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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is planning to liberalise Indian agriculture by creating a new national market. Potentially, this reform can do for food and agriculture what PV Narasimha Rao did for business in 1991. Success will depend on how carefully the market's structure and purpose are defined.
The best way to understand contemporary agricultural markets is to imagine life in British India, when the nation was divided into principalities and kingdoms. For farm produce, by law, each state is a kingdom and each mandi is a principality.
"[T]hese mandis are the place where politics meets economics in the agrarian economy."
In most states, mandis are established and regulated under the State APMC (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee) Acts. The state's geographical area is divided into smaller market areas, where the markets are managed by Market Committees constituted by the state government. A system of licenses bars the entry of traders from other states and other mandis. There is no formal role for warehousing, grading and sorting, bank finance, and logistics. Since there is no mechanism for clearing and settlement of dues, no one does business with strangers. In short, these mandis are the place where politics meets economics in the agrarian economy.
The result is obvious - high food prices due to geographic and tax arbitrage, while the farmer receives less than 40% share in retail prices due to the inefficient supply chain. Both consumers and farmers suffer. Clearly, India's $156-billion farm sector deserves a better deal.
As in industry, the success of a modern market for agriculture will depend on three key elements. The first is prices as signals: the price mechanism is a better guide to resource allocation. The second element is freedom to experiment with different frameworks and models in a disciplined way so that the market can adapt to change. The third is no concentration of political and economic power so that people can focus on the creation of wealth, rather than grabbing the wealth of other people.
The proposed National Agriculture Market can deliver on all these. It has the potential to horizontally link every farmer to every buyer across time and space. And vertically link the smallest village haat to the largest derivatives exchange into one seamless whole, leaving no room for dark pools of political or business power.
So how will it work? In every mandi, farmers face perfect competition due to the presence of large number of rivals selling the same commodity. The same perfect competition can be extended to buyers and brokers by allowing them to trade freely in any state mandi on the back of a single license.
Since a person won't be physically present everywhere, this will mean shifting away from price discovery methods such as open outcry to online bids. It also means more standardization of the produce into quality grades so that there is no need for the buyer to actually see every heap. Since higher grades will fetch higher prices, farmers will have a natural incentive for grading. Online discovery of prices will make it easier to disseminate them nationally.
"Despite its enormous potential, success ultimately depends on how many state governments are persuaded to politically embrace the idea."
Farmers will have the freedom to better time their sales through the easy availability of warehousing space to store produce safely. While their crop is in storage, farmers will be able to get loans from banks and financial companies using negotiable warehouse receipts. Buyers and sellers will hedge their price risk on derivatives exchanges.
Local brokers and farmers will be able to strike a deal with unknown parties because the mandi will offer formal clearing and settlement services. Once ownership has been transferred, a buyer in, say Ludhiana, would have no problem moving goods lying in Gulbarga after paying local taxes. State governments will not be allowed to impose entry and exit barriers.
If the National Agriculture Market is not prescriptive, states will be free to experiment with different models - only APMCs, only private mandis, warehouse-based sales, or a mix of all these. Warehousemen, bankers, assayers and transporters will plug in to offer more value-added services.
Despite its enormous potential, success ultimately depends on how many state governments are persuaded to politically embrace the idea. Karnataka has taken the lead with its unified mandi platform. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Orissa may follow. States will need mutual recognition of laws and licenses. And more crucially, end their rent-seeking behavior. There also has to be an institution at the Centre that goes beyond providing IT support to enshrine the three elements of a successful market into the new structure.
The National Agriculture Market can be the reform that combines the scale of the GST law with the ease of doing business promised by the Digital India initiative to bring succor to 56 million farmers and 1.2 billion consumers. All it needs is another Sardar Patel to deliver "One India, one market".
Contact HuffPost India


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It had become one of the marquee matchups in the WVC. When Wyoming Area and GAR met, fans could expect a good game.
In 1978, GAR won 6-0. Then in 1979, Wyoming Area responded with a 17-6 win. In 1980, the Warriors held on for a 7-6 win.
When the teams met in Week 8 of 1981 the stage was set for another showdown.
The Warriors were riding a five-game winning streak, while GAR had won three in a row.
"We know these are big games with time running out," GAR coach Charlie Fick said. "Both teams need a victory here if we are to remain in contention for the overall crown."
Rain moved the game to Saturday, but it didn't slow down the Grenadiers.
Rich Macko had touchdown runs of 6 and 2 yards as GAR moved into second place with a 27-0 win over the Warriors.
Coughlin grabbed sole possession of first place in the WVC with its 35-0 win over Bishop Hoban.
Tailback Joe Parsnik had 203 yards on 27 carries. He had touchdown runs of 12, 37, 1 and 1 to pad his lead in the WVC scoring race.
After Week 8, Parsnik, who had 78 points, led Wyoming Area's Mike Colarusso (48), Nanticoke Area's Joe Baker (44), Dallas' Norm Bordley (44) and his teammate Joe Yastremski (44).
Pittston Area remained in the championship hunt with its 26-7 win over Dallas.
The Patriots used a flea-flicker, an onsides kick and a fake punt in the win.
Matt Lavigna ran for 124 yards and scored both touchdowns as Crestwood earned its first WVC win with a 14-6 victory over Hanover Area.
Linebacker Ned Plasson led the Comets' defense with two fumble recoveries and three sacks.

