One thousand, four hundred and twenty four…that’s the number of days that have passed since the Democrat-controlled Senate performed their constitutional duty to pass a budget, more than a year before the ubiquitous iPad was invented. Judging by the contents of that budget, we can see why Democrats were scared to reveal their plans before Obama was safely re-elected and no longer accountable to the voters. It is unbridled plastic card that passes for the Democrat budgeting process.
Such sheer irresponsibility reminds me of P.J. O’Rourke, the civil libertarian who once said “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” Admittedly, it is not fair to compare elected Democrats to drunken teenage boys who, even with a fleet of cars and a swimming pool filled with whiskey could not hope to achieve as much damage as is being done by Democrats right now.
The Senate budget demands nearly one trillion dollars in new tax increases, on top of the nearly $700 billion already conceded by Republicans just a few months ago in the “Fiscal Cliff” deal. An almost equal amount would supposedly be cut from spending, but considering the bait-and-switch tactics that have become the modus operandi for Democrats, it is hard to believe that those cuts would ever come to fruition.
The whole exercise has become Kabuki Theater, a laughable dance of fools and charlatans that has no basis in reality. It is impossible to take seriously the trustworthiness of a party which demonized as “harsh” and “draconian” the previous budget submitted by Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), which contained near-double digit increases in the entitlement spending, and took more than three decades to balance the budget. In a nation of rational adults, the Paul Ryan budget would have been seen as irresponsible, and it is only due to the unadulterated insanity of the Democrat budget that the Ryan budget seemed reasonable.
The most recent Republican House budget takes a full decade to balance the budget, but only by assuming that funding for ObamaCare would be repealed; something that would never make it past the Democrat-controlled Senate or Obama. That has about as much chance of happening as Obama rejecting the corrupt special interest money he has long preached against (you can buy four face-to-face meetings a year with Obama for a cool half million dollars by donating to his re-branded Organizing for America campaign apparatus). By comparison, the Ryan budget is far more responsible, achieving deficit reduction and economic stimulus through growth rather than tax increases, but even it relies on unrealistic assumptions.
How do we get to a point where we can pass realistic, responsible budgets that fund the legitimate functions of government, stimulate economic growth by reducing the crushing tax burden, and in the process reduce the skyrocketing national debt (the interest payments on which we now spend more on than education, homeland security, transportation, and taking care of our veterans…combined!)? It’s impossible to know, since Democrats claim we have no debt problem. That’s like me saying that having a monthly credit card INTEREST payment higher than my mortgage payment is just fine. Americans get nothing in return for those hundreds of billions of dollars in interest payments. How many of the salaries of those firefighters, schoolteachers, and policemen that Obama surrounded himself with in a press conference before the sequester kicked in could have been paid with the $359.8 BILLION dollars paid in interest on the debt in FY2012? That would be 7,196,000 of these fine workers at $50,000 per year.
But alas, getting Democrats to act responsibly is probably not an achievable goal in the near future. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray, referring to the stark differences between the House and Senate budgets, said “We have presented very different visions for how our country should work and who it should work for…but I am hopeful that we can bridge this divide.” Who our country should work for? Shouldn’t it work for ALL Americans? Or have we now decided that certain Americans are no longer worthy of equality under the law?
The Democrat/Senate budget raises even more taxes, cuts hundreds of billions more from the defense budget (more than has already been cut, which former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, no defense hawk, warned would weaken America’s military readiness), and once again leaves entitlement and welfare spending, the primary drivers of the rising deficits and IC card, virtually untouched.
Questions about gas prices come up all the time, particularly when motorists see more than one price at the pump. Massachusetts does have rules that prohibit placing a surcharge on the use of a credit card. However, as much as it seems like the same thing, a gas station can discount the price for customers paying in cash.
So, discounting is fine and surcharging isn’t. While most stations charge the same price for cash or credit, there is a reason why some discount for the use of cash – or, in this case, a smartphone or checking account-linked card. Gas stations tend to have pretty tight margins and steering customers away from credit cards helps them to avoid the fees assessed for every transaction, something that cuts into the bottom line.
The folks at Framingham-based Cumberland Farms don’t see themselves as elitist, noting their low-price coffee and soda. Cumberland Farms said it introduced its SmartPay system to avoid credit card and debit card processing fees and pass some of the savings to customers in the form of discounts.
If customers don’t have a smart phone, they can pick up a SmartPay card, which is linked to a checking account and works like a debit card. SmartPay cards are available at Cumberland Farm stores.
“The SmartPay Check-Link payment program was designed to be as inclusive as possible for all of our customers, whether they use a smartphone or prefer the free SmartPay payment card,” said Kate Ngo, Cumberland Farms’ senior manager of brand strategy.
As much as bank fees might be an issue for some consumers, free checking accounts with minimal balance requirements are available at local banks and credit unions. So, most folks, whether they have a smartphone or not, should be able to figure out a way to get this discount – if it really mattered to them.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
Is one-click shopping too easy?
American Express recently partnered with Twitter to launch Amex Sync, which lets users store their credit-card information online and buy promoted products instantly by tweeting special hashtags.
After a successful limited launch last March, the credit-card company brought out an expanded version for 2013, enabling users to buy promoted items from Amazon, Sony, Xbox, and others with a single tweet.
Such purchasing ease is great for retailers and convenient for consumers – perhaps too convenient, experts warn. As one-touch purchasing expands, retailers may be making it too easy for people to shop, boosting impulse buying and overspending. For incautious consumers, it could be financially dangerous.
"It can be a tricky way to pay," says Farnoosh Torabi, a personal finance coach and host of the "Financially Fit" Web series on Yahoo. "Money is abstract as it is, and it's why a lot of us have a hard time managing it. If you have to see money leave your wallet, overspending is harder. But with things like Google Wallet, it's very easy, a lot quicker. And we already tend to overspend with credit cards."
Online retailers have been streamlining purchases for years. What began with one-click purchasing on iTunes and Amazon has expanded to payment platforms with multiple retailers. Google Wallet lets users make online and in-store purchases with the click of a button or the wave of a phone at participating merchants. Visa has V.me, a Pay-Pal-like service that allies with banks to sync major credit cards (MasterCard, American Express, and Discover) to an ever-growing list of stores. MasterCard is planning its own virtual wallet.
"Where V.me is accepted, you'll never have to enter your card number or shipping preferences again," the website boasts.
The move to Twitter is the latest move in this expansion. So far, Amex Sync is limited to special promotions – the Twitter equivalent of flash sales. But the technology could lead to more.
"The underlying capability of using Card Sync to make purchases could translate across a variety of platforms, partners, and markets," American Express spokesman Bradley Minor writes via e-mail. "We wanted to bring this new experience to Twitter first because we think this is the most dramatic manifestation of what our technology can do."
The advent of smart phones has also increased the efficiency of purchasing. Not long ago, shoppers had to sit at their computers to shop online, but now, "more people have access via smart phones and tablets," says Chris Christopher, an economist with IHS Global Insight based in Lexington, Mass.
"Changing the environment to be so frictionless can make the money nonapparent," says Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics at Duke University in Durham, N.C., and the author of "Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions." At least "when you [enter credit-card information], you think about the money you are giving up."
The Twitter connection is even more problematic, because it occurs outside a traditional shopping venue and in an environment that encourages instantaneous expression of thought and emotions, according to Ms. Torabi. "If emotions are high, things can get out of hand very easily," she says, noting that users are constantly getting into trouble for hastily writing tweets they later regret. "As a financial coach, I wouldn't recommend this."
But a more user-friendly shopping environment has its upsides, too. It clears any obstacles to helpful purchases and aids the impulse to do good things online, like giving to charity.
To maximize the benefits while minimizing the risk of getting into financial trouble, Torabi recommends a few guidelines: Avoid items with a limited availability that are associated with a window of opportunity – coupons on Groupon, or "flash sales" on sites like gilt.com. "Don't fall for the marketing gimmick of 'you must act now.' You can act whenever," she says.
Second, create a decisionmaking process for yourself that involves reflecting on a purchase before pulling the trigger. Bookmark an item online and come back to it in an hour, or call up a friend to talk about it. Read the fine print: Many applications, for instance, come with annual service fees. What's worse, you can't return them.
Third, fight fire with fire: Arm yourself with tools to make checking your finances easier and more automatic. Download a mobile banking app and monitor it. "If you know you only have $50 left in your savings account for the month, you're probably going to hold off on making that purchase until next month," Torabi says.
Reward credit card users play a difficult game. With many cards, points or miles are earned from the bank, but those points and miles are entrusted to a third party’s loyalty program such as an airline or hotel program. The bank has purchased the points or miles from the third party, and awards them to their credit card customers.
But as with all loyalty programs, these points are only worth as much as the awards they can be redeemed for. And the fact is that these loyalty programs always reserve the right to make changes to their program at any time. These changes can sometimes be improvements, but more often, these changes have the effect of reducing the value of the member’s points or miles. For example, the Hilton HHonors program recently announced a new award chart that massively increases the amount of points needed to redeem free nights at their properties. As a result, Hilton HHonors points are now worth far less than they had been.
After a successful limited launch last March, the credit-card company brought out an expanded version for 2013, enabling users to buy promoted items from Amazon, Sony, Xbox, and others with a single tweet.
Such purchasing ease is great for retailers and convenient for consumers – perhaps too convenient, experts warn. As one-touch purchasing expands, retailers may be making it too easy for people to shop, boosting impulse buying and overspending. For incautious consumers, it could be financially dangerous.
"It can be a tricky way to pay," says Farnoosh Torabi, a personal finance coach and host of the "Financially Fit" Web series on Yahoo. "Money is abstract as it is, and it's why a lot of us have a hard time managing it. If you have to see money leave your wallet, overspending is harder. But with things like Google Wallet, it's very easy, a lot quicker. And we already tend to overspend with credit cards."
Online retailers have been streamlining purchases for years. What began with one-click purchasing on iTunes and Amazon has expanded to payment platforms with multiple retailers. Google Wallet lets users make online and in-store purchases with the click of a button or the wave of a phone at participating merchants. Visa has V.me, a Pay-Pal-like service that allies with banks to sync major credit cards (MasterCard, American Express, and Discover) to an ever-growing list of stores. MasterCard is planning its own virtual wallet.
"Where V.me is accepted, you'll never have to enter your card number or shipping preferences again," the website boasts.
The move to Twitter is the latest move in this expansion. So far, Amex Sync is limited to special promotions – the Twitter equivalent of flash sales. But the technology could lead to more.
"The underlying capability of using Card Sync to make purchases could translate across a variety of platforms, partners, and markets," American Express spokesman Bradley Minor writes via e-mail. "We wanted to bring this new experience to Twitter first because we think this is the most dramatic manifestation of what our technology can do."
The advent of smart phones has also increased the efficiency of purchasing. Not long ago, shoppers had to sit at their computers to shop online, but now, "more people have access via smart phones and tablets," says Chris Christopher, an economist with IHS Global Insight based in Lexington, Mass.
