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Posted 7/03/13 (Wed)
By Olivia Sundeen
Farmer Intern
"Let's run away to North Dakota."
Whenever they felt stressed or just needed to get away, this is what Ron Rankin and his wife, Dee, would say to each other during their dating years.
"It's kind of ironic," stated Rankin, who recently retired as sheriff of McKenzie County. "We had never been to North Dakota, yet for some reason we both wanted to escape there. Now we couldn't imagine living anywhere else."
In 1984, Ron and his wife stumbled upon North Dakota, or maybe fate had something to do with it. Rankin, who was an M.P. and Criminal Investigator for the United States Marine Corps, had just finished his last duty station in Hawaii. It was time to settle down and see what life had to offer.
"We had never lived somewhere more than two or three years," stated Rankin. "Ever since I was a child I knew I wanted to have a career in law enforcement, so it seemed fitting to get involved in a police department somewhere."
Rankin applied to various police departments around the United States. He wanted to find a position with a sheriff's department because he didn't want to live in the city. According to Rankin, he was set on going to the state of Washington, but he still ended up sending a resume to Watford City.
"We had never been here," stated Rankin. "On our way from Ohio, where we were living at the time, to Washington, we decided to swing through Watford City. All the way from Montana to Washington my wife cried. She liked Watford that much."
Rankin was offered the job in Washington and in Watford City, but as the theory goes, the man is the head of the family, but the woman is the neck.
"My wife wanted me to take the job here," stated Rankin. "You can see where we ended up. But honestly, it was the best decision. Once we got here it felt like home."
For 22 years, Rankin served with Watford City's Police Department. According to Rankin, working with a police department comes with a lot of enmity.
"You see people going by, but they are just faces," stated Rankin. "But in Watford City, I got to know everybody. This made working here so much easier."
In 2006, Rankin decided to run for McKenzie County Sheriff and was elected. He served six and a half years and was on his second term when he put in his resignation.
"It's time to retire," stated Rankin. "I would've stayed and finished out my second term if I thought I could've gave 100 percent to the position.
In the last three years, Rankin has had to fight a relentless battle with cancer. Unfortunately, Rankin's love for his job wasn't enough.
"Due to my health and age, I just can't do my job as sheriff," stated Rankin. "The county deserves better than that."
With the population increasing, Rankin has had his hands full with increased crime as well as his health issues. According to Rankin, it is a challenging time for the sheriff's department.
"I loved going to work each day, but it's time to be done," stated Rankin.
On Monday, July 1, a retirement party was held for Rankin. He now leaves his position and law enforcement duties to his fellow deputies.
"I am very comfortable with John Fulwider, taking over my position," stated Rankin. "He has 35 years of experience and is very capable of handling the position of sheriff."
Confident that he has left his position in capable hands, Rankin is ready to relax. That being said, this week's plans include sleeping in and golfing.
"I am 66 after all," stated Rankin. "My wife and I have enjoyed all of our time here. We raised four kids and we couldn't have asked for a better home. It's time for me to retire and just enjoy golfing and spending time with my wife, our kids and grandkids."


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Facebook Slips on WhatsApp: Cost of Growth Rising, Says Evercore; Payoff Not Big Enough, Says Pivotal
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Shares of Facebook (FB) are down 46 cents, or 0.7%, at $67.60, regaining some ground after losing as much as 5% at one point last night after the company said it will pay $19 billion in a combination of stock and cash to purchase real-time messaging service provider WhatsApp.
On a conference call last night, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg offered no details about revenue or other financials for WhatsApp. Instead, he said that he expects the service, which has around 450 millionmonthly average users (MAUs), to hit a billion users in future, and said Facebook will be careful not to change the service, and won't pursue advertising as a means to monetize the service. Some WhatsApp users pay a yearly fee of 99 cents to use the service, though new users are immediately offered a free year of usage.
There's a tension today between the large price tag and those who see a reasonable price for each of those monthly users.
Some see the deal as bringing Facebook a whole new future, with WhatsApp being equivalent to the entire global text messaging traffic. Others think the deal is primarily defensive, meant to ensure Facebook doesn't become irrelevant with WhatsApp's primary audience of teens.
Most analysts don't seem very worried about the dilution that will come from the deal.
There were two downgrades of Facebook today, one from Evercore Partners's Ken Sena, who cut the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight, and one from Pivotal Research Group's Brian Wieser, who cut his rating to Hold from Buy.
Sena writes that Facebook's "cost of delivering increased engagement is higher than we are comfortable with," as a result of the service having a problem of slower adoption among 18- to 24-year-olds:
By examining mobile demographic engagement data through comScore, we find that engagement among FB youth ages 18-24 is increasing consistent with its broader demos. However, growth in these younger users is lagging other age demos. Moreover, when we index the engagement of youths to all ages on the platform, FB youths under-index peers and, surprisingly, even the Internet overall (although this is as much due to older demos over-indexing on FB one can certainly argue) […] For a sense of scale, we show the total domestic mobile unique visitors (ages 18-24) in 4Q across these experiences. Facebook, excluding Instagram, is at 19 million compared to the total mobile internet's 24 million, Instagram's 11 million, Twitter's 9 million, and Tumblr's 7 million […] On the basis of mobile minutes per mobile unique visitor among social media platforms, FB roughly doubles the next largest experience, Instagram, which it obviously owns. This is followed by Twitter and Tumblr. Essentially, what this data shows is that while youths spend roughly a half hour per day on Facebook, they spend just about half that amount of time on Instagram, and even less on Twitter and Tumblr […] On a per user basis, growth in Facebook's youth demographic has essentially stalled and even turned negative in September through November, declining 6% y/y in each month, though it did recover to roughly flat y/y in December […] Facebook's percentage of total time spent among 18-24 year olds in December 2013 is actually the lowest at 19%. This compares to Tumblr's 74%, Twitter's 50%, Instagram's 48% and even the total mobile internet is higher at 21%.
While Facebook has a lot of downloads on mobile devices, including Apple's (AAPL) iPhone, and on Google's (GOOG) Android platform, nevertheless, the chat apps such as WhatsApp have been on fire:
On Google Play, though Facebook led in downloads for the three months October- December, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp followed in second and third, with Instagram in sixth, ahead of both Twitter and Tumblr with 35 million downloads […] Similarly, on iOS, while Instagram led with over 18 million downloads during the fourth quarter, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger again came next, with Twitter and Facebook in fourth, each with roughly six million total downloads, respectively.
Sena's bottom line is that the deal shows Facebook's having to fight the slowing among that youth demographic by paying up in a hefty way to keep building traffic:
FB agreed to pay ~$42 per WhatsApp user even though WhatsApp generates $0.99 per year per user (after the first year), suggesting a decades-long payback under WhatsApp's current business model, should new user growth slow. Moreover, Viber, a competitive alternative to WhatsApp with roughly two-thirds the scale and comparable growth sold to Rakuten recently for $900mm.
Wieser writes that "While we see strategic merit, the acquisition is difficult to justify on metrics we use to value Facebook."
There's little evidence to suggest WhatsApp will generate sufficient cash flow to justify the deal:
To justify $19bn, WhatsApp would need to generate around $1bn in annual cashflow by our model 's terminal year of 2018. However, few data-points to support such an assumption were provided by the company, as evidently few are available. As management indicated, it expects WhatsApp to focus on product and users rather than monetization, anyways. Conceptually, we agree with this notion given the sudden scale that WhatsApp achieved. Still, investors in Facebook will want to justify the valuation of such a transaction. On our own (crude) estimates, if we assumed the product had an average of 1bn users next year and added 100mm per year, with 25% of the user base at that time paying $2/year (we would assume many users will simply never pay, shifting devices and/or services as needed, while those who will pay might be willing to pay more than the current $1/year level), we could arrive at $650mm in revenue. $1bn is possible, but given the optimism already incorporated in a $650mm figure, it might seem a stretch.
Elsewhere, Susquehanna Financial Group's Brian Nowak reiterates a "Positive" rating on Facebook, writing that the price tag wasn't that much more than what Google paid for YouTube:
This isn't the first time a large online platform has paid up to protect its core business' long-term trajectory (and add new functionality). We've seen it out of Google before ($1.65bn for YouTube, $12.5bn for Motorola, and most recently, $969mn for Waze). $19bn is admittedly a hefty price tag, but $42 per WhatsApp user is only 9% higher than what Google bought YouTube for. It is 14% more than Facebook paid for each Instagram user. Those acquisitions seemed pricey at the time of the deals too, but they are now key parts of the Google and Facebook ecosystems and monetization stories (which trade at much higher multiples in the public markets).
He sees minimal dilution:
There's no denying this deal will be dilutive, as we estimate it will impact our '15 EPS estimate by 5% (See Fig 4). The largest drivers of the dilution are the incremental shares to be issued in the transaction. Note that in our dilution analysis we assume that WhatsApp grows to ~745mn users at the end of 2015 and that an average of 35% are paying customers in 2015 (which may prove conservative given the high engagement and growth of the $0.99 app market). The high incremental margins of the messaging business (we estimate to be 80%) will give cushion to the dilution.
Nomura Equity Research's Anthony DiClemente reiterates a Buy rating on the stock, and a $78 price target, writing that there are three good reasons for the deal, despite the large ticket size:
In the end, we believe FB's acquisition of WhatsApp is defensible for three reasons: 1) Strategy: WhatsApp is an asset that unquestionably strengthens Facebook's strategic position in social / mobile communication; 2) Growth: WhatsApp's growth has been incredibly rapid, as it possesses 450m monthly users, adding 1m users a day; and 3) Valuation: WhatsApp's valuation, when viewed through the prism of other networks that have achieved scale (namely Twitter) is not entirely unreasonable on a per user basis.
And the valuation is not unreasonable:
We use two rough valuation frameworks: 1) In terms of valuation, FB is paying ~$42 per user, which compares to $131 for TWTR, $30 for Instagram (at the time of its acquisition), and $50 for Skype (at the time of its acquisition); and 2) Assuming WhatsApp can grow to 1bn users paying $1/year, this would equate to $900mn in EBITDA, or $19.4bn at FB's 2015E EV/EBITDA multiple.
Wedge Partners's Martin Pyykkonen, who doesn't have a formal rating on Facebook stock, writes that the deal is "Reminiscent of Early Stage Internet/Tech Deals With Big Stock Currency."
Facebook can afford the deal, and the dilution to the company is likely to be less than 10%, he writes, but the payoff is uncertain given the challenges to monetizing WhatsApp:
We think FB's acquisition of Instagram is showing early signs of fruition, but this deal for WhatsApp has a lot more long-term uncertainty in terms of monetization and financial payback. We understand FB's motivation to create competitive moats in mobile apps like real-time messaging, but from an investor perspective we think there would be challenges for a high growth and high margin subscription model. From a user perspective, WhatsApp is probably a no-brainer for foreign messaging traffic (avoiding foreign cross-border SMS-like fees and paying only relatively little for message units used), but that doesn't necessarily build a strong financial model for a new service provider or enabler. Any traditional stock valuation approaches are really irrelevant (minimal revenue, no focus near term on revenue growth or establishing profitability anytime soon) at this point. The key to success can only be measured longer term and we think it will come to down to an overall fairly simple point, e.g., whether WhatsApp can sustain its phenomenal recent growth, and even more importantly whether WhatsApp can sustain a competitive lock and be a de facto standard on its core business thus far (mobile real-time messaging), with eventually a lot of "real-time" monetization. Yet even with the lack of valuation parameters and the size of this deal, the economics for FB aren't as "expensive" or onerous on the stock as they seem at first glance – that is if they are really picking the right winner for the long term. FB's deal is heavily tilted (75%) to its stock, and it has a compelling stock currency with just setting a new all-time high and being on a path to a ~2x return since its IPO just under two years ago (`3x return if including the initial post-IPO downdraft on the stock).
Morgan Stanley's Scott Devitt reiterates an Overweight rating on Facebook stock, and a $72 price target, calling out at the top of the note Facebook's own observation that "Facebook noted that WhatsApp is the only service it has discovered that has greater daily engagement than Facebook itself)."
Despite Zuckerberg's focus on the 1-billion user mark, "Facebook is not yet able to quantify the overlap with its own 1.23b users." He thinks other messaging services, such as China's Tencent Holdings (0700HK) may point the way:
We look to mobile messaging leaders such as Tencent for clues, acknowledging that Facebook may be able to layer a suite of value-added services on top of WhatsApp's user base over time. We adjust our model to include the $4b cash outflow and 230m share dilution as of 4Q2014, although the transaction may close sooner. We calculate an approximate 2% dilution to EPS.