subset: commoncrawl


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Posts Tagged 'Department of Education'
Closing Every Tab Because My Computer Will Barely Work Right Now Links
Sorry I've been so quiet! Between summer teaching and wrapping up a few big projects it's been a very busy couple of weeks. Here's every tab I had open!
* CFP: Hamilton: A Special Issue of Studies in Musical Theatre.
* 2016 World Fantasy Award Finalists and Shirley Jackson Award Winners.
* Marquette one of five universities in nation selected for the 2016 Higher Education Civic Engagement Award.
* Graduate students in literary studies may often feel despair, even deadness and meanness, but an excess of cool seems like an especially implausible explanation. Far more damaging are bad mentoring, crippling overwork, social and geographic isolation, and the absence of opportunities to join the profession after spending a decade training. For too many graduate students, whether critical or postcritical, earning a PhD is the end — not the beginning — of a promising academic career. The skepticism that threatens graduate students and young faculty members results, therefore, not from the skepticism of academic theorists but from the skepticism of legislatures, administrators, donors, austerity-loving think tanks, and taxpayers. The Hangman of Critique.
* Jeff Vandermeer: Hauntings in the Anthropocene.
* The Legendary Ted Chiang on Seeing His Stories Adapted and the Ever-Expanding Popularity of SF.
* The Year's Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories Have Been Determined.
* The Best of Science Fiction (1946) and The Big Book of Science Fiction (2016).
* Cleveland Police Are Gearing Up for Mayhem at the GOP Convention. Case Western in the News: Changes to campus operations during RNC. What's a University For? Meet the Student Fighting Case Western U. for Shutting Down Campus to House 1,900 Police Officers.
* At least the convention went great.
* "Secretary Clinton Is A Different Person Than Donald Trump," Says Bernie Sanders in Ringing Endorsement. GOP Establishment Relieved After Conventionally Abhorrent Beliefs Make Way Onto Presidential Ticket.
* Clinton has 945 Ways to Win. Trump Has 72.
* A Brief History of Turkey and Military Coups. The view from inside the bunker. Turkey 'suspends 15,000 state education employees' after attempted coup, including 1,577 deans at all universities.
* US air strike in Syria kills nearly 60 civilians 'mistaken for Isil fighters.'
* Bleeding the poor with fees and fines, Virginia edition.
* The end of Roger Ailes. The Drudge Era.
* Now, Baton Rouge. A 538 Special on Gun Deaths in America. The Tamir Rice Story: How to Make a Police Shooting Disappear. "One group is responsible for America's culture of violence, and it isn't cops, black Americans, Muslims or rednecks." No lives matter. And from the archives: A Manifesto from People Reluctant to Kill for an Abstraction.
* Donald Trump's Deals Rely on Being Creative with the Truth. Donald Trump Heads Into The Convention With Barely Any Campaign At All: Many of the numbers listed for his state offices don't even work. Did you ever have to make up your mind? Donald Trump's Announcement of Mike Pence in 18 Tweets. "Trump's campaign logo mocked on Twitter." He's Really Pretty Bad at This. Being Honest about Trump. Jeb! We Play the Trump Board Game So You Don't Have To. Republicans Keeping Their Dignity. Teach the controversy: Is Trump Working for Russia? Understanding Trump Supporters: The Machine of Morbius. Back to the Future in Cleveland. The Last GOP President?
* Won't it be great when Donald Trump becomes president because you wrote a fucking BuzzFeed article daring him to run? Confessions of Donald Trump's Ghostwriter.
* Donald Trump Said Hillary Clinton Would 'Make a Good President' in 2008. Donald Trump should talk about Hillary Clinton's email all the time. Here's why. Pollster Frank Luntz: GOP has 'lost' the millennial generation.
* There are about 20 households where she now lives. Like Susie, most of the residents in Snowflake have what they call "environmental illness", a controversial diagnosis that attributes otherwise unexplained symptoms to pollution.
* Newborn Ducklings Judge Shape and Color.
* Small Arms, Long Reach: America's Rifle Abroad.
* Education Department's proposed rule for student debt forgiveness could threaten traditional colleges as well as for-profits, particularly over its broad view of what counts as misrepresentation. College and the Class Divide. Wicked Liberalism.
* As a result, in one of the richest countries that has ever existed, about 15 percent of the population faces down bare cupboards and empty refrigerators on a routine basis.
*Dying in America, Without Insurance.
* When Not to Get Married: Some 19th Century Advice.
* The Ontology of Calvin and Hobbes.
* The Fight Between Berkeley's Academics And Its Football Team Is Getting Ugly.
* A Modest Proposal: Eliminate Email.
* Black Dishwasher at Yale University Loses Job After Shattering "Racist, Very Degrading" Stained-Glass Panel. Yale Rehires. Broken window theory: Corey Menafee and the history of university service labor.
* Ghostbusters (2016) and The Fan. Fake Controversy, Terrible Comedy. Ghostbusters' nostalgia problem. And from the archives!
Ghostbusters more than any other film highlights the growing devaluation of public-sector jobs at the hands of privatized for-profit entities operating for mercenary reasons. The protagonists of this movie spend their time removing unwanted, unpaying residents from spaces they occupied their whole lives (and longer) and placing them into a form of prison at the behest of the current owners who can get more rent from more affluent persons and don't like the neighborhood being 'brought down' by those now-undesirable who lived there first. Not only that, but budget cuts have forced the New York Public Library to retain the dead as current employees, cutting into what should have been their final retirement, and the entire crux of the film comes from belittling and mocking elected officials' uselessness in the face of corporations who can solve the city's problems for cash and without all the useless regulation tying up the mayor, firefighters and police. Ghostbusters is essentially Blackwater for the dead, cleaning up the town of its unwanted past, making life safe for the corporate oligarchies.
* A Zero Star Review of The Secret Life of Pets.
* 'Pokémon Go' and the Persistent Myth of Stranger Danger. If Pokémon Go could resemble the best of childhood, it might have some value. What it actually does is very different.
* Did Wes Anderson Design North Korea?
* How Sexual Harassment Halts Science.
* Why rich parents are terrified their kids will fall into the "middle class."
* Prepare to cry: Appleton teen makes heartbreaking decision to die.
* To recap, the idea behind the Reverse Turing Test is that instead of thinking about the ways in which machines can be human-like we should also think about the ways in which humans can be machine-like.
* "He noted that further research is needed": Women Wearing Low-Cut Tops In Application Photos Are 19 Times More Likely to Land a Job Interview.
* Penn State Football really should have gotten the NCAA death penalty.
* Am I a man, dreaming he is a Pokémon, or am I a Pokémon dreaming he is a man? Here's All the Data Pokémon (Was) Leeching From Your Phone. Resist Pokémon Go. And as Adorno said: To catch Pokémon after Auschwitz is barbaric.
* OK, just take my money: Nintendo's next assault on nostalgia is a mini-NES with 30 built-in games.
* Canon Police: Sulu's Sexuality. But, you know, let's not lose our heads. J.J. Abrams Won't Re-Cast Anton Yelchin's Role in 'Star Trek' Movies. For Some Baffling Reason, This Star Trek Beyond TV Spot Spoils the Big Twist. But the next one will be good, we swear.
* That piece I'm writing on Star Wars and canonicity will just never, ever be finished: Grand Admiral Thrawn Joins Rebels and the New Star Wars Canon.
* The headline reads, "Gonorrhea may soon be unbeatable."
* Cancer, or, death by immortality.
* Hacking the brain in Silicon Valley.
* This blind Apple engineer is transforming the tech world at only 22.
* Comic Books Are More Popular Now Than They've Been in 20 Years.
* Presenting the Apollo 11 Code.
* 67 Years of LEGO — by the numbers.
* Darwin's Kids Doodled All Over His "Origin of Species" Manuscript.
* Neanderthals Ate Each Other and Used Their Bones as Tools.
* The Films Rian Johnson had the Episode 8 Cast Watch.
* This sizzle reel from Rogue One is the best.
* Treaty loophole might let someone claim ownership of the Moon.
* Should You Quit Your Job To Go Make Video Games?
* A civil servant missing most of his brain challenges our most basic theories of consciousness.
* And Mightygodking pitches the dark, gritty Sesame Street reinterpretation you didn't know you needed.
Thursday Links, Just for You
* 8 Characters I Created To Teach My Kid About Dental Hygiene That Have Unfortunately Come To Life.
* There's organized crime, and then there's organized crime.
Now, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol has a device that also allows them to seize money in your bank account or on prepaid cards.
It's called an ERAD, or Electronic Recovery and Access to Data machine, and state police began using 16 of them last month.
Here's how it works. If a trooper suspects you may have money tied to some type of crime, the highway patrol can scan any cards you have and seize the money.
This is literally highway robbery.
* In Rochester, a paid informant went undercover and drove a man suspected of being an Islamic extremist, Emanuel Lutchman, to a Walmart in December to buy a machete, ski masks, zip ties and other supplies for a would-be terrorist attack on New Year's Eve. Because Mr. Lutchman, a mentally ill panhandler, had no money, the informant covered the $40 cost.
* Even The National Review thinks Cuomo's anti-BDS executive order is trouble.
* Having a child is like rereading your own childhood.
* On Eve of Graduation, University of Chicago Student President Faces Expulsion.
* Inside the growing movement against campus militarization.
* Five eye-opening figures from the U.S. Education Department's latest civil rights data dump.
1. In the 2013-2014 school year, 6.5 million children were chronically absent from school, missing 15 or more days of school.
2. 850,000 high school students didn't have access to a school counselor.
3. 1.6 million students went to a school that employed a sworn law-enforcement officer, but no counselor.
4. Nearly 800,000 students were enrolled in schools where more than 20 percent of teachers hadn't met state licensure requirements.
5. Racial disparities in suspensions reach all the way down into preschool: Black children represent 19 percent of all preschoolers, and 47 percent of all those who were suspended.
* Everyone has celebrated how Beyoncé's celebrity power has elevated Warsan Shire's work to global attention. But African literature should not only attain universal value when endorsed by the west, argues Ainehi Edoro.
* Dry Taps and Lagoons of Sewage: What America's Water Crisis Looks Like.
* OrderOfBooks.com: Complete List of All Book Series in Order.
* Talk grows of replacing Trump at GOP convention. Talk of a convention coup rattles Republican politics. Walker Agonistes. Advisors Fear Trump Will Suddenly Announce VP Pick on Twitter. Google GOP Dot Com Truth. Trump is really bad at this. Calm Down, Trump Won't Be President. Trump and Weimar America. "For what it's worth, however, I would suggest that the least bad option is for all career lawyers in the Justice Department—and career officials in other agencies—to stay put and serve in a Trump administration."
* The Anointed One, or the Comeback Kid? It's time to admit Hillary Clinton is an extraordinarily talented politician. Here Comes Hillary the Hawk.
* The 11 states that will determine the 2016 election.
* The general problem is that the modern liberal nation-state and its characteristic institutions are simply no longer capable of delivering on their baseline promises and possibilities to any national population anywhere. Even in nations that appear by most measures to be successful, the state withers due its lack of vision. Liberalism cannot handle the extension of its rights to all who are entitled, and its major alleged champions increasingly endorse depraved forms of military and economic illiberalism in the name of its defense. The brief moment of reform in which capital seemed to be harnessed to social democracy is very nearly over, and the difference between illicit and licit economies now seems paper-thin at best. Very little policy gets made because it's the right thing to do; most policy is about transfer-seeking. Every dollar is spoken for. Every play is a scrum in the middle that moves the ball inches, never yards. Political elites around the world either speak in laughably dishonest ways about hope and aspiration or stick to grey, cramped horizons of plausibly incremental managerialism. Young people all around the world recognize that there is little hope of living in a better or more comfortable or more just world than their parents did, and their grandparents must often live every day with the possibility of losing whatever they've gained, that they are one lost job or sickness away from falling without a safety net. In the United States, what this all means in a more immediate sense is that Donald J. Trump is only the beginning.
* Welcome to the Party, America! 11 Muslim women who have been PM or President.
* Here are the proposed names for the 4 newest elements on the periodic table.
There are some constraints to naming, however. The IUPAC rules stipulate new elements must be named after either
* "A mythological concept or character (including an astronomical object)"
* "A mineral, or similar substance"
* "A place or geographical region"
* "A property of the element"
* "A scientist"
* Scientists Avoid Studying Women's Bodies Because They Get Periods.
* What everyone earns working on a $200m blockbuster.
* A new study produced by Cambridge University statistician David Spiegelhalter suggests the cause of declining sex trends over the past 30 years is Netflix.
* What Happened to 'The Most Liberated Woman in America'?
* Being Dinosaur Comics's Ryan North.
* Snow Crash and Infinite Jest Both Predicted Our Cyberpunk Present.
* Fighting salary compression at the University of Washington. This is such a tough problem everywhere; the situation sounds much worse on every level at Marquette, for instance, than even what the article describes at Washington.
* For more than 20 years, actors and crew members stayed silent about mistreatment they suffered at the acclaimed Profiles Theatre. Now they're speaking up, hoping to protect workers in non-Equity theaters across the country.
* Do Deaf Babies Need to be 'Fixed'? I've found this debate utterly fascinating for years. I have no idea how to solve it.
* From Cleveland: Testing of backlogged rape kits yields new insights into rapists and major implications for how sexual assaults should be investigated.
* Behind Peter Thiel's Plan to Destroy Gawker.
* Of course you had me at "Biologists Have Learned Something Horrifying About Prairie Dogs."
* And this could be the biggest case of treason involving cheese — ever.
Friday Friday!
* Killing tenure is academia's point of no return. Wisconsin's Fight Over Faculty Rights: What's at Stake, and What's Next. What's Gone Wrong in Wisconsin? Prof says Regents failure to protect tenure is the beginning of the end of UW. Why Wisconsin Matters to You.
* One College's Method to Prove Its Value: Scanning Students' Brains. Sure, that'll solve it!
* A University Banks on Ph.D. Stipends to Better Compete With Its Peers. Seems wise!
* Secret Aerial FBI Program Uncovered By 23-Year-Old Journalist.
* What Happens When The First Texas Town To Run Out Of Water Gets Record Rainfall.
* Before Lego Ripped Off Minecraft, Minecraft Ripped Off Lego.
* How did "rabbit hole," which started its figurative life as a conduit to a fantastical land, evolve into a metaphor for extreme distraction?
* When Rebecca Schuman interviewed Arne Duncan about for-profit colleges.
* Fermat's Last Theorem watch: How Math's Most Famous Proof Nearly Broke.
* And our debate yesterday was a blast. Thanks to FutureTense for the invitation! Next resolution: does it still count as winning if you sway more voters to your side, but still don't clear 50%. I'll take the aff…


