text:
When policymakers say they have enacted "historic" legislation, they are usually accused of hyperbole. And, in many cases, that is a fair criticism. But in the case of Governor Brewer's signing of HB 2815, it isn't a big stretch to say that the action did make one historic move in regard to tax policy. It made Arizona the ninth state in the U.S. to effectively cut its capital gains tax. When the tax cut is phased in completely by 2016, the effective tax rate on capital gains will be 3.4%, instead of the current rate of 4.54%.
This is a very important step in making Arizona a more attractive place to do business and create jobs. And while we still have a ways to go to be really competitive with states that have no income tax, this move makes us more competitive with our neighbor, New Mexico, which in 2003 became the eighth state to cut its capital gains tax. New Mexico cut its capital gains tax in half, which put their rate at around 2.4 percent – a full percentage point lower than Arizona's new rate. That tax cut precipitated a venture capital boom in New Mexico and translated to substantial job growth. To beat New Mexico at the capital gains tax cut game, we should lower our rate by another 25 percent. That would make Arizona's capital gains tax rate the lowest in the nation.
There were some other important elements in this bill, too. It brought Arizona's tax code up to par with most other states by increasing the number of years that corporations can carry business losses into the future. And it finally conformed the Arizona tax code to the federal code by allowing businesses to write off a larger share of the new capital investments they make by allowing what is called "bonus depreciation." This is something that economists have long advocated as a job creator and something that the Goldwater Institute has been encouraging the Legislature to do since 2002.
Unfortunately, every rose has its thorns. The bill took a step in the wrong direction by creating a new tax credit that subsidizes a company for opening a new facility in Arizona or expanding an existing one. It's not at all clear that credits like these actually encourage activity that would not have occurred in the absence of the subsidy. And, to make matters worse, the tax credit is "refundable." That means if a company has zero tax liability, they can still receive the subsidy in the form of a check from the government.
In the end, the Legislature and Governor Brewer are to be congratulated for this bill and moving Arizona toward a future in which venture capital and job growth return to the state and stay for the long term. But Arizona needs to go further, not just in reducing capital gains tax rates but in fundamentally reforming the tax system so that it doesn't punish the creation of wealth, the starting of businesses, and real long-term job growth. So, who's ready for round two?
Learn more:
Governor of Arizona: Press Release on Signing of HB 2815 (PDF)
Goldwater Institute: Investing in Arizona
Goldwater Institute: Don't Repeat Jimmy Carter's Failed Policies in Special Session Jobs Bill


text:
Latest News
Who's The Boss? James Spader Debuts On The Office
by Radar Staff
The James Spader era began on Thursday's season premiere of NBC's The Office.
Spader, who replaces longtime star Steve Carell… READ MORE
VIDEO: Steve Carell Wraps Up The Office
Steve Carell has left the building — make that The Office.
After seven years on the NBC comedy, Carell, who played office manager Michael Scott, wrap… READ MORE

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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[alpha] CHINA - Pettis - Foreign capital, go home
Released on 2012-10-17 17:00 GMT
Email-ID | 2857853 |
Date | 2011-08-02 18:45:03 |
From | firstname.lastname@example.com |
To | firstname.lastname@example.com |
List-Name | firstname.lastname@example.com |
Pettis is back again. The first half of this is rehashed material still
trying to get people to understand why China has to keep buying US govt.
debt, with a focus on the US govt. debt situation. The second half is much
more interesting (i have colour coded it). In it Pettis makes some good
observations about the debt build-up in China, TSF, LGFVs and Charlene Chu
at Fitch!
Michael Pettis
Professor of Finance
Guanghua School of Management
Peking University
Senior Associate
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Foreign capital, go home!
July 31, 2011
Is the PBoC going to stop buying USG bonds? Once again we are hearing
worried noises from various sectors about the possibility of a reduction
in Chinese purchases of USG bonds.
The threat of a looming US default seems to be driving this renewed
concern, although I am not sure that the PBoC really is worried about not
getting its money back. After all if the US defaults, it will be mainly a
technical default that will certainly be made good one way or the other.
Since the PBoC doesn't have to worry about mark-to-market losses, unlike
mutual funds, I think for China this is largely an economic non-event (not
that there isn't good mileage in pointing to the sheer silliness of the US
political process). Still, for domestic political reasons it needs to be
seen huffing and puffing over American irresponsibility.
So will China sell off its USG bond position? Here is what an article in
Thursday's South China Morning Post said:
China will press ahead with diversification of its US$3.2 trillion in
foreign exchange reserves, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange
(SAFE) said on Thursday, adding it does not intentionally pursue
large-scale foreign currency holdings. Officials have long pledged to
broaden the mix of the country's huge reserves - as much as 70 per cent of
which are now in US dollar assets, according to analysts' estimates - but
the process has been gradual.
"We will continue to diversify the asset allocation of our reserve assets
and continue to optimise the holdings based on market conditions," the
foreign xchange regulator said in a statement, responding to questions
about its reserve management from the public. It did not mention the US
debt debacle. Top Republicans and Democrats worked behind the scenes on
Wednesday on a compromise to avert a crippling US default and potential
credit rating downgrade.
Xia Bin, an adviser to the central bank, told reporters earlier this month
that China should speed up reserve diversification away from dollars to
hedge against risks of the US currency's possible long-term decline.
Let's leave aside the fact that every six months we have heard the same
thing for the past several years, and nothing has happened, shouldn't we
nonetheless be worried? Won't reduced PBoC purchases be disruptive to the
US economy and to the US Treasury markets?
No, they won't, and anyway they aren't going to happen. There is so much
muddled thinking on the issue, even from economists who should know
better, that I thought I would try to address what it would mean if the
PBoC were actually serious and not simply making noises aimed at domestic
political constituents.
First of all, remember that the PBoC does not purchase huge amounts of USG
bonds because it has a lot of money lying around and doesn't know what to
do with it. Its purchase of USG bonds is simply a function of its trade
You cannot run a current account surplus unless you are also a net
exporter of capital, and since the rest of China is actually a net
importer of capital (inward FDI and hot money inflows overwhelm capital
flight and outward FDI), the PBoC must export huge amounts of capital in
order to maintain China's trade surplus. In order the keep the RMB from
appreciating, in other words, the PBoC must be willing to purchase as many
dollars as the market offers at the price it sets. It pays for those
dollars in RMB.
It is able to do so by borrowing RMB in the domestic markets, or by
forcing banks to put up minimum reserves on deposit. What does the PBoC do
with the dollars it purchases? Because it is such a large buyer of
dollars, it must put them in a market that is large enough to absorb the
money and - and this is the crucial point - whose economy is willing and
able to run a large enough trade deficit.
This last point is what everyone seems to forget when discussing Chinese
purchases of foreign bonds. Remember that when Country A exports huge
amounts of money to Country B, Country A must run a current account
surplus and Country B must run the corresponding current account deficit.
In practice, only the US fulfills those two requirements - large and
flexible financial markets, and the ability and willingness to run large
trade deficits - which is why the PBoC owns huge amounts of USG bonds.
If the PBoC decides that it no longer wants to hold USG bonds, it must do
something else. There are only four possible paths that the PBoC can
follow if it decides to purchase fewer USG bonds.
1. The PBoC can buy fewer USG bonds and purchase more other USD assets.
2. The PBoC can buy fewer USG bonds and purchase more non-US dollar
assets, most likely foreign government bonds.
3. The PBoC can buy fewer USG bonds and purchase more hard commodities.
4. The PBoC can buy fewer USG bonds by intervening less in the currency,
in which case it does not need to buy anything else.
Since these are the only ways that the PBoC can reduce its purchases of
USG bonds, we can go through each of these scenarios to see what would
happen and what the impact might be on China, the US, and the world. We
will quickly see that none of them imply calamity. On the contrary, every
outcome is neutral or positive for the US.
To make the explanation easier, let's simply assume that the PBoC sells
$100 of USG bonds. Since the balance of payments must balance, this
immediately implies that there must be corresponding changes elsewhere in
trade and capital flows.
The PBoC can sell $100 of USG bonds and purchase $100 of other USD
assets. In this case there has been no change in the balance of payments
and basically nothing else would change.
The pool of US dollar savings available to buy USG bonds would remain
unchanged (the seller of USD assets to China would now have $100 which he
would have to invest, directly or indirectly, in USG bonds), China's trade
surplus would remain unchanged, and the US trade deficit would remain
unchanged. The only difference might be that the yields on USG bonds will
be higher by a tiny amount while credit spreads on risky assets would be
lower by the same amount.
The PBoC can sell $100 of USG bonds and purchase $100 of non-US dollar
assets, most likely foreign government bonds. Since in principle the only
market big enough is Europe, let's just assume that the only alternative
is to buy $100 equivalent of euro bonds issued by European governments.
