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Your perfect vacation awaits you in our newly renovated three bedroom cape located in historic Yarmouth Port. Tucked away in a lovely neighborhood off of Rt 6A, Our home sits on Great Marshes that looks out to Barnstable harbor and Sandy Neck beach. Relax on the adirondack chairs in the spacious back yard while viewing the breathtaking sunsets and the whale watching boat in the harbor. (Cape Cod Bay is the only location on the East Coast where you can view the sun setting over the ocean). Enjoy a quiet and child safe neighborhood with access to conservation trails only 50 feet away that lead to beautiful Gray's Beach also know as Bass Hole.
ENTERTAIN IN A BRAND NEW KITCHEN complete with granite countertops, cherry cabinets, stainless steel appliances, recessed lighting, and hardwood flooring. Well stocked to make your meals at home more enjoyable.
THE DINING AREA overlooks the peaceful marsh and is open to the family room. The china cabinet is stocked with additional dishes and glassware to make entertaining a breeze. The table has a leaf that can comfortably accommodate a party of 8.
THE FAMILY ROOM has a high-end leather sofa and two oversized comfortable chairs to relax in after a fun-filled day. There is a 46'' flat screen television, DVD player, games, a fireplace, and sliders to the large deck overlooking the marshview.
THE LARGE DECK has a custom made wood trestle table with an umbrella, chairs, & bench. Two steps down is the large professional stainless grille for cooking while surrounded by nature and salt air breezes. A 100 lb propane tank is included to ensure that you never run out while cooking. An amazing marsh view can be seen from the deck. Two adirondack chairs and a side table are located in the yard for taking in the breathtaking ocean view.
THE SPACIOUS KING MASTER BEDROOM is located on the first floor and beautifully furnished with brand new coastal themed furniture and 32'' flat screen tv. Upstairs are two bedrooms, one with a queen bed, armoir, and walk-in closet and the other with a twin and pull out trundle. The bedrooms are tastefully decorated with fresh designer linens,new mattresses,new furniture, and new lamps. The hallways have doors to close off the stairs and main living area to keep noise to a minimum in the bedrooms allowing early birds to sleep peacefully and night owls to sleep late. New carpeting installed throughout. There is a full bathroom located on each floor and central a/c.
CHECKOUT OUR PROPERTY NEXT DOOR which is also available for a unique rental opportunity to share all the amenities offered by both homes. https://www.homeaway.com/3936094
ADDITIONAL AMMENTIES include Kayaks, life vests, bicycles, helmets,beach chairs, towels, cooler on wheels, hair dryer in each bathroom, and iron/ironing board. There is no cleaning fee or bed linen fee as we provide this as a service to our guests. Bath and beach towels are provided and towel laundering is offered for a fee if needed. We want you to feel pampered!
Nature trails are easily accessed only 50 ft away that lead to Grey's Beach also known as Bass Hole. You can stroll the boardwalk that stretches 868 feet into a salt marsh over the bass river. Gray's beach offers a playground, picnic area, boat launch, beach with lifeguards, and free parking. Here's what visitors are saying: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g41955-d208266-Reviews-Gray_s_Beach-Yarmouth_Port_Cape_Cod_Massachusetts.html.
Walk or bike to the neighborhood ice cream shop, village store, or newly renovated playground only minutes away. You will be conveniently located with easy access to the pristine bay beaches of Dennis which are only a 15-minute drive down Rt. 6A. Bike, walk, or drive to Dennis pond which is 1 mile away and is one of Cape Cod's cleanest freshwater ponds. Enjoy kayaking, fishing, swimming, or just relaxing on the beach which has lifeguards on duty during the weekend. Four kayaks & life vests are provided but guests are responsible for transporting them to desired waterways. Four bicycles and helmets are also available for exploring the nature trails,neighborhood, and bike trails. The neighborhood playground is being completely renovated with a completion date by the end of June 2015.
Visit downtown Hyannis, just 15 minutes away, where there is always something fun to do for any age. It boasts eclectic and fun museums, library, carousel, art galleries, boutiques, pubs, fine restaurants, nightclubs, ice cream parlors, coffeehouses, bookstores, harbor cruises, and the ferries to Nantucket and Martha's vineyard.
Experience the quieter side of cape cod. Scenic route 6A is chock full of antique shops and some of New England's finest boutiques. The tree-lined winding road will bring you to many of the area's finest restaurants while passing through some of america's oldest villages.
"Landscapes, like beauty, may well be colored by the eye of the beholder, but steering along tree-shaded route 6a on a mild summer day, with blue inlets of cape cod bay on one side and white picket-fenced houses on the other, I'm tempted to conclude this may be the most appealing stretch of america I know."
–Jonathan Kandell, Smithsonian Magazine, April 2005
Keywords: Cape Cod vacation, Cape Cod vacation rental, vacation rental, Gray's Beach, Bass Hole, Gray's Beach boardwalk, Bass Hole boardwalk, ocean view, beach view, Sandy Neck beach, Barnstable Harbor, Sandy Neck Lighthouse, nature trails, conservation trails, hiking, biking, kayaking, sunsets, Great Marshes, Great Marsh, Yarmouth Port, fall getaway, girl's weekend, golfing, Sunset Bay Cottage, Yarmouth Port playground
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Bordering Great Marshes looking out to Sandy Neck Beach, Barnstable Harbor, and Sandy Neck Lighthouse in the distance. Peeks of the Sandy Neck lighthouse can be seen from the upstairs twin bedroom....moreless
Bordering Great Marshes looking out to Sandy Neck Beach, Barnstable Harbor, and Sandy Neck Lighthouse in the distance. Peeks of the Sandy Neck lighthouse can be seen from the upstairs twin bedroom....moreless
Garage is attached to the house with washer and dryer located within....moreless
Newly renovated with granite countertops,stainless steel appliances, hardwood flooring, and recessed lighting...moreless
4 Kayaks are available and 4 adult life jackets Guests must transport to desired waterways....moreless
|Weekend Night
|Monthly *
Summer Season
Jun 27 - Aug 28, 2015
7 night min stay
Late Summer
Aug 29 - Sep 4, 2015
4 night min stay
Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
Sep 5 - Oct 2, 2015
3 night min stay
Fri, Sat, Sun
Oct 3 - Oct 30, 2015
3 night min stay
Fri, Sat, Sun
Oct 31 - Nov 27, 2015
3 night min stay
Fri, Sat, Sun
My Standard Rate
3 night min stay
Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
Additional information about rental rates
Checks are the preferred method of payment. Reservations will be held for 10 calendar days until check arrives. Credit and debit card payments will be subject to a 3% charge.
You may avoid the towel laundering fee by laundering the towels provided or bringing your own. Bed linens are laundered at no cost.
Security deposit is fully refundable within two weeks from date of departure.
A cleaning fee may apply to stays of less than one week.
CHECKOUT OUR PROPERTY NEXT DOOR which is also available for a unique rental opportunity to share all the amenities offered by both homes. https://www.homeaway.com/3936094
Policy available by contacting owner when booking.
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Car: Necessary
It is known locally as both Gray's Beach and Bass Hole. Located only one mile away by conservation trails next to property or by car it is 1.5 miles and offers free parking. There is a roped off area for swimming which is shallow for some distance from shore in a protected bay providing shelter from the often present Cape Cod wind and is ideal for small children. Next to the swimming beach is a launch area for small boats and kayaks, which provides access into Chase Garden Creek for kayakers looking for a marsh river paddle.Travel in the other direction from the launch takes kayaks, sailboats and small powerboats out into Barnstable harbor. With a boat or kayak it is also possible to land on Chapin Memorial Beach in Dennis, which has a beach on both Chase Garden Creek and Cape Cod Bay.Walk along the boardwalk next to the launch area which takes you out to the edge of the harbor where you can watch the boats, the shorebirds, fiddler crabs and fish or just enjoy the marsh itself. At the other end of Gray's Beach, just past the picnic area there is access to a walking trail through a section of the marsh. An 860' boardwalk takes you out over the marsh to the woods beyond. Here's what visitors are saying: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g41955-d208266-Reviews-Gray_s_Beach-Yarmouth_Port_Cape_Cod_Massachusetts.html
The pristine bay beaches are a 15 minute drive down Rt 6A and will not disappoint with their beautiful white sand and calm, warm ocean waters.
A brand new playground is due to be completed by the end of June 2015 and is only a 10 minute walk away.
Year Purchased: 2013
About the owner: Our family has been renting private vacation homes for twenty years. We know what we like and expect and we try our best to put all those pieces together to ensure a comfortable and relaxing retreat. My husband and I have custom built and renovated several houses over the years as a hobby. This house is our first that we have had the opportunity to share and welcome guests. We purchased the house in February 2013 and have enjoyed two successful seasons renting on Cape Cod. I thoroughly enjoy making decorating changes and adding special touches to ensure my guests an enjoyable experience while vacationing here.
