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Model Number: AC-192
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Indian freesex videochat. He got out of my face and sat on the couch and said, "By the foot of the hole." wanted to get up and go, but read my mind, cried out, "On your knees, holey whore, go here just me and you shit creeps clear your garbage you holey" - I nodded.
Then he said, "Crawl to the foot, whore," I crawled up, he took me by the hair and raised on his knees ... "Now I'm going to fuck hole your point, you've already fucked in the ass someday?" I shook my head and said no. "It's even better to fuck like a narrow ass, now I razdolblyu you point and turn inside out if obosreshsya'll eat your shit" and snickered. Indian freesex videochat.

subset: commoncrawl


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I am a huge music fan. I don't have one favorite genre. I grew up with a DJ for a dad and so I'm familiar with hits all the way back to the 1940′s at least. With that said, I have a hge music collection all on my home computer, it's actually on my back-up harddrive which is my secondary harddrive on my home PC.
With all this music, i easily maxed out the Google Music cloud server of 2,000 songs for free. So I started looking for other options. This search lead me to find my new favorite music app AudioGalaxy.
The Good
AudioGalaxy is a free app on the Google Play Store. It has some cloud storage worked in to the process, however, there doesn't seem to be a limit. Or at least Ihaven't hit it yet with well over 6,000 songs. There is no need to move any music to your phone's storage. Playlist can easily be imported from iTunes, if you happen to have them already. Syncing is easy. You install a very small program on your home PC, login, then point to the folder that holds all your music. If you dont have an album cover image, AudioGalaxy will find a matching image for you. It has "Genie" which will match other songs in your collection to the one you are playing and create a new playlist. It has "Facebook" and "Twitter" sync. I personally, dont use this one, but it allows you to share what you are listening to directly from the app.
The Somewhat Bad
The program on your computer. AudioGalaxy will not work on your phone if it cannot communicate with the (what i call) the "agent" on your desktop. Which means your computer of choice (desktop or laptop) has to remain up and running. No hibernation. Yes to screensaver. Persoanlly, my desktop stays on unless the eletricity in the house goes out. Therefore, if I am on the road and I can't connect via AudioGalaxy, that gives me a heads up that something is going on at home. That's the silver lining in this "bad" section.
The Beautiful No Ugly Section here
AudioGalaxy has high and low resolution play back. Therefore, i control how much data it will use. I run it on low quality all the time and I have no problems. It sounds great when i connect my phone to my car stereo via bluetooth. All bass and no garbage.
All in all: AudioGalaxy is my prime solution to having such a large music library and no care to spend money to listen to my own music b/c i dont have to buy cloud storage.


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"I'm a totally anxious person. I just build things up in my head until they get worse and worse, and then I don't want to face them," says Natasha, 15. The high school sophomore has been treated for generalized anxiety disorder since she was in seventh grade. "It was superhard to go to school and just be a normal kid," she says. "Even now my feelings are difficult to deal with. Social stuff makes me anxious, and tests, and fights with my parents." After confiding in a classmate about how she felt, students began to make fun of her, bullying her so badly that she ultimately transferred schools.
Despite the stigma, Natasha's situation is incredibly common—according to the National Institute of Mental Health, 8 percent of teens ages 13 to 18 have an anxiety disorder. And between the pressures of juggling school, SATs, and college applications on top of a social life, dating, and extracurriculars, there's no shortage of triggers. "I see a very high level of anxiety around academics," reports Lisa M. Schab, LCSW, a psychotherapist and the author of The Anxiety Workbook for Teens. "But I also think teens worry more because they know more. They're plugged-in enough to hear about corruption, crime, violence, terrorism, kids hurting other kids. That contributes to an overall unease, whether conscious or not." We all know what anxiety feels like: Your heart starts pounding, your hands get sweaty, your head feels like it might float off your body, and you're overcome by a sense of worry or dread, sometimes for seemingly no reason at all. But what's normal? Is it OK to feel that way all the time? And when does typical anxiety cross over into a more serious mental disorder, the kind that needs medical attention?
It may seem counterintuitive, but anxiety isn't always a bad thing. "Normal anxiety can actually be your best friend—experiencing it causes you to devise coping strategies," asserts Katherine K. Dahlsgaard, Ph.D., lead psychologist of the Anxiety Behaviors Clinic at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. "The anxiety you feel before a big test, for example, encourages the healthy choice to study." Take 21-year-old Andrea: "When I'm anxious, it's usually about a deadline I'm scared I won't be prepared for," she says. "So I write lists—tons of lists and schedules. I find that writing down what I need to do helps clear my mind and calm me down."
But if anxiety were more helpful than harmful, girls all over the world wouldn't be struggling with a spate of serious anxiety-related conditions, like panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social phobias, and generalized anxiety disorder. "Anxiety affects my life every day in nearly every situation," says Kailee, 21. "At night I can't sleep because I'm worried about waking up in time for class, in class I drink coffee to stay awake—and caffeine heightens my anxiety—and I don't know anyone I'm working with when we're broken up into groups. All of this makes me panic."
So how do you know you're feeling something more than typical stress? For Natasha, a school therapist noted her anxiety and alerted her parents, who brought her to a doctor. But there are other ways to check in with yourself. "Having too much anxiety results in holding back, avoiding, and escaping from situations that may be challenging in some way," says Anne Marie Albano, Ph.D., an associate professor of clinical psychology in psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and the clinical director at New York Presbyterian Hospital's Youth Anxiety Center. "When anxiety interferes with your dreams and goals, or causes you to stay home feeling tense or shaky or having panic attacks, you know it's not normal."
The urge to withdraw or hide in your room is a symptom that overlaps with depression—and, actually, symptoms of depression and other mood disorders can mask your anxiety and make it harder to diagnose. That's why it's so important to seek help, even if it's intimidating. "Share your experience with your parent, a teacher, or another responsible adult," Schab says. "Work with them to find a professional counselor who can diagnose your anxiety symptoms and suggest options that will help you manage them."
Solutions could include antidepressants (which also treat anxiety) like Prozac or Zoloft, or benzodiazepines like Xanax or Klonopin, which work more quickly in situations like a panic attack. But you may not need—or want—medication to get better, in which case talk therapy can be an effective tool; methods like cognitive behavioral therapy help people change their anxious thought patterns and the way they react in scary scenarios. "It's helpful to talk to someone, because they're not judging you. They encourage you to do the opposite of what you want to do. If you want to avoid going to school, go to school," Natasha says.
"Anything that involves avoidance or escape is what we consider to be unhealthy coping," Dahlsgaard reveals, referring to behaviors that range from staying home "sick" so you can miss a test to engaging in excessive partying so you can blow off steam. Many girls may not realize it, but what they're doing in those instances is akin to self-medicating, which might seem like it helps in the short term but will only create more problems down the road. "Good coping involves recognizing a stressor for what it is and devising a plan for dealing with it," Dahlsgaard says. No matter how anxious you are, getting ercise could help, for example. "When I have stressful moments, I go to a yoga class or go running," says Natalie, 17. "Physical ercise always gets my head back in the right place." Schab suggests something even simpler: Try taking deep breaths when you're in the middle of an anxiety-ridden task, and changing your mind-set from "This is the worst thing that could happen" to "This is hard, but I'll get through it."
Because that's the thing: You will get through it. And every time you do—whether you're overcoming common stresses or battling something even bigger—you can chalk one up to being stronger than you are scared. "Each time you face your fears and carry out a successful plan of attack, you collect a data point that says you are capable and competent to deal with life," Dahlsgaard says. "And the delicious feeling that you're pretty much a badass? That's your reward."
Proof You're Not Alone: Stars Have Anxiety Too
It's easy to think your favorite celebs live completely covetable lives, but often they're dealing with the same problems and insecurities as their fans. "I think I have a big fear of things spiraling out of control," Taylor Swift has admitted. And being surrounded by admirers 24/7? "Sometimes a fan will come up and...put their arms around me, and I just shut down and start hyperventilating," Demi Lovato has said.
Many people don't recognize how debilitating anxiety can be, even for those who seem to have it all together. "I was just kind of immobilized by it," Emma Stone has explained of her own condition. "I didn't want to go to my friends' houses or hang out with anybody, and nobody really understood." Amanda Seyfried agrees: "...My anxiety keeps me from enjoying things as much as I should at this age. ...Anxiety, it just stops your life.... It feels like you're going to die. There's nothing scarier," she's said.
For Jennifer Lawrence, acting was how she began to cope: "I finally found a way [to] open the door to a universe that I understood... [that] made me happy, because I felt capable..." she's said. Owning up and taking action: role models in the truest sense. —CHANTAL STRASBURGER
To see more of our September issue, grab it on newsstands August 19. And to have Teen Vogue delivered every month, subscribe here!


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I read what I could, talked to some Hams I know, and finally ordered my RSP1 in December. It was shipped literally the same day the RSP2 was announced publicly. Oh well - I'd have bought the RSP2 but in fact I'm quite happy with the RSP1.
I did some planning and online research and bought a good quality LNR Precision EF-SWL antenna kit and ordered some low loss Bury-Flex coax fitted with PL-259 connectors. I even thought to buy an SO-238 to SMA adapter to get the signals into the RSP1 box.
