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With guest speaker Mohammed Deria of Nomad Project Solutions./
An SAP project involves a large number of stakeholders who all have different priorities and needs, and the training phase is the last part before the actual Go-Live. This is why in some projects it is not given the same importance as the other phases and thus results in poor training being delivered. This leads to a low satisfaction from the end users, which eventually leads to a failed SAP project as the system does not end up being used.
One of the biggest challenges for a training professional is to identify how to manage these stakeholders in order to ensure their training deliverables are in sync with the project's holistic goal. To execute a successful training project, a detailed training strategy would need to be created and approved by all the key stakeholders.
This webinar replay will give you a high level summary of who the key stakeholders are and what are their inter-dependencies to training. The video also shares examples from previous projects on how training can enhance the SAP project from the outset to the eventual Go-Live.
Click here to watch the replay
Mohammed Deria is the Founder and CEO of Nomad Project Solutions. He is a highly experienced and certified SAP consultant with a blend of skills and a proven track record delivery of training projects within the private and public sector.


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First day at work recording at the great Memphis Magnetic Recording Studio. Check out this gorgeous room! On Piano:...
Tag Archive for: studio
Home studio
At the Studiocasper decker, , Media, background, harold, masqueraders, memphis, patricia, rehears, robert, snell, studio, thomas, wright, 0
Rehearsing in the studio and going over the background vocals with Lester Snell and the Memphis Masqueraders, Harold Thomas...
back at the dance studio working outcasper decker, , Media, Music, dance, moves, studio, working out, 0
Found me back at the dance studio working out dance moves.

subset: commoncrawl


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Colombo, Sri Lanka: Rights groups accused Sri Lankan police Wednesday of failing to stop a wave of hate crimes against Muslim businesses and mosques in the Buddhist-majority country.
Police are yet to make any arrests in connection with more than a dozen arson attacks against Muslims shops, mosques and a burial ground in the past month.
Prominent rights activist Victor Ivan said the inaction risked a repeat of anti-Muslim riots in 2014 that left four dead.
"Police are responsible for allowing this situation to continue by not taking action against the perpetrators," Ivan told reporters in Colombo, adding that an extremist Buddhist group was believed to be behind the violence.
Only property has been damaged so far in the latest spate of attacks.
The government said Wednesday the violence had been addressed in a cabinet meeting and police and security forces had been instructed to maintain law and order.
"The president directed the Inspector General of Police to instruct all officers in charge of police stations to be responsible for preventing such incidents," the government said in a statement.
The riots in mid 2014 — led by a hardline Buddhist group — were widely seen as the catalyst that led to then president Mahinda Rajapakse's downfall in January 2015.
Muslims account for just 10 percent of Sri Lanka's 21 million population and have emerged king makers in a country where the majority Sinhala-Buddhist community is split down the middle between two national parties.


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Maybe 'Ol Loco Wasn't Loco After All
posted in: Latin America, Reflections | 0
I sized up the donkey standing about 15 feet in front of me; then I casually walked over. I kept my distance because I'm not an equine kind of guy, but I had something to say. I looked the beast … Continued


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7" vinyl / Single
Raggabund - Lloro Cancion
Strictly 200 limited vinyl pressing! Featuring Germany's RAGGABUND aka Caramelo Criminal consisting of singjays, Paco Mendoza & Don Caramelo. On the Side-B, instrumental features the Korea's finest Reggae musician/selector/producer, Smiley Song. The Bull Ghost riddim was performed by Junior Wize Production's house band, The Paradox Musicians. Its dub version will be only available on digital downloads and upcoming one-way riddim EP.
A: Raggabund & The Paradox Musicians - Lloro Cancion
Raggabund is known for their works with manyy German and European Latin & Reggae labels including a noble Reggae label like Silly Walks. Their originality certainly comes from by fusing Reggae into their Latin & Cumbia music background. Junior Wize proudly present the first collaboration "Lloro Cancion", the song proves Raggabund's musical versatility. For add ional info, horn section recorded for the tunes was arranged by Paco Mendoza.
B: Smiley Song & The Paradox Musicians - Bull's Pipe
Another elevated collaboration by Smiley Song and Junior Wize. A sequel to previously released melodica instrumental "Lion's Pipe" on Lion's Den Riddim.
Catalog number: JWP014
Release date: April 4, 2017
about Raggabund:
about Smiley Song:
Review from eventireggae.it
Gruppo tedesco, lingua spagnola e produzione giapponese: è questa la miscela di cui si compone Lloro Cancion, il nuovo singolo dei RaggaBund, gruppo reggae Made in Germany che si lega al nome della Junior Wize Production per produrre questa nuovissima tune dalle sonorità roots.


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Home > Boilsoft Audio Converter > Formats > WAV to AC3
Whenever you want to convert WAV to AC3, our smart WAV to AC3 Converter is your best choice!
WAVE or WAV , short for Waveform Audio File Format,(also, but rarely, named, Audio for Windows) is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It is an application of the RIFF bitstream format method for storing data in "chunks", and thus is also close to the 8SVX and the AIFF format used on Amiga and Macintosh computers, respectively. It is the main format used on Windows systems for raw and typically uncompressed audio. The usual bitstream encoding is the Linear Pulse Code Modulation (LPCM) format.
Dolby Digital AC-3 is the common version containing up to six discrete channels of sound. The most elaborate mode in common usage involves five channels for normal-range speakers (20 Hz – 20,000 Hz) (right front, center, left front, rear right, rear left) and one channel (20 Hz – 120 Hz allotted audio) for the subwoofer driven low-frequency effects. Mono and stereo modes are also supported. AC-3 supports audio sample-rates up to 48 kHz. Batman Returns was the first film to use Dolby Digital technology when it premiered in theaters in Summer 1992. The Laserdisc version of Clear and Present Danger featured the first Home theater Dolby Digital mix in 1995.
How to convert?
Step 1 Add video or audio formats
Press Add to add the WAV you want to convert, then select AC3 as the output format.
Step 2 Edit the file (Optional)
Press to play the files and the timer will start to work. Press to stop.
This feature is designed for you to measure your favorite segment.
When you want to designate the segment, you can press to set starting time and ending time.
Press to listen to the selected segment.
Step 3 Customize the audio (Optional)
As can be seen from the diagram, the panel allows you to set the expected volume and output format of the audio, and to customize the sample rate, Bit rate and channels the audio will contain.
Press to listen to the audio.
Step 4 Customize the metadata information (Optional)
We can see from the picture that the metadata information of the output audio, such as title, author, copyright, comment, album, track, can be customized merely by typing in what you want to display.
Step 5 Get your cool melody
When all settings are completed, just press Start Button to gain your favorite AC3 from your output directory soon.


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The US is home to thousands of Insurance companies and individuals oftentimes find themselves perplexed about which provider to opt for. There are different types of coverage that need to be taken into account alongside various other factors that are going to be outlined in this particular blog.
According to the Insurance Information Institute, the premiums for the health and accident insurance industry skyrocketed by 57.3% to roughly $1.1 trillion in the year 2018. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the largest companies accounted for 51.8% of the entire market in the USA.
According to data provided by the NAIC, the best insurance companies for health insurance include:
Estimated Market Share: 14.2%
Premiums Directly Written: $156.9 billion
Based on the principles of well-being and diversity, the core capabilities of UnitedHealth Group include state of the art technology, immense clinical expertise, health data, and much more!
Serving to numerous valued clients in the US, alongside 130 other countries, UnitedHealth provides coverage for benefits and healthcare whereas Optum provides tech health and information services. Out of 1.1 trillion transactions, more than 3.5 billion dollars are invested annually to speed up the innovation processes.
Kaiser Foundation
Estimated Market Share: 8.4%
Premiums Directly Written: $93.3 billion
Operating as a nonprofit healthcare organization, the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. offers cardiology, nephrology, dermatology, hospice, oncology, allergy, pain management, occupational therapy, pharmacy services, and pediatric rehabilitation to patients in the USA.
Anthem, Inc.
Estimated Market Share: 6.1%
Premiums Directly Written: $67.2 billion
Dedicated towards serving communities and improving lives, Anthem, Inc. aims at simplifying the process of healthcare. Through the efforts of their strategic affiliates, Anthem has been able to serve over 78 million people. They envision themselves to become the most valuable, innovative and inclusive company in the insurance space.
The gathering's associated wellbeing plans have made different network-based dental items, PPOs, HMOs', different items, and wellbeing plan benefits that consolidate the characteristics shoppers find alluring with powerful cost control strategies. Singular individuals and manager gatherings can choose from essential and extensive designs to fulfil their specific necessities. A broad scope of similar forte items and different administrations is likewise accessible, including adaptable spending records and COBRA organization.
Estimated Market Share: 5.1%
Premiums Directly Written: $56 billion
Humana aims at assisting individuals in accomplishing their absolute best health by giving customized, seamless and holistic healthcare experiences. Perceiving that every individual, family, and local area's medical care needs keep on advancing, Humana makes imaginative arrangements and assets to help individuals carry on with their best lives on their standing – whenever needed.
Estimated Market Share: 5%
Premiums Directly Written: $55.4 billion
CVS Health is a medical services organization with a vision for helping individuals on their way to better and more healthy lifestyle. Through its well-being administrations, plans, and local area drug specialists, it pioneers another way to deal with absolute well-being.
Including an excess of 9,800 retail stores, CVS has almost 1,100 clinical facilities that you can walk into, a manager for drug store benefits with around 93 million members, an enhanced medical care benefits organization serving about 22.2 million clinical individuals and 1,000,000 individuals annually as a quality drug store concerned for collective well-being. It is extending forte drug store administrations, and an independent Medicare Part D professionally prescribed medication plan.
Estimated Market Share: 3.4%
Premiums Directly Written: $36.9 billion
HCSC is a shared lawful hold organization, is the biggest client claimed medical care insurance agency in the United States. The organization is limited to only five states; Illinois, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, Montana and provides service to more than 16 million users. HCSC utilizes in excess of 23,000 individuals in more than 60 neighborhood workplaces.
HCSC manufactures broad variety of life and medical coverage items and similar administrations in collaboration with its partners and auxiliaries, including TriWest Healthcare Alliance, HCSC Insurance Service Company, Prime Therapeutics, TriWest Healthcare Alliances, Medecision, Dearborn Group, Availity, TriWest Healthcare and Dental Network of America.
Centene Corp
Estimated Market Share: 3.3%
Premiums Directly Written: $36.3 billion
Centene Corporation, is an enhanced, worldwide medical care organization consisting of 500 organization and giving an arrangement of administrations to government-supported medical services programs, zeroing in on people who don't have sufficient insurance plans. It works in three global business sectors to maximize the quality healthcare products. It operates in 32 states and has served more than 15 million patients in these states.
Centene works nearby plans for health and wellbeing and gives a scope of medical coverage arrangements. Likewise, it contracts with other medical care and business associations to offer claim to fame administrations, going from conduct wellbeing, dental advantages, life and wellbeing, and drug store benefits the executives to mind the board programming, remedial medical care administrations, in-home wellbeing administrations, overseen vision, forte drug store, and telehealth administrations.
Cigna Health
Estimated Market Share: 2.7%
Premiums Directly Written: $29.3 billion
In over 30 countries and jurisdictions, Cigna Corporation is an organization for health service which operates globally and serves more than 165 million users and needy patients. Its insurance plans and products include Medicare plans, Medicare supplemental plans, dental insurance plans, International health insurance, supplemental Insurance.
Estimated Market Share: 1.9%
Premiums Directly Written: $20.5 billion
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. centers around conveying government-supported care administrations that are managed to people, kids, seniors and families with various complex requirements clinically through Medicare Adcantage, Medicade and plans for medicines recommended by physicians. Just as people in the medical coverage commercial center. According to a report in 2019, WellCare serves about 6.4 million individuals across the country.
Molina Healthcare, Inc.
Estimated Market Share: 1.7%
Premiums Directly Written: $18.5 billion
Molina Healthcare is a wide network of 500 organizations which only provides services to specific people and families qualifying for governmental medical service plans. The organization works in collaboration state governments and fills in as a well-being plan giving a wide scope of value medical care administrations to people and families.
Molina gives well-being plans in Illinois, Wisconsin, Florida, California, Puerto Rico, New Mexico, Utah, Ohio, South Carolina, New York, Texas, Michigan, and Washington. The organization likewise offers a Medicare item and has been chosen in numerous states to participate in double show ventures to deal with the consideration for those qualified for Medicaid and Medicare.
Health insurance can save from a lot of financial problems in life. It can get you out of the hard times. Choose one of the best insurance companies from our well-researched list now!