The analysis doesn't change if we include other smaller markets.
There are two ways the Europeans can respond to the Chinese switch from
USG bonds to European bonds. On the one hand they can turn around and
purchase $100 of USD assets. In this case there is no difference to the
USG bond market, except that now Europeans instead of Chinese own the
bonds. What's more, the US trade deficit will remain unchanged and the
Chinese trade surplus also unchanged.
But Europe might be unhappy with this strategy. Since there is no reason
for Europeans to buy an additional $100 of US assets simply because China
bought euro bonds, the purchase will probably occur through the ECB, in
which case Europe will be forced to accept an unwanted $100 increase in
its money supply (the ECB must create or borrow euros to buy the dollars).
On the other hand, and for this reason, the ECB might decide not to
purchase $100 of US assets. In that case there must be an additional
impact. The amount of capital the US is importing must go down by $100 and
the net amount that Europe is importing must go up by that amount.
Will this reduction in US capital imports make it more difficult to fund
the US deficit? Not at all. On the contrary - it might make it easier. If
US capital imports drop by $100, by definition the US current account
deficit will also drop by $100, almost certainly because of a $100
contraction in the trade deficit (the US dollar will decline against the
euro, making US exports more competitive and European imports less
A contraction in the US trade deficit is of course expansionary for the US
economy. Since the purpose of the US fiscal deficit is to create jobs, and
a $100 contraction in the trade deficit will also create jobs, the US
fiscal deficit will contract by $100 for the same level of job creation -
perhaps even more if you believe, as most of us do, that increased trade
is a more efficient creator of productive jobs than increased government
In other words although there is $100 less demand for USG bonds, there is
also $100 (or more) less supply of USG bonds, in which case there is no
need for a price adjustment. It is of course possible that the USG ignores
the employment impact of the contraction in the trade deficit, and goes
ahead and spends the $100 anyway, but in that case unemployment would drop
even more than expected. Interest rates might be a little higher
temporarily, but only because growth is higher and unemployment lower.
This is the key point. If foreigners buy fewer USD assets, the US trade
deficit must decline. This is almost certainly good for the US economy and
for US employment. When analysts worry that China might buy fewer USG
bonds, they are actually worrying that the US trade deficit might
contract. This is something the US should welcome, not deplore.
But the story doesn't end there. What about Europe? Since China is still
exporting the $100 by buying European government bonds instead of USG
bonds, its trade surplus doesn't change, but of course as the US trade
deficit declines, the European trade surplus must decline, and even
possibly go into deficit. This is because by selling dollars and buying
euro, China is forcing the euro to appreciate against the dollar.
This deterioration in the trade account will force Europeans either into
raising their fiscal deficits to counteract the impact of fewer exports or
letting domestic unemployment rise. Under these conditions it is hard to
imagine they would tolerate much Chinese purchase of European assets
without responding eventually with anger and even trade protection.
The PBoC can sell $100 of USG bonds and purchase $100 of hard commodities.
This is no different than the above scenario except now that the exporters
of those hard commodities must face the choice Europe faced above.
Either they can neutralize the trade impact of Chinese purchases by buying
US assets, or they have to absorb the deterioration in the rest of their
trade account. Basically this is the Brazil bargain - Brazil gives up
manufacturing capacity in exchange for higher commodity exports, something
Brazilians are increasingly reluctant to accept.
Stockpiling commodities, by the way, is a bad strategy for China but one
that it seems nonetheless to be following to some extent. Commodity prices
are very volatile, and unfortunately this volatility is inversely
correlated with Chinese needs.
Since China is the largest or second largest purchaser of most
commodities, stockpiling commodities is a good investment only if China
continues growing rapidly, and a bad investment if its growth slows. This
is the wrong kind of balance sheet position any country should engineer.
It simply exacerbates underlying conditions and increases economic
volatility - never a good thing, especially for a very poor and
undeveloped economy like China's.
The PBoC can sell $100 of USG bonds by intervening less in the currency,
in which case it does not need to buy anything else. In this case, which
is the simplest of all to explain, China's trade surplus declines by $100
and the US trade deficit declines by $100 as the RMB rises.
The net impact on US financing costs is unchanged for the reasons
discussed above (a lower trade deficit permits a lower fiscal deficit).
Chinese unemployment will rise because of the reduction in its trade
surplus unless it increases its own fiscal deficit. Beijing, of course, is
in no hurry to try out this scenario.
It's about trade, not capital
This may sound counterintuitive to all except those who understand the way
the global balance of payments work, but countries that export capital are
not doing anyone favors unless incomes in the recipient country are so low
that savings are impossible or unless the capital export comes with needed
technology, and countries that import capital might be doing so mainly at
the expense of domestic jobs. For this reason it is absurd for Americans
to worry that China might stop buying USG bonds. This is what the Chinese
worry about.
In fact the whole US-China trade dispute is indirectly about China's
insistence on purchasing USG bonds and the US insistence that they stop.
Because remember, if the Chinese trade surplus declines, and the US trade
deficit declines too, by definition China is directly or indirectly buying
fewer US dollar assets, which in principle means fewer USG bonds.
And contrary to much of what you might read, this reduction in USG bond
purchases will not cause US interest rate to rise at all. For those who
insist that it will, it is the equivalent of saying that the higher a
country's trade deficit, the lower its domestic interest rates. This
statement is patently untrue.
Inevitably whenever I write about trade and capital exports someone will
indignantly point out a devastating flaw in my argument. Since the US
makes nothing that it imports from China, they will claim, a reduction in
China's capital exports to the US (or a reduction in China's trade
surplus) will have no impact on the US trade deficit. It will simply cause
someone else's exports to the US to rise with no corresponding change in
the US trade balance. In that case, they say, less Chinese buying of USG
bonds will indeed cause an increase in US interest rates.
No it won't. Unless this other country steps up its capital exports to the
US and replaces China - which is pretty unlikely, and which anyway would
mean the same amount of foreign purchasing of USG bonds - it must cause a
reduction in the US trade deficit.
Aside from the sheer idiocy of claiming that the US does not already
produce, or is incapable of producing, anything it imports from China, the
claim would be irrelevant even if it were true. Trade does not settle on a
bilateral basis but must settle on a multilateral basis. If the US imports
less capital, its current account deficit must decline, whether because of
bilateral changes in trade or not. I explain this in a blog entry early
last year.
The basic point is that if reduced intervention in Chinese capital exports
causes a reduction in Chinese exports to the US to be matched dollar for
dollar with an increase in, say, Mexican exports to the US, the story
doesn't end there. Since Mexico's trade balance is itself decided by the
relationship between Mexican investment and savings, a rise in Mexican
exports will mean either a decline in other Mexican exports (if it has
full employment) or a rise in Mexican imports (if it has unemployment).
It may very well be, in other words, that lower Chinese exports to the US
are matched dollar for dollar by higher US imports from Mexico, but this
will come with higher US exports to Mexico. And if it isn't to Mexico, it
will be to someone else.
Thinking about balance sheets
If you look at the four scenarios under which China can sell of USG bonds,
you see all of them are unlikely. Chinese purchases of USG bonds, in
short, are going to keep rising until there is a dramatic (and welcome)
change in the global trade imbalances. This much is certain.
Almost as certain is the probability that every six months or so there
will be another wave of nervousness about rumors that the PBoC might stop
buying USG bonds. But they cannot really stop buying until they have
rebalanced their economy and eliminated their large trade surplus. This is
going to take a long time at best, and in that time both the PBoC's
foreign exchange reserves and its domestic debt is going to rise
And this rise in domestic PBoC debt is going to become an increasing
problem for the country. Most economists writing about China seem unable
to understand, even now when it has become much more obvious, the root
causes of Chinese imbalances and the vulnerabilities in the growth model.
They do not see the relationship between rising debt, financial
repression, and low consumption. What is worse, too many analysts see the
problem of local government debt as specific to local governments and
caused by misguided polices on their part, whereas in reality it is a
systemic problem.
My approach to understanding the Chinese balance sheet is, I think, quite
different. I try to understand the development of the system as a whole,
and then try to figure out how it must logically evolve within
balance-of-payments, balance sheet, and monetary constraints. An obsession
with reading and understanding historical precedents is probably key to my
approach, and I readily admit to being a total junkie when it comes to
finance and economic history.
Furthermore the work of economists like Hyman Minsky, Charles Kindleberger
and Irving Fischer drives my sense of balance sheets and how changes in
the structure of balance sheets affect economic outcomes. Among other
things it leaves me very skeptical about prospects for financial systems,
like China's, that are engineered to maintain stability at all costs.
