text:
An Obituary For High Frequency Trading: The Adaptive Genius Of Rigged Markets
By Ben Hunt of Epsilon Partners
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was
- Talking Heads, "Once in a Lifetime"
You may be a business man or some high degree thief
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody
- Bob Dylan, "Gotta Serve Somebody"
Horace Clark, Vanderbilt's son-in-law, was always a favorite with the stately old gentleman. Having decided to wed the young lady, he called upon his future father-in-law, and, without preliminary, began - "Commodore, I wish your daughter in marriage."
"You mean, you want my money," growled Vanderbilt from his chair.
"You and your daughter be damned," flamed out the young lawyer, as he clenched his hat in his hand and turned to leave the room.
"Hold on, young man," said Vanderbilt, straightening himself on his feet. "Hold on. I rather like you. I only said you should not have my money. You can have my daughter."
- James Medbery, "Men and Mysteries of Wall Street" (1870)
The Adaptive Genius Of Rigged Markets
David Byrne, of Talking Heads fame, is something of a personal hero of mine for the way he handles the business of his music. Byrne is famously protective of the copyrights associated with his work, in the sense of controlling the uses of the music for long-term goals rather than a short-term pay-off, and it's a non-myopic approach to intellectual property I've tried to adopt with my own work. I also appreciate Byrne's ability to put on a show. His music stands on its own, for sure, but Byrne was into multimedia before it was a word, and part of his genius has been an ability to reinvent consistently the experience of his music. I know it sounds crazy to anyone under the age of 30 that a Big White Suit could be both revolutionary and really cool as performance art, but there you go. More to the point, Byrne knew when to move on from the Big White Suit. He knew how to adapt to a world that was still hungry to hear what he had to say, but not if it were presented in the same way ad nauseam.
If you don't adapt, you die. Or worse ... for an artist, anyway ... you become uncool and passé. Your performance art becomes performance shtick. And yes, I'm looking at you, Elvis Costello. There's an adaptive genius to the David Byrne's and the David Bowie's of the world, quite separate from their musical genius, and that's what I want to examine in this note.
Adaptive genius is not limited to the popularly beloved and the socially respected. It's not only, in zoo-keeping terms, the "charismatic vertebrates" like elephants and giraffes who demonstrate this quality, but also decidedly non-charismatic invertebrates like the hookworm. I've written before about why I believe that parasites are beautiful creatures from an evolutionary perspective, which is another way of saying that they possess adaptive genius. It's the same sort of beauty I see in parasitic market participants who generate real alpha by feeding off a consistent informational edge they identify from either non-economic or differently-economic market participants. As I wrote in "Parasite Rex", a giant pension fund isn't engaged in commodity markets because it has an opinion on the contango curve of oil futures; it's trying to find a diversifying asset class for a massive portfolio that needs inflation protection. If you're an experienced trader in that market and you see signs of the giant pension fund lumbering through the brush ... well, you're in the wrong business if you can't skin a few dimes here. This is what good traders DO, and the really good ones have devised effective processes so that it's not just a one-off trade but an expression of a robust strategy.
Parasites, whether they exist in nature or in markets, are almost always models of efficiency and adaptive genius. I may dislike them. I may well be the host from which they suck out resources. I may want to squash them without mercy. But I can't help but respect their evolutionary prowess and ability to carve out an informational advantage. And if I get the chance, I'd like to invest money with them. They're not the only source of alpha in this world (you can also create an informational advantage by perceiving the world differently and more correctly than most), but they are, I believe the most consistent and powerful source of alpha out there.
Or at least they provide the most consistent and powerful source of alpha within the limitation of being a market participant, of being a buyer or a seller of a security in order to express an opinion on whether that security will go up or down in price in the future. Of course, if you could hijack the entire infrastructure of the market, if you could somehow develop an omniscient view of market communications and intentions under the guise of market-making or liquidity provision ... then you'd be talking about some serious alpha.
Oh wait ... that's exactly what happened with Getco and Virtu and their High Frequency Trading (HFT) brethren.
I don't want to belabor the details of how this market infrastructure hijacking works. You're better off reading Michael Lewis's book or, better yet, check out Sal Arnuk and Joe Saluzzi's Themis Trading website and read their book, "Broken Markets". But I will share my experience of how this hijacking plays out in the professional investment world. My bona fides: co-managed a large long/short equity fund where we experienced all this on a daily basis, wrote extensively about HFT and market structure in client letters, and was part of a loose group of like-minded buy-side managers exploring these issues for the past 5 years. I was an HFT critic way before it was cool to be an HFT critic, and here's our core complaint: in an HFT-dominated market infrastructure, you can always get your order filled but you will never get a better price than your limit.
What does this mean? Imagine that you're an equity PM and you want to buy $5 million worth of XYZ stock today. You have a positive fundamental view on the company, the stock's been weak of late, and for whatever reason you've decided that today is a good time to pull the trigger and add to your existing position here. Average daily volume in the stock is, say, $500 million, so your order is going to be about 1% of that - not inconsequential for how the stock trades, but highly unlikely to have a big market impact. All the same, though, you tell your trading desk that you want to put a limit on the order, say 1% above wherever the price settles after the market opens. So now it's 10:05 am, XYZ stock is trading at $50.00, and your trader hits the button to buy 100,000 shares with a limit of $50.50. Your trader is not an idiot, so of course he's chopping up this order into smaller pieces, either via some chopping algorithm you've got in your order management system or, more likely, some chopping algorithm that your prime broker uses to route the big order through various execution venues over the course of the day. There are plenty of these algorithms to choose from, all designed to hide your willingness to pay up to $50.50 for XYZ stock when it's currently trading at $50.00.
But then the most amazing thing happens. As soon as your trader hits the button at 10:05 am to launch the buy order, volume at $50.00 - which was humming along quite nicely - strangely dries up. As if by magic, the market price for XYZ stock marches straight up, often in minimally sized 100 share lots, until it hits $50.50. At that point volume miraculously reappears, and your order starts to fill in earnest. The price might tick higher by a penny or two every now and then, which means that you stop buying, but it always seems to tick right back down to the $50.50 mark where your order continues to fill. A few minutes later you get a message from your trader that the XYZ order is done, at an average price of $50.48. Your trader is happy because he completed the order as per your instructions. You're happy because you've got the 100,000 shares of XYZ at an acceptable price. But you are only minimally happy. You only achieved your reservation price, which seems odd because you saw the stock trading at $50.00 before you got active, and you're probably seeing the stock trading at $50.00 now that you are no longer active.
No matter how hard you try to manage your trades, no matter what chopping algorithm you use or how closely you watch the Bloomberg screen, it's as if whoever is on the other side of your trades has a bug planted in your office so that they are overhearing your conversations with the trading desk and picking off your limit orders. You rarely do better than the worst price you will tolerate, and that only happens when your trader finds a natural - a real human being who wants to sell what you want to buy, or vice versa. Otherwise your counterparty is a "liquidity provider", some technology company whose Big Data computer systems, combined with direct data feeds and frictionless order execution authority to and from trading venues, allows them to identify the contours and depth of the aggregate limit order book in stock XYZ. Your effort to buy 100,000 shares of XYZ forms a pattern, regardless of how you try to hide it, and it's a pattern that the powerful induction engines of HFT algorithms will quickly recognize. And once your pattern is identified within the context of a limit order book, your private information - the price you are secretly willing to pay for a share of XYZ stock - has been stolen from you just as surely as if there really were a listening device planted next to your trading desk.
Are there ways to mitigate this sad state of affairs ... or rather, this minimally happy state of affairs? Sure. You set tighter limits. You look for opportunities to provide liquidity rather than just absorb it. You trade less frequently but more aggressively. You hire experienced traders who can tell when a machine is picking them off and know where to look for naturals. But it's only a mitigation, not a solution. A good trader on an equity desk used to be able to make you money by beating the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) on a consistent basis. Today it's all VWAP all the time, thin gruel that supplies enough calories and nutrients to keep you alive, but tastes like ... thin gruel. Institutional investors are angry about HFT because it has turned actively managed order execution and tactical portfolio decision-making from a source of fun and profit into a dreary toll-paying exercise. Day after day, trade after trade, we are skinned. And we know it. But it's always just within the tolerance levels that we ourselves set, which is really the brilliance of the whole thing.
When you talk to anyone in the HFT world, you inevitably get three arguments as to why the current situation really isn't a problem.
#1 - "But our margins are razor thin. We really don't make much money in our business, or at least we don't make much money anymore, because the secret is out and it's so darn expensive to maintain our machines."
My response: Boo-freakin'-hoo.
#2 - "But we provide a valuable service to markets with our liquidity provision. Without our participation the bid-ask spread in every trade would be wider, and market volumes would plunge."
My response: Look, I admire the fact that you are not an Ebola-esque parasitoid that kills its host in a gory, blood-spewing mess, but rather something more akin to a parasitic worm that provides its host with a bit of protection against certain auto-immune diseases as it gorges itself. It's an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS), and I think it's adaptive genius. Really, I wish I had thought of this whole HFT idea myself, and I'm more than a little jealous. But give me a break about liquidity and bid-ask spreads. The life of an active manager was so much more fun and profitable (or at least that was our perception of the experience) with lower liquidity and wider bid-ask spreads. We'll take our chances in a worm-less market environment, thank you very much.
#3 — "But there's always going to be someone extracting rents from the market infrastructure. We're certainly no worse than the parasites before us, and in some ways we're better for you." My response: Ummm ... that's a pretty good point.
I love to read memoirs and first-hand accounts of markets, and recently I've been focused on the late 19th century, particularly the period 1873 — 1879 ... what was called back then the Great Depression until the 1930's rolled around and the name had to be changed to the Long Depression (even more apropos for the UK, where the depression/recession lasted until 1896). The story of the Long Depression is one of a market panic and a liquidity crisis that collapsed financial institutions everyone thought were too big to fail, followed by a 20+ year period of puzzlingly high unemployment, anemic growth, political fragmentation, and experimental monetary policy. Sound familiar?
But even as one reads these memoirs and histories for whatever macro-economic lessons they might provide for coping with our own Long Recession, you cannot help but be struck by the constant discussion of market structure in these materials. And it's not a dry description of the formal aspects of the market. No, for the most part it's a full-throated celebration of the men and the institutions that controlled the flow of information within markets by controlling the machinery of markets. Men like Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt, who was renowned for setting up friends and relatives with "points" and "tips" so as to drive the price of some stock way up, only to betray them with one last false tip that would give the Commodore a chance to exit his long position and then turn around and short the stock, crushing both the price and his "friend". Men like Jay Gould and Diamond Jim Fisk, who bribed entire state legislatures to get their way on market rules and came within an inch of cornering the entire US gold market.
You can't have a market in a mass society without constructing a robust market infrastructure. What is that infrastructure? It's not a building on the corner of Broad Street and Wall. It's not a trading pit on South Wacker. Market infrastructure is a collection of rules for the playing of a massive game.
Market infrastructure is information. And whoever masters those rules, whoever sees the information flowing between market participants most clearly, whoever can create private information by becoming embedded within that information flow ... well, one way or another they're going to make a fortune, and one way or another it's going to come out of the hide of the rest of us.
Ultimately, I think the problem for HFT liquidity providers is not that they are skinning investors, but that they are outsiders. They're doing what the keepers of the market infrastructure keys have always done - skin investors, retail and institutional alike, to the outer limits of what technology and the law allows. But while their outward behavior and appearance may be familiar, they are clearly an alien species on the inside, without so much as a microgram of Wall Street DNA. They are Rakshasa's. HFT liquidity providers are technology companies disguised as financial intermediaries. They hijacked the market infrastructure in the aftermath of the Great Recession, stealing it away from under the noses of the big financial firms who had come to see control over market structure as their birthright, and they had a good run. But now the big boys want their market infrastructure back, and they're going to get it.
I won't be shedding any tears for the demise of the HFT shops, and there's no small amount of entertainment value in the witch hunts and show trials to come. But I'm not so naïve as to expect some magical return to the halcyon trading days of yesteryear where, to paraphrase Garrison Keillor and his description of the children of Lake Wobegon, all of our trades beat VWAP. The big boys will co-opt the Big Data skinning techniques of the HFT shops, just as they have always co-opted the technologies of social control and surveillance. Oh sure, they will make the theft of my private information regarding limit orders even more palatable than the HFT guys did, because that's the genius of a highly evolved, highly adaptive parasite - they possess an extremely robust ESS (evolutionarily stable strategy). But you can't un-ring this Big Data bell.
No, Dylan said it best. You gotta serve somebody, and that certainly goes for all of us who choose to participate in modern markets. There is a rigged quality to all market structures in all times and in all societies, and you're going to serve whoever controls the information flow of the market, because that's what market structure IS. This was true in 1870, it was true in 1970, and it will be true in 2070. But don't worry, you'll hardly feel a thing. In fact, you'll be happy to serve - albeit minimally happy, and increasingly to the limits of your minimal happiness - those who are manning the market structure gates, because that's the adaptive genius of these particular parasites. Same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was.
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The way to win is not to play.
How about a nice game of chess?
In chess there is information symmetry.
That makes for a fair game.
Perfect markets are like that, I hear.
It is not only about information. It is also about control. The banks control price as well as dominate flow. There is no point in playing in a rigged market.
Sure, the banks can try to blame the fraud and theft on HFT, but that is an outright lie designed to manipulate, not to educate or help.
So, until the collapse or until the Wall Street banks (and they are not really banks in this capacity) disappear, the banks will have be content with increasing their profits by increasing price and taking mark to market gains.
No one will buy their fraudulently inflated crap.
Even Joshua, the computer in "War Games" figured that out.
"How about a nice game of chess?"
HFT is Vulcan Chess.......wanna play ?
Every bodys dipping.
Yup, just sitting back and waiting for the whole damn system to cannibalize itself.
What's the ticker symbol for "Remora.com"? (sucker fish)
UhhOhh, I'll bet some smallcap (RUT) entity is going to get bombarded.
Straightforward question , however rhetorical it is : Why do many of these executive level banking and finance officials hold dual citizenship ?
It's a part of extremely robust ESS (evolutionarily stable strategy) ;)
What's moar important is how our politicians and appointees get away with holding dual citizenship. Congressmen and Senators should be required to avoid DC and later be required to maintain "Yankee White" security clearances prior to running for and post-election. Yankee White is an adminstrative knickname for a level of security that guarantees absolute loyalty to the United States of America, its laws and its people; it's not indicative of racial bias.
Probably the most egregious flaunting of YW would have been Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual who not only didn't serve in the US Military but instead went overseas to serve as a volunteer in the Israeli military.
But what has this to do with HFT?
"Your effort to buy 100,000 shares of XYZ forms a pattern, regardless of how you try to hide it, and it's a pattern that the powerful induction engines of HFT algorithms will quickly recognize."
Isn't that why the institutions went to off exchange dark pools?
"their outward behavior and appearance may be familiar, they are clearly an alien species on the inside, without so much as a microgram of Wall Street DNA"
Soooooooo Goldman and JPM are the good guys now.........
I believe in the Flash Boys book they talked about the market prices changing even before an order was fully entered. Just setup waiting to hit the return key.
It could very well be one aspect of the "front running" is an effective keystroke logger watching orders being setup for entry, and acting before they even get to the destination. So even if you have a VWAP algo they will know the parameters before the order is even placed.
Getting into the TCP/IP connection stream is very easy, actually did this legitmately in software over twenty years ago. The end user has no idea you are watching their every move. This can be done ANYWHERE in the data stream. Heck the NSA is watching everything, this is trivial.
This would explain a lot.
With a better class of manager, operating under an equitable system, the markets could be fair and unrigged.
What you are saying is that the parasitic frauds will capture any market and I do not believe that has to be the case. We only need markets that have "good" men in charge.
... a Wall Street banker might say: "What's the point if we cannot defraud the masses and benefit disproportionately".
Which demonstrates my point.
Total bullshit.
Probably true, but can you take the time to say it in fewer words?
"Ultimately, I think the problem for HFT liquidity providers is not that they are skinning investors, but that they are outsiders."
thank god they led with that in the home page link.
even though i can't imagine being interested in the opinion of anyone who, even for the purposes of dramatic self promotion, would say that stealing from the poor to make the rich richer is not the problem. but, i gotta hand it to them.
and after they have it, they can shove it up their....well, u chose a spot for 'em.
Modern markets are a technologically enabled form of anonymous swindling.
He who has the most processing power wins.
Is that a game for warm bodies to play?
I doubt Marc Rich had an algo or even a computer ..... but he sure knew how to BUY A GOVERNMENT.... W I N N E R
Stop manipulating prices with bogus orders.


