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Following the global financial crisis, in particular, MLPs generated great interest because of their orientation to income and stable returns.
Over the last 15 years, MLPs have chalked up an annualized total return of 16.6% — highest of all the major asset classes, including stocks and bonds, as measured by the benchmark Alerian MLP Index (AMZ), a composite of the most prominent MLPs in the energy space. In that period, MLPs increased 9% on an annualized basis. Last year, the group's total return came in at 13.88%.
Since 1996, these partnerships have produced a 290% total return versus the S&P 500's 90%. In fact, MLPs have outperformed the S&P on a total-return basis in 11 of the past 12 years, according to a Baird Equity Research report on MLPs published in late January of 2012.
Certainly, with today's continuing low interest rates, investors are ever-seeking yield. Enter MLPs, which compared to other equity securities, deliver an indisputably higher yield. Right now, measured by the Alerian MLP Index, MLPs are yielding 6%. That's especially appealing when contrasted with today's low U.S. Treasury bond rates.
"This is a group of companies that pay out very healthy cash distributions to investors each quarter," says Columbus, Ohio-based Jason Stevens, director of energy research for Morningstar, in an interview. "When you get 6% or 7% annual yield on your distribution, plus prospects for 5% growth, you're talking about a low double-digit return. In this market, that has a pretty strong appeal to investors who are getting less than [2%] on a 10-year Treasury."
One reason that the majority of investors are relatively unaware of MLPs and what they offer is that the asset class is still emerging: The total market capitalization of energy-related MLPs comes to $350 billion, according to Kenny Feng, CEO and president of Alerian in Dallas.
Of the 100-plus MLPs trading in the stock markets, 80% are companies that operate in the energy arena, with most of them in the midstream portion of the energy chain. Business is booming for these firms — which emphasize pipeline and storage operations, as well as gathering and processing — as a result of the U.S. bonanza in natural gas and oil production. A big plus to investing in midstream MLPs is that there is little direct price exposure to the commodities themselves and therefore far lower risk, experts say.
"In midstream, MLPs are more or less where the action is," Stevens says, in an interview. "With their partnership structure, they pass through earnings and losses to unitholders instead of paying taxes. This effectively results in a lower cost of capitalization for MLPs. It's essentially a tax subsidy for the industry to build infrastructure and help promote cheaper oil and gas prices."
Energy Renaissance
The renaissance of America's energy industry clearly helps MLPs. "The U.S. has been growing natural gas and oil volumes, and as we do that, we need more gathering systems, more transportation systems and more processing systems to move those hydrocarbons to where they're needed," says John Dowd, manager of Fidelity's Select Energy Portfolio, based in Boston, in an interview. "MLPs in the midstream space profit from that. These [units] have done well in the past decade, not because their price/earnings ratios or dividend yields have gone in their favor, but because their opportunities have actually grown — and that's real."
MLPs pay investors — the limited partners — quarterly dividends called distributions. That term is used instead of "dividend," because MLPs are structured differently from corporations, which pay dividends.
With direct investment in an MLP, a portion of the yield is considered a return on the original investment, as opposed to a return on capital. This means limited partners pay no tax on distributions until they sell their MLP shares, or units.
Investors receive "compelling value, with secure distributions and attractive yields," notes Wells Fargo Securities in its MLP Monthly Equity Research Report for May 2012. "A certain subset of the MLP sector offers 'rock-solid' distributions with predominantly fee-based cash flows and minimal (or no) direct commodity exposure. Median yield: 6.0%." These MLPs, Wells Fargo says, include Magellan Midstream Partners (MMP) and Spectra Energy Partners (SEP).
But the MLP story isn't only about income. A high level of capital appreciation also occurs as a result of that income. "The income grows — the distribution yield grows," stresses Ashley Lannquist, investment research analyst at Segal Rogerscasey in Darien, Conn., in an interview.
What drives that capital appreciation, Lannquist continues, is "growth of the underlying MLPs — whether organic or acquisitive. Both 2010 and 2011 were record years for MLP acquisition activity. Organic growth comes from building out infrastructure, such as pipelines and processing facilities — new energy opportunities around the country."
Thus, MLPs offer not only stability in distribution payments over a prolonged period, but also the ability to raise distributions. This constitutes the security's total return.
"For the past 10 years, ending December 2011, MLPs have generated an 18% annualized total return," notes Feng. "Of that 18%, 7% has been distribution growth; 7% has been yield; and 4% has been valuation compression."
Since 1995, the average yield on the Alerian MLP Index has been about 7.8%. For 2002-2011, average distribution growth was between 0.3% and 10.8%, for an annualized average of 5%. For 2012, analysts are forecasting distribution growth to range between 5% and 8%.
"MLPs have performed very well since 1996. The Alerian Index has returned an average [total return of] over 16% a year. The returns have been great. The track records have been great," says Andy Pusateri, a senior utility analyst with St. Louis-based Edward Jones, in an interview.
For the past couple of years, MLPs' performance also has been excellent. "These investments have performed very well on a price basis and a total return basis," says Darren Horowitz, a managing director of energy equity research at Raymond James in Houston, in an interview. "For 2011, this is an asset class that delivered about 7% versus 2010 just on price and almost 6% on distribution growth. So, you're talking about 13% total return in 2011."
"That's a function of the boom in unconventional energy production. A lot of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids are coming from areas that are very prolific but need the infrastructure to get those hydrocarbons to market," Horowitz continues. "Doing that are the pipeline, storage and other midstream companies. The North American infrastructure footprint is the cardiovascular system of the U.S: It takes the hydrocarbons from the areas of production to the areas of highest demand and consumption."
With today's lower cost of capital and low-interest-rate environment, a great deal of money is being deployed to create new infrastructure. "That's a good thing" for MLP investing," Horowitz notes. "By our models, we think anywhere between $8 billion and $10 billion per year has been spent over the past few years. And going forward over the next decade, in order to keep pace with a lot of the production trends coming from areas that have been underinvested, [billions] more will be spent on additional infrastructure."
Baird Research analysts note that these partnerships "own and operate the core of American infrastructure, without which other key infrastructure assets, such as roads, bridges, hospitals and power plants could not function … MLP pipelines [are] providing the wholesale distribution of motor and jet fuel, the natural gas that heats homes and increasingly generates cleaner power, and the natural gas liquids that are precursors to many petrochemical activities."
Energy Infrastructure
To be sure, investing in midstream MLPs is investing in the U.S. energy infrastructure and the country's ability to produce energy for its own consumption, as well as for future export, experts stress.
"As the U.S. continues to [increase] domestic development and production of natural gas to even petroleum and other forms of energy, you need to distribute it and transport it to where it needs to be," says Alex Ashby, a research analyst with Global X Funds in New York, in an interview.
Exporting domestic energy is clearly on the agenda. "As the U.S. perhaps becomes more of an energy exporter, you need to figure out ways to get that energy from where you drill it — say, in North Dakota — to the coast, where you can then ship it out," Ashby explains. "So, MLPs are really a play on increased flow and transportation that will be required to meet this greater domestic production."
The first MLP, Apache, debuted in 1981, according to Baird Research. Since 1987, Congress has generally limited companies that qualify for the MLP structure to those deriving their income from natural resources and energy activities, and to certain types of real estate and financial-services firms.
By March 31, the number of publicly traded energy MLPs totaled 81, according to Feng. Of these, 72 are limited partnerships; seven, general partnerships and two, institutional shares.
"Starting in the 1990s and going into the 2000s, the pipeline industry found that MLPs worked really well for them: They had a lower cost of capital because of their lack of corporate taxation," says Mary Lyman, executive director of the National Association of Publicly Traded Partnerships, based in Arlington, Va., in an interview.
"Pipelines are very capital intensive — it takes a lot to build a pipeline and get it into the ground," she explains. "Once you do that, there's a steady, fairly modest return generated by the fees [exploration & production] companies pay to send their products through the pipeline. That kind of steady income supports the distributions to MLP investors."
Since most of an MLP's cash flow is paid out in distributions, access to external capital is critical. "Acquisitions as well as organic growth are dependent on the company's ability to raise debt and equity from the eternal market," notes Pusateri of Edward Jones.
To be sure, in order to grow either organically or acquisitively, MLPs must be able to obtain such capital. "They pay the majority of their earnings in cash flow, so when they have a new project, they need to go to the equity and debt markets to raise money to finance it," Dowd says.
During the financial crisis, when it was difficult to raise money, the sector's valuation fell, coincident with pressure on the corporate bond market. But the great news was that at the height of the crisis in 2008, most MLPs continued to pay out distributions. Further, "most of them increased their distributions, and the Alerian Index bounced back hard in 2009, up 76% — a bigger bounce than the S&P 500 had," Lannquist says.
Because MLPs did not stop making distributions and recovered from the crash more quickly than other securities, investors stuck with their MLPs, while many others took notice of this atypical asset class.
"In 2008, clients held onto their MLPs because of the strong cash flow component and because the fundamentals were sound. So we were able to ride through the volatility and benefit as the asset class recovered," says financial advisor Michael Bollinger, a managing director with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney's private client wealth-management business in Houston, who has been actively investing in MLPs since the 1990s.
After the peak of the global crisis, much attention was given to securities capable of providing highly stable income yield, along with some inflation protection and diversification. "MLPs fall into that category," says Linda McDonald, a vice president of hard assets with Segal Rogerscasey in Dublin, Ireland, in an interview. "The high and stable yield has been very important. Also, investors were interested in liquidity. And with MLPs, you get liquidity. You're investing in a real asset but have liquid exposure to the asset class — you're not locked in."
The main driver of unit-price performance in the sector is distribution growth, experts underline. "MLP investors generally are very focused on the income side, and they look for distributions that are both stable and have growing cash flow," Feng says.
Faster distribution growth "almost always leads to better share performance," Pusateri adds. "Other drivers include commodity prices, interest rates and access to capital."
MLPs' cash-distribution growth means not just absolute percentage growth year over year, but also, according to Horowitz, "the financing, integration and execution risk associated with driving that cash distribution growth."
Steady MLP Rollout
There's been a consistent introduction of new MLPs over the years. "The sector keeps growing in incremental chunks, and it continued to grow through the financial crisis," Lannquist notes. Right now in the wings are eight new MLPs set for IPOs, according to Lannquist.
"Investor thirst for dividend yields is driving the proliferation of MLPs, and that will continue as long as interest rates stay low," Dowd says. "MLPs are basically competing with bonds in a portfolio. When bond yields rally, MLP yields rally, and vice-versa."
Still, investors have to take commodity-price exposure into account as well. And the associated volatility can make some MLP distributions less stable.
"I prefer midstream, because overall it provides more stable cash flows," Pusateri says. "But there are definitely going to be times when the upstream MLPs outperform. When commodity prices are doing well, they will have high cash flows and may be able to raise their distributions faster. But when it's a tough environment, the midstream companies are better positioned to raise their distributions."
Historically, investors have been focused a lot on midstream — infrastructure — MLPs because they are less affected by the commodity-price movement. "It's easier to wrap your mind around investing in a company that's a little more stable," Feng says.
Diversity in MLPs
In the past five years or so, a number of different types of businesses have moved into the MLP space, including propane distribution companies, coal companies, shipping companies and various logistics businesses.
There are five coal MLPs, according to Lannquist, and some coal MLPs have strong financials and growth profiles, she says. At any time, there will most likely be one or two coal MLPs with good growth potential, for instance, like Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP).
Some experts have a generally positive take on coal MLPs going forward. "Natural gas prices have been below coal recently, so we've seen natural gas gain market share and coal lose market share," Dowd says.
While that has been a negative to coal-related MLPs in the recent past, now there's "much less growth of natural gas production, and coal prices are so low that companies are shutting down production and shrinking volumes," explains Dowd. This means that the supply of fuels we use to make electricity is shrinking. And that's fairly bullish. What the future is for coal over the next five or ten years, we don't know. But it's bullish today for coal."
Recently, more E&P MLPs have started to pop up. They have improved business models when compared with some upstream MLPs launched in the early 1980s, Pusateri points out.
"Those were relying on risky drilling and had really high debt levels. But now, there's less drilling risk," he explains. "Reserves in certain areas are more appropriate. At the same time, some of these partnerships that are drilling for oil and gas are also hedging some of their production — buying or selling natural gas or oil futures in the financial markets. That reduces a little bit of the commodity price exposure."
A new trend in midstream MLPs may be on the way with the anticipated introduction of a rising number in the commodity-storage business. "A lot of analysts are predicting that excess production this summer or fall will test the capacity limits of natural gas storage facilities," says Ashby. "Therefore, this could be an area where you might see new MLPs or increased investment in some existing ones."
More activity also may be en route in transportation MLPs, which have to meet the needs of America's energy-exporting business. "If the U.S. continues to increase production and builds the infrastructure to actually export to big consumer countries — like China and the rest of Asia — this would be another area that might get focus," Ashby notes.
For 2012, experts look for continued excellent performance in the entire MLP sector. Forecasts at Raymond James, for instance, call for the asset class to appreciate between 5% and 8% this year vs. 2011. Total return should be in the 10%-15% range. Other analysts estimate a 12% or 13% total return.
Baird's optimistic report states: "We expect 2012 growth to be limited only by capital availability. Look for strong M&A volume and enormous secular growth opportunities."
The popularity of MLPs is likely to continue "as long as we see interest rates this low and a lack of other good income investments," Lyman predicts.
For the medium term — 2013 to 2015 — the outlook is just as upbeat. "MLPs' robust yields and attractive fundamentals should continue to drive performance," according to a recent Wells Fargo report. "Our positive outlook for the MLP sector is supported by (1) continued positive fund flows, (2) a strong fundamental backdrop, and (3) investors' continued preference for yield-oriented securities. We should not be surprised to see more periods of consolidation in the group, which we would use as opportunities to increase positions in favorite names."
The beauty of the MLP model has always been stability and consistency in cash flow with minimal associated risk in achieving growth. "We think the target of a total return in the 10%-15% range over the next few years is achievable," Horowitz says.
Other analysts agree that all indications are "go" for MLPs' ongoing appeal. "The outlook for the next couple of years is very positive from the investor demand perspective, and also because of organic growth opportunities from infrastructure shortages in the new natural gas shale-producing regions," shares Lannquist.
"There are also a lot of growth opportunities for MLPs that gather and process natural gas liquids, and that will continue for the next couple of years …" the analyst notes. "A lot of institutional money is going into the MLP asset class."
For example, the pensions of the Missouri State Teachers Association and the University of Texas Investment Co. invest in MLPs.
"The new supply in shale areas provides a great opportunity now and during the next few years for new projects for MLPs," Pusateri adds.
In addition, master limited partnerships dovetail nicely with America's increasing energy independence. "Over the long term," Feng says, "MLPs are an investment in the longer-term build-out of the energy infrastructure of the United States." J