But the one thing I DIDN'T think to get was a good USB A Male to B Male cable with RF chokes. That's presently on order, though to be perfectly honest a cable I had without chokes is actually working pretty well. I might not even think I needed a better one but for reading online that it helps increase SNR.
I followed the instructions and the SDRuno software installed onto my Dell workstation running Win 8.1 easily and without incident.
Before having put the antenna outside I had strung it around the room, and I was initially somewhat disappointed with the overall results. The reasons were these:
1. The antenna was of course not optimally set up to receive signals, but also it was in a quite noisy (RF-wise) environment (multiple computers, many small power supplies, and old plasma TV, etc.). Result: Lots of noise, few signals.
2. My unfamiliarity with the many, many controls in the SDRuno panels didn't lead me easily to optimal combinations of settings. I've since figured out most of them after 3 or 4 days of fooling with it, but it's daunting initially.
3. There are a few RF quirks in the RSP1 that took me by surprise. There are ghost signals, and behavior when the IF Gain Reduction isn't high enough, etc. that made what I was seeing not seem right.
4. The software doesn't automatically remember where you left the panels unless you delve into how to save the workspace. IT NEEDS TO REMEMBER THE PANEL POSITIONS WITHOUT BEING TOLD TO DO SO SPECIFICALLY. SDRuno maintainers, please look to the Adobe Photoshop model of managing workspaces. You almost have it right.
But since that first impression it has only gotten better...
A. I've put up the antenna outside properly, grounded it right, and have run the coax into the house. WOW, what a difference! I am picking up HF (shortwave) signals my portable Radio Shack SWL receiver can't even begin to detect with its whip.
B. I'm an engineer and a tweaker, so I've just been clicking controls and figuring out what they do. Mostly the results have been intuitive, but I've looked up a few controls. The more I use it the more I realize all the controls have useful functions under very specific conditions.
C. Once you learn to expect the quirks the displays get a lot easier to understand. I guess I was naïve to think that only real signals would be displayed. It might be cool if the software would detect these "weird" conditions and put a little message up somewhere (e.g., "possible crosstalk" or "input overload" or whatever makes sense technically).
D. I've set up a couple of different workspaces now, and having all the panels return to their proper positions on opening the program is very nice.
At this point I'm really getting good radio performance from the system. Today I was getting 20 dB or better SNR with WWV on a couple of different frequencies (and from Florida that ain't bad). I have listened in on SSB Ham communications, I had a blast listening to airliners this evening up around 120 MHz, tuned some AM stations on the other side of the world and I even picked up "The Pip" from Russia. Just now I was listening to very high quality audio from local FM stations. I love being able to see the signals. Admittedly I have a good computer, but even with the 10 MHz sampling rate it used no more than 5% of the total CPU power in my system.
My suggestions to other first-timers using the SDR / SDRPlay / SDRuno:
- Get a GOOD antenna kit and take the time to set it up properly.
- Get GOOD cables (coax, USB).
- Take the time to watch YouTube videos, read the manual, and poke around for a few days before judging how you like it. It will grow on you.
Overall impression so far: NICE product! Sure to give hours of enjoyment.
I think I may have run across one or two bugs - e.g., the [ ZAP ] button doesn't seem to work - but I still have a ways to go before I'm comfortably familiar with it and can report bugs with confidence. There's lots to play with to help get there!


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Olivier Assayas is about as protean as today's great filmmakers come, but the last thing I expected from the mad genius behind the globe-trotting, gorgeously kinetic Boarding Gate is a Chekhovian chamber drama whose mantra could be essentially reduced to: posterity cares. If Boarding Gate convincingly documented a 21st century where human beings can be bought, sold, and shipped from New York to Paris to Hong Kong like shares on the NASDAQ, Summer Hours is the sobering requiem for the safety of objects, for the shape and weight of everything we leave behind when we give in to perpetual flux. Together the two films offer a deeply affecting inquiry into the meaning (and market necessity) of attachment in an age of unfettered globalization.
In Summer Hours, a group of adult siblings inherit a French country estate and their great uncle's collection of 19th-century art when their mother dies, and weigh their pragmatic interests against a family legacy. Adrienne (Juliette Binoche) lives in New York, can rarely visit, and would rather sell the heirloom. Jeremie (Jérémie Renier) is preparing a move to China to help manufacture Puma shoes with cheap labor, and could definitely use another financial boost. It's left to Frederic (Charles Berling) to be the standard bearer. He's a university professor pushing an awkward dictum that "the economy is the opposite of a science"; perhaps as a result, he sees the peculiar aesthetic value in the pieces of a broken Degas plaster his mother kept in a plastic bag.
In stark contrast to the hyperbolic monsters of Arnaud Desplechin's chaotic reunion epic A Christmas Tale, the family members here treat each other with a credible civility. When the skeletons are eventually unearthed, the siblings are inquisitive but hardly get worked up. It's a testament to Assayas's empathy that he is able to build the entirety of his drama in the distance between his principals' forgivable self-interest and their quiet kindness. Yes, on one level Jeremie is getting ready to turn a profit from sweatshop labor, but he's also seeking a safety net for his children, so that they too can one day puzzle over their inheritance. Adrienne seems egocentric and frazzled, but Binoche's gestures suggest that she'd rather serve as her art's purveyor than as its guardian.
In his thrilling Irma Vep, Assayas depicted an artist maddeningly fraying all human bonds in the hot pursuit of an epiphany. The world of Summer Hours is a couple generations removed from the madness of creation; it offers the idea that any "finished product"—artistic or otherwise—is subject to decay, or at least a perpetual adaptation. The broken Degas plaster may have lost its market value, but it might also serve as a vivid reminder of the time the siblings ran a bit too quickly down the hallway. As such, the drunken teenage house party that closes Summer Hours, seemingly pitched as a didactic lament for the future, eventually about-faces into something rare and beautiful and surprising. The past may be decomposing, but the kids are all right.
The opening shot of Summer Hours suggests a memory coming into sharp, stunning focus. And from beginning to end, this beautiful transfer from the Criterion Collection, with its gorgeous color saturation, accurate skin tones, and remarkable shadow delineation, is like something gently washing over you. The sound is equally tops: Dialogue is clear and the surround work, like the film's lovely score, is lush and enveloping.
In a video interview recorded in January, a personable Olivier Assayas reminisces on Breson, Renoir, his deceased mother, art and aging, the seasons, the wall separating cinema and life, and the order in which he's made his films. We then see how he puts his ideas into practice in an appealing making-of featurette that also features interviews by two of his stars, Charles Berling and Juliette Binoche. Oliver Goinard's hour-long Inventory is a fetching look at the film's approach to art, specifically Assayas's collaboration with the Musée d'Orsay and the many paintings and pieces of furniture from its halls that appear in the film. Also included with the disc is a booklet with a predictably personal essay from Kent Jones, who recalls his time in Paris, his relationship to cinema and to Assayas, and who says the deepest, most profound things about the director's films.
Subtle? No. Overrated? Perhaps. But the Criterion Collection does right by Olivier Assayas's lovely tone poem, his best film since Late August, Early September.


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Joyce's Vision of Realism: A New Source
Maria Grazia Tonetto
The University of Rome "Sapienza"
In his Studies in European Realism, Georg Lukács mentions Joyce as an anti-realist, claiming that the "transformation of human beings into a… flow of ideas destroys… [the] possibility of a literary presentation of the complete human personality"[1]. However, this is what Joyce himself thinks about his own technique: "There is also the intellectual attitude which dissects life instead of puffing it up with romanticism […] In my Mabbot Street scene I have… approached reality closer than anywhere else in the book… since sensation is the object heightened even to the point of the hallucination which is the exalted vision of the mystics".[2] It appears that Joyce considers Ulysses to be faithful to a realist spirit, and "Circe" – his most visionary, even mystical episode – as the output of his will to "approach reality". Blurring the distinction between the physical and the psychic – which cannot be water-tight in a post-freudian universe – the stream-of-consciousness novel widens the scope of Western realism. As Erich Auerbach acutely perceived, modernist writers "invented their own methods… of making the reality which they adopt as their subject appear in [the] changing lights and in [the] changing strata"[3] of subjectivism.
After Plato the mirror has traditionally been a metaphor for mimesis: while in 1906 Joyce compares Dubliners to a "nicely polished lookingglass"[4], when referring to A Portrait he says to Frank Budgen that the artist's mirror must acknowledge a "limitation of viewpoint" and that "something of objective truth gets lost in the process"[5] of representation; in Ulysses, then, Joyce foregrounds a "cracked lookingglass", to which a vivisective tool – the razor – is paired. An evolution of the categories of imitation and realism took place in Joyce's aesthetics between the completion of Dubliners, the rewriting of the Portrait, and the early stages of Ulysses. The articles, lectures, and examination papers that Joyce wrote during those years of study and self-refashioning, were of special significance in bringing to a reconciliation early dichotomies.