Not only do these kinds of financial systems typically sacrifice
efficiency for stability but, as any good Minskyite could tell you,
regulatory regimes that force stability onto the financial system always
result in increasingly destabilizing behavior by the agents within the
system. Instability, in other words, is simply repressed and pushed
forward, and the financial system must become increasingly inefficient in
order to suppress the increasingly irrational behavior of agents within
the system. In any financial system, as Minsky famously said, stability is
itself destabilizing.
Anyone with this "systems" or balance sheet approach would have begun
worrying at least as far back as 2004-05 about the rise in Chinese debt
and would have argued that within a few years we were going to have real
questions about debt sustainability. It was not that debt levels were
already high (although by then they were much higher than anyone
realized). Rather it was that there was no logical way for the growth
model to continue functioning without an unsustainable rise in debt, and
it was already pretty clear that without reform and liberalization in the
Chinese financial system we were eventually going to run into another
banking crisis. And ignore what you may have heard from other analysts -
there has been absolutely no meaningful financial sector reform in the
past decade.
The problem with this "systems" approach is that it is fairly abstract.
Fortunately analysts like Charlene Chu and her team at Fitch, who have
consistently provided the best analysis of the Chinese banking system, are
doing work that is much more concrete in identifying the ways in which
national balance sheets are growing increasingly unstable.
They have been very creative about discovering and counting debt, and that
is why I greatly value their work, along with the work of analysts like
Victor Shih, at Northwestern, or Logan Wright, at Medley Advisors. The
latter two both early on understood why the domestic imbalances and the
unsustainable rise in debt were fundamental to the growth model. They had
the creativity (and temerity) to start pulling apart the balance sheets in
search of the debt. And they found it.
What credit deceleration?
Fitch too keeps finding the debt. Their excellent July piece on Chinese
banks ("Growth of leverage still outpacing GDP growth") is a case in
point, and is why I bring up the whole subject.
Early this year, as most China analysts will remember, the PBoC unveiled
their latest concept, "Total Social Financing". The point of TSF was to
attempt to measure the real growth in bank-related credit by including
various types of loan growth that were not included in the older measures
but which had become very important.
For many years the key measure of credit growth was monthly new
RMB-denominated loans made by Chinese banks. This was the main source of
credit and the one most of us watched to get a sense of how rapidly credit
was expanding in the banking system. This was also the main focus of
credit management by the regulators. By setting annual, quarterly or
monthly quotas for the maximum amount of new RMB-denominated loans, the
PBoC hoped to maintain some control of credit expansion in China.
Of course it doesn't work that way. As the PBoC limited growth in this
kind of credit, banks simply "innovated" around the constraints and pushed
the bulk of new loan growth into other forms of lending. This became
pretty obvious by late 2009 and 20010. The PBoC needed another, and
better, measure of credit.
When the PBoC finally produced their TSF numbers, earlier this year,
including a lot of this credit "innovation", the data showed that in 2002
RMB loans represented 92% of total TSF - a reasonably good proxy, in other
words, of total bank credit. By 2010, however, new RMB loans had dropped
to 56% of TSF.
Clearly loan growth, correctly measured, far exceeded the
already-very-high numbers that we had all been looking at. Among other
things this meant that M2 was even less useful as a measure of monetary
growth than in most other economies because much of the growth in deposits
had been disintermediated. The real growth in the form of money for which
M2 is a proxy was much higher than actual M2 growth.
When the PBoC unveiled the TSF numbers, the intention was, I think,
twofold. First, the PBoC needed a way to demonstrate to the pro-growth
faction in the State Council how frenzied the expansion in credit had
been, perhaps in order to deflect criticism that they were being
excessively tight. Second they wanted to reassert control over credit
expansion by widening the scope of credit instruments they were
At the time I made what I thought was an obvious prediction. I believe
that growth is determined mainly by increases in investment, which are
themselves determined mainly by increases in credit. Since I did not
expect a significant slowdown in growth for at least another two years, if
the PBoC truly attempted to manage credit growth under TSF we would
inevitably see rapid credit expansion in those areas not covered by TSF.
For that reason I expected TSF to lose its usefulness very quickly. I told
my central bank seminar that when classes reconvened in September, we were
going to be especially vigilant about looking for new sources of credit
Fitch beat us to it. In their most recent report they have come up with an
adjusted TSF. This includes not just the items identified by the PBoC but,
in addition, other credit instruments that have been expanding quickly:
The main portions of this uncaptured financing include letters of credit
(LoCs), credit from domestic trust companies, lending by other non-bank
financial institutions (NBFIs) and loans from Hong Kong banks.
What the numbers show
This adjusted number tells an interesting, but not surprising, story. As
we know, RMB loans are down for the first half of the year, with new
renminbi bank lending declining by 9.7%, from RMB 4.6 trillion in the
first half of 2010 to RMB 4.2 trillion in the first half of 2011.
TSF is also down for the first half of the year, but of course by a lot
less than new RMB loans. It declined by 4.7%, from RMB 8.1 trillion in the
first half of 2010 to RMB 7.8 trillion in the first half of 2011.
So overall credit growth is down, right? Perhaps not. It looks like
Fitch's adjusted TSF is actually up, and this doesn't even include private
lending pools and non-bank sources of lending, which anecdotal evidence
suggests is way up. Here, by the way, is what a friend of mine, a PhD
student working in China, said on a related topic in an email he sent to
me three days ago:
My dissertation concerns the development of urban districts in the greater
Ordos Municipality in Inner Mongolia... Having just returned to Beijing
from Ordos I learned there that, along with municipal debt, there is a
tremendous amount of informal finance schemes with extortionate monthly
interest rates that are driving property development (and mining
expansion). It is largely the local populace that participates in these
schemes, not firms.
Many projects are entirely financed through private informal financing
mechanisms. People have turned to these in response to the tightening of
formal bank lending in the past year and because banks have not
traditionally been willing to lend to individuals for large-scale property
development projects.
Based on the mix of formal and informal financing schemes development
continues apace in Ordos, although there is much anxiety locally about the
credit tightening and its effects, such as project delays and license
revocation. With monthly interest rates of 4%, after months of delay,
people begin to owe a lot of money to some very sketchy people. Locals
speak of frequent suicides by borrowers in the past year.
Are you familiar with this topic of informal finance mechanisms?
So it seems that there has been no deceleration in lending from the
extraordinarily high levels of two and three years ago.
Surprised? Don't be. The relationship between credit expansion, investment
growth and GDP growth means that as long as GDP growth rates are high,
credit growth is going to be accelerating. If the credit numbers don't
tell you this, then it just means you are not looking at the right
I won't say much more about the numbers in the Fitch report because people
who are interested should contact Fitch directly and read the report in
full. Anyone seriously interested in understanding what is happening in
China's banking system should get into the habit of reading their reports.
Before finishing up, I wanted to point out one last thing. It seems like
the LGVF bonds (issued by local government financing vehicles) are being
hammered in the market. In the past month they have declined in price by
anywhere from 2-10% depending on maturities. I think less than 10% of the
LGFV debt is in the form of bonds and roughly 80% in the form of bank
loans, by the way.
Some analysts argue that this weakness in the bond markets largely
reflects a short-term liquidity problem. Perhaps, but some of my
politically savvy friends are pointing out that by early or mid-2012 most
of the mid-level government appointments, including mayors, municipal
party leaders, and so on, will have been made.
This might have implications for the debt. Suppose you have just been
appointed mayor of a mid-size city in China with a brand-new (and largely
unused) airport, a new city center, a great subway system, several empty
but architecturally arresting skyscrapers, and lots of other
infrastructure. How you perform in the next five years will determine your
future promotions up the political machine.
When you look at the numbers you realize, however, that you have inherited
a possibly crushing debt burden and precious few revenues with which to
cover it. In particular it is not clear how many of the LGFV's are going
to meet debt-servicing costs, and some of their land collateral may have
been pledged more than once.
What do you do? Do you put your head down and soldier on, hoping that
something will turn up in the next five years and that you won't be blamed
for revenue shortfalls? Or do you make a big stink about the debt right
away so as to establish clearly that this didn't come on your watch? If
the latter, we should expect a lot more noise about local government debt
in the next year.
Sections of this newsletter may be excerpted but please do not distribute.


text:
Not by choice, though.
Lindsay famously accepted nearly $1 million to pose semi-nude for Playboy but according to E! News, the founder of the mag, notorious ladies' man, Hugh Hefner, wasn't happy with the pics!
Lindsay will be getting her gear off for the camera again tomorrow, and according to E!, Hef has demanded a new photographer.
The shoot will mean Lilo has to push back her surrender to the California jail where she'll be spending 30 days, by another 24 hours at least.
No need to fret though, there'll be no delay in seeing Lindsay get all soft-porn in Playboy's glossy pages the pics are still on schedule to run in the mag's Janurary issue.
What a relief.


