text:
The introduction of FATCA has provided the US government with greater access to information about individual taxpayers on a global scale, adding to the information that the US has already gathered as a result of its voluntary disclosure programs for individuals. It means US individuals will increasingly be under the scrutiny of the IRS regardless of their residency. Here is an in-depth discussion on the issues of US tax compliance and legal implications for individuals and institutions
By Nan-Hie In and Kenny Lau
The possibility of an American trying to stash financial assets in a foreign bank account as a way to evade US tax liabilities is surely becoming a thing of the past. The enactment of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in 2010 was the beginning of a worldwide effort to crack down on US persons – citizens and permanent residents alike – who may be involved in the criminal act of tax evasion.
FATCA is a step towards greater financial and tax transparency as participating foreign (non-US) financial institutions (FFIs) are obliged to report information of their US clients and account holders to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). When FFIs fail to comply, they are subject to a penalty of a 30 percent withholding tax on all US income. Hong Kong as a jurisdiction has already signed an agreement with the US government for cooperation and compliance.
The implementation of FATCA, however, has created a number of unintended consequences: US citizens are reportedly having a hard time opening financial accounts with certain banks, and some are simply denied basic banking services – all because FFIs may be reluctant to do business with Americans.
"FFIs are absolutely petrified of the supposed 30 percent penalty that the IRS is going to assess on the grounds of noncompliance," says Larry Lipsher, a US-certified public accountant who has been in Hong Kong for more than 20 years.
Under FATCA, foreign financial institutions with clients with US tax liabilities are required to file reports to the IRS, and they must do so under the Foreign Financial Institutions and Entities scheme and apply for a Global Intermediary Identification Number (GIIN) number, he points out. "This is a government number for FFIs under FATCA, which all banks must have."In the current economic environment where institutions are likely more concerned about revenue than compliance, there is a possibility that FFIs may fall behind the schedule of coming into full compliance, Lipsher cautions, highlighting a potential problem.
"The risk is that the longer you wait, the lower the priority it may become in your organization,' he says. "I'd recommend that organizations complete Form 8966, and electronically file it to the IRS on every account of each and every US client."
Disclosure of information
FATCA is essentially a worldwide reporting regime for the purpose of enforcing US tax compliance by requiring all foreign banks and financial institutions to provide the IRS with information of their US clients and account holders. It has significantly expanded the IRS's ability to find out more about individual US taxpayers – and it does not matter if they live and work in the US or in a foreign country.
Over the past few years, FFIs in every corner of the globe have been working to install a system to identify US account holders and report such findings to the IRS; otherwise, they could be found guilty of noncompliance for which a large portion of their US-sourced income would be withheld as a penalty.
From the perspective of individual Americans, it means the IRS will have more access to their financial information. Recent whistleblowing and cyber breaches have also provided tax authorities with a rather high-profile leads to financial data of US taxpayers, provoking tax authorities to take a deeper look into potential cases of noncompliance with US tax laws.
The recent leak of 11.5 million financial documents from a law firm in Panama is a case in point. Whether rightfully or not, it has exposed the undisclosed wealth of high-profile people and has prompted the US government to take further action against offshore tax cheats and shell companies.
"With so much information being gathered by the US tax authorities, people – US citizens and green card holders – are frankly mistaken if they think they are not going to be discovered," says Seth G Cohen, a US tax expert and a partner of law firm Withers Bergman LLP, noting a growing number of legal tools and measures being made available to the IRS for tax compliance enforcement.
The IRS has been employing tactics far more aggressively in recent years than at any time in the past, including attempts to outdo bank secrecy laws of other countries or jurisdictions, even using the infrequently used "Bank of Nova Scotia summons" in February to get a branch of UBS in Miami to furnish financial records of a US citizen's UBS account in Singapore.
It is highly likely that the IRS is acting on data and records of financial information about US bank account holders, provided by foreign banking institutions and other sources. In effect, it is a money trail that US tax authorities could follow from one offshore jurisdiction to another, including Hong Kong.
What does this mean for US individuals in Hong Kong? It is advisable for those with exposure to "come clean" before they are hunted down for noncompliance.
Legal consequences
Individuals and institutions often overlook the wide-ranging effects of America's worldwide taxation system. Americans, unlike their peers of other major developed economies, are taxed on their foreign-earned income, and they are required by law to file US tax returns annually and disclose their financial assets, even if they live and work overseas, Cohen points out.
In other words, it is a legal requirement that all US individuals regardless of residency must report their salary, earnings and pay as well as their foreign bank accounts to the IRS.
"If you are an American who has a foreign bank account with an aggregate value of over US$10,000, you need to file a Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts Report (FBAR)," he notes. "The penalty for failing to do so can be as high as 50 percent of your undisclosed assets on a yearly basis."
"For example, if you had US$1 million for the past six years in a foreign bank account which you've failed to disclose, the IRS could impose a fine of US$3 million," he explains.
However, new guidelines were issued in 2015, partly because of the possibility that such penalty may be considered disproportionate in a US court of law and deemed a violation of the US Constitution as an "excessive fine." Moreover, whether a noncompliant taxpayer is found to have committed a willful (or non-willful) violation is also part of the assessment.
"In the past, those who opened a foreign bank account with the intention of evading taxes and those who were simply unaware of the existing reporting requirements were treated the same way," says Cohen. "The IRS has now determined that certain people are less culpable than others."
"While the law says the authorities can impose up to six years of fines based upon the statutes of limitations, they generally will not," he adds. "If it is a willful violation, under the new guidance, the IRS will generally only impose a 50 percent penalty in most cases and a maximum of two 50 percent penalties in more extreme cases."
The penalty structure is as follows: for a willful violation, the fine is 50 percent of the aggregate balance of one's foreign account(s); for a non-willful violation, the penalty is up to US$10,000 per year per account. But under the new guidance in most cases, the IRS would issue, depending on the circumstances, only a single US$10,000 penalty for all years to a non-willful violator.
Another recent development is the ability of the IRS to restrict international travel movements of US individuals found to be tax non-compliant, says Laurence Ho, a partner at Withers. In December last year, a new rule was established and signed into law, and it gave the US government the legal power to revoke passports of Americans who owe more than US$50,000 in taxes (including penalties and interest). The law went into effect in January 2016.
"They can deny your passport application for renewal or outright revoke it," Ho points out, noting an IRS communication system with the Department of Homeland Security (US port entry) and Department of State (US passport issuance). "For Americans overseas, their US passport may be the only passport they possess; so it might cause a lot of difficulties in terms of travel and their work visa for which they depend on a valid passport."
Voluntary disclosure
Various options are indeed available to encourage US taxpayers who had previously failed to fulfill their tax reporting obligations to, once again, become compliant. Eligibility for these programs depends on individual cases and circumstances. One of the criteria is whether noncompliance was intentional or not.
The Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), launched in 2009 and based on an earlier model of voluntary disclosure, is one example. It is an IRS program which affords US taxpayers (those who have failed to report their foreign financial accounts) the opportunity to reconnect with the US tax system on a voluntary basis and to avoid criminal prosecution before they are pursued by the US tax authorities.
The OVDP program is not available to individuals once there is an IRS case against them. For those who are eligible, they may choose to participate and pay eight years of back taxes, plus interest and a penalty which may vary from 27.5 to 50 percent of all unreported offshore assets.
Those who did not willfully fail to meet their reporting obligations may consider the new Streamlined Offshore Domestic and Foreign Procedures, Cohen notes. "It gives you the opportunity to come forward and pay three years of taxes with interest. This applies to US individuals outside the US." And there is no additional penalty. Conversely, domestic US taxpayers are subjected to a five percent penalty.
Under certain circumstances, one can elect the least onerous route: it is the Delinquent Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR) and the International Informational Return Submission Procedures. Taxpayers who have unintentionally failed their reporting obligations and have owed no taxes on omitted income may make a filing and walk away, and there will unlikely be any further complication, Cohen notes.
It is advisable that banks and trust companies continue to assess whether any financial account holders are of US status, including those as signatory of non-US companies, he adds. "They will need to go through their documents and determine if the accounts were owned outright or owned through an entity, and, if there are problems, they will need to come forward with the information in order to avoid prosecution if they are investigated."
In any case, those that are found to have deliberately supported structures designed to circumvent tax laws could be subject to criminal liability, Cohen stresses. "The IRS, Department of Justice (DOJ), and Congress have made it a lot easier to prosecute those who are not compliant. If a bank is investigated, at a minimum, the appearance of impropriety exists, and you start with a losing proposition with worries about the potential reputational damage from a criminal indictment."


