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Live for 100 years, eat Kuchucho
Many years ago your humble scribe made friends with the owner of a health food store in the Altiplano region of Peru. The conversations were wide ranging (as they tend to be amongst friends) but his job and the body of understanding about the properties of local plants were often there or thereabouts. At one point the local beet-like plant 'maca' had started gaining press for its supposed benefits, including giving greater energy, sexual appetite and fertility to the person who ate it (often as a flour). When maca came up, my friend once replied to the effect of, "Yes, but you wait til they hear about kuchucho" and that memory was jogged this week by reports out of Peru such as this one which have one Vidal Villagómez, head of the Program of Tubers and Edible Roots at Peru's National Agrarian University (La Molina), talking up kuchucho to one and all.
The plant itself is a carrot-like thing which is mainly grown around the Lake Titicaca region (top spot for its cultivation is the Peru town of Ilave, on the banks of the lake). It's been known for hundreds of years locally as the "plant of longevity" and the spiel has always been that people who eat it "stay young and live to 100". It's also known as a libido kickstarter that's more powerful than maca. After his faculties' official-type studies Villagómez said this week that the local Altiplano residents may indeed be onto something, because results show that kuchucho contains a whole bunch of good things including high-quality starches, double the amount of calcium than milk and very high phosphorous content. To which news the locals around the lake will almost certainly shake their heads and wonder why the world needed a scientist to tell them what they knew already.
The unethical fuckwits at Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal, stealing stories and giving no credit to scoop sources
No need to elaborate, the basic facts will do nicely.
1) Setty hits a scoop here, follows it up here.
2) Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal reporters read Setty's blog posts. Evidence here and here.
3) DJNW runs its own report on the news, giving no credit whatsoever to Setty for his scoop. WSJ paywalled edition here, full story in other place here.
4) DJNW/WSJ, its reporter José de Córdoba, its editors and its fact-check desks, need a lesson in manners. Fuckers.
Lobito mailbag
A whole virtual bagful of mail this morning about Casey Research and Louis Little Wolf Lobito James, so thanks for that but I get the strong feeling that I shouldn't be egged on into this much further, even though the theme seems to be a popular one. Looks like there's a rich vein of comedy to be ploughed here and lots of people who are "rather disgruntled" (let's say, all pretty like after yesterday's foul-mouthed IKN) over the way Doug Casey is running his shop these days, as well as the more specific "personal character descriptions" (let's say, all pretty again after yesterday's foul-mouthed IKN) of Lobito. The best mail of the lot came from reader "D", who has kindly let me reproduce his rant on the blog (and although a regular reader here, he prefers to keep his real name off the record...fair enough). Anyway, here's what D had to say.
...but since the world cottoned on to the fact that he knows fuck all, even his "Action Alerts" are greeted with a great big fat round of apathy. Take for example Louis Lobito Little Wolf's latest buy call to the "elite" Casey flock, dated July 31st (i.e. yesterday) on Kaminak (KAM.v)....
Not that you give a ... but they used to have a guy named Paul Van Eeden as their writer, and he was good at it. To my thinking anyway also fairly honest. Then they bought in the little wolf and in doing so basically gave the proverbial finger to their subscribers. It really underscored the "we don't really give a fuck about you guys" attitude and "it's about us because we known this is a Ponzi scheme disguised as an investment letter." Why Casey doesn't put someone of Van Eeden's caliber back in the roaming rock kicker seat is also a tell. Why should he? It's not about identifying an Aurelian Resources at $1.02 before the rest, is it? It's about front running. He doesn't care about quality of content, he cares about time of content. And is basically saying "Look, look how stupid you all are. But hey your special!". Sadly I think there are those with more money to lose than brains that need to be stroked and Casey knows and digs them up at every metals conference.
For me, D really hit the spot with, "He doesn't care about quality of content, he cares about time of content" and it's why asked him if I could share the rant.
It's August 2nd! It's Hijo de Puta Day!
Golly jeepers, I nearly forgot. August 2nd has seen a new tradition (?) spring up, being as it is the birthday of the now dead Jorge Videla. In South America August 2 is now "Día del Hijo de Puta" (direct translation "son of a whore day", so "son of a bitch day" would be close enough) in which Videla and others are fondly remembered.
I'd personally like to send wishes on this fine day to Alberto Fujimori, ex-President of Peru, for the cherished memory of his forced sterlization program of indigenous Peruvian women. Have a great day, Chino!
IKN Predicts: It'll take about two days for the chattersphere to get to "Look folks, the NSA is doing a good job, let's not...(etc)"
Queues to get on the Inca Trail to Macchu Pichu just got a little easier. Here's how the US Travel Alert begins:
And by the way, I'm with George Carlin on this issue:
August 2, 2013
The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens to the continued potential for terrorist attacks, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, and possibly occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula. Current information suggests that al-Qa'ida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August. This Travel Alert expires on August 31, 2013.
Terrorists may elect to use a variety of means and weapons and target both official and private interests. U.S. citizens are reminded of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure. Terrorists have targeted and attacked subway and rail systems, as well as aviation and maritime services. U.S. citizens should take every precaution to be aware of their surroundings and to adopt appropriate safety measures to protect themselves when traveling. continues here
And by the way, I'm with George Carlin on this issue:
Chart of the day is...
...the US Dollar (USD) index:
A lot of goldbugs' fapping over the drop in the dollar this morning on the back of a relatively soft US jobs number. This weekly chart gives you a little more perspective, dontchathink?
A Thursday OT: Neil Young: Rockin' in the free world
Canada, listen carefully: If you have a person from your country that can do this...
...and can do Harvest Moon as well, that person is nothing short of a national treasure. Look after him, for your own sakes.
Time was that Casey's Lobito would move the market...
...but since the world cottoned on to the fact that he knows fuck all, even his "Action Alerts" are greeted with a great big fat round of apathy. Take for example Louis Lobito Little Wolf's latest buy call to the "elite" Casey flock, dated July 31st (i.e. yesterday) on Kaminak (KAM.v)....
Wow, look at that reaction!
UPDATE: Ok. I shouldn't really react to this kind of thing but I've just been sent the latest proletarian publication from Lobito&Co, precisely the August 2013 edition of International Speculator. The guy's a cunt, simple as that. And full apologies to all people offended by what I consider the single worst word in the English language as well but after the complete stupidities I've just read from his hand, no other description will do. You are seriously suggesting that this apologist for rank amateurism gets paid for publishing such tripe and nonsense? Fuck me, just another chapter of gringo buy anything, innit. Doug Casey is either ashamed of this or making a shitload of cash off his back.
Exeter Resources (XRC.to) (XRA) pops on volume
You'd never think a bullshit rumour could possibly be going round about Exeter (XRC.to) (XRA), what with its CEO being an ex-sellside analyst at The Can of Corn. Would you?
Anyway, this dog of a stock popped on volume after the open today. More volume in USA. Expect the Canadian regulators to ask XRC to say something, then XRC go "oh, we know of nothing unusual" and then the asshole Canuck regulators do their normal fuck all about it.
Disclosure: No position in this stock for certified dumbasses, but it may turn out to be a short if it pops some more. Oodles of gold in the deposit, virtually impossible to dig it out the ground at a profit. It's worth precisely its cash at bank, which if memory serves is about 60c/share now. I'd laugh like a drain if Hochschild bought it (remember Volcan, anyone?)...and then I'd short HOC.
Chart of the day is...
...Barrick's (ABX) write downs since 2011*:
That's U$15.802 billion (with a B) that once belonged to somebody somewhere but is now mysteriously vanisherated. Blame Igor! After all, here's what the tippy top ABX said about its now resigned COO in 1q12: "Under Igor's leadership, the South America region has consistently demonstrated strong performance in production, cost control, project development and in the corporate social responsibility arena where he has focused on building positive relationships with local communities, through increased engagement and new initiatives to promote sustainable economic development. His background and experience make him an ideal choice for this position."
A company of fuckwits. See above chart for more details. And yes, that says nine point three two seven billion for 1q13, not $8.7Bn. Read the company's sheets for more details.
*setty requires, setty is given
(UPDATED) Is it my imagination, or are the Kinross (K.to) (KGC) quarterly numbers pretty good?
Here's the NR link to start you off, the real info in the quarterlies is already on SEDAR so go pick up your copy. So to business and before I expand on that title line there's some negatives to deal with of course. Top of the shop is the $1.41Bn wrote down at Tasiast, mostly due to the fact that K has decided to defer any construction decision on the expansion (aka "Tye's Folly") until 2015. Then there's the $720m Fruta del Norte write-off, which we knew about already. There are more impairments too, mainly on goodwill due to new lower price assumptions (e.g. U$1,300 for FY14, which is conservative and probably smart at this point) and the whole post-tax total balance hit is $2.29Bn. Then there's the suspension (for me "cancellation" would be a more honest word there) of its 8c-every-half-year dividend. Err, no surprise there, K has more pressing things to do with its cash than give it to shareholders, especially if such a policy eats directly into working cap. GORO, please take note at what serious boards of directors do with suddenly expensive dividend policies.
