what works.
Strategy: Identify the payoffs that
drive your behavior and that of others.
Law #4: You cannot change what you do not acknowledge.
Strategy: Get real with yourself about
your life and everybody in it.
Law #5: Life rewards action.
Strategy: Make careful decisions and
then pull the trigger.
Law #6: There is no reality; only
Strategy: Identify the filters through
which you view the world.
Law #7: Life is managed; it is not cured.
Strategy: Learn to take charge of
your life.
Law #8: We teach people how to treat us.
Strategy: Own, rather than complain
about, how people treat you.
Law #9: There is power in forgiveness.
Strategy: Open your eyes to what anger
and resentment are doing to you.
Law #10: You have to name it before
you can claim it.
Strategy: Get clear about what you
want and take your turn.


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Cotonti combines the flexibility of a web framework with the rapid deployability and featureset of a content management system. Despite having features such as user accounts, content creation, file management and community tools out of the box, it can be easily extended using modules or plugins. Cotonti is powered by its own template engine which is both fast and easy to learn, even if you are not an experienced programmer.
Read more about Cotonti's Benefits...
As far as you can know we host language files of our project on Transifex service. It allows any user to collaborate in Cotonti translation for any language.
This announcement had posted to inform you that all files in Siena project is updated to actual 0.9.19 and wait for your help in translation.
We update our API and code reference according to 0.9.19 version.
By the way —
We glad to announce the long-awaited 0.9.19 release!
Let's see what we get with it:
CKEditor and
indexnews plugin as a replacement for outdated
We work hard and we get it! Thanks for this release contributors and our community volunteers.
Learn more about release and upgrade for more stability!
HybridAuth plugin had been used to login with social networks is temporary down for maintenance reasons.
If you have any problems with login — write me a message to macik.spb at gmail. Or use new registration and write me a PM.
Cotonti 0.9.19 Release candidate 1 is available for testing — download and test.
Huge list of fixes, inprovements and new features can be found in release notes.


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NumisWiki For the New Collector
Ancient Greek Coin Collecting 101
|Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Greek Coins| ▸ |Geographic - All Periods| ▸ |Sicily| ▸ |Akragas||View Options: | | |
Akragas, Sicily
Akragas was founded early in the 6th century by colonists from Gela. It was second only to Syracuse in importance on Sicily but was sacked by the Carthaginians in 406 B.C. It was renamed Agrigentum after it fell to Rome in 210 B.C.