text:
[updated Sept 2nd, 9:17pm – fixed links]
This session (presented on Monday) was all about the broad topic of "what the heck is going on" in the land of SDS (and by analogy SDN) – and aims to answer these questions:
- Control Plane and Data Plane – what the heck are they?
- Where do should they be architected into the IT stack?
- What the heck is up with VMware and EMC, in effect competing (VSAN vs. ScaleIO and all external storage)? (hint, while VSAN **does** offer an alternative, it's not that simple). What about different views on how to abstract storage control planes (VMware SPBM and EMC ViPR).
- Why is there such diversity in storage data plan architectures (amongst large storage vendors, storage startups, shared arrays vs. distributed software stacks, all flash arrays and hybrids)?
- What is everyone doing about the above?
This deck is the "companion" for this blog post that describes the core VMware, EMC, and federation strategy in this space (the "hourglass" strategy slides have proven very popular with customers to quickly and easily understand – they are in this deck if you want to steal them).
Click on the below to download:
(if you want the version with the embedded demos used – WARNING – VERY LARGE 170MB FILE – click here)
Enjoy, and share!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
"What newly married couple doesn't dream of a romantic retreat where they can escape the world for awhile - but what happens when supernatural forces intrude on their wedded bliss?" "Nine of today's hottest paranormal authors answer that question in this all-star collection of supernatural stories. Can a vampire-hunter enjoy her honeymoon after learning that her new hubby is a werewolf? How can newlyweds focus on their wedding night when their honeymoon suite is haunted by feuding ghosts? And what's a wizard to do when a gruesome monster kidnaps the bride on her way home from the wedding?" "With so much otherworldly mayhem awaiting our newlyweds, will they ever get around to the honeymoon itself? Find out in...My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon."--BOOK JACKET.Elrod, P. N. is the author of 'My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon', published 2007 under ISBN 9780312375041 and ISBN 0312375042.[read more]
You can find lots of answers to common customer questions in our FAQs
View a detailed breakdown of our shipping prices
Learn about our return policy
Still need help? Feel free to contact us
View college textbooks by subject
and top textbooks for college
With our dedicated customer support team, 30-day no-questions-asked return policy, and our price match guarantee, you can rest easy knowing that we're doing everything we can to save you time, money, and stress.


text:
The Biggest Little City's most recent downtown entertainment space, which takes its name from its 210 North Sierra Street address, has the modern influences of Las Vegas with touches of Hollywood eras gone by, and it's easy to see why 210 North has Reno talking. Everything about this expansive dance club/lounge exudes opulence and glamour, from its posh furnishings to the 5,000-piece blown glass chandelier in its Divinity lounge, to the dramatic color-changing escalator that funnels up to its 13,000sq-ft. of rooms. Among these areas are two full-service bars, two VIP lounges with beds (for sitting only!), and a dance floor.
Former Eldorado executives Jill Gianoli and Rob Stone spent years envisioning a nightspot in downtown Reno for professionals seeking the perfect place to enjoy a special evening out that would satisfy the richest tastes without excluding the true club crowd. To turn their ambitious dream into reality, the partners called on club designer Charles Doell of Mr. Important Design in San Francisco, recently named one of eight "Legacy" designers by the San Francisco Design Center.
The force behind such trendy San Francisco gathering spots as Backflip and Blush, Doell describes his vision for 210 North: "I wanted people to be in a glamorous space, not just a clubby space — glamour of the old-school variety." Part of achieving this aura, Doell says, was "to use light in a more alluring way. I have definite ideas about how I want light to work in a space."
Doell joined forces with lighting designer Richard Rutherford from Rutherford Design in Northridge, CA, with whom he had collaborated on Blush. "Charles always creates an intense palette," says Rutherford. "Then we go about morphing palettes back and forth to make things work." To put together the lighting palette for 210 North, Rutherford used a package of LEDs, moving heads, color changers, and control from Elation Professional.
According to Doell and Rutherford, the sprawling second-floor club provided intriguing possibilities to do some really spectacular and different things with lighting. The space, a former restaurant that was completely gutted, also posed some serious technical and design challenges. For example, there was the escalator — ideal for staging a theatrical Hollywood-type entranceway — where the designers envisioned enchanting vintage-inspired lampshades wrapped around LEDs that would bathe the vestibule and stairwell in slowly changing colors. The massive height of the ceiling, however, made it virtually impossible to hang fixtures in the area.
The solution was to build a huge 50' floating ceiling of glossy-black vinyl. Large circular lampshades — 14' in diameter — were hung from the vinyl ceiling by a general contractor, and each contains 15 Alkalite Octopod 36 color-changing LED pods from Elation. The shades' custom steel frames are covered in a stretch vinyl that was applied by a specialty wrap team after they were hung and allows the light beams to penetrate upward and reflect off the glossy ceiling, in addition to shining downward.
Aluminum chains are draped on both sides of the escalator vestibule. The silver chains create a highly reflective surface on the walls, significantly helping to light the area. Eighteen Elation Alkalite Trackpod-81 LED boards are mounted at the top of the chain walls, radiating even more colored lights. "The whole vestibule is one huge color-changing experience," says Doell.
In addition to providing an anchor for lighting fixtures, the floating vinyl ceiling extends into the rooms at the top of the escalator. It ties together the vestibule space with the dance floor on one side, and the Divinity lounge on the other, giving the whole area a visually integrated theme.
The Divinity lounge is the epitome of luxury, with glittering chrome curtains, velvet loveseats, and a white marble bar. But its most magnificent feature is a blown-glass chandelier by London artist Eva Menz, shaped like a free-form 3D wave. The chandelier comprises 5,000 individual glass pieces, each of which had to be hand-strung. Four Elation Vision Color 250 color changers reflect light off of the chandelier, adding to the venue's color-morphing experience.
In another of the club's main lounges, the spatial configuration presented a rare opportunity to create an unusual backlit colored wall behind the bar. The 30' wall was outfitted with laminated frosted glass 10' high. Because there was an unused room behind the wall, projectors could be placed behind the glass, backlighting the bar with striking colors and patterns.
"Hardcore architainment," is how Rutherford describes the overall lighting experience at 210 North. To control the LEDs and other lighting fixtures that create this experience, Rutherford chose an Elation AR-32 512-channel wall-mount architectural recorder/playback system. "All of the architainment is controlled with the AR-32," he explains. "It's a very easy system to operate from a facility-management standpoint. The owner doesn't need to be a programmer, just an operator."
Another Elation controller, the Show Designer-2CF, controls the moving lights on the club's main dance floor, outfitted with Elation's Power Spot 250 and Power Wash 250 moving heads.
"There are a lot more expensive ways to do what we did," Rutherford notes, "but we went with Elation because of the quality you get for the price." He adds that Elation technical specialist Ray Villasenor flew in during the install. "He really knows his stuff and helped pull everything together."
For all its intricacies, the club's lighting installation took six crew members eight days from start to finish — an accomplishment Rutherford attributes to "planning, planning, planning. We were pretty well prepared," he says. "Charles gets really committed to his design concepts." As for the final outcome, Rutherford adds, "It's pretty amazing to see the room shift colors in real time. It's such an immersive environment."
The final product is typical of Doell clubs, which go beyond the realm of design to become complete social environments — unique spaces that make evocative statements of their own. The milieu of 210 North is one where cutting-edge, 21st-century lighting technology harkens back to the glittering days of silver-screen Hollywood glamour.
This retro feel becomes even more apparent when the lights are out, says Doell. "I took some black-and-white photos of the club, and it actually looks very vintage," he remarks. "All the lampshades and crystal give it a very retro look that's kind of a throwback to a more captivating era."
At the same time, LEDs and other advanced lighting technologies propel 210 North steps ahead into the future.