Why the Owner Chose Yarmouth Port:
The home is located on a very special piece of property that is surrounded by 300 acres of conservation land and overlooks Great Marshes, a tidal marsh. The nature trails that lead to Gray's beach are easily accessed 50 feet away. The sunsets and views are spectacular. As one of my guests had said, 'You feel like you're on your own private island.' During the course of a day, the lighting changes and creates a magical setting. Cape Cod Bay is the only location on the East Coast where you can view the sun setting over the ocean. It is peaceful and serene to be surrounded by nature and view hundreds of species of birds that call this paradise their home along with white-tailed bunnies who frolick in the yard at dawn and dusk. It is located north of Route 6A, very desirable and within fifteen minutes of ferries, train, airport, pristine bay beaches, Cape Cod Playhouse, antique shops, art galleries, museums, clam shacks, multiple golf courses, playgrounds, kayaking, boat launch, charter boats, and whale watching boats. A five minute walk to the newly renovated neighborhood playground (completion date by end of June 2015) and the village store/ice cream shop. A perfect location in a perfect setting.
The Unique Benefits at this House:
The house has been renovated with new carpeting, hardwood flooring, custom tile, recessed lighting, and a new kitchen with cherry cabinets, stainless appliances, and granite countertops. New siding/trim, several new windows and doors, and new lighting were completed November 2014. All the furnishings, linens, and mattresses are new to ensure total comfort. Added benefits are central a/c, WiFi, flat screen tv's, laundering of bed linens, fully stocked kitchen, use of 4 kayaks, 4 bicycles, 6 beach chairs, cooler, and beach & bath towels at no additional cost. The yard is expansive to enjoy all types of outdoor activities and dog friendly nature trails are only 50' away. In addition, we own the property next door (property id# 3936094) creating a unique opportunity for guests to rent side by side properties sharing all the amenities that are offered by both homes.
Beautiful sunset overlooking Barnstable Harbor and Sandy Neck Beach in the distance
Large deck & grill overlooking spacious yard. New trestle table seats 8 nicely.
Relax in the adirondack chairs while taking in the beautiful scenery and the whale watching boat as it leaves the harbor.
Newly renovated kitchen with cherry cabinets, granite countertops, stainless appliances, hardwood flooring, and recessed lighting
Dining area overlooking peaceful marsh.Table has leaf which comfortably seats 8.
Curl up with your favorite read in these two new comfy oversized chairs.
Sliders to large deck with new wood trestle style table for entertaining.
A relaxing bedroom retreat to rejuvinate before your next day's adventures.
Queen bedroom has cherry armoir and walk-in closet for plenty of storage.
Renovated first floor bathroom with custom tile and recessed lighting.
Recreational amenities include 4 kayaks, 4 bicycles, 7 beach chairs & a cooler.
The Golf Club at Yarmouthport is only a five minute drive down Rt 6A.
Front of Cottage
Enjoy the serenity while watching the hundreds of bird species that call this paradise their home.
High tide with peak of nature trail to the right that leads to Grey's Beach.
This beautiful kitchen awaits your culinary adventure.
Relaxing coastal themed decor & fireplace to warm up during those cool nights
Family room with 46' flat screen tv, dvd player, fireplace, sliders to large deck. New comfortable furnishings.
Spacious master bedroom with new coastal themed furniture & comfortable mattress
Queen cherry sleigh bed, new designer linens, and comfortable mattress.
Twin bed with roll under trundle. New Vermont made furniture and new comfortable mattresses.
Custom tiled glass enclosed shower to enjoy after a long day at the beach.
Gray's Beach Boardwalk with Chapin Beach in the distance.Small beach and boat launch are to the right along with playground and picnic pavilion.
Aerial view of property and nature trails to Gray's Beach. A nature lovers dream
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text: While this post is totally off topic, I spent some time playing around with video editing and made my first ever youtube ready video. This month has seen some of the craziest and toughest financial times for the US and the world. While the situation is very serious, and fixing this sub prime mess is something I feel very strongly about, I couldn't help make light of the situation. I created the video below after watching the bailout plan fail in the House and the market subsiquently tank over 700 points. If I don't laugh, I'll cry.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Theme 5: Finance - Topic 5.1: Sustainable Financing Session 2: Addressing the financial demand How can the gap between lenders and borrowers be bridged? What can the different actors do to increase the borrowing capacity of the service providers? Proposal for Session 2 of Topic 5.1 Topics covered Enhancing the borrowing capacity, creditworthiness, risk mitigation, revenue generation, building up the cash flow, ring fencing from social policy, regulation Borrowers/service providers - sector fragmentation, decentralized vs. integrated services/utilities, efficiency gains and contribution/role of private sector Financial tools – role of different sources of supply of funds, guarantees, blending, targeting. Context See Master document Key Question 1 How can sector/utility reform reduce risk and therefore enhance the capacity of the sector to access market finance? In other words how can we shift from just "hedging" risk to addressing the underlying issues that affect risk and therefore not just increase demand for finance but also improve its quality? Key Question 2 How and at what level (sovereign or sub-sovereign/ utility level) can the different sector risk be allocated/ transferred efficiently, so that the cost of borrowing can be brought down and how can decentralisation be optimised so that risk can be pooled and borrowing capacities increased? Key Question 3 How can the often conflicting social goals of the water sector and commercial objectives of a water service provider be reconciled in way that enhances access to market finance and increases the financial sustainability of the sector? Supporting Master document (available, to be reviewed), 4 supporting documents for each key documents question if judged necessary (to be prepared by invited specialist) and field cases (to be prepared, see proposal ) What will be The financing gap, the common objectives of lenders and borrowers, a finance bridged? demand driven approach Format, Chair: participants (TBC) Panellists: Local/regional government: Public borrower/service provider: Private borrower/service provider: Lender for public and private sector: Other: Moderator: Rapporteur: Participants could include IFIs, bilateral agencies, Representatives of the Ministries of Finance and Water, private and public utilities, regulators, and local government/ municipalities, commercial banks, and other relevant stakeholders 1/10 Theme 5: Finance - Topic 5.1: Sustainable Financing Session 2: Addressing the financial demand Timing Introduction by chair of session and key questions: 10 minutes Comments by panellists on the key questions: 30 minutes Questions from the floor and debate: 90 minutes Rapporteur initial conclusions: 15 minutes Debate conclusions: 30 minutes Closing by chair: 5 minutes Contact for Name: José Frade, Niraj Shah coordination of Organization: European Investment Bank the session E-mail: email@example.com; email@example.com; Tel:+ 352 4379 82727 (82723) 2/10 Theme 5: Finance - Topic 5.1: Sustainable Financing Session 2: Addressing the financial demand MASTER DOCUMENT Addressing the Financial Demand1 1. Financing the water and sanitation sector: what is the current state of play? Access to a safe and reliable drinking water supply and adequate sanitation are essential to public health and well-being. Since 2000, global efforts have been focused on achieving the internationally agreed water supply and sanitation (WSS) targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Yet, according to latest coverage estimates, there still exists a significant global deficit in coverage, with two out of every ten people lacking access to a safe water supply, and five out of ten having inadequate sanitation. Where services do exist, they are often characterised by an intermittent and poor quality supply of water, and inadequate sanitation. Lack of or inadequate access to water and sanitation services presents an exceptional burden on the poor, both from an economic and a health standpoint. Increasing access and improving and maintaining existing service coverage and quality levels will require significant financial resources. Many estimates of the financing requirements to meet the global water supply and sanitation MDGs have been calculated. While these estimates tend to vary by large margins due to differences in methodology, it is clear that requirements are significant 2. Although data on actual financial flows going into the water and sanitation sector is difficult to ascertain, there is a common consensus that it falls significantly short of even the lowest estimate of the financing needs, resulting in a large global financing gap 3. In 2003, the Camdessus Report, found that the supply of financing going into the sector, from all sources, needed to double in order to achieve the targets for the water and sanitation MDGs. Despite efforts of recent years to increase the amount of finance flowing into the sector, the gap between the sector financing needs and actual investments remains large and the Reports' conclusion still as valid as ever. In the follow-up to the Camdessus Report, the 2006 Gurria Report, stated that the significant financing requirements of the water and sanitation sector can only be satisfied if, in addition to measures to increase the supply of finance, measures to improve the demand were undertaken in parallel. This paper, drafted for Session 2 of Topic 5.1 – "Addressing the Financial Demand" under the Theme 5 on "Financing" for the 5 th World Water Forum to be held in Istanbul in 2009, looks at the limits of "traditional" sources of financing and explores the role of debt financing in filling the financing gap. It then picks up on the demand side theme of the Gurria report and offers observations on how the sectors' capacity to "borrow" and therefore its demand for debt instruments, be increased. 2. Bridging the financing gap: are there limits to raising finance from "traditional" sources? In most developing countries, financing for the WSS sector usually comes from one or more of three sources: public budgets, service users, and official development assistance (ODA). The following 1 The current version of the document is focused on developing countries. A review will be required to make it more "universal". 2 Estimates to achieve the MDG on water supply and sanitation vary between US$ 9 and US$ 30 billion per year (WWC, 2006). Most recently, the WHO, calculated the annual investment needs for just increasing coverage to meet the water and sanitation targets of MDGs in developing countries as US$ 18 billion (for universal coverage the estimate will be higher). The cost of maintaining existing services totals an additional US$ 54 billion per annum. 