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HERMITAGE, Pa. (AP) — Police say a western Pennsylvania teenager had to be airlifted to a hospital after she was run over while car surfing in a shopping center parking lot.
Police in Hermitage say an officer spotted the 17-year-old girl as she stood on the hood of a moving car Tuesday afternoon. The girl then fell off and was run over by the car being driven by another teen.
Investigators say the injured girl is from nearby New Castle. She was flown to a hospital in Youngstown. Her condition has not been released.
The investigating is continuing and police would not say if charges will be filed.
How cool but yet how tragic .I wish this girl a speedy recovery and a long career in leading the liberals .

subset: commoncrawl


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Miguel Tejada has proven that competence is often an oasis in the desert of Royals Second Baseman. He was more Desi Relaford than Mark Grudzielanek, but his ability to not fail spectacularly... Read more
When did Kyle Smith become the next Yordano Ventura? Or did Kyle Zimmer change his name in the style of Giancarlo Stanton, and no one informed me? Read more
Why the rarity of a day-night doubleheader should be celebrated by every fan. Read more
Why does confirmation bias lead to snark, sadness, and ultimately a less enjoyable baseball experience? Read more
I was going to have to trek into the world of phone on hip Junior Account Executives and at the very least pick up a sandwich. Read more
Is Dan Wheeler really going to replace Fonzie as our man? Or, is Dan Wheeler a criminal alias for other similar players on the Royals roster? Read more
How difficult it is to respawn in a good location near all of your items as applied to the Royals Utility Infielders. Read more
Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in 2 days. Preparing for the oncoming deluge of spring training chum from our hard-working beat writers is not unlike those who choose to ar... Read more
The 25th Man on a Major League roster is not meaningless, but rarely do we see the 25th man contribute significantly to the club. Â Usually, the countdown to the 25th man is the last vestige... Read more
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Following the Shields/Davis for Myers/Odorizzi trade, the first question on Royals' fans minds was as follows: Did this trade make the team a contender in 2013? David has covered that te... Read more


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- 125Promote
Throw Pillow
fine lineby Vin Zzep
Throw Pillow made from 100% spun polyester poplin fabric, a stylish statement that will liven up any room. Individually cut and sewn by hand, each pillow features a double-sided print and is finished with a concealed zipper for ease of care. Sold with or without faux down pillow insert.
walking a fine line. title inspired from the song "Fine Line" Hootie & the BlowFish lyrics "it's a fine line between right and wrong". soft tones of aqua and beige with a space of a red umbrella
Fantastically imaginative:)
Thank you Joëlle :D
well done!!!
cheers Bruce :D
Excellent work!
so creative, love the colors.
Very nice!
Awesome comments, Thank you Mark, Carolyn and Meg :D
Another awesome image
thank you Alice and Marissa :D
Seriously inspired work Vin - awesome concept and great execution!
Thanks you J for your awesome comment :D
Thank you so much Marko :D
...and he's walkin' it....so wonderful! ♥
Thanks Gale :D
With the desire to attract more customers to your S6 store, I've posted this image at: http://pinterest.com/pixel404/s6-random-favorites/ Here's another link that might be of interest: http://blog.shareaholic.com/2012/01/p...
l-traffic/ The data in the shareaholic article is from January... Pinterest has grown exponentially since then! Cheers!
Thank you Wayne for your awesome support :D
Excellent work!
thank you gwenola :D
love it!
Thank you The Neverland:D
So cool!
Thank you Pasadya :)
Totally great.
Thanks c
Thanks CrismanArt
thanks Tyler
Sooo awesome!!
Thanks Tyler
Your work is always so nifty and well executed
Thanks so much Cally
Great idea!
thanks SensualPatterns
See More Comments


