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Justice Matthew A. Rosenbaum
Justice Matthew A. Rosenbaum was appointed to the New York State Supreme Court in 2005 and was elected to a full fourteen year term that same year. Justice Rosenbaum holds a civil calendar with appointments to the entire lead paint litigation calendar in the 7th Judicial District, as well as regional coordinator for Summary Jury Trials. His regular civil calendar contains all matters relevant to civil litigation. Justice Rosenbaum is also a 2009 Fellow candidate for the Advanced Science & Technology Adjudication Resource Program, a national judges' program educating the judiciary in specialized and cutting edge medicine and technology. He currently co-chairs the Monroe County Bar Association's Litigation Section and is active within the Bar.
Prior to his election to the State Supreme Court, Justice Rosenbaum was in private practice in Rochester, New York for fourteen years, concentrating in civil litigation, criminal defense litigation and government affairs. He held elected office as Town Councilman and Deputy Supervisor for the town of Penfield from 2000 - 2005. He also held Hearing Officer posts for both the Monroe County Department of Health and the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation. Additionally, Justice Rosenbaum was admitted to practice law in the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, actively practicing litigation in those states as well, up until his appointment to the Bench.
Justice Rosenbaum is also active in the Rochester Community as a board member of the Jewish Community Federation of Greater Rochester, Jewish Family Services and Congregation Beth Sholom, as well as being active on the Monroe County Bar Association Litigation Section and Lawyers Concerned For Lawyers. He has spoken at numerous community events and has also extensively lectured in the areas of trial advocacy, medical malpractice, summary jury trials and ethics.
Justice Rosenbaum is a graduate of Hobart College and Boston University School of Law. He resides in Brighton, New York with his wife and four children.


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Pre-show editor's notes:
– Brandon here. This is one of the cooler things I've gotten to do so far as the EIC (or COO, whatever) of With Leather. Soupy's doing me a great favor by stepping in and covering the Best And Worst Of Survivor Series, so show him the most ever love so he'll consider coming back.
– Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook. Follow Dan at @headabovewater and The Wonder Years at @twypoppunk . I put those links at the end because he's already got a billion more followers than me.
– If you're new here and just stopping by to read the guy from your favorite band's wrestling column, consider stopping back by on Mondays and occasional Sundays for our open discussion threads, and on Tuesdays for the Best And Worst Of Raw. It got a shout-out at a TWY concert, so it is band-approved.
For further proof of street cred, here are two guys who dressed up as Daniel Bryan for Halloween:
– As always, your comments, shares, likes and whatevers are appreciated.
– Animated GIF and certain images courtesy of the lovely Casey. Everything else is from WWE.com. Please don't sue.
All right, that's it for me. Click through to enjoy the Best And Worst Of WWE Survivor Series 2012 by the gracious Mr. Dan Campbell.

subset: commoncrawl


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Just for signing up for the Elmer's Craft It Club newsletter, you will receive a Craft ebook! It's full of inspirational ideas for how to make the most out of crafting with kids. It includes craft tutorials, supply lists, tips & project inspiration, and more!
Take Me to My Dashboard


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- Oil Expeller, Oil Press and Oil Refinery Machine Supplier
- ----------Shandong Leader Machinery Co.,ltd.
Home>Products>Sesame Seeds Roasting Machine>100TPD crude linseed oil refining machinery plant with CE&ISO9001
100TPD crude linseed oil refining machinery plant with CE&ISO9001
- Jinan, China (Mainland)
- Sesame Seeds Roasting Machine
Sesame Seeds Roasting Machine
- 1 Set/Sets crude linseed oil refining machinery plant
- Sesame Seeds Roasting Machine
- Contact with us
- paypal,UnionPay, Visa/MasterCard, Amex, Discover,T/T
- 20 Set/Sets per Week
Product Details
|crude linseed oil refining machinery plant
|crude linseed oil refining machinery plant
|Automatic Grade:
|Production Capacity:
|100%crude linseed oil refining machinery plant
|Place of Origin:
|Jinan, China (Mainland)
|Brand Name:
|Model Number:
|After-sales Service Provided:
|Engineers available to service machinery overseas
|Raw material:
|crude cooking oil
|Crude linseed oil refining machinery plant
|Stainless Steel SS304/316
|crude linseed oil refining machinery plant
|Chemical oil refining and physical oil refining
|Application range:
|Low consumption
|Power consumption:
|Steam consumption:
|200-300kg per one ton crude oil
|12 Months
Product Description
Sesame Seeds Roasting Machine Easy to operate. Microwave power Sesame Seeds Roasting Machine and the conveyor speed can be sleepless adjustment, there is no thermal inertia, can open and stop at an time, easy to control,improve the production environment.Microwave equipment 100TPD crude linseed oil refining machinery plant with CE&ISO9001, no waste heat radiation, no dust, no noise, no pollution, easy to implement the testing standards of food hygiene.Sesame Seeds Roasting Machine Low-temperature sterilization, less loss of nutrients.Retain vitamin C,conventional heating treatment for fruits and vegetables is 46% ~ 50%, but the microwave 100TPD crude linseed oil refining machinery plant with CE&ISO9001 can reach 60%~90%.Retain vitamin A,conventional heating treatment is 58%,but Shandong Leader Machinery Co.,ltd. the microwave can reach 84%,and does not affect the original flavor, is a good method for deep processing of fruits&vegetables and get green foods.
Our Company
What Mao Sheng do for our client?
Detailed Images
product description
1.We undertake pre-treatment, pressing, extraction, oil refining and the auxiliary projects, the services include civil negineering, process design, auto-control, layout plan and the cereals and oils further processing, e.g.soybean phospholipids, proteins, rare and high-value oils. In addition, we undertake process design and construction of feed mill, wheat flour plants.
2. 10-500t/h oil material first cleaning,drying and storage section turn-key project.
3.100-3000 t/d oil pretreatment, shelling and pre-press workshop turnkey project (soybean hot peeling, bean skin crushing; the soybean extrusion, high oil contained pre-press cake extrusion, and high oil contained embryos puffed; of direct puffed).
4.100-3000T/D leaching workshop turnkey project (Towline extractor, Rotocel extractor, loop type extractor, DTDC separated machine, the full negative pressure evaporation, paraffin wax recovery, leaching workshop degum, phospholipid concentrate).
5.30-1000T/D oil continuous grade two or one physical (chemical) refining production line.
6.20-600T/D Crude palm oil, rice bran oil, corn germ oil dewaxing turn-key project
7.10-200T/D Fatty acid esterification production cooking oil production line.
Chemical Refining:hot water
Crude oilâfilterâmixâreactorâmixâreactorâcentrifugal separationâoil residue
â â
Phosphoric acid â
degumming oilâdryâheatâ â â â
bleaching earthâmixâdecoloringâfilterâdecoloring oilâmixâheat
refined oilâfilterâcoolâdeodorizingâvacuum
(1)Neutralization section
After heating, oil is then carried out with caustic soda to saponify the fatty acids and to ease the removal of the precipitate in centrifugal separator. The contact is made in mixer, and then a short contacting time is allowed in reactor. The lye saponifies the fatty acids in the oil and forms soap stock, which is removed together with the gums and the excess caustic solution. The caustic soda solution is coming from the caustic dosing device. The neutralized oil still contains small amounts of residual soap, which must be minimized before further processing. Some soft hot water (usually boiler treated water or steam condensates) is added to the oil in mixer and is then sent to washing centrifugal separator, where the residual soap is separated from the oil. The oil is dried under vacuum as the residual moisture must be reduced. The oil is first heated in a plate heat exchanger, by means of low pressure steam. The oil is then dried under vacuum in the dryer. of the bleaching section with its vacuum group. Then the oil is sent to the bleaching section by pump.
2)Bleaching section
Crude oil is fed to the oil-earth mixer through heat exchanger and heater. Prior to bleaching, the bleaching earth is dosed into the oil by means of a volumetric dosing system. The bleaching earth hopper is installed above the oil-earth mixer and assures continuous operation of the plant. The hopper can be automatically filled by means of the pneumatic earth feed assembly. After bleaching earth dosing, the oil flows into the bleacher. After bleaching, the oil-earth mixture is sent to filter and security filter by means of pump. After the filtration operation, oil recovery from spent cake is done by steam blowing and the spent cake is discharged and evacuated through a chute to a disposal container.
3)Deodorization Section
The bleached oil is first de-aerated in a buffer tank, It works at the same vacuum as the deodorizer and acts also as buffer feed capacity. After deaerator, Oil is sent by pump to be preheated by the heat exchange with the deodorized oil to a temperature between 190° and 210°C, and deodorized oil is cooling to a temperature of about 135°C. Finally, the oil is heated by conduction oil or high pressure steam until it reaches the final deodorizing temperature. After deodorization, the oil is cooled with feeding oil, polished, and pumped into storage tank.
This cooling and contact combined with a lower velocity will allow catching nearly all fatty acids distillates present in the gas flow.
4)Crystallization Section
Feedstock is heated and pumped to crystallizers. The oil is cooled according to a pre-determined cooling profile by means of controlling the temperature of the cooling medium circulating in the cooling coils. The design of this cooling profile depends on the quality of feedstock and the quality of olein/stearin fractions required. This is to keep the oil homogenized with frequency mechanical agitation in the crystallizers. A typical cooling program lasts for a certain time, depending on the quality of feedstock and product. When the oil appears as a thick semi-solid mass (slurry) containing stearin crystals in liquid olein, it is ready for filtration. If the crystallization result is not desirable, the slurry can be circulated through the feed oil heater for re-heating before being sent back to the feed oil tank for re-processing.
5) Filtration Section
When crystallization is completed, the slurry is fed to the Membrane Filter Press for filtration. The operation includes filter feed, filtering, squeezing and cake releasing. When the chambers are full after cake forming, the pumping will stop and the membranes are inflated to squeeze dry the filter cakes. After which, the residual oil in the core is blown dry by compressed air. Thereafter, the filter is opened and the cake will drop into a stearin tank. The stearin cake is melted in this tank by steam coils before it is discharged to storage. Olein flows into the olein tank, and is pumped to the outer olein storage tank.
"No best, Only better"
We will be commitment to provide high quality products with perfect site services and after-sales service. Now the specific commitments are as follows:
1. Ensure to timely provide complete sets of equipment and accessories.
2. Ensure that one-time installation debugging acceptance.
3. To provide high quality material with preferential price.
4. Priority to provide customer our new craftworks and products.
5. Free training technological operator to ensure the trained staff can operation independently.
6. In the installation process,we will appoint a installation supervision staff on the spot.
7. we will offer an experienced project manager, organize a good installation team for the work of field installation debugging.
8. After the equipment field assembly and installation, we will be also responsible for the single equipment debugging, online debugging and Feeding trial operation,
to ensure that equipments can normal operate in full load conditions.
We will provide all kinds of information and records according to the requirements of the bid.
The qualified completion files will be provided to customers according to their requirements within one month after acceptance.
9. In the warranty period, all because of the quality of products has caused the damage or failure of equipment, suppliers will take the responsibility for the free repair and replacing spare part.
10. Due to the damage caused by the customer,we only charge material costs for repair and replacement.
11. After the receipt of customers notice,we will suggests the method to solve problem within six hours,or send specialist to the site to solve the problem within twenty four hours.
Shandong Leader Machinery Co.,ltd. type multi-purpose drum roasting machine Sesame Seeds Roasting Machine Mainly used for peanut, chestnut, walnut, almond, swallow beans, coffee beans, seeds and other granular material baking or roasting.100TPD crude linseed oil refining machinery plant with CE&ISO9001 Electric heating, fuel, or gas, coal as the heat source; the use of rotary drum, heat conduction, heat radiation principle, with coal to fuel; low production costs.The material does not contact with the fire during roasting ,Shandong Leader Machinery Co.,ltd. make sure the product quality is good, health, taste well, can reach the export standards.Temperature :300 degrees Set automatic constant temperature control.Sesame Seeds Roasting Machine Waterproof packing with the international export standard by 20ft, 40ft, 40hp container. 100TPD crude linseed oil refining machinery plant with CE&ISO9001 Equipment Fittings, Electric Motor and Power Cabinet will be packed in Wooden Case or Iron Box.Shandong Leader Machinery Co.,ltd. Other Equipment will be packed by Color-Stripes Plastic Cloth.
If you have any demand about microwave drying equipment and edible oil refining equipment, pls feel free contact us any time.
Whatsapp:+86 13064099546
NOTE:We can specially design the machine according to your production's features.
Contact Us
- Oil Expeller, Oil Press and Oil Refinery Machine Supplier
- AddressNo.15, Lanxiang Road, Tianqiao District, Ji'nan, Shandong, China
- Phone(Working Time)86-0531-85064681
- Fax86-0531-85064682
Related News
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Get the Flash Playerto see this player.
|Lucas Entertainment
Short review: Loads of high quality, exclusive video scenes stream in for you in good length clips and at a high quality. You'll find masses of sexy guys here in hard-core gay movies that will keep your dick hard for hours. You can buy the full length vids, get discounts, view the galleries and keep up to date with the latest news from this blinder of a site from a top professional studio.
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Mouse over image to zoom
Garment & Fabric
- 100% Brushed Cotton Fleece Fabric.
- Hood & Kangaroo Pocket.
- Suitable for mild & moderate winters.
- Vibrant prints even after hundred washes.
- Can't wait to be on you
Care/Wash Instructions
- Show some love, be gentle - hand wash recommended.
- Line dry, don't machine or tumble dry for longevity.