3 For example, in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), annual water and sanitation investments needs are estimated to be around US$ 5 - 7 billion. According to cross-country budget analysis carried out for the 2006 Human Development Report, current annual spending is about US $800 million annually (or about 0.3% of SSA GDP). Cost-recovery by service providers and financial resource mobilisation by communities to finance water delivery would probably increase total current spending to US$ 2.5 billion (or 1% of GDP). This results in an estimated financing gap of around US$ 2.5-4.5 billion per annum. 3/10 Theme 5: Finance - Topic 5.1: Sustainable Financing Session 2: Addressing the financial demand section reviews each of these sources in turn, with a view to determine their ability to fill the financing gap. 2.1 Public Budgets: The importance of the domestic public sector in providing funds for WSS cannot be overstated: many municipalities and public utilities in developing countries depend on funds from public budgets (via inter-governmental fiscal grants/ subsidy transfers) for both long term capital investments and short-term recurrent needs. Public sector funds are mainly derived from domestic tax revenues and public sector borrowing. In most low income countries, the tax base is small and collection systems poor. As economies grow, the tax base widens, and revenue collection becomes more efficient, public budgets will gradually increase over time. Till then, there will be a limit to the amount of finance that a government can raise to meet its investment needs through annual tax revenues. Public budgets face many pressing and competing demands for budgetary allocations to sectors such as health, education and WSS. Budgetary allocations depend on the degree of sector prioritisation within national policy frameworks, linkages between policy, planning and budgetary setting processes, sector leadership, and articulation of the sector case to policy and decision makers at the national level. The WSS sector often falls short on most of these measures and as such suffers from low levels of allocations. While improvements across all these measures is likely to lead to increased sector funding from the national budgets, the extent of the increase may be limited by the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) sector ceilings. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that increases in public funding for the WSS sector are unlikely to be sufficient to fill the financing gap. 2.2 Service Users: Revenues generated by charging for water and wastewater services through tariffs, are another significant source of financing for the sector. For a sector to be financially sustainable in the long run, tariffs should be set to recover all capital, operations and maintenance and capital maintenance costs. In reality, historical tariff levels in many countries have barely even covered the recurrent costs of service provision, let alone made any contributions to capital expenditures required to increase access and improve services. This has left the sector chronically underfinanced. The capital intensive sector has high initial financing requirements and a long payback period. Affordability constraints make it impossible for users to pay for such large investments upfront; instead users are more likely to be able to and willing to pay, if the costs are recovered over a longer period of time. This means that although in the short-term, users will not be able to close the funding gap, increases in tariffs towards cost recovery levels are important for the long-term financial sustainability of the sector; however these increases should be gradual rather than abrupt and should take into account any affordability constraints. At the same time, a lack of political will to increase tariff towards cost recovery levels further undermines the ability of the sector to recover the costs of services from the users and therefore close the revenue cycle. Financial sustainability is vital in the long run as there are not enough public or grant-based resources to maintain infrastructure and for new capital investments. 2.3 ODA from donors: Official development assistance (ODA) is made up of financial transfers with a grant element. This is commonly referred to as aid and consists of mainly government (donor) to government (recipient) transfers. ODA forms a relatively small portion of the total financing going into the WSS sector; however in many Sub-Saharan Countries (SSA) a large share of the government budget and hence the water sector budget comes from ODA via budget support or project aid channelled via the central government but classified as off-budget. Donor commitments to the WSS sector have increased since the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002, after several years of decline. However, a significant amount of this increase has been due to ODA going to Iraq. In addition, the share of WSS in bilateral ODA has 4/10 Theme 5: Finance - Topic 5.1: Sustainable Financing Session 2: Addressing the financial demand actually declined from 5.4% in 2000 to around 4.2% in 2004 indicating that there has been no increased prioritisation of the WSS sector. In real terms ODA in 2004 was lower than in 1997, in contrast to education or health, which have seen marked increases. Furthermore, research on aid 4 flows has indicated that ODA commitments are not targeted to those countries that have a large proportion of the population without access to water and sanitation services (i.e. those most in need). Donor governments' public budgets faces similar public financing constraints that recipient country budgets face: limited pubic budgets with different sectors competing for budgetary allocations (both at the level of the national budget and also at the level of ODA allocations to different development sectors). International commitments and increased advocacy and awareness raising by various international NGOs has contributed to increased allocations of public funds to ODA and within ODA to the WSS sector. However, the current adverse economic conditions facing many donor countries may 5 limit further increases in ODA in the near future . Therefore, despite the optimism generated at the 2002 Monterrey Conference on Financing Development and at the WSSD, it is unlikely that donors' ODA commitments to support the water sector will increase sufficiently enough to cover the financing gap. 3 Bridging the financing gap: is there a role for debt financing? It is clear that the WSS capital expenditure requirements to increase access and improve services are enormous; from the analysis above it is also clear that the availability of funds from the "traditional" softer sources will not be enough to bridge the financing gap. Although no single source will be large enough to fill the financing gap alone, access to debt financing, both from international financing institutions and from domestic financial and capital markets, will be important to bridge the financing gap for capital investments. The capital intensive nature of the sector where the capital expenditures are made upfront and the payback is over a longer period of time makes long-term debt ideal for financing investments in the WSS sector. The long-term nature of the debt helps to spread the cost of debt servicing over a longer time period, thus making it easier to recover the costs from users. Debt financing can be in the form of loans, bonds or mixed systems, the use of which will depend on the extent of market development, and varying policy contexts. Whilst the supply of debt financing is potentially available at the required scale from commercial banks (local or international), capital markets, and International Financial Institutions (IFIs), the demand for it often is not; municipalities and utilities are unable to take advantage of such financing, because appropriate country and sector enabling environment does not exist or that they do not meet the requisite conditions at the utility level demanded by lenders, i.e., they are not "bankable" or creditworthy. The lack of demand for finance could have various possible explanations; the next section looks at the constraints from both the country and sector and utility levels. 4 Bridging the financing gap: what are the constraints to accessing debt financing? Sector Constraints Decentralisation of service provision has been a central component of sector reform; yet in many countries, policy making, regulatory and service delivery functions have not been adequately separated or institutionalised. In others, decentralising to the lowest level of government has led to a 4 Fonseca and Cardone, 2006 5 Many donor governments are facing large public sector deficits in 2008 that are only likely to increase further as governments spent their way out of a recession. 5/10 Theme 5: Finance - Topic 5.1: Sustainable Financing Session 2: Addressing the financial demand fragmentation of the sector, with too many small and medium-size municipalities or utilities that lack the capacity to adequately provide public services or the scale to access financing. The functional decentralisation has not been adequately followed up by fiscal decentralisation, where the utility has adequate autonomy to determine the level and composition of its revenues and expenditures, as well as the authority to mobilise financing from other sources (such as capital markets). Governments often do not allow water utilities or municipalities to charge the full economic costs of water services because of a potential political backlash; at the same time they are not willing to plug the funding gap through the provision of public funds. Where public funds are available in the form of inter-governmental fiscal transfers, they are often discretionary and unpredictable. To add to the problem, a lack of clarity about ownership of assets is often an additional obstacle to investment. Many governments are reluctant to decentralise borrowing powers to the municipal and service provider level. It is often presumed that as water and sewerage utilities provide an essential public service, the central government will not allow them to fall into financial distress and will fund deficits or 6 guarantee any debt repayment arrears that they have . This fall back position may encourage utilities may borrow beyond their means (problem of moral hazard), in the absence of an appropriate regulatory framework. Utility Constraints Creditworthiness of utilities is a demand-side requirement for borrowing. Generally it refers to the ability and willingness of a borrower to repay the debt in a timely manner. Many utilities in developing countries are not considered creditworthy because of significant performance problems in the provision of WSS services, including low coverage rates, low tariffs levels and tariff collection rates, high physical water losses (non-revenue water), and poor water quality. These performance problems contribute to a downward operational spiral that the utilities find increasingly difficult to extricate themselves from. As tariffs are the main revenue