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digitalmediaman necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 38 diseños de 12 diseñadores freelance.
Eprospect CMS requires a quality, smart logo required for website promoting content management software. See http://www.eprospect.com.au for website details
Eprospect CMS Software
We need a really stylish and eye catching logo for our content managment software business. The software is for businesses who wish to update their sites themselves, sell online and market to their clients online.
A new website has been built but not 100% built and may change. You can see temporary logo located at http://www.eprospect.com.au to get an idea what the business is about.
The product name is called Eprospect 360. We do not have a slogan finalised but you can use the following slogan as a placeholder in the new logo.
Complete content management software
The look of the logo should be bright, clean which will look good on web and in print. Colours can be the blue, white, orange or any pallette you seem fit for our brand.
Have a bash at this and we will work together to acheive a positive result
- Eye catching design for web and print
- Web 2.0 modern look and feel
- An icon from which to odentify the brand, currently a light bulb but can be anything.
- Our name is eprospect 360 meaning the ability to prospect online for new business with the CMS having the ability to provide a complete 360 view of a clients business onlline.. ideas around this can be created and developed
- use temporary slogan of complete content management system or content management made easy
- A designer who listens to contstructive feedback and revise as directed
- No cheap logo tempalte designes
- No stolen or copied design
- Rushed logos with no creative - we are a digital agency, we know what is rushed and what is not a rushed logo design. We deal with creative every day
- Designers who aren't committed to the prize
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Monday, February 22, 2010
What I Learned, Part V: On Expected Returns and Diluting the Berkshire Gene Pool
"What is the expected return on capital from Burlington?" asks the shareholder from Hamburg, Germany. "And if you can't buy more railroads would you expand into shipping?"
As Warren Buffett launches into his answer, I muse that this is not the first time a German has asked the best question at a Berkshire shareholder meeting.
In "Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett's Omaha" (McGraw-Hill 2008) I described the one and only question that really challenged Warren Buffett throughout more than five hours on a Saturday morning two years ago—and it was asked by a shareholder from Bonn.
The fact that only one question—out of more than 50 that day—attempted to scratch the surface of the Oracle's brainy-but-folksy demeanor is not as striking as it might appear to those who have only seen Buffett hold court on CNBC, where he dispatches opinions on everything from the inheritance tax to railcar statistics.
Despite the fact that the centerpiece of the annual "Woodstock for Capitalists" is a five-hour, no-holds-barred question-and-answer session with Warren Buffett and his vice-chairman, Charlie Munger, the fact is that in recent years not many shareholders asked questions even marginally related to Berkshire and its businesses.
All that changed at last year's meeting, of course, when Buffett eliminated the first-come, first-served lineup at the microphones and instead selected three financial journalists to pose questions submitted in advance by shareholders and anyone else with an internet address.
The new format eliminated the tendency of past meetings to veer towards "What Would Warren Do?"-type queries from awestruck acolytes asking Buffett advice on how to become a great investor, or what issues Buffett would tackle if elected President, or—and I am not making this up—"Do you know and believe in Jesus Christ, and do you have a personal relationship with God?" (The answer to that one is—well, buy the book and find out.)
Indeed, at the May 2008 meeting only one question related to the businesses owned by Berkshire Hathaway. It was also the only question Buffett ducked. (By contrast, he answered the "Jesus Christ" question as he answered most of the rest: straight ahead, with no irony.)
And that was too bad, because it was a great question that indirectly got to the heart of what will likely become the central issue at Berkshire Hathaway: what happens when Warren Buffett—the best capital allocator in the world—is no longer allocating capital at Berkshire.
Using Berkshire's See's Candies as an example, the Man from Bonn asked whether Buffett would prefer a slower-growing but higher-margin business, as See's is, to a global but somewhat lower-margin business, as Swiss chocolate giant Lindt & Sprüngli has become.
It is a an excellent observation: when Buffett and Munger bought See's for $25 million in 1972, it was a small, west-coast candy company. 37 years and $1.5 billion in profits later, See's remains a small, west-coast candy company.
While that's good news for Berkshire shareholders—after all, Warren Buffett reinvested that $1.5 billion of cash from See's into other high-return opportunities, to the benefit of Berkshire and its shareholders—it's not necessarily good news for See's Candies in a world gone global. (To see how Buffett ducked the German's question, read "The Decline and Fall of the Sainted Seven," Chapter 36 in "Pilgrimage.")
The question asked today by the shareholder from Hamburg is equally good: "What is the expected return on capital from Burlington," he has asked, "And if you can't buy more railroads would you expand into shipping?"
This time, Buffett does not duck it.
"I think the return will be satisfactory but not mouth-watering," Buffett says. "It'll be similar to our energy utilities."
Berkshire's utilities earn decent, regulated returns on investment—not remotely close to the See's Candies-kinds of returns that most investors associate with Warren Buffett—but "satisfactory" nonetheless.
The reason "satisfactory but not mouth-watering" returns are appealing to a guy famed for growing Berkshire's book value at 20% a year for 45 years is simple: the sums involved are so vast ($43 billion, give or take, in total capital for the Burlington Northern deal), that a "satisfactory" return on this elephant-sized investment means a lot of money will be coming in Berkshire's door every year for many, many years.
And any money manager—Buffett, especially—will tell you it is far more difficult to grow large amounts of money than small. In Burlington Northern, Buffett has found precisely the kind of "elephant" he has been hunting for years.
That does not mean, however, Buffett thinks the Burlington acquisition is without risk.
By comparing the railroad business to Berkshire's existing utilities businesses, Buffett makes an important point. For unlike See's Candies, which sells a discretionary consumer product and therefore may raise prices or introduce new products or enter new markets at will, the railroad business is subject to significant oversight from the Feds—less so than in the past, when pricing was regulated, but still significant—much like a regulated utility.
Indeed, at this very moment, Jay Rockefeller's Senate Commerce Committee is considering new rail legislation to beef up regulatory oversight and put the screws to railroads—legislation that the CEO of Union Pacific, Burlington's chief rival in the west, complained about on his company's recent earnings call.
And so it is that Buffett proceeds to discuss the risk this government interference poses:
"We are counting on society to behave well with us in allowing us a reasonable return on capital IF we do our job of behaving reasonably well," he says.
Asked next what would happen if government regulation got "more intense" on railroads, Buffett says matter-of-factly:
"The governments could strangle our utilities… They have the ultimate authority…they could raise the corporate tax rate to 80% or something…
Our basic position is that if we behave well, they'll behave well. Our utility customers oughta feel very sure that when they flick a switch the lights'll go on," he says, adding, "They're gonna need the railroads in this country big time."
Buffett's age (he'll be 80 in August) seems to be catching up with him: despite shielding his eyes from the glare of the spotlights, he can't discern from which microphone in the crowd the next question is coming from. He looks intently at the unused microphone near us while the shareholder asking the question is at the microphone on the other side of the concert hall:
"How would the stock split affect Berkshire's ability to be in the S&P 500?"
It is a bit unsettling to see Buffett continue to stare at nobody, but the spotlights are bright and what the hell, this is Warren Buffett, who cares where he's looking?
Besides, this is a question with big dollars at stake. Berkshire is not in the S&P 500 Index, despite the fact that its market value is larger by far than any other company not already in that index—and bigger than most that are in it.
The reasons Berkshire has been excluded up to now are straightforward: two of the Standard & Poor's Index Committee's five 'admitting criteria' haven't been in Berkshire's favor since the day Buffett took control in 1965—one being trading volume and the second being the amount of stock in public hands.
Before the Burlington deal was announced in early November, a less-than-whopping 40,000 shares of Berkshire "B" shares traded on a good day, not adjusted for today's proposed 50-for-1 stock split. And the volume in "A" shares, through which Buffett controls Berkshire, barely rounded up to a 1,000 a day prior to the announcement.
Answering the question, Buffett observes:
"We're by far the largest co that's not in the S&P 500… the A/B situation creates problems for us, but eventually we'll be in the S&P 500, we'll be so large."
So far, so clear; but it is in discussing the effects of this dramatic change in his shareholder base (over which Buffett was once so obsessed that he used to keep track of how many shareholders lived in his own zip code) that Buffett exhibits the ability to rationalize any particular stance that makes him so remarkable, and, to some investors, so hypocritical:
"If they put us in the S&P, it's good for shareholders," he says, because "if 6-7% of funds are in index funds it's a block of stock that's essentially there forever, which is EXACTLY what we're looking for."
Thus in one easy, plain-spoken sentence the investor who for fifty years has warned against following the herd; has railed against diversification by serious investors ("ass-backwards," his business partner, Charlie Munger, calls it); and has refused to split his stock for fear of diluting the intellectual gene pool of the "quality shareholders" in the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder base, now blithely claims that index funds—big, stupid, mechanical, massively diversified index funds—are "Forever."
If, by "Forever," Buffett means "So long as Berkshire's market capitalization stays proportional to the index," then he's correct.
If, on the other hand, by "Forever" he means "Whatever happens to Berkshire Hathaway," he can't be more wrong.
It is an astonishing piece of rationalization, even for most of the investors seated in this room, yet the prevailing reaction seems to be a shoulder-shrugging 'Warren-will-be-Warren'.
Buffett then rationalizes the effect on the Berkshire gene pool in an equally offhand way:
"By now our identity is pretty well known. I don't worry about downgrading the quality of our shareholders."
He concludes the stock-split discussion with one more remarkable statement:
"We should have done it when we bought Gen Re."
The final question of the day gets to something that's been on people's minds since Buffett first announced the Burlington deal: what kind of hidden assets he sees in the Burlington railroad balance sheet.
To be concluded….
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2009 NotMakingThisUp, LLC
The content contained in this blog represents only the opinions of Mr. Matthews, who also acts as an advisor: clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes investment advice, and should never be relied on in making an investment decision, ever. Also, this blog is not a solicitation of business: all inquiries will be ignored. The content herein is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
Posted by Jeff Matthews at 9:55 AM 10 comments:
Friday, February 12, 2010
What I Learned Writing a Book, Part IV: Of Colonoscopies, Cash and Cutouts
The question Buffett's been asked is simple: 'What's the difference between Berkshire using undervalued stock to buy Burlington Northern, and Kraft using undervalued stock to buy Cadbury?'
It's also quite good: Buffett has been beefing to anybody who'll listen—and CNBC pretty much listens whenever he's awake—about the price Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld is paying for Cadbury PLC, the iconic British chocolate company, and the fact that much of it will be in shares of Kraft.
He's beefing about it because Berkshire Hathaway happens to be the single largest holder of Kraft stock.
But what really gets Buffett is that Rosenfeld did an end-around the "Oracle"—imagine that!—by cutting back on the stock portion of the deal to less than 20% of shares outstanding precisely so that Buffett wouldn't have a chance to vote against the deal, as he promised to in a highly public, early January, press release.
(Charlie Munger, seen here looking over Buffett's shoulder, no doubt feels equally slighted.)
For the record, Rosenfeld's Kraft is paying roughly $21 billion all-in for Cadbury. This amounts to 24-times Cadbury's trailing earnings, 14.3-times Cadbury's trailing cash operating income (what analysts call 'EBITDA'), and 3.8-times Cadbury's book value.
(Yes, I know, most deals are priced on forward-looking sales and earnings…but investment bankers and chief financial officers can, and will, come up with whatever they need as far as futures go to justify their salaries and their bonuses. Garbage in, garbage out, as Buffett himself would say.)
For all that money, Kraft is getting a business that by my Bloomberg generates 45-50% gross margins, 12% operating margins, and throws off only enough cash from operations to cover capital expenditures. For a branded consumer business, this lack of "free cash flow" is hard to fathom, and sure to change under Kraft.
Some—including Kraft and its advisors—could argue the company is picking up an irreplaceable consumer franchise at a multiple of sales and operating cash flow that would have looked like a steal during the credit boom's glory days.
Blackstone Group, after all, paid Cadbury-type multiples of revenue and operating cash flow for Freescale Semiconductor, a business—semiconductors, for goodness sake—that's as cyclical, unstable and unpredictable as the chocolate company's is non-cyclical, stable and predictable. Oh, and it's a low-margin and highly capital-intensive business, to boot.
Nevertheless, Warren Buffett opposes the Kraft-for-Cadbury deal because, as he said during an early morning interview, in a typically Buffettian utterance, that as Kraft's largest shareholder "I feel poorer."
So let's compare what Kraft is willing to pay for Cadbury with the price Warren Buffett is willing to pay—using both cash and a slug of shares of Berkshire Hathaway—for Burlington Northern, a "Class 1" American railroad that was assembled through mergers at the rate of one-per-decade starting in the 1970s.
Berkshire, which already owns 22% of Burlington (most of that purchased for close to $80 a share) is paying $100 a share for the rest of the company. All-in, that amounts to $34 billion for the equity plus about $9 billion in net debt, for a total price of roughly $43 billion, according to my Bloomberg.
Keep in mind, Burlington is a railroad, not a chocolate maker. While railroad operating margins in the good times can hit 23%, in the bad times they can get down to 15%, or less. Cash flows tend to be healthy, but so do capital expenditures.
Indeed, the Chief Financial Officer of CSX, one of the other three "Class 1" (it means "big") railroads in the U.S., reflected on just that subject at an investor conference this week:
"Yes, we spend a lot of money. We always have. People are always for some reason I'm perplexed with [asking] why the industry spends between 15 and 17% of our revenue. It is a highly capital intensive business."
For this cyclical, GDP-dependent railroad operator, Berkshire is paying almost 20-times trailing earnings, 9-times trailing cash operating income (EBITDA), and 2.7-times book value.
None of those numbers look like a steal.
Indeed, as Buffett himself has often pointed out, "book value" for a consumer brand business like Cadbury ought to be far more valuable than an industrial, for the simple reason that the cash generated by a consumer brand doesn't need to be invested in capital expenditures simply to keep the lights on—as with a railroad.
All in all, Buffett's Burlington investment, as he has been widely, and memorably, quoted, really does represent an "all-in wager on the economic future of the United States."
As for using precious Berkshire stock in his deal, while at the same time criticizing Kraft for doing the same in their deal, Buffett's answer here today is not so memorable:
"I've written the annual letter," he says—Buffett drafts his unique, 20-page annual shareholder letter by hand; ace Fortune Magazine Editor and longtime Buffett confidant Carol Loomis edits it with, I am told, a very light touch—"and I deal with this."
He continues with a line from his earlier CNBC interview: "Charlie and I like using stock for an acquisition about as much as we like preparing for a colonoscopy." It's a great line that generates laughs and will surely be the quote of the day, as Buffett surely knows.
"We are paying $100 a share [for Burlington]…but it costs us somewhat more than that because we are using stock on the low side of its historic range of book value, as a proxy for value."
Buffett moves his hand up and down to indicate a theoretical price range, and keeps his hand down to reflect the lower end of that range: it is the first time in years he has publicly offered an observation on the current market value of Berkshire Hathaway stock.
"So when we looked at the Burlington deal we regarded it costing us somewhat more than $100 a share because we are using stock we would not like to issue."
Having admitted to paying with undervalued stock, Buffett rationalizes the price in two ways:
"We already owned 22.5% of Burlington... We're getting to use $22 billion of cash advantageously, and we will get to use more cash in that business, we think advantageously… So we thought the deal was okay."
As to why use stock at all, Buffett says, without stating this out loud, that the deal wouldn't have happened without some stock component to the price:
"If we had to use more [Berkshire] stock, I wouldn't have done it. They TALKED about us using more stock, but I wouldn't have done it."
He then takes a parting shot at Kraft, with Charlie Munger's input:
"I wish that Kraft, looking at THEIR deal, [had considered the value of the stock consideration]. I hope they considered that when they were making their calculations…"
Charlie Munger's voice—Buffett has been sitting next to a cutout of his partner the entire meeting—breaks in, and breaks up the shareholders watching:
"I couldn't agree more."
In "Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett's Omaha"—a hedge fund manager's journey to the heart of Berkshire Hathaway—I noted that a remarkable number of German shareholders manage to line up first at the microphones in order to ask questions of Buffett and Munger during the Saturday question-and-answer session.
And today, the first international shareholder happens to be from—yes—Germany.
Specifically, from Hamburg, which is mainly famous as the port city where the Beatles developed their chops while playing to drunken sailors and other detritus of World War II.
And although this shareholder's question has nothing to do with the Beatles, the second half of it does relate to Hamburg's historic role in the Germany economy.
"What is the expected return on capital from Burlington? And if you can't buy more railroads would you expand into shipping?"
Buffett responds, and the answer is both surprising and entirely expected.
To be continued…
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
Photographs and Content © 2009 NotMakingThisUp, LLC
The content contained in this blog represents only the opinions of Mr. Matthews, who also acts as an advisor: clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes investment advice, and should never be relied on in making an investment decision, ever. Also, this blog is not a solicitation of business: all inquiries will be ignored. The content herein is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
Posted by Jeff Matthews at 11:21 AM 8 comments:
Monday, February 08, 2010
What I Learned Writing a Book, Part III: "He Can't Not Answer A Question."
Buffett runs the meeting briskly and efficiently—and within minutes of his first appearing on stage we reach the guts of the thing, when he offers a motion to approve the 50-for-1 stock split and elimination of paper certificates for the Berkshire "B" shares.
The motion is quickly seconded by several voices in the small crowd.
After the spectacle of the annual gathering, it is an odd thing to sit in a Berkshire Hathaway meeting and hear Warren Buffett ask for a second to a motion—and odder still to have shareholders respond "Second!" from the floor. Berkshire's "Woodstock for Capitalists" is a moveable affair, with shareholders coming and going as they see fit during the five-plus hours of Buffett and Munger's question and answer session: but nobody's moving from this one.
The motion seconded, we may now discuss it, Buffett says, pointing out two microphones for the purpose—one in each aisle. But, he warns, the discussion is strictly about the motion to split the stock.
This is disappointing.
Nearly everyone in this room braved Chicago airplane connections and sleety weather to ask Warren Buffett some good old-fashioned questions—none of the "What should I do with my life?" type of back-and-forth that permeates the annual meeting for this crew—and every one of the individuals in this room has at least one question they'd like to ask, given the chance.
My seatmates glance at one other. "He can't not answer a question," somebody says hopefully.
Despite Buffett's warning, there is one lone shareholder standing at the microphone placed in the aisle near us, and Buffett calls on him—although he has trouble seeing through the glare of spotlights which microphone the question is coming from: the one in the aisle to his left, or the one in the aisle to his right.
The shareholder, a man, is from Princeton, New Jersey (just like the annual meeting, shareholders state their name and where they're from) and he begins by pointing out that the proposed stock split will occur whether or not the Burlington Northern acquisition goes through.
So, he asks "what is the benefit to vote for the split even if the deal doesn't go through?"
It's a good, reasonable question, and Buffett drops all pretence of keeping things brief by starting a long, rambling answer. "Burlington has 250,000 shareholders," he says, warming-up to the topic. Paying part of the price with Berkshire stock "enables Burlington shareholders to get a more tax-efficient transaction."
This is true: shares sold for cash in a takeover trigger capital gains tax, but shares swapped for stock trigger no taxable event. Thus, most individual investors—who monitor their after-tax returns more carefully than mutual fund managers—prefer stock swaps to all-cash tenders, and Buffett wants to accommodate those Burlington shareholders looking to avoid a tax hit.
But it is precisely this kind of matter-of-fact maneuvering around the U.S. tax code that drives a healthy slice of investors crazy when it comes to Warren Buffett.
Buffett is a master of such maneuvers, going back to his early days running a hedge fund (yes, Warren Buffett ran what amounted to a hedge fund: see the chapter titled "Beyond Buffett" in "Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett's Omaha".) And for years he benefitted mightily from same the tax-advantaged carried interest provisions of private partnerships which he now criticizes.
(His type-written letters to his limited partners from those years are available on the internet, and are as much worth reading as his annual Berkshire "Chairman's Letter." In those letters, Buffett takes pains to delineate the amount of short-term gains versus long-term gains for his partners).
And if there is one thing I have learned writing a book about Warren Buffett and his company—or, more precisely, while giving speeches about the book itself—it is that in almost every crowd there is at least one investor who really despises Warren Buffett.
I've learned to spot them quickly. They tend to sit in a very uptight position, with arms and legs crossed and face tight, and when question time comes around they will inevitably raise their hand aggressively and ask in a louder-than-normal voice how it is that Warren Buffett gets off blabbing about taxes when he, Warren Buffett, ran a hedge fund for years or he, Warren Buffett is avoiding the inheritance tax by giving away his stock to his billionaire friend, Bill Gates, or when he, Warren Buffett, could just pay higher taxes if he wanted to…
(When asked in public forums why he doesn't just pony up higher taxes, Buffett responds, quite rationally but, to his critics, lamely, that the laws are the laws, and he obeys those laws.)
So if the Burlington Northern Board of Directors wants part of the purchase consideration from Berkshire to be stock instead of cash in order to avoid capital gains taxes on a good portion of their shareholders' profits (as well to benefit from future growth in Berkshire Hathaway, although Buffett does not mention that rationale here today), well, Buffett is going to accommodate them.
And if this means having to split his own company's high-priced stock so that small investors in Burlington may get the same tax advantages that come with selling out for stock rather than cash, as large investors will, then Buffett is perfectly willing to do it.
"We want to earn the reputation of treating every shareholder equally and with respect," he says. "To not offer people with less than $3,000 of Burlington Northern the same as those with more, we felt it was the wrong way to go…"
As far as his own well-known, and long-voiced, opposition to splitting Berkshire's stock, Buffett explains his change of mind this way: "I worried in the past that people would be enticed by the stock price. I'm less worried about that." He adds ruefully, "in fact our recent record will help with that."This generates laughter and is precisely the kind of self-deprecating remark by which Buffett diffuses even mildly contentious questions—and it works here today: he calls for the next question, and it moves gingerly outside the realm of stock splits.
"Why Burlington Northern, and not Union Pacific?" the shareholder at the microphone asks.
"They're both wonderful railroads," Buffett responds, in his usually tactful manner. Unless the subject is greedy investment bankers, remorseless mortgage brokers or Greek-alphabet-pushing academics, Buffett follows the Dale Carnegie rule of not to criticize, condemn or complain. "And there's no way one will do better or worse…their fates are locked," he says.
Then, getting to the heart of the question, Buffett says, "I like the western railroads a little better. If you look out 10 or 15 or 20 years, the West will grow a little faster."
Clearly, he is looking to China and India as engines of worldwide growth.
The next shareholder asks how he will handle the annual meeting when its shareholder attendance—already north of 30,000—is inflated by some portion of those 250,000 Burlington Northern shareholders to whom he will be giving stock.
Buffett smiles and says, "Maybe if Charlie stays home we'll only have a hundred people."
There are now shareholders at each of the two microphones (one in each aisle), and the questions make no pretense of staying on the subject of the stock split.
In fact, it is the next question, from a local Omaha shareholder, that is most clearly on everyone's mind.
And while Buffett has already this morning been asked a variation on the same question by the Buffett-friendly CNBC anchor Becky Quick, it is here among his most serious admirers that Buffett won't be able to glibly toss off an amusing response to his favorite talking head.
Buffett has complained about Kraft using "undervalued stock" to buy Cadbury, the shareholder from Omaha says, yet Buffett is using his owned undervalued stock to buy Burlington Northern—a railroad company.
"What are the differences using undervalued Berkshire stock to buy Burlington Northern?"
Buffett begins to speak, and we listen.
—To be continued...
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
Photograph and Content © 2009 NotMakingThisUp, LLC
The content contained in this blog represents only the opinions of Mr. Matthews, who also acts as an advisor: clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes investment advice, and should never be relied on in making an investment decision, ever. Also, this blog is not a solicitation of business: all inquiries will be ignored. The content herein is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
Posted by Jeff Matthews at 8:28 AM 11 comments:
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
What I Learned Writing a Book, Part II: The Oracle Appears, Alone…Sort Of
There is some gamesmanship going on as we enter the cozy, wood-floored Peter Kiewit concert hall here in downtown Omaha.
Of course, it's nothing like what goes on at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. At that "Woodstock for Capitalists," as Buffett likes to call it—held not in a 2,000-seat concert hall but in a 17,000-seat arena within the Qwest Center a few blocks away—draws so many shareholders from around the world that lines begin to form, for hundreds of yards around the glass and steel complex, before the sun rises, just waiting for the doors to open.
If the annual meeting is the equivalent of a musical Woodstock, without the drugs and naked dancers, then today's special meeting is more like one of Sting's lute concerts. (If you never went to one of Sting's lute concerts, you are not alone: only hardcore Sting fans went to those, and only hardcore Buffett fans are here.)
This will be, indeed, a very mellow affair.
There no camera crews from China prowling the halls for interviewees, no giant video screens hanging alongside the stage, and no young men in Dockers and button-down oxford shirts bursting inside as soon as the doors open, running down the aisles and claiming seats near the stage.
Instead, there are older couples—retirees with time to spare on a sleety, cold, blustery Wednesday morning—and professional investors (all men, most in suits and ties), all walking casually down the aisles, chatting, spotting friends, and selecting seats.
And this is where the gamesmanship comes in.
For even in this cozy concert hall, and even among these—the most serious observers of Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway—there are people are looking for the best seat possible from which to watch Warren Buffett.
Several new acquaintances and I take seats in what appears to be a prime spot, a few rows from the front. The money manager seated next to me is a 20 year Berkshire veteran who had introduced himself out in the lobby—he had read "Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett's Omaha"—and I learn he attended the last and only other special meeting in Berkshire Hathaway's post-Buffett history: the meeting to approve the acquisition of General Re.
We talk about that meeting—made legendary when Buffett put up a life-size cut-out photograph of Charlie Munger in the seat next to his and played tape-recorded bits of Mungerisms at appropriate times—and he observes that there were far more investors at that meeting than this one.
Indeed, by my count, there are only about 150 people are here today. By contrast, there were 500 shareholders at the 1998 special meeting.
What accounts for this loss of interest—aside from the bad weather—is one subtle but distinct difference between the General Re meeting eleven years ago and this one today.
Today's meeting is merely to approve a stock split that will enable Berkshire's purchase of Burlington Northern railroad. Buffett's going to buy Burlington come hell or high water, or, as Buffett once said in reference to another transaction, "even if Ben Bernanke runs off with Paris Hilton."
The 1998 special meeting, on the other hand, was held for Berkshire shareholders to approve the company's merger with General Re.
Now, until Burlington Northern came along a few months ago, General Re had been the biggest acquisition in Berkshire's—and Buffett's—history, although despite Buffett's high hopes and effusive cheerleading at the time, it did not prove to be one of the best.
Buffett paid $22 billion for General Re, all of it in shares of Berkshire stock (hence the need for a special meeting to get shareholder approval), meaning the cost of the deal went up along with Berkshire's stock price, even if General Re's business did not likewise increase in value.
And for some time afterwards, that prospect did not look good. Indeed, the 1998 press release in which Buffett announced the deal reads embarrassingly wide-eyed, given what was to follow:
"But the main attraction of the merger [with General Re] is synergy, a word that heretofore has never been used in listing the reasons for a Berkshire acquisition. In this transaction, however, there are at least four areas of powerful synergy, which Charles Munger, Berkshire's Vice Chairman, and I believe justify the premium price that Berkshire is paying…"
Not only did the synergies take longer to appear, but one of them—"removes constraints on earnings volatility"—would come to haunt Berkshire after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center caused more than $2 billion worth of unanticipated "earnings volatility."
In addition, and to Buffett's eternal annoyance, Berkshire would later spend $400 million laboriously unwinding 23,000 derivatives contracts fermenting with General Re at the time of the acquisition.
(On the plus side, the experience of unwinding those contracts during the salad days of the early 2000s would directly lead to Buffett's stern warnings against derivatives as a market cure-all in his 2002 shareholder letter, and help Berkshire emerge from the 2008 crisis in far better shape than its peers.)
Furthermore, Gen Re would, under Buffett's watch, become embroiled in a scandal that would eventually entail testimony from Buffett himself; threaten the squeaky-clean image Buffett demands the Berkshire business family to maintain; and result in the conviction of several former Gen Re executives—all for entering into "sham transactions" by which Gen Re helped AIG dress up its reserves to satisfy Wall Street's Finest.
In fact, I've been told—while preparing for an early-morning interview with Bloomberg TV—that a final settlement on that sordid chapter was coming, with Gen Re paying $92 million to both settle investor claims and put an end to Federal investigations into the matter.
Thus, as Berkshire closes out the final, downbeat chapter to that last previous record-setting acquisition, we Berkshire shareholders are being asked not to approve the acquisition of Burlington Northern railroad, but merely to allow a 50-for-1 stock split and the elimination of paper stock certificates for the Berkshire "B" shares.
The Berkshire "B" shares—and I'll keep it light so our readers' eyes don't roll back into their heads—are simply cheaper versions of the regular Berkshire "A" shares. The "A" shares trade around $100,000 a share—yes, $100,000 per share—and most people can't afford to buy them. So Buffett created the "B" shares at 1/30th the value of the "A" shares.
One more difference, and it's huge: the "B" shares have fewer voting rights than the "A" shares—like 1/200th of the voting rights. This might seem to be a glaring incongruity at a company whose CEO is highly vocal about the rights of shareholders, and also highly outspoken about the irresponsibility of "lapdog" Boards of Directors, but readers of "Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett's Omaha" know this is only one of several incongruities when it comes to the greatest investor in the world.
Before today's meeting, the vote-deprived "B" shares sell for around $3,500 each. After the meeting, assuming we've approved a 50-for-1 split, they'll sell for $70-something a piece…and they'll be even more vote-deprived.
Instead of having 1/200th of the voting rights of an "A" share, they'll have 1/10,000th of an "A" share vote.
We are seated, as I said, a few rows back from the stage. Our seats are, technically, "Stage Left"—i.e. to the left of center stage when facing the audience—and this is where the gamesmanship comes in.
"The speech is on the other side," somebody says, pointing to the table onstage where Buffett will sit. It has two microphones, just like the annual meeting, and a stack of papers has been placed at the seat which is to our left as we look at the table, but which is, technically, Stage Right.
Someone else observes, "Well that's where he always sits at the annual meeting."
So we get up and walk through an empty row to the other side of the concert hall, and pick seats a few rows back that will presumably give us a better look at Buffett when he sits down at the microphone with the speech in front of it.
Others notice and follow our example; others notice but sit pat. After all, almost any seat in the room will provide a good view of the "Oracle of Omaha."
I am introduced to a farmer from Iowa. He is a longtime Berkshire shareholder, and we begin talking about the harvest and the outlook for corn prices. Business has been good, he tells us, what with demand from ethanol plants and the wet November that interrupted the harvest. "I was out there yesterday and there's a lot of corn to be harvested."
"Isn't this kind of late in the season?" we ask.
"It is," he says, "it is, but—"
Our focus turns to the stage, where a woman has crossed from the wings and is arranging things on the table. She moves the speech from one microphone to the other, raising speculation of a shift in Buffett's preferred seat.
"Maybe Charlie's coming," somebody says hopefully.
This bit of Kremlinology ends when Buffett himself strides in from Stage Left, smiling as the crowd begins to applaud.
He sits down on our side of the table, Stage Right—"where he always sits"—and fiddles with the microphone. There is no bowl of See's candy, as at the annual meeting, but there are two cans of Cherry Coke within arm's reach.
"This is a little embarrassing," Buffett begins, in his husky, folksy voice. "When Charlie's here we usually get about 35,000 people."
While we're laughing, Buffett lifts up a life-size cut-out of a youthful Charlie Munger—the same one it would appear he used at the special meeting in 1998—and places it in the other seat.
He presses a button and Charlie's familiar, higher-pitched voice says, "I have nothing more to add."
"It's as good as having him here and we don't pay him," Buffett says.
After dispensing with the preliminaries, Buffett announces he will accept questions on the motions before us.
And there are questions.
—to be continued.
Jeff Matthews
I Am Not Making This Up
© 2009 NotMakingThisUp, LLC
The content contained in this blog represents only the opinions of Mr. Matthews, who also acts as an advisor: clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews' recommendations. This commentary in no way constitutes investment advice, and should never be relied on in making an investment decision, ever. Also, this blog is not a solicitation of business: all inquiries will be ignored. The content herein is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.
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text:
Saturday, 1 May 2010
The 6 minute 1/4 mile
But can a just-barely 2 year old honestly run a 2.5k? I doubt it. Or maybe some could. Okay, The Lorax loves to run, but he is just so small and easily distracted. On our one tour around the track today, he must have stopped and said "hva' det?" 15 times about little rocks. I mean 6 minutes for one tour around the track, probably means an over the time limit for him. But maybe he'll sense the competition and get his act together.
Baby Jogger Racing
So the World Record in running a marathon with a baby jogger is held by Zac Freudenburg, who ran in 2:32:10 this past December, barely outrunning the previous world record holder, Mike Wardian, who tried to race Freudenberg for the prestigious title, but ended up a couple minutes behind. But what we all really care about is the FEMALE record in this event... does anyone know?
Miwok 100k
This huge race is of course going on in California today and I had to laugh when I read the live update: "Tony Krupicka just arrived at the start with Jen Shelton." What is this, the Oscars? I was hoping for an update on who Helen Lavin arrived with, but no such luck. Live updates here:http://www.ultralive.net/cil.php
Running Song of the Day: Belly of June by Horse Feathers
3 comments:
- PiccolaPineCone said...
Whenever you write about the Lorax, I think:
"At the far end of town
where the Grickle-grass grows
and the wind smells slow-and-sour when it blows
and no birds ever sing excepting old crows...
is the Street of the Lifted Lorax"
Anyway - good luck to little Lorax tomorrow. Give his nose a good luck beep for me! (i.e. you tap the nose and loudly say BEEP! Cocotte loves ot).
- 1 May 2010 at 21:46
Hi Tracy.
Held og lykke m den lille Lorax imor.
Glæder mig til at se billeder fra løbet.
Anede ikke der var et løb i Valby imor.Havde jeg kendt til løbet, var jeg kommet ud og løbet med, men desværre er der lagt andre søndagsplaner.
Godt løb begge to :o)
Vi ses.
- 1 May 2010 at 23:01
- Ewa said...
Do you have pictures of Lorax running?
I bet Tony Krupicka did not have to go through the lottery to run Miwok 100k.
- 2 May 2010 at 12:31