Anyway, K has put in a kitchen sink quarter and the balance charges have put book value at $5.93/share, which means today's closing share price is at 0.87x BV. And here we get to the point, because it looks reasonably good value all of a sudden (OH MY GOD DID I JUST SAY THAT ABOUT MEGADOG KINROSS?????????) for a company that's kept operating costs under control, is getting leaner and has a decent gross margin on ounces produced that's going to get better now that the highly profitable Kupol has its expansion coming online. It's taken the balance sheet hit, frozen the divi, deferred Tasiast and is cutting back on some exploration costs too. The result is that it will now be able to collect cash and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the type of gold mining company that shouldn't trade under book in 2013 (and 2014). A lot will depend on what gold does in the near-term, but given a level playing field on the price of the things it sells, K could rally pretty easily from its current low level.
Disclosure: No current position in Kinross, not long or short or anything. Once upon a time I owned a few and did pretty well on the trade, too. I may go back, but no decision yet.
PS: On the other hand, New Gold's (NGD) (NGD.to) quarter absolutely sucked.
UPDATE: After hitting send, your humble scribe went over to Kitco to see how things were and...
...sure enough, the people incapable of looking forwards and obliged to scream as hard as they can are going for it with the Kinross headlines. "Massive", Defers" and "Multi-Billion" dontchaknowz. Hmmm...interesting.
UPDATE: After hitting send, your humble scribe went over to Kitco to see how things were and...
...sure enough, the people incapable of looking forwards and obliged to scream as hard as they can are going for it with the Kinross headlines. "Massive", Defers" and "Multi-Billion" dontchaknowz. Hmmm...interesting.
Visual Capitalist does Mexican exploration junior mining companies
There are 28 featured on the free report, click here to get your 2Mb download PDF and find out what the Visual Capitalist guys think of the companies in the space, all ranked under their system with scores and winners and losers and everything.
Gold and the FOMC: Deutsche Bank's call
Right here you have DB's overview from its analysis today and the chart it references:
OverviewToday marks the conclusion of the 2-day FOMC meeting. We find that the performance of gold in the days after a FOMC meeting has changed markedly over the past year. Figure 1 reveals that prior to the December 2012 meeting, gold prices tended to trade higher after a Fed meeting while in subsequent meetings the Fed has been unambiguously negative for the gold price. We believe this reflects the dramatic turn in US real interest rates, which have been moving higher since the end of last year. Consequently how US real interest rates and the US dollar perform after the FOMC meeting will determine the likely path for the gold price. Since we expect US yields and the greenback will continue to move higher over the medium term we would view gold price rallies as likely to be temporary.More promising are prospects for the PGM sector. Unlike gold, platinum and palladium have been able to attract modest investment inflows. Figure 2 examines the change in ETF holdings across the precious metals complex since the end of last year. What stands out is not just how PGM have continued to enjoyed strong investment inflows but how extreme the decline in the silver price has been and which has occurred despite little change in investment flows, at least from an ETF perspective. Positioning data from the CFTC reveals that silver has succumbed to a significant reduction in speculative length since the end of last year.Looking ahead, we expect PGMs will remain the most resilient part of the precious metals complex. The next highlight will be this week's payrolls report since the US unemployment rate has been inversely correlated with US car sales. Hence a further improvement in labour market trends will tend to imply additional upside in palladium demand side fundamentals.
The Pope's economic miracle
Your humble scribe is sure you'll be shocked, shocked ah say, by this news relayed to us in English by Gabriel Elizondo of Al Jazz (who runs a must-read Twitter account for anyone interested in LatAm issues):
For the record, Mônica Bergamo is one of Brazil's leading journalists and works for the bigtime newspaper Folha.
Chart of the day is...
...Peru's Lima Stock Echange (BVL) IGBVL index for the last four years, with a few notes about GDP growth scribbled on top:
A point Iwnatoss makes on occasion is that GDP growth and stock market performance are totally separate animals. He's right, of course.
The brand new Chocquibtown track, here and now
Colombia's finest with their new song, Uh La La and a video out today.
VeneBirtherism: Nicolás Maduro gives the Venezuelan opposition just enough rope... then hangs them
It's typical behaviour amongst press and media, be they English or Spanish language, to portray Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro as a wet-behind-ear, not-up-to-Chávez naive politico who got the big job dropped into his lap and isn't capable of filling the ex-boss's boots. Well ok, fair enough, oppos gotta oppose and all that, but Maduro isn't some green fruit of a politician either and he's shown enough nous to run rings round the dumbass opposition in Venezuela recently, with a big fat win registered today.
The issue is "Venezuelan Birther", a story that started a few weeks ago that was propagated by the right wing opposition to Maduro and stated that the man hadn't been born in Venezuela but was originally from Colombia. And due to that (and the Venezuelan constitution) it would mean that Maduro wasn't eligible to be Prez. In recent days the story has picked up a bit of steam too and has even made it into some English language reports. Admittedly from the dumbass end of the news-o-sphere (Fox, CNN, WashTimes) but covered all the same:
Washington Times: "Birther alert: Venezuela President Maduro born in Colombia, opposition says"
However, all this time, the weeks until today, Maduro has kept totally schtum about it all. Not a comment, not a word, no denials, not a dicky bird*, nothing. This non-reaction unsurprisingly just fuelled the passions of the dumbass Venezuelan right who smelled a fishy smell. Right up until today, when Maduro got the reaction he'd been looking for all along. Head oppo Henrique Capriles (fresh from hanging with far right wing ex-Pinochet politicos in Chile) on his TV show this morning said:
"Nicolás, I ask you, Where were you born? ... Are you lying about your nationality too?".
And then, all of a sudden, Bang! Slam! Whack! Nico Attack! First up irrefutable evidence that the person who started the rumour, an ex-senator in Panama who's had it in for Maduro and Chávez for years, made shit up. The Public Records Office in Colombia, in comments to AP, makes it clear that the "birth certificate" at the centre of the growing scandal is a obvious forgery; the dates are wrong, the number on the paper belongs to somebody else and the person who supposedly emitted the certificate had already been retired for two years before it was signed, making the forgery pretty darned obvious. And right on the heels comes Maduro with his first statement on the birther story just a few minutes ago, saying that the Venezuelan right wing (i.e. Capriles, now with a large plate of huevo splattered all over his cara) had been taken for a ride by a demented ex-senator from Panama.
So if you feel like writing Maduro off as a non-competent President for his political stance and philosophy, then go ahead and state your case. But don't fall for the "he's a amateur politican" schtik because if you do you too might get eaten for public opinion breakfast the way Capriles has been well and truly done over today.
*pun intended
I've been asked for a thought on Osisko Mining (OSK.to) this morning, so...
...here you go:
Why you want this cynical bastard's opinions on obviously failed ideas is beyond me.
Has the Brazilian Real (BRL) been weaker than other regional currencies versus the dollar recently?
Answer: Yes.
Now at 2.27 to the dollar, it wasn't so long ago that the Real was under 1.50 per greenback and serious people were seriously talking about parity. But now things are weaker and that's good news for people thinking World Cup and Olympics, as the country will only cost you an arm instead of an arm and a leg to visit. If you think I'm joking, go ask Al Jazz's expert journalist on Brazil, @elizondogabriel, all about the prices for a hotel or a pizza in Rio or SP.
Chart of the day is...
...two years in the Cardero Group of Companies. We include mothership Cardero (CDY) which is now apparently in such a state that it can't pay its bills, then there are the stablemates Indico (IDI.v), Dorato (DRI.v), International Tower Hill (THM) (ITH.to), Wealth Minerals (WMD.v) (a corporate name that's always struck me as a little ironic, not to mention the weapons of mass destruction feel of the ticker), Abzu (ABS.v) and Balmoral (BAR.v):
Oh Henk...
Anyway, congrats to all those who went for Trevali (TV.to) as their Cardero Group pick, as they're only 50% down on their money.
Atna (ATN.to), Huldra (HDA.v), Technical Analysis, Crowds, Idiots
In my ongoing attempts to try and understand technical analysis (I'm honestly trying to get it at times, it just that my eyes glaze over really quickly) I always appreciate the posts on the subject by mickeyman over at The World Complex. He's come out with a very good one today, here's an excerpt but there's plenty more to digest, so I strongly urge you to go over and take a better look.
"As in all crowds, there are a number of idiots who influence the price so much that they can temporarily overwhelm the fundamental case, until they either suddenly realize they have made a mistake or run out of money. If the crowd-sourced price is a mean of a population, that value can be exaggerated by a few idiots greatly overestimating (or perhaps underestimating) the real value of a stock or commodity."
He sets a nice puzzle, too. Link here, please use.
NovaCopper (NCQ.to) headsup
This could be interesting. NovaCopper (NCQ.to) (NCQ) is one of the very few Cu junior explorecos that have managed to buck the trend and see share price appreciation this year and maybe, just maybe we get to find out why tomorrow. NR linked here, blurb below and I for one will be tuning in to hear Rick Van Alphabet's dulcet tones. I might even ask a question, for example ask them why the company does that freakin' annoying thing of throwing a capital letter in its corporate title.
VANCOUVER, July 29, 2013 /CNW/ - NovaCopper Inc. (TSX, NYSE-MKT: NCQ) ("NovaCopper" or "the Company") anticipates releasing the results of its preliminary economic assessment for an open pit mining scenario at its Arctic Deposit tomorrow pre-market open. In anticipation of this release, the Company is scheduling a conference call and webcast on Tuesday, July 30, 2013 at 8:00am (Pacific Time) or 11:00am (Eastern Time) to discuss the PEA results.