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Freddie Lee has come to Excelr8 after a fantastic season in which he won the 2016 Pickup Truck Racing championship, which is the only UK championship that races on both UK circuits and NASCAR style on the full Rockingham Oval.
Freddie was the youngest driver to have ever entered and won the championship, but more importantly, Freddie set his own personal goal of winning a senior championship before the age of 20 and has acheived this with a year in hand.
2017 will see Freddie move to the JCW MINI CHALLENGE, supported by BMW, and racing as part of the British GT package.
Freddie has eleven years of racing experience under his belt including:
2006 Age 8 – Honda cadet.
Results: Race wins – various.
2007 Age 9 – Honda cadet.
Results: London Champion, British champions race wins. Seeded driver, Zip
Young gun.
2008 Age 10 – Comer Cadet Junior British Championship.
Results: Zip Young gun, British championship race wins.
2009 Age 11 – TKM Junior Karting.
Results: 2nd place. Youngest ever festival podium finish.Various race wins.
2010 Age 12 – Junior Mini-Stox, Short oval.
Results: 1st Place win.
2011 Age 13 – Junior Mini-Stox.
Results: National points champion and Essex champion.
Records: Mini-Stox lap record. Most ever wins recorded in a season.
2012 Age 14 – Junior Fiesta championship, Junior Ginetta Championship.
Results: Fiesta first championship race winner.
2013 Age 15 – (due to Age) Two rounds of Pick-up Truck Pro2 championship.
Results: 1 x Pro2 Win. 1 x 3rd Pro2. 1 x 5th position Overall championship.
2014 Age 16 – Pick-up Truck Pro2 championship.
Results: Pro2 Champion, 9th position in overall championship.
2015 Age17– Pick-up Truck Pro1 championship.
Results: 5th in championship, Rockingham SuperPole Champion.
Autosport Fastest Laps of 2015: 2nd place (only beaten by Lewis Hamilton).
2016 Age 18 – Pick-up Truck Racing Championship.
Results: Overall Chamionship Winner.
Records: Youngest ever winner. Only Driver to win both Pro 1 and 2 classes.


