text:
Irrelevant Third Options in Presidential Campaigns
Posted by The Situationist Staff on April 4, 2007
In 1992, Itamar Simonson and Amos Tversky demonstrated the effect of "irrelevant third options" in a simple experiment in which subjects were asked to select a microwave oven based on various product features and prices. Most of the subjects given a choice only between a low-priced Emerson and a medium-priced Panasonic preferred the Emerson model. When a high-priced Panasonic model was added to the selection, however, most of the subjects selected the medium-priced Panasonic, thus dramatically increasing Panasonic's share of the experimental market. It is folk wisdom in the restaurant industry that every dessert menu should have at least one excessively indulgent item to make the others appear comparatively less indulgent. Similarly gas stations, it seems, are likely encouraging consumers to purchase mid-grade gasoline by including high-grade option.
More recently, Situationist contributor Paul Slovic has shown how this phenomenon, among many others, reflects what he calls the "affect heuristic" or the "risk as feelings" approach to risk perception. (For an overview of that research, click here.)
It is now well understood that adding options can alter behavior, even when the options are not chosen. Seemingly irrelevant options can actually be quite relevant because they change the situation and alter affective responses to existing options.
Yesterday's Washington Post contains an article by Shankar Vedantam relying on those insight to discuss presidential campaign strategies. We have excerpted portions of that editorial below.
* * *
If Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama ever took a break from fundraising to bone up on psychology, they might realize the need to talk up . . . John Edwards.
The same goes for front-runners John McCain and Rudy Giuliani in the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. They ought to be drawing attention to Mitt Romney, or to "Law and Order" star Fred Thompson, who could be running third in the race if he declared.
Front-runners are usually focused on racing each other. They often do not realize that when people cannot decide between two leading candidates — and it doesn't matter whether we are talking about politicians or consumer appliances — our decision can be subtly swayed by whoever is in third place.
Psychologists call this the decoy effect: In a perfectly rational world, third candidates should only siphon votes away from one or both of the leading contenders. Under no circumstances should they cause the vote share of either front-runner to increase. In the actual world, however, third candidates regularly have the unintended effect of making one of the front-runners look better than before in the minds of undecided voters.
* * *
Let's say you are a centrist Democratic voter who cannot decide between Clinton and Obama because you want a candidate who is strong on national security but also someone fresh. You like Clinton on one measure and Obama on the other. Enter Edwards, whom you see as more dovish than Obama but part of the same establishment as Clinton. Obama looks better than Edwards on both counts, whereas Clinton beats Edwards on only the national security issue.
On the other hand, let's say you care about experience but are wary of policies such as universal health care. You like Clinton's experience but are worried about her track record on health care. Enter Edwards, whom you perceive to be as untested as Obama but even more likely to pursue a traditionally liberal agenda. Clinton now looks better than Edwards on both counts.
What this means is that Obama and Clinton stand to gain by drawing attention to those qualities of Edwards's that make each front-runner look much better than the other. Clever front-runners, in other words, can turn third candidates into their wingmen.
"Many people lavished hate on Ralph Nader for presumably taking votes away from the Democratic front-runner in the 2000 presidential election," said Scott Highhouse, who has studied the decoy effect at Bowling Green State University. "Research on the decoy effect suggests that Nader's presence, rather than taking votes away, probably increased the share of votes for the candidate he most resembled."
Suzanne Fogel, head of the marketing department at DePaul University, conducted a study of the 1992 presidential election, where Ross Perot provided the psychologist with a third candidate and a national laboratory. She and colleagues Yigang Pan and Robert Pitts found that, contrary to the conventional wisdom about which candidate Perot would hurt, undecided voters who focused on different qualities of Perot tended to gravitate toward George H.W. Bush or Bill Clinton.
"People are not very thorough information processors," she said. "People try to distill the essence from things, and if someone calls attention to one attribute or another, you make your choice based on that attribute because it is in the foreground of your attention."
* * *
For the complete article, click here. To read Michael Metzler's interesting take on how the the third-option effect might be employed to sell religions or denominations, go to Pooh's Think.
7 Responses to "Irrelevant Third Options in Presidential Campaigns"
April 4, 2007 at 1:31 pm
[…] It makes perfect sense doesn't it? What about you? From The Situationist's post "Irrelevant Third Options in Presidential Campaigns": In 1992, Itamar Simonson and Amos Tversky demonstrated the effect of "irrelevant third options" […]
May 29, 2007 at 3:06 pm
I'm laughing at myself over this article. That's exactly what I usually do. Buy the mid-priced item. Too true! This article is helpful and will help me think differently about my shopping decisions.
I keep trying that Pooh's Think link. Apparently that site's been down for weeks. I did find a mirror site at http://poohsthink.wordpress.com Strange comments there about Mr. Metzler. He seems to have many enemies.
June 18, 2007 at 2:35 pm
[…] To read the entire article, click here. For related posts on the brain and emotions, see "Irrelevant Third Options in Presidential Campaigns," "The Situation in New Orleans," and "The Big Game: What Corporations are […]
January 18, 2008 at 12:12 pm
[…] a candidate's position on a ballot can affect the vote totals. Similarly, the presence of an irrelevant third candidate, who actually does not appeal to the stated preferences of a given voter, might actually change his […]
April 12, 2008 at 11:15 pm
[…] To read the entire review (by the way, we excluded several interesting paragraphs on ideology) click here. For a sample of previous Situationist posts examining elements of the 2008 presidential election, see "Heart Brain or Wallet?" "Your Brain on Politics," "Al Gore – The Situationist" and "Irrelevant Third Options in Presidential Campaigns. […]
January 5, 2010 at 8:25 pm
[…] For a sample of previous posts examining situational elements of voting or, specifically, the 2008 presidential election, see "Implicit Associations in the 2008 Presidential Election," "Lopez-Torres, Justice Scalia, and the Situation of Elections," "Heart Brain or Wallet?" "Your Brain on Politics," "Al Gore – The Situationist" and "Irrelevant Third Options in Presidential Campaigns." […]
April 15, 2013 at 4:12 pm
What's Going down i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It positively helpful and it has aided me out loads. I hope to give a contribution & aid different customers like its helped me. Great job.


text:
Jump to navigation Jump to search
My name is Md Taufiq Uddin Bhuiyan.
The article is a derivative under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. A link to the original article can be found here and attribution parties here. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use. Gpedia Ⓡ is a registered trademark of the Cyberajah Pty Ltd.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Let's make a deal
With Congress back from Thanksgiving break, the fiscal cliff maneuvers are shifting into high gear. There's a deal to be made, and the key elements are on the table. Simplified, the target is $4 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years (pretty much the Simpson-Bowles framework). It comes from four places:
1. New revenue. This part will have to be largely settled in the next few weeks to avoid the fiscal cliff. The debate is over how to do it: cap deductions, raise income tax rates, raise capital gains rates, the Buffett rule, etc. Steve Rattner and Warren Buffett look at the alternatives in the Times, which provided the chart above.
2. Spending cuts. The Jan. 1 sequester is just the first $1 trillion in spending cuts, and Republicans as well as Democrats are whining about the pain they will inflict. But if you had 10 years to spread $1 trillion in spending cuts across instead of doing it all at once, it should be possible to minimize the damage.
3. Tax reform. I'm all for simplifying the tax system, reducing the corporate tax rate and all the other stuff most pols pay lip service to. It can't be done in the lame-duck session, but a target could be set and a serious commitment made to doing it in 2013.
4. Entitlement reform. Again, it can't happen this year, but a commitment to an amount could force a deal. As with taxes, there are more alternatives than are commonly mentioned. Usually raising the eligibility age is as far as the specifics get, but there are also options for means-testing benefits, raising the cap on SS taxes, and controlling health care costs. Ross Douthat makes a conservative case for reducing or eliminating the payroll tax.
You make a deal by setting target savings for each category, then dicker over the specifics.
The barrier to compromise getting all the talk so far is Grover Norquist's anti-tax pledge. Several Republicans took to the airwaves over the weekend to renounce the pledge, but they are mostly on the Senate side, and the bigger problem will be in the House.
But a larger hurdle will be the Boehner Pledge. The House Speaker has said he'll bring no legislation to the floor unless it is supported by at least 50 percent of House Republicans. If Obama held all the Democrats and could peel off 27 Republicans, a deal could clear the House — if the thing came to a vote. But if Boehner keeps his pledge, 122 Republicans would have to agree.
And while Obama has already won his re-election, Boehner won't be re-elected speaker until his caucus votes in January. So keep an eye on Eric Cantor, who was sounding squishy on Norquist's pledge on Monday. If Boehner missteps, Cantor would be the most likely candidate to challenge him. Will Cantor let Boehner make a deal and allow it to come to the floor, or will he cast his lot with the scorch-the-earth opposition? High drama time on Capitol Hill.


text:
Tie Back Halter Bikini Top
Style: Boho Color: Black Pattern Type: Plain...
Additional Information
Return policy
We're bummed if you're not 100% satisfied with the items you received, and we gladly accept returns within 30 days of receipt for most items in new condition.
1. Please contact Customer Service on our site, indicating the item(s) you would like to return and the reason.
2. After receiving return instructions from us, please package up the item(s) to be returned with the original packing.
3. Drop off your package at the local post office.4. Most returns are processed within 5 business days after we receive your package. We'll issue the refund to yourbank account. Once your refund has been issued, you will receive a confirmation email.
Return Conditions
1. You have 30 days to decide if an item is right for you, if you would like to return or exchange the item please contact us within 30 days of delivery.
2. The following items cannot be returned or exchanged: bodysuits, lingerie, swimwear, jewelry, underwear, event & party supplies, DIY supplies, pet supplies, beauty and accessories (except scarves, bags, and mermaid blankets).
3. Returned items must be in their unused condition with the original packing. We do not accept a returned item that has been worn, damaged, washed, or altered in any way.
4. Items with non-returnable marks and free gifts cannot be returned.
5. We do not accept returned items that have been sent back without proper returns requests.
6. We do not offer Freight To Collect (FTC) service for the packages returned to us. The returns will be made at your own cost.
7. Please be sure to double-check your returns before shipping them out. We are not responsible for the return of non-chicwittproducts .
Note:The original shipping fee and Shipping Guarantee are non-refundable.
Return Address
Please contact our Customer Service if you wish to return any items. You will receive a response as soon as possible.
Note: Please do not send your return to the address on your package. That is not our return address and will affect the processing of your return.NOTE: If you have any issues with your return, you must contact Customer Support within 180 days after your order was first placed.
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone Number: +12134187235


text:
| Description
Snowboard surfing down the hill while doing crazy tricks. Suitable for promotional videos, online marketing, tv content or other media platform.
| Support
Supporting customers is our main point. Please feel free to contact us by mailing us at the right-bottom of our profile page. We will respond you in the shortest time possible.
| Feedback
If you like this item please don't forget to rate, thanks! Also imatco really appreciate your feedback.


text:
Bohemian Spaghetti Strap Maxi Dress
Bohemian Spaghetti Strap Maxi Dress
- Type: Maxi dresses
- Sizing category: Regular
- Picture style: Outdoors
- Pattern type: Bohemian
- Style: Chic, casual, classy
- Features: Tiered, the fabric is slightly shiny.
- Neckline: V-neck
- Length: Maxi
- Sleeve length: Sleeveless
- Sleeve type: Spaghetti straps
- Material: 100% polyester
- Stretch: No stretch
- Sheer: No
- Body: Not lined
- Care instructions: Machine wash cold. Tumble dry low.
- Imported
- Product measurements:
S: bust 32-36 in, waist 38 in, length 55 in
M: bust 34-37 in, waist 39 in, length 56 in
L: bust 36-40 in, waist 42 in, length 57 in
XL: bust 38-42 in, waist 44 in, length 58 in
Shipping policy
We guarantee FREE DELIVERY to the United States, 2-10 days delivery time and free returns (return shipping is the customer's responsibility unless it was a shipping error or a damaged item) from our US warehouse.
Fashally.com is currently shipping to:
Customers within the United States and U.S. territoriesIncluding P.O. Boxes. All US Military bases, APO/FPOPuerto Rico, Guam, and U.S. Virgin Islands.
Fashally.com does not currently ship to customers outside the United States at this time.
Return policy
Return policy
We want to give you a hassle-free way to return anything (*), so you can return any item to us within 7 days of receiving your original order, including sale items.
Fashally.com will accept returns of unworn clothing items with original tags and clear garment packaging with SKU label. We do not accept exchanges of any kind.
Return requests must be initiated within 7 days (return window based on the exact time of delivery) of receiving all items in the order and shipped back to us within 7 days of submission to qualify for a full refund.
If it is a split package order, it will start from the time of the final package delivery date and time.
(*)All swimwear, bodysuits, intimates, jewelry, face masks, and beauty products are final sale and non-refundable.
Orders returned without meeting the above criteria are subject to a 20% restocking fee or we may decline the entire return.Shipping and handling charges are non-refundable. Return shipping is thecustomer's responsibilityunless it was a shipping error or a damaged item. Please allow Fashally.com5 - 7 business days (Please note working days do not include weekends and public holidays) from the day we receive the returned package to process.Fashally.com will email you after return has been processed to confirm what has been done.
The parcel remains your responsibility until it arrives with us – remember to ask for proof of postage, so if your parcel goes missing in the mail, you'll have proof you've sent it.
We'll send you an email as soon as we've received your return back at our warehouse in its original condition. Once received, we'll refund your original payment method – this is usually done within 2 working days.
It can then take up to 10 working days for the funds to appear back in your account depending on your bank or card issuer.
First step: contact with us via email firstname.lastname@example.com
We will send you the address to return. You have 7 days to send back the item and send us the tracking number.
When you return your order, just pop your returns note in the parcel with the following details marked on it:
Your order numberWhich items you're returning for a refund*Subject to Change. Fashally.com may at any time in its sole discretion change the rules set forth above.
Since you're new here, we'd love to tell you a little more about us
Our clothes are cut from the finest fabrics and no detail goes unnoticed, from our luxurios linings to our delicate darting. Whatever your style, you'll find it here and then some.
Free Shipping
We guarantee FREE DELIVERY to the United States and 2-10 days delivery time from our US warehouse.
7 days return
We want to give you a hassle-free way to return anything (*), so you can return any item to us within 7 days of receiving your original order, including sale items.


text:
COPPA, which the FTC enforces, prohibits anyone from knowingly collecting personal information on children under the age of 13, without first obtaining their parents' verifiable consent. COPPA also requires sites to post clear, complete and accessible privacy policies, and to secure any children's information they collect. The rule first went into effect in 2000.
"At the FTC, protecting children's privacy is a top priority," said FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez in a statement. "The updated COPPA rule helps put parents in charge of their children's personal information as it keeps pace with changing technologies."
Since COPPA was first written, notions of what constitutes an online site or service, as well as data collection practices, have evolved substantially, not least due to the rise of mobile computing and social networking. Also relatively new is behavioral tracking, which can record what users do across multiple sites.
[ Should search engines be held responsible for listing harmful websites? Read Google Launches Attack On Online Child Pornography. ]
On the latter front, the new final rule amendments to COPPA now "make clear that the rule covers an operator of a child-directed site or service where it integrates outside services, such as plug-ins or advertising networks, that collect personal information from its visitors."
The revision also updates the FTC's definition of personal information "to include geolocation information and persistent identifiers that can be used to recognize a user over time and across different websites or online services," as well as photos, videos and audio recordings. That said, COPPA also relies on children self-reporting their age, and exonerates businesses that don't provide notification or obtain parental consent if a child reports his age is 13 or above.
Before the new rules took effect, the FTC already had signaled that COPPA applied not only to websites, but also smartphone apps and the greater mobile and advertising ecosystem. In 2011, for example, the FTC filed its first-ever smartphone-related COPPA complaint, against W3 Innovations, as well as its owner and president. The agency charged them with failing to comply with COPPA's parental notification and consent requirements. According to the complaint, W3 -- developer of such iOS titles as "Emily's Dress Up and Shop," "Santa's Run" and "Zombie Duck Hunt" -- also "allowed children to publicly post information, including personal information, on message boards."
Which businesses must comply with COPPA? To help organizations answer that question, the FTC released "A Six-Step Compliance Plan for Your Business" guide. The agency also maintains a "COPPA hotline" email address, [email protected], to field businesses' related compliance questions.
The FTC is also continuing five safe-harbor programs that assess business's COPPA compliance, now based on the updated rules.
"Under COPPA, safe harbor status allows certain organizations to create comprehensive self-compliance programs for their members," said the FTC in a press release. "Companies that participate in a COPPA safe harbor program are generally subject to the review and disciplinary procedures provided in the safe harbor's guidelines in lieu of formal FTC investigation and law enforcement."
Such safe-harbor programs are offered by Aristotle International, the Children's Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, ESRB Privacy Online, Privo and TRUSTe.


text:
There are some people who need to apologize to Mr. Justice David Prosser now that he has been cleared and soon. They took a shallowly researched and preposterous allegation -- that Prosser held fellow justice Ann Walsh Bradley in a chokehold -- and ran to the guillotine with it.Yes, let's look back on the public demonstrations. Let's remember that protesters had a big ugly balloon effigy of Justice Prosser, which they tied by the neck to a lamppost. Look at their signs. Let's remember how these protesters strung together "allegations about Justice Prosser choking Justice Bradley [with] much more general issues about abortion and violence against women." As I said at the time:
I heard no acknowledgements of the uncertainties about what we know about what happened and no sensitivity about fairness and due process. I heard: 1. declarations about the importance of women's issues and 2. a demonization of Justice Prosser.This is the level of left-wing activism we witnessed here in Madison. A justice is despised because his decisions do not please liberals, and so, without thought, they forgot about things liberals like to love themselves for caring about, such as fairness and due process. These are the same people who have been chanting the chant "shame, shame, shame" for months up at the Capitol.
How are they not oppressed by their own shame? Seriously, for the purposes of writing the previous paragraph, I channeled the feeling of shame that I would feel if I had done that, and now I am literally nauseated. If I had said what the people in the video at the last link said, I would be weeping now and begging forgiveness. But I am not them, so I will simply ask that they stage a rally in support of Justice Prosser and they publicly retract their earlier statements and commit themselves to the core principles of liberalism: fairness and due process.
Blaska demands apologies from people who should be "ashamed of their lynch mob mentality." He names the "practitioners of the dark arts of 'by any means necessary.'" Check out his list (which unfortunately includes the name of a UW law student). I'll highlight this:
Ms. Emily Mills owes an apology for blogging that UW law professor and bloggress Ann Althouse "has gone to great and terrible lengths to excuse the alleged behavior, attack the credibility of only the anonymous sources with whom she disagrees, suggest that no arrests (yet) mean no wrongdoing, impugn the honor of Justice Bradley, and cast doubt on the very justice system of this state." Looks like it is the other way around, Ms. Emily.(Here's my contemporaneous pushback of Mills.) Blaska ends his column with a request for more names. I have one: Bill Wineke. Like Mills, he owes me an apology.
ADDED: My analysis of the investigative report that was released today is in the previous post.


text:
Yesterday, at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan (334 Amsterdam Avenue @76th Street, New York, NY), Manischewitz held the finals for this year's LIVE Cook-Off.
Five finalists battled it out, cooking up their winning recipes from 12:15 to 1:15 pm:
- Jennifer Daskevich, from Los Angeles, CA – Crispy Chicken with Cherries
- Jacquie Serebranie Kessler, from Lexington, MA – Gnocchi
- Ronna Farley, from Rockville, MD – Chicken Puff Sandwiches
- Andrew Dorsch, Scotch Plains, NJ Torte Vegetali
- Eric Silberman, Lincolnwood, IL – 'Mod' Matza Ball Soup
There were five judges with celebrity Chef Claire Robinson, from the Food Network, as the acting Host and Head Judge, the judges came from such diverse publications as Family Circle, Ladies' Home Journal, Joy of Kosher, etc…
Each contestant walked up to the panel and explained what he or she made. Then the judges were served and each graded the dish according to various criteria as I did, when I was in the panel of judges at Kosherfest 2011.
I actually got to taste a Chicken Puff Sandwich, as Ms. Farley had made some extras. Wooow, was it good!
But the top honor went to none other than Eric Silberman, a 20 year old student at Princeton University in NJ, who won the grand prize for his 'Mod' Matza Ball Soup. Among his many talents he plays the oboe and piano, he enjoys creative writing and volunteering for various activities.
He walked away with the trophy and $25,000.00. Not bad for a young student who loves what he does!


text:
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lindsay Lohan is scheduled to be arraigned on misdemeanor charges that could result in her returning to jail, but the star is not required to attend Wednesday's proceedings.
The actress faces three counts of reckless driving, lying to a police officer and obstructing an officer from performing duties after an accident in which Lohan's Porsche slammed into the back of a dump truck in June. Authorities in Santa Monica, Calif., allege Lohan lied about being behind-the-wheel before the accident and the charges could prompt a probation violation in her 2011 necklace theft case.
Los Angeles city prosecutors announced Tuesday they have asked a judge to revoke Lohan's probation in the necklace case, which could result in her being sentenced to 245 days in jail after the Santa Monica case is resolved.
Wednesday's hearing will likely lay out the next court dates and whether the "Liz and Dick" star will have to make one of her closely-watched court appearances for a probation violation hearing.
Lohan's attorney Shawn Holley did not return phone or email messages seeking comment on Tuesday. California defendants facing misdemeanors can avoid appearing in court if they are represented by an attorney, unless a judge orders otherwise.
Lohan, 26, was on her way to the set of the Lifetime biopic "Liz and Dick" on Pacific Coast Highway before the June accident, which sent her to the hospital briefly. She returned to the set later in the day, but police determined she had lied about her assistant driving her Porsche at the time.
After being removed from supervised probation in March, Lohan attempted to mount a comeback, filming two movies and a cameo with Charlie Sheen in the latest installment of the "Scary Movie" franchise.
Her performance in the first film released, "Liz and Dick," wasn't greeted favorably by fans or critics.
The new case could prompt a judge to sentence Lohan to jail for violating her probation for taking a $2,500 necklace from a store without permission in 2011. The jewelry was later returned, but it sparked months of court hearings and morgue cleanup duty for the star, who has struggled personally and professionally since being arrested twice in 2007 for driving under the influence.
Lohan was ordered to remain out of trouble and a judge urged her to stop partying at nightclubs, but neither has happened.
She also faces a misdemeanor assault charge in New York after a woman claimed she was hit by Lohan in a Manhattan nightclub. It is unknown whether New York prosecutors will pursue charges, or drop them as they did earlier this year when Lohan was accused of hitting a man with her car.
Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.


text:
Export 5 results:
Filters: Author is Zou, Bingsuo [Clear All Filters]
Comparison between the polarized Fourier-transform infrared spectra of aged porous silicon and amorphous silicon dioxide films on Si (100) surface. Journal of Molecular Structure. 1999 ;508:87-96..
The correlation between emission in freshly prepared porous silicon and the carrier density in silicon water. Asian Journal of Spectroscopy. 2002 ;6(1)..
Effect of different capping environments on the optical properties of CdS nanoparticles in reverse micelles. International Journal of Quantum Chemistry. 1999 ;72:439-450..
Origin of emission from porous silicon: Temperature-dependence correlation with proton conductivity. Physical Review B [Internet]. 2000 ;62(24):16595. Available from: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.62.16595.
Time-resolved Fourier-transform infrared and visible luminescence spectroscopy of photoexcited porous silicon. Physical Review B. 1999 ;59:5026-5031..


text:
An Interview with Manuel Quesada
While other cigar manufacturers have been engaged in multimillion-dollar purchases or building huge new factories, Manuel Quesada of MATASA (Manufactura de Tobacos S.A.) has quietly been building his business. The owner of the Fonseca, Jose Benito, Cubita and Royal Dominicana brands, and the manufacturer of such brands as Licenciados, Romeo y Julieta, Casa Blanca and Credo, Quesada has seen his cigar production more than triple during the past five years.
Quesada has been in the tobacco business his entire life, starting in the family enterprise at the age of 13. In Cuba, the Quesada family were leaf brokers for everything from cigarette tobacco to cigars, and one of the major exporters of Cuban tobacco to the world market. When they were forced into exile in 1960, they transferred their entire business to the Dominican Republic, where they had been buying and selling tobacco for years. It didn't take long before they began manufacturing cigars. When the cigar renaissance began in 1992, MATASA and Quesada were among the founding members of Pro-Cigar, an organization established to promote Dominican cigars.
Today, Quesada is entering a new era. One of the brands he manufactures, Romeo y Julieta, has become part of the emerging empire of Tabacalera, the Spanish tobacco giant. The brand, owned by Hollco-Rohr, gives Tabacalera an entry into the U.S. market for the first time. He's also starting a joint venture with Mike's Cigars of Miami and J.R. Tobacco to manufacture new brands in a new factory. In a recent conversation with Marvin R. Shanken, the editor and publisher of Cigar Aficionado, Quesada spoke about the huge opportunities in the cigar business and his ongoing commitment to growth and quality.
Cigar Aficionado: Your family has a long, rich past in the cigar industry and in tobacco. What drove you to choose the cigar industry as a career?
Quesada: We did not become manufacturers until we were exiled from Cuba. In Cuba we were not manufacturers, we were tobacco leaf people. My great-grandfather came to Cuba from Spain with his family. They were bakers, but the bakery wasn't big enough for him and his brother, who were the last to come to Cuba. When a debt to the family was paid with tobacco, the family told the two youngest brothers to take it and make a livelihood out of it. And they did. They started a leaf purchasing company in Cuba together.
CA: Who is they?
Quesada: My great-grandfather and his brother. Later, at the beginning of the century, they split ways to establish separate companies and they became the two largest exporters of Cuban tobacco from Cuba to international markets. And we have been competing in the world market ever since, and now in the Dominican Republic as well.
CA: What were the names of the two companies?
Quesada: Sobrinos de Antero Gonzales, our side of the family, and Constantino Gonzales, my great-grandfather's brother, the other side of the family. And we have come parallel through Cuba and the Dominican Republic until today.
CA: Was your grandfather in the business?
Quesada: My grandfather was in the business. He married my great-grandfather's daughter. He was a Quesada, not a Gonzales. The Gonzales family started the company. And then the Quesadas come in through my grandfather, who married a Gonzales daughter.
CA: And what role did he play when he was in the tobacco business?
Quesada: Well, the way the company was structured, there were always five managing directors or managing partners or whichever title they had, and my grandfather, of course, started as the fifth managing partner and moved all the way to first managing partner. That's what my father did, too. He started at the bottom and worked his way up. Some of my great uncles, cousins to my father, were also in that echelon of the company. Once they got involved in the company, they would be assigned different things such as the oversight of the farms or the warehouses, or they would be involved in sales. My grandfather and my father both had done the whole circuit of different jobs in the company.
CA: Is it fair to say that you stepped into your father's shoes?
Quesada: In Dominican Republic, yes. Because in Cuba we were too young to work. So we did not have any experience in Cuba.
CA: How long have you been working in the tobacco business?
Quesada: Since I was 13 years old. I'm 50 now. Thirty-seven years. I started when I was 13, but then I went to college, then into the army.
CA: Did you go to school in the United States?
Quesada: Yes. High school in Miami Beach, St. Patrick's, and college in Dominican Republic and then a master's degree from Florida State, in Tallahassee.
CA: I remember visiting your quaint, small, ordinary, but charming factory in 1991. Can you recall what your mission or strategy was in terms of the cigar business then, versus what your mission has become because of the change in the cigar market? What were your priorities then versus today?
Quesada: As much as I hate to tell you, back in the early '90s--'89, '90, '91--we were still suffering from the hangover of the 1980s when the market had slid. Business was slow. We were not growing in numbers to write home about and we were sort of in a doldrums state. We were making cigars, we were growing tobacco, we were warehousing tobacco basically in the same fashion we had been doing for years, and what we really didn't have was a challenge. We didn't have something to say, Let's really put ourselves to the test and see what we can do, if anything. Because one never knows what could happen. This may be a harsh judgment, and perhaps it was the case for the whole industry, but I think it was the case in our facility. We were making what we considered to be good cigars, even excellent cigars at the time. But we were within the parameters of what we had been doing in the past. Same filler, same binders, same wrappers, same fermentation processes, same blends, same brands, same markets. We were following in the footsteps of what we had been doing in the past. Creativeness in a market that really didn't show vast promise was curtailed, and we were suffering from that, I believe.
CA: I remember, though, that you had ideas. You wanted to do this, you wanted to do that, you wanted this, and you were like a coffee that's on boil. You were percolating with different thoughts and ideas, but nowhere to go.
Quesada: You always have to be doing that if you're going to be in the tobacco business, because tobacco is not the same thing day in and day out. You have different crops, you have different countries of origins, you have different vintages with different conditions. Tobaccos are always challenging you to play with them and make new blends.
CA: How much of your life did you spend in Cuba?
Quesada: I left when I was 13.
CA: What year was that?
Quesada: 1960.
CA: Is it fair to say that the final chapter in your dream is returning home?
Quesada: I would say so.
CA: By making cigars?
Quesada: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
CA: Let's fast-forward to 1997. It's an incredibly different market, not just that it's growing and it's bigger, but there has been an avalanche of new brands that nobody has ever heard of. If somebody said to you three years ago that there would be 300 new brands, because I know that every day I see 10 on the shelf I never heard of, would you have believed it? How has that changed the rules, and as a result, how would you define your mission or strategy today?
Quesada: I don't think the rules have changed. I think the playing field is also the same, because quality is still the guiding light. However, we now have a different dynamic in our business because the consumer is now much more involved with us, the manufacturers, than he was five, six, seven, 10 years ago. We were only dealing with retailers, wholesalers then. Now we're dealing directly with the consumer. We are more in contact with the consumer. We know more about his needs, his demands, his pleasures. So, there is an additional guiding light that we didn't have eight years ago.
The proliferation of brands is interesting. Three years ago, I would have probably guessed that a lot of new brands would come to market, because the market was pointing to opportunity. People could say, I'll make any kind of cigar and I'll sell it no matter what. That environment was conducive to more people coming in.
CA: Is it fair to say, however, that the days of creating new premium cigar brands are over, or do you still think there's opportunity?
Quesada: I still think there are opportunities for new brands because there are a number of variations that haven't been tested yet. There are still tobaccos that I believe can be blended into a cigar that will be accepted by the market. If a new brand comes from a manufacturer that has some sort of position in the market, it will be accepted as a quality-consistent product as opposed to a brand coming from someone who just started months ago.
CA: In 1997, what is the approximate production of your premium cigar business?
Quesada: MATASA will produce this year close to 16 million cigars.
CA: What was it in 1991, a fraction, right?
Quesada: In 1991, 5 million.
CA: That's incredible. Do you seek continued expansion, and do you see significant growth continuing, or a more moderate growth pace? What's your production target in 1998?
Quesada: In 1998 we plan to grow maybe 5 or 7 percent.
CA: Does that include your new facilities?
Quesada: No sir, just MATASA.
CA: When does the new joint venture facility come on the scene?
Quesada: Tabacalera Nacionale Dominicana already started June 2. And Cotabex actually started three days ago, Monday.
CA: What kind of production are those factories going to have?
Quesada: When they come to full production, they should be doing 60,000 cigars a day at Tabacalera Nacionale Dominicana, and Cotabex should probably be double that level.
CA: What does that work out to on an annual basis?
Quesada: Fourteen million to 15 million cigars.
CA: Per factory?
Quesada: Per factory.
CA: Which brands do you own, and which do you manufacture?
Quesada: Fonseca.
CA: Fonseca is clearly your primary focus. What is the origin of the Fonseca brand?
Quesada: The Fonseca brand was registered in the United States in 1963 by a Cuban family in Miami. It was registered then and it came into MATASA's possession three years ago when we purchased the rights. But we have been involved with the Fonseca brand since 1974.
CA: So you've been making it since 1974?
Quesada: Yes, we started making it in 1974.
CA: Do you own other brands besides Fonseca?
Quesada: Yes sir, Jose Benito is our brand as well, Cubita is also our brand. Royal Dominicana is also our brand. Those four brands.
CA: But you also produce brands for Hollco-Rohr and Tabacalera.
Quesada: J.R. [Tobacco].
CA: J.R., that's Lew Rothman.
Quesada: And Mike's.
CA: And Mike's, which is owned by Oscar Boruchin. That's good to know, because many people don't realize you are involved. So, which brands do you make for each of those?
Quesada: I make Licenciados for Mike's.
CA: Licenciados has done well in our taste tests.
Quesada: For J.R., I make Casa Blanca, and for Hollco-Rohr, Romeo y Julieta and Credo.
CA: What was the volume for Licenciados this year?
Quesada: In '97, a million and a quarter.
CA: Casa Blanca?
Quesada: About a million and a half.
CA: Romeo y Julieta?
Quesada: About one million.
CA: And Credo?
Quesada: 500,000.
CA: Fonseca?
Quesada: 1.2 million.
CA: Jose Benito?
Quesada: 500,000.
CA: Cubita?
Quesada: 500,000.
CA: Royal Dominicana?
Quesada: Royal Dominicana has no numbers, Marvin, because we just can't make it.
CA: In terms of priorities, don't you have a lot of horses here? Where are you going to put your emphasis in the future?
Quesada: At MATASA, I cannot take resources away from Casa Blanca or Licenciados or Romeo y Julieta to put into Fonseca or Cubita, because these are brands that brought me to where I am today. The loyalty that I owe to the owners of those brands is the same I owe to myself. So whatever tobaccos we have ready for these cigars will be split among them. We plan our crops and we plan our warehousing for these brands in particular. The major limiting factor has been mostly the Connecticut-seed wrapper.
CA: Is that the only thing holding you back?
Quesada: Yes, sir.
CA: But haven't plantings expanded in Connecticut and Ecuador, so that there would be more material available?
Quesada: Yes, sir, but when you talk about premium cigars, a lot of the wrappers that you buy do not qualify for that particular level of production.
CA: What happens to that? Binder?
Quesada: Some go into generic brands, or bundles, or smaller, lesser known brands, regional brands.
CA: In the Dominican Republic last year, there was a huge surge in the price of tobacco, and a huge surge in what new factories were willing to pay for rollers. Has the dust settled? Where are things now? You hear stories about a number of factories that have closed, of rollers that left where they were and now are trying to get their old jobs back. Are tobacco prices rolling back? What's really happening in the Dominican Republic regarding handmade cigars?
Quesada: In January 1997, we lost--and when I say we I mean, Arturo Fuente, Davidoff, General Cigar and MATASA--thosefour factories lost over 350 cigarmakers. That occurred in the period between Christmas vacation and the January opening of those factories.
CA: In a two-week period.
Quesada: In a two-week period, these 350-odd cigarmakers were taken away by new companies starting to make cigars in Dominican Republic. But we had been training people for two years before that event, so we had been replenishing and getting ready for a situation like this. Nevertheless, when you substitute a cigarmaker with a trainee, your output does come down a bit. We saw a dip in our production numbers in the first four or five months of this year. Then we started coming back on line with the addition of more trained people. As of today, the cigarmakers are starting to come back. After the RTDA [Retail Tobacco Dealers of America] convention in August, some of the new ventures, some of the new factories, found that their product wasn't selling as easily in the market today as it was maybe six or eight or 10 months ago. They have cut back production, therefore, letting go of a number of the cigarmakers that were originally taken from us.
CA: Have there been many of the new factories closed down?
Quesada: I don't have an exact number on that. We do know that the cigarmakers are coming back to the factories looking for jobs, so therefore we assume that there has been a cutback. Whether it's a total shutdown or a severe cutback in production that is occurring, I don't know for sure.
CA: What seems to be the attitude of the manufacturers? Are they welcoming back their former employees or basically saying, You went for the dollar, good luck.
Quesada: No. We are being selective, because a lot of the cigarmakers that left in January, left under less than good situations. But we are taking back a lot of the old cigarmakers. They are starting as new personnel in the factories, but we are taking them back.
CA: Looking at the major brand that you own, Fonseca, in terms of image, in terms of sizes, in terms of geographic distribution, what is your sense of where you want to take it in the next three years?
Quesada: I would have wanted to have taken it three years ago to a level of sales that would have been triple or quadruple the number that I have today. And that is still my goal. I feel that the quality of the product is there. I think that it has a market. Unfortunately, I could not produce the cigars that I needed without hurting other brands that we manufacture or lowering the quality of the brand. Therefore, we have been keeping at the level that we spoke about earlier.
CA: Which relationship began first? Mike's, J.R. or Hollco-Rohr?
Quesada: Hollco-Rohr was the very first.
CA: How did it come to pass that you ended up manufacturing Romeo y Julieta?
Quesada: Mr. Wally Frank, who had purchased the Romeo y Julieta brand from the family here in New York, was looking for manufacturing facilities in three countries: Honduras, Mexico and Dominican Republic. I was approached by the Hollco-Rohr Co. and I interviewed with Mr. Frank. I told Mr. Frank that I thought it was a mistake to have a brand in three different countries. And if that was the case I didn't want to get involved in that project. To have two countries already would have been a difficult situation. Three countries, I was out of the project. It was finally kept down to two countries, Honduras and Dominican Republic, and eventually Honduras was discontinued and Dominican Republic stayed.
CA: And when was that?
Quesada: 1978. That's where the box factory also opened. The first boxes ever made in Dominican Republic by MATASA were Romeo y Julieta.
CA: And then which was next?
Quesada: J.R. [J.R. owner Rothman] was introduced to me by the Mendez family, the leaf dealers in Dominican Republic, and we have been making cigars for J.R. since 1982. And Oscar [Boruchin of Mike's Cigars] came on board in 1984 or 1985 and we started making cigars for Oscar.
CA: Let's talk for a minute about your new joint ventures. Could you explain what they are and how they work?
Quesada: OK, the two facilities--Tabacalera Nacionale Dominicana and Cotabex--are a joint venture with J.R. Cigar and Mike's Cigars in Miami. It's a three-way company where the output of the factories will be shared equally by the three partners: MATASA, Mike's and J.R., and all the investment will be shared three ways as well.
CA: So you each get one-third of the output.
Quesada: Exactly, to be distributed accordingly. The project there is to have one brand shared by all and then have brands that each individual company will distribute as a side.
CA: When you say one brand, is that a new brand?
Quesada: A new brand, yes, sir.
CA: When is this new brand coming out?
Quesada: It probably will not be until one year from now.
CA: Is it anything you can tell me or is it premature?
Quesada: It's premature.
CA: What kind of output will that facility have?
Quesada: I'm planning when it's finally ready to make cigars in full bloom, about 15 million per year.
CA: So, 5 million will be the new brand?
Quesada: Probably more, because the gentlemen that are involved here are capable of distributing in big quantities. They have power to distribute product in the United States.
CA: Will Licenciados or Casa Blanca be produced there as well?
Quesada: No, sir. Licenciados and Casa Blanca will continue to be a MATASA operation.
CA: So the new factory will produce 15 million cigars, all new brands?
Quesada: Yes, sir.
CA: Wow. What about the other factory?
Quesada: The Cotabex factory involves Swisher International out of Jacksonville, Florida, and CITA, a Canary Islands concern which manufactures cigarettes and cigars. The idea of that factory is to have Dominican Republic as a supplying point to both sides of the Atlantic. We will sell cigars in the United States and we will also sell cigars in Europe and beyond.
CA: And that has a similar capacity?
Quesada: No, sir, that's going to be a bigger factory, because it will do about 15 million handmade cigars and it will do 15 million hand-rolled cigars.
CA: Handmade versus hand-rolled. That went straight over my head. Are we going machine-rolled?
Quesada: We're talking machine-bunched, hand-rolled.
CA: What brands will that factory produce?
Quesada: Those will also be new brands, and some old brands from the Canary Islands that have been in existence in Europe for a number of years but not sold in the United States.
CA: Regarding tobacco quality, you're in the market buying the best tobacco you can. What are you looking for?
Quesada: We're looking for the traditional countries that we have always purchased from, and those have been Brazil, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras and sometimes Mexico, for our fillers. For binders, we're looking for Central America again: Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico and Dominican Republic. For wrappers we're looking for United States, both the Connecticut shade and the broadleaf. We also buy some Ecuador wrappers with Connecticut style as well as the Sumatra style. We discontinued Cameroon wrapper a number of years ago because the supply became too scarce and nearly all the quantities of leaf were contracted by two companies. There was nothing else available. We have been using some TBN [wrapper] out of Indonesia for the two brands that we were making with Cameroon. We're looking basically for those countries in those categories of ingredients.
Dominican Republic, of course, is our home base, so we have much better control of both the filler and the binders, because we have our farms and warehouses and we have a factory. In the other countries, we have long-standing relationships with people who have been selling and farming tobacco forever and selling us tobacco. Of course, we now compete with other people who are in the market for the same tobaccos. The long-standing relationships have been honored by our suppliers, however. It's just that the quantities we have required have increased significantly from our commitments five years ago and our suppliers have not been able to supply our new requirements.
CA: What's the current status of pricing in tobacco?
Quesada: All countries are higher than they ever have been and they will continue to be higher, unfortunately for the next year at least.
CA: These price increases are obviously going to be passed on and have been passed on in terms of what the cigar lover is going to pay. Any projections?
Quesada: I feel that 1998 will still see some increase in prices for the cigars coming into the United States. It's the only way we can remain solvent. We have to make choices. Actually, three choices: not make cigars at all; lower the quality; raise the prices. For the last 500 years, [the handmade cigar industry has] been raising prices.
CA: In 1997, what percentage increase in price did you have for your cigars on the shelf?
Quesada: About 15 percent.
CA: What do you expect in 1998?
Quesada: A little less than that, but somewhere between 8 and 10 percent.
CA: Do you buy the hypothesis that the cigars made today by the traditional families that have been in the business are of higher quality than five years ago?
Quesada: No, I don't buy that they're higher quality. They may be different in a number of ways, but the quality has always been there. We may, if we compare it to a car, may be polishing a little more the doors, we may be tightening a little more the screws, but the quality [was always] there.
CA: So the tobacco quality has not changed.
Quesada: The tobacco quality has not changed, no, and that's why we haven't been able to supply the market, because we haven't had tobacco that's up to our standards.
CA: I'm not talking about quantity, I'm only talking about quality.
Quesada: If we had had enough tobacco of the quality that we're looking for, we would have been supplying the market in the numbers that the market needed. We didn't; therefore, a huge shortage occurred. But we didn't play with the quality, so we didn't have the cigars.
CA: Do you think that what you just said applies to the other manufacturers as well?
Quesada: There are a number of manufacturers that I respect enormously and have committed themselves to that principle, and I can probably name a whole bunch of them, but...
CA: Given the influx of so many new factories--I've heard that there's some 30 new factories. Is that approximately right?
Quesada: It sounds right, but the exact numbers are very hard to judge.
CA: OK. But then, where are these new factories getting the tobacco from, and what kind of tobacco is it?
Quesada: There are two areas where the new factories are finding tobacco. One is from nontraditional areas of growing, even in Dominican Republic, for example. And in countries from which we have never used tobaccos. European markets have used these tobaccos always, but we, in this part of the world, have never used those tobaccos. I am talking about Italy, Germany, Indonesia, Philippines, Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia. These are countries that have produced tobacco always, but mostly for short-filler cigars in Europe, and cigarettes.
CA: Can you smoke those cigars and tell the difference?
Quesada: You can probably tell that they have tobaccos from those countries of origin because they have distinctive tastes. However, if you blend in very minute quantities with more Dominican and more Nicaraguan, more Honduran, you could probably hide some of those tobaccos in a blend. But you need to have the other tobaccos to hide those in.
CA: Has there ever been controversy over a Dominican cigar not having all of its raw material grown in the Dominican Republic, which also really applies to many other countries with the exception of Cuba?
Quesada: No. There never has been controversy because the concept of Dominican Republic has always been a blend, and a blend necessitates different origins to make a product. We have been always blending, so we know that the Dominican element is present, but the quantity will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. However, the basis, and this perhaps is where your question is coming from, the basis of the blend in the filler, in the binder has been Dominican and without quoting numbers among manufacturers, 60 percent to 80 percent of the filler and binder blends were from Dominican Republic always.
CA: What percent of handmade Dominican cigars are Connecticut wrapper?
Quesada: Well, the traditional brands are definitely using Connecticut tobacco. The nontraditional are not using Connecticut, because it is not available to them.
CA: What's your take on the potential for Dominican-grown wrapper tobacco, and do you have any sense or plan to grow it or buy it or in putting your cigars in it in the near term?
Quesada: Well, Dominican Republic has been toying with the idea of a wrapper for decades now, and a number or projects have been done in Dominican Republic since the late 60s, early '70's. None were anywhere close to successful until three or four years ago, when the Fuentes took over the now Oliva farm and started growing wrapper. And that has proven that wrapper can be grown in Dominican Republic.
CA: Do you and other manufacturers have plans to get into that market?
Quesada: Yes. There are some experiments in some of the farms that are controlled by different manufacturers. But they are still experimenting with different seeds and different variations of growing conditions with an eye towards the future.
CA: Do you have a specific plan to have someday a 100-percent Dominican brand?
Quesada: Our goal is to accomplish that; whether we are successful or not, we don't know yet. We are toying with it and we are experimenting with it.
CA: How were the Fuentes able to do something that nobody before them was able to do to the point that nobody believed it possible?
Quesada: I would say, to their credit, that they were intent on doing it. I would say that they dedicated resources, both human and economic, to it and they were successful.
CA: But there had to be something else, too--the microclimate, the farmer planting the crops, something. What was it?
Quesada: The area where the wrapper is being grown by the Fuentes has been successfully grown by General for years for their candela wrapper. León Jimenes also grew some wrapper there, probably in the late '60s. In general, the leaves were spotted because of the humidity in the area. The Olivas were running that farm for years, but from the United States. The Fuentes, being in Dominican Republic, were closer to managing the farm. That helped make it successful.
CA: So, it was the hands-on approach?
Quesada: Yes, yes.
CA: Is it now pretty much acknowledged that the Dominican Republic is capable of producing a competitive quality wrapper?
Quesada: I would say so. Yes, sir.
CA: Everybody has a different point of view and I'm sure that you have spent many, many, many hours thinking about when the embargo ends. How do you think that will affect your business, a), and b), how do you think it will affect the cigar aficionado?
Quesada: We have to look at it hypothetically. If the embargo is lifted tomorrow morning, for the sake of argument, and Cuban cigars immediately begin to come from Havana, from Cuba, wherever, in the next 24 hours, it will affect everybody's business outside of Cuba because consumers will want to try the Cuban product. Initially, there will be a surge towards buying Cuban product instead of our product. That will settle down and I think we will be able to live with the Cubans and they will be able to become another cigar taste, another cigar in the market. They will live with the Dominicans, the Hondurans, the Mexicans, the Nicaraguans, and they will be just another cigar on the market down the road.
CA: Do you see the need or the plan where some of the Dominican or Honduran manufacturers might begin to buy Cuban tobacco in bulk and put it in their cigars to strengthen the taste, make it a little spicier, or be more in the style of a Cuban cigar, or do you think the taste will come closer together, or stand apart as they do now?
Quesada: I think you'll see everything. I think you will see Dominican brands remaining as they are, with the Dominican taste that the market has grown to like and to accept and that has made Dominicans the best-selling cigar in the market today. You will also see combinations with Cuban tobacco in leaf form going into blends of new products, or perhaps variations of the existing brands, where you make a private selection and you make a cabinet selection, and you'll also see perhaps some manufacturers going to Cuba and making Cuban cigars in Cuba. But I don't foresee that anyone will forsake their Dominican ventures.
CA: I would doubt that anyway.
Quesada: No, no, but I think that you will see everything happening in the market because there will be opportunity for 100-percent Cuban cigars, 100-percent Dominican cigars and combinations thereof.
CA: I can't quite imagine you going back to Cuba, where you'd need fields, cigar rollers and so forth, and all having to working with the systems and pay scales they have now. Wouldn't it be difficult?
Quesada: We were bitten once. We have no desire to be bitten twice. So before we do go back and put our money up and start ventures, we have to have assurances that we will be respected.
CA: It sounds like, at least for the nearer term, the only real practical road is buying bulk tobacco.
Quesada: Exactly.
CA: What about making 100-percent Cuban cigars, but making them in the Dominican Republic or using the tobacco to blend in with what you're now making to make something either brand new or to have a different style?
Quesada: I feel the same way. Politics will not allow us to go back and start investing money right away.
CA: How will that situation affect the consumer? He's already flooded with cigars, half of which he's never heard of and all of a sudden he's going to have two Fonsecas, two H. Upmanns, two Montecristos, two Partagas?
Quesada: First of all, Cigar Aficionado has done a tremendous job in making the consumer a lot more capable of understanding the cigar world. I think that the consumer is able to discern and make distinctions between origins, between types of tobacco, between what creates a strength in a blend, what creates aroma in a blend. I think the cigar smoker would be most interested in these variations in these new adventures in taste and what the possibility of introducing Cuban tobacco to blends might afford them as a smoker. I think that would be a plus.
CA: You have a long-standing relationship with your growers. Have they been greatly increasing their production to keep pace with your growth or do you have to keep adding new growers all the time to supplement your increase each year?
Quesada: Dominican Republic three decades ago used to grow 1 million quintals [100 million pounds] per year of tobacco. In the 1970s, that dwindled and finally the crop at its bottom production was 200,000 quintals, one-fifth of what it was. All that land that used to grow tobacco lay fallow for a number of years because the prices weren't there for the farmers to grow tobacco. And the prices weren't there for us to sell tobacco in the world markets.
CA: Where did all that tobacco go?
Quesada: It used to go to North Africa, to Spain, the Canary Islands, North Europe...
CA: Used for?
Quesada: Cigarettes and short-filler cigars. The United States used to buy enormous amounts of tobacco in Dominican Republic for their short-filler cigars as well. Prices and taxes by the Dominican government made the production dwindle, and with the advent of the new cigar production in Dominican Republic, a lot of the land started to come back into production slowly, because the farmers had dedicated themselves to other things or they had moved to the cities. Their sons were studying to be engineers. But slowly, people from the old tobacco-growing families have come to those fields and started growing tobacco again in land that originally grew tobacco a number of years ago.
CA: But the tobacco that was grown a number of years ago, was it at the quality level that is used for cigarettes as opposed to the quality level for cigars?
Quesada: No, we were also growing Cuban seed and Olor seed at the time. Olor was one of the largest growing varieties in Dominican Republic. And Cuban seed as well. Crillo [cigarette tobacco] used to be the biggest of all. And all had dwindled because of lack of demand.
CA: After Cuba, what drove you to decide to go to the Dominican Republic as opposed to one of the other countries that grow tobacco?
Quesada: We first went to Dominican Republic in 1939. My great-uncle went to Dominican Republic in '39, and we used to buy tobacco from Dominican Republic and from Cuba and sell it to the Spanish monopoly. So we knew the country, we knew the people and we knew the tobacco, and when we left Cuba the family moved its operations to Dominican Republic--without any money, of course.
CA: When did the Dominican Republic begin the free zones?
Quesada: 1972.
CA: How important was that governmental action in attracting and maintaining manufacturers during this period of decline?
Quesada: It was important for two reasons. One, you could make cigars in a country that had a long tradition of tobacco and cigar-making. Two, you could bring in tobaccos from any part of the world duty free as long as you exported the cigars out again from the country. So, it afforded you a blend without having to pay duty for the tobacco. Also, you had labor, because it was a cigar-making country. So you had labor there to make cigars right away. So Dominican Republic was attractive for cigar-making back in the 1970s. There were two factories, local factories, and then Consolidated came from the Canary Islands. We established ourselves in Santiago. General Cigar and Fuente came later.
CA: So you avoid a duty on the tobacco you bring in. What about on the cigars that you ship out?
Quesada: There is no export duty.
CA: So you save the consumer a lot of money and, I assume, the theory there is that you're creating jobs?
Quesada: Exactly. And also bringing hard currency into the country, because we pay all the expenses in dollars.
CA: Do the locals in the Dominican Republic understand that cigar-making is something which is really exciting and healthy and great for their country in terms of growth and export?
Quesada: Quite so. It not only creates labor and jobs, but it also creates a name for Dominican Republic. It's a product that is recognized worldwide.
CA: Do you get government support?
Quesada: No, we don't.
CA: What's an example of something for which you, as an industry, have tried to get the support of government, but were turned down?
Quesada: When we started the institutional advertising for Dominican Republic in Cigar Aficionado, we went to the government and told them, This is a wonderful opportunity for you to promote Dominican Republic. We wanted the government to come in with us and afford us a bigger scope of advertising. And the government said, This is your enterprise, you go do it yourself.
CA: That campaign, I remember it well, was part of ProCigar. Where is ProCigar now?
Quesada: ProCigar is alive and well. ProCigar has eight members, back to the original number that it was three years ago. We still meet regularly. We are continuing the job that we proposed to do when we started ProCigar: promote Dominican cigars.
CA: I remember that one of the missions--aside and apart from building brands, which are the responsibility of each owner--was to affect a sort of cooperative effort to strengthen the image of cigars made from the Dominican Republic. It would appear that that's been on hold for the last few years.
Quesada: It has been on hold. The arrival of all the new cigar manufacturers into Dominican Republic created a sort of situation where we could not create ill will amongst us by separating ourselves from all the manufacturers in Dominican Republic. For a couple of years we were in discussions about internal problems that faced industry in Dominican Republic such as labor, tobacco availability and so on. That has been settled finally. Now, we are back into looking at promoting Dominican Republic. We're finishing a campaign that should come out early next year.
CA: When I used to go to Europe five years ago, if I went to a classic tobacconist in London and they had a Dominican cigar, it was usually on the bottom shelf. The tobacconists would say they didn't want to sell them, they were low quality, there was no market for them. That's changed. Do you believe there's a world market for non-Cuban cigars?
Quesada: Quite so. The only problem that we have had is that we have not had enough production to dedicate ourselves to Europe or any other market. The United States has captured our attention completely. Some product has gone to Europe and one particular manufacturer has dedicated themselves strongly to Europe and they have done a wonderful job vis-à-vis the Cuban cigars in Europe. That is, of course, Davidoff. They have done a magnificent job in promoting Dominican Republic cigars in Europe and their sales have grown every year since they started making cigars in Dominican Republic.
CA: But Davidoff is based in Switzerland. What about you and the other mainline manufacturers? Is it still entry-level pipeline push or is there real consumer demand developing now for your cigars as an alternative?
Quesada: I can only speak for our situation because I have no idea what the other manufacturers have faced, but in the last four years, we have unfortunately had to say no to European manufacturers and distributors who have shown interest in distributing products from our company. If they feel that they can ask us for product, they must be sure that they can sell in Europe, so that indicates to me that there is a possibility that there is a market out there for us.
CA: You're one of the leading producers of maduro cigars. Is there a growing demand for that kind of wrapper and is there a growing supply to meet that demand?
Quesada: I don't want to say that there's a growing demand. There is a demand, perhaps because it has been unsatisfied in the last couple of years. Maduro cigars are a very individual type of cigar that has a specific market. The maduro smoker is a maduro smoker. He wants nothing but maduro and that's what he smokes. There is a shortage of maduro cigars and there will be a shortage of maduro cigars because of the line of supply, which comes from two particular countries, Mexico and the United States--where broadleaf is used. There's a shortage of broadleaf in Connecticut because of blue mold this last crop. In Mexico, they have started growing more of the maduro crop in San Andres, but they haven't caught up yet.
CA: So, does that mean that your production of maduro is going to decline?
Quesada: It will not decline, but it will not grow significantly. It will stay basically within the same level. Today, we have about 20 percent of our production into maduro cigars.
CA: The 1995 crop is mostly in the market, if not already sold, and 1996 is in the market, and 1997 is just starting to come in. How do you rate the quality of those three vintages?
Quesada: Those three years in Dominican Republic have been the greatest crops that we have ever had in terms of quality.
CA: What is there about the quality of tobacco that made it distinctively better?
Quesada: We had wonderful growing seasons. We had just the right amount of rain. We had the right amount of people taking care of the crops. We had the barn space to hold the crops, we had the warehouses to hold the crops. We had the time to work the crops. But basically the growing conditions were what gave the starting point for the best three crops we have ever had. Which in the situation of the market, it was a blessing. If we had a disaster in any of those years, we would be in dire straits.
CA: On Sunday afternoons, after you've had brunch with your family, and you go out on your deck, which cigar do you smoke?
Quesada: A Fonseca 7-9-9.


text:
In baseball, a game without a clock, each player on a team that is behind by a bunch of runs is advised to "stay within yourself." That baseball lingo means: Do not try to do too much. Instead, get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em in. There are no five-run home runs. Small, incremental gains matter because the game goes on until someone makes the 27th out. Until then, there is hope.
Unfortunately for Mitt Romney, presidential politics is, like football, a game with a clock, one with just five weeks of ticks remaining. In football, a team behind by lots of points late in the game must take gambles. Romney is behind — in the important swing states, with the national electorate regarding who would best handle the economy and health care, and in national measures of favorable voter perceptions.
So on Wednesday night it might be risky for Romney not to take risks. But what can he do? He might add to his menu of policies by embracing, say, the idea of breaking up the largest banks, a sound policy that would subvert the caricature of him as rapacious capitalism embodied. But debates are not good venues for explaining . . . well, anything, actually, but especially not new initiatives. And October is a time for summations to the jury, not new submissions of evidence. Worse, Romney and his advisers must be bewildered by this fact: In October 2011 they would have been serenely confident of victory if they had been told that 12 months later the following would be true.
That President Obama would be waist deep in muddy and contradictory descriptions and explanations of the terrorist (he now concedes) attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya. That data just released for August 2012 showed that real disposable income had again declined. That Obama would actually celebrate the fact that, for the first month since he took office, there were more U.S. jobs than when he took office. That the most recent figures show a 13.2 percent decline in durable goods orders. That nearly 25 percent — the highest in three decades — of Americans between ages 25 and 55 are unemployed. That the second-quarter growth rate was adjusted down from an anemic 1.7 percent to the stall speed of 1.3 percent.
And regarding the Investor in Chief, that his Tesla Motors would be troubled. The California firm has received a $465 million loan from the world's most incompetent venture capital fund, the U.S. Department of Energy — source of Solyndra's $535 million — to make electric cars for the affluent. The Model S, unlike Tesla's $109,000 Roadster, is supposed to sell for between $50,000 and $98,000 — after the $7,500 federal tax credit. But Tesla has just received a waiver on the terms of its DOE loan. Tesla joins California-based Fisker, another floundering would-be maker of high-end rides for rich people, which has received a $529 million DOE loan.
Obama's administration is in shambles, yet he is prospering politically. This may not, however, entirely be evidence of the irrationality of the electorate. Something more benign may be at work.
A significant date in the nation's civil rights progress involved an African American baseball player named Robinson, but not Jackie. The date was Oct. 3, 1974, when Frank Robinson, one the greatest players in history, was hired by the Cleveland Indians as the major leagues' first black manager. But an even more important milestone of progress occurred June 19, 1977, when the Indians fired him. That was colorblind equality.
Managers get fired all the time. The fact that the Indians felt free to fire Robinson — who went on to have a distinguished career managing four other teams — showed that another racial barrier had fallen: Henceforth, African Americans, too, could enjoy the God-given right to be scapegoats for impatient team owners or incompetent team executives.
Perhaps a pleasant paradox defines this political season: That Obama is African American may be important, but in a way quite unlike that darkly suggested by, for example, MSNBC's excitable boys and girls who, with their (at most) one-track minds and exquisitely sensitive olfactory receptors, sniff racism in any criticism of their pin-up. Instead, the nation, which is generally reluctant to declare a president a failure — thereby admitting that it made a mistake in choosing him — seems especially reluctant to give up on the first African American president. If so, the 2012 election speaks well of the nation's heart, if not its head.


text:
Chris Brown's creepy curbside art reportedly scaring Los Angeles neighbors
LOS ANGELES – Grammy-winning musician Chris Brown's neighbors are unhappy with the creepy art he's chosen to have painted along the curb of his Hollywood Hills home.
A neighborhood group said the grimacing, sharp-toothed, red-eyed goblins painted along a retaining wall have been scaring local children, and is an eyesore to boot, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"There are lots of babies, lots of children, and they're literally frightened. It's like devils on the wall -- big scary eyes and big scary teeth, and just the whole vibe is not what we're used to," Patti Negri, president of the Hollywood Dell Civic Association, told the newspaper.
L.A. city code officials responded to complaints about the monster art and cited the "Run It!" singer $376 for unpermitted and excessive signage.
Under city ordinances, it's illegal to create murals on most private properties. Though that didn't stop Madonna from painting her Hollywood Hills home in red and yellow stripes in the 1990s.
Brown has been ordered him to remove the goblin paintings within 30 days, but his attorney Mark Geragos said the musician is not backing down.
"They are trying to suspend the First Amendment," Geragos said.
Geragos alleges neighbors are harassing Brown, and have also made parking complaints about him and called animal control.
Brown's tumultuous relationship with singer Rihanna and foul-mouthed Twitter presence have given him a bad boy reputation.
Brown won a Grammy in 2011 for Best R&B Album with "F.A.M.E." and was arrested shortly after the 2009 awards ceremony for assaulting Rihanna.
"I know a $300 fine is probably pocket change. But hopefully and maybe, he'll just see the light and decide to be a good neighbor," Negri told the Times. "We're happy to have him -- if he just tones it down."


text:
Let us take you into the fascinating world of Memmert appliances, which we have collected on our user platform AtmoSAFE. From turbo drying of vast amounts of powder in the vacuum drying oven to artificial ageing of cables in the heating oven to climate testing of electronic devices in the climate oven.
If you have questions regarding a special appliance please don't hesitate to give us a shout: email@example.com.


text: Sermons Loading Content... Share a Link to this Message The link has been copied to your clipboard; paste it anywhere you would like to share it. Close - Browse Series - ------------- View Series Archives View All Messages ------------- Contend for Faith: The Book of Jude You Determine the Sermon - Q&A Comfort and Joy Acts: How The World Heard The Gospel of Jesus Overcoming Empty: How Easter Offers A Full Life O Little Town Of Bethlehem To The Ends of the Earth Standalone Sermons Summer Vibes God's Mighty ACTS Unbelievable: Accepting the Mind-blowing Truth about Jesus' Resurrection The Longing: Living With Anticipation In Our Waiting Together* Wherever You Are Prayer Service 2020 Joyful Leadership Setting Biblical Boundaries The End of Anxiety Uncharted Waters 3 Questions Everyone Has About God The Best is Yet to Come Unpacking Forgiveness Christmas at Grace Chapel Faith Takes Grit Here to Stay What is the Gospel? Stand Alone Thy Kingdom Come Have Mercy What If? Devoted Overwhelmed Adore This Changes Everything Vision John 18 - Browse Speakers - Davey Blackburn Brian Moe John Cook Daniel Henderson Dr. Ryan Hartwig Dustin Turner PhD Erik Burklin Gino Geraci Ryan Gold Josh Weidmann Kurt Roberts Dr. Johnathan Leeman Will McBride Mike Romberger Nathan Lorick Nick Berard Randy Patten Ron Brenning Steve Whitlock Stu Fuhlendorf Ryan Townsend Dr. Christopher Yuan Alex Zakroff - Browse Topics - anger backsliding bitterness brokenness Change Christ Christmas church Circumstances contentment elders Elijah faith fear forgiveness generosity Genesis giving thanks God's will Gospel Gossip grace grief healing hope hurt jealousy Judgement loss love materialism mercy mission names pain patience power prayer prejudices prince of peace relationships repentance Ruth service silence Slander Sovereignty suffering trust wisdom wonderful counselor - Browse Books - Judges Psalms Daniel Habakkuk Matthew Mark Luke Romans 2 Corinthians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Peter Josh Weidmann - May 31, 2020 Uncharted Waters: Walk with wise men - 5/31/20 Watch Listen More Messages from Josh Weidmann | Download Audio From Series: "Uncharted Waters" Facebook Tweet Link Share Link Send Email More Messages from Josh Weidmann... December 19, 2021 Finding the Peace In Our Life Josh Weidmann Watch December 12, 2021 The Life That Gets God's Attention Josh Weidmann Watch December 5, 2021 How To Maintain Contentment Josh Weidmann Watch November 28, 2021 Finding Courage To Keep Going Josh Weidmann Watch November 14, 2021 Why Humility Is More Important Than You Think Josh Weidmann Watch November 7, 2021 God Uses Our Loss To Advance The Gospel Josh Weidmann Watch October 31, 2021 What Is A Christian? Josh Weidmann Watch October 24, 2021 Who Can Oppose God? Josh Weidmann Watch October 17, 2021 Finding The God of All Comfort Josh Weidmann Watch September 26, 2021 Avoid the Sneaky Sin of Partiality Josh Weidmann Watch Displaying 51-60 of 181« Back 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 …17More » Powered by Series Engine


text:
A Center for Immigration study to be released Monday and obtained in advance by The Daily Caller, found that last year ICE reported nearly 722,000 encounters with illegal or criminal immigrants. But ICE officers filed immigration charges against less than 195,000 aliens.
"According to ICE personnel, the vast gap between the number of encounters reported and the number of aliens put on the path to removal exists because officers are not permitted to file charges against aliens who do not fall into the administration's narrowly defined criteria for enforcement, regardless of the criminal charges or the circumstances in which the alien was identified," the report, authored by CIS director of policy studies Jessica Vaughan, reads.
Since June 2011, when the first of the Obama administration's "prosecutorial discretion" policies were put in place, the report adds, interior ICE arrests have declined by 40 percent.
"The Obama administration and anti-enforcement activist groups have tried to portray the number of departures as 'record-breaking' and indicative of robust immigration enforcement. They have tried to support this claim by showing that the number of departures credited to ICE is higher than ever before," the report reads. "However, an independent analysis of ICE records obtained in a lawsuit showed that ICE was able to achieve these 'record' departures only because the agency was taking credit for removing a large number of individuals who were apprehended by the Border Patrol. Such cases made up the majority of ICE's reported deportations in 2013, but they had never been counted that way in previous administrations."
Indeed, as the review highlights, many aliens with criminal convictions have simply been released.(Click link below to read more)
READ MORE Sphere: Related Content


text:
Recursos en Español | Directorio de Empleados | English Site
Página Inicial
English Español Tiếng Việt Nam
Disclaimer: External links provided by the Catholic Diocese of Dallas are provided solely for the user's convenience.
By providing these links, the Catholic Diocese of Dallas assumes no responsibility for, nor does it necessarily endorse, the website, its content, or sponsoring organizations.
Log in | Log out


text:
America's most famous French bookstore will close in 2009. The Librairie de France in Rockefeller Center apparently has fallen victim to rising rents, online book sales and a declining interest in foreign languages.
The New York Times reported last year that the bookstore would shut its doors, but I missed the article and learned of the closing during a recent visit to the shop. A staff member was handing out flyers that said that its lease expires in September 2009:
"Because of overwhelming New York City retail rents, especially on Fifth Avenue – almost $1,800 a square foot, and projected even higher in 2009 – we will have to close our store at that time. Our mail order services, however, will continue from a yet-to-be-determined location."
Alex Mindlin's article in the Times noted that, in its prime, the Librairie was an institution. The bookstore was one of the first retail tenants of Rockefeller Center in 1935:
"During World War II, its publishing arm printed the works of many writers who had emigrated from Vichy France, including Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The shop thrived throughout the 1960s, importing two tons of books a week and holding autograph sessions for French celebrities like the singer Charles Aznavour." www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/nyregion/thecity/15fren.html
The Librairie de France operates today on two floors on the Promenade at Rockefeller Center: a ground-level space that sells souvenirs and other items popular with tourists, such as Tricolor keychains, "Little Prince" dolls and French translations of Goodnight Moon and the Harry Potter novels. An underground room below it sells antique and rare books and prints. A mail-order catalog appears on its Web site www.frencheuropean.com.
© 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.


text:
School Listings and Timeline for Evening ShadeNavigation: SchoolTimeline Home > Arkansas
State of Arkansas SummaryThere is 1 public school and 0 private schools listed on our site for Evening Shade.
There are 7 full-time teachers educating a total of 93 students. 77 students receive a free lunch while 6 receive a reduced-price lunch.
To begin viewing more information about the school you are interested in please select it from the list below or enter it into the search box above.
General Information 1Total Schools: 1
Full-time Teachers: 7
Total Students: 93
Free Lunch: 77
Reduced Lunch: 6
Government ResourcesArkansas Department of Education
Number of Students 1
Arkansas State Flag
Full-time Teachers 1
Reduced Lunch 1
Free Lunch 1
1. Data Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Local Education Agency (School District) Universe Survey", 2008-09 v.1a, 2009-10 v.2a, 2010-11 v.2a, 2011-12 v.1a; "Local Education Agency (School District) Universe Survey Dropout and Completion Data", 2008-09 v.1a; "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey", 2008-09 v.1b, 2009-10 v.2a, 2010-11 v.2a, 2011-12 v.1a; "Survey of Local Government Finances, School Systems (F-33)", 2008-09 (FY 2009) v.1a, 2009-10 (FY 2010) v.1a, 2010-11 (FY 2011) v.1a.


text:
Ex-Detroit mayor leaves prison after weekend stay
DETROIT (AP) ? Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been released from a city lockup where he spent the weekend for violating parole in the 2008 criminal conviction that booted him from office.
Kilpatrick left the Michigan Corrections Department facility in Detroit Monday morning. He had been locked up there since Friday afternoon.
He's expected to return Monday to federal court where he's on trial in a separate matter.
The Michigan Corrections Department says Kilpatrick violated parole by not disclosing all his financial transactions last fall. He still owes Detroit $855,000 in restitution and must report details about his income and expenses.
Kilpatrick was convicted of obstruction of justice in 2008 in a scandal involving text messages and an affair with a top aide. He's been on trial on corruption charges since September.


text:
Many genealogy guides advise that we should first conduct a literature search when researching a new family. Traditionally, this has meant examining published work. The Internet has changed both the nature of "the literature" and how (or if) we conduct these searches.
Before the Internet, compiled genealogical work products appeared in self-published books and society journal articles. To a certain extent one might even consider the examination of published queries in society journals as part of the literature search. In this way, researchers could "gather clues" from and build upon the previous research of others.
Another part of the process—especially if researching a family that had not been previously researched and published—was looking for ancestors in published indexes, abstracts, and transcriptions. Some of these were printed in books, others in society journals.
The early days of Internet genealogy (the mid- to late-1990s) reproduced the traditional literature search online. There were a few sites that allowed uploading of GEDCOM files, where researchers could connect through the online publication of their research. The USGenWeb system of sites published genealogy indexes, abstracts, and transcriptions of records. Conducting a literature search then consisted of looking at both print and online sources.
It is now 2012. The nature of what we find online has changed. I recently had a discussion with a fellow genealogist about whether the literature search is still necessary.
To answer this question, we must review the two main reasons for conducting a literature search.
First, we would look at previously-published research. There is a lot of this online now.
As I discussed in an earlier post, we can't ignore it. On the other hand, a lot of it—especially the Ancestry.com public trees—would not qualify as genealogy. I recently discovered that one of my ancestors, born in the mid-nineteenth century in New York, had been attached as the mother of a woman born in North Carolina in the eighteenth century. At least in the days of printed research, the mistakes were at least generally geographically centered. No "shaking-leaf" mistakes.
So how much of the online trees should we bother to look at?
There are a few wiki-based family tree sites. In theory, the collaborative nature of these sites will make them more likely to be accurate. Many families, however, have only one member-contributor, so there simply is no collaboration. The accuracy is only as good as the researcher.
Nearly every Ancestry.com search will bring at least a few public trees. As already noted, many of these are simply examples of bad—some might say nonexistent—research. One way to find the better research is to look for "Public Stories." These often contain user-transcribed records or personal memories. The trees that contain them are usually the work of genealogists who are trying to put together a good family tree.
Online trees of course suffer from the same weaknesses and shortcomings as their offline equivalents. Not all researchers have the same level of skill. This is as true now as it ever has been. The only way to know how reliable a published tree is, is to evaluate the evidence. Unfortunately, very few online trees have source citations. Even fewer have proof arguments that explain the reasoning behind the conclusions that have been made.
You can of course contact the creators of most online trees. They may or may not respond. If they do respond, you might be able to ask for source citations (if they have them) or ask them for their reasoning for certain conclusions. This will help in the assessment of the research.
Second, we would find our ancestors in published indexes, etc. The most important aspect of this is to understand what records exactly have been indexed, and obtaining the original source record for the reference. The reason this is important should be self-evident.
Given the focus of this blog on professional research skills, I would also like to address the question from the perspective of a genealogist researching a client project. How much of a literature search is it necessary to conduct?
The Internet has changed every aspect of how we research. Because of Ancestry, FamilySearch, and the hundreds of other websites that have brought them online, we now have direct access to digital image copies of original records. In my opinion, the ease of access to these records makes much of the literature search unnecessary during the beginning stages of our research.
When we have direct access to the original records, why would we waste our clients' research time looking at online family trees compiled by researchers of questionable skill? As skillful researchers ourselves, we should (presumably) reach the same conclusions based on the same records.
In my opinion, it is also too tempting to accept the conclusions made by previous researchers. For this reason, I generally skip the previous research aspect of the literature search. I prefer to look at the records themselves and form my conclusions based on these records alone. This removes the potential to be biased toward a previous conclusion.
This is not to say that I do not still conduct a literature search. The difference is that I generally do not look at previous research until closer to the end of the project. After I have found the records and reached at least tentative conclusions, I may go back to see how they match up with previous research, to see if I may have missed some crucial element of the subject's life. If I get stuck on a line, an online family tree might provide me with the clue that gets me past it.
What do you think about the literature search in this age of the Internet? Is it still necessary?
Please leave your comments below.


text:
Study independently, around your own schedule, wherever you are in the world.
Study on campus in London and the South East with one of our independent member institutions and experience London life.
Study full-time or part-time with the support of a local teaching institution.
Study at the School of Advanced Study - UK's national centre for the support and promotion of research in the humanities.
Expand your horizons and gain international experience at our Institute in Paris.
Studying with us is a challenging yet rewarding experience. Our flexible approach offers you a range of study options.
There are a variety of funding sources available, dependent on your nationality, employment and other factors
Study by distance learning, so you can combine work with your studies
Here, you'll find information on eligibility, how to submit your application, and how to get help with your application
Wednesday 25 November 2020, 6:00pm - 7:30pmOnline event
Thank you for your interest in this event. Unfortunately online registration has now closed.
If you have any questions regarding this event, please email email@example.com
Please note that the University of London will share your registration details with Clifford Chance LLP. By clicking the link above and entering your details, you are agreeing to share your details with this group.
The University will use any details provided to us in accordance with our Privacy Policy. If you have any questions, or want to opt out of any part of this, please contact the University at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Matt LeBlanc
Soul Urge (Heart Desire) Number 7
" I started going gray in my early twenties."
Matt LeBlanc is an American actor and producer, who won a Golden Globe award for his work on Episodes, and was nominated for an Emmy three times for his work on Friends and three more for Episodes.
He was born on Tuesday July 25th 1967, in Newton, Massachusetts, United States.
Matt LeBlanc loves knowledge, study, and insight. He values the gifts of his mind, which he uses to great advantage to penetrate the mysteries of life. Matt studies things in-depth. He searches beneath the surface of things, and abhors shallow judgments or opinions.
LeBlanc has a natural gift for analysis and research. Once Matt LeBlanc has grasped the facts of a subject, his creativity and abstract approach lifts his thinking beyond the rudimentary to the philosophical. Matt has a theoretical mind, but rather than indulge in fantasies or idle thought, he prefers to base his theories upon scientific facts.
He enjoys mental and physical puzzles - figuring them out, taking them apart, and putting them back together.
Some people may perceive Matt as cool or aloof. He is somewhat introverted; LeBlanc may feel slightly removed and even a little different. The fantasy of the hermit or monk engaged in a life of study and meditation appeals to him.
In relationships, Matt LeBlanc tends to keep things business-like and impersonal. He prefers to talk about the facts of a given situation, rather than the cloudier issues of emotions and personal feelings. Matt distrusts feelings - both his own and those of others. The whole emotional realm strikes him as unreliable, and a bit unnecessary.
Matt LeBlanc's inability to fully understand the emotional aspect of life is his Achilles heel. Matt is so rational that the unpredictability of the heart frightens and surprises him.
His challenge is to trust. Matt LeBlanc needs to share his heart with someone. This is a courageous step for him, but one that results in enormous growth and satisfaction.
The advice here to LeBlanc is to make a true connection with another human being. Without it, Matt may marry out of convenience or to fulfill social expectations, but it will not lead him out of loneliness. The more removed he is from people, the more Matt LeBlanc risks isolation, bitterness, and a cynical attitude toward life.
This choice represents a true crossroads in Matt's development. By sharing himself with others (without compromising his independence and need for privacy) Matt can cultivate his enormous charm and share his understanding of life. Matt LeBlanc is a natural teacher and advisor. And the wealth of knowledge he will accumulate in life is meant to be shared with others.
This is not to say that LeBlanc must compromise on his need for privacy or time spent alone to contemplate life. These are natural aspects of LeBlanc's personality, which are essential to his growth. These characteristics should not be threatening to Matt's spouse, but must be understood as fundamental to his being.
Matt LeBlanc is blessed with a great reserve of intuition, which can be cultivated by regular meditation and contemplation. His "inner voice" is his greatest guide and friend.
Matt is idealistic and has high expectations for himself. LeBlanc must learn to balance his serious nature with regular doses of fun.
His intelligence and cultivation make Matt LeBlanc charming and distinguished in appearance. As he gets older and more comfortable with his identity, people are naturally attracted to him. They see Matt's wisdom, his deep understanding of life, and the refinement LeBlanc radiates.
You and Matt
About Matt's Soul Urge (Heart's Desire) number
Matt LeBlanc's Soul Urge number represents his inner self. The Soul Urge number, also called Heart's Desire, shows Matt's underlying urge - his true motivation.
It reveals the general intention behind many of LeBlanc's actions. Consequently, it dramatically influences the choices Matt LeBlanc makes in life.
Read more about our interpretation of Matt LeBlanc's soul urge (heart's desire)