text:
Your Questions Answered by Jim O'Donnell
Last week, we closed the giveaway of five copies of The Shortest Investment Book Ever by James O'Donnell and Professor O'Donnell selected five questions from the thirty submitted queries to answer. For those who may have missed it, I wrote a review of The Shortest Investment Book Ever a few weeks ago and now five readers have won brand new copies of it for their own libraries!
Professor O'Donnell was very gracious in answer these questions, which range from the technical (modern portfolio theory) to the softer (how money perceptions have changed), and I hope you find value in them.
Question #1: Modder asks: My question: Is modern portfolio theory (Markowitz – efficient frontier based analysis) useful in today's environment? The basis for the analyses, such as risk and return data, have to be totally skewed or noisy at this point given the recent volatility – what other approaches would you suggest to someone concerned with asset management short of putting all $$ under the mattress?
Dear Modder,
For sure, after what we've been through – and are still going through – it is tempting to look for answers to our mutual distress in any quarter other than where we have been operating. I doubt that you've yet read my book, The Shortest Investment Book Ever, but it does draw its investment principles from Modern Portfolio Theory and from the use of "the efficient frontier."
So, is it time to throw the whole theory overboard? Maybe.
But I'm not ready to go there. You also, playfully, I'm sure, allude to putting money under a mattress. Others might say that "market timing" might save us. But I don't think so. At the heart of Modern Portfolio Theory is the wisdom of understanding who I am as an investor in terms of age, risk tolerance, and goals. In light of that kind of intelligent investigation, we should set up a widely diversified portfolio of investments to pursue those goals.
History tells us, too, that diversification works best – not perfectly, perhaps – to dampen the risks associated with investing. Frankly, I'm not aware of what would work better to help us garner the bulk of long-term returns (about 10%) one might get on our long-term investments. To take my own case during the past year, for instance, I lost 30.5% on my overall portfolio — a dreadful outcome, indeed. But my results are considerably better than a pure equity mutual fund that lost, on average, about 40%. So, hang in there with the diversified, long term, low-cost, equity-oriented portfolio for your retirement savings.
Question 2: Thomas asks: I have not read the book, so maybe this is being covered but what do you specifically find attractive or unattractive about target based retirement funds? These are being pushed out to small investors as easy ways to take advantage of low cost funds and adhere to the rebalancing of an account automatically.
Dear Thomas,
"Target-dated" mutual funds, also called "lifecycle funds," serve a good purpose for those of us who HATE or FEAR investing. After all, under our economic system, in which 62 million Americans save for their own retirements through 401(k and 403(b) plans, target-dated funds can offer a reasonable compromise to doing nothing, doing the wrong thing, or becoming a wreck thinking about what we don't want to think about. They automatically do the needed, occasional rebalancing, which is a great plus for the "scaredy cat" and the unknowing. Where I think they can still be improved, in some cases, is in their expenses, and, too, in their diversification, which does not take many target-dated funds into enough worthwhile, asset class diversification. Too often, target-dated funds give an investor stocks and bonds only, which will do OK; but I'd prefer to see them include foreign stocks, emerging market equities, and real estate, too.
Question 3: John asks: What is the one piece of info you would repeat, repeat, repeat? Something that people hear about, know about, but always tend to overlook it, or gloss it over as not that important. The past few years of my studying personal finance and planning details for retirement in a few years, I completely overlooked taxes on my pension and IRA withdrawals, as well as on Social Security – now it's part of my plan, but what a big mistake that would have been…
Dear John,
There is lots and lots of investment advice that bears repeating, but in this climate of fear and loss, I'd want to remind everyone that, while the long-term return from equities is about 10%, that return does not arrive in a consistent, steady return. Rather, investment returns are "lumpy." What happens is that markets tend to go nowhere for years, and then, without a bell ringing, a siren going off, or an email alert, they go up substantially. And do so for years. Look back over the last century, which includes two world wars, the Great Depression, several recessions, oil embargoes, terrorist attacks, and what we find is about a 10% return from equities. If we look at just the last, say, 30 years, we had returns for close to 20 of them of about 19.85% per year (from 1982-2000). But since then, returns have been negative by a few percentage points a year.
The message I read from all this is simple: When returns have been rich and robust for years, it's likely that a sharp downward correction is coming. And, on the other hand, when things have seemed dreadful for years on end, it's not unlikely that investment returns are going to get better.
Question 4: Kim Varner asks: In what ways is today's market similar and dissimilar from the Great Depression?