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Ella Kouroupi
- Description
- Hand-thrown Cretan terracotta
- Frost Resistant
- Ht/W. 28x24, 35x40cm
Use the Ella Kouroupi pot as a decorative piece amongst your other terrace pots or within a bed of low-growing plants.
- Delivery Charges
Delivery charges vary depending on the type of products ordered and the delivery address.
Standard (UK) delivery
Delivery rates are determined by weight and distance. Delivery cost for goods start from £4.99.
If a standard delivery is not available, please call for a quotation. Due to the unique nature of our products we often need to contact our customer directly about the possible delivery options available.
Standard delivery items will be dispatched directly from our warehouse and be with you within 10 working days. You will be notified of the date and will be able to rearrange if necessary.
Please note that all items will require a signature. For terracotta pot orders a large vehicle may be used so please note your delivery instructions or contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com. For re-delivery of pallets there will be an additional cost.
Flat delivery of £29.95 is for selected small pots to UK mainland addresses, irrespective of how many you order.
International Delivery
We can arrange delivery door-to-door anywhere in the world. Please call or email for a quotation.
- In the rare event that an item arrives faulty or damaged please contact us within 24hrs of receipt and we will arrange a replacement.
- If for any other reason you are unhappy with any item, please return the item(s) along with a completed returns form within 14 days of receiving the goods. Providing the item(s) are still in a completely saleable condition and in their original packaging, we will issue a full refund.
- Refunds will be issued to the card which was used to place the order once we have received the item(s) back in our warehouse.
- Please note that we will not refund the initial delivery charges except if the item(s) are being returned due to damage or a fault.
- The cost of returning goods is your responsibility and the item(s) are your responsibility until they arrive at the warehouse. We therefore recommend using a recorded delivery service for returns.
Please return all goods to : Pots and Pithoi, The Barns, East Street, West Sussex, RH10 4QA.
- Reviews
- What is a Verified Purchase?It means that the customer who wrote the review has also purchased this item.
You may find this information useful in helping you decide whcih reviews are most helpful in making your purchasing decisions.
If a review is not marked as a Verified Purchase it does not mean that the reviewer has no experience of this item as they may have one which they have acquired from elsewhere.View: 1-0 of 0 in total | Page | Show 10
Koronaki Delta
- Hand-thrown Cretan terracotta
- Frost Resistant
- Ht/W. 30x30
Koronaki Delta is a small round traditionally shaped Cretan pot, hand-thrown by our Cretan potters.
Mistato Delta
- Hand-thrown Cretan terracotta
- Frost Resistant
- Ht/W. 30x23
Like Amphorae, Mistato Delta also looks attractive positioned on its side. Nestle it amongst your plants or on a gravel bed.
Nine Handler
- Hand-thrown Cretan terracotta
- Frost Resistant
- Ht/W. 40x35cm
The Multiple loops or handles on this pot would have been used in Minoan times for lifting purposes. Some sort of harness would have been used to distribute the weight and not break the pot. Now used purely for decoration, the repeating handles create a pleasing rhythm to this lovely pot.
Koroni Micro
- Hand-thrown Cretan terracotta
- Frost Resistant
- Ht/W. 50x35, 60x40cm
The Koroni Micro pot is a micro version of our impressive macro Koroni.