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Nicholas Woode-Smith
|Nicholas Woode-Smith
March 21, 2012
|Daniel Anderson
|Office established
June 9, 2012
|Office established
April 10, 2012
|Political party
|Siroccan Libertarian Party
|Office established
June 9, 2012
|Office established
September 10, 2010 - March 20, 2012
|Political party
|Zonian Libertarian Party
|Office established
|Office abolished
September 10, 2010 - March 20, 2012
|Office established
|Office abolished
January 10, 2011 - March 20, 2012
|Office established
|Office abolished
November 20, 2009 - January 8, 2010
|Throne established
|Throne abolished
|3 October 1995
|Tre'wei, Zageta, Sirocco
Nicholas Woode-Smith is a Siroccan politician. He is notable for being the founder and former President of the Zonian Confederacy, leader of its successor and President of the Siroccan Libertarian Party.
Woode-Smith lives in the region of Mechin. He is highly capitalist and is an atheist. He founded the Zonian Confederacy after discovering the concept of micronationalism on a guide. He founded the nation in what is now known historically as the Empire of Vista Nova. After he left the school, he established Zona in full.
While he was in the Anarchic State of the Empire of Vista Nova, he founded the Scourge Clan. There, he fought against the Bad Boys gang and the Blood Fangs Clan.
He fought in the Merchant War against the Bad Boys and assorted criminals, while allied with other merchants. Here,he won the title of Merchant Lord. In the same year, he fought in Blood Fields I and II, against the Blood Fangs. Nicholas showed his skill in warcraft and fighting in this battle. This was the first battle in the history of Vista Nova where all factions were armed and armoured. Later that year, he allied with the Bad Boys and Blood Fangs to quell a large rebellion. This would soon be called the First Midget Uprising.
Two years later, he helped organise the first Democratic election in 2009. He ran with his friends, Mathieu Thomas and Lesleigh-Ann Eksteen, as the Capitalist Party of Vista Nova. He ran against the Die-hard party, Anni-Savvana party and Party of the People. He won the election with a vast majority and led Vista Nova into a short but prosperous era.
This was short lived due to an uprising by the Party of the People. The Scourge Clan was refounded and had absorbed the Blood Fangs. Later that year, the 2nd Midget Uprising started and the Scourge had to stop the rebels from entering into Scourge Territory. Soon after that, the 3rd Midget Uprising started. The Rebels were attacking a family of Dikops (rare birds, important to the Scourge) to assert their control over the territory. The Scourge and Bad Boys joined forces once again and crushed the rebels in a huge battle where Woode-Smith was injured and still carries the scars.
In 2010, Nicholas Woode-Smith came to St. Georges School. Shortly after founding the Zonian Confederacy months before. There he met Robin Visser, Nicholas Marzio, Nicholas Babaya and many more who would become future citizens. In the existence of Zona from November 2009 to present day, he has held the following stations.
On March 21, 2012 the Zonian Confederacy was officially absorbed into the Federal Commonwealth of Sirocco as three new provinces collectively referred to as the Dominion of Zona, of which Woode-Smith is the leader. Woode-Smith also leads the Siroccan Libertarian Party and is the representative for Zageta province in the Siroccan Executive.
Awards and Titles
- Baron of Dullahan: Wyvern
|Preceded by:
|King of Zona
|Succeded by:
|Throne Created
|20 November 2009-8 January 2010
|Throne Abolished
|Preceded by:
|Jarl of Mechin
|Succeded by:
|Democracy Abolished
|14 May 2010
|Still living
Nicholas Woode-Smith | Nicholas Marzio | Nicholas Babaya | James Macey | Christiaan Hugo | Robin Visser
Main Pages
Zonian Confederacy | Zonian Union Military | Zonian Information Corp | Zonian Broadcasting Network | Zonian National Radio
Chide | Mechin(capital) | Quorn
Zonian Libertarian Party | Zonian Patriots Party | Zonian Military Party


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MEXICO CITY: Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador brushed off problems including a stagnant economy and spiralling violence to insist on Sunday (Sep 1) in his first state of the nation address that he is delivering the "transformation" he promised.
Elected last year in a swell of anti-establishment fervor, the left-wing populist has radically changed the style of the presidency, ditching the presidential mansion, guards and jet.
But he has struggled to deliver on key promises, including economic growth and an end to rampant violence fuelled by drug trafficking.
In his first annual "Government Report," Lopez Obrador briefly acknowledged that "the economy is growing little," and that "we still suffer from insecurity and violence."
However, the leader known as "AMLO," who remains widely popular nine months into his term, devoted much of his address to rehashing his campaign stump speech, heavy on anti-corruption, austerity-crusading rhetoric and finger-pointing at the leaders of the past.
"The essence of our approach is to turn honesty and austerity into a way of life and a form of government," he said at the National Palace, where he lives and works.
"Nothing has harmed Mexico worse than the dishonesty of its leaders. That is the main cause of social and economic inequality, of the violence from which we suffer."
In a sign of the polarizing nature of his presidency, some 2,500 protesters marched down Mexico City's main avenue, Paseo de la Reforma, chanting "Get out, Lopez Obrador!"
One of the organizers of the march, opposition politician Fernando Belauzaran, accused the president of lying to Mexicans in his daily 7:00 am press conferences, which have come to dominate the national news agenda.
"He doesn't tell the truth. It's like a festival of mythomaniac tendencies every morning," he told journalists.
"Andres Manuel has deceived a lot of people who believed in him. They still haven't realized the magnitude of the mistake they made," protester Maria Jose Tam, a 34-year-old marketing specialist, told AFP.
– Pummeled but popular –
But the opposition remains badly fragmented from the July 2018 elections, which Lopez Obrador and his upstart party, Morena, won in a landslide.
The president remains overwhelmingly popular: recent polls put his approval rating around 65 percent.
Many Mexicans like his folksy style — a break with the elite ruling class of the past — and most appear willing to wait for him to deliver concrete results.
The question is how long.
Latin America's second-largest economy shrank by 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2019, and registered zero growth in the second — far from Lopez Obrador's pledge to deliver two-percent growth this year and an average of four percent across his six-year term.
And the number of people murdered — a closely watched indicator of the violence from the country's "drug war" — appears on track to set a new record this year, with 20,135 homicides so far.
Lopez Obrador ticked off numerous points he sees as victories.
Chief among them was reducing theft from state oil company Pemex's pipelines by 94 percent. The booming black-market industry had been costing the country an estimated $3 billion a year.
He also claimed a win for negotiating his way out of the crushing tariffs that US President Donald Trump had threatened to impose on Mexico if the government did not do more to stop undocumented migrants from crossing its territory to the United States.
Lopez Obrador said Mexico had dodged a "possible political and economic crisis" with the June deal, under which his government has deployed some 21,000 National Guardsmen to tighten its borders.
In a sign of his headstrong determination to do things his own way, Lopez Obrador spoke in front of a banner heralding his "Third Government Report," apparently counting two earlier speeches as numbers one and two.
Under the Mexican constitution, which establishes that the president must deliver one such address per year, it was in fact the first.