Conference Call and Webcast
Call-in details for the conference call and webcast to be held on July 30, 2013 at 8:00am (Pacific Time) or 11:00am (Eastern Time) are:
North American toll-free: 1-866-212-4491
Standard International Dial-in: 1-416-800-1066
Standard International Dial-in: 1-416-800-1066
Listeners can also access the live webcast of the conference call at
A replay of this conference call and webcast will be available from Tuesday, July 30 until Friday, August 30 and will be posted on NovaCopper's website at www.novacopper.com.
What Eco Oro Minerals (EOM.to) full of shit again? Hoodathunkit!
From IKN221, out yesterday:
Colombia's "National Interest" projects: A complete red herring.
Earlier in the week Colombia's government published (12) an official document list of forty mining projects that it officially considers "in the national interest" and it got plenty of column space in the country, not least because the Eco Oro (ex-Greystar) controversial 'Angostura' gold project in the Páramo high country was included as one of the projects. Along with several non-metallic mining projects (coal, salt etc) here's the section of the list that covers the metals mining projects deemed worthy of consideration.
In short along with Angostura you have the Cerro Matoso nickel expansion project that's already had its environmental licence refused, you have Cosigo's going-absolutely-nowhere project in the South, you have Eike Batista's AUX (poor Eike doesn't have the cash to build that one any more) and you have AngloGold Ashanti's several projects that include La Colosa. Suspicious to say the least, which gets your author scratching beneath the surface of the simple "government source" to find out exactly where it came from. The answer is that the paper is a resolution (i.e. a document that can be emitted without peer review by any government department) dated June 19th and so unimportant that it was only officially passed through the public disclosure system a full month later. It was signed off by the vice-president of oversight, control and mining security, one of the departments of the National Mining Agency (ANA), or if you prefer, an underling to a department head, one of several department heads in the one of the government mining offices. In other words, this whole thing in an exercise in governmental bureaucracy that bears little resemblance to any sort of practical list of projects or companies to move forwards, almost certainly created by a department out of touch with sector reality and that hasn't bothered to do the slightest by way of interdepartmental investigation to see whether all branches of the executive agree with its findings. This is an example of the officialdom crap that comes from LatAm governments of all shapes and sizes and is 100% ignorable. However, that didn't stop the bullshit merchants at Eco-Oro (EOM.to) from publishing a NR on the subject (13) and trying to make it out to be some sort of important step, clowns that they are.
Dacha Strategic Metals (DSM.v) today
Being a slow news day like wot it be, your humble scribe decided to have a look at the numbers behind this part of the Dacha Strategic Metals (DSM.v) NR this morning:
"Subsequent to March 31, 2013 , Dacha sold 1,000 kilograms of Dysprosium Fe, 18,000 kilograms of Neodymium Oxide and 3,000 kgs of Terbium Oxide for aggregate proceeds of $2.9 million . Market conditions at the time of these sales were such that, in each case, these metals investments were sold for materially less than their estimated fair market value as at March 31, 2013 as reflected in Dacha's audited consolidated financial statements."
For several reasons, but mainly because this company had previously been flagged as a purveyor of prime bullshit at this humble corner of cyberspace when under the control of Stan Bharti's F&M mob and it was of vague interest to find out whether its attitude had changed since then.
It hasn't. Here's a little table compiled from the annuals which shows just how much DSM pretended its rare earths recently sold for $2.9m was worth:
So, DSM decided to sell rare earths that according to its audited annual filings were worth $5.28m...for $2.9m. Buy high sell low, it's the way forward.
Hmmm, perhaps in need of a writedown guys? I mean, that's a 45% haircut on book value we're talking there. You say 34c/share in net assets, I say 18.5c...well not just me, in fact the real world says it too. A round of applause to McGovern, Hurley, Cunningham LLP, the auditors that signed off on these annuals.
The IKN Weekly, out now
Labels: otto, the IKN weekly
Bolivian street art: Something beautiful for a Sunday
Via twitterpal @karaspita and her pal @e_liana IKN is pleased offer you this, from the town of Cochabamba in Bolivia.
Oh wowsers, that's wonderful.
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text:
A614 Public Health, 130 De Soto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261
R-znvy: firstname.lastname@example.com
Primary Phone: 967-179-7920
Health economics, program evaluation, applied econometrics
Julia Driessen, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management in the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. She has secondary appointments in the Department of Economics and the Department of Biomedical Informatics, and is affiliated faculty at the Health Policy Institute. In 2011 Dr. Driessen completed her PhD in Economics at the Johns Hopkins University. Her research focuses on how economic incentives can support, or hinder, clinical best practices, with an emphasis on outcomes that are both clinically and economically undesirable. She has examined these themes across an array of settings and interventions, including health information technology, Medicare prescribing, and inter-professional models of care.
2011 | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD | Ph.D., Economics
2008 | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimiore, MD | M.A., Economics
2006 | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI | B.S., Mathematics and Economics
HPM 2028 | Microeconomics Applied to Health
HPM 3125 | Intermediate Health Economics

subset: commoncrawl


text:
In hot climates, it's important to water vegetables early in the day. Most edibles need at least 1" of water weekly, more if temperatures soar. Keep at least 2" of mulch on your garden beds to retain water and keep roots cool. Regularly insert your finger 1" into the soil; if it's dry, your plants need water.
The best time to water is first thing in the morning before the sun is too hot. If you aren't home in the morning to water, set a timer to run soaker hoses for 30-45 minutes each morning. Make these hoses more efficient by covering them with mulch.
If you wait until afternoon, most of the water evaporates from the soil so rapidly that it doesn't reach the roots. Water applied in the evening sticks to plant leaves and fosters diseases.
If you have the time, water by hand every morning; make sure your garden gets a good soak each day. Sprinklers attached to the hose are easier and can be moved around the garden.
Soaker hoses are the most efficient and least expensive way to water plants. Thread along plant rows throughout the garden. Link several together and add a timer and rain sensor so you aren't watering when it's raining.
Drip systems are more costly, but once installed, they are permanent and efficient. A properly installed and maintained system saves water and money in the long run. It requires a garden plan for maximum effectiveness, but the extra work is worth it. Each spring, plant veggies around the emitters to guarantee a steady source of water. For maximum ease, install a system with a timer, aimer and moisture sensor.
- 25'-50' soaker hoses
- Timer
- Rain or moisture sensor
- Pine bark or shredded cypress mulch
- Optional: Drip emitter system


text:
Jason and I ran errands in the afternoon, had lunch at Tijuana Flats, and got all the supplies to make Easter dinner tomorrow. I love my straw fedora - it's perfect for Florida! When we went out for dinner, I draped a scarf around me - it got CHILLY here. Seriously, it's always like 95 degrees here and it was around 70 when we took the pups on their walk!
scarf : gift
bag : cambridge satchel co via modcloth
hat : target
necklace : target
shoes : target
belt : target
bracelets : target
sunnies : ray ban
obviously everything i own is from target


text:
If you own one of many low-fat air fryers, such as Tefal or Philips model, you will be in search of airfryer recipes to increase your repertoire from merely chips! Despite the fact that answer very likely to buy an air fryer to generate chips without gaining the pounds, and for health reasons ought to be over a zero fat diet, these fryers could make other activities. Exactly what that's rather depends upon the model which you own.
First and foremost, it is quite essential recognize that as a way to successfully and safely shed weight; actually need a consignment to alter. The reason dietary fads do not work (or diets normally for example) is really because when your diet has finished, your going right back on the same challenging habits that let you placed on the body weight to begin with. Sure, possibly you have lost some fat whilst you were in your diet, but they're just likely to input it right back on when you start backup along with your normal eating routine. This is why it is crucial that you make lifelong changes you will follow in the future. Yes, it is about to be hard to start with. However, when you begin living a healthier lifestyle, you'll soon commence to love eating healthy as well as the considered refined food forces you to sick instead of tempt you.
o Know the Menu – Most restaurants offer online versions of these menus. This makes it straightforward to take a peek beforehand and consider what options can be best. Typically, hungry restaurant-goers consider the menu and gravitate toward the unhealthy choices. Avoid persuasive hunger by planning your meal choices ahead of time.
There are many those who don't prefer training. However, they need to remember that it's an essential a part of weight-loss or diet system. A professional clinic of weight reduction will give you numerous exercises to clients. However, you should stay away from the fake promises of miracle weight reduction, disregarding exercise just as one integral part. If one wants fat reduction for some time term, then the nutritious balance is totally essential.
Top selling diet programs like NutriSystem restrict dieters to prepackaged meals in order to lose fat. Though low-calorie, the monthly cost averages around $300 and dieters will still have to shop at their local supermarket for fruit, vegetables along with supplemental items. For many, the burden loss can often be temporary once portions shall no longer be prepackaged. Dieters who do not want the fee find budgeting and smart shopping for groceries will help all of them receiving the appropriate food choices items they have to battle the bulge.


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Configure Private Address for WebSocket¶
To use the Websocket feature a private email is required. Private addresses can be purchased individually as part of a API Developer Subscription.