"Changing the environment to be so frictionless can make the money nonapparent," says Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics at Duke University in Durham, N.C., and the author of "Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions." At least "when you [enter credit-card information], you think about the money you are giving up."
The Twitter connection is even more problematic, because it occurs outside a traditional shopping venue and in an environment that encourages instantaneous expression of thought and emotions, according to Ms. Torabi. "If emotions are high, things can get out of hand very easily," she says, noting that users are constantly getting into trouble for hastily writing tweets they later regret. "As a financial coach, I wouldn't recommend this."
But a more user-friendly shopping environment has its upsides, too. It clears any obstacles to helpful purchases and aids the impulse to do good things online, like giving to charity.
To maximize the benefits while minimizing the risk of getting into financial trouble, Torabi recommends a few guidelines: Avoid items with a limited availability that are associated with a window of opportunity – coupons on Groupon, or "flash sales" on sites like gilt.com. "Don't fall for the marketing gimmick of 'you must act now.' You can act whenever," she says.
Second, create a decisionmaking process for yourself that involves reflecting on a purchase before pulling the trigger. Bookmark an item online and come back to it in an hour, or call up a friend to talk about it. Read the fine print: Many applications, for instance, come with annual service fees. What's worse, you can't return them.
Third, fight fire with fire: Arm yourself with tools to make checking your finances easier and more automatic. Download a mobile banking app and monitor it. "If you know you only have $50 left in your savings account for the month, you're probably going to hold off on making that purchase until next month," Torabi says.
Reward credit card users play a difficult game. With many cards, points or miles are earned from the bank, but those points and miles are entrusted to a third party’s loyalty program such as an airline or hotel program. The bank has purchased the points or miles from the third party, and awards them to their credit card customers.
But as with all loyalty programs, these points are only worth as much as the awards they can be redeemed for. And the fact is that these loyalty programs always reserve the right to make changes to their program at any time. These changes can sometimes be improvements, but more often, these changes have the effect of reducing the value of the member’s points or miles. For example, the Hilton HHonors program recently announced a new award chart that massively increases the amount of points needed to redeem free nights at their properties. As a result, Hilton HHonors points are now worth far less than they had been.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
The Road to Wrestlemania…III
Greetings once again, my Common DenomiNation! Thanks to everyone who commented on, or at least read my two-week foray into the world of what might have been if WCW hadn’t been bought by the WWE. I enjoyed writing it, but at the same time it made me kind of mad thinking about what really did happen. I could write a dozen more columns on the subject and might revisit it some time after Wrestlemania, but it is Wrestlemania season, so I’ll switch to the more timely subject for this week.
I was 12 years old when the inaugural Wrestlemania was held. And I’m going to be honest and say that I was only vaguely aware of the WWF at the time. I knew who Hulk Hogan was and had seen a few episodes of WWF programming, but in 1985 I was still fully invested in Memphis wrestling, with NWA Championship Wrestling on WTBS as my second favorite promotion. Now by Wrestlemania 2, I was much more aware of the WWF product. In fact, I was actually expecting King Kong Bundy to beat Hogan for the belt. I was aware that wrestling was “fake” by that time, but at 13 I was still able to completely suspend my disbelief and become totally immersed in the product. By Wrestlemania III, I was completely over Hogan’s shtick. Being 14, I guess I was “too cool” for Hulk’s goody-goody act or whatever, so I was outright rooting for Andre the Giant to win the WWF title. I guess I made a heel turn of my own, since most of my WWF favorites were heels or recently “reformed” heels: Andre, Savage, Jake Roberts, Beefcake, the Hart Foundation. ‘Maina III was the event that made a true believer in the WWF product. Okay, let me take a step back. The period between Wrestlemania 2 and III was what did it. I’m trying really hard to think of any other extended period where they completely nailed the booking from the main event scene to the bottom of the card, and I can’t.
Seriously, you can go all the way back to mid-86 to see the seeds of this card being planted. Bobby Heenan getting Andre suspended only to bring him back under Heenan’s guidance with the enticement of a WWF title match. Jake Roberts, vehemently hated heel getting the face turn after being attacked by the somehow even more hated Honkytonk Man. Man, even more than an Andre wiu, I wanted Jake to someday somehow become WWF Champion. I remember fantasy booking (was that even a thing then?) the Wrestlemania IV WWF Championship tournament with Jake beating Bam Bam Bigelow in the finals. Anyway, the whole Danny “Evil Referee” Davis angle drew great heat. Roddy Piper’s exit and return to reclaim his “spot” from “Adorable” Adrian Adonis. You know, Piper never really did anything to draw cheers. People just freaked for the guy when he came back from making movies. And of course, the whole epic saga with Ricky Steamboat, Randy Savage, Elizabeth, George “The Animal” Steele, and Miss Elizabeth that played out for months was done to perfection.
Anywho, at Wrestlemania III, I marked out for Roddy Piper’s win over “Adorable” Adrian Adonis, as well as the face turn for Brutus Beefcake. I completely lost my shit when Steamboat won the Intercontinental title. I liked Savage, but man he had it coming. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan making his big debut in the Sheik/Volkoff vs. Killer Bees match was pretty cool too, seeing Hacksaw show up in the WWF. Sadly, he was never really treated as a serious threat, becoming more of a comedy wrestler. I’ve since wondered if the whole getting caught in a car with drugs and the Iron Sheik thing played a role in that (and from the WWF’s perspective which was worse at the time, getting caught with the drugs or traveling with his “enemy”). I even gave Hogan his props for slamming Andre. Seriously, it seemed like almost every match on the card was important. Let me just do a quick rundown of the whole card.
Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel & Tom Zenk) vs. Bob Orton & Don Muraco – A great quick little tag-team opener. It established the Connection as legitimate contenders for the tag belts in the wake of the British Bulldogs effective end as a team. It also led to a face turn for Muraco, which would have been almost unthinkable just months earlier.
Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules – Think Ryback vs. Mark Henry, only Ryback can wrestle and Henry is Hispanic. I always liked Haynes, but I seem to recall him having a dark side involving drugs or something. Anyway, a great power match marred only by a weak double-countout finish. Someone could have gone over and been established as a contender for the WWF or I-C title.
Hillbilly Jim, The Haiti Kid and Little Beaver vs. King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook – Okay, so this match sucks, but there was a decent storyline behind it that escapes me at the moment, so maybe it wasn’t all that great. I don’t know who got screwed more, Orndorff for not even being on the card, or Bundy, who went from Main Event vs. Hogan last year to this trainwreck.
“King” Harley Race vs. Junkyard Dog – Sue me, I like Harley Race. But as much as I didn’t like the “King” gimmick, I guess it was as close as they were willing to get to acknowledging his status as a legendary former NWA Champion. And JYD was, at one time, maybe second to Hogan on the good-guy pecking order. Race goes over in a short inoffensive match that set Race up as a challenger for Hogan.
The Dream Team (Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake) w/Johnny Valiant and Dino Bravo) vs. Jacques & Raymond Rougeau – Remember when the Rougeaus were faces? Me either. Honestly, this match was all about Beefcake getting dumped by the heel faction. Of course it gets paid off almost immediately later in the show. But the whole angle for this match had a nice build that sort of ran along the Piper/Adonis feud, showing a sort of roster-spanning integration that you really don’t see anymore.
“Rowdy” Roddy Piper vs. “Adorable” Adrian Adonis – Of course, this is supposed to be Piper’s retirement match, but we all know how that ended up. Sadly, as effective as Adonis’ gimmick was at the time, that shit would not fly in today’s PC world. Just ask Lenny Lane and Lodi. It’s a hair match, by the way, and after Piper puts Adonis to sleep, out comes Beefcake to do the honors, making him a big babyface singles star for the next few years. I still can’t believe he never got to win the Intercontinental title.
I was 12 years old when the inaugural Wrestlemania was held. And I’m going to be honest and say that I was only vaguely aware of the WWF at the time. I knew who Hulk Hogan was and had seen a few episodes of WWF programming, but in 1985 I was still fully invested in Memphis wrestling, with NWA Championship Wrestling on WTBS as my second favorite promotion. Now by Wrestlemania 2, I was much more aware of the WWF product. In fact, I was actually expecting King Kong Bundy to beat Hogan for the belt. I was aware that wrestling was “fake” by that time, but at 13 I was still able to completely suspend my disbelief and become totally immersed in the product. By Wrestlemania III, I was completely over Hogan’s shtick. Being 14, I guess I was “too cool” for Hulk’s goody-goody act or whatever, so I was outright rooting for Andre the Giant to win the WWF title. I guess I made a heel turn of my own, since most of my WWF favorites were heels or recently “reformed” heels: Andre, Savage, Jake Roberts, Beefcake, the Hart Foundation. ‘Maina III was the event that made a true believer in the WWF product. Okay, let me take a step back. The period between Wrestlemania 2 and III was what did it. I’m trying really hard to think of any other extended period where they completely nailed the booking from the main event scene to the bottom of the card, and I can’t.
Seriously, you can go all the way back to mid-86 to see the seeds of this card being planted. Bobby Heenan getting Andre suspended only to bring him back under Heenan’s guidance with the enticement of a WWF title match. Jake Roberts, vehemently hated heel getting the face turn after being attacked by the somehow even more hated Honkytonk Man. Man, even more than an Andre wiu, I wanted Jake to someday somehow become WWF Champion. I remember fantasy booking (was that even a thing then?) the Wrestlemania IV WWF Championship tournament with Jake beating Bam Bam Bigelow in the finals. Anyway, the whole Danny “Evil Referee” Davis angle drew great heat. Roddy Piper’s exit and return to reclaim his “spot” from “Adorable” Adrian Adonis. You know, Piper never really did anything to draw cheers. People just freaked for the guy when he came back from making movies. And of course, the whole epic saga with Ricky Steamboat, Randy Savage, Elizabeth, George “The Animal” Steele, and Miss Elizabeth that played out for months was done to perfection.
Anywho, at Wrestlemania III, I marked out for Roddy Piper’s win over “Adorable” Adrian Adonis, as well as the face turn for Brutus Beefcake. I completely lost my shit when Steamboat won the Intercontinental title. I liked Savage, but man he had it coming. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan making his big debut in the Sheik/Volkoff vs. Killer Bees match was pretty cool too, seeing Hacksaw show up in the WWF. Sadly, he was never really treated as a serious threat, becoming more of a comedy wrestler. I’ve since wondered if the whole getting caught in a car with drugs and the Iron Sheik thing played a role in that (and from the WWF’s perspective which was worse at the time, getting caught with the drugs or traveling with his “enemy”). I even gave Hogan his props for slamming Andre. Seriously, it seemed like almost every match on the card was important. Let me just do a quick rundown of the whole card.
Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel & Tom Zenk) vs. Bob Orton & Don Muraco – A great quick little tag-team opener. It established the Connection as legitimate contenders for the tag belts in the wake of the British Bulldogs effective end as a team. It also led to a face turn for Muraco, which would have been almost unthinkable just months earlier.
Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules – Think Ryback vs. Mark Henry, only Ryback can wrestle and Henry is Hispanic. I always liked Haynes, but I seem to recall him having a dark side involving drugs or something. Anyway, a great power match marred only by a weak double-countout finish. Someone could have gone over and been established as a contender for the WWF or I-C title.
Hillbilly Jim, The Haiti Kid and Little Beaver vs. King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook – Okay, so this match sucks, but there was a decent storyline behind it that escapes me at the moment, so maybe it wasn’t all that great. I don’t know who got screwed more, Orndorff for not even being on the card, or Bundy, who went from Main Event vs. Hogan last year to this trainwreck.
“King” Harley Race vs. Junkyard Dog – Sue me, I like Harley Race. But as much as I didn’t like the “King” gimmick, I guess it was as close as they were willing to get to acknowledging his status as a legendary former NWA Champion. And JYD was, at one time, maybe second to Hogan on the good-guy pecking order. Race goes over in a short inoffensive match that set Race up as a challenger for Hogan.
The Dream Team (Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake) w/Johnny Valiant and Dino Bravo) vs. Jacques & Raymond Rougeau – Remember when the Rougeaus were faces? Me either. Honestly, this match was all about Beefcake getting dumped by the heel faction. Of course it gets paid off almost immediately later in the show. But the whole angle for this match had a nice build that sort of ran along the Piper/Adonis feud, showing a sort of roster-spanning integration that you really don’t see anymore.
“Rowdy” Roddy Piper vs. “Adorable” Adrian Adonis – Of course, this is supposed to be Piper’s retirement match, but we all know how that ended up. Sadly, as effective as Adonis’ gimmick was at the time, that shit would not fly in today’s PC world. Just ask Lenny Lane and Lodi. It’s a hair match, by the way, and after Piper puts Adonis to sleep, out comes Beefcake to do the honors, making him a big babyface singles star for the next few years. I still can’t believe he never got to win the Intercontinental title.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Save cash at store with coupons
We often see stories on TV of how people are able to buy lots of groceries for a very small price, and we wonder how they do it. It is all through the use of coupons, using store ads and time planning.
In 1888, Asa Candler, a selfmade businessman, used paper tickets for free glasses of Coke to help sell his new product. These tickets were distributed through magazines and direct mailing. He offered pharmacists who were reluctant to sell the drink the first barrel of syrup free. When customers came into the pharmacies with coupons, pharmacists were quick to restock the product.
In 1909, C.W. Post distributed 1-cent coupons to help market his Grape Nuts cereal and other products. During the Great Depression, the use of coupons became widespread, and in 1940, big chain grocery stores attracted new customers with coupons.
Here are 10 steps to get you started couponing and saving money: 1. Gather the necessary items to begin the project. Find a basket or plastic file box to store and carry your supplies. You can also use a coupon organizer, a 5-by-8 index card file box with dividers, or a three-ring binder with insert sheets. Locate a comfortable table and chair for your workspace. Other things you need include sharp scissors and pencils or pens.
Purchase the Sunday newspaper. If you have family or friends who get the newspaper regularly, you might want to ask them for their coupon inserts if they don’t use them.
High-ranking officials from the Gulf countries’ ministries of health began their three-day conference earlier this week in Kuwait. The conference is the first in the region to discuss linking screening programs for expatriates electronically and establishing an appropriate mechanism for the application of smart cards and integrated electronic links between GCC countries.
Ameer Sibai, member of the executive board of GCC health ministers, told Arab News by the phone that the conference is focused on linking health-related data electronically among the member states of the GCC.
The e-linkage aims to protect GCC citizens from disease and the spread of infections, as well as to ensure that expatriates are medically fit for the work they are recruited for and do not suffer unnecessary psychological, physical or financial burden due to medical condition. In addition, the new system aims to guarantee that the recruited foreigners are free from contagious diseases.
During the meeting, officials discussed means of developing an automated system for health information and applying the latest systems and capabilities in the field of e-health. The conference agenda also included deliberations regarding electronically linking health facilities in the region, which would entail storing data and medical records and archiving X-rays.
Qais Al-Duwairi, assistant undersecretary of public health affairs at the Ministry of Health in Kuwait, was quoted by the Kuwait state news agency (KUNA) as saying that the percentage of unhealthy expats who entered the GCC countries has decreased to 5 percent as a result of activating the e-linking system in manpower exporting countries. He noted that iris scanning and fingerprints are to be added to the screening system to prevent expats from conning officials and changing their personal data and information.
Al-Duwairi indicated that health officials worked out the details of implementing a smart card system for GCC citizens and residents, which would contain their personal health information and would simultaneously function as an e-medical file that physicians in any member state can refer to in order to understand the history of the patient’s health condition.
Ever hear of Anki? It’s an open-source flash card program brilliantly designed to automate the Ebbinghaus method of memory retention. Via a free online service called AnkiWeb, users can download any number of digital card decks from a vast database to memorize whatever their heart desires.
Languages, guitar chords, the periodic table of elements, there’s over 5000 decks available with hundreds of cards in each. I, for one, started taking up world geography. To show off my progress: Podgorica is the capital of Montenegro, Tbilisi the capital of Georgia, Nicosia of Cyprus (knew this before reading about the banking crisis), Yerevan of Armenia, Astana of Kazakhstan, and so on; didn’t Google anything at all here, and I’m admittedly a clueless American. All it took was ~25 minutes a day with Anki for two weeks.
The program works by introducing 20 new cards per session, and reviews cards from previous sessions with a frequency based on how confident you feel with your learning when tested. So for example, say I draw Cardiff and instantly remember it’s the capital of Wales: after clicking “show” to reveal the correct answer, I choose “Easy (4 Days)” from the available options. The card is done for the day, and since I was so confident with it, I won’t have to see the card again for a full four days. If I, perchance, on the next draw mistake Mozambique for Madagascar, I can choose “Again (1 min)” to force a steady repetition and facilitate memorization, until I get it right.
All I can say is install this program on your smartphone right now if you’re a student, especially one taking college-level science. The savings on flashcards alone are well worth the five minutes it takes to download and set up the software. If you’re not in school, Anki is still extremely useful and enriching. Expand your vocabulary, fix your French pronunciation, learn the major themes of famous classical compositions… most importantly, use your brain!
For reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me, AnkiMobile for iOS costs a whopping $25 while AnkiDroid is completely free to download. You can sync up your account on AnkiWeb between all your devices, so no matter where you are Anki knows what cards you’re using. The program also makes a slew of graphs and charts to mark your progress, so you can show off your mastery of those 500 new Arabic phrases or whatever with fancy data.
In 1888, Asa Candler, a selfmade businessman, used paper tickets for free glasses of Coke to help sell his new product. These tickets were distributed through magazines and direct mailing. He offered pharmacists who were reluctant to sell the drink the first barrel of syrup free. When customers came into the pharmacies with coupons, pharmacists were quick to restock the product.
In 1909, C.W. Post distributed 1-cent coupons to help market his Grape Nuts cereal and other products. During the Great Depression, the use of coupons became widespread, and in 1940, big chain grocery stores attracted new customers with coupons.
Here are 10 steps to get you started couponing and saving money: 1. Gather the necessary items to begin the project. Find a basket or plastic file box to store and carry your supplies. You can also use a coupon organizer, a 5-by-8 index card file box with dividers, or a three-ring binder with insert sheets. Locate a comfortable table and chair for your workspace. Other things you need include sharp scissors and pencils or pens.
Purchase the Sunday newspaper. If you have family or friends who get the newspaper regularly, you might want to ask them for their coupon inserts if they don’t use them.
High-ranking officials from the Gulf countries’ ministries of health began their three-day conference earlier this week in Kuwait. The conference is the first in the region to discuss linking screening programs for expatriates electronically and establishing an appropriate mechanism for the application of smart cards and integrated electronic links between GCC countries.
Ameer Sibai, member of the executive board of GCC health ministers, told Arab News by the phone that the conference is focused on linking health-related data electronically among the member states of the GCC.
The e-linkage aims to protect GCC citizens from disease and the spread of infections, as well as to ensure that expatriates are medically fit for the work they are recruited for and do not suffer unnecessary psychological, physical or financial burden due to medical condition. In addition, the new system aims to guarantee that the recruited foreigners are free from contagious diseases.
During the meeting, officials discussed means of developing an automated system for health information and applying the latest systems and capabilities in the field of e-health. The conference agenda also included deliberations regarding electronically linking health facilities in the region, which would entail storing data and medical records and archiving X-rays.
Qais Al-Duwairi, assistant undersecretary of public health affairs at the Ministry of Health in Kuwait, was quoted by the Kuwait state news agency (KUNA) as saying that the percentage of unhealthy expats who entered the GCC countries has decreased to 5 percent as a result of activating the e-linking system in manpower exporting countries. He noted that iris scanning and fingerprints are to be added to the screening system to prevent expats from conning officials and changing their personal data and information.
Al-Duwairi indicated that health officials worked out the details of implementing a smart card system for GCC citizens and residents, which would contain their personal health information and would simultaneously function as an e-medical file that physicians in any member state can refer to in order to understand the history of the patient’s health condition.
Ever hear of Anki? It’s an open-source flash card program brilliantly designed to automate the Ebbinghaus method of memory retention. Via a free online service called AnkiWeb, users can download any number of digital card decks from a vast database to memorize whatever their heart desires.
Languages, guitar chords, the periodic table of elements, there’s over 5000 decks available with hundreds of cards in each. I, for one, started taking up world geography. To show off my progress: Podgorica is the capital of Montenegro, Tbilisi the capital of Georgia, Nicosia of Cyprus (knew this before reading about the banking crisis), Yerevan of Armenia, Astana of Kazakhstan, and so on; didn’t Google anything at all here, and I’m admittedly a clueless American. All it took was ~25 minutes a day with Anki for two weeks.
The program works by introducing 20 new cards per session, and reviews cards from previous sessions with a frequency based on how confident you feel with your learning when tested. So for example, say I draw Cardiff and instantly remember it’s the capital of Wales: after clicking “show” to reveal the correct answer, I choose “Easy (4 Days)” from the available options. The card is done for the day, and since I was so confident with it, I won’t have to see the card again for a full four days. If I, perchance, on the next draw mistake Mozambique for Madagascar, I can choose “Again (1 min)” to force a steady repetition and facilitate memorization, until I get it right.
All I can say is install this program on your smartphone right now if you’re a student, especially one taking college-level science. The savings on flashcards alone are well worth the five minutes it takes to download and set up the software. If you’re not in school, Anki is still extremely useful and enriching. Expand your vocabulary, fix your French pronunciation, learn the major themes of famous classical compositions… most importantly, use your brain!
For reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me, AnkiMobile for iOS costs a whopping $25 while AnkiDroid is completely free to download. You can sync up your account on AnkiWeb between all your devices, so no matter where you are Anki knows what cards you’re using. The program also makes a slew of graphs and charts to mark your progress, so you can show off your mastery of those 500 new Arabic phrases or whatever with fancy data.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Walleye run on rivers provides tried, tested cure for cabin fever
For eager fishermen, the first 50-degree day in March is the angling equivalent of firing the starter’s pistol to begin a marathon. After four or five months of dealing with intense cabin fever, fishermen of all descriptions will emerge from winter’s funk and resume their battle of wits with those often elusive denizens of the waterways.