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Cornerstone Fence of Connecticut is a family owned and operated, full service fence company, based in Meriden, CT. We provide quality fence, ironwork installation and repair, at reasonable prices……Read More
Cornerstone did a great job with the installation of my privacy fence. The installers were very professional.
It is as close a match as anyone could hope for. I am pleased to have it professionally installed.
Jack, our owner at Spot-Lite is pleased so we are pleased too. many thanks again for your follow through and prompt work!
Dear Cornerstone Fence,
Thank you for a job well done. With all of the contractors I've worked with I have never experienced a company that was so customer focused than Cornerstone Fence!
From sales to the office staff to installation, this was the most positive contractor experience I've ever been a part of. It was great to work with a group so knowledgeable, dependable and trustworthy and a company that prides itself on every detail.
My fence looks beautiful and Rich and Rich were both informative and professional throughout the installation.
Thanks again and I would have no problem recommending you to family and friends.
It is so refreshing to work with someone so knowledgeable, dependable, trustworthy and accessible! John stands by his work and his staff took great care installing the fence around the permitter of our property. We are absolutely thrilled with Cornerstone's customer service!
Thank you, the fence looks beautiful! I have to tell you that the work crew was the best! The were very professional and courteous!!!
Cornerstone Fence did an outstanding job on this project completing the job yesterday. John Uvino visited the site himself taking measurements & painting post locations, etc. The two ment that he assigned to do this job clearly had the right experience. Normally I wouldn't associated the words guardrail and curb appeal in the same sentence, but in this instance, I think it is accurate.
My daughter and her family now have plenty of protection for her house at 133 Coles Rd without sacrificing the beauty of the property. The guardrail is the first line of defense and the secondary is 8 boulders, 7 of which weigh between 900-1200 lbs. each and the eighth weighs 300 lbs. These 8 boulders were specifically positioned in a planting to guard the house as well. It looks like a sort of boulderscape from the road, but they set up each boulder is in a very specific location inline with the curve there on Coles Road.
Thanks again for all of your efforts in making this happen.Bill
Cornerstone just finished a 5 1/2 day job at my urban home, replacing an ancient chain link fence with beautiful cedar-look top-of-the-line vinyl, and I could not be happier. From my first call to the completion of the job, their customer service has been outstanding. The estimator was prompt, informative and fully transparent, and the installers were fantastic, going above and beyond to answer any questions and do exceptional work on a challenging job (much demo involved). My new fence looks better than I had hoped and my back yard now feels like the sanctuary that I was hoping for in a noisy city neighborhood. You get what you pay for and it was worth every penny – thank you, Cornerstone!
Cornerstone fence recently fixed my broken vinyl fence and gate. They were professional, on time and the cost was very fair. The only regret I had was not using them to install the original fence years ago.
I highly recommend this company.
Cornerstone Fence is the absolute best to work with. We have used them for a couple different projects and will definitely be using them again. This company is family owned and very professional. Their employees are super friendly and on point with everything that they do. We Would recommend them to anyone!!
The team was great from start to finish including Bobby, the estimator who was our to our home twice. The crew was very friendly, and they were very interested in our needs as a consumer. They took their time and answered and addressed all of our questions. The crew was very knowledgeable, and I would highly recommend Cornerstone Fence to others.
Excellent service and professional installers.


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Contact Us
We can also be found on Facebook under Smith & Jackson Military Antiques and Firearms.
Shop Phone: 856-300-5288
Cell: 609-204-9734
Smith & Jackson Military Antiques and Firearms
21 Peterson Street
Millville, New Jersey 08332 USA
We are open from Tuesday to Saturday
from 10 AM to 5 PM Eastern Standard Time. If these hours aren't convenient for you, contact us to make a special appointment.


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Isis sure has been scarfing down her special birthday cookies with great enthusiasm ever since the first savory morsel appeared in her dish that morning. Since the recipe ended up making a relatively large batch for one lucky pup to eat on her own, I thought they would last her for a good few weeks at least, but clearly she had thoughts of her own that were quite a departure from mine. Reaching into the cupboard to reward her for being so cute, [Her best trick!] I was mystified when my searching hands emerged with nothing, as the container of biscuits was no where to be found. Seeing my dear little chow hound in action for so many years now, I guess I should have seen this coming, but the way that this tiny creature can put away massive amounts of food is still impressive all the same.
As luck would have it, one of Isis' friends stopped by shortly after to wish her a belated birthday, excited to see his "favorite" basenji in town. Compliments on her lovely fur coat and deep brown eyes followed in quick succession, as though he was merely reading off of a grocery list, entirely impersonal and growing all the more pathetic by the minute. Well, it's a good thing that we raised her to resist insincere praise like this, because she was completely unswayed by his thinly veiled ulterior motives. Certainly any good friend would be willing to share their birthday treats, especially those fantastic homemade cookies he's heard so much about, right?
After informing him that he came too late to sample those treats himself, as if Isis had had any intention of sharing the wealth with such a leech, I expected him to scamper off just as quickly as he had dropped in. Much to my surprise, he still forced his way into our begrudgingly opened door and continued to ask for sustenance all the same. Gourmet or not, he came to be fed and was clearly not planning to leave until we obliged. Thinking fast so that we could rid ourselves of this parasite, I hastily exhumed an old box of stale, machine-made "treats" from the back pantry – They were composed more of sawdust than of edible material, but quality was not my greatest concern in this instant.
Hiding his disappointment well, I'm sure he knew very well that beggars can't be choosers, and the lack-luster goods were consumed without complaint. Despite his rude intrusion, I guess we should still be thankful that he helped clear out more shelf space by taking those inedible bricks off our hands!


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Merl Junior Weathers
(Obituary ~ 08/24/18)
Merl Junior Weathers, 88, of Etowah died August 22, 2018 in Thayer, MO. He was a retired head material handler from American Greetings in Osceola, a US Army veteran and a member of Etowah Baptist Church in Etowah. Mr. Weathers was born February 4, 1930 in Bald Knob, AR to Amos and Bertha Kemp Weathers...
Clarence Woody
(Obituary ~ 08/24/18)
Clarence Woody, 76, of Proctor, passed away Thursday, August 23, 2018 at his residence. Clarence was born in Blytheville to Joe Elmer and Vernie (Davis) Woody. He was a diesel mechanic and owner/operator of C&R Diesel. He was of Christian Faith and a past employee of Proctor and Gamble. Clarence loved working on things and helping people. He planted gardens just so people could go and help themselves. He also enjoyed watching westerns...
Standoff ends peacefully; Black arrested
(Local News ~ 08/24/18)
An hour-long standoff ended peacefully Friday afternoon. Blytheville police officers attempted to serve an arrest warrant on Demarcus Black in the 2400 block of Kenwood around 1 p.m. Friday. However, according to Blytheville Police Chief Ross Thompson, Black "was reluctant to come out."...
Candidates draw for ballot positions
(Local News ~ 08/24/18)
Several candidates met Friday morning at the Mississippi County Annex Building to see where their names would be placed on the ballot. Names are listed in order of how they will appear on the November General Election ballot. Representative District 54...
Blytheville Police Reports
(Local News ~ 08/24/18)
The following are reports from the Blytheville Police Department. — Police took a theft report ($300) in the 100 block of East Cherry. — Police took a theft report (John Deere Gator) in the 1900 block of North 6th. — Officers took a violation of a no contact order in the 300 block of North Hollywood...
Pirates drop opener to Nettleton, 14-6
(High School Sports ~ 08/24/18)
JONESBORO — The Gosnell Pirates were inches away from forcing overtime, but an interception ended their chances of upsetting the defending 5A-East conference champion Nettleton on the road Friday night. The Pirates (0-1) dropped the season opener, 14-6...
Stories from Friday, August 24, 2018
Browse other days


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WordPress Version 4.6, named "Pepper", was released today, with a focus on improving the user-experience. The new version is named "Pepper" in honor of jazz baritone saxophonist Park Frederick "Pepper" Adams III.
Some of the exciting updates include Streamlined updates, Native fonts & Editor improvements, along with many under the hood improvements. You can read more about WordPress 4.6 here.
As with the past 11 releases, several rtCampers have made it to the list of core contributors.
For us, this release is special because of the amazing team effort that went into contributing towards the translation program. WordPress 4.6 has been released in 53 languages and it's intro video has captions in 43 languages. rtCampers have contributed towards 3 languages – Hindi, Gujarati, and Marathi.
Gujarati translation was notably moved from 60% to 100% in just a week.
In awe with the #WordPress Gujarati L10n team who brought it from 60 to 100% in a week ???https://t.co/86Iliz6zxU #Polyglots #Volunteers
— Petya Raykovska (@petyeah) August 16, 2016
Congratulations to all core contributors, polyglots and everyone who worked hard to make this release a successful one.
As usual, we celebrated the release with cake-cutting. This time, we wrote locales instead of core patch numbers. We wanted to put patch numbers also, but there was no space left on the cake, so we just put #core for it.
Excuse our cake vendor for misspelling #mr to #br!
Links: WordPress 4.6


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Café Scientifique@The PASEO
FACILITATOR: Meghan McFail
EVENT: Saturday 10-11am
SITE: Roaming
Students from the Café Scientifique of Northern New Mexico will be participating in The PASEO, a festival dedicated to bringing the art of installation, performance and projection to the streets of Taos, New Mexico on September 25 and 26.
The Café Scientifique students will be "science investigative reporters" reporting specifically on the art-sci/STEM focused installations.
- Learn about the participating artists on the PASEO and STEMarts Lab website and select their three favorites to research further.
- Visit the websites of their selected PASEO artist and identify the science and STEM aspect of the art.
- Work with their facilitator to develop Science/STEM-focused interview questions using the ISEA2012 STEM curriculum tool as a guideline. i.e. View Abbey Hepner's biolumenescent algae installation and then explore the science of algae in the LANL STEM Challenge site
- Arrive at The PASEO on Saturday morning and visit the chosen installation sites for a 10-minute artist talk and to ask their artist questions.
- Stay for the PASEO event 1-10pm (or as long as is possible) and visit the 28 artist installation/performances to see them in action.
- Follow up after the event by presenting or discussing to their club on what they experienced and what they learned about art-sci collaborations.