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Cute 4-2-1 in Fort Worth!
Top 8 Fort Worth Property Managers
We're excited to be listed as one of the top 8 Fort Worth Property Managers!
Podcast #4
Angela & Erin talk about what they suggest tenants and property owners do to prepare for cold weather. Exciting stuff. Merry Christmas!
Automating Property Management, Podcast 3
Online Scams and Property Management – How to Detect and Avoid Them
Phishing scams in the rental industry are fairly common, and if you're not familiar with them, we want to tell you how they work and what you can do to avoid them.
How the Scams Work
Criminals scour the Internet and find legitimate ads for attractive rental homes, usually in popular neighborhoods. They copy all the information about that property, including pictures, and create a fake ad on a different website. They list their own contact information as the owner or property manager. Then, unsuspecting renters looking for a property find this great ad and contact the criminal. They end up handing over money by wire transfer or money order, and come move-in day, the criminal is long gone. That leaves the renter holding the bag, without access to the property or gaining access to a property that they aren't legally entitled to enter.
Using Rental Websites
Phishing scams are as old as the rental industry itself. At Moxie Property Management here in Fort Worth, we avoid advertising on particular websites that we believe have a higher number of phishing scams than other sites. But criminals are really smart and each week with this hot rental market, new sites and apps are popping up. Criminals are using these newer and lesser-known sites to post ads and perpetuate the scam.
How to Avoid the Scams
As a renter, you're searching particular neighborhoods for particular types of homes. You can realize quickly what the price points are for these properties. So if you're looking for a three-bedroom with two bathrooms and a two-car garage in your favorite neighborhood and everything is leasing for $1,500, and suddenly you come upon a home in that neighborhood of the same size that's $900 a month, then you know it's too good to be true. Search that address via Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Look for other rental websites that list the same property. You may notice that there are price discrepancies and that other sites list the contact information of a property manager except for the one where you saw it listed for the lower price. The best thing you can do is to report that fake ad to the website. That will have a quick and more impactful effect on the criminal.
If you come across an ad you think is fake, don't send money. Criminals are great at telling you what you want to hear. If you ask them why the list price on the property is lower than the neighborhood average, they will tell you that they own the property outright so they don't have to cover a mortgage. If you ask why you are required to wire money to someone else, they will tell you it's a spouse or a relative or a CPA. Stay level-headed and don't fall into traps or desperate situations when you need to move quickly. Trust your gut and remember that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Trusting that instinct will keep you out of the criminal's trap and it keeps your money in your pocket where it belongs.
If you have any questions about how to avoid scams like this, please contact us at Moxie Property Management.
Podcast #2
Here is our 2nd podcast. We recap the 2016 TAR Conference. Enjoy!
Best Tips for Tenants Looking to Move to a New Rental Property in Fort Worth, TX
As a tenant, there are several things you need to do before you start looking for a new rental property. When you want to move to a new place, make sure you pay attention to the timing and the requirements of your current lease.
Give Your Landlord Appropriate Notice
The first thing you need to do is (more…)
The Turnkey Myth Every Property Investor Must Know – Fort Worth Property Management
Our topic today is the myth of the turnkey property, and how it can affect your Fort Worth investment property. I hear this phrase constantly, especially from new investors. They will call and tell me that they are closing on their first investment property, and often they'll tell me that it's turnkey. So, they want to know how quickly they can get a renter in there. (more…)


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Not too hard to figure out what to do.. I'm fuckn capped atm which is GAY.
Not too hard to figure out what to do.. I'm fuckn capped atm which is GAY.
Changed the topic a little..
Whoa.. What..
That's from the last thread. It varies, really. it's 2:24 here right now and it's about 9.3, but at night it can go as high as like 16. My upload is generally always horrible though.
[center:13w2rfcr]My Thread (updated 26/1/11!)[/center:13w2rfcr][center:13w2rfcr][/center:13w2rfcr] [center:13w2rfcr]Skype: lucienpicto[/center:13w2rfcr][center:13w2rfcr]Steam: _picto[/center:13w2rfcr]
Originally Posted by StargateSG
Yeah, my download speed is around 20-60kb/s at best. My upload speeds horrific too.Originally Posted by PH03N1X
Unfortunately due to where I live I'm about 100 metres from any telephone exchange and SkyDSL doesn't work due to trees, so it's this or dialup until we move.


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Tan Silver Creek First,
NS-114 Tan Silver Creek is a yellowish cream colour. It can yield rich purplish blue and creamy tan tones. When kept in a more oxidizing environment, you will get more of the blues and purples. If reduced, a silvery haze will appear on the surface. NS-114 Tan Silver Creek is easy to work and can take a lot of heat which makes it a forgiving striking colour. It can be stretched out and is good for blown work and sculpture. If you are looking for something even more intense, try NS-44 Caramel or NS-102 Silver Bullet.
Don't forget our 2019 Flame Off classes with Dory, Jari, Caroline, James, Jennie and Caroline have just been launched , dont miss out.


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PRO DJs offer a personal and professional DJ service for your wedding.
We will provide you with
- Experienced DJs with professional sound and lighting systems
- DJs with extensive music libraries, who will be happy to play your requests
- Free consultation to discuss your musical requirements
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- A DJ for the full night, or after a band. (When playing after a band, we normally set up with the band, and are ready to start as soon as they finish.)
- You can also avail of our comprehensive all day service, to include background music of your choice throughout the meal, with a radio-microphone available for after dinner speeches.
- We now offer a range of services to enhance your wedding venue, including Uplighting, Monogram Name Projection, Fairylight Backdrops & Our Amazing Fairylight dancefloor. We would be delighted to combine our services and create a package to suit your needs and budget. Please visit our sister website www.uplighters.ie for more information.
PRO DJs are based in Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford, and offer a countrywide service. There is no travel surcharge for functions in Leinster. For all other areas, a modest, mileage based surcharge will apply.
For current rates, please contact us via the enquiry form or ring us on 087-674-5056 anytime.
If you have any questions or comments about PRO DJs, please E-mail us by using the Enquiry Form, or contact us on info@prodjs.
Please click here for the answers to our most frequently asked questions!
PRO DJS are recommended by the following Venues:
Summerhill House Hotel
Castle Durrow
The Grand Hotel Malahide
The Knightsbrook Hotel
The K Club
Bellinter House
Dunboyne Castle
Fitzpatricks Castle
Step House
Avon Ri
Mount Wolseley
Boyne Hill House Hotel
Seafield Golf And Spa Hotel
Rosedale House


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Here's Plexiword Brain Thinking Game APK Android Game Download. From the creators of Pictoword comes Plexiword – an addicting new series of word & picture guessing games where you guess words and phrases from clever pictograms. It's free puzzle games for kids and adults alike to enhance brain training & spelling skills with fun word-based brain teasers!
For example, you'll see the letters T O U C H written vertically. Read the word from top to bottom to solve for TOUCHDOWN! When stumped, try brainstorming by looking at color, the position of the word, saying the word out loud or asking a friend!
With offline mode, enjoy brain training and spelling games everywhere you go, with thinking games for boys, girls and adults of any age. Free puzzle games can be played with friends online, or you can have fun offline! Guess the word, earn coins & train your brain wherever you are.
Plexiword Brain Thinking Game APK. LATEST/UPDATED VERSION:
- New features and bug fixes!
Plexiword Brain Thinking Game ANDROID FEATURES:
- Classic Word Games for Girls and Boys
Word games that feature challenging brain teasers to help players test their wordplay skills.
Word guessing games include a variety of elements for each puzzle, including color, word positions, pictogram images and more!
Over 300-word game puzzles and brain teasers to test your creative thinking and spelling skills.
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Current Operations
Resort Operations
Today, RWGroup manages four resorts: The world class Ridge Tahoe Resort, as well as the Ridge View, Ridge Crest and Ridge Pointe resorts.
Restaurant Operations
The Hungry Bear Restaurant and the Ridge Clubhouse Bistro are operated by Resorts West. These operations include banquets and special events, weddings and receptions, and quality dinner and deli services.
Retail Store
The Marketplace is our retail resort store offering a wide selection of clothing, gifts, food and beverage items, as well as VCR and DVD rentals. The Shopper Service is available for all arriving guests allowing them to select items to be pre-stocked in their units prior to arrival.
Health Spa and Activities
Our spa and fitness operations include classes and instruction in yoga, aerobics, tai chi, tennis, racquet ball, and walleyball as well as a full menu of massage and facial treatments. Activities include hikes, snow shoe treks, rock climbing, use and instruction on our free weights and cardiovascular equipment and a full range of children's activities as part of our Kid's Club program.
Homeowner Association Management
The company manages the day-to-day affairs of four homeowner associations comprising more than 19,000 owner/members.
Dues billings and collections of over $13,000,000 annually
Resort Vacation Rentals
The company operates vacation rental programs at all of its managed resorts. Rental marketing and sales efforts included a full time staff representing the resort owners in the travel industry with direct sales efforts, internet programs, print media, industry publications, cooperative advertising efforts, wholesale and airline packages, as well as direct consumer programs.
Resort Sales
Through Resort Realty the group provides resale services for each resort owners association and individual owners at company managed properties. Financing is also provided for new buyers.
Loan Servicing
The company manages loan portfolios for two development entities including all collections efforts through the foreclosure process if required.