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Do You Want A Native American (Indian) Name?
in Community > Free Speech
Many folks over the years that have an interest in Native American culture often explore the possibility of receiving a Native name.
wrong image
So...here's your chance! Tell me a little about yourself and I'll see if I can find a name that is suitable!
For example...tyr1 works in cold conditions! His name is Breaks The Ice!
So...what do you think???
Feel free to share your new name on the following blog.
Click here to add your names
KOJB "The Eagle"...Streaming Live! Native American owned and operated!
380 replies before
RiverCoyote41.21K (3 years and 10 months ago)
Working on your name now...it may take me a bit. Thank you for your patience.
Your name has been sent! Thank you for your patience!
Actually mine is really long and personal so I will PM you if that's ok.
My Native American name is 'Many Moccasins'
It's a perfect fit! =)
Actually mine is really long and personal so I will PM you if that's ok.
Your name has been sent to you. Thank you for sharing your life with me. I am truly grateful.
MY Full Name Sanket S Ghadge
MY Full Name Sanket S Ghadge
Hmmm...Want a Native American Name?
RiverCoyote41.21K (3 years and 10 months ago)
Hmmm...Want a Native American Name?
HMM u Tell Me My Name In Native American Name :P
Hi there. My full name is Zelda Winda Austin. Please send me Native American Name.
Thank you very much
I have been given the name Morning Dove. It not only fits me perfectly but inspires me. Thank you RiverCoyote41.21K for taking the time you did to seek out my name.
Edit to add this note.. it's Morning not Mourning .... it's a happy name.
Last edited by Pirate4Life, 3 years and 10 months ago
I am Lumbee Indian, we are from North Carolina and the 9th largest tribe in the us. Just had to throw that in there lol. I am David. Maybe I could be Chief Rising Son :)


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Maclellan1981 posted a topic in General Ford Related DiscussionsHi can anyone help me? I have a triple deck cd player but want to fit a standered cd player with a AUX so I can use my iPod.so people say that you can cut the main unit when you remove the triple deck please help me
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The top things to do this weekend
Now that football season's back, let me just say: we all know watching football and drinking Coronas is a perfectly good thing to do, but here's some other things happening, away from the TV.
As always, please leave your suggestions of other events in the comments below.
San Diego Brazilian Day
11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday Garnet Avenue from Mission Boulevard to Everts Street, Pacific Beach. Free. (619) 867-3231 or braziliandaysandiego.com
The family-friendly festival features traditional cuisine like Brazilian barbecue, feijoada (stew) and pastel, along with arts and crafts, a free kids' zone, pageants and a continuous stream of Brazilian music.
Grape Day Festival
9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Parade goes along Grand Avenue and festival is at Grape Day Park, 321 N. Broadway, Escondido. Free, with a fee for wine tastings and 5K; grapedaypark.org.
This community celebration features 5K, parade, grape stomping, live entertainment, contests, a fun zone, vendors, food court, a bake sale, museum tours, and a new wine pavilion.
Cardiff Greek Festival
10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church, 3459 Manchester Ave., Cardiff. $3; free for ages 12 and younger. cardiffgreekfest.com
This festival features live Greek music, folk dancing, food and plenty of homemade pastries. The festival will also offer a Fun Zone for kids, church tours, a live auction and Greek items for sale.
Fiesta de Kustom Kulture Car and Low-brow Art Show
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Old Town, along San Diego Avenue, Harney and Twiggs streets. Free. fiestadekustomkulture.com
This car show celebrates lowrider culture and the art of Von Dutch, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, Robert Williams, Dean Jeffries and the Barris Brothers.
La Invasora's Fiestas Patrias
Noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Delores Magdalino Memorial Recreation Center, 2902 Marcy Ave., Logan Heights. Free. invasora.com
This popular party, put on by Invasora 99.7 FM, features Mexican music throughout the day as well as cultural exhibits, curios for sale, activities for kids and plenty of food and drinks.
Inaugural Medium Festival of Photography
Various times, Friday and Saturday. W Hotel San Diego, 421 W. B St., downtown. $65 one day pass; $125 festival pass; student discounts available. (619) 398-3100 or mediumsandiego.org.
This photography event brings lectures, workshops, and portfolio reviews and celebrates all the local photo community.
Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair
Noon to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Balboa Park Activity Center, 2145 Park Blvd., Balboa Park. $15 to $20 for three day general admission; artsandiego2012.com.
Explore the best contemporary art San Diego has to offer, including product and furniture design, mid-century and modern art and solo exhibitions.
Dave Matthews Band
7:30 p.m. Friday. Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre, 2050 Entertainment Circle, Chula Vista. $39.50-$75; (800) 745-3000 or livenation.com.
Perhaps this means you'll find an open booth at True North tonight? Allen Stone opens.
7:30 p.m. Friday. Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island. $60 (plus ticket fees); (800) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.
San Diego's sweetheart returns, Patrick Davis opens.
Luis Miguel
7 p.m. Saturday. Estadio Caliente, Boulevard Agua Caliente, Tijuana. $30 to $230. tijuanaeventos.com.
Even though the Latin crooner's been performing for nearly 30 years, he still delivers a captivating show full of soft-rock hits and weepy ballads. The concert may be south of the border, but stateside fans won't regret making the easy trip.
Andrew Dice Clay
7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Sycuan Casino, 5469 Casino Way, El Cajon. $35 and $45. sycuan.com
The old Andrew Dice Clay, the one from the '80s and '90s, told dirty nursery rhymes and got banned from MTV for life. The modern-day Clay, however, is enjoying a fairy-tale comeback.


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Brightwing Boat Night!06/26/2013
To RSVP email Elyse Lopez
To RSVP email Elyse Lopez
To RSVP email Elyse Lopez
To RSVP email Elyse Lopez
Don't take our word for it! Here is what our clients and employees have to say about us.....
August 16, 2013
"I was wholly impressed with every part of my experience. The staff are friendly, quick to respond, and..." Read More
Kayla M.
E-Mail Specialist
Southwest Airlines
April, 15, 2014
"I speak with a lot of different recruiting firms and was impressed with the level of engagement that I received from Brightwing..." Read More
Rick Rosario
March 25, 2014
"I'm really excited about this opportunity and can't thank you & Jeff enough! I would recommend you to all of my friends who might be interested in exploring new opportunities..." Read More
Matt J.
Optics Engineer
Troy, MI | Dallas, TX | Davie, FL | 855.379.0450


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Taos Mountain Inc.
- Employees in region:
- 343
- Sector:
- Information Technology
- HQ location:
- San Jose, CA
Top Workplace
'11, '12, '13, '14, '15
'11, '12, '13, '14, '15
Taos is an IT services company delivering solutions across the strategic, management and tactical layers of Information Technology infrastructure and engineering organizations.
"Great opportunity, interesting colleagues, great pay, the best training offerings in the industry."
"I feel appreciated and am given the tools to perform my job to the best of my ability."
"I'm able to grow and I'm part of the decision making in my department."
"It allows me to be my best, help companies succeed, and gives me the free time to have a good work/life balance."
"Taos is unlike any other consulting organization I have ever seen. The company has a real "team" atmosphere and everyone genuinely wants to help everyone not just succeed, but excel."


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European Stocks Slip
LONDON—European stock markets finished slightly lower on Friday as investors booked some of their recent gains.
A surge in Italy's borrowing costs at a debt auction also weighed on the mood. In Milan, the FTSE MIB index dropped 1.8% to 16653.55.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 0.2% to end at 249. It jumped 3.6% on Thursday after European Union leaders announced a wide-ranging plan to reduce Greece's debt burden, recapitalize banks and prevent contagion to other indebted nations, such as Italy. For the week, the Stoxx 600 posted a gain of 4.2%.
Investors are "taking some profit," said Steen Jakobsen, chief economist at Saxo Bank.
He also noted comments by Fitch Ratings, which said that the planned 50% write-down on Greek debt held by private investors would constitute default and leave Greece's post-default sovereign rating in the 'B' category or lower, depending on private-creditor participation. Fitch said in July that an earlier plan for a 21% write-down would place Greece in restricted default.
U.S. stocks were also weaker, trading around the flat line near the European close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up three points, or 0.1%, at 12211, bouncing between positive and negative territory through much of the morning. The blue-chip index jumped 339.51 points on Thursday.
Among the top gainers in the Stoxx 600, steel maker SSAB SSAAY -20.21 % and real-estate developer JM JM 0.00 % rallied 7.4% and 14%, respectively, in Stockholm after they released strong earnings reports.
Also in Sweden, Electrolux rose 6.8% after the home-appliance maker reported net profit above analyst expectations.
London's FTSE 100 index fell 0.2% to 5702.24, as bank shares posted losses after a day-earlier rally, but gained 3.9% for the week and marked five weeks of advances.
Barclays BCS -0.82 % fell 4.2%, Lloyds Banking Group dropped 5.2% and Royal Bank of Scotland Group fell 3.6%.
In Paris, the CAC-40 index slipped 0.6% to 3348.63 as Electricite de France fell 5.5%. The French utility has decided to delay the building of four nuclear reactors in the U.K. The index jumped 5.6% or the week.
Renault rallied 4.5% after the car maker reported late Thursday a 12% rise in third-quarter revenue and confirmed its full-year forecast.
Rival PSA Peugeot Citroen, however, slipped 1.6% after Royal Bank of Scotland analysts downgraded the firm to "hold" from "buy."
Bank shares extended their strong gains from the previous session, with Crédit Agricole CRARY 2.03 % and BNP Paribas rising 3.7% and 3.5%, respectively.
Oil major Total TOT 0.18 % fell 1.9%. The firm reported a 17% rise in third-quarter net profit, but said its hydrocarbon production slipped 0.9% year-on-year amid disruptions in Libyan output.
In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 index closed up 0.1% at 6346.19 and capped five weeks of gains with a 6.3% surge.
Fresenius Medical Care AG rallied 4.7%, while chemical firm Linde LNEGY 1.56 % gained 1% as it confirmed its full-year outlook.
Write to Polya Lesova at email@example.com
- 3