subset: commoncrawl


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February 29, 2012
Jack Rogers & Jackie O. | Spring Wish List
It is snowing today in Massachusetts as I write this. No bother, it is March 1st tomorrow - Spring is basically here!
My post-baby body is on its way back to normal, but as you mothers out there know... it is not really back. The scale might say it is, but trust me, it is not. Not yet - I do have faith that my stomach will be flat sans flab some day and that my bottom will return to where it once was and my chest will no longer push my shirt buttons to the max. Some day. Like in another month or two. Right? For now, I'm moving on to brighter things - shoes. Spring/Summer shoes. I may not be able to have my exact same figure back right away, but that is not going to stop me from feeling great until I do. Enter, a fresh pair of Jack Rogers.
Jack Rogers Navajo sandals) over the years. All in the same color - platinum. I love them. I get sooo many compliments on them every time I wear them. They are special. They are simple. They are casual and dressy. You can wear them with cropped pants, skirts, dresses, shorts or a swimsuit. The color is perfect - in between silver and gold. They go with everything. I love them.
Guess who else loved them? Jackie O. She made them famous in the 60's.
As I was cleaning out my closet, I noticed that my pair from the last two years have really taken a beating. So, I will down-grade them to my "pool/beach" sandals, and order a new pair for nicer wear. They are about $100 and totally worth it. Trust me, you will get your money out of them, tenfold.
Get them here at jackrogers.com.
Labels: essentials, fashion, shoes
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The sport of sailing evolves constantly, challenging exceptional people to tackle ever-changing and extreme conditions with intelligence and courage. Land Rover BAR's America's Cup campaign has come to an end after a spirited fight - but the race goes on. Land Rover are proud to announce that we have renewed our backing as Title and Exclusive Innovation Partner to Sir Ben Ainslie's team, uniting again in the quest to win the 36th America's Cup.
Both serious competition and exciting spectacle, Extreme Sailing Series™ was the first foray back into sailing for Land Rover as Series Main Partner in 2013. An ideal match, as Mark Cameron, Global Experiential Director, comments, "We don't make 'normal' cars any more than a high-performance catamaran is a 'normal' boat'."
Racing cutting-edge multihull boats in stunning locations around the world, the Red Bull Extreme Sailing Team is skippered by double Olympic gold medallist Roman Hagara. As Official Vehicle Partner, Land Rover provides multiple vehicles to transport the team and their equipment as they challenge for the Extreme Sailing Series™ title.
This month heralds an exciting landmark event in the Virgin Galactic Land Rover partnership. Witness the Range Rover Autobiography tow-out the new Virgin Galactic Spaceship at the Mojave Air And Space Port.
Equestrian pursuits test skill, bravery, power and partnerships. Land Rover has supported world class competitions and riders for decades. Our global sponsorships include the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2014, involving eight disciplines, and the British Polo Day series, showcasing British luxury and heritage around the globe.
Experience Land Rover's all-terrain capability first hand
See iconic destinations from behind the wheel of a Land Rover
View and download the latest Land Rover brochures
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Psycadelik Thoughtz
Tighter Slim Fit T-Shirt
Beautiful Girl Gold Plated Necklace
B.o.B participated in the BMI "How I Wrote That Song" panel with fellow rappers Snoop Lion and Busta Rhymes. The panel featured songs by the artists discussing the inspiration behind the tracks creation. B.o.B performed an acoustic version of "Don't Let Me Fall".


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If you've ever taken a sip of water in Lafourche Parish, chances are Dick Guidry had a hand in getting it there.
If you've ever taken a sip of water in Lafourche Parish, chances are Dick Guidry had a hand in getting it there.
During recent times when south Lafourche residents evacuated during a storm, Guidry had a hand in protecting their homes.
And for all the folks who have been rushed to St. Anne or Lady of the Sea hospitals, Dick Guidry had a hand in their health.
Guidry, now 84, was recently selected for induction into the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame for his 16-year political career in the state House of Representatives.
Born in September 1929, Guidry grew up "by the Galliano bridge."
"I graduated from Golden Meadow High and went to LSU for about what, two or three weeks, and thought 'No way.'"
Guidry quickly became involved in real estate development and then the booming movie theater business, culminating with the opening of a 500-speaker drive-in around Cut Off.
"I always watched what was happening with the state and national news," Guidry said. "I was also really involved in church fairs and different civic groups."
But it was his involvement in a lawsuit against the veteran politician Harvey Peltier that drew the attention of a group from Thibodaux who asked him to run for a state seat.
"They thought, 'Who had the gall to take on the king of Lafourche?' at the time," he said.
The 21-year-old eventually agreed to run. He won his first race by 17 votes and became the youngest person to serve in the House.
"My first session I was treated like a page," Guidry recalled, retelling how an older representative had him go down the street to buy cigars when the body first convened.
It wasn't until that representative asked a more involved favor that Guidry revealed his identity as a representative, not an errand boy.
He came into the Legislature at a time where Lafourche "needed everything," Guidry said, recalling the old ferries that served as bridges across Bayou Lafourche.
"I had a vision of more bridges, more jobs and that Port Fourchon would be a hub for the area," Guidry said.
Back then, most residents were using cisterns to collect rain water from their roofs.
"When you had a drought, you were in bad shape," Guidry said. "It was filthy. They collected mud, skeletons of birds and larve from mosquitoes."
At the time, the Bayou Lafourche Freshwater District had been created but hadn't yet worked out a way to supply water to the area. Originally the plan was to build a pipeline from the Mississippi River to water treatment facilities in Mathews, Guidry said.
Guidry said he saw a different way and proposed the construction of the pump station that now pumps water from the Mississippi into Bayou Lafourche. Today, the bayou provides water for a quarter-million residents across five parishes.
Guidry initially spent four years in the House, before taking a 10-year break and got more involved in oilfield work.
He returned to the Legislature from 1964 through 1976, during which what would become the South Lafourche Levee District was created.
"It started in 1936 when the oilfield moved to Leeville and they started building the channels and stuff," Guidry said. "You could see the Gulf coming in."
So the South Louisiana Tidal Water Control Levee District was created in 1968 with the intent of building one unit of protection across Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.
"Of course a lot of people thought we were crazy," Guidry said. "In Terrebonne they said 'We don't flood here.' I said, 'We don't either, but you will. Don't you see that Gulf coming in?"
Guidry said Terrebonne rejected participation on what was later renamed the South Lafourche Levee District. The district has since spent more than $175 million raising protective walls around south Lafourche.
Guidry's other work in the Legislature included the creation of hospital districts for the Lady of the Sea in Galliano and St. Anne in Raceland. He also facilitated the funding of several buildings at Nicholls State University and "just about every lift bridge around here."
South Lafourche Levee District Director Windell Curole said Guidry's foresight has benefited not only Lafourche, but the entire state.
Guidry was instrumental in changing state statute to allow a "quick take" expropriation process.
Government bodies have the opportunity to expropriate land from private landowners if the government provides just compensation and proves the land serves a public need.
Most court battles over expropriation revolve around what is just compensation for the land. A quick take allows the government to take the land, use it for the public good and settle the compensation fight afterward.
"The court system takes really long determining the monetary value of the land," Curole said, adding that the law allows critical flood protection to go forward while legal dramas drag on.
Guidry said this was one of his proudest accomplishments, though it was highly controversial.
"As a super conservative it burns me to say that," Guidry said. "But sometimes you have to look at other ideas if it is good for the public."
Today, Guidry lives at his home in Galliano with his wife Phyllis.
"I've been out of public service for more than 30 years, and to receive this prestigious nomination is the highest honor I can think of. My service in the Legislature came at a time when my district needed everything. I am proud of the successes we had," Guidry said.
Guidry will be inducted on Feb. 1 at the Winnfield Civic Center.


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Climate change partnerships
SKF is partnering with the WWF on the issue of climate change.Since May 2012 SKF is one of the companies accepted into the WWF Climate Savers programme, a programme for companies setting sector-leading targets for greenhouse gas reduction in their own emissions and working with other companies, suppliers and partners to implement innovative solutions for a clean, low-carbon economy.
The SKF Group has worked hard to make sure that the Group's new climate strategy and targets set are world class, but we do not make this claim on our own. The WWF has recognized these targets as industry leading by including SKF in an exclusive group of the worlds leading companies acting on climate change - the WWF Climate Savers.
This creates a perfect fit with SKF's BeyondZero strategy and together with WWF SKF is going beyond our own borders with our climate strategy, driving positive change across the whole supply chain.