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Upcoming Music Events
We have a number of concerts, master classes and other music events offered each semester.
View upcoming events
We have a number of concerts, master classes and other music events offered each semester.
A limited number of Arts Merit Scholarships are available for music majors as well as non-majors who wish to participate in Department of Music ensembles or chamber groups, or to provide musical accompaniment.Learn more
An audition is required for acceptance into all music degree programs, including the Bachelor of Music degree programs and the Bachelor of Arts degree programs.Learn more
The number of qualified students from dozens of academic disciplines that participate in ensembles.Our Ensembles
Be inspired to plan your first visit or remember how it feels to be on Bucknell's campus. From the beauty of Bucknell's Malesardi quad to the gorgeous architecture in the Rooke Science Building (be sure to look up!) to the Weis Center for the Performing Arts and our well-used athletics fields, this 360 degree tour is a great way to see yourself at Bucknell.Start Touring!
At Bucknell you'll learn to take chances, listen to the world around you and begin the journey to finding your own voice.
Here, you can get a Bachelor of Arts in Music, or a Bachelor of Music with a concentration in either performance, contemporary composition, or cultural and critical studies in music, and/or a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance or music education.
The Department of Music presents approximately 100 concerts, recitals, masterclasses, and lectures each year in the Rooke Recital Hall and the Weis Center
Bachelor of Arts: A general program of study of music within the liberal arts, designed to equip students with a broad background in music theory, history and performance.
Bachelor of Music: A highly specialized program with individualized professional programs. Students may choose from three curricula: performance, composition or music education.
Participation in all music ensembles is open to qualified students, regardless of major.
The Gallery Series is a nationally recognized performance series focusing on experimental and avant-garde musical events.
The Bucknell Camerata and Rooke Chapel Ringers' Christmas Candlelight Service has been televised nationally on PBS.
Jazz at Bucknell is a world class concert series that brings outstanding jazz musicians to campus to perform and work with our students.
The Bucknell Opera Theatre has gained recognition for creative performances of a wide-ranging repertoire, including a significant number of premieres.
The World Music class offers opportunities to participate in workshops and classes in Arabic Music, African dance and drumming, and Balinese music.
"I shape sound. In my electro-acoustic works, it is akin to working with a canvas, which is time, where I create a trajectory or stasis or environment."More about Professor Botelho
"When I was in graduate school, popular music history wasn't taught. That's changing, thank goodness. Popular music studies is a rapidly expanding branch of musicology."More about Professor Randall
"The facilities here are absolutely first-rate, and students from all areas of the University participate in our music program. Whether they are engineering, arts and sciences or management majors, one thing they have in common is a love of music."More about Professor Kenny
Students have been selected for participation in summer programs around the world such as:
Internships provide career experience and networking opportunities for music majors. Recently, students have interned at:
202 Sigfried Weis Music Bldg.
General Information, please contact
Mrs. Bonnie Smith
Prospective Students, please contact
Mrs. Brenda Ross
The following links are virtual breadcrumbs marking the 27 most recent pages you have visited in Bucknell.edu. If you want to remember a specific page forever click the pin in the top right corner and we will be sure not to replace it. Close this message.


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1 Bedroom Superior - Pool Access
Superior ground level1 Bedroom Apartments have been recently renovated to reflect a contemporary feel and feature direct access to the heated lagoon swimming pool from your private timber decks.
- 1 King / Twin
- Non-smoking
- Shower - separate
- Lift/Elevator Access
- Tea/Coffee Making
- Television
- Iron/Ironing board
- Air conditioned
- DVD Player
- Fridge - Fullsize
- Ceiling Fans
- Room Safe
- Dishwasher
- Microwave
- Telephone
- Toaster
- Wireless Internet
- Laundry Facilities
- Stairs
- Hairdryer
- Clock Radio
Terms & Conditions
Payment of accommodation or sundry accounts can be made in cash, VisaCard, MasterCard, or Amex.
While in residence, a room account for tours, telephone calls, transfers etc. will be held until the end of your stay. A pre-authority (swipe) of your credit card will be required as security.
To secure your booking we require 1 nights accommodation as a deposit.
Balance is due and payable on date of arrival
Cancellations are to be advised in writing by mail, fax or E-mail.
Cancellations received 30 days or more prior to date of arrival will be refunded in full, less $100 administration fees.
For cancellations received less than 30 days prior to arrival, nil refund of the deposit will apply.
Any cancellations received less than 14 days prior to arrival or should you change your booking during your stay, you will be charged the full amount of the total stay booked (ie. if you are confirmed for 5 days you will be charged for a total of 5 days). However, if the suite can be re-let a full refund will be issued less deposit paid for the first night...........
Special Cancellation Conditions for Discounted Special Offer Bookings ( eg FREE Night Offer Carnivale Special, Spring Escape - Save 25% ) Cancellations , amendments and changes are not permitted for any reason , full payment is accepted at the time of booking