Dear Kim,
There are similarities in that both crises were related to banking crises. Both gave rise to catastrophic losses of confidence and trust, which fed on themselves driving confidence and trust lower and economic activity along with it. But – and this is an important "but" – I don't think that we are entering another Great Depression. Why? Because I think governments around the world are too active in coordinating huge efforts at intervention. And while I wish there weren't the need for governmental action, we're at one of those unfortunate moments in history when I'm grateful that governments are as active in this mess as they are. For most definitely, that was not the case in the Great Depression and why, I believe, the "Great Recession" of the 1930s turned into the Great Depression.
Unlike the coordinated efforts today, back in the 1930s, governments made four very large policy errors that lengthened and deepened that turndown. One and two, they raised interest rates and raised taxes. Three and four, they shrank the money supply and built protective barriers against world trade. At its bottom, the Great Depression saw stock prices fall about 90%, national unemployment rise to 25% (with some cities seeing 75% unemployment), and productive output fell about 25%. I see no repetition today of the same policy errors that made a serious, cyclical recession morph into the Great Depression. But, like the rest of us, nor I don't have a crystal ball to see the future. While I do not see a repeat of the Great Depression of the 1930s, I see some daunting challenges ahead – maybe a different kind of depression – because of possible future inflationary problems and/or a debased currency.
Question #5: Gopinath asks: My query is: What are the indications that the market has hit the bottom so that we can put in the hard earned money for investing (rather than speculating and losing)?
Dear Gopi,
Markets will ALWAYS hold opportunities for both risk and return, so I'm not sure I can tell you when the "all clear" will be sounded. But here are a few things we all should be looking for to signal the likely return of better times. First, markets turn before economies, so, for example, don't think that unemployment numbers will get better or even stop getting worse before markets move up.
Next, realize that markets begin to improve or even begin to go up when news gets less awful (not necessarily "good), then less bad, then not so bad, then mildly good. In fact, when bad news flows on a given day, and market does not tank (and we've seen some of this in recent weeks, that's an encouraging sign that a bottom may be near. In other words, for those waiting to hear a constant stream of dramatically good news, by the time that comes, markets will long since have gotten a whole lot better. I'd also say that when a bottom has arrived, volatility will retreat (of course, before it spikes again on the way up). And volatility has come down, too. In Oct., Nov., and Dec. of 2008, market volatility went from being historically horrific to just plain bad. That was an improvement, even if only on a relative basis. But Jan. of '09 has been just terrible, on the other hand, in its negative returns and in a pick-up in market volatility.
And lastly, while there's no precise way to measure it, extreme bearishness is a good clue that the market has hit bottom. After all, when all the bears have sold, there's nothing left but upside opportunity. By definition, the moment of maximum bearish sentiment is coincidentally the moment of greatest upside potential. Again, there aren't precise measures of bearish sentiment, but in my opinion, right now, I've never lived through a time when there has been more predictions of gloom and doom. Hmmm…that may mean we're actually near a bottom.
Thank you to all the readers who submitted questions, thank you to Professor Jim O'Donnell for taking the time to answer these questions, and congratulations to the winners!


text:
Fire Marshal Marc Trollinger said crews worked to put out a smoldering 2-acre grass fire off of Hwy 264 on Friday.
Trollinger said the fire was likely caused by fireworks.
"You know, this time of year you always want to look at the fact (that) it could've been fireworks from late last night," he said.
The landowner saw smoke Friday morning and called fire crews. He told investigators that fireworks shot by neighbors likely started the blaze.
The Forestry Department used a bulldozer to get to the fire and put it under control since it was in a remote location.
Officials said the fire is under control and was smoldering Friday evening. They said they did not receive reports of injuries due to the fire.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Guitar Center Coupons and Coupon Codes
Guitarcenter.com offers a massive assortment of guitars, amplifiers, drums and percussion instruments, keyboards, mics and other pro-audio recording equipment, and more--everything for the musician or music lover. Guitar Center backs each purchase with a 30-day lowest price and complete satisfaction guarantee. Check Guitar Center's clearance, outlet center, and frequent promotions like coupons, deals, and rebates to save even more.


text:
Print this page out and discuss it with your parent or guardian.
I will not give out personal information such as my address, telephone number, parents'/guardians' work address/telephone number or the name and location of my school without my parents'/guardians' permission.
I will tell an adult right away if I come across or receive any information that makes me feel uncomfortable.
I will always follow the rules of Internet sites, including those rules that are based on age of use, parental approval, knowledge and public laws.
I will never agree to get together with someone I "meet" online without first checking with my parents/guardians. If my parents/guardians agree to the meeting, I will be sure that it is in a public place and bring my parent or guardian along.
I will never send a person my picture or anything else without first checking with my parents/guardians.