Anglers usually need little coaxing to get the gear out of the garage and consider the 2013 fishing season officially under
way. When the thermometer crept into the marginally comfortable range recently, the battle was joined, and it should last until the snow flies in November.
The primary destination of the first wave of these antsy anglers is the rivers — the Maumee or the Sandusky around this area. It is not uncommon to cross the Maumee-Perrysburg Bridge one day and not see a single fisherman, but pass the same way just a few days later and it will appear that an army has invaded.
Hundreds of anglers in waders stand nearly shoulder to shoulder in the edges of the river, while a flotilla of small boats work the center of the waterway. The targeted species coming out of the gate is walleye, and the fishing flock just hopes its move back outdoors coincides with a big influx of the prized sport fish.
Each spring, as the ice comes off the rivers and the days get steadily longer, the walleye’s internal clock says it is time to leave Lake Erie and head up the streams to spawn. Many of the Lake Erie walleye will spawn out on the reef structures in the open lake, but nature’s GPS has tens of thousands of them choosing the rivers as their spawning destination.
The annual phenomenon brings this fish, one that provides premium table fare, within reach of the many anglers who do not have access to a boat large enough to take on the lake. The river run is their best shot at catching walleye.
Since the spring spawning run can provide masses of fish for masses of fishermen, special rules are in place for March and April each year (see graphic). Anglers in the rivers and the bays can use just one hook; treble hooks are prohibited. Fishing in the designated spawning areas on the rivers is permitted only from sunrise to sunset.
The movement of walleye up the rivers each spring is triggered by both rising water temperature and the increase in daylight, according to Jeff Tyson, the Lake Erie Program Administrator for the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s Sandusky research unit.
“The males move up the river first, and usually stay for an extended period of the run,” Tyson said.
Female walleye will enter the river as the water temperature continues to warm and approaches its optimum level for spawning, which is around 50 degrees. Tyson said these larger female fish likely stage in certain sections of the rivers, and then move back out into the lake once their eggs are dropped.
He expects the first week of April to provide the highest catch rates, with that peak possibly occurring a week earlier or a week later, with weather and the warming of the river water as the wild card in the formula.
Last year, with extremely warm temperatures very early in the spring, was unique, an exception, with spawning and peak catches occurring earlier.
Tyson said the spawning walleye seek out bottom areas covered in gravel or cobble, and most of the actual spawning occurs at night.
“In the daytime, a lot of fish will hold in deeper pools out of the main current,” he said. “There’s a ton of gravel and cobble throughout the Maumee River, so they have plenty of places to spawn.”
The in-house experts at Jann’s Netcraft on Briarfield Boulevard in Maumee recommend the river angler tackling the walleye run use a 6-6 medium-to-heavyweight rod and fish with 8 or 10-pound test line. Some fishermen have historically employed a heavier line, but a quality 10-pound test spool should handle anything the river serves up.
Floating jig heads attached to a two or three-foot long leader in a “Carolina” style rig are the most commonly used lure during the run, when special rules limit the options to a single hook that is no larger than one-half inch from shank to point.
The floating jig is dressed with a plastic twister tail, usually about three inches in length. The leader holding the jig is attached to one end of a swivel, with the main line attached to the other end of the swivel after an in-line sinker is placed on the main line.
This arrangement allows the weight to sink, while the lure rises and is much more visible to fish holding along the rocky bottom. There are two obvious benefits to using a Carolina-style rig when fishing the spring run.
First, a lot more fish are hooked legally when the bait or lure is up off the bottom and out of the rocks or gravel. A lead-headed jig or a weighted hook dragged or jerked across the bottom will foul-hook many fish, and the law requires that any fish hooked anyplace except in the mouth must be immediately returned to the river. Snagging injures many fish.
Secondly, the angler will have his line hang up or snag the bottom a lot less often when the hook is floating away from the many cracks and crevices along theriver floor. This saves tackle, saves time since re-rigging while maintaining your place in the stream can take more than a few minutes, and it also keeps a lot of broken line and harmful lead out of the river.
Anglers tackling the spring run should proceed with caution – the water is cold, the current strong, and the river bottom irregular. A good wading stick can provide stability as you move around in the water.
The biologist Tyson recommends that anglers strictly follow the special walleye run regulations, but not necessarily follow the crowds.
“We have a sense for what is going on during the spawning run, but there are no hard and fast rules,” he said. “There are still some things we don’t know about the walleye in the rivers, so we shouldn’t assume the fish are all packed into the places where the fishermen tend to congregate.”
Anglers usually need little coaxing to get the gear out of the garage and consider the 2013 fishing season officially under
way. When the thermometer crept into the marginally comfortable range recently, the battle was joined, and it should last until the snow flies in November.
The primary destination of the first wave of these antsy anglers is the rivers — the Maumee or the Sandusky around this area. It is not uncommon to cross the Maumee-Perrysburg Bridge one day and not see a single fisherman, but pass the same way just a few days later and it will appear that an army has invaded.
Hundreds of anglers in waders stand nearly shoulder to shoulder in the edges of the river, while a flotilla of small boats work the center of the waterway. The targeted species coming out of the gate is walleye, and the fishing flock just hopes its move back outdoors coincides with a big influx of the prized sport fish.
Each spring, as the ice comes off the rivers and the days get steadily longer, the walleye’s internal clock says it is time to leave Lake Erie and head up the streams to spawn. Many of the Lake Erie walleye will spawn out on the reef structures in the open lake, but nature’s GPS has tens of thousands of them choosing the rivers as their spawning destination.
The annual phenomenon brings this fish, one that provides premium table fare, within reach of the many anglers who do not have access to a boat large enough to take on the lake. The river run is their best shot at catching walleye.
Since the spring spawning run can provide masses of fish for masses of fishermen, special rules are in place for March and April each year (see graphic). Anglers in the rivers and the bays can use just one hook; treble hooks are prohibited. Fishing in the designated spawning areas on the rivers is permitted only from sunrise to sunset.
The movement of walleye up the rivers each spring is triggered by both rising water temperature and the increase in daylight, according to Jeff Tyson, the Lake Erie Program Administrator for the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s Sandusky research unit.
“The males move up the river first, and usually stay for an extended period of the run,” Tyson said.
Female walleye will enter the river as the water temperature continues to warm and approaches its optimum level for spawning, which is around 50 degrees. Tyson said these larger female fish likely stage in certain sections of the rivers, and then move back out into the lake once their eggs are dropped.
He expects the first week of April to provide the highest catch rates, with that peak possibly occurring a week earlier or a week later, with weather and the warming of the river water as the wild card in the formula.
Last year, with extremely warm temperatures very early in the spring, was unique, an exception, with spawning and peak catches occurring earlier.
Tyson said the spawning walleye seek out bottom areas covered in gravel or cobble, and most of the actual spawning occurs at night.
“In the daytime, a lot of fish will hold in deeper pools out of the main current,” he said. “There’s a ton of gravel and cobble throughout the Maumee River, so they have plenty of places to spawn.”
The in-house experts at Jann’s Netcraft on Briarfield Boulevard in Maumee recommend the river angler tackling the walleye run use a 6-6 medium-to-heavyweight rod and fish with 8 or 10-pound test line. Some fishermen have historically employed a heavier line, but a quality 10-pound test spool should handle anything the river serves up.
Floating jig heads attached to a two or three-foot long leader in a “Carolina” style rig are the most commonly used lure during the run, when special rules limit the options to a single hook that is no larger than one-half inch from shank to point.
The floating jig is dressed with a plastic twister tail, usually about three inches in length. The leader holding the jig is attached to one end of a swivel, with the main line attached to the other end of the swivel after an in-line sinker is placed on the main line.
This arrangement allows the weight to sink, while the lure rises and is much more visible to fish holding along the rocky bottom. There are two obvious benefits to using a Carolina-style rig when fishing the spring run.
First, a lot more fish are hooked legally when the bait or lure is up off the bottom and out of the rocks or gravel. A lead-headed jig or a weighted hook dragged or jerked across the bottom will foul-hook many fish, and the law requires that any fish hooked anyplace except in the mouth must be immediately returned to the river. Snagging injures many fish.
Secondly, the angler will have his line hang up or snag the bottom a lot less often when the hook is floating away from the many cracks and crevices along theriver floor. This saves tackle, saves time since re-rigging while maintaining your place in the stream can take more than a few minutes, and it also keeps a lot of broken line and harmful lead out of the river.
Anglers tackling the spring run should proceed with caution – the water is cold, the current strong, and the river bottom irregular. A good wading stick can provide stability as you move around in the water.
The biologist Tyson recommends that anglers strictly follow the special walleye run regulations, but not necessarily follow the crowds.
“We have a sense for what is going on during the spawning run, but there are no hard and fast rules,” he said. “There are still some things we don’t know about the walleye in the rivers, so we shouldn’t assume the fish are all packed into the places where the fishermen tend to congregate.”
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Key takeouts from CobraPost sting on HDFC
The CobraPost sting operation that has uncovered alleged connivance in money laundering by three of the bluest of blue chip Indian banks – HDFC, ICICI and Axis – is a stinging indictment of our black money culture and the Reserve Bank’s ability to police the banking system.
It also raises question-marks about the advisability of giving private sector businesses banking licences at a time when there is political pressure for the same, and weak willingness to create a tough regulatory regime.
The sting – assuming its video-graphed contents are fully authenticated – is chilling for the simple reason that an unknown person claiming to represent a politician with tonnes of black money is easily able to convince bank officials that he needs solutions for converting black money into white. Not only are the bank officials willing to oblige, but they go out of their way to be helpful – ignoring basic requirements like Know Your Customer (KYC) norms or PAN card details. And this aspect plays out not just in one branch or one zone, but across several banks and branches spread all over India.
The implications are huge for our banking system, reeling as it is under bad loans. If it is now proved that private banks are making money hand over fist not by legitimate means, but by laundering funny money, it can destroy public faith in banks too.
One, the sting puts under a cloud the reputations of some of our iconic bankers. HDFC Bank has just had a widely acclaimed book written about its success (Bank for the buck), and its Managing Director Aditya Puri is one of India’s most awarded bankers. HDFC Bank’s parent promoter is none other than Deepak Parekh’s HDFC. Parekh is part of almost all key decisions on the financial sector. He has been on several government committees, including the management panel set up to rescue Satyam after the scam.
As for ICICI Bank and Axis, both are headed by two of India’s most celebrated women achievers – Chanda Kochhar and Shikha Sharma respectively. Many of the managers caught in the sting appear to be women bankers – and this can’t be a comforting thought to anyone.
Two, if personal bankers at the front end can take such big decisions on helping people convert black cash into white investment, as the sting suggests, it means that the top managers of the bank cannot feign ignorance. When the absolute top may have plausible deniability, such operations cannot be carried out without at least someone in the tier just below the top giving them the nod.