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Viewing All 159 Photos
Certified photos by travelers like you. What's this?
May 2015
Los caballos de la catedral
Caballos de Catedral de San Marcos.
May 2015
Desde el puente de los suspiros.
Desde el puente de los suspiros.
May 2015
On the Grand canal
My wife and I enjoying a very relaxing gondola serenade
Daniel W United States of America
February 2015
Gondola ride
Dan, Tina and our driver
September 2014
Sqeezed in at the front of the Gondola
Our not so very comfortable ride in the Gondola down part of the Grand Canal. There was nothing 'romantic' about this ride!
Luis6686 USA
September 2014
Sunset Gondola Ride
Dream Come True for my wife and I - 10 year Anniversary
September 2014
Birthday treat for my partner ......
Our Gondolier before a birthday trip with serenade followed by dinner .....
September 2014
Pompeii slave
This is the body of a slave during the eruption still chained.
September 2014
Pompeii Ruins
The main forum area ruins of Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.
September 2014
Slave of Pompeii
This is a slave caught in the eruption. We know it is a slave from the belt he is wearing.
Special Offer
$46.38 Save $9.28


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Appointments & Offices
Check insurance plans, locations and make an appointment
Is Dr. Raja accepting new patients?
If you are a new patient, please check with Dr. Raja before scheduling an appointment.
What insurance does she accept?*
- Kaiser Permanente
- UnitedHealthCare
Office Locations
- Valley Medical Oncology Consultants
- 5725 W Las Positas Blvd Ste 100
- Pleasanton, CA 94588
- (925) 734-8130 (Office)
- Parking: Free parking adjacent to the Cancer Center


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COME PLAY IN OUR NEW SANDBOX! LEARN MORE x
Postcard Inn Beach Resort & Marina T: 212.973.9000
Toll Free Reservations
Florida Keys Fishing Charter
Captain: A.J. Stewart Vessel: Priority
Website: http://prioritycharters.com
Phone Number: 305- 393-0399
Biography: A.J. Stewart can take you on an incredible adventure. You can fish for a ½ day, or a whole day while you are visiting the Florida Keys, or you can let A.J. help you plan a custom vacation adventure aboard the Priority. Your captain will guide you to the bite. Whether you are a seasoned fisherman or a novice your crew will provide the support and all the top of the line fishing gear that you may possibly need. You will be fishing aboard a superior
- Islamorada Invitational Flyrod Sailfish Tournament 1st Place Runner Up.
- Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament
- World Sailfish Tournament, Reef Cup Key Largo Billfish Tournament,
- Cheeca Lodge Presidential Sailfish 1st Place,
- Key Largo Sailffish Tournament 3rd Place,
- Over the Hill Sailfish Tournament 1st Place, Bahamas Billfish Championship


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So, I parked my bike in the designated parking area last night at a place we stayed at for the evening. We were sitting at a picnic table close to my bike when a guy, that had checked in, started backing his bike into the same area my bike was parked. His "squeeze" is standing in front of him "guiding" him in.... He was getting close to a bench and she said "watch the bench", to which I replied in my "level 1" pissed the fuck off voice "the HELL with the bench, watch my bike!" He stopped but left the bike in that spot.
This is a large covered area that can hold 10 bikes. There are two there. Mine and his. He parked his within a few INCHES of my front tire. So close that standing my bike up would require backing it up first otherwise, I would hit his bag. I've attached pictures, although they don't do it justice.
The question is........ What would YOU have done in that situation?
BIKERS LIFESTYLE helps you connect and share with the people in your life.
How Close Is TOO Close?
by Johnny Yen
That is way too close! I would have been pissed off too!!
Brett Hughes
Wow. What a dipshit. I don't know why but I am continually amazed at people and their lack of common courtesy and sense.
WAAAAYYY to close. What a dumb fuck. Morons like this deserve to get "schooled" Glad you did that to him...
What a douchebag! It is so sad that so many people have no respect and/or common sense about others around them! This individually definitely needed to be educated on the fine art of parking and respect for other's bikes ... but the sad thing is he probably wouldn't have gotten it anyway since obv...
Johnny Yen
The guy was an ass, plain and simple as was the girl with him. He'll think twice next time. ;-)
For some of us, backing up is a challenge. I pretty much have to do it by the tips of my boots or flat footed, one side at a time, if I can't get enough traction. If all else fails, I get off the bike and back it up manually. There is no obstruction to his left so why did he park so far to the right...


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Im beyond jealous I really am!
Have you already thought about how you're going to back up your images whilst over there? if you've already mentioned it, apologies, it only just struck me before.
Disney information? Try our online guidebook at http://wdisneysecrets.com
Get your own Disney Countdown at http://toys.wdisneysecrets.com
I am just buying a whole heap of cards at the moment - no plans to back them up - unless of course I buy the 65GB iPad and stick them on that
I have a 4GB card an older but semingly wrkable 8GB and just forked out for a 32 GB card (6) that I will use for a bit of filming - still can't quite get my head around a 32 GB sd card when they are full I wil 'lock them' and stick them in their case in teh bag - don't really wnat to buy a netbook and I can't believe they will have the facility to back up to a dvd so not sure what to do
Argh I hate to say it but, any chance I can talk you into SOME form of backup storage?
There's ipad/iphone for sure, but there are also tiny travel photo backup devices as well with a great deal more capacity.
A few reasons. Although it seems almost impossible that you'd use all your cards up, you cant risk doing it and having to miss out on shots.
Numerous times I've heard/read about people going on a wonderous trip like this, they put all the cards in their carry on and then get home and a card is missing or corrupt. They sometimes get some photos back from the corrupt card but of course the missing one just never turns up.
Not quite the same but a good 15yrs ago I was travelling round the states on business and getting wonderful shots. Film of course. I always used to get the film developed in the states and carry the negatives with me in my hand luggage and a set of photographs each in hand luggage and hold luggage.
Last time I was doing new york followed by washington. I was getting the best shots ever! Around Christmas time, around the whitehouse. Well anyway, amazing shots. Thing is, didnt have time to develop, so just stuck the rolls of film in my carry on which I guard with my life.
I got to washington airport and the staggeringly nauseatingly annoying bovine behind the BA desk took my carry on when I was filling in some paperwork and sent it off to the hold. Assurances were given but I spend the whole flight anticipating the worst.
Got to Manchester, empty carry on, papers and all gone plus of course all the rolls of film.
Digital is a little easier. I back all my stuff up to laptop now or a travel HD if I dont have my laptop. Soon as I get to somewhere with Internet access, I upload them as well.
Disney information? Try our online guidebook at http://wdisneysecrets.com
Get your own Disney Countdown at http://toys.wdisneysecrets.com


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heavy steel by DogsfatherWatch
©2011-2016 Dogsfather
more concept art practice... hope you like it
Is that a robot, or a mech?
Very cool! Excellent job with this one!
Whoa, really huge and awesome design
looking good
Looks a lot like Magmo from War of the Monsters
Nice work!
está bacansísima!!!!
Looks like something japanese and cool.
Cool concept, though the colors remind me more of rock than steel.
now thats just awesome


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Christopher Dorner Is now a target for Obama's Drones on American soil
Wait a second. Isn't it against the law to target American civilians with drones in the United States? In Obama's America, it's not. Christopher Dorner is now a target of Obama's drones. Dorner should have thought that Obama praising manifesto think over. As usual, the American media is silent on Obama's drone attacks. It takes a UK media outlet called 'The Express' to break the news that Christopher Dorne is now officially a target of Obama's drones, IN AMERICA. Welcome to ObamaVille.
http://www.fireandreamitchell.com/2013/02/10/christopher-dorner-is-now-a-target-for-obamas-drones-on-american-soil/Left Wing ExtremistsTerrorismLeft Wing Extremists,terrorists
While I'd like to see Dorner's head on a stick if the 'allegations' of his three murders are true, I don't want drones that are used in Muslim countries to kill terrorists to hunt down American citizens. Be proud Chris Dorner. The man you support so much is targeting you like a Muslim terrorist somewhere in Pakistan! Christipher Dorner could become the the first American ever shot down with drones on American soil.