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Electronics Components: Connect I/O Pins on a HomeWork Board
Before you start writing programs to run on a BASIC Stamp to add special effects to your electronics projects, you must first build the circuit(s) that will connect to the I/O pins on the Stamp. Once the circuit is constructed, you can then write a program that controls the circuits that you've connected to each pin.
The BASIC Stamp 2 has a total of 16 separate I/O pins, which means you can connect as many as 16 separate circuits. These 16 I/O circuits are more than enough for most BASIC Stamp projects.
For now, start with a basic circuit that simply connects an LED to one of the Stamp's output pins. The program that you write and load onto a Stamp can turn each of the 16 I/O pins on (HIGH) or off (LOW) by using simple programming commands. When an I/O pin is HIGH, +5 V is present at the pin. When it's LOW, no voltage is present.
Each I/O pin can handle as much as 20 mA of current, which is more than enough to light an LED. As with any LED circuit, you need to provide a current-limiting resistor in the circuit.
If you forget to include this resistor, you'll destroy the LED, and you might fry the Stamp too — so always be sure to include the current-limiting resistor. A 470Ω resistor is usually appropriate for LED circuits connected to Stamp I/O pins.
Here's a simple schematic diagram for a circuit that drives an LED from pin 15 of a BASIC Stamp. Notice in this schematic that the pin output is represented by a simple five-sided shape. It's common in schematics to not draw the Stamp as a single rectangle as you would other integrated circuits. Instead, each I/O connection in the circuit is shown using a connector shape.
This is how you might build this circuit on a BASIC Stamp HomeWork board. Notice that the resistor is inserted into the P15 connection and the sixth hole in the second row. The LED's anode is inserted in the seventh hole in row 2, and the cathode is in one of the Vss connectors.