In a recent article,
Luca Crispi describes Joyce's "Early Commonplace Book", which "had been thought
to consist of two distinct copybooks, the Paris
Notebook and the Pola Notebook"[6],
and whose unitary presentation was reassessed only in 2008. On page 24r, Joyce
compiled a list of "Books" on various topics – such as
However, the exceptional fact that "Joyce returned to this manuscript at least 9 years after he first started using it"[9], also points to the fact that around 1911 Joyce may have wished to go back to his early aesthetics. The only book about artistic theory in the list is De la Laideur Dans l'Art – On Ugliness in Art – by E. Lesnes[10], which came out in 1911, and whose influence can be strongly perceived both in The Universal Literary Influence of the Renaissance, and in Realism and Idealism in English Literature, which were composed the following year. Establishing this filiation allows us to see the two Italian compositions as an ideal development of Joyce's aesthetic theory.
Although Lesnes' starting point is neo-platonic, he provides a definition of idealism which differs from the sentimental "romantic temper" with which Joyce had hitherto associated the term, and explicitly declares the need to reconcile Idealism and Realism. In order to appreciate the turning point which Joyce's 1912 papers represent, it would be useful to follow the evolution of the Joycean categories of Realism and Idealism before that time.
Notably a slippery category, realism first appears in Joyce's writings in 1899 as "the realistic illusion", which Joyce elucidates as "the sense of life"[11], substantially equating it with the dramatic. Joyce distinguishes realism from mimetic fidelity, from "the execution of faultless form", and praises "the infusion of life" more than the mere "copy" of nature. Secondly, Joyce progressively refines his notion of reality, widening the very foundation on which any definition of literary realism could rest. In the first essay on Mangan, the artist's attention to the "present things" is not sufficient unto itself, but should allow "the quick intelligence to go beyond them to their meaning" (OCPW, 53). Joyce's "beyond" does not designate a metaphysical system from which reality draws its truth, nor is it to be read sociologically – like in French Naturalism. Rather, it refers to those "dreams" which, for the artist, are no less real than actuality; poetry "may seem unreal" only to those who have lost the power of a simple, non-historical intuition[12]. In both essays on Mangan, reality is contrasted with a more authentic experience of the Real, which is only available through art. Such an expansion of the category of reality was bound to result in a redefinition of literary realism.
If Joyce tries to reconcile the artist's attention to actuality with spiritual realities, it is because art must be faithful to the ontological status of humanity. In his critical writings the problem of realism and idealism mirrors an ontological hierarchy of being, from which a division of literary genres can be derived. In "Drama and Life" the real is identified with the portrayal of "men and women as we meet them in the [actual] world", and, as such, it is opposed to their aggrandized representation as creatures of "the world of faery" (OCPW 28) or of the "chivalrous" universe of romance (OCPW 57). Realism is faithful to humanity as the intermediate realm between the "angels" and the "monkeys" (OCPW 27), between "spirituality" and "animalism". As such, it is neither concerned with the subhuman, the "monstrous", nor with the "heroic" (OCPW, 72); Muncacksy's "Ecce homo", for instance, provides a "real presentment" in that "the artist's view of the event is humanistic": accordingly, Christ has "nothing divine, … nothing superhuman" (OCPW, 21), but is in harmony with "the baser passions of humanity" (my emphasis). In the same way, Defoe's Devil "has little in common with the strange son of Chaos"; rather, he resembles "a dealer in hosiery who has suffered a calamitous financial setback" (OCPW 170-171). Following the tradition of biblical realism, Joyce praises the treatment of universal sublime truths in a sermo humilis, because it is faithful to humanity as a constitutively intermediary region of being, one which is equally inhabited by sublimity and baseness[13].
Finally, Joyce's realism defines a commitment to authorial sincerity. In 1902, "realities" designate the courage of an "uncompromising truth" (OCPW, 45), regardless of any possible affront to traditional morality; this implies that no aspect of humanity which Joyce deemed to be true would be alien to his project, including "the dream", or the "exalted vision of the mystics". Idealism could be a suitable concept to express the reconciliation of the visible world with the epiphanic experience of Being, provided that it were not considered as the dishonest attitude which portrays men as ontologically different from what they are, as angels or beasts.
Still, at the outset of his career, Joyce equated "idealism" with a set of censorious tendencies. In "Drama and Life" (1900), he first distinguishes between realism and idealism: "this doctrine of idealism in art … has fostered a babyish instinct to dive under the blankets at the mention of the bogey of realism" (OCPW 27-28); the conventional expectation that art be "the glass where [man and women] may see themselves idealized" amounts to an unacceptable limitation of the scope of artistic expression to the elements which testify man's "affinity with the angels" (OCPW 27). By contrast, the representation of "the human comedy", no doubt a reminder of Balzac (OCPW 28), grants "limitless scope" to the artist.
Sometime in 1911 or 1912 Joyce met with Lesnes' aesthetics, which approached realism from the point of view of idealism, claiming that "all the artists worth of that name have always been able to ally the ideal and the real"[14]. The moderns have lost the balance between idealism and realism, which was perfect during the Middle Ages, as claimed in chapter XIII of the book – significantly called "Réalisme et Idéalisme au Moyen-Age". In that epoch, an intense attention to visible reality avoided that the artist fell into abstraction, while the presence of an ideal element also prevented the artist from falling into "naturalism"[15], into "observation without thought"[16].
In the development of European art, Lesnes traces a degenerative curve, whose lowest point is the realism favored by the romantic movement and by French Naturalism. The same decadence is suggested in Joyce's lecture on Defoe, which ends with a distinction between Defoe's equilibrated realism and the "modern realism" expressed by the "French nation". Like Lesnes, who sees in the romantic and Naturalist movements an inverted passion for ugliness and corruption – "une passion pour les bancroches, les cul-de-jatte, les borgnes"[17] – Joyce emphasizes the distance between Defoe and the "fervour of corruption" of the French writers. He sees "anger" and "indignation" in the work of modern realism, a spirit of revolt that betrays, he writes, its "spiritual origins" (OCPW 173). Lesnes defines ugliness as the opposition to beauty which was born "from the revolt of the most beautiful angel of the heavenly court"[18]. Joyce's allusion is understood in the light of this interpretation of ugliness as a willful, enraged degradation of beauty, which is equally absent from Defoe's and from Joyce's realism.
Just as degrading, according to Lesnes, is the widespread sensationalism which has dominated the arts since the Renaissance. Medieval realism did not describe the visible world in order to please or shock the senses, but made use of the senses to capture the intellect. After the Renaissance, a superficial art saw the light, which "comes from the senses and addresses nothing but the senses"[19]. Romantic and naturalist ugliness "makes us eager for strong and brutal sensations"[20]. The Renaissance, as depicted by Lesnes, marks the beginning of that degradation of realism that culminates in French Naturalism. Both movements share the axiom that "beauty results from sensation"[21], be it of a pleasing or of an unpleasant kind.
For the same reasons, Lesnes ranks idealism as expressed by the "romantic school" with a degraded sensualist art, which is merely satisfied with the reproduction of outward form and for which plastic beauty is all, its ideal being Greek art[22]. Thus interpreted, idealism does not relate to truth, but to sensual satisfaction. In this way, Lesnes frees the field from idealism as a set of forbidding norms, the form which Plato and Plotinus had imposed by "proscribing from art every trait that does not offer the model of achieved perfection", particularly ugliness[23]. Idealism should not refuse ugliness, inasmuch as it is in relation "avec le vrai": with truth[24]. The art of the Middle Ages could descend to an extreme realism from an idealist starting point, from a will to give concrete form to concepts. Medieval realism is not degrading: it is symbolic, in that it uses the material forms to create contemplative symbols which address the intellect and express the invisible[25].
Like Lesnes's medieval artist, who bends the strength of the senses to his intellectual vision, William Blake could "engrave the image of [his visions] in a hammered verse or in a copper plate" (OCPW 175), in the perfect harmony of his "sensual philosophy" (OCPW 181), of a state of mind in which the sensory power of the flesh meets the sharpness of the intellectual vision. Likewise, Daniel Defoe's representation of Mrs Christian Davies as "crippled, scrofulous and suffering from dropsy" is not the same thing as "the solemnization of obscenity" that inspires the French Naturalists; for Joyce, it expresses one incarnation of "the eternal feminine" (OCPW 172-173), i. e. of an idea. Moreover, in Duncan Campbell, Defoe listens to "the presence of the unknown" and of "the dream" (OCPW 171) with the same documentary attitude that prompts him to record the days of the plague, so that his realism does not do violence to man's place in nature as the intermediate realm of spiritual and animal impulses.
Related to the idea of the human world as an ontological middle reign is Joyce's view of the Renaissance before 1912. Echoing Walter Pater[26], he considers the Renaissance as a positive moment in the development of European culture, which introduced an "ardent sympathy with nature as it is" (OCPW 93). But in Lesnes's treatise the Renaissance marks the origin of the naturalistic tendency in European art, the moment when "art is almost totally reduced to plastic fidelity…and worships form and the senses"[27]. He judges such a purely hedonistic taste to be immoral on an aesthetic ground, since it degrades art to "a menial task, like cooking" [28].