Define Private Address via API¶
The API is the easiest way to reserve a private address. A simple HTTP POST will do.
curl -s --request POST https://mailsac.com/api/addresses/user1%40mailsac.com?_mailsacKey=API_KEY
Define Private Address in the Dashboard¶
Sign in to your Mailsac account.
Select Manage Email Addresses from the dropdown.
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By Luke Larsen — Posted on November 13, 2017 11:23 am
We weren't there in the meetings where Chromebooks were green-lit, but we can imagine they started as a bit of an experiment. The first ones were around $400, made of plastic, and ran nothing except the Chrome browser. With these limitations in place, Chromebooks began to find an audience. Owners realized they didn't need to spend over a thousand dollars to write emails and watch Netflix – and they loved it.
Google has stitched Android and Chrome OS together with scissors, glue, and tape.
Now, six years later, Google has introduced the Pixelbook. It's a beautiful 2-in-1 that seems confused about why it exists. On the outside, it's a product that screams "MacBook competitor," accompanied by a $1,000 price point and snazzy design pulled from the Pixel smartphones.
The Pixelbook isn't targeting the same audience other Chromebooks are. Like Apple and Microsoft, Google wants people to buy the Pixelbook not just because they need a computer, but because they want a Google product. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, that same mindset led to the iPhone and the Surface Pro, devices that altered the future of computing.
Unfortunately, the Pixelbook is not as revolutionary.
The messy mash-up
Before the Pixelbook's announcement, we were sure the next laptop made by Google would integrate Android and Chrome OS. The company had already added access to the Google Play Store to many Chromebooks, so it seems a natural evolution. After the success of the Pixel smartphones, we thought Google's next device would be a mainstream 2-in-1 laptop that everyone would want. Google was even rumored to be developing a new operating system to handle the form factor of the Pixelbook.
However, it only takes a few minutes of using the Pixelbook to realize the problem inherent in its existence. With the Pixelbook, Google has stitched Android and Chrome OS together with scissors, glue, and tape, instead of weaving them together as a single fabric. Running Android apps on the Pixelbook feels akin to running an illegal NES ROM in an emulator. Some of the apps are full of glitches and sizing issues, some of which are leftovers from the Android tablet days. You need only look down at your taskbar and see duplicates of the same app — one from the Play Store, and one from the Chrome Web Store — to see the problem.
Google Assistant and the Pixelbook Pen make the problem worse, not better. They highlight the messy melding of the two operating systems, and make the user experience downright confusing. It's hard to predict what'll happen when you touch the screen with the Pen, or summon Google Assistant. The response can depend on what you're using, and doesn't inspire the confidence. The Chrome browser doesn't work well with the pen, but Android apps usually do. With Assistant, though, it's Android apps that see the cold shoulder, while the Pen is often trouble-free. When a manufacturer makes both the hardware and the software, it's fair to expect a certain amount of integration – and that's what the Pixelbook lacks.
Google, pick a direction – and stick with it
Rumor have circulated about a new Google operating system, code-named Andromeda, that's meant to combine Android and Chrome OS together. It was said to be scheduled for release in 2017. It's not hard to imagine Google preparing Andromeda to be released with the Pixelbook, only to squash it altogether, as reports indicated earlier this summer.
Now, the rumors have changed, and suggest Google's working on a new operating system known internally as Fuchsia. Nothing is official yet, but we do know it ditches the Linux-microkernel that Chrome OS is based on in favor of a new, homebrewed microkernel called Magenta. According to Google documentation, Magenta is made for "modern phones and modern personal computers with fast processors, non-trivial amounts of RAM, with arbitrary peripherals doing open-ended computation."
Whatever Fuchsia's capabilities, Google must decide the type of company it wants to be. If it wants to continue as the open-source, affordable alternative to Apple and Microsoft, it should stop trying to sell $1,000 Chromebooks. If it wants to be a serious competitor in the laptop and 2-in-1 space, it's time for the company to build a decisive, fully-baked solution to the awkward gap between Android and Chrome OS.
Until then, the Pixelbook – and all other premium Chromebooks – will feel like prototypes shoved out the door too soon.


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Archive for October, 2013
This morning, former House Ways and Means Commmittee Chairman Jim Knoblach held a press conference to announce he was filing a lawsuit to stop construction of the new Senate Office Building. Here's the explanation for Chairman Knoblach's lawsuit:
Former State Representative Jim Knoblach (R–St. Cloud) is filing a lawsuit today to stop the new $90 million Senate Office Building, currently under design. The lawsuit claims the building's authorization in the 2013 Omnibus Tax Bill violates Article IV, section 17 of the Minnesota Constitution.
"Spending $90 million on an office building to house a few dozen Senators and staff is an incredible waste," said Knoblach. "We aren't increasing the number of Senators. Temporary difficulties due to the Capitol renovation can be met by sharing hearing rooms at the State Office Building, and using other existing state buildings near the Capitol."
Article IV, section 17 of the Minnesota Constitution reads: "Laws to embrace only one subject. No law shall embrace more than one subject, which shall be expressed in its title."
Recent laws struck down under this single subject provision include:
1) a prevailing wage provision authored by then Rep. Tom Bakk in the 1997 Omnibus Tax Bill (Associated Builders and Contractors v. Ventura; Minnesota Supreme Court, 2000);
2) the Minnesota Personal Protection Act when first included in a DNR technical correction bill (Unity Church v. State of Minnesota; Minnesota Court of Appeals, 2005). The bill was struck down even though the Personal Protection Act was mentioned in the title.
"There is no legal justification for authorizing a new building in the tax bill," said Erick Kaardal, the attorney representing Knoblach. "The subject of the tax bill is taxes, not building new buildings."
This is a strong lawsuit. First, Chairman Knoblach has the clearly written text of the Minnesota Constitution on his side. Second, he's got multiple precedents on his side, too.
When I spoke to him, Chairman Knoblach said that courts have given the legislature some latitude with the Single Subject Clause of the Minnesota Constitution, though he noted that the rulings cited above have sent the message to the legislature that there are limits to that latitude.
This information is damning towards Senate Majority Leader Bakk:
On April 24, 2013, H.F. 677, the Omnibus Tax Bill, was marked up in the Senate Taxes Committee. Senator Ann Rest offered an amendment to include language providing for the Senate Office Building, including $3 million for predesign and design, and language authorizing the state to sign a lease-purchase agreement to construct the building.
Senate Minority Tax Lead Julianne Ortman objected, stating "…this is a surprise…we haven't had a hearing on this in this committee…this should be in the bonding bill…I will be voting no." Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk spoke in favor of the amendment, saying that "…bonding bills often times get caught up in end of session politics, and the Capitol renovations transcend politics and should be at a level above the political maneuvering that gets done at the end of session." The amendment passed on a divided vote with several members voting no. (Source: Committee hearing video tape).
That's quite interesting. Sen. Bakk admitted that the construction project was a bonding project. He's right about that, which means the project requires 60% of senators to pass it, then 60% of House members to approve it.
That's a delicate situation to finesse, especially right prior to an election. Spending $90,000,000 on a new office building to house politicians while the Capitol is refurbished doesn't make for good politics in swing districts. Further complicating matters is the fact that this isn't a tiny project. This would be one of the biggest bonding projects in recent history.
The other thing that's worth mentioning is that Sen. Bakk put a prevailing wage provision "in the 1997 Omnibus Tax Bill" that was struck down. That begs the question why Sen. Bakk thinks the single-issue clause in the Minnesota Constitution is irrelevant.
The most likely answer is that Sen. Bakk will throw Minnesota's Constitution out if that's what's needed to satisfy the DFL's special interest allies.
Technorati: Jim Knoblach, Bonding Bill, Senate Office Building, Lawsuit, Erick Kaardal, MNGOP, Tom Bakk, Prevailing Wage, Tax Bill, Ann Rest, DFL, Election 2014
This video shows Megyn Kelly pulverizing Rep. Frank Pallone, (D-NJ), on what's causing insurance companies to cancel millions of individual policies:
Saying that Rep. Pallone is a BSer is understatement. In fact, it's quite possible that he isn't a BSer. It's possible that he's just a liar. During the interview, Rep. Pallone continually insists that the reason why insurance companies are cancelling these policies is because they know that they can't "sell inferior policies at higher prices."
In the gospel according to Rep. Pallone, he and his Democratic allies alone are the only people qualified to determine which policies are superior and which are inferior.
It's insulting to hear that bald-faced lie. CBS has run multiple reports on people who've lost their insurance because the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, makes it illegal for companies to sell the policies that people liked. CNN and Fox have run similar articles, too.
Further, we know that people aren't fond of buying health insurance policies that cover neo-natal care, pregnancy coverage and substance abuse coverage. Millions of people don't need those coverages. They shouldn't have to purchase policies that include those coverages.
Let's stipulate that the grandfathered in issue is a ruse. It isn't a real issue. The federal government shouldn't be telling people what coverages they must have. Under the Affordable Care Act, politicians and bureaucrats determine what coverages individuals and families must purchase. In a best practices world, families consulting with their primary care physicians would determine which coverages are needed.