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Trolls Face Expensive Legal Battle To Prove Inapplicability of State Laws
When a patent troll asserts a patent claim of questionable merit against a defendant, the defendant is faced with two options: 1) fight a very expensive and time consuming legal battle to prove the correctness of their invalidity/non-infringement position; or 2) fold up tents and go home— minus a significant license fee. In a case of poetic justice, state attorney general's (AGs) are now playing the same game to stop this business model. That is, state AGs are suing trolls, or initiating investigation of their business practices under state consumer protection statutes. In doing so, the AGs are daring the trolls to wage an expensive legal battle against them to prove them wrong, or pay fines and go home.
While there would seem to be some question as to the propriety of these state law actions in matters of exclusive federal law jurisdiction, interest is growing around the country as to this new anti-troll tactic. See the new Vermont statute (here) and Nebraska investigation of a Texas plaintiff firm (here).


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The War On Abortion in Kansas
Dr. Herbert Hodes, a Kansas ob-gyn, has a patient who is 18 1/2 weeks pregnant and has ruptured membranes. The pregnancy, he says, will not survive, and if the woman continues it, she will get an infection. He saw her on Thursday, but because of Kansas's 24-hour waiting period, he wasn't able to perform an abortion. And on Friday, absent a last-minute injunction, he will lose his abortion license.
Michelle Goldberg on what's happening in Kansas, which on Thursday nearly became the first state in the country without an abortion provider.
Rachel Maddow had an excellent segment about this on June 30:
From The Angry Black Tumblr | Comment below or Reblog @ Tumblr


text: DeAnne Hamilton becomes president of WESA-90.5 FM in Pittsburgh on Oct. 17, Essential Public Radio announced today (Sept. 28). She previously was general manager of WKAR at Michigan State University, and was a vice president and station manager of KQED Public Television in San Francisco. Hamilton also is a member of the PBS Board of Directors. Essential Public Media finalized its $6 million deal this month to buy the former WDUQ from Duquesne University.


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Student Right to Know
The intent of the Higher Education Opportunity Act - 2008 (HEOA) is to provide consumers (prospective students, current students, parents, etc.) with comparable information from all institutions of higher education. HEOA's required disclosures are mandated to give consumers easy access to information that can be used in making sound decisions about their education.
Onondaga Community College is pleased to provide this summary of consumer information, consistent with the HEOA. Simply click on the link to access the information:
- Academic Information
- Financial Information
- General Institutional Information
- Health and Safety Information
- Student Outcomes Information
- Contact List
Consumer Information on College Navigator Website
Academic Information
Selecting the right college can come down to having all the necessary information. Gathering and evaluating this information is a critical step in making this very important decision. Listed below is Onondaga Community College's important academic information.
- Accreditation, Approval and Licensure of Institution and Programs
- College Leave of Absence and Withdrawal
- Educational Programs
- Faculty
- Instructional Facilities
- NCSARA - Professional Licensure Disclosure
- NCSARA - Out-of-State Complaint Process
- Out-of-State Complaint Process
- Textbook Information
- Transfer Articulation Agreements
- Transfer of Credit Policies
Financial Information
The Higher Education Opportunity Act specifies the following information be disclosed concerning financial aid services available to Onondaga Community College students:
- Assistance Available from Federal, State, Local, and Institutional Programs
- Contact Information for Assistance in Obtaining Institutional or Financial Aid Information
- Cost of Attendance
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General Information
The information below lists many services offered to Onondaga Community College students.
- Career and Job Placement Services
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Health and Safety Information
Awareness of health, safety and security on the Onondaga Community College campus is important for all students. The annual security report below provides crime statistics for our campus as well as other important safety information for students.
- Annual Security Report, Includes:
- Campus Security Policies, Crime Statistics and Crime Log
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- Sexual Violence Prevention and Response
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- Annual Notice Drug-Free Workplace
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Student Outcomes Information
Student retention and completion information shows the trends in how Onondaga Community College students progress towards their educational goals. This information can be especially helpful to prospective students in evaluating their expectations regarding the typical amount of time to completion.
Student Body Diversity Fall 2016
As a part of the recently revised Higher Education Opportunity Act (2008), institutions must now provide information about the student body diversity, including the percentage of enrolled students in the following categories:
Total Enrolled Students = 12,640
Enrollment Status
- Full-time = 5,736 (45.4%)
- Part-time = 6,904 (54.6%)
- Male = 6,088 (48.2%)
- Female = 6,552 (51.8%)
- Nonresident Alien = 54 (0.4%)
- Hispanic/Latino = 587 (4.6%)
- American Indian or Alaska Native = 139 (1.1%)
- Asian = 304 (2.4%)
- Black or African American = 1,508 (11.9%)
- Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander = 8 (0.1%)
- White = 5,401 (42.7%)
- Two or more races = 373 (3.0%)
- Race and ethnicity unknown = 4,266 (33.8%)
Source: IPEDS Fall Enrollment 2016-17
Retention Rates
As a part of the recently revised Higher Education Opportunity Act (2008) institutions must make available the retention rate of certificate - or degree-seeking, first-time undergraduate students as reported to IPEDS.
- Fall 2015 First-time, Full-time, Degree Seeking Students = 2,031
- Returned in Fall 2016 = 1,169
- Retention Rate = 57.6%
Source: IPEDS Fall Enrollment 2016-17
Financial Aid Status
- Recipient of Federal Pell Grant (AY2015-16) = 1,895 (90.8%)
Source: IPEDS Student Financial Aid 2016-17
Completion/Graduation/Transfer Rates
As a part of the recently revised Higher Education Opportunity Act (2008) institutions must now provide their completion and graduation rate information disaggregated by:
- Gender
- Major racial and ethnic subgroup (as defined in IPEDS)
- Recipients of a Federal Pell Grant
- Recipients of a subsidized Stafford Loan who did not receive a Pell Grant
- Students who did not receive either a Pell Grant or a subsidized Stafford Loan
Fall 2013 First-time, full-time, Degree Seeking Students
Fall 2013 First-time, full-time, Degree Seeking Students
|Number of Cohort
|Students that Completed within 3 years
|477 (21.3%)
|Number of Cohort
|Students that Completed within 3 years
|241 (20.1%)
|236 (22.7%)
|Number of Cohort
|Students that Completed within 3 years
|Nonresident Alien
|1 (10.0%)
|30 (16.5%)
|American Indian or Alaska Native
|3 (9.7%)
|16 (26.7%)
|Black or African American
|58 (14.5%)
|Native Hawaiian or
|2 (100.0%)
|Other Pacific Islander
|397 (27.8%)
|Two or more races
|13 (13.5%)
|Race and ethnicity unknown
|5 (16.7%)
|Number of Cohort
|Students that Completed within 3 years
|Recipients of a Federal Pell Grant
|235 (17.2%)
|Recipients of a Subsidized Stafford
|Loan that did not receive a Pell Grant
|63 (27.2%)
|Did not receive either a Pell Grant or a Subsidized Stafford Loan
|179 (28.4%)
|Number of Cohort
|Students that Completed within 3 years
|Total Transfer-out Rates
|474 (21.2%)
Source: IPEDS Graduation Rates 2016- 17
*Fall 2013 College data
Graduate Employment
- 41% of graduates pursued post-graduation employment
- 79% of graduates with post-graduation employment plans were employed
Source: Based on 2016 Post-Graduation Survey, conducted Spring 2016 through Spring 2017, data includes all graduate survey responses from all degree and certificate programs; 466 (36.3%) graduates participated in the survey.
Job Placement Rates
Contact List
|Department Contact
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(315) 498-2594
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(315) 498-2245
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(315) 498- 2172
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(315) 498- 2097
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(315) 498-2246
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(315) 498- 2173
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(315) 498- 2594
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(315) 498-2254
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(315) 498-2111
Assistance Available from Federal, State, Local, and Institutional Programs
Cost of Attendance
Net Price Calculator
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Student Loan Information
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(315) 498-2717
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Office of Institutional Planning, Assessment and Research
(315) 498- 2500
College Navigator Website
Completion/Graduation Rates
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Office of the President
(315) 498-2214
|Access to student and employee records by outside agencies including the military. Records Access Officer.
Student Central
(315) 498-2000
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(315) 498- 2119
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Student Activities
Voter Registration
Title IX
|Title IX


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Friday, October 22, 2010
7 comments:
I can't WAIT to see your cardboard tower. :)ReplyDelete
Oh! Do you know Mr. McGroovy? Do check it out if not.
I can't wait to hear more about the party! Sounds like so much fun -- something I would have died to do when I was little!ReplyDelete
you are hilarious - I think you should write a book about motherhood and sewing :)ReplyDelete
I forgot about the lettuce part of Rapunzel. I guess I've been so worried about princess overload that I steered clear of the fairytales too widely.
Oh, I just love to read your posts. :)ReplyDelete
I live about 2.5-3 hours away from Chicago, and a friend of mine used to have her hubby drive to Chicago to get her "good" Mexican food when she was pregnant! (No, there is no authentic Mexican food here. But the funny part is that her hubby *is* Mexican...it probably would have been to his advantage to just learn to cook what she liked!)
I can't wait to see the rest of the party details. I love all of the work that you put into your parties.
I am so excited to see your indoor birthday party! Both Emma and Johnny are winter birthdays, so I'm always on the lookout for good indoor party options! Your party plans sound fantastic, and I'm especially curious about the pull-apart pinata!ReplyDelete
Funny, I'm in the midst of Rapunzeling too, but in my case, it's only a halloween costume (for S). I'm looking forward to seeing all the pieces of the party -- perhaps S wants to have a Rapunzel party too, in Feb. Your ideas sound so fun! I'm sure S will be on board once I show her the photos!ReplyDelete
Thanks for reminding me about the real rapunzel story, I thought that I've always liked the rapunzel story (thanks to the movie tangled) but now that I think about it, I think I didn't like that old story, because in the book I had/the cartoon version I saw (yes that's how bad my memory of it is!), the witch's lair and tower were very spooky to me. hehe..ReplyDelete
Thank you for talking to me! If you have a question, I might reply to it here in the comments or in an email.