In L'Influenza Letteraria Universale del Rinascimento, in which bookish influences may have been stronger due to the academic circumstances of its composition – Joyce's examination paper of 1912 – Joyce, following Lesnes, suddenly presents the Renaissance as the moment when the negative materialistic tendencies of art first emerged in European culture, remarking that "present-day materialism descends in a direct line from the Renaissance" (OCPW 187); in the contemporary age that hedonistic inspiration has degenerated into a "frenetic sensationalism", transforming the work of art into something to be consumed and from which a sensualist, non-intellectual pleasure is to be drawn[29]. Joyce abruptly declares that he wants to "oppose …. with all [his] might" the conclusion that the Renaissance marks the mature stage of European culture and is superior to the "temporis acti", i.e. to the Middle-Ages (OCPW 187); and he suddenly declares that "we lack moral sense and perhaps also strength of imagination" (OCPW 189). Joyce has not become a moralist: echoing his source, he acknowledges the loss of a metaphysical frame in which art would find its place as a means of revelation, not of consumption.
Similarly, Joyce states that the Renaissance "deposed a … formal mind", in favor of a "restless… and amorphous" (OCPW 188) mentality, which is responsible for the hunger for sensations. As an example, he contrasts Wagner and Dante, remarking that L'Inferno was composed "in the wake of an idea" (OCPW 189). According to Lesnes, "le Moyen-âge est l' époque par excellence de l' idéalisme". For Joyce, Dante's art is "ideational" (OCPW 189); here, he employs "idealism" in a new sense, independently of the "romantic school": not as a series of proscriptive norms, but as the intellectual inspiration of the work of art. Dante's realism, his "truce… arte" (OCPW 287), becomes even stronger with the intensification of his "idea", of his metaphysical perception of evil.
Although impromptu and written under pressure, The Universal Literary Influence of the Renaissance is to be seen in the context of Joyce's lectures on Blake and Defoe, marking an important stage in Joyce's meditation on the categories of realism and idealism. According to Lesnes these categories are reconciled in proper art, where a realist technique may fuse with a dominant, non-sensualist intellectual orientation; that Joyce elaborated on this kind of symbolic realism is evident from the rewriting of the Portrait, where the moral teratology of Stephen's vision is increased, and where it gives life to a series of symbolic bird-like beings, fusing with Jacob Boehme's mystical conception of birds. Moreover, in "Lotus-Eaters", whose first stages of composition date back to 1912[30], both reading and writing – in the form of Bloom and Martha's letters – are reduced to a consumerist exchange of sensations, echoing what Joyce wrote in his Padua composition; Bloom carries "the newspaper… under his armpit" (U 5.517)[31]: the objective correlative of the modern post-Renaissance sensationalist world, which has "placed the journalist in the monk's chair" (OCPW 188). In Exiles, too, the sensualist Robert Hand is a journalist.
while Joyce appreciates Dante's ideational art, he certainly does not share his
"unfortunate prejudices" (OCPW 73).
In what sense can his realism recover an ideal inspiration in a
post-metaphysical frame? "Proteus" shows that Joyce considerably widened his
reflection on realism and idealism to their strong philosophical sense, when
the allusions to Aristotle and Berkeley, Kant or to the "idealist" Lessing and
Blake, frame the problem of the aesthetic image. The perception of the ideal
side of reality is made to rest on Aristotle's claim that form is absolutely
immanent. The world, although furnished with an ideal aspect which the
intellect apprehends, is no mere mental representation, but is "there all the
time" without us[32].
This reflection connects "Proteus" not only with Joyce's Italian essays, but
also with A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Stephen's aesthetic discussion finds its origin in the ambiguity of the term "visa" in Aquinas' theory. He says that the esthetic apprehension occurs "through sight or hearing or through any other avenue of apprehension" (P 225). Precisely, the lectures on Defoe and Blake are based on a different interpretation of the artistic "vision". Blake, the idealist, sees with the internal senses, with the "mind's eye" and with "the ear of his soul"; he then proceeds to transfer his internal visions into matter. Defoe's starting-point is sensorial exactitude: he describes, reports, enumerates, measures. In the end, however, the results are the same: "la burrasca… si vede" (OCPW 274, my emphasis), he produces an intellectual vision of "the whatness" of the thing, be it a tempest or the plague. Likewise, Joyce contrasts the idealist and the realist ways of seeing, when he writes that "Saint John the Evangelist saw… the apocalyptic collapse of the universe [while] Crusoe saw but one marvel in all the fertile creation…a naked footprint in the virgin sand" (OCPW 279, my emphasis). By 1912, idealism and realism are no longer two incompatible tendencies, like they were in Drama and Life: they have become a matter of vision.
Works Cited
¾ Auerbach,
Erich. Mimesis: The Representation of
Reality in Western Literature.
¾ Berrone,
Luis. "Two James Joyce Essays Unveiled: "The Centenary of Charles Dickens" and
"L'Influenza letteraria universale
¾ Budgen,
Frank. James Joyce and the Making of
Ulysses and Other Writings.
¾ Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Biographia Literaria. Vol. I. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 1907.
¾ Crispi, Luca. "A Commentary on James Joyce's National Library of Ireland "Early commonplace Book": 1903-1912 (MS 36, 639/02/A)". Genetic Joyce Studies, (Issue 9 Spring 2009). <http://www.geneticjoycestudies.org/GJS9/GJS9_LCrispi.htm>.
¾ Crispi, Luca. "Manuscript Timeline 1905-1922". Genetic Joyce Studies, (Issue 4 Spring 2004).
¾ Davies Stephen, Higgins Kathleen Marie, (eds.). A Companion to Aesthetics. Blackwell Publishing, 2009.
¾ Deming,
Robert H., ed. James Joyce: The Critical
Heritage. Vol. 1.
¾ Eco,
Umberto. On Ugliness.
¾ Joyce,
James. Occasional, Critical and Political
Writings, ed. Kevin Barry.
¾ Joyce, James. Ulysses, ed. Hans
Walter Gabler, et. al.
¾ Joyce,
James. Selected Letters, ed. Richard
¾ Joyce,
James. A Portrait of the Artist as a
¾ Laman,
Barbara. James Joyce and German Theory:
¾ Lesnes, E. De la Laideur dans l' Art. Bruxelles: Société Belge de Librairie. 1911.
¾ Lucácks,
Georg. Studies in European Realism.
¾ Pater,
Walter. The Renaissance.
¾ Schneider,
Erik. "Towards Ulysses: Some
Unpublished Documents from
[1] Georg Lukács.
Studies in European Realism.
[2] See
Arthur Power. "Conversation with Joyce". In James
Joyce: The Critical Heritage, ed. Robert H. Deming.
[3] Erich Auerbach. Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in
Western Literature.
[4] Selected Letters of James Joyce, ed. Richard Ellmann.
[5] Frank
Budgen. James Joyce and the Making of
Ulysses and Other Writings.
[6] Luca Crispi, "A Commentary on James Joyce's National Library of Ireland "Early commonplace Book": 1903-1912 (MS 36, 639/02/A)", in Genetic Joyce Studies, (Issue 9 – Spring 2009). <http://www.geneticjoycestudies.org/GJS9/GJS9_LCrispi.htm>.
[7] See
Erik Schneider. "Towards Ulysses: Some Unpublished Documents from
[8] Louis
Berrone. "Two James Joyce Essays Unveiled: 'The Centenary of Charles Dickens'
and 'L'Influenza letteraria universale
[9] Luca Crispi, op. cit.
[10] E. Lesnes. De la Laideur dans l' Art. Bruxelles: Société Belge de Librairie, 1911. If not otherwise stated, all translation will be mine.
[11] James
Joyce. "
[12] See Franca Ruggieri. Maschere dell'Artista: il Giovane Joyce. Roma: Bulzoni, 1986. 91.
[13] See Erich Auerbach. Mimesis. op. cit. 151.
[14] E. Lesnes. op. cit., 9-10.
[15] Ibid., 10-11.
[16] Ibid., 289.
[17] Ibid., 80.
[18] Ibid., 62. See also Umberto Eco. On
[19] "vient des sens et ne s' adresse qu' aux sens". Lesnes, op. cit., 280.
[20] Ibid., 271.
[21] Ibid., 38.
[22] "ne cherche que la forme… la plastique est tout, les belles lignes n' ont rien à voir avec l' idée… son idéal de beauté c' est la statuaire grecque". Ibid., 171.
[23] "Platon proscrivit de l'art tout ce qui n'offre pas le modèle de la perfection accomplie… Plotin proscrit la représentation de la laideur". Ibid., 63.
[24] Ibid., 65-66.
[25] Ibid., 145.
[26] In Walter Pater's The Renaissance "a sympathy for humanity in its uncertain condition" is the main feature of Botticelli's art. (London: Macmillan, 1901, 60).
[27] "l'art se reduit presque à la fidélité plastique… se fait idolatre de la forme et des sens", De la Laideur Dans l'Art, op. cit., 157-158.
[28] "une pratique servile, un métier comme la cuisine". Ibid., 16-17.
[29] Cf. "In many contemporary novels everything comes down to sensation and instinct. Sometimes it is an admixture of ardent eroticism and sentimentality" ["dans beaucoup de romans [de nos jours] tout se ramène à la sensation et à l' instinct. C' est parfois un mélange d' érotisme fougueux et de sentimentalité"]. Ibid., 293.