text:
|Up a level
Millstone, Erik, Lobstein, Timothy and and the PorGrow Team, (2007) Context for the PorGrow study: Europe's obesity crisis. Obesity Reviews, 8. pp. 7-16. ISSN 14677881
Stirling, A, Lobstein, T, Millstone, E and and the PorGrow Research Team, (2007) Methodology for obtaining stakeholder assessments of obesity policy options in the PorGrow project. Obesity Reviews, 8 (2). pp. 17-27. ISSN 14677881
Millstone, E and Lobstein, T (2007) The PorGrow project - An introduction and overview. Obesity Reviews, 8 (2). pp. 5-6. ISSN 14677881
Millstone, Erik, Mohebati, Lisa, Lobstein, Timothy and Jacobs, Miriam (2007) PorGrow - Policy Options for Responding to the Growing Challenge from Obesity in the United Kingdom. Obesity Reviews, 8. 109- 115. ISSN 14677881
Millstone, E and Lobstein, T (2007) The PorGrow project: overall cross-national results, comparisons and implications. Obesity Reviews, 8. ISSN 14677881
Millstone, Erik and Lobstein, Timothy (2007) The public health and policy context of the PorGrow project. Obesity Reviews, 8 (2). pp. 7-16. ISSN 1467-7881


text:
So for today's blog rewind, I'm going back to a post I did at the beginning the school year as we were trying to thank our kids' therapists and teachers with a small gift. It was a big hit and I figured it was timely considering it is now the end of the year and the need for teacher gifts is here again. Have a great weekend!
TGIF everybody!
Today's post is a great recipe and a gift idea! I am not one to reinvent the wheel, so when I come across great ideas I try to use them. That said, I try to give credit where credit is due. I came across the following recipe/ gift idea at http://www.dollarstorecrafts.com, which is a very cool website if you've never checked it out. The original address for the project is here if you would like to see the original source.
I was trying to think of an inexpensive but thoughtful way to thank my son's teacher, classroom aide, and therapists for all of their extra efforts helping him to have a successful transition to kindergarten. These "cake-in-a-mug" treats were the answer! I got the mugs at The Dollar Store, cello bags from the baking supply section at Walmart, and printed up the directions at home. (Note: This…
View original post 331 more words


text:
When the street music of the Adelaide Fringe have faded to barely remembered echos you don't have to go to far to get back into that festival feel.
We took a whirlwind weekend to visit Melbourne in the midst of the Comedy Festival and the street music was alive and jam'n.
I never got his name nor lingered long but this exponent of Saxuality, playing in his very own personal space, made this space and this saxual moment special.
Photo: Robert Rath, 'A Saxual Moment', 1/2000s f/2.8 ISO320 140mm


text:
Tel: +44 (0)207 739 8094
e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Stock No.14306
A set of three mid 19th century steel fire tools with decorative handles. English, mid 19th century.
Listed Price: £1,400 ( + vat in EU zone )
Link to: Antique Firetools.
Print item with description
Download item brochure
Enquire about this item
You can contact us by email, phone or just by completing the enquiry form below:
Items marked with an '*' are required.


text:
- Prayer and Worship
- Beliefs and Teachings
- Issues and Action
- Media
- Bible
- Catholic Giving
- About USCCB
Evangelicals and Catholics, two of the largest religious communities in the United States, are important voices in the public square. While we acknowledge important differences between our two communions, there should be no doubt that shared familial and societal concerns, such as criminal justice reform, environmental issues, marriage, religious liberty, family and life issues, help bring us together on both the local and national levels.
Past examples of collaboration include the 1994 document "Evangelicals and Catholics Toward a Common Mission" that helped forge a new relationship and new opportunities for dialogue, and the 2013 statement "A Christian Call for Immigration Reform" signed by more than 100 leaders of both communities, as well as the gathering at the Poverty Summit at Georgetown University in 2015.
A formal dialogue between the USCCB and the Evangelical Community met from 2003-2008. While the dialogue has concluded, the USCCB continues to sponsor a yearly meeting of Catholic and Evangelical scholars that studies theological questions and ways both communities can cooperate together for the good of our local communities.
Link to our collaborative partner: The National Association of Evangelicals
By accepting this message, you will be leaving the website of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This link is provided
solely for the user's convenience. By providing this link, the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops assumes no responsibility for,
nor does it necessarily endorse, the website, its content, or
sponsoring organizations.


text:
Contrasts in Paris................I'm not sure this painting is finished as yet. I have been fiddling with the figure in the foreground, my son Peter, because my daughter pointed out that his butt was too big, (see below in the earlier version). I also removed the orange section of sidewalk because I thought it was distracting from the rest of the composition... in any case it is still not finished!
More Italian Market............I recently made 2 trips down to the Italian Market, one of my favorite painting locations in the city. Here are some of my recent studies-
Watermelons on 9th Street 8 x 10
Watermelons on 9th Street 8 x 10
Most of these will be part of my upcoming exhibit at Artists' House in October...


text:
255 E. Loch Lloyd Parkway is a $180,000 property located in Loch Lloyd, MO.
Unique lot perfectly placed moments from the Country Club at Loch Lloyd and front gate providing access to all the club amenities. Ideal for a ranch or story and a half home with room for a pool if desired!
|Exterior Features
Amenities - Exercise Room
Amenities - Golf
Amenities - Boat Dock
Amenities - Putting Green
Amenities - Swimming Pool
Amenities - Tennis Courts
Amenities - Club House
HOA Dues Include - Play Area
HOA Dues Include - Security Service
HOA Dues Include - Snow Removal
HOA Dues Include - Trash Pick Up
HOA Dues Include - Curbside Recycle
HOA Dues Include - Exercise Trail
Road Maintenance - Private
Road Surface - Asphalt
Road Surface - Concrete
|Land Type
Flood Plain - No
|Water Source
Grinder Pump
|Property Type
|HOA Fee
|School District
Loch Lloyd
The information displayed on this page is confidential, proprietary, and copyrighted information of Heartland Multiple Listing Service, Inc. ("Heartland MLS"). Copyright© 2020 , Heartland Multiple Listing Service, Inc. Heartland MLS and eXp Realty Preferred Advisors Team do not make any warranty or representation concerning the timeliness or accuracy of the information displayed herein. In consideration for the receipt of the information on this page, the recipient agrees to use the information solely for the private non-commercial purpose of identifying a property in which the recipient has a good faith interest in acquiring. Data last updated 08/12/2020 at 01:14am MDT.