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The Collapse
July 14, 2006
I almost died. Pulmonary Embolism. Blood clots n the lungs. A week in the hospital.That was rough. I collapsed at home around 10pm on June 29th. I was rushed to the hospital by my housmates who found me unconscious on the floor. I was released on the 4th of July, diagnosed with a medical condition that will keep me on medication and weekly doctor visits for the rest of my life.
When I collapsed I was rushing to meet a June 30th deadline. The project was called (and I hadn't even recognized the fucked up strangeness of this till now) The Collapse. The job was for 36 illustrations to be completed by June 30th. This was a studio job through Empty Room Studio. Jer Mohler from ERS had done the cover for this project and he gave me the job after I assured him I could complete it on time. I started work on the first of June. What kills me about this is I would have hit the deadline if not for my collapse. As it stands my medical problems have kept me from working much since I was released from the hospital. I'm recovering, and I hope to be up to speed soon, but it's been a frustrating few weeks. Below is one of the 36 illustrations from Collapse. I'm currently inking the last 2 and plan to turn the project in on Sunday. Only 17 days late.
My medical problems put delayed more then just one project. Here's the full list:
The CrossRoads of Eternity Omnibus #2 was supposed to be released in April. I wrote about half the issue and had already completed the cover by that point. April slipped by and so did May, with me only completing half a dozen illustrations. While I still hope to complete about 4 more illustrations for this project, CrossRoads headman Travis Brown has stepped up to take on the other half of the art. So hopefully Omnibus #2 will go to press by the end of July. Cross your fingers. below is one of the werewolf illustrations I did for the issue.
Cycle: Avalanche: Otherwise known as the French Job Part 2. I started this project back in May (just like I said I would) but I just know I'm going to blow the end of July deadline. luckily Sebastien has been incredibly understanding and given me an extension. I don't currently have any of the new stuff scanned, but when I do I'll post it here.
Verge: Adam Dray hired me to do the cover for his new Cyberpunk RPG Verge. he payed me back in March and then I completely forgot about him for over a month. But once I got to work on Adams concept the cover really came together. You can see the cover and learn more about the process that went into designing it and the game itself here http://adamdray.livejournal.com/tag/verge.
Monster Fight: Nate Peterson has hired me to do the art for his Pokemonish monster battle game (I've forgotten what it's called). My hatred for Pokemon is very near and dear to me, so I'm very excited about this game. Plan on starting work on this as soon as I wrap The Collapse. This also ties in well with my Pokemonish comic Perfect Drug. I recently finished drawing the first issue of Perfect Drug. I had planned to publish the comic online but I recently received an offer from a small publisher who wants to publish the series. We'll see what happens. the picture below is from Perfect Drug and not Nates game. I'll put art from that up as soon as I have it.
Space Dwarves: I'm doing some Space dwarves for Mike over at Rebel Minis.I've worked with Mike on on Six-Gun Assassins and Modern Havoc and I feel we have a good track record together. When he said Space Dwarves I almost said no thanks. But the chance to design miniatures was too good to pass up, and the chance to actually do something cool with space dwarves was even better. This is another project I'll be moving onto as soon as The Collapse wraps up.
Panty Explosion: Panty Explosion is done. I finished the layout this last night and I'm sending it off to the printer later today. The book clocks in at 96 pages. I'm pretty happy with it. Special thanks to all the people that downloaded the test rules and sent feedback. I think you'll really like the final version. The Panty Eplosion website (www.atarashi.com) will do live late this month. You'll be able to buy a hardcopy of Panty Explosion off our site by mid August and it should show up in stores in by October. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime you can check out the cover art below. This is a style I've used before, but this was the first time I've ever tried applying color to it. i'm pretty happy with it. I'll be posting about the process I used later.
Fall of Pilaeus: My Baeg Tobar webcomic has gotten off to a rocky start. I'm only 5 pages in and already hopelessly behind schedule. Jer Mohler offered me an out but I plan to stick with it and try to catch up. Luckily the site relaunch has been delayed, giving me a bit of time.
Thats it for now. i'll post again soon with more art and more stories about how some clients took advantage of my illness to screw me over and how much it sucks to be freelancer and not have medical insurance. I also want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to email me and inquire about my health. I appreciate it.
May 22, 2006
A year ago I was still working a real job. At a motel here in Portland called the Cabana. The Cabana is a horrible place. While working there I was bitten, kicked, stabbed, punched, spit on and threatened at knife point. Shortly before I stopped working there Sony announced the Playstation 3. Both my friend Matt Schlotte and I were pretty exciteda bout this (both being avid PS2 owners) and we both immediatly decided we wanted one. Even though the release was still some way off (and actually still is some way off even now) we both came to the conclusion that putting aside money for the new system would be pointless. I'm not a saver. What we needed was a sure fire way to generate a lot of money fairly fast. Our solution? cash in on the lucrative indy game craze.
I had just released the CrossRoads of Eternity RPG with Travis Brown so I felt like I kind of knew what went into making a new game. The problem is we did'nt know what game to make. The classic advice is to just make the game you want to play. We went the other way. We spent a few days brainstorming over what kind of game we thought would sell (during this time Matt would call me at the motel and we would engage in the 2-3 hour phone calls that eventually cost me my job. No great loss). We settled on psychic Japanese schoolgirls as the focus of our game, figuring that even if the subject didn't appeal to everyoneit was still a pretty safe bet. Shortly after that I lost my job and started working freelance full time. Panty Explosion kinda stagnated for awhile.
We got back to work in September with a goal of finishing the game before the new year. But that date came and passed. I hoped we could wrap it up so I could take copies with me to the GAmA Trade show in March of this year, but we missed that deadline as well. But slowly the game ground itself out, and finally after 9 months of… development…. we have a working draft of the game! This is exciting!
So what is it? Panty Explosion is an adventure roleplaying game where you and a few friends assume the roles of a group of Japanese highschool girls, one or more of whom are psychic. The game features simple and easy to learn mechanics that encourage participation from every player and encourage creativity and player interaction.
If you'd like to take a look at Panty Explosion or even try playing a game you can download the PDF here:Panty Explosion V1
Matt and I are working hard to have the finished version of Panty Explosion available this July. Any comments or feedbackyou could give us would be greatly appreciated.
I'm planning 20 illustrations for Panty Explosion, including the front and rear cover. You can see 2 of the first few here.This is a style I don't get to use very often, and honestly it's kind of a pain in the ass to do. But I think it looks good, and I think it will give the game a unique look. This will be the first book I've designed from the ground up so I'm pretty excited about it.
At some point Panty Explosion will have it's own dedicated site, but in the meantime I'll post information about the games development here.
Anyway, I really hope you take a look. It's a fun game and I think you'll like it.
Girl Manga
April 28, 2006
Tony Irwin needed a cover for his new game Shoujo Story.
I don't actually know Tony, but the weird thing is I thought I did. About a year ago I sent Tony an email about something or other thinking he was someone else. We've shared a few emails since then. I see Tony as a potential ally, since both his game Shoujo Story and my game Panty Explosion both have their roots in Japanese manga and animation. I figured if I kept tabs on Tony that when it came time to release Panty Explosion (I know I haven't actually talked about PE here yet, but I will soon) that Tony would be a good person to know.
So anyway, a few weeks ago Tony started a topic on The Forge asking for feedback and suggestions concerning the cover he had made for his game. you can see the topic here http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=19455.msg204332. Tonys not an artist, but he had decided that he wanted to do all the art for his game himself. This is, to me, pretty admirable and says a lot about the kind of guy Tony is. He got a lot of flak (and a fair amount of constructive criticism) from the guys on The Forge over his cover (which you can see by going to the above link). I felt kinda bad, because I did (and do) admire Tony for doing all the art on his project himself, and while his cover kinda sucked (I'm sorry Tony) it was still better then several I'd seen. And as Tony himself said "For my little hobby game I think what I've done is adequate."
I decided to offer Tony my services. i sent him an email reintroducing myself and offering to do the cover for free or cheap. Tony's response was quick and sensible: "I should have emphasised in my thread I'm not looking at this as a commercial endeavour, more a hobbyist thing, but I do want to make a print version available through Lulu. Part of the fun of this has been learning how to draw in order to illustrate my own game". So how could I argue with that, right? I wouldn't want someone else horning in on my game either.
A few days later I decided to bug Tony again. I restated my offer and made the argument that it would be a shame if anyone passed up his game because they didn't like the cover. Yes, it was a completely ass-hole thing to say. I said it anyway. At this point I had kind of sold myself on the idea of doing the cover, and I was disappointed when Tony turned me down. i figured I'd take one more shot at it, even if it meant being a complete ass. Tony didn't respond, and I figured that was that.
A few days ago I got another email from Tony. He had changed his mind. Didn't say why, and I didn't ask. He gave me the job description and asked how much I would charge. That was nice. I had made the offer to do the job for free and Tony could have easily taken me up on that but being the kind of guy he is Tony insisted on paying for my services. I really appreciate that, and I think that also really says a lot about the kind of guy Tony is.
I had Tony's description, and I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do, but I figured I should spend a day doing research. Shoujo Manga are Japanese comics for girls. That's probably an over-simplification, but there you go. Anyway, I luckily had a nice thick 800+ page volume of Shoujo Manga that my Japanese instructor had loaned me (and I had never returned). I also pulled out my Clamp books and my housemate Barry's Ranma and Sailor Moon books and spent the afternoon making notes and sketches. I had figured I'd use a style similar to the one I use on my Pokemon parody comic Perfect Drug (yeah, that's something else I'll talk about later) but a quick look thru the available material made it obvious that the Perfect Drug style was not a good fit. I settled on a mix between a few different artists and went to work sketching.
Now the only change (so far) that Tony requested was the rear girls hand. In the sketch and finished version you'll notice she has a closed fist, while in the inked version she's making a peace or victory or whatever sign. I thought that would be more playful and cute, but Tony asked me to change it back and I think he was absolutely right. The raised fist gives the 3rd girl a lot more energy.
Anyway, the illustrations you see here represent the process of creating the cover. I ended up with 4 different versions of the finished cover, with white, green, pink and blue backgrounds. It'll be up to Tony to choose, but I think I prefer the pink.
The neat thing about doing a project like this, and the reason I wanted to do it in the first place is the chance to draw something I never get to draw. After a year of dragons and zombies and cowboys and fantasy warrior shit doing a trio of Shoujo school girls is like a vacation.