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Public release date: 27-Apr-2011
– Using liver biopsies, researchers found that after 96 weeks of treatment, 58 percent of the children on vitamin E no longer had NASH, compared to 41 percent of the children on metformin (a diabetes drug), and 28 percent on placebo. Vitamin E was better than placebo because it significantly reduced enlargement and death of liver cells.
NIH-funded researchers gain ground in treatment
A specific form of vitamin E improved the most severe form of fatty liver disease in some children, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Results appear in the April 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. A previous study found vitamin E effective in some adults with the disease.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease among U.S. children. NAFLD ranges in severity from steatosis (fat in the liver without injury) to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH (fat, inflammation, and liver damage). Fatty liver increases a child's risk of developing heart disease and liver cirrhosis. The only way to distinguish NASH from other forms of fatty liver disease is with a liver biopsy.
Weight loss may reverse the disease in some children, but other than dietary advice, there are no specific treatments. Excess fat in the liver is believed to cause injury by increasing levels of oxidants, compounds that damage cells.
Most children with fatty liver disease are overweight and resistant to insulin, a critical hormone that regulates energy. Boys are more likely affected than girls, as are Hispanic children compared to African-Americans and whites.
Using liver biopsies, researchers found that after 96 weeks of treatment, 58 percent of the children on vitamin E no longer had NASH, compared to 41 percent of the children on metformin (a diabetes drug), and 28 percent on placebo. Vitamin E was better than placebo because it significantly reduced enlargement and death of liver cells.
"These results suggest that vitamin E improves or resolves NASH in at least half of children, which we previously showed to be true in adults," said Stephen P. James, M.D., director of the digestive diseases and nutrition division at NIH's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), which funded the study. While the results are encouraging, patients using vitamin E for NASH should be under a doctor's care. "We hope to build on these results by looking for other therapies and reliable, non-invasive ways to monitor the disease and response to therapy."
The Treatment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Children (TONIC) trial studied whether vitamin E (an antioxidant) or metformin could improve fatty liver disease. The endpoint to measure success was either a sustained reduction in the liver enzyme alanine aminotransferase (ALT) or improvements in the liver as shown by biopsies. A total of 173 children, mostly whites and Hispanics ages 8 to 17, were recruited into three treatment groups. The children received either 500 milligrams of metformin or 400 international units of a natural form of vitamin E or placebo twice a day for two years.
Neither vitamin E nor metformin were significantly better than placebo in reducing ALT levels. Twenty-six percent of patients on vitamin E, 16 percent on metformin, and 17 percent of those on placebo had reduced liver enzyme levels. Interestingly, ALT levels improved more rapidly among patients on vitamin E (within six months) compared to those on placebo. The ALT levels among the children on placebo improved over the two years.
"We believe all children in the trial benefited from the frequent diet and exercise advice provided throughout the study," said Joel E. Lavine, M.D., Ph.D., a TONIC principal investigator and professor of pediatrics at Columbia University, New York. "Now we have information on the natural history of a placebo group over time, which will help us design future trials."
Using biopsies in children with liver disease is unique. "TONIC is ground-breaking on two fronts. It is the first study to use liver biopsy to evaluate potential treatments for any liver disease in children," said Patricia Robuck, Ph.D., M.P.H., the project scientist at NIDDK. "It is also the first multi-center, randomized, controlled trial to use a liver biopsy to evaluate a therapy for fatty liver in children, considered the most rigorous design for studies of liver disease."