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The Success Equation Michael J. Mauboussin teased apart the relative roles of skill and luck in performance and introduced the paradox of skill: "As skill improves," he wrote, "performance becomes more consistent, and therefore luck becomes more important." (p. 53) And, addressing a gathering of investors, James Simons of Renaissance Technologies claimed that "luck is largely responsible for my reputation for genius. I don't walk into the office in the morning and say 'Am I smart today?' I walk in and wonder, 'Am I lucky today?'" He has, of course, been both incredibly talented and "lucky" in spades.
The reality is that being talented and hardworking is not enough to guarantee success; luck also plays a critical role. Robert H. Frank, an economics professor at Cornell, expands on this point and explores its ramifications for tax policy in Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy (Princeton University Press, 2016).
"Chance events," the author writes, "have always mattered, of course, but in some respects they've grown more important in recent decades. One reason for that has been the spread and intensification of … winner-take-all markets. These markets often arise when technology enables the most gifted performers in an arena to extend their reach." (p. 9) In what might be viewed as a variation on Mauboussin's paradox of skill, Frank argues that "the prodigious rewards that accrue to a handful of winners in these markets attract enormous numbers of contestants. And the more [highly competitive] contestants there are, the more luck matters." (p. 10)
High achievers often downplay the role of luck in explaining their success. They'll claim that they deserve what they achieved (and all the money that comes with it) because they were both skilled and dedicated, unlike their less talented, less driven colleagues. They're right only in part. As the author argued in an earlier book, "a gifted salesperson … will be far more productive if her assignment is to sell financial securities to sovereign wealth funds than if she's selling children's shoes." (p. 41) Psychologically, however, denying luck's role in success may be a good strategy since it "may spur additional effort." (p. 77)
Frank believes that a recognition of the pivotal role of luck in success will help to break down the resistance to raising more tax revenue to "sustain the public investment needed to support the stock of luck available to future generations," a resistance that "has also resulted in spending patterns that poorly serve the current generation, including even its most successful members." (p. 108)
Frank advocates a progressive consumption tax. A person's taxable consumption would be his income minus his savings. "Under the current income tax, rates can't rise too high without choking off savings and investment. But higher marginal tax rates on consumption would actually encourage savings and investment." (p. 118)
Since our sense of financial well-being is relative, "doing better than one's rivals," "a progressive consumption tax wouldn't alter the fact that those who earn more can also spend more." (p. 121) They might forgo some extravagances, but so would their rivals. So they shouldn't feel worse off.
Whether or not one buys into Frank's proposal for a federal consumption tax, this book should stimulate debate. And that's all one can ask, given the current situation in Washington.
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Bowman, The Golden Rules
The rules are straightforward:
1. A champion sets a "dream big" vision
2. Adopt an "all-in!" attitude, not a "get out!" one
3. Take risks—and then enjoy the rewards
4. Short-term goals lead to long-term success
5. Live the vision every day
6. A team approach can inspire individual success
7. Stay motivated over the long haul
8. Adversity will make you stronger
9. When the time comes, perform with confidence
10. Celebrate your achievement, then decide what's next
Following them is something else.
Bowman recommends that competitive swimmers seek to achieve, not to medal. As he says, "Gold medals are out of your control. Another swimmer may simply be better than you on race day." But if swimmers "set their sights on breaking a record—at nailing the best time possible—then they can visualize something that's tangible, achievable, and within their control." That recommendation can easily be translated into the language of finance: don't focus on profit, which is out of your control; focus on the things you can control, like risk management and your own performance. And, Bowman would add, keep a scorecard.
One of the problems I think most traders and investors struggle with is staying motivated over the long haul. But just think about how hard it must be to stay motivated when you're swimming back and forth for 7,000 meters in the morning, all the while staring at the lane's black line, and then doing the same thing again in the afternoon, day after day, month after month. Bowman's advice: make every day seem not like every day and find another passion to offset the grind that comes with your primary one.
The other problem, this one ubiquitous, is dealing with adversity. Bowman suggests that you practice being uncomfortable (the famous example being the time he stepped on Phelps's goggles and cracked them so that the swimmer's goggles would fill with water when he was competing in an unimportant heat—something that certainly served Phelps well when the same thing happened to his goggles, this time of course not caused by his coach, in the Olympics and he nevertheless swam to gold).
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Cunningham, The Buffett Essays Symposium
For the twentieth anniversary of the event Cunningham put together a slim volume, about a hundred pages, of excerpts from the proceedings, along with a host of unfortunately grainy photos. The Buffett Essays Symposium (Harriman House) provides highlights from four panel discussions: on corporate governance, finance and investing, mergers and acquisitions, and accounting and taxation. The contributions of academics and other panelists have been, for the most part probably mercifully, excised, except where they are necessary to provide context for the responses of Buffett and Munger. Here and there Cunningham includes brief boxed commentary from current academics and market participants.
Buffett fans will appreciate this book. Buffett and Munger comment expansively on a range of topics—from getting a first class CEO to that perennial fixation, Buffett's death, in this case how Berkshire stock price would react to his death.
Cunningham reminisces about the logistics of the symposium (like forgetting to arrange to get the Buffett family to the airport) and events surrounding the symposium (for instance, officially witnessing Warren Buffett's signing an updated version of his will). And then there are all the pictures, which seem to indicate that rich, engaged people simply don't age.
The book is modestly produced—a paperback with a black and grey cover, nothing glossy here. As befits the coverage of a down-home value investor.
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Kurz, Economic Thought: A Brief History
The chapter titles indicate the span of this book: early economic thought; classical economics; Marx and the socialists; the rise of marginalism; Marshall and the theory of partial equilibrium; utilitarianism, welfare theory, and systems debate; imperfect competition; Schumpeter and the principle of creative destruction; Keynes and the principle of effective demand; reactions to Keynes; general equilibrium theory and welfare theory; and developments in selected fields.
Kurz's book is dense but eminently readable. What makes it especially worthwhile is that it traces ideas, even as developed by lesser known economic theorists. It is definitely not a redux of Robert L. Heilbroner's The Worldly Philosophers. It's a book about ideas, not famous people. Kurz evaluates these ideas and assesses their contribution to the development of economic thought.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Khouw and Guthner, The Options Edge
The Options Edge: An Intuitive Approach to Generating Consistent Profits for the Novice to the Experienced Practitioner (Wiley, 2016) by Michael C. Khouw and Mark W. Guthner starts with the basics but quickly complicates things by demonstrating their mathematical underpinnings. (The non-mathematically inclined can simply skip these sections and suffer no great loss.) It introduces the reader to trading volatility, option pricing, synthetics, and fundamental strategies. It explains how portfolios can be hedged using options to enhance returns and how to extract information from options prices. Perhaps most notably, it offers some options strategies for special situations such as potential short squeezes, skew opportunities, and dividend capture. And it explains how to analyze business opportunities as if they were options (think, for instance, of Berkshire Hathaway, which effectively sells puts and buys calls), with examples of both home runs and strike-outs.
This book is a healthy antidote to the usual fare offered to retail traders—buying single calls or puts on ostensibly fast moving stocks (often identified by questionable trading services), selling naked options in the hope that the probability gods favor you, or routinely placing non-directional trades on indexes. It challenges the reader to be creative in finding trading opportunities and structures, all the while admonishing him to thoroughly learn the intricacies of options so he won't be blindsided.
I often say that if I get one good idea from a book I consider the read worthwhile. Well, I definitely got my one idea from The Options Edge. And even a little more. So, yes, I consider this book a winner.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Goetzmann, Money Changes Everything
Goetzmann, a professor of finance and management studies at the Yale School of Management, takes the reader on a fascinating intellectual adventure in time and space, from the Uruk tablets (c. 3100 BCE) to sovereign wealth funds, from China to Europe, Inc. Throughout, he points to the feedback loops between civilization and finance. For instance, he quotes the fourth-century Pythagorean philosopher Archytas: "The discovery of calculation (logismos) ended civil conflict and increased concord. For when there is calculation there is no unfair advantage, and there is equality, for it is by calculation that we come to agreement in our transactions." Goetzmann comments: "Who might have guessed that the roots of democracy lay in financial literacy?" (pp. 94-95)
He shows how Fibonacci, in his Liber Abaci, compared the present value of two cash flow streams to devise the method of "net present value," "the most important tool in modern finance." (p. 243) He discusses the analysis of option prices by Henri Lefèvre (1827-1885?) and includes one of Lefèvre's payoff diagrams that shows how to deconstruct an option position.
This book is packed with information. We learn, for instance, that Christopher Columbus's "contract with the Spanish crown was extraordinarily complex: he received not only political favors but also 10% of future revenues from transatlantic trade. He also negotiated an option to invest up to 1/8 share of any commercial enterprise organized to exploit his discoveries." (p. 10)
There is no way I can do justice to this book in a brief post. Let me say simply that everyone who is curious about the history of finance will be richly rewarded by reading this book. And by keeping it ready to hand for future reference.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Chishti and Barberis, The FinTech Book
The FinTech Book: The Financial Technology Handbook for Investors, Entrepreneurs and Visionaries, edited by Susanne Chishti and Janos Barberis (Wiley, 2016), addresses multiple aspects of this disruptive technology—or, better, technologies—in developed as well as emerging markets. It highlights the kinds of applications that can either challenge the very existence of traditional banks or be incorporated into, and thereby radically change, mainstream banking. It analyzes commerce—payment systems, B2B transactions, identity theft—and investment—crowdfunding, marketplace lending, robo advisors, crowdsourced alpha. And, of course, crypto-currencies and blockchains.
This book is not at all technical. It was written not for quants (although the next paragraph may seem to belie this claim) but for people who are either simply curious about the status and possible future course of financial technology or who might want to get aboard this trend, as entrepreneurs or investors.
One chapter that caught my fancy was "To Crowdsource a Hedge Fund" by Andrew Campbell, data analyst at Quantopian. Campbell suggests a quant crowdsourcing platform with "a robust all-in-one algorithm creation and comparison package…. When a platform for researching, writing, back-testing, deploying, and comparing trading strategies becomes an investor in its own user base, a symbiosis emerges. The quants get a free platform for researching and writing algorithms that will always remain their own intellectual property and the chance to win significant capital backing. While the rest of the world is left analyzing quarterly returns on a few dozen strategies, the platform-investor gets to build their portfolio by looking minutely at returns from hundreds of thousands of strategies. With this mass of data in hand, a fund can more accurately invest in the strong and uncorrelated algorithms needed to form an elegantly diversified portfolio."
Social investment networks exist already, of course. Yoni Assia, the founder and CEO of the world's largest such network, the eToro OpenBook, writes a chapter about the success of his enterprise.
The FinTech Book is at heart an idea book, which is why visionaries were included in its self-defined audience, along with investors and entrepreneurs. Financial technology might not be as world changing as DNA editing, but it will fundamentally transform the way we interact with all things economic. And that's a big chunk of our world.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Wilson, Stopping the Noise in Your Head
"Anxiety's best strategy," Wilson writes, "is to convince you to spend most of your energy worrying about how to protect yourself or someone else against harm. It scores points by getting you to worry and then step back instead of step forward into the action." (p. 8) It gets you to play defense or, in the language of the markets, to focus on risk (viewed as a negative). It gets you pass on promising positions, to dump your winners too soon, to play too small.
We want security, we want to know what's coming next, we want certainty and comfort. But this is impossible in general, and quintessentially so in the markets. And therefore, to become a winning player, "your job will be to purposely and voluntarily choose to seek out uncertainty and distress." (p. 9)
Just as a fitness coach doesn't put you on the elliptical machine on a steady incline at a constant pace but mixes things up because disruptive change builds strength and increases stamina, so a "mental" coach disrupts your pattern and gets you out of your comfort zone "to build your ego strength and your mental muscles and to increase your grit and resilience so you can handle distress and rebound after a loss. By doing all that, we will improve your performance." (p. 170)
Put another way, "step toward, not away from, your challenges. … Think of the aphorism 'When you're in the jungle, run toward the roar.' What you'll discover over time is that when you run toward rather than away from what is difficult for you, you'll arrive on the other side of your challenges because you're not resisting them anymore." (p. 182)
What does this thesis have to do with worry and anxiety, signal and noise? "Worry is supposed to be only a trigger for problem solving. It is not supposed to last a long time. But Anxiety's goal is to get you confused as to what is a valid concern and what is noise and then to get you to dwell on the worry instead of solving the problem." (p. 51)
Some of the tipoffs that we're trying to protect ourselves instead of looking for ways in which we can grow are: stalling or procrastinating, becoming numb or feeling flat, retreating to a safer place, over-preparing, continually researching, continually seeking advice, checking repeatedly, seeking the "right answer," detailed thinking through of all possible options, and worrying! (p. 101)
Wilson develops his thesis (and recommendations) over 350+ pages. There's a lot of solid advice in this book, advice that, if followed with conviction, might actually improve one's bottom line.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Peterson, Trading on Sentiment
Peterson is the CEO of MarketPsych, a firm that in 2011 joined forces with Thomson Reuters to produce the Thomson Reuters MarketPsych Indices (TRMI), sentiment data feed covering five asset classes and 7,500 individual companies that Thomson Reuters distributes to its clients. As the Thomson Reuters website explains, these indices use "real-time linguistic and psychological analysis of news and social media to quantify how the public regards various asset classes according to dozens of sentiments including optimism, fear, trust and uncertainty."
Odds are that, unless you're a bank or hedge fund employee, you won't have access to TRMI. Peterson's book is the next best thing, although you have to realize that if you want to incorporate sentiment (not some proxy for sentiment) into your trading decisions and can't do big data analysis yourself, you're working with one hand tied behind your back.
Trading on Sentiment is divided into five parts: foundations, short-term patterns, long-term patterns, complex patterns and unique assets, and managing the mind.
To give a taste of this book (and to address something that affects everyone's investments) I'll focus on the chapter on sentiment regimes. As Peterson writes, "Context matters in financial markets. In the academic literature, differences in context are said to be a product of market regimes. A market regime is—in its most simplistic terms—a bull or a bear market. Recent academic research demonstrates that the performance of common investment strategies differs across market regimes, and these differences may be rooted in the divergent mental states of traders in each context (e.g., optimism in a bull market versus pessimism in a bear market)." (p. 270)
Regime-dependent performance may result from shifts in liquidity available to portfolio managers. "The profitability of published market strategies rises and falls in 3- to 5-year cycles based on liquidity. … The alpha to be harvested from such price patterns exists when they are largely ignored, but as capital is attracted to them, the excess returns dry up or even reverse." (p. 272)
Peterson summarizes "the effects of sentiment regimes on the predictable returns of several market anomalies." For instance, high-beta stocks outperform low-beta stocks "only following months of negative news sentiment." As for post-earnings announcement drift ("the tendency of stock prices to continue moving in the direction of an earnings surprise after the event"), such drift is "significantly greater when market sentiment is opposite the direction of the earnings surprise." (p. 273)
Trading on Sentiment will undoubtedly be seen in time as a seminal work. Much more research remains to be done on the identification and measurement of sentiment and its impact on financial markets, both on a macro and a micro level. But, even so, investors can use whatever measures they have of sentiment as potentially profitable filters in placing and managing their trades. Peterson's work can serve as a useful guide.
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Christina at
So here we go….
So here we go….
Hubby and I would love to go on a road trip all over the USA!
Your pictures look like so much FUN! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Adventures in Teaching (A First Grade Blog)
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Follow me on Facebook!
I did that in Cabo! Where are you in that pic? My bucket list is a long list of places I'd like to see like the Grand Canyon or Niagra Falls, or New England in the fall. I've been to a few European countries, but I need to see the states!
Wow, Wendy! How fun!! At the top of my bucket list…gondola ride in Italy with a nice big glass of wine and my handsome hubby! 🙂 Mrs. Olson's Lucky Little Learners
Catalina Island! SOOOO Fun! 🙂
You are sooooooo brave! The top item on my bucket list is a trip to Alaska. Maria


