text:
Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.
Keresési feltételek
Az eredmények megjelenítése:
Bővített keresés
A még tapasztalatlan játékosokat kérném, hogy mindenképpen olvassák el az
-ről szóló rövid leírást! Ha az informálódás után is még további kérdésed lenne, nyugodtan keresd fel bármelyik staff tagot. Szívesen útba igazítunk.
Gotham Enyészet - Divide et impera!
Homályzóna: Valami különleges
Smaragd Harcosok
A város urai
Nagy vad
X-Men Reneszánsz
Egy a marvel képregények világában játszódó frpg, ahol világméretű gondok burjánzanak napról-napra. Asgardiak, skrullok, mutánsok, szuper-humánok vívják harcukat a jó ügy érdekében.
A honlap újra indult, és csak rád vár, hogy részt vegyél a híres sorozat által alkotott világban, ahol új kalandok várnak rád. Találkozz Superman ellenségeivel, és vedd fel velük a harcot csapatban, vagy egyénileg. Metropolis csak rád vár!
All Comics
Genzo Comics
ComicVine (angol)
No Deal: NBA cancels first two weeks of season
Hozzászólások száma
Join date
2010. Oct. 06.
Tárgy: No Deal: NBA cancels first two weeks of season
Kedd Okt. 11, 2011 10:52 am
Two weeks of NBA games are lost. Many more could be in jeopardy.
There's a "gulf" that separates owners and players, and they will have to close it quickly to avoid further damage to the schedule.
Sticking to his deadline, Commissioner David Stern wiped out the first two weeks of the season — exactly 100 games — after more than seven hours of negotiations Monday failed to produce a new labor deal
and preserve the Nov. 1 season openers.
The cancellations mark the NBA's first work stoppage since the 1998-99 season was reduced to 50 games.
Clashing more over the salary cap system than economics — but still far apart on both — Stern said the sides are "very far apart on virtually all issues. ... We just have a gulf that separates us.
"With every day that goes by, I think we need to look at further
nfl jerseys cheap
reductions in what's left of the season," he added.
Stern said last week that he would cancel the first two weeks of the season Monday without a new collective bargaining agreement to end the lockout. The two sides expect to remain in contact, but no additional
formal talks have been scheduled.
Stern said he was "sorry" and "sad" to report the cancellations.
"We certainly hoped it would never come to this," he said. "I think that both sides worked hard to get to a better solution. We think that we made very fair proposals. I'm sure the players think the same thing. But
the gap is so significant that we just can't bridge it at this time."
Union president Derek Fisher agreed, emphasizing that missing any games puts the season in jeopardy. He also stressed this was a lockout, not a strike, and that it was the owners' decision not to be playing
"This is not where we choose to be," he said. "We're not at a place where a fair deal can be reached with the NBA."
The cancellation includes all games scheduled to be played through Nov. 14, and
cheap jerseys from china
affected arenas have been authorized to release those dates.
Based on last year's average announced attendance leaguewide (just over 17,300 per game) and the average ticket cost last season, those now-canceled 100 games represent nearly $83 million in lost ticket sales —
before the first concession or souvenir is sold and before the first car pays to park.
Season-ticket holders, however, get refunds, plus interest, for all canceled games.
Though disappointing
cheap jerseys
to both sides and especially to fans, the result isn't a complete surprise. The union had warned players for years to save their money,
knowing a work stoppage seemed likely, and executive director Billy Hunter repeated that players won't cave once they start missing pay checks next month.
"I think it goes back to a comment that David made to me several years ago when he said, 'Look, this is what my owners have to have.' And I said, 'The only way you're going to get that is if you're prepared to
lock us out for a year or two, and (this) indicated to me that they're willing to do it," Hunter said. "So my belief, my contention is that everything he's done has kind of demonstrated that he's following that script."
With another work stoppage, the NBA risks alienating a fan base that sent the league's revenues and TV ratings soaring during the 2010-11 season. And the cost of cancellations would be staggering. Deputy
Commissioner Adam Silver said the league would lose hundreds of millions of dollars; Hunter estimated players' losses at $350 million for each month they were locked out.
Now ushers, security personnel, parking lot attendants, concession workers, restaurant employees and
cheap nhl jerseys
others all stand to have their hours
cut or join the country's 14 million unemployed. A few teams also have either trimmed their staffs or instituted sharp pay cuts — some did that as the lockout began — and more layoffs could be forthcoming.
Hunter said he didn't think the full season was at risk yet and stressed it would be a mistake for the NBA to chance it coming off a season when revenues and TV ratings soared.
"I think it would be foolish for them to kill the season, and we're coming off the best season in the history of the NBA and I'm not so sure in this kind of economy that if there is a protracted lockout whether the
league will recover," he said. "It took us a while to recover from the '98 lockout, and I think it will take us even longer to recover this time around."
For the second straight day the sides focused on system issues instead of the division of revenues. Stern rattled off concessions the league had made there, allowing guaranteed contracts, not rolling back salaries
and giving players an option to shorten the deal.
Players say they moved there, too, offering to reduce the value of the midlevel exception to $5 million for a maximum of four years, and reducing contract lengths to five years for players re-signing with their own
teams to four years for changing teams. The league wants those, currently six and five, down to four and three.
Insisting it needs a system that allows all teams to compete no matter the market size, Stern and Silver said the sides are still apart on annual raises for players and the luxury tax for teams. Players counter that the
league's idea of making the luxury tax more severe would have acted as a hard cap, scaring too many teams from spending above the cap level.
"We're surprised that's what still separates us," Silver said. "We would think that the players in this league would also want a system in which players on every team, if they play for well imagined teams, are on
equal footing. I think it'll create a better game, and we think it'll create hope for more fans in more communities and it'll ultimately lead to more interest in our game."
Stern said the players still proposed they get 53 percent of revenues, whereas the league proposed they get 47 percent. The two sides had discussed a 50-50 split last week, but only in informal discussions, and
given each BRI point was worth roughly $40 million last season, the gap between 3 points and 6 points is about $120 million in the first year of a deal.
Meeting Monday were: Stern; Silver; owners Peter Holt of San Antonio, Glen Taylor of Minnesota and James Dolan of New York; senior vice president and deputy general counsel Dan Rube; plus Hunter; Fisher
of the Lakers and vice president Maurice Evans of the Wizards; and attorneys Jeffrey Kessler and Ron Klempner.
Players reacted quickly — and in some cases, strongly — on Twitter within minutes of the cancelations being announced.
Miami guard Dwyane Wade said the situation "just got real" after he learned the first two weeks are now gone, then lashed out at Stern's comments in a second post by saying they hurt employees at arenas around
the league, other businesses that thrive off NBA business and the league's fans in general.
Minnesota rookie-to-be Derrick Williams, the No. 2 pick in this year's draft, tweeted that going overseas may now be an option for him.
The success of last season — on the court, at the box office and in the headlines — convinced many that the sides would never reach this stalemate.
But small-market owners were hardened after watching LeBron James leave Cleveland for Miami, Amare Stoudemire bolt Phoenix for New York, and Carmelo Anthony later use his impending free agency as
leverage to secure a trade from Denver to the Knicks. They wanted changes that would allow them to hold onto their superstars and compete for titles with the big-spending teams from Los Angeles, Boston and
Dallas who have gobbled up the last four championships.
As the lockout drags on, Stern's legacy as one of sports' best commissioners is weakened. He turned 69 last month, and although he hasn't said when he will retire, he did say this will be his last CBA negotiation
after nearly 28 years running the league.
He has insisted all along he wouldn't worry about the damage to his reputation and that his only concern would be getting the deal his owners need.
It's uncertain when that will be.
The sides didn't agree until Jan. 6 in 1999, just before the deadline for canceling that entire season. The league ended up with a 50-game schedule, often plagued by poor play as teams were forced to fit too many
games into too small of a window.
They could keep meeting now and agree to a deal much sooner this time. Or perhaps the divide is still too great and they will decide there's no reason to rush back to the table.
No Deal: NBA cancels first two weeks of season
Engedélyek ebben a fórumban:
válaszolhatsz egy témára ebben a fórumban.
Fórum kiválasztása
|--Off részleg
| |--Társoldalak
| |--Társalgó
| | |--Karakterek egymás ellen
| | |--Szabad játék
| |
| |--Képregény cikkek
|--Versenyek, pályázatok
| |--Versenyek
|--Szabályok, és egyéb Információk
| |--Hírek
| |--Szabályzat
| |--Információk, Leírások
| |--Korszak kalandok
| |--Tömeg kalandok
| |--Alternatív kalandok
| |--Előtörténetek
| |--Adatlapok, bővítések
| |--Mellék szereplők
| |--Mesélők karakterei
| | |--JK-ból Mesélői NJK
| |
| |--Mesélői szervezetek, csoportok, csapatok
| |--Játékosok szervezetei, csoportjai, csapatjai
| |--Városok, és egyéb helyszínek ismertetése
| |--Alternatív Világok
| |--Televízió
| |--Sajtó
|--Gotham város
| |--Wayne Birtok
| |--Külváros
| |--Vidámpark
| |--Otisburg
| |--Burnley
| |--Newtown
| |--Bűnös kerület
| |--Bowery és Robbinsville
| |--Arkham sziget
| | |--Arkham elmegyógyintézet
| |
| |--Gotham központ
| |--Nyugati oldal
| |--Kínai negyed
| |--Keleti oldal
| |--Régi Gotham
| |--Divat kerület
| |--Robinson park
| |--Gyémánt kerület
| |--Város Háza és Pénzügyi kerület
| |--Hármassarok
| |--Blackgate sziget
| |--Gotham kisebb szigetei
|--Alternatív világok helyszínei
|--Homályzóna alternatíva
|--Egyéb alternatív világok helyszínei
|--Harc az álarcért kalandok helyszínei
Free forum
Free forum support
Visszaélés jelentése
Legfrissebb megbeszélés


text:
Welcome back to another installment of "Straight Out of No Cash". Despite repeated delays, death threats, acts of God, ElectroPlankton, and a laptop catching on fire, I'm finally back to give more bargain basement tips, tricks, and goodies for the Windows-centric set.
It used to be the case only 5 years ago that one had to spend money, sometimes several hundred for even the most basic DAW software. In recent years however, there has been such a large explosion in the amount of Windows freeware that it's now gotten to the point where it's possible to get a pretty good plug-in host sequencer without spending a single red cent. In this week's article, I will examine four kick-ass free sequencer/plug-in hosts for Windows. Two free trackers, and then two free-while-in-beta sequencers.
Trackers (see Wikipedia, CDM) have had a long and venerable history in computer music, going all the way back to the 8-Bit era of Amiga and Atari. By far the simplest form of computer sequencer, to most modern musicians they look rather strange and alien. Despite the shift towards piano roll multi-track sequencers, many musicians to this day swear by the tracker method for its workflow and low performance overhead. Although not terribly difficult to learn, it often helps if one has a programming background, as a tracker file can look very much like a set of programming instructions. Tunestore.de has a great section for the beginning tracker, as it gives some basic concepts about what tracking is and how one can write music in such an environment.
Today's trackers take the old tracker paradigm, and add modern features such as VST plug-in support, audio track recording, automation, and modular patching. Both Psycle and Skale Tracker are modern tracker style plug-in host sequencers with the full range of features, active development, and vibrant communities available for help and advice.
Psycle is similar in style to an older tracker program, Buzz but with integrated handling of VST-plugins (no wrappers), better handling of audio files, and active development so that when bugs do occur there is an actual chance of them being dealt with. Aside from that, they're pretty similar in that they are modular, have a wide range of third-party native modules, machines, and plug-ins, and a fairly active user community that can be relied upon for help. The major downside is that because it's both a tracker as well as a modular host, Psycle can be rather daunting for someone new to computer music. Be prepared to spend several days getting one's head around many new concepts in the working environment. Also, the handling of VST plugins can be a bit wonky at times, so be prepared for the occasional bug or crash when using third party plugs. Check out the Psycle wiki for the current list of problematic VST plugins.
Skale (http://www.kvraudio.com/get/302.html) I would consider to be similar in style to that of FLStudio ("Fruity Loops"), only with a tracker sequencing interface. Like FL, it has a pleasant user-friendly look, pattern-based playlists, inclusion of an integrated sample editor, and can not only host VST plug-ins but be hosted as a plug-in in another host should the user want to take a track to a different environment. Skale's sampler supports Soundfont, Akai S5000/6000, and Gigastudio formats which is rather nice for a free tool. Skale also comes with its own visualizer and set of games as a quick diversion

subset: commoncrawl


text:
ICE drops BlackBerry in favor of iPhone
Justification questions RIM's long term viability.
This story has been updated to add details.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency plans to end its eight-year relationship with the BlackBerry in favor of iPhones, according to solicitation documents posted Friday. The move could prove a major blow to ailing BlackBerry maker Research In Motion.
ICE plans to purchase iPhones for more than 17,000 employees, according to the notice, which states that RIM's technology "can no longer meet the mobile technology needs of the agency."
The defection by a law enforcement agency is a particularly harsh blow for RIM, which has led the mobile market in security even as it has trailed Apple's iPhone and Google's Android operating system in functionality.
Apple ultimately bested RIM based on market viability, according to a limited source justification, which describes RIM as "a distant fourth" in the mobile devices market and says "firms with poor performing products or unsustainable business models will be removed from the marketplace."
On a score sheet, the agency gave RIM two out of five points for commercial viability compared with five out of five for Apple and Google's Android.
The agency gave both Apple and RIM top security scores in the justification. ICE praised the companies for controlling both the hardware and operating systems in their products. Google's Android, which received a low security score, provides only the operating system and allows other companies to run it on their mobile devices.
"What is a strength for Google is a risk for ICE," the justification states.
"Analysis conducted by ICE has concluded that for the near term, Apple iPhone services offer the agency the best solution for its mobile technology," the justification says. "Apple's strict control of the hardware platform and operating system, independent of telecommunication vendor, provides ICE with the greatest degree of control and management to ensure the most reliable delivery of services to ICE's mission users."
RIM had not responded to a request for comment on the ICE purchase by 5 p.m. Friday.


text:
Fund Accountant - Private Equity
£40,000 - £50,000 + Bonus + Benefits
The Company
They are a global and expanding private equity firm with offices in over 10 international locations and work with investments across over 25 countries. They are a truly international company and offer excellent career development prospects within a professional environment.
The Role
You will have responsibility for the management of the day to day relationship and accounting of designated Private Equity and/or Real Estate funds and gain exposure to investments at different stages of their fund life cycle, from those within their period of capital raising to others within their divestment phase. Working within a team of qualified and part qualified professionals, and with responsibility for supervision and motivation of junior part qualified accountants, your responsibilities include:
- Overseeing the preparation and completion process of quarterly and yearly financial statements and reports.
- Agreeing timetables and manage the necessary information flow.
- Monitoring the allocation rules assigned to fund transactions to ensure accurate recording of information between different fund vehicles.
- Performing 1st and 2nd reviews to ensure high quality of work produced by team members.
- Ensuring fund bank accounts and intercompany accounts are reconciled on a continuous basis.
- Working closely with the technical team to ensure financial statements meet the funds reporting requirements of UK GAAP, US GAAP, IFRS and LPA GAAP.
- Reviewing drawdown and equalisation calculations to ensure the accuracy of figures, as funds seek access to their commitments.
- Reviewing distribution calculations, ensuring the flow of funds from investment sales are accurately recorded right through to fund partner payments.
- Reviewing GPS calculations to ensure the correct and timely recording of fund management fees.
- Preparing partner statements for the correct accounting of equity held within each reportable fund.
- Ensuring the accurate communication of all fund movements between the fund and its partners, through the issuance of relevant fund notices.
- Working within LPA guidelines to ensure the treatment of movements adhere to necessary criteria, notably in the case of recallable distributions.
- Conducting weekly meetings or calls with senior finance or investment team 'clients' relating to fund matters to ensure open and effective communication at all times.
- Responsible for the training and development of team members.
- Leading staff appraisals, setting future objections and providing assessment of past performance.
Who they are looking for
If you would like to be considered for this role, you must meet the following criteria:
- Are you a qualified accountant who has current experience or has gained experience in the last five years working within a firm of accountants? And,
- Do you have good technical ability and experience of preparation and completion process or oversight of quarterly and yearly financial statements and reports? And,
- Do you have good verbal and written communication skills to be able to deal with CFOs and Financial Controllers of private equity firms? And,
- Would you be able to take the responsibility for supervision and guidance of junior team members?


text:
This article is more than 1 year old
US develops hopping 'Lunar Penguin'
Cruise missile tech coming soon to a Moon near you
Despite recent military assertions to the contrary, it seems that the US is running a covert black op to militarise the Moon through deployment of a hopping, rocket-powered "Penguin" designed to cover vast lunar distances with a single bound.
According to Reuters, Raytheon's "Lunar Penguin" - a 3ft-tall assemblage of rocket engines, cruise missile mapping technology and "Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle" nav systems, unveiled at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Space 2005 Conference - can jump around one-sixth of a mile, possibly more. It was originally developed to search for ice at the lunar south pole, and is now being pitched as a precision delivery vehicle for the science community or, as Raytheon puts it, a "robotic precursor" which can carry out a reccy of possible landing sites for manned missions.
Naturally, the Lunar Penguin bears no resemblance whatsoever to a penguin, but looks a bit like the Apollo lander. It boasts four legs and two-part, liquid-fuel rocket engines. The clever bit is its ability to "hop", as project supremo Karleen Seybold explained: "That ability is something unique in this design, where you can refire the engines and relocate."
Since the Penguin forms part of the NASA's "Project Constellation" to explore next-generation technology for exploration of the Moon and Mars and beyond, Raytheon is conscious of the need to keep the budget within reasonable parameters. Accordingly, the company has taken the rocket engines from a ground-based missile system and bolted on the Tomahawk cruise's "digital scene matching area correlation" navigation system working in conjunction with navigation capabilities from the aforementioned Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle - part of a set-up designed to track and destroy ballistic missiles.
Enough said. Those doubtful of the sinister implications of the precision-guided, hopping cruise Moon Penguin, should have a shufti at Raytheon's website, which lists in gory detail the company's current porfolio of products. An extract from one recent press release will suffice to underline the threat:
Raytheon Company Names Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II Team
Raytheon will partner with Aerojet, Sacramento, Calif.; Goodrich, Vergennes, Vt., and EFW, Ft. Worth, Texas, to offer a proven low-risk, cost-effective, robust solution with precision lethality and operational flexibility for aviation systems for the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and allied forces.
"APKWS II will fill the gap between the current Hydra 70 unguided rocket and the Hellfire missile. This low cost precision accuracy is needed in today's environment to give the warfighter the flexibility and the freedom to maneuver," said Ron Krebs, APKWS II program manager. "The Raytheon APKWS II system provides the warfighter 100 percent confidence of 'one rocket, one kill'."
Lovely. ®


text:
Welcome to Media PR Jobs
Media PR Jobs is job-research service that consolidate all of the media PR jobs from every professional job source, company, and organization career page (and every other job site we can find) so you know about all the media PR jobs and can make your important personal career decisions in an objective and rational way.
Media Assistant Jobs
|No Jobs Found!
Search All Media Assistant Jobs
© 2023 mediaprjobs. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Join our family of tuition-free public charter schools!
Enroll today for 2017-2018 at one of the area's four classical public charter schools! Our family of schools is TUITION-FREE and welcomes ALL students at locations in Wilmington, Leland, Southport, and Whiteville. Our campuses offer year-round and traditional calendar options and are frequently their county's highest-scoring on End-of-Grade tests. Our schools provide a classical curriculum including Latin, Grammar, and Cursive. Our middle schools offer various athletic and extracurricular programs. Available seats are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Enroll K-8 students online January 1-31, 2017!
Additional resources about our campuses are provided at the end of the page. To access enrollment forms, please select a campus, below:
Charter Day School, Leland NC – click HERE
Columbus Charter School, Whiteville, NC – click HERE
Douglass Academy, Wilmington NC – click HERE
South Brunswick Charter School, Bolivia/Southport NC – click HERE
Additional Resources:
Testimonials from our parents:
Student Life:
Academic Performance:
2015-2016 End-of-Grade (EOG) Test Reports
Charter Day School earns 2016 National Wesley Becker Excellent School Award
Douglass Academy provides hope to downtown Wilmington families
South Brunswick Charter School is Brunswick County's second-highest scoring elementary in it's first year of testing
Columbus Charter School exceeds local EOG averages by 4-17 percentage points


text:
The Dodgers sit in last place in the NL West, 6.0 games out. But the good news is, all five of the other divisions have greater gaps from the cellar to first:
- Chicago White Sox, 6.5 GB Detroit
- Chicago Cubs, 7.5 GB St. Louis
- Toronto Blue Jays, 8.5 GB Boston
- Miami Marlins, 10.0 GB Atlanta
- Houston Astros, 11.0 GB Texas
Less ground to make up! More happiness ensues!


text:
What is Theology?
Related Media
What is theology? Theology seems to be a bad word today. To many it communicates bigotry, arrogance, and exclusivism riddled with impracticality. Sure, people will allow you to have your theology, just don't let it be know with too much conviction that you actually believe it. You can have your beliefs just don't push those upon others.
Webster's dictionary defines theology as "The science of God or of religion; the science which treats of the existence, character, and attributes of God, his laws and government, the doctrines we are to believe, and the duties we are to practice. . . the science of Christian faith and life." Saint Augustine in the fifth-century defined theology as "Rational discussion respecting the deity." A. H. Strong, the great twentieth century theologian said that theology is "the Science of God and of the relations between God and the universe." Charles Ryrie, the popular dispensationalist theologian, says theology is "thinking about God and expressing those thoughts in some way." (Basic Theology [Wheaton, IL: 1986], 9). Millard Erickson, a modern Baptist theologian says that theology is simply "the study or science of God." (Christian Theology [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2001], 22).
Most simply put, theology is the study of God. It comes from the word theos which is Greek for "God," and -ology which is from the Greek word logos meaning "word." Most literally then the word theology means "words about God" or "the study of God." If one were to use the term generically, it functions much like "philosophy" or "worldview." People often use the word this way in secular venues. Many times it is used very specifically, speaking only about God. This is called "theology proper." But generally speaking theology is a belief system that is built upon intellectually and emotionally held commitments concerning God and man.
Speaking about theology in times past was not thought of taboo as it is today. It used to be called "the queen of the sciences." It was understood to be the first among pursuits of knowledge, since it was believed that all other pursuits were vitally linked to its dictates. Morality was dictated by it. Philosophy was called its handmaiden. Why was it held in such high esteem then? Because theology itself provides a foundation for your philosophy and worldview, which in turn sets inclinations for your heart, actions, and decisions in all situations. Everything is affected by your theology. For example, if your theology denies the existence of God, then your morality is going to be affected since its basis is not a personal and timeless being. With a theology of atheism (i.e. belief that there is no God) morals become relative to the time and situation. In this case, what is true for one generation may not be true for another. If your theology denies the sinfulness of man, then a bloody sacrificial death to atone for sin becomes repulsive, since, according to your theology, men don't need to have their sin atoned for. If your theology is polytheistic (i.e. belief in many gods), then you will constantly be trying to figure out which god or gods you should encounter, pray to, and/or appease in order to make their situation "right." The implications are endless.
In short, theology is a set of intellectual and emotional commitments, justified or not, about God and man which dictate ones beliefs and actions. Neither the word itself is irrelevant, nor the concepts which it seeks to articulate. It is the first pursuit of knowledge and wisdom.
Related Topics: Introduction to Theology


text:
Serving Size: 5
POINTS® Value: 4
3 cups water
1 cup dried red beans
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
14 ounces Gimme Lean "sausage," crumbled and browned
1 each bay leaf
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped green onions
Combine first 12 ingredients in an electric slow cooker. Cover with lid; cook on high heat for 5 hours. Discard bay leaf; stir in salt.
Serve over hot, cooked rice. Sprinkle servings evenly with green onions.
5 servings (serving size: 1 cup bean mixture, 3/4 cup rice, and 1 tablespoon green onions)
NOTES: When I made this the first time I didn't sauté the onions. Sautéing the onion would give it a richer taste. I also added some jalapeño peppers.
Per serving (without rice): 224 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (2% calories from fat); 22g Protein; 35g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 707mg Sodium; 14 g Fiber
Adapted from a recipe posted to WWWCrockpot


text:
Rambling on Demographics, Facebook, danah boyd in australia, gapingvoid cartoon
will try this line tonight – thanks GapingVoid! In May 2006, a PHD student had this to say about Facebook: Socioeconomic motives. People commonly cite the fact that Facebook was started at Harvard as a factor in its success – that these ivy league students proved tastemakers for the rest of the country. Sure, this…
In May 2006, a PHD student had this to say about Facebook:
Socioeconomic motives. People commonly cite the fact that Facebook was started at Harvard as a factor in its success – that these ivy league students proved tastemakers for the rest of the country. Sure, this may have been a slight motive very early in the rollout process, but I do not believe it is a critical factor. However, there are critical socioeconomic factors tied in to the Facebook. First, the class of student who uses the Facebook is a unique subset of the youth market. That is to say, they are the privileged class of youths who can attend a four-year college. The Facebook represented a place where they and their like friends could be found; I'm sure I can dig a study up where it shows that high school students of like socioeconomic and educational status cluster together. The Facebook allowed these like clusters to be transplanted virtually, into a members-only place. Compared to a Myspace or Friendster, where you're forced into the pile with everyone else, this made the initial adoption of a SNS much easier for members of this socioeconomic class. As Facebook radiated outward, taking on colleges further down in US News rankings, it was a class effect that elevated the perceived status of membership, one that continues today.
Fred Stutzman was discussing something that Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook had alluded to, and listed the socio-economic divide as a critical factor in Facebook's success. Other's have picked up on similar themes recently, including another PHD student and social networks enthographer, Danah Boyd. Danah's experience with her take on this phenomenon is interesting in and of it's self. She writes in a follow up:
One month ago, I put out a blog essay that took on a life of its own. This essay addressed one of America's most taboo topics: class. Due to personal circumstances, I wasn't online as things spun further and further out of control and I had neither the time nor the emotional energy to address all of the astounding misinterpretations that I saw as a digital game of telephone took hold. I've browsed the hundreds of emails, thousands of blog posts, and thousands of comments across the web. I'm in awe of the amount of time and energy people put into thinking through and critiquing my essay.
I felt sorry for her, she was trying to deal with her personal life while a discussion that has done the traps before, about Facebook being so very Harvard, hit a tipping point. She clearly wasn't expecting it. Timing always intrigues me in social media. Mostly because we control what is front page news now and when. Hmmm as we become a brand of one, through blogging, or Facebook, our 'audience' sees us as 'Always On' . My friend Vashti didn't log into Facebook for 2 weeks and ended up placing this on her status update – (Facespooked: verb, past and past participle, the act of being overwhelmed by love and attention and pokes, heh.)
It's not you, it's me… I just got facespooked ok
You don't agree? Think about this – go on holidays for a month. No email, no blogging, no Facebook. Send a few postcards (for those under 22, status updates in real world. :P) Now come back and see if you've been missed? No? Time to find a 'real' social network that really miss you then. David N Wallace quoted Adam Fields:
"There's really only one rule for community as far as I'm concerned, and it's this – in order to call some gathering of people a 'community', it is a requirement that if you're a member of the community, and one day you stop showing up, people will come looking for you to see where you went."
So Danah (wikipedia), take comfort that people went looking for you hon 🙂
I'm promise you I'm not going to jump on the class divide debate as it applies to Australia. I'm particularly not going to discuss whether the Eastern Suburbs/Lower North Shore of Sydney are Facebook, the Western Suburbs MySpace – Oops, just did. 😛
But for pete's sake, can you imagine a company, looking to advertise in a mass market social network NOT asking what the demographics/pyschographics/sellographics are? Ok, the last term doesn't exist but it should. Think about all the studies about how people choose to identify with a particular tribe – what makes them initiate and then subscribe to an online community. 'cos normal people don't wake up on a sunny Saturday morning in Sydney and say, "Gosh I think I'll go sign up for a social network, for grown ups, one that matches my demographic". Well, I do but then I'm not normal – off to play with beta IYomu – they are launching next week I think. Might write about them later. And TheBroth.com – cos I promised Marcus. And I have a blog post welling up on why internet gets press for addiction but TV doesn't really. And… then can I go outside and play please? Have a great weekend my loves!
PS And apologies, I promised to post this ages ago. Danah Boyd in Australia – Brisbane on Monday, Melbourne on Wednesday. Another example of 'Always On'? I'm feeling so guilty about not posting every thing that gets sent to me. Probably cos it's not that much stuff but I need it to percolate for it to be meaningful for me. Talking of percolating, I need kawfee (that's American for coffee). If you are interested in social networks and education, in Bris or Melb, go! then report back here!
PPS And someone else contacted me about a possible visit at the end of the year that I am tres excited about. I would call him the grandfather of virtual communities but I'd probably get my bum smacked. 😛 Not allowed to talk about it… but they didn't say I could blog about it. Nah I don't really think I'll get away with splitting that hair either. Forget I said it.


text:
The Eichler Network, through its web site and CA-Modern magazine, is dedicated to meeting the home maintenance, renewal, and furnishing needs of mid-century modern households throughout California. CA-Modern Magazine is mailed each quarter to 15,000 mid-century modern homeowners in Northern and Southern California, with a readership of 37,000 adult consumers.
Consisting of this dynamic and informative website (EichlerNetwork.com), a handsome four-color quarterly magazine (CA-Modern), and the annual Eichler Network Home Maintenance Directory*, the Eichler Network connects service and product companies with California's most enthusiastic homeowner/customers: the owners of California's mid-century modern homes, including Eichler, Streng, Cliff May, Alexander, and other mid-century modern homes. When you team up with the Eichler Network as a Preferred Service Company, you become a member of an 'expert team' supported by an integrated package of marketing benefits that puts the spotlight on your products and services. The Eichler Network's team goal is to emphasize quality and workmanship while preserving the wonderful world of California's mid-century modern homes.
To see the latest issue of CA-Modern Magazine in a large format, click on the magazine image.
The Eichler Network offers members a complete integrated marketing opportunity to ensure that new customers find you wherever and whenever they need your product and service. In one easy-to-manage program, you receive:
Exclusivity. The Eichler Network offers only a limited number of memberships in each service or product category, ensuring that each member receives the greatest marketing advantage. This exclusivity benefit varies by service type and region.
Official 'Preferred Service Company' Listing. After a thorough screening process, the Eichler Network puts its name behind only those companies with a proven track record of quality service and experience working on mid-century modern homes. The Preferred Service Company roster is prominently displayed at all times on EichlerNetwork.com as well as in each issue of CA-Modern.
Full-Year Advertising Coverage in CA-Modern. Advertising experts know that frequency is critical to building brand recognition, product preference, and customer response. That's why you receive a full-year (four issues), full-color display ad in CA-Modern magazine, finely targeted by region with multiple size options.
Annual Eichler Network Home Maintenance Directory. Eighty-nine percent of Bay Area Eichler Network readers look to the annual Eichler Network Home Maintenance Directory for valuable information about the Network's Preferred Service Companies. Bay Area Eichler-focused members receive a half-page, full-color written company profile in this valuable annual publication. Each profile includes a professional photograph of key company personnel with accompanying company background, and stresses the 'human' side of your company and its positive business philosophy. The Directory is distributed to Bay Area Eichler homes only.
Company Profile on EichlerNetwork.com. A comprehensive written company profile on EichlerNetwork.com, which includes your full-color company logo. Your company profile also links to your company website and email address.
Editorial/Article Resource. Preferred Service Companies qualify as professional go-to resources for home-improvement articles featured in CA-Modern magazine and on EichlerNetwork.com.
Not everyone can become a member of the Eichler Network. Joining requires a solid record of good customer service and quality workmanship and approval of the State Contractors License Board and Better Business Bureau.** The Eichler Network offers only a limited number of memberships in each service or product category, ensuring that each member receives the greatest marketing advantage.
* Delivered to Bay Area Eichler homes only
** Membership qualifications are subject to change without notice
The Eichler Network and CA-Modern magazine reach owners and residents of mid-century modern homes across California.
Ninety-five percent of these enthusiastic readers own the homes in which they live, reflecting both significant purchasing power and sales potential. Many of these classic homes are valued from $700,000 to $2 million or more, and their owners are passionate about both enjoying the lifestyles afforded by their unique homes and protecting their investments.
These homeowners demonstrate their passion for their homes and for high-modern living by investing their time and money into stylish furnishings and dedicated maintenance and home renewal. They also truly appreciate service companies and product providers who understand and cater to their special homes and lifestyle.
CA-Modern readers are active, highly educated, discerning consumers***...
CA-Modern readers care about their homes with great pride and emotion, and they appreciate the information that the Eichler Network and CA-Modern provide***
*** Statistics based on results of a recent Eichler Network Reader Survey
"Our affiliation with the Eichler Network has improved our business tremendously, and we can't recommend the Network enough. Thank you for your hard work, integrity, and vision as you've helped us serve the Eichler community."
-- Richard Abril, CEO, Abril Roofing, Inc.
"Having operated a construction company in the Bay Area for the past 30 years, I've experienced the up-and-down cycle of business. However, since being involved in the Eichler market niche, and with the Eichler Network, our production has been strong and steady. In fact, over the past year, Eichler business alone has shot up nearly $500,000." -- Ron Key, CEO, Keycon, Inc. (general contracting)
"I can now say that linking up with the Eichler Network was the best advertising decision I've ever made! Business is booming! Working with Director Marty Arbunich has been a pleasure with no pressure. I'm glad to be part of the team!"
-- Jeff Nichols, Owner, Eichler Siding
"We have advertised in quite a few home improvement/design magazines, but CA-Modern has been successful for us, which is why we continue... We get a steady amount of prospective leads which turn into high-paying customers. We also get great referrals from our Eichler customers as well as repeat business."
-- Becky & Bart San Diego, Owners, Rebarts Interiors
Service companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento-Davis, and Southern California areas interested in exploring marketing opportunities through the Eichler Network, its website, and CA-Modern magazine should email the Eichler Network, or phone an ad sales representative at 415-307-3801.


text:
We love feedback
Thank You.Thank you for your feedback!
All feedback is read by the Statcounter management and developers to improve the service. However, this is not a support channel. If you have an issue that requires assistance please visit the support section .
Feedback Problem!
- guest (Viewing as Guest)
Reports › Traffic Sources
Sun 26th Mar 2023
Your log duration for this project is 9 months. You can request upgrade for a longer log duration from just €9 per month. Request Upgrade
3 Jan is the last date available for the link to detailed Hourly Stats. Upgrade to begin recording more days.
Export this data to further analyze your stats in a spreadsheet (CSV format)
Available Filters
Active Filters
Recent Filters:
The exit link https://secure.2checkout.com/order/checkout.php?PRODS=655742&QTY=1&AFFILIATE=1377&CART=1&LANG=en.
On the guitar-online.com/en/other-music-software/transcribe-software-to-help-transcribe-recorded-music/ page.
On the guitar-online.com/en/guitar-tutorial-software/classical-pieces-for-guitar-volume-1-for-advanced-level/ page.
On the guitar-online.com/en/books-and-audio-cd-online-store/yoke-wong-award-winning-piano-improvisation-course/ page.
On the guitar-online.com/en/other-music-software/metronome-for-simple-compound-and-odd-time-meters/ page.
[{ "title": "Direct Traffic", "color": "#e6ecf3", "percent": "50", "traffic": "8", "link": "#"}, { "title": "Website Referrals", "color": "#b4c7da", "percent": "43.8", "traffic": "7", "link": "/p2292634/camefrom/"}, { "title": "Search Traffic", "color": "#064685", "percent": "6.3", "traffic": "1", "link": "/p2292634/keyword/"}]
|Direct Traffic
8 Visits
|Website Referrals
7 Visits
|Search Traffic
1 Visits
Is your list of Website Addresses up to date?
The Incoming Traffic stat depends on having accurate information on which urls are external to your site and which are internal. You can update the list below:Referrals from bro-depot.com are considered to be internal. Project administrators can add more domains.
ReportsDownload Logs
- Country
- State/Region
- City
- Country Percent
- Returning Visits
- Session Lengths
- Downloads
- First Time Visitors1-5 Returning Visits6-10 Returning Visits10+ Returning Visits
- Less than 5 secsFrom 5 secs to 30 secsFrom 30 secs to 5 minsFrom 5 mins to 20 minsFrom 20 mins to an hourLonger than an hour
- Sources
- Came From
- Keywords
Paid Traffic
Exit Links
- Popular
- Entry
- Exit
Custom Tags
No custom tags detected. Click here for help setting up custom tags.
- Browser
- Platform
- Screen
- Os
- Device


text:
WordPress newsletter plugin growing your business in a few minutes
Want to get stunning results quickly? Configure AcyMailing and send your first newsletter in some clicks.
Then come back the day after to take the most of your perfect results.
Not a developer? No worries we got your back!
No need to do any HTML nor installing anything else to get your system working.
Choose your template, configure it, send it.
As simple as that!
Use our free WordPress & Joomla! newsletter plugin and become a:
Delivery Specialist: Pass SPAM Filter tests
Use our Mail-Tester tool to make sure your email will be well received.
SPAM Filters will love you!
Content Architect: Create fantastic templates
Try our drag & drop email editor and see how easy it is to create your templates.
Marketing Expert: Automate your campaigns
Send birthday newsletters, abandoned cart reminders and so much more.
Create workflows and conditional sending. Send them what they need!
Data Analyst: Track your results
Who opened your newsletter? Who clicked a link? Which newsletter has been the most efficient?
You will love being considered as a geek.
Email automation plugin for successful marketing campaigns
Download and try it for free!
"We have been using it for like 14 years or so as the primary newsletter system for our clients. We can only say good things about it ? AcyMailing migrated from Joomla to WordPress and followed our clients doing the same"JenskirkAcyMailing WordPress Plugin page
"I love this tool. It is superpowerful and offers great value. It does everything I want it to with my email marketing. Their team even added a feature that I requested (the ability to download your email stats to an excel file).ChrisrkellerAcyMailing WordPress Plugin page
In addition, their support is amazing. Super prompt and super helpful. I always get a response in under 8 hours and any issues I run into are quickly solved."
"Very easy to use, intuitive, although it is free (so it does not have all the features activated) is fully functional. It has a couple of improvements to make, but they are on the right track."SergiomusaAcyMailing WordPress Plugin page
"I'm using Acymailing for almost 5 years, it's a great product with amazing support.SickNickAcyMailing WordPress Plugin page
Glad to see that there is a WordPress version. People don't know Acymailing you should definitely give it a try."
"This plugin provides all I could wish from a newsletter plugin system. Lots of features logically organised and implemented.TinacroAcyMailing WordPress Plugin page
If that is not enough, I should mention support. The support staff is out of this world. Provides help in minutes from submitting the ticket. They are extremely supportive and helpful."
"I've been a WordPress lover since many years, but had to move to Joomla for Acymailing Component. Now since the Acymailing has launched Plugin for WordPress as well, I am so loving it. The migration from Joomla to WordPress was so smooth and the Tech Support was life saviour. They replied my tickets even during weekend."TanathakoreAcyMailing WordPress Plugin page


text:
We recently discovered a locale specific issue in our application and while it was easy to fix (once we figured out what was going on), it got the team I'm on thinking about unit testing practices in this regard.
We would like to catch these issues sooner, ideally before they're discovered by a customer, and we want to protect ourselves from reintroducing locale specific bugs in the future, but duplicating every unit test in at least one other culture seems like a lot of overhead.
How do you or how would you approach multi-locale unit testing?


text:
Gold in euros
Big Week for Silver
Washington and Wall Street's Incestuous Corruption - Martin Armstrong
before. Those who try to attack every negative account of the Investment Bankers as Conspiracy Nuts have been following the advice of Cicero. When you can't address the subject, attack the speaker. Anyone who has dared to discuss the links between the New York Investment Bankers and Washington have been cast aside as Conspiracy Theories. The question now is, HOW MANY CO-INCIDENTS DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE A CONSPIRACY? Gretchen has exposed not just the usual account of how many people from Goldman Sachs have infiltrated government around the world, but how Goldman Sachs has also provided employment for government kingpins. If you ever wondered why no New York Investment Banker is ever criminally prosecuted, this book exposes the political links that protect them. J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs can be civilly prosecuted and fined for the very same acts that companies like ENRON, WORLDCOM, GALLEON, ARTHUR ANDERSON, DREXEL BURNHAM, REFCO, and numerous other firms were utterly destroyed for claims of fraud all because the government has discretion as to who it will prosecute criminally and civilly, meaning there is no black and white Rule of Law.
Whenever an economic crisis develops, everyone looks for the obvious culprit to blame and it is always just about the money. Consequently, with hindsight, any near meltdown of America's financial system can be argued to have
enriched a few at the expense of the rest of the people. Who's responsible? Congress holds its hearings but the vast majority are lawyers. The ONE CARDINAL RULE of any good lawyer is NEVER ASK A QUESTION YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE ANSWER WILL BE! SO if you think that a hearing is really a high profile investigation, go back to watching the heavy weight wrestling matches
where reality is in the eye of the beholder. She exposes James Johnson who was the head of Fannie Mae, set up the whole mortgage bubble, and then quit in 1998 to become a board member of Goldman Sachs. And
gue ss what! Barney Frank, author of the financial reform that will hurt everyone BUT the main culprits, asked Johnson to hire his family members as a favor. Oh ya! Let us not forget that it was James Johnson who helped Obama raise money for his campaign. And you thought there could be anything done without an undisclosed conflict of interest? Right!
The recent report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission blamed of course all the usual suspects — Wall Street banks, the mortgage
giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, subprime lenders, and financial regulators. Nobody will ever have to answer for anything. Naturally, they put on a good show as if it were the latest cast of characters in a new version of that times play:
Gretchen has done what a real investigation should have done. She focused in her "Reckless Endangerment" concentrating on particular individuals who played key roles who Congress never once mentioned. The reason why becomes all too obvious. For Congress understands the American people. YOU CAN FOOL MOST OF THE PEOPLE MOST OF THE TIME proving Abraham Lincoln was dead wrong. Congress, brought to you by the friendly New York Investment Banker, knows that there will be a fuss. But within days it will blow over and by election time, everyone will have forgotten. Prosecute the fringe and make noise sentencing them to prison for decades and you won't have to prosecute the real culprits. To satisfy the outcry, they will just charge them civilly and fine them less than 1% of the transactions claimed to have been the fraud. As reported by the Wall Street Journal on June 22, 2o11, J.P. Morgan agreed to be fined $153.6 million for fraud.
This month alone, on June 17th, 2011, it was reported that the usual culprits Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan were the subject of an investigation in London for rigging the warehouses there to store metal. On June 14th, 2011, the front page of the London Financial Times reported that Goldman Sachs paid an internship of the brother of an official at a Libyan fund. Bribes of this nature are a criminal act for everyone else. Let's face it. The New York crowd can do whatever they like, for beside Death and Taxes, they can be certain that no matter what, they will NEVER be criminally prosecuted for anything at any time. They can't even be really sued in New York for they own the courts.
Gretchen Morgenson co-authored the book with Joshua Rosner, an expert on housing finance. They keenly trace the beginnings of the collapse to the mid-1990s, when it was the Clinton administration calling for a partnership between the private sector and Fannie and Freddie to encourage home buying. The mortgage agencies' government backing was critical providing the implied AAA subsidy, which was used by Fannie's head James A. Johnson to expand the business to accomplish the political increase in home ownership. A 1996 study by the Congressional Budget Office found that Fannie kept nearly a third of the subsidy rather than passing it on to homeowners. Throughout Johnson's more than nine years running Fannie, he personally took home roughly $100 million. His successor, Franklin D. Raines, has kept up the tradition.
Gretchen points out that under Johnson and Raines, Fannie clearly maintained its distinguished and privileged position by handing out a portion of its profits directly to members of Congress through campaign contributions. Additionally, they provided employment positions for relatives and former staff members. The name of the game in Washington is to do fake studies where you are told in advance what the outcome is supposed to be. Fannie also paid academics for the same scheme doing research that concluded the benefits of its activities while never addressing the risks. Fannie also organized a host of groups to lobby on its behalf. Gretchen and Rosner offered detailed accounts of how Lawrence Summers, then Deputy Treasury Secretary, buried a department report recommending that Fannie and Freddie should be privatized. A few years later, Fannie hired Kenneth Starr who was the special prosecutor in the
Whitewater affair, who then intimidated a member of Congress who was asking how much the company was paying its top executives.
The picture painted by Gretchen calls to mind Organized Crime. Fannie's top executives were above the law and underwrote as many loans as possible enriching themselves and their co-conspirators. They effectively made Countrywide Financial as big as it was since it was the single largest provider of home loans for Fannie and the nation's largest mortgage lender! Of course, Countrywide abandoned all lending standards and wrote as much junk as possible knowing they would be bundled. This was all linked hand-in-hand with the New York Investment Bankers who were slicing and dicing everything into packages of securities and then convinced AIG to insure their mess.
Gretchen and Rosen have demonstrated how the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington has created an incestuous relationship of absolute immunity. They are in bed with the decision makers as to who gets prosecuted or not. Former Chairman of Goldman Sachs became the Treasury secretary, Robert Rubin, who pushed for repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act that had separated commercial banking from investment banking as well as insurance. Rubin eliminated all the Great Depression reforms and enabled the crisis to take place. After accomplishing his goal to get rid of the restraints, he then became Citigroup's vice chairman, and Gretchen wrote "over the following decade pocketed more than $100,000,000 as the bank sank deeper and deeper into a risky morass of its own design."
The incestuous relationships forming a tight web of personal relationships as well, have tied Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, the New York Fed, the Federal Reserve, Fannie, and the Treasury making fools out of the press and the people of the United States. Of course, just in time for the Crash of 2007-2009, Hank Paulson, former Chairman of Goldman Sachs, assumed the role at Treasury ensuring no one would be prosecuted. In 1996, Fannie had even hired Stephen Friedman, another former chairman of Goldman Sachs, to its own board. Then, in 1999, Jim Johnson left Fannie and joined Goldman's board. It would of course be Hank Paulson who as Treasury Secretary under Bush not only protected Goldman Sachs by bailing out AIG letting Goldman's hated rivals collapse increasing the market-share for Goldman Sachs, but then orchestrated the taxpayer bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Naturally, he created TARP to bailout Goldman, Citigroup, and AIG.
Gretchen makes it clear that these key players simply got away with it. The American taxpayers have not just picked up the bill; these guys have sent the nation into massive inflation that is being masked by the collapse. This inflation is the depreciation of the purchasing power of the dollar wiping out the savings of the elderly and destroying the pension funds of the Baby-Boomers. These people are effectively loading up the submarines with cash and are headed overseas just like the Nazi's did when they knew the end was near.
Not only is there no Rule of Law, one would have to be insane to even have accounts in New York after this type of conduct. They own Congress, the White House, the Courts, the Justice Department, everything. They pulled of the greatest takeover of government in the entire history of civilization. As Gretchen wrote: "The failure to hold central figures accountable for their actions sets a dangerous precedent." Why would anyone do business in the United States? This is becoming like some corrupt third world country. Gretchen has got it right: "A system where perpetrators of such a crime are allowed to slip quietly from the scene is just plain wrong."
This entire affair has made fools out the press that only regurgitate whatever the government says, offer little to no independent verification of anything they say, and in the end, have become merely a propaganda machine for the real criminals. This clearly shows that those who constantly criticize anyone who dares to point out this incestuous relationship as CONSPIRACY NUTS, are either sublime fools, or more likely shills who are paid one way or another to create disinformation.
The worst is yet to come. Now, they are slashing all the benefits you paid for your entire life. Like a bait-and-switch conman, they took taxes on the pretense you would get something in return, and now when you get close, they just pass laws and revoke everything you paid for all these years. They call it socialism when it comes to the people. When it comes to paying the good-old boys, it is not even discussed and when it is, the picture is painted that if they do NOT bail them out again, the world will end. Perhaps it's just the political world of easy flowing money.
One day the American people will stop being fools. But for now, not only is a fool easily parted from his money, but they have proven you can fool most of the people most of the time.
To Chemo or not Chemo. Alternative Cancer (scientific) treatment.
What she has to say is pretty important if you know someone with Cancer.
She was given a death sentence years ago and her options were Chemo and die in months anyway or try and find another route. Both her parents are Medical Doctors BTW. She is not cured as she is riddled with Cancer but what she has is an active and extended life years beyond what anyone would have expected. For others with less aggressive or advanced Cancer there are better results.
"I am sending this email because so many people have asked me about Immunepheresis, the treatment in Germany that has kept me alive against the odds in spite of a terminal metastatic cancer diagnosis. Please forward it to anyone you know in case it helps someone who has cancer to explore an additional medical treatment option.
I have been toying with the idea of becoming visible as an advocate for this treatment, after all, I am not the doctor in charge, and I am not able to speak for the medical side of things, but because of the way I feel, the happiness I'm experiencing, the 'extra time' that I know I have recieved, the physical strength, the power to be still here engaged with raising my kids, being with friends and family and doing my work in the world, I am compelled to share my story, and if it extends even one persons life, it will have been worth it.
My clear intention in writing this is to be of service to humanity by being living proof that Immunepheresis works. And the more who know about it (like dialysis in the 50's before it went mainstream) the more can avail of it. I would love to see it available as an option under my medical insurance and part of what's on offer in hospitals locally. Some American patients attending the clinic have had the costs reimbursed by their insurance companies so it is heading in the right direction.
Imagine knowing, despite a cancer diagnosis, that you were not necessarily done for. That you could change your mind, open your heart, and engage in a medical treatment that uses the power of your own immune system to seek out and kill cancer cells wherever they are in your body? This is my experience of this metastatic cancer: a manageable health condition, not an immediate death sentence.
Right now as I write, coming into the summer of 2011, I am feeling healthy and well. I have a few aches and pains, but they are in the background. This is in stark contrast to the very poor prognosis I faced in december 2008 when I was told of the extent of my metastatic breast cancer. I sincerely doubt that I would be still here physically had I not had the option of Immunepheresis treatment, and I am very grateful that I and my family came to know about it when we did. It was just in time.
Here's how I started off. After the metastatic diagnosis I was exploring options, researching treatments and the efficacy of all the known modalities on my type of cancer. One of my Doctors told me that chemo wasn't known to cure bone metasteses and while we could use radiation for pain, it didn't cure the cancer. I'd done chemotherapy in 2002/3 and it was very tough. I wasn't interested in using up the rest of my life in chemo induced sickness when it was known to be ineffectual. The chance of achieving my current outcome was nil using conventional options. I kept searching, prepared to choose no treatment and to play out my life without subjecting my body to a chemical assault if something better than chemo didn't show up. I found out about Dr Lentz's treatment from a few sources simultaneously in a series of synchronistic events. My family, who include doctors and scientists, researched it and we decided to go with it.
There is a new website about Innumepheresis which was not there when I was first diagnosed and treated: http://immunologyfoundation.org/. It describes the treatment protocol and methodology in detail.
The first three treatment cycles were 12 tx days spread over three weeks with a break of about 10 days in-between. We measured results with CT scans. They showed clearly that the treatment was working. Currently, I typically go over there for a 5 day maintenence treatment around every 2 months. I have come such a long way since my original diagnosis; the tumors that were seen in my liver, lungs, omentum, hip, sacrum and thoracic spine have shrunk (lung, liver), disappeared (omentum), and in the case of the bony 'litic' lesions (which made a hole rather than a growth), are healing over with the type of sclerotic new bone that you'd see in a CT scan of a healed break or fracture. All in all I feel great and feel that while I continue to do this treatment, I will stay alive and be able to enjoy life fully between cycles.
Over two years have passed from that terminal diagnosis. I and my doctors in Ireland have noticed some important things: I am very much alive (contrary to all expectations), pain is minimal (again, contrary to all expectations) and joy is maximal. Life is stretching out in front of me, a gift: the present! The tumor burden has diminished considerably and as this cancer is immunoresponsive, should continue to regress while I continue to recieve the treatment at intervals of about 2 months.
The bottom line for me is this: I felt I wouldn't survive chemo again with it's inherrent challenge to the immune system and I am glad I risked trying Immunepheresis because I am most definitely surviving it! I feel now that I am living with cancer rather than dying from it, managing it as a chronic condition, slowly but surely shrinking tumors and healing bones. Dr Lentz is continuously working in his research lab for that next step: after shrinking it to nothing, to find the "off button" so it does not return. I am holding the vision for that. Staying alive for long enough.
If you feel that any of this story would inspire or help someone researching treatment options, please forward this email to them. Anyone is welcome to get in touch with me anytime for a patient's perspective. Please put immunepheresis in the subject if you're emailing or adding me as a skype contact so that you don't go to my spam bin. Thanks.
Of course the best person to call about Immunepheresis is Dr Lentz himself, so I include the clinic contact details below. Dr Lentz operates Praxis Lentz with his wife Dr Kiran Lentz and a highly trained nursing and support staff. Everyone at the clinic speaks fluent english.
Tel.: +49 8051 968482
Fax: +49 8051 968448
Email: email@example.com
The more who know about this treatment the better I think. Please give others the information, let them add it to their options. It may come just at the right time for them too!
In addition to my physical treatment, those who know me will be aware that I use tools from a course that I teach called The Avatar Course. I continue to study and practise this material every day and am managing this creation of cancer in my life with gratitude, appreciation and love for the insights that it brings, and a fearlessness that I would be glad to share if anyone is interested. Just ask.
I sign off now, with much love and many good wishes for your continued health and happiness. I trust that you will be in touch if I can help!
QE or not QE, that is the question
I've been looking for a good entry point to make another aggressive play in the PMs since the May gold correction and silver collapse. It's been about 8 weeks. Given the rising commodity prices and the bad rap QE2 got, there was an idea going around (Marc Faber, for one) that the Fed would dramatically announce an end to QE3, leading to a 2008-like collapse of the stock (and commodities) markets, giving them an excuse to print more money. After Bernanke's talk today, that's looking less likely to me now. The path of least resistance is the one you bet on, and my guess is that they're going to keep flooding the system with liquidity while trying to implement a slow, managed rise in commodity prices by whatever means at their disposal.
For one thing, the chart of the CRB Commodities Index does not appear to be poised for a 2008-type collapse. Keep in mind, for 5 years, from September 2001 until September 2006, the CRB rose at a steady rate of 17% (orange lines), at the end of which, it stood 10% higher than where it's at now (see upper red/green horizontal line). It then corrected for ~6 months before beginning a truly hyperbolic ascent that led to the 2008 collapse.
In the only 2.5 years since the bottom of that collapse, the CRB has been rising steadily at 23% (bright green lines), and its 200-day moving average (purple) is currently where it was in May 2006 (see lower red/green horizontal line). So, I find it hard to believe that TPTB would intentionally risk the chaos of a market crash at this point, including a further decline in housing, to "control" an inflation that they don't feel compelled to concede even exists, as of yet.
On the other hand, the CCI Commodity Index, which weighs oil prices much less, is about 5% over its 2008 peak. Note that, unlike the CRB, this index went up steadily for about 7 years (2001-2008) without a serious correction, before the 2008 collapse. Interestingly, using the "Raff Regression Tool," you see that the slope of the trend since the collapse (blue lines) has not changed at all from the slope before the collapse (grey lines). It's as if the entire graph was simply shifted down, to continue its ascent. I could see it moving up all the way to the top blue line again before people really get alarmed.
Also, note that the orange 233-day moving average (we use Fibonacci numbers here at Screwtape - we're sophisticated like that) appears to be a very strong basis of support for almost a decade. Well, that moving average is right around the level of the 2008 peak that proved to be resistance last November (see red/green horizontal line). If the CCI falls another 5% to that point, that to me would be a bullish signal for re-entry.
On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised at a breakout from here. For one thing, the mining stocks have woken up. In poker terms, I think we've been dealt a Q-10 or K-9 right now. I'm going to see how things play out this week, and wait at least until options expiration Monday to go back in aggressively.
Is the Euro Doomed? By Martin Armstrong
Unfortunately – YES! There simply is no long-term planning. Politicians have no expertise in the field of economics. They certainly would never run their own personal finances
as they do that of the state.
The so called rescue package is shoving deflation upon Greece to such an extent, they are begging for civil unrest if not revolution. This same brain- dead idea of imposing such draconian economic reality upon a nation that led to the rise of Adolf Hitler. We forget that John Maynard Keynes himself wrote perhaps his most prophetic work
published in 1919. Keynes made a plea to the common sense of the politicians. But they refused to listen then as they will refuse to listen now. That refusal to listen then produced the
rise of Adolf Hitler and World War II. He made a passionate pleas for reason, but nobody would listen:
"I cannot leave this subject as though its just treatment wholly depended either on our own pledges or on economic facts. The policy of reducing Germany to servitude for a generation, of degrading the lives of millions of human beings, and of depriving a whole nation of happiness should be abhorrent and detestable,--abhorrent and detestable, even if it were possible, even if it enriched ourselves, even if it did not sow the decay of the whole civilised life of Europe."
The politicians forced servitude upon Germany and it got the same unreasonable response in return. Europe is making that same mistake again. They cling to old theories, refuse to listen, and above all, will set the stage for perhaps the worst economic impact they can possibly create. The failure to have created a single debt to match a single currency revalued the debt of the weaker economies at the highest possible level reducing the economic prospect for growth. This is Germany all over again!
Shanghai Low?
Now, look at the ratio between the ^SSEC and the dollar ($USD). Like so many other dollar-related charts, this one is at a critical point right in time for QE3. We're at an important trend line (the base of an ascending triangle), and the RSI is under 30, which would signal the dollar is due to fall and/or the ^SSEC to rally. We'll find out soon enough.
Lies, conditioning and corruption
Unfortunately, sometimes the way they present the news borders on hyperbole if not simply outright lies.
Consider this one as a prime example;
If anyone cares to look a little deeper into the headline you will see it's Forex.com that decided that they weren't going to allow the small time guy to play in the 100:1 plus markets where there is no chance for delivery in the underlying product. This is due to their interpretation of the Dodd-Frank rules.
The only way you can still play these markets with this extreme leverage with Forex.com is to have some significant net worth. Simply put Forex.com don't have the metal to settle (hence the change per Dodd-Frank) and when you play there you are betting against forex.com not the comex or anything else. Simply put this is much ado about nothing.
The other story that caught my attention was from Zerohedge again. Some poor bastard decided he had enough and to protest he set himself on fire. It was interesting to read what the man had to say; http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-new-hampshire-man-burns-self-courthouse-protest
His main theme is there are two sets of law books and he is correct. Whatever his failings as a Father or as a human being he has some very relevant points. There are two sets of laws and anyone who is on the receiving end of the second set of books is going to be pretty confused as it has no bearing on what you see on TV. Simply put the second set is based on policy and procedure written by some nameless public servant.
He missed one important fact when it comes to Child Protection Services. He hinted at some of their methods. Their first tool is to corner a parent and threaten them with losing their kids if they don't turn the other parent in. Of course this can backfire on the first parent as they can then say allowing or knowing of some crime makes you party to or just as an unfit parent as the perpetrator of the "crime".
These are the tools of the Khmer Rouge, Nazi and every other crazy regime you can think of. Turn citizen against citizen, Brother against Brother, Wife against Husband.
The second tool is if even if the first tool doesn't work they will try and get you to sign up with some sort of program whereby they can visit the child on a weekly schedule. What they don't tell you is once they are in your life you can never get them out. Once you sign that document you have opened up Pandora's box and they can call anyone in your life. This probably reads as more Hyperbole but it's reality unfortunately.
They CAN take your kids if they can play one parent against another or even recruit one of the other kids on a flight of fantasy. They CAN take your kids if you are stupid enough to sign one of their plans that allows them access to your kids. Once they are in your life they can reappear at any time if you allow them.
You may think this can't happen to you or there is no smoke without fire. If that is what you think then your thinking has been conditioned to think authority figures have our best interests at heart. You are thinking why on earth would Child Protection Services take kids out of good homes?
Follow the money. For every kid they take out of a home and place in foster care or for permanent adoption they get a budget increase. In essence there is a 100K bounty on every kids head. Don't take my word for it look it up. Research and verify the information for yourself. Verify that these people have limited education and even less experience. Verify that like most in the business of trying to peer into others heads they are broken Human beings themselves.
If you ever find yourself in the position of having to defend yourself against these people be very careful. Sign nothing. Get a Lawyer. Tell them you are recording every conversation. Document everything. If you can't afford a Lawyer then sometimes the only option if you have tried to be reasonable is to politely tell them to get out. My telling them to politely "Fuck Off" probably only worked because they had nothing and I could afford a Lawyer.
Yes, I am talking from experience and after 2 weeks of being polite and paying Lawyers etc. I researched and understood the game then I told them to get out. I understood that they were jumped up nobodies who make terrible decisions and leave kids in horrible situations while chasing down phantoms.
If you are wondering what my crime was to get their attention in the first place I would tell you it really doesn't matter as even the perception of a crime is enough for these people. If I told you what it was you would think I am a liar or making it up so I will simply say google "CPS scam", "Child protection services hell" etc etc.
The govt employee is not there to protect your interests or serve the greater good but to feed on you and your fellow taxpayers.
Silver 2003 - ????
Chart #1
The blue trend channel captures silver's steady rate of growth from the time it passed $5/oz for good, in 2003, until 2008, when it collapsed. We then see silver try unsuccessfully to get back into the blue channel last November/December, before finally breaking through in February 2011, when it quickly hit the top blue line. Then, in an instant, silver fell in May to the bottom of the channel.
From the perspective of this chart, silver bulls only have cause to worry if that lower blue line is broken. It hasn't been broken yet, but it's currently being tested. If it continues as support, I could easily see silver making a move to the uppermost dotted grey line (~$75/oz) this winter. If the lower blue line is broken, however, it could very well wallow between the lower grey dotted lines for several months.
Chart #2
An alternate perspective. According to this chart (made using the Raff regression tool), silver could fall all the way to $30 in the weeks ahead, and still remain in the blue long-term trend channel.
Chart #3 (weekly)
The weekly silver chart, the trend channels of which resemble Chart #1's closely, might provide the most potential information of all. We see here the same pattern: a primary blue channel capturing a very long term trend, broken to the downside in 2008, re-entered in 2011, and now being tested. Here, though, I've added two informative moving averages. I tried fibonacci numbers (as 144 works for gold), and the 34-week (pink dotted) and 55-week (green) MAs seem significant since 2009.
The 34-week MA has been an effective lower bound since 2009; silver has bounced off of it 3 times, and is approaching it again right now. It has been broken on one occasion (Feb 2010), when silver quickly bounced off the the 55-week MA.
Note, when the 34-week and the 55-week MAs crossed paths in July 2009, silver hit both of them simultaneously.
Interestingly, in two or three weeks, it's looking like silver may test the 34-week MA and the lower blue line of the trend channel at the same time. That will be something to look out for.
Also, keep in mind that many relatively low prices currently averaged into the 55-week MA (i.e. from last summer) are dropping out, meaning it will start climbing faster than the 34-week MA. So, if the blue trend channel and 34-week MA are broken in the weeks ahead, the 55-day might very well be a very strong base of support, when it should be near 30.
Gold in Dixie Dollars
A ratio you never see is the price of gold vs. the dollar index. Probably because the price of gold itself is thought to represent dollar strength (or weakness), so by dividing the price of gold by the dollar index, you'd appear to just be amplifying any up and down movements in the price of gold. Moreover, the natural ratio of gold nuggets to baskets of foreign currency in the earth's crust is, as of yet, unknown.
On the other hand, gold is far from a perfect proxy for dollar strength. For example, lately, the dollar has been rallying vs. other currencies, but gold has been holding its own. If someone were to tell you that gold will soon be at $2000, but the dollar index will be back at 100 (e.g. because of a Euro collapse), then holding dollars and holding gold would be equally profitable (+33%). So, the decision to trade in your federal reserve notes for gold should be based (to some extent) on the ratio between the predicted performance of the two.
Well, look no further. Let's start with silver, because it makes for a more compelling long term chart. One way I've begun to read charts is by first drawing a regression line to fit long-term data, and then creating new lines with the same slope to look for significant-appearing boundary points. That approach seems less subjective to me, for if we draw channels and trend lines based solely on local maxima and minima, we may be over-valuing outliers. Moreover, if you believe that the PM markets are pervasively manipulated, as I do (to quote Jim Rickards: "they don't consider it manipulation, they consider it their job"), then a regression line will capture overall market trends in a way robust to short-term hijinx.
Using this approach with silver, we appear to be at an important crossroads. On the 8 year chart below, we see that the $SILVER:$USD ratio bounced off the blue line twice before breaking support in 2008; it then took 2+ years to get back to the blue line, wherein it became resistance (Nov, Dec, & Jan 2011). The ratio then finally cracked through in February of this year, and bounced off once (during the May massacre). Now, it's right about there again. I'm currently triple long dollars (UUPT) and double long gold (DGP). If we break through the blue line, I'd say it's time to sell silver and gold, and buy dollars. And vice versa, if the blue line proves again to be support.
The $GOLD:$USD ratio is at a similar crossroads. Unlike silver, this ratio doesn't exhibit any steady long term trend. However, the three-year chart is an obvious rising wedge, cleared in April. The top line has been support once (May massacre), and it's back there again. Note I have included Bollinger bands instead of standard envelopes to account for the increased volatility owing to covariation of gold and dollar strength (15 day, 2 sigma parameters capture all the points quite nicely). Note that we are also right at the lower Bollinger band, which in the past has been a bullish sign for gold.
So, let's see what happens over the next few days.
*I feel compelled to inform our readers globally (as Eric "Leading the Witness" King might say) that my market musings are merely those of a dude thinking out loud, who's basically waiting for online poker to become legal again so he can return to his preferred method of gambling. In that spirit, please draw your own conclusions, and thanks in advance for sharing them with me.
The value of the value of a bond, Part 2
The price action appears consistent with my predictions from a month ago: looks like we're seeing a sharp zig-zag movement towards the upper purple trend line, on course to happen sometime this summer. So, I'm betting silver will trend downwards, or sideways, for another month or two. If this ratio hits the upper purple line, that's when I'll anticipate silver's next leg up.
Many have noticed how many times the price of gold has bounced off of its 144-day MA over the past few years (see blue dotted line on chart below). But, what's also remarkable is how linearly the moving average has increased since it began its upward trend in mid-February 2009. (Linear on a logarithmic chart, reflecting growth at 27% a year.)
I fit a regression line to the price of gold since early 2009 (not shown). The slope of that line has remained almost constant for years, and importantly, appears to have the exact same slope as that of the regression line of the 144-day MA (see brown line on chart below). Also note the grey dotted lines, representing ~1.25% in either direction of the 144-day MA's regression line: it's never gone beyond that.
This steady rate of increase of the moving average seems a little too perfect for me. Remember, this has been going on since gold was in the low $800's. It fits perfectly with what Bill Murphy of GATA has called a "managed retreat" by the banking cartel, and what Jim Rickards has explained is the government's wish with respect to gold: they want it to increase in price (i.e. they want the dollar to lose value) -- as long as it happens in a controlled manner.
Obviously, this trend won't go on forever. But what if it goes on for the rest of the year? Let's assume that the 144-day MA will indeed continue to trace the brown regression line on the chart above (or oscillate between the dotted grey lines, at any rate). We can then get a good prediction of the actual price of gold on any given day. That's because, with every passing day, we know which number will drop out of the 144-day moving average (e.g. tomorrow, gold's price on November 12, 2010 -- $1388.50 -- will drop out). Therefore, if the average is to continue increasing at 27%, we also know how much the gold price has to rise.
The x-axis of the chart below represents days since February 12, 2009. The y-axis marks the value of the above chart's brown regression line. If the 144-day MA continues its 27% rate of increase, then it should hit $1600 around November 21, 2011. If that's going to happen, then the price of gold has to average $1620 until then. If we imagine, for simplicity, that the price of gold increases at a linear rate forward from here, then it would have to go up about $1.40 a day, and reach $1700 on November 21, 2011, for the 144-day MA to be at $1600 on that date. It can of course fall $50 today and still end up averaging $1620 a day by November 21, but the more it falls in the short term, the higher than $1700 it would have to be by November 21 for the condition to hold.
Golden Arches
Gold in Swiss Francs
Actually, it appears to have a cup and handle in place of a flag pole. But good enough for me.
The sideways movement of gold measured in Swiss francs obviously reflects the franc's growing strength vs. other currencies over the past year or so. Peter Schiff (and others) believe this is a sign the Swiss franc is replacing the dollar as a safe haven. I'm not so sure, though, that this isn't just a short- or intermediate term trend. Fact is, these are all fiat currencies we're talking about. None are backed by gold, but the US dollar is at least psychologically (and potentially more than psychologically) backed by the US military. Who needs gold when you have daisy cutters. All those unfunded liabilities and stuff we hear so much about, well, they'll probably just never be paid when push comes to shove; until then, we'll surely watch the median standard of living here slowly decline. But, something tells me the US military will survive any economic eventuality just fine. Probably come out stronger, when all is said and done.
But that's just depressing. So, let's try to find some other way to tell if the Swiss franc is presently overvalued: by using that infallible economic indicator, the Big Mac index. Let's say I buy a Big Mac at JFK airport on my way to London. When I get to Heathrow, I sell it (properly refrigerated during the flight of course) for X pounds to a Londoner (who's unwilling to pay more than the market price). Well, that should set the exchange rate between the currencies. If I can sell the Big Mac for a profit (i.e. sell it for X pounds, then convert the X pounds into more dollars than I paid for it) then the dollar is undervalued relative to the pound. And vice versa.
Using that criterion, it's amazing to see how seemingly overvalued European currencies are, especially Swiss and Scandinavian ones. If I go into a McDonalds in Norway with a Big Mac I bought in America, pretend I work there, and sell it to a Norwegian ("Sold to you, sucka" as Kid Dynamite might say), I can convert my kroner back into dollars and buy 2 Big Macs when I get home, plus maybe even a little something from the evil Mickey D's dollar menu.
Below is a the % profit I'd make in various countries (blue bars) via Big Mac arbitrage. I also adjusted for the Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality in the nation, as a way to account for the fact that some nations have poor underclasses that are more willing to work for dirt cheap (red bars). When I do this, the Swiss franc seems the most overvalued of all.
Maybe that's why McDonald's is hiring?
Two gold charts
* Update: Those of you with nothing to do may be interested in my revised interpretation of the monthly chart.
In the new chart below, I've drawn a red dotted line, which has been long term resistance for gold, and I see no reason why that should change. Gold touched the red dotted line in 2003, then not again until summer 2006. Looks like a similar thing may be going on 2008 --> summer 2011. The 1.5 year RSI is over 70 again, and if the pattern repeats, looks like it will approach 80 in the coming months, before a serious correction.
I've also drawn a new rising wedge, with this in mind: in March 2008, gold tested the red dotted line, then closed the month down about 7.5% If we start the blue trend line from that point, we see that the wedge was broken to the upside in April. Rising wedges are supposed to be bearish, but then I think that's in an overall bear market.
Trinity B, RIP
"Trinity B" has become rather infamous of late, posting prescient calls on a number of websites, whilst talking down some rather sacred cows in the PM community such as hyperinflation, silver shortages, and so on. She was discussed in the same breath as WB (may peace be upon her) by some, and flamed as a troll by others.
Earlier this week, Louis said we would publish some articles regarding the wisdom of taking investment advice from anonymous sources. What is the motivation of every person posting a story, opinion, stock tip, etc., etc.? Our stated goals at the Screwtape Files are to examine all the available evidence, assess it, and draw rational conclusions based on it. "Trinity B" was articulate, semi-plausible, and seemingly keen to promote a message. Most importantly, she was gathering attention in the PM community. We made contact, and we probed. We even managed to persuade Trinity to write a test article for publication so that we could assess the merits of her story.
This article, which we have decided not to share for various reasons of legality and personal confidence, essentially sought to explain the origins of WB and certain other silver price optimists. It was well written, credible, and compelling. It was also pure invention, as Trinity has herself now admitted to us. As Louis and other astute commentators here suspected, her calls were lucky guesses, based on charts. Trinity herself decided to stop the process before it became too serious. She wrote a sincere and heartfelt apology to us and – too embarrassed to post herself – has asked us to convey her regrets to her followers. She will not be posting again, nor replying to anyone who talks about her on blogs.
So, another myth is dispelled. We live in an age when blogs are a (non-silver) dime a dozen, and commentators are even more so. Is it right to listen to all points of view? Yes. Is it right to consider the possibility that insiders might want to leak information? Absolutely. But the more a point of view confirms our own ideas and hopes, the more strictly should we engage our skepticism.
Gold, DSK and a conspiracy theorist's wet dream
By way of an introduction, I've been kindly asked by the guys at the Screwtape Files to post a few articles on some of the information and disinformation that, in my view, pervades every precious metals website. Whilst chewing my pen and wondering where to start, along came this glorious article in the EU Times. Dear reader, how could I resist such provocation?
Louis wasn't wrong when he said we'd need to 'adjust our antennae to way out there'.
The CIA! The Russian Prime Minister! The IMF! The Chinese! Fort Knox! Wealth, power and sex! Influential men, secret plots, and a smear campaign so vivid in its concoction that no-one who knows the truth would ever again dare challenge the powers that be. Even the X-files never had so many clichéd elements in one story - all we're missing is the obligatory car chase at the end.
Thusly, the latest buzz in Goldsilverland has started doing the rounds of all the blogs and chatrooms and I think it needs a decent de-bunking before the story gets legs. So get a coffee, print yourself off a copy of the article, and let's go through it step by step:
- First, the EU Times itself. This is not a European site – its focus is largely on either North American issues or European issues that affect North America. Look at today's headlines and compare them with those in le Monde, the Guardian or El Pais. The five leading stories in the EU Times(Aspartame, Canada free speech, CIA officer, Irish tap water, and moon water) do not, in fact, appear in any major European newspaper today. This lack of correlation is striking for what purports to be a purveyor of European news, even if it likes to revel in being outside of the MSM. This need not surprise us too much, however: The 'EU Times' is registered in Toronto, Canada.
- It is not a genuine news site, either. Major events are ignored at the expense of a few themes which are repeated over and over again: Jews in high places, gold vs the US dollar, CIA conspiracies, food scares, survivalism, etc. How many news sites do you know which have an 'interracial' section under 'Crime'? Or a 'Zionism' section under politics, for that matter? The EU Times is, by any objective measure, a far-right propaganda site dressed up as news.
- Those who registered it seem rather coy about their origins, it seems. No address, email, phone number or any other way of writing to the editor if one wishes to address points raised in the articles. That's pretty unique for a 'news' site. Further, it is an anonymously registered site. Compare this to any genuine news site, where registration information is given freely, as are contact details.
- OK, the story itself. The EU Times' source is the UK 'Daily Mail' (although the story actually appeared in the New York Post a few days earlier). British Screwtape fans will know all about this erstwhile publication but, for the benefit of others, it is a right-wing tabloid daily newspaper with a strong anti-immigration, anti 'nanny state' and anti-welfare agenda. Much of its output is rather thinly disguised homophobia, racism and scare-mongering, and it is the butt of many a joke in the UK. It is, however, a real newspaper, started in 1896. Back in the 1930s it was a strong supporter of the British fascists, and ran the memorable headline, "hurrah for the Blackshirts". But I digress.
- Regardless of the wisdom of using the Daily Mail as a source for anything, let us compare the two claims about what Putin said. The DM says simply (and probably correctly) that Putin said, "it's hard for me to evaluate the hidden political motives but I cannot believe that it looks the way it was initially introduced. It doesn't sit right in my head." That's it. No mention of the FSB or secret reports. A search of the Kremlin's website in English reveals no hits at all for 'Dominique Strauss-Kahn', and nothing relevant for 'IMF'. I don't read Cyrillic, so can't check the Russian version, but it seems strange that comments meant to be seen internationally would appear on the Russian language site only.
- This should not surprise us. The FSB does not post its reports on websites any more than the CIA posts on the White House website or MI6 on the British Prime Minister's. If Putin posted anything at all to the Kremlin website before suddenly thinking better of it and removing it, then it was clearly just the quote that appeared in the Daily Mail. The EU Times has apparently fabricated the story of an FSB report.
- Let us assume for a foolish second that this conspiracy was real. Then, the last people on earth that would know about US 'plans' to capture DSK would be the French DGSE. The US cannot afford to have bad relations with a strategic ally as important as France, and the DGSE would necessarily have to be totally out of the loop. Likewise, the 'rogue' elements of the CIA is a simply laughable concept, and the product of a mind that has seen too many fifth-rate spy series.
- DSK left behind one of his cell phones. He had others which he did not forget, although this is not noted in the EU Times article. So he could have been 'tracked' in any case. The mundane reality is that, outside of movies, it takes time, court orders, and senior sign-off to track a cell phone, and this would never have been a viable option for New York police seeking someone that aimed to leave the country a matter of hours after the alleged crime. DSK's phone was not tracked – he told the hotel staff that he was at the airport, and this has been widely reported in the international press and by DSK's own defence team.
- The article then merges other, actually irrelevant stories into its fabric. So we have Ron Paul giving an unsubstantiated comment about the existence or otherwise of gold in Fort Knox. This is apparently backed up by a link to a Viewzone2.com report, which is itself striking for its complete lack of sources to back up its allegations. Save for a few references to a 'Chinese investigation', there is absolutely nothing on which anyone could make an independent attempt to verify or refute the claims. One must always regard wholly unsourced claims with a cynical eye.
To sum up, what we have is an article constructed around a single, vague quote from Putin mentioned in a story in a British right-wing tabloid. Added to this (probably real) quote is the pure fabrication of a mythical FSB report, and the invention of a collusion between rogue elements of the CIA and the DGSE. Then the favoured 'gold' theme gets stitched in, à propos of nothing, which is itself backed by an unsourced story elsewhere on the web. Chuck in a few quotes from a Congressman who has high standing in parts of the precious metals community, and bingo! – you have a wonderful article guaranteed to get linked to and posted all around the PM blogs.
Easy when you know how.