And the other half of that is getting to work with someone who you respect. Tony has a great game here, and I think it's going to do real well. And I'm really glad I could be a part of that.
Avalanche Complete!
April 27, 2006
So I finished my commitment to the first part of the Avalanche project (what I was referring to as the French Job) back on the 15th or so. That was nice to get out from under. Got paid on time and everything, so good for me and good for Sebastien.
A few days later Sebastien sends me the PDF of Avalanche. Looks pretty damn good, I think. Of course this isn't a finished version. He's made several changes to the PDF recently. But this is close to what it will look like when it's done. You can check it out here http://www.cycles-rpg.com/teaser/AvalancheTeaser_S1F3.pdf.
It's stupid and unrealistic to expect every job you take to be worthwhile, or to expect to learn something valuable from every one of those jobs. But when I do a job that turns out to be difficult (for whatever reason) I like to try to figure out what went wrong and (if I can) learn from it. Avalanche is the first really big (as in number of illustrations) paid job that I've done, and the biggest problem I faced in it's three and a half months of work was… not actually being able to work. Two separate bouts of illness (a bad cold and my previously documented pneumonia), a trip to Vegas for the GAMA Trade Show, a few other jobs I tried to get out of the way and various other distractions that seemed important at the time but escape my memory in the present.
The truth of the situation is that I should have started this job much sooner, and I should have continued to work on it consistently. I didn't get a rel start on Avalanche till mid Feb, and when the April 1st deadline rolled around I still had a fair amount of the coloring and grey scale work to do. So lesson learned. Going into the second part of this project (which I've already started) I've decided to do 4 illustrations a week (about 2 days worth of drawing), letting me complete the job by the end of June.
That's the plan.
If you're interested you can also check out Sebastien's ongoing attempt to try to explain the idea behind Avalanche on The Forge. For those of you that don't know The Forge is a site dedicated to discussing (and often tearing apart) small games and game ideas. You can find Sebastien's most recent topic here http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=19572.0, which includes links to his older Avalanche topics. It's interesting reading.
Full Cycle
April 12, 2006
Sebastien emailed me this morning. Up until then I had wondered if anybody read this stuff. Turns out Sebastien does, and that's important, because he's the man behind what I've been referring to as the "French Job".
So Sebastien found his way here, and was good enough to drop me an email and tell me the name of the project. Which is good because, as I said earlier, I had forgotten and was way to embarrassed to ask. That's one of the weird things (for me) about working freelance. I tend to associate a project with the name of the person who I have direct contact with. When I was working on "6 Gun Assassins" for Rebel Miniatures a few months ago the job very quickly became "Cowboys for Mike", Michael being my contact on the job. In this case the project became "The French Job", and I promptly pushed all the other information about it out of my head. I think what I have is a tendency to over simplify the aspects of my work that don't directly connect to the creative process.
So what's the project called? Well, the whole thing bears the name "Cycle". The part I'm working on is "Avalanche". So in my head it's now become "Cycle:Avalanche", which I think sounds pretty cool.
Anyway, the illustration above is one of the early ones I completed for the project. I'm close (so close) to being done with this initial story, and the idea is that I'll continue on to do illustrations for more"cycles'. Sebastien told me that shortly (I think he said shortly) after I turn this in the teaser (or preview or sample?) story will be available for people to check out (I presume off their website, since I believe the whole project is internet based. Sebastien, feel free to post and correct me on any of this). So what I'll do is post links as soon as I have them, and everybody who reads this can go check that out.
Of course as far as I know Sebastien is the only person who reads this, so…
The French Job
April 9, 2006
Well, I turned in the first half of the French job yesterday morning. That was the color half. the hard half.
I took the French Job back in January with the goal of wrapping it up in late February, even though it wasn't due till the end of March. Well, I still haven't finished it. I call it the French Job because I don't know the name of the company or the game (they told me at one point, but I forgot and now I'm way to embarrassed to ask).
Anyway, the second half, the grey-scale half, is going well and should be done soon. Here's 2 of the 30 illustrations chosen at random. As you can see I took a kind of sketch approach to these. i wanted them to look more like a rough draft then a finished piece. Is that half assed of me? maybe. The client likes it though, so who cares.
I got paid!
April 9, 2006
The check came today. This was from the work I did for Goodman Games E game. Not exactly on time, but not late enough to complain about. Big thanks to Rick Hershey and Jer Molher at ERS for both getting me this gig and for going to bat and making sure Goodman Games paid on time. Thanks guys.
I'm not sure what the books release date is, but I'm pretty excited about it. The concept stuff they gave to me while I was working on the project was great, and the books art is really sharp (I don't just mean the stuff I did either). It should be a really cool book, and a handsome one too.
Oh hey, I just looked, and it looks like the books available now. here's the link:
It's caller "Etherscope: The Great Metropolis". There's a piece of my art on the preview page I linked to. You can tell which one it is because it's the least impressive looking one of the bunch. Which sucks. Oh well. Of the half dozen pieces I did for them That's definitely the weakest (and the smallest).
Can't wait to see the book though. I'm guessing they won't comp me a copy, so I'll have to check it out at the local game store.
The titles a joke!
April 4, 2006
I forgot to mention it. Work in Progress is a joke, right? The title i mean. Because I spend my time working on everybody elses stuff, I never have time to work on my own stuff. People say "how's Panty Explosion coming?" or "how are you doing on that comic you've been working on for, like, ever"? And I say "well, it's a work in progress".
Why haven't you paid me?
April 4, 2006
Nobody pays on time. This is huge. This is such a huge problem. What other industry is like that? Where you do a job and then the client waits and doesn't pay you until 3 months later, or 6 months later or a year later. Or they never pay you at all. Where the client promises you a paycheck on October 15th,but you don't actually see it till January 20th.
Goodman Games. they make a game called Etherscope. I'm not going to bad mouth Goodman Games. But this is a good example I think. I took a job from Goodman Games back in December. The deal was for 6 illustration for their Etherscope game. Payment exactly three months (90 days) after the jobs completion. Job was due by December 31st. I turned it in on the 22nd. Payment was to be delivered via my paypal account on the 25th of March. Three months is a long time to wait to get paid. I was hesitant about taking the job. I was already slammed with work in December, and setting aside 2 weeks for a job that wouldnt pay for 3 months was kind of a pain in the ass. But I wanted to work on the project so I took the job. I turned in the work on time (early actually) and I moved on to other things.
3 months later I'm sick with Pneumonia, dead broke and really happy that I took the job in December, because rents due (late actually). The 25th roles around. No payment. I wait a day or two. Still nothing. I send an email thru my handler at Empty Room Studios (ERS is kind of a production house/agency for RPG freelancers. Jer Mohler of ERS was the one who fed me the Etherscope job, and so he was the one I emailed when I hadn't gotten paid). Jer said he'd look into it, and got back to me the next day saying that Goodman Games planned to cut the check on the 15th of April.
Fuck! The 15th of April?
Rent is due. i have no money. I'm coughing up blood and green slime. I told Jer I needed that money fast. He got back to Goodman and Goodman agreed to send the money out (via check to ERS then thru Paypal to me) immediately. I was pleasantly surprised. Almost every job I've had has involved a series of delays in payment on the part of the client. I was hoping (really, really hoping) that Goodman games would pay on time, especially since I had already waited three months. In the back of my head I was prepared for a long, drawn out struggle to get paid. Not really prepared, because I was sick and had no money, but mentally prepared to write angry emails and give Barry (my landlord) weak excuses as to why I had no rent money.
So yeah, Goodman realised they needed to pay me, and instead of making an excuse they put a check in the mail. Thats good stuff. It's a nice story. It makes me want to work for them again.
Of course I haven't actually received payment yet. I assume its on the way (its only been a few days after all) and that I'll have it any day now. I'll post when it come in.
Okay, so why does Goodman Games wait three months to pay their freelancers? I know it's all their freelancers and not just me, because some of the other ERS guys have done work for them as well. So why the wait? I have no idea. I speculated that they wait three months until they receive payment for the books sold, but I have no proof of that. And as far as I know the books not out yet anyway. plus that would be really irresponsible of them, promising payment for a book that might not sell well enough to actually bring in the money to make that payment. Of course I've been victim to that before, but I'd like to believe that Goodmans a better and smarter company then that.
Freelance and a Monk Like Existance
April 4, 2006
My name is Jake Richmond. I pay my bills as a freelance artist (and sometimes writer) for Role Playing Games. My goal here is to have a place to talk about my life freelancing. To talk about the jobs I'm working on, the art I'm trying to produce and the personal projects I'm trying to see thru. And to talk about what it's like to work as an RPG illustrator. Here's what i have on my plate right now:
The French Job-30 color illustrations for a french RPG. Due April 1st. I'm running really fucking late with this. I got smacked with Pneumonia and now I'm not close to being done. The client gave me an extension, so now I'm working 16 hour days to get this done.
The Dyson Project-Dogsoul Publishing hired me to write one of the source books for their new sci-fi game. I bluffed my way into this job, I don't know how to write a book. I'm doing the best I can and I'm pretty happy with the results, but being sick has put me behind on this one as well.
Six Gun Assassins- I did a bunch of illustrations for this game, and I just recently finished the cover. I'm pretty happy with it, and I cant wait to see the book. Here's the cover:
The CrossRoads of Eternity-Arcadiam Games publishes this game, and not only am I the co-owner of that company, but I'm also the art director and a contributing writer. Which means I do a lot of work on this game and I dont get paid. We have 2 books out so far, and we're about to start work on a third.
The Fall of Pileaus-This is a web comic I'm doing for Jer Mohler over at Baeg Tobar. I just commited to a year starting in May. A lot of work, but it should be fun.
Panty Explosion-My Psychic Japanese Schoolgirl RPG I'm developing with Matt Schlotte. We're e to having a playable version ready.
Here's something I learned real quick about freelancing: You're always broke. Always. No one ever pays you on time. Everybody wants you to work for free. You never know where the next paycheck is coming from. You're rent is always late. I live a Monk Like Existence. This is not by choice. I make, on average, about $500 a month. That's American currancy. I'll give you a moment to think about that.
Cool? okay. $500 a month. Sometimes less. Sometimes more. But that's the average. my living expenses come out to $450 a month. That's basic (food/rent/internet/bus) living expenses, nothing fancy. At my last job I worked minimum wage and made almost twice that. So I live a Monk Like Existence. I work, I eat, I take advantage of available entertainments. I don't go to movies anymore. I rarely go out to eat. i get to live a simple (or consumer deprived life) because I've chosen to draw zombies and dwarfs and zombie dwarfs for a living. This is the reality of freelance. For me.
Oh wait, I'm going to write more. Just a sec…