text:
Personal-injury case gets personal for attorneys
Personal-injury lawyers should never fight with each other.
After all, they're so routinely reviled in our society, they need to stick together, kinda like tobacco lobbyists and basketball referees. We want to see Carabin and Shaw, not Carabin vs. Shaw. It's just the natural order of things.
Miguel Ortiz and Edgardo Baez used to be personal-injury comrades: two old Army buddies with shared Puerto Rican roots who worked together at Ortiz's firm. But they're currently battling over the residue of a 7-year-old case involving an off-duty Bexar County jail guard who tried to pull over a swerving car and wound up firing at the car's unarmed passengers.
Ortiz, a former Democratic congressional candidate, filed a fraud suit against Baez on Dec. 11 in Bexar County District Court, alleging that Baez cheated him out of $16,456 in attorney's fees and expense reimbursements.
For most of us, that's a pretty substantial chunk of change, but given the solid business that both of these attorneys do, it's hard to believe they couldn't work something out and keep this messiness off the court dockets.
Ortiz says he and Baez have been friends for 20 years, adding that he doesn't understand why his former co-worker has ignored all his attempts to resolve the dispute.
Baez did not respond to requests for an interview.
Aside from a failed 2010 Democratic primary challenge to then-incumbent U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, Ortiz is best known for representing Berenice Diaz in her custody battle against her ex-husband, Jean Philippe Lacombe, a case that became something of an international cause célébre.
In 2009, a security camera captured Diaz's crying son, then 10, being pulled off a San Antonio school bus by a deputy constable and handed to Lacombe, who had received a temporary custody order a day earlier from Texas District Judge Sol Casseb. Lacombe fled to France with the boy, but Ortiz convinced a French court to return the boy to his mother.
Ortiz, 45, is a colorful guy. A native of Fort Benning, Ga., he grew up in Puerto Rico, served in the Persian Gulf, aggressively branded Rodriguez a do-nothing congressman in their primary race, and cultivates a Latino cattleman's look with his white Stetsons.
Ortiz has also bumped his head a couple of times. In 2005, he was arrested for driving while intoxicated and pleaded no contest. In 2010, in the early-morning hours after his primary defeat, he was arrested for taking part in a downtown brawl.
Baez, 42, was born in Puerto Rico, served stints as a critical-care nurse and a U.S. Army senior drill sergeant, and landed his first legal job with Ortiz in 2005.
When Baez left Ortiz's firm in 2007, Ortiz asked him to continue working on a civil suit against a former Bexar County jail guard named Mark Vargas. Ortiz says he and Baez had a verbal understanding that they would split the attorney's fees and expenses from that case.
Here's the abridged version of the Vargas case: On Aug. 26, 2005, Vargas was driving home from an off-duty job in his black Mitsubishi Montero when he saw an SUV swerving and running red lights.
Vargas attempted to stop the SUV, but the driver, Cynthia Rabago, sped away. Vargas responded by firing eight rounds at the SUV, with one bullet shredding a tire and another shattering the vehicle's back window. Vargas justified the attack by saying he saw an SUV passenger, Richard Agueros, hold up a silver item that looked like a handgun. (It turned out to be a cellphone.)
In 2006, Vargas was indicted on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of deadly conduct. He was later cleared of all criminal charges, but Rabago and Agueros filed a civil suit against Vargas and Bexar County, ultimately collecting a confidential settlement believed to be more than $50,000.
Now, Ortiz wants what he considers his rightful piece.
"When (Baez) left my firm, my understanding was that it was amicable," Ortiz says. "But this whole thing has caught me by surprise."


text:
Lowe's Motor Speedway - The Center of the NASCAR World
Lowe's Motor Speedway, formerly known as Charlotte Motor Speedway, is one of the cornerstones on the NASCAR circuit. Located in Concord, North Carolina, just north of Charlotte, the track was designed and built in 1959 by Bruton Smith, the current chairman of the speedway, and by Curtis Turner, one of the early stars of stock car racing. The speedway complex features a 1.5-mile oval track and seats 167,000 people, with room for 50,000 more in the infield.
In 1949, the first race in NASCAR history was run in Charlotte on a small dirt track near the airport. Racing continued in Charlotte throughout the 1950s, and by the end of the decade several people wanted to build a superspeedway in the area. Smith and Turner saw their dream realized, and on June 19, 1960, the first World 600 was run at the facility. The World 600 is racing's endurance test, and the first race was memorable because the pavement came apart.
Besides the main oval, the speedway also has a 2.25-mile road course in the infield, a quarter-mile oval that encompasses pit road and a portion of the front stretch, and a 0.2-mile oval outside of the third turn. There is also a dirt track, which opened in 2000, across Highway 29 from the speedway. This facility has nearly 15,000 seats and hosts the Dirt Late Models, Modifieds, Sprint Cars, Monster Trucks and more.
Lowe's Motor Speedway hosts three NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series events, two NASCAR Busch Series races and a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event each year on the 1.5-mile superspeedway. The track is a base for the Richard Petty Driving Experience, and the Fast Track High Performance Driving School also uses the track throughout the year. Other racing events at the complex include a short-track series for Legends Cars, Bandoleros and Thunder Roadsters, and World Karting Association regional, national and international races.
The facility also hosts one of the country's biggest car shows and swap meets - the Food Lion Auto Fair, held in April and September each year. Movies such as "Stroker Ace," "Days of Thunder," and "Speedway" were filmed at the track. The speedway is frequently rented for race team testing and automobile manufacturer research. If all track rentals and track events are factored in, the speedway is normally in use more than 300 days per year.
Lowe's Motor Speedway is considered to be stock car racing's home track. Over 75 percent of Nextel Cup, Busch and Truck series teams have their headquarters within a 50-mile radius of the speedway.
The speedway is also considered to be a trendsetter in racing because so many things that have become common throughout the sport began as innovations here. An example of this can be seen in the condominiums in Turn 1. When the idea for building them was proposed in 1984, it was the subject of jokes across the country. However, the 40 condominiums were quickly purchased and have soared in value.
In 1991, track president Humpy Wheeler proposed that The Winston all-star race be run at night. At that point, it wasn't even known if it was possible for a 1.5-mile track to be adequately lit for a race. The lighting system was installed in 1992, making the facility the first modern superspeedway to be able to present racing at night. Today, an increasing number of superspeedways have lights. Most of those tracks use technology that originated with making night racing a reality at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
The speedway is owned by Speedway Motorsports, which makes its corporate home on the same property. In 1999, Lowe's purchased the naming rights, making it the first racetrack in the country to have a corporate sponsor.
Interesting Facts:
- During a typical race week, visiting fans and tourists in the area can increase the size of Concord by over 200,000 people, temporarily making it the third largest city in North Carolina.
- In May of 2006, the premiere of the Pixar movie "Cars" was shown at the speedway.
I voted your hub up. I am a HUGE nascar fan and love all things Nascar
I even started my own blog about nascar diecast.
It's mostly ebay stuff and a news feed.
I wonder how the new Daytona track will be not that it's re surfaced.
See you in the pits.
Nice info ... Keep up the good work.. Come check out my hubs, I have a nice hub on Lowe's Tool Box, A Mans dream for his garage
Been there!!!! NC rules
Cool hub!!
yeah, nice product...
Hello there NASCAR fans out there! Here is one treat that I'm sure you wouldn't let it pass you by. I have checked out a site that offers beautifully-designed and artistic NASCAR personalized checks. You should check this one out. C'mon, you wouldn't miss this for the world, right? I got myself a cool NASCAR checks of my own and I choose to put a photo of my favorite NASCAR driving hero- Michael McDowell & he's really awesome-looking on my check! Wow! They're much more affordable, too! You should check it out! btw, great hub Mayberry NC!5 stars!


text:
Faith inspirational greeting card of a little blonde girl with a ponytail, wearing pink, with a her head bowed peacefully in prayer. Perfect Christian gift of encouragement. This is a print from an original handmade drawing with colored pencils by artist Rachel Fia.
-- ITEM: This is a full color printed reproduction of the artist's handmade drawing as a greeting card. Display items not included.
-- PRINT SIZE: 4.25x5.5" Notecard plus blank white envelope
-- QUANTITY OPTIONS: 1 Notecard blank inside, plus a white envelope for $4.00 4 Notecards blank inside, plus 4 white envelopes, packaged in a clear gift box for $12.00
-- PAPER: Cardstock on acidfree notecard paper.
-- INK: Claria® Hi-Definition 6-color Ink
-- WATERMARK: The watermark of "Fia's Designs" will not appear on the print. It is to protect the digital image on the listing.
-- TEXT: There are 3 options for the text. 1. Include Text as shown (as shown in 1st photo.) 2. No Text (as shown in 2nd photo.) 3. Custom Text Request (Specify the text in the comments. Subject to approval for design layout.)
COLORS: on screen colors may vary slightly from the actual artwork because each computer monitor is calibrated differently. Digital images are slightly different from printed images due to the color printing process.
To find out more about the artist visit my website at: fiasdesigns.com Thanks for supporting handmade art! Copyright © All photos and images are Property of Fia's Designs. Fia's Designs retains all rights.