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Ecco the Dolphin (SEGA Master System)
Published by
Developed by
Also For
Critic Score
100 point score based on reviews from various critics.
User Score
5 point score based on user ratings.
DescriptionTravel through time along with Ecco the dolphin, in the only game that could call itself a "dolphin simulator". Indeed, you can do pretty much everything a typical dolphin does, including eating fish, surfacing in order to breathe, using your biological sonar and of course, jumping out of the water to amaze your friends.
The storyline is actually deeper that one may think by looking at the box illustration. As Ecco, you are the only dolphin who managed to escape from a giant whirlpool which sucked down your entire pod. The five shining stars on your forehead show that you are the chosen one to save them. But that task will be not be an easy one, as you will have to travel through time and space with the Atlantean time machine, and meet the mystical Asterite in order to defeat the Vortex Queen.
The main part of the gameplay in Ecco the Dolphin relies on exploring various aquatic levels. They are usually nonlinear, with submerged caverns and tunnels branching out from the main bodies of water. The navigation is impeded by islands that must be hopped over, volcanoes that spit hot lava, powerful currents, deadly spikes, and dangerous predators such as octopi and giant eels. The sonar ability has multiple functions: you can communicate with friendly animals, map out the nearby area (echolocation), activate glyphs, and eventually defeat enemies. Activating glyphs is necessary because they can unlock unexplored parts of the current level, including the exit that leads to the next area; some of them can even bestow the gift of invincibility on Ecco for a limited time.
You must keep an eye on the life and breath meters. Dolphins can't stay underwater for a long period of time and must return to the surface for air. However, the cavern systems may hide the occasional pocket of air as well. Every time you are hit by spikes, lava, or an enemy, Ecco loses health, and once it reaches zero you will have to replay the level from the beginning. The life meter can be replenished by eating fish or by finding healing clams, called the Shelled Ones, and communicating with them. It's possible to avoid most enemies, but Ecco can kill troublesome creatures using the death sonar or by charging them head-on.
Promo Images
Alternate Titles
- "Ecco" -- In-game title
- "3D Ecco the Dolphin" -- Nintendo 3DS title
- "エコー・ザ・ドルフィン" -- Japanese spelling
Part of the Following Groups
- Animals: Dolphins / Whales
- Ecco the Dolphin series
- SEGA Vintage Collection series
- Setting: Aquatic / Underwater
User Reviews
There are no reviews for the SEGA Master System release of this game. You can use the links below to write your own review or read reviews for the other platforms of this game.
Critic Reviews
|Player One
|Jul, 1994
|94 out of 100
|Mean Machines
|Jul, 1994
|92 out of 100
|Consoles Plus
|Aug, 1994
|88 out of 100
|Sega Power
|Aug, 1994
|86 out of 100
|Play Time
|Aug, 1994
|80 out of 100
|Video Games
|Jul, 1994
|70 out of 100
|ASM (Aktueller Software Markt)
|Aug, 1994
|7 out of 12
|# Posts
|Last Post
|win 3.x compatible
|Terok Nor (27331)
Jul 28, 2014
|Favorite level music from Ecco the Dolphin
|Johnny de Alba
Aug 29, 2008
1001 Video GamesEcco the Dolphin appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Cut contentThere are two spots high above water along the left and right walls of Origin Beach where there were once glyphs (Or some creature) that was removed from the game. However if you use your sonar against those walls you still get messages from them.
The left one says:
"We hear song in the ocean!"
"We hear our kind in the sea!"
"Never have we heard songs in the sea!"
The right one says:
"You sing our song under the waves - who are you?"
"Could we sing in the sea? Could we live in the sea?"
"Perhaps we will try!"
Ed Annunziata explained that this was the answer to the question Ecco was asked in Home Bay "Why do Dolphins live in the sea?"
Ecco was supposed to be talking to his prehistoric ancestors and convincing them to join him in the deep! Unfortunately they were removed to time constraints.
- Issue #4 - #100 in the "Top 100 Video Games of All-Time" list
Related Web Sites
- DARK SEA: The Ultimate Ecco the Dolphin Resource (The best resource on the net for Ecco the Dolphin game information, multimedia, information on the games' development from the creators themselves, and full documentation of the Ecco 2: Tides of Time prototype version.)
- X360A achievement guide (X360A's achievement guide for Ecco the Dolphin.)


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3 Food Trucks We Love at the Durham Farmers Market, North Carolina
Out of the 50-odd food trucks cruising around Durham, North Carolina (check out our favorites here), you can always count on three or four parking alongside the Durham Farmers' Market, ready to serve an eclectic mix of portable breakfast and lunch offerings to the town's locavores and early risers. Here are a few to keep your eye out for:
CJ's Street Food
CJ's Street Food serves up a build-your-own mix of fusion-y tacos and buns. The pork belly bun ($5) has a crispy, meaty slice of belly with an ideal ratio of meat to fat. The serving is generous—slightly larger than your palm, and it fits perfectly into a steamed bun for easy portability. Accouterments vary from week to week, but on my last visit, the bun came dressed with a thick hoisin-style "Dragon Sauce," peanuts, and cilantro. While the sandwich could have benefited from some vegetal crunch (it's the South, y'all. We put slaw on everything), the cilantro did help cut some of the richness of the pork. The peanuts were also a welcome textural contrast to the soft steamed bun. I'll be back for their duck confit taco soon.
Porchetta's bright red wagon is the harbinger of some seriously tasty sandwiches. Porchetta makes an addictive version of its namesake Italian dish, tucked into chewy cibatta rolls. The sandwiches come with condiments meant to compliment, rather than compete with the meat, ranging from apple-horseradish slaw to whole grain mustard and melted Provolone. The Hot and Sweet ($7), with port-braised onions and pickled hot peppers, was a choice I would definitely make again. While the sandwich initially seemed a little small for the price tag, looks were deceiving. The crusty roll was a perfect vehicle to soak up all the rich porchetta drippings, and the combo of sweet and spicy onions and peppers kept things interesting.
Pie Pushers
Pie Pushers boasts a complete pizza oven inside of their wagon, which they put to good use baking pies featuring local and seasonal ingredients. In addition to solid standbys like cheese and pepperoni, Pie Pushers also offers a seasonal veggie slice, as well as a breakfast pie ($4) loaded with locally-sourced bacon, sausage, sliced potatoes and cheddar cheese with traditional red sauce. For an additional buck, they'll add a (local!) fried egg on top of any slice as well. Go ahead —break the yolk and give your slice a smear.
The trucks are open at the market every Saturday, rain or shine from approximately 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., although I'd recommend getting there early. No matter what truck, crowds and lines are to be expected, as hungry Duke students amble down for an easy lunch. Folks looking for a specific truck might also consider checking the Durham Food Truck Map with real time data. Water bottles, and a blanket to spread out in the grass would go great with any order.
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- Italian
- Street Food/Food Truck
- Pizza
- Street Food/Food Truck


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Nothing lifts us out of our why-isn't-it-hot-yet blues more than wearing a pop of color. This summer, it's all about integrating hints of red-ish, pinky corals into our wardrobe. It's a beautiful meld of contrasts—classic but still fresh, girlish but still edgy, youthful but still sophisticated—that makes for an unforgettable statement (who could forget Emma Stone in that fabulously simple and chic coral number during the 2011 Golden Globes). From frocks to floppy hats, we've got your only summer color covered to wear covered.
Jewish American Heritage Month
Goy Seeking Girl: Why People Pretend To Be Jewish On JDate