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Homeowners looking for smaller, say area builders
The value of space -- and the dollar -- are playing an important role in the design of new houses in Darien and New Canaan. Future homeowners are taking greater care when planning new projects, and while there's still a desire for ample space in various parts of the house, people often are being more discerning with their choices.
"In my business people are looking for smaller," said Mark Fox, owner of Brookside Builders in Darien. "Four thousand square feet seems to be where people want to be, right around 4,000."
He sees several reasons for this.
"I think that families are smaller," Fox said. "I think that taxes on the big houses are a factor."
But it's not just money that's motivating the change. Fox said his clientele is younger, with a lot of them looking at their first or second house in which to raise the family.
"People aren't caring so much about property, as they are neighborhood," he said. Large tracts of land are no longer a priority, but a livable family-oriented area is something that many people want.
"We see a trend in homeowners that previously wanted a 10,000-square-foot house on a large lot are now looking for homes in the 5,000-square-foot range that are closer to town," said Kim Bova, of T.R. Build in New Canaan.
"We've kind of seen the ups and downs and the tendency back in the '80s was just the bigger, the better," said Kent Eppley, president of ERI Building & Design in Darien. "These people just wanted everything," he said, with no regard for cost, "and now it seems to be a much more practical approach."
He added, "I guess smaller is the trend, or more practical, I would say, is the trend, making sure the space they have is space they're going to use."
"The reality is people are paying more attention to size," said Scott Hobbs, president of Hobbs, Inc., based in New Canaan. "We still have people that want really large houses, but it's typical that they think through what their needs are and that a very large house is what they need for their family and situation.
"It's not a simple answer," he said.
Eppley noted that "need" for space is a relative term. "Basically people are not as willing to put in all this space that they're not going to use or need on a daily basis," he said.
"I think certainly money's tighter," Eppley said. "Things are better now. I think people are a little more confident that at least the worst is over, (but) I think people don't have silly money to throw around anymore. I think people are more aware."
Another aspect involves ever-growing interest in the environment, with homeowners consciously trying to be more energy efficient.
"I agree with that 100 percent," Eppley said. "People are not as interested in these massive houses that they've got to heat and cool and maintain," with attention to energy efficiency also relating directly to savings.
"I think there are certainly people who can afford to pay these ridiculous heating and oil bills, but I think it's a consciousness about being green," he said.
When reductions are made, builders agree they are much more likely to come in bedroom sizes, or possibly supplemental rooms, such as formal dining rooms. On the other hand, shared communal space remains a big priority across the board.
"That's the No. 1 driver of what people want because they want their kids around them," Fox said.
"The important rooms are the family room-kitchen combination," he said.
"People want modern and luxurious amenities in efficiently designed spaces that work with how their families live," Bova said. "Mudrooms are in great demand to keep families with kids and pets organized. Open floor plans and relaxed entertaining areas -- both indoor and outdoor -- are more desirable than formal living and dining rooms that are rarely used."
"Gathering space is still very important, but how people allocate that space has changed, " Hobbs said. "There are more people who don't have a formally dedicated living room and dining room."
Eppley added, "Living rooms are certainly much less of a concern. We're taking a lot of these big living rooms that no one ever went into and we're cutting them in half."
"Master bedrooms are getting smaller," Fox said.
And Hobbs said some bedroom suites are becoming smaller, "especially secondary bedroom suites."
These days people seem to be building smarter, rather than -- as Hobbs put it -- "just trying to max out a property."
Jarret Liotta is a freelance writer.


text:
What's My Name, Fool?
A mix of history lessons, academic essays, thought-provoking interviews and topical opinion pieces, What's My Name, Fool? is at its best when taking us deeper inside the minds of adored icons than we're used to.
What's My Name, Fool?
Sports and Resistance in the United States
By Dave Zirin
Haymarket Books
304 pp., illus.
Paperback, $15.00
"The most violent anti-busing demonstrations in America were not in Birmingham or Biloxi, but Boston. Every city has its stories of both racism and resistance. Yet Boston's history is particularly nasty…
In an interview with the Boston Globe, [Barry] Bonds was asked whether he would consider finishing his career in Beantown. Bonds shook his head and said, 'Boston is too racist for me; I couldn't play there. That's been going on ever since my dad was playing baseball. That's not for me, brother.'When the reporter countered that the racial climate has changed in Boston, Bonds responded, 'It ain't changing.'�
-- Excerpted from Ch. 7: Sports, Racism, and the Modern Athlete
If you consider yourself a cerebral sports fan who enjoys examining the social issues surrounding a game as much as you do the contest itself, then you are likely to enjoy What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States. Its author, Dave Zirin, editor-in-chief of the Prince George's Post, also pens a syndicated column called Edge of Sports, wherein he takes a weekly look at athletics from a politically-progressive perspective Zirin brings that same sensibility to this terrific tome, devoting considerable space to explain why spectator sports primary function is as an opiate of the masses. Then, he goes on to show how the Establishment comes down hard on any athlete who might dare question the status quo.
A mix of history lessons, academic essays, thought-provoking interviews and topical opinion pieces, What's My Name, Fool? is at its best when taking us deeper inside the minds of adored icons than we're used to. His subjects include
some of the most controversial sports figures of the past 100 years from color line crossing Jackie Robinson to draft dodging Muhammad Ali to Toni Smith, the college basketball player who recently came under attack for turning her back on the flag during the playing of the national anthem.
Consider the revealing interview with 1968 Olympic medalist John Carlos, famous for raising a gloved black fist over his head (with teammate Tommie Smith). There, we learn that he found the inspiration for his act of defiance from Dr. Martin Luther King. "I was with Dr. King ten days before he died,� Carlos recalls. "He told me he was sent a bullet in the mail with his name on it. I remember looking in his eyes to see if there was any fear, and there was none. He had love and that in itself changed my life.�
The author's point, in highlighting the so-called troublemakers, is that sports are "a profitable form of mass entertainment� designed "by the political and financial elite as a way to package their values and ideas.� And when anyone like Ali or Toni comes along who wants to do more than just box or bounce a ball, they are a serious threat to be dealt with before they awaken Boobus Americana out of its blissful state of total passivity. What's My Name, Fool? is a seminal contribution to the annals of sports journals with the potential to rouse a nation of couch potatoes before their brains turn totally to mush.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn apologized to the institution's staff in his first return visit since charges of sexual assault against him were dropped last week. He was greeted with warm applause.
Strauss-Kahn, who was with his wife French TV personality wife Anne Sinclair, drove himself to the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund and met briefly with his successor and fellow French national Christine Lagarde.
He later addressed a packed auditorium out of reach of the cameras of televisions crews and photographers who had camped outside the IMF all day waiting for the former director.
"He received a very warm welcome," said Paulo Nogueira Batista, who represents Brazil and a group of eight Latin American countries, after the meeting.
"It reflects the fact that he is very much appreciated in the institution," Nogueira Batista said, adding: "People clapped for very long periods."
Another witness, who asked not to be identified, said staff broke into spontaneous applause before Strauss-Kahn began speaking. He did not talk about his court case but did note that the U.S. justice system had been fair, the witness said.
The IMF said the visit by Strauss-Kahn was personal and arranged at his request.
His visit to the IMF had been greeted ahead of time with dismay by some IMF staff, while others said they felt sorry for Strauss-Kahn and wanted to pay tribute to his time at the helm of the global lender.
Strauss-Kahn led the IMF, the world's economic firefighter, as managing director for four years before he resigned on May 18 after his shock arrest in New York on criminal charges of sexual assault and attempted rape involving a hotel maid.
In a dramatic development last week, prosecutors asked that the charges against him be dismissed after they lost faith in the credibility of his accuser, an immigrant from Guinea.
Strauss-Kahn had been expected to be voted France's next president in the 2012 election before his arrest.
Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; editing by Anthony Boadle