text:
Engravers, Printmakers and Draughtsmen
This is the smallest of our four categories of Academician, but one that represents a diverse group of artists: from founder member Richard Yeo (Chief Engraver at the Royal Mint) to Allen Jones and Eileen Cooper.
Featured Printmaker
Emma Stibbon RA
Emma Stibbon studied at Portsmouth College of Art, Goldsmith College and the University of the West of England. She is currently Senior Lecturer in Fine Art Printmaking at the University of Brighton. An award winning artist with an international reputation, she has held several residencies, including the Derek Hill Scholarship at the British School in Rome (2010). She will also participate in the Arctic Circle 2013, an art and science expedition to the Arctic Circle.
I see making prints as a fusion of the handmade and the computer-assisted – a collision of the analogue and the digital.
Stephen Chambers RA


text:
Friends of the Greenway
5K Run/Walk
Advisory Committees
In April, 1993 the Ohio River Greenway Development Commission was chartered by the Indiana Legislature (PL-174-1993) to act as a coordination, recommendation, and implementation entity for activities involving the Ohio River Greenway. The Ohio River Greenway is a continuous 7-mile recreational corridor along the Ohio River in Jeffersonville, Clarksville, and New Albany in Floyd and Clark counties. The Commission consists of three citizens from each of the three communities; one is chief executive of each municipality (Mayor or Town Council President) and two are citizens appointed by that chief executive. The Commission also has representatives from Clark and Floyd counties appointed by the Governor for four years.
The Commission is also supported by the participation of non-voting members. These non-voting members include the Director of the Office of Tourism, the Director of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Transportation, and the President of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.
All appointed members and non-voting members of the Commission serve as volunteers. The Commission currently has two paid staff members, Shaunna Graf, Project Director and Meredith Gainer, Administrative Assitant.
Ohio River Greenway Development Commission Voting Members
Mayor Jeff Gahan
January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2015
Pat Leist-Stumler
( Treasurer and Charter Member)
July 1, 2011 to
June 30, 2015
Anne Banet
July 1, 2010 to
June 30, 2014
Mayor Mike Moore
Phillip Hendershot (Commission Chair)
June 30, 2018
David Boome
(Commission Vice-chair)
Town Council President
Bob Polston
January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2015
Jim McCoskey
September 1 , 2011 to
August 30, 2015
Patrick Duggins
February 1, 2014 to
July 1, 2014
Clark County
Jay Conner,
February 1, 2014 to June 30, 2016
Floyd County
Ed Jerdoneck
November 8, 2012 to August 31, 2016
Ohio River Greenway Development Commission Non-Voting Members
Kelley Morgan , Department of Natural Resources
James Epperson, Southern Indiana Tourism Bureau
Wendy Chesser Dant, One Southern Indiana (Indiana Economic Development)
Jim Ude, Indiana Department of Transportation. Planning and Programming Director, Seymour District
Ohio River Greenway Commission 315 Southern Indiana Avenue Jeffersonville, In 47130
(812) 989-9262 email@example.com


text:
Ossian, IN -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/23/2014 -- Salts Worldwide is pleased to announce the addition of several new gourmet grade salt varieties to their already extensive inventory, available for immediate shipping. "We are focused on expanding our natural gourmet salt offerings as our company grows, providing both professional chefs and health conscious individuals with a one stop shop for all of their worldwide salt needs," explained company representative Dan Kerns. The online inventory is available for immediate shipping and contains French Grey Salt, Pink Himalayan Salt, Black Lava Hawaiian Salt, and Red Alaea Salt.
Traditional table salts are extremely unhealthy, and Salts Worldwide aims to help educate the general population about the benefits of preparing food with higher quality salts. "The salt you purchase at the local grocery store is highly processed and they do dot contain the highly valuable trace minerals that are found in the salts that we provide. Aside from the health benefits there is also a much better flavor achieved by using specialty salts. Several world renowned chefs use these salts in order to enhance the flavor of their dishes. We encourage consumers to cook their favorite dish with our specialty salts instead of the traditional kosher salt that they find at their local supermarket, and the reaction is outstanding. They are shocked at the flavor benefit they provide on top of the health benefit," added Mr. Kerns.
Salts Worldwide provides customers several quantity selections when ordering, giving new consumers the ability to affordably sample different salts, while also providing huge discounts for those wishing to purchase in bulk. Mr. Kerns discussed the different sizes available stating, "We understand that some consumers want to try different gourmet salts and experience the flavors, so we offer quantities as small as one ounce. Now, if there is a professional chef that uses Himalayan salt for example, we have the option to purchase it in quantities as large as 60 pounds. This allows us to satisfy the needs of the casual consumer all the way up to the best chefs in the world. All of our salts come with a 100% satisfaction guarantee as well."
About Salts Worldwide
Salts Worldwide is an online retailer providing the highest quality gourmet salts from around the world. The company only sells natural gourmet grade salts and bath salts that provide trace minerals and elements found naturally. Salts Worldwide provides salts for both professional chefs as well as the average consumer looking to take advantage of the high quality natural kosher salts. More information and to view the current available selection please visit http://www.saltsworldwide.com.


text:
found a new home!
Plenty of my friends are looking
for one too. Find a pet to adopt.
Find a pet to adopt |
My name is Niki!
Facts about Niki
- Breed: Domestic Shorthair
- Color: Brown Tabby
- Age: Young
- Sex: Female
- Hair: Short
Niki's Info...
I am already spayed, up to date with shots, and good with cats.
Niki is a sweet white and brown tabby young female. She is fun and playful and ready to be a part of your family.
Other Pets at Hobo Hotel for Cats
Why Adoption is a Great Option
Niki, a Lake Charles Domestic Shorthair cat was adopted! Here's how you can benefit by looking at adoption as an option to buying a Domestic Shorthair for sale in Lake Charles, or seeking a Domestic Shorthair cat from a breeder in Lake Charles.
- Rescues and shelter volunteers in Lake Charles already know the personality and tendencies of their pets. This means they can match you with the right pet. That will makes it much easier transition to owning a pet for yourself and your new pet.
- On average adoption fees are much less than you'd pay a Lake Charles breeder, or pet store. Plus most often rescue pets have already been to the veterinarian for a check-up, had a round of vaccinations, and are spayed or neutered. That is a lot of savings!
- You will become a hero, and give a needy dog or cat a loving home. In fact, there are even Domestic Shorthair breeders who help with Domestic Shorthair rescue. One puppy or kitten adopted in Lake Charles paves the way for another one to be saved.


text:
The Wilson Industrial Air Center was developed during WWII as an outlying field to the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, NC for the purpose of training naval aviators on the T-6 Texan Trainer. Its three runway design was important to assist new fighter pilots in avoiding cross wind approaches. As their expeience grew with training, cross wind approaches were added.The T-6 Texan two-place advanced trainer was the classroom for most of the Allied pilots who flew in World War II. Called the SNJ by the Navy and the Harvard by the RAF, the T-6 was designed as a transition trainer between basic trainers and first-line tactical aircraft.
In all, the T-6 trained several hundred thousand pilots in 34 different countries. A total of 15,495 of the planes were made. Though most famous as a trainer, the T-6 Texan also won honors in World War II and in the early days of the Korean War.
The Texan was an evolution of the company's BC-1 basic combat trainer, which was first produced for the U.S. Army Air Corps with fixed landing gear in 1937 under a contract that called for 174 planes. It was designed by North American Aviation as a low-cost trainer with all the characteristics of a high-speed fighter. Although not as fast as a fighter, it was easy to maintain and repair, had more maneuverability and was easier to handle. A pilot's airplane, it could roll, Immelmann, loop, spin, snap, and vertical roll. It was designed to give the best possible training in all types of tactics, from ground strafing to bombardment and aerial dogfighting, and contained such versatile equipment as bomb racks, blind flying instrumentation, gun and standard cameras, fixed and flexible guns, and just about every other device that military pilots had to operate.
At the end of WWII, the Federal Government began the daunting task of drawing down and eliminating surplus warstock, to include the Wilson Industrial Air Center. The Civil Aeronautics Administration (later known as the FAA) determined that the Wilson Airport was surplus property and the facility was given to the Town of Wilson in July of 1948 as a gift. The airport has since been operated by the City of Wilson.
The Wilson Industrial Air Center is managed by a commission of individuals with interests in transportation and aviation.
- N. Johnson Bissette
- Joseph J. Chesson
- Thomas F. Corbett
- Jeffrey Shane Cox
- Guy Dixon, Chairman
- William Thomas Fyle
- Joseph Anthony George
- Robert Gene Mills
- Dr. Ralph B. Perry, Jr
- Mrs. Terri Stutts
- Mrs. Jennifer Lantz, ex-officio


text:
Quoted Text Perhaps start by trying to understand the "why" behind you're eating ... are you angry, depressed, happy, etc., when you find yourself eating the avoids? Try to deal with those feelings in a way unrelated to food ... e.g. meditation, prayer, talking with someone, posting here, etc.