[30] See Luca Crispi. "Manuscript timeline 1905-1922". Genetic Joyce Studies, Issue 4 (Spring 2004).
James Joyce. Ulysses, ed. Hans Walter
Gabler, et. al.
According to John Hyman "the English term 'realism' was introduced into
literary criticism by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1817" (See "Realism", in A Companion to Aesthetics, ed. Stephen Davies, Kathleen Marie
Higgins, et al. Blackwell Publishing, 2009. 495). In the Biographia Literaria, Coleridge presents Realism and Idealism in
their philosophical sense: realism is "the fundamental presumption ... that the
existence of things without us… should be received… independently of all
grounds as the existence of our own being" (Biographia
[33] James
Joyce. A Portrait of the Artist as a


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Brandon Savage has posted the second part of his debugging in PHP series today - this time he looks at stepping it up with a powerful tool XDebug.
There are two really great experiences in my PHP life: the day I learned how to use PHP, and the day I installed XDebug. Ok, perhaps that's an overstatement, but XDebug is one of the best tools I've ever used. I think every developer should use it, and for the next part of this series we're going to talk about its features.
You'll need to get it set up yourself (complete instructions are on the XDebug site) but Brandon includes an example of the code you can use to toss information back out to your dugging client of choice (as well as some of the resulting output).


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Currently serving as the CEO, president and chairperson of the board at Nabors Industries, Anthony Petrello is a well-known man in the corporate circles. This reputation comes from the fact that Nabors Industries is the largest natural gas and geothermal drilling company in the globe. Going by his total compensation for 2015, of about $27, 512,939, Tony Petrello is one of the top and best-paid bosses.
Education Background
As one of the executives to reckon with in the corporate world, Petrello's academic background is nothing short of impressive. In fact, he is an alumnus of both Yale University and Harvard University. He graduated from Harvard Law School with a JD before acquiring bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics from Yale University and learn more about Tony.
Career at Nabors
Petrello joined Nabors Industries in 1991 to serve as the chief operating officer. This tenure was followed by a promotion in 1992 to become the company's president. Later in 2003, Anthony Petrello was named the deputy chairperson of the company, a position he held until June 2002. Further, he took up the CEO position in 2011. Since 2012, Petrello has been serving as the company's chairperson of the board and resume him
Board Membership
Away from serving as the chairman of the board of Nabors Industries, Petrello serves on the Board of trustees of Texas Children's Hospital as a member. Additionally, he is a member of the executive committee and director of Stewart& Stevenson.
About Nabors
Founded in 1968, Nabors Industries Ltd. prides itself on operating and owning the globe's largest drilling fleets, which work on land across the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and the Far East. It also undertakes onshore well-servicing operations in North America, as well as providing offshore rigs for oil platform workover. Nabors Industries Ltd boasts of a charter fleet that is made up of 29 marine vessels dedicated for offshore operations. Anthony Petrello the company's president and CEO of Nabors Industries.
Other Reference: http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/excellence_in_philanthropy/deep_in_the_heart_of_texas


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Infinite Minds Consulting is a group of freelancing consultants each having more than 15 years of experience within the business field. One of our key strengths is that our consultants are currently holding senior management positions in several organizations, keeping them up to date with the latest business trends and strategies that can add real value to our clients. We offer carefully researched, relevant advice to meet your business needs. Our clients come to us from a wide range of sectors. We believe in the value of relationships and we are proud to say that the majority of our business is built on referrals.
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What are the Section 179 limits? Bonus Depreciation – Is it allowed and how much?
The maximum amount of Section 179 that can be claimed for 2017 is $510,000. This amount is phased out dollar-for-dollar once your annual investment in qualifying fixed assets exceeds $2.03 million. Starting in 2018, the maximum amount of Section 179 is increased to $1 million and the phase-out amount is increased to $2.5 million.
Bonus depreciation is available on qualified new asset additions and allows for 50% first year write-off on assets placed in service from January 1, 2017 thru September 26, 2017. After September 27, 2017 and before January 1, 2023, taxpayers are able to expense 100% of the cost of qualified new and used property acquired and placed in service. For the first tax year ending after September 27, 2017, a taxpayer can elect to claim 50% first-year bonus depreciation instead of 100% bonus depreciation for assets placed in service between September 28, 2017 and the end of the tax year.
I have a 401k with a company that I terminated from. Can I roll it over to a Roth or regular IRA? What happens if I decide to just keep the money?
You can choose to roll your vested balance from a qualified 401(k) plan into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) without being subject to the additional early withdrawal tax and income tax. You can also choose to roll your vested balance from a qualified plan into a Roth IRA upon termination without paying an additional early withdrawal tax; however this would still be considered a distribution and would be subject to income tax, there are some exceptions that may apply.
If you choose to keep the money and are under 59 ½, you will be required to pay an additional early withdrawal tax of 10% of the distribution. Because the contributions were excluded from income taxes at the time they were contributed into the qualified 401(k) plan, these distributions are also subject to income tax at the time they are distributed from the plan. Taxation would be different if some or all of the 401k contributions were made as Roth contributions.
What are available retirement options and what are the deductibility limits?
The 2017 IRA contribution limits are the lesser of earned income or $5,500 ($6,500 if you are 50 or older). There are phase out levels based on modified adjusted gross income and your filing status if you or your spouse participate in another qualified plan.
Dependency/Filing Status
What determines if I am head of household?
To qualify, a taxpayer must meet all four of the following tests. 1. The taxpayer is not married at the end of the year (exception if taxpayer meets tests for "considered unmarried.") 2. The taxpayer paid more than half the cost of keeping up his home. 3. The home was the principal residence for more than half the year of either the taxpayers qualifying child or taxpayers qualifying relative. 4. The taxpayer is a US Citizen or resident during the entire year.
Can I claim my 23 year old daughter as a qualifying child on my 2017 tax return? She was under 24 at the end of the year, was a full-time student until 11/30/17 and we paid more than 50% of her support. She did however not live with us at all during the year. She has had her own apartment in Omaha since September of 2015.
Your daughter meets all the tests to be claimed as a dependent. One qualification is that the child must live with the taxpayer for more than half the year. They do allow an exception to this residency test due to temporary absence due to special circumstances, including education. Since she was a full time student, she would meet this exception allowed in the residency test.
How do I file if my spouse died during the year?
You can file as either married filing separately or married filing jointly.
How do I file if I got married or divorced during the year?
If the taxpayer was married during the year; the couple would file either as married filing separately or married filing jointly. A taxpayer that is divorced during the tax year and their divorce was finalized during the year and the taxpayer has not remarried would file as single or head of household. Additional filing status criteria must be met to file as head of household.
What income level do I need to file a return for my child?
For 2017, if an individual can be claimed as a dependent on another persons' return, that individual/dependent must file a return if unearned income exceeds $1,050 plus any additional standard deduction allowed. The additional standard deduction that may be allowed is equal to the earned income plus $350 but not to exceed $6,350.
Is health insurance going to be reported on my W-2 and will I have to pay tax on it?
Most employers must report the aggregate cost of employer-sponsored health insurance coverage on Form W-2 in box 12; using code DD. Employers that are required to file fewer than 250 Form W-2's for the preceding calendar year are exempt from the reporting requirement in 2017. The amount reported should not be taxable income. Any insurance paid by the employer that is taxable should be included on the W-2 as part of the taxable wages.
My son is 25 and done with college. Can he still be on my health insurance?
The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 states that any health care plan which provides coverage for dependent children must continue coverage for an unmarried adult child until the child's 26th birthday.
Income Inclusion
How much is the gift exemption? I received $14,000 do I have to claim it? Is there a difference if the gift is land vs. cash?
The gift tax annual exclusion for 2017 is $14,000 per donee but is not taxable to the donee. The donor is responsible for reporting and paying any gift tax on gifts in excess of $14,000 per donee. The $14,000 applies to both property and cash. However, if the donor gifted land, the donor may want to file a gift tax return in order to establish a value for the land. Filing a gift tax return starts the statute of limitations running for the period of time the IRS can challenge the value of the land gifted. If no gift tax return is filed, no statute of limitations is started, and therefore, the IRS can go back more than three years to challenge the value of the land gifted.
I'm inheriting $50,000. Is this money taxable? What if it is property?
An inheritance would only be taxable to the recipient if the income was earned prior to a taxpayer's death but not included in their taxable income during their lifetime. A common example is a taxpayer's IRA or other qualified plan retirement account. Other examples include annuities, investment income paid after death, wages due, contracts-for-deed, interest on savings bonds, and accounts receivable from a cash basis business are all taxable as received.
Does taking money from a retirement account count as earned income when you are on social security?
No. Retirement account income is not earned income so it will not affect your social security benefits. Retirement income does however count toward your income for tax purposes when determining the amount of Social Security benefits that are taxable. If your income is above $25,000 filing single or above $32,000 filing jointly, 50% of your Social Security benefits may be taxable. If your income is above $34,000 filing single or above $44,000 filing jointly, 85% of your Social Security benefits may be taxable.