text:
I modified the Dollar Heart tutorial so that you can use the paper of your choice! This is vintage sheet music - it's really fragile so do a couple of practice runs with regular paper first. These pretty origami hearts can be used as ornaments, Valentines or gift tags!
- Paper - 6" x 3"
- Bone folder or butter knife
- Glue gun or strong glue
- All purpose glue or glue stick
- Button
- Paper Punch
- String
- Scissors
Quick overview picture tutorial - click through for more detailed instructions.
Use a bone folder, butter knife or the the top of a glue stick to make neat, crisp folds.
Cut paper at 2:1 dimensions. I used 6"x 3". The paper pattern you want to show should be on the back.
Fold corners up to meet in the top center. Unfold.
Fold corners down. Unfold
Your creases should look like this:
Pinch together the top and bottom triangles. This will make the sides fold in and meet in the center.
Fold and crease flat.
Fold back side corners.
This is for paper-folder of moderate/expert experience :-). Unfold the corner crease, unfold the center. The crease will create a square. Use the square to tuck the corner into itself like so:
Fold top and bottom points so that they meet at the sides.
Tuck your finger or the tip of a marker into the triangles you just created. Open up the fold and flatten it into a square. The side points should now be in the center. Repeat.
Fold inside sides of each square. Place a toothpick in each fold and flatten each fold.
Turn heart to the back side. Fold down top flap. Crease well.
Carefully unfold the heart. Use the crease you just made to pop the top inside of the heart.
If you followed the regular steps, the back of your heart will look like this:
If you followed the optional steps, the back of your heart will look like this:
Glue down all flaps so that the heart lays flat. Punch a hole and draw the string through. Glue the button to the center.


text:
Minneapolis man shares body positivity with a T-shirt for LGBTQ charity
One size fits all: It may be true for T-shirts, but it's false when it comes to attraction.
Minneapolis resident Justin Levy came to this conclusion last month while having a conversation with Los Angeles-based writer Mathew Rodriguez on Twitter.
"What is it about abs/muscles/general ripped physiques that makes you want to sleep with someone?" Rodriguez asked in a tweet. "What does the shape of someone's stomach muscle tell you about penetrating/being penetrated by them?"
Levy shared that there's something about being with men who have bodies he himself wished he had, or the body he's been told to wish he had.
"As someone who is thicc/soft, I've really only been with thin, semi-muscular guys. Which, upon critiquing, is fucked up and part of self work," Levy responded. "Why should bodies like mine take work to desire?"
"Wow I want to print out this tweet," responded Rodriguez in all caps.
Rather than printing it out, Levy suggested they put it on a T-shirt. He was half-kidding, but when Rodriguez and Levy discussed the idea further, they decided to go for it. They picked out the colors, light pink and a deep gold, and Levy contacted Minnesota-born designer Kyle Letendre to do the lettering.
Letendre suggested that they sell the shirts on Cotton Bureau, a T-shirt marketplace for designers, communities, and causes.
So what does "bodies like mine" mean?
"It depends on the shirt-wearer," says Levy. "Something that I really cared about was it being as inclusive as possible. For me, what that means is people living in their own truths. Every person has probably struggled with something they don't like about their body and wondered if someone would ever find it attractive or they would ever find themselves attractive."
Levy came out when he was 15. It was a time in his life when it was hard to love himself. If someone with a culturally-dubbed "desirable" body was attracted to him, he felt that made his own body more worthy. His thought process was, "Look, they want to be with me and they look like that and I look like this."
At the same time, he assumed a body like his required "work" to love. "My experience as a gay man – and again this is my experience and I don't like to generalize – there's a lot of critiquing about bodies. There's a lot of value placed on your body in a lot of different ways," he says.
Now 28, Levy is still working daily to accept his body exactly as it is. "I think that that's unfortunately pretty common. In my own community, the conversations around body positivity – and about loving yourself in that moment, in that day, rather than an ideal of what you would like it to be – is something I hear folks talking about more and more," he says. "I've worked really hard to grow more confident in that, and this shirt is a reminder to challenge whenever those feelings come up."
Levy plans on wearing his "bodies like mine" shirt to Pride, and hopes it serves as a conversation starter. He believes body acceptance and body positivity are topics that merit more discussion.
"Like a lot of things, when we share our experiences, especially when we get vulnerable with other people, it creates more bonds and more community building and more connecting threads with folks," he says. "I hope that the shirt inspires people to be like, 'No, I look good as I am right now. This is great!' That's my hope. It's not too complex."
The "bodies like mine" shirt will be available online through February 27. Proceeds will benefit the Trevor Project, a program providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention to LGBTQ+ youth. Shirts on the site are available for purchase for only two weeks and are made in the U.S.


text:
by Betty
A week ago Friday was Earth Day. Tell me, what did you do to preserve and conserve the earth? The newspapers and televisions shared ways to go green all day.
Many times written
many times quoted:
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."
A Native American Proverb – Pay the Loan.
April, 2o11


text:
Impressions from Goma and Bukavu
Greetings from Bukavu again. For the whole week iit was very difficult to obtain access to internet, since our schedule has been that tight for even the nights must be restricted to some 4 or 5 hours of sleep. The advantage in that was the fact that none of us had to go to appointments … Continue reading
Research in Kinshasa & an odyssey to Goma. Or Bukavu!?
Intermediate stop: Bukavu. Not that I had planned to be there today, on 18th of October, but things happen sometimes in a surprising way here in DRC. To start correctly, on Saturday, 15th of October I was supposed to confirm my flight from Kinshasa to Goma, via Kisangani. After a couple of calls to the … Continue reading
Kinshasa Vol. III
Hey everybody. It is 6 days now, since I came back to Kinshasa and still I could not really get started with my very work. Things are as difficult as always here. The transoport chaos has even aggravated since huge road rehabilitation programmes had taken place in the forefront of 50th independence anniversary and I … Continue reading
Slow progress and new challenges
For the last ten days things in Hinche have not so much changed. Some time I had the impression that communication and coordination would improve after we had invested so much energy in exactly that domain. But this was maybe a superficial assessment and it did not really last. Even worse, we have some serious … Continue reading
'Delivering as one'!?
This paradigm is basically used in New York when it comes to the efficiency and cooperation in between different UN bodies (For all Germans: We have a similar notion concerning the splintering of our development agencies, called 'Entwicklungszusammenarbeit aus einem Guss'). I opted for chosing it as an headline, not to point on the local … Continue reading
On our way back from Dominican Republic to Hinche, where I will be analyzing the local and regional situation in the next couple of days, we had a stopover in Port-au-Prince. As there was enough time left to reach the Plateau Central by day we decided spontaneously to have a look at Port-au-Prince, Petionville and … Continue reading
Preparing the return to Haiti
Yesterday evening we received the confirmation concerning our return to Haiti. It will take place tomorrow, but details have to be clarified again until our action in the next days can be defined. We find ourselves in a situation where it is tremendously difficult to foresee more than the next step to take. Our information … Continue reading
Unresting agony
After some ten days in Santo Domingo a certain state of mind has emerged. We still do not know which daywe will be allowed to go back to Haiti and even after receiving permission everything will be depending on the situation there. Of course we have to make sure that fuel, water, food and medical … Continue reading
Santo Domingo is quite far
This has been written on 24th of January 2010. After a long journey we arrived in Santo Domingo last Wednesday. In the end this was certainly the right decision, because we could not really preview what was going to happen in Hinche. By now as far as I am informed things remained calm, but I … Continue reading
Intermediate summary
This report has been written at 10pm, January 17th 2010. We are now getting ready to leave. There will not be an evacuation as there is noboby available to evacuate us. I would rather call it an "evocation" as the German embassy and the German Development Service as the institution we are currently working for … Continue reading