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The Dynamo lost their first road game, falling 2-0 to D.C. United on goals from Josh Gros and Christian Gomez while playing without Dwayne De Rosario, suspended from his red card the week before.
Houston Dynamo (1-2-0) vs. D.C. United (2-0-1)
April 15, 2006 -- RFK Stadium, Washington D.C.
Scoring Summary:
DC -- Joshua Gros 1 (unassisted) 25
DC -- Christian Gomez 1 (unassisted) 71
Houston Dynamo -- Pat Onstad, Wade Barrett, Ryan Cochrane, Kelly Gray (Ronald Cerritos 59), Craig Waibel (Kevin Goldthwaite 72), Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis, Brian Mullan, Adrian Serioux, Brian Ching, Alejandro Moreno.
Substitutes Not Used: Chris Aloisi, Patrick Ianni, Marcus Storey, Zach Wells, Chris Wondolowski.
D.C. United -- Troy Perkins, Bobby Boswell, Facundo Erpen, Joshua Gros, Brandon Prideaux, Freddy Adu, Brian Carroll, Christian Gomez (John Wilson 90), Ben Olsen, Lucio Filomeno (Alecko Eskandarian 64), Jaime Moreno.
Substitutes Not Used: Rod Dyachenko, Devon McTavish, Domenic Mediate, Jamil Walker.
Misconduct Summary:
DC -- Brian Carroll (caution; Tackle from Behind) 32
HOU -- Adrian Serioux (caution; Reckless Foul) 53
HOU -- Ryan Cochrane (caution; Professional Foul) 70
Referee: Abiodun Okulaja
Referee's Assistants: George Gansner, Joe Ellis
4th official: Roni Canales
Attendance: 15,015
Weather: Partly cloudy, 79 degrees
All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial


text:
It's 1996. Everyone is doing the Macerena. Mel Gibson is wearing a kilt in "Braveheart," and "ER" is the only show that matters on TV. It was a glorious time. Need more proof?
1996 was also the year the iconic hit song "MMMBop" was recorded by the brother trio Hanson. And please don't tell us you've never heard of Hanson; just Google it and embrace the nostalgia.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of that catchy song, Vulture interviewed Taylor, Isaac and Zac Hanson to talk about its legacy. Two very important things came out of this interview. First, there was the reminder that the members of this '90s boy band are all full-grown, married men with many children. So we're all officially old. And second, apparently we've been singing "MMMBop" wrong this entire time.
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When Vulture asked the guys if they've heard any good covers of their song, they said no because evidently, everybody performs it incorrectly.
"You know why? People can't sing the chorus right," Isaac said. "Most of the time they syncopate it wrong."
Here are the chorus lyrics for "MMMBop":
Mmmbop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du, yeah
Mmmbop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba du dop
Ba du bop, ba du dop
Ba du, yeah
It's not that the brothers don't want someone to cover their song; quite the opposite, actually. They are desperate for someone to do it right.
"Someone needs to either make it totally their own in a genuinely unique way, or it needs to be a band that has a sensibility for old R&B," said Taylor. "Fitz and the Tantrums could maybe do it."
Issac added: "If Bruno Mars were interested, he'd probably find a way to kill it."
So there you go. If you've ever jammed out to "MMMBop" at the top of your lungs, you probably at least messed up the chorus. Gotta get those beats right.
And if you're confused about the 20th celebration date, the original version of the tune was recorded before the band was signed and is a much slower take on the song. It got amped up once producers got their hands on it. Here's the original: [[373369821,C]]
On a related note, as mentioned in the Vulture article, "MMMBop" actually has a pretty dark message. We were all just fooled by the fun, upbeat delivery and the lush blonde locks of the Hanson brothers. Here are some sample lyrics:
"You have so many relationships in this life/ only one or two will last/ you go through all the pain and strife/ then you turn your back and they're gone so fast"
"So hold on the ones who really care/ in the end they'll be the only ones there/ and when you get old and start losing your hair/ can you tell me who will still care?"
A sad message and we've been singing it wrong? Our whole '90s childhood is a lie! [[238904721,C]]
PHOTOS: '90s guy crushes you totally forgot about
PHOTOS: The most awesome music, fashion, celebs and more from the '90s


text:
Brent Kallestad
TALLAHASSEE, FLA.: President Barack Obama has opened a double-digit lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in two of the nation�s three largest swing states in a poll released Wednesday.
With Election Day less than six weeks away, Obama received more than 50 percent support in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida in a random telephone survey of likely voters taken Sept. 18-24. He has held smaller leads in those states in earlier polls.
Obama, who enjoys a huge advantage among women, minorities and young voters, led his Republican challenger 54 percent to 42 percent in Pennsylvania, 53 percent to 43 percent in Ohio and 53 percent to 44 percent in Florida, the biggest prize of the three with 29 electoral votes. The poll by Quinnipiac (Conn.) University, CBS News and the New York Times had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points in Florida and 2.9 percentage points in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
No one has won the White House since John F. Kennedy in 1960 without winning at least two of the three key battleground states.
The president did better with voters on nearly every issue, including the ability to handle the economy, which was the top concern for voters in all three states.
�For the first time in the entire campaign, he is seen as better able to fix the economy,� said Peter Brown, assistant director for Quinnipiac.
Brown noted that the poll almost certainly reflected damage to Romney�s effort from a secretly recorded statement that 47 percent of Americans believe they are victims and that government has a responsibility to care for them. In all three states, more than half the respondents said they believed Romney�s policies favored the wealthy.
Romney, however, had a slight edge with voters when asked who was better suited to deal with the budget deficit.
Brown said the presidential debates in October may be Romney�s last chance to reverse his slide.
The poll also showed the Democratic incumbents seeking to retain their U.S. Senate seats in each state were running ahead of their GOP challengers. Bill Nelson led U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV by 14 percentage points, 53-39, in Florida; Sherrod Brown led Ohio state treasurer Josh Mandel 50 percent to 40 percent and Robert Casey Jr. led businessman Tom Smith 49-43 in Pennsylvania.
Ohio voters approved of Republican Gov. John Kasich�s job performance, 48 percent to 35 percent, but two other Republican governors, Tom Corbett in Pennsylvania and Rick Scott in Florida, were upside down with voters in their states. Pennsylvania voters disapproved of Corbett�s performance 47 percent to 36 percent while 48 percent of Floridians disapproved of Scott�s handling of his office compared to 38 percent who approved.
The survey, which used land line and cell phones to reach voters, included 1,196 likely voters in Florida, 1,162 in Ohio and 1,180 in Pennsylvania.


text:
Show a deck of playing cards to the audience, and invite a spectator to freely select one card. Place that card face-up onto the deck. Magically, the card slowly floats upward! You can even remove the card below the floating card, and the selected card remains suspended in mid-air. The selected card slowly returns to the deck. You can immediately spread the deck to show the faces of all the cards.
Do you own this product? Write a review.


text:
Heartwarming Story to Share:
Meet Fire Marshal, Jason Mardirosian of Chicago. Recently, Jason was conducting a training exercise involving arson investigations on an automobile. Cars are donated to the training station from city pounds. Needless to say, the cars are junked and pretty banged up. As part of the exercise, the car is covered in charcoal lighter fluid and then ignited with the intentions of the trainees to then investigate the cause of the fire. Just seconds before Jason hit the trigger lighter, just 1 ½ feet from the fluid, he heard a loud "squeak" coming from inside the car. Everyone paused and listened again. A few more squeeks and the group knew there was something inside. With the use of a knife, Jason was able to cut open the hatchback only to find four very frightened and very hungry kittens.
After gathering blankets and food for the kittens, Jason opted to bring the babies here to the Animal Welfare League. Happy to report that the kittens are doing well and are being syringed fed by our caregivers.
Jason stated, "Had it not been for the "loud mouth" of the bunch, the exercise might have turned into a rescue and not just an investigation!"
Kudos to Jason and his team for rescuing this bunch. Goes to show that animals make their way to the Animal Welfare League with all kinds of stories… some just go untold!


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text: Judging by the fact that the new Nano looks a bit like an iPod knockoff itself, we thought it would only be fitting to show off the iPhoneys, a contest for those who create the most blatant iPod/iPhone ripoffs of all. Current front runners include the Meizu m8, Microsoft Zune and Teclast t59. They always say good artists copy, great artists steal. [oobject]