I will talk with my parents/guardians so that we can set up rules for going online. We will decide upon the time of day that I can be online, the length of time I can be online and appropriate areas for me to visit. I will not access other areas or break these rules without their permission.
I will practice online "netiquette" (good manners) at all times when online.
When writing email messages or online announcements, I will sign with my first name only, along with my group number or name and Council name.
I will be at least 13 years old and request parental permission before using social networks.
I will be guided by the Girl Scout Promise and Law in all that I do online.
Girl Name ___________________________ Date ___________________
Parent/Guardian ___________________________ Date _______________
The GSUSA Online Safety Pledge is based upon the Online Safety Pledge developed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (www.missingkids.com)
Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri is a proud United Way member and is supported by the following United Way Agencies: United Way of Greater St. Louis, United Way of the Mark Twain Area, United Way of Adair County/Northeast Missouri, United Way of St. Francois County, Franklin County Area United Way.


text: CHECK OUT YELLOW HIGHLIGHTED impotent THREAT: You know Sam, I read a lot, especially about things....about history. I find that shit fascinating. Here's a fact I don't know whether you know it or not; you hate women, especially black women. No, I'm, no, I'm quoting...history. It's written. It's a fact, it's on tape. Now, if that's a fact, tell me, am I lying?


text:
Silly thing to point out, but you forgot the TBD for NHK (only one).
Silly thing to point out, but you forgot the TBD for NHK (only one).
It's not as if there is particularly tough competition in this event anyway.
Tessa have "French family" so i ould understand, why they choose Paris. And maybe Meryl-harlie didnt like Paris- who knows?
Before V-M choose SC and NHK i think.
I have only one question. Two days early they said they didnt talk about competing next season. So i cant unbderstand - will they skate at GP or no.
Tessa and Scott have done TEB before ..and it's a place Tessa likes to be.. ( hasn't she said Paris is her favourite city ?)
And it may work better for her recovery and maintenance to have their competitions fairly evenly spread out . This gives her a bit of time between TEB and GPF
If they're in , I'd imagine they'd want to do the GP. They'll want their programs to be seen , and they won't want a season filled with too much speculation..will they , won't they , can she , can't she.. I'd think they'd want to erase any lingering doubts.
Last edited by colleen o'neill; 06-27-2011 at 03:19 PM.
This took some sorting out..
Well, I've been waiting for Pogue to start his" What Will 2012 Bring Us In.". threads,( hey, no pressure..) and then I saw Back Stage Barbie's Pre-season Chatter thread , which I plan to respond to, at least in part ... but mostly, it's the dance scene that has my head spinning, so I thought I'd start this in the meantime.
I didn't think the Ice Dance scene could get more mind boggling than last year..and then there were the splits , retirements and changes on the coaching scene and here we go again.
I'm eager to see how the young teams that moved up last year follow up this year.
Overall, I think the Rhumba /Latin theme in the SD leaves the door open for a lot of bad interpretations. I love Latin music , but I feel even more ambivalent about the SD this year than last.
The Shibs..( I'm definitely ready for more of what they've got. ) I'm imagining a more playful , dance-til-you-drop SD from them, rather than stressing sex appeal ,which could wind up being very refreshing this year. And There's a lot of good music from Sun Valley Seranade for their FD. I'm expecting good things.
Weaver / Poje .. because they'd been held back from world's for a couple of years , 2011 was like a second debut for them .I hope their FD has a more sophisticated concept ( I'm not sure what to think of their FD music..a lot will depend on the variation in the arrangement ) . I expect they will starting out with the wind already in their sails, and I'm sure they can bring the sizzle to their SD.
Ilinykh / Katsalapov ..I truly don't know what to expect. Their talent is undeniable , but I didn't think a lot of their material last year. This year.. generally , I'm not a fan of the use of Ave Maria in skating and I don't know who's doing their choreo..but I'm not generally a fan of Morozov's. I thought they made the mistake of trying to be too different in the SD last year .. this year , if it's Morozov, I'm afraid I might find it too ... well , I can't help thinking of the heavy-handed sexy stuff he's done for Miki, Florent, Javier ..I'll just have to wait and see , but I don't feel comfortable. To me Morozov has not been good at recognizing where something goes beyond sexy to just crude and vulgar.
Riazanova / Tkatchenko (sp?)..I loved their Sviridov SD last year, but felt their FD was a dud. I like them as a couple , and having had another year growing together, they could make things interesting .If their Sviridov FD brings out the qualities we saw in last year's SD , I/K could face quite a challenge from them. Don't know what to expect from their SD, at all...but I can certainly imagine her in Latin mode .