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1. Kentucky's top seven players surprisingly have very few tattoos
Let's pretend you didn't just read the above bolded text and you didn't know anything about Kentucky's players. Now, if I told you that the college basketball national champions featured six guys who will likely be on NBA rosters next year, that three of those six will likely be lottery picks, and that a seventh guy has a chance of making the league down the road, and then I asked you to guess how many combined tattoos they all had, wouldn't you say somewhere in the neighborhood of 257? Yet from what I can tell, there are only five tattoos among the top seven guys — one on the left deltoid of both Terrence Jones and Marquis Teague, one on Teague's left wrist, one on Teague's right biceps, and one on Teague's right triceps. Chances are that I missed a few — they could be hard to see or covered by their uniforms, or maybe I didn't realize that Anthony Davis's unibrow was a tat — but the point still stands that Kentucky poses a serious threat to the 2007 Florida team for the title of "national champion with the fewest tattoos in the last 20 years."
2. As a matter of fact, I do still think that college athletes are dumb jocks
The NCAA has tried all they can throughout the tournament to change the stereotype of college athletes through a PSA that features unconvincing statistics and a condescending women's basketball player who needs to lose the attitude. But as impressed as I'm supposed to be that NCAA athletes have better SAT scores than other students, the fact remains that a bunch of athletes that nobody cares about are included in that data. The dumb-jock label is only used by the general public to describe guys who play football, basketball, baseball, hockey, or wrestling, and I'm guessing that if you figured out the average SAT score of that group it would be considerably lower than other students' scores. So no, NCAA, I'm not going to stop thinking that all of the college basketball and football seniors who are majoring in "exploration" are dumb jocks just because a bunch of Division III women's fencing teams did well on their entrance exams.1
3. William Buford, who is usually the scapegoat for Ohio State fans after losses, was the only Buckeye who had what could be called a "good" game against Kansas
If there's a silver lining to my alma mater blowing a 13-point lead Saturday night and losing to a less talented team that played awful for stretches,2 it's that Buford ended his career on a positive note from an individual standpoint. For a guy who very well could be the best four-year player in the history of the program, Buford has been largely unappreciated by OSU fans because of the perception that he disappears in big games.3 But against Kansas in the Final Four, Buford was the only Buckeye who played well on offense, while Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas struggled and Aaron Craft and Lenzelle Smith Jr. were just average.
4. Jeff Withey exceeded my expectations against Jared Sullinger
I didn't mean any disrespect to Withey when I predicted last week that Sullinger would have his way against the Kansas big man. It's just that Sullinger typically struggles against bulkier players and has success against guys who could use a little more time in the weight room, no matter how tall they are. But to his credit, Withey held his ground all night long, and with the help of double-teams coming from all angles, Kansas frequently forced Sullinger to take bad shots that led to a 5-19 performance for the Buckeyes' All-American forward.
5. Ohio State has lost in the tournament by three points or fewer in each of the last four years
If you are or know anyone who is an Ohio sports fan, as you read the above observation, chances are you thought to yourself, Sounds about right.
6. College basketball referees are evil
I don't mean that they're evil in the sense that they would ask your freshman sister to prom, bid one dollar higher than you on The Price Is Right, or cut you in line at lunch so they could take the last two Crispitos. No, college basketball refs aren't quite that evil. But because they call so many charges, they aren't far off. How does calling charges make them evil? Well, it's simple: When refs call charges, they typically take something away from an offensive player in an animated fashion and feel no remorse in doing so.
Determining whether a play is a charge on the offense or a block on the defense is thought of as a 50-50 call, in that typically half the time the refs call a charge and half the time they call a block. But in the Final Four, it's been about a 90-10 split in favor of charges, even though many of the plays were obvious blocks. I initially thought this could be because the act of putting one's hand behind the head while throwing a punch with the other creates more of an adrenaline rush for the refs, but then I realized that calling a block is essentially a modified version of the D-Generation X "suck it" crotch chop.4 This means that the only explanation as to why the refs called so many charges is because they get some sort of sick pleasure from seeing the look of disbelief on an offensive player's face after he hears the whistle and thinks he's about to shoot free throws, but is instead charged with a foul.
7. There's a chance Rick Pitino has killed someone
I know his Italian heritage has a lot to do with me thinking he has ties to the mafia, but how well Rick Pitino dresses, his ability to go from red-in-the-face angry to suspiciously calm in minutes, and the fact that his hair slicks back without the aid of gel also contribute to this notion. I'm not saying that he has definitely killed someone, but I am saying that if I would've been in the room when he was coaching the Celtics and he said, "Larry Bird is not walking through that door," I would've assumed that it was because Bird crossed Pitino and got a mouthful of tommy gun as a result.
8. I'm pretty sure I'm the only non-Louisville fan who didn't hate the Cardinals' jerseys
Ever since Oregon football popularized alternate uniforms a few years ago and apparently offended every senior citizen sports fan in the process, various college football and basketball teams have followed suit and created unconventional alternate uniforms for special occasions. The most notable examples in college basketball this year were Adidas's postseason uniforms for Baylor, Cincinnati, and Louisville, which featured highlighter colors and Zubaz-like shorts. Like Oregon's uniforms before them, most fans criticized Adidas's special threads throughout the tournament, including when Louisville wore salmon-colored uniforms on Saturday.5 And as with Oregon's uniforms, I don't understand why there's such overwhelming disdain for them because I thought they were pretty awesome.
9. The Fray
Their national anthem was so awful that I don't even need to say anything more than "The Fray" for you to know exactly what I'm talking about. I know that for a lot of people the atrocious anthems from Carl Lewis and Roseanne Barr can never be topped, but it's not hyperbole when I say The Fray's anthem last night was the worst I've ever heard. And I say this as a guy who considers himself somewhat of a fan of The Fray, which is really just my way of saying that I got to third base with a chick in high school as The Fray played in the background.
What made their rendition so bad was that even though they sang the right words, it was in no way the right song. I get the concept of putting their own twist on the anthem, but what they did wasn't like what Steven Tyler does with his national anthems. No, what The Fray did was just have a couple of dudes play random chords on their out-of-tune guitars while a third guy sporadically banged a drum and tambourine, and the bald guy sang the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner." I mean, if they're going to just sing the lyrics over a random tune, they might as well have had a guy playing a pan flute and a guy playing a recorder join well the fray.
10. Nobody in America improved more from November to April than Marquis Teague
In November and December, Teague looked like he would be Kentucky's weak link for the entire season. A lot of this has to do with the fact that he was a freshman point guard getting his feet wet in big-time college basketball, but most of his teammates were also freshmen and they didn't seem to be struggling as much. Back then, Teague looked lost on offense and very unsure of himself. Throughout the tournament, however, it was a completely different story. Teague took care of the ball, managed the offense, knocked down jump shots, and picked his spots beautifully.
11. At no point during the national title game did Conner Teahan not have a furrowed brow
I implore you to prove me wrong.
12. The two best players in the country played like it in the biggest game of the year
Even though Kansas made it mildly exciting in the end, there wasn't anything too memorable about the championship game, except for the performances from Anthony Davis and Thomas Robinson. Davis went just 1-10 from the field and finished with six points, yet if you knew nothing about who was supposed to be good in college basketball and you watched any three-minute stretch of Monday's game, you would've been able to tell right away that he was by far the best player on the court. Meanwhile, Robinson, right after publicly saying he thought he should've been named national player of the year over Davis, overcame a rocky start to back up his claim with 18 points and 17 rebounds.
13. Kentucky's bench prematurely peeled off their warm-ups in the national championship game
Shortly after halftime, Kentucky's walk-ons took off their warm-ups as they sat on the bench. I get that it was the national championship and they wanted to show off their last names for the fans sitting behind them, but no matter the circumstances or how big of a game it is, the most sacred rule for walk-ons is that you never peel off the warm-up top until it's time to go into the game. Never. It's no wonder that Kansas came back and made the game interesting. And honestly, blatant sacrilege like that is more than enough for Kentucky's national title to be vacated, so I'm curious to see how the NCAA handles this one.
14. Kyle Wiltjer and Eloy Vargas blew their shot at immortality by ruining their national championship trillions
First, let me give props to Kansas's Justin Wesley for getting a 2 trillion in last night's game, which is something I'm sure he'll be proud to tell his grandkids about in 50 years. Now, I'd hate to take anything away from Wesley and I have no shame in admitting that I'm jealous of him, but at the same time it's hard to ignore the fact that his accomplishment loses a bit of its luster because Kansas lost. This is why I was hoping that someone on Kentucky would appreciate the magnitude of the game and put up a legitimate championship trillion. But instead, Vargas committed a foul in the first half and Wiltjer took an unnecessary 3-point attempt in the second half, and in the process each blew his chance at greatness. I'm sure they both had their reasons for keeping their names out of the history books, but I just hope that the overwhelming regret they'll feel in the next few years doesn't haunt them to their graves.
15. Jim Nantz's line as the time ran out Monday night was a half-assed effort
Nantz has made it a tradition to unleash a scripted corny pun as the clock runs out in national championship games, and last night was almost no different. The only problem was that his line, "And the Kentucky coronation is complete — champions 2012!" wasn't a pun at all. By definition, all puns are stupid and worthy of a facepalm (except, of course, my previous pun about The Fray), but I still enjoy hearing what Nantz comes up with every year if only because I'm a fan of awesomely bad things. This year, though, he was a huge disappointment, not only because his line wasn't a pun, but also because it was bad without being awesome and it was clearly scripted.6 Nantz can do better and he knows it.
16. Kentucky's championship hats were as awful as their shirts were cool
In case you went to bed after the game and didn't see the postgame celebration, here are the shirt and hat I'm referring to. There's no denying that the shirt is something we'd all be going crazy for if our team won the title, but the hat looks less like a national championship hat and more like something a skateboarder who is sponsored by a company called "No-1" would wear.
17. I'm not sure what this championship will mean for John Calipari's legacy
For the past few years, Calipari has been considered by many to be the best active college basketball coach to have not won a national championship, presumably because those people aren't aware that Bob Huggins is still coaching. Anyway, now that Calipari has a title under his belt, you would think that he would be considered one of the five best coaches in the game today. But for a majority of college basketball fans, it's impossible to ignore that each of his Final Four trips before getting to Kentucky were vacated for NCAA violations committed by two of the best players he's ever coached.
Kentucky fans and Calipari apologists will tell you that Coach Cal had nothing to do with the violations, while haters think he took Derrick Rose's SAT for him and struck a deal with an agent to float Marcus Camby some money under the table. As is always the case with these things, the truth is somewhere in between. But whatever the case, it will be interesting to see if 15 years from now this Kentucky title hasn't been vacated by the NCAA, and to see whether the general public will acknowledge it as a legitimate championship or will continue assuming that Calipari cheated to win.
18. From start to finish, this was one of the most boring NCAA tournaments in recent memory
If I remember anything about this tournament 10 years from now, it will likely be one of the following things: the terrible officiating, what-ifs for Syracuse and North Carolina, Missouri and Duke getting upset in the first round, Syracuse almost getting upset in the first round, no Gus Johnson, no buzzer-beaters, CBS's SkyCam giving me a migraine, Kentucky dominating, Bo Ryan saving his timeout for the offseason, The Fray taking a dump on the national anthem, or the same seven commercials being shown 493 times each. Of those 11 things, only Missouri and Duke losing and Syracuse almost losing in the first round are things that could be classified as "exciting." So yeah, even though this year's national championship was infinitely more entertaining than last year's, the tournament altogether was pretty bland.
19. "One Shining Moment" never fails to deliver
Well, I guess I shouldn't say that it never fails to deliver. But the Jennifer Hudson debacle aside, after spending four weeks picking on everything CBS screwed up in their tournament coverage, it's only fair that I praise them for yet another chill-inducing "One Shining Moment." With how boring this year's tournament was, I had my doubts as to whether CBS would be able to make lemonade out of the lack of highlights, but they most certainly did. I guess if Luther Vandross's smoothness was laid over a video of Jeff Withey shaving his neck beard, it would probably still give me chills, but CBS deserves credit for another job well done.
20. Like it always does, the tournament flew by this year
It feels like the tournament started last week, but as impossible as it is to believe, it was actually 21 days ago that … IT STARTED WITH A WHISPER!!!