text:
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Hatsune Miku, whose name means "the first sound from the future," is the 16-year-old Vocaloid pop sensation with eye-catching turquoise twin tails! The android diva's legions of devoted fans love her for her beautiful voice, trendy style, and cute and captivating appearance.
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THE FIRST 90 DAYS OF THE SUPERINTENDENCY: STRATEGIES TO BUILD A STRONG BOARD RELATIONSHIP by Adriana Guerrero-Pestonji ________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION May 2012 Copyright 2012 Adriana Guerrero-Pestonji
Object Description
|The first 90 days: strategies to build a strong board relationship
|Guerrero-Pestonji, Adriana
|Author email
|Doctor of Education
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|Degree program
|Rossier School of Education
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|Date submitted
|Date approved
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|Date published
|Advisor (committee chair)
|Escalante, Michael F.
|Advisor (committee member)
Garcia, Pedro Enrique
García, Pedro Enrique
Garcia, John
|This study looks at the transition period of the superintendent, specifically what strategies and skills, as well as frameworks, are employed as part of their entry plan. This is a qualitative study centered on the following research questions: 1. What strategies are successful superintendents using to build strong relationships with the board during their entry period? 2. How do superintendents implement these strategies and evaluate their success? 3. What formal/informal leadership preparation assists superintendents for entry into the superintendency? ❧ This study utilizes information gathered from districts across the state of California. The study was conducted by 9 members of a cohort at the University of Southern California through a collaborative thematic dissertation process. The thematic dissertation group employed two research instruments: a qualitative paper survey of both superintendents and board member designees, and a qualitative interview protocol administered through personal interviews with 45 superintendents and their designees. The superintendents were chosen from districts that have achieved a minimum growth of 30 points over the past three years or sustained growth with an API score above 800. Only superintendents whose district population has maintained at least 2,000 students were selected to participate. ❧ The position of the superintendent has evolved from instructional leader to a more in depth position reflecting traits of a chief executive officer. The job has become complex with multiple responsibilities and added accountability measures. Although there are programs and trainings that address professional development of the superintendency, they are limited in addressing what effective skills and strategies are being used to create trust between a superintendent and his or her board within their first 90 days of entry to a district. One of the study's goals was to ask superintendents if there was an entry plan created to build communication based on trust with their respective board. The second question asked if board designees concur that a formal written plan was effective in communication to build trust. This also focused on the need for future studies and perhaps implementation into the professional training programs and education available to aspiring, as well as current, superintendents.
|board; relationships; strategies; entry plan; trust; communication
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|THE FIRST 90 DAYS OF THE SUPERINTENDENCY: STRATEGIES TO BUILD A STRONG BOARD RELATIONSHIP by Adriana Guerrero-Pestonji ________________________________________________________ A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION May 2012 Copyright 2012 Adriana Guerrero-Pestonji


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LATEST | FEATURES | INTERVIEWS | NEWS | FRIGHTFEST | REVIEWS Slavis - New Free Download From Garry Charles
By James Whittington, Tuesday 21st September 2010
Last year we reported that UK horror writer Garry Charles was giving away his novel, Death Tide as free a download. It seems the generous offer worked as it has been picked up by US indie press Skullvines Press for a print release alongside another tale of terror entitled Tranquillity.
But do not fear as Charles has replaced Death Tide with a new title designed to scare you senseless. Slavis tells the tale of a demon resurrection upon the site of an archaeological dig and a Police Officer's quest to find the people behind the death of his estranged family. As usual expect plenty of the red stuff dripping from the pages and the action level to equal that of the gore as Charles proves yet again why he is quickly becoming the UK's Horror Supremo.
For more information click here
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This deluxe, limited edition collectors' set traces the decades-long evolution of Gamera, from the "friend of all children" in his more light-hearted earlier films, to the Guardian of the Universe in the groundbreaking 1990s reboot series, often hailed as three of the best kaiju films ever made...SHARE: READ MORE Obituary - Director Mojica Marins known to millions as the creator of Coffin Joe
Posted in News, Thursday 20th February 2020
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Here, Betina Goldman from One Eyed Films pays her respects.With sadness and regret we would like to share the sad news of the passing away yesterday in Sao Paulo, Brazil, of the filmmaker Mojica Marins, legendary Master of horror Cinema, Director, actor and creator of the memorable evil, cult character Coffin Joe.
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Posted in Features, Thursday 20th February 2020
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Posted in News, Thursday 20th February 2020
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Once, a girl called Ace travelled the universe with the Doctor - until, in the wake of a terrible tragedy they parted company. Decades later, she is known as Dorothy McShane, the reclusive millionaire philanthropist who heads global organisation A Charitable Earth.
Dorothy is haunted by terrible nightmares, vivid dreams that begin just as scores of young runaways are vanishing from the dark alleyways of London. Could the disappearances be linked to sightings of sinister cr...SHARE: READ MORE Is home where the heart is? Not in smart sci-fi shocker, Vivarium
Posted in News, Tuesday 18th February 2020
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The movie won the Gan Foundation Award at Cannes Film Festival (2019), and Imogen Poots was awarded Best Actress at Sitges International Film Festival ...SHARE: READ MORE New anthology that will enchant and thrill!
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"It's the prick of blood, the bite of an apple, the evil eye, a wedding ring or a pair of red shoes. Curses come in all shapes and sizes, and when you least expect them..."
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Some might shock you, some might make you laugh, and they will all impress you with their origina...SHARE: READ MORE Ravers! A movie we'll drink to!
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The Twisted Ones is the celebrated debut from T. Kingfisher. Published last year in the US, The Twisted Ones was shortlisted in the Goodreads Reader's Choice for horror and received rave reviews, now Titan will be bringing it to the UK market for the first time on 17th March.
When Mouse's dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be? Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather;s journal, which seems like nonsense until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described. Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face...SHARE: READ MORE The Breach - brand new fiction from M.T. Hill
Posted in News, Monday 10th February 2020
Award-winning author M.T. Hill returns with a new science fiction novel that blurs the lines between reality and fiction in a gripping exploration of the dangerous underground world of urban exploration. With hints of the claustrophobic terror of Sarah Lotz's The White Road blended with Philip K. Dick-esque imaginings, The Breach is genre-bending, pageturning read that aptly demonstrates why Hill is one of today's most exciting new voices in weird fiction.
Freya Medlock, a reporter at her local paper, is down on her luck and chasing a break. When she's assigned to cover the death of a young climber named Stephen, she might just have the story she needs. Digging into Stephen's life, Frey...SHARE: READ MORE Articles Archive: 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 PICK OF THE WEEK
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Last weekend I joined some friends for the weekend in a 17th century chateau in Burgundy (sorry I know I am boasting... I can't help myself!).
On the first night, we were cooking a BBQ for dinner. My friend Christoph had bought some Bon Maman chestnut spread... he didn't quite know what it was when he bought it, but thought it might be interesting to try.
He and his girlfriend decided that it might be fun to use it as a sort of marinade on some chicken breasts they had bought for the BBQ. I suggested that mixing it with grainy Dijon mustard might balance the sweetness, so Monika did just that; smeared the chicken with pretty close to even quantities of mustard and chestnut spread.
The chicken was cooked, and the marinade declared to be an unqualified success. I thought I would post it up here so that I would remember it, and maybe you could try it sometime. It proves once more that the real key to exciting cooking is the willingness to just experiment, and try new things that you haven't tried before.
Goat Cheese & Tomato Flatbread
10 months ago


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I am writing a program, where i need to compile one java file from within another, on the fly.
the code is correct, and is working correctly under BlueJ. but when i export a jar file, or run it from the command-line, it gives me a null-pointer exception!! PLS HELP!!!
JavaCompiler compiler = ToolProvider.getSystemJavaCompiler(); if(compiler.run(null, null, null, "Hello.java") {} else {}


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|Up a level
Chellam, A (1978) Growth of pearl oyster Pinctada fucata in the Pearl culture farm at Veppalodai. Indian Journal of Fisheries, 25 (1&2). pp. 77-83.
Chellam, A and Alagarswami, K (1978) Blooms of Trichodesmwm thiebautii and their effect on Experimental pearl culture at Veppalodai. Indian Journal of Fisheries, 25 (1&2). pp. 237-239.
Mohan Joseph, M (1978) Ecological studies on the Fauna Associated with Economic Seaweeds of South India.3. Food preferences of selected Algivorous Gastropods. Seaweed Research Utilization, 3 (1). pp. 38-46.
Nayar, K Nagappan and Mahadevan, S and Ramadoss, K and Sundaram, N and Rajan, C T (1978) Experimental study of the settlement and collection Of pearl oyster spat from Tuticorin area. Indian Journal of Fisheries, 25 (1&2). pp. 246-252.
Sundaram, N and Ramadoss, K (1978) Methods of Spat Collection in the Culture of Shellfishes. Seafood Export Journal, 10 (6). pp. 23-29.


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The car rental companies have come up with a lot of ways to get you to pay more for a rental. Drive away richer with these tips on spending less.
Today we found some fantastic articles on buying a used rental car, learning to ski or snowboard for less, and saving on health insurance.
You know you love it...travel, that is. But it's expensive--there's no way around that. Now, I'm not against breaking the bank for a once-in-a-lifetime trip, but here are some tips to make your money (and time!) go farther.
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Without much further ado, we now introduce the Club Industry's annual listing of the highest grossing health clubs and chains in the country. The number one spot on the list goes to 24 Hour Fitness, which may come as no surprise to our readers since this company was at the top of the list last year as well. The club chain posted a $34 million gain in revenue from 2004's list.
Following the mega-chain's lead was Town Sports International, which posted close to an $11 million gain, and Life Time Fitness, which upped its ante by $55 million in its first year as a public company.
But before you start applauding the stellar performances of the year, take note; there are some changes from 2004. Our second-ranked club from last year — Bally Total Fitness — is noticeably absent from this year's listing. We opted to leave Bally off the list because we could not accurately estimate the company's revenue since it has not filed financials for almost a year (and our requests to have the Top 100 form returned went unanswered). We dropped Sports Club Co. off the list for similar reasons (and upon the company's request not to be included).
As limited as it may seem, our publication has for years ranked the top 100 clubs in the country by corporate revenue. Financial information is the only feasible way to compile this list, which is unfortunate since many other factors — customer service, programming, design of a club, retention, penetration in the marketplace and many others — go into making a health or fitness facility a "top" club. Unfortunately, it would be almost impossible to quantify those factors without thousands of hours of investigation — something that few magazine staffs can spare.
As always, remember that this list serves as a benchmark, and not as a hard-and-fast ranking. Despite the editorial staff hounding clubs to submit nomination forms, participation is voluntary and, when necessary, estimates have been used. This year for our estimates, we used the median percentage increase in revenue (8 percent) of the clubs that reported their numbers to us in 2005. Clubs with estimated revenue have an asterisk by their names.
For the facilities that do submit their forms, we try to ensure accuracy; however, we ultimately depend upon the clubs' honesty to report accurate corporate revenue figures so that their placement is as precise as possible. We thank everyone for taking the time to complete a Top 100 nomination form.
Another word of caution: The list does not include franchises, such as Curves, Lady of America and the franchised locations for Gold's Gym (although revenue from Gold's corporate locations does rank it on the list). We hope to add a separate franchise list next year.
So, get some popcorn, sit back and enjoy the show. Flip the page to pull back the curtain and see the listing of the Top 100 clubs in the United States.