Three, HDFC, ICICI and Axis Bank are among India’s best-known banks, and they are run by professionals and not private promoters. If professionally-run banks can do this, one wonders how it is safe for banks run by Indian businessmen to be allowed into this arena without huge fetters.
Four, the Reserve Bank of India, clearly, does not have either the will or the capability to police banks. Clearly, banking supervision needs to be hived off from its regulator function and invested in a fully autonomous and professional body.
Five, a key change in the law that allows banks to deal in so much cash was the withdrawal of the Banking Cash Transactions Tax in 2008 by P Chidambaram. The tax, always unpopular with politicians, was introduced by Chidambaram earlier during UPA-1, but removed just before tine elections of 2009.
While doing so, he said in his budget speech: “The Banking Cash Transaction Tax (BCTT) has served a very useful purpose in enlarging the information system of the Income Tax Department. Since the information is also being gathered through other instruments introduced in the last few years, I propose to withdraw this tax with effect from April 1, 2009.”
After giving up a pair of goals to Temple’s Kellee Pace and Schwaab, USC fought back to take a 3-2 lead behind unassisted goals from de Lyra, Johansen and Cordrey. Temple then tied the game with 10:38 left in the first half after Johansen earned a yellow card, but Johansen responded by giving USC the lead with 7:20 remaining. Temple again tied the game at 4-4 with a goal from Schwaab, and the score remained there at halftime.
“Our focus has been starting off stronger than we have been, so I was proud of the girls in the first half,” USC head coach Lindsey Munday said. “Even though we went down by a couple goals, I was glad to see us fight and just stay in it and chip away before halftime.”
Temple came out aggressively again in the second half, scoring three unanswered goals to take a 7-4 lead. Johansen scored her third goal of the game to stop the Owls’ run, but Temple scored again just 35 seconds later. The Owls controlled the game the rest of the way, outshooting USC 15-7 in the second half and leading by as many as six.
“We came out really strong and were working like a team in the first half,” Johansen said, “A few mistakes got the best of us, and they capitalized off of each mistake scoring goals, so they went up ahead. We needed a way to come back and score in bunches. We needed to win the draw control. We just made a few too many mistakes today, but we have to keep our heads up and look forward to our next game.”
Both teams turned the ball over 13 times, with USC causing 12 and Temple causing 10, but USC committed 22 fouls as opposed to just 12 for Temple. USC led 14-12 in ground balls, although Temple won the draw control battle 11-10.
“One thing that we can take away from today is just you got to battle all 60 minutes, and not just to show up the first half,” Cordrey said. “I think that we’re really going to use this to fuel us for our next game and come out really hard and compete for a full 60 minutes as a team together.”
It also raises question-marks about the advisability of giving private sector businesses banking licences at a time when there is political pressure for the same, and weak willingness to create a tough regulatory regime.
The sting – assuming its video-graphed contents are fully authenticated – is chilling for the simple reason that an unknown person claiming to represent a politician with tonnes of black money is easily able to convince bank officials that he needs solutions for converting black money into white. Not only are the bank officials willing to oblige, but they go out of their way to be helpful – ignoring basic requirements like Know Your Customer (KYC) norms or PAN card details. And this aspect plays out not just in one branch or one zone, but across several banks and branches spread all over India.
The implications are huge for our banking system, reeling as it is under bad loans. If it is now proved that private banks are making money hand over fist not by legitimate means, but by laundering funny money, it can destroy public faith in banks too.
One, the sting puts under a cloud the reputations of some of our iconic bankers. HDFC Bank has just had a widely acclaimed book written about its success (Bank for the buck), and its Managing Director Aditya Puri is one of India’s most awarded bankers. HDFC Bank’s parent promoter is none other than Deepak Parekh’s HDFC. Parekh is part of almost all key decisions on the financial sector. He has been on several government committees, including the management panel set up to rescue Satyam after the scam.
As for ICICI Bank and Axis, both are headed by two of India’s most celebrated women achievers – Chanda Kochhar and Shikha Sharma respectively. Many of the managers caught in the sting appear to be women bankers – and this can’t be a comforting thought to anyone.
Two, if personal bankers at the front end can take such big decisions on helping people convert black cash into white investment, as the sting suggests, it means that the top managers of the bank cannot feign ignorance. When the absolute top may have plausible deniability, such operations cannot be carried out without at least someone in the tier just below the top giving them the nod.
Three, HDFC, ICICI and Axis Bank are among India’s best-known banks, and they are run by professionals and not private promoters. If professionally-run banks can do this, one wonders how it is safe for banks run by Indian businessmen to be allowed into this arena without huge fetters.
Four, the Reserve Bank of India, clearly, does not have either the will or the capability to police banks. Clearly, banking supervision needs to be hived off from its regulator function and invested in a fully autonomous and professional body.
Five, a key change in the law that allows banks to deal in so much cash was the withdrawal of the Banking Cash Transactions Tax in 2008 by P Chidambaram. The tax, always unpopular with politicians, was introduced by Chidambaram earlier during UPA-1, but removed just before tine elections of 2009.
While doing so, he said in his budget speech: “The Banking Cash Transaction Tax (BCTT) has served a very useful purpose in enlarging the information system of the Income Tax Department. Since the information is also being gathered through other instruments introduced in the last few years, I propose to withdraw this tax with effect from April 1, 2009.”
After giving up a pair of goals to Temple’s Kellee Pace and Schwaab, USC fought back to take a 3-2 lead behind unassisted goals from de Lyra, Johansen and Cordrey. Temple then tied the game with 10:38 left in the first half after Johansen earned a yellow card, but Johansen responded by giving USC the lead with 7:20 remaining. Temple again tied the game at 4-4 with a goal from Schwaab, and the score remained there at halftime.
“Our focus has been starting off stronger than we have been, so I was proud of the girls in the first half,” USC head coach Lindsey Munday said. “Even though we went down by a couple goals, I was glad to see us fight and just stay in it and chip away before halftime.”
Temple came out aggressively again in the second half, scoring three unanswered goals to take a 7-4 lead. Johansen scored her third goal of the game to stop the Owls’ run, but Temple scored again just 35 seconds later. The Owls controlled the game the rest of the way, outshooting USC 15-7 in the second half and leading by as many as six.
“We came out really strong and were working like a team in the first half,” Johansen said, “A few mistakes got the best of us, and they capitalized off of each mistake scoring goals, so they went up ahead. We needed a way to come back and score in bunches. We needed to win the draw control. We just made a few too many mistakes today, but we have to keep our heads up and look forward to our next game.”
Both teams turned the ball over 13 times, with USC causing 12 and Temple causing 10, but USC committed 22 fouls as opposed to just 12 for Temple. USC led 14-12 in ground balls, although Temple won the draw control battle 11-10.
“One thing that we can take away from today is just you got to battle all 60 minutes, and not just to show up the first half,” Cordrey said. “I think that we’re really going to use this to fuel us for our next game and come out really hard and compete for a full 60 minutes as a team together.”
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Rossendale firm looks to chip in to Winter Olympics
Universal Smart Cards (USC) has been chosen as one of only 13 British companies to attend a trade mission in Moscow, organised by the British Chamber of Commerce, later this month.
As the only Lancashire representative out of 90 applicants, business deve-lopment manager Paul May hopes he’ll be returning from Russia with a lot of love for the company’s prod- ucts and services.
They include a vast range of contact and contactless smart cards – all featuring a PVC microchip – card readers, card printers, fobs, wristbands and labels.
Dear Muy, Ignoring any payment of principal over the year, your annual interest expense on a $22,000 loan balance at 6.6% is $1,452. Unless you're making interest-only payments, your interest expense for the coming year should be even less than that because you're paying down principal over time.
Managing a collection of credit cards to reduce your interest expense has its own set of additional risks. You're not transferring credit card balances from another credit card, so you have to find a card that has a teaser rate on a cash advance. Multiple credit card applications over a short period of time will negatively impact your credit score, making it even harder to qualify for that great credit card offer. You also give up any of the loan payment options available with your student loans, including any tax deductibility of the interest payments.
I understand students and graduates complaining about the high interest rates associated with student loans. Comparing student loan rates to mortgage rates isn't a fair comparison, however, because a mortgage is secured by the house as collateral. You've borrowing money unsecured at a fixed 6.6%. That's not a bad deal. Bankrate's latest national average for a fixed-rate credit card is 13.02%. It's 15.15% for variable-rate credit cards. The cards are unsecured debt, too.
In an ideal world, you could use your emergency fund to pay down your student loan, and then replenish the fund over time and come out ahead. But to do that means you've lost the potential protection the fund offers.
The value of a tax deduction depends on your income level and marginal federal income tax bracket. Don't let taxes be the guiding force or the tail wagging the dog here. I'd argue that you should be making additional principal payments each month to chip away at the outstanding loan balance, and set a target date for paying off the debt. Do that, and I'll give you an A for the day!
The lineup for the festival, which takes place from Aug. 2 to 4 at Parc Jean-Drapeau, is a thoughtfully balanced blend of post-punk heritage acts, contemporary roots-rockers, psychedelic buzz bands, acclaimed hip hop artists and synth-pop groove merchants, among others.
New Order join the Cure as a sure draw for those who came of age in the 1980s, while the Lumineers will help the Mumford lads reintroduce acoustic instruments to a new generation in the noisy outdoor mix.
French alt-rockers Phoenix will be there, as will Kendrick Lamar, Vampire Weekend and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, the duo whose irresistible Thrift Shop might still be riding the Billboard charts by then.
The bill will also include Alt-J, Hot Chip, Tegan and Sara, Ellie Goulding, Beach House, Big Boi, Flogging Molly, Silversun Pickups, Azealia Banks, the Gaslight Anthem, Father John Misty, Jimmy Eat World, We Are Wolves, Diamond Rings, A Tribe Called Red and Wild Belle.
Even during the early years — a.k.a. the "good years," a.k.a. the "dangerous years" — some people thought it was lazy or hack. In the book on comedy writing And Here's the Kicker, SCTV alumnus Harold Ramis explained why he was happy to not work on SNL even though all his friends were: "The writing was a little weak and gratuitous in a lot of ways. I though the notion of just repeating scenes over and over, week after week, was not a good thing." However, as Buck Henry argued in the same book, "The repetition is funny in and of itself." And those who love this aspect of the show would argue that the very fact that these characters are met with exuberant applause is evidence of why it’s a good practice. Fans love the characters, and they love repeating the catchphrases on their own, so why wouldn't it be a delight to see those characters repeat the catchphrases?
Classic JT characters weren't the only ones reused last weekend. The last two live sketches of the night — "Maine Justice" and "Mo?t & Chandon" — were not only redos, but they were also from the same episode from earlier in the season, Jamie Foxx's. "Maine Justice" lost a ton of juice in its second go-round, as the sketch became less about the concept (a surreal Maine courtroom where everything is inexplicably New Orleans–y) and more about the characters (namely Jason Sudeikis's Cajun judge, who himself strikes a resemblance to Sudiekis’s character from the "Potato Chip" sketch). Conversely, Vanessa Bayer and Cecily Strong's unfortunate porn stars grow more ridiculous and compelling as we learn more about their insane past. But will it get even better the fourth and fifth times and beyond?