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"Congress shall make no law ... abridging ... the right of the people ... to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
This simple idea in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is the basis for one of the most powerful and controversial influences in the making of U.S. foreign policy: the lobby. Under the right to petition, domestic ethnic groups and foreign governments use favors and political skill to press their policy objectives on the legislative and executive branches of the government in Washington.
In the foreign-policy field, lobbies seek to promote, block or shape U.S. policies in the interest of another country, a group of countries or a militant opposition, often distorting policy making. Their efforts appear at times to be successful; the record shows that U.S. policy formulation is influenced by lobbies and organized pressure groups. In the long run, however, U.S. interests prevail. Much of the most active lobbying on behalf of foreign causes, in fact, has supported policies and leaders that have ultimately failed.
The lobbies are but one of many groups seeking to shape perceptions of international events for officials and the American public; others include the government, the press, academia, think tanks and advocacy organizations. But the lobbies differ from the others: They make no claim to objectivity -- or to tax-free contributions.
Think tanks provide forums, but their agendas are broad. Most of them seek to avoid direct lobbying to preserve both their tax-free status and their image as impartial research institutions. Advocacy organizations at times carry the torch for the cause of a particular regime or nation, but their agendas, also, are broad. To maintain their status as a charitable or educational entity, they, too, are required to avoid the pressured approaches and manipulation associated with lobbying. Admittedly, the line between advocacy and lobbying is often thin, but, for the Internal Revenue Service, it exists.
Special-interest groups on behalf of foreign causes became significant with the emergence -- and dominance -- of the U.S. as a world power after 1945. Every nation in conflict saw its future in Washington. Leaders in office and in opposition in other countries realized that understanding and influencing the processes of government and opinion in the U.S. capital could lead to substantial military and economic aid, the opportunity to buy weapons, support in the United Nations and in multilateral lending agencies. Undemocratic regimes soon learned that failure to gain sympathy from American official and public audiences could mean unwanted criticism and bring outside probing into their internal affairs.
For representatives of the new nations flooding into Washington in the late 1960s, the U.S. capital was not an easy place to understand. How could a diplomat make effective contact with a vast bureaucracy, a divided Congress and the host of private persons and organizations that seemed to influence policy? One could meet with officials at the State Department, although rarely the secretary of state. Seeing the president was virtually impossible. How could foreign envoys learn what was going on and, beyond that, have some say in the U.S. capital on issues of importance to their governments?
Direct lobbying came to be seen as essential for those pressing their case in the legislative and executive branches in Washington. A whole industry came to be based on the process of crafting and promoting a favorable image of a foreign country or its leader. Lobbyists also performed invaluable services for their clients in advising on speeches and statements, on whom to see, and what to do and not do.
But lobbying is not without restrictions. The Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (revised in 1966) requires all who receive funds from a foreign country, except for accredited diplomatic and consular officials, to register with the Department of Justice and file copies of "political propaganda" with the attorney general. In 1994, there were 741 persons and firms registered under the act. Loopholes, however, exist. Lawyers are exempted. Organizations that may press the interests of a foreign country but receive all their funds from domestic U.S. sources also fall outside the scope of the law.
In addition, the Federal Registration of Lobbying Act of 1946 requires that all persons lobbying the Congress -- not just those employed by foreign entities -- report detailed accounts of contributions they receive, including sources, to the clerk of the House of Representatives and register with the clerk and the secretary of the Senate. As of July 1994, there were 6,308 active registrants.
Increasingly, in recent years, additional restrictions have been added in laws and congressional ethics procedures restricting gifts, entertainment, favors, conflicts of interest and the "revolving door." Officials who leave government for the private sector may not for a designated period approach the government on issues for which they were responsible while in office. Neither set of laws and regulations, however, has prevented former officials from informing private clients on how the policy machinery works and exploiting the personal access developed in political campaigns and experience in office.
For some countries, the lobbying problem is eased by the presence in the U.S. of large ethnic groups already predisposed to a nation's cause and prepared actively to support a lobbying effort. Like the lobbies, the groups may seek to promote or block U.S. policies in the interest of one country or group of countries. At least five ethnic groups have mounted lobbies with some influence on U.S. foreign policy.
The Greek lobby, working through the American Hellenic Institute of Public Affairs (AHIPAC) to mount pressures on Congress, has promoted the interests of the government in Athens, often at the expense of U.S. relations with Turkey. Those of Irish descent, chiefly in New England, have formed an Irish National Caucus to collect aid for elements in Northern Ireland seeking to end British rule. They were successful in getting the Clinton administration to welcome Gerry Adams, spokesman for the Irish Republican Army in the U.S. Cuban-Americans, and especially the exile community in Florida, have been effective in promoting legislation and other official acts to preserve the embargo against Fidel Castro's Cuba. Radio and TV Marti, federally financed programs aimed at Cuba, came about largely through the pressures of this lobby.
As their causes, African-Americans have adopted foreign policy issues in Africa, especially the ending of apartheid in South Africa, and, more recently, problems of people of African descent in the Caribbean, particularly in Haiti. As more and more African-Americans were elected to Congress and formed the Black Caucus, their influence expanded, supported by groups such as TransAfrica, which was organized in 1977.
No group has been more successful in making its influence felt on national policy than the American Jewish community. Although many Jewish organizations exist in the United States, the force of the community's political activity has, since 1959, centered in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the only Jewish lobby registered under the Federal Registration of Lobbying Act. The circumstances within which AIPAC has worked are unique.
The Holocaust created a strong feeling of sympathy in the U.S. for the Jewish people. The U.S. Jewish community saw in the creation of the State of Israel the ultimate security for the Jewish people, believing fervently that Israel's future depends on strong, continuing support from Washington. The community, moreover, is wealthy, well-educated and active. The percentage of Jews who vote in U.S. elections is the highest of any ethnic group. Although differences exist in politics and ideology among American Jews, few are prepared to voice dissent publicly for fear that such divisions might be exploited by enemies. AIPAC has benefited, also, from a lack of competition. Although an Arab lobbying group, the National Association of Arab Americans has never matched the power of the Jewish lobby. Finally, AIPAC has had the advantage of strong sympathy for Israel among fundamentalist Christians in the U.S.
AIPAC espouses clear objectives: 1) to secure continuing aid to Israel on the most favorable possible terms; 2) to obtain the most advanced U.S. weapons possible; 3) to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem; 4) to preserve tax-exempt status for Jewish fundraising in the U.S.; and 5) to oppose strongly any U.S. measures or proposals seen as a threat to the security of Israel, including arms for Arab countries and peace proposals that might require Israeli concessions. To gain wider support in the U.S. public, the lobby has stressed certain themes: Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East; in the confrontation with the Soviet Union, Israel was a "strategic asset"; and, on international issues, Israel is a reliable ally.
The concentration of AIPAC's efforts have been mainly, but not exclusively, on the Congress. The influence comes both from encouraging contributions to candidates favorably disposed to AIPAC's goals and contributions to opponents of those who have voted contrary to the positions of the lobby. Although AIPAC itself does not contribute to candidates, it prepares the information for voters on the records and positions of members of Congress and has been credited with the defeat of more than one member considered to be anti-Israel. Sympathy is also promoted by carefully orchestrated visits to Israel for elected officials and candidates. When an issue is before Congress, the lobby generates letters, telegrams and telephone calls to members by circulating information on the issue to Jewish communities and sympathizers throughout the country; the flood of mail alone causes some legislators to change positions on an issue.
AIPAC opposition to U.S. policies in the Arab world has brought it into direct confrontation with other powerful interests both in government and outside. In the 1980s, actions such as the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 created serious tensions between Washington and Jerusalem and even among many American Jews.
Although AIPAC has not achieved all of its stated objectives, it can look back on a series of accomplishments. Its pressures brought increases in U.S. aid to Israel and betterment of terms to the point that, by 1990, most assistance was on a grant basis. It did not defeat proposals to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, but it was successful in two instances -- the sale of AWACs and of F-15s -- in gaining legislative restrictions on the use of the aircraft.
By 1994, however, AIPAC's fortunes seemed to be changing. It had lost the battle in the Bush administration against tieing housing-loan guarantees to restrictions on settlement building. It was rebuffed in its opposition to direct dealing with the Palestine Liberation Organization by changes in policies by Israel, itself. In an unprecedented event in 1992, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin publicly criticized AIPAC for needlessly inflaming U.S.-Israeli relations. An article in the Wall Street Journal in April 1994 said AIPAC was in a "state of drift."
Lobbies representing domestic ethnic groups represent only part of the picture of pressures brought to bear on the U.S. government by those supporting particular interests or positions in foreign policy. The larger part may, in fact, be represented by lobbyists hired by foreigners to influence the U.S. Congress and the public. The most conspicuous of these efforts during the Cold War were in support of regimes and individuals considered anticommunist. In many instances, the causes pursued by the lobbyists were not supported by the majority of a relevant ethnic group residing in America.
One of the earliest cases was that of the Republic of China on Taiwan. For more than 20 years, until President Richard Nixon visited the People's Republic of China in 1972, pressures from Chiang Kai Shek and his conservative supporters in the U.S. press, public and Congress succeeded in retaining recognition for the Republic of China on Taiwan and keeping the Beijing regime out of the United Nations. Much of the campaign money came from the Chiangs themselves, and the effort was carried on without the appreciable participation of the majority of the Chinese-American community.
The basic problem for the China lobby was to reappear in other later issues: how to overcome a perception of a corrupt, authoritarian regime. That image was countered then and in other cases by emphasizing loyalty to an anticommunist ally.
Africa became the focus of several such intense lobbying efforts, primarily on behalf of white-dominated, anticommunist regimes. As in the case of Taiwan, these efforts had little support from the ethnic community most concerned, the African-Americans who suspected that the lobbyists and their backers were as interested in preventing black majority rule as they were in strategic considerations. Race, kinship and the Cold War were especially present in major efforts mounted in support of the regimes in Rhodesia and South Africa.
The white minority regime in Rhodesia, fending off pressures for majority rule, declared its independence in 1965. Conservatives such as Senator S.I. Hayakawa of California came to the immediate support of the Rhodesian action.
Lobbyists for the white regime in South Africa pictured the African National Congress and other liberation groups as leading the way for communist influence. Lurid maps showed red arrows of Chinese and Soviet influence pointed at South Africa. Glossy publications stressed the dependence of the U.S. and the free world on the minerals of South Africa.
One of the most elaborate efforts to create an image of a southern African leader was that on behalf of Jonas Savimbi of Angola. When the Portuguese withdrew from that colony in 1974, Savimbi led the Uniao Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA) in opposition to the generally recognized government in the capital of Luanda. Because the Luanda government was Marxist, had received assistance from the Soviet Union and had subsequently requested the help of Cuban troops, it was anathema to many in Washington. Although Savimbi had a questionable past, including a Maoist period, and was receiving assistance from the government in South Africa, his lobby created an image of him as a "freedom fighter" resisting Soviet and Cuban incursions in Africa.
Savimbi's image was the product of many elements: conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation; sympathetic publications like The Washington Times, National Review, American Spectator, Human Events and Commentary; South African lobbyists and Cuban-American lobbyists; and individuals friendly to the cause in the White House and the Congress. Chester Crocker, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs in the Reagan administration, who negotiated the successful withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola and independence for Namibia, writes that "this lobbying campaign was directed by Americans working for the military intelligence directorate of the SADF [South African Defense Force]." The strands were pulled together by one of Washington's principal lobbying firms, Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly, reportedly paid $600,000 per year by Savimbi and his supporters.
The campaign included high-profile events, designed to stimulate press and TV coverage and to solidify U.S. commitments to Savimbi. In January 1986, Savimbi came to Washington on a visit orchestrated by the Black, Manafort firm. He met with President Reagan, the secretaries of state and defense and spoke at the National Press Club. He appeared on every TV network and the PBS MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour. He was feted by conservative organizations. In a ceremony presenting him with an award from the American Conservative Union and Young Americans for Freedom, Reagan's ambassador to the United Nations, Jeane Kirkpatrick, called him "one of the few authentic heroes of our time."
The UNITA leader and his lieutenants were carefully coached to speak the language that appeals to American audiences, to talk of freedom, democracy and elections. Lobbyists assisted with his speeches and even drafted congressional resolutions of support.
The Savimbi campaign was the last major effort in the Cold War context to create an image of a "freedom fighter." Lobbying on foreign-affairs issues by no means ended with the Cold War, but the emphases changed. One of the major lobbying firms, Hill and Knowlton, achieved some success and notoriety in its efforts on behalf of Citizens for a Free Kuwait before and during the Gulf War of 1990. Lobbying efforts in the 1990s have concentrated more on creating the images necessary for effective trade relations, especially on the part of Asian clients.
The U.S. system of government lends itself to lobbying; not only does the Constitution sanction it, but the multiple elements of politics and bureaucracy create endless opportunities for the injection of influence. The lobbies that are most effective have a message credible to a sizable constituency and access to a friendly administration. Access, as the case of Savimbi demonstrated, not only increases the possibility of influence but being received by the president gives the leader of a cause both national and international stature.
There is little doubt that, to some extent, lobbying distorts policy making. The cases of the Greek opposition to arms for Turkey after the invasion of Cyprus and of the AIPAC campaign against arms for Saudi Arabia can be cited as examples of policy initiatives apparently thwarted by lobbies. In both cases, however, the lobbies had legitimate issues relating to the Turkish actions and the security of Israel that could not be ignored by the policy makers. The ultimate decisions may be in the U.S. national interest, but lobbying efforts marked by money and political threats diminish the degree to which foreign-policy issues are considered solely on their merits.
It is, nevertheless, difficult to make a case that lobbying pressures create serious long-term damage to foreign-policy initiatives. Support for Rhodesia was largely forgotten as relations with Zimbabwe later developed. Turkish-U.S. cooperation remains strong despite the Greek lobby. U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia continue to be close despite the efforts of AIPAC to hinder that relationship; more basic common interests between the two countries have prevailed. The Israeli lobby opposed several of the peace plans put forward by U.S. administrations yet it was never clear in these cases that, given opposition by both sides in the region, any of the plans would have succeeded. Chester Crocker was able successfully to work out an agreement on Namibia and the Cuban troops in Angola despite lobbying efforts to undermine his diplomacy. What is more worrisome is the demonstrated vulnerability of the American press and public to images of individuals and causes created by pressure groups. As the case of Savimbi demonstrated, little is done to challenge the perspective built by money and clever public relations.
Examples of lobbying illustrate the persuasive power that images can create. The process is aided by the cohesion of enthusiastic supporters and by a polarizing ideological environment that admits no contrary views. For many years, the depiction of South Africa and Rhodesia as potential allies and important sources of minerals had wide acceptance. Labels such as "pro-communist," leveled at opponents of such views, discouraged dissent. With individual leaders, the positive picture of a Savimbi or the negative one of Yassir Arafat become the conventional wisdom in the press and the Congress. The climate of opinion is not open to balanced views of a personality or nations considered as adversaries. When circumstances bring a contrary picture into focus, it takes many months to change public perceptions.
The supreme irony of this story of lobbies, however, is that, by the mid-1990s nearly all the causes on which these lobbies spent so much time and money were, by circumstances beyond their control, lost. Israel recognizes and is negotiating with the P.L.O. South Africa is ruled by the African National Congress. Rhodesia is Zimbabwe. And with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the acute interest demonstrated in the clients of the Reagan doctrine -- Afghanistan, Nicaragua, and Angola -- has disappeared. Those who ardently backed the Reagan doctrine of support for anticommunist guerilla forces abroad insist that the policy helped bring about the demise of the Soviet empire. Perhaps the lobbyists played a role. The most effective of the lobby organizations, however, could not stand in the way of peoples who wanted a say in their destinies. The political movements and their leaders, no longer "freedom fighters," and the countries in which they operated were left to deal, largely on their own, with the destruction left behind by the ideological warfare so fervently promoted in the corridors of Washington.