Another absurdity of the Affordable Care Act is that it requires every health insurance policy sold in the United States cover the same types of things. The only difference between the bronze, silver and gold plans are the premiums, deductibles and co-pays. The smaller the co-pay or deductible, the higher the premium. The reason why that's absurd is because the federal government thinks cookie-cutter policies fit each family's needs perfectly.
Only a politician with an ego bigger than the Montana sky would think that identical policies fit each family perfectly. Rep. Pallone fits that description perfectly. He's a dishonest politician. He knows the Affordable Care Act isn't delivering health insurance policies that provide more coverage at lower prices.
In a post-Affordable Care Act world, people, acting on the advice of their primary care physicians, will buy policies that fit their families' needs. There won't be a need to grandfather policies in because the people, not government, will determine what they should buy.
Admitting that people have the ultimate authority for their decisions is a revolutionary concept. It's why we fought the Revolutionary War.
Technorati: Frank Pallone, Minimum Essential Coverage, Insurance Cancellations, Individual Mandate, One Size Fits All, Affordable Care Act, Democrats
Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox. Tonight, they clinched their third World Series championship in less than a decade. Here's the mob scene after the clinching out:
Boston becomes only the second team in baseball history to go from finishing last one year, then winning the World Series championship the next year. They join the 1991 Minnesota Twins as the only teams to go 'worst to first' and win the World Series.
St. Louis had a great year. Mike Matheny is a great manager. Still, this was Boston's year. Any team with a nucleus of Big Papi, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia in the starting lineup and Jon Lester and John Lackey at the top of the rotation has a shot at winning it all.
Adding Mike Napoli in the offseason, then addding Jake Peavey during the season were master strokes. Of course, it can't hurt when Big Papi hits .688 in the World Series and Napoli breaks Lou Gehrig's RBI record with 14.
According to this Weekly Standard article, Amy Klobuchar had a deer-in-the-headlights moment when asked about people losing the health insurance that they liked. Here's what Ms. Klobuchar said:
Others blamed the insurance companies.
"Insurance companies cancel insurance policies. That's what they do," said Reid.
"You should talk to the insurance companies if they're dropping people," said Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. "The idea here is to have affordable insurance to people that don't have it."
Sen. Klobuchar's statement is pathetic. She's pretending that the Affordable Care Act's regulations didn't force insurance companies to drop people's policies because the ACA made the policies illegal.
Sen. Klobuchar, Why don't you and your Democratic colleagues admit that the Affordable Care Act, the bill you voted for, forced insurance companies to drop plans? Why can't you admit that the insurance companies aren't the villains here? Why don't you admit that the villains are the politicians that voted for the Affordable Care Act (that includes you) and the bureaucrats that gutted the provision that grandfathered in policies (that's Kathleen Sebelius)?
The regulations signed off on by Secretary Sebelius made the vast majority of grandfathered-in policies illegal. The insurance companies didn't have a choice in the matter of whether they'd continue offering the policies that are getting canceled. That's because Sebelius' rule made them illegal. If the insurance companies tried to continue selling the product, they would've opened themselves up to a lawsuit by HHS and possibly the Justice Department.
The fact that Sen. Klobuchar attempted to blame insurance companies shows that she understands that the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is a disaster far beyond a website that's constantly crashing.
Insurance premiums are going up for hundreds of thousands of people across the country. They're increasing for people who had the policy they liked canceled. That's happening as a direct result of politicians like Sen. Klobuchar passing a God-awful bill. It's happening because bureaucrats like Secretary Sebelius have made a terrible bill worse with God-awful regulations designed to push people into the health insurance exchanges.
UPDATE: Paul Mirengoff live-blogged this morning's hearing. Here's the key part of this morning's hearing:
11:39: But wait! Rep. Lance (R.NJ) asks a very telling question on the issue of what changes in policies will negate "grandfathering" of old plans. He asks about a report that a $5 change in a co-pay would cause a plan to lose its protection and cause someone to lose that plan. Sebelius can't deny this. Instead, she bobs and weaves.
11:42: Rep. Cassidy (R.La.) follows up on Lance's line of questioning. He says that a $1 dollar change in co-insurance would negate grandfathering. Sebelius now admits that Rep. Lance's $5 increase in co-pay is accurate.
This isn't the type of news the administration wanted. Conservative websites will highlight this as proof the administration wrote the regulations to push people onto the exchanges.
That means President Obama did nothing to make sure his administration did nothing to keep his promise that "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. Period." By pushing people into the exchanges, this administration guaranteed health insurance prices would increase significantly, thus breaking the administration's promise that families' health care costs would drop by $2,500 a year.
Technorati: Amy Klobuchar, Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama, Affordable Care Act, Grandfathered In, Insurance Premiums, Health Insurance Exchanges, Cancellation Notices, Regulations, Democrats
Since the flood of cancellation announcements hit the airwaves, the Democrats' latest talking point is that 'most people get their insurance through their employer.' That's indisputable fact — for now. Let's remember that the administration delayed implementation of employer mandate for a year.
When the employer mandate is required, the companies' response is exceptionally predictable. Companies will drop people from their group plans because it's cheaper to pay the fine than pay for health insurance. That's equally indisputable. When that happens, the people who once got their insurance through their employers will get hit with a massive price increase because they'll be paying the full price for the insurance.
First, let's look at the administration's biggest problem:
There have been estimates about hundreds of thousands of people losing coverage, CBS News' Jan Crawford reported on "CBS This Morning." CBS News has reached out to insurance companies across the country to determine some of the real numbers — and this is just the tip of the iceberg, Crawford said. The people who are opening the letters are shocked to learn they can't keep their insurance policies despite President Obama's assurances to the contrary.
The White House is on the defensive trying to explain it, after Mr. Obama repeatedly said, "If you like your doctor or health care plan, you can keep it."
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, "What the president said and what everybody said all along is that there are going to be changes brought about by the Affordable Care Act to create minimum standards of coverage."
Carney isn't telling the whole truth. The language in the bill was emphatic and clear. People who liked their plans wouldn't get to keep their plans. The language President Obama used in public appearances to sell the legislation was emphatic and clear, too.
He emphatically and repeatedly stated that people who liked their plans could "keep their plans. Period." It wasn't a nuanced statement. It wasn't said just once, either, so they can't say that it's an accident. Unfortunately, that's just the tip of the iceberg:
CBS News has confirmed with insurance companies across the country that more than two million people are getting notices they no longer can keep their existing plans. In California, there are 279,000; in Michigan, 140,000; Florida, 300,000; and in New Jersey, 800,000. And those numbers are certain to go even higher. Some companies who tell CBS News they've sent letters won't say how many [they've sent].
That's the statistics from people who've bought insurance through the individual market. Those can't take into account the number of people who will get dumped into the exchanges when their employers drop their health insurance. When that happens, these figures will look like the good old days.
Technorati: Insurance Cancellations, Health Insurance, Individual Market, Individual Mandate, Group Health Plan, Employer Mandate, Affordable Care Act, President Obama, Jay Carney, Democrats, Jan Crawford, CBS News
Last week, Silence Dogood wrote about a contract St. Cloud State signed with the Great Place to Work Institute. Here's what Silence wrote in the opening paragraph:
At Meet and Confer on October 9, 2013, Holly Schoenherr, Director of Human Resources at St. Cloud State University, announced that the university had signed a $50,000 contract with the Great Place to Work Institute to 'help' SCSU improve trust and morale among its employees. Three issues arise immediately. First the contract was signed without consultation with the Faculty Association. Second, MnSCU requires a request for proposals (RFP) for contracts over $50,000. Lastly, Minnesota Statutes require several procedural steps before being signed. Apparently, Holly did not know about that requirement for an RFP because almost immediately she tried to cover her misstep by then saying "the contract is a little under $50,000." It is also likely that she did not follow Minnesota Statues BEFORE signing the contract. It's too bad that the administration regularly displays such a lack of trust and respect for the Faculty at SCSU that they won't include the faculty BEFORE decisions are made.
The first question that arises is why St. Cloud State would need to sign another contract to improve their brand. Thanks to documents obtained from St. Cloud State through a Data Practices Act request, I have proof that St. Cloud State signed a contract with Earthbound Media Group, aka EMG, then signed several amendments to the original contract. In total, St. Cloud State paid EMG more than $459,000 for the work they did in rebranding the University.
Why would St. Cloud State sign another contract with a company to improve its image while "improving trust and morale" amongst its employees? This information from an IFO survey sheds some light on why that might be required:
Recommendation 1: Changes in both mission and organization structure are necessary to embody diversity in MnSCU. The Inter Faculty Organization also needs to be aware how well it is representing all faculty and be ready to implement structural changes essential to enhance diversity.
Survey and focus group data support the need for this change, and standpoint (i.e., whether one is a person of color, female, or GLBT-identified) is crucial to this understanding. In general, 48 percent of faculty survey participants describe their work environments in positive terms, 37 percent in negative terms, and 15 percent in neutral terms for their colleagues who are female, from another country, faculty of color, or GLBT. The perceptions of faculty of color differ from the general view, however, as 56 percent describe their work environment as either somewhat or very negative.
The extent to which negativity is perceived also varies across campuses from a high of 54 percent at St. Cloud to a low of 24 percent at Winona.
The fact that St. Cloud State ranks last in terms of negative work environment suggests that there's lots of structural work that needs to be done. Here's Dictionary.com's definition of rebranding:
to promote as a brand name.