text:
Majority in Survey Say 401(k) Investments Harder to Understand Than Health Care Benefits
Public Company Information:
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The majority of American workers in a new survey accept responsibility for financing their own retirement and are relying primarily on their 401(k) to get them there, but many lack the confidence to effectively manage their retirement savings.
The nationwide survey of more than 1,000 401(k) plan participants, commissioned by Schwab Retirement Plan Services ("Schwab"), shows a high level of self-reliance among respondents. Roughly nine in ten (89%) say they are counting on themselves for the money to support their retirement, and just five percent expect to rely mostly on the government for financial help after they stop working full time.
This self-reliance is fueled by anticipated use of 401(k) plans. A large majority of survey respondents (61%) report the 401(k) is their only or largest source of retirement savings. More than half of respondents (55%) have increased their savings rate in the last two years and most (70%) say their 401(k) is in better shape now than ever before.
"It's gratifying to see so many people taking the reins of their retirement," said Steve Anderson, head of Schwab Retirement Plan Services. "In our view, contributing to a 401(k) plan should be the number one savings priority for workers. Planning ahead, taking action and getting the help you need along the way are key steps to help build sufficient retirement savings."
Still, many are unsure how to invest…
Interestingly, the survey reveals that saving in a 401(k) is not enough to ensure confidence for many participants. For example:
- More than half (52%) find explanations of their 401(k) investments more confusing than explanations of their health care benefits (48%).
- Fifty-seven percent wish there was an easier way to figure out how to choose the right 401(k) investments.
- Nearly half (46%) don't feel they know what their best investment options are and one-third (34%) feel a lot of stress over correctly allocating their 401(k) dollars.
…And they want help
Today, many 401(k) plans offer some type of professional advice, which can be vital in helping people take better control of their investments. Of those surveyed, 61 percent want personalized investment advice for their 401(k). Participants expressed a desire for guidance on everything from asset allocation to risk tolerance and retirement income planning.
Most importantly, the survey found that investment confidence nearly doubles when workers have the help of a financial professional. Approximately one-third (32%) of survey participants expressed confidence in making the right 401(k) investment choices based on their own ability, compared to 61 percent if they also had the help of a financial professional.
"Getting more workers engaged in professional 401(k) advice should be a top priority for employers. We've seen the positive impact it can have on both behaviors and outcomes," said Anderson. "At Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc., participants who used third-party, professional 401(k) advice tended to increase their savings rate, were better diversified and stayed the course in their investing decisions," he noted.*
Additional findings
Other findings show respondents are engaged and place a priority on their 401(k):
- Save it, don't spend it: Given a choice about how to use a $5,000 bonus, nearly two-thirds (64%) would save it in their 401(k) rather than take the cash now. Forty-eight percent immediately chose the 401(k) route and an additional 16% chose the 401(k) after tax consequences were explained.
- Post-crisis recovery: Seventy-four percent of respondents said their 401(k)s have recovered from the financial crisis about as fast or even faster than expected.
- Check the index: Nearly three-quarters (74%) would rather pay low investment fees for index funds than pay higher fees for actively managed funds that could potentially outperform the market, but may also carry greater risk.
About the Survey
This online survey of U.S. 401(k) participants was conducted by Koski Research for Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc. The survey is based on 1004 interviews and has a three percent margin of error at the 95% confidence level. Survey respondents worked for companies with at least 25 employees, were current contributors to their 401(k) plans and were 25-75 years old. Survey respondents were not asked to indicate whether they had accounts with Charles Schwab. All data is self-reported by study participants and is not verified or validated. Respondents participated in the study between June 5 and June 11, 2013. Detailed findings can be found at www.aboutschwab.com/press/research.
About Charles Schwab
At Charles Schwab we believe in the power of investing to help individuals create a better tomorrow. We have a history of challenging the status quo in our industry, innovating in ways that benefit investors and the advisors and employers who serve them, and championing our clients' goals with passion and integrity.
More information is available at www.aboutschwab.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and our Schwab Talk blog.
Through its operating subsidiaries, The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) provides a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors. Its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC, www.sipc.org), and affiliates offer a complete range of investment services and products including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; compliance and trade monitoring solutions; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through Schwab Advisor Services. Its banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender), provides banking and lending services and products. More information is available at www.schwab.com and www.aboutschwab.com.
Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc., Schwab Retirement Plan Services Company, and Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. are separate but affiliated companies and subsidiaries of The Charles Schwab Corporation. Brokerage products and services are offered by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (Member SIPC). Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc. and Schwab Retirement Plan Services Company (collectively, Schwab Retirement Plan Services) provide recordkeeping and related services with respect to retirement plans. 0813-5544
*Charles Schwab in conjunction with Koski Research, The New Rules of Engagement for 401(k) Plans, 2010. Retirement plan investment advice is formulated and provided by GuidedChoice Asset Management, Inc. (GuidedChoice®), which is not affiliated with or an agent of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (CS&Co.), Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc. (SRPS), or any of their affiliates.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130815005252/en/
Charles Schwab
Mike Peterson, 330-908-4334
Intermarket Communications
Neil Shapiro, 212-754-5423


text:
The Houston Astros, Houston Rockets, CSN Houston and hundreds of thousands of attorneys collecting tons in billable hours met before bankruptcy judge Marvin Isgur last Tuesday. There wasn't a lot of real news made during the hearing, which is why the hearing got buried in the news -- that and the whole Baseball Hall of Fame debacle the next day. But there were some useful items to emerge that might possibly give clues to the future of the network.
The basic takeaway is this: The Houston Rockets have been far, far more active in their term as lead network negotiator than the Houston Astros appear to have been. The Rockets have retained two advisory firms and met with multiple parties for assistance and/or possible media deals and for assistance and/or possible private equity investment deals. The Rockets are currently in negotiations with Comcast and an unspecified party, and have met with Fox Sports, DirecTV and AT&T.
The Rockets requested, and received, the right to remain as the network's lead negotiator until early next month. At that time, if there's no result, the parties will once again return to court. The court will then, maybe, rule on the various motions in front of it, including whether to return the Astros' fraud lawsuit to state court and whether or not to dismiss the bankruptcy case.
The big news, though, was the entrance of a new party into the discussions. During the hearing, the Rockets announced that they've been meeting with AEG regarding network matters. AEG is a huge player in both the sports and entertainment industries. The company's best known in Houston as the owner of the Houston Dynamo, but they also own, among others, the Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS and the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL along with numerous European sports franchises.
AEG also owns and/or operates arenas and stadiums such as BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Staples Center in Los Angeles, Barclays Center in Brooklyn, AT&T Center in San Antonio, American Airlines Arena in Miami, The O2 Arena in London, and arenas and stadiums in Sydney, Australia; Moscow; Amsterdam; Beijing; and Shanghai, and AEG is leading the charge to build a new football stadium in Los Angeles. Another AEG entity is heavily involved in the concert and live music industry, and it is also partnered with Mark Cuban in his AXS TV venture.
We Believe Local Journalism is Critical to the Life of a City
Engaging with our readers is essential to the mission of the Houston Press. Make a financial contribution or sign up for a newsletter, and help us keep telling Houston's stories with no paywalls.
Support Our Journalism
But what's not known is the nature of the talks between the Rockets and AEG. Are the talks about AEG purchasing the network? What's missing from the AEG portfolio is a regional sports network, and there is some logic to the entity purchasing such a network as the next step in its takeover of the sports industry. AEG might also be in such a strong overall financial position that it can take some massive short-term hits in deals with DirecTV and AT&T so as to get complete carriage in the area while also paying the Astros and Rockets what the Astros and Rockets believe they should be getting in rights fees.
That's probably the best that can be expected from the AEG discussions. It's possible that the discussions are merely regarding AEG providing some equity to the Rockets or to CSN so that one of those entities can purchase the portion owned by the Astros. Or maybe AEG is a stalking horse, something the Rockets can use to push merger/takeover discussions with Fox Sports, DirecTV or AT&T. But no matter the reason for the discussions, this is probably the best, biggest step to get Rockets and Astros on air for all to see since this whole bankruptcy process started.
It was also announced during the hearing that Comcast has provided the Rockets with a stalking horse bid for the network that will serve to set the floor for all bids. This info, along with the AEG news, makes me think that Les Alexander is making progress toward either getting the network total carriage or getting the network sold or partnered with another entity that will be able to get the carriage. And seeing the damage inflicted on the network by the Astros fraud allegations, that's quite an accomplishment. Not as big an accomplishment as actually getting the Rockets and Astros on air for all to see, but it's still something.
The saga continues on February 4, when all parties are due to return to Judge Isgur's courtroom for the latest progress updates. The judge has put off until then rulings on the Astros' motions to return the fraud case to state court and to dismiss the bankruptcy. But here's to hoping for continued progress that will make the Astros' requests moot points.


text:
Model: MD-571-A
Data modem at high speed for HF. Designed for data communications on a radio or circuit of up to 4800 bauds.
It uses a channel of 7200 bps with modulation of 8 phases on a tune of 1800Hz.
A powerful data equalizer cuts off the interference produced by multiple routes and intersymbols. It uses convolutions correction codes (FEC), interleaving and Viterbl. Decoding is determined by software, speed between 75 and 2400 Bauds.
Technical Data
Downloads available:Modem MD-571-A (English)
Related Products
Copyright 1985 - 2013 INVELCO, S.A. All rights reserved.


text:
What's your Release Date?
So I've decided to never start a film project again without a release date. Deadlines, as it turns out, are good! When I look back at my passed projects, the ones with a deadline were more focused and had a higher chance of being completed than the ones without.
What got me to write this post is my latest short film, Angel, that is still in post production after being filmed in June 2013. Sure, there are many legitimate reasons why it's taking so long (I had to take a 5 month break from editing to focus on my last semester of college, work, and building a studio), but only one that really matters: There was never a release date.
Angel was the project I did because I wanted to try something new and experiment with some ideas. There was never really a set deadline when it came to completing and publishing the film. I didn't take the time to evaluate how much time and effort it would take to complete roughly 50 VFX shots, edit, and color grade the film. I just went ahead and did it, and now I'm regretting it.
Before you start filming, set a release date.
Actually, don't just set the date, go out and let everyone know that's the date they should expect to see your movie. Here are some good reasons:
It helps with planning - When you have a set deadline for the completion of your project, you can better plan your work schedule. You will know how much time you need to spend on the various tasks required to complete the film. When you don't have a deadline, you have no plan and you're essentially just working when you feel like it.
It keeps you focused and accountable - Once you have a plan, your deadline keeps you focused because you have a set goal to reach. You put in the work necessary, no matter how hard it is, because if not you'll not only fail yourself, but also all the people expecting your project to be done.
Passion has an expiration date - I've noticed that the longer you work on a project without finishing, the less motivated you become to complete said project. As time goes by, new projects catch your interest, and the current unfinished project starts feeling like a burden preventing you from doing those new projects you're now very passionate about.
Bottom Line
While I don't advise rushing through every project (doing it well is better than doing it fast), setting reasonable deadlines for yourself is a sure way to increase your efficiency. In my case, since I never really had a set release date for Angel, there just never was a sense of urgency to complete the project. When other parts of my life intervened with working on the film, I was fine with it because in my mind completing my short film wasn't an absolute priority.
So next time you're getting ready to start a project, pick a release date and set your work schedule based on that. It'll save you a lot of headache later!
3/10/2014 10:30:21 am
I agree, made that mistake and had lost interest in my work, but got it done. Writing a new project now, but since its a SciFi short film on a low budget, I anticipate the release date/year to be somewhere 2016.
3/16/2014 01:50:24 pm
Ha! Thanks for reading, and good luck with your short film!
3/10/2014 12:14:06 pm
I so agree with this post! Deadlines (provided they are reasonable ones) can keep you on track!
3/16/2014 01:48:58 pm
Thanks for reading!
3/16/2014 01:50:57 pm
Glad you enjoyed the post, Jay! Thanks!
3/11/2014 02:18:36 am
Thank you very much with the Post, and feel free to continue with the works bcs many people have already face same problem. I love your work man and there is no complain about it bcs am in z same problem too.
Leave a Reply.
A fun and informative Filmmaking blog hosted
popular posts
Founded in 2011, RodyPolis.com provides products and tutorials for Filmmakers and Visual Effects artists.
© 2015 RodyPolis LLC. All rights reserved.


text: I took this picture this evening at the end of a senior session and I REALLY like it. It will show up on my photoblog tomorrow with some others from this shoot but I just wanted to post it on here tonight. I think I might have to get this printed and hung somewhere in my house. Is that weird to put up a picture of some random teenager's shoes in my house? Is there something wrong with me? Maybe I can put it in my office. That wouldn't be too weird, would it?


