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Pet Partners Receives Petco Foundation Grant for Therapy Animal Program
Pet Partners, the nation's leading therapy animal registration and training organization recently received a $50,000 grant from the Petco Foundation to support its therapy animal program. In addition to the therapy animal program, a portion of the grant will also be used to promote Pet Partners' new "From Shelter Pet to Therapy Pet" campaign.
"The public awareness campaign set to launch later this year will promote the idea of future therapy animals sitting right under our noses in local shelters and encourage people to consider adopting an animal and sharing that special animal with the community. We are excited about the opportunity to increase support of the important work of therapy animals and truly thank the Petco Foundation for helping to make that possible."
— Annie Peters, CEO, Pet Partners
The funds from the Petco Foundation were raised in conjunction with Natural Balance as part of their "Helping Heroes" campaign held last year. The campaign recognizes and celebrates the impact that service, therapy and working animals have on the lives of millions of people.
Source: Pet Partners Receives $50K Grant Investment from Petco Foundation for Therapy Animal Program


text:
Solve This (? + ? + ?=30)
If 1111=R, 2222=T, 3333=E, 4444=N Then 5555=?
Guess the Hindi Muhawara from the following whatsapp Emoticons?
Sweet, Medicine, Film, Girl, City, Car, Place, Doggy all are name same, guess which word it is?
A girl is blind, deaf, dumb and uneducated too. A boy loves her. How would he propose without touching her?
Four Question, One Answer: One River Name, One Flower Name, One Film Name, One Actress Name?
Guess me who am I, I am the first on earth, the second in heaven...
Which Indian cricketer is known as "Brown Bradman"?
When art competitions were introduced into the Olympic Games, the categories were literature, painting, music...........
At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Canadian athlete Ian Millar competed in his last of how many Olympics?
Asp.Net introduces the concept of an Application Domain which is shortly known as AppDomain. It can be considered as a Lightweight process which is both a container and boundary. The .NET runtime uses an AppDomain as a container for code and data, just like the operating system uses a process as a container for code and data. As the operating system uses a process to isolate misbehaving code, the .NET runtime uses an AppDomain to isolate code inside of a secure boundary.
The CLR can allow the multiple .Net applications to be run in a single AppDomain.
The CLR isolates each application domain from all other application domains and prevents the configuration, security, or stability of a running .NET applications from affecting other applications.An AppDomain can be destroyed without effecting the other Appdomains in the process.
Mulitple Appdomains can exist in Win32 process. As we discussed the main aim of AppDomain is to isolate applications from each other and the process is same as the working of operating system process. This isolation is achieved by making sure than any given unique virtual address space runs exactly one application and scopes the resources for the process or application domain using that address space.
Win32 processes provide isolation by having distinct memory addresses. The .Net runtime enforces AppDomain isolation by keeping control over the use of memory. All memory in the App domain is managed by the run time so the runtime can ensure that AppDomains Do not access each others memory.
AppDomains are generally created by Hosts for example Internet Explorer and Asp.net. The following is an example to create instance of an object inside it and then executes one of the objects methods. This is the explicit way of creating AppDomain by .Net Applications
AppDomains are created using the CreateDomain method. AppDomain instances are used to load and execute assemblies (Assembly). When an AppDomain is no longer in use, it can be unloaded.
public class MyAppDomain : MarshalByRefObject
public string GetInfo()
return AppDomain.CurrentDomain.FriendlyName;
public class MyApp
public static void Main()
AppDomain apd = AppDomain.CreateDomain("Queryhome Domain");
MyAppDomain apdinfo = (MyAppDomain)apd.CreateInstanceAndUnwrap (Assembly.GetCallingAssembly().GetName().Name, "MyAppDomain");
Console.WriteLine("Application Name = " + apdinfo.GetInfo());
The AppDomain class implements a set of events that enable applications to respond when an assembly is loaded, when an application domain will be unloaded, or when an unhandled exception is thrown.
A single CLR operating system process can contain multiple application domains. There are advantages to having application domains within a single process.
Lower system cost - many application domains can be contained within a single system process.
Each application domain can have different security access levels assigned to them, all within a single process.
Code in one AppDomain cannot directly access code in another AppDomain.
The application in an AppDomain can be stopped without affecting the state of another AppDomain running in the same process.
An Exception in on AppDomain will not affect other AppDomains or crash the entire process that hosts the AppDomains.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
But, after some information, you'll notice that multi-level marketing is not really that difficult. Reading this article report will help you to be a productive system marketer.
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The previous tips ought to have offered the self confidence you need to get out there and begin prospecting. It requires serious amounts of develop your network marketing expertise, although the far more you already know, the easier it becomes. Here's in your long term good results! Want to dig deeper into facebook marketing for dummies – visit email marketing strategies.


text:
So that was amazing...
It took me 5 years and millions of dollars of advertising spend on Google to finally get an invite out. It was a great time.
The campus was pretty cool. Our conferences were at the Google Tech Corners, not at the Googleplex, so it wasn't as Googley as you might be thinking.
We spent two days learning and workshopping about advertising on mobile devices and also how to generate awareness and consideration with YouTube and video advertising. The content was excellent and I enjoyed geeking out with fellow advertising professionals.
I learned a lot, met other people who do what I do, and was able to rub shoulders with some pretty important people at Google.
This is certainly not a sales pitch, but if you are by chance interested in learning or using what I do professionally, you can email me at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
hazard perception videoclip
hi to all,
can somebody help me with the correct algorithm for hazard perceptions videoclips or the steps to create some.
I don't know from where to start
thank you
hi Eduard,
in this link you can see what I mean
whatching the clip the user must to click when hi see a hazard, the window of click has 5 seconds and is scoring the user from 5 to one ( first second is 5 points /the second 5 is one point) if is out of window is 0 points
the test has 14-15 hazards clips at the end must to give to user a scoring
thank you
So what it is then that you need help with? Presenting the video (https://osdoc.cogsci.nl/3.2/manual/stimuli/video/), or collecting mouse response? Generally this sounds like something, the mouse trap plugin could be useful for (https://osdoc.cogsci.nl/3.2/manual/mousetracking/). I am only not sure whether it can handle dynamic screens like videos very well. @Pascal, what do you think?
Maybe it is best if you just record mouse position and clicks, and analyze them offline.
Does that help?
hi, yes is about collecting mouse response in correct mode, 1-5 seconds( scoring 1-5)
and a total scoring for 14-15 videos
thank s to all
Hi all,
unfortunately I don't think you can use the mousetrap plugin while showing a video as it is usually tracking the mouse while a constant canvas / sketchpad is shown. Probably you would need to write some custom code which I believe is possible in the media_player_mpy plugin (see documentation here). Maybe you don't even have to do this and can simply set the duration to mouseclick if you want to stop the video as soon as the mouse is clicked.
I recommend you two basic options. The first option would be to use ADOBE FLASH as editing software seamlessly videos and interactive forms. The second option would edit it all together on a website off-line with HTML 5


text:
Amy cooked up a business that takes the cake
AMY Colling is on the clock 24/7.
From the minute she opens her eyes in the morning, it's go, go, go.
As if this Grafton mum didn't have enough on her plate bringing up three children under five, she runs her own business from home and does the books for her husband Jay's business, Power's Rego and Mechanical.
A qualified chef, Amy was always in full-time work until her three gorgeous children, Eli, Olivia and Ashton, came along.
Despite having her hands pretty well full, the career-driven Amy was convinced she could do more.
"And so Amy Cakes was born," Amy said.
"I was going to go back to work; I needed a creative outlet.
"I started making my kids' birthday cakes and everyone loved them and so I would do them for friends and family, making them for their kids.
"Then a girlfriend set up a Facebook page for me and it's just taken off."
That was 13 months ago.
Now, Amy is booked out for the rest of the year for novelty cakes.
She said her baking was a chance to do what she loved and get that sense of accomplishment that came with completing a project.
"With kids, you tend to do the same thing over and over and then you've got to do it all over again.
"My cakes are something I can do, I can see the finished product and see it go; it's a sense of fulfilment."
So how does she manage to get the kids ready for school, do the drop-offs, get to the gym, bake up a storm, pick up the kids, do the sport run, get home, feed the kids, put them to bed, finish her cakes, do the books for the mechanical business plus keep the house in order?
"It's orderly chaos," she said. "Jay is really good, he works extremely hard and knows my job is just as hard."
The secret to keeping her sanity in such a hectic lifestyle, was saying "No".
"You get to the point when you have to say no, and couldn't do it any other way," Amy said.
"Having children can be hard, but at the same time it's the most rewarding thing you will do."


text:
Missing Facebook Posts for March 10 on the following years; 2015(1year ago),2013(3 years ago),2010(6years ago) and 2009(7 years ago).
Posts on these mentioned days must be matrixed with the Timeline/Timelines UNFAVORABLE with my current Timeline.
#Missing #LandedSafely #March9 #March10 #Malaysia #KualaLumpur#MH370 #Beijing #Year2014 #NGFReset Missing MH370 Landed Safely in BEIJING, 18 minutes LATE! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201911122326171&set=a.10200687367933076.1073741829.1427450153&type=1&theater
Our Eldest, My Atching Angelita http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2978859917016&set=a.1162990481415.2026722.1427450153&type=1&theater
Finally, DONNA was able to claim her lost cards based on her latest e-mail(see comments for this post). To Donna, God bless! smile emoticon
From Godfrey Lilio:
Godfrey sent you some lucky chips!
Here are some lucky chips to help build up your chip stack. Check to see if you got the $1 million chip prize!..
Monday at 6:42pm via Texas HoldEm Poker ·LikeUnlike · · Collect Chips
Please logon and reply,
Not DriveHQ Member?


text:
Proof That Football Might Be Too Brutal for Kids [VIDEO]
Football is a brutal, brutal game predicated on the semi-controlled violence of grown men colliding into one another with astonishing force for 60 minutes at a time. But, as the video above proves, not even small children are exempt from the sport's barbarous nature.
The clip, which comes to us via the sports blog Deadspin, shows an epically unfair matchup between a behemoth ballcarrier and tiny would-be tackler — and ends with the plucky little dude getting absolutely steamrolled. Kid's got heart, but sometimes that only gets you so far.
Do you think small kids should be allowed to play tackle football like this? Give us your take in the comments.


text:
A long-maned Setzer wails onstage with the Stray Cats at the Coogee Bay Hotel
in Sydney, Australia, in December 1990. Photo by Denise OHara
Has that guitar been a longtime companion?
Yeah, I bought it a long time ago from a guy on Long Island when I lived there, and incidentally it's a really good one. Guitarists tend to romanticize vintage instruments, but the old ones are really so hit-and-miss. I rate them "Monday through Friday," Monday being the worst. With a Monday guitar, it's like the guy working at the factory started the week with a hangover and a fight with his wife, which translated to a crummy instrument. With a Friday guitar, the guy was in a great mood and was pumped up for the weekend, so he makes a beautiful instrument. That '59 is definitely a Friday guitar—when it's in perfect working order, it plays and sounds incredible.
How would you compare your new guitars to their vintage counterparts?
The new ones are ready to go right out of the box, but the old ones take so much to play right. It's not like you can just drop ten grand on a '50s guitar, plug in, and away you go. In order to make it playable, you have to make it so unoriginal as to ruin the value of the guitar—just as taking apart an old car and putting in a new engine might improve the performance but makes it worth much less.
What sort of mods does it take to get an old guitar up to snuff for you?
Take 1959 Gretsches: I've got them and I love them, but they tend to be unplayable in original condition. First of all, you've got to take the frets out, because they're useless—they're just these tiny little tacks. The neck is usually just a mess and has to be planed and straightened by a good luthier. Often, it has a reverse-bow so bad it has to go in a steamer. The bridge is just no good and will fall right off the guitar if you play too hard, so it's best to pin in a Gibson-style Tune-o-matic. The zero fret is also no good—it doesn't really improve the intonation like it's supposed to—so you've got to yank that out and fill up the empty slot. Honestly, sometimes it just isn't worth the aggravation—just pick up a new guitar. It's hard to exactly replicate something that's five decades old, but the new ones come pretty close—you can dial in a sound that's not very far from a vintage one.
To your ear, how do vintage and new guitars compare?
Man, the best '59s have got a really warm crunch that's great for really straight rockabilly—probably because the wood has been sitting around for so long. You plug those things in, and the sound is just huge and woody. The new ones actually sound pretty similar, but a little less magical, which is why the best old ones are so expensive.
Setzer Goes Instru-MENTAL! is filled with impressive jazz blowing. What is your background in that idiom?
Early on, I learned how to read and write music through a teacher who taught me the rudiments. We went through all the Mel Bay books, which I still think are great and would recommend to any budding guitarist. And then the teacher basically said, "I can't teach you anymore." So I had to get on two busses and walk a mile carrying my Gibson ES-175 to the studio of a more advanced guitar teacher, who taught me chords, scales, and theory, how to play all kinds of inversions and extensions, and how to play over chord changes. He showed me his conception of the guitar, which was a fancy jazz sort of thing—something that has been part of my playing ever since.
Which did you get into first, jazz or rockabilly?
I learned both styles around the same time. Things were much different when I was coming up. You couldn't just listen to any style of music on the internet with the click of a button. You had to make a bit of an effort to find and listen to music. In New York, we had some of the best jazz players around, so I was exposed to plenty of jazz. We didn't have much in the way of country and rockabilly players, but my dad came back from Korea with records by musicians like Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis—he got these from some of his army buddies who were from the South—and I really got into the music and copped some of the licks on the guitar. It all sounded good to me, and it just seemed like a natural thing to mix everything up.


text:
NEW HAVEN, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Connecticut's adoption of a new comprehensive energy strategy will help the state to create jobs and generate economic opportunities, according to James P. Torgerson, chief executive officer of UIL Holdings Corporation (NYSE: UIL).
Torgerson praised the draft strategy in a statement, saying the state has languished without a comprehensive policy to address pressing energy issues.
In particular, he said the strategy's focus on promoting energy efficiency and expanding the use of natural gas will help make Connecticut more competitive as it seeks to attract and retain business and industry.
"I have always supported energy policies that encourage growth and improve efficiency and diversification of resources," Torgerson said. "With the development of this new energy strategy, I am pleased with the prospects for the future. If we act accordingly, Connecticut has an opportunity to continue the path back to economic vitality. We can re-establish the state's position in the Northeast."
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy unveiled the new energy initiatives Oct. 5 at a Connecticut Business & Industry Association conference in Cromwell. Torgerson was in attendance and credited the governor's leadership for creating a path and vision for Connecticut's energy future, and urged lawmakers and other businesses to support a forward-looking energy agenda.
Torgerson added, "We look forward to working with the Connecticut legislature as a bill is shaped that could certainly have very positive results for energy consumers."
About UIL Holdings Corporation:
Headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut, UIL Holdings Corporation (NYSE:UIL) is a diversified energy delivery company serving more than 700,000 electric and natural gas utility customers in 66 communities across two states, with combined total assets of over $4 billion.
UIL is the parent company of The United Illuminating Company (UI), The Southern Connecticut Gas Company (SCG), Connecticut Natural Gas Corporation (CNG), and The Berkshire Gas Company (Berkshire), each more than 100 years old. UI provides for the transmission and delivery of electricity and other energy related services for Connecticut's Greater New Haven and Bridgeport areas. SCG and CNG are natural gas distribution companies that serve customers in Connecticut, while Berkshire Gas serves natural gas customers in western Massachusetts. UIL employs more than 1,850 people in the New England region.
2011 Edison Electric Institute Winner
Emergency Recovery Award for Tropical Storm Irene
UIL Holdings Corporation
Michael A. West Jr., 203-499-3858
Source: UIL Holdings Corporation


text: Marketing & PR Resources"Show Your Spirit" PresentationsSave time with these pre-designed PowerPoint outlines. The messages in these help you promote the NSLW theme. Both are customizable to include key messages for your school and target audience. PowerPoint Presentation for Foodservice Staff Use this to get staff on board and excited about NSLW PowerPoint Presentation for Key Stakeholders Targeted to parents, teachers and school administrators, this presentation is perfect for PTA or school board meetings when you need to convey the importance of school lunch ProclamationMake it official! Download the sample proclamation (doc) and fill in your specific information. You can also request that the mayor or city council proclaim that it is National School Lunch Week in your town or city."Show Your Spirit" Press ReleaseWant to get some recognition for your celebration, but short on time? Use the NSLW official media release! (doc) Just fill in your district's information and send it out to your media contacts prior to NSLW.Social Media Tips SheetDownload the Social Media Tips Sheet (pdf) to study up on social media and check out some sample posts for Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.NSLW Cover PhotoDownload one of our cover photos (jpeg) and add it to your program's Facebook page to increase awareness about NSLW! Facebook Cover Version 1 Facebook Cover Version 2 Once the image opens in a new window, right click to save a copy to your computer.


text:
Fairbanks militiaman Francis Shaeffer Cox is facing a 310 months in prison. Federal judge Robert Bryan handed down the sentence – close to 26 years – U.S. District Court in Anchorage at noon Tuesday, despite pleas of leniency from both Cox and his attorney, Peter Camiel. Federal prosecutors had asked the court for a 35-year sentence for Cox. Prosecutor Stephen Skrocki called Cox a "master manipulator," and a danger to the community. Skrocki painted a grim picture of the defendant as a man using the facade of a militia to collect grenades and other weapons while compiling a hit list that included judges, federal employees, and even former friends.
"We agree with the courts sentencing recommendation of 25 years," Skrocki said. "It's a very significant sentence, so we are comfortable with his decision."
Cox's attorney, Camiel, would not comment after leaving the court, other than to say that it is likely Cox will appeal the sentence.
Judge Bryan handed down the sentence after two and a half hours of court proceedings that included a review of objections filed by Camiel regarding a both a pre-sentencing report and the sentencing guidelines. Camiel argued against increasing a sentence because of the government employee status of some of Cox's intended victims. He had also objected to sentencing guidelines regarding the defendant's use of body armor while committing criminal offenses. Camiel also pleaded with the court to consider a post trial psychological evaluation of his client, who, he claimed, is a paranoid schizophrenic. "He was controlled by paranoia," Camiel said. But Skrocki said the court did not take "a lot of stock in the report's value."
"In our arguments to the court, we pretty much asked the judge to make his own observations about what he saw with respect to Mr. Cox's conduct, and I think he did that in sentencing that he was able to see the things that he did on the stand compared to what he did on the tape and during the investigation," Skrocki said. "A lot of things were sort of convenient in terms of his emotional responses, things like that, so I think the court saw that as well."
Cox, for his part, told the court, "I put myself here." While he had sat through the proceedings with a stony face, he broke down toward the end, reaching for Kleenex to wipe his eyes as he apologized to his wife, his family and former friends, some of whom had testified against him at trial.
Cox claimed he was driven by fear and paranoia, yet had no actual intention of killing anyone.
"I was trying to wake up from a nightmare I couldn't get away from," he said. "And it's getting worse, sitting here waiting to get sentenced. It's scary."
Cox was convicted last summer on nine counts, including conspiracy to murder federal officials and weapons charges. Tuesday, Judge Bryan said he agreed in part with the psychological report, although the report supplies reasons for Cox's actions, but does not excuse them. Bryan told the court that Cox is a danger to the public, yet his conviction is a first offense, so he should be treated as a first offender. Skrocki said it is difficult to predict what could happen if Cox appeals the sentence
"I'm sure he will appeal everything from the pre-trial decisions on what evidence can be admitted in court. He'll appeal certainly the sentence. He can appeal things that happen during the trial. So it all depends on the nature and the extent of the appeal and what the court does with it. Sometimes they can send it back down to analyze an issue with sentencing or with trial evidence, sometimes it might find that maybe an error was made but it had no impact on the trial. So there's a lot of different ways it could happen or not, and we just can't predict that at this point," Skrocki said.
Another former Alaska Peacekeepers Militia member, Lonnie Vernon, received nearly 26 years in prison when he was sentenced Monday.
Listen to the full story


text:
Online Exclusive>>Newseum officials are pleased by attendance at the new Washington, D.C., attraction.
Lindsay Kalter
Lindsay Kalter (firstname.lastname@example.com) is an Ann Arbor-based writer.
Now that the Newseum has passed its two month mark, it is moving beyond its frenetic days as a Washington, D.C., novelty and settling into its lavish new home on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Some questioned whether the newly opened Newseum, with its $20 admission, would find its place in a city full of free museums. But Newseum officials say attendance has surpassed that of its previous location across the Potomac in Rosslyn, Virginia, which was free, and they expect numbers to keep rising.
Joe Urschel, the Newseum's executive director, declines to give exact figures on the number of visitors because it is "too early," but says attendance has far exceeded initial expectations of matching the old Newseum's popularity. "We had high expectations to begin with, and we're very happy with how we're doing," he says.
Tina Tate, director of media relations at the Newseum, says on opening day--April 11--the museum had seen 10,840 visitors by 2:30 p.m. Urschel says when the doors closed at 5 p.m., 13,000 people had been through. An additional 2,500 people had to be turned away and were given free passes for the following day.
Although Urschel says he doesn't expect to see that large of a crowd again, the traffic at the $450 million museum of news holds steady. On weekdays, herds of middle schoolers and high schoolers spill into the building, while families and small groups of adults tend to come in on the weekends, he says.
Urschel adds that the $20 fee is in line with museums in other cities and others in the area that charge for admission. "The Spy Museum, Crime and Punishment, Madam Tussaud's, they all charge about the same," he says. "And if you would take all the other museums that charge a fee, they would all fit into the [250,000 square-foot] Newseum."
The other paid museums are for-profit, he says, while the Newseum is a private institution relying heavily on donations from founding partners. It has other methods of offsetting expenses as well, like the two levels of conference centers and the 135 apartments units resting above the museum. The monthly apartment rates range from $1,720 for a 440-square-foot studio, to $6,510 for a 1,333-square-foot two-bedroom two-bathroom--and that doesn't include the $250 per month for parking. Joe Sancho, the apartment property manager, says the apartments are renting out ahead of schedule, and the goal is to have all the units occupied by August or September of this year.
Visitors don't seem to mind the admission fee, but then again, many Newseum guests have found a way in for free. Some are getting reimbursed by their companies, and others are finagling free tickets from National Public Radio to watch live broadcasts of "Talk of the Nation."
Emily Zeigenfuse, an employee of the American College of Cardiology, had her fee paid for by the college. "I really liked it, it was really visually interesting," she says. But would she have gone had she been forced to cough up the $20 fee? "I would have come eventually," she said after a pause. "Not as quickly, though."
Ashley Carter, who was also covered as a College of Cardiology employee, says she would have gone even if she hadn't been reimbursed by the company. "I'm from New York, where you always have to pay a fee to go into a museum," she says. "So I definitely think $20 would have been doable for this."
Larry Sterbane came to watch the NPR broadcast, which he says was "interesting" but "less exciting" than he had anticipated. "I would have come here otherwise because I'm into the news and current events," he says, "but I'm glad I didn't have to pay. I think I will definitely come back."
Urschel says the "I-Witness: A 4-D Time Travel Adventure" movie in the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Theater, where moving seats make visitors feel like they're in the film, is one of the most popular attractions at the Newseum (as Urschel says, "Who wouldn't want to see a 4-D movie?"). He says roughly 100,000 people have seen the film, which allows 200 viewers at a time.
The Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery also gets its fair share of attention, along with the 9/11 Gallery, which documents the September 11 terrorist attacks. "The 9/11 exhibit has been extremely... I don't know if popular is the right word, but people go there and are very reverential and very moved," he says.
Urschel says more than 1,000 passes that allow patrons an unlimited number of visits for one year have been sold at $75 each. "That says to me that people enjoy the exhibits and want to come back," he says.
The Newseum will be adding an exhibit on June 20, "G-Men and Journalists: Top News Stories of the FBI's First Century," that will highlight major events from the FBI's first 100 years. The exhibit will include the Unabomber's cabin, John Dillinger's machine gun and mask, and evidence from the Lindbergh kidnapping. Many of the exhibit's artifacts were once showcased by the FBI for the public but have been off-limits due to heightened security after 9/11. Urschel says the exhibit "looks at the symbiotic relationship between news media and FBI."
Urschel predicts the Newseum's success will grow as more people hear about its attractions. "My sense is that word of mouth on the Newseum is very, very positive," he says. "I think the attendance will build as it did in Rosslyn year after year."


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It has been almost six years since companies began complying with FAS 133, the standard that governs the accounting treatment of derivatives. Yet judging from the growing number of restatements due to FAS 133 errors, many are still wrestling with these rules. Last year, 57 companies restated their earnings because of faulty hedge accounting, up from 27 in 2004 and 13 in 2003, according to Glass Lewis — Co. of San Francisco, which specializes in assessing corporate risk. The biggest such restatement, Fannie Mae's, was still pending at press time. First announced in December 2004, it is expected to lower the earnings from previous years by a whopping $10.8 billion.
The spike in restatements can be partly attributed to Sarbanes-Oxley. (Indeed, restatements overall have risen sharply since 2003, from 514 to about 1,200 in 2005.) But the companies producing the restatements frequently cite two other reasons for the problems: overly rigid requirements, and the complexity of the rules.
"While we took great care in implementing FAS 133 in 2001, including a review by our independent auditors, it is a very complex accounting standard," said Lee Puschaver, executive vice president and CFO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, in a statement last August. (Puschaver resigned this past February.) The bank is one of several in the federal home-loan bank system that have been obliged to restate prior years' financials, and abandon hedge accounting for the positions in question, as a result of inadequate compliance with the rule.
Onerous and Unforgiving
In a 2004 study, Fitch Ratings found enormous inconsistencies in corporate implementations of FAS 133, which created considerable confusion for investors and rating agencies. Last November, Fitch announced that the situation had not improved, judging from the jump in restatements alone (see "Disclosing Derivatives" at the end of this article).
Indeed, the situation is likely to get worse as the use of derivatives increases. In the last 12-month period for which data is available — the end of the first half of 2004 to the end of the first half of 2005 — total notional amounts of interest-rate and currency derivatives outstanding rose 22 percent, from $164 trillion to $201 trillion, according to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. More than 90 percent of the world's largest companies use derivatives to hedge risk, reports the ISDA.
Under FAS 133, these companies are required to mark derivatives to market and record them as assets or liabilities in their financial statements. To mitigate the increased volatility the mark-to-market requirement can produce, companies may qualify for hedge accounting if used to offset the risk associated with a particular asset or liability. With hedge accounting, losses or gains in a derivative's value do not have to be recorded in earnings until it is offset by gains or losses in the hedged items.
To qualify for hedge accounting, a company must document all derivative hedges at their inception and explain how it will determine the effectiveness of the hedges. It must also demonstrate that the derivatives are "highly effective" in hedging the underlying item on a continuing basis. If the company fails to do this, it will be disqualified from using hedge accounting and will be required to record losses or gains on its derivatives in current earnings.
From the moment FAS 133 was proposed in June 1998, it has been widely criticized. After substantial modification, the rule was finally adopted in 2001, but the complaints have not abated. Added to the concerns about onerous if not impossible requirements, companies today are upset by the enormous amount of resources devoted to trying to satisfy them. On top of that, they say, auditors are conducting unforgiving reviews.
Moreover, the fix for a lapse in documentation is draconian. A company may not simply correct the effort; instead, it must forgo hedge accounting for the position and restate to mark the derivative to market in current and prior earnings.
Shortcut Shortfalls
The devil lies in the details.
Take the so-called shortcut method, which exempts companies from the requirement that they prove the effectiveness of a hedge prospectively and on a continuing basis — as long as they meet a set of nine criteria specified in FAS 133. Mark Scoles, a partner in Grant Thornton's accounting principles group, says that using the shortcut method without meeting all the criteria is a common problem among restating companies.
In particular, companies frequently stumble over the requirement that the fair value of a swap at its inception be zero. They can belatedly realize that because a broker fee was embedded within the swap, its fair value was therefore not zero.
That was the case with General Electric Co., which announced a hedge accounting restatement in May 2005. Before the rule was enacted, GE had entered into swaps with up-front fees, says Philip D. Ameen, the company's comptroller. When FAS 133 was adopted, GE reasoned that the fees on those swaps were trivial, and applied the shortcut method to those hedges. But in a subsequent audit review, GE concluded that because the swaps' fair values at inception were not zero, using the shortcut method was improper.
Another shortcut-method criterion many companies have overlooked or misinterpreted is the prohibition against hedging debt with an interest-rate swap if the debt could have been prepaid.
Vienna, Virginia-based Allied Defense Group Inc. has had to restate its earnings at least twice in the past year because it failed to provide "contemporaneous" documentation of its hedges, says CFO Robert Dowski. This common pitfall can arise from a misunderstanding about the definition of "contemporaneous," according to a partner at one of the Big Four. According to FAS 133, the documentation must occur "at the inception of the hedge," says the partner, who spoke on condition of anonymity. But accountants can disagree as to whether that means the same day, the same week, or the same month, he adds.
Flawed Practice?
Complexity, ambiguity, and overly strict requirements may not be the only reasons for the hedge accounting restatements. Some attribute the problem in part to widely shared but incorrect accounting practice. Observes Glass Lewis analyst Jason Williams in a January report on hedge-accounting restatements: "It appears companies actually failed on some of the simpler aspects of [FAS 133]."
"It's a matter of companies following accounting guidance based on the industry norm," says Mark Grothe, an analyst at Glass Lewis. He compares the spate of FAS 133 restatements to those stemming from lease accounting in 2005.
Williams offers sharper words in his January report. "Some companies and their finance executives appear to be incapable of following published accounting rules," he writes. Citing as examples the "big bath" restructuring charges and acquisition-related write-offs that were common in the 1990s, Williams then moves on to lease accounting: "In 2004 and 2005, close to 300 companies that failed to follow black-and-white lease accounting rules that were 30 years old had to correct the related errors in their financial statements."
And today? "In the latest rendition of this hocus-pocus type of accounting," he says, "we are seeing 'hedge' accounting disappear before investors' very eyes." While Williams allows that some aspects of FAS 133 are indeed complex, "the proper application of the shortcut criteria should not be that difficult for accountants with appropriate expertise."
Fixing the Problem
Hocus-pocus or not, companies' struggles with FAS 133 are not going to vanish overnight. Financial executives have varying opinions about how to stem the rash of restatements. Allied's Dowski would like to see auditors and regulators be more reasonable in their review of hedge accounting. "I think hedge accounting is the accurate way to portray this use of derivatives," he says. "But it doesn't need to be an all-or-nothing test. It should be good enough if documentation and the rest were done on a 90 percent–correct basis."
Ameen agrees. General Electric already has the equivalent of 40 people working full-time to ensure the accuracy of its hedge accounting and will continue to strive for perfection, he says. But mistakes are inevitable, he adds, particularly at companies like GE, which hedges currency, commodity, and interest-rate risk with derivatives and has thousands of derivatives contracts outstanding at the end of any given year (about 6,000 at the end of 2005). An accounting standard that requires perfect execution will lead to reporting that misses the economics, says Ameen.
And if regulators continue to insist on perfection? In that case, some companies will consider abandoning hedge accounting. Allied, for example, may go this route if it doesn't achieve perfection by the end of the first quarter, Dowski says. Then, his company will deal with the "phantom gains and losses rolling through the P&L" that can result from derivatives accounting by "footnoting the heck out of it," he says.
Others contend that the problem is often a lack of understanding of derivatives and hedging. Hedging is complex, and FAS 133 simply reflects that reality, says Ed Ketz, an associate professor of accounting at Smeal College of Business at Pennsylvania State University. Any company that is unable to do the accounting simply does not sufficiently understand hedging and probably should not be using it. "The documentation is not excessive," says Ketz. "It's what I'd expect a company to do if I were investing."
"The risks are real," agrees Jeff Wallace, managing partner of Greenwich Treasury Advisors LLC, a consultancy in Naperville, Illinois. "You need to be tracking them."
Linda Corman is a freelance writer based in New York.
Disclosing Derivatives
In its 2004 study of how companies implemented FAS 133, Fitch Ratings recommended the addition of numerous new disclosure requirements that would assist analysts in understanding and assessing companies' hedging activities. In particular, Fitch said that more disclosure was necessary so that investors and analysts could appropriately adjust the effects of hedge accounting on credit ratios. At times, analysts and investors could choose to ignore the effects of hedge accounting, as volatility that can create confusion about a company's true financial condition is shifted from the earnings statement to the balance sheet. Among the disclosures Fitch recommended was a roll-forward of the fair-value balance-sheet values of derivative positions.
Largely in response to Fitch's critique, the Financial Accounting Standards Board formed a "Derivatives Disclosure Project" last fall to consider and ultimately recommend changes in the required disclosures under FAS 133. Those recommendations, to be developed by representatives of accounting firms, companies, and financial institutions, as well as by academics and analysts, should be ready for public consideration by the end of June, says Stanley Stuart Moss, manager of the project.
Comments Raja Akram, senior director in credit policy at Fitch: "While there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel in terms of making accounting for these instruments less complex than brain surgery, maybe help is on the way through better disclosures that can help investors understand the risk better." But even if there are changes in disclosure requirements, they are unlikely to have any impact on restatements. For companies to get the accounting right, either the rules will have to change or companies will have to learn how to comply with the rules. — L.C.
|Take It Back
Hedge Accounting Restatements in 2005*
for Restating
|Effect on Earnings
|Abington Community
|Requirements for hedge accounting
not met
|Decrease by $0.4M
|Allied Defense
|Improper documentation
|Decrease by $23M
|American International
|Improper documentation
|Increase of $500M
|Improper documentation
|Decrease by $10M
|Bay View Capital
|Derivative instrument not accounted for as derivative
|Increase of $0.4M
|Cardinal Financial
|Incorrect valuation
|Not disclosed
|Derivative instrument not accounted for as derivative
|Increase of $22M
|Center Financial
|Improper application of shortcut method
|Increase of $0.2M
|Requirements for hedge accounting not met
|Increase of $38M
|CIT Group
|Improper application of shortcut method
|Increase of $37.5M
|CT Communications
|Requirements for hedge accounting not met
|Decrease by $0.1M
|ECC Capital
|Incorrect valuation
|Increase of
$6M to $8M
|General Electric
|Improper application of shortcut method
|Increase of $538M
|Glenborough Realty Trust
|Improper documentation and recording of derivative fair value
|Increase of $4K
|Hersha Hospitality
|Instrument not timely designated as hedge
|Decrease by $0.1M
|Impac Mortgage Holdings
|Improper documentation
|Decrease by $85M
|Improper documentation
|Increase of $0.1M
|Kilroy Realty
|Requirements for hedge accounting not met
|Increase of $4.2M
|Liberty Media
|Embedded derivative not separately accounted for
|Increase of $14M
|Improper application of shortcut method
|Increase of $6.8M
|MortgageIT Holdings
|Improper documentation
|Decrease by $0.1M
|New York Mortgage Trust
|Not disclosed
|Increase of $0.1M
|Northeast Utilities
|Requirements for hedge accounting not met
|Decrease by $46M
|OM Group
|Improper documentation
|Increase of $0.1M
|Petroleum Development
|Requirements for hedge accounting not met
|Decrease by $2M
|Provident Bankshares
|Improper application of shortcut method
|Decrease by $0.7M
|Pulaski Financial
|Improper application of shortcut method
|Decrease by $0.5M
|Banking Corp. of Florida
|Requirements for hedge accounting not met
|Decrease by $0.2M
|South Financial Group
|Improper application of shortcut method
|Decrease by $15M
|SWS Group
|Incorrect valuation
|Increase of $3M
|Taylor Capital Group
|Improper application of shortcut method
|Decrease by $1M
|US Airways/America West Airlines
|Requirements for hedge accounting not met
|No impact
|United Mobile Home
|Improper documentation
|Decrease by $0.3M
|Western Gas Resources
|Instruments do not meet definition for derivative classification
|Decrease by $20M
|* Companies listed are with market cap greater than $100 million. A total of 57 U.S. companies restated in 2005 due to hedge accounting.


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While I tried to figure out how to move files between my Raspberry Pi and my regular windows computer, I follow the following instruction and download this "FileZilla":
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentati ... sh/sftp.md
It turn out that this FileZilla installed a lot of maleware and rubbish with names that tried to full you. Eg. chromium (fake google stuff), Winzip registry optimizer (fake winzip stuff). I then found on cnet download several users complaining about the same malware! http://download.cnet.com/FileZilla/3000 ... 08966.html
I'm quite new to R-pi, not sure how to edit the document. Perhaps the user can varify the situation so that others won't be affected?


text:
Custom Order - MilkyWay BV
Regular price £6.25
Bamboo Velour top.
Bamboo fleece core except liners which have an organic cotton core.
Windrpo/Powerstretch fleece back.
Full PUL available on heavy absorbancy pads.
All measurements are approximate.
Pattern placements will vary. We cannot take requests for specific cuts.
Colours and distribution can vary greatly with hand dyed fabrics. Please bear in mind you may not get the specific colour or colours you hope for. Images are not a true representation of the scale of print on the pads, they are to show the shape of pad being ordered.


text:
I have to! I have to recap this w/end. Because it was an amazing one!
It was so colorful and diverse - in terms of weather, cities, things I did, emotions I felt, but most importantly - the people I was surrounded by, literally and virtually! And in hindsight, I loved every moment of it!
The weather - nice and warm when I left Utrecht, rather chilly Friday night in Groningen, quite rainy Saturday, and lovely sunshine on Sunday - everywhere I went.
The cities - Zwolle, Groningen, Amsterdam and Utrecht.
The events:
- Super awesome Swingin Groningen Jazz and Soul Festival - with Benny Golson, Candy Dulfer, Kraak & Smaak, Billy Cobham quartet, which lead to a MeetUp / CouchSurfing gatherings and drinks with Mannus, Muhsin, Indiana, Koos, Mike, Anna and Erik. I loooved the Benny Golson performance! Reminded me of the great times in Chicago, and further back in time - learning about jazz with my boyfriend Alex and my friend Ivo, and even further back - listening to jazz for first time as a child on a short wave radio with my Dad. Sweet! I also enjoyed the more dancing jazz and soul tunes.
- A stroll through Groningen in the rain, with Mannus - including discovering a quaint square by the University, an eclectic photo exhibit, a lovely garden, a backgammon game (I won!)
- A delicious Dim Sum brunch with Ray in Amsterdam which turned into a leisurely stroll along canals, across bridges...sneaking bravely into the Grand Hotel to check the Marriage Chamber - ignore the name, it's an amazing hidden art-deco gem!!! Also played the piano in the hallway! Yes! Popped in a great chocolate shop (you knew I love chocolate, right?), the ever so inspirational RoB shop, De Jaren for drinks...did I miss anything? Oh, I laughed a lot!
- Going away dinner with the Fantastic Four (well, Five now) - Vero, Paul, Isabel, Mette and Markus. A bit sad to see some friends moving away, but good to know one has good friends!
- Phone call with a dear friend of mine - loved to hear her laugh!
- Skype chat with my parents - poor they! Had not called them in a while! Guilty! :)
- A group Reiki energy exchange - with people from UK, Ireland, Russia, the Netheralands, US and Germany. I am so at peace now!
Excerpts of a random conversation:
'How long were you with your last boyfriend?'
'I don't measure relationships in terms of time, but in terms of intensity.'
'So how intense was it?'
'It made my every body cell alive!'
'How far do you usually travel for work?'
'These days distances are measured not in kilometers, but in hours...so 1-2 hours.'
'And how long would you travel to meet a girl?'
'As far as it would make me happy.'
Today I woke up with a sense of sweetness from life - for first time in a couple of months. I smiled and smiled and smiled! Until it hurt, and then I smiled some more!
I found My Happy Place ...again!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
1 Pomodoro, 2 Pomodoros, 3 Pomodoros
A few years ago I bought a simple digital alarm clock from IKEA. I managed to set it without reading the instruction booklet. So far so good. Shortly after that I started hearing beeping sounds, but as they were single beeps and not too loud, I could not figure out where there were coming from. Finally, on a weekend, after a few hours on the sofa reading a book, I had an Eureca! moment - my clock was beeping once every hour. At first it felt annoying, but soon I realized it was a good reminder of time passing by, especially when I was doing something very lazy and slowly (while actually it could have been done much faster).
Last year a friend mentioned Pomodoro to me. It is based on the same idea, but it's much better!!! Why?
Because you can set the timer to 25min, 45min...anything you like, or anything suitable to the kind of tasks you do.
Because after '1 Pomodoro' (the length of time you work), you have to take a break of a few minutes (also timed!). It is important to take the break!
Because during the Pomodoro time you are not allowed to answer the phone, have a snack, or get distracted, which maintains your focus and makes you more productive.
You may be like me at first and already think that the Pomodoro technique is too simple, or too annoying, or too...whatever, but once I tried it I was sold on it! And I wish I had started using it sooner. Because it really works and improves time management.
This blog was written in one Pomodoro of 30 minutes. Now I'll have my well deserved break. And you....go download the Pomodoro timer and let me know how it works for you :)
PS. Thanks go to E. Pragt for introducing me to Pomodoro.
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With President Obama scheduled to spend two days in Texas next week, the White House and Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) are trading charges about the crisis on the Southwestern border created by a flood of unaccompanied child immigrants.
The president currently does not plan to visit the border during his trip to Dallas and Austin July next Wednesday and Thursday, the White House says. Governor Perry, appearing Wednesday on Fox News's "Fox & Friends," said, "If he doesn't come to the border, I think it's a real reflection of his lack of concern of what's really going on there."
Perry added, "If the president of the United States is really serious about securing that border, we can show him how to do that."
At Thursday's White House press briefing, press secretary Josh Earnest made a case for why Mr. Obama does not have plans to make a border visit while in Texas. "The president is getting regular updates and has a very good sense both of what is happening there on the ground and how effectively resources are being deployed to confront those challenges."
In a swipe at the governor, Mr. Earnest added, "I think the reason that some people are suggesting the president should go to the border ... is that they would rather play politics than address some of these challenges."
Perry has charged that the 52,000 unaccompanied children entering the country illegally since October is the result of bad diplomacy by the Obama administration.
The Texas governor has made that charge in a variety of places, including a Monitor-hosted lunch with reporters on June 19. At that session he said, "The question that is out on the table and needs to be asked is diplomatically, why are the governments of Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico allowing this to happen? I consider it a failure of diplomacy by the United States in working with those countries...."
When reporters raised Perry's diplomacy charges on Thursday, Earnest offered a spirited response, seeking to direct attention to the immigration legislation that has languished in Congress.
"The truth is it is hard to take seriously Governor Perry's concerns when everybody who has taken a look at this understands that if we wanted to send a clear signal about our seriousness of purpose when it comes to addressing some of the problems of our immigration system, the easiest way to do that is to pass the common-sense immigration reform proposal that already has passed through the Senate with bipartisan support," he said.
Earnest also had a suggestion for Perry: "The most effective way for us to address this problem and the most effective way Governor Perry can help, if that is what he says he wants to do, would be to pick up the phone and call the Republican members of the House of Representatives that represent the state of Texas and tell them to support the bipartisan proposal to reform our immigration system that passed through the Senate."
Perry testified Thursday at a "field hearing" in southern Texas that the US House Homeland Security Committee scheduled about the border crisis. In his prepared remarks, Perry said, "Nobody is doing any of these children the slightest favor by delaying a rapid return to their countries of origin, which in many cases is not Mexico."
Back in Washington, Earnest said the administration was "balancing a lot of different imperatives" in dealing with the border crisis, including wanting to treat the children in a humanitarian fashion. "But first and foremost, this administration is committed to enforcing the law," he said.


text:
|Planet X / Nibiru | Earth | Extraterrestrial | Humanity | Nostradamus | SciTech | Space | War
Are you alone in your knowing? Join with Like Minded Others at Planetxtownhall.com
Why Look For A Killer Planet X / Nibiru XKBO, When You Already Know It Is Coming?
YOWUSA.COM, 09-February-02
In our previous article "Is a Killer XKBO Stalking The Earth?" we looked at what is happening in our solar system to search for evidence that supports a claim that a Planet X-class Kupier Belt Object (XKBO) could be headed towards Earth. In this article, we will look not into the heavens above, but at the modern day institutions of man for further evidence. Given that governments are increasing their funding for projects to learn about large objects in space, while simultaneously gutting the budgets of Near Earth Object (NEO) projects, the conclusion is immediate: They know something large is on its way, and they want to consider all their options before it arrives.
America's NEO Hypocrisy
With regards to the threat of Near Earth Objects such as the XKBO mentioned in our scenario, is that while public attention is on the rise, nation states are become increasingly disinterested in the whole matter. At times it seems that desktop wallpaper of colorful appealing images of distant galaxies and violent nebula are the most important things emanating from NASA.
Serious national interest (as defined by serious funding) for NEO detection began when the United States Congress took the threat of NEOs to heart, and passed the NASA Multiyear Authorization Act of 1990.
NASA Multiyear Authorization Act of 1990
"The Committee believes that it is imperative that the detection rate of Earth-orbit-crossing asteroids must be increased substantially, and that the means to destroy or alter the orbits of asteroids when they threaten collision should be defined and agreed upon internationally..."
The funding established in 1990 was less than $1,500,000 per year and remained there until May 1999. Suddenly after nine years, Congressman Rohrabacher introduced H. R. Bill 1654, which stated "$10,500,000 shall be for the Near Earth Object Survey."
This funding increase in H. R. 1654 is significant, because it represents more than a five-fold increase over the annual NEO detection funding established after passage of the NASA Multiyear Authorization Act of 1990.
In the nine years of previous observations, had something extremely important been detected to warrant the sudden increase in spending?
Political Doubletalk Will Kill Most Of Us
If a significant discovery of an XKBO that befits the description of the Planet Nibiru discussed in Zecharia Sitchin's work has been found, would governments continue to be concerned about the smaller NEO threats?
Australia was the first to make the decision that NEO detection had become a futile effort not worthy of even $100,000 Australian dollars. This equates to a pitiful and insignificant $50,000 US dollars.
YOWUSA, November 12, 2000
Australia has the only national government that has canceled a successful asteroid search program. The current Prime Minister John Howard withdrew funding for their low-cost "Spaceguard Australia" project in 1996. This mere $100,000 per annum project was responsible for 30% of near-Earth asteroid discoveries and approximately 60% of crucial follow up recoveries from the Northern Hemisphere in its final three years of operation.
… All this ministerial buck-passing demonstrates perfectly the Australian government's completely ignorant attitude towards threats from space, and blatant disregard for the serious efforts being conducted in every other corner of the Earth.
The latest indication of the U.S. government's intentions to seize and secure all NEO programs came late last year. The Arecibo Radar Project received an early Christmas surprise last year with the announcement that all funding would be terminated.
SpaceDaily, December 19, 2001
NASA has notified Don Campbell, Associate Director of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center at Arecibo and Head of the Radar Astronomy Group, that all funding for Arecibo radar studies will be terminated on January 1.
Shortly after this announcement, a surprise discovery of a very close passing asteroid caught everybody off guard, proving the importance of research such as that conducted at Arecibo.
SpaceWeather.Com, January 6, 2002
A newly-discovered near-Earth asteroid named 2001YB5 will race past our planet this weekend only two times farther away than the Moon. During the days leading up to its closest approach on Jan 7th, the 300 meter-wide space rock will brighten to 12th magnitude.
After this discovery and protests by organizations such as the Planetary Society, the government changed its mind and gave Arecibo a one-year reprieve.
SpaceDaily, December 21, 2001
Dr. Colleen Hartman, Director of Solar System Exploration at NASA, has issued a Dear Colleague letter revising NASA's earlier decision and has restored funding for radar astronomy at Arecibo for the current fiscal year.
Perhaps the government did not want another public relations fiasco on its back so decided to reinstate the funding temporarily for another year. After looking at what the government has planned for space programs under their new management, their actions become even clearer for this reinstatement. Soon, the government will be able to shut down any of their funded projects under the guise of bad management.
Lock 'em Down
In 2000, The Brookings Institute labeled the promotion of space exploration as one of the greatest government endeavors in the past half century. Now, they suddenly feel that this should no longer be important.
Space.Com, January 9, 2002
BOULDER, COLORADO - A new report on what the federal government should consider top priorities has placed the nation's space program at near rock bottom of a low priority list.
If any NEO discoveries were to reveal new information concerning an XKBO and the destructive inevitability they may bring (if one hasn't been found already) the last thing the government would want is public attention, and the consequential public panic.
Since many of these NEO efforts have involvement from different non-governmental organizations and universities, there would also have to be some government reinforcement to help keep a lid on things. What better way to achieve this than with bribery of funding?
Space.Com, January 9, 2002
Marburger delivered prepared comments to researchers gathered here for a meeting of the American Astronomical Society and then later took question from reporters. He praised the astronomy community for its strong role in educating the public, delivering great pictures of the cosmos, forcing the advancement of important basic technologies, and training legions of young scientists.
He made it clear, nonetheless, that all corners of Federal funding will come under greater and continued scrutiny. Institutions and programs large and small will be held to higher standards of strong business management practices, he said.
Being In It for the Species:
How Our Government Will Signal the Arrival of Planet X — Bob Fletcher, Investigator
People follow different paths to the truth about Planet X, with an enduring hope that one day, our government will finally disclose what it knows.
Like UFOlogy, the hope is that if you create a pile of pictures high enough, perhaps at some point the truth will reach critical mass and voila-disclosure. Unfortunaetly, just like Marxism, it's one of those inspiring fantasy goals that can never be achieved.
This is why Planet X investigator, Bob Fletcher, producer of the IN-COMMING DVDs, has come at this from an entirely different directions. Bob followed the money and found that more was spent on preparation for Planet X than anyone could imagine. GO
Yowusa.com Planet X
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|©2016 Knowledge Mountain Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved
|The Sagan Continuation Project: We WELCOME all who RESPECT our FREE WILL. If you CHOOSE to HELP, then help us to help ourselves. There is GOOD HERE too. WE LOOK for a reply,


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Go To Section
GOOD, Thomas (by 1519-75/77), of New Windsor, Berks.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Family and Education
b. by 1519, s. of Nicholas Good of New Windsor. m. by 1553, 5s. 1da.1
Offices Held
Jt. warden, guild of the Holy Trinity, Windsor in 1547, mayor ?1548-9, 1549-50, 1552-3, chamberlain 1555-9 or later.2
Thomas Good inherited a house called 'Didsworth' at Windsor and enough goods to place him near the top of the subsidy roll in October 1540, when his movables were assessed at £40. This rating was repeated in 1541, but was lowered to £30 in 1551 and 1560; even so, he and Gabriel Hill were the most highly assessed in the town, a distinction he probably retained in 1563 (when a few of the other entries are illegible) and 1571, when he led with three others at £20.3
In his will Good was to describe himself as a gentleman, and the payments to him recorded in the chamberlains' accounts throw some light on his occupation: 2s.8d. 'for carriage of timber' (1541), 9s.'for his charge about the suit of the Trinity lands' (1547), presumably when the Trinity guild was suppressed as a chantry, and a total of 38s.8d. for making two pairs of butts, with 35s.10d. 'in full payment of his bill' (1549). As mayor, Good twice received the new fee of £3, first paid in 1530, but he does not seem to have been given anything in 1556, when on at least one occasion he acted as deputy to Thomas Butler II. He supplied a cygnet for the banquet when the accounts were heard on 14 Oct. 1551, which cost the corporation 5s., and a swan and two cygnets in October 1557 at a cost of 12s. The loss of the chamberlains' accounts for the years after 1559 means that nothing is known of his municipal career under Elizabeth.4
As mayor Good was a natural choice to represent Windsor in Mary's first Parliament, when the government was bent on reviving the election of residents and when the town could therefore aspire to return at least one townsman, a practice which had lapsed under Edward VI. Nothing is known of his part in the work of the House, but his receipt of £3 for expenses (recorded by the chamberlains as representing 60 days at 1s. a day), was the first known payment to a Member by Windsor since 1531. By his will made on 23 Nov. 1574, signed on 19 Feb. 1575 and proved on 18 Nov. 1577, he provided for his sons and other kin and named his eldest son Thomas executor.5
Ref Volumes: 1509-1558
Author: T. F.T. Baker
- 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. PCC 43 Daughtry.
- 2. Bodl. Ashmole 1115, f. 40; Windsor recs. Wi/FA c.1, ff. 54, 57v, 61v, 63, 66v, 69, 71v.
- 4. Windsor recs. Wi/FA c.1, ff. 31, 45, 52v, 53v, 54, 56, 57, 57v, 59.
- 5. Ibid. ff. 33, 60; PCC 43 Daughtry.


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Designers Redesign Their Home
Great design in this multi-level open plan home in London
Scenario House
Let's take a peek inside the multi-level open plan house belonging to Maya Carni and Ran Ankory. These are the designers and architects at Scenario Architecture, who recently renovated their own Victorian terraced house in North London. They explain that redesigning their home was an opportunity for them to be their own clients and to practice what they preach.
This house was purchased with the intention of completely redesigning it based on growing family needs and the couple's personal style. It did come with a set of challenges, especially due to its original structure having a lot of disconnected spaces. The entrance level floor had two reception rooms and no direct connection to the basement level or the backyard. The couple wanted to create a seamless connection between these two floors and the garden, both structurally and visually.
The final design looks more like an organic restructuring of the space, rather than disruption of its original form.
Lowering a part of the existing reception room and linking it to the basement level via stairs has brought these two detached parts together. It is now a layered but connected open plan living area that is more akin to the modern interiors we are used to now. The split level reception area features a lounge and just a few steps below that is a more relaxed area with a fireplace.
A sloped and glazed part of the roof acts as a skylight, bringing in more sunshine and illuminating the interiors. It must be so much fun sitting under this glass roof watching raindrops splatter, and it also looks like a great spot for some star gazing.
Minimal interiors and a muted color palette have been used across the house. It helps in visually amplifying the available space and makes the interiors brighter. A textural contrast between the whitewashed walls and the herringbone pattern of the floors makes the interior decor more interesting. The bare brick walls add a rustic touch to this space and help in creating a continuity in design from indoors to outdoors.
The rear end of the house was extended a bit to accommodate a generously sized kitchen and dining area. It is connected to the backyard through a full height folding glass door. A bay area by the glazed window accommodates a cozy nook. It looks like a perfect spot to snuggle with your favorite book. With two young kids in the house, for sure they must be making the most of all these interesting corners around the house.
The herringbone pattern from the floors of the reception area continues onto the stairs. The carefully laid out pattern looks gorgeously symmetrical from both top and front view. The area under stairs has been maximized for storage. A pull-out table and bench are also added here for the kids to have some personal space in the larger living area. They can play or study here while still being in the company of their parents.
The designers, Maya and Ran, included their kids in the decision-making process when it came to the children's bedroom. A climbing wall and a fireman's pole give the little monkeys something to climb on, creating a dream space for young ones to spend time in. The overall decor, however, is just as minimal and muted like the rest of the house.
A designer's own home is like the perfect representation of their design philosophy, and Scenario House is a great example of Scenario Architecture's design approach. Redesigning this home required a lot of difficult decisions and smart solutions, but the end results are every bit worth the effort.


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Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit! (Luke 23:46)
"Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" I am so glad that the story of the Cross does not end there. The cry, the awful cry, is "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?", but the last words from the Cross are not such. "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit" (Luke 23:46). We see Him is back on the ground of perfect fellowship with the Father and absolute trust. The victory is gained, the work is done, the enemy is defeated, and the ground is secured. Whatever Satan says, as he does in our deep hours of spiritual experience, about the Lord having given us up, departed from us – all that sort of thing; whatever he says, it is not true. It may be that you do not feel the full weight of that; but if ever you come, as perhaps some of you have come, to a time, such as many of the most faithful and devoted and greatly-used servants of God have known, when the dark forces spread themselves over, gather around in their hordes, and seek to come between you and your Lord and then begin their whisperings – "The Lord has given you up, handed you over," or something to that effect – when you come to that place, then I trust you will know that this word is no light word, no unimportant word: for the last depths of Calvary were fathomed in the moment when our Lord cried that bitter cry and gained the answer and came out victorious and into rest. "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." That was not for Himself, that was for us – for you and for me....
Never, never is it necessary for anyone to know that desolation of God-forsakenness while they put their trust, their faith, upon His taking up of this age-long issue as Man for man – the issue of "the light of Thy countenance." So let us rejoice that we have an open heaven secured for us by our blessed Lord. We have but stated the truth, the fact, of this thing. There is much more bound up with it, which the Lord may show us as we go on, as to what kind of man it is who enjoys that opened heaven, but that is with the Lord. Let us thank Him for the fact that we may have the heaven opened to us. He has done it. But to a Nathanael He will say, "Ye shall see the heaven opened." God grant that we may all be in that blessed position.
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Rarely do I use a bottled salad dressing. Making homemade salad dressing is quick and makes a huge difference. I like to save glass jars to make and store dressings. Jelly or jam jars are a good size and work great. Just wash and dry the jar thoroughly before hand. When you make dressing and you shake the jar with the ingredients inside it will emulsify the dressing nicely.
When my friend Kim, had a baby I brought her and her family dinner. I made her a salad with dressing and brought the dressing over in a glass jar. A year later she showed me was still using the same salad dressing jar, it's been 2 years now and I bet she still uses it! She told me she loves it.
Here are some of my all time favorite salad recipes:
These First 3 salads are all amazing and I have to give Aidy credit because the first time I ever ate these were at her house:
Cabbage Salad- this is so simple yet always delicious, goes really well with everything
1 bag angel hair shredded cabbbage, with or w/o carrots and purple cabbage
1/4 C. slivered almonds, toasted at 350 for around10 minutes (you gotta watch them) so they don't burn
1/4 C. sugar
1/4 C. white vinegar
1/4 C. vegetable oil
Mix dressing in jar. Place cabbage and almonds in a bowl, pour dressing over and serve immeadiately.
Spinach Hearts of Palm Salad:from Kosher Palette, this is an all around favorite. Everyone loves this salad.
- 2 (10 ounce) bags fresh spinach, rinsed and dried
- 1 (14.25 ounce) can hearts of palm, drained and chopped
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 2 large avocados - peeled, pitted and diced
- 1 (10 ounce) package fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/3 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- In a large serving bowl, toss the spinach with hearts of palm, tomatoes, avocados, mushrooms, and almonds.
- Combine oil, vinegar, ketchup, garlic and sugar in a jar. add salt, mustard and paprika. Cover with a tight fitting lid. Shake vigorously until well blended.
- Before serving, pour some of dressing over salad, and toss to coat evenly.
Strawberry Mango Green Salad (Kosher Palette, the original version is called strawberry mango mesclun salad, but I prefer to use mixed greens, as mesclun is hard to find)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup canola oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 8 cups mixed salad greens
- 2 cups sweetened dried cranberries
- 1/2 pound fresh strawberries, quartered
- 1 mango - peeled, seeded and cubed
- 1/2 cup chopped red onion
- 1 cup slivered almonds-toasted at 350 for around10 minutes (you gotta watch them) so they don't burn
- Place the sugar, oil, salt, and vinegar in a jar with a lid. Seal jar, and shake vigorously to mix.
- In a large bowl, mix salad greens, sweetened dried cranberries, strawberries, mango, and onion. To serve, toss with dressing and sprinkle with almonds. You will have leftover dressing.
Broccoli Cashew Salad (another winner from Susie Fishbein)
1 head broccoli, stems discarded, and chopped into small florets
1/2 small red onion, finely diced
1 C. mayo
1/2 C. sugar
3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 C. raisins
1 C. raw sunflower seeds
1 C. raw cashews
Place the broccoli, red onion, cashews, raisins, and sunflower seeds in a large bowl.
In a medium bowl mix together the dressing, when I measure it I just eyeball it for this one.
Chop Salad Recipe adapted from Kosher by Design Entertains by Susie Fishbein, although the combo of ingredients in this salad seems strange, once you try it you will be hooked. This is the second time I am posting this recipe.
Lettuce, any type, chopped if iceberg or romaine, I prefer iceberg for this one
Handful of Craisins
2 small cucumbers or 1 hothouse cucumber, peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 avocado, diced
1 mango, peeled and diced
12 graped tomatoes, halved
1/4 C. mayo
1/4 C. honey
1/4 C. canola oil
2 T. apple cider vinegar (I love Bragg's found at Whole Foods)
1 T. spicy brown mustard
3/4 t. salt, (or to taste)
Mix the dressing in a jar until it is all emulsified. Pour dressing on just before serving, you may have extra.
Handful of Craisins
2 small cucumbers or 1 hothouse cucumber, peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 avocado, diced
1 mango, peeled and diced
12 graped tomatoes, halved
1/4 C. mayo
1/4 C. honey
1/4 C. canola oil
2 T. apple cider vinegar (I love Bragg's found at Whole Foods)
1 T. spicy brown mustard
3/4 t. salt, (or to taste)
Mix the dressing in a jar until it is all emulsified. Pour dressing on just before serving, you may have extra.
Enough Susie Fishbein recipes. Here are some others:
Thousand Island Wedges
1 head iceberg lettuce
1 C. mayonaise (I suggest splurging and using full fat mayo, not low or fat free, it really makes a difference)
1/2 C. chili sauce (can be found near ketchup at most grocery stores)
1/4 C. sweet pickle relish
1 pinch salt and pepper, or to taste
6 green onions, chopped finely
1 tomato, finely chopped
Cut iceberg into wedges by removing core, and then cutting in half, then in quarters, then cutting each quarter in half.
Mix mayo, chili sauce, relish, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.
Pour over wedges. Sprinkle with green onions and tomatoes.
Fatoush Salad
Fatoush = Skinny Toush :)
This salad is refreshing. I usually crumble pita chips on top of the salad like croutons. Stacy's pita chips are now kosher, yay! You can use any flavor pita chip.
If you are not a fan of mint and/or parsley, you can leave it out.
1/4 C. fresh squeezed lemon juice, no substitutions
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. salt, or to taste, be sure to taste and see if the saltiness is to your liking
1/8 t. cumin
1/4 t. black pepper
3/4 C. olive oil
1 large head romaine, chopped
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
handful Kalamata olives
2 T. fresh Italian parsley, chopped finely
1 T. fresh mint, chopped finely
1/4 C. feta, optional for a dairy meal
Place all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously until emulsified.
In a large bowl place remaining ingredients. Toss with dressing. Crumble pita chips ontop.
Finally a few salad making tips:
1. After thoroughly washing the lettuce, I cut it, and then wrap it in a clean dish towel, and place it in the fridge until I am ready to use it. The towel soaks up the excess moisture and will keep the lettuce crisp. This secret works better than a salad spinner.
2. Salad dressing will last in the refrigerator for a few days. If you are looking to save time, make the dressing in advance and pull out when ready to use.
3. When putting dressing on the salad, start with a little bit of dressing, slowly add more to make it to your liking. There is nothing worse than an overdressed soggy salad. Also, don't toss salad with dressing until right before you serve it.
4. If you want to easily remove the core from a head of iceberg lettuce. Hold the lettuce with stem facing down and bang it hard on a cutting. This will completely loosen or break it. Turn head over and remove core.
That's it for salads for tonight. One of these days I will figure out the measurements for my caesar salad recipe. I always eyeball it, and it turns out differently each time, but always excellent. Have fun making salads.
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2017 Pinot Noir Fort Ross-Seaview Sonoma Coast
Fort Ross-Seaview Sonoma Coast
Wine Details
Tasting Notes
The 2017 vintage of Pinot Noirs from the Sonoma Coast offer some of the deepest and most serious Pinot Noirs we have produced. The Estate offering has an amazingly complex display of black cherry, fresh earth, black tea, and even light hints of vanilla bean. More than the expressions themselves, it is the balanced concentration and finesse of how they present. The Estate offers more of the forest floor expression with an exceptional lively and silky entry on the palate that carry the weight and concentration with such finesse and complete elegance.


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The aim of this course is to refresh the knowledge of participants who have already qualified as CSO or SSO and undertake security specific duties as described in the ISPS Code. Attention will be paid to recent updates from SOLAS and STCW security requirements, including recommendations for the operation of ships in high-risk areas.
Entrance regulations
Basic knowledge of maritime security
Who should attend:
Duration: 1 day
The course provides up-to-date knowledge of legal developments, interpretations and recommendations since the arrival of the ISPS Code and as such fulfils the requirements for CSO/SSO refresher training. Based on experience gained and best management practice, it serves as practical guidance to reinforce and improve implementation and maintenance of the required security measures throughout companies and onboard ships. The 2010 amendments to the STCW Convention related to security have been taken into account and will be treated in depth.
Company Security Officers (CSOs) will be enabled to promote and improve maritime security throughout their fleet and Ship Security Officers (SSOs) will update their level of knowledge and be able to perform their tasks more effectively during the day to day routine and in response to security incidents.
The content and guidance provided addresses mainly acting Company Security Officers (CSO) and Ship Security Officers (SSO) but will also be of benefit to those exercising security responsibilities in shipping companies, Administrations, agencies, port facilities and in the supply chain. Methods for the implementation of effective security measures with focus on operating in high-risk areas are exemplified on the basis of lessons learnt and by means of case studies.
The course focuses on:
- Operational security experience gained and lessons learnt
- Requirements for security familiarization and training of shipboard personnel
- Developments regarding high risk areas
- Requirements for operation in high risk areas
- Application of Best Management Practice to counter piracy
- Employment of Armed Guards


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Charles Albert Onyx, Citrine, Blue Topaz, & Peridot Bracelet
Product DescriptionCharles Albert creates unique one-of-a-kind sterling silver jewelry, set with gemstones, fossils & minerals from around the world. All Charles Albert jewelry is meticulously hand-made by the finest silversmiths in the world. Each Piece is in a sterling sliver setting fit to each stone. From the Back In Black Collection, Onyx, Citrine, Blue Topaz, & Peridot Bracelet.
Each piece varies slightly in size, color & shape Making each one a true one of a kind piece of art.


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New products of the week 04.28.14
Our roundup of intriguing new products from companies such as IBM and Dell
Our roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World's products of the week slideshow.
Product name: bankSMART
Key features: BrandProtect's bankSMART platform is a subscription-based, multi-channel, online threat monitoring service designed to help financial institutions of all sizes that are subject to the FFIEC guidance on Social Media safeguard brand reputation and minimize business risk from online activity. More info.
Product name: Tangoe MxBenchmark
Key features: Part of Tangoe's Matrix Solution Suite, which addresses enterprises' entire communications lifecycle, MxBenchmark provides the baseline and comparative data organizations need to identify performance gaps—and insights to close them. More info.
Product name – Barking for Sales
Key features - streamlines sales support processes, lead assignments and access to customer information. More info.
Product name – Pegasus2 M4
Key features – delivers performance and capacity in a new, portable form factor with 2.5-inch drives. Featuring an innovative and compact design, the Pegasus2 M4 external RAID solution works with the new Mac Pro and is an ideal solution for professionals working both offsite and in-studio. More info.
Product name: Remote Out-of-Band Console Port Manager
Key features: Out-of-band access to console port command functions on remote network elements. Includes monitoring and alarm functions, state-of-the-art authentication and security features, plus Enterprise Management software. More info.
Product name: MIMIC Simulator Suite
Key features: Creates a real world lab environment, with 100,000 devices for testing, training, demos and disaster preparedness. Supports SNMP, NetFlow, sFlow, Web (SOAP/XML), Telnet and SSH protocols. More info.
Product Name: Violin Memory Windows Flash Array
Key features: The Violin WFA was developed with Microsoft to embed Windows Storage Server 2012 into the Violin 6264 all-flash memory array to increase the performance of Microsoft application workloads. More info.
Product Name: Dell Boomi AtomSphere
Key features: is the only iPaaS platform with a single-instance, multi-tenant architecture with new native features including Boomi Resolve (crowd sourced error resolutions) with Predictive Assistance, SOA Dashboard, message queuing and XML to JSON conversion. More info.
Product name: Power Assure EM/5
Key features: EM/5 is a hosted data center monitoring solution bringing real-time and historical metrics to ServiceNow customers dramatically cutting the time and expense traditionally experienced in deploying DCIM. More info.
Product name: Check Point 41000 Security System
Key features: a fully redundant, carrier-grade, highly scalable security solution that meets todays security needs and supports future growth. More info.
Product name: Check Point Next-Generation SmartEvent
Key features: delivers real-time cyber threat visibility, quickly searches and analyzes billions of data logs to identify critical events, easily moving from high-level view to detailed forensic analysis. More info.
Product name: Check Point Smart-1 Appliances
Key features: deliver security management, enabling organizations to consolidate security policy, log and event management. These five new security management appliances centrally manage Check Point security gateways. More info.
Product name: IBM Power Systems S812L and IBM Power Systems S822L
Key features: The first two of five servers that make up the new IBM Power Systems S-Class architecture, designed for large, scale-out computing environments. The POWER8 based system runs exclusively on Linux and is available in 1 and 2 socket and 2U and 4U configurations to help data centers address big data requirements at unprecedented speeds. More info.
Product name: Bluescape
Pricing: Bluescape can be purchased as a monthly subscription with three plans:
- Starter $9.99 – 3 GB, 2 workspaces, 3 contributors
- Plus $29.99 – 15 GB, 8 workspaces, 10 contributors
- Professional $69.99 – 75 GB, 20 workspaces, 30 contributors
Key features: Bluescape is a cloud-based visual collaborative workspace changing the way people work. Bluescape's technology provides 160-acres of workspace to pull together existing business data, applications, workflows and makes them interactive. More info.
Product name: LoadStorm 2.0
Pricing: $39 for the Lite package allowing 1,000 concurrent virtual users, on up to $1,999 for the Pro package allowing 50,000 concurrent virtual users.
Key features: can simulate hundreds of thousands of website visits and visitor actions from many geographic areas. Fully detailed analytical reports then help users remedy web performance issues. More info.
Product name: Espresso Logic Live Browser
Key features: Creates data-driven apps using data from enterprise databases, without programming. Provides out-of-the-box HTML5 user interface for navigating entire database in a master/detail format. More info.
Product name: BR-Docs
Pricing: Personal users - $5 per month per user, up to three users. Premier users - $8 per month per user, up to ten users.
Key features: a cloud-based document management service that provides businesses with a secure and reliable way to organize, store, sync and access files from a desktop or select mobile devices. More info.
Product name: Xangati VI and VDI Workload Performance Management Suites - XSR-11 Release
Key features: Xangati's latest release XSR-11 features two new dashboards, Xangati Executive Dashboard and Xangati MyDashboard, and includes a unique weighted capacity index. More info.
Product name: FlowTraq for Splunk App
Pricing: Free for FlowTraq licensed users; $1 per 1 million flow updates for FlowTraq Cloud users
There are two options for licensing Splunk Enterprise: perpetual and term.
- Perpetual license: this includes the full functionality of Splunk Enterprise and starts as low as $4,500 for 1 GB/day*, plus annual support fees
- Term license: this provides the option of paying a yearly fee instead of the one-time perpetual license fee. Term licenses start at $1,800 per year*, which include annual support fees
Key features: combines FlowTraq's scalable traffic handling, full forensic drill-down, and smart Network Behavioral Intelligence with Splunk's powerful event correlation to help organizations correlate security alerts with network traffic to quickly find hackers, malware and other attacks. Available via FlowTraq Cloud or FlowTraq Virtual Appliance (vApp). More info.
Copyright © 2014 IDG Communications, Inc.


text: The microtubule-associated protein Tau is an enigmatic protein. Its phosphorylation plays a pivotal role in normal physiology while its hyperphosphorylation occurs in neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease and FTDP-17. As with other neurological diseases, Drosophila melenogaster allows the power of genetic analysis to help decipher the role of Tau in the disease process and to probe molecular and genetic interactions that are important in preventing or enhancing its deleterious effects. We express transgenes encoding human Tau in the entire fly central nervous system and in combination with a powerful proteomic approach we probe molecular interactions that are important in preventing or enhancing its deleterious effects. We further validate the results of the proteomic screens above by genetic and molecular analyses for the enhancement/suppression of Tau-dependent neurodegenerative phenotypes. As we gain a deeper understanding of the cellular regulation mechanisms of Tau function, we will shed more light on the complex role of Tau in the aetiopathogenesis of neurodegeneration.


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Andy Teasdall puts best foot forward on field and in classroom
By all appearances, Andy Teasdall has what it takes to succeed in business.
A recent marketing graduate in the College of Business and punter for the Clemson Tigers, Andy has shown poise under pressure in front of 80,000 fans and national TV audiences on Saturdays. And on weekdays, he's proven himself equally adept, by putting in a different kind of leg work necessary to achieve honors status in the classroom.
A red-shirt senior in football, Andy says the combination of lessons he's learned in the classroom and on the gridiron have prepared him well to succeed in his future career.
"I haven't decided where life after college will take me, but as a walk-on player and student, I couldn't have made a better choice than Clemson," the Winston-Salem, N.C., native said. "No matter what life throws at me, I'll be ready because of the great people I've had the privilege of learning from here – in football and in the classroom."
Andy played football at R.J. Reynolds High School, but he starred in lacrosse and was offered college scholarships in that sport. Instead, he chose to walk-on to the football team at Clemson as a punter. "My brother, Jack, went to school here and it became clear on my visits here that Clemson was going to be a better fit for me."
Andy's football career didn't get off on the right foot, though, as he didn't make the roster in the fall of his freshman year. But he persevered and achieved walk-on status the next spring.
"Just like in life, football has its peaks and valleys and you have to move forward and be ready when your number is called," Andy said. "This position teaches you to not dwell on the past, be patient and make the most of the next opportunity that arises."
And he did, as his junior year, Andy was awarded a scholarship. He responded by averaging nearly 40 yards as the starting punter for a team that made it to college football's national championship game.
Playing major college football and maintaining honors-level grades didn't just happen with Andy. "I had a solid upbringing and was shown a good foundation," he said of his parents, who are both physicians. But even with that direction, balancing academic and athletic schedules had its challenges.
"It was tough at times. Waking up for a 7 a.m. workout and a long day of classes, then practice again, you don't get home until 8 or 9 at night," he said. "You learn to take advantage of the time available to you and eliminate some of the distractions of being a college student. Generally, it's about keeping life as simple as possible."
But Andy also credits his academic accomplishments to having good direction in the classroom, in particular the tutelage he received from Mary Anne Raymond, former marketing department chair and Carter McElveen, senior marketing lecturer.
"My professors at Clemson have been awesome. They really opened my eyes to the business world and the wide range of opportunities that exist," he said. "The annual marketing summer trip to New York City made me aware of what's out there and that as an athlete there are many opportunities on the business end of sports."
Andy is leaving all career options open as his days at Clemson wind down. He plans on participating in Clemson's pro day where players audition for NFL scouts. But he's wisely planning for alternatives should he not be playing football on Sunday afternoons next fall.
"Andy has so many strengths as a person and student, all of which will help him succeed in whatever career he decides to pursue," McElveen said. "His positive attitude, work ethic, respectfulness and attention to detail are not only a great reflection on Andy's upbringing, but are characteristics that will take him a long way."
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