subset: commoncrawl


text: As snowboarders, we're driven to continuously innovate in order to make the activity we live for more fun. It's the ability to come together, as only true friends and family can, and turn something routine into something truly memorable and ridiculously fun. The 2010/11 Ride collection features boards, boots, bindings, outerwear and accessories that showcases our never-ending strive for top quality, innovation and fun. Come join us…Ride Style.


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Forms Jobs
Berrera-Ontiveros, Ana Maria – IR# 759959
Date of Incident: November 28, 2007 Location: 2740 Apt. A Basswood Ct.
Summary – Officers found Ms. Ontiveros deceased inside her apartment from apparent gunshot wounds.
Pineda, Samuel Araujo – IR# 739739
Date of Incident: August 11, 2007 Location: 4000 Sheraton St.
Summary – Mr. Pineda may have been involved in a fight with others during a party. Mr. Pineda was struck several times and died from his injuries.
Hernandez, Ismael Lopez – IR# 717568
Date of Incident: April 14, 2007 Location: 3260 Edelweiss Dr.
Summary – Mr. Hernandez was outside his apartment where he was involved in an altercation. Mr. Hernandez was shot and died from his injuries.
Lopez, Jose Serrano – IR# 713216
Date of Incident: March 20, 2007 Location: 114 Weatherwood Ct.
Summary – Mr. Lopez was found in his apartment deceased. He was attacked and beaten inside his residence.
Saguilan, Angel Lopez – IR# 700056
Date of Incident: January 1, 2007 Location: 1400 Hutton St.
Summary – Mr. Saguilan was found shot to death in the parking lot of the apartments at 1400 Hutton Street.
Additional Information: Other death investigations may be reviewed by the Cold Case Homicide Unit on a case-by-case basis. If you have information on these cases, or any other unsolved Homicide case, you can call the dedicated TIPS line phone answering system at (336) 726-2039 and leave a message or call Crimestoppers at (336) 727-2800 or the Crimestoppers Spanish line at (336) 728-3904. Other ways to share information is by completing the TIPS form and either submit it online or print and mail it to us at Attention: Cold Case Homicide Unit, Winston-Salem Police Department, P.O. Box 2511, Winston-Salem, NC 27102-2511.
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OVERLAND PARK, KS — Electronic funds transfer (EFT), for all intents and purposes, is the lifeblood of the club industry. Every month, clubs receive their members' payments almost seamlessly through their bank accounts or credit card companies, a process that produces instant monthly revenue. As one operator put it, "Without EFT, we all would have been out of business a long time ago."
Allow Rick Caro, president of Management Vision Inc., New York, to further explain the importance of EFT.
"I believe EFT may have been the single most important advance for the development of the club industry," Caro says. "It allowed the industry to move away from only selling prepaid memberships to more pay-as-you-go and more flexible arrangements. This allowed it to reach out to many more segments of the population."
Some people credit Mark Mastrov with spearheading the introduction of EFT into the industry and capitalizing on its effectiveness. Mastrov began billing members through EFT just a few months after he founded 24 Hour Fitness in 1983.
"EFT took our business from collecting cash up front [for long-term contracts] to creating a predictable monthly reoccurring revenue model that took pressure off from giving the club away via those old tactics of price selling," says Mastrov, the co-founder of New Evolution Ventures, Lafayette, CA, which operates Crunch and UFC Gym. "In my opinion, it was the No. 1 reason our industry went from its difficult growth years of the 1980s and early 1990s to the successful and well-recognized industry it is today."
At times, however, members have questioned the way clubs collect their monthly payments. Those questions grow louder when members have difficulties stopping payments when they want to cancel their memberships, leading to a few class-action lawsuits.
In Friedman vs. 24 Hour Fitness USA Inc., the plaintiffs claimed the San Ramon, CA-based company took monthly payments out of their accounts after they canceled their memberships. The case, which closed in July, resulted in a settlement in which 24 Hour had to offer affected members either a $20 payment or a three-month club access certificate. LA Fitness, Irvine, CA, faced a similar lawsuit in May on behalf of former and current members in Pennsylvania who claim LA Fitness charged them at least one additional month's payment after cancellation. That case is still active.
Some people may blame billing and software companies for the cancellation issues, but executives at these companies say that they only follow the instructions of each club company as to when and how to draw charges from member accounts. Andy Wigderson, vice president of sales and marketing for CSI Software, Houston, says lawsuits such as the one LA Fitness faces relate more to a business function than a software function.
Paul Sage, marketing director for ABC Financial, Little Rock, AR, says a court ruling on how membership agreements must be handled with respect to the cancellation process will create reduced revenue for the club and reduced billing fees for the billing or software company that manages the transaction processing.
"We understand it is the club's responsibility to ensure their membership agreement is approved and certified with their [state's] department of consumer affairs or attorney general's office," Sage says. "ABC believes there is a difference between cancelling a membership and stopping an electronic payment, which is managed by the EFT Act [passed by Congress in 1978]."
ABC has an EFT terms and conditions page on its website that encourages customers to contact their state's attorney general or the Federal Reserve Board if they believe any provision of the EFT Act has been violated.
Sean Kirby, national sales director for ASF International, a billing and processing company in Highlands Ranch, CO, says clubs can handle the processing of member billing three ways: a club company could handle all the billing and processing itself, a billing/software company could handle the processing of member payments but a club would handle any follow-ups and cancellation attempts, or a billing/software company could handle all processing, follow-up and cancellation for a club's members.
The key for clubs and billing companies to operate smoothly is clear communication, direction and documentation, Kirby says.
"Clubs need to make sure from an administrative standpoint when a membership needs to be cancelled," he says. "Or, if they allow us to handle it, based on the guidelines of their agreement, we make sure it takes place properly. If we're handling the cancellations for a club, we get a copy of their agreement."
Membership agreements vary from club to club, but typically, members pay the first and last months of their membership agreement when they join. In most cases, members must give 30 days' notice of their intention to cancel their membership. The gray area arises when clubs change the number of days required for their notice of cancellation (from 30 days to 45 days, for example). Or, the cancellation request may not be properly submitted.
Caro, who has served as an expert witness in class-action lawsuits involving clubs and membership agreements, says a club may not honor a cancellation if the club was notified by a voicemail and not by a written notice.
"In many cases, clubs are not necessarily at fault," Caro says. "Having said that, some clubs don't handle back office [procedures] ideally, and it leads to mistakes."
Mastrov says attorneys who represent members in cases similar to the two involving 24 Hour and LA Fitness are trying to look for areas of consumer laws that have yet to be written or are not clear.
"What we are seeing now is consumers and lawyers saying you can't collect a month's dues up front or in advance of service," Mastrov says. "I think the consumer will lose [those cases] as almost all businesses collect up front, as one does not want to be in the collections business."