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Interview Date: 08/08/2010
Run Date: 08/20/2010
Interviews Home / TV Home / Bullz-Eye Home
Spike Lee is a filmmaker with a formidable resume: "Do the Right Thing," "She's Gotta Have It," "Malcolm X," "Inside Man," "The 25th Hour," and the list goes on. When Bullz-Eye had the opportunity to sit down with Lee, however, the topic was a very specific one: his latest documentary, "If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise," the first part of which premieres on HBO on August 23nd. (Part 2 airs the following evening.)Lee first took us on a cinematic trip to New Orleans with "When the Levees Broke," which detailed the ravages of Hurricane Katrina on the area. Although his original plan was simply to do a follow-up, the project expanded…unfortunately for New Orleans…when the BP oil leak occurred. As a result, Lee, who had wrapped the documentary at the Super Bowl, went back to work and added an additional hour's worth of material, along with an entirely new ending, one which he finished remarkably close to the film's premiere. Talk about trying to get things as up to date as possible…
Spike Lee: Hey, what's up, Will?
Bullz-Eye: Nothing much, Spike. Good to meet you. So I watched Parts One and Four of the documentary last night during HBO's screening.
SL: Yeah?
BE: It was enthralling, man.
SL: Thank you.
BE: So when you completed "When the Levees Broke," did you know at the time that you'd be going back?
SL: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'd discussed with Sheila Meadows – she runs the documentary part of HBO – so we knew we'd be returning. It was just a matter of when. But, yeah, we knew it at the time.
BE: So you wrapped this film…
SL: Two weeks ago. (Laughs)
BE: Again. (Laughs)
SL: Yeah. We finished shooting two weeks ago, and we just finished mixing it yesterday.
BE: So what was the original ending of the film before the BP situation went down?
SL: (Long pause) I forgot. (Laughs) Because it was April 20th. We had to rethink and rework and reconfigure the whole movie, the whole documentary. The final part, the last hour, is now all BP.
BE: And you're now officially wrapped, yeah?
SL: Oh, we're done.
BE: Because you were cutting it so close to the premiere date that I didn't know if you were literally planning to wait 'til the last possible second to add a shot.
SL: (Laughs) Nah. I was telling them, "This is it. We're done. If something happens, nothing we can do about it."
BE: A third documentary.
SL: We'll see.
BE: Hopefully not, for New Orleans' sake.
SL: Yeah, hopefully it's not going to be based upon another thing. They can't take that much more.
BE: I'll keep my fingers crossed for no giant meteors or anything.
SL: (Laughs) No earthquakes. No tidal waves. None of that.
BE: I really appreciated the way that you offered so many different viewpoints throughout the film, people you might love or hate, respect or revile. There are a lot of sides provided.
SL: Thank you.
BE: Was there anyone whose interview particularly changed your perception of the situation down there?
SL: I'm glad we got to speak to the fishermen, 'cause those guys…they were affected the most by it, and these guys, all they know how to do is fish. That's all their fathers knew how to do. That's all their grandfathers knew how to do. All they do is fish. And to speak to these guys and to hear them talk about it, it makes everything legitimate. It's, like, these are the people. It's not somebody who doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about. It's somebody there whose life depends on fishing, their life depends on the Gulf of Mexico. It's the real thing. It happened where they're from.
BE: Some of those guys said some things that were funny, but in a really dark way. Like, they had to be funny because they had no choice but to laugh it off.
SL: Well, I think that's something that was a characteristic of "When the Levees Broke," too, where they have to keep laughing to stop from crying. They do find humor in a lot of… (Hesitates) Gallows humor. That's what it is.
BE: The one moment that wasn't gallows humor, though, was when you were talking to the guy who was a foot fetishist.
SL: Oh, yeah. I said, "Well, what would've happened if her feet would've been jacked up?" He said, "I wouldn't have married her, then?" (Laughs)
BE: I'm sure you enjoy it when moments like that come out of nowhere.
SL: Oh, yeah, I mean, I do all the interviews, and somehow people feel comfortable with me because they've seen my films, so they feel they can open up and be honest. Because a lot of times…I don't know these people. Most of the time. I met 'em for the first time ten minutes before the camera rolls. And the success of the film depends on people being open and sharing what they know. If they shut down and don't talk and don't share, then I don't have a good interview, then that's not going to make the film, and it's gonna hurt the project in general.
BE: Is there anybody you tried to get an interview with that declined?
SL: Obama.
BE: I wondered about that.
SL: Yeah. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. George Bush. (Michael) Chertoff. Ken Salazar.
BE: Did they give legitimate reasons, or did they just pass?
SL: Couldn't fit into their schedule.
BE: Terrible. People are so busy these days.
(At this, Spike looked over the top of his glasses and made a scoffing sound.)
BE: (Laughs) In some films, the heroes and villains aren't necessarily clear-cut. In this case…
SL: This one's clear-cut: BP. Butt plugs. (Laughs)
BE: (Laughs) I was actually going to mention how funny that sequence was, where the guy's reeling off the possible things that BP could stand for. Was that something you found online, or…
SL: Nah. I just kept seeing these ads for British Petroleum. Then they went to "Beyond Petroleum." I said, "Wait a minute." So we all sat around one day and said, "Let's try to up with as many things as we can that BP stands for," and we gave it to this guy, who actually is a P.A. We were in the French Quarter, and we said, "Let's shoot this!"
BE: So what are your personal feelings on Ray Nagin?
SL: Nagin? I think he stayed one term too long. And as you saw in the film, a lot of people think he's one of the worst mayors ever, so…
BE: Do you think his actions were well-intentioned, at least, or was it just political maneuvering?
SL: Well, here's the thing: he'd never been in political office before. Same way with Chertoff. Now, I've done this, too. As a filmmaker earlier in my career, where I've put people in position and let them do work, have roles, do jobs that they're not qualified for. And it doesn't work. Ray Nagin had never been a politician before. Chertoff was a trial lawyer before he got to be the head of FEMA. That stuff comes back to haunt you.
BE: So I've seen Hours One and Four. What do Two and Three contain?
SL: Oh, all the stuff that's happened in the last five years. The knocking down of the projects, the New Orleans police department. Education. Housing. Jobs. We visit a lot of people that we met in "Levees."
BE: Was there a trip to Haiti at some point?
SL: A trip to…Haiti. Yeah. That's right. (Gives a funny look, possibly because it must've seemed like the luckiest guess in the world)
BE: Well, I only wondered about that because you get a shot of the Haitian official that you spoke with during the closing credits.
SL: Oh, yeah, yeah. We took a trip to Haiti with Sean Penn. He was in "Levees," too. Brad Pitt's doing work in the lower 9th ward with his organization, the Make It Right Foundation. He's built 50 homes already. Green homes.
BE: I liked his description of himself in the closing credits: "Self-employed."
SL: (Laughs) Yeah.
BE: Speaking of Sean, I've got to ask you what you think about his comments toward Wyclef Jean running for president of Haiti. (Writer's note: the story had literally broken only an hour or two before our interview took place.)
SL: I just saw a headline, so I don't…I'll have to read about more about it.
BE: I didn't see much more than that myself, but it was one of the top stories on IMDb's homepage. I guess Sean said that he questioned Wyclef's motives.
SL: Sean Penn said that? I gotta go online. (Pauses) That was on the homepage of IMDb…?
BE: Yep. Right under the story about Will Arnett and Amy Poehler's baby being born. So you know it's big news.
SL: Who?
BE: Will Arnett and Amy Poehler. (Laughs) See, I told you it was big news.
SL: Uh-huh.
BE: To jump way back for a moment, what brought you into the world of documentaries in the first place? I mean, I know "Four Little Girls" was your first, but what inspired you to take a shot at one?
SL: I've always liked documentaries, and for me, they're still filmmaking. I don't know how other people work, but for me, I don't make a strict delineation between narrative, documentaries, short films, videos, commercials. It's all storytelling.
BE: Did you find it more challenging?
SL: Yeah! Filmmaking's hard as a motherfucker, no matter what you're doing. (Laughs) It's just not easy. It's not easy at all. Not easy.
BE: Is the editing process more difficult, trying to find all the right clips you need to tell the story appropriately?
SL: Well, you've got to have great researchers, too. That's always a help. But, shit, you've got all this film, and you've got to shape and mold and caress it and massage it to get it right. And that's the same thing you do in narratives.
BE: To move back to present day, did you even try to get Tony Hayward?
SL: (Shakes head) Nobody from BP would speak to us. But, c'mon, we didn't need 'em. Anything they said was gonna be a lie, anyway, so… (Trails off)
BE: I'll tell you, those time-lapse shots at the end of the film where you show a shot for each day of the spill…? That's powerful stuff.
SL: Thank you. Yeah, people liked that. That's a Bruce Hornsby piece of music over that, too. It's called "We're Doing Work."
BE: Oh, yeah? I'm from Chesapeake, VA, right around the corner from where he's from.
SL: Yeah? That's my man!
BE: How'd you and he first cross paths?
SL: Through Branford Marsalis.
BE: Which reminds me: I liked the variety of types of people that you mixed into the piece for interviews. Like, you put Dr. John in there. Of course, this is something that's literally hitting home for him.
SL: Yeah. We wanted some known, some not. A cross-section of the great city of New Orleans and the state.
BE: Do you have favorite moments that really stand out for you?
SL: Phyllis Montana LeBlanc's opening, the spoken word piece. I liked the whole Super Bowl thing. That was fun. That was great, being at that game and shooting that. I like that BP rant. And the thing you mentioned before, with the stop-motion footage. The homage honoring the dead people, the ones who died there, and the piece that closes it, the one by Shakespeare. (Writer's note: to clarify, it's a piece by a local spoken-word artist named Shelton "Shakespeare" Alexander.) And then the ending, where we're out in front of the levee wall. "Who datsay gonnabeatdemSaints? Who dat? Who dat?" (Laughs)
BE: Was there anyone who hesitated at all when it came to offering up their information for the credits while holding a frame in front of their face?
SL: Nah. People loved that. We did that in "Levees," too, though. Earlier today, this lady said, "Why do you those frames?" "Did you see 'Levees'? It was in 'Levees!'" "Oh." (Laughs) What happened was, it seems bigger now because we ended with a lot more people than we did with "Levees."
BE: Yeah, the guy sitting next to me said, "Geez, this has got to be 15 minutes all by itself!" And I'm, like, "Yeah, but it's cool!"
SL: And I think it's nice…for me, we think it's a nice gesture. Nobody's getting paid for this, so here's your moment to shine. You introduce yourself, you tell everybody where you're from, your occupation. Sometimes people say something else. You're in the picture.
BE: I gotta tell ya, a couple of people got booed at the end.
SL: Oh, yeah? (Cackles) Who got booed? Mike Brown got it, I bet.
BE: Mike Brown, definitely. A couple of people spoke up about Ray Nagin, too.
SL: Nagin? (Laughs) He got it, too, huh?
BE: I heard someone hiss, "He ought to be ashamed of himself! Ashamed of himself!"
SL: (Laughs) Not specifically talking about Ray Nagin, but here's the thing: these people have no shame. Tony Hayward has no shame. BP has no shame. They don't care. As long as their pockets are filled with money, they don't give a fuck. They don't care who dies, who gets hurt. And it's shameful. But they don't care. As long as they get their money, that's all that matters. That's the bottom line.
BE: It's pretty clear that these films are affecting people. I mean, I'm in Virginia, I've got no direct connection to New Orleans, but it's very easy to get emotionally caught up in the situation when you're watching.
SL: Yeah, but I think our challenge is to try and make you understand that you do have a connection. 75% of the oil and gas comes from that area. 70% of the seafood comes from the region. So it affects you. People can't just be, like, "Aw, that's just them people down in New Orleans. We're different." It's all tied together. They were trying to do some drilling in the Chesapeake Bay!
BE: Yes, they were.
SL: But that got squashed, didn't it?
BE: It's on hold, anyway. Hopefully for good.
SL: Yeah! That's the thing. That's why so many people refer to Alaska and that region as another world. They think, "They can do that there." You can't do that in California. You can't do that in New York. Or Chesapeake! They'll shut that right down. But Louisiana…? "Ah, they ain't gonna care." So a lot of stuff goes through there. It's geopolitics. It's where you are. But Louisiana…they ain't got a lot of power.
BE: So what's the tourist area of New Orleans like nowadays?
SL: You mean, like, the French Quarter?
BE: More or less, yeah. I mean, do they tend to act as if they're an oasis, saying, "We're okay here!"
SL: Nah. I mean, it's all on top of each other, and they're elevated higher than everybody else, but people are still worried everywhere down there. Especially now, 'cause it's hurricane season. And with BP…? All that oil and a hurricane, that's not a good look. (Pauses) So what's up with your boy Michael Vick? What's going on with this?
BE: (Shakes head) Don't get me started…
SL: You all from the same area, right?
BE: I never should've told you where I was from…
SL: (Cackles) I don't think any teams will pick him up. He might have to go to China and play with (Stephen) Marbury! (Laughs)
BE: All right, I just got the "wrap it up" sign, but I wanted to ask you if you've got a favorite project you've worked on that didn't get the love you thought it deserved?
SL: As far as critically? Or box office?
BE: Either, really.
SL: Well, I think that sometimes there are films you make that for whatever reason…I mean, everything is timing. "Raging Bull" is now considered one of the greatest films ever, but that didn't make a dime when it came out. You know? So I think that "Miracle at St. Anna" is going to be discovered. It did not do well at all at the box office, and the reviews… (Trails off) But I think that's one of my best films. So you just have to keep on keepin' on, keep moving, and let those films keep adding to your body of work. You just keep going.
BE: Is there any film that didn't work as well creatively as you'd hoped it would?
SL: All of 'em. I mean, in all of 'em, there's stuff that you want to do. I don't think I've ever made a film where I got everything I wanted in it. Maybe that's something impossible to do. But I'll tell you this, though: I know a lot of people get mad when I say this, but the truth is, of all the films I've done, the one I can't watch is "She's Gotta Have It."
BE: Really?
SL: Can't do it?
BE: Not even as a historical artifact?
SL: Nah. (Laughs) I don't need that: I did the film. I was there!
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In sports terms, 2012 has been what one could call a rebuilding year, as P&C carriers looked to recover from a disastrous 2011 and a string of heavy losses. For many carriers, 2012 was a time to totally reappraise their roster of risks, which meant both exploring new lines of business as well as shedding certain types of perils or getting out of certain regions altogether.
And for the first 10 months, 2012 was shaping up to be a pretty good year. On the technology front, drivers seemed increasingly willing to install telematics devices in their cars—which could result in lower premiums for them and much better risk selection for insurers. AIG continued to make headlines—many of them positive for a change. Overall, rates started to reverse their long decline.
In the halls of state capitols and Washington, 2012 produced some mixed results. Florida— making a bid to no longer be an insurance basket case—instituted some welcome reforms. And Congress brought some much-needed certainty to the National Flood Insurance Program.
The biggest difference between 2012 and 2011 was the relatively benign weather enjoyed by the industry. Until the end of October, a drought in the Midwest was one of the few natural catastrophes to generate big news. But then Sandy struck, delivering a devastating blow to the Northeast—and making sure that the top story of this year would once again be attributable to Mother Nature.
Here's our look at the Top 10 news events of 2012. See you in 2013.
10. Telematics: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Telematics moved further into the mainstream in 2012, with some of the largest Auto carriers—such as Allstate and State Farm—aggressively pushing the concept to consumers with special incentives for early adopters. A speaker at Insurance Telematics 2012, a conference dedicated to the topic, predicted that by 2019, one-third of all U.S. vehicles will be underwritten based on telematics.
Few, if any, emerging insurance technologies are as potentially transformative—and disruptive—as these devices that measure driver behavior and vehicle usage. For carriers, taking a usage-based approach to underwriting will allow them to select and price risks with an almost omniscient precision—and to better fight fraud. For good drivers, the technology promises handsome rewards in the premium department. Progressive, a leader in the use of telematics, went so far this year as to offer its product, Snapshot, to drivers it doesn't insure for a one-month trial—so they could see what kind of discount they could earn.
But the trend could be much less positive for midsize carriers. A telematics infrastructure is expensive to develop; and storing and parsing the constantly updated data, and developing numerous different policy models in response, is enormously complex. If smaller insurers can't invest in a telematics program—or find viable alternatives—they could be left with a lousy pool of risks. The good news is that tech vendors with a focus on the middle market are already developing other solutions, including ones built around GPS-equipped smartphones.
While much of the conversation around telematics has been focused on the impact on Personal Auto, it is positioned to revolutionize the Commercial side as well—especially since employers can mandate its usage in their own fleets. Travelers, for example, rolled out to its transportation clients this year its IntelliDrive Fleet Safety Solutions product, which allows companies to monitor how quickly a vehicle brakes and whether the vehicle's driver is speeding or operating outside of a predetermined route or time.
—Bryant Rousseau
9. Outlook Sunny: Things Looking Up in the Sunshine State
In November, several approved take-out companies received the go-ahead to remove an additional 65,990 policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Florida's bloated insurer of last resort. It was only the most recent in a series of positive changes in a state long known for having some of the biggest insurance problems in the U.S.
That latest round of take-outs follows the removal of 310,000 policies previously approved for depopulation by the state Office of Insurance Regulation. As of October, 87,337 policies had been taken off Citizens' books.
Southern Oak Insurance Co., United Property & Casualty Insurance Co. and the recently licensed Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance Co. are among the companies that will take on the removed policies—and are doing it without the financial incentives proposed by Citizens as part of a controversial plan to loan its surplus.
Policyholders of Citizens—which has become the state's largest provider of Property insurance—have the option to remain with the state-run insurer.
Florida in May also saw the signing of what the industry has called the "most significant Auto insurance law in decades"—HB 119, which aims to mend the state's broken no-fault personal injury protection (PIP) system—a system the insurance industry for years has said is plagued by abuse and fraud, costing Floridians more than $1 billion annually.
HB 119 requires claimants to seek treatment from a hospital or physician within 14 days of an accident. The bill bans treatments from acupuncture and massage facilities. The bill also limits attorneys' fees, establishes stiff penalties for doctors who commit fraud, and requires that claimants submit to an examination under oath from insurers.
Florida Insurance Council Executive VP Samuel Miller says the new law is the most substantial one in decades because it will "reduce fraud and eventually bring down Auto insurance rates."
—Shawn Moynihan
8. Rebound King: After Repaying Its Debts, AIG Rebrands, Continues Turnaround
The federal government has been repaid for its 2008 investment in American International Group (AIG), and the Treasury no longer has a majority ownership stake in the insurance giant.
In January that statement may have seemed unlikely to be heard by 2012's end, despite the progress made since AIG was bailed out in 2008 and required assistance that brought its bill from the Treasury and Federal Reserve to $182.3 billion.
But Bob Benmosche, who took over as AIG's CEO in August 2009, never had any doubts. "The people of AIG never lost faith, kept working and are grateful for being given the chance to make good on this goal," he said when the company paid back the Treasury in September of 2012.
This year began with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York selling securities from the Maiden Lane II facility to Credit Suisse on Jan. 19. A subsequent sale in February repaid the entire outstanding balance of the Fed's loan to the MLII facility. In August, the Fed made securities sales that closed out a companion facility, Maiden Lane III.
As for the Treasury, a series of sales of the AIG stock it held since the 2008 bailout brought the Treasury's ownership stake in the company down to 15.9 percent. The September sale was a landmark for AIG, as the Treasury shifted from majority to minority ownership.
All told, as of December the Treasury and the Federal Reserve have recovered a combined total of $194.7 billion (even more once an over-allotment option resulting in the sale of an additional 83.1 million AIG shares is factored in), representing a positive return of $12.4 billion to date on the original combined $182.3 billion bailout from the Treasury and Fed.
In October, AIG unveiled a new logo (pictured at left) that Benmosche says "reflects a rebuilt and forward-looking AIG—contemporary, dynamic, transparent and revitalized."
The following month, the company announced it was officially reverting to the AIG brand for its business units, dropping the Chartis name for its P&C business and the SunAmerica name for its Life units.
—Phil Gusman
7. Hot New Coverage: Business Interruption, Contingent Business Interruption
Business Interruption (BI) and Contingent Business Interruption (CBI) coverage were hot topics at the start of 2012 as a result of the manufacturing and supply-chain debacles caused by the Japan earthquake and tsunami, as well as the flooding in Thailand.
Capacity didn't lessen following the Japan and Thailand catastrophes. Up to $100 million in CBI coverage could be obtained, but carriers became more cautious and required more data to justify their taking of risk. Without the right information, companies could count on higher rates and a tougher time building multiple layers of insurance to reach desired limits.
At the end of the year, these insurance lines are back in the red-hot-topic category as the widespread power outages, flooding and infrastructure damage caused by Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc in the Northeast. In fact, modelers and experts say BI losses from Sandy could make up a large portion of overall insured losses from the storm—which could trail only 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest hurricane in U.S. history.
As is expected to be the case with Sandy, BI losses following Katrina dwarfed Property losses. Allianz says BI and CBI account for as much as 70 percent of overall catastrophe losses in the corporate-insurance segment.
No one can yet put a price tag on BI or CBI losses from Sandy, but it appears as though losses could actually be less than expected because of the hard lessons learned from catastrophes in 2011. Carriers had been asking for more detailed information than ever about their clients' supply chains and contingency plans: If companies didn't have the info and plans, they put them together. Industry experts say that the result appears, at least initially, to have lessened losses after Sandy—especially among large companies. They were up and running sooner.
—Chad Hemenway
6. That's Life: The Hartford Shifts Full Focus to P&C
Hartford Insurance Group finally heeded the words of hedge-fund manager John Paulson, who owns an 8.4 percent stake in the company, by exiting its Life business as a way to revive shareholder value.
Paulson had argued that reorganizing The Hartford to focus on its P&C operations would raise the company's value to $32 per share.
The Hartford's 2011 net income fell 61 percent to $662 million from the prior year, and individual-annuity earnings were down by 10 percent.
Hartford Chairman & CEO Liam E. McGee said that the reorganization will reduce the company's sensitivity to capital-market flux, lower cost of capital, bring in higher equity returns and increase financial flexibility.
The company stopped selling annuities and took a related after-tax charge of $15-$20 million in the second quarter of 2012; the move is expected to reduce annual operating expenses by $100 million starting next year.
—Anya Khalamayzer
5. D.C. Dispatch: NFIP, NRRA and 2012 Election's Impact on P&C Carriers
After enduring 17 temporary extensions going back to September 2008—and a few lapses—the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) finally received some long-term certainty in 2012.
In June, Congress passed a five-year NFIP extension with reforms to the program. Those reforms include allowing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to raise rates by a maximum of 20 percent annually, compared to 10 percent previously; mandating that rates for second homes, properties with repetitive flood claims and commercial properties will go up 20 percent over the next five years; and reiterating FEMA's authority to buy private reinsurance to back the NFIP. President Obama signed the extension in July.
While the NFIP's fate was a topic of great concern (and subsequent relief) in 2012, little closure was achieved on another industry issue: states' agreement on the tax-sharing component of the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act (NRRA).
Among other provisions, the NRRA establishes the insured's home state as the only state with jurisdiction over multistate surplus-lines transactions—and the only state that can require a tax to be paid by the broker. Under the system, it was intended that the insured's home state then share the premium taxes with the other states in which the risk is written.
The problem is, ever since the NRRA passed in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, the states have been unable to agree on a system for sharing the premium taxes.
This year began with two rival plans for achieving this goal: the Nonadmitted Insurance Multistate Agreement (NIMA), supported by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and the Surplus Lines Multistate Compliance Compact (SLIMPACT), supported by some industry groups. SLIMPACT, as of yet, is not operational. NIMA began operation in July, but only five states and Puerto Rico have signed on.
In the choice between NIMA and SLIMPACT, the majority of states have chosen neither, opting instead to comply with the NRRA by having the home state retain 100 percent of the taxes. As of today, 35 states, accounting for nearly 75 percent of nationwide premiums, have not adopted a compact or agreement for tax-sharing purposes and are retaining 100 percent of the taxes.
Another issue that had the potential to shake up the industry was the 2012 election: Republican-nominee Mitt Romney had vowed to repeal Dodd-Frank. What would that have meant for the Federal Insurance Office, the NRRA, federal oversight of systemically significant insurers by the Financial Stability Oversight Council and federal oversight of insurers that operate thrifts? We will never know, as Romney was defeated by President Obama.
—Phil Gusman
4. Dry County: Crop Insurers Respond to National Drought
The summer of 2012 turned up the heat for the U.S. farm industry—so much so, in fact, that record-breaking droughts caused indemnity payouts of more than $2.6 billion in 12 major corn- and soybean-producing states and raised concerns about climate change.
Insurer Alterra Capital Holdings reported a $22.5 million third-quarter loss related to crop damage from the U.S. drought; Zurich Insurance Group said that its Q3 net profits declined by $400 million, partially due to the dry weather; and Ace's Crop insurance segment lost $97 million over the first three quarters of 2012.
Taxpayers could be ponying up for the nearly $15 billion in losses from nine-year lows in soybean and corn yields across the country.
Currently, Crop insurance is subsidized through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which shares risk with private companies—an agreement regulated by the Standard Reinsurance Agreement. The USDA pays 62 cents for each dollar of farmers' premiums, which totaled $11 billion this year.
The program faces its first loss in a decade, meaning that the 15 companies selling Crop insurance—including Wells Fargo, QBE, Ace, American Financial Group and Endurance—will also be facing losses greater than the premiums they collected, says modeler AIR Worldwide.
Surprisingly, despite the physical losses suffered by the agricultural industry and the economic losses suffered by its insurers, net farm income was forecast to rise 4 percent from last year to $122 billion in 2012.
—Anya Khalamayzer
3. 'Direct' Threat? Commercial Insureds Showing More Interest in Buying Coverage Online Straight from Carriers
While the trend is still definitely more of a trickle than a flood, buyers of business insurance did turn in increasing numbers to direct distribution channels in 2012, bypassing agents and brokers in the process.
"We've seen growth [in our direct channel] in the first half of 2012 at triple the levels of weekly sales during the same time period last year," said Kevin Kerridge in a cover story on the topic in an August issue of NU. Kerridge, the director of small-business insurance for Hiscox, added that the insurer's direct channel is growing at 10 times the rate of its broker channel.
Hiscox, which has been offering a commercial option since the end of 2010, presently targets only very small professional-services firms such as marketing consultants, health and beauty providers, and realtors—with most firms recording less than $150,000 in annual revenues and having three or fewer employees.
Is the early success of Hiscox an ominous sign for agents and brokers? The pain that the direct sale of personal-lines coverages has inflicted on producers is well known. A recent report from the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, for example, found that 1 in every 6 dollars in Personal Auto premiums comes through the direct-response channel.
Commercial direct sales today are a long, long way from this 16-percent market share, and agents and brokers, for the most part, remain largely convinced that the complexities of most commercial accounts will keep producers an essential part of the insurance-buying cycle far into the future.
But as NU reported in the issue just prior to this one, the opinions expressed in a focus group of small-business owners, conducted by Deloitte's Center for Financial Services, might want to make agents reconsider whether they can take this commercial business for granted in the future. The business owners "were definitely open to the idea of buying insurance without an intermediary," Deloitte reports—especially if some of the commission cost savings for carriers are passed on into their pockets.
—Bryant Rousseau
2. Harder, Hardening, 'Harft': Pricing Up in Some Segments, But No Hard Market—Yet
NU kicked off 2012 with a cover story declaring a definitive end to the soft market—but in January no one was quite ready to call the pricing environment hard just yet. Instead, terms such as "transitioning," "turning" and even "harft" were used at that time to describe what was happening to rates, terms and conditions.
As the year went on, some did use the "H" word: In May, after two quarters of price increases, the CEO of the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers said it was "reasonable to say that the market has made a hard turn."
While rates continued a steady increase in most (but by no means all) lines of insurance throughout the year, many observers pointed out that market conditions in 2012 actually were quite unique, even unprecedented. In traditional hard markets, the pricing swings and tightening of terms occur rapidly—the classic hockey stick, when charted graphically.
But thanks (among other factors) to still-ample capacity even in the wake of the monstrous losses of 2011, increases were happening at a steady, leisurely pace, not a sprint (with advances in pricing for Cat Exposed Property, Workers' Comp and Homeowners' occurring a little more quickly). The shift of certain risks to the E&S market was characterized as "orderly" rather than the mad dash that typically happened in previous hard markets.
This "new normal" or "not your father's hard market" drew generally favorable responses from all sectors of the industry. Carriers were at least moderately satisfied with the general upward direction of rates; brokers were glad they didn't need to brace clients for significant spikes after years of bringing them flat or declining rates during the soft market; and even buyers were ready to concede a moderate bump in pricing was probably a positive development for the long-term health of the industry.
Ultimately, any discussion of rates in 2012 had to take place line by line, location by location and account by account. And this highly granular approach to pricing, aided and abetted by the ever-more-sophisticated use of data, may be the most noteworthy trend from 2012—and one likely to be with us for a long time to come.
—Chad Hemenway
1. Superstorm Sandy Spoils a (Mostly) Good Year for P&C Carriers
By early October, the sky was clearing for P&C carriers. Most insurers had rebounded from the huge losses sustained in 2011, and barring any major catastrophes, it looked like smooth sailing for the remainder of the year.
Then along came Sandy. And as losses continue to mount after nearly two months since it struck the East Coast with deadly force, the superstorm may prove to be one of the costliest severe-weather events in U.S. history.
Packing strong winds, Sandy made landfall in New Jersey on Oct. 29 and blasted its way up the Northeastern U.S., forcing evacuations, flooding entire towns, destroying homes and businesses, and shutting down power systems. Allstate (whose October losses would top more than $1 billion, primarily due to Sandy) and State Farm, two carriers with the greatest exposure throughout the Northeast, fielded tens of thousands of calls in the days following the disaster.
Much of Manhattan remained in darkness for nearly a week in Sandy's wake from the power outages, and the New York City subway system was crippled for days, flooded by the storm surge that also laid waste to much of the New Jersey Shore and Atlantic City. Entire towns were wiped out, and it will be years before some shore communities are able to rebound.
To add insult to P&C insurers' losses, the critical decision made by the National Weather Service to classify Sandy as a "post-tropical cyclone" when it swept onto the Jersey coastline led state insurance regulators in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and the District of Columbia to declare that hurricane deductibles were not in fact triggered—and therefore, carriers could not count on hundreds of millions in deductibles, despite the massive losses they sustained.
This led industry figures such as Jimi Grande, senior vice president of federal and political affairs for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, to speak out against the regulators' rulings. "The uncertainty created as politicians or bureaucrats simply change the rules makes providing coverage more difficult and expensive for everyone," he told NU.
Although it will be some time before anything close to a final tally is made as massive Business Interruption losses continue to add to the total, catastrophe modelers such as Risk Management Solutions currently estimate the damage at $20-$25 billion. Karen Clark, regarded as the mother of the catastrophe-modeling industry, estimates that insured wind losses alone caused by Sandy will be $12 billion.
Additionally, in order to cover thousands upon thousands of Sandy-related claims, the National Flood Insurance Program's borrowing authority may need to be raised to as high as $30 billion.
Still, Fitch Ratings says insurers can easily handle the losses—and then some. A report by the ratings agency says that in a hypothetical scenario, a $10 billion insured industry loss is expected to produce an industry combined ratio of 102.9. That number rises to 107.3 under a $40 billion loss scenario. The report also says Sandy is not likely to change market underwriting capacity and "tip the balance to a hard Property market," but the general uptick in pricing is expected to continue.
A separate analysis by Standard & Poor's says industry losses from Sandy would need to reach $50 billion in order to materially erode reinsurers' capital base.
That's good news for the five companies expected to be most heavily impacted by Sandy claims: State Farm, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, Travelers and Chubb. On the commercial side, large commercial insurers such as FM Global and Ace should also be impacted.
And while Sandy may not prove to be a capital event for the insurance industry, many executives say the superstorm will alter the industry's perception of risk in the Northeast.
"When this is all said and done, I don't think any of us are going to feel that people were as well insured as they could have been," said XL Group CEO Michael S. McGavick during a Q3 earnings conference call, noting also that several elected officials have admitted the affected regions were not prepared for such a severe weather event.
"I think [companies] will step back and say, 'This is now two years in a row [that the Northeast has been hit by a storm],'" adds Nationwide CFO Mark Thresher. "They are going to think about their concentrations in this region."
—Shawn Moynihan