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As of April 1, 2020.
We are a small business ourselves, so curveballs like this one can be hard to flatten. At the same time, we are a scrappy and creative bunch here at Emu, so we have been working very hard to make sure that we are responding to the needs of our mob. Please scroll down to see how our operations have changed and to find out how to give us feedback on how we can help you through this tough time.
We believe strongly in the power of community.
One thing you will hear from us over and over again is that Passive House level building science goals are much more achievable with an integrated team of professionals. There is power in shared resources and shared knowledge, and that extends naturally to the responsibilities we are facing as a community in the face of the fast-moving developments around the coronavirus.
How have Emu operations changed?
Fortunately, we are accustomed to working remotely, as we specialize in virtual prototyping, simulations, and modeling. We support clients in North America, Europe, and Australia, so our consulting services are largely unchanged for the time being, and we are working from home until further notice. Our Training Program, on the other hand….
How has the Emu Training program changed?
The bottom line is that we have a bunch of solutions in place to make sure you get your Passive House learnin' on. All registered students will receive the full value of the CPHT course they paid for, if not more, as we shift our own business model to help get more knowledge into the hands of builders via several delivery mechanisms.
We'd also like to take a moment to comfort you and remind you that putting yourself ahead of the pack, by learning the most innovative ways to build, will pay off in hard times. During the 2008/09 building bust, those who specialized in green building and niche, high-skill areas of construction weathered the storm much better than mainstream America. Passive House level building science is widely recognized as the way to build resiliently and durably. You can be sure that more and more clients will be looking towards resiliency in the coming months.
Classroom Course Content
The show must go online! The Certified Passive House Tradesperson (CPHT) course content is currently being uploaded to an easy-to-use online platform for you to be able to digest on your own schedule from the comfort of home. The timeline for this is currently the end of April, and we are in touch with our registered students about the roll-out. At that time, we will also open registration to new students wishing to enroll in the online CPHT course.
Hands-on Passive Pod Workshops
Emu's famous Passive Pod workshop is the most unfortunate victim in this debacle, for sure. But, rest assured, all registered students will retain a credit for a future 1-2 day Passive pod hands-on workshop that will include ALL hands-on units originally planned for in the in-person training format. The schedule on this will be published once we have a better idea of the future pandemic timeline. Just hang tight with us until we flatten that curveball a bit more. Until then, please follow us on Instagram for demos, videos, and other fun learning opportunities.
Community and Networking
We know that an online course is not a live course, and for that reason, we are organizing a calendar of live sessions for students to get to know our team, as well as fellow classmates. There will be Q&A sessions for each unit of the course, as well as more open-ended sessions geared at networking and addressing more general questions. The calendar for this is getting organized now and will be announced with course delivery.
PHI Accreditation Exams
We are waiting for instruction from the international testing authority. We will let you know as soon as we know.
How can we help you?
As the definition of community is being challenged and redefined, our primary mission remains removing hurdles that keep mainstream construction professionals from reaching Passive House level building science goals.
Building an ecosystem of like-minded professionals to help you in your journey is just one part of it. Please watch this video from our Co-Founder, Mariana Pickering, and reach out to us with any feedback you have for us on how we can help.