But ultimately, none of the aesthetic comedy debate on this issue matters. Michaels has been hearing complaints about recurring characters for nearly 40 years and has shrugged it off because, as heretical as this might sound to its critics, it would be foolish to change. While the rest of network TV slides deeper into the abyss, SNL holds relatively strong. Unlike most shows in prime time, its audience this season, particularly among adults under 50, is the same or higher than it was two or three years ago. What's more, as NBC's fortunes have sunk, SNL now often boasts a bigger audience than many of the network’s comedies and dramas. TV executives flail (and usually fail) to find new ways to reinvent the sitcom, drama, or reality show; when a talk-show host retires, the network tries to find some fresh way to invigorate the host/desk format. But SNL has an automatic-refresh button: As beloved cast members leave to become big movie stars, new young faces come in with the promise of being the next generation’s big star. The very appeal of this show is that young people will get new faces to “own”: The unchanging institution of SNL is a machine with which we watch our new comedy heroes get built.
That's what Justin Timberlake's Five-Timers Club monologue was about: continuing to assert the show's place as an institution. So just as Tom Hanks belonged in the same all-time-great host conversation with Steve Martin, Justin Timberlake belongs in it with Tom Hanks. Michaels famously believed the show was special when he started it, and he continues to do so today. Saturday's episode reminded you that throughout the show's 38 seasons, through exceptional and less-than hosts, there's a legacy. And whether you like it or not, part of that legacy is recurring characters.
As the only Lancashire representative out of 90 applicants, business deve-lopment manager Paul May hopes he’ll be returning from Russia with a lot of love for the company’s prod- ucts and services.
They include a vast range of contact and contactless smart cards – all featuring a PVC microchip – card readers, card printers, fobs, wristbands and labels.
Dear Muy, Ignoring any payment of principal over the year, your annual interest expense on a $22,000 loan balance at 6.6% is $1,452. Unless you're making interest-only payments, your interest expense for the coming year should be even less than that because you're paying down principal over time.
Managing a collection of credit cards to reduce your interest expense has its own set of additional risks. You're not transferring credit card balances from another credit card, so you have to find a card that has a teaser rate on a cash advance. Multiple credit card applications over a short period of time will negatively impact your credit score, making it even harder to qualify for that great credit card offer. You also give up any of the loan payment options available with your student loans, including any tax deductibility of the interest payments.
I understand students and graduates complaining about the high interest rates associated with student loans. Comparing student loan rates to mortgage rates isn't a fair comparison, however, because a mortgage is secured by the house as collateral. You've borrowing money unsecured at a fixed 6.6%. That's not a bad deal. Bankrate's latest national average for a fixed-rate credit card is 13.02%. It's 15.15% for variable-rate credit cards. The cards are unsecured debt, too.
In an ideal world, you could use your emergency fund to pay down your student loan, and then replenish the fund over time and come out ahead. But to do that means you've lost the potential protection the fund offers.
The value of a tax deduction depends on your income level and marginal federal income tax bracket. Don't let taxes be the guiding force or the tail wagging the dog here. I'd argue that you should be making additional principal payments each month to chip away at the outstanding loan balance, and set a target date for paying off the debt. Do that, and I'll give you an A for the day!
The lineup for the festival, which takes place from Aug. 2 to 4 at Parc Jean-Drapeau, is a thoughtfully balanced blend of post-punk heritage acts, contemporary roots-rockers, psychedelic buzz bands, acclaimed hip hop artists and synth-pop groove merchants, among others.
New Order join the Cure as a sure draw for those who came of age in the 1980s, while the Lumineers will help the Mumford lads reintroduce acoustic instruments to a new generation in the noisy outdoor mix.
French alt-rockers Phoenix will be there, as will Kendrick Lamar, Vampire Weekend and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, the duo whose irresistible Thrift Shop might still be riding the Billboard charts by then.
The bill will also include Alt-J, Hot Chip, Tegan and Sara, Ellie Goulding, Beach House, Big Boi, Flogging Molly, Silversun Pickups, Azealia Banks, the Gaslight Anthem, Father John Misty, Jimmy Eat World, We Are Wolves, Diamond Rings, A Tribe Called Red and Wild Belle.
Even during the early years — a.k.a. the "good years," a.k.a. the "dangerous years" — some people thought it was lazy or hack. In the book on comedy writing And Here's the Kicker, SCTV alumnus Harold Ramis explained why he was happy to not work on SNL even though all his friends were: "The writing was a little weak and gratuitous in a lot of ways. I though the notion of just repeating scenes over and over, week after week, was not a good thing." However, as Buck Henry argued in the same book, "The repetition is funny in and of itself." And those who love this aspect of the show would argue that the very fact that these characters are met with exuberant applause is evidence of why it’s a good practice. Fans love the characters, and they love repeating the catchphrases on their own, so why wouldn't it be a delight to see those characters repeat the catchphrases?
Classic JT characters weren't the only ones reused last weekend. The last two live sketches of the night — "Maine Justice" and "Mo?t & Chandon" — were not only redos, but they were also from the same episode from earlier in the season, Jamie Foxx's. "Maine Justice" lost a ton of juice in its second go-round, as the sketch became less about the concept (a surreal Maine courtroom where everything is inexplicably New Orleans–y) and more about the characters (namely Jason Sudeikis's Cajun judge, who himself strikes a resemblance to Sudiekis’s character from the "Potato Chip" sketch). Conversely, Vanessa Bayer and Cecily Strong's unfortunate porn stars grow more ridiculous and compelling as we learn more about their insane past. But will it get even better the fourth and fifth times and beyond?
But ultimately, none of the aesthetic comedy debate on this issue matters. Michaels has been hearing complaints about recurring characters for nearly 40 years and has shrugged it off because, as heretical as this might sound to its critics, it would be foolish to change. While the rest of network TV slides deeper into the abyss, SNL holds relatively strong. Unlike most shows in prime time, its audience this season, particularly among adults under 50, is the same or higher than it was two or three years ago. What's more, as NBC's fortunes have sunk, SNL now often boasts a bigger audience than many of the network’s comedies and dramas. TV executives flail (and usually fail) to find new ways to reinvent the sitcom, drama, or reality show; when a talk-show host retires, the network tries to find some fresh way to invigorate the host/desk format. But SNL has an automatic-refresh button: As beloved cast members leave to become big movie stars, new young faces come in with the promise of being the next generation’s big star. The very appeal of this show is that young people will get new faces to “own”: The unchanging institution of SNL is a machine with which we watch our new comedy heroes get built.
That's what Justin Timberlake's Five-Timers Club monologue was about: continuing to assert the show's place as an institution. So just as Tom Hanks belonged in the same all-time-great host conversation with Steve Martin, Justin Timberlake belongs in it with Tom Hanks. Michaels famously believed the show was special when he started it, and he continues to do so today. Saturday's episode reminded you that throughout the show's 38 seasons, through exceptional and less-than hosts, there's a legacy. And whether you like it or not, part of that legacy is recurring characters.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Obama Administration Needs To Stop Avoiding C-Word On Cybersecurity
On February 20, 2013, just one week after the Obama Administration issued an Executive Order on “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity,” it released its “Administration Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets.” The Strategy states that the Obama Administration will take steps to make sure that our trading partners treat trade secret theft as a serious issue. The facts and conclusions stated in the attachments to the Strategy, however, reveal a fundamental weakness in the Strategy.
Another attachment is the National Counter-Intelligence Executive’s Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage, 2009-11, which is titled “Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace.” The Executive Summary of that Report states: “Chinese actors are the world’s most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage. U.S. private sector firms and cybersecurity specialists have reported an onslaught of computer network intrusions that have originated in China, but the [Intelligence Community] cannot confirm who was responsible.” In a report issued on February 18, 2013, the cybersecurity firm Mandiant Corp. stated that most of those network intrusions could be traced back to a Shanghai hacking group sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army of China.
The final attachment to the White House Strategy is a Report by the Defense Security Service titled “Targeting U.S. Technologies – A Trend Analysis of Reporting from the Defense Industry, 2012.” It reports that in 2011 43% of the foreign attempts to obtain illegal or unauthorized access to sensitive or classified information in the U.S. originated from East Asia and the Pacific – primarily China.
Despite attaching all of this data to its Strategy, the Obama Administration never mentions China in its Strategy. The Strategy states five Strategy Action Items, but it contains no application of any of them specifically to the threat from China. Even taking into account a strategic interest in not disclosing all of the Obama Administration’s intentions, this is a major flaw in the Strategy.
The first Strategy Action Item is to focus diplomatic efforts to protect trade secrets overseas. A key phrase in this section of the Strategy is “where there are regular incidents of trade secret theft.” For example, the Strategy states that the Administration will apply “sustained and coordinated diplomatic pressure” on other governments to discourage trade secret theft “by utilizing a whole of government approach directed at a sustained and coordinated message from all appropriate agencies to foreign governments where there are regular incidents of trade secret theft.” Moreover, the Plan states that to assist in this effort “the Department of State will track scheduled diplomatic engagements and meetings by senior Administration officials with governments of countries where there are regular incidents of trade secret theft or that may be complicit in trade secret theft.”
In recent years, as shown by the attachments to the White House’s Strategy, no country has been a greater source of threats to American trade secrets than China. An open question, however, is the extent to which the Obama Administration is prepared to apply diplomatic pressure to China – the country which, at present, is the greatest source of the trade secret threats. When the Obama Administration released a few weeks ago a list of computer addresses linked to the theft of terabytes of data from American corporations, it omitted the fact that almost all of the addresses could be traced to a Shanghai neighborhood that is the home of the Chinese military’s cyber command. When Mandiant Corp. released its report tracing 141 incidents of cyber espionage to the same location, Administration officials said privately they had no problem with Mandiant Corp.’s conclusions but they would not say so on the record. One intelligence official is reported to have said: “We were told that directly embarrassing the Chinese would backfire. It would only make them more defensive, and more nationalistic.”
As part of its Strategy, the Obama Administration does commit to use trade policy tools to increase international enforcement against trade secret theft, including “targeting weaknesses in trade secret protection through enhanced use of the Annual 301 process.” When countries are placed on the priority watch list in annual reports of the U.S. Trade Representative, they receive “increased bilateral attention.” The failure of previous attempts by the American Government to persuade the Chinese Government to crack down on piracy, however, does not breed confidence. More significantly, the Chinese Government denies it engages in or condones any cyber espionage. If the Obama Administration believes that directly accusing the Chinese of cyber espionage and theft of trade secrets will only make them more defensive and nationalistic, it does not seem likely that diplomacy will solve or even mitigate the threat.
The second Strategy Action Item is to promote voluntary practices by private industry to protect trade secrets. “The Administration will encourage companies and industry associations to develop and adopt voluntary best practices, consistent with anti-trust laws, and help highlight those practices.”