Quoted from gulfcoastguy Maybe wean yourself off caffeine?
Quoted Text (Ronagon gave you the supplement list in her post).
Quoted from Page I just wanted to touch base and let everyone know that I am doing very well on the BTD lately. I have been mainly compliant and I'm feeling much better. Thanks so much for all your support and encouragement.


text:
Here are a few photos from day 1 to start things off
From the Ruth Bancroft Garden
Drema and Cindy viewing some whimsey
Denise wanders up the garden path
The daring duo , Brenda and Dianne contemplate the price tag on this sculpture
Bum shot !
Comparing toenails with The Lurker
The winemaker pours for us in the gardens at Boeschen Vineyards
Walating with our wine !
Hope others will add more as time permits
Follow-Up Postings:
At least Denise isn't being led down the garden path... Will there be an opportunity for Brenda to hurl herself out of a perfectly serviceable airplane and contemplate the splendor of Napa from above? Are you having as much fun as I imagine you are? (hope so!) |
- Posted by michelle_zone4 zone 4 NW IA (My Page) on Sat, Jun 26, 10 at 13:37
Now that's cool - a garden that provides the wine. Looks like a good time! Thanks for including us. |
Looks like such a fun time! thanks for sharing Deanne |
What fun! Love all the garden art and the garden WINE! Seems all plants are abnormally large in California, doesn't it :) |
Ahhhhh!!! Wish I'd been there! Cheers, Julie |
- Posted by chloehoover z6b VA (My Page) on Fri, Jul 2, 10 at 22:01
Altho the Ruth Bancroft Gardens had the most unusual art installations (fun and odd), the plants and agaves there were amazing! -Cindy |
- Posted by dodgerdudette NapaCaz9 (My Page) on Fri, Jul 2, 10 at 22:27
Nice photos Cindy ! |
What!? No GREEN nail polish? |
LOL 'bug-reminds me of a time my niece visited. She was around six and we decided to paint our nails whatever color she chose. Yellow! Looked like we were diseased, but she loved it. |
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text: Whiskey 101The Peachtree ClubPresented by Scott Beauchamp of Empire DistributorsThursday, March 146 pm$20 per personWhiskey is the newest most popular trend in alcoholic beverages. Invite a friend to join you to enjoy a flight of whiskeys and learn what all the fuss is about! Required reservations to be made with ClubLine at 800-433-5079.


text:
Why the Republicans keep coming up short for governor
(Page 2 of 3)
Finally, timing was on Lowry's side. He ran when a huge Democratic wave swept Bill Clinton and Patty Murray into the nation's capitol and landed Lowry in the Governor's office, 52 percent to 48 percent.
1996: Ellen Craswell vs. Gary Locke. King County Executive Gary Locke, a former budget expert in the Legislature, won the Democratic primary, defeating Seattle Mayor Norm Rice and, in a distant third, Jay Inslee, who had lost his seat in Congress after a single term two years previously.
But the real gift to Locke on primary night was Ellen Craswell winning the Republican nomination. Half-a-dozen viable Republicans divided the primary vote, allowing Craswell to barely eke out a narrow victory over legislative leader Dale Foreman from Wenatchee, who would have been a formidable contender, as would've Norm Maleng or attorney Jim Waldo. It was like the 1980 primary that delivered Jim McDermott in reverse.
Ellen entered politics as a fiscally conservative Republican legislator from a Democratic district in Kitsap County. But a cancer scare changed her life and her priorities: the Reagan Republican became a Pat Robertson Republican. Gary Locke came across as a moderate alternative to both Craswell and Mike Lowry, who declined to run for a second term. And it helped that his wife, the attractive, smart and popular KING-5 reporter Mona Lee Locke, became pregnant with their first child during the campaign. The final result wasn't close; 58-42 percent. Gary Locke became America's first Chinese-American Governor, whose immigrant grandfather once worked as a servant in exchange for English lessons. A classic American success story.
2000: Another unwinnable race. Think of it as a Doug Flutie Hail Mary pass with no one in the end zone. After years of telling prospective candidates to study polling, demographic and elections data before committing themselves to a race, I stepped into the Guv's race in March of 2000 dismissing the significance of a poll where 73 percent of the voters believed Washington was on the "right track," and another showing that 58 percent would support Gary Locke's re-election no matter who ran against him.
Why so popular? The strongest economy in state history had generated a billion dollar surplus. A Republican Legislature made the governor invaluable to his party's base, but also made him more moderate than Lowry, as he signed welfare reform and several tax cuts into law. His implied theme couldn't have been simpler: "Why change?"
The Republican primary had me facing off against a colorful, outspoken state senator from Moses Lake named Harold Hochstatter. During a duel appearance in Wenatchee, he was asked where he stood on the death penalty. "Right next to the switch," he said.
I won 38 of 39 counties in the primary, but to no avail. Gary's final winning percentage in November: 58 percent.
2004: Dino Rossi vs. Chris Gregoire. At a time of hyper partisanship nationally, state Sen. Dino Rossi became a political star in Olympia for reaching across the aisle to produce a no-new taxes budget with key Democrats. Together with an inspiring life story — the son of a school teacher who worked his way through college sweeping the floors at the Space Needle — he was the face of the New Republican party. It resulted in the closest race for governor in American history, which Gregoire was awarded on a third count, after losing the initial count, and a recount, to Rossi.
One interesting side note: The 2004 campaign was twice as expensive as any previous run for governor, and the trend has accelerated. In 2000, about $6.5 million was spent on the governor's race by the candidates, political parties and third parties. In 2004 it passed $15 million. In 2012, more than $45 million.
2008: A rematch. Gregoire's 133 vote victory was pricey: She spiked state spending by a third in just four years. Rossi argued that her spending spree had put us on an unsustainable path, making a balanced budget impossible regardless of what happened to the economy. Gregoire shot back that Rossi's claims of a $2.5 billion shortfall were gross exaggerations.
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Posted Tue, Dec 4, 7:28 a.m.
To this conservative Demo. the reason is simply the distaste that people feel for Republican values. People want to have the right to choose,the right to come before corporate America, the right to control what is in their food, the right not to have a Palin, or Ryan close to power. Mitt Rmoney seems like a monster with a smile. People see that. Divorce yourselves from the Religious Right get over abortion restrictions(if you don't like them than don't get one) acknowledge and lead on climate change, have the guts to tell the irrational and uneducated extremists to take a walk. Than maybe you can find someone who might win. Otherwise you are what represents the mistaken past and what is and has been wrong with this country. It is that simple. I don't love Obama but he seems smart and rational. He does not ever scare me. Your guys look and act like land sharks. Obama will not ruin this country but your leaders Boener,McConnell and Cantor will try to so they can have a shot in four years. That is disgraceful,and it is why you will lose again. People see it and don't like it.
Posted Tue, Dec 4, 8:14 a.m.
Which Fred MacMurray was Ken Eikenberry like? The "Double Indemnity" Fred MacMurray or the "My Three Sons" Fred MacMurray?
Posted Tue, Dec 4, 9:22 a.m.
John, I believe the "attractive, smart and popular KING-5 reporter Mona Lee Locke" was a KOMO-4 reporter.
Posted Tue, Dec 4, 10:44 a.m.
An overarching reason McKenna was not elected: He offered no real difference to Inslee. McKenna's main stake in the ground, and which his TV ads (and last-minute direct mail) pounded in clearly, he's a PRO-ABORT, which the group "Mainstream Republicans" heralded as the only way to get elected. McKenna was a dismal failure in the race. Rossi, an ardent pro-lifer, had far better results. Beyond babies, McKenna was simply another politician -- voters of the state could get all that and more with Inslee who had no need to persuade us about who he REALLY is.
Posted Tue, Dec 4, 11:19 a.m.
There's your problem in a nutshell, Carlson. You can't win with fetus fascists like JohnUSA, and you can't win without them.
Posted Tue, Dec 4, 11:05 a.m.
McKenna stands against Obamacare, legalizing pot, and gay marriage made him a non-starter with many young, fiscally conservative people. Kids today, by which I mean pretty much anyone under 30, just dont agree with 1950's republicans on these issues, and young people continue to be a bigger and bigger voting bloc, and, as they age, they are still pro-choice, socially liberal, even if they are fiscally conservative.
Posted Tue, Dec 4, 12:04 p.m.
The Washington Republicans need to be the party of personal freedom and personal responsibility. You can't be that when your candidates scold the voters that God doesn't like the voters' politics. Even a candidate like McKenna, who was not a moral warrior, can be easily cast in that light because of his party affiliation. Washington will never be a bible-thumper's paradise. To the extent that it is anti-liberal, it is libertarian. The results of the initiatives and referendums in November prove that. Leave the moralizing in the pulpit. Get to work defending people's rights, not curtailing them. That would set a reformed Republican party apart from both the current one, and the Democrats.