source of utilities, the actual and future tariff collection are a significant factor in a utilities' ability to repay a loan and therefore to be considered creditworthy. In the absence of operational autonomy, water utilities face huge political pressure to keep tariff levels low, leading to poor cost recovery. This combined with low tariff collection rates, means that utilities are unable to generate and sustain sufficient cash flows to make them financially sustainable. If the long-term flow of funds is deemed insufficient, lenders are less likely to provide loans or may do so at a higher interest rate to compensate for the higher risk of default or non-payment (they may also request a sovereign guarantee). Poor operational performance is also a good proxy for a poorly run utility that lacks the financial, technical and managerial skills necessary to provide good water and sanitation services at a reasonable cost. Without sound financial management skills, a utility may borrow beyond its repayment capacity by developing unrealistic revenue projections. The lack of technical capacity may lead to an over-engineering of the systems that are then expensive to construct and operate and poor implementation capacity may make borrowing excessive and risky: if the loan is not translated into a functioning system in a timely manner, and does not result in services that contribute to increased revenues, the cost of the loan will rapidly exceed its benefits. Additionally, caps imposed by the government (as a result of civil service policies) on how much a utility can spend on wages may result in qualified staff leaving for better paid jobs in the private sector. As long as these capacity issues are not addressed in a more systematic way, borrowing will not become a viable option for utilities to finance their infrastructure needs. 6 A risk of default may have important implications for ability of the central government to rely on fiscal policy as a tool to manage macroeconomic stability. 6/10 Theme 5: Finance - Topic 5.1: Sustainable Financing Session 2: Addressing the financial demand 5. Bridging the Financing Gap: how can the capacity to borrow be improved? The key factors that enable municipal and regional utilities from accessing financial markets can be divided into two groups: the enabling environment (political and institutional factors) and utility environment (factors related to the operations and performance of the utility). This section analyses these groups in turn and looks at how grants and subsidies could be used to reduce some of the risks associated with the sector. 5.1 Fostering an External Enabling Environment Water is as much about governance and sector reform as it is about increases in funding, perhaps even more so. Poor governance and a lack of sector reform may hamper the ability of the sector to generate and attract finance. At the same time, increases in financing will not be effective unless made within the context of these reforms. In order to facilitate good governance and accountability, policy making, regulation and service provision need to be separated: the first sets the policies and targets, the second monitors and regulates and the third provides the WSS services. Service providers need to be accountable to both customers and to the regulators. Relations between service providers and regulators should be based on transparent and stable rules. Experiences of municipal lending in many countries, do not suggest an a priori adverse link between decentralising borrowing powers and the central government's ability to maintain fiscal discipline and macroeconomic stability. Rather, the key seems to be the design of the regulatory framework under which borrowing powers can be decentralised. A good regulatory framework would allow water utilities to borrow, impose rules that reduce the risk of imprudent borrowing (including sensible limits to the amount borrowed) and, as an overarching role, provide predictability, clarity and confidence to the main actors involved. Governments should establish clear rules for setting and adjusting tariffs that reduces the discretion that politicians may have over the tariff setting process. The trend in most countries is to decentralise responsibility for water and sanitation to local levels. There is an optimal level of decentralisation that facilitates efficient service provision. To reach this level, smaller utilities may consider consolidating themselves into regional water companies, often with a larger utility as an anchor. The key driver for such a process is to generate economies of scale to share production costs over a larger customer base and reduce the unit costs of production. Furthermore, it is more efficient and less costly to provide a larger long-term loan to a single entity than smaller loans to a higher number of entities. Therefore, accessing finance is another driver for the consolidation process. 5.2 Increasing the Operational Performance of Utilities Improvements in the operational performance of public utilities by applying the principles of financial viability and commercial orientation (corporatisation), supported by institutional reform, will help increase their bankability or creditworthiness and facilitate access to debt financing. Creditworthiness leads to a good credit rating, which enables entities to attract lenders and borrow at reasonable prices. To address this challenge, utilities need to pursue innovative reforms that will enable them to close the revenue gap and realise operational efficiencies, conditions required to access external capital. Although the purpose of water and sanitation services is to improve and maintain human health and well-being, the sustainability of water supply and sanitation services depends on generating sufficient revenues needed to cover the costs of service provision. Therefore, a gradual increase in tariffs towards cost recovery levels is vital for the financial sustainability of the utility; at the same time, the increases should be at a realistic pace that takes into account affordability issues. Subsidies could used to target poorer consumers who may not be able to afford full cost recovery 7/10 Theme 5: Finance - Topic 5.1: Sustainable Financing Session 2: Addressing the financial demand tariffs immediately, so as to promote consumption and facilitate access. Tariff setting should be based on well-defined financial principles that at a minimum aim at recover all recurrent costs such as operations and maintenance and debt repayments. Furthermore, tariff structures need to be simple, equitable, affordable, financially sustainable, and transparent. Widening the sources of long-term funds beyond tariffs is also an important determinant for creditworthiness. Many utilities depend on subsidies and other forms of transfer payments from regional or national governments, to supplement tariff revenues. As pointed out before, such payments/ transfers are often unreliable and irregular and would need to be made more predictable, performance-based and better targeted. Utilities would need to demonstrate that such revenue streams have a strong likelihood of being sustained (e.g., by a well-established history of transfer payments made to the utility). It is not enough to just raise the tariffs to cost recovery levels; a utility would also need to convert them into actual revenues streams. By ensuring that consumers are issued bills at the appropriate times and that revenues are collected within a reasonable time period, a utility can generate and sustain a sizeable cashflow and therefore improve its borrowing capacity. Billing and collection could be outsourced to other companies using appropriate incentive mechanisms so as to improve efficiency. Designing an effective leakage reduction and maintenance programme would help a utility to reduce the amount of non-revenue water, improve the manageability of the network, and therefore increase revenues and reduce operational costs. The availability of a suitably qualified managerial team composed of financial and technical specialists underpins the operational performance of a utility and therefore, plays an important role in the utilities' ability to engage in borrowing. Utilities need attract and retain staff with the appropriate skill levels. They should therefore have the autonomy to set their own wage levels and offer staff development opportunities and other incentives-based systems to reward performance. Where utilities are overstaffed, options such as staff retrenchments and hiring freezes may need to be implemented so as to reduce staff costs and improve efficiency. 5.3 Improved Targeting, Effectiveness and Leveraging of Resources Domestic public sector funds and ODA needs to be applied more strategically in order to leverage funds from other sources and reduce some of the risk associated with the sector. The effectiveness of public funds could be increased through the use of performance or output-based disbursement mechanisms, used in blending with other sources such as debt financing, and used in risk-sharing through guarantees instruments. At the same time the use of such soft financing should not "crowd out" other financial sources, induce grant/ subsidy dependence, or block essential sector reforms. 5.3.1 Blending grants with Loans to minimise the affordability constraint: in many developing countries, large parts of the population cannot afford the level of tariffs required for full cost recovery. Affordability is a long-term issue that could only be progressively addressed by economic growth. As a result of low affordability, funding based entirely on loans cannot support investments aimed at providing universal services that reach the poor, thus limiting the achievement of the water and sanitation targets of MDGs. Blending of grant funds with loans with long-term maturity, is a potential solution in the short-term, to support the pro-poor aspects of water and sanitation projects and to scale up projects serving urban areas. Joint grant funding and loans can minimise the affordability constraint and buy down sector risks thus creating better conditions to leverage more local currency loans from commercial banks and equity from the private sector, promote coordination amongst donors, promote innovative approaches to service delivery, facilitate sustained access to the population that are not being served, and enable a relatively scarce source to be used more effectively and efficiently. 5.3.2 Increasing the effectiveness of subsidies through better targeting. Subsidies should only be targeted towards the poor so as to promote consumption and facilitate access. Targeted subsidies have several benefits: the total amount of subsidy required is lower; depending on 8/10 Theme 5: Finance - Topic 5.1: Sustainable Financing Session 2: Addressing the financial demand what the subsidy is targeted at, the impacts on poor households may be greater than otherwise; and there may be fewer distortions in consumption decisions. In the past few years, an innovative mechanism called output-based aid (OBA) that links subsidies to the performance of service providers has been used to facilitate access to WSS services. 