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text: Sijun Forums :: View topic - [%$#]skined head Log in to check your private messages Sijun Forums Forum Index >> Work in Progress View previous topic :: View next topic Author Topic : "[%$#]skined head" FaithInChaosmemberMember #Joined: 27 Aug 2000Posts: 183 Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2001 4:54 pm (video game related) im in the process of completing a tutorial that rorshach wrote on how to skin a head. http://www.utskins.com/Tutorials/roc02.htm of course, my skin and his skin are very similar in style (besides the fact that mine is shit, and his is good) im just wondering will i get crucified for posting the skin when im finished? people seem very sensitive towards thieving...especially when its done by a newbie posting a piece of shit. anyway heres a work in progress pic, any comments, or observations? Back to top Ben BarkermemberMember #Joined: 15 Sep 2000Posts: 568Location: Cincinnati, Ohier Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2001 10:19 pm I think it could use more detail, and I mean subtle detail. But since this is a WIP I guess that's coming later. Rorshach seems to be a lot bolder with his shadows. They are still mid tones, but his are committed. Take the plunge and make some soft shadows under the cheeck bones, on the bottom of the nose, etc. Bring the teeth out a little bit more. Not a lot, but somewhat. That's my favorite part. If that was a quake 3 model, I would paint the eyes black and the mouth a continous shade of white (no teeth). I would paint the eyes and teeth on a seperate image. Then I would use shaders to make the white eyes and teeth appear to be throbbing in and out. I don't know if you can do that in UT or not. Heh, just rambling Back to top kimzollmemberMember #Joined: 27 Nov 2000Posts: 184Location: copenhagen , denmark Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2001 6:08 am very interesting design Kim Back to top Strukturejunior memberMember #Joined: 25 Dec 2000Posts: 17Location: Chicago IL Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2001 1:14 pm I know I'd use it. Looks very nice. Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Sijun Forums Forum Index -> Work in Progress All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Digital Art----------------Digital Art DiscussionWork in ProgressGallery/Finished Work Miscellaneous----------------Random MusingsArchive : Sep99 - Dec00 You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum Powered by phpBB © 2005 phpBB Group