Marketing specialists know that it's impossible to promote a brand name if the product is structurally flawed. If faculty morale is low, then it's indisputable that the product, St. Cloud State in this instance, is structurally flawed.
Technorati: St. Cloud State, Great Place to Work Institute, Rebranding, Earthbound Media Group, Faculty Morale, Faculty of Color, Winona State, Inter Faculty Organization
Earlier tonight, NBC News reported that President Obama knew that hundreds of thousands of people wouldn't be able to keep the health insurance plan that they liked:
President Obama repeatedly assured Americans that after the Affordable Care Act became law, people who liked their health insurance would be able to keep it. But millions of Americans are getting or are about to get cancellation letters for their health insurance under Obamacare, say experts, and the Obama administration has known that for at least three years.
Four sources deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act tell NBC News that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a "cancellation" letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don't meet the standards mandated by the new health care law. One expert predicts that number could reach as high as 80 percent. And all say that many of those forced to buy pricier new policies will experience "sticker shock."
Buried in Obamacare regulations from July 2010 is an estimate that because of normal turnover in the individual insurance market, "40 to 67 percent" of customers will not be able to keep their policy. And because many policies will have been changed since the key date, "the percentage of individual market policies losing grandfather status in a given year exceeds the 40 to 67 percent range."
Since the cancellation notices started getting covered, the administration's allies have taken a new approach, saying that the new policies getting offered have better coverage. First, that's irrelevant because people might not want some of the additional coverage from the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Second, it's irrelevant because President Obama made an explicit promise. If you liked your health plan, you would keep it. Period.
Tonight on Megyn Kelly's show, Mark Hannah tried saying that President Obama always said that there would be changes in the level of coverage that would be required under the Affordable Care Act. While it's true the administration might've said that to Congress, there's no hint of that in any of the stump speeches he gave while selling the plan. Nuance wasn't part of President Obama's presentation.
Which leads to the key question in this cancellation fiasco. Did the administration deliberately lie to pass the Affordable Care Act? Or were they that out to lunch as to what the bill's language meant?
We know that President Obama told Sen. Jon Kyl that people who bought their insurance on the individual market would be grandfathered in, thereby guaranteeing these families would be able to keep the policies they had. Asterisk. The catch in the bill's regulations said that these policies were grandfathered in as long as no changes in price, coverage or policy were made.
The bill and regulations were written in such a way as to force people onto the exchanges. That's the only way to pay for the rest of the bill. Had they wanted people to keep their health insurance plan, they could've simply said that all health insurance policies met the Affordable Care Act's minimum requirements. Had they done that, they wouldn't be facing this crisis.
There's no debating whether this is a crisis, either. If this administration doesn't get HealthCare.gov fixed, lower health insurance premiums and let people keep the plan they wanted, Democrats will be in trouble politically. If we're still talking about HealthCare.gov in mid-February, we'll know that Democrats are heading for a major electoral defeat in November, 2014. People in Florida will certainly turn on Democrats now that Florida Blue is cancelling hundreds of thousands of policies as a direct result of the bill Democrats voted for.
If they're still experiencing difficulties with HealthCare.gov in mid-February, Stuart Rothenberg and Larry Sabato will have Kay Hagan's, Mark Pryor's and Mark Begich's seats in the leans GOP category instead of toss-ups.
Democrats are either lacking in the policy gravitas department or they're deeply dishonest. Either way, that isn't a ringing endorsement for them.
Technorati: Health Insurance Policies, Cancellations, Mark Begich, Kay Hagan, Mark Pryor, HealthCare.gov, Grandfathered Policies, Individual Mandate, President Obama, Kathleen Sebelius, Democrats, Election 2014
The loudest message coming from this LA Times article is that the Affordable Care Act isn't living up to President Obama's promises. Here's proof that the Affordable Care Act isn't making health insurance affordable:
Fullerton resident Jennifer Harris thought she had a great deal, paying $98 a month for an individual plan through Health Net Inc. She got a rude surprise this month when the company said it would cancel her policy at the end of this year. Her current plan does not conform with the new federal rules, which require more generous levels of coverage.
Now Harris, a self-employed lawyer, must shop for replacement insurance. The cheapest plan she has found will cost her $238 a month. She and her husband don't qualify for federal premium subsidies because they earn too much money, about $80,000 a year combined.
"It doesn't seem right to make the middle class pay so much more in order to give health insurance to everybody else," said Harris, who is three months pregnant. "This increase is simply not affordable."
That's just one example. Here's another:
Pam Kehaly, president of Anthem Blue Cross in California, said she received a recent letter from a young woman complaining about a 50% rate hike related to the healthcare law.
"She said, 'I was all for Obamacare until I found out I was paying for it,'" Kehaly said.
Sticker shock is setting in. The middle class, whom Democrats nationwide say they're trying to build their economy around, are getting hit with massive health insurance price increases. The term middle class squeeze certainly fits this situation. It's statements like this that infuriate people:
Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, said the state and insurers agreed that clearing the decks by Jan. 1 was best for consumers in the long run despite the initial disruption. Lee has heard the complaints — even from his sister-in-law, who recently groused about her 50% rate increase.
"People could have kept their cheaper, bad coverage, and those people wouldn't have been part of the common risk pool," Lee said. "We are better off all being in this together. We are transforming the individual market and making it better."
Mr. Lee sounds like a Democrat shill. (I'd say he sounds like Juan Williams or Mark Hannah but that'd be harsh.) How dare he say that they're booting people off of their "cheaper, bad coverage." Ultimately, that should be their choice. Further, Lee's company sold these people's "bad coverage."
Is Lee now admitting that they sold crappy policies?
Despite Lee's statement, the reality is that lots of people liked their policies. They didn't think of their policies as crappy. Their opinion should be the only opinion that matters. Instead, President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and their faithful shills in the insurance industry and throughout the Agenda Media think that government's opinion is the opinion that matters most.
How dare they think like that. If the Founding Fathers would be alive today, they'd be spoiling for another revolution. This administration's actions are the actions of tyrants. On July 4, 1776, brave men issued a statement to the rest of the world. Its title is the Declaration of Independence. It wasn't titled the Declaration of Government Telling Us What's Best.
Thanks to the Anything But Affordable Care Act, aka the ABACA, people who had done the right thing by buying health insurance on the individual market have had the government tell them that they've made a bad decision. Based on what we've seen from this administration, there's no reason to think that their opinion is valuable.
Supporters of the healthcare law say Obama was referring to people who are insured through their employers or through government programs such as Medicare. Still, they acknowledge the confusion and anger from individual policyholders who are being forced to change.
Cavallaro received her cancellation notice from Anthem Blue Cross this month. The company said a comparable Bronze plan would cost her 65% more, or $484 a month. She doubts she'll qualify for much in premium subsidies, if any. Regardless, she resents losing the ability to pick and choose the benefits she wants to pay for. "I just won't have health insurance because I can't pay this increase," she said.
According to Cavallaro, the Affordable Care Act isn't the right title for the legislation. How many Deborah Cavallaros are there out there? How many people are furious that the government told them that people, not politicians, shouldn't be allowed to make decisions that affect their lives?
Ultimately, that's the question that'll change the terms of the debate. Should government, not families, determine what's best for their families? I think not. Emphatically.
Technorati: Californians, Insurance Cancellations, Premium Increases, Health Insurance, Kaiser Permanente, Anthem Blue Cross, Covered California, Affordable Care Act, Individual Mandate, President Obama, Broken Promises, Democrats
I just watched today's panel for Fox News Sunday. Juan Williams, the unapologetic water-carrier for this administration, made a statement that Brit Hume and Chris Wallace utterly demolished. First, here's the video of the panel, courtesy of Mediaite:
Here's the transcript of the back-and-forth between Brit Hume and Juan Williams, then between Juan Williams, Brit Hume and Chris Wallace. It's rather telling:
JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, I get this sense, but people — on the Republican side are enjoying this moment. But this is empty rhetoric. When you speak to the insurance executives in Florida, in California, they say they're canceling those policies, Chris, because ObamaCare has requirements. Ten categories or mandates for levels of coverage. The current policies don't meet them, so they have to cancel them, but they're extending — they're extending offers to the very people who are losing them for better packages at lower costs with more benefits.
WALLACE: No, no, that's not true.
WILLIAMS: It is true. Let me just tell you something else that you said. You said oh, but, you know, January One, these people lose their coverage. In fact, the insurance companies are saying, we will make sure that on January One, you have coverage. This is not the apocalypse.
HUME: Juan, look, what about this — the president promised explicitly, we heard it on this program, if you like the coverage you have now, you can keep it, period.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
HUME: These hundreds of thousands of people evidently like the policies they had because they kept paying for it. They're now being told they can't have those policies any more, that they must have policies that involve coverage for things they may feel they don't need.
WILLIAMS: They're going to get better coverage, Brit, at potentially lower cost.
HUME: Whose idea of better coverage? Their idea or the government's?
WILLIAMS: They — what they are offered, it may be their idea. Right now …
HUME: It may be their idea.
WILLIAMS: Right now all that insurance companies are saying is, we don't meet the requirements under ObamaCare, but we're going to offer you a better deal!