5.3.3 Improving the absorptive capacity and efficiency and effectiveness of funds at the local level. As many public utilities lack the operational experience, qualified staff and training to implement their responsibilities for WSS service provision, there is a need technical assistance to build capacity. This could be in the form of training, provision of facilities, long- term mentoring relationships with utilities in donor countries, and other support programmes tailor-made to the particular circumstances operating in a given local location. The TA should be undertaken in parallel with the implementation of projects and investment programmes to enable a "hands-on" and "learning by doing" approach. 5.3.4 Use of ODA to bring down transaction costs or "off take" risks to increase access to debt financing. ODA from donors has an important role to play in "off-taking" the risks inherent in the WSS sector. Specific measures include: Support project preparation. This involves providing technical assistance to public utilities and municipalities to develop investment-ready "projects" that can access debt financing from both domestic and international sources. Activities to make the projects investment- ready include institutional, management and financial reform. These measures help build the creditworthiness of the borrower. The costs of project preparation are often high and many projects have failed as a result of a lack of attention to the longer term commercial or financial sustainability of the investment rather than of the up front capital required. Grant money could be used to reduce the transaction costs of investments by carrying out project due diligence as requested by the lenders prior to financing. Provide credit enhancements such as guarantees to off-take risks in debt transactions. Credit enhancements are mechanisms to mitigate risks in debt transactions that lenders cannot or are not willing to take and can be used to leverage either international or local private finance for the WSS sector. 6 Bridging the Financing Gap: key questions for discussion The key questions for discussion based on the issues identified above include: Access to market finance and sector/utility reform is interrelated: poor governance and a lack of reform may hamper the ability of the sector to tap into market finance; at the same time, increase in financing will not be effective unless made within the context of these reforms. How can sector/utility reform reduce risk and therefore enhance the capacity of the sector to access market finance? In other words how can we shift from just "hedging" risk to addressing the underlying issues that affect risk and therefore not just increase demand for finance but also improve its quality? Functional decentralisation has been a by-word for reform in the past two decades; however, decentralising to the lowest level of government has led to a fragmentation of the sector, with too many small and medium-size municipalities or utilities that lack the capacity to adequately provide public services or the scale to access financing. How and at what level (sovereign or sub-sovereign/ utility level) can the different sector risk be allocated/ transferred efficiently, so that the cost of borrowing can be brought down and how can decentralisation be optimised so that risk can be pooled and borrowing capacities increased? 9/10 Theme 5: Finance - Topic 5.1: Sustainable Financing Session 2: Addressing the financial demand Although the purpose of water and sanitation services is to improve and maintain human health and well-being, the long-term financial sustainability of the sector (and by that the sustainability of water supply and sanitation service provision) depends on generating and maintaining sufficient cashflows. How can the often conflicting social goals of the water sector and commercial objectives of a water service provider be reconciled in way that enhances access to market finance and increases the financial sustainability of the sector? Other questions to be considered include: How can the capacity of local service providers to attract finance be increased and maintained? In what ways can the borrowing capacity, creditworthiness and cash flow be built up? What specific mechanisms to bridge the gap between those local governments/service providers that are financially too weak to be creditworthy and lenders? 10/10
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Happy (Fill in the Blank)
You are probably aware that just about every day on the calendar is celebrated by someone and I don't mean just birthdays.
You are probably aware that just about every day on the calendar is celebrated by someone and I don't mean just birthdays.
It was not easy getting out of bed this morning when the alarm went off at 2:46 a.m.
There were three things that I noticed quickly when walking into FirstEnergy Park Thursday for the Lakewood BlueClaws season and home opener.
The Lakewood BlueClaws begin their 15th season tonight against the Kannapolis Intimidators, the same team they played in their very first game on April 5, 2001.
As I get older and the years seem to fly by I'm having more and more regrets about the things I have not done and more than ever I'm wondering if I'll ever get to them before my time is up.
It didn't take Todd Frazier very long to earn his first (and certainly not last) Hometown View mention of the baseball season.
Easter and Passover were the start and now that the Major League Baseball season is here we truly know spring is well underway.
Here is the good news: it finally looks like we can put winter weather in our rear view mirror. We were well into the 60's yesterday and Easter Sunday looks terrific with sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60's.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Manasquan's Marina Mabrey has had the greatest career of any girl's high school basketball player to ever come out of the Shore.
I'm back today after a few glorious days in Fort Myers, Florida which fell under the heading of "badly needed break to prevent total burnout."
There are two burning issues when it comes to high school sports in New Jersey and a special committee is expected to make dramatic recommendations dealing with both.
Joe Schifilliti had a summer most 12-year olds only dream about last year as a member of the Toms River Little League All-Stars who captured the New Jersey State Championship and advanced to the Mid-Atlantic Regional before losing a heartbreaker to Delaware in the semifinals.


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Beware: Rick Mayer Cycle (www.DontBuyRickMayerCycle.com)
View Single Post
Ravening for delight
Joined: May 2007
Location: New Jersey
Oddometer: 8,644
Originally Posted by
I hope he's better at making saddles than running a business.
I suspect that he is. I have one of his seats and it's really great. I had no problems with my order, and knew ahead of time that if I wanted to cancel it would cost me money. Fortunately, I didn't want to cancel, and I absolutely love the work he did.
That being said, I think that organization is not a strong suit for Rick. My suspicion is that his paperwork is a mess. I say this because several weeks after I got my saddle back from his shop, I received a second one. I was nice enough to let them know about it, and they had UPS pick it up. Someone had to wait too long for their work as a consequence. The funny thing is that he has you write your name and location on the bottom of the seat pan before sending it in, most likely to prevent this from happening, but it did not really work for that other guy.
I think Rick might do better as an employee or contract worker for a custom saddle shop than as an owner. The actual work is really very nice, and probably the best 250 bucks (he was running a special) I've ever spent on my bike.
Why did I drink all of the ingredients for vomit?
"Used to be Man vs. Nature.. then Man vs. Space.. then Man vs. the Moon. Now it's Man vs. Food" - Dalar
"you cannot reason a person out of something they were not reasoned into." - Jonathan Swift
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Ricky G - Lead Vocals, Rick Hendry- Lead/Acoustic,Jason Gannaway-Drums, Wayne Severson - Lead , Eric Smith - Bass/Vocals,
Sounds Like: Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Brantley Gilbert
Label: Unsigned, EMR Records and Managemet
Manager: SDM Entertainment
Bio: The Ricky G Band -Country/Rock
A re-emerging band that's a whole lot of country!
An action packed performance that's a cool, country rockin' twist of Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert, Luke Bryan and Kid Rock. At this time we are also sharing 4 originals for your enjoyment and feed back. We're hop...See Full Bio
A big thanks to our fans who have waited patiently for our return! The Ricky G Band is back - better than before and currently booking.


text: New stories Upcoming Incoming 20° Rocket League Wins Over Gamers On PS4, PC With Unbridled Praise 9m ago - One Angry Gamer "Who knew that making a game with decent graphics, floaty physics, cool art-style... | PC Comments (0) Source 20° Let's Play - The Ship: Part 4 27m ago - AH: We set sail one last time with Geoff, Ryan, Jeremy, Michael, Brandon, and Max. Scores need... | PC Comments (0) Source Ad An Interview with Jeremy Dunham Now - Jeremy Dunham of Psyonix talks about design choices, importance of player feedback, DLC, and the most important thing to master in Rocket League. | Promoted post Read More SiteBot 20° Street Fighter 5 Stage Revealed, Character Announcement Coming 28m ago - "Street Fighter V's next stage is set and a character reveal is imminent." | PC Comments (0) Source 60° Celebrate Bungie Day with These 7 Fantastic Bungie Games 42m ago - Bungie has made memories for a lot of gamers over the past decade. Here are seven that you should... | Xbox 360 Comments (4) Source 20° Here Is Super Mario Powered By NVIDIA's HairWorks Tech In UE4 + Super Mario NVIDIA Flex Techdemo 44m ago - DSOGaming writes: "YouTube's member 'CryZENx' has shared two really interesting and fun Unreal En... | PC Comments (0) Source


text: Chris Brown calls his girlfriend from jail Wed-02-Apr-14 09:22 Share this Tell Us What You Think WTF 0 LOL 0 FAIL 0 OMG 0 HOT 0 CUTE 0 ] By Jay Jay Feeney Chris Brown called his girlfriend Karrueche Tran from prison to tell her that he loves her. K-Tran put a video of her taking the call on Instagram. Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames. You May Also Like Chris Brown tweets his Halloween penis Karrueche Tran breaks down in emotional interview about Chris Brown Would you let your 8-year-old kid get a tattoo with you for a trip to Sydney? Become a fan of The Edge on Facebook and on Twitter .


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Ai-Ai delas Alas feels her son Sancho is vindicated after he won the case filed against a convenience store employee.
Sancho and his camp filed a complaint in May 2008 against Melvin Buceta for the Violation of Anti-Child Abuse Act (RA 7610). Buceta allegedly detained and verbally abused Sancho who was accused of stealing in a convenience store.
"Bilang ina, napakasakit sa akin noon kasi hindi ko naman pinalaki ang anak ko nilang barumbado. Iyon lang ang mapapagmalaki ko sa buong Pilipinas at buong mundo na pinalaki ko ng maayos ang anak ko," Ai-Ai said in an interview on "The Buzz" on Sunday, August 6.