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My fascination with Gibbons began when I was working as the Radio Curator at the Museum of Television & Radio in NYC. I was going through some boxes in our warehouse when I found some rather interesting items. In addition to books, notes, letters, and other items, there was a small bag filled with what I later discovered were eye-patches. This put me in research mode and I discovered Floyd Gibbons, who would quickly become one of my heroes of early radio.
As a newspaper writer for the Chicago Tribune, Gibbons was known for an amazingly descriptive style...something that would carry over into his radio work.
His life is well documented in other places, but here are a few highlights:
- As a young newspaper reporter, Gibbons covered 1916 Mexican Expedition (also known as the Pancho Villa Expedition), even though Pancho Villa declared that any "gringos" found on Mexican soil would be killed on sight. As a reporter, he gained Villa's trust and accompanied him on several battles and was able to bring important news back to the states.
- In 1917, he was a passenger on the armed merchant cruiser (converted from an ocean liner) the RMS Laconia on it's final voyage across the Atlantic. On that voyage on February 25, 1917, the Laconia was torpedoed by the Germans. The boat sank and 12 of the 75 people on board were killed. Gibbons survived the attack and gained fame for his reports about the event. He later wrote a book about WWI called "And They Thought We Wouldn't Fight," which begins with the sinking of the Laconia.
- Despite that, perhaps his most famous episode came in 1918 as he covered the Battle of Belleau Wood in France. During the battle, Gibbons was right up front as the American troops advanced. Gibbons was shot three times, the third bullet ripping out his left eye. Gibbons even refused treatment until injured soldiers were treated. It was that injury that gave Gibbons his trademark eye patch for which he would be known in later years. You can read Gibbons' own account of the event here.
Later on, Gibbons made the transition to radio as both a newsman and commentator. His fast-talking and descriptive approach to the news was as interesting as his writing. Here is a clip from his reporting on the devastating flooding in the Connecticut River Valley in 1936, which he observed during a 300 mile flight up and down both sides of the river:
Gibbons even had a book series called the Floyd Gibbons School of Broadcast (of which I thankfully have a set), and also wrote The Red Knight of Germany, a biography of the Red Baron.
Gibbons was also a very popular voice on newsreels during the 20s and 30s, including the Oscar winning "With Byrd at the South Pole," and he eventually received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Sadly, Gibbons died at his Pennsylvania home in 1939 at the age of only 53. I was fortunate to have had the chance to listen to much of his work, and still have copies of each of his books. They sure don't make reporters like they used to!