HUME: No, we're going to offer you a government mandated deal that may or may not be a better deal for the people involved. There are people who are elderly people who've been required to pay for maternity coverage.
WALLACE: We have to end this segment, I just to want to point out that we had a couple of weeks ago, a letter that a 62-year-old couple who have their own business in Oregon — under the ObamaCare, they were losing their policy, the new policy, the cheapest policy they were being offered, the deductible was going to double to 5,000 a person. Visits to specialists, and one of them had to see a specialist, were going up from $35 a visit to $100 a visit and their premium was going up. So, the idea that they are going to get more for less.
Juan Williams is, in my opinion, the most gullible journalist on TV. First, he's assumed that the coverages that the Affordable Care Act mandates are the coverages that everyone likes. That's total foolishness. Second, the thought that insurance companies were going to offer cheaper-priced policies while covering more things is the epitome of gullibility. Why would anyone think that?
That's like thinking that people can buy a Cadillac SUV for a cheaper price than Chevy's full-sized SUV.
Third, it's stunning to think that a reporter of Juan Williams' experience hasn't checked things out for himself. At minimum, he should talk with Kirsten Powers and Ezra Klein. They've actually compared prices people were paying before the Affordable Care Act's minimum coverages took effect vs. the premiums for policies meeting the Affordable Care Act's requirements.
What's most stunning, though, is the thought that Juan Williams thinks that people automatically think that government, not them and their physician, knows best. Why would anyone reflexively think that? That's breathtakingly foolish and gullible.
Brit Hume, then Chris Wallace, cited the statistics that disproved Williams' statements. Despite that, Williams still didn't accept their proof as fact. Apparently, verifiable facts aren't part of settling Juan Williams' disputes.
Finally, Williams isn't noticing that young, healthy people aren't buying government-mandated private health insurance. In fact, they're staying away in droves.
Technorati: Brit Hume, Chris Wallace, Fox News Sunday, Media, Kaiser Permanente, Florida Blue, Insurance Cancellations, Insurance Premiums, Individual Mandate, Affordable Care Act, Juan Williams, Media Bias, Liberalism
Sen. Franken's grasp of what's happening with the Affordable Care Act is breathtakingly devoid of reality. This KSTP video shows how much Sen. Franken is in denial:
Scott Theisen's article for KSTP highlights the fact that Sen. Franken a) doesn't want to admit that HealthCare.gov is an unmitigated disaster and b) is in total spin mode:
Speaking to the media after meeting in St. Paul with medical device company officials, the Minnesota Democrat said ongoing technical problems with the federal health insurance website are "inexcusable." But Franken said he thinks they're getting better.
That's total BS. HealthCare.gov is still sending incorrect personal information to the insurance companies. The website is still a nightmare to navigate. If Sen. Franken thinks that improving minor things on the periphery is proof that things are getting better, he's setting his sights too low.
Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, David Pryor of Arkansas and Kay Hagan of North Carolina advocated an extension. Like Franken, both Pryor and Hagan are up for re-election next year and are likely to be judged by voters for the success or failure of the law at that point.
Franken wasn't ready to join their chorus, though he didn't rule out eventual delay. "We'll have to see how long this takes to get fixed and how much improved this is," Franken said. "I'd be open to that if this continues, of course, but my understanding is this is improving every day."
Sen. Franken shouldn't be trusted if he's willing to say that things are "improving every day." If things are "improving every day," why did President Obama push Kathleen Sebelius off to the side and put Jeff Zients in charge of getting HealthCare.gov functioning properly?
This isn't complicated. Either Sen. Franken thinks that things are improving or he takes note that the woman tasked with putting HealthCare.gov together for the last 3 years was thrown under President Obama's bus. He can't believe both things are proof that things are improving.
On a different but related topic, during the news segment of At Issue With Tom Hauser, Sen. Franken said that he's still pushing to repeal a tax he voted to create. He's supporting the repeal of the medical device manufacturing excise tax, saying that the device tax "is chasing companies overseas."
I don't doubt that the device tax is chasing companies overseas because I wrote about that phenomenon in this post:
"This bill is a jobs killer," said Ernie Whiton, chief financial officer of Chelmsford's Zoll Medical Corp., which employs about 650 people in Massachusetts. Many of those employees work in Zoll's local manufacturing facility making heart defibrillators. "We could be forced to (move) manufacturing overseas if we can't pass along these costs to our customers," said Whiton.
Here's what we know about Sen. Franken: he thinks HealthCare.gov is improving and he's finally figured out that the tax he voted to create drives employers away. Further, we know that Republicans predicted this of the medical device tax from before the tax was created.
Question: Why should Minnesotans vote for the not-too-bright Franken when they can vote for someone who actually knows how to create jobs? That decision is a no-brainer.
Technorati: Al Franken, HealthCare.gov, Medical Device Tax, Affordable Care Act, Tax Increases, Kathleen Sebelius, Democrats, Election 2014


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Below is the call for papers for our 2010 conference, chaired by me, past president Eric Arnesen. The conference will be at George Washington University's Marvin Center, within walking distance of the Library of Congress, the Mall, the White House, and the shops and restaurants of vibrant Georgetown as well as Dupont Circle. We hope to see you there! The call for papers focuses broadly on the future of history, but we welcome proposals on all manner of historical subjects. There is plenty of time to get organized--the deadline for submitting a proposal is January 31, 2010. So if you're working on something you'd like to talk about, please do send in a proposal.
The Historical Society's 2010 Conference
June 3-5, 2010, George Washington University, Washington, DC
We invite participants to address a wide range of questions and issues, including: What are the current historiographical debates? Where do particular fields now stand? What's changed for the better--or the worse--in specific areas? What are the truly big questions historians face, and are we adequately grappling with them? How will historical inquiry change in the 21st century?
We especially encourage panel proposals, though individual paper proposals are welcome as well. And our interpretation of "panel" is broad: 2 or more presenters constitute a panel--chairs and commentators are optional. As at past conferences, we hope for bold yet informal presentations that will provoke lots of questions and discussion from the audience, not presenters reading papers word-for-word from a podium followed by a commentator doing the same.
Please submit proposals (brief abstract and brief CV) by January 31, 2010 to
Eric Arnesen, 2010 Program Chair, at email@example.com
We look forward to hearing from you!
Eric Arnesen
Friday, October 30, 2009
Historical Inquiry in the New Century: The Historical Society's June 2010 Conference
1 comment:
- vanzare apartamente cluj said...
You have no idea how bad I feel beacuse I could not attend this event .. I admire you very much for what you do and I want to congratulate you
- June 18, 2010 at 8:08 AM
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In the Spotlight: Dior, Penélope Cruz and More
More fashion, celebrity and lifestyle news from the Fashion Frontline desk.
Raf Simons for Dior
Tokyo-based Dior fans will be pleased to hear that designer Raf Simons has decided to take Dior's Pre-Fall 2015 runway show to Japan, coinciding with the opening of new Dior boutique in Tokyo's Omote Sando.
Penélope Cruz
Spanish actress Penélope Cruz has been named 2014's "Sexiest Woman Alive" by Esquire magazine, joining the ranks of previous winners Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron, Halle Berry and Angelina Jolie. Cruz is currently working on Spanish language drama Ma Ma and Sacha Baron Cohen comedy Grimsby.
Models: Giselle Bündchen and Lily Aldridge
Supermodel Giselle Bündchen has been chosen to lead the latest campaign for Chanel's iconic No. 5 fragrance, in a Baz Lurhmann directed photoshoot which has seen her everywhere from beach to New York backstreets.
Victoria's Secret model Lily Aldridge launched her "Fall Refresh" collection, as guest curator for fashion-lifestyle website gilt.com. The exciting new collection features 100 original pieces based on the model's own "seven fall essentials."
Shopping Stats: Interbrand and Hong Kong
Market giants Apple and Google maintain respective no. 1 and no. 2 top-spots in brand consultancy Interbrand's annual "Best Global Brands" report, whilst new to the list was Hugo Boss (no. 97.) Now under creative direction of Jason Wu, the German fashion house has become a leading global brand.
The Hong Kong Retail Management Association noted 15-50% drop in retail sales for Golden Week 2014 compared to 2013, as pro-democracy protests have paralyzed travel to the area.


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Compiled by Lauren Kornreich and Katy Byron, CNN Washington Bureau
* Hillary Clinton holds "Solutions for the American economy" town halls in Hartford, Connecticut and Springfield, Massachusetts before returning to Washington.
* John Edwards meets with union workers in Chattanooga and Nashville, Tennessee and in Springfield, Missouri.
* Rudy Giuliani attends rallies in Sanford, Clearwater, Ft. Myers, Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood, and Miami, Florida.
* Mike Huckabee attends a rally in Pensacola, Florida. Later he attends a closed-press fundraising event, media availability, and closed-press meetings with political leaders, then goes on a tour of Music Row and plays guitar in a recording session, all in Nashville, Tennessee. At night, he attends a rally in Tampa, Florida.
* John McCain holds a national security roundtable with political and military leaders, a media availability and a campaign rally, all in Jacksonville, Florida. Later, he holds rallies in Orlando and Tampa.
* Barack Obama attends a rally in Washington, DC.
* Ron Paul is in Maine. He holds a media availability and meets with voters in Portland, and holds a press conference in Augusta.