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Public Access to Disclosure of Financial Conflict of Interest for Public Health Services (PHS) Sponsored Research
The regulations require certain information to be made publically available on the Financial Conflict of Interest of senior/key personnel in response to written requests from any requestor within five (5) business days of receiving a request in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost. Requests may be submitted by U.S. mail to:
FCOI Information Request
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost
University of Illinois at Springfield
One University Plaza, MS PAC 525
Springfield, Illinois 62703-5407
Please click on the link below for the form. A separate request for information is required for each senior/key researcher.


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For readers d'un certain age, the arrival of the Victor on the newsagent's shelves of a Friday afternoon signalled the availability of the latest instalment in the unlikely life of athletics' great working-class hero. Alf Tupper, otherwise known as "The Tough of the Track", was the outlier made good, working as a welder by day but burning off his running rivals the night before by rewarding himself with a healthy helping of fish and chips rather than a refreshing power shake.
Guy Learmonth, judging by the chisel of his jaw and the manner in which his pristine British Athletics kit neatly clings, does not appear the sort heading for the Berwick Burger Bar for his supper. But the unrefined approach that has led him to a training camp in Paris, and soon into the 800 metres fray at the IAAF World Championships in London, is cut decidedly from the same jib.
Now 25, the Borderer has spent most of his adulthood to date based in Loughborough, undertaking his degree but also profiting from the largesse invested by the sport's governing body in a vast indoor facility that encompasses enough sports science and analysis to leave Professor Brian Cox befuddled.
Home was where the heart is, he thought last summer, when a failure to make the Rio Olympics and the irritation of injuries and inertia led him back to the Borders. The nearest track, at Tweedbank, is almost 45 minutes away. Ditto the physios who keep the niggles at bay. Where once he only had to roll out of bed to get all the assistance proscribed, Learmonth, his father Mark and his long-time coach Henry Gray conspired to construct the kind of alternative that even the Victor's cartoon curators could scarcely have dreamt up
"I love that Alf Tupper stuff – but it's true," he proclaims. "People think I'm crazy. But down the Tweed Estuary, there's this 1000-metre straight under the Lauder Bridge and that's my home track. Henry will go to the end of it and my Dad will stand at the start and they'll both be on the phone so Henry knows when to hit the stopwatch.
"We have every 100m marked out so we can train without the use of a proper track. I go up to Tweedbank a couple of times a week to use the one there but even our circuits in the winter take place on our street – on the concrete with cars coming past. It's mental. I did that when I was younger and I missed it. And it's the best thing I've ever done."
There is a lot to be said for happiness and aspirations that extend beyond the competitive sphere. Balance is under-rated and although some flourish inside the Loughborough bubble, others find the myopia stifling and counter-productive. A European indoor finalist two years ago, it was not as if resources were denied Learmonth in a push to excel. Experienced coaches George Gandy and Rob Denmark, both from within UKA's ecosystem, were allocated to nurture his ascent. Gray, his mentor since childhood, remained a central influence. Too many voices speaking at once led to confusion, Learmonth concedes. Plus he is a homebody at heart. "It became a case of forcing things to work and when I got injured last summer, it was the straw that broke the camel's back."
Still, there have been knocks since his repatriation. A back issue threatened this summer before he recuperated just in time. Qualifying for London was a two-fold process. Coming second at the trials ticked one half of the box. Lowering his lifetime best to 1:45.77, inside the required standard, at the recent Anniversary Games ticked the other.
Everything takes a little longer now. Inconveniences must be suffered or circumvented. Worth it, however, for the chance to emulate Tupper and take on the world. "That was something I knew I'd have to cope with moving home, not having the luxuries on my doorstep," Learmonth says. "But I'm not moving back to Loughborough for that. I have the gym in the garage now. My Dad built it up. It does get freezing in the winter but I just do more to stay warm."


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How an Aging Sprint Device Can Reduce Your Android Phone Bill
Jan 8, 2014 5:00 AM PT
In case you hadn't noticed while wandering the aisles of your local consumer electronics big-box retailer, there is an explosion of mobile virtual network operators hitting the marketplace.
MVNOs are telcos that buy capacity from major operators like T-Mobile or AT&T, for example, and sell it on to you. Walmart and América Móvil's Straight Talk calling product is an example.
Here's how it works: You buy a contract-free SIM card, drop it into an existing, unlocked GSM phone, and then top it up with 30-day expiring funds -- and repeat with a dollar amount each month, often US$40 or $45.
Savings can be significant over contract because you're not paying the operator for its investment in your phone, as you do with a major and its shiny, discounted hardware offerings. Instead, you bring your own device or pay full price for the phone up front.
A basic unlimited-calling monthly bill with some high-speed data from Straight Talk runs $45 each month. Compare that to $80 and up, at the minimum, from a major.
Dynamic Pricing
This is a fast-moving arena, and we are beginning to see some inventive concepts from these MVNOs. One such concept is dynamic pricing, where instead of a monthly fixed dollar amount, you only pay a maintenance charge of under $10 and then for wireless services used.
This is great for people who travel, buy local SIMs overseas and skip entire months in the U.S. -- like those in the military, for example. It's also good if you don't need unlimited minutes and can get by on less.
Dynamic pricing can reduce your phone bill even further than that if you BYOD on a GSM MVNO such as Straight Talk.
However, a drawback is that dynamic pricing is now available only on CDMA technology devices, including BYOD devices from Sprint, and not GSM BYOD devices like those from AT&T.
Sprint is a CDMA technology major that is reselling wireless to Canadian dynamic pricing MVNO Ting.
I have been using Ting, with its $6 maintenance charge, for the last few months in lieu of Sprint, and my bill has ranged from US$27.31 to just $10.17 when I was out of the country. On Sprint, I was paying $82 each month even if I didn't make a call.
Zact is another dynamic pricing MVNO.
Here's how to go about getting dynamic pricing with Ting using an old Android Sprint phone.
Step 1: Verify that your Sprint contract expiration date has passed.
You can do this by signing in to your Sprint account management Web page using a Web browser and clicking on View Contract Details to the right of the device pictured.
Tip: Allow the contract to expire before proceeding to the next step.
Step 2: Check to see if your BYOD device model is compatible with Ting.
The Sprint Samsung Epic 4G, Samsung Galaxy SII Epic 4G Touch, Samsung Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Samsung Galaxy SIII, Samsung Galaxy Note II, HTC EVO 4G, HTC EVO 4G LTE, HTC EVO 3D 4G, HTC EVO Shift, Motorola Photon 4G, Motorola Photon Q, LG Optimus S and LG Viper are known to work.
Tip: Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile phones won't work. The Sprint S4 and HTC One won't work.
Step 3: Find your device's Electronic Serial Number.
It's located on the back of the phone under the battery and can be called an "ESN" or "MEID."
Step 4: Confirm your actual device's eligibility.Do this by entering the device's ESN/MEID number and your email address in the Ting BYOD Activate Your Used Device Web page and wait for the results to be emailed.
Step 5: Sign up for Ting service at the Ting website.
Step 6: Perform a carrier wipe on the phone.Do this by dialing ##72786# and entering your Master Subsidy Lock, or MSL -- a 6-digit number emailed to you by Ting or obtained from Sprint.
Then press OK and allow the phone to reboot.
Step 7: Connect to the Internet using WiFi and perform a System, Profile and PRL Update.
To do this, touch the Settings icon in the app drawer and look for the System Update settings.
Tip: System Update may be found within About Phone, depending on Android version.
Step 8: Reboot the device and verify services are enabled by testing the phone.
Tip: Make any configuration changes in your Ting account dashboard. Porting your Sprint number will deactivate your existing Sprint plan. If you want a new number from Ting, request deactivation of your existing device from Sprint directly.
Want to Ask a Tech Question?Is there a piece of tech you'd like to know how to operate properly? Is there a gadget that's got you confounded? Please send your tech questions to me, and I'll try to answer as many as possible in this column.
And use the Talkback feature below to add your comments!