'Humbling experience'
Accusations that her son is "spoiled" and "magnanakaw" hurt Ai-Ai.
"Pinalaki ko ng maayos, tapos sasabihin niyong magnanakaw, spoiled, lahat na ng masasakit. Ayan at least makikita niyo na na maayos ang pagpapalaki ko sa mga anak ko," she explained.
And now, Ai-Ai is grateful they survived the ordeal.
"Nagpasalamat ako sa Diyos at kay Mama Mary. Sabi ko, 'Lord, salamat at tapos na rin yung hirap namin, kasi hindi rin naman biro talaga.' Unang-una, ang dami naming humbling experience."
Sancho shares the same sentiment, and adds that it just proves his innocence.
"Happy ako at gumaan ang pakiramdam ko na at least alam ng mga naninira na ito yung pagpapatunay na hindi talaga ako magnanakaw," he said.
Wedding bells?
Ai-Ai kept mum on rumors she and her non-showbiz boyfriend got married in the US.
"Pwede bang sumagot ako ng diumano'y 'no comment'? Nahihirapan ako kasing sagutan iyan, maraming factors. Tsaka ko na lang ipapaliwanag,"Ai-Ai said.
As a chorus of sexual assault accusations against Bill Cosby resounded this winter, some fans and famous friends stood by him, calling the allegations unproven attacks on a comedy legend. …


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Sound Devices has introduced the 552 production mixer, the company's new integrated mixer and digital audio recorder.
Designed for professional sound engineers, the Sound Devices 552 contains five precision, high-dynamic range, transformer-balanced microphone inputs with expanded gain and headroom. The studio-grade inputs have their own limiter, sweepable high-pass filter and pre- or post-fade direct output.
At the heart of each microphone input is a high-performance Lundahl input transformer, which provides freedom from interference in even the most severe RF and EMI environments that are encountered in the field.
The mixer has an integrated two-track, 24-bit digital audio recorder that writes Broadcast WAV files to SD and SDHC media. The recorder is ideal for applications where a high-quality, 24-bit local recording is required. Either the outputs or combinations of inputs and outputs can be assigned as record sources.
The 552 also allows for stereo linking of input pairs 1/2 and 3/4. With 44.1kHz to 96kHz sampling rates, its four-track AES3 digital output runs at the same sample rate as the built-in recorder.
With front-panel control of mic/line inputs and phantom status with LED indication at each input, the mixer is also designed with sunlight-viewable, 21-segment Peak/VU meters with zoom mode. The unit is powered by four AA batteries or an external 10-18 VDC.
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Huge Ultra HD Display Lights Up Times Square


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$1,300 2 bed 8735 E Imperial Hwy, Downey CA, 90242
Previously Listed $1,300 2 bed
8735 E Imperial Hwy, Downey, 90242
Commute to Downtown Downey
8735 E Imperial Hwy is a nine minute walk from the Metro Green Line (803) at the Lakewood Blvd Station stop.
This apartment is in Downey. Nearby parks include Brookshire Childrens Park, Golden Park and Independence Park.
8735 E Imperial Hwy has a Walk Score of 75 out of 100. This location is Very Walkable so most errands can be accomplished on foot.
Street parking. Gas stove, New paint, Spacious closet, BBQ
Pets allowed: No
Owner/manager tools | Report bad listing | From WestsideRentals.com
Downey, California, 90242
Most errands can be accomplished on foot.
Score Details
Explore how far you can travel by car, bus, bike and foot from 8735 E Imperial Hwy.
Rail lines:
Metro Green Line (803)
0.3 mi
Bus lines:
265 Metro Local Line
0.0 mi
117 Metro Local Line
0.0 mi
120 Metro Local Line
0.0 mi
266 Metro Local Line
0.2 mi
View all Downey apartments on a map.
Popular apartment searches include pool, furnished and fitness.
8735 E Imperial Hwy is in the city of Downey, CA. Downey has an average Walk Score of 54 and has 111,772 residents.Learn More About Downey


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June 2003 management briefing
BRIEFING: Cola in Europe 1 Jun 2003
Most Popular
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Market research


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$10 off $75 Home, Sports, School Supplies, Fashion, & Beauty - Back to School. Use promo code BACK2SCHOOL at checkout. Ends 7/8/2015.
Learn more about Covered Pet Carrier in Hawaiian Flower:
Manufacturer: Prefer Pets
Mfg Part#: 599 HI
Sku: 218299658
See more in Travel Cages & Carriers
|PEF1016: Features: -Covered pet carrier.-Approved for most airline in-cabin carry on.-Zipper entry at both ends and top with durable mesh covered windows.-Zipper cover flaps on top and each side for privacy, shade, warmth and controlling air flow in the carrier.-Durable, smooth nylon outer shell in Hawaiian flower pattern.-Carry handle and adjustable padded shoulder straps.-Removable bottom insert.-Exterior storage pocket.-Safe for pets up to 20 lbs. Includes: -Luggage ID tag included. Dimensions: -Dimensions: 12'' H x 17'' W x 10'' D.


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Burglar locks up homeowner in gun closet, gets shot
One of the three thieves was shot in the shoulder and leg, falling in front of the house as the other two took off
By Snejana Farberov
The Daily Mail
HOUSTON, Texas — The victim of an armed home invasion in Houston has turned the tables on the brazen intruders after they stuffed him into a closet that turned out to be the place where he stores his gun.
Police say it all started at around 2pm Tuesday when three men broke into a home in the 8200 block of Braeburn Valley Drive and assaulted the resident. After a brief scuffle, the hapless perpetrators shoved the man into a closet, not knowing that there was a gun in there.
On the first floor, the man confronted one of his assailant and the two exchanged gunfire, according to police. The resident, who shares the house with his parents, escaped unharmed, but the armed suspect was struck in the shoulder and leg. He fled on foot down the street, but did not get far before he collapsed. His two suspected accomplices took off from the scene in a Chevrolet Tahoe.
Full Story: 'Dumb' house burglar shot after locking homeowner inside his own GUN CLOSET
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Wilton Rocking
The Wild Streak in ESP Guitars
When you're looking for a guitar that's finely built but that can withstand the abuse of hard rock, alternative and heavy metal, ESP guitars have it all. Made from the finest woods and finishes with strings and hardware that can hold up to shredding and wailing, ESP Guitars hold their own and have been successfully selling guitars since the 70s.
Though most models of ESP guitars have been prided on being designed or influenced by a well-known and established artist, the manufacturer also provides guitarists with a traditional line of electrics and basses to choose from. It's hardly a wonder why this guitar company has been labeled the number one in heavy duty guitars and instruments throughout the world.
How ESP Began
In 1975 Hisatake Shibuya began selling custom replacement guitar parts for various guitar companies. He called his company Electric Sound Products and it didn't take long for Shibuya to begin making his own Japanese guitars as well. He released his work under the ESP and Navigator brand names but was, at the time, limited to the Japanese market.
In 1983 however, ESP replacement parts were introduced to the states and were immediately recognized as quality parts by local musicians. Right away the buzz about these high end custom parts landed ESP the reputation of custom instrument maker for popular New York artists. Famous guitarists like Page Hamilton, Bruce Kulick and Ronnie Wood came to ESP for parts and wound up with their very own guitars. This new found source of popularity and income allowed ESP to next release the 400 Series, the first of ESP Guitars for the United States.
While enjoying the new found success that ESP experienced in America, the company was still providing services for other guitar manufacturers. For instance, ESP began making the bodies and necks for Kramer Guitars and various other parts for Robin Guitars, Dimarzio and Schecter. From then on out, ESP continued to branch out in many fields of guitar making, including creating custom guitars for many other stars like George Lynch, Kirk Hammet, and more recently, James Hetfield and Matt DeVries.
The early 90s brought some more bright success to ESP Guitars when they expanded their Signature Series and many of their products. The company ceased focus on replacement parts and was now in full swing, a guitar manufacturer. In fact, in 93 ESP opened headquarters in L.A. and in 96 the company opened a sister company called LTD whose parts came from Indonesia, keeping overhead inexpensive. Finally, in 2002, ESP was labeled as one of the music industry's fastest growing companies. Just 3 years later the company celebrated its 30th anniversary and released James Hetfield's Truckster in honor.