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If you were to build a university from scratch in 2014, would you create traditional academic degrees in psychology, history, English, classics, humanities, or political science? Maybe not.
That may sound like heresy to the purist ear, but we have a higher priority today — how to educate our children to earn a decent living and compete in the 21st Century. It's important to preserve our academic disciplines for the sake of research, culture and the perpetuation of civil society, but it's past time to disrupt our current educational model to serve our children.
A few months ago, the Global Economic Forum issued its "Global Risks 2014" report. The second highest risk cited in the report, measured in terms of likelihood and impact, is "structurally high unemployment and underemployment." The report goes on to make this recommendation: "The generation coming of age in the 2010s faces high unemployment and precarious job situations, hampering their efforts to build a future and raising the risk of social unrest. In advanced economies, the large number of graduates from expensive and out-moded educational systems — graduating with high debt and mismatched skills — points to a need to adapt and integrate professional and academic education."
Now consider a few additional facts identified by the Society for Human Resource Management about Millennials (Generation Y), the cohort that is now passing through our institutions of higher learning.
Between the ages of 18 and 25, they change jobs an average of 6.3 times.
Only one in 10 considers his/her current job a career.
They have significantly diminished loyalty toward institutions.
They have witnessed a wave of college students precede them who are burdened with debt, many of whom still face unemployment after graduation.
They will make up half of the U.S. workforce by 2020.
It is a different world today, and a particularly sobering picture for a young person who wants to go to college and not fall victim to the ever widening income gap that separates the highly skilled from everyone else. In many cases, it's not enough to earn a college degree, especially if that degree doesn't equip you with employable skills.
The answer is not just a matter of churning out more STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) graduates. We need to educate more STEM workers to meet the increasing demand, but not everyone has the motivation or aptitude to succeed in a STEM field.
So how might we "adapt and integrate professional and academic education." We can leave the professional degrees alone, but how do we help the sea of graduates in the social and behavioral sciences, the arts and the humanities? A so-called liberal education is a beautiful thing until you sit down for a job interview and the recruiter asks you what you can do. "Well, I can think, analyze and express myself." No doubt those skills are critical and often lacking even in professional graduates, but most employers still need marketable skills immediately, especially in small organizations.
Perhaps instead of organizing degrees by discipline, we consider a modular approach in which a non-professional degree requires a certain number of academic and applied learning modules.
For example, if such a build-your-own modular degree were to require 10 total learning modules, a student might complete five academic modules in English, geography, philosophy, economics and music. Then add to that five applied modules in accounting, digital media, editing, entrepreneurship and computer programming. Of course the student wouldn't gain the same depth of skill in a single field that a professional degree would confer, but the student would have marketable skills and present a much stronger value proposition to a potential employer. We need to keep in mind that employers inhabit the applied world. They have real-world problems to solve, and given the landscape of the future, we are doing a dis-service to our college graduates if they are ill-prepared to help solve those problems when they graduate.
Henry G. Jackson, the current president of the Society for Human Resource Management, the largest human resource organization in the world, recently stated, "The differentiator for the newest entrants to the workforce will not be what you know, but what you can do with what you know."
Timothy R. Clark is founder of TRClark & Company, a leadership development organization. He earned a doctorate from Oxford University and recently released a new book, "The Employee Engagement Mindset" from McGraw-Hill. Email: [email protected]