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We own a 4 bedroom timeshare in Branson Woods we are going to be unable to use. We are splitting our unit into (2) 2 bedroom units, making two one week units available; each unit will comfortably sleep 6. The units can be combined and rented as a 4 Bedroom for a week, as well for multiple families or larger groups.
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© 2020 AdsInUSA.com - All Rights Reserved.


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Cucumber & fennel salad
Prep: 15 mins
This refreshing side salad is low-fat, superhealthy and full of summer flavour
Nutrition and extra info
- Vegetarian
- Healthy
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal62
- fat3g
- saturates2g
- carbs6g
- sugars5g
- fibre2g
- protein3g
- salt0.85g
Save to My Good Food
- 1 large cucumber, halved lengthways, deseeded and cut into thin half moons
- 1 tsp sugar
Honey and syrups made from concentrated fruit juice were the earliest known sweeteners. Today,…
- 1 fennel bulb, finely sliced
Fennel bulb
Like Marmite, fennel is something that you either love or hate – its strong aniseed…
- 150ml pot reduced-fat soured cream
- juice 1 lemon
Oval in shape with a pronouced bulge on one end, lemons are one of the most versatile…
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- small bunch dill, roughly chopped
Put cucumber in a sieve. Sprinkle with 1 tsp salt and the sugar, then leave for 10 mins. Add fennel.
Mix soured cream, lemon juice, vinegar and dill, then season with black pepper and add to fennel mix.


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There sure are plenty of pirates on the Narrow Sea, with the latest figures suggesting that the finale of Game of Thrones has set a new BitTorrent record.
Yeah, so the previous record was also held by GoT (the premiere) but the 170,000 simultaneous shares suggested by TorrentFreak and the more than a million downloads in a day show that pirates still like a good old broadsword just as much as a cutlass.
More blips!
Quick, check out more of our lovely blips before the Dothraki horde attacks!