The Hottest ESP Models
Currently ESP offers dozens of top notch, hard core machines at mid to high-range prices. Definitely worth every penny, of course, most come with ESP's own Gotoh custom tuners and pickups and many are also graced with gold or black hardware that's attractive and sturdy. Here's a run down of ESP's current, most popular models:
ESP Standard Series
Whether you're getting the Eclipse for some soft, melodic thrashing, the M-II for traditional wailing and jamming, the Horizon for colorful but traditional jamming or the Viper for serious shredding, you're getting a quality instrument with the capacity for endurance. All of the Standard Series guitars come with Gotoh Standard Tuners at the very least and many are equipped with Gotoh Magnum Lock Tuners for more control. Also enjoy the crisp and unique sound of the EMG pickups that the entire Standard Series comes with.
ESP Vintage Series
For a warm, traditional sound, the ESP Vintage Series is perfect. The Vintage Plus, which comes in cream or red, has chrome hardware, Gotoh Magnum Lock Tuners, a Wilkinson Vintage Bridge and Seymore Duncan Pickups. Truly traditional.
LTD Deluxe Series
Wild colors, extreme action and great hardware. Let's look closer:
- EC 1000 Series: Wildly colored and finished, this guitar isn't just a pretty face. This axe comes with black nickel or gold hardware depending on your color choice, ESP Locking Tuners, TonePros Locking Bridge & Tail and EMG Pickups.
- H-1001 Series: Teal, purple or black, this machine comes with black nickel hardware, ESP Locking Tuners, a TonePros Locking Bridge and your choice of EMG or Duncan Pickups.
- M 1000 Series: This pretty, gothic-style guitar comes with a uniquely finished Alder body, flamed Maple top, Maple neck, Rosewood fingerboard, black nickel hardware, Grover Tuners, a Floyd Rose Bridge and EMG Pickups. This is a gorgeous guitar that purrs like a black cat.
Who Loves Their ESP?
To conclude, the long list of well known, hard core rockers that use and endorse ESP Guitars is astounding. They have long been collecting a laundry list of eager players who not only enjoy using standard ESP Guitars but who have also longed for an ESP of their own design. I leave you with those who did finally get their very own ESP design:
Kirk Hammett
James Hetfield
Alexi Laiho
George Lynch
Jeff Hanneman
Michael Amott
Will Adler
Jon Donais
Rob Arnold
Matt DeVries
Richie Sambora
Ron Wood
Stephen Carpenter
Michael Paget
Michael Wilton
Gus G.
Wayne Static
Page Hamilton
Dan Jacobs
Travis Miguel
Richard Z
Max Cavalera
About the Author
My interest in guitars caused me to find the lowest priced guitars for my collection and now I write about my guitars.
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I have noticed that my edges get a little on the crisp side, but I just trim them off. I go around the cake trimming off the entire edge.
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The hearings sponsored by Peter King and the campaign against sharia are two sides of the same Islamophobic coin.
Regions / North America
Assorted emissions and discharges from the world of nuclear weapons.
What ostensibly won the war for the United States sowed seeds for future discord.
Targeting missile defense for elimination can come back to haunt disarmament advocates.
After all, Pfc. Manning has already harmed himself with his irony.
Seeing Arabs demanding something we were convinced was the birthright and property of the West, of the United States in particular, has to send a shiver down anyone's spine.
He's seems to be suffering trickle-down effects from Abu Ghraib and Guanatamo.
Tunisian students are energized by the prospect of participating in government.
NAFTA undercuts Mexico's ability to control a sudden influx of volatile financial investment.
A dirty bomb bears no resemblance whatsoever to a sex bomb.


text:
If someone wants to holiday, it's their right: BJP on Rahul Gandhi's sabbatical
Taking a jibe at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's 57-day sabbatical, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday said if someone wants to holiday, it is their right and also up to them to reflect
Those who dare to come in Matoshree backyard will be buried: Shiv Sena after Bandra bypolls win
Gloating over its by-poll victory against Narayan Rane, Shiv Sena on Thursday said those who dare to come into the backyard of Thackerays' Matoshree "will be buried and won't be forgiven."
Delhi Police visits Rahul Gandhi's residence; Congress alleges 'snooping'
New Delhi: Delhi Police on Saturday rejected the allegation of snooping on Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and said the visit by policemen to his office was a routine practise of
Resentment against Botsa Satyanarayana family blamed for violence
Hyderabad: While the agitation, spanning more than 60 days, across all Seemandhra districts has been largely peaceful, the question plaguing political leaders is why the agitation took a violent turn
Chandrababu Naidu to follow Jagan, to go on indefinite hunger strike
Hyderabad: In a verbal attack against the Congress, Telugu Desam Party leader Chandrababu Naidu held Congress responsible for the ongoing agitations in Andhra Pradesh and said, "I don't want to play
Naidu has to write against T: Jagan Reddy
Hyderabad: On Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu's proposed indefinite hunger strike in Delhi from Monday, Jagan Mohan Reddy said Naidu should spell out his stand on state's division first
Review Rahul Gandhi's idea: KPCC chief
Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah doesn't want a quarterly review of his ministers and government, but state Congress chief G. Parameshwara insists that there will be such an evaluation regardle
Special: Dangerous liaisons
Army chiefs in India tend not to be political figures, unlike those in Pakistan, but it appears that we are now in danger of becoming a little more like our neighbours. Former Army chief General V.K.
Centre should take lesson from President, says BJP
New Delhi: BJP on Sunday praised President Pranab Mukherjee for his statement that Pakistan should dismantle terror infrastructure on its soil, saying he has really spoken for the people of the count
BJP pips Cong, others in Lok Sabha poll expenses
New Delhi: BJP tops the poll expenditure charts for the last Lok Sabha elections, having spent more money than all other political parties including the Congress.
According to the statements of poll


text:
CSEDC Quarterly Forum
- Business & Professional
- 18500 Burnham Ave., Lansing, IL, 60438
CSEDC Quarterly Forum
Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation & SSMMA
Friday, November 22, 2013 from 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM (CST)
CSEDC Quarterly Forum
Location: South Holland Community Center 501 E. 170th Street
Networking: 8:30 a.m.
Program: 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Featured Speakers:
Mayor of South Holland Don DeGraff
Carter Sterling, Sterling Lumber
Phaedra Leslie, Cook County Workforce Partners
Allen Mayer, General Deputy Council for DCEO
Questions? Call Holly Campbell at 773.909.1651
Click here to see the agenda.
CSEDC works with municipalities, the private sector, utilities, and other groups to analyze regional economic development factors, business clusters, and development corridors to identify significant development opportunities and market those sites to the private sector.
In order to purchase these tickets in installments, you'll need an Eventbrite account. Log in or sign up for a free account to continue.


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I'm an easygoing person with an extremely sarcastic sense of humor. However "easygoing" is not synonymous for pushover or lackadaisical.
I'm very much aware and comfortable with myself and I try to be considerate of others. I was raised in a cultured, well rounded environment, where my siblings and I were always encouraged to be multi-dimensional and never let anyone define or limit us. As I've grown, I've learned to appreciate my upbringing, whereas in my younger years I just thought my parents where being ridiculous.
I've also been told I'm very easy to talk to and usually can find common ground with most people. Probably why I ended up in sales.


text:
Welcome! The Trek BBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans. Please login to see our full range of forums as well as the ability to send and receive private messages, track your favourite topics and of course join in the discussions.
If you are a new visitor, join us for free. If you are an existing member please login below. Note: for members who joined under our old messageboard system, please login with your display name not your login name.
|Fan Art Post your Trek fan art here, including hobby models and collectibles.
|Thread Tools
|December 26 2013, 12:43 PM
Fleet Captain
Location: Lemon Wacky Hello
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
There's no reason I can see to assume that Starfleet ships don't have alien influence. It's just that by the time we see things, most design parameters have been standardized to be as accessible as possible to species of all member worlds (most of whom happen to be humanoid).
It's also possible that GR might apply his explanation of the Klingons' change in appearance from TOS to TMP to this situation: that what we see onscreen is an interpretation, and not necessarily how it appears in "reality."
|January 6 2014, 07:16 PM
Rear Admiral
Location: Who is John Galt?
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
Gebirgswick - Ind, Tra, Sec & Env.
|January 6 2014, 08:15 PM
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
Written Worlds -- Christopher L. Bennett's blog and webpage
|January 10 2014, 09:32 PM
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
|January 10 2014, 10:35 PM
Rear Admiral
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy
|January 10 2014, 10:38 PM
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
Written Worlds -- Christopher L. Bennett's blog and webpage
|January 10 2014, 10:57 PM
Rear Admiral
Location: Go ahead, caller. I'm listening...
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
I don't really buy it - our own cultures, even without Trek, already have plenty of images of saucer shaped spacecraft, so certainly someone would have played with the idea without (additional? ) alien influence. Then again, maybe one of the founding races of the Federation that we haven't seen ARE the "little green men" that abduct people to put stuff in their butts and turn cows inside out, so that influence is from them, after all.