My husband worked this fall for a local farmer with the harvest and received a $2,400 check. How do I report this income since the farmer did not take out any taxes and no Form W-2 was provided? Is there a special form?
You should report this income on a Schedule C as self-employment income. You will also use Schedule SE to compute the social security tax on the net income from this job. Net income is calculated as income less any related job expenses. Your husband most likely will receive a Form 1099-MISC from the local farmer for the income received.
Itemized Deductions
Is there a limit to how much you pay out of pocket for medical expenses before you can deduct them for taxes?
If you are itemizing your deductions (meaning your deductions are greater than your standard deduction of $6,350 for single or $12,700 for married filing joint) then your medical costs paid out of pocket must be greater than 10% of your adjusted gross income before you see any benefit or deduction for them regardless of age.
I give cash most often in church for offering. Can I deduct this without proof of it? I also donated a lot of items to goodwill over the year. Is there a way to claim that?
Cash donations
Outright gifts of cash (which include donations made via check, credit card and payroll deduction) are the easiest. The key is to substantiate them. To be deductible, cash donations must be:
Supported by a canceled check, credit card receipt or written communication from the charity if they're under $250, or
Substantiated by the charity if they're $250 or more.
Deductions for cash gifts to public charities can't exceed 50% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). The AGI limit is 30% for cash donations to non-operating private foundations. Contributions in excess of the applicable AGI limit can be carried forward for up to five years.
Non-cash donations must be substantiated with: 1. Name of charity, 2. Date and location of donation, 3. Reasonable detailed description of the property (i.e. 3 jeans, 4 blouses, 2 coats, etc.), 4. Fair market value and method of valuing. Specific requirements exist for non-cash donations exceeding $250. The above information must be in a written statement from the charity or reliable written record. If the charity does not give an approximate fair market value then take a picture of what was donated and consult the web for charity publications regarding values of certain items. If the non-cash donation is greater than $500, then in addition to the above, your records must include how the property was acquired, the date acquired, and the adjusted basis. Non-cash gifts greater than $500 must also complete Form 8283 and attach it to your return. If the non-cash donation is greater than $5,000, then in addition to the above you must also have a written appraisal.
How far do you travel for National Guard before it can be treated as a deduction? What is mileage reimbursement rate?
If you are a member of the National Guard or military reserve you may be able to claim a deduction that reduces adjusted gross income rather than an itemized deduction on Form 1040, Schedule A, for unreimbursed travel expenses paid in connection with the performance of services as a reservist. Guard and Reserve personnel who stay overnight more than 100 miles from their home while in service (for a drill or meeting) may deduct the unreimbursed travel expenses as an above-the-line deduction. Expenses must be ordinary and necessary. This deduction is limited to the regular federal per diem rate (for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses) and the standard mileage rate of 53.5 cents per mile (for car expenses) plus any parking fees, ferry fees, and tolls. These expenses are claimed on Form 2106, or Form 2106-EZ and carried to the Form 1040. Expenses in excess of these federal per diem rate limits can be also be claimed but only as an itemized deduction on Form 1040, Schedule A.
Can sales tax be deducted and how do you determine the correct amount?
There is an option of claiming either state and local income tax or state and local general sales tax. If you itemize (meaning your actual deductions exceed your standard deduction) and you choose to deduct state and local general sales tax, then you can determine your deduction either based on 1) actual sales tax amounts based on your actual receipts, or 2) a predetermined amount from the IRS tables listed in Publication 600 increased by actual sales tax on major purchases (defined as motor vehicles including recreational vehicles, aircraft, boat, homes and home building materials) for the year.
With the purchase of a car in June 2017--are we able to use the sales tax as an income tax deduction?
In 2017, only if you itemize on Schedule A, you can increase your sales tax deduction by the actual amount of sales tax paid on a vehicle purchase.
When do I get the child tax credit and how much per child?
The maximum credit per qualifying child is $1,000. To qualify the child must be claimed by the taxpayer on their return and also be less than 17 years of age. The credit is limited if your modified adjusted gross income is above a certain amount. The amount at which this phase-out begins varies depending on your filing status. For married taxpayers filing a joint return, the phase-out begins at $110,000. For married taxpayers filing a separate return, it begins at $55,000. For all other taxpayers, the phase-out begins at $75,000. In addition, if the Child Tax Credit is more than the amount of income tax you owe, the excess is refundable to the extent of the greater of:
15% of earned income above $3,000 or
For taxpayers with three or more qualifying children, the excess of the taxpayer's social security taxes for the year over the taxpayer's earned income credit for the year.
Taxpayers with earned income of $3,000 or less will not qualify for the refundable tax credit under the 15% rule.
I flex $5,000 in dependent care, but pay $3,000 more than that. Can I get a credit for that?
The maximum dependent care costs per dependent that qualify for the credit is $3,000 for one dependent or $6,000 to two or more qualifying dependents. The $5,000 flex would be offset against the $3,000 for one dependent or the $6,000 for two or more dependents in arriving at the amount of care that qualifies for the credit, or if any of the flex would need to be included in income.
What expenses are eligible for credit for my child attending college?
Qualifying tuition and related expenses are eligible for the American Opportunity Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit. Qualifying expenses for the American Opportunity Credit include tuition, required enrollment fees and course materials that the student needs for a course of study whether or not the materials are bought at the educational institution. For the Lifetime Learning Credit qualifying expenses include tuition and required enrollment fees (including amounts required to be paid to the institution for course-related book, supplies and equipment. Room and board, insurance, transportation or other similar personal living expenses do not qualify.
Are there differences between the college credit available and how do I know which credit is the best?
The credits available are the American Opportunity Credit or Lifetime Learning Credit. The differences in the credits are based on the year the student is in college, the amount and type of expenses qualifying for the credit, and also income phase out limits. Expenses for students in their first four years of college qualify for the American Opportunity Credit and generally provide the largest amount of credit. You should review the instructions to Form 8863 for more information on which credit maximizes your tax benefit.
Who is eligible to take the education credits?
Individual taxpayer may claim an income tax credit for higher education expenses at accredited post-secondary educational institutions paid for themselves, their spouses and their dependents. All credits have a phase out for higher-income taxpayers.
Is student loan interest deductible?
Generally, personal interest you pay, other than certain mortgage interest, is not deductible on your tax return. However, if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $80,000 ($165,000 if filing a joint return), there is a special deduction allowed for paying interest on a student loan (also known as an education loan) used for higher education. Student loan interest is interest you paid during the year on a qualified student loan. It includes both required and voluntary interest payments.
For most taxpayers, MAGI is the adjusted gross income as figured on their federal income tax return before subtracting any deduction for student loan interest. This deduction can reduce the amount of your income subject to tax by up to $2,500.
The student loan interest deduction is taken as an adjustment to income. This means you can claim this deduction even if you do not itemize deductions on Form 1040's Schedule A.
Is your home mortgage interest tax deductible?
Qualified residence interest is interest incurred from buying, building, or improving your qualified residence (acquisition debt), or from home equity loans on that residence. You can deduct interest from up to two qualified residences: your primary home and one other vacation home or similar property. You can't deduct the interest for acquisition debt greater than $1 million ($500,000 for married individuals filing separately). Note also that the $1 million ceiling on deductible home mortgage debt includes both your primary residence and your second home combined. The rules are different for home equity loans. Home equity debt is debt (other than acquisition debt) secured by your principal or second residence. Home equity debt is limited to the lesser of $100,000 ($50,000 if your filing status is married filing separately) or your equity in the home. Interest on home equity loans is generally deductible no matter how you used the loan proceeds but is not deductible for purposes of alternative minimum tax unless you used the loan proceeds to improve your home.
Are any of my closing costs deductible?
Mortgage closing costs are never deductible, but are capitalized as a part of the cost of the home. The only exception to this is if the closing costs involve mortgage interest in the form of "points paid" which are deductible as a Schedule A itemized deduction. Points paid as part of a home refinancing are amortized as a Schedule A deduction over the life of the loan versus deducted in the year paid.
We have been doing home improvements out of pocket, are these expenses eligible as a tax write off?
Generally no. These costs would only be deductible to the extent a portion of the home was used for business purposes. Also, some home improvements may qualify for residential energy credits.
I purchased a new furnace; can I receive an energy credit? Are there other items that qualify?
Taxpayers can claim a credit for certain home improvement property placed in service in 2016. The allowable credit for years prior to 2017 is equal to 10% of the cost of qualified energy-efficient property or improvements. The credit is limited to (1) $50 for each advance main air circulating fan; (2) $150 for each natural gas, propane or oil furnace or hot water boiler and (3) $300 for each item of (a) electric heat pump water heaters, (b) electric heat pumps, (c) biomass fuel stoves, (d) high-efficiency central air conditioners or (e) high-efficiency natural gas, propane or oil water heaters. The total credit that can be claimed in 2016 combined is $500 ($200 for exterior windows and skylights). This amount is further reduced (but not below zero) for any credits claimed in 2006-2015.
Absent further legislation, the nonbusiness energy property and residential energy efficient property credit expired for property placed in service after December 31, 2016.
I sold my residence for $350,000, do I have to pay taxes on the $30,000 gain that I had from the sale? Does it make a difference if it is not my primary residence?
A taxpayer can generally exclude from income up to $250,000 of gain ($500,000 for joint filers) from the sale of a home owned and used by the taxpayer as a principal residence for at least 2 of the 5 years before the sale.
Are there any expenses or costs that I can deduct on the sale of my residence?
Generally no. If the sale of the home was excluded, none of the costs associated with the sale would be deductible. If the sale of the home was not excluded, costs associated with the sale are deducted as an expense of sale and reduce the amount of gain that is reported.
We refinanced our home in February 2017. Today we received our Form 1098 from the mortgage company which shows points paid of $1,850.00. This appears to be the loan origination fee included in the total settlement charges paid at closing. Can we deduct this $1,850? Would it be fully deductible or just partially
You can deduct the points paid on a refinance over the life of the mortgage. Thus if your mortgage is a 20-year loan, you will deduct 1/20 or $93 each year for the next 20 years or until the home is sold or again refinanced. The remaining points become fully deductible when the loan is paid off – either due to sale or refinance.
My wife and I decided to downsize our finances so that she could stay home with our children. In October we purchased a smaller home and put our existing home on the market (it is still for sale). We had a December loan payment for the newly purchased (less expensive) house in 2017 plus 12 normal monthly payments on our other more expensive house. For tax purposes when it comes to writing off the interest on the mortgage(s), I would imagine the IRS only allows for one of the two loans. Who determines which of the interest payments is applicable? Can we choose between the two houses for the months of Nov/Dec (as well as this year for our 2017 taxes in 2018)? If so, we would prefer to take the interest write-off on the larger mortgage (the first house that we occupied through October). Or will we need to get our lenders to amortize the interest by month and write off mortgage interest from loan 1 Jan-Oct and loan 2 from Nov-Dec? If we are able to choose to write off the interest for all 12 months of the house that we moved out of in October, does this affect our ability to write off mortgage points, etc. on the newly purchased house?
The IRS allows for the deduction of interest on two homes, so you can deduct all of the interest paid on both homes in addition to the points paid on the purchase of the new home.
Capital Gains/Losses
I own stock that is currently less than .01 cents per share. Do I need to sell the stock to recognize capital loss or is there some other way to declare the stock worthless?
The law states that a specific event must occur that declares the stock completely worthless before you can recognize the loss. If the stock is sold, the loss would be deductible subject to the capital loss rules. Check with your broker to determine if the stock is completely worthless.
My husband was a partner is a land deed. The land was given to him 7 years ago and was sold this year. Does he have to report the sale and where does it get reported?
First, as to holding period, it is the same as the original holder. Therefore, his/her holding period of at least seven years is greater than the twelve months required to receive long-term capital gain treatment. Next basis must be addressed, in that if it was received through a gift his basis is the same as the basis of the original holder. If it was received through inheritance, his basis will more than likely be the stepped up basis, meaning Fair Market Value (FMV) at the date of death. Last, he should receive a 1099-S from the real estate broker. If the property was used for business purposes, then the gain would be reported on Form 4797 part I, which in turn flows through to Form 1040 Schedule D. If the property was merely held for investment, then the gain would be reported on 1040 Schedule D. When computing the gain, the sale proceeds are reduced by expenses of sale and the basis of the land.
I purchased a common stock for $6,000.00 two years ago. The Company declared bankruptcy in 2017 and the stock was declared worthless. My question is do I have to declare the full loss for tax year 2017 or lose it. Also can I spread that loss over several years?
The criteria for deducting a stock loss is evidence of worthlessness. There are several ways to prove worthlessness and bankruptcy is one of them. Once a company declares bankruptcy, the basis in the stock, in this case $6,000 can be deducted as a long term capital loss. If there are no other capital gains present in your tax return, $3,000 of those losses will be utilized in 2017 and the other $3,000 in 2018. If you happen to have at least $3,000 of capital gains on your 2017 return, then the entire loss can be realized in 2017. It is not lost regardless, but capital losses in excess of capital gains are limited to $3,000 each year.
Estate Planning Top 10 Questions
Question 1: How is property transferred at death?
Property is transferred at death in several ways:
Valid Will – A legal document by which a person expresses his or her wishes as to how his or her property is to be distributed at death, and names one or more persons to manage the estate until its final distribution.
Also see question 2.
Contract Designations – For example, life insurance policies, death benefits of retirement plans, prenuptial agreements, postnuptial agreements, etc.
Also see question 3.
Operation of law – A legal term indicating that a right or liability has been created for a party, irrespective of the intent of that party, because it is dictated by existing legal principles. For example, jointly owned property with right of survivorship.
Also see question 3.
State law – You can access South Dakota Uniform Probate Code at
Also see Question 2.
Question 2: What happens if one dies without a will?
Except for the assets that are passed by Contract Designation or Operation of Law
(See Question 1)
, South Dakota Uniform Probate Code will determine the distribution of estate assets. Listed below are some typical scenarios if one dies without a valid will in South Dakota.
John Doe (a SD resident) died without a valid will, and he has no assets to be passed under Operation of Law or Contracts (See question 1 and 3). If John Doe is survived
Distribution of Estate Properties per South Dakota Uniform Probate Code (SD Intestacy Law):
ONLY by his spouse Jane Roe
All to Jane Roe
By Jane Roe and their children
All to Jane Roe
By Jane Roe, their children and child(ren) of Jane Roe
All to Jane Roe
By Jane Roe, their children and child(ren) of John Doe
Jane Roe receives $100,000 and 50% of any balance of the estate. The other 50% goes to John Doe's children by representation
By Jane Roe and John Doe's parents
All to Jane Roe
ONLY by John Doe's children and grandchildren
Divided equally among children. If one of the children, Mike predeceased John Doe, then Mike's children divide Mike's share equally.
ONLY by John Doe's father and mother
Divided equally if both alive
ONLY by siblings
Divided equally
ONLY by John Doe's grandparents
50% to paternal grandparents, 50% to maternal grandparents
By NO relatives at all
Escheats to the State
Question 3: I was listed in the will as a beneficiary of certain assets. Why didn't I inherit the assets?
Estate properties can be passed by (1) Will, (2) Contract Designation, (3) Operation of Law and (4) State Law (See question 1). Under most circumstances, passing of property by Contract Designation and Operation of Law is not influenced by the will. For example, life insurance proceeds pass outside the will to the named beneficiary, be it mentioned in the will or not. So are the death benefit proceeds from a retirement plan. If estate planning was not properly carried out, and the property transfer rules are in conflict, some very unfortunate endings such as the following two stories could happen: John Doe's mother said in her will that her estate would be divided equally among John and his two sisters. However, one of the sisters Mary, lived very close to her mother and so for convenience she titled all the bank accounts jointly with Mary. This allowed Mary to access the information and assist in handling some transactions. Upon death, 100% of these jointly titled bank accounts will be passed to Mary, if she insists, instead of being divided equally. Jane Roe said in her will that her niece Laura would inherit her IRA. However, Jane established the IRA long ago and forgot to update the beneficiary form, so the name of the beneficiary remained her ex-spouse John Doe. By this contract, John will receive the distribution from the IRA regardless of Jane's intention to benefit her niece Laura. Engaging an estate planning professional during the process will avoid such overlook(s), and therefore pass the right amount of assets to intended beneficiaries.
Question 4: What is estate planning? I am not wealthy, why do I need to have an estate plan?
Estate planning is the process of anticipating and arranging, during a person's life, for the management and disposal of that person's estate during the person's life and at and after death, while minimizing gift, estate, generation skipping transfer, and income tax. A will is part of the estate plan. Depending on the complexity of the situation, an estate planner might use other tools such as trusts, pass-through entities and/or life insurance to accomplish the estate planning goals.
For most people, estate planning is never about avoiding death tax as that is relevant only to those exceeding the tax exemption (See question 5 for death tax threshold). Some of the most important reasons for estate planning are listed below.
Pass property to the intended beneficiaries. For example, John Doe had no living relatives, yet he enjoyed a wonderful life thanks to the pastor and kind friends at his church. Before death, he verbally told his pastor that he would donate all of his estate to the church. But unfortunately, he did not have a valid will. Per South Dakota's probate code (See Question 2), the State will receive John's estate, not the church.
Alleviate the burdens of surviving family members. Imagine on top of emotional turmoil, our loved ones have to administer the estate without clear instruction? Many parents think if they die, kids will just divide everything equally and figure things out. In reality, once the "benevolent dictator" passes, sibling rivalry, in-law influences and many other issues arise. It is not unusual that an estate is significantly drained by legal fees due to these conflicts. The only way to avoid such tragedy is to have solid estate plan in place before death.
Protect the estate assets from unintended recipients. Divorce is a prevalent issue nowadays and the beneficiaries might be drowning in debt. Without a proper estate plan, the assets could be transferred outright to the beneficiaries who have no means to protect themselves. All or a significant portion of the assets of the deceased are passed to a divorced spouse or creditors.
Question 5: I heard that Death Tax will be repealed, does this mean we no longer need to prepare our estate plan?