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3 book tropes that must go and GUILTY PLEASURE by @justus_roux #GuiltyTour
By tweeting this post, you can earn promotional tweets from me as part of the Amazon Tweet Exchange.
Details here.
Details here.
What are three book tropes you wish would disappear forever from Romantic fiction?
Too dumb to live heroines. (LOL)
Finding the right magical spell that seems to come out of nowhere just in time to save the day.
When the heroine meets the hero by literally bumping into to them.
Publication Date: May 10, 2015
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Just as it seems Nicole's life is finally going right, a series of brutal murders plague the Chicago area. As the number of these murders escalates all the evidence begins to point to Nicole's new friend Adam Matthews or her lover Michael Lyons. She refuses to believe that either could possibly be capable of committing these brutal murders. Yet, by closing her eyes to this possibility, Nicole could be making a deadly mistake.


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Word has reached us through the interwebs that Hemel will be making some changes to their freestyle night schedule after Christmas. According to this article on SCUK, the indoor slope have decided to shift their main freestyle night to the Thursday from 20th December until March.
This frees up the peak-time on Friday night for beginner lessons, which the powers that be reckon is essential during the winter months because of high demand. Or as they put it: "Due to high demand for lessons & lift passes during the peak holiday season we will be extending our weekend offering to include Fridays."
Thursday nights – which had previously been more of a beginners' freestyle session – will now feature more and better features, and the slope will stay open later. The park crew at Hemel will also be putting out some features on a Wednesday night, making that effectively the beginner freestyle session.
While the changes won't suit everyone (there were some angry reactions when the news broke on the Hemel Freestyle Facebook page) the idea is that everything will be back to normal after the end of the season, and Hemel are apparently preparing to commit more cash and resources to freestyle in the future, including employing a full-time freestyle manager.
Here's hoping that means a better freestyle offering in the long term!


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Anton van Nunen, godfather of fiduciary management, responds to questions on his philosophy from André de Vos
Ten years ago, Anton van Nunen wrote his Fiduciary Management handbook. Now a revised version has been published. "As the one who devised the concept, I found that the handbook needed to be updated", he says. "The greater part of Dutch pension capital is invested using fiduciary management. The volume of assets is involved is so large that you have to keep your finger on the pulse, certainly after a financial crisis caused an enormous shock. I wanted to investigate how the fiduciary concept has behaved under that pressure." Here, Van Nunen responds to seven questions about fiduciary management.
1. Fiduciary managers have not been able to prevent the level of coverage of pension funds declining sharply owing to falling interest rates. How do you respond?
"I am impressed by the performance of fiduciary managers. They identified interest-rate risk at a very early stage, by far the greatest risk for institutional investors. With all the funds with which I am directly or indirectly involved, it has been made clear to the board that it must face this and that it was necessary to hedge against it. I do not know a single fiduciary manager who has not declared management of that risk to be the number one article of faith.
"Fiduciary management has brought the risk management of pension funds to a higher level. Certainly where interest risk is concerned, making decisions has improved. Interest rate expectations have been uncoupled from the question of whether an interest hedge should be deployed. Strangely enough, no research has been done into the matter in the Netherlands, but I dare to stake my reputation on it that pension funds with a fiduciary manager generally have a much higher interest cover than average."
2. Does the desire to invest more simply point to a lack of trust in fiduciary managers?
"The trend towards less complex investments is disastrous. Simplification is not an answer to an increasingly complex world. The wish to invest more simply arises from the demands of the regulatory authorities, but it sometimes goes too far in that direction. Managers have to explain, for example, how credit default swaps work and what effect they will have on the portfolio, even if they are only 0.1% of the investments.
"Every investment portfolio has become less simple through the deployment of a fiduciary manager. This is a good development. Use is made of the expertise and experience of dyed-in-the-wool financial players. Management of interest-rate risk plays a pivotal part and is not simple. Diversification is also important. There is volatility, the level of which is unpredictable. It is about diversifying assets and, within assets, managers in such a way that the volatility in the portfolio as a whole is reduced. Fiduciary management introduces complexity, but for a very good reason."
3. Is passive investment a death blow for fiduciary management?
"The increase in passive investment has to do with the costs of more active investing and the attitude to risk of investors and the regulator. The past 10 years have made clear that risk management is the essence of investment and balance sheet control. One part of this, although not the most important part, is the management of equity volatility. If the results of this are not certain, it is a small step to reduce this volatility through indexed investment. But it is questionable whether this will succeed. Active policy, provided it is well executed – in other words truly diversified – has been found not to affect the volatility of the portfolio as a whole.
"Another reason for less active management is interest rates. This was dramatic, with consequences for coverage ratios, reducing the excess returns of active management to an insignificant few basis points. So why take the extra trouble?
"With current and anticipated low returns, it is questionable whether active policy should not be pursued. If there are less efficient markets and a fiduciary has good selection capabilities, a fund should ask itself whether even a modest extra return is not important enough in times of low returns.
"Incidentally, the question is what is understood by passive. What about a European fixed-interest benchmark that does not use market capitalisation? Avoiding southern European securities as far as possible is a much used policy and active in principle. Many parties say that they invest passively, but very few do. And that is all to the good."
4. Is the fact that pension funds are more active in asset management a good trend?
"I agree with that, provided that they are capable. I have my doubts about that. Let us be clear: there are a lot of financial products and nearly as many managers who all have fine stories as to why you must use them for good investment service. How can a board that does not consist solely of people with a financial background make a good choice? And is the help of a consultant who bills by the hour sufficient?
"With an expanded board, supplemented by an investment committee and possibly a consultant, doing more in-house can be a good option. But, a warning is in order: after the decision to do something in-house, a lot of time must be available for analysis, research and monitoring. Lastly, there must be a guarantee that troops will be available for a possible intervention in the event of a disaster. Thus, there are a lot of constraints on doing it yourself. What you are seeing now is administrative offices are being created to do the work of the fiduciary again. This is disastrous."
5. Does a fiduciary manager always pay for itself?
"There is another cost layer; in other words, that of the fiduciary itself. But this can be recovered: through purchasing power and lower charges from asset managers and, more importantly, through a better, more diversified and more alert policy, so that returns are higher. That effect is more important than the costs, since it is a matter of net returns."
6. Is the current pension system in urgent need of change?
"The industry must find an answer to low absolute returns. These will adversely affect funds' right of existence. If the anticipated returns are structurally lower than the growth of our national income, a pay-as-you-go system would be better than capital coverage, which means our present system will be in danger.
"Legislation has forced funds to adopt a one-sided investment policy with a strong emphasis on interest-rate hedging. An increase in interest rates may be a long time coming, but it will certainly come and will have disastrous consequences for the left-hand side of the balance sheet. And that side indicates what pension funds can mean in the long term for the contributors.
"We must protect our pension system against the threat to its survival. That will happen if low rates continue. With the low returns being imputed, not only will indexation be impossible, but cuts will be almost certain in the longer term.
"A different framework must be developed. A great good – such as a pension system that has historically worked well and that enjoys a high reputation – deserves rethinking. We must reject killing off real ambition by means of a strictly nominal framework, within which a big interest hedge is unavoidable. Ideas to this end have been developed that must be given a chance."
7. Must fiduciary management be drastically different?
"I do not think so. The concept has maintained itself well. I see a new development, such as engaging different fiduciaries for different aspects; the supermarket model. That may offer advantages, but who is responsible for ultimate oversight? One important new insight has been added in that fiduciary managers have the duty to share their knowledge with pension fund managers. They must bring them to a higher knowledge level, precisely because the world is increasingly complex, and without the fear of making themselves superfluous."
Anton van Nunen's standard work, Fiduciair management. Blauwdruk voor een goed bestuur van institutionele beleggers, has been reissued in a second edition in the Dutch language. This article first appeared in Pensioen Pro
Pensions In The Netherlands: A Gordian knot of reform
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