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June 2, 2007
Stephen Young '09
CHERRY HILL, N.J. - Competing in the varsity four with coxswain, MIT's men's heavyweight crew team earned a second-place finish in the Petite Final at the IRA National Championship. Overall, the Engineers ranked eighth of 31 crews in their event.
Due to a lack of seeding data, race officials replaced the standard system of heats and repechages with a 1,750-meter time trial. MIT earned a slot in the "A" semifinal following a fourth-place performance with a time of 5:33.5. The next day, the Engineers struggled to bounce back from a slow start and missed a bid for the grand final by 1.2 seconds. However, the Cardinal and Gray's strong outing in the time trial ensured it a spot in the Petite Final.
Behind a quick start, Tech led the field to the 500-meter mark in the Petite Final. UMass mounted a charge by throwing in several moves before the halfway point. The Engineers countered with a few bursts of their own, trailing by a seat at 1,000 meters. Entering the final 500 meters, the Minutemen were ahead by three-quarters of a length. With 250 meters left, MIT narrowed the gap and picked up two seats on UMass during the last 10 strokes. It would not be enough as the Engineers crossed the line about a deck behind the Minutemen.
MIT Varsity 4+
C - Stephen Young
4 - Luke Urban
3 - Sam McVeety
2 - Rane Nolan
1 - John Bergin