Please note that gift, estate and generation skipping taxes will only affect about 1% of the population in this country. Most of the estates are below the death tax filing threshold, which is $5.49 million per individual ($10.98 million for couple) for 2017. Whether the upcoming administration repeals death tax or not, most of the Americans will not be affected. Please see question 4 for important reasons of estate planning.
Question 6: Hiring estate planning professionals is expensive, can I prepare my own will and figure out a plan all by myself?
Yes, but not recommended. South Dakota residents can prepare their own will, some retail stores or websites offer will kits and software. However, a self-prepared will, without the assistance of estate planning professionals, will be easily attacked by discontented beneficiaries after death, leave loopholes for unintended beneficiaries, and in many situations considered invalid to begin with.
There are many ways to save cost of estate planning:
Attend free educational seminars.
Complete attorney's questionnaire before walking into the meeting, be prepared and decisive about this basic question: When, how, what properties will be received by who?
Negotiate a flat fee with the attorney with specific scope(s) of service.
Some banks and trust companies offer free consultation meetings.
Talk to a CPA who has estate planning expertise. CPA's specializing in this area can quickly understand your financial picture and tax situation, are able to give you a good start and guide you through this process efficiently, so you don't waste time and resource on the issues that are not relevant to you.
As laws and regulations governing this area are highly complicated and ever-changing, it is important not to rely on piecemeal information and previous experience of friends and family members. Please also see comments in Question 3, 4 and 8.
Question 7: Why don't my parents talk about their estate plan with me? How can I break the ice?
The thought of death may be unpleasant, especially for elder parents and grandparents. This topic makes them feel "unwanted" and "being rushed to death". What's more, many people mistakenly picture estate planning as furious battles for assets. Many parents are reluctant to proceed during their life time because they wrongfully think it might take away their right to enjoy their own properties. In addition, some parents think that depending on future inheritance will discourage children from working hard.
The best results come from continuous and transparent estate planning efforts during life time, some important benefits include:
Continuous and transparent communication will eliminate erroneous ideas and conflicts. Instead of guessing or planning on costly "revenge" later, the family members should address the issue during the decedent's life time to avoid misunderstanding and conflicts after death, which can be expensive and hurtful to reconcile.
Continuous and transparent communication brings family together and can enable family values to pass. Indeed, estate planning is not just about ASSETS. More importantly, it is about FAMILY. Clear and thoughtful instruction from estate planning documents will unite the family members to go through the tough time together and increase their pride for family history. Estate planning can be behavior-shaping, family values can be preserved, younger generations can be motivated to pursue the right goals. This can be very important for business owners, especially when some children will take over the family business and some will not.
Continuous and transparent communication helps prepare family for uncertainties, such as untimely death and disability of the major income-producing family member.
Breaking the ice with parents and grandparents might be easier than you thought. Based on past experiences, the factors that lead to successful communications include:
Be honest and sincere.
Find the right time and right environment.
Stress the importance and benefits of having a solid estate plan, discuss the costly consequence if no plan is in place. Be helpful to elder parents and grandparents.
Share your thoughts, do not let your feelings stew.
Question 8: Can you tell me about gift tax and its filing requirement?
In general, if you are US citizen, you must file a gift tax return (Form 709) if you gave cash or noncash gifts to someone in 2016 totaling more than $14,000, unless this gift is made to your spouse, charities, or made for education and medical purpose. Under certain circumstances, for example, if married couple decides to split the gift, a return is required even if the gifting amount per recipient is under $14,000. Please note that the DONOR is responsible for filing a gift tax return, not the gift recipient.
Just because a gift tax return filing is required, it does not necessarily mean a gift tax is due. Most US citizens will never pay gift tax. Based on current law, in addition to the $14,000 annual exclusion, any amount in excess of $14,000 is offset by a lifetime exemption (also called the unified credit), which is $5.49 million per individual in 2017. If a gift tax return filing is required, the donor must file Form 709 by April 15, but will not likely pay any tax.
Gifting is a powerful way for some families to reduce the estate tax burden, but not so much for the families with moderate estates. Gifting without careful consideration could lead to disaster. For example, John Doe has farm land with a current fair market value of $500,000, he purchased it 30 years ago for $5,000.
If he gifts this land to his son Mike before his death and the land is later sold by Mike for $500,000, Mike has to pay capital gain tax on the $495,000 ($500,000 - $5,000) gain. The capital gain and net investment income tax liability could total as high as $117,810 ($495,000 X 23.8%).
Instead of gifting the land while living, John Doe provides in his will that Mike will inherit this land upon his death. Based on current law, the land will receive a step-up in basis. If the land is later sold for $500,000, no gain is recognized ($500,000 - $500,000), hence no tax to pay.
There are many other gifting strategies to consider. For example, families could consider gifting income-producing property to the family members in a low tax bracket. The laws and regulations covering estate and gift tax and planning are highly complicated and are subject to changes as a result of new regulations and law changes. We strongly encourage you to talk to a CPA with estate planning expertise before making significant gifts. As you can see from the example above, mistakes can be costly.
Question 9: What is the role of a trust in estate planning?
A trust is a fiduciary arrangement that allows a third party to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary, or beneficiaries. Trusts can help families reduce death taxes, but can have many other benefits besides saving taxes. There are many kinds of trusts, one of the most popular types is living trust. For example, John Doe has a moderate estate, he established a living trust so he can place his assets in the trust for the benefit of his children. During John Doe's life time, he can take out these assets for his own enjoyment, spend the assets as he chooses and he can change beneficiaries. He can remove undesired provisions or add new ones, he can appoint himself as trustee or appoint some other person or trust company to be the trustee, and he can even terminate the trust if it is no longer relevant. By setting up this trust, John Doe potentially accomplished the following estate planning benefits and goals.
By placing assets in the trust, John can avoid probate. This could be very important for many families because files from probate become public record.
It may be more difficult for a discontented beneficiary to challenge the provisions in a trust than the provisions in a will. Trust files are confidential.
By distributing the estate assets to an irrevocable trust for the benefit of a child, if done properly it is possible to shield estate assets from a child's creditors.
By limiting and timing the distributions of trust assets to children, the estate assets can be protected from spendthrifts. Establishing a trust is especially important if John Doe's child has a disability.
Generally speaking, a trust is not a relevant tool for the family with few assets. Families who don't own real estate property and whose net worth is less than $100,000 may not find a trust worthy.
If you are aware that you became the beneficiary of a trust, it is important you contact the trustee to find out if the trust will issue a Schedule K-1. Schedule K-1 reflects the income and deductions you will need to report on your individual income tax return (Form 1040). ,
Question 10: I was named the executor of an estate, now what?
From a tax compliance perspective, it is the executor's responsibility to file the tax return(s) for the deceased. IRS and state revenue authorities might charge significant penalties for late filing. Below is a list of the tax forms that might be required:
Tax Return
Due Date
Income Tax Return(s)
The final return is due April 15 of the year following death. Please note that you might be responsible for decedent's prior year tax return(s) if they have not been filed by the date of death.
Fiduciary Income Tax Return
15th day of the fourth month following the close of the tax year.
Estate Return
Nine months after the date of death.
Gift Tax Return
Earlier of April 15 of (a) the year following gift OR (b) Form 706 due date.
Various State Returns
Although not all of the abovementioned forms are applicable, we urge you to schedule a meeting with a CPA at the earliest convenience to determine the filing requirements and start collecting important information to ensure timely filing.
When a taxpayer passes away, a new taxpaying entity – the taxpayer's estate – is established. The estate should apply for its own employer identification number (EIN) for tax filing purposes. The estate executor should notify all payers of income about the death, this includes but not limited to: employers, Social Security Administration, financial institutions, life insurance or annuity companies and the pass-through entities (Partnerships or S Corporation) owned by the decedent.
We also encourage the executor to open an estate checking account as soon as possible to hold liquidated financial assets during the probate or administration process, and use this account to pay bills owned by the estate.
Besides issues related with tax compliance, many other details should be addressed without delay, these include but not limited to: projection of income tax, update the estate plan and restructure life insurance policies and investments. We encourage the executor to contact a CPA with estate planning expertise to alleviate their burdens and navigate their way through this process.
The ASK A CPA program offers general information for managing personal and business finances and does not recommend specific financial actions.
Be advised that tax laws can be very specific and varying facts can produce a different answer.
Any information contained in this resource is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for purposes of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed on any taxpayer For financial advice tailored to your situation, please contact an expert such as a CPA or a personal financial advisor.


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For the time being, "smart watches" aren't a smart bet. So far most companies are producing mobile phones that fit on your wrist, not truly thinking of what the utility of a wrist mounted computing device should be used for. Google's Android Wear watches seem to be the first coherent thought in this brave new world, but unfortunately it's focused on being a cool gadget for the tech-savvy first while putting the everyday people market second.
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This to me feels like the natural progression of smart watches. Be sure that they appeal to a market of people that still wear watches, a number which I'm sure is dwindling, and give them more functionality with less fuss. The less fuss? The battery in the watch will last a year, not the nightly charging that Google's watches require. I suppose time will tell how these devices evolve.


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