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SRC-2017-0005 : Nitro PDF Pro Doc.saveAs and App.launchURL Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities
CVSS Score:
6.8, (AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P)
Affected Vendors:
Affected Products:
Nitro PDF Reader & Nitro Reader Pro
Vulnerability Details:
These vulnerabilities allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Nitro PDF Reader and Nitro PDF Reader Pro. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file.
The Doc.saveAs function can be used to write arbitrary files on to the targeted system. Additionally the App.launchURL security dialog can be bypassed by injecting a '$' character into the URI path. An attacker could leverage these vulnerabilities to execute arbitrary code under the context of the current process.
Vendor Response:
Nitro has issued an update to correct these vulnerabilities. More details can be found at:
Disclosure Timeline:
- 2017-04-05 – Verified and acquired by Beyond Security
- 2017-07-23 – Coordinated public release of advisory
Proof of Concept:
This vulnerability was discovered by Steven Seeley of Source Incite
Source Incite would like to acknowledge Beyond Security's SSD program for the help with co-ordination of this vulnerability. More details can be found on their blog at https://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/3251.


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Poised, collected and displaying an air of confidence that resides only in the most elite and focused of runners, Thomas Howell entered Saturday's 3A cross country state finals in Tallahassee relaxed and carefree. (via www.varsitysportswest.com)
The Bishop Kenny boys and Bolles girls, led by David Yarborough and Mackenzie Wilson, respectively, captured Class 2A state titles by the same 41-point margins. In Class 4A, the Mandarin boys were second, their best-ever finish. (via jacksonville.com)
Article wrapping up all of the coverage and info about this year's state meet in Tallahassee.
With one mile to go in Saturday's Class 3A state cross country race, Chiles senior Rachel Givens had pent-up energy. (via www.tallahassee.com)
When you're a coach who has guided 10 teams to state titles, second place may seem like a bit of a letdown. But after his girls squad finished second at Saturday's Class 4A state cross country championships at Apalachee Regional Park, Plant's Roy Harrison was all smiles. (via TBO.com)
On the most sublime racing morning of her high school life, 5-foot Mitchell senior Claudia Cancello consumed half a banana, a little water and essentially none of Nikita Shah's dust. (via www.tampabay.com)
For nearly 10 minutes after Bridget Blake won her third consecutive state cross country title Saturday at Apalachee Regional Park, the Dr. Phillips senior stood at the finish line. (via OrlandoSentinel.com)
Pine Crest freshman Julia Montgomery stunned herself, and runners around the state, by winning the Class 2A girls championship. (via South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com)
Gently swaying ancient oak trees towered above runners at the FHSAA state cross country finals on Saturday morning. (via Naples Daily News)
Bernie Montoya, Elise Cranny take NXNSW wins! Domanic, Jochen take NXNS wins! Southlake Carroll dominated team titles at NXNS! (Photo of Montoya winning by Margot Kelly)
Dr. Phillip's senior Bridget Blake is looking to go out with her third cross country state title. The team race was hotly contested last year with three teams within four points. This year looks like it could be just as competitive with a very strong Plant, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Ferguson, all vying for the team trophy once again.
A host of boys led by David Yarborough and Jonathan Klumpp vie for the individual win; Yarborough's Bishop Kenny heavily favored for team victory.
Colonial senior AndresArroyo is one of the top runners in the nation and comes in as the favorite in 4A. Arroyo won the 4A state championship in 2011 and led the Grenadiers to their first team title in any sport in the schools existence. After a strong track season that saw him capture three more state titles, and a strong team once again, expect for both situations to repeat themselves.
Daesha Rogers and Julia Montgomery will do battle for the third week in a row. Bolles looks to run away with the title, while Pine Crest and Bishop Kenny lock horns for second.
Twenty runners have broken sixteen minutes this year and four have gone under 15:30 making 3A one of the hardest classifications of all. Can Avery Lopez follow in the footsteps of last year's champ Elliot Clemente and give Belen another individual title? Is it the year of Palmetto Ridge senior Carlos Miranda or will a member of Fort Myers or Niceville's dynamic duos take home the honors? Will nationally ranked Belen be tested? If so, is it the tight pack of Fort Walton Beach or Fort Myers led by Bennett and Brown? This will shape up to be one of the best races of the day.
Estero looks to repeat as 3A state champions and win their third team title in three years. Can number one runner Kacy Smith pick up her second individual state title in the process? The senior will be tested by Ft. Myers junior Emily Edwards and Wiregrass Ranch senior Nikita Shah who is headed to Harvard. This one could come down to a sprint to the finish.
Daniel Salas is a big favorite individually, but his Trinity Prep team will have their hands full with their arch rivals from Holy Trinity yet again.
Julie Wollrath and Holy Trinity will be favored going in, but the ladies of Oak Hall are determined to spoil the fun.
The FHSAA made an unexpected announcement tonight, publicly stating that it has selected its top choice for the state cross country meet: Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee.


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Air Jordan Force 5 NOW on Air-Randy.com
I like the AFJ5. I like it more than the AFJ12. I can't wait to see it and buy it. I never bought anything from Air-Randy but many sites mention him by name all the time. So I guess it is a safe place to buy these types of items if you want to be the first one in your neighborhood to get them.
I am not to sure about this colorway though… but being first has so much cool factor that you probably will ignore it.


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Looking for a jumpstart on activities for your local advocacy organization? Check out these ideas.
Learn about the different types of bicycle organizations, how to get started, and how we can help.
Our listing of advocacy organizations, government agencies, and other groups
Resources for teachers and parents on walking and bicycling to school.
Learn about the health, quality of life, environmental, public safety and economic benefits of bicycling.


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Last week, I did something that I haven't done in over 30 years. I took a bus.
Actually, I took two different buses. I was traveling with my son Noah to an autism program for adults that's located about a half-hour from our house. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to teach him the basics of taking public transportation.
To say that it didn't go that well is an understatement.
I had insufficient funds on my brand new fare card, and as people waited behind me in line, it seemed to take an eternity to dig up the right amount of cash for the ride. And then in my anxiety to sit down quickly, I didn't stop to ask the bus driver if we were on the right bus. Which was a shame because even though we were on the correct bus, we were traveling in the wrong direction! To top things off, when we finally got close to our destination, I insisted that Noah pull the cord to signal the bus driver to stop — about four city blocks away from where we needed to go. We ended the ride with a long and humbling walk.
But the worst part of this experience was that I couldn't give myself permission to be a beginner, to be OK with not knowing what to do. Instead, my anxiety grew with every mistake I made. The ironic part is that, as Noah's parent, I have been in countless situations like that bus ride. When you have a child with autism, it seems like all the other parents of typically developing children know what to do. In contrast, you can feel so out-of-place and vulnerable.
Suddenly, I found myself thinking about Noah. Many times during that bus ride, I looked over at him and he was calmly looking out the window, usually with a smile on his face.
And I realized something: Here I was feeling undone by a single bus trip. In the meantime, Noah's life is comprised of so many situations that must be mystifying to him. The rules of social engagement alone are so subtle and elusive. But somehow he takes it all in stride.
It made me appreciate what I can only call Noah's grace. He is always entirely himself, just accepting where he is at each moment.
Life with Noah is going to offer me a lot more chances to act without the benefit of a rulebook. Each phase of my son's life presents new questions and challenges, and I find myself beginning over and over again. But Noah shows me on a daily basis that it's OK even if you don't know what to do. He certainly doesn't mind being a beginner. And, even more importantly, he teaches me that even when you don't understand the rules, you may as well just smile.
Read more in Psychology Today


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Please visit The Deli's full web charts organized by genre and region.
Jennifer Budd brings the flow and mean old school R&B vibes with her debut album "Lip Service". Hints of gospel, blues, and funk blend together to make a raucous entrance, lit up with slick production and some classic horn stings to drive the point home. From the slippery groove of album opening "Church", to the rock-n-soul of "The Colonel", this album brings a full and honest effort of an artist showing her raw physical talent and emotion. Lead single "Don't Even" starts in the small dark corner of an after hours lounge, and ends centre stage in a flurry of flashing lights. "Lip Service" drops November 13th, with a release party at the Park St Gasworks, Hamilton, November 14th.
- Cody Wright
Toronto New Bands With Buzz