* Mitt Romney holds "Change Begins with Us" rallies in West Palm Beach, Ft. Myers, Orlando, Panama City, and Jacksonville, Florida.


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Veliky Ustyug has a great historical significance and was one of the major cities of the Russian North. It preserved some of the past urban structure and many of the architectural monuments, it was completely deprived of its leading role and is now merely a tourist attraction.
The town of Veliky Ustyug was first mentioned in a chronicle in 1207. In 1212, Mikhaylo-Arkhangelsky Monastery was founded. It was a part of the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality (in contrast to the neighboring lands, most notably Totma, colonized by Novgorod). Thus Veliky Ustyug created the only obstacle to Novgorod's trade with the north, as the Sukhona and the Northern Dvina were the main waterways connecting Novgorod with the White Sea. Clashes between Novgorod and Ustyug became regular, especially throughout the whole 14th century. In 1328, Ustyug was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
The town was not immediately affected by the Mongol invasion of Rus' in the 13th century; however, its rapid growth in the second half of the century was due to influx of refugees from Central Russia.
In the 15th century, Veliky Ustyug became notable for the war between Vasily II of Moscow and his cousin Dmitry Shemyaka, which left northern Russia deserted. Shemyaka took Veliky Ustyug in 1450, drowned in the Sukhona those citizens who refused to accept him as a prince, and made the town his residence for two years, until he was driven off by the forces of Vasily. In the 15th century, the town had a great military importance and became the base for the operations against the Finno-Ugric peoples.
In 1613, during the Time of Troubles, Veliky Ustyug was besieged by Polish troops but never taken. At the junction of important trade routes, the town turned into a significant commercial and industrial center in the 16th and 17th centuries. Veliky Ustyug area was the birthplace of the explorers Semyon Dezhnyov, Yerofey Khabarov, Vladimir Atlasov, and of St. Stephen of Perm. Veliky Ustyug lost its key role as a river port with the diminishing importance of the Sukhona River route for trade between China and western Europe, which started with the foundation of Saint-Petersburg in 1703, whereby the trade was diverted to the Baltic Sea.
The 16th and 17th centuries were the time of the highest rise of the culture in Veliky Ustyug, in which it acquired a national-wide significance. The town is known for its remarkable handicrafts, such as silver filigree, birch bark fretwork, decorative copper binding, and niello. The town developed a distinct manner of icon painting — Ustyug icon painting. In the 17th century, Veliky Ustyug was a major producer of tiles, which are visible on many Ustyug churches and were sold to neighboring towns of the Russian North. On January 25, 1613, the town was unsuccessfully besieged by Polish-Lithuanian vagabonds (see Lisowczycy) led by Jakub Jacki.
In the course of the administrative reform carried out in 1708 by Peter the Great, Veliky Ustyug was explicitly mentioned as one of the 20 towns included into the Archangelgorod Governorate. From 1719, it was the center of Ustyug Province, one of the four provinces of the Governorate. In 1780, the governorate was abolished and transformed into Vologda Viceroyalty. The latter was abolished in 1796, and Veliky Ustyug became the center of Velikoustyugsky Uyezd of Vologda Governorate. In 1918, the town became the administrative center of the newly established Northern Dvina Governorate. In 1924, the uyezds were abolished in favor of the new divisions, the districts (raions).
In 1929, Northern Dvina Governorate was merged into Northern Krai. The krai consisted of five okrugs, one of which, Northern Dvina Okrug, had its administrative center in Veliky Ustyug. In July 1930, the okrugs were abolished, and the districts were directly subordinated to Northern Krai. In 1936, Northern Krai was transformed into Northern Oblast, and in 1937, Northern Oblast was split into Arkhangelsk Oblast and Vologda Oblast. Veliky Ustyug remained in Vologda Oblast ever since.
Veliky Ustyug, in contrast to the majority of historical Russian towns, managed to preserve almost all of its architectural and cultural monuments. This was in a great part due to the efforts of the local intellectuals grouped around the Regional Museum, and most notably of Nikolay Bekryashev, the museum director from 1924 to 1938. This group managed to convince the authorities that the churches and old buildings have a historical significance and must be handed in the museum rather than demolished.
Veliky Ustyug preserves much of its architectural heritage and has one of the best preserved architectural ensembles in Russia. The town contains 152 objects classified as cultural and historical heritage by the Russian Federal law and 25 objects classified as cultural and historical heritage of local importance. It is classified as a historical town by the Ministry of Culture of Russian Federation, which implies certain restrictions on construction in the historical center.
Most of the architectural monuments are on the left bank of the Sukhona, and many of these are the living houses. The exceptions are Troitsko-Gledensky Monastery and the Dymkovo Sloboda, on the right bank of the Sukhona. Troitsko-Gledensky Monastery is in the village of Morozovitsa, in Velikoustyugsky District.
The principal architectural ensembles of Veliky Ustyg are
The monuments of civil architecture are mostly concentrated along the Sukkhona, along Sovetsky Avenue and Krasnaya Street.
Some of these buildings belong to the Velikoustyugsky Museum of History, Art, and Architecture. The museum was open in 1909 in the premises of Mikhaylo-Arkhangelsky Monastery. In 1918 it was transformed into the Museum of the Northern Dvina Culture. Between 1924 and 1938 the museum director was Nikolay Bekryashev, an artist, who devoted his energy to extending the museum to the old buildings, mostly churches, of the town, which thus were saved from destruction. In particular, a big collection of icons and objects of applied arts survived. Despite the efforts of Bekryashev and other museum employees, some of the buildings were destroyed by the authorities. The museum currently serves as an umbrella institution that organizes permanent and temporary exhibits in the former church buildings.
Since the 1990s, Veliky Ustyug was marketed as the residence of Ded Moroz, a fictional character somewhat similar to Santa Claus. In 1998, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov proposed to officially locate the residence of Ded Moroz in Veliky Ustyug. The residence, which is a resort promoted as the Votchina (Russian: Вотчина, Estate), of Ded Moroz, is a major tourist attraction. It is 16 km from the town, on the premises of Velikoustyugsky District. There is a dedicated post office there that answers children's mail to Ded Moroz and has answered more than 1.2 million letters.
Article is based on: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Photo: zov_severa, CC BY 3.0.
Founded: 1207First mentioned
Population: 31,665 inhabitants
Postal Code: 160839, 162390, 162391, 162393, 162394, 162396, 162399
Phone Code: +7 81738
Time: UTC+03:00
Veliky Ustyug
lit. Great Ustug, Ustug the Great
Russian: Вели́кий У́стюг
Veliky Ustyug is close to the confluence of the Sukhona (flowing from the west) and the Yug (from the south) rivers. Downstream from this confluence the rivers form a single waterway known as the Northern Dvina, sometimes referred to as the Little Northern Dvina. The historical center of the town is on the left (high) bank of the Sukhona and, in contrast to many historical Russian towns, there is an embankment along the Sukhona.
Dymkovskaya Sloboda and Troitse-Gledensky Monastery are on the right bank of the Sukhona. New parts of the town, mostly industrial areas, face the Northern Dvina. The only bridge in Veliky Ustyug is across the Sukhona upstream of the town center.
Previously, Gleden was a fortress, and the left bank of the Sukhona was a posad—a territory outside the fortress populated by craftsmen. In the 15th century, the fortress was destroyed in an attack by Vyatka army, and the new fortress was built in the former posad area. The fortress was demolished when it became apparent than no military threat to Veliky Ustyug exists.
The first recorded settlement in the area was the monastic settlement at Gleden (Гледен), founded near the confluence of the Yug and the Sukhona, where Troitsko-Gledensky Monastery is now. The name Ustyug means "the mouth of the Yug". By the late 15th century, the name changed to Veliky (Great) Ustyug.
There are timber industry enterprises in Veliky Ustyug, as well as a shipyard, food industry, and enterprises serving the tourist industry — in particular, the jewelry production plant.
Tourism is an important branch of economy in Veliky Ustyug. It started in the 1960s and got a further boost in 1990s when Veliky Ustyug started to be marketed as the residence of Ded Moroz, also known as "Grandfather Frost".
Roads connect Veliky Ustyug with other towns. The road to the north runs to Krasavino and further to Kotlas. The one to the south runs to Nikolsk and further to Manturovo, where it connects to the road to Kostroma. The road to the southwest connects Veliky Ustyug with Vologda via Totma. It was built in the beginning of the 21st century; before this road was opened, the only way to get from Veliky Ustyug to Vologda was via Nikolsk and Totma. All these roads are paved.
An unpaved road, originating from Kuzino (which is connected with Veliky Ustyug by a ferry crossing) runs to Luza and continues to Lalsk and further to the Komi Republic.
The railroad connects Veliky Ustyug with Yadrikha railway station on the railroad connecting Konosha and Kotlas. The passenger service to Veliky Ustyug was discontinued in 2005.
The Sukhona, the Yug, and the Northern Dvina are all navigable in Veliky Ustyug, but there is no passenger navigation except for ferry crossings.
Veliky Ustyug is served by the Veliky Ustyug Airport with occasional passenger service to Vologda.
The population of Veliky Ustyug was steadily growing until the second half of 20th century, but in the recent years it has been on decline, as is the general trend in Russia.