As the brilliant philosopher once said... Everybody, have fun tonight. Everybody, Wang Chung tonight.
|January 10 2014, 11:34 PM
Rear Admiral
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
(Sorry for the mental image, all)
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy
|January 11 2014, 09:51 PM
Lieutenant Commander
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
1) It's hardly likely that humanoid species exist for if evolution happens on another planet, then it's hardly likely that the same conditions would happen, and in the same order, such that a recognizable humanoid species would emerge.
That likely would result in very strange looking starships to fit the needs of the species using that ship for interstellar travel, but might include some common components on the spaceship itself regarding life support, engines, shielding, and weapons.
2) It might be that humanoid species would be the most common because of unknown scientific laws. In other words there was a natural order to evolution such that the apex predator would become a bipedal species with common sense organs and means of procreation, digestion, circulation, respiration, etc.
In that case, those humanoid species might develop engineered structures for interstellar travel which were very similar.
From a production standpoint in the old days, having lots of noncorporeal beings was a challenge such that the viewers could identify with such an alien. Communication with such a being could exist from a mathematical method only as the constructs of language rely upon a mouth and tongue. Instead it could be periods of emmitted light.
Now with CGI, there really aren't those constraints, but it's still very expensive.
One of the things that most impressed me about the actors of Star Trek was how little they saw of the graphic elements until way after shooting the episode. Imagine staring at a blank surface and trying to convey excitement, fear, awe, etc when there's nothing for your eye to see.
I liked the geometric shapes of the Borg vessels which skipped any aerodynamic elements because they weren't intended for landing upon planets. That was just an amalgam of all of the assimilated species with precious little in terms of aesthetics because it was strictly utilitarian.
The aquatic Xindi vessels would have to be enormously strong because of the mass of water carried within the hulls. One noncorporal species had a huge ship, but it wasn't clear how they acquired it, or why they would need it, though it was stated they couldn't live within the vacuum of space. Star Trek Enterprise "The Crossing" was that particular episode.
A little side note that's relevant to the discussion. The original "saucer" comment by Kenneth Arnold was taken out of context. He was describing the way it skipped like a stone across water, not the shape of the UFO he witnessed. A little known fact is that this image was taken by surveillance craft of an unknown craft about the time of the Roswell Incident in 1947. Looking for the photo for inclusion with this post. If I find it, I'll edit the post.
EDIT: Here's one of three known photos of a UFO within the same time frame (within days perhaps hours of the Roswell Incident).
EDIT2: Other photos from that time window:
Here's the actual rendering by Arnold which agrees with the real photo and makes the story far more compelling.
EDIT3: The earliest drawing submitted by Arnold which is slighly different than the artist's rendering for his book.
The mentioning of a saucer then influenced countless films in the midst of the contactee boom (a subset of the UFO phenomena different than other more scientifically inclined groups like NICAP). Some of these reports mentioned saucer shaped craft, but also cylindrical, airship-like craft dating back to 1897, the vimana of India from ancient times which were more like modern airplanes, and all manner of shapes included in the Condon Report.
Here's a similar collection of ship types (but not the actual Condon Report graphic which others may find illuminating for influencing the ships of Star Trek).
Last edited by Robbiesan; January 11 2014 at 11:37 PM. Reason: spelling
|January 11 2014, 10:27 PM
Rear Admiral
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/112860258811333/ For all your Sci-fi ship model and mini goodness 3DS Friend code: 0731-4800-6817
|January 11 2014, 10:42 PM
Lieutenant Commander
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
I studied both the humanities and the sciences in college and grad school. So both aspects of these things interest me within Star Trek.
Witnesses are notoriously poor in recounting what they saw, largely due to excitement. However those who were trained observers in aeronautics have witnessed all manner of craft. It's likely that 95 percent of these can be explained by lenticular clouds or weapons testing or missile launches, but not all of them.
Star Trek didn't come about in a vaccuum but rather was a result of public fascination and fear post-1947, plus Cold War existential realities. I think that's most commonly witnessed in President Reagan's address before the UN when he said that an alien threat would unify the peoples of the Earth and make us stop being concerned about other matters.
So Star Trek became not just entertainment, but a replacement myth for postmodern people. You have to look at that and how it affected art and diverse subjects like ethics as well as scientific inquiry and psychology.
Within the study of UFOs, there are serious researchers like Jacques Vallee who is a scientist and who theorizes that UFOs could be interdimensional craft, not stellar craft with warp drives, and perhaps many other species who coexist within this place in space-time but not within our dimension. So such species would be like 3D beings who examine the pages of a 2D representation. Any beings in a 2D world couldn't perceive those 3D beings very well because they exist at right angles to themselves.
Regardless, such unique ideas as well as the contactee folks who have more of a spiritual bent resulted in the popularity of Star Trek. That all influenced the stories as well as the shapes of spacecraft.
Last edited by Robbiesan; January 11 2014 at 11:39 PM. Reason: spelling
|January 12 2014, 01:04 AM
Rear Admiral
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/112860258811333/ For all your Sci-fi ship model and mini goodness 3DS Friend code: 0731-4800-6817
|January 13 2014, 08:56 PM
Fleet Captain
Location: Ocoee, Florida
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
So I'll just say that I find the subject of these actual starships interesting, and that I suspect that there are separate cases when we are looking at starships, inter-dimensional craft, and even timeships from our future.
Damn log in/out! If you eat another one of my comments, I should find a way to give you a real good smacking!!
You could use a good smacking!!!
|January 13 2014, 09:43 PM
Lieutenant Commander
Re: Lack of Alien influence in Starfleet ship design...
It's highly likely that whatever UFOs are, that besides things like earthlights from say piezzoelectric effects from fractures in volcanoes, they are far stranger things than interstellar craft. The physics rules for the amount of fuel needed for warp drive rather preclude a starship with warp drive from occurring.
However, did you know that there are plans for a warp engine in reality? See:
In that article they're talking about ways of warping space right before a craft. More here:
This physics problem lead early UFO researcher Jacques Vallee to consider an interdimensional hypothesis. He's the one who assisted J Allen Hynek. Both were trained astronomers, with Valle being a computer scientist as well. He's given lectures at TED Talks.
Such a craft that would look very different than starships. One of the weird occurance around UFOs is the habit of some to display to have a morphing attribute. This could partially be explained by being from a different dimension.
If you read Flatland, in which a 3D creature encounters a 2D creature, the 2D creatures sees a 3D creature pass through 2D space. So they would see 2D slices as they passed through their space. That distortion would result in something like CAT scans of a being, or in morphing of UFOs as they passed through some of our dimensions.
One explanation here:
I believe this is one of the photos taken from a military reconissance plane of an UFO and included in one of Vallee's books from the late seventies.
Vallee believed at least some of the UFOs were RPV (remote piloted vehicles) an early name for the then classified drone program of that period.
To bring this back to the topic, this saucer shape certainly influenced the saucer shape within the Constitution class of the Star Trek universe.
There are very few good photos of the reported "foo fighters" encountered by Allied pilots during WW2. Here's one of the better ones:
It's possible it's ball lightning, a manmade ball lightning project by Nazi scientists, or a UFO since we cannot identify it.
Last edited by Robbiesan; January 13 2014 at 10:06 PM.
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Fox News' Gregg Jarrett Arrested
UPDATED: The "America's News HQ" co-anchor was taken into custody at a bar and grill at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport after police were called to deal with an intoxicated man.
Fox News Channel co-anchor Gregg Jarrett was arrested in a bar and grill at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport on Wednesday afternoon, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
Jarrett appeared to be drunk, acted belligerently and wouldn't obey police orders, according to the police report. A bystander told the officer Jarrett had said he'd taken medication, though he told the officer he hadn't. He told the officer he had begun drinking at 9 a.m. Jarrett was placed in a holding cell, where he struggled with the officer, who was trying to handcuff him. He was subsequently charged with obstructing the legal process by interfering with a peace officer, a misdemeanor.
Jarrett was released from Hennepin County Jail shortly after 1:30 a.m. local time on Thursday, after posting $300 bond, according to the jail website.
Jarrett has a court date scheduled for June 6.
PHOTOS: 2014's New Broadcast and Cable TV Shows
Jarrett is a co-anchor of Fox's America's News HQ, which airs on Saturdays and Sundays. He joined the network in 2002 and recently covered the George Zimmerman murder trial and the crash of Asiana Flight 214 at the San Francisco Airport.
On May 12, TV Newser reported Jarrett had requested time off from Fox for undisclosed "personal reasons."
A Fox News spokesperson said in a statement obtained by THR: "We were made aware late last night that Gregg Jarrett was arrested in Minneapolis yesterday and charged with a misdemeanor. He is dealing with serious personal issues at this time. A date at which Gregg might return to air has yet to be determined."
Never miss a story. Stay up-to-date with THR's Daily Headlines.
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