Posted Tue, Dec 4, 3:55 p.m.
neither party can see the forest through the trees, we pick the lessor of two evils and hope for common sense.
then add bleeding hearts, political correctness and backdoor deals and we get higher taxes, less jobs and a polluted environment.
millions of dollars were spent on the campaigns to convince us they are the one to lead our state to prosperity. don't hold your breath.
Posted Tue, Dec 4, 11:19 p.m.
At least all the millions/billions of dollars spent for all the various national political campaigns employed a great number of actual American people. I doubt many of those jobs were outsourceable, so in many ways, the mighty political campaign dollars are a huge, huge part of the GDP.
Hopefully the layoffs won't be too massive.
Posted Wed, Dec 5, 6:44 a.m.
Democrats have finally elected a Peter Priniciple Governor, we have a real opportunity to watch a totally unqualified Governor address the pressing issues of State via "Staff". Will the media insist on performance from this Governor? What will press conferences sound like? Soft ball questions and "Secret Sauce" based answers? You had better hope as a State that there is a cadre of handlers that actually know what they are doing, because the "lead dog" doesn't know where he is going.
Posted Sun, Dec 9, 11:03 p.m.
Since when it is media's responsibility to "insist on performance"?
Posted Wed, Dec 5, 5:46 p.m.
I blame those trendy and "cool" glasses McKenna started wearing.
Posted Fri, Dec 7, 3:55 p.m.
While John is obvious just a tinge biased, my theory on why AG McKenna lost, while John makes a good point about the old guys at the diner being in McKenna's column already, though that's one of the McKenna ads I can remember - is the effectiveness of the Inslee ad that had McKenna pandering to the "Tea Party" folks. The second-most effective ads were the ones related to taking women's rights away and, to a lesser extent, suing about Obamacare. The old guys ad seemed a bit far-fetched, disingenuous, like how much were they paid to say that, as did, to a lesser extent, the one with McKenna and his family where he agreed with them, it sounded quite staged to me...as he's outvoted for anything in the family as it is! As for historical, Governor Spellman was a bland candidate who won in 1980 due to the national events (hostage crisis, 20% interest rates). In the later 80s and beyond, the Rs ran a series of far-right candidates, including Bob Williams (then a bland Eikenberry in-between), Craswell and Carlson himself. Senator Rossi gave the look of a slick used-car salesman, not too unlike Governor Romney, and wisely kept away from the social issues, which is why he almost made it. AG McKenna almost did so as well, except for the "Tea Party" and other ads I mentioned, which suggested he was further to the right than he led on. The majority of folks apparently didn't want to take the chance. I was surprised at how big the margin was, and I am doubtful that, in the short term, the Rs can win the Governor's office as well as many other state-wide offices.
Posted Sun, Dec 9, 11:07 p.m.
Did you really think those ads were not staged? The old guys were actors. McKenna's family was acting also.
Rossi was actually a slick real estate salesman.
Posted Tue, Dec 11, 10:25 p.m.
Rossi may have been a real estate salesman, but he wasn't any good, slick or not.
Posted Mon, Dec 10, 1:46 a.m.
I loved the "old guys" ad. Kept wondering what on earth they could possibly know about small business in the 21st century, but loved the ad. Gave me one more reason not to vote for McKenna.
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text:
Is there any shrub that will work under a Silver Maple, or am I just out of luck? We have a fairly large one in our side yard. Some forsythias are living, but not really thriving, planted at the edge of the dripline near the street. China Boy Hollys are suffering greatly - I need to pop them up and move them before I lose them.
I'd just as soon get rid of the tree, but it is providing some privacy right now in a key spot... |
Follow-Up Postings:
Honestly, long term, not much will do well. I have a pink flowering dogwood just about at the edge of the dripline of my silver maple, it's been there probably almost 40 years and does well. So perhaps some of the more shade-tolerant shrub dogwoods MIGHT work. Honestly, though, I gave up trying to grow anything near mine in-ground. I do containers around and under the tree. I still have to be sure to move them a few inches 3-4 times a season, or the tree roots will latch onto them through the drainage holes. You may want to try some large containers. Being in TN, you don't have to worry about winter damage to the roots of containerized plants for the most part. As long as the containers themselves are shatterproof against freezing (terra cotta and ceramic are OUT), it should work out fine. If you don't want to have to MOVE the containers on a regular basis to prevent maple root incursion, you can set them off the ground an inch or so using brick pavers or something similar. |
- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Tue, Mar 27, 12 at 13:32
the peeps in the hosta forum.. will testify.. that nearly NOTHING will grow with vigor under a maple.. [except for frank .. but you arent frank] ... if you dig a hole.. you will allow the plants some time to grow.. but sooner.. rather than later.. the maple will fill the hole.. and start invading the new plant ... i agree.. pots are a great idea.. but you will have to turn or move them.. a couple times a year.. BECAUSE THE MAPLE WILL ALSO INVADE THOSE!!! you have really.. only two options.. garden elsewhere.. or get rid of the maple ... you can not have both in one place ... ken |
I hadn't thought about containers - that's a good idea. It would also give me a little extra height. I wonder how long it would take for the roots to no longer be a problem if I cut the tree down? |
- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Tue, Mar 27, 12 at 17:54
Immediately, Connie. Silver maple is not the kind of tree that readily sprouts from the root system. Once cut down, the roots quickly die off. The responses above are right on. I had the largest silver maple in my city, in my back yard for 30 years. The tree was there much longer, but for 30 years, I was the fool that tried to grow stuff under them. Probably the only plant in my back yard that seemed able to shrug off the intense competition was lily of the valley! +oM |
A high canopy will help.... The area under a silver maple has got to rate as one of the driest areas in any temperate garden. If the canopy is high, at least the shrubs will get sufficient light. That said, shrubs native to the scrubby areas in rain shadow of western states tend to do well as do hardy Mediterranean shrubs. Try Mahonia aquifolium, Ribes sanguineum & ordoratum, Kerria japonica, and Acanthopanax sieboldiana. Hamamelis virginiana & vernalis might also work well. |
- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Tue, Mar 27, 12 at 22:29
Come to think of it, Virginia creeper (vine) did just fine under my 90 footer. That thing was raised way up. +oM |
Depends what kind of soil you have. If you have a sandy type soil you are out of luck. If you have more of a clay base the options open up. I had Hosta, Hydrangea, Hibiscus and Lilac growing under the canopy. Granted the tree was only 17 years old so not sure how that would change as the tree matures. I'd be curious to see if the Hydrangea and Hosta are still growing under there after 5 years now (its my previous home). |
- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Tue, Mar 27, 12 at 22:57
Hostas are completely helpless against a full grown silver. I planted some nice ones, good rich soil, the whole bit...and then watched them manage to get smaller every year thereafter. And like Ken said, you dig a nice big hole, fill it with good stuff, compost, whatever, and the tree's roots have that new spot fully colonized later that same afternoon! This is not hypothesis but rather, direct experience of both myself and other serious gardeners. I loved that big tree. We lived with it for 30 years-the tree was probably more like 130 years old-but the safety angle was what eventually got me taking it down. I had numerous leads in excess of 24 inches diameter over my house, my neighbor's house, my other neighbor's house.......you get the picture. This was a truly huge silver maple. +oM |
- Posted by toronado3800 Z6 St. Louis (My Page) on Wed, Mar 28, 12 at 2:14
puke, honeysuckle. Don't plant honeysuckle, it will live and take over. |
Nothing grows well under them. I had one in my clay soil and the first year things would survive, but each year either not come back or barely come back. I got tired of trying new things and bit the bullet and had the thing cut down and ground out. That was with keeping it trimmed well every two years, didn't matter it still acted like it was the 40 year old tree it was. Plus like they are known to do, it cracked my driveway and a sidewalk panel, which I just had to replace this year. Wish I had done it years earlier and wish all my neighbors would take the hint and do the same so I am not cleaning up hundreds of thousands of maple leaf seeds each Spring. Cher |
Well, I hate to lose the privacy it affords, but I would really like to plant something there, and there are much better things for that space that would provide year-round privacy. Maybe I do just need to bite the bullet and lose it. Mahonia is one of my favorites. Hammamelis - hmmm - I've been eyeing a Jelena this spring. :) |
- Posted by Springpatch77 Springfield IL (firstname.lastname@example.com) on Thu, Mar 29, 12 at 11:10
We moved to our house 2 years ago and had 3 very large silver maples (I really dislike these trees). All 3 were cut down with the intention planting other things there. We have had battle after battle with those roots. They were cut down 2 years ago and it seems like the roots are still alive. We removed the roots from a Blue Spruce we had cut down. It was a horrible battle (axes, shuffles chainsaws, anything we could think of) I think we've reached the point of giving up on removing the roots from the silver maples. I've been digging out spots nearby the the stump or where the stump was but I've given up on trying to plant something in the same spot. I guess my point is to make sure you'll be able to plant what you want to plant in its place before you cut it down. Personally I don't regret having them cut down. |