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Your favourite shot of 2006
Posted 18 December 2006 - 12:03 PM
Nikon D800, Nauticam Housing, Sigma 15 FE, Nikkor 17-35,105 VR Micro, 2x YS-350, ULCS arms, LMI Sola 800 Photo, Macromate
Posted 18 December 2006 - 12:31 PM
Almost a year later I can some things I could improve in this shot, but it was the first photo ever that I got a reward for (Coolpix plus housing for Picture of the Month in Nurkowanie magazine). I guess it's enough to call it my favourite shot of 2006
D200, Sea&Sea DX-D200, Nikkor 10.5, Nikkor 105 VR, Tokina 12-24, 2xDS-125
Posted 18 December 2006 - 12:46 PM
This is by far my favourite image that I have taken this year .. so many great memories from possibly the best dive trip I could imagine doing.
I am completely ready for more now .. my first dive trip started on a high .. the rest have to match up !
The reason for this being my favourite is not because it is a humpback whale .. nor because it is my best shot from my first ever dive trip (I have no idea which is my best still waiting on hard drive to be recovered so I can convert properly rather than the rush job i did thats on flickr) The real reason this is my favourite is it was a complete accident of a shot that happened moments before i thought I was going to die as this whale decided to start moving and apparently wanted to land on me ... or at least that is how it seemed my first time having been around such a creature. Amazing .. truely amazing experience. I'll always remember it.
Posted 18 December 2006 - 01:48 PM
Edited by drsteve, 18 December 2006 - 02:17 PM.
Canon EOS 5D3, Aquatica Housing, Inon Z220+Z240 strobes, Sea&Sea TTL, ULCS Arms
Posted 18 December 2006 - 11:47 PM
Fiji, September. First trip with the D200.
Edited by diveh2o, 18 December 2006 - 11:47 PM.
Nikon D200 and D100 in Aquatica housings. nikkor 10.5, 20, 12-24. Ikelite DS 125s (2) and Ultralight arms.
Posted 19 December 2006 - 07:23 AM
Roger the chaos of colour is awesome, I'm hoping to get to Fiji in 2008.
Posted 19 December 2006 - 08:55 AM
I had never imagine that a flounder can have such a big mouth
Subal ND300, Nikon D300 and lots of water to photograph.
Posted 19 December 2006 - 09:34 AM
Thanks .. and No it wasn't taken in Turks .. it was in South Africa during the Sardine Run.
Giles, was this taken in Turks and Caicos? Great shot.
Oh and shots I love so far ... Larry .. that is one of the coolest diver shots I have seen in a while .. very provoking.
and Craig .. I love your cheating .. your fave topside shot ... cool cool cool .. reminds me of a Cathy Church shot of barracudas
Posted 19 December 2006 - 10:14 AM
Edited by randapex, 19 December 2006 - 02:09 PM.
Nikon D2X. Subal ND2. 2 Inon Z220S
Posted 19 December 2006 - 01:42 PM
Luiz Rocha - www.luizrocha.com
Nikon D800, Aquatica AD800, Ikelite strobes.
Posted 19 December 2006 - 02:51 PM
oh ye and this fish
luv breakin rules
Edited by Elli and Ted, 19 December 2006 - 02:58 PM.
Posted 19 December 2006 - 03:40 PM
Edited by cronix, 21 December 2006 - 03:55 AM.
The website of André Crone can be found at http://www.elysia.nl
Posted 19 December 2006 - 04:11 PM
However this was my first ever underwater pics outside of a swimming pool and my first swim with the Manatees. After shooting a pic of my friend I stopped to fiddle with the camera settings. As I looked up, I saw this behemoth coming at me out of the abyss. The picture was just before sun up and the viz was terrible but the Manatees were worth the 3am wakeup, subsequent 2 hour drive and 70 degree water in a 3mil for over 2 hours. This was my first ever Manatee Pic and remains my favorite underwater pic of 2006.
Olympus E-520, TLC arms, Inon Z-240s, 50mm, 14-42mm woody's diopter
Posted 19 December 2006 - 11:42 PM
My favorite conditions: Nice animals in murky conditions
Posted 20 December 2006 - 02:24 AM
Nikon D300, Aquatica
Posted 20 December 2006 - 09:55 PM
This is my favorite because I love the color and the little boogers are camera shy!
Posted 20 December 2006 - 10:30 PM
Probably my fav from Indonesia last week for the CUUUUUUUUUTTTTeeeeenesssssssss factor
Exclusive official importer of Nauticam products into the UK and Ireland
Posted 21 December 2006 - 01:21 AM
Damien Siviero
Canon 5Dmkiv, Nauticam
Posted 21 December 2006 - 03:41 AM
I remeber the last year presentation and want to participate this time.
This year I first time saw pigmy, so this picture made me very happy although I saw better pigmy shots. This is why I am posting 2 images... hope you like them.
Looking forward more great images
Posted 21 December 2006 - 04:09 AM
For me Antarctica was my best trip I think. But Mozambique comes very close
unbelievable shot, congrats


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The statement from the FOMC's January policy meeting is out.
It contains no new clues about when the Fed might slow or end quantitative easing.
The statement does say that global market strains eased, but growth in economic activity paused due to weather and other transitory factors in recent months.
Here is the passage addressing quantitative easing:
If the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially, the Committee will continue its purchases of Treasury and agency mortgage-backed securities, and employ its other policy tools as appropriate, until such improvement is achieved in a context of price stability.
In determining the size, pace, and composition of its asset purchases, the Committee will, as always, take appropriate account of the likely efficacy and costs of such purchases.
Below is the full release:
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in December suggests that growth in economic activity paused in recent months, in large part because of weather-related disruptions and other transitory factors.
Employment has continued to expand at a moderate pace but the unemployment rate remains elevated. Household spending and business fixed investment advanced, and the housing sector has shown further improvement. Inflation has been running somewhat below the Committee's longer-run objective, apart from temporary variations that largely reflect fluctuations in energy prices. Longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable.
Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The Committee expects that, with appropriate policy accommodation, economic growth will proceed at a moderate pace and the unemployment rate will gradually decline toward levels the Committee judges consistent with its dual mandate. Although strains in global financial markets have eased somewhat, the Committee continues to see downside risks to the economic outlook. The Committee also anticipates that inflation over the medium term likely will run at or below its 2 percent objective.
To support a stronger economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at the rate most consistent with its dual mandate, the Committee will continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month and longer-term Treasury securities at a pace of $45 billion per month. The Committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities and of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction. Taken together, these actions should maintain downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage markets, and help to make broader financial conditions more accommodative.
The Committee will closely monitor incoming information on economic and financial developments in coming months. If the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially, the Committee will continue its purchases of Treasury and agency mortgage-backed securities, and employ its other policy tools as appropriate, until such improvement is achieved in a context of price stability. In determining the size, pace, and composition of its asset purchases, the Committee will, as always, take appropriate account of the likely efficacy and costs of such purchases.
To support continued progress toward maximum employment and price stability, the Committee expects that a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy will remain appropriate for a considerable time after the asset purchase program ends and the economic recovery strengthens. In particular, the Committee decided to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and currently anticipates that this exceptionally low range for the federal funds rate will be appropriate at least as long as the unemployment rate remains above 6-1/2 percent, inflation between one and two years ahead is projected to be no more than a half percentage point above the Committee's 2 percent longer-run goal, and longer-term inflation expectations continue to be well anchored. In determining how long to maintain a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy, the Committee will also consider other information, including additional measures of labor market conditions, indicators of inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and readings on financial developments. When the Committee decides to begin to remove policy accommodation, it will take a balanced approach consistent with its longer-run goals of maximum employment and inflation of 2 percent.
Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; James Bullard; Elizabeth A. Duke; Charles L. Evans; Jerome H. Powell; Sarah Bloom Raskin; Eric S. Rosengren; Jeremy C. Stein; Daniel K. Tarullo; and Janet L. Yellen. Voting against the action was Esther L. George, who was concerned that the continued high level of monetary accommodation increased the risks of future economic and financial imbalances and, over time, could cause an increase in long-term inflation expectations.
SEE ALSO: Deutsche Bank Explores The Tricky Situation Of A Federal Reserve Technical Insolvency >


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We've all done it, or rather, had to do it – and some of us more than others. We may have started our careers scouring burnt pudding off of nursing home kitchen equipment; we may have even been forced to serve time in a half-way house for a little run-in with Johnny Law, either way we've all had to pay our dues in one capacity or another. This week on RoundAbout we invite you to pay up or shut up with a lineup of stories ranging from absurd to astounding. An English woman flips her driver's training car on her second time out on the road motorway. One unfortunate man gets socked with a $200 fine for being the victim of a rear-end collision. And a group of youngsters has to serve some time for an innocent car-to-car paintball fight that turns tragic, sort of. We also go all Battlestar Galactica in our Blind Spot story of the week, plus we chat about what we've been driving In The Garage.
With RoAb-regular Jeffrey Ross out of action (he's getting married, finally) we invited muscle-car fanatic and blogger Dave Braddock to take his place. Also making the rounds is the auto mainstremist himself, Eric Trytko, as well as Miss Motor Mouth, played by Michelle Naranjo. Autoblog writer Zach Bowman, Producer Ben Sanders and host, Craig Cole are also on hand.
Play RoundAbout Episode 31
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