Section 8 of the President’s Executive Order directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a “voluntary program” to support the adoption of a Cybersecurity Framework by owners and operators of “Critical Infrastructure.” In particular, Section 8(d) directs the Secretary to “coordinate the establishment of a set of incentives designed to promote participation in the program.”
If the Administration is to obtain substantive input from the owners and operators of “Critical Infrastructure,” and if the Administration hopes to induce the private sector to participate in any kind of standard-setting for the protection of trade secrets, it will have to address the private sector’s legitimate concerns, including concerns about the confidentiality of security information that is shared with the Government and others, potential antitrust and securities liabilities, potential tort liability for failure to meet standards and privacy concerns. This will require legislation, which the Administration has not yet been able to get through Congress.
Moreover, the Strategy recognizes that “[i]dentified best practices may not be suitable for every company or organization.” Therefore, the Strategy concedes that any guidelines are intended solely to offer “suggestions” to assist companies in safeguarding information. “Suggestions” do not constitute an effective strategy for combating sophisticated advanced persistent threats from an adversary as determined to advance itself and its country’s state-owned enterprises as the PLA.
Another attachment is the National Counter-Intelligence Executive’s Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage, 2009-11, which is titled “Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace.” The Executive Summary of that Report states: “Chinese actors are the world’s most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage. U.S. private sector firms and cybersecurity specialists have reported an onslaught of computer network intrusions that have originated in China, but the [Intelligence Community] cannot confirm who was responsible.” In a report issued on February 18, 2013, the cybersecurity firm Mandiant Corp. stated that most of those network intrusions could be traced back to a Shanghai hacking group sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army of China.
The final attachment to the White House Strategy is a Report by the Defense Security Service titled “Targeting U.S. Technologies – A Trend Analysis of Reporting from the Defense Industry, 2012.” It reports that in 2011 43% of the foreign attempts to obtain illegal or unauthorized access to sensitive or classified information in the U.S. originated from East Asia and the Pacific – primarily China.
Despite attaching all of this data to its Strategy, the Obama Administration never mentions China in its Strategy. The Strategy states five Strategy Action Items, but it contains no application of any of them specifically to the threat from China. Even taking into account a strategic interest in not disclosing all of the Obama Administration’s intentions, this is a major flaw in the Strategy.
The first Strategy Action Item is to focus diplomatic efforts to protect trade secrets overseas. A key phrase in this section of the Strategy is “where there are regular incidents of trade secret theft.” For example, the Strategy states that the Administration will apply “sustained and coordinated diplomatic pressure” on other governments to discourage trade secret theft “by utilizing a whole of government approach directed at a sustained and coordinated message from all appropriate agencies to foreign governments where there are regular incidents of trade secret theft.” Moreover, the Plan states that to assist in this effort “the Department of State will track scheduled diplomatic engagements and meetings by senior Administration officials with governments of countries where there are regular incidents of trade secret theft or that may be complicit in trade secret theft.”
In recent years, as shown by the attachments to the White House’s Strategy, no country has been a greater source of threats to American trade secrets than China. An open question, however, is the extent to which the Obama Administration is prepared to apply diplomatic pressure to China – the country which, at present, is the greatest source of the trade secret threats. When the Obama Administration released a few weeks ago a list of computer addresses linked to the theft of terabytes of data from American corporations, it omitted the fact that almost all of the addresses could be traced to a Shanghai neighborhood that is the home of the Chinese military’s cyber command. When Mandiant Corp. released its report tracing 141 incidents of cyber espionage to the same location, Administration officials said privately they had no problem with Mandiant Corp.’s conclusions but they would not say so on the record. One intelligence official is reported to have said: “We were told that directly embarrassing the Chinese would backfire. It would only make them more defensive, and more nationalistic.”
As part of its Strategy, the Obama Administration does commit to use trade policy tools to increase international enforcement against trade secret theft, including “targeting weaknesses in trade secret protection through enhanced use of the Annual 301 process.” When countries are placed on the priority watch list in annual reports of the U.S. Trade Representative, they receive “increased bilateral attention.” The failure of previous attempts by the American Government to persuade the Chinese Government to crack down on piracy, however, does not breed confidence. More significantly, the Chinese Government denies it engages in or condones any cyber espionage. If the Obama Administration believes that directly accusing the Chinese of cyber espionage and theft of trade secrets will only make them more defensive and nationalistic, it does not seem likely that diplomacy will solve or even mitigate the threat.
The second Strategy Action Item is to promote voluntary practices by private industry to protect trade secrets. “The Administration will encourage companies and industry associations to develop and adopt voluntary best practices, consistent with anti-trust laws, and help highlight those practices.”
Section 8 of the President’s Executive Order directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a “voluntary program” to support the adoption of a Cybersecurity Framework by owners and operators of “Critical Infrastructure.” In particular, Section 8(d) directs the Secretary to “coordinate the establishment of a set of incentives designed to promote participation in the program.”
If the Administration is to obtain substantive input from the owners and operators of “Critical Infrastructure,” and if the Administration hopes to induce the private sector to participate in any kind of standard-setting for the protection of trade secrets, it will have to address the private sector’s legitimate concerns, including concerns about the confidentiality of security information that is shared with the Government and others, potential antitrust and securities liabilities, potential tort liability for failure to meet standards and privacy concerns. This will require legislation, which the Administration has not yet been able to get through Congress.
Moreover, the Strategy recognizes that “[i]dentified best practices may not be suitable for every company or organization.” Therefore, the Strategy concedes that any guidelines are intended solely to offer “suggestions” to assist companies in safeguarding information. “Suggestions” do not constitute an effective strategy for combating sophisticated advanced persistent threats from an adversary as determined to advance itself and its country’s state-owned enterprises as the PLA.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
What’s The Deaccessioning Lesson?
As chronicled in the Tacoma News-Tribune, the art sales in question began because a few years back the Tacoma museum decided to refocus on Northwest art. In its collection was a cache of Qing dynasty robes, scroll paintings and silk purses, and 41 pieces of jade jewelry. The collection, described as “richly embroidered…silk jackets, robes and skirts” and “jade items varied from shades of green to white and yellow, many exquisitely carved” had been exhibited at the museum a couple of times and the jade had once been on permanent display. The items had been donated by a Chinese-American couple, named Young, in 1976, and they were supposedly valued recently at about $70,000.
But when a third of the trove was sold recently at Bonham’s, bringing $230,000, museum officials were ecstatic, but eyebrows went up elsewhere.
The descendants of the Youngs had been notified before the sale, and they apparently agreed to it (the museum had sold some of the jade in the 1990s without consulting the family). The money from this sale was to be used to buy works by Northwest Chinese -American artists.
But the family had been told the items were in poor condition plus, they learned after the sale, the museum’s website had once labeled them as not-of-museum-quality. If so, why the high prices? Other discrepancies, such as an incomplete inventory and exaggerated talk of trying to place the items with other museum, contributed to the mess. They led to charges by the Youngs of cultural disrespect and lack of appreciation for the Chinese presence in the northwest since the 1800s. A group is now trying to halt the sale of the rest of the Young collection, which is set for March 12.
What should the Tacoma museum have done? For one, it’s unclear to me whether or not the Young collection fits the new mission, which neither defines Northwest art nor limits it to a certain period. Here’s what it says:
Tacoma Art Museum serves the diverse communities of the Northwest through its collection, exhibitions, and learning programs, emphasizing art and artists from the Northwest. Our vision is to be a national model for regional museums by creating a dynamic museum that engages, inspires, and builds community through art.
True, the art involved was not made in the Northwest, but “emphasizing” does not exclude art made elsewhere, especially if it “serves the diverse communities.”
Second, it does sound — if the Youngs are to be believed, and they are not contradicted by the museum on several points — as if the descendents were not given full information before they acquiesed to the sale. That’s always a bad policy — the coverup is usually worse than the crime.
Third, when a museum changes its mission — and one hopes that is not too often — I do believe it is incumbent upon the museum to place the collections that no longer fit at other public institutions — even if the only possible arrangement is a long-term loan. That was not done in this case.
"On the personal side I feel the need for prayer for the cardinals as they go into their conclave. Their election of a new pope will have a massive impact on the Catholic Church in our modern world. And, the new pope will have an influence on the implementation of evangelical Catholicism. Choosing a new pope will be key for the Catholic Church," stated the owner of Nelson Fine Art and Gifts located on Lincoln Avenue.
"The next pope will be relatively unknown. But, we hope to educate people about the new pope through our products including posters, cards and framed paintings. At this point, we are praying for wisdom for the cardinals as they choose the next pope," noted Nelson.
"On the personal side I feel the need for prayer for the cardinals as they go into their conclave. Their election of a new pope will have a massive impact on the Catholic Church in our modern world. And, the new pope will have an influence on the implementation of evangelical Catholicism. Choosing a new pope will be key for the Catholic Church," stated the owner of Nelson Fine Art and Gifts located on Lincoln Avenue.
"The next pope will be relatively unknown. But, we hope to educate people about the new pope through our products including posters, cards and framed paintings. At this point, we are praying for wisdom for the cardinals as they choose the next pope," noted Nelson.
But when a third of the trove was sold recently at Bonham’s, bringing $230,000, museum officials were ecstatic, but eyebrows went up elsewhere.
The descendants of the Youngs had been notified before the sale, and they apparently agreed to it (the museum had sold some of the jade in the 1990s without consulting the family). The money from this sale was to be used to buy works by Northwest Chinese -American artists.
But the family had been told the items were in poor condition plus, they learned after the sale, the museum’s website had once labeled them as not-of-museum-quality. If so, why the high prices? Other discrepancies, such as an incomplete inventory and exaggerated talk of trying to place the items with other museum, contributed to the mess. They led to charges by the Youngs of cultural disrespect and lack of appreciation for the Chinese presence in the northwest since the 1800s. A group is now trying to halt the sale of the rest of the Young collection, which is set for March 12.
What should the Tacoma museum have done? For one, it’s unclear to me whether or not the Young collection fits the new mission, which neither defines Northwest art nor limits it to a certain period. Here’s what it says:
Tacoma Art Museum serves the diverse communities of the Northwest through its collection, exhibitions, and learning programs, emphasizing art and artists from the Northwest. Our vision is to be a national model for regional museums by creating a dynamic museum that engages, inspires, and builds community through art.
True, the art involved was not made in the Northwest, but “emphasizing” does not exclude art made elsewhere, especially if it “serves the diverse communities.”
Second, it does sound — if the Youngs are to be believed, and they are not contradicted by the museum on several points — as if the descendents were not given full information before they acquiesed to the sale. That’s always a bad policy — the coverup is usually worse than the crime.
Third, when a museum changes its mission — and one hopes that is not too often — I do believe it is incumbent upon the museum to place the collections that no longer fit at other public institutions — even if the only possible arrangement is a long-term loan. That was not done in this case.
"On the personal side I feel the need for prayer for the cardinals as they go into their conclave. Their election of a new pope will have a massive impact on the Catholic Church in our modern world. And, the new pope will have an influence on the implementation of evangelical Catholicism. Choosing a new pope will be key for the Catholic Church," stated the owner of Nelson Fine Art and Gifts located on Lincoln Avenue.
"The next pope will be relatively unknown. But, we hope to educate people about the new pope through our products including posters, cards and framed paintings. At this point, we are praying for wisdom for the cardinals as they choose the next pope," noted Nelson.
"On the personal side I feel the need for prayer for the cardinals as they go into their conclave. Their election of a new pope will have a massive impact on the Catholic Church in our modern world. And, the new pope will have an influence on the implementation of evangelical Catholicism. Choosing a new pope will be key for the Catholic Church," stated the owner of Nelson Fine Art and Gifts located on Lincoln Avenue.
"The next pope will be relatively unknown. But, we hope to educate people about the new pope through our products including posters, cards and framed paintings. At this point, we are praying for wisdom for the cardinals as they choose the next pope," noted Nelson.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Four Arts’ new Dixon Education Building a convergence
The 20,000-square-foot former Palm Beach Public School building at the corner of Cocoanut Row and Seaview Avenue has been renovated as a made-to-order home for the fast-growing Campus on the Lake adult education program, which, until now, has had no dedicated space of its own. The building will open to the public with a celebration 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
“It’s the fulfillment of a dream,” Four Arts president Ervin Duggan said. “We spent six years negotiating with the school board to obtain the building. It was a long process, but it’s satisfying to see it come to fruition.”
The Four Arts bought the building in 2010 for $5.4 million and spent about $13 million renovating it. The landmarked building, which was designed by William Manley King and constructed in the late 1920s and early 1930s, is named after the late Four Arts board chairman who spearheaded its acquisition.
Renovations began in February 2012, overseen by design architect Harry Elson of New York, who worked with the project’s architect of record, Keith Spina of Glidden Spina + Partners in West Palm Beach.
Elson’s first tasks were to figure out a way to get people into and out of the building, and to connect it with the remainder of the campus to the south and west. A plan fell into place when the Four Arts was allowed to demolish a 1958 addition on the south side, which opened up a new way to access the building and link with the rest of the campus.
Elson flipped the main entrance from its historic entry on Cocoanut Row to the south side, where a dramatic two-story atrium facing the sculpture garden and a glass and steel canopy direct guests inside. A driveway leading from Cocoanut Row winds through an oval drop-off point anchored by a fountain and extends west to Four Arts Plaza and the parking lot north of the library.
The building’s historic east and north facades were left intact. The south side “is where we pushed the envelope, to not mimic the Cocoanut Row and Seaview sides, but contrast with it,” Elson said.
For the interior design, Elson created an updated version of the Mediterranean-influenced Palm Beach style, as defined by architects such as Addison Mizner and Maurice Fatio, by restricting the palette to a serene combination of limestone, rift-cut white oak and brass-finished metalwork.
“The exterior represents the 20th century personality of the building, while with the interior we seized an opportunity to create a 21st century personality for the building,” Elson said.
Equipment rooms and restrooms were positioned on the building’s south side, while classrooms and other public rooms were situated on the north and east sides, where they profit from the sunlight and vistas afforded by the building’s over-sized mullioned windows.
In keeping with the building’s new orientation, a diagonal axis runs from the northeast corner through the atrium to the fountain, creating dramatic focal points at each end and giving the Four Arts a feature it’s never had before — an attention-grabbing street presence. Elson situated the first-floor lobby and the second-floor, 75-seat Forum in the pivotal northeast corner.
Most of the building’s rooms can serve multiple purposes. The Forum can be set up for lectures, or light-blocking blinds can convert it into a space suitable for audio-visual presentations.
The first-floor demonstration kitchen, fully equipped with amenities such as a double oven, freezer and a dishwasher that cleans in less than five minutes, and the second-floor art classroom, which features sinks and adjustable-height tables and chairs, can be divided in two with retractable walls. All the seating is movable, and there’s ample storage space.
A digital lab on the first floor is furnished with Windows and Macintosh-based computers. All the classrooms are equipped with flat-screen TVs, and free wi-fi is available throughout the building.
The former gymnasium on the building’s west side has been converted into a 200-seat auditorium suitable for lectures, small concerts and parties. The stage and the 22-foot-igh barrel ceiling have been preserved, but the ceiling has been covered with rift-cut white oak beams and the proscenium opening narrowed for better acoustics and sight lines. Acoustical panels, also featured in the lobby and Forum, regulate sound levels for a range of uses.
A U-shaped seating arrangement in the living room overlooks Aqua’s marina. The room’s soft contemporary furnishings include a full sofa that is positioned against the mirrored columns and buffet server, matching exposed wood lounge chairs upholstered in a small geometric print and two exposed wood accent chairs from Century Furniture that have deep jade cut-velvet seats. The floating, double-stacked ceiling is lined with accent lighting that plays with a beautiful chandelier suspended over the center of the seating area. A linear fireplace is flush mounted to a wall and surrounded by Mother of Pearl mosaic tiles. The fireplace wall will showcase larger pieces of artwork and includes a hearth that doubles as a place for seating.
A wide gallery hallway with gray marble floor inlay leads from the foyer to the model’s powder room, kitchen, family room and two guest suites. The hallway is lined with fine art pieces that conjure recollections of stays in ports around the world. A full wall height glass tile backsplash in multiple shades of jade and white provides a memory point in the kitchen and butler’s pantry. The warm cherry perimeter cabinetry in the kitchen is repeated at the island and in the butler’s pantry. A whimsical square shaped Lucite chandelier is positioned over the island. Custom white quartz counter tops with a thick waterfall drop-edge and leg details are used throughout the space. A Sub-Zero appliance package with a gas cook top is included.
The family room features a clean-lined television wall that includes floating shelves that wraparound column details. A custom-built desk unit and storage cabinets have been incorporated into the wall design. Custom drywall details with bump-outs provide additional visual interest. The room’s tall walls and specialty lighting provide an ideal setting for the display of large art pieces. Furnishings include a long sofa and low profile swivel chairs upholstered in a printed fabric. The space opens to an outdoor terrace that overlooks Aqua’s water feature at the front of the building.
“It’s the fulfillment of a dream,” Four Arts president Ervin Duggan said. “We spent six years negotiating with the school board to obtain the building. It was a long process, but it’s satisfying to see it come to fruition.”
The Four Arts bought the building in 2010 for $5.4 million and spent about $13 million renovating it. The landmarked building, which was designed by William Manley King and constructed in the late 1920s and early 1930s, is named after the late Four Arts board chairman who spearheaded its acquisition.
Renovations began in February 2012, overseen by design architect Harry Elson of New York, who worked with the project’s architect of record, Keith Spina of Glidden Spina + Partners in West Palm Beach.
Elson’s first tasks were to figure out a way to get people into and out of the building, and to connect it with the remainder of the campus to the south and west. A plan fell into place when the Four Arts was allowed to demolish a 1958 addition on the south side, which opened up a new way to access the building and link with the rest of the campus.
Elson flipped the main entrance from its historic entry on Cocoanut Row to the south side, where a dramatic two-story atrium facing the sculpture garden and a glass and steel canopy direct guests inside. A driveway leading from Cocoanut Row winds through an oval drop-off point anchored by a fountain and extends west to Four Arts Plaza and the parking lot north of the library.
The building’s historic east and north facades were left intact. The south side “is where we pushed the envelope, to not mimic the Cocoanut Row and Seaview sides, but contrast with it,” Elson said.
For the interior design, Elson created an updated version of the Mediterranean-influenced Palm Beach style, as defined by architects such as Addison Mizner and Maurice Fatio, by restricting the palette to a serene combination of limestone, rift-cut white oak and brass-finished metalwork.
“The exterior represents the 20th century personality of the building, while with the interior we seized an opportunity to create a 21st century personality for the building,” Elson said.
Equipment rooms and restrooms were positioned on the building’s south side, while classrooms and other public rooms were situated on the north and east sides, where they profit from the sunlight and vistas afforded by the building’s over-sized mullioned windows.
In keeping with the building’s new orientation, a diagonal axis runs from the northeast corner through the atrium to the fountain, creating dramatic focal points at each end and giving the Four Arts a feature it’s never had before — an attention-grabbing street presence. Elson situated the first-floor lobby and the second-floor, 75-seat Forum in the pivotal northeast corner.
Most of the building’s rooms can serve multiple purposes. The Forum can be set up for lectures, or light-blocking blinds can convert it into a space suitable for audio-visual presentations.
The first-floor demonstration kitchen, fully equipped with amenities such as a double oven, freezer and a dishwasher that cleans in less than five minutes, and the second-floor art classroom, which features sinks and adjustable-height tables and chairs, can be divided in two with retractable walls. All the seating is movable, and there’s ample storage space.
A digital lab on the first floor is furnished with Windows and Macintosh-based computers. All the classrooms are equipped with flat-screen TVs, and free wi-fi is available throughout the building.
The former gymnasium on the building’s west side has been converted into a 200-seat auditorium suitable for lectures, small concerts and parties. The stage and the 22-foot-igh barrel ceiling have been preserved, but the ceiling has been covered with rift-cut white oak beams and the proscenium opening narrowed for better acoustics and sight lines. Acoustical panels, also featured in the lobby and Forum, regulate sound levels for a range of uses.
A U-shaped seating arrangement in the living room overlooks Aqua’s marina. The room’s soft contemporary furnishings include a full sofa that is positioned against the mirrored columns and buffet server, matching exposed wood lounge chairs upholstered in a small geometric print and two exposed wood accent chairs from Century Furniture that have deep jade cut-velvet seats. The floating, double-stacked ceiling is lined with accent lighting that plays with a beautiful chandelier suspended over the center of the seating area. A linear fireplace is flush mounted to a wall and surrounded by Mother of Pearl mosaic tiles. The fireplace wall will showcase larger pieces of artwork and includes a hearth that doubles as a place for seating.
A wide gallery hallway with gray marble floor inlay leads from the foyer to the model’s powder room, kitchen, family room and two guest suites. The hallway is lined with fine art pieces that conjure recollections of stays in ports around the world. A full wall height glass tile backsplash in multiple shades of jade and white provides a memory point in the kitchen and butler’s pantry. The warm cherry perimeter cabinetry in the kitchen is repeated at the island and in the butler’s pantry. A whimsical square shaped Lucite chandelier is positioned over the island. Custom white quartz counter tops with a thick waterfall drop-edge and leg details are used throughout the space. A Sub-Zero appliance package with a gas cook top is included.
The family room features a clean-lined television wall that includes floating shelves that wraparound column details. A custom-built desk unit and storage cabinets have been incorporated into the wall design. Custom drywall details with bump-outs provide additional visual interest. The room’s tall walls and specialty lighting provide an ideal setting for the display of large art pieces. Furnishings include a long sofa and low profile swivel chairs upholstered in a printed fabric. The space opens to an outdoor terrace that overlooks Aqua’s water feature at the front of the building.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)