"We have had battle after battle with those roots. They were cut down 2 years ago and it seems like the roots are still alive." Did you apply concentrate of Roundup or generic version to the exposed cambium layer just under the bark, to kill it, or did you just cut off what you could get at and hope it died? Richard. |
- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Thu, Mar 29, 12 at 18:49
Springpatch, in what sense does it"seem like the roots are still alive"? That doesn't jibe with my reality! Something from the genus Populus sure, maybe even tree of heaven, but maple? Now if you simply mean you are struggling with the task of removing the roots with only hand tools and chainsaw, sure, that'd be a lot of work. But that's not the same thing as dealing with a still-living root system. +oM PS......I'm not always right. Teach me something new! |
The neighbors have 5 on the property line. It's a wet to moist area. The grass grows fast but near the Silver maples, I can barely tell where the grass needs mowed but for a few stray grass blades here and there. I can skip it till next time or longer usually, it's a good bit of area too. |
I love Silver maples but their roots are amazing. There is a big 60 year old Silver in the front southwest corner from my house. It has large gnarly surface roots snaking through the yard, which have heaved the sidewalk in two places growing towards the gutter downspout and have invaded the septic tank. When I had the tank pumped two years ago there was a large root encircling the the tank opening. It was unbelievable! Since then I regularly treat the tank with copper sulfate. Also, my southwest garden is now a "xeric" garden partly due to the Silver maple hogging any water in the vicinity! There are well-established common Lilacs (Syringa vulgaris) growing under the canopy of my tree, along with Vinca minor and some orange ditch lilies. About 4 years ago I planted 5 grey dogwoods (Cornus racemosa) along the property line with the next door neighbor - along the dripline of the tree about 20 feet away. They are doing pretty well, being more shade and drought-tolerant than most shrub dogwoods. A Forsythia is holding its own in a sunnier spot near the dripline too. |
- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Thu, Mar 29, 12 at 22:34
Terrene, your post is an excellent treatise on the very "common" plants that will indeed survive and maybe even thrive under silvers. I love the "orange ditch lilies" comment! My biggie used to have those, Virginia creeper vine, lily of the valley, very poor turf, and yes, an old common lilac under it! But hostas were the dividing line, simply not doing well in this spot. +oM |
- Posted by Springpatch77 Springfield IL (firstname.lastname@example.com) on Fri, Mar 30, 12 at 0:45
About the roots still being alive, my wife was trying to chop out some this March and I looked at one and I swore it was still moist like a living root. I could be wrong but I thought it looked like it was alive. I've heard people say that when you chop a tree down the roots die and I've heard people say that they do not. Someone even said the best way to kill them (aside from digging them out) is pouring salt on the roots (which will make the ground uninhabitable to virtually all plants for awhile). For this reason I didn't even attempt to kill them with any chemicals. If anyone would like I could go back and check again to see if they look alive but I distictly remember thinking that they were. |
Well it's not for no reason all those plants are very popular Tom! They are hard for the average property owner to kill. :) I have several large gardens and they are generally densely planted with bulbs, perennials, grasses, and some specimen shrubbery. Because my lot was previously heavily wooded (now it's more of an open woodland) all of the gardens have old tree roots running through them, but you would never know it by looking. At first I tried to wrestle with the roots, and dig them out, and pine roots are pretty easy, but trying to dig out the 2 large oak stumps or roots in the front garden was a totally futile effort! I ended up covering one oak stump with wood chips and a bird bath, the other with stepping stones. I generally don't bother trying to dig up roots any more, and just garden around them. Eventually those roots will decompose and start to add organic matter to the soil. I hypothesize that they get soft and act like a sponge to absorb and hold moisture in the soil too - and even become beneficial for the soil critters and the roots of the garden plants. |
I'm late to the posting party here but have had success, limited, with gardening under those blasted silver maples. One tool: machete. At least twice per season I root prune around my perennials, at least 20 varieties, to a depth of at least 8 inches. The trees are fine, the plants are happy, and so is the gardener. I have hydrangea and lilac well within the canopy and I score the soil around these shrubs just outside their drip lines. They'll wilt a little in really hot weather here in Chicagoland and I'll water at least weekly. Had I known earlier about the silvers I would have taken them out but they are the only shade/privacy we have on our deck and patio. Happy New Year! |
Since this thread was resurrected, I'll add another suggestion - Blue wood aster (Aster cordifolius) is a lovely native woodland wildflower that grows quite well under the Silver maple. It blooms great in dry shade and holds its amongst the Vinca and orange daylilies. Also we had a droughty period last July and there was a lot of die back on the Grey dogwoods, so they are probably not the best native shrub to plant under or near a Silver maple. However, no die back on the alternate leaf dogwood and Japanese snowbell growing in the same shrub border. |
- Posted by sherriseden z5 IL (firstname.lastname@example.com) on Fri, Apr 12, 13 at 22:11
Great suggestions! I, too, have a silver maple which I LOVE, but has a 15 foot radius of bare soil under it. Well, OK, a couple of struggling coneflowers and hostas. They will be moved to more hospitable places. Good to hear some things may actually thrive!! |
- Posted by thedarkness none (My Page) on Fri, Apr 12, 13 at 23:26
"Something from the genus Populus sure, maybe even tree of heaven, but maple? " tree of heaven, or ghetto palm, will survive being cut down to aqn inch above the soil, no matter the caliber of the tree, and will send dfoouble the sprouts the next year |
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Is there a maximum NG BTU line capacity a house cannot exceed due to main gas line pressure dropping? We live several hundred feet above see level near our Capitol. I'm about to switch out an older four burner 36" cooktop (estimate 48,000 BTU's tops) to a six burner 96,000 BTU with convection oven which requires the same 3/4" pipe. From the main gas line to the house basement where it comes in, first off (3 feet away) is the approximate 60,000 BTU water heater, then off the main line (5 feet further) is the 120,000 BTU furnace. Off this furnace feed is the smaller 3/4" gas line to the current cooktop (2 feet to left wall and up 4 feet or so through kitchen floor). Finally coming off after the gas furnace is a smaller gas line to an outdoor NG grill with two burners, no idea how many BTUs (longest run, probably 15 feet and present when we bought the house). We've never had any problems with any suggestion of inadequate gas pressure. Do you see any problems with changing out the gas cooktop (48,000) BTU to a higher BTU NG demanding 36" pro range w.r.t. minimums and maximum and maximum pressure to the regulator? Gosh, I tried the old blue tape method of wrapping the gas pipes to get their circumference so as to guesstimate their pipe diameter and got part way done but never finished my amateur calculation of whole house load. I don't think I have a caliper but may and I'd have to refresh myself on how to use it. Thank you for general guidance and comments on this matter. Am I limited to how much gas I may draw or limited by pressure minimums? In short, do you see a major problem here I'm overlooking in getting this pro range from a gas pressure load point of view? Thanks as always. Harriet Homeowner |
This post was edited by SparklingWater on Mon, Jan 28, 13 at 23:14
Follow-Up Postings:
To get the diameter, wrap a cooord around the pipe and measure the length of the wrap. Take that value and divide by 3. That should get you close enough. Without doing the math, I would say that increasing your BTU from about 220,000 by 48000, or 20% should have little affect on you system. But get the diameter if you can. |
- Posted by SparklingWater (My Page) on Tue, Jan 29, 13 at 17:54
I got hold of an old caliper. The OD of the current gas supply line rigid pipe is 3/4". The regulator rigid pipe OD is 3/4". There is a flexible metal connector connecting the cooktop to the gas supply line. The new NG range calls for a gas supply line of 3/4" rigid pipe. I don't see any problem here, except for following specs on the back wall 3/4" rigid pipe location (height and depth) and ensuring a 1/2 to 3/4" ID flexible metal appliance connector is allowed for ease of connection. I will be increasing from a 48,000 BTU cooktop to a 96,000 BTU range with a 30000 BTU oven burner. Any one see any problem with pressure drop or whatever here? What are these whole house NG BTU calculations done for other than to ensure proper pipe size (and regulator control) feeding the gas appliance(s) and that the total amount maximally drawn doesn't exceed the city's main NG rigid pipe load capability? I estimate my whole house BTU will be as follows (water heater (60,000 BTU max, may be it's less), furnace (120,000 BTU), new range (96,000 BTU), and out door 2 burner grill (guess 30,000 BTU) total 306,000 BTU. That's an increase of about 16 %, (258/306) in total BTU house draw. Thanks joeplumb. Does this information help you further? |
What is the diameter of the main piping and how long is the run from the meter until it gets to the water heater? |
Many NG companies have the final regulator right at the user meter and run higher pressure in their distribution system. Without knowing how you local company is set up there is no way to tell if your company line is large enough. All you can do is make sure your lines after the meter are large enough. Gas lines are not often run as branching, but as 'home run' lines back to the meter. |
- Posted by lazypup (firstname.lastname@example.com) on Thu, Jan 31, 13 at 13:36