text:
Notwithstanding an injection of federal funding for public works construction through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, the U.S. construction market remained soft in 2009. Plagued by tighter credit standards and budget shortfalls, many owners and developers delayed or canceled major projects. Although the electrical design firms on EC&M's 2010 Top 40 list reported $18.3 billion in overall design services revenue, of the 31 firms present on last year's list, 19 suffered year-over-year decreases in overall design revenue (Top 40 Design Firms). Ten firms experienced double-digit declines, including Boston-based R.G. Vanderweil Engineers (No. 22) with a decrease of 31.1%, Orlando, Fla.-based TLC Engineering for Architecture (No. 25) with a 27.2% downturn, Denver-based Zachry Engineering Corp. (No. 14) with a 26.9% decrease, and Albany, N.Y.-based CHA (No. 19) with a 26.4% decline. As a result, the overall design revenue totals for the 31 firms marked an average decrease of 1.4% over the disclosed totals for 2009. Nine firms are new to the Top 40 list this year.
Additionally, 26 firms on the list separated out their electrical design services revenue from overall design services revenue to report $1.3 billion in total electrical design services revenue for 2009 (Top Electrical Design Firms). Of the 23 firms that reported electrical design work last year, 14 experienced a decrease in revenue for electrical design work, with half those firms reporting a double-digit decline. The average year-over-year gain in revenue for electrical design work for the 23 firms totals 6.7%, buoyed by two firms with reported increases of more than 75% in electrical design services revenue. Phoenix-based Carollo Engineers (No. 17), with a 154.5% increase, moves from No. 20 to No. 7 on the electrical design list, and Hailey, Idaho-based POWER Engineers (No. 15), with an 82.6% gain, moves from the fifth spot in 2009 to No. 2 on the 2010 electrical design list. Overland Park, Kan.-based Black & Veatch (No. 6) remains at the top of the electrical design revenue list with a modest 5% increase over 2008.
Unmet expectations
When asked if they "exceeded, met, or did not meet" their revenue expectations for 2009, of the 38 respondents, only seven firms reported exceeding revenue expectations, whereas 13 indicated they met revenue expectations and 18 admitted to not having met revenue expectations (Fig. 1). The major challenge to achieving sales goals in 2009, according to the respondents, was delayed or canceled projects in both the private and public sectors due to tight credit standards, budget shortfalls, and cautious investment practices. For example, in January 2009, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., announced plans to suspend or cancel proposed construction projects worth $1.3 billion because of an unprecedented decline in investment returns from its endowment.
Additionally, proposed federal regulations in the banking industry as well as unknown consequences of the yet-unpassed health care reform bill had investors nervous about starting new projects. Consequently, an unprecedented number of firms nationwide characterized the business climate of the past year as "fair" or "weak" while only two firms described the 2009 business climate as "strong" (Fig. 2).
The uncertainty caused by shrinking backlogs and shifting schedules posed additional challenges for the Top 40 firms in 2009, including increased competition, pressure to lower fees and shorten schedules, difficulty collecting fees, and difficulty in making decisions about office space, investment in new technology, and staffing levels. To maintain staff despite a reduced workload, some firms implemented work-sharing processes among offices, whereas others downsized by laying off workers and closing offices. Although 16 firms reported an increase in the number of employees that worked for their company in 2009, more than half indicated a decrease in the number of employees year-over-year. Only two firms reported the same amount of employees in 2008 as 2009 (Fig. 3).
Seattle-based Sparling (No. 31) reluctantly executed a reduction in workforce in June 2009. The majority of the 20 employees affected by the decision were contract employees. Since that time, the firm has hired back half the number it let go and has plans to hire the rest back in the near future. "Like many firms in our industry, we worked pretty hard at maintaining backlog and size, but had one reduction in workforce," says Eric Overton, CEO. "As the market slowly begins to rebound, I fully anticipate getting back to that number and beyond before the end of this year."
Oddly enough, finding experienced electrical professionals — despite extensive layoffs throughout the industry — remained a difficulty for some firms in 2009 and into this year. "It depends on the specialty," continues Overton. "On our technology side, we look for unique specialties — and that can often be difficult to find."
Strategic partnerships
In addition to downsizing, other strategies were used by the firms in this year's Top 40 to gain a competitive advantage. Six firms reported outsourcing some of their electrical design services to companies outside of the United States in 2009, and five are considering outsourcing electrical work to companies outside of the United States this year. In addition, several firms outsourced work to subcontractors and joint-venture partners in other geographic locations in the United States to satisfy local codes and standards or diversity content goals.
With the increasing popularity of the design/build project delivery method (Table 1), design firms partnered with construction companies in order to provide design-build services to their clients. New York-based STV (No. 10) teamed up with Bohemia, N.Y.-based general contractor J. Kokolakis Contracting to provide full architectural-engineering design and construction services for the $103-million design/build contract for the new U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School (USMAPS) campus at West Point, N.Y. STV previously served as the engineer and architect-of-record for the Jefferson Hall Library and Learning Center, the first new building on the U.S. military academy's West Point campus in more than 30 years.
Additional alliances led to new markets in 2009. Black & Veatch teamed with Rockville, Md.-based Lockheed Martin to help electric utility clients improve the reliability, efficiency, and interoperability of the electric power grid and protect it against cyber attacks. The partnership will focus on supporting the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) applicants' Smart Grid initiatives for advanced metering infrastructure, substation and distribution automation, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), distribution management systems, and demand response projects, especially in the areas of interoperability and cyber security.
In a more permanent partnership, Omaha, Neb.-based HDR (No. 11) acquired engineering-environmental Management, Inc. (e2M), a Denver-based environmental sciences and engineering firm. e2M now conducts business as HDR|e2M and specializes in environmental compliance, conservation and planning, restoration, engineering, and information technology services to public and private sectors, with more than 90% of its clients representing the federal government. "As part of HDR's strategic plan, we wanted to expand our federal program, and e2M will be a tremendous asset in that effort," says George A. Little, P.E., HDR president. "Its services complement ours, and our combined strengths create a powerhouse resource for federal clients."
Federal case
The Top 40 firms report being most active in educational and institutional, health care, and government markets in 2009 (Table 2). Furthermore, 37 companies reported their firm worked on renewable energy projects in 2009. Not surprisingly, the top markets are a natural fit for the renewable energy projects. "We look at co-generation — combined heat and power projects — that are related to university campus and health care settings," says Overton. "They can often take advantage of combined heat and power plants."
Therefore, a presence in the public sector — both federal and state — was an asset in 2009, particularly when finding creative ways to fund projects through ARRA or other renewable energy and energy-efficiency grants and programs.
According to a statement made in support of the ARRA legislation by Len C. Rodman, chairman, president, and CEO of Black & Veatch, stimulus funding in such sectors as mass transit, railroads, energy and water not only would help jump-start and sustain the U.S. economy, but also would lead to improvements in efficiency and better utilization of vital infrastructure. In addition, Rodman advised that such investments would bolster the basic construction industry as well as technology and manufacturing industries where the use of equipment that supports these needs drives a much wider base of the economy. "The goal of investing in the nation's infrastructure as part of the economic recovery deserves widespread support and quick action," wrote Rodman. "We must look beyond simple U.S. roads and bridge infrastructure investments if we are to realize a wide-ranging and sustainable economic rejuvenation."
In 2009, ARRA had an effect on the project bookings and workload of almost half the firms in the Top 40. New and upgraded wastewater and water treatments plant projects, practically at a standstill once money for that infrastructure was pulled after the meltdown in the residential market, are one of the primary beneficiaries of ARRA funding, as are transportation projects.
In 2009, Cambridge, Mass.-based Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc. (No. 7) helped clients develop creative financing plans such as user-fee programs, state revolving fund loans, rural development grants and loans, and community block grants, as well as ARRA monies. "These efforts have led to a long list of successful funding initiatives throughout New England," says Pat Hughes, Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc.'s area manager for New England. For example, more than 50% of the cost for $27 million in water and sewer improvements in North Conway, N.H., came from rural development funding. In addition, Stafford, Conn., leveraged ARRA funding, as well as national water and environmental loans and grants to complete an $8.5-million upgrade, including replacement of the electrical system, to its 35-yr-old plant.
Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc. also pointed the precinct toward 50% grant funding made available by ARRA to invest in alternative energy. It was awarded contracts for the installation of more than 700 solar panels that will produce approximately 200,800kWh of electricity per year and a geothermal system that will provide heating and cooling for a major portion of the treatment plant. "This will be the largest solar installation in New Hampshire," says Jennifer Osgood, senior project manager at Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc. "It will serve as a model for progressive utilities that want to adopt more sustainable practices."
Private parts
Despite certain stimulus successes, a majority of firms report ARRA will have little effect on their bookings and workload this year and into 2011 (Fig. 4). "Stimulus program spending will help to cushion the downturn in the institutional sector, but will do little to help with commercial or industrial facilities," says Kermit Baker, Ph.D., Hon. AIA, chief economist for the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Washington, D.C. "Funding allocations to the public works construction sector for activities such as streets and highways, bridges, water and sewer, and conservation projects are significant, but they are much more modest for buildings. Residential and non-residential building stimulus projects are estimated to total as much as $35 to $40 billion over the next 2 yr. For a $400-billion-a-year sector, spending at this level will help, but unfortunately not much for the private side of the market."
The outlook for overall design services revenue by the firms on the 2010 Top 40 is almost as pessimistic. The AIA Consensus Construction Forecast Panel predicts a further 12% decline in non-residential construction for 2010. Although about half the firms in the Top 40 are predicting an increase in revenue, just as many are expecting to remain at the 2009 level or experience a decrease in sales (click here to see Fig. 5). Despite only six firms that reported encountering difficulty in obtaining credit in 2009 or expect to encounter difficulty this year, many more are expecting clients with credit difficulties who will then try to push for lower fees on projects with more competition. To combat any expected decreases, the firms in the 2010 Top 40 have vowed to increase marketing efforts, adopt new technologies (such as building information modeling), reduce overhead costs, seek projects outside U.S. borders, and price competitively.


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The Nation State and Its Immigrants
Since the dawning of the twenty-first century, attitudes in Germany have been changing: the countless number of people who live in the country but are not of German origin are at last being seen as immigrants. Since then, under the broad umbrella of the term integration, a national and social policy that seeks to shape this immigration has been pursued.
At the same time, another paradigm change has been taking place: with the reunification of Germany, a nation state called Germany emerged right in the heart of Europe; a state that is becoming more and more unlike the old Federal Republic as time passes.
This is not solely down to the integration of eastern Germany; it has much more to do with a changed perception of the German identity. People are increasingly confronting the country's controversial history with the present; individual chapters from the German history book are being rearranged and new weight is being attached to them.
Identity as a new brand
Issues relating to people's personal experience are in demand at present. German pain is being reappraised in the recollection of expulsions and the memory of victims of World War II bombing raids and German women who were raped by occupying soldiers.
At the same time, the present is being presented as a happy, cool enterprise: look at us; we can celebrate, have a good time; we've got a sense of humour and belong to a modern, open-minded state. Germany can stand with its head held high on the international stage. Identity is becoming a brand for which people are willing to canvass and which can also be used to striking effect.
But what has history got to do with the present? How much forgetting and how much remembering does contemporary German society need? It is very telling that questions about German history and the change in German self-perception are not even raised in the wider context of the issue of immigration. The wounds of the nation may have healed, but they could easily burst open once again if history were to be confronted with contemporary challenges resulting from immigration.
The Turkish future as a threat scenario
And so there is often a strange silence and sometimes even outright hostility when German history and the Turkish future are mentioned in the same breath. The Turkish future is a threat scenario as it involves a minority that has established itself in the country gaining in significance.
And how does a Turkish person become a German in 2010? For both the natives and the immigrants, it would be a worthwhile exercise to open the German history book and study the chapter that deals with Polish immigration in the nineteenth century or the integration and assimilation of the Jews in the modern era. What happened when the Poles immigrated to the German Empire?
Who now remembers the bitter language dispute where people sought to keep the Polish language out of German reality, just as some are trying to do with Turkish today?
No matter where you turn in this country, you are always confronted with an episode from German history: the traumatic experience of National Socialism, the war, the genocide of European Jews, and also the suffering of the German population during the war, the flight, and the expulsions have all engraved themselves deeply in people's memories.
This is why there is nothing less plausible than a history-less – and therefore faceless – Germany. However, the immigration issue is kept well away from all that. The Integration Summit, the Islam Conference, debates, and events on the subject ... the whole political approach is structured as if it were only about integrating non-Germans into German society.
Debates riddled with traps and snares
This approach is based on an assimilatory impetus: assimilation is indeed one of the ways of integrating oneself into a foreign country. However, it will not succeed if the ghosts of the different types of assimilation that existed in the past are kept firmly out of the conference chamber. These ghosts continue to haunt both the active memory and the deepest layers of consciousness. They creep into the language; they take people by surprise; unsettle them.
The language of the integration debates is certainly telling. When it comes to questions of identity, home, or loyalty, it is full of traps and snares. In the debates about dual citizenship in Wilhelmine Germany, the term "loyalty" was used again and again by conservative politicians and historians in order to demonstrate that the Jewish and German identities were incompatible: as far as the historian Heinrich von Treitschke was concerned, the unity of state and people was at risk.
Those who completely close their minds to dual identities are harking back to a tradition that fostered a nebulous image of the state – a concept that long blocked Germany's path to democracy. These terms already have suzerainty over the fear potential as it is: fear of losing one's identity, fear of foreigners, fear of things unknown.
Take also the work of the Islamic associations in Germany; they should indeed by examined more critically. However, when Necla Kelek writes in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about the associations' "old bazaar mentality" and the fact that they believe they are on "a division mission and can bargain with the government about the make-up and the agenda of the conference," her words invoke associations of a long tradition of defamation and stigmatization. Would a newspaper permit similar formulations about other religious groups?
The debate about immigration is emotionally charged. Nevertheless, there is no place for such sensitivities around the conference table. The only purpose they would serve would be to alienate the various parties from each other. If the Germans want to embrace those who have immigrated to this country, they have to get more involved in the debate – and in an open and self-critical manner.
Taking the other side's history into consideration
This is not always a pleasant undertaking; it can be a painful process. On the other hand, those who live in Germany on a permanent basis and would like to integrate themselves into German society, cannot avoid taking the history of the other side into consideration. Empathy has a significant role to play in this. It is not about conventional history lessons, but about an exchange of experience that goes beyond the boundaries of one's own culture.
In the past, the writing of history has often been about the construction of a national identity. Although modern history studies have made progress in this regard, the discipline still shies away from a more comparative approach. We already have comparative literary studies; what we need now is comparative history studies.
With their biographical connotations, literary texts can supplement a perception of the past that is rather devoid of emotion and open up new perspectives. The people of Europe share the experiences of the twentieth century – the genocides, the expulsions, the nationalist excesses etc.; the Germans also share them with the Turks.
Alone with one's own history
There are, however, moments where one's history cannot be shared; where one is completely alone with one's own history. This is where integration reaches its limits. These are not borders that run between nations, cultures, or religions, but borders that are drawn by people's origins, their biographies, their family trees.
These borders can shift and change: grandfathers and grandmothers remain grandfathers and grandmothers, but when the grandchildren emigrate, a new view of the earlier generation emerges. These experiences deposit themselves in family stories, are told in a variety of languages, and gain new significance. This unsettles all those who would prefer to combine individuals and individual biographies in a collective identity.
The Germans and the Turks have a number of things in common. Both originated in major mixed cultures that were violently crushed in the twentieth century. This is just one bitter experience that the two sides could talk about. It is one way of identifying similarities and differences, far away from the realm of vague judgements and prejudices.
In other words, discussions about German integration policy should not just focus on Turks, Islam, and issues that average Germans consider foreign, but about those things that average Germans consider their own: their own history, the change in their own identity.
This change is about more than just the yearning for recognition; it has much to do with feelings of uncertainty regarding a future in which nothing will be the same as it is today and many things will hopefully be different from the way they were yesterday.
Zafer Senocak
© Qantara.de 2010
Edited by: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de
The writer Zafer Senocak lives in Berlin. His book Das Land hinter den Buchstaben. Deutschland und der Islam im Umbruch (The land behind the letters: Germany and Islam in a period of change) and a volume of poetry entitled Übergang (Crossing over) were recently published by Babel Verlag.
Zafer Şenocak
Translating Islam
How can Muslim societies shake off their intellectual paralysis and inject a new momentum and vitality into Islamic thought, allowing it to engage in a meaningful way with the contemporary world, asks Turkish-born writer and social critic Zafer Şenocak
Interview with Zafer Senocak
"The Reductionism of Islam Must Stop"
In times gone past, Turkish elites were purely secular, purely western, and had absolutely nothing to do with Islam. But this is beginning to change, and a Muslim intelligentsia is forming in Turkey, says Zafer Senocak. An interview by Joachim Güntner
Zafer Senocak – Abdelkader Benali
Muslims and Integration in Europe
In their correspondence, Zafer Senocak, one of the most prominent and versatile German Turkish writers, and Abdelkader Benali, renowned Dutch-Moroccan novelist and author, discuss their experiences in two different cultures and the integration problems Muslims are facing today


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Hybrid-Active Load Pull with PNA-X and Maury Microwave
1 時間 | ウェブセミナ(録画) | 日程/会場
What is the webcast about:
Traditional mechanical load pull techniques have relied heavily on Vector Network Analyzers (VNA's) for the initial calibration of the system but did not make use of these instruments during measurements. Instead, comprehensive tuner calibrations (characterizations) and Power Meters were used to determine the input power available to the device under test (DUT) and output power delivered from the DUT by measuring the absolute power and de-embedding through the characterized S-Parameters of the tuner. Disadvantages of this technique include the requirement of lengthy and accurate pre-characterization of each tuner and the repeatability of said tuners over time, as well as the ability to only measure available power and not truly delivered power. Vector-Receiver Load Pull (VRLP) relies on a VNA (or vector receiver) as the core measurement tool, measuring the a- and b-waves associated with the DUT in real-time. From these waves, the large signal input impedance of the DUT can be determined, and the actual delivered input and output powers are calculated.
Active and Hybrid-Active load pull takes VRLP one step further by using an active tuning chain (externally injected signal with magnitude and phase control) as a replacement of the mechanical tuner (active load pull) or to augment the mechanical tuner (hybrid load pull) by increasing the reflected power to the DUT. Active and hybrid load pull systems are ideal for high-VSWR, high-speed fundamental and harmonic load pull for in-fixture and on-wafer applications.
During this webcast you will learn the theory and implementation of modern load pull methodologies and how they relate to the PNA-X and advanced measurement techniques.
Who should view this webcast:
This webcast is ideal for engineers, technicians, managers working in the design and characterization of transistors and amplifiers, and those wanting to update their knowledge of load pull techniques and methodologies.
Steve Dudkiewicz, Director of Business Development, Maury Microwave
Steve Dudkiewicz is Director of Business Development at Maury Microwave Corporation and is based in Toronto, Canada. Steve holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering from Concordia University in Montreal Canada and has spent the past seven years working in the device characterization, measurement and modeling industry with a concentration on load pull and noise parameter measurements between 40 MHz and 110 GHz. Steve is the author of over a dozen application notes and has been published in the Microwave Journal and Microwaves & RF magazines as well as having presented at numerous IEEE events. Steve is a regular presenter and participant in Agilent workshops and seminars across the globe.
|At Your PC
|Enroll for the June 12, 2012 recorded broadcast
Hybrid-Active Load Pull with PNA-X and Maury Microwave Webcast Slides
Slides from the June 12, 2012 webcast
セミナのプレゼンテーション 2012-06-12


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And I want to post multiple pictures and can not figure outhow to use the manage attachments to upload fronm a site. Help?
And I want to post multiple pictures and can not figure outhow to use the manage attachments to upload fronm a site. Help?
Bob Rippy
Tour of Honor Missouri State Sponsor
Missouri had more civilians killed in the Civil War than any other state. It was the only Slave State not to secede. There was much atrocity in border raids from both Kansas and Missouri on each other civilians. In Higginsville MO there is a Confederate Cemetery and Memorial. There is controversy yet today. Here is the photo story.
In it is this chapel.
This is the donation box in the chapel. What tales could it tell?
But this is what causes the doubts even today.
As you can see this is the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. However over the years it has changed to mean Slavery to many people. Actually the Confderate Flag looked like this. These are photos of displays at the Cemetery. There are many more "Confederate Flags" than these in their display.
Until a few years ago the Confederate Flag flew over this Confederate Cemetery and Memorial.
The previous Governor took the flag down. The current Governoor allows the flag to fly on Memorial Day only. Here's the flagpole with US and Missouri Flags flying, and obligatory shot of my bike.
Also in the Cemetery is the Grave of William Quantrill the leader of Quantrill's Raiders, also known as the Missouri Partisan Rangers whose members included the James Brothers and the Youngers and his second in command, Bloody Bill Anderson. (More of this group is certain to be in another photo essay.) If you saw the movie Ride with the Devil you learned some of the story.
Here's a look at the Cemetery.
Over 140 years later there is still a doubt as to who were the good guys and who were the bad guys to many in this area. Should a Soldier who fought for a cause they felt worth dying for, be allowed to rest forever under his Flag or the Flag of the Victors? It has been said the Winners write the history. I don't have the definitive answer, but still believe there is a shadow of a doubt to some of these questions.
Bob Rippy
Tour of Honor Missouri State Sponsor
My weekend ride out Hwy 224 east of Estacada towards Detroit Lake. This stop was at Ripplebrook Ranger Station and the most "color" I could find.
'04 piedmont red RT Prrr-T aka Purty
well behaved women rarely make history...
Blue Knights Oregon I, IBA #16940


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Share Rally
Montana Rush's online fundraiser for Go4theGoal!
Rush Soccer is partnering with the Go4theGoal Foundation in the fight against pediatric cancer. And MONTANA RUSH is taking on the RUSH FOR THE CURE CHALLENGE!
Donate at least $1 for every goal your team scores this fall or take the challenge to support the cause through the end of your spring season.
What is Go4theGoal Foundation?
Go4theGoal Foundation's unwavering mission is to improve the lives of children battling cancer by providing financial support, developing and implementing unique hospital programs, funding innovative research, and granting personal wishes.
In conjunction with RUSH for the CURE program, all Rush clubs are also encouraged to "Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer" with Go4theGoal's Gold Laces. Since 2011 teams at every level from youth to professional have worn Go4theGoal's gold laces to help raise awareness as well as much needed funding for the cause. At the end of this challenge, Go4theGoal will make sure to keep your money local to help kids in your community. Learn more about Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer.


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For me, personal productivity means the ability to deliver results when needed, may it be something to your boss or for yourself. Furthermore, the results should be achieved without too much negative stress. How often have you achieved this? Most of us have been truly productive quite seldom. I think that this is something that can be developed, by learning a specific set of six crucial skills. I'll run them down for you below.
Learning is important for personal productivity. Just think about all the new stuff and things we need to learn, only to keep functioning. If nothing else, the user interface of Facebook has suddenly changed, and you have to learn that all again. Ways to learn more easily include faster reading, using mind maps, and for the more advanced also mnemonics (the art of memory tricks).
Organization skills are also very important, as we are constantly overflowed with new things, papers, and information. Some things we should keep and store, others we should immediately get rid of, or they will just increase the amount of clutter lying around. Personal organization methods can really come handy at such situations. Just think what it means to your productivity,when you manage to find that receipt from 2 months ago within 30 seconds of the situation when you need them.
I see time management as a sub skill to personal productivity. With time management, we refer to the art of keeping your calendar in order, and managing task and email. Good time management also means minimizing the time used for procrastination.
In order to get results, we also have to keep fit mentally. Stress will wear you down, if you are not careful. Luckily there exists practices like mediation, but doing sports and meting friends will do as well. The point is, however, this: even in the most hectic work situations, keep calm. With a stable mind, everything is easier, which leads to increased productivity.
One interesting area is creativity. Our work today if filled with problems, and basically we all get paid for solving them. Can you imagine that there actually exists dozens of small tools to help you on that area? Having creativity handy when you need it, will help you finish that presentation your boss is waiting for, making you both happy. Your boss gets his fast delivery, and you can go home earlier.
Last but not least we have decision making. We all know people who cannot make even the smallest decision, they simply don't have the guts to do it. What do I say again? There exists tools to help you.
Putting in some effort and studying even little in the areas above will help your personal productivity.


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Come learn more about Health Foundations and the services we offer. Discover why Health Foundations Birth Center was voted as "Best of the Twin Cities" by Birth & Baby and Mpls Magazine. Please call the office at 651.895.2520 or fill out the form to register.
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: June 7Community Acupuncture
Later Event: June 10Tour and Information Session


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From the beginning of June most of the country have been gripped with the ups and down of villa-life on ITV2's Love Island, with York-born Georgia Steel fast becoming one of tha nation's favourites.
Georgia has been praised on social media for looking out for others in the villa, expressing the importance of loyalty and handling herself in a cool, composed way when emotions have been running high.
However, when last night's episode aired, Georgia faced backlash on social media after some viewers disagreed with her sudden change in behaviour.


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Python FinTech Dokumentation v3.x
Die Dokumentation ist derzeit nur in englischer Sprache verfügbar.
The FinTech package is available for Python 2.6 and 2.7 (32/64 bit) on PyPI (Python Package Index). If you need a solution for Python 3 or any other programming language, have a look at the XML-RPC server.
The FinTech library depends on the following packages:
- PyCrypto
- lxml
- fpdf
- kontocheck (recommended for the German market)
- Pillow (optional)
Pillow is only required if you want to scan SEPA mandates for printed barcodes which hold the mandate reference number.
Linux / OS X
Install it with easy_install:
easy_install fintech
Or use pip:
pip install fintech
If setuptools is not installed, download the source package, extract it and run:
python setup.py install
In the latter case you must also manually install all dependencies.
Install all above-mentioned packages. Executables can be found on the corresponding PyPI sites with the exception of PyCrypto. These installers are listed below. PyCrypto packages were build against MPIR and therefore include the _fastmath module. Be sure to download the correct installer in terms of the used Python version and bitness.
Package registration
The Python FinTech package
- fintech.register(name=None, keycode=None, users=None, hosts=None)¶
Registers the FinTech package.
It is required to call this function once before any submodule can be imported. Without a valid license the functionality is restricted.
- name – The name of the licensee.
- keycode – The keycode of the licensed version.
- users – The licensed EBICS user ids (Teilnehmer-IDs). It must be a string or a list of user ids.
- hosts – The licensed EBICS host ids (Host-IDs). It must be a string or a list of host ids.
- exception fintech.FintechLicenseError¶
Exception concerning the license
import fintech
# Register an unlicensed version
# Register a licensed version
fintech.register('LICENSEE_NAME', 'KEYCODE', 'EBICS_USER_ID')


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Adley Hi there SouthKC, my name is Adam. My Uncle Sammy was the owner of Wimpy's. My family still has the recipe for the Italian steaks and we make them frequently for family gatherings. I am always flattered when I hear people remember Wimpy's as I grew up going there a lot as a child and have fond memories of it. It was a wonderful place to eat. Great food and fun. I miss it and him a lot. He passed away from cancer years ago. He was a good man. If you want to know more info feel free to hit me back.
1bbqboy I love this thread because: A) I authored it 9 years ago, when we were all innocents. B) It's the #2 entry on Google when you type it in. This thread might be the champion of one hit posters. We're all still searching for our lost Italian Steak Sandwich.
Mickey5 Ours is an oblong breaded meat (pork) served with lettuce, tomato and our sauce. You can add provolone if you wish. We don't deep fry them instead we put them on a griddle. Whimpys didn't have cheese and the sauce is similar.
rmille41 He said that they use real steak where most places use knuckle meat because it is cheaper.
EvieFairchild I can't tell you how much I loved Italian Steak Sandwiches growing up. I would say a rude word in front of my grandmother for a really authentic recipe. There was some kind of spicy seed in the breading that gave a unique flavor. Anyone have the real deal on this?


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Veronica Mars
Jason Dohring is confirmed to reprise his role of Logan Echolls in the upcoming "Veronica Mars" movie. Dohring and Kristen Bell are the only confirmed cast members at present.
The story takes place years after the failure of Veronica's dad's re-election as town sheriff. Something major brings her back home and back to her calling. [Source: THR]
Hector And The Search For Happiness
Toni Collette and Jean Reno are set to star in Peter Chelsom's rom-com "Hector And The Search For Happiness" which has just begun filming. Rosamund Pike, Stellan Skarsgard. Christopher Plummer, Desiree Zurowski and Jakob Davies also star.
Based on the novel by Francis Lelord, the story follows a psychiatrist (Simon Pegg) as he searches the globe for the definition of happiness. [Source: Deadline]
The Grand Budapest Hotel
French actress Lea Seydoux ("Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol") has joined the cast of Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" in an unspecified role.
The story deals with a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel and his young employee and trusted protege. [Source: The Telegraph]


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A recent discussion drifted over to this brilliant show from the early '90s.
Here's an on-topic favorite.
Friday, January 09, 2009
3 comments:
Sharon, where are you? Surely you haven't ceased the practice of drink; but writing?
- January 16, 2009 at 10:03 PM
- Sharon said...
Sorry, I had writer's block!
- January 26, 2009 at 1:25 PM
- cellar rat said...
That is brilliant comedy there Sharon! Thanks for the laughs!
- February 7, 2009 at 11:32 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Smoothies came onto the weight loss and health food scene sometime in the late '90s. They were lauded as healthy meal replacements, a great way to get your veggies, and the ultimate weight-loss secret. However, some nutritionists warned that some of the store-bought smoothies could contain more calories than a bowl of ice cream.
Not long after the smoothie trend started, the juicing trend hit. The 2010 documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead follows Joe Cross on a 60-day juice-only diet. Over the course of two months, he ends up losing 100 pounds and discontinuing use of medications he'd previously been taking because of obesity related issues. The documentary is said to have contributed to doubling the sales on home juicers.
Though both blending and juicing can offer a lot of health benefits, these trends work best when balanced with other healthy habits. If you've been wondering which to add to your diet, the answer is…both! Blending and juicing at home can offer a bunch of delicious, nutritious benefits. Here's a few easy ways to add them to your daily routine.
JUICING TIPS & TRICKS – What You'll Need: A Juice Machine
Why Juice?
- Go Green.
Juice machines make it easy to get many of the high-nutrition, low-calorie benefits of leafy greens. While you may not find yourself sitting down to nibble on eight cups of kale or celery, drinking that same serving in a single glass of green juice takes just minutes. And you can sweeten it with a freshly juiced apple.
- Get More Veggies
Sip the equivalent of seven salads in a single sitting. Carrots, greens, beets–even sweet potatoes–can all be combined. These delicious juices pack a nutritional punch!
- Boost Your Nutrition
Sip your vitamins with fresh, vibrant juice you make at home! A juicer makes it easy to get some serious vitamin C and other vital nutrients in a delicious way. Citrus fruits are especially flavorful, making naturally sweet juices that start your morning off right.
BLENDING TIPS & TRICKS – What You'll Need: An Industrial-Strength (aka High Speed) Blender
Why Blend?
- Sip Hearty, Sip Healthy
Smoothies can combine enough healthy fats, proteins and nutrients to fill you up. Blend in blueberries for maximum antioxidants, add avocado for heart-healthy fats, and pop in a banana for some serious potassium.
- Protein Packed
Smoothies offer a surprisingly simple way to create your own protein shakes. Tofu, almond, peanut butter and creamy Greek yogurt can all be easily blended. Starting the day off with proper protein helps satiate you, keeping you from crashing into mid-afternoon cravings. Smoothies also offer a great base for hiding the sometimes chalky flavors of protein powders. Blend them in with bananas and berries and you'll have a simple, sweet treat in no time at all.
- Forget the Sugar
Smoothies can be easily sweetened without sugar. Using frozen fruits and naturally sweet eats (like bananas and pineapple) can get you all the enjoyment of a decadent sipper without the sugar. Honey, agave, maple syrup or even Stevia can be added in small amounts.
Before You Shop: To get started with a healthy eating habit, swap certain meals with a blended smoothie or juice. You'll be able to cut calories and soak up some plant-based nutrients. And this might be the best $450 you'll ever spend for your healthy eating options.
Brooke McLay is a professional recipe developer, food photographer, food writer, and single mom to four rad kids. Author of two cookbooks and the beloved blog, CheekyKitchen.com, her creative approach to fast, fresh, family-friendly foods has garnered her regular gigs with Disney's Babble.com, Tablespoon.com, Good Cook, and Coupons.com.


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Scrapbook Workflow
From UA Libraries Digital Services Planning and Documentation
Differences from a regular collection
Use three-digit sub-page numbers to indicate objects on a page
- Example: For the fifth item on page 10 of item seven: u0003_0000xxx_0000007_0010_005
Can use two-digit sub-sub-page numbers to indicate multipage objects on a page
- Example: If the above item was a two-page pamphlet, they would be numbered u0003_0000xxx_0000007_0010_005_01 and u0003_0000xxx_0000007_0010_005_02
- NOTE: It is not necessary to create a three-digit sub page in order for that object to have sub-sub pages; in fact, we want to avoid that if possible. Acumen can infer the relationship, as long as you do include the proper sub-page number in the sub-sub filenames.
Each scrapbook constitutes a single line of metadata. However, if captions exist, you should make a captions file to track page-by-page metadata:
- Make an Excel sheet with two columns -- without headers
- In the first, put in page IDs (the filename minus '.tif') for all the pages and sub-pages (and sub-sub-pages)
- In the second, for each image that has a caption, put it in the second column beside the appropriate ID
- Save as a tab delimited text file
- Named in this format: [item filename].captions.txt
- In the Metadata folder
The ScrapbookMakeJpegsMD script will use that captions file to stuff captions into the stub MODS for each page/sub-page/etc.
Organization and Tracking
- DO NOT create folders for pages, sub-pages, or sub-sub-pages; all should be in the item folder.
- If you start but do not finish a book, make a note of your progress in the collection spreadsheet.
Will use different scripts for some processes
- Quality Control: use ScrapbookCheck.pl rather than filenameAndDupes.pl -- it will allow for the three-digit page numbers
- Upload: use ScrapbookMakeJpegs rather than makeJpegsPurls -- it will create stub MODS for the sub-pages