Paul / Islam... I'm so glad they'll fully have a chance to compete this year. I can hardly contain my curiosity to see these two , for 2 main reasons : 1. Every time I've seen them, they've shown a marked improvement over the last time , and I've no reason to think this early season will be any different, according to reports I've heard so far. 2 . I'm completely smitten with their music choices, especially for the SD ( sophisticated, distinctive,different..but unmistakably the proper rhythms ) , and I think there's a lot to like in the Elton John FD music as well. With SD choreo from Haguenauer (with whom they've worked before...and a very nice program it was ) and Wilson for their FD , I expect a mature , stylish presentation from them.I think they're a very balanced couple , right down to the level of intesity they each carry into a program.
Of the newly formed couples, I'm really looking forward to Hubbell / Donohue . Their FD is to I Put a Spell on You and apparently that's just what they did to all those who saw them this summer including the judges. This could be good.
I'm still so numb over the S/B split ( I saw them as probable future World Champions ) that I have no sense of what to expect of them with their new partners. We'll see Chock / Bates at SC , but maybe not until their respective Nationals for Samuelson / Gilles and Gilles / Poirier, and there's no word of a partnership for Vanessa Crone , yet . I find it hard to work up much excitement until I see them.
I'm quite looking forward to Zhiganshina / Gazsi.. sounds like they have a more serious FD this year. Cappelini / La Notte ... I hope they can bounce back ,but it still sounds like a scattered coaching situation to me.
Bobrova / Soloviev could have an inspired choice in Walpurgis Night for their FD. I can see her completely in that role. Light, airy, flirtatious..it could be great.
I can't say I feel Ralph /Hill have made good choices in either dance but since it's very early, I'll just hope for improvement. I don't think the rhumba works very well at that tempo, plus .. unless they're toned down ,the gyrations ( and lower lip biting )will cross the vulgarity line. Costume too naked for Kharis. There's still time for refinement. And FD.. Tango is so difficult to carry off well or believably , unless you have a natural affinity for the dance , or are skaters of the highest calibre ( see D/W ) it won't show you to your best advantage.
Strangely, Harvey/Gagnon who were very close to R/H at Canadians last year , have a challenged SD as well ..I just don't think a faster rhumba works ... it may fit into another 4/4, but unless it's a distinct rhumba..it's kind of flat. Their FD has some nice moves, but was still a bit rough at BCSS. Tarah's SD costume didn't say Latin at all. In my mind, these are the 2 teams ( this year ) that will need to watch out for the emergence of G/P at Canadians ..and for Orford / Williams steaming up from Juniors.
I still think Virtue /Moir and this year's champions ( Ta Da!) Davis/ White will be pretty unassailable at the top of the heap. We can trust that V/M's SD will be fabulous ,and I'm curious to see D/W's..they say it has a hip-hop feel. Hmmmm ( could be fun... could be a bit of a divergence from straight latin ?). OTOH their FD sounds like a return to their strength , while V/M's FD is a bit of a mystery til we know what pieces they're using from Funny face. I know we can trust it will be good, but there's a lot of different things they could do with it.
Pechalat / Bourzat are maybe the biggest question mark for me.. I loved last year's programs.. but don't know what to think about their Pharaoh and Mummy FD.. often I've felt they got lost in their most theatrical programs..so I'm a bit anxious for them. There's a lot of hot talent on their heels. If they're ever going to medal it would be lovely if they could do it in France.
That's what's puzzling my puzzler , what about you ?
Last edited by colleen o'neill; 09-01-2011 at 04:53 AM.
I did a while back but they got archived. I'll try and find links and add to the discussion here.
Pogue..As you can see, I've been in a fog.. Now that you mention it, I seem to remember vaguely...maybe I couldn't begin to sort my thoughts when your thread was first up..If anyone wants to bump yours up and add mine in , that would be good, too.
Done !
Thanks, Doris... I have to laugh at myself..Of course I remember this thread..just not what it was called .. ( oh, break out the Ginko !)
The open russian test skates start tomorrow and it will be very interesting to see what programs, and especially FDs the russian teams have this season.I was so sure that most of the teams will opt for balroom/dancey routines and the music selections especially from Europe show the exact opposite.(I have to say though,that my secret hope was that they'll resist and we'll get some variety)
I'm not sure that we'll know exactly what team does what and how competitive they are, unless we get some good fan videos.Taking into account that it's more like an exhibition format this season,it will be interesting to see which team's fans get the tickets
The couple I'm more worried about right now is Capellini/Lanotte.If they don't improve on speed,and programs,they'll be dumped,although there is hope being Italy's number 1 team right now.The judges have dumped them before,and if they don't do some critical changes they'll have no problem doing it again...I actually liked them and thought that they'd have a totally different career when they first came into seniors,but they recycle lifts,they change coaches a lot and they haven't found their style yet,or to put it better,I feel that have left the style that best suits them."Triavata" was beautiful.