The first step in designing the gas supply system is to make a list of all gas fixtures & there load to determine the total load. In this case they have: Water Heater........ 60k/btu Per code we are to contact the gas provider to find out the actual average btu per CF of the gas they provide. When that figure is not known code says we must use 11K/btu per Cubic Foot 268K/btu divided by 11K/btu equals 24.36cu/ft per hour Your existing range consumes 48K/btu but you will be changing that to a range that uses 96K/btu for a total demand load of 316K/but divided by 11K/btu per Cu/ft = 28.7cu/ft per hour We then need to know the YDL(total developed length) of the pipe from the meter to the furthest fixture. Note-TDL equals the actual physical length of the pipe plus the fitting insertion loss lengths for all fittings on the run. Per IRC table T2413.4(1) A 1/2" line could handled 40cu/ft out to 150ft TDL The bottom line, you have no problem. And for the record, your gas company is in the business of selling gas. The only limit on how much you can have is how much you can pay for. |
- Posted by SparklingWater (My Page) on Thu, Jan 31, 13 at 15:34
I've been off GW for a bit but not forgotten my post. I did measure the main gas intake pipe as presents in the basement room (not from outdoor main). With calipers, it appears to be 1 1/2" OD. There is a fitting and 90 degree turn with down size to 1 inch OD soon after entry, which serves the gas water heater (3 feet away), furnace (7 feet away). From the 1" OD long pipe servicing the furnace, there is a fitting, and a 90 degree turn to service the pipe leading to the out door grill: first 1" OD then it transitions 3/4" OD. From the same long line to the furnace, a fitting and 90 degree turn brings the 1" OD pipe over to the back wall of the furnace room with kitchen above. There is a fitting a 90 degree vertical turn with downsizing to 5/8" rigid pipe for the current cooktop. I haven't gone back down to measure/plot the TDL (I have our city form) as yet as I wish to do it one time, as accurately as I can. Thank you all for your help. I'll be back if serious questions arise. -SW |
This post was edited by SparklingWater on Thu, Jan 31, 13 at 16:09
From your 306,000 BTUH, and using the standard heating value of NG as 1 cubic foot per 1000 BTU, you need about 306 cubic feet/hr in the main Your main at 1.5 inch would give a pressure drop of only 0.004 psi per 100 feet of length equivalent and since you have very little main it would be a fraction of that. Your local pressure drops for 3/4 inch piping would be at most for the furnace would be 0.2 psi per 100 feet and you have significantly less than 100 equivalent feet in that line So, your total drop from the meter is much less than 0.2 psi (at the furnace) I would agree that your house piping is adequate. |
- Posted by SparklingWater (My Page) on Fri, Feb 1, 13 at 22:40
Thanks joeplumb. I truly appreciate your interest in my question from the beginning. Reading your post tonight is very reassuring and educating. I will work to complete the TDL to have it ready for the selected GC, as our city requires it as part of its permit process. I'm excited at the prospect of using my new range down the road. I'm very appreciative of your time and experience. |
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Who's Accountable?
Have you seen that comic that compares a parent teacher interview in 1960 to one in the year 2010? It's the one that shows the 1960's parents screaming at the kid over a failing mark while in recent times, both the parents and the kid are screaming at the teacher. Regardless of what message the comic sends, it raises the issue of the imbalance in accountability that seems to have always existed in education. How do we deal with that imbalance? What should the responsibility/accountability framework look like?
In a recent discussion with a fellow colleague and friend, we, like all teachers, envision for the future, a balanced triangle with student, teacher, and parent clustered around the goal of accountability/responsibility. Carlo Fusco and I are part of a team of educators who come together to discuss issues in podcast form on our site educast.me. Since integrating various web 2.0 tools in the classroom, we are noticing a recurring theme of potential for accountability in the future of education through transparency. The idealist in me says "keep things open" so that all parties may be placed in a perpetual ring of open communication. I say "idealist" because I know this concept does not come without its own issues, but I think it's best to focus on the benefits first.
Social media tools, class websites and wikis can all be used to share information and course content with all interested parties. A parent can check a Twitter feed or a Google calendar to help support a student schedule for completion of a project or test preparation. In addition to posting marks and course content, Carlo posts attendance on his password-protected class site for parents to view.
Parents of my students can also monitor their child's progress through a parent account in Edmodo. They can track assignment marks, completion, and even a news-feed generated separately for parents. A student has to log in to show the assignments to a parent, but this separation between public and private allows some control over transparency, which is not a bad thing when we are trying to teach youth some autonomy.
A student who is sick from school can check online and get caught up or even participate from home, taking ownership for learning. I recently had a student show up in a Google Doc to collaborate with her group while she recovered from an injury at home. Students were able to use the comment stream to chat while co-creating a script. At the beginning of the year, I had a student and his parent come visit me at parent-teacher night. This student used the excuse of being sick as a reason why an assignment was not complete. I was able to show the parent multiple date-stamped postings that appeared over a week and a half in my news-feed on the educational social media site, Edmodo. The news feed was very clear in setting timelines, expectations, and instructions for the assignment.
Open communication through online environments makes teachers accountable too. Because of the date-stamping of assignments, I find that I keep up with my marking. I'm not worried about being held accountable to what I say on-line as I am always professional. Although the textual evidence could work against me if a parent were to take issue with anything I post, it is much more likely to work as supportive evidence for assisting me in my job as a teacher and for helping me meet the demands for a shared accountability.
Now, the heavy. I can speak from both a teacher's and a parent's perspective. In this busy fast-paced society, I've found that parents just don't have the time to be engaged in their children's lives as much as they would like to be. Canadians are still chasing the North American dream, working long hours and putting their kids in countless organized activities. We are spending less time at home and less quality time with our children. This most definitely has an impact on the balance of accountability. Parents are a necessary party in making it work. How do we increase parental engagement? There's been a fascinating discussion led by Sheila Stewart on this topic right here in VoiceEd.
2 Comments
Hi Jane,
You have mentioned some great points and questions! I really appreciate that you wrote about your experiences and perspectives in this area. There is a lot to consider regarding accountability, responsibility, and transparency….and what each one means to and for teachers and parents. It was great to read about the things you are doing to make information available. I recognize the struggle to find the balance and the meeting ground with students and parents.
I have never been very comfortable with the "accountability" references with regards to parents, and I am not certain it is something that can really be a focus or goal to accomplish or expect. It is my worry that when we start talking about things that might make parents more accountable we may take approaches that may end up affecting the important relationships that we may need to make in order to help connect them as partners and in support of their children and the school. I think there are some other approaches that can be taken to keep relationships and respect intact for all. Here is one example:
I also like what I am hearing lately from others about "differentiating" approaches to connect with parents – which I recognize may take some time to determine what works for different parents, but it may be really important to meet them "where they are at". Chris Wejr wrote a few posts relating to that, and here is one example:
I think many share the struggles you have mentioned, especially when we see the potential of technology to help overcome some of the barriers to support the student-parent-teacher connection and support, and not all parents are "there yet". Here is another post from a teacher who wrote about making connections with parents and "evolving parent communication":
Hope my train of thoughts and links are helpful. Will likely reflect more on your post. Thanks!
- Jane Mitchinson - [...] with VoiceEd.ca) Tweet This entry was posted in …
- educast.me – Transparency in Education - [...] can also find Jane's follow up blog post on [...]


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3D face recognition using multiple features for local depth information
Khalid, Fatimah and N. A., Lili (2009) 3D face recognition using multiple features for local depth information. IJCSNS International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, 9 (1). pp. 27-32.
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In this paper, we recognized multiple features from the local depth information of distance and angle calculation. These features are calculated from the twelve salient points by considering the distance and angle calculation. Then, fifty three non-independent features are extracted and the discriminating power is used for analyzing these features. The result shows an improvement compared to the previous work
Item Type: | Article |
Keyword: | 3D face recognition, feature localization, feature extraction |
Subject: | Human face recognition (Computer science) |
Subject: | Face perception - Computer simulation |
Faculty or Institute: | Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology |
ID Code: | 12637 |
Deposited By: | Umikalthom Abdullah |
Deposited On: | 02 Nov 2011 03:21 |
Last Modified: | 16 Nov 2011 11:31 |
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