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JD Supra Corporate Brief: FATCA Update, Whistleblower Dilemna, European Data, Foreign Banks
Great moments in IP history: on this day in 1794, Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin. What to make of news that Sonos will 'forward-publish' patents? Depends on whom you ask… (JD Supra Contributors) This should be the last substantial change to FATCA before it goes into effect… (Skadden Arps) The… Read more »


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NEW YORK (AP) Carmelo Anthony had 26 points and nine rebounds, and the New York Knicks bounced back from their first loss of the season, beating the Indiana Pacers 88-76 on Sunday.
JR Smith added 13 points and Raymond Felton had 11 for the Knicks in their only home game in a span of seven games. After falling 105-95 at Memphis on Friday, the Knicks (7-1) go right back on the road to start another three-game trip Tuesday in New Orleans.
In a game that was ugly even without Jason Kidd's bad headband style, neither team shot 40 percent, but the Knicks built a big early lead, went up by as much as 20 and were never challenged.
Paul George scored 20 points for the Pacers, who remained inept offensively as they played without leading scorer Danny Granger. They hoped they had broken out with an impressive 103-point performance against Dallas on Friday, but managed only 30 first-half points.
David West added 14 points in Indiana's sixth straight road loss.
The Pacers came in allowing an NBA-low 90.3 points per game but often wasting that without Granger, who is expected to miss three months with a sore left knee. They were averaging 87.8 points, 28th in the league, but were nowhere near that against a Knicks team that's also good defensively.
The Knicks led 21-18 after one behind 12 points from Anthony, whose 5-of-9 shooting looked even more impressive next to the Pacers' 7 of 22 or the 3 of 15 the rest of his teammates combined to hit. Kidd played only 3 minutes before he was hit in the head and bloodied while attempting a 3-pointer. He put a headband over the wound so he could shoot the free throws, wearing it in a lopsided manner that was angled more like a bonnet, even laughing himself at how ugly it looked.
He made the shots, then went to the back to get seven stitches.
New York then held Indiana to 3-of-16 shooting (19 percent) and 12 points in the second. The Knicks led by as much as 12 in the period when Tyson Chandler threw down a lob pass from Felton and it was 41-30 at the break.
Kidd had a lane open for him in the third but botched the layup, adjusting the headband after the miss. The Pacers later had consecutive possessions with their own blown layup followed by an airball on a jumper.
Still, the Pacers made 10 of 14 shots in the third and trimmed what had been a 16-point deficit to nine late in the period. But Rasheed Wallace made a 3-pointer to end the third-quarter scoring, then opened the fourth with a basket and a dunk before Smith's jumper restored the 16-point advantage at 74-58 two minutes into the fourth.
Notes: Knicks coach Mike Woodson said the Knicks planned to send the NBA video of the flagrant foul that was assessed on Smith on Friday in hopes of getting it rescinded. Woodson said he ``didn't think there was much there.'' Woodson was then hit with a technical foul 90 seconds into Sunday's game. ... Donnie Walsh, who has rejoined the Pacers, his longtime franchise, after spending three years as Knicks president from 2008-11, said the Knicks have put themselves in good position after the rebuilding process that he started. ``I've already said they're a contending team, but to go any further you've got to do it. You can't talk about it, you've got to do it, and that's kind of where all the teams are,'' he said before the game.


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Real-World Review
2014 Infiniti Q50: First Drive Review
The 2014 Infiniti Q50 was conceived as a way to push the Japanese manufacturer higher up the food chain of luxury -- think more Mercedes-Benz, less Nissan. In fact, Infiniti established itself as a Hong Kong-based business to free itself from its Nissan corporate overlord, and with the intention of bolstering its identity as a more upscale brand.
Did those efforts work?
We sampled a Q50 on quiet canyon roads and busy city streets in Los Angeles to find out.
Inside: Techy Luxury
Infiniti incorporated a slew of technological features into the Q50, and the first evidence of those efforts is on the center console, which features not one but two touchscreens (on top of yet another digital display on the instrument panel). The upper central display is an 8-inch screen of decent resolution, while the lower display offers a much sharper image quality.
While both screens are intended to complement each other (the upper offers more real estate for the navigation system, while the lower specializes in manning apps such as Facebook, Twitter and Pandora), there's also some redundancy with hard buttons, leaving more flexibility for driver or passenger preference.
The interior accommodations are also a step up for Infiniti, offering softer touch surfaces and more satisfying materials compared to the G37, which was originally intended to be replaced by the Q50 but will carry on at least through the 2015 model year.
Under the Hood: Gas, Hybrid ... and Self-Driving Tech
The Infiniti Q50 3.7 can be ordered with a 328-horsepower V6 available in six trim levels (among them, three all-wheel-drive variants), ranging from $36,700 to $45,000. Hybrid buyers score more power (with a total of 360 hp from the 3.5-liter V6/electric motor combo) but will pay more dearly for the more exotic powertrains -- between $43,950 and $48,150. Incidentally, the most fuel-efficient Q50 Hybrid achieves an impressive 29 miles per gallon city, 36 mpg hwy.
More noteworthy than the Q50's powertrains, however, is the world's first production steer-by-wire hardware that enables -- you guessed it -- the Q50 to steer itself. Direct Adaptive Steering is available as part of the $3,100 Touring Package and works with other optional driver-assistance systems to help keep the Q50 in its lane and, under certain circumstances, tracking along with gently curving roadways.
On the Road: Releasing the Reins
While the Q50's interior is undeniably more plush than its G37 ancestor, the driving experience is a mixed bag, especially with Direct Adaptive Steering. The system ditches a hydraulic or electric mechanical setup for an entirely digital connection between the steering wheel and the wheels, though a mechanical backup can jump in if the computers go haywire. The setup allows the driver to specify steering effort and ratio, along with other drivetrain variables such as throttle response and shift patterns.
While the digital steering system delivers on its promise of isolation from stop and road irregularities (thanks to its lack of rubber bushings), it seems to lose that accuracy the faster you drive. Around town, steering feels crisp and tight, but on twisty roads it becomes disconcerting and doesn't respond consistently to driver input, as though it has a mind of its own.
Similarly, the system's ability to maintain lane control requires a leap of faith that rarely feels natural, and its occasionally lazy response will likely lead you to grab the wheel in a panic as the car drifts to the edge of the lane. It does, however, take some of the effort and attention out of straight-line, low-speed driving in traffic.
The 3.7 models offer reasonably strong acceleration, though the Hybrid is the lineup's stealth speed weapon, serving up surprisingly potent acceleration. Too bad the brake feel is racked with vagueness, requiring more second guesses from the driver on exactly how hard to press the pedal for smooth stops.
AutoTrader Says
The 2014 Infiniti Q50 serves up a host of improvements over its predecessor in a package that's muscular and attractive. But the key to configuring the most compelling Q50 lies in restraint, as the expensive assistance options make us want to grab the wheel and stay involved with the driving process.
It may offer everything but the kitchen sink when it comes to electronics, but we like the Q50 most when it is lightly optioned and most closely resembles its former, driver-focused self.


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Indigo Arts' Philadelphia gallery space is closed as I move upstairs to a new space on the fourth floor of the Crane Building. I hope to be up and running again later in May, on a "by appointment or by chance" basis. Meanwhile, the Indigo Arts online gallery is operating as usual, though shipments may be delayed a bit. Please feel free to contact me with any questions in the mean time.
SKU: BS-369b
Kumasi, Ghana, c.2005
Oil paint on plywood with wood frame (36" x 24")
Product Status:


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Raspberry Pi Use Case: Subversion & Airplay
I bought a Raspberry Pi this past weekend at Maker Faire NYC. I didn't really know what to do with it, but at $40 I figured I wouldn't have much to lose.
The next day I received an email from my Subversion service that my payment didn't go through. So first use, I set up a subversion server on the Pi. In time I will transfer my repositories from the web to the Pi and cancel my commercial Subversion account.
Next, I had run out of ethernet ports on my router. So, in order to use the Pi I had to disconnect something. Well, my AirPort Express was using a port. Since I already have an AirPort Extreme, the Express is only being used for Airplay, a service that lets you select where to play your music from your Mac or iDevice. I discovered that there's an opensource project called Shairtunes (Airplay used to be named AirTunes) which mimics an Airplay device. So I followed these steps and had a replacement for my AirPort express. I did run into one problem, Shairtunes wouln't run and gave this error:
Can't locate Net/SDP.pm in @inc. You need to install the missing code. I don't even know what it's for, but the solution is:
# for some reason the fix doesn't work
# unless you run as the superuser, plain sudo din't work
sudo su
cpan install Net::SDP # just say yes to everything
I won't repeat all the install steps since there are so many Raspberry Pi tutorials out there. But, if run into a snag leave a comment.
Overall, I'm very happy I picked up the Raspberry Pi, even if one of my use cases for the Pi is a solution to a problem it created.