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Back in 1965 the Evening Standard ran this:
Anne Sharpley meets…
The Eros Islanders
Everybody Has Seen Them …
So Few Know Them
Taken from The Evening Standard, Monday August 16, 1965
By your second day of sitting in Piccadilly you've stopped demanding to know who are all those people sitting around Eros?" For a start they're you and Moloch. And Peter and Geoff, and the boy from the Bahamas who reads William Tell in German all day, Luis Carlos, from Lisbon, and the rest of the semi-regular Eros islanders.
Lovely Lynne will be along later. The Yorkshire miner who was so generous drunk last night that his Haig bottle orbited among us so fast he had to run to keep up with it, is certainly sleeping it off until he can summon up the first of his daylong chorus of "Eee, ain't life grand!"
The plainclothes man is there again looking bored and vigilant- - which is what marks him off from the rest of us since we're neither bored , nor vigilant.
The pigeons are there, of course, though you can never be sure with pigeons that they're the same ones. And there is a cast of hundreds with walk-on parts who just walk on the island, circle it, and walk off again. You soon feel very safe on the island, although it can cost you your life getting on it. Occasionally you see other would-be islanders running terrified among the traffic, baffled by those unbroken stretches of railing trying to reach the safety you are enjoying.
The traffic, after an hour of sitting there, stops being noisy and becomes simply a series of hostile stares. They just hate you for being there, lounging and idling while they're working.
You just go to pieces marooned there. You spread papers about, scratch, stretch, flop, gangle, open bottles and sleep. You are an affront to London, particularly to the taxi-drivers who, it has been estimated, circle Eros six times in every shift – and they show it. But after another hour you don't even notice that. After all, they are mere transients, you belong.
Moloch blows the cow's horn he bought for a pound in Watford. It is as plaintive and primeval as he wants it to be. He is 19, a nice quiet boy from Cardiff who wears wide hunter's hat, pouched leather belt, armlet of white hide, white hide trimmings to his jacket, a heavy charm on a leather thong round his neck, a bracelet and three rings.
He is called Moloch after the Hebrew god to whom children were sacrificed because he has a "reputation for being cold and heartless." Inspired, and perhaps flattered by this, he has covered himself with Moloch images, including the huge charm round his neck that he made from fire tile cement. "Peter calls it my biscuit, because he is obsessed with the idea that everything is for eating."
Peter, his friend, wears a fez, a Jew's harp round his neck and carries an ocarina, three harmonicas and two whistles. They, and Geoff, the third of them, have made what they call an "exodus to sanity," which means living largely on nothing and sleeping in the parks. Peter has written a poem about sleeping out in Hyde Park.
A red sky in the night
With London's neon brilliance …
He takes out one of his harmonicas, licks, pretends to bite it as though it were a bar of chocolate and plays Ripley's Blues wastefully and unimpressionably into the traffic uproar.
Two little Cilla Blacks from Liverpool ask if they like the Beatles. "You don't We've seen Help ! 25 times," they scream.
Lovely Lynne who is two yards tall and has a yard of lovely young brown hair, takes over the harmonica and plays. Lynne lives by sketching other Eros Islanders for three shillings a time.
Her tight old jeans are smeared with paint, her small pale perfect face is weighed down with eye make-up. Together they discuss cheap places to eat and stay, emigration to Australia, going to Africa, their hatred of society. Near them stretched out insensible and stinking, is a tramp, round whom the short-term islanders tread with concern and caution.
"They're the kings, those old boys. Live free. More of a man than all those office zombies," says Moloch shedding affection all over the deep, rotten, needy sleep of the tramp.
The drunken Yorkshire miner is trying to persuade everyone to go to Belgravia with him. "They're smashing there, treat you as an equal. Are you going grouse shooting?" he says imitating an upper-class soprano. Luis Carlos from Lisbon, wearing an enormous pair of wrinkled jeans and "je viens de Portugal" on his pocket confesses he lives on cornflakes and milk but loves London.
The sun sinks over the Café Royal, as it has risen over the Criterion. The Eros fountain like some ghastly Victorian weed with its bulb showing is surrounded by explosions of neon instead of the daytime junkyard of buildings that no one can decide what to do with. Patiently, steadfastly, uncritically the islanders sit on …
Check the photo above. Which one is Peter Finch?


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De Eerlijkheid (MYX #7, September 2006)
Patrice van der Linden, who uses the pseudonym Patlin, was born in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in 1977. He started his professional comics career in 2001, with the strip 'De Zevende Verdieping' for a financial site. Patrice also worked together with 'Scribbly' artist Jean-Paul Arends on the semi-autobiographical strip 'De Eerlijkheid', in which the authors gave their harsh criticism on other comic strips.
This strip was published in magazine De Stripper, as well as MYX Stripmagazine. Van der Linden also contributes to Danny Valent's comic magazine Strip Act, and he draws for a basketball magazine.


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I was a couple of months short of my 14th birthday and had to harass my parent into letting me attend the concert. I was too late for the evening gig but managed to get tickets for the afternoon show.
The NME Pollwinners Concert was really an awards ceremony. The voting was cast before they were totally consumed by the teeny-bopper frenzy, as was the performance. Strangely, (or not, to my mind?) six months earlier, the NME Poll never mentioned Slade.
Although I can't remember much about the gig, I'm fairly sure they started with Hear Me Calling but I don't believe I heard Look Wot You Dun or Keep On Rockin' which had been in their set in January. Cum On Feel The Noize was now their big tune and everything was changing. Dave Kemp's memory of the evening gig seems to concur. The set probably consisted of:"The Empire Pool was one of the country's biggest indoor venues. The New Musical Express had printed the results of its 1972 Readers Poll on January 27th and Slade had emerged as the British Top Band and British Top Live Band. In the World Section they had made it to number 3 Best Live Band.
As they did every year, NME put on a concert at Wembley with Slade topping the bill this year. The demand was so much that a second concert was held in the afternoon. Slade played that day to 20,000 fans.
During the evening performance with a huge video projected screen showing the bands every move. It was like the last days of Pompeii except the people were rushing in."
Chris Salewicz 1973
- Hear Me Calling
- Take Me Bak 'Ome
- Move Over
- Gudbuy T'Jane
- Darling Be Home Soon
- Coz I Luv You
- Let The Good Times Roll
- Get Down & Get With It
- Cum On Feel The Noize
- Mama Weer All Crazee Now
I know the experience made me feel like an adult. I remember being ripped off outside the venue for a poster and a program, neither of which were official. I went with a couple of friends, my Dad drove us there, twenty five miles around the North Circular (no M25 back then) and I assume the poor bugger waited somewhere nearby.
When we got inside I felt like a child amongst many adults. There was a walkway full of concessions that seemed to go all around the venue. Of course, this was not the football stadium but it felt like a circuit under the terraces. The general air was very much a football match and the alcohol was awash although I didn't manage to get any.
This was the concert that epitomised Slade for me. I don't have to remember it to know how good it was. Pure Rock & Roll raunch that went straight for the wobbly bits and hung on like a Terrier. Oddly, I have yet to find another fan that attended this afternoon concert?
"I was just 13 years old, my Dad got me the the tickets the day they came on sale. Due to public demand, an extra afternoon performance was added but we had the original evening show.
On the day, there were several support acts fighting to be heard over the chants of "We Want Slade. WE WANT SLADE!!"
Rosko was the compere. The crowd noise and shouting was unbelievable. There was a black and white video screen behind the band – so even those at the back of the hall could see.
Dave Hill wore a weird combo. Silver tight trousers and boots, black half-length cape with circular mirrors on – and a head-scarf thing, covering his hair. Nod made several very rude comments.
The front seats were absolutely demolished as the crowd surged forward. People were hurt and girls got crushed at the front. The show was stopped 2 or 3 times and the band went offstage. Rosko came back on to calm things down and demand everyone move back so that people at the front could breathe.
Bizarrely, I remember someone in the crowd threw a huge bag of opened glitter at Dave Hill. It was the size of a bag of sugar. It hit him on the head – and I remember him throwing it back, spraying glitter everywhere. This was a great gig, Slade were at the top of their game."Don't get too excited, I wished I had a bootleg of this gig but this is a mag that came out in 1973 with some damn good photos by David Ellis and David Redfern with text by Chris Salewicz. It makes for a fine read and if you can't read then the pics are a treat.
Dave Kemp: Slade Fans Reunited
The Download Link is here: Download
Filename: Slade Alive Mag.pdf Filesize: 79.00 MB