text:
Max Roach
Back On The Bandstand
The composer of several major jazz works. Roach's Freedom Now Suite was adapted for film in 1966 by Gianni Amid, winning first prize at the International Film Festival in Locarno. A long-awaited recording of
Freedom Now Suite will be released shortly as part of the Columbia Masterworks series. Recently, Roach won the prestigious French Grand Prix du Disque for his recording of the South Africa Suite.HH: You seem to be performing more now than you have in the last several years. What has occupied you till now?
MR: I've been at the University of Massachusetts since 1971, but a year and a half ago I took a leave. I'm now teaching part-time there. I am a guest lecturer, making eight contacts a semester, one semester per year. I teach theory, composition, and history in modern American music.
I don't teach percussion at all. The few percussionists I teach are composition majors. My thing is to encourage percussionists to write. Percussionists bring a different thing to composition, to dealing with the other instruments. Pianists have a certain way of approaching the orchestra, wind instrumentalists and string players have a certain way. In any idiom, you can almost tell which instrument the composer deals with.
Since the time I started teaching at the University, we fought, with the help of students and some members of our faculty, to develop an Afro-American Jazz Music major track. During the summer and winter breaks, I did a lot of traveling, mostly in Europe, with the Quartet. During one period we took the M'Boom percussion ensemble overseas. All the things we did were recorded, and issued either in Europe or Japan. The last year I've been doing more in the States.
After I realized that my forte lies in performing, I decided to go back out there and do it full-time again.
HH: What is the background and present situation of M'Boom?
MR: Warren Smith had a loft studio in downtown New York that we used for rehearsals. This was about six years ago. The idea to form a percussion ensemble wasn't to make money off of it. I wanted people who knew the kit well, but also drummers who could write, were familiar with harmony, and had some experience on mallet instruments. We wanted to experiment and work on a collective basis to produce a group that was reflective of jazz.
A swinging percussion ensemble. When everyone was in town we'd work three or four days of the week. Then everyone would disperse and go their separate ways with different bands, until we came together again. Actually, it took us a couple of years before we did our first concert. We were invited to Europe in 1973. We did three concerts, one in the South of France, one in Holland, and one in Belgium.
HH: What was your own university training like?
MR: My major in school was composition and theory. I went to the Manhattan School of Music in the early fifties where a lot of wonderful people were at the time, people like Gunther Schuller, John Lewis and Donald Byrd. I auditioned for percussion while working on 52nd Street. This was how I could afford school. Fred Albright was the percussion instructor and Alfred Friese the timpanist. They asked me to play something and read music on the snare. Approaching the snare, the first thing Mr. Albright said was that I held the sticks wrong.
I changed my major, because there was no way to employ that so-called classical European technique and then go down on 52nd Street to work with people like Charlie Parker. In this country we have other ways of approaching the arts, which is great. Take Aretha Franklin or Ray Charles. It takes a lot of work to get that quality out of the voice. I played piano and switched my major to composition. My major percussion instrument was timpani, with Al Friese, because you had to play in the orchestra. It left me free to develop myself on the multiple percussion set, what we call the jazz set. The formal education I had on that set came from being in the company of Chick Webb, Sidney Catlett, Kenny Clarke, Art Blakey, Tony Williams and Freddie Waits. All those wonderful folks. It also prepared me for writing and arranging. The music schools teach you tradition. Tradition prepares you to teach, work in a symphony orchestra or become a musicologist. It's hard to get a job like that today. If you're prepared in the contemporary musical idioms that originated in the United States, you can make a fine living as an arranger, writer, in TV, studios — there are a whole range of things you can do. But the traditional music departments don't become involved in that. It's not about eliminating that traditional fare; but adding things that prepare someone to go out and make a living.
HH: How do you as a music educator respond to the argument that the influences of jazz are more American and less African than many black musicians propose?
MR: It's a fusion type thing. You find jazz only in America. It's not in European or African musical history. It is a unique American phenomenon. The educational systems in the United States are totally Germanic. Black American musicians and artists reach back into their African roots because it's left out educationally.
HH: Why do you think jazz is taken more seriously in Europe and elsewhere than it is in America?
MR: It's relative. The Grammies are important, because you get certificates of merit and accomplishment for how much money you make. Scientific or artistic contributions are not considered. It isn't that the song has paved new ground, just that it has made money. But that's relevant to our society.
We just recorded an extended work (South Africa Suite) as well as another long piece. We got the Grand Prix du Disque, which was given because it was an innovative idea and recorded well. We got that even before the record hit the market.
I noticed the audiences in Europe. The same people who go to see. an opera or a rock thing will see a jazz concert. Here we're much more sectarian. A rock person will not go to hear Rubenstein. If you're a person who likes Rubenstein, there's no way you're going to go hear Oscar Peterson. In Europe, it's all the same. This is why so many things are supported by the government. They've learned to appreciate things for what they are. But that's a different situation; those are Euro-Socialist countries. Here we're high on profit. Cultural development suffers as a result, which is a tragedy.
HH: Let's talk specifically about drumming. Along with Kenny Clarke, you were a founder of the bop style, changing the rhythmic emphasis from the bass and snare drums to the ride cymbal, using the other components for accents and color. There are those who say that Kenny was primarily responsible for this transition and that you carried it further. Is that how you see it?
MR: Kenny's influence was that you should get more involved in harmonic playing. Kenny plays piano and is a total percussionist. It had little to do with the technique of playing. Kenny was in the Army when I came on the scene. I knew nothing about him until after recording with Coleman Hawkins. That style of playing was already established around New York. The first person I heard on radio who played broken rhythms using the bass drum and hi-hat was Jo Jones. Actually, Chick Webb, Jo Jones, O'Neil Spencer and Sidney Catlett had the greatest influence on me.
HH: How do you view the drummer's role as an accompanist and timekeeper?
MR: Drummers are required to support constantly. We're expected to be the rhythmic foundation. One thing I gloried in, working with people like Charlie Parker, was the built-in rhythm section. You didn't need a drummer or a bass player to know where the time was. If you don't lay the beat down for some players there's no form or rhythm in their playing. You're almost like a slave. "Bam bam bam bam" or "Boom bam de-boom-boom bam," whatever it is. I think the instrument goes beyond that.
Most percussionists spend a lot of time developing themselves on the instrument. A lot of things we do never have a chance to come out. When the moment comes where the band finally turns around and says, "OK, you got it," most of the time you overdo it.
Excluding a wind instrument, there's always the danger of sounding inhuman. You're not obliged to take a breath before you do something. Wind instrumentalists are obliged to be human; they have periods, question marks, exclamation marks, phrases. But there's always the danger, with people who play piano, percussion, or string instruments, of not creating phrases that speak out to people. You can just rattle for hours. That characteristic is not only unmusical, but unnatural as well.
Someone asked me about the use of the metronome and I answered that you should use it only if you cannot keep time and are trying to develop a sense of holding time at a certain level. But to play metronomic time is another inhuman aspect. The time should be at the same place, but to make it elastic sounding, it may have to get a little faster or slower. A metronome locks you into "bap bap bap bap." With the Quartet, holding time for each other would lock us in. My charge with the group is to add color and be dynamic in my accompaniment, not just to keep time for the players. They keep time. I can go outside of the time. We sometimes deal with sounds that have nothing to do with the meter, just for an effect. Everyone should have that time.
HH: How do you approach solo improvisation?
MR: When I go into an improvisational section it is not preplanned. I have all the techniques at my disposal. When someone else stops, I'm permitted to deal with my thoughts on a particular musical subject. I come to it free. The first thing I throw down into the instrument will determine the pattern and its development. Within, I'm conscious of what I call conversational structure, saying something to myself and answering.
I try not to do things because I can do them. I try to allow the moment to create itself, to respect silence, to say something and let the audience absorb it.
HH: Many of your solos use brief melodic, rhythmic refrains, usually accompanied by bass drum, hi-hat vamps. These figures unify and contrast the improvised sections — kind of a loose rondo form. Do you feel that this technique is something in which you particularly are an innovator?
MR: Yes, maybe so. During an evening, week or month of performing I play a host of drum solos. To live with myself I have to constantly set up new things, and interest the members of the group. We all have to do this. The rule is not that you killed them last night, so now you know what will bring the audience to their feet. That's not the rule for the creative musician. You should try each night to introduce something that you didn't do the night before. It's always a challenge, for Billy or Cecil or Calvin or whoever, to do something that wasn't done before. The public may not be aware of that, but for us it means we're developing ideas for new recordings, for new pieces.
I do set up a call and response thing, something to return to that's still within the structure of the piece. Music to me isn't merely a matter of being melodic and harmonic. When you deal with the essence of art, it has more to do with design. I f it doesn't have some kind of design, then it doesn't make sense to me, which is why I appreciate Monk and Bartok.
HH: Do you have any special concepts or systems for tuning the drum set?
MR: I don't tune in fourths or thirds or things like that. Usually I say the drums should be high, medium, or low.
"…There's always the danger, with people who play piano, percussion, or string instruments, of not creating phrases that speak out to people. You can just rattle for hours. That characteristic is not only unmusical, but unnatural as well."
HH: Do you alter your tuning for recording?
MR: There's a different touch and tuning to get the clarity needed in recording. In the studio everything is tight to prevent distortion. You muffle and do a lot of things in order to get that sound. The music is now subservient to the techniques of recording! But in public the atmosphere absorbs it and you can be more open with the overtones.
HH: Are hand positions and wrist action something to which you've devoted a lot of attention?
MR: Wasted motion. That is what was different in the (rudimental) approach to the instrument from the way we viewed it. On 52nd Street everything was close to the instrument because you played exceptionally fast. You had to play at a certain volume, so you didn't raise your hands high. You had to play what was acoustically best suited for small clubs.
HH: What about your brush technique? You're constantly flipping the left hand over, creating a continuous swishing triplet sound. How did you develop this?
MR: I learned the law of playing brushes from O'Neil Spencer and Big Sid Catlett. The brush is really not supposed to leave the drum. You're supposed to create a sweeping effect to get the accents without picking the brush up off the drum.
HH: What are the components of your present drum set?
MR: I'm using a 14×22 bass drum, two tom-toms mounted, 8×12 and 9×13, 16×16 floor, and a 6 1/2 xl4 metal snare drum. For hi-hats, I'm using a 14″ band cymbal on the bottom and a medium 13″ hi-hat top cymbal. The reason for that is a law of physics. The sound is pushed up and out. If you have two cymbals the same size the sound goes out on the side. Incidentally, the first one I saw do this was Kenny Clarke. For ride cymbals I use a 19″ pang cymbal, 17″ and 18″ medium cymbals. The 17″ gives a roaring sound, while the 18″ gives me a tight sound because it's heavier.
HH: In 1961 you said, "I will never again play anything that does not have social significance." Today, as you return to full-time performing, how do you feel about that statement?
MR: Well, I'm still at the same place, and I'll tell you why.
There are those who think that art is for the sake of art, but actually it never is. Art is a powerful weapon that society, or the powers that be, use to control or direct the way people think. Culture is used to perpetuate the status quo of a society.
During the late fifties and sixties, poets and writers were engaged in dealing with our society, and issues like the civil rights movement or the Vietnamese war. When the seventies came, college students were turned away from that. The artist, in music especially, was used to make everyone dance. In came disco and the hard rock things to drive the poets and thinkers on campuses away from looking at society. Instead, they dance and party. The poets from the sixties aren't writing the kinds of things they were then.
Even though I'm involved in music for the sake of entertainment, I always hope to offer some kind of enlightenment.
Photos by Ray Ross