For some reason,I expect Zhiganzina (sp?)/Gazsi to do pretty well this season,maybe get into top 5 in Euros as well.
Pechalat/Bourzat are a big question mark for me.They have to compete against V/M twice, and if I'm not mistaken,against D/W as well.Plus,they'll have to face I/K, their former training mates at Bombard.They can either make a statement by getting close to V/M and D/W and show they're contenders,or it may even cost them the European title.
I have no problem imagining an all Russian podium at Euros this season,it could be done,especially if something goes wrong for P/B.But Worlds are in Nice, and that's another story.I like P/B but last season and this coming one reminds me of F/S when the 2010 Worlds were in Turin.Somehow I just can't see the judges sticking with them all the way to Sochi.
What I really want to see is if the two top Canton teams remain so far away in marks from the other teams.Something tells me that we will have a few surprises in that domain...
Firstly, I completely agree with you about Cappellinni/Lannotte. They are in the worst position they could be in. Despite their best performance at Worlds ever (8th), Morosov isn't known for his egalitarian coaching. Given that I/K are clearly gonna get a real push this season, I definitely see C/L getting shunted aside in that camp. Last season was so depressing for them (for me)
Like you, I have a really hard time imagining the judges dumping P/B until after Nice (and more than likely, if they medal, they retire anyway, making it moot). The big question mark here is how well do they do with Krylova/Camerlengo? They left Zhulin unwillingly (both sides have stated that if it were up to them, they'd continue the association), and the K/C crew gets bigger all the time.
If the Canton teams don't get reeled in this season (aka - winning by less than ten points) and by the upcoming Russian contenders, I suspect it'll be too late for Sochi. The backlash against Canton is strong and I do wonder if we'll see the gap narrowing. But by whom? Morosov, despite knowing how to make a high BV COP program, isn't an ice dance coach, and trying to shortcut his way to results (copying V/M's music choice and twizzles in the SD, for example) is both cheap and risky. But I/K are clearly the choice of the Russian Fed and if any team benefits from politicking, it'll be them. I really like Bobrova/Soloviev, but they seem to make mistakes in high pressure circumstances (and boy, does twizzling hate them). BUT, and this is extremely important, they have the longest partnership of the Russian teams. People tend to neglect this fact as if it's somehow unimportant to COP, but it most assuredly isn't. Check out the past OGMs and the duration of their partnership at the victory.
- 2010: Virtue/Moir. Teamed up in 1997. 13 years
- 2006: Navka/Kostomorov. Teamed up in 1998. 8 years
- 2002: Anissina/Piezerat. Teamed up in 1993. 9 years
- 1994/98: Grishuk/Platov. Teamed up in 1989. 5/9 years
- 1992: Klimova/Ponamarenko. Teamed up in ???? (1982 at the latest). 10 years (minimum)
- 1988: Bestemianova/Bukin. Teamed up in 1976. 12 years
- 1984: Torvill/Dean. Teamed up in 1975. 9 years
- 1980: Linichuk/Karponossov. Teamed up in 1970/71. 10 years
- 1976: Pakhomova/Gorshkov. Teamed up in 1966. 10 years
By Sochi, Bobrova/Soloviev will have been together for 14 years (teamed up in 2000). Compare that to I/K (six or seven) and R/T (4). That is a significant time difference. Both Virtue/Moir and Davis/White had FIVE YEARS on Domnina/Shabalin, despite the latter's age. COP does favour youth due to high technical elements. But doing those highly technical elements requires a great deal of trust and comfort between the dancers (how many times did Nikita screw up a lift this season? That swan dive lift looked like it would go wrong so many times). I'm unconvinced right now with I/K, but if the rumours that they have kept their old choreographer while going to Morosov are correct, they are better positioned than they would be otherwise. But again, I don't think shortcutting will work for Olympic gold (see DomShabs in the end) and if Morosov's comments about how he works with Ando are any indication of his work in general (and I think they are), I/K would be best to work with him for a season (he's great for confidence) than leave again.
I won't deny it, though, I really am rooting for V/M to take a second Olympic gold.
With F/S's status unclear and the Euros field quite thin, C/L really need to take advantage and come up with something impressive to position themselves as serious contenders. Alas, I don't think Morozov has it in him, and I agree they might suffer from lack of attention with I/K training alongside them.
How does one copy twizzles?
Re Canton, yeah, I do sense a bