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As part of AdvisorOne's Special Report, 22 Days of Tax Planning Advice for 2012, throughout the month of March 2012, we are partnering with our Summit Business Media sister service, Tax Facts Online, to take a deeper dive into certain tax planning issues in a convenient Q&A format. In this first article, we look at the tax treatment of an incentive stock option.
Q. How is the grant of an incentive stock option taxed? How is the exercise of the option taxed?
No income is realized by the employee upon granting of an incentive stock option. If the transfer of stock pursuant to his exercise of an incentive stock option is a qualifying transfer, no income will be realized by the employee at the time the option is exercised. The transfer will be a qualifying transfer if both of the following requirements are met:
(1) Holding period requirement: no disposition (defined below) of the stock may be made by the employee within two years of the date the option was granted to him, nor within one year of the date the stock was transferred to him pursuant to the option; and
(2) Employment requirement: the transferee must be employed by the corporation granting the option (or its parent or subsidiary) at all times from the date the option was granted until three months before the date of exercise
If an employee becomes permanently and totally disabled, the 3-month employment period is extended to 12 months In the case of the death of an employee, the employment and holding requirements are waived.
If an incentive stock option is exercised by an individual who does not meet the employment requirement described above (except in the event of the employee's death), there will not be a qualifying transfer and the individual will recognize compensation income in the year the option is exercised. The amount of compensation income realized will be the excess, if any, of the fair market value of the stock over the exercise price of the option.
In other words, if the employment requirement is met, the question of whether a transfer is a qualifying transfer can be answered with certainty only after the holding periods have been satisfied. If the holding periods (and employment requirement) are met, the taxpayer's subsequent disposition of the stock will be taxed. If the 1-year and 2-year holding periods are not eventually satisfied, ordinary income is realized as of the date the option is exercised, which is recognized (i.e., taxed), in the year of the disposition.
For purposes of the holding period requirement, "disposition" includes sales, exchanges, gifts, and transfers of legal title. But the following will not constitute a disposition: (i) a transfer from a decedent to an estate or a transfer by bequest or inheritance; (ii) certain exchanges pursuant to a corporate reorganization or exchanges of stock for stock of the same corporation or a controlled corporation; or (iii) the making of a mere pledge or hypothecation. Additionally, the acquisition of stock as a joint tenant with right of survivorship or transfer of stock to joint ownership will not constitute a disposition until the joint tenancy is terminated. A transfer between spouses or former spouses incident to divorce also will not be considered a disposition, and the transferee spouse will receive the same tax treatment that would have applied to the transferor. The IRS determined that a transfer to a grantor trust, resulting in ownership of stock by a husband and wife with right of survivorship, did not constitute a disposition.
For purposes of the 1-year and 2-year holding period requirements, a transfer resulting from bankruptcy proceedings will not be considered a disposition. But such a transfer will be considered a disposition for purposes of the recognition of capital gain or loss.
Generally, an individual's basis in stock acquired in a qualifying transfer upon exercise of an incentive stock option is the amount he paid to exercise the option. (If there is a disqualifying disposition, the individual's basis is increased by amounts includable as compensation income.)
In informational guidance released in 2002, the IRS analyzed whether the "deemed sale" election under Section 311(e) of TRA '97 is a "disposition" within the meaning of IRC Section 424(c) under two circumstances: (1) where employees are holding incentive stock options that were granted to them prior to 2001, but that were not exercised as of January 1, 2001; (2) where employees were granted incentive stock options and exercised those options during November 2000. In the first situation, the IRS stated that there is no provision in Section 311(e) or the incentive stock option rules providing for a "deemed exercise" of the option in order to have the holding period start in 2001. In the second situation, the Service stated it appeared that any deemed sale of the stock acquired upon exercise of an incentive stock option would be treated as a disqualifying disposition for purposes of the incentive stock option rules, thus triggering the application of IRC Section 83. The Service concluded by stating that the informational guidance did not constitute a ruling on any issue. The Service also recognized that the interaction of the incentive stock option rules with the Section 311(e) election is a novel issue that the Service has not yet addressed.
The Service has released Final Regulations relating to the required return and information statements under IRC Section 6039.
FICA and FUTA taxes
The term "wages" excludes remuneration received on account of the following: (1) a transfer of a share of stock to any individual pursuant to an exercise of an incentive stock option; or (2) any disposition by the individual of such stock. The exclusion applies to stock acquired pursuant to options exercised after October 22, 2004. [Proposed regulations provided that an individual exercising an incentive stock option would receive wages for FICA and FUTA purposes. But in 2002, the IRS announced that until further guidance was issued, the Service would not assess the FICA or FUTA tax, or apply federal income tax withholding obligations, upon the exercise of the option or the disposition of the stock acquired by an employee pursuant to the exercise of an option. In AJCA 2004, Congress codified the exclusionary rule, above.]
Alternative Minimum Tax
For purposes of the alternative minimum tax, the excess of the fair market value of the stock on the date of exercise of the option over the exercise price will be added to alternative minimum taxable income in the year the option is exercised, provided the taxpayer's rights are not subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture. But if the taxpayer is subject to the alternative minimum tax, his basis in the stock for alternative minimum tax purposes will be increased by the amount included in income. A taxpayer with unvested stock may wish to make a special election under IRC Section 83(b) to include in his gross income for the taxable year an amount equal to the excess of the fair market value of the property at the time it was transferred over the amount (if any) paid for such property. By making the special election, the adjustment for AMT purposes will be reported in the year the election is made instead of the year the stock actually vests. This may be beneficial if the stock price is expected to significantly appreciate before the stock vests.
The Service has stated that for tax years in which a taxpayer is liable for both incentive stock option AMT and non-incentive stock option AMT, it would apply the taxpayer's payments first to the non-incentive stock option liabilities and related interest and penalties (if any).
2008 legislative relief for incentive stock options. As noted above, under the AMT a taxpayer must pay tax on the stock value when the option is exercised. The economic downturn in 2000 resulted in many individuals having to pay tax on "phantom income" because the stock prices dropped dramatically since the date of exercise. Congress provided relief for these situations in 2006, but recognized that additional relief was still needed to correct this problem. The Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008 addressed problems concerning the treatment of certain underpayments, interest, and penalties attributable to the treatment of incentive stock options. The Act provided relief by (1) abating any underpayment of tax outstanding on the date of enactment related to incentive stock options and the AMT, including interest; (2) eliminating the income phase-out; and (3) extending and modifying the AMT credit allowance against incentive stock options.
For further details and citations on this topic, we invite you to sign up for a 15-day free trial of Tax Facts Online by clicking here.
Concerned about estate planning in light of the possible termination of the Bush-era tax cuts? Join AdvisorOne sister publication Tax Facts Online on March 7 at 2:00 PM EST for a free case-study webinar on "Estate Planning with Exemption Uncertainty."
To purchase the 2012 Tax Facts on Insurance & Employee Benefits books, please click here. And to sign up for a free Tax Facts Online product demonstration webinar on March 28 at 2 PM EST, please click here.
See all six articles from Tax Facts Online, part of AdvisorOne's 22 Days of Tax Planning for 2012 Special Report.


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Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) and Lightwave today announced the opening of nominations for the 13th annual FTTXcellence Award, recognizing individuals from North America and Latin America who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in the deployment of optical access networks. This year's award will be presented to the winner on Tuesday, June 14, at the 2016 FTTH Connect Conference and Expo in Nashville, Tennessee.
"The optical fiber networks enabling high-speed internet are transforming the world's ability to connect and collaborate, fueling crucial social interaction and economic development," said Kim Hartwell, senior vice president and chief commercial officer, Corning Optical Communications. "The FTTXcellence Award recognizes those extraordinary individuals dedicated to bringing fiber to as many customers as possible, making a significant and lasting contribution to the telecommunications industry and society."
"The impact of even the smallest of innovative ideas can be felt all across the Americas," added Stephen Hardy, editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave. "If you know someone who deserves to be recognized for making the deployment of high-speed FTTx technology faster, easier to deploy, and more reliable, nominate them today."
To be eligible for the award, candidates must be nominated by a peer. Nominees may include individuals at carriers and system operators, home developers, utilities, municipalities, or other organizations that have launched an FTTx project; individuals at vendors or research organizations whose work has benefited FTTx technology development; elected officials or policymakers who have made a significant positive impact in the regulatory or legal arena; and other deserving individuals. Nominations can be submitted online, and Friday, April 29, 2016, is the deadline. A panel of judges from Lightwave, Corning and the FTTH Council will select the winner from the submitted nominations.
In addition to an awards ceremony at the FTTH Conference, the winner will be honored with a donation in his or her name to US Ignite, a non-profit, public-private partnership whose mission is to make the U.S. the world leader in applications and services for ultra-fast, software-defined networks. The winner will also receive a decorative glass piece from the Corning Museum of Glass and will be profiled in an article on the Lightwave website.
For more information on the FTTXcellence Award, visit Lightwave's awards page.
For additional information on Corning's products and services, contact a customer service representative at 1-800-743-2675, toll free in the United States; or (+1) 828-901-5000, international; or visit us online.
Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995), which are based on current expectations and assumptions about Corning's financial results and business operations, that involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include: the effect of global political, economic and business conditions; conditions in the financial and credit markets; currency fluctuations; tax rates; product demand and industry capacity; competition; reliance on a concentrated customer base; manufacturing efficiencies; cost reductions; availability of critical components and materials; new product commercialization; pricing fluctuations and changes in the mix of sales between premium and non-premium products; new plant start-up or restructuring costs; possible disruption in commercial activities due to terrorist activity, armed conflict, political or financial instability, natural disasters, adverse weather conditions, or major health concerns; adequacy of insurance; equity company activities; acquisition and divestiture activities; the level of excess or obsolete inventory; the rate of technology change; the ability to enforce patents; product and components performance issues; retention of key personnel; stock price fluctuations; and adverse litigation or regulatory developments. These and other risk factors are detailed in Corning's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the day that they are made, and Corning undertakes no obligation to update them in light of new information or future events.
Digital Media Disclosure
In accordance with guidance provided by the SEC regarding the use of company websites and social media channels to disclose material information, Corning Incorporated ("Corning") wishes to notify investors, media, and other interested parties that it intends to use its website (http://www.corning.com/worldwide/en/about-us/news-events.html) to publish important information about the company, including information that may be deemed material to investors. The list of websites and social media channels that the company uses may be updated on Corning's media and website from time to time. Corning encourages investors, media, and other interested parties to review the information Corning may publish through its website and social media channels as described above, in addition to the company's SEC filings, press releases, conference calls, and webcasts.
About Corning Incorporated
Corning (www.corning.com) is one of the world's leading innovators in materials science. For more than 160 years, Corning has applied its unparalleled expertise in specialty glass, ceramics, and optical physics to develop products that have created new industries and transformed people's lives. Corning succeeds through sustained investment in R&D, a unique combination of material and process innovation, and close collaboration with customers to solve tough technology challenges. Corning's businesses and markets are constantly evolving. Today, Corning's products enable diverse industries such as consumer electronics, telecommunications, transportation, and life sciences. They include damage-resistant cover glass for smartphones and tablets; precision glass for advanced displays; optical fiber, wireless technologies, and connectivity solutions for high-speed communications networks; trusted products that accelerate drug discovery and manufacturing; and emissions-control products for cars, trucks, and off-road vehicles.
About Lightwave
For more than 30 years, Lightwave (www.lightwaveonline.com) has delivered trusted technical, application and business insights to senior-level decision makers for optical communications worldwide. Our email newsletter, online and event content serves technology vendors, communications carriers and major enterprises with a complete and nuanced picture of the optical communications business environment. Lightwave is a valued information source for information related to FTTx, networking, equipment design, MSO optics, and test and measurement for corporate executives, department heads, project managers, network engineers and others making strategic decisions that are critical to the success of their businesses. Lightwave is a unit of PennWell Corporation (www.pennwell.com).

subset: commoncrawl


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Strong performance on HD video and 3D
Powerful AMD GPU with more dedicated memory
Best touchpad so far, Switchable graphics
Thin, Strong performance, Excellent speakers
Fast performance, exemplary screen and keyboard.
A Solid Mobile Entertainment PC
Good Performance with excellent Keyboard.
Excellent performance.
Solid performance
ReviewGist helps you find the best products to buy by making sense of online reviews.
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Jeremiah Johnson ..... 1972 .... Robert Redford ..... Will Geer
The One Ring Messageboard
Ninui wrote:Taken 2 .... Liam Nisan ..... Famke Jansen .... Maggie Grace ..... 2012
Not bad for the genre ...
PatriotBlade wrote:King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
basil wrote:PatriotBlade wrote:King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
I like Ritchie's work, e.g. the 2 Sherlocks.
I caught the last hour of this one and saw a lot of LOTR in it. Did you?
Cock-Robin wrote:Underdog The critics were wrong. I really liked it!
Otaku-sempai wrote:Cock-Robin wrote:Underdog The critics were wrong. I really liked it!
I'm happy that you liked it. But, no, the critics weren't wrong.
I've been avoiding movies like this over the past few years for reasons I won't go into here, but I did see this one, b/c the character CH portrayed was a real person and his real military accomplishments. A kid from Kansas, just like me. It's difficult to evaluate a movie based on real people who lived and died on artistic merits. So I do appreciate the telling of a real person's story this way.Just saw 12 Strong today.
Return to Movies and Media: Other
Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs.com and 1 guest


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According to MarketIntelReports' "2017-2022 Global Top Countries POC Diagnostics Market Report":
Browse 169 Pages and an in-depth TOC on "POC Diagnostics Market 2017-2022" here
POC Diagnostics (point of care) is a medical test performed in the clinical laboratory in close proximity to where the patient is receiving care. It is performed by non-laboratory persons and the results are used for making clinical decisions. Point of care enhances the management of different diseases and conditions. It is very important in developing countries. However, most of the developing countries lack modern laboratories and automated instruments that provide accurate results. The POC Diagnostics Market enhances a physician's ability to diagnose the patient's disease accurately. The market may experience a lucrative growth in the near future.
Scope & Regional Forecast of the POC Diagnostics Market
The POC Diagnostics Market is driven by technological advancement, cost effect, and high quality medical solutions. The increasing prevalence of diseases along with the rise in the aging population base which is prone to diseases impact the demand of point of care testing. But the high cost of procedure and presence of time consuming regulatory framework hinder the growth of the market during the forecast period. Increasing demand from developing economies and health care decentralization can create growth avenues for point of care diagnostics.
For complete details: Request a sample download @ http://www.marketintelreports.com/pdfdownload.php?id=lpi6975
North America has the largest share in the POC Diagnostics Market followed by Europe. The glucose monitoring kit dominates the market. Glucose monitoring devices measure the amount of glucose or sugar level in the blood stream. Increase in the usage of home based glucose monitoring systems is a trend in the followed with the point of care devices in healthcare. Many companies are launching advanced glucose monitoring systems that have increased their adoption rate among the end users.
Increase in the prevalence of chronic and infectious diseases like cardiac diseases, hepatitis, cancer, respiratory, and sexually transmitted diseases play an important role in the POC Diagnostics Market. Changes in the life style patterns cause different medical conditions like diabetes, obesity, and hypertension which require point of care testing products. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region in the future. The growth is due to aging population, international research collaborations, increasing R&D expenditure and growth in healthcare industry. The point of care medical devices has a lot of scope in the markets of Asia Pacific due to health awareness in China and India.
The POC Diagnostics Market in Middle East and Africa will have a steady growth in the future. Demand from Saudi Arabia and UAE is expected to push the demand for poc equipment in the coming days.
Segmentations & Key Players Involved in the POC Diagnostics Market
The POC Diagnostics Market can be broken down into various segments as follows:
- Product Types- Blood Glucose Testing, Infectious Diseases Testing, Cardiac Markers Testing, Coagulation Testing, Pregnancy and Fertility Testing, Blood Gas/Electrolytes Testing, Tumor Markers Testing, Urinalysis Testing, and Cholesterol Testing.
- Application- Clinics, Hospitals, Laboratory, and Others.
- Region- United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, and France.
Some of the key players involved in the POC Diagnostics Market are as follows:
- Alere
- Roche
- Abbott Laboratories
- Johnson & Johnson
- Siemens Healthcare
Purchase Report @ http://www.marketintelreports.com/purchase.php?id=lpi6975
About us:
MarketIntelReports (MIR) aims to empower our clients to successfully manage and outperform in their business decisions. We do this by providing Premium Market Intelligence, Strategic Insights and Databases from a range of Global Publishers.
MarketIntelReports currently has more than 70,000 plus titles and 75+ publishers on our platform and growing consistently to fill the "Global Intelligence Demand – Supply Gap". We cover more than 15 industry verticals being: Automotive, Electronics, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Chemicals, Building & Construction, Agriculture, Food & Beverages, Banking & Finance, Media and Government, Public Sector Studies.
Media Contact
Company Name: Market Intel Reports
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Website: http://www.marketintelreports.com/report/lpi6975/20172022-global-top-countries-poc-diagnostics-market-report


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For more than 20 years the Summer Language Institute (SLI) has served as the welcoming point to theological education in the U.S. for MTS and LSTC international students, their spouses and children. Each year the program includes varied readings and themes, but at its core, the SLI works to create a dialogue between former strangers and between our group and the residents of Chicago's racial and ethnically eclectic neighborhoods. SLI students encounter not only the challenges that theological study in the U.S. pose, but the deep cultural differences that they will need to sort through in order to live well and negotiate an ever-present unfamiliar new life and study in a new context.
As a group the SLI students have focused on interfaith dialogue, immigration, love, the Decalogue, homelessness, race, and sexuality, among many other topics. Above all though, the SLI experience is about developing loving and respectful relations among students from vastly different backgrounds who arrive here in Chicago and ultimately form a community where the strengths in differences find expression and meaning.
For more information about the SLI, contact Rob Worley at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text: Since April 2010, you have yet another reason to visit the restaurant ASTERIA! By redesigning our premium restaurant with its long tradition, a remarkably flavorful culinary address in a new, modern and stylish environment arises.The ASTERIA is an ideal choice for your daily coffee, business lunch, or even a family outing, as the atmosphere and our extensive offering of eclectic items can meet the desires of young and old visitors alike. In our spaciously and tastefully decorated dining area, you can enjoy scrumptious dishes from both Greek and international cuisine, all skillfully crafted with the finest of ingredients.Our famous terrace, with its beautiful view overlooking the Thermaic Gulf is a popular "meeting point", especially during the summer for an afternoon coffee or a relaxing drink and dinner under the starry sky.


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RBC.com | Français | | Contact Us
About RBC > Media Newsroom > News Releases > RBC completes acquisition of Ally's Canadian automotive finance business
TORONTO, February 1, 2013 - Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE) today announced it has completed the acquisition of the Canadian automotive finance and deposit business of Ally Financial Inc. ("Ally Canada") for a $1.4 billion investment net of excess capital. Including the excess capital and after certain closing adjustments, the total consideration paid was $3.7 billion. The acquisition positions RBC as a leader in the Canadian automotive financing business.
"Ally Canada significantly expands the scope and capability of our existing consumer and commercial auto financing business and we're encouraged by the positive response from dealers who want to continue building their business with RBC," said Dave McKay, Group Head, Personal & Commercial Banking, RBC. "We've gained a quality and stable business with strong industry relationships that creates a leading auto financing business in Canada."
The Ally Canada team joins the existing RBC team to form RBC Automotive Finance, a part of the Personal and Commercial Banking segment of RBC. It provides financial services, including floor plan financing, directly to auto dealers and also offers financing for consumers through dealerships.
Building on its commitment to the automotive business, RBC is now a partner with General Motors of Canada to provide subvented loans to its customers, adding to the bank's existing agreements with other leading auto manufacturers. Subvented loans are low rate consumer auto loans subsidized by the manufacturer.
About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE) and its subsidiaries operate under the master brand name RBC. We are Canada's largest bank as measured by assets and market capitalization, and among the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management services, insurance, investor services and wholesale banking on a global basis. We employ approximately 80,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 15 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 49 other countries. For more information, please visitrbc.com.
Certain statements contained in this press release may be deemed to be forward-looking statements under certain securities laws, including the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and any applicable Canadian securities legislation. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the expected impact of the acquisition of the Canadian automotive finance and deposit business of Ally Financial Inc. by Royal Bank of Canada and other statements other than in relation to historical facts. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "foresee", "forecast", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "goal", "plan" and "project" and similar expressions of future or conditional verbs such as "will", "may", "should", "could", or "would".
By their very nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, which give rise to the possibility that our predictions, forecasts, projections, expectations or conclusions and other forward-looking information, including statements about the acquisition of the Canadian automotive finance and deposit business of Ally Financial Inc. by Royal Bank of Canada will not be achieved. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these statements as a number of risk factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to the impact of changes in the laws and regulations regulating financial services and enforcement thereof; general business, economic and market conditions in Canada, the United States and certain other countries in which Canada and Ally Financial Inc. operate; the effects of competition in the markets in which Royal Bank of Canada and Ally Financial Inc. operate; judicial or regulatory judgments and legal proceedings; Royal Bank of Canada's ability to complete the integration of the Canadian automotive finance and deposit business of Ally Financial Inc. successfully; and other factors that may affect future results of Royal Bank of Canada and the Canadian automotive finance and deposit business of Ally Financial Inc. including timely development and introduction of new products and services, Royal Bank of Canada's ability to cross-sell more products to customers and technological changes.
We caution that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Additional information about these and other factors can be found in our 2012 Annual Report to Shareholders. Our material general economic assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements in this press release are set out in our 2012 Annual Report under the heading "Overview and Outlook" and for each business segment under the heading "Outlook and priorities". Except as required by law, Royal Bank of Canada assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
- 30 -
Media Contacts:
Kerry Gaetano, Head, Corporate Communications, Personal & Commercial Banking and Insurance, 905 816-5583 or
647 281-2931
Matt Gierasimczuk, Senior Communications Manager,
Corporate Communications, 416 974-2124
Analyst Contacts:
Robert Colangelo, Associate Director, Investor Relations,


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Bangkok Thailand, GodsSpokesman.Com/God Spokesman-Norman Oetker-Internet Radio-Hmong
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Protestant Christian Missionaries.
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Norman and Selma Oetker's beliefs are in the writings of Jesus, the Apostles, and Evangelists as written in the only Divine Inspired Words from God to all of humanity, found within the Protestant Christian Bible.
The New Testament, as one reads and understands or is read to, each person individually has to understand, and ask for the forgiveness of their sins, and to accept Jesus as one's personal Lord and Savior, and to agree to obey the teachings found in the New Testament alone, as he or she understands them. There are NO church doctrines, ancient or new, that are binding on any follower of Jesus.
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Welcome the New Year with a glass from the past
Looking to add retro flair to your New Year's Eve entertaining? Here are a few ideas to keep your bartender busy.
The LA Fizzy Blonde
8 ounces ginger ale (don't use diet)
2 ounces fresh grapefruit juice
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
Mix soda and juice. Add ice and lime slice to garnish.
From FNB's own fridge
The Biltmore's Black Dahlia
This concoction is named after the mysterious Elizabeth Short, a.k.a. the Black Dahlia, who was allegedly seen at the Biltmore Hotel on the evening of Jan. 9, 1947. She disappeared that night and her mutilated body was found several days later.
3 ½ ounces Grey Goose Le Citron vodka
¾ ounce Chambord black raspberry liqueur
¾ ounce Kahlua
Shake ingredients in a shaker. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with orange zest.
From the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles and www.imbibemagazine.com
The St.-Germain Hummingbird
2 parts brut champagne or dry sparkling wine
1 ½ parts St.-Germain elderflower liqueur
2 parts club soda
Stir ingredients in a tall ice-filled Collins glass, mixing completely. Think of Paris circa 1947. Garnish with a lemon twist.
From St.-Germain
The Pink Lady
1 ½ ounces gin
2-4 dashes of grenadine
White of one egg
Shake well with cracked ice; strain into cocktail glass
From various sources; variations call for the addition of the juice of half a lemon, ½ ounce cream, ¾ ounce applejack and Maraschino cherry as garnish. Photo from www.tipsytexan.com
The Ward 8
Juice of one lemon
½ jigger of grenadine
1 jigger of Fleischmann's Preferred gin
Shake well with cracked ice. Strain into 8 ounce glass. Decorate with slice of orange and Maraschino cherry
From Fleischmann's Mixer's Manual, 1948
The French Breeze
2 ounces Calvados
2 ounces fresh grapefruit juice
1-2 dashes orange-flower water
¼ teaspoon fine granulated sugar
Chilled Champagne
Pour Calvados and juice into a cocktail shaker one-third full of cracked ice. Add orange-flower water and sugar. Shake the drink well and pour it into a chilled 12-ounce highball glass. Fill the glass with chilled Champagne and stir lightly to blend.
From Gourmet July 1961; posted this month by Brie Schwartz for Gourmet Live
The Manhattan
2 ounces rye or Canadian whisky
½ ounce sweet vermouth
2-3 dashes Angostura bitters
Maraschino cherry to garnish
Pour the ingredients into a mixing glass with ice, stir well, strain into a chilled cocktail glass and add cherry.
From www.cocktails.about.com
If you'd rather keep the drinks list simple, try a pretty pale, such as Fireman's Brew Blonde Beer, a Pilsner lager brewed and bottled in Southern California. The guys also make Fireman's Brewnette and Redhead Ale.


text: The monsters are attacking!!! Quick, Defend your Kingdom! Use your skills to kill the monsters and prevent their attack. The more you kill, the more skills you learn to help you kill harder, meaner monsters later. Use your 3 attack skills wisely to aid you in your battle. You will also be rewarded by killing the evil invaders, make sure you collect the money to buy extra skills to help you.


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Paramount reports that Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation earned $20.3 million on opening day Friday, including Thursday night's $4 million start. Yesterday's bow was almost 4 percent stronger than 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes ($19.5 million), which also opened in early August. Rogue's first day take is also 22 percent higher than Mission: Impossible III's $16.6 million bow in May 2006, which adjusts to a comparable $20.6 million using 2015 ticket prices. Early word of mouth for the fifth installment in the series is excellent as the pic boasts an "A-" CinemaScore and a 93 percent Flixster user score, one of the three best day-after-release scores among all 2015 releases -- and that's on top of its excellent 93 percent rating from critics. Beyond the film's strong reviews, goodwill from the previous blockbuster installment (Ghost Protocol) is carrying over here. We fully expect long legs throughout the remainder of summer. BoxOffice is projecting an opening weekend around $55 million for the Tom Cruise vehicle.
In second place, the Vacation revamp added $4.5 million on Friday, giving it a domestic total of $10.82 million through three days of play. By comparison, that's 46 percent lower than We're the Millers at the same point. Unfortunately, the comedy sequel isn't finding much traction following negative reviews (28 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and poor word of mouth (64 percent on Flixster; "B" CinemaScore). BoxOffice is projecting a three-day weekend of $13.9 million for Vacation, which would give it a disappointing overall five-day start of $20.2 million.
Meanwhile, Ant-Man claimed third place yesterday with $3.625 million (off 50 percent from last Friday). That gives Marvel's 12th chapter $123.15 million through 15 days of release. BoxOffice projects a $12.4 million third frame.
Just behind in fourth place, Minions declined 47 percent from last Friday to $3.6 million yesterday. The prequel has now banked $278.8 million domestically. Look for a weekend around $12 million, according to Universal.
Filling out the top five, Pixels sank 65 percent from its opening day last week to $3.15 million yesterday. With an underwhelming eight-day domestic tally of $38.36 million, the Adam Sandler pic is heading toward a sophomore frame around $10.3 million.
Check BoxOffice on Sunday for official weekend estimates from the studios.


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Five-star Chelsea rout Leeds to boost Benitez
Chelsea eased the pressure on Rafael Benitez and sealed their place in the League Cup semi-finals thanks to an emphatic 5-1 victory over old rivals Leeds at Elland Road on Wednesday.
Leeds, currently mid-table in the Championship, sensed a quarter-final shock when they took a 38th-minute lead thanks to a 15th goal of the season from Argentinian striker Luciano Becchio, who slid the ball home from 12 yards as he met a Jerome Thomas cross to round-off a length of the field move.
But defender Tom Lees missed a great chance to double the advantage in first-half stoppage-time, heading over from an El Hadji-Diouf cross as the Yorkshire club attempted to emulate their neighbours Bradford City, who booked their semi-final place with a stunning upset over Arsenal.
Chelsea refused to go the same way as their Premier League rivals, moving through the gears to score five second-half goals to make it through to the last four in January in some style.
They were level 60 seconds after the re-start when Leeds goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown allowed Juan Mata's weak 20-yard shot under his grasp on the greasy surface, the ball finding the bottom corner.
Two goals in as many minutes midway through the half sealed victory in Chelsea's eighth game in 24 days, a little over 48 hours after their return from defeat against the Brazilians Corinthians in the Club World Cup final in Japan.
Branislav Ivanovic stole in at the near post to head home a corner on 64 minutes to give the visitors a lead they wouldn't relinquish as they moved a step closer to claiming their first silverware under Benitez, the interim manager.
The win will give the Spaniard further ammunition in his battle to win over a large section of Chelsea support who have been vocal in their protest at the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo, and the choice of the former Liverpool manager as his replacement.
Man-of-the-match Victor Moses made it three after 66 minutes, rounding-off a neat three man move with Fernando Torres and Mata to fire past Ashdown from 20 yards.
Chelsea waited until the final 10 minutes to assert their authority with two further goals as Leeds tired and left gaps in a failed attempt to find a way back into the contest.
Substitute Eden Hazard made it four with a calm finish beyond a stranded Ashdown inside the box after latching onto a superb 40-yard through-ball from David Luiz, who made amends for his mistake that led to Leeds breaking the deadlock.
Hazard was involved in the fifth with seven minutes remaining, squaring for Torres to tap home his 13th goal of the season after pouncing on the loose ball after another fine save from the over-worked Ashdown.
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Latest By
"It is change ... that is the dominant factor in society today... the world as it will be. This means that ... every man must take on a science fictional way of thinking.""
One remarkable thing about this idea is that you will also find it in the most modern of novels written in the cyberpunk tradition - Starfish by Peter Watts (see eyecaps ).
Is this the first idea for a heads-up display? The earliest reference for working heads-up displays is the early 1970's in USAF fighter jets.
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With all eyes on Brazil these days, not just for the World Cup, but also for its natural beauty and impressive luxury market, I thought it high time to introduce to our readers the fabulous all-natural beauty care product line called Natura Brasil.
by Paige Donner
With the world's eyes on Brazil during these final days of the World Cup soccer matches, I saw that it was high time to shine the spotlight on one of the great organic body care/ beauty product lines on the planet :
Natura Brasil
It's extraordinary to realize that this product line, certified organic and established in 1969, can be the 5th largest organic personal product care company in the world, yet still be virtually unknown in the North American market.
A Few Facts And Figures
- Natura Brasil's total annual revenue – €2.18 billion (R$ 7.3 billion).
- #1 personal care product leader in Brasil.
- 5th largest personal beauty care/ cosmetics line globally (organic).
Natura Brasil today produces body lotions, hand creams, makeup, hair care products, perfumes and personal care product accessories. Most of its range of lines are created around native Brazilian fruits and nuts that also lend health properties to the body. Examples are the celebrated açai, but also the Buriti and the nut we call the Brazil Nut, the castanha, as well as many other native Brazilian plants and fruits.
Founded in 1969 it is fair to say that Natura Brasil is a pioneer in the organic, chemical-free personal body care craze.
The company is founded on a business model of direct sales. Here in the US we are familiar with this through companies such as Avon and Mary Kay Cosmetics. To date, Natura Brasil counts 1.6 million representatives as part of their direct marketing sales force.
In addition to that, the company also counts over 7,000 collaborators in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Colombia and in France.
A few of the eco-responsible programs the company had adopted over the decades of its founding are certified carbon neutral enterprise since 2007, partnered with its supplier-producers in the Amazon to co-develop sustainable agricultural methods, use of organic alcohol in its perfumes ( a rarity in the fragrance industry) and sustainable packaging for its products.
Highlight Natura EKOS
This product line of Natura Brasil was launched in 2005 in France ; in 2000 in Brazil. It is emblematic of the company's sustainability ethics and its devotion to organic ingredients and products.
Natura EKOS products act as product-ambassadors for all that is good about native and natural Brazil. The products celebrate the country's natural richness and communicate about the native Amazonian culture's deep knowledge regarding their region's plants and fruits, sharing with us their hidden secrets.
Açai Berry Hand Cream – Natura EKOS Açai
Dreaming of soft, supple hands that smell deliciously berry fruity ? The Natura Ekos Açai Berry hand cream is your go-to hand care product. It hydrates for up to 24hours.
The açai berry oil used in its formula protects your hands from free radicals with its organic anti-oxidant properties. For best results, use it all the way to the tips of your finger nails. 77.6% of the formula's ingredients are vegetal-origin.
For more information on this and other Natura Brasil EKOS products, visit NaturaBrasil.fr.
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Obama calls embattled Egyptian President Morsi
President Barack Obama is encouraging embattled Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi (MOHR'-see) to respond to concerns being voiced by throngs of protesters seeking his removal from office.
The White House confirmed in a statement Tuesday that Obama called Morsi on Monday while traveling in Africa. The call came as Egypt's military said Morsi must meet the demands of millions of protesters who have taken to the streets.
The statement said Obama told Morsi that the United States is committed to the democratic process in Egypt and does not support any single party or group. The statement also said Obama underscored to Morsi that the current crisis can only be resolved through a political process.
Obama also told Morsi he's particularly concerned about violence in the demonstrations, especially sexual assaults against women.


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Nintendo saw its profits plunge 51 per cent during the first half of its current fiscal year as sales slid on falling demand for its ageing GameCube console.
"The market for the current generation of console hardware is becoming saturated and is approaching a transitional phase to next-generation consoles," the company warned. Its own next-gen machine, Revolution, is not expected to ship until the end of the fiscal year, in March 2006, at the earliest.
The six months from April to September 2005 yielded sales of ¥176.4bn ($1.49bn), down 6.2 per cent on the ¥188bn ($1.58bn) Nintendo reported this time last year. Still, the H1 FY2007 figure remains narrowly ahead of the company's forecast of ¥175m ($1.47bn).
Net income fell year on year, to ¥36.63bn ($308.57m) from ¥46.45bn ($391.29m), again just above Nintendo's forecast, which was ¥36bn ($303.26m).
However, Nintendo failed to meet its operating profit forecast, just missing the ¥20bn ($168.48m) target with a final figure of ¥19.6bn ($165.11m).
Looking ahead, Nintendo said it expects to post a full-year net profit of ¥75bn ($631.79m), down 14.1 per cent on FY2005's total, ¥87.4bn ($736.25m). It anticipates annual sales of ¥500bn ($4.21bn). ®


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Jeter hits into DP in 1st at-bat of final season
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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Derek Jeter got a partial standing ovation Thursday before going hitless in two at-bats in the first spring training game of his final season, a New York Yankees' 8-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Yankees captain, who turns 40 in June, hit a double-play grounder to second off Pittsburgh right-hander Charlie Morton in the first and grounded out to third during the fourth against left-hander Jeff Locke.
Limited to 17 games last season due to leg injuries, Jeter was at shortstop in his first exhibition season appearance. He broke his left ankle in the 2012 AL championship series and did not appear at shortstop last spring training until March 13.
"I felt like I haven't played a game in a couple years," Jeter said. "I think just getting into a game, feeling good, that's what I was most excited about."
Jeter had just 11 at-bats in five games during spring training last year, stayed behind for rehabilitation at New York's minor league complex and broke the ankle again. He returned to the Yankees on July 11 but wound up on the disabled list three more times.
"He moved free and easy today," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "That's the best thing I could see."
Girardi said Jeter will not travel for Friday's game in Lakeland against Detroit, but will be in the lineup when New York hosts Philadelphia Saturday, a game in which Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka is scheduled to make his Yankees' debut.
The announced crowd for Thursday's game was 7,763, which is about 3,330 under capacity at Steinbrenner Field.
Pirates: Morton walked one, had one strikeout and didn't allow a hit over two scoreless innings.
"I threw a couple really good front door sinkers to lefty's," Morton said. "That's something I need to do to be effective against lefty's. I've got to move the sinker around."
Morton went 7-4 last season after missing all of spring training and not making his first regular-season start until June 13 following right elbow surgery.
Yankees: Fifth starter candidate David Phelps allowed one run -- a solo homer -- two hits and struck out four in two innings.
Locke gave up one hit in two scoreless innings. The left-hander won eight straight starts in the first half of last season and made the NL All-Star team. But, he went 2-5 with a 6.12 ERA over his final 12 starts and was shut down in September.
Venezuelan catcher Francisco Cervelli posted a photo on Instagram with a group of teammates that included other Yankees from Latin America and Japanese star Ichiro Suzuki showing support for his countrymen. Civil unrest back home has caused numerous deaths and injuries.
"It's a little message for peace," Cervelli said of the photo that included handmade signs and a Venezuelan flag.
The Yankees' exhibition home opener was without third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who is suspended for the season for violations of baseball's drug agreement and labor contract.
Rodriguez's spring training locker has been kept open by the Yankees and has no nameplate.
A-Rod is eligible to return next year, when he turns 40.


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Apple Screwup – iCloud Drive & YosemiteSeptember 22nd, 2014 by Kat Kingsley-Hughes
Apparently there have been lots of warnings not to hit upgrade on the iCloud drive just yet when you upgrade to iOS 8. So I'll admit that I am late to the party with this post. When I do a search I see that by and large across the webisphere the warning is widespread and 5 days old (at the time of writing). Unfortunately I didn't get the message.
Until today… when I was more than a little gobsmacked to get this message when I tried to access my iCloud from my Mac:
What the hell is going on???
And there's nothing like getting the reply from your nearest and dearest "well didn't you see the warning?"
Well yes. Here is a screenshot:
So yes, yes I did see the warning, but what I didn't understand was the gravitas of the statement. What about the warning really presents itself as a problem?? I just assumed my other devices would get upgraded in their turn. What I didn't think about checking out was WHEN OS X Yosemite was likely to be released for my MacBook.
I mean think about it … iOS 8 was presented to the world at the WWDC Keynote back in June 2014 and Yosemite was announced during that same presentation. It's a reasonable assumption to make that iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite (10.10) would be released at the same time in the fall of 2014 as promised.
But no. The warning made no mention that the update for the Mac OS wouldn't be for some time yet.
In fact it may be as late as the end of October 2014 before Yosemite is released.
That's another FOUR weeks without access to my files. (OK I can access Apple files, created in Apple's own apps e.g. Pages, Numbers, etc, through iCloud.com, but files saved to iCloud by third party apps can't be accessed.)
This is a righteous screw up, Apple! Why have you released part but not all of this exciting set up you promised us back in the summer? At least tell us why you released iCloud Drive to iOS 8 users now when you could have just held off until Yosemite is released. Why have you not made more mention of this? I mean, a lot of your customers have multiple Apple products. And many of your customers won't even know what Yosemite IS when they are faced with the button during the iOS install. Some people will have Macs that won't be able to upgrade to Yosemite and they will lose access to their iCloud until they purchase new hardware.
All with no explanation.
It's worse than poorly handled - it's a giant mess!!
Whatever happened to 'It just works' …???
Jeff Goldblum will be spinning in his ironic hipster jeans!!!
This entry was posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2014 at 8:31 pm and is filed under Apple. Both comments and pings are currently closed.


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'Essays in Romanticism' and 'Byron Journal' content free during April
Submitted by rc-admin on
Liverpool University Press is one of the UK's oldest scholarly publishers and one of its youngest, being both 115 years old and 10 years old in April 2014. The latter anniversary marks the relaunch and rebirth of the Press, an event that it is celebrating by making all of its journal content, including Essays in Romanticism and The Byron Journal, available for free online during the month of April. Essays in Romanticism is the official journal of the International Conference on Romanticism and publishes articles on all aspects of Romanticism. It encourages work using emergent or innovative perspectives and approaches, and that which is situated within an interdisciplinary and comparative framework. With over 40 years' worth of content available and a wide international readership, the The Byron Journal is the leading forum for authorities on Byron. The journal publishes scholarly articles and notes on all aspects of Byron's writings and life, and on related topics. Content is available now simply by visiting our http://liverpool.metapress.com site, with no further setup required. Please feel free to share this information with colleagues, your institutional library contact, or any other interested parties.


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It may be one of the biggest oil finds of the year, if not the decade. In recent weeks, executives at BP's exploration centers in Houston and London have been closely tracking the progress of a very deep well that BP contractors were drilling into the seabed of the western Gulf of Mexico. In late August the exploratory well, known as Tiber, was completed. On Sept. 2, BP announced that it had made "a giant oil discovery." BP's chief of exploration, Michael Daly, terms the Tiber find "very significant" and says it is even "better" than the Kaskida field, another huge BP property in the Gulf of Mexico, with an estimated 4 billion to 6 billion barrels of oil in place.
BP has struggled recently, the result of highly publicized battles with its Russian partners and a series of accidents in the U.S. at its Texas refinery and on Alaska's North Slope. Now it is getting a huge shot in the arm from its gulf finds, which are just coming onstream with highly profitable oil. Tiber provides further confirmation of BP's vanguard status among companies probing the ancient geological zones far below the seabed of the gulf in water a mile deep.
The London company's two-decade commitment to the gulf has helped resurrect a region that was being dismissed as "the Dead Sea" in the 1990s, after companies hit a series of dry holes. "With respect to the Gulf of Mexico, BP has done very, very well," says Richard Gordon, president of Gordon Energy Solutions, an Overland Park (Kan.) oil and gas consultancy.
Tiber and Kaskida will take years to develop, and BP runs the risk of cost overruns, another crash in the price of oil, and unforeseen, expensive challenges in extracting all that crude. But BP's star gulf property, a massive oil and gas field about 140 miles southeast of New Orleans called Thunder Horse, is already raking in cash for the company (ExxonMobil owns 25 percent of Thunder Horse). Visitors to the BP production platform for Thunder Horse must first board a helicopter at an airstrip at Houma in the Louisiana bayou. Dodging thunderstorms, the chopper flies over a seascape that reveals the history of the gulf oil industry, as the platforms evolve from shack-like structures in shallow water to massive, deepwater drill ships farther out to sea. Finally, a monstrous gray platform floating on four red legs comes into view. The size of a sports stadium, the Thunder Horse platform is tethered to the ocean bottom by huge chains in 6,000 feet of water and is one of the biggest in the world.
For Andy Inglis, BP's exploration and production chief and Daly's boss, Thunder Horse is the jewel in BP's crown, worth all the snafus and delays the company had to overcome before it could succeed at the cutting edge of ultra-deepsea drilling. The company and its suppliers had to devise dozens of new components and materials for the platform, such as valves and coatings to withstand the searing temperatures and intense pressures on wells that must go through four miles of seabed. In 2005 a hurricane left the platform listing to one side, and in 2007 a mass of equipment connecting up the wellheads on the sea floor had to be brought back to the surface to fix faulty welds.
'Prepared to work on the frontier'
Thunder Horse is ramping up to its 300,000-barrels-per-day target — making it the No. 2 producer in the U.S. after Alaska's Prudhoe Bay. Thunder Horse's oil is among the most profitable in BP's portfolio. Fadel Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer in New York, figures that at a price of $60 per barrel, BP will earn pretax profits in the mid-$20s per barrel from Thunder Horse, perhaps four times what it earns in high-tax Russia.
Two other huge deepwater Gulf of Mexico fields, BP's Atlantis and Mad Dog, have also come onstream in recent years. BP is now the lead producer in the gulf, and projects such as Thunder Horse have added about 1.2 million barrels per day to total U.S. output, arresting a long decline in American production and decreasing dependence on imported energy. The deepwater gulf is "one of the few bright spots in global oil production," says Bob MacKnight, an analyst at consultants PFC Energy in Washington. BP now reckons an additional 22 billion to 40 billion barrels of reserves are to be found there.
Finds like Thunder Horse, Tiber, and Kaskida fit BP's high-risk, high-return strategy to a T. "We don't do simple things," Inglis says. "We are prepared to work at the frontier and manage the risks." BP wants to do big projects of a billion barrels or more because that's the only way to replace the huge volumes that it produces, and large scale translates into high returns. Unlike ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, which have substantial refining and marketing operations, BP is largely an exploration and production company. BP wants to be a first mover and get the choice deals ahead of everyone else. And BP stands out as a high roller among the majors. Witness TNK-BP, the company's turbulent though lucrative joint venture with a group of Russian oligarchs who forced the ouster of the venture's expatriate CEO last year. Then there's BP's lonely decision a few weeks ago to become the first big oil company to return to Iraq while ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell balked at the Iraqis' tough terms.
The right risks
BP's approach to finding new oil and gas involves big but calibrated gambles. Exploration wells in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, for example, take months to drill and cost up to $200 million to bring onstream. With an overall exploration budget of $600 million to $1 billion per year, BP goes to great lengths to make sure it is taking the right risks. Four times a year, exploration boss Daly gathers his 15 or so chief lieutenants from around the world, usually in Houston or London, to decide where to spend money next. The goal is to back the best ideas — not just spread exploration budgets evenly among the various teams. The team that proposes a drilling prospect sets out in a few pages what it expects to find, including the amount of oil and gas and the cost of drilling. According to one participant, discussions can get quite tense, "because people are battling for projects they care about." BP's success rate on the 15 to 25 exploration wells it drills per year: about 60 percent.
For the past eight years, BP has led its peers among the majors in what's known as organic reserve replacement — additions to its reserve base that don't include any oil picked up through mergers. "Among the majors, BP stands out," says Irene Himona, the analyst at Exane BNP Paribas who wrote the study that ranks BP at the top. "It has created, through exploration, very large assets, which go on producing for the next 20 to 30 years," she adds.
Things weren't always so upbeat. BP got its feet wet in the deepwater of the gulf more than 20 years ago. But, along with other companies, it hit a dead end in the early 1990s, drilling a series of costly dry holes trying to replicate Shell Oil's deepwater success there. David Rainey, a dry-mannered Northern Irishman who now heads BP's gulf exploration team, recalls how other companies gave up, thinking the area was played out and too expensive, while the former Soviet Union, which was just opening up, looked more attractive than it turned out to be.
Cindy A. Yeilding, a bubbly Southern Methodist University graduate who bids for BP at U.S. government auctions of gulf oil acreage, recalls fearing that BP's gulf group, too, would get the chop. But BP's brain trust looked at the pattern of discoveries in the deepwater and saw they were large and not trailing off in size, which is usually the case in a maturing area of production. The call: While the region was tricky, it still had a world-class future. And since it was under the control of the U.S., rather than a developing-world dictator, the oil was more accessible.
Thinking small
BP management told its explorers to go back to the drawing boards and come up with a new plan of attack. They had been drilling spots that looked good on seismic surveys, the maps generated by bouncing sound waves off the rocks below the earth's surface, but that approach had failed. Armed with new technology that allowed them to drill much deeper, the explorers went back to basic petroleum geology: Their aim was to figure out where in the gulf large amounts of oil, which is formed from the remnants of microorganisms that died millions of years ago, might have migrated up through the earth's crust and then hit a seal of rock and salt. "You have to learn to think like an oil molecule," Rainey says.
One BP explorer, Neil Piggott, even went 2,000 feet down in a submarine to get a firsthand look at oil and gas seeping out of the sea bottom. There in the inky darkness he saw masses of bacteria feeding on the oil and 30-foot-long tube worms that in turn were eating the bacteria. The seeps were further evidence that there was more oil farther out in the gulf.
The explorers soon identified Thunder Horse field as a potential "elephant" — industry slang for a colossal find — but some at BP were skeptical. Would the rocks bearing the oil be so deep and subject to such high temperatures that they would not be porous enough to let oil flow through? BP decided to drill an exploratory well. In April 1999, the well hit oil. Says Yeilding: "This opened up the potential of the whole Gulf of Mexico deepwater."
To keep hitting home runs in the gulf, BP needs to find more challenging plays. Its explorers have been locking up positions in even more difficult areas west of Thunder Horse. In August, BP led the bidding at the biannual lease auctions held by the Minerals Management Service of the Interior Dept. in New Orleans. BP bid about $50 million of the $145 million total for about 40 tracts in the western gulf.
BP's explorers have also been leaders in coming to terms with the ancient salt layers, thousands of feet thick, that cover much of the oil and gas accumulations in the gulf and other deepwater regions. Oil companies had shied away from the salt because it distorts seismic waves, obscuring what's underneath. But BP's explorers figured out how to look under the salt with new techniques, such as towing ribbons of seismic sensors behind boats over suspected fields to obtain sharper images of what lay below. "We stopped being afraid of the salt," says Yeilding, who has spent time in France and Canada studying rock formations like those at the gulf's bottom.
No chest-thumping
Deepwater is now a favorite haunt of BP: It is a major presence in the waters off Angola and is probing the Beaufort Sea in the Canadian Arctic. The company likes to apply what it has learned in the gulf and Alaska to other zones. One play it is beginning to scope out is the Gulf of Sirte off Libya, where prospective oil and gas deposits lie in the sands put down by ancient river systems.
BP is once again playing the maverick in Libya. Outbid in open bid rounds, the company spent two years lobbying Muammar Qaddafi to grant BP a concession involving huge swaths of offshore and onshore acreage exceeding the size of Belgium. Daly says the next meeting of his explorers will give the green light to the first Libyan wells.
BP explorers know that no matter how many Thunder Horse and Tiber winners they hit, they had better not become smug. Two years ago they drilled a prospect in the gulf that had them so excited they called it Big Kahuna. As it turns out, they had the geology wrong and found nothing. "We try to stay humble," Rainey says. "When we don't, we get kicked in the behind."


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Please check in to OOC thread first and make sure to read the recommended posts in MoME to get up to speed with what is going on
As the horses crossed the valley and came upon the tall foreboding structure of Minas Morgul, both brothers looked at each other apprehensively, Tyg turned in the saddle and looked at them both. 'It's ok, I've had the interior redesigned'
She turned back and started her horse towards the gates. The brothers looked sceptical but followed her through.
They walked their horses up to the broad steps leading into the main entrance way of the Tower, Maedhros looked up towards the heights of the dreary looking building, seeing faces and gargoyles in the stone staring back down at him. When one blinked, he looked away startled.
Several orcs ran out and took the reins of their horses as they dismounted. Tyg left instructions for them to take her things to her room and walked the brothers inside.
Once inside Tyg tentatively tried to make Maedhros and his brother Maglor comfortable. They were pleasantly surprised to find the interior of the Tower nothing like what they had imagined. It seemed light and airy, and inviting.
'Tyg, it seems you have done wonders with this place'
'Why thank you Maglor, it cost thousands in Interior designer fees, but I think they really worked their magic well'
'Magic eh?' Maedhros said looking around in awe 'I though so'
'Perhaps a servant can show you both to your rooms' Tyg said indicating an orc standing waiting to be of help. He scurried over and took the two brothers bags, he walked off a couple of steps, turned back and grunted 'Follow' then walked off again, heading for a grand spiral staircase that seemed to wind up and up forever.
The brothers both looked at Tyg, who shrugged. 'I didn't say they were all perfect' meaning the orcs. They looked at each other again, then followed after the orc.
Tyg finally let out a deep breath. Home at last, she stood there a moment, taking in the atmosphere that she had missed when in Rivendell, judging the MoME contest and seeking out Maedhros. She decided she would head for her rooms….on the top floor level 13….and have a much needed bath.
She waved another servant over and told him to tell the chef (who was not an orc, but actually a very good human chef) to start preparing something for dinner, and to let her and the brothers know when it would be ready.
'Oh,' Tyg turned at the foot of the stairs with an after thought 'Make sure someone escorts the brothers to dinner, we wouldn't want them to get lost, they may stumble upon things they may not be ready to see yet' The servant bowed and grinned knowingly 'Best to keep them escorted at all times for now' Tyg finished her instructions then changing form into a black cat she ran at full speed and as light as a feather all the way up the stairs…..streaking past the brothers who were stopped at level 6 for a breather, Maedhros muttered the word 'cheat' as she ran by …….all the way to the top of the tower where her apartments were.
It was a couple of hours later when Tyg heard a knock at her door, suspecting it to be a servant orc telling her that dinner was ready, she went over and opened it. Maedhros was standing there, he peered over her shoulder into the wealth of her rooms, then said 'I have come to escort you down to dinner my Lady'
Tyg glared at the Orc who had escorted Maedhros up to her rooms as he choked suppressing a laugh. He scurried away. Tyg took Maedhros's proffered arm and lead the way down to where they would be dining. It was on level 10, over looking the Ephel Duath, the chef had set up a wonderful array of food and drink, as well as a lovely table for three on the balcony, where the moon shone to its full effect against the side of the tower.
All seemed to go well, everyone was over polite and a bit awkward until Maedhros asked forwardly, 'So when do we do this thing?'
'Thing? Maedhros?' Tyg replied over the rim of her wine glass 'What thing?
Maedhros, not for the first time, waved the stump of his right hand at her. 'This is all very nice, but I want to see my hand' Maedhros growled 'I want my hand back!'
Tyg groaned inwardly Was it always going to be like this? She wondered, then stood up heading inside, grabbed a bottle of wine off the food table, then turned.
'Well are you coming or not?'
She heard both brothers stand and come back inside, they followed her with tightly suppressed anticipation as she walked towards the stairs.
'You should have got them to put in a lift' Maglor groaned.
'Then we would all get fat' Tyg laughed as she started down the stair case, all the way down to the bottom where the entrance hall was. She turned then and walked into the darkness behind the staircase, where another stair case disappeared down into the very rocks of minas morgul itself, she grabbed a torch from a sconce at the doorway and started down into the darkness. The brothers hesitated slightly, then followed her.
It was pitch black and the brothers hurried to catch up to the torch light in the distance as it rounded a corner and disappeared. It was narrow and a long way down, the rocks started to get moist showing just how far under ground they were getting.
Finally after what seemed hours in the dark, but which was really only 20 minutes Tyg stopped, and muttered something under her breath, suddenly the brothers had to cover their eyes as a large room as suddenly lit up by the igniting of several torches around the room.
'Magic again 'Maedhros scowled, then lost his voice as he looked ahead into the room, his eyes finally adjusting, although he still thought they must be fooling him.
Across the vast room, all cut out of solid obsidian rock, was a wall that was perfectly smooth, looking like the gate to oblivion. Maedhros felt he could step right through into nothingness. Tyg walked off to one side where there was a table and grabbed some glasses that were on it, opening the bottle she had brought with her, she poured it out into the glasses. Grabbed hers and gulped it back, she stood watching the brothers reactions, especially Maedhros's.
He had walked up to the wall, transfixed on the one small blemish right in the centre which seemed to be glowing, he stared at it unbelieving, Maglor paled and turned away. Imbedded into the very rock itself, but shining through the thin layer of rock over it, was the Silmaril, making the obsidian rock look almost transparent.
He turned to Tyg 'What is this?' he demanded 'You said I could take up the stone, how can I do that if it's stuck inside the rock?!'
'I never said you could 'take up' the stone, I said you could weild it, but it couldn't leave here, you understand now'
'What are we looking at exactly' Maglor asked.
'A gateway, ready for Morgoth's return' Tyg said simply
Maglor paled further and stepped away from the wall looking like the hounds of hell themselves could jump through any minute.
'Relax, it still needs the power of at least one more Silmaril for him to come across'
'One more?' Maedhros asked, 'How do you intend to get one more?'
'Well, it's no small feat, I've been trying for a couple of hundred years now to find a balrog I can get to understand the word fetch' Tyg smiled wanly.
Both brothers just stared at her.
Suddenly Maedhros went as pale as a ghost, his mouth dropping open, as he stared over Tyg's shoulder to a jar sitting innocently on a shelf behind her.
Maglor followed his brother's gaze and felt his knees go weak, he searched for something to sit down on, grabbing a nearby chair, he sank into it.
Tyg calmly turned and leaning across the table she reached up and took the jar in both hands. She carefully turned back and held it out to Maedhros.
'Your right hand' she said simply. Maedhros just stared at it, recoiling slightly from it as Tyg offered it to him.
'Place it on the desk, I can't touch it' he said as he raked his left hand through his hair.
Tyg placed it carefully on the desk, took up two glasses and walked over to Maglor first, handing him one then Maedhros.
'You see now why I brought the drink down, but you may need something stronger.' Tyg said as both brothers emptied the glasses in one gulp.
'I think you guys should get some rest, I've organised someone to show you both around tomorrow morning, a trip over to Cirith Ungol and up to see the ruins of Mordor'
Maglor looked gratefully at Tyg for giving them an out and stood up, he grabbed a torch, determined not to walk back up the stairs in darkness and hailed his brother to follow. Maedhros however stayed and walked up to Tyg, taking her in his arms, he embraced her warmly, Tyg was shocked, but returned the hug. When Maedhros stepped back, his hand remained on her shoulder.
'Thank you, I know this is not easy for you to do' Maedhros said kindly, he glanced at the smooth wall with the Sil in it. 'I can feel Morgoth's malevolence from here my self.'
Tyg looked into Maedhros's eyes then and they shared a moment, a deep before untouched feeling sparked between them.
Maglor coughed delicately breaking the moment. He quietly said to Maedhros 'Come on brother' Maedhros turned and followed his brother out of the cavern.
Tyg wrapped her arms around herself suddenly cold, she stared at the wall, almost expecting Morgoth to appear herself, there would be no sleep for her tonight, sleep here with the brothers within these walls, she shivered at the thought of what nightmarish and painful dreams Morgoth would send to her if she even tried to sleep, she couldn't let him discover in her mind that the brothers were there.


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Design Support
X-FAB is currently expanding and strengthening its MEMS design support department. The goal is to provide optimal assistance to help customers introduce MEMS devices into their design. Design support in MEMS technology is generally complicated, since most MEMS products require their own individual processes. X-FAB therefore strives to offer its customers a competent support to enable them to effortlessly match their concepts to the requirements of the X-FAB foundry. This is done by offering:
- Design rules and process specifications for X-FAB standard MEMS processes
- Readily designed and fully characterized IP blocks for direct embedding into customer designs as "primitive devices"
- Individual support using a comprehensive set of MEMS specific simulation packages.
Three simulation packages are available at X-FAB:
- Virtual wafer processing (SEMulator by Coventor Inc.)
- Design and optimization of KOH etch masks (SIMODE by amtec GmbH, Chemnitz)
- Finite elements simulations (ANSYS Multiphysics by ANSYS Inc.)
Download info sheets:
Discrete absolute pressure sensors
Discrete relative pressure sensors
Integrated relative & absolute pressure sensors
Infrared sensors
Inertial sensors
3-Axis inertial sensors


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Three top regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission told compliance officers Thursday what issues they'll be scrutinizing when examining investment advisory firms this year, as well as potential rulemakings and guidance that are in the works.
At the SEC's Compliance Outreach Program National Seminar held at SEC headquarters in Washington, Drew Bowden, an associate director that leads the National Investment Adviser/Investment Company Examination Program within the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations; Norm Champ, director of the Division of Investment Management; and Andrew Ceresney, director of the Enforcement Division, laid out for the 800 attendees, mainly compliance officers, the issues that will be on their radar in 2014 — some of which spill over from last year.
Top issues include compliance with the custody rule, insider trading, exams to include firms' policies on cybersecurity; dually register advisors' or BDs' shifting of client accounts from broker to advisory accounts; failure to correct compliance deficiencies; conflicts of interest, private funds and cherry picking.
Bowden noted that OCIE's focus last year on making sure advisors were complying with the custody rule will also be a focus this year. The "No. 1 [exam] item was custody and safekeeping of assets in 2013," Bowden said. "I hope nobody missed this message coming out in 2013," because it will continue in 2014. "We're going to closely assess your compliance with appropriate reporting of client assets."
Bowden also mentioned OCIE scrutiny of qualified plan rollovers this year, as well as alternative mutual funds, which he said are the "largest growing" new fund sector.
Jane Jarcho, National Associate Director of OCIE's National Exam Program, noted on a separate panel that OCIE's exams will include assessing firms' cybersecurity policies. Examiners will be looking at resources going into information security, policies on cybersecurity risk, what policies are in place to prevent and respond to cyberattacks, lost information and identity threft," Jarcho said. Examiners will also ask about internal and external cyberattacks that may have occurred at advisory firms as well, and will look at a firm's policies on IT training, vendor access and vendor due diligence, she said.
David Grim, deputy director of the Investment Management division added that "cybersecurity is a big issue that people are worried about — take a look at the policies and procedures you have around this issue and make sure they are current."
Investment Management Division
Champ noted the significant movement by dually registered advisors and broker-dealers of client accounts from brokerage to advisory accounts. "We get why this is going on…because with advisory accounts you get an [ongoing] advisory fee, and that is good for revenue." However, Champ warned compliance officers to think about "where the advisor's fiduciary duty occurs" when "recommending to move a client from a brokerage account that costs nothing to an advisory account that can cost 1% per year."
With insider trading having "been a big deal" in the fund industry, Champ urged firms to make sure they have procedures to prevent the misuse of nonpublic information. "Think about what you are doing to prevent this," he said, "and talk to us about a violation before we find it. If you detect a violation, it's important that you talk to us."
Champ also noted the guidance updates on various issues that were started in 2013 will continue this year. Fourteen such updates "on areas where we've seen an issue" were issued last year, he said. The most recent one released in January looks at changes in the bond markets, in which "dealers — the big wirehouses — are holding less inventory in bonds, 20% less," Champ said, "so there are much fewer people out there making markets in bonds." Look for more of these guidance updates this year, he said, as well as further guidance on Rule 506 (c) private offerings.
Grim added the division is also looking at rulemakings this year around ETF registration and target date funds. Enforcement Division
Ceresney noted the cases the agency brought last year related to firms' failure to correct deficiencies that were pointed out by the agency. "We had nine such cases last year, with more in the queue," he said. "We worry that those [unaddressed] issues will lead to bigger issues."
Noting the "critical" importance of the commission to enforce the custody rule, as the SEC "brought a number of cases" in this area last year, Ceresney noted "areas of unique development in 2013," such as the portfolio manager who violated the rule that prohibits "obstructing or lying" to a CCO.
"I wasn't even aware of the rule," Rule 38a-1(c) of the Investment Company Act, which was enforced in that case, but "we will be [enforcing] it extensively going forward."
Yet another unique case was in the BD area, with the failure to disclose markups and markdowns, he said.
Not unique, however, will be the division's continuing effort to enforce failures to supervise, he said.
Other issue of focus this year, he said, are conflicts of interest at funds, including side-by-side management of conflicts, which includes the related issue of principal transactions. "We brought a number of cases" on this last year, "and we will continue to bring cases here in 2014."
Othes focus areas include cherry picking, as well as private equity and valuation in that realm, as well of disclosure of fees in this area.
In the private equity area, there will also be a focus on "zombie funds," he said, which result when private equity holdings are not designed for quick liquidity, and "zombie managers" are unable to raise new capital.
Check out SEC to Keep Close Eye on Advisors Who Are 'Highly Successful' at Rollovers on ThinkAdvisor.


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NEW YORK - The investment landscape won't be much different in 2013 than it has been this year, but the investors might be.
After spending most of 2012 in a defensive crouch, cowed by past crises and on guard against any future ones, more investors seem willing to take risks in 2013 in hopes of a greater reward, money managers say.
"Managing money with one eye on the rear-view mirror is no fun," said Alan Wilde, head of fixed income and currency strategy at Baring Asset Management, which oversees $50 billion.
With investors a bit less skittish but still starved for yield, Wilde said he expects a "small increase in optimism" to encourage investors to chase higher returns.
Doing so will require creativity as conditions around the world - advanced economies in particular - are not conducive to rapid growth. With debt levels and jobless rates high and inflation subdued, most major central banks are committed to holding interest rates near zero for years to come.
Cash may not be an option either. Savings accounts yield virtually nothing and money markets only marginally more.
Returns on both are well below the rate of inflation, which when stripped of volatile food and energy costs stood just shy of 2 per cent in the year to November.
That panorama, investment managers say, should enhance the appeal of assets such as stocks, high-yielding "junk" bonds, floating-rate loans and mortgage-backed securities.
Of course, the uncertainty in Washington has had a paralysing effect. As of late December, talks between the White House and Congress had yet to yield a plan to avert a looming US budget crisis.
Economists fear failure to prevent some $600 billion of automatic spending cuts and tax increases from taking effect as planned in January could thrust the economy back into recession.
While stock markets have wobbled in recent days, investors still seem reasonably confident a deal will eventually get done.
That's quite different from the doomsday thinking that dominated markets in 2012, when at times it seemed the euro would collapse, the bottom would fall out of China's economy and the United States would lurch back into a recession.
"Those kinds of distractions have hounded investors all year, this idea that there was always a disaster just around the corner," said Steven Englander, head of global G10 currency strategy at Citigroup.
As a result, many anxious investors sought shelter in low-yielding bond funds, which took in $297.3 billion this year, according to Lipper data. Stock funds attracted just $13.56 billion in new cash despite double-digit gains for the S&P 500.
But those who did take risks in 2012 did remarkably well, noted Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust, which oversees more than $700 billion.
The total return, including dividends, of the benchmark S&P 500 through Dec. 27 was 15.3 per cent, while financial stocks rose 29 per cent after tumbling 24 per cent in 2011.
European shares returned nearly 13 per cent, while the Barclays Global High Yield Bond Index was up 19.6 per cent year-to-date.
Even Greek government bonds rallied once it became clear the country would not be leaving the euro zone, with the 10-year yield falling from around 40 per cent in March to 12 per cent at year end. Returns were much more modest on benchmark German bund; yields fell from 2 per cent to 1.3 per cent in that time period.
Northern Trust said it would enter 2013 with "a tactical overweight to risk," though McDonald warned that the slight increase in investor optimism will make returns more modest.
Next year looks like it could be another solid one for equities. Even with 2012's gains, Northern Trust says earnings yields still look attractive, and continued central bank stimulus should provide fuel for further gains.
David Darst, chief investment strategist at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, favors what he calls the "global gorillas" - large companies with a global footprint that have exposure to emerging markets, which should grow more swiftly than developed ones.
Dividend-paying stocks from Taiwan, Mexico, Brazil and elsewhere also present a good opportunity to pick up yield, said Michael Fredericks, lead manager of the BlackRock Multi-Asset Income Fund, especially if US dividend taxes rise next year as a result of a deficit reduction deal.
Fredericks said the most promising stocks tend to be those of companies that rely on domestic demand rather than the big exporters that dominate many emerging market mutual funds.
"If you really want to get at the local, organic growth taking place in emerging markets, you have to get more direct exposure to that growth than you would by buying a big exporter whose business depends on US and European consumers," he said.
Of course, investing next year will not be risk-free. Europe's debt crisis could worsen again, the US economy could tumble over the fiscal cliff and into recession, continued turmoil in the Middle East could trigger a spike in oil prices and a global slump.
"It's still a market where you have to be nimble," Darst said. "You still have to drive with both hands on the wheel."
That's especially true in fixed income, where strategists warn against pouring too much money into bond funds with interest rates at record lows.
Even a modest rise in bond yields could do immense damage to bond portfolios, said Rick Rieder, BlackRock's chief investment officer for fundamental fixed income. BlackRock expects 10-year US Treasury yields to rise to 2.25 per cent next year from around 1.70 per cent currently.
That, he said, means bond investors will have to "take a little bit of credit quality risk" in 2013 and to consider taking on some higher-yielding but less liquid securities.
"We still like high yield, US municipal bonds, bridge loans and structured collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), which give you income without a lot of duration," he said.
Average yields on high-yield corporate bonds, also known as"junk" bonds, were hovering above 6 per cent, well above the 1.7 per cent available from 10-year Treasuries.
Mortgage-related securities were also likely to be in high demand thanks to the Federal Reserve, which has committed to buying $40 billion of mortgage bonds each month to lower long-term interest rates, boost housing and help the broader economy.
DoubleLine Capital, which oversees more than $50 billion in assets and has favoured residential non-agency mortgage-backed bonds this year, was now looking at commercial mortgage-backed securities to help raise returns in 2013, senior portfolio manager Bonnie Baha said at the Reuters Global Investment Outlook Summit in November.
Rieder agreed: "We like owning assets with structural tailwinds to them, such as real estate-related assets. Commercial mortgage-backed securities are one of our favorites."


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Whole-grain bread rolls
There are not many things that can beat the whole grain bread, unless it's 8 delicious little whole grain breadrolls ;-) These are perfect for breakfast, and you can easily prepare and bake them in one evening, for e.g. Sunday breakfast! :-)
My fool-proof recipe will be a great fun, and a good addition to your baking arsenal.
Meringue hearts
Let this special someone know you've got your eye on them with a cute, delicious, sweet meringue heart. You only need a couple of eggs, and some sugar, and of course red coloring. These are irresistible and will make an everlasting impression (because everyone loves the person that brings sweets, right?).
Sushi-like rolls
Can you imagine, there was the time I didn't want to eat sushi, because of the raw fish?! Well, that's true, shame on me. Lots of shame. On me. Agreed...
Knowing that, I decided to make a recipe for sushi-like rolls, that look and taste close to sushi, but... are not raw! Nothing in this recipe is raw, and that also means that you can keep them safe longer at the room temperature, place in your bento, take for a picnic or just offer them as a healthy snack for people didn't discover yet the ingenuity of Japanese cuisine! ;-)
Orange cheese-tart
I didn't plan to make this cake at all, what I did plan was apple tart with apricot jelly... Well, sometimes I just change my mind, especially while experimenting in the kitchen :-) The result is interesting, refreshing and citrusy! :-) If you don't like the strong orange aroma, you can replace them with any soft and sweet fruit: peaches, pears, and apricots should do fine!
Spongy waffles
Usually waffles are served crispy, but from time to time I like to make them soft and spongy — perfect base for a plum jam! :-) This recipe makes 4 delicious, spongy waffles that you can prepare in no-time!


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It's a casual look, one common for 20-something college males, but on occasion, like yesterday at the Ohio State Grand Prix, it's the perfect reflection of his laid-back side.
Not everything in Phelps' life can be performed with maximum intensity all the time, and it's a difficult concept for some people to understand. They want to see him break a world record with every swim, and want him to win every race he enters, which would be neither realistic nor productive in the long run.
Phelps is having the kind of meet this week in which results, in the end, aren't super important. He swam three finals in 45 minutes last night, finishing fourth in the 100-meter breaststroke, second in the 200 freestyle, then winning the 100 butterfly.
He summed up his results with a bemused shrug.
"It's pretty much like a practice, just working out hard," Phelps said.
He's been training like a beast in recent weeks, swimming 15,000 meters each day, and his body is, admittedly, a little weary.
"I wanted at least one win today," Phelps said, fidgeting with his Tigers cap. "I left just about everything I had in the pool for that race. Going [51.90] isn't a bad time considering I pretty much took a bite out of the wall."
Phelps' Club Wolverine teammate, Peter Vanderkaay, nipped him at the wall in the 200 freestyle (1:46.87), an event in which Phelps holds the world record. But Vanderkaay, who has been fighting a flu-like illness in his training for the last month, didn't assign any significance to the result.
"In the long run, this doesn't mean anything," Vanderkaay said.
All around, it was that kind of meet - competitive races, but with a focus mostly on training. Towson's Katie Hoff won the 100 butterfly, an event she rarely swims, and the 800 freestyle. Her time in the 800 (8:19.70) was impressive because she was faster on the back half than on the first, a term swimmers call negative splits.
"I'm very pleased with today," Hoff said. "I wanted to go faster than I did in Missouri, so I'm a little disappointed, but I felt good during the whole race.
"The 100 fly was kind of a surprise because I've had problems with that event. It's really helped my 400 [individual medley], though, to do it."
Hoff may not have known it, but there was another piece of news to feel good about. The U.S. Olympic Committee announced yesterday that it has named Paul Yetter, Hoff's coach at North Baltimore Aquatic Club, the Developmental Coach of the Year.
Since joining the staff at NBAC, Yetter has coached eight different swimmers to 60 No. 1 national age group rankings. Four of those athletes and five relay teams have set 47 national age group records.
Hoff, Yetter's crowning achievement, is one of only two swimmers (Phelps being the other) who has posted a qualifying time for the U.S. Olympic Trials in every single event (13).
kevin.vanvalkenburg @baltsun.com email@example.com