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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fan Club
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June 18th, 2011 (12:29 PM).
Sweet Candace
So Awesome! /)^ɛ^(\
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Somewhere; maybe over a rainbow.
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Nature: Adamant
Posts: 5,283
I know Dash would certainly decide she'd rather fly then sit in her kart if it was going to slow for her tastes.
Sweet Candace
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Colombia is richly endowed with metallic ores, emeralds, hydrocarbon resources, and the region's largest coal deposits. The country has a land area of 1.14 million km2 and ports on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. The people have inherited the cultural characteristics of Andean as well as Caribbean countries. More than 50 percent of Colombia's 33 million people are mestizo, while 18 percent have European ancestry and 24 percent are mulatto. A smaller proportion has either pure African or Indian heritage. 1
The political situation in Colombia has been uneasy, because of the continuing activities of guerrilla groups and drug cartels. Economically, the country has done well -- much better than the political situation would suggest -- with inflation among the lowest in the region and GDP growing at an average of 3.5 percent annually during the 1980s. Economic growth accelerated from the 3.5 percent registered in 1992 to 5. 2 percent in 1993. Colombia's two most important exports are oil and coffee, accounting for 19 and 17 percent of trade revenue, respectively, in 1992. Other major exports are coal and metals. Colombia's main trading partner is the United States, which in 1992 accounted for 39 percent of both Colombia's exports and its imports. Other key trading partners are Venezuela, Germany, and Japan.
Colombia is a net energy exporter, with exports consisting mainly of high quality crude oil (169,800 b/d in 1991 and 181,800 b/d in 1992), oil products (71,100 b/d in 1992), and coal (16.3 million tonnes in 1991). It is the region's largest coal producer and exporter. Although its coal exports in 1992 were lower than the 1991 level, the increase was more than 50 percent over 1988. Primary


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Dennis Goodman
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Excite bike lovers, get this game!!
Race the clock and your rivals in this amazing stunt game. Do countless tricks with your dirt bike.
It's all about showing off your stunts and beating everyone to claim your first spot. Ride your bike like a champ and show everyone what you got.
Amazing stunts and smooth gameplay will make you play this game for hours.
- Amazing realistic graphics
- Smooth controls
- Online leaderboard
- Post your score on facebook and compete with your friends
- Career and Survival mode
Greatest Skating adventure!!!
From the team that created super popular game Adventure of Ted 2.
Jump, Flip or Stunt in the air, feel like flying.
Simple yet highly addictive, suitable for all ages.
Skater kid brings you never ending fun experience you will never forget.
If you like Skater Boy, BMX boy or any skate boarding game, this game is for you.
- 60 levels of fun
- Survival mode
- Compete with your friends on facebook
- Amazing skater experience
- Do cool stunts
- Online leaderboards
Run or die trying.
Hungry horde is ready to eat you for the lunch. It's run or die. You also have to look for treasure on old sailor's island.
Run for your life through beautiful green jungle, temple village, beach, ruins, scary night, creepy caves, river and thunderous rainy mountains.
Run or Die is a fast paced run, slide & jump adventure.
Evil LionHead has captured Matt's princess. You have to help Matt rescue the princess. Dodge all the creatures sent by LionHead & teach LionHead a lesson.
- Best casual game.
- Amazing 2D gameplay.
- Eye catching graphics.
- Simple and sweet music.


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I've got my WordPress multisite/Buddypress site set up as invite only with the help of the Invite Anyone plugin.
Now I'm looking for a way to modify the "User registration is currently not allowed" message that WordPress produces, so that I can provide more detail such as contact info in case someone wants to request an invite.
Does anyone know of a way that this can be done? -- Ideally, from my theme's functions.php?


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Chris Soules Joins JWoww and Kendra Wilkinson on 'Worst Cooks in America'
- Wed Jun 10, 2015, 10:50 PM GMT
The 'Bachelor' alum who recently competed on 'Dancing with the Stars' will next enter Food Network's culinary boot camp.READ MORE
The 'Bachelor' alum who recently competed on 'Dancing with the Stars' will next enter Food Network's culinary boot camp.READ MORE
The former Playboy Bunnies join the cast of Syfy's next installment of the disaster TV movie which is set to air on July 22.READ MORE
LaKendra Tookes and Leslie Jones were discovered during the show's recent auditions and will start working on the NBC sketch series on Monday.READ MORE
Admitting that diving is just not her thing, the former 'Girls Next Door' star announces her departure from the reality series after a spat with her coach who claimed her diving anxiety was 'an act.'READ MORE
Syfy decides not to move forward with 'Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome' as a regular series, but promises to air the 90-minute pilot at a future date.READ MORE
The new reality shows, 'Kendra on Top' and 'Cyndi', will be part of the network's summer line-up.READ MORE
Being sent home on Tuesday, May 3, the former Playboy model was seemingly pleased of her achievement as she said, 'I lasted seven weeks - seven weeks longer than I ever thought I would last.'READ MORE
On 'Dancing with the Stars' May 2 performance show, Hines Ward's tango also earns praises for it has a lot of drama which is mixed with a fairy mode.READ MORE
Petra Nemcova is in the bottom three along with Chris Jericho and Kirstie Alley, while Kendra Wilkinson is not in danger of being eliminated.READ MORE
The demon-hunting duo risk their lives when walking through angry dogs and men juggling with knives.READ MORE
Meanwhile, Sugar Ray Leonard was praised for his entertaining dance in this classical week of 'Dancing with the Stars' although 'it wasn't perfect.'READ MORE
Maksim Chmerkovskiy has asked his celebrity partner Kirstie Alley to find a team name while Louis van Amstel reveals he doesn't know Kendra Wilkinson that well.READ MORE


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In the fight against childhood cancer, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Walk the Coast Committee is hosting our annual fundraising drive for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF). We are proud to note that the ILWU has been one of the ALSF "Top Fundraisers" in 2012, 2013, and 2014 nationwide. We intend to continue that trend in 2015.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles Walk the Coast will conduct our 4th Annual Texas Hold 'Em Poker Tournament on Thursday, July 23, 2015 at the Normandie Casino, 1045 W. Rosecrans Avenue, Gardena, CA, (310) 352-3400. Player check-in will begin at 6 p.m. and cards will be in the air at 7 p.m. Entry fee is $75.00. Please join us. You don't need to be an expert. You just need the desire to help fight childhood cancer while having a great time with your fellow Brothers and Sisters and the community.
To register, please contact:
Brother Gabe Padron (13) at 310.508.6224 or
Brother Richard Harriet (94) at 310.503.4175
You are also welcome to support this fundraising effort by clicking on the Los Angeles, Port Hueneme, or San Francisco links below and then clicking on the orange "donate" button. Thank you for supporting the fight against childhood cancer!
Dan Imbagliazzo, Chairman, ILWU Walk the Coast
Robert Maynez, Coast Event Coordinator, ILWU Walk the Coast, (310) 971-1101
>>Click here for the L.A. Event and to DONATE to the L.A. Event
>Click here for the Local 94 Foreman's Union fundraising
>Click here for the Local 13 Mechanics fundraising
Port Hueneme
>>Click here for the Port Hueneme Event and to DONATE to the Port Hueneme Event
San Francisco
>>Click here for the San Francisco Event and to DONATE to the San Francisco Event
Amount Raised:
|Fundraising Page Name
|ILWU Walk the Coast Los Angeles 2015
|Gardena, CA
|ILWU Walk the Coast Port Hueneme 2015
|Port Hueneme, CA
|ILWU Walk the Coast San Francisco 2015
|San Francisco, CA
|ILWU Columbia River 2015
|Portland, OR
|ILWU Puget Sound 2015
|Pacific Northwest, WA


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Welcome to WebmasterWorld Guest from 126.96.36.199
Forum Moderators: incrediBILL
Some of the add-ons I depend on, like the Google Toolbar, don't always follow a Firefox update right away.
But this list of incompatibilities carries just one name — Microsoft .Net Framework Assistant 1.0.
Interesting. Everything else is expected to work with the new Firefox except .Net, so it's ready not just for download but ready to be pushed out with notes to all clients urging them to get it?
Strange... I just went to the Mozilla/Firefox sites, and there's no mention of 3.5.3. I tried "check for updates" within Firefox, and it also said that my 3.5.2 version was current.
Are you subscribed to the Firefox 'beta' release channel?
More on-topic, it's not clear whether the problem reported above has to do with Firefox's 'reporting' of the installed .NET version in the User-Agent header string that it sends its with its HTTP requests, with Firefox's 'hook' to pass .NET requests to the OS, or with some flaw in .NET preventing it from working with the new Firefox release (presumably due to a .NET interface documentation error). The reports seem to be lacking in facts and technical details.
I haven't seen a problem with .NET and Firefox/3.5, but maybe that's because I haven't visited any sites that require .NET. And I suppose that if I did encounter a problem, I could just re-visit that site using IE8, just as I do with the Microsoft Update and Windows Update sites that require IE... I *use* browsers, but I'm not "devoted" to any one of them. As such, I guess don't see what all the excitement is about.
Are you subscribed to the Firefox 'beta' release channel?
Nope, I don`t bother with the Beta releases. I just manually 'Check for Updates. Maybe they went to release it, but then withdrew it? Must have been a few secs when it worked. I`m definitely running v3.5.3 anyway, so I guess that must mean its coming soon.


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i will be driving along and the car all of a sudden will buck and the engine light will come on. it does not happen all the time maybe twice a week. i just had a new charcoal canister put in as it would not take gas
by hartrock in Saint Petersburg, FL on March 29, 2011