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Eduardus Limette Black[1] (1820s — 1899) was an early member of the House of Black, being older than Cygnus Black I and Arcturus Black I, but it is unknown precisely how he was related to other known members of the Black family. He was disowned and burnt off the Black family tapestry for an unknown reason. It is unknown whether he was married.[2]
Eduardus is most likely a form of the name Edward, meaning "prosperous, blessed guard". As -ette is a French diminutive, the name Limette may indicate the Black family has roots in France, like their relatives, the Lestranges and the Rosiers, which would explain why their motto is in French, not the usual Latin. Limette also means "small lime" in German.
Behind the scenes
- This character appears only on the version of the Black family tree shown in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. He was not included on the version of the tree J. K. Rowling gave to a charity auction in 2006.[3] He was presumably created by the film's production team, with his name being chosen as a tribute to Eduardo Lima, a graphic artist who worked on every Harry Potter film from Prisoner of Azkaban onward.
- This is the earliest known Black to have been disowned.
- It's possible that Alexia Walkin Black, Phoebe and Licorus Black were Eduardus's siblings.
- He may have been sorted into Slytherin house, like most of his family, if he attended Hogwarts School.
- It is equally possible that Eduardus was either a Squib, or he might have married a woman of a different blood status.
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) (Appears on Black family tree tapestry)
Notes and references
- ↑ On the Black family tapestry in the Order of the Phoenix film, only Blacks by birth have portraits, and only their given names are listed on the scrolls beneath these portraits. This indicates that this character was a Black and that Eduardus Limette was his given name.
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
- ↑ "Black Family Tree" on The Harry Potter Lexicon


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Landscaping with Balloon Flowers
Small cluster of purple Balloon Flowers at varying stages of growth - 2018, Murphy, NC
As the Balloon Flower inflates over time it forms 5 spokes or points where the grown petals adjoin - 2018, Murphy, NC
Young and inflating overhead view of Balloon Flowers - 2018, Murphy, NC
Overhead view of the slowly maturing Balloon Flower as it slowly changes from green to pale purple - 2018, Murphy, NC
Eventually the tips of the Balloon Flower's petals start to separate, signaling the end of one growth cycle and the beginning of another - 2018, Murphy, NC
Maturing Balloon Flower changes from green to a pale purple - 2018, Murphy, NC
As the Balloon Flower matures, it slowly changes from green to pale purple, and starts to dimple where it once was protruding - 2018, Murphy, NC
View of the Balloon Flower's anthers and filament wrapped around the style inside - 2018, Murphy, NC
View of the mature Balloon Flower's anther's and filament. The edges of the anther are beginning to pull away from the soon to be opened stigma which is supported on the style (hidden by the filament and anthers) - 2018, Murphy, NC
Mature leaves of a Balloon Flower gently fold back, revealing the style, and soon to be opened stigma - 2018, Murphy, NC
A mature Balloon Flower's exposed stigma and style. The withering anthers and filament lay against the petals of the flower - 2018, Murphy, NC
The Balloon Flower's stamen has folded back back to reveal the stigma inside
The dying remnants of a Balloon Flower - 2018, Murphy, NC
BalloonFlowers004FlowersOUTDOORSballoon flowersnaturewildflowers


text:
SYDNEY, Australia — The roster the Dodgers submitted to the commissioner's office on opening day won't be the same roster with which they will start the domestic part of their season.
"This is our roster for the next two days," Manager Don Mattingly said, referring to the duration of the two-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
As a concession for starting their season a week early, the Dodgers and Diamondbacks were allowed to declare three of their players roster-exempt. For the Dodgers, they were Zack Greinke, Dan Haren and Brandon League. Carl Crawford, who was on paternity leave, also didn't count against the roster.
The four players are expected to be added to the active roster for the start of the series in San Diego that starts March 30.
The Dodgers have 10 relievers in Australia: Kenley Jansen, Brian Wilson, J.P. Howell, Chris Perez, Jamey Wright, Paul Maholm, Seth Rosin, Jose Dominguez, Paco Rodriguez and Chris Withrow.
Three of those pitchers figure to be sent to the minors in the coming week. The likely candidates are Dominguez, Rodriguez and Withrow, all of whom can be demoted without clearing waivers. Infielder Alex Guerrero probably will be the fourth player dropped, as Dee Gordon and Justin Turner will platoon at second base.
The Dodgers' most difficult roster decision was to take Drew Butera as the backup catcher and send Tim Federowicz to the minor leagues. Because of the shortage of catching depth, the Dodgers couldn't afford to option Butera and risk losing him on a waiver claim. Federowicz still has options, meaning he could be demoted without clearing waivers.
"That was a rough one," Mattingly said.
Others sent to the minor leagues were right-hander Zach Lee, outfielder Joc Pederson and infielder Miguel Rojas.
Utility man Chone Figgins, who went into camp on a minor league contract, made the team. Outfielder Mike Baxter also claimed a spot on the bench.
The team also included starting pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu; catcher A.J. Ellis; infielders Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez and Juan Uribe, and outfielders Yasiel Puig, Andre Ethier and Scott Van Slyke.
Matt Kemp, Josh Beckett and Chad Billingsley were officially placed on the disabled list. According to league rules, the earliest they could be activated would be April 4.
Close call
The start of the series opener Saturday night was delayed 14 minutes because of the threat of rain. Nearby thunder and lightning cut short the Dodgers' batting practice session and prompted the field crew to place a tarp over the field.
Next: South Korea?
Hyun-Jin Ryu said he would one day like to open a major league season in his native South Korea.
"I think it's a fantastic idea," Ryu said through interpreter Martin Kim. "It's a personal wish."
Selig said Major League Baseball has some potential foreign countries in mind for future opening days, but wouldn't say which ones.
Short debut
Guerrero made his major league debut in the first game of the series, when he was introduced as a ninth-inning pinch-hitter for Wilson, who pitched the eighth inning. But Guerrero didn't get the chance to hit.
Diamondbacks Manager Kirk Gibson called on right-hander J.J. Putz to replace left-hander Oliver Perez and face the right-handed-hitting Guerrero. Mattingly countered by sending the left-handed-hitting Baxter to bat instead of Guerrero.
Short hops
Kemp is expected to meet the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Thursday. . . . Crawford's fiancee gave birth to a boy. The child is Crawford's third.
Twitter: @dylanohernandez


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text: Want to keep track of how we're doing here? Want to talk shop with fellow fans? Like us on Facebook to get up-to-date info and catch updates, or follow us on Pinterest or Flickr to get pictures and ideas for your own beauty projects. Want an ethical and honest place to source your soap from? Check out our store on Etsy! … Continue reading Hippie Reviews: GCC Joysticks Review


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I am lucky. Today you turn 13.
Thirteen years ago today you made me the luckiest person on earth. Actually, 13 years ago today, you made me more than lucky, you made me your mommy.
I was lucky, not just because I became a mommy, but because I became your mommy. I am lucky because for 13 years I have had the chance to raise you, watch you grow, and believe it or not, to learn from you. You remind me that life doesn't always have to move so quickly. You remind me to appreciate our family, because I know that you do. And even though it may not always seem like it, you remind me not to lose my temper. Your calm manner and sweetness remind me to let go of anger and pride when I am frustrated or impatient.
Someone once told me, "Mighty oaks from little acorns grow." For the last 13 years I have been able to witness the process of an acorn becoming the oak tree. The little baby that you were– so happy, so calm, so easy going. The toddler years were a joy even though I had some sad days because I had to learn what it meant to be a family with just the two of us. But we got through it, and we found a wonderful rhythm together. It seemed like you adapted easily, enjoying the time with your father, and then coming home for some time with Mommy. And when our family grew to include your sisters and brother and Juan, your generous loving heart, accepted our new family.
On your 4th birthday, you traveled with your dad to New Mexico to visit your Granny. I waited all day for you to come home but your plane was delayed. When your dad finally arrived I opened the door, and you were asleep in his arms. It seemed like you had suddenly grown up. Your dad said, "I brought you back a 4 year-old." He carried you inside and put you in your little bed. I looked at you sleeping there and wept with gratitude that you were home, and I was amazed that you seemed to grow up overnight.
It's been 9 years since that night when you could still be carried in your father's arms. It's so hard to believe that you have grown as tall as me. Your voice has deepened and you no longer play with toys, unless you do it because your brother has
bugged begged you to. You told me you didn't want any toys or games for your birthday this year. Instead you asked for money to save up for a computer. How responsible of you. How mature, how grown up.
I know you don't like it when I worry about you and when I tell you how to do things. I can tell because sometimes I catch you rolling your eyes. But, then we exchange looks and we laugh because we can tell what we are each thinking. I know you probably don't realize it, but I am happy to see you grow up. I do miss those days we shared together when it was just you and I, and those days I would enjoy watching you play with your toys or invent some game with Erica or Olivia, but I don't really want to go back to those days. I am happy for today. I feel lucky that I get to see you turn 13 and enter adolescence. I feel lucky that I get to see you grow up and become the kind-hearted, responsible, witty teenager that you are. I am lucky to see the acorn becoming an oak tree.
Happy birthday Nico. I love you.
Mommy Mom


text:
MANITOWOC, Wis. (AP) -- Police have arrested the owner of a cat who was found duct-taped and dead in the Manitowoc River.
Authorities are recommending a felony charge of mistreating an animal against the 49-year-old Manitowoc man.
Police Detective Mike Stone says the man told investigators he was feeling suicidal and decided to kill the cat instead, a pet he had for about ten years.
A fisherman found the cat in the river Sunday. Stone says the animal's head and legs were taped. He says citizen tips led to the cat's owner.
The Herald Times Reporter (http://tinyurl.com/8t2trpd ) says a veterinarian who performed a necropsy determined the cat was suffocated and was probably dead before it was placed in the river.
Information from: Herald Times Reporter, http://www.htrnews.com


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text:
A letter in the Aug. 28 Tomahawk Leader:
To the Editor:
Activity at the Tomahawk Emergency Food Pantry this year has been busy to say the least. We are experiencing an increase of 23 percent over last year. There has been an increase in the amount of families with children coming in.
As most of you know, to get food from the pantry, you must have a voucher from an authorized source in the community like Social Services for Lincoln County, a local church or the school system. The amount of food and the type is determined by what we have available, although we buy staple items like flour if we run out. We have a number of local community groups who sponsor an item like peanut butter and if we need that, we just call them and they donate. We have several commodities like that.
The Pantry is an emergency food source. There are limits on how often and how many times you can come for food. There are government programs in effect to handle long-term problems for people. The reason folks come to the pantry are varied and remember that once again, we do not determine who gets food, they must come with a voucher from an authorized source.
However, we are in need of food to help us get through the next few months until the big drives at Heritage Chevrolet and Nelson's Food store are made. A large part of the food we give out, comes from those drives. There are also many other drives in the community which have gotten us this far. The scouts, Curves, Post Office, Fishing Unlimited and other organizations including churches donate regularly. Excuse an old memory if I have forgotten anyone. The Tomahawk School System also has food drives for us.
We are planning a Labor Day Weekend Community Food Drive. We will have a cart near the exit at Nelson's and Lemke's to deposit needed grocery items. A list of the items we need, will be posted at the entrance. The lists of what we need will be developed at the time based on current needs, when we post them. At the local banks, you will be able give cash, even if it is only a dollar, to help with expenses for the Food Pantry. This money is used to provide vouchers for perishable food items only at the food stores.
The volunteers, and there are many, who work the pantry faithfully, truly see and believe that this is a needed part of our community.
We thank each and every person and organization that has donated in the past, both grocery items and cash. Without everyone's help, someone would have to go without food.
We volunteers at the pantry, thank you in advance for your cooperation. Have an enjoyable and safe Labor Day Weekend.
Glenn Christianson, chairperson
Labor Day food drive …
Letters to the Editor from the Tomahawk Leader.
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Report on Global Retirement Index: ageing populations still find greatest financial security in Europe
But financial security is increasingly at risk in both developed and developing global markets.
Natixis Global Asset Management releases today a report on Global Retirement Index, a global benchmark designed to compare how 150 different countries meet their populations' needs in retirement. The index is based on 20 indicators structured around 4 underlying thematic indices, using selected and compiled gross data for 2013 provided by independent sources such as the World Bank, the World Health Organisation and the OECD.
The financial environment for retirees shows signs of erosion in many developed nations where governments are facing high debt levels and ongoing financial pressures. In developing markets, the provision of government services has not kept pace with economic growth, and income inequality remains preventing incomes harmonization at the time of retirement. The world's population is ageing and these retirees are set to consume a greater share of government resources. "This dilemma has contributed to the complexities involved in solving the worldwide crisis in retirement funding, and underscores the need for more diverse, more stable sources of funding, including personal savings and investments" highlights Christophe Point, Director NGAM distribution France.
France ranks in 15th position. As with other developed countries, France is facing increasing challenges in meeting the liabilities of its national pensions system. The country's difficulties are similar to those faced by all others with ageing populations: inflation, increasing tax burden, and the inability to fund old-age dependency. These factors are reflected in the "Finances in retirement" sub-index, thereby severely impacting the country's overall ranking. However France remains in the top 3 as far as the "Health" sub-index is concerned, sharing 2nd place with Germany, with special mention given to the country's life expectancy and the quality of its social security system.
Implications for individuals: more responsibility and the need to re-engineer how they prepare financially for retirement
"While many external factors determine retirement security, individual investors should focus on the factors that remain in their control – namely saving for their futures; obtaining and following professional financial advice; and acting to minimize external risks as much as they can" adds Christophe Point.
Two worldwide surveys conducted recently by Natixis Global AM* covering individual investors and financial advisors found that most individuals (58%) admit they don't have a financial plan in place for their retirement, while the majority of advisors say their clients are underestimating the amount of income they will need.
*Survey of Individual Investors conducted on sample of 5,560 private investors in June and July 2013; and Survey of Financial Advisors conducted on 1,300 IFAS between August and September 2013
Investors need to build more durable portfolios capable of delivering stable returns that can withstand market fluctuations over time, and success should be measured by whether investors are on track to meet their personal retirement goals, not an irrelevant benchmark. "Making investments more personal for individuals – and reinforcing that they are key stakeholders in this process – could help them become more engaged in planning, saving and investing" suggests Christophe Point. "To truly meet their retirement objectives, investors need to think of risk first as they build durable, diversified portfolios that can manage short-term volatility, pursue long-term growth, and keep investors invested through a variety of market cycles in order to realize their full savings potential".
Global trends
Europe is where retirees will enjoy the highest level of financial security. Among the 150 countries in the Index, 12 of the top 15 are European. Switzerland, Norway and Austria rank in the top 3 with overall scores above 80%, while other European countries generally achieve scores of 75% or more. Unsurprisingly, core European nations outdo peripheral countries that were forced to cut more severely into their social programs.
The United States trails the United Kingdom, with both countries stable from one year to the next. For the second year running, the US ranks 19th out of 150 countries. The stability of the ranking is likely due to the gradual improvement of the country's economy, which has helped offset the consequences of political uncertainty and the government shutdown period. The UK ranks in 18th position, with a high ranking for health factor balanced by low rankings for finance in retirement, including low rates and high tax pressures that have affected retirees' current income and purchasing power while also increasing pressure on the UK pension system.
New Zealand, Iceland and Korea were among the fastest risers in the table, with each nation moving into the top 20. In Iceland for instance, the recovery of public finances, together with low inflation, low interest rates and the country's top position for income equality have helped boost its general ranking. But even in the highest-ranking countries, future demographic shifts will exert pressure and future retirees need to be planning today for those changes.
"Again, investors need to plan to do more on their own", said Hervé Guinamant, President and CEO for international distribution at Natixis Global Asset Management. "And the asset management industry must adapt by providing the tools investors need to build portfolios that put risk first, minimize volatility and help meet their long term savings goals."
Top 30 countries in the Global retirement index ranking:
Source: Coredata research for Natixis Global AM
Natixis Global AM's Global Retirement Index is a well-being index which provides a global benchmark for comparing the models of 150 different countries in terms of how they respond to the needs of their retired populations. The GRI is built from 20 indicators based around thematic sub-indices, based on selected and compiled gross data for 2013 provided by independent and reliable sources such as National Development Banks, the World Health Organisation or the OECD. The 4 sub-indices are the following:
• Health (life expectancy, health expenditure per capita, number of doctors per 1000 inhabitants, uninsured health expenses index, number of hospital beds)
• Material well-being in retirement (income per capita index, income equality index, percentage of unemployed)
• Quality of life (well-being ratio, air and water pollution, biodiversity and habitat, climatic change indicators)
• Finances in retirement (investment landscape, old-age dependency, inflation, interest rates, taxation, default ratio on bank loans, government debt ratio, robustness of financial institutions)
The full report is available via the following link: www.ngam.natixis.com/espacepresse
More information on: www.durableportfolios.com
Press contacts
Andrea Pucnik
Tél. +33 (0)1 58 32 01 03
Natixis Global Asset Management
Stéphanie Mallet
Tél. +33 (0)1 78 40 81 85
About Natixis Global Asset Management
Natixis Global Asset Management ranks as one of the largest asset management companies in the world*. Its affiliated asset management companies provide investment products that seek to enhance and protect the wealth and retirement assets of both institutional and individual investor clients.
Its proprietary distribution network helps package and deliver its affiliates' products around the world. Natixis Global Asset Management brings together the expertise of multiple specialized investment managers based in Europe, the United States and Asia to offer a wide spectrum of equity, fixed-income and alternative investment strategies.
Headquartered in Paris and Boston, Natixis Global Asset Management has assets under management totalling 629.2 billion € as of December 31, 2013 **. Natixis Global Asset Management is a subsidiary of Natixis.
* Source : Cerulli Quantitative Update: Global Markets 2013 ranked Natixis Global Asset Management, S.A. as the 15th largest asset manager in the world based on assets under management as of 31 December 2012
** Source : Natixis Global Asset Management


text:
Muslim Opinion Polls: A Tiny Minority of Extremists?
This is useful to show that pretty much even vile think terrorists do is supported by 10-90% of Muslims depending on the actual question, location of the poll, etc.
For a lot of the 'big questions', such as 'are suicide bombings justified' or approval of ISIS/Al-Qaeda the typical percentage might be 20-35%.
With 1.5 BILLION Muslims this means at least 150 MILLION will support pretty much anything (10%), and some 250-500 MILLION support most of the evil stuff.
Actually it means these numbers will ADMIT to supporting pretty much anything.
Since "Taqiya" (lying for good of the faith) is a recognized, named, and Qur'an proclaimed PRINCIPLE of Islam, it could easily be much worse.
Please add other good links that offer such polls and studies.


text:
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.— The fourth-quarter rally led by LeBron James in the 61st NBA All-Star Game on Sunday night was impressive, but not quite enough.
On Monday afternoon, Mayor Kevin Johnson, a three-time former All-Star himself, showed how to close the deal in announcing a handshake deal with the Maloof family that will build a new downtown arena and keep the Kings in Sacramento.
"I really want to jump up and down right now, because I'm so excited," said a smiling Johnson, standing in a hallway of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where the sides had been meeting for the past two days.
"It's a new day for Sacramento. We've all been working around the clock to get to this point and it's going to be a defining moment for our community. We have the framework of an agreement going forward."
According to Joe Maloof, his family will make an upfront contribution of $73-million to the $387-million arena project. George Maloof said that the family will contribute roughly another $75-million over the life of the agreement. The additional money will be funded by a surcharge on tickets for arena events.
"Our family is just so excited," said Joe Maloof. "We have a framework for a deal. We always said we wanted to stay in Sacramento and now here's our opportunity."
That opportunity hardly seemed likely less than a year ago when talks between the Maloofs and the city were not fruitful and the family began to entertain offers to relocate the team to Anaheim, Calif.
The sides were working under a March 1 deadline set by the NBA in order for the details of a deal to be reached or the league would have cleared a path for relocation.
"(The Maloofs) have been a part of the glory years of Sacramento," Johnson said. "They've been part of the ups and downs and they said that they always wanted to be in Sacramento," Johnson said. "They are the ones that decided not to file for relocation last May. Had they filed, we wouldn't be in this position. But they said they were going to give us a year."
When the Sacramento city council votes, as expected, to approve the deal on March 6, it will likely dash the hopes of not only Anaheim, but Seattle as well. NBA commissioner David Stern had said over the weekend that a new ownership group for the New Orleans Hornets is expected to be approved soon, eliminating them for potential relocation, and the league has no plans for expansion beyond its current 30 teams.
"I think when we left Sacramento and came to Orlando, you guys asked me how close were we," Johnson said. "I thought it was a free throw and you need to make two free throws. I think the city made the first free throw and the Maloof family made the second free throw. It's game-over, so our community should be really, really excited."
Both sides said Stern was a driving force in the bringing the deal to a successful conclusion in the final days and the commissioner said that was the mandate given to him by the league's owners.
"From an NBA perspective, the owners … authorized me to be as supportive as we can possibly be in this process so that we could cement the future of the NBA in Sacramento. I've had the great pleasure, tuxedo and all, of opening up two arenas and I'm looking forward to opening up a third in Sacramento.
"That was my hope last April when it came to a head. That's what we've spent a year doing. There have been some who suggested it was a fool's errand, but I don't think any of us felt the least bit foolish. We think this was a worthy cause, a worthy goal and if you bang your head against the wall enough, you get good results."
Johnson said his confidence grew during the day-long negotiations on Sunday.
"They've said all along that they wanted to be in Sacramento and we just had to put a deal together that made sense to them," he said. "When I heard them say that yesterday, that just gave me the certainty that there was a sincere effort on everyone's part to be in Sacramento."
Johnson characterized the deal as "something bigger than basketball," a spur to the renewal of downtown Sacramento.
Stern said the agreement would lead to Sacramento having an NBA celebration like the one that just concluded in Orlando.
"We're talking about hotel stock right now and we're working on it," he said. "We'll turn downtown into a festival of All-Star Weekend eventually."
Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof literally shed tears of joy at the announcement, taking nearly a minute to compose himself before TV cameras.
"I think it's great for our community," he said. "I'm glad that it's finally coming to an end after 13 years."


text:
Some days it's hard to hold a single thought and dive deeper into it. Sometimes it's because I get distracted by other shiny thoughts. Sometimes my interest peters out. Sometimes I bump into the limit of what I can think about on my own, without experiments or research.
I've come to really like the way index cards let me capture ideas that aren't quite blog-post-sized. Technically, I haven't drawn a physical index card since early February, but the digital index cards I draw are calibrated to that scale.
Still, some days it takes me a really long time to draw five index cards. I catch myself wondering if I've picked a good question. Sometimes it takes a while to find the next step in the thought. Sometimes it's easier to let my attention drift to other things.
On the other hand, there are some days when my mind is overflowing with little thoughts. It's pretty easy for me to switch to another index card, scribble down part of a thought, and then come back to it later.
2015-06-01e Fragmented writing and drawing – index card #fuzzy #fatigue #writing #drawing #fragmentation
I've been figuring out a better way to work with fragmented thoughts. I tried flipping my habit by writing before drawing. Sometimes that's a good way to clear my backlog, but sometimes it means I don't get around to drawing.
Lately I've been experimenting with quickly capturing text fragments – a chunk even smaller than index cards. A few taps on my phone bring up a single-line prompt. Whatever I type into that dialog gets saved to a timestamped file named something like
yyyy-mm-dd hh.mm timestamp - keyword.txt, and that's synchronized over Dropbox to my computer. I have some code in Emacs to read those files and add them to a date-based outline, and I've included the code at the end of this blog post just in case it's handy.
I've found myself capturing more and more of these snippets these days. When a possibly interesting thought occurs to me while I'm walking around, it's easy enough to take a moment to unlock my phone and add a note. My Emacs-based workflow fits me a bit better than the Evernote-based one I used to use, but that's the benefit of customization.
2015-05-24e Working with surface thoughts – index card #fuzzy #drawing #thinking
There's still the challenge of bringing those thoughts together, of course. The text titles and fragment keywords are often enough to remind me of what I was thinking and how the different thoughts might be connected to each other, and I can always open the sketches in a new window if I want to refer to them. I have an ever-growing outline of sketches that haven't yet been chunked into blog posts, and now I have a chronological tree of these little fragments. I have another bit of Emacs Lisp that lets me quickly get a montage of the sketches listed in part of my outline. Maybe I could use that more often – perhaps even randomly picking an outline node, coming up with a montage, and prompting me to either glue the chunks together into a blog post or draw whatever's missing.
So this is what the index card workflow looks like as a whole:
2015-05-08b My index card management system – index card #zettelkasten #workflow #index-cards #drawing
and then the text fragments feed into the beginning of that thinking process.
It's been almost six months of thinking with index cards. I sometimes feel pretty fragmented, but there are confounding factors so I don't know whether that's a side-effect of this way of thinking. But I think it's unlikely that my past self was that much more coherent and better at concentrating. Remembering what it was like to write my notes before and what it's like to write my notes now, I think I like this way a lot. I feel like I'm getting better at writing about the small things, not just the big things, and I'm gradually getting better at tying things together.
What might be some interesting next steps for this system?
2015-06-12h 6-month reflection on index cards – index card #index-cards #drawing #zettelkasten #chunking
It might be cool to visualize how much has been chunked and what's still isolated, in a way that's more engaging than my outline. I'm also curious about the time separation of thoughts. For example, this post brings together four cards spread over a little more than a month, a set of connections I probably wouldn't have been able to follow without these notes.
The fragment code I mentioned:
(defun my/read-phone-entries () "Copy phone data to a summary Org file." (interactive) (mapc (lambda (filename) (let ((base (file-name-base filename)) contents timestamp category encoded-time date) (when (string-match "^[^ ]+ [^ ]+ \\([^ ]+\\) - \\(.*\\)" base) (setq time (seconds-to-time (/ (string-to-number (match-string 1 base)) 1000)) encoded-time (decode-time time) date (list (elt encoded-time 4) (elt encoded-time 3) (elt encoded-time 5)) category (match-string 2 base)) (with-temp-buffer (insert-file-contents filename) (setq contents (s-trim (buffer-string)))) (with-current-buffer (find-file "~/dropbox/tasker/summary.txt") (org-datetree-find-date-create date) (unless (save-excursion (re-search-forward (regexp-quote base) nil t)) (goto-char (line-end-position)) (insert "\n") (insert "**** " contents " :" category ":\n" base "\n") (insert (format-time-string "[%Y-%m-%d %a %H:%M]\n" time)) (if (member category '("Think" "Do")) (save-excursion (org-back-to-heading t) (if (looking-at org-outline-regexp) (goto-char (1- (match-end 0)))) (unless (looking-at org-todo-regexp) (org-todo "TODO")))) (if (string-match "^Energy \\([0-9]\\)" contents) (org-set-property "ENERGY" (match-string 1 contents))))) (delete-file filename)))) (directory-files "~/dropbox/tasker/data" t "\\.txt$")))


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If you see me on, hit me up. Typically I'll be rolling Destiny but I'm always down to roll with old friends and to make some new ones. Hit me up even if I show up as offline. I get bombed with calls to help on raids so sometimes I show up offline.
Forum Rules


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Who We Are
Since 1974, Realstar has been committed to excellence in every facet of multi-unit residential real estate. Its real estate investment arm, Realstar Properties Limited, is one of the largest owners of rental properties in Canada. It focuses on the acquisition of high-quality properties that offer both long-term stable income streams and capital appreciation. Whether purchasing a single property or a portfolio of properties, Realstarâs thorough market research, sharp financial analysis, and rigorous physical due diligence are the cornerstones of each transaction.
Realstar Management Partnership preserves and enhances the value of Realstarâs assets through a financially disciplined, service-oriented approach to asset and property management. Realstar also provides asset and property management services to large Canadian financial institutions and pension funds that recognize the importance of the broad value-enhancing approach Realstar brings to multi-unit residential portfolios. By combining state-of-the-art operating and financial reporting systems with a team of dedicated Resident Managers and engineering/property standards professionals, Realstar delivers superior results for its partners and clients, ensuring its 70,000+ residents enjoy clean, quiet, well-maintained homes.
Realstarâs commitment to excellence has enabled it to become a leading provider of quality rental accommodation from coast to coast in Canada.
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Sierpes maxi necklaceSeda Imperial Collection
Necklace in yellow gold, onyx and diamonds
This line is inspired by one of the most emblematic streets in Seville – Sierpes street. Located in the center of the Andalusian capital, Sierpes street partly takes its name from its sinuous form that emulates the movement of the fringe of the manila shawl, the star of this collection.
18 carat gold, 1,16 oz
92 diamonds 1,14 carats
1 onyx
Dimensions (inch): 4,13 x 0,98 x 0,47
Chain Length (inch): 18
Seda Imperial
The Legend of Seda Imperial Be seduced by the mystery and fusion of cultures.Play video
The artisans at Carrera y Carrera add the special magic to each and every one of the jewels produced in the workshop. A team of unique professionals with a true and dedicated passion for their work.Meet the artisans
Carrera y Carrera's vision is founded upon a rigorous and demanding creative process. A process that builds upon both the art and science of sculptural design. Carrera y Carrera's skilled goldsmiths work tirelessly to make dreams come true.Discover the creative process


text:
Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) are ready to make the final move into adulthood. But just as they thought they have reclaimed the neighborhood, they learn that their new neighbors are even more out of control than the last. To evict them, they will need help from their ex neighbor (Zac Efron).
IMDB Rating: 6.4
Release Date: 20 May 2016
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 92 min
Stars : Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Chloë Grace Moretz
Actor : Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Chloë Grace Moretz
Writers : Andrew Jay Cohen, Brendan O'Brien, Nicholas Stoller, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg
Director : Nicholas Stoller
Language : English
Country : USA