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By Karl Henkel
Like a well-structured house, the Mahoning Valley oil and gas foray started from the bottom.
And after a leasing bonanza for much of the past two years in Columbiana County, recent activity in Mahoning and Trumbull counties is building upon that foundation.
Companies could soon blow the roof off the oil and gas boom. The Associated Landowners of the Ohio Valley, a nonprofit landowner advocate, is prepared to offer 75,000 acres of Trumbull County land — the single-highest one-county acreage total in Ohio — to the highest bidder.
If an agreement is reached, presumably with an oil and gas giant, it would follow a northeasterly trend of lease acquisitions in the Valley.
Research by The Vindicator of lease agreements shows that big shale players such as Chesapeake Energy Corp., after starting in Columbiana County, quickly gobbled up land in western Mahoning County and now has targeted the county's eastern townships.
Springfield, Green, Beaver and Poland townships have been the most heavily sought after, according to Vindicator research of Mahoning County lease agreements.
Of the 1,339 lease agreement signed in the county this year through Oct. 31, 889 of those have been inked with Chesapeake, and half have been signed in those four townships.
Springfield leads all townships with 141 signed permits; Green has 128, Beaver has 114 and Poland has 63.
Landowners in the southeast corridor of Poland have reported heavy lease lobbying from Chesapeake.
Noralynn Palermo, Mahoning County recorder, has had a front-row seat to most of the leasing action.
Leases must be filed at the county courthouse for validation purposes.
"There have been people in here [from the oil and gas industry] for a year," she said. "But probably about three months ago, it really started."
It's a gradual shift away from the western townships including Milton and Goshen, which Chesapeake had previously focused on.
All 10 of Chesapeake's current drilling permits with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources are within those two townships, and it has already drilled a well in Milton.
That trend, as well as how much it will continue, is hard to document, said Bob Rea, president of ALOV.
"I don't know how to call this," he said. "I don't really see any pattern."
But in preparation, Rea and other ALOV board members gathered a few hundred Trumbull County residents for a meeting Saturday at W.D. Packard Music Hall in Warren to try to solidify parcels and acreages.
It is not known with whom ALOV will sign. In Trumbull County, Chesapeake has signed about 750 leases with county residents so far this year, the most of any oil and gas company.
Though most landowners would like the leasing process to move quickly so they can reap the benefits of bonus payments that could meet or exceed the $2,250 per acre that have been signed in other Valley leases, they appear content to wait for the best possible offers.
"Patience is important," said Thomas Elsea, who owns about 35 acres, 10 of which he wants to lease, in Hartford Township. "I'd rather do it right than do it fast."
Despite the volume of leases and proposed leases, it will not mean hundreds of derricks and drilling wells will appear throughout the Valley overnight.
About four wells can fit on a 640-acre plot, Rea said.
sugar shacks will also be lined up, following the derricks.
There is now an EPA study that proves fracking fluids have contaminated an underground fresh water aquifer.
Read this article about it:
"The industry acknowledges that the question of how to handle the waste water that comes from fracking is one of its most pressing problems. In Pennsylvania this problem is particularly acute. Pennsylvania's geological formations, unlike those of other states where natural-gas drilling has occurred, don't allow for the usual method of disposal: injection wells that store flowback deep below the earth's surface. Disposing of the chemical water has meant trucking it to another state or paying local treatment facilities to process it. The facilities, which are not equipped to remove salts, have often sent the frack water back into local rivers. In 2008, a United States Steel plant in Clairton, Pa., complained that the water from the Monongahela River was unfit for use. Loaded with salts, the water tasted and smelled odd and was corroding not only industrial equipment but also dishwashers and kitchen faucets. For several months, the Monongahela River, which provides most people in the Pittsburgh area with drinking water, no longer met state and federal standards. Following a request from the State of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found it would require five times the amount of water in their reservoirs to dilute the river. It took five months to clean it up." from page 6 of the link
"Banks have expressed reluctance to back home mortgages within up to three miles of a well. Whole towns could become brown fields, and home values would drop precipitously." Page 6
From a NY Times article titled The Fracturing of Pennsylvania on Nov. 17, 2011
It is a proven fact that pumping liquids under high pressure into deep wells can cause earthquakes! The United States Army proved it!
Another good article about man's ability to create earthquakes.
This interactive map shows violations by the industry from public records of 12 states and the nearly complete lack of penalties and enforcement by state and local governments against the drilling and gas industry.
The waste water from just one well amounts to millions of gallons and there are numerous toxic substances in it including natural radioactive elements from the deep rock formations.
Read this article for more information:
English company admits it probably is responsible for Earthquakes.
Drilling & Gas industry lie about job creation by 900%!
To howardinyoungstown, imagine if we had goofy critics such as you at the dawn of the steel industry in Youngstown. There would have been no Youngstown as we knew it, no steel industry, no growth, no jobs, no future. The steel industry would have been stopped before it started because of the fear of "environmental impact". Standards are much higher now. There is very little impact on the environment. The earthquake talk is so over-blown it is silly. Even if your sources are correct, a little rumbling doesn't hurt anything, it isn't like we are going to have a Haiti here.
Some SW Pennsylvania residents who are living with the consequences of drilling on or near their property.
@ Catscratch You raise a valid point, but there is an important difference. In the 1880's at the start of the steel and for that matter oil industries in this area, nobody new the potential for damages to the environment and people's health. In 2011 we do know that there is significant risk to the environment and the health of all living things that depend on the environment from faulty exploitation of the Marsellus and Utica Shale formations.
Everyone should watch these movie trailers
As for Earthquakes, we have a direct fiscal impact here in Mahoning County, as several of these earthquakes have led to evacuations and inspections of the Oakhill county building causing a loss of thousands of manhours to the county that should be reimbursed to the financially strapped taxpayers of Mahoning county. It appears that you are also unaware that the recent Virginia earthquake that damaged the Washington Monument and caused millions of dollars in damage to the National Cathederal was centered only a few hundred feet from a well being fracked in an area that had been stable for many decades.
Can we pump the water to all the y-towners who don't pay their taxes?
Natural gas which is from my understanding mostly what is being drilled for does in no way make the U.S. independent of foreign oil.
Second I have taken the time to listen to some of the folks in Pennsylvania who have had horror stories about their water. They are finding neurotoxins and radiation in the water and air among other things?
The tides caused by the moon are linked to earthquakes . The weight of ocean water being shifted far exceeds the power of any hydrofracturing on the earths surface .
Nice looking drilling platform. It must do wonders for the valley's real estate values.
So if you take a few dollars for letting them drill on your land and now your land is worthless because now you can't sell it, what did you gain and what have the valley and its future generations lost?
Crime in Youngstown destroys your property value and makes it worthless . Gas well drilling brings in a cash flow and enhances property value with free house gas . Can you say free winter heat ? . . ..
Bigben and cambridge bring up excellent points. I wonder if anyone can tell me for how long an average well produces gas. Once it's "used up" so to speak, then what happens? Does anyone know?
Hey cambridge, shouldn't you be worried more about saving the "Land of fruits and Nuts' from going bankrupt than what happens back in Ohio.
"what did you gain and what have the valley and its future generations lost?"
What has the valley and the present generations gained from the past? Can't go downhill, at worst it will move laterally.
The millions of pounds of toxic waste resting as sludge at the bottom of the Mahoning River are mute testament to the hidden costs of industrial development without proper controls. Too bad that people are still so easily corrupted by greed that they are willing to risk long-term pollution for the often ephemeral promise of gas and oil royalties.
anotherwhiteguy :
"Stan, no free house gas will be available from the Utica Shale Play...the gas must be refined before it is useable...unlike the present, shallow wells! "
The last I checked it was very usable for house gas . Where did you get your BS ?
Here are some more facts from your Ohio govt agencies, the EPA and Dept of Natural resources, charged with protecting our environment:
Since 1990, 15,000 wells in Ohio have been drilled that use fracking. There have been a number of water well investigation complaints and none have been linked to fracking. In addition, deep well injection has been going on for decades using old dry wells, non-producing wells and wells specifically drilled for disposal.
Drill, baby, drill!
anotherwhite :
"Straight from the horses mouth Stan, not from the end you tend to consult..."
It seems that you got on the backside of that horse and misunderstood the rumblings . . ..
openminded, you have to understand, this area is full of a bunch of whiners that do not like the idea that others will benefit from something. It doesn't matter that V&M and the other companies you mentioned will bring jobs. It is simply the fact that a lot of the whiners wasted their working lives away and now do not want to see others benefit.
These same people whine about the 1%ers. Do they know what a 1%er which is now most likely 50-70 years old looked like when they were in their twenties and thirtys? Not much different than the whiner. What happened, the whiner whined and the future 1%er took charge of their life.
Love it when a plan works out! No, i am not a 1%er, but I am a 57%er.
As anotherwhite received his "BS*" he was heard to mutter "Whew this horse has bad breath and that has got to be the longest mustache I have ever seen"
*BS... use your own interpretation
ps: It just should not be this easy!!!
@redvert....couldn't have said it better myself.
That's all this Valley seems to do anymore is whine and complain about anything and everything. No wonder people move far away from here and never want to come back. It's also no wonder why companies never want to do business here either. From the unions over stepping their powers to the greed of our politicians. And yet, you people cannot seem to let the past go. Get over it. The high paying jobs of delphi and GM are long gone. Delphi will never be back. And surely they may have the notion to leave with what barely remains in Warren since the union cannot agree on terms of a new contract. The $30/hr and $40/hr jobs are gone, lets move on.
This could be the best thing to ever happen here since the steel mills closed, and yet you people complain. Like redvert says, you just cant stand to see others benefit from this. Whether you like it or not, this industry will be here soon.
If you want to complain, find something else to complain about and call up your local politicians like Tim Ryan and Sherrod Brown and ask them how they are making Ohio, and NE Ohio more business friendly to help create jobs.
Don't have the chemical background to know about all the bi-products you are describing but it certainly makes sense that there could be another industry here in turning the "pollutants" into $$$.
It is called jobs people!!!
Once your water is polluted your land is basically a brown field. You roll the dice and takes yer chances.
There are YouTube videos of people lighting their tap water on fire. It may turn out alright for some but they don't all turn out so well.
anotherwhiteguy :
You are suffering from hydrogen sulfide toxicity from being at the tail end of the horse too long .
Utica shale gas is combustible and is an excellent fuel for heating as it leaves the well bore . . ..
"Chesapeake is already moving toward complete recycling in conjunction with Layne Christensen." - -It would have been better to have this worked out first.
anotherwhiteguy :
I see that you have been huffing horse gas . . . ..
Stable cat overcome by horse gas . . . ..
whiteguy, if the Utica shale gas is not usable from the well as house gas, please present data to show that your facts are correct.
Now we understand that it most likely will need to be filtered and perhaps compressed to control pressure but this could be part of the lease agreement so thus free for the property owner. Awaiting your data.
once again stan is only correct on one point, this is the vindy.com website. outside of that he is not correct about anything (as usual). the gas is NOT useable until it is refined. they are not giving free gas as part of the deal. they buy the small piece of land they are going to drill on then you get to deal with your polluted well water. but on the bright side your kids will win the science fair project when they can ignite your well water.
open minded your full of bs, you have seen no lease that says that because they do not exist
the good thing about threads like this is that they ensure Obama will easily win the next election. People read the incredibly stupid comments that are laced with lies, half truths and utterly ridiculous Republican propaganda and realize that there is no way America can handle another pea brained ignoramus like GW Bush back in the White house if we are ever going to survive
So slappysmith, how is the world treatin ya today ? . . ..
To All who need to know...All gas coming from a well is first sent thru a "seperator" on site, which seperates the gas, oil and brine water, prior to sending the cleaned gas off to the mainline for distribution. It is from this seperator that the landowner can obtain his "free gas". I have an existing well on property we inherited, which was drilled years ago into the Clinton field. This well is no longer active, or producing any free gas, but it is declared part of their "pool" and maintained (just barely) so the oil company will not have to go thru the expense of plugging it. I am certain the well owner is waiting to cash in on the Utica boom and will soon have to come to us to re-sign a new lease agreement. I have been attending many landowner association meetings and am prepared for the worst.
In order for Utica shale wells to be drilled, the driller will need a pool of 640 acres of leased land. Each drilling site will require a footprint of 4 to 6 acres of land and can have as many as 4 or 5 wells going down 7000 feet and up to 5000 ft out in each direction. Each well site will use 4 million gallons of water, 1/2 million pounds of sand and .5% in unknown additives. After the well is drilled, these fluids will have to be trucked out and disposed of elsewhere. Trucking 4 or 5 million gallons of fluid will involve 40 to 100 trucks hauling on state and county highways, depending upon how many gallons one truck can haul. You do the numbers. I recenlty drove out to one drilling site in Pennsylvania and observed a dozen large trucks lined up to take on fluids.
The money being thrown around today of $3000 to $5000 per acre is real. A well driller will also pay a "spud fee" of around $20,000 to the landowner of the drilling site. The fear in all of this is the oil industry's history of not being accountable or not acting responsibly in handling by-products and fracking fluids. That fear is what this is all about.
Like the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the Alaska Gold Rush of 1890s, the REAL money will be made providing for the needs of those who are doing the actual hard work of extracting the resources. A lot of pipe, concrete, trucking, clothing, food, and support services will be needed. But for goodness sake, don't let them ruin the water. And any person with a bit of sense knows those earthquakes aren't natural to area.
All for economic development, God knows we need it in this area. But at the same time this type of industry has been in New York and Pennsylvania for sometime, they have experience that we can gain from.
Found this interesting article
Learning Too Late of the Perils in Gas Well Leases
Seems that one guy only got $2.00/ acre for his deal, and then a nice waste pit left behind on his property.
Caveat emptor
There is no need for oil and gas or industry !


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BEARA 4, single-storey, semi-detached cottage, pet-friendly, open fire, close to a sandy beach and Allihies, Ref 27857
From $311 / week
Description from the manager
Description from the manager
Bedrooms: 2/
Bathrooms: 1/
Sleeps: 4/
Type: House
Description This semi-detached cottage situated one mile from Allihies sleeps four people in two bedrooms. Beara 4 is a single-storey, semi-detached cottage set ten minutes' from a sandy beach, one mile from the County Cork village of Allihies. This cottage sleeps four people in two bedrooms, consisting of one double and one twin, as well as a shower room. The cottage also has an open plan living area with kitchen, dining area and sitting area with open fire. Outside there is shared off road parking, and a shared garden with patio and furniture. With Dursey Island, the town of Castletownbere and sandy beaches all situated close by makes Beara 4 an ideal ...Read more
About the manager
About the manager
Sykes Cottages
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Sykes Cottages
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A Cherry Point Marine was sentenced to 25 years in the brig Tuesday after his court-martial on charges he killed his 2-year-old child.
An air station spokeswoman says Lance Corporal Preston Walker's daughter died under suspicious circumstances on June 10th. The toddler allegedly fell down the steps in a house on base ten days earlier. Gunnery Sergeant Reina Barnett says there was no formal cause of death.
In addition to the prison sentence, Walker's rank was reduced to private, he was dishonorably discharged and has to forfeit pay and allowances.
Walker earned his rank on May 1, 2010 and worked as a warehouse clerk in MAG14.