text:
British Enfield .303 caliber P14 rifle, made in USA by Winchester
United States Rifle, cal .30, Model of 1917, left side
United States Rifle, cal .30, Model of 1917, right side
US .30 caliber M1917 rifle, close up view on the receiver and sight
During the earliest part of the XX century, British army had some doubts about the effectiveness of its newest infantry weapon, the famous Rifle, Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield, or SMLE in short. Because of that, government arms factory at Enfield Lock was set up to produce Mauser-pattern rifle and new rimless ammunition for it. By the 1912, such rifle was produced in the form of the Enfield P13 (pattern 1913) rifle, alongside with powerful magnum-class .276 Enfield ammunition. Being too powerful, this cartridge produced excessive muzzle flash and recoil, and worn barrels too quickly. The Great war (1st World war) effectively stopped the development of a new cartridge, and also put the British troops into desperate need for more and more rifles. As the British industry had no spare capacity to produce Lee Enfields, in 1915 the British Government decided to order rifles from private US contractors. The P13 rifle was especially suited for rapid mass production, so it was ordered for British troops, rechambered to the standard .303 British ammunition. The .303 caliber P14 rifles were manufactured by the three US arms plants, the Remington, the Winchester and the Eddystone (subsidiary of the Remington). As the USA entered the 1st World War in 1917, it immediately felt a shortage of infantry rifles, and, like the Britain before, government plants were unable to turn out enough Springfield M1903 rifles for US troops. As the .303 caliber P14 rifles were already in production in USA, US government decided to adopt this pattern to US issue .30-06 ammunition. Resulting rifle was adopted as "US Rifle, .30 caliber, Model of 1917", and produced by the same three plants between 1917 and 1918. During that short time, more than two millions of M1917 rifles were delivered to US Army, and most of the American troops in Europe were actually armed with M1917 rifles. Nevertheless, after the end of the war the Army officials decided to keep the Springfield M1903 as a general issue rifle, probably as a matter of a national pride. Many of M1917 rifles were sold as surplus or put into storage. During the early part of the 2nd World war some of M1917 rifles were shipped to Britain, where they were issued to the Home Guard. To distinguish .30 caliber US-made M1917 from very similar .303 caliber P14 rifles, British-issue .30 caliber M1917 rifles were marked with painted red strip on the buttstock. In general, M1917 rifles (also known as US Enfields) are known as a strong and accurate rifles; many of these were latter sporterized and often rechambered for various hunting cartridges.The P14 and M1917 are manually operated, rotating bolt action rifles. Mauser-type rotating bolt has two frontal lugs which lock into the receiver ring. Integral staggered-row box magazine holds five rounds and can be loaded using M1903-type stripper clips or loose rounds. Bolt handle is bent down for more comfortable carry, and located at the rear of the bolt. Solid rear receiver bridge has guide slots for stripper clips, and serves as a base for rear diopter sight. manual safety is located at the right side of the receiver, above the trigger guard. Adjustable diopter rear sight offered high accuracy, once the proper windage was set by the drifting of the front sight. M1917 rifles were issued with detachable M1917 knife bayonet and scabbard. The easiest way to distinguish British P14 and US M1917 rifles is to look at the buttstock: the British rifles have a brass disk set up into the right side of the butt, which carries the regiment number. US rifles have no such disk.


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Frequent Links
Far-right politics
|Part of the Politics series
|Party politics
|Political spectrum
|Party platform
|Party system
|Politics portal
Far-right politics or extreme-right politics are right-wing politics to the right of the mainstream centre right on the traditional left-right spectrum. They often involve a focus on tradition as opposed to policies and customs that are regarded as reflective of modernism. They tend to include disregard or disdain for egalitarianism, if not overt support for social inequality[citation needed] and social hierarchy, elements of social conservatism and opposition to most forms of liberalism and socialism. The terms are commonly used to describe fascism, neo-fascism and other ideologies or organizations that feature extreme nationalist, chauvinist, xenophobic, racist, or reactionary views.[1] Some far-right movements, such as the Nazis, have pursued oppression and genocide against groups of people on the basis of their alleged inferiority or their alleged threat to the nation or state.[2]
Definition and terminology
Far-right politics commonly include authoritarianism, anti-communism, and nativism.[3] Often, the term "far right" is applied to fascists and neo-Nazis,[4][5][6][7][8] and major elements of fascism have been deemed clearly far-right, such as its belief that supposedly superior people have the right to dominate society while purging allegedly inferior elements, and—in the case of Nazism—genocide of people deemed to be inferior.[9] Claims that superior people should proportionally have greater rights than inferior people are sometimes associated with the far right.[10] The far right has historically favoured an elitist society based on belief of the legitimacy of the rule of a supposed superior minority over the inferior masses.[11] Far-right politics usually involves anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are deemed inferior and undesirable.[12] Concerning the socio-cultural dimension (nationality, culture and migration), one far-right position could be the view that certain ethnic, racial or religious groups should stay separate, and that the interests of one's own group should be prioritised.[13]
There is disagreement among academics concerning the most appropriate way of defining the ideologies of right-wing extremist parties.[14] Within this debate different scholars disagree as to the number and combination of ideological features that qualify a party as right-wing extremist as well as the different typologies used to distinguish between parties within this family. According to Christina Liang, this "academic field is especially peculiar about its terminology. Each label carries with it a specific understanding of this family of political parties as well as a particular set of assumptions regarding their origins and electoral success".[15] In an extensive survey of the literature, academic Cas Mudde found 26 definitions of right-wing extremism that contained 57 different ideological features.[16] Alongside the theoretical debate concerning the nature of these parties there is also an empirical debate concerning who speaks for right-wing extremist parties and how to measure their ideology given that many reject the right-wing extremist label being applied to them.
One issue when it comes to terminology is whether parties should be labelled "radical" or "extreme",[17] a distinction that is made by the German Federal Constitutional Court when determining whether a party can be banned. Another question is the what the label "right" implies when applied to the extreme right, given that many parties labelled as right-wing extremist tended to advance neo-liberal and free market agendas as late as the 1980s but can now advocate economic policies more traditionally associated with the left, such as anti-globalisation, nationalisation and protectionism. One approach, drawing on the writings of Norberto Bobbio, argues that attitudes towards equality are what distinguish between left and right and therefore allow these parties to be positioned on the right of the political spectrum. There is also debate about how appropriate the labels fascist or neo-fascist are. According to Cas Mudde, "the labels Neo-Nazi and to a lesser extent neo-fascism are now used exclusively for parties and groups that explicitly state a desire to restore the Third Reich or quote historical National Socialism as their ideological influence".[17]
Jurgen Falter and Siegfried Schumann define right-wing extremism with reference to ten ideological features which they believe constitutes a core extreme right ideology, including hyper-nationalism, ethnocentralism, anti-communism, anti-parliamentarianism and anti-pluralism.[18]
Cas Mudde identified five key features – nationalism, racism, xenophobia, anti-democracy and the belief in a strong state – based on the fact that they appear in 50% of the definitions of the extreme-right that he surveyed.[19] However, in later writings he revisited his earlier assessment and argued in favour of a definition based upon three features: authoritarianism, populism and nativism.
According to Elisabeth Carter, the two defining features of a right-wing extremist party are: a rejection of fundamental human equality, which she asserts is what makes the party right-wing,[20] and a rejection of the fundamental democratic values of the state, which makes it extremist.[20]
Proponents of the horseshoe theory interpretation of the left-right spectrum identify the far-left and far-right as having more in common with each other as extremists than each have towards moderate centrists.[21]
The German political scientist Klaus von Beyme describes three historical phases in the development of far-right parties in Western Europe after World War II.[13][22]
From 1945 to the mid-1950s, far-right parties were marginalised, their ideologies discredited due to the recent existence and defeat of Nazism. Thus in the years immediately following World War II, the main objective of far-right parties was survival; achieving any political impact at all, was largely not expected.
From the mid-1950s to the 1970s, the so-called "populist protest phase" emerged with sporadic electoral success. Far-right parties during this period drew to them charismatic leaders whose profound mistrust of the political establishment led to an "us-versus-them" mind set: "us" being the nation's citizenry, "them," the politicians and bureaucrats currently in-office; beginning in the 1980s, electoral success of far-right political candidates made it possible to revitalize anti-immigration as a mainstream issue.
Nature of support
Jens Rydgren describes a number of theories as to why individuals support far-right political parties, and the academic literature on this topic distinguishes between demand-side theories that have changed the "interests, emotions, attitudes and preferences of voters" and supply-side theories focusing on the programmes of parties, their organisation and the opportunity structures within individual political systems.[23] The most common demand-side theories are social breakdown thesis, the relative deprivation thesis, modernisation losers thesis and the ethnic competition thesis.[24] The rise of far-right political parties has also been viewed as a rejection of post-materialist values on the part of some voters. This theory known as the reverse post-material thesis would blame left-wing and progressive parties for embaracing a post-material agenda (including feminism and environmentalism) that alienates traditional working class voters. Early academic studies adopted psychoanalytic explanations for the far-right support. For example the 1933 publication The Mass Psychology of Fascism by Wilhelm Reich argued the now discredited theory that fascists came to power in Germany as a result of sexual repression.
- Chernosotenzy v odessa.jpg
Supporters of the historic Russian far-right monarchist and antisemitic ultranationalist Black Hundreds movement marching in 1905.
- Mussd.jpg
Blackshirts of the National Fascist Party led by Benito Mussolini during the March on Rome in 1922.
- Ku Klux Klan members march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. in 1928.jpg
Members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), an American far-right white supremacist group, marching in a mass rally in Washington, D.C. in 1928.
- Bundesarchiv Bild 102-02134, Bad Harzburg, Gründung der Harzburger Front.jpg
Nazis alongside members of the far-right reactionary and monarchist German National People's Party (DNVP), in 1931 during the Nazi-DNVP alliance in the Harzburg Front.
- Second Congress of the Patriots of Ukraine, Kharkov, April 12, 2008.jpg
Andriy Biletsky addresses the Second Congress of the "Patriots of Ukraine", Kharkiv, 12 April 2008[25][26]
- Arzheimer, Kai. "The Extreme Right Bibliography (Online Reference Database)". Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- Carlisle, Rodney P. (2005). The Encyclopedia of Politics: The Left and the Right, Volume 2: The Right. Thousand Oaks, California, USA; London, England, UK; New Delhi, India: Sage Publications.
- Hainsworth, Paul (2000). The Politics of the Extreme Right: From the Margins to the Mainstream. Pinter.
- Kundnani, A. Blind Spot? Security Narratives and Far-Right Violence in Europe (International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague, 2012)
- Merkl, Peter H.; Weinberg, Leonard. Right-wing Extremism in the Twenty-first Century. Frank Cass Publishers.
- Hilliard, Robet L.; Keith, Michael C. (1999). Waves of Rancor: Tuning in the Radical Right. Armonk,New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc.
- Parsons, Craig; Smeedling, Timothy M. (2006). Immigration and the transformation of Europe. Cambridge University Press.
- Woshinsky, Oliver H. (2008). Explaining Politics: Culture, Institutions, and Political Behavior. Routledge.
- ^ Carlisle, Rodney P., ed., The Encyclopedia of Politics: The Left and the Right, Volume 2: The Right (Thousand Oaks, California, United States; London, England; New Delhi, India: Sage Publications, 2005) p. 693.
- ^ Hilliard, Robert L. and Michael C. Keith, Waves of Rancor: Tuning in the Radical Right (Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1999) p. 38.
- ^ Hilliard, Robert L. and Michael C. Keith, Waves of Rancor: Tuning in the Radical Right (Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc., 1999, p. 43
- ^ Carlisle, Rodney P., ed., The Encyclopedia of Politics: The Left and the Right, Volume 2: The Right (Thousand Oaks, California, United States; London, England; New Delhi, India: Sage Publications, 2005) p. 694.
- ^ Horst, Junginger, "The Study of Religion Under the Impact of Fascism" in Numen Book Series, vol. 117 (Brill, 2008) p. 273.
- ^ Griffin, Roger: "The Palingenetic Core of Fascism", Che cos'è il fascismo? Interpretazioni e prospettive di ricerche, Ideazione editrice, Rome, 2003 AH.Brookes.ac.uk
- ^ Stackleberg, Rodney Hitler's Germany, Routeledge, 1999, pp. 3–5
- ^ Eatwell, Roger: "A 'Spectral-Syncretic Approach to Fascism', The Fascism Reader, Routledge, 2003 pp 71–80 Books.google.com
- ^ Woshinsky, Oliver H., Explaining Politics: Culture, Institutions, and Political Behavior (Oxon, England; New York City, United States: Routledge, 2008) p. 156.
- ^ Oliver H. Woshinsky. Explaining Politics: Culture, Institutions, and Political Behavior. (Oxon, England; New York City, United States: Routledge, 2008) p. 155.
- ^ Oliver H. Woshinsky. Explaining Politics: Culture, Institutions, and Political Behavior. (Oxon, England; New York City, United States: Routledge, 2008) p. 154.
- ^ Parsons, Craig and Timothy M. Smeeding, Immigration and the transformation of Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2006) p. 18.
- ^ a b Widfeldt, Anders, "A fourth phase of the extreme right? Nordic immigration-critical parties in a comparative context". In: NORDEUROPAforum (2010:1/2), 7–31, http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/nordeuropaforum/2010-1/widfeldt-anders-7/XML/
- ^ Mudde, C. (1996), "The War of Words: Defining The Extreme Right Party", West European Politics, 19/2: 225–248
- ^ Liang, C. (2007) Europe for the Europeans: The Foreign and Security Policy of the Populist Radical Right, Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, p. 284–285
- ^ Fenemma, M. (1997), Some Conceptual Issues and Problems in the Comparison of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe, Party Politics October 1997 vol. 3 no. 4 473–492
- ^ a b C. (2007), The Ideology of the Extreme Right Manchester: Manchester University Press, p. 12
- ^ Klandermaus, B. and Mayer, N. (2006), Extreme Right Activists in Europe: Through the Magnifying Glass, Routledge: Abingdon, p. 4
- ^ Mudde, C. (1995), "Right-Wing Extremism Analyzed: A Comparative Analysis of the Ideologies of Three Alleged Right-Wing Extremist Parties (NPD, NDP, CP'86)", European Journal of Political Research, 27/2: 206
- ^ a b Carter, E. (2005), The Extreme Right in Western Europe: Success or Failure?, Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 13–23
- ^ William Safire. Safire's Political Dictionary. Oxford, England, UK: Oxford University Press, 2008. Pp. 385.
- ^ Klaus von Beyme: "Right-wing extremism in post-war Europe". In: West European Politics 11 (1988:2), 2–18.
- ^ Rydgren, J. (2007) The Sociology of the Radical Right, Annual Review of Sociology, p 241-263
- ^ Rydgren, J. (2007) The Sociology of the Radical Right, Annual Review of Sociology, p 247
- ^ "Ukraine crisis: the neo-Nazi brigade fighting pro-Russian separatists". The Daily Telegraph. 11 August 2014.
- ^ "German TV Shows Nazi Symbols on Helmets of Ukraine Soldiers". NBC News.
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The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home
"In this intimate and poignant history of a sprawling century-old summer house on Cape Cod, George Howe Colt reveals not just one family's fascinating story but a vanishing way of life. Faced with the sale of the treasured house where he had spent forty-two summers, Colt returned for one last August with his wife and young children. "The Big House," the author's loving tribute to his one-of-a-kind family home, interweaves glimpses of that elegiac final visit with memories of earlier summers spent at the house and of the equally idiosyncratic people who lived there over the course of five generations. Built by Colt's great-grandfather one hundred years ago on a deserted Cape Cod peninsula, the house is a local landmark (neighboring children know it as the Ghost House): a four-story, eleven-bedroom jumble of gables, bays, sloped roofs, and dormers. The emotional home of the Colt family, the Big House has watched over five weddings, four divorces, and three deaths, along with countless anniversaries, birthday parties, nervous breakdowns, and love affairs. Beaten by wind and rain, insulated by seaweed, it is both romantic and run-down, a symbol of the faded glory of the Boston Brahmin aristocracy.
With a mixture of amusement and affection, Colt traces the rise and fall of this tragicomic social class while memorably capturing the essence of summer's ephemeral pleasures: sailing, tennis, fishing, rainy-day reading. Time seems to stand still in a summer house, and for the Colts the Big House always seemed an unchanging place in a changing world. But summer draws to a close, and the family must eventually say good-bye.
Elegant and evocative, "The Big House" is both magical and sad, a gift to anyone who holds cherished memories of summer."
Author: George Howe Colt
Published: 2004
Publisher: Scribner
Length: 336 Pages


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China's Property Bubble Has Already Popped, Report Says
China's great real-estate bust has begun, says Nomura.
A combination of a huge oversupply of housing and a shortage of developer financing is producing a housing market downturn that could drive China's GDP to less than 6% this year.
"To us, it is no longer a question of 'if' but rather 'how severe' the property market correction will be," three Nomura analysts wrote in a report released Monday. And there isn't much the government can do to head off problems. "There is no policy that is universally right," says Nomura analyst Zhiwei Zhang.
For some time, Nomura has been among the most bearish of the big investment houses when it comes to China. And it has made some gutsy calls, although they haven't always turned out to be right. In early April, for instance, Nomura forecast that China's current account—the widest measure of trade—would be in the red in the first quarter of 2014. When the numbers came in recently, China still had a current account surplus, though at $7 billion, it was the smallest quarterly surplus in three years.
So it remains to be seen whether Nomura this time will be Paul Revere warning of trouble ahead or Chicken Little, warning of trouble that never seems to occur.
Nomura bases a lot of its argument on the observation that that property investment turned negative in four of China's 26 provinces in the first quarter of 2014, and in two of them, Heilongjiang and Jilin, the fall was greater than 25%. To Nomura, that's a warning sign of similar problems to come in other Chinese provinces.
Falling investment leads to falling levels of construction and sales. And given the property market's huge role in the Chinese economy, declining growth in the property sector means declining growth in GDP.
In one regard, Nomura may be conservative. It estimates that real estate and related industries, such as steel and cement, account for 16% of China's GDP. Other economists put the figure at around 25%.
Shortly after Nomura released its report, UBS came in with its own real-estate assessment, which was also a downer, but less so. The "government still has the means and willingness to mitigate a property downturn," UBS said. Those policies include increasing infrastructure investment and relaxing property policies. Even so, UBS downgraded its 2014 forecast to 7.3% from 7.5% and its 2015 forecast to 6.8% from 7% to reflect its worries about the property sector.
Certainly, the news in the real-estate sector hasn't been good this year—although a number of analysts still expect China to make the government's GDP target of 7.5% growth.
Private data provider China Real Estate Index System said property sales by volume in the 44 cities they track fell 9% in April from the prior month and 19% compared with a year earlier. Average home prices, meanwhile, rose 0.1% in April from March and 9.1% from a year earlier. The sequential gains were the lowest since mid-2012, when the housing market turned around after the last downturn. This price index started only in 2010.
More In Real Estate
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- A New Highway Links China's Capital to a Hoped-For Future
- Shenyang Tries New Tack to Woo College Graduates to Buy Homes
- In Shanghai, Couples Rush to Divorce to Buy Property Later
- In China's New Austerity, Ghosts Now Haunt Government Offices
- 5 Reasons Why Investors Shouldn't Cheer China's Property Market Recovery
The government has lousy policy choices, Nomura argues. Continue with minimal stimulus and GDP growth could fall below 6% this year. On the plus side, developers wouldn't add much to China's long-term housing and debt problems.
Alternatively, ramp up monetary and fiscal policy by, say, cutting by 0.5% the reserves that banks hold in the central bank and by turbo-charging government spending, and the government could achieve 7.4% growth this year, Nomura estimates. But taking that route would only worsen China's housing glut and delay the downturn by a year, the investment firm argues. In 2015, Nomura estimates, GDP would slow to 6.8%.
While delaying problems for a year could give leaders more time to put in place reforms that could help China over the long term, Nomura also says China would have a one-in-three chance of GDP growth falling even faster by the end of 2015 and starting a "hard landing," which it defines as four consecutive quarters of GDP growth below 5%.
Damned if you do and damned if you don't.
It's possible China could get some unexpected good news that lifts the economy. The downturn in the housing market could turn out to be more gradual than Nomura expects or the global economy could turn around and give a big boost to exports. But Mr. Zhang isn't putting his bet on either. "There isn't a panacea," he says.
--Bob Davis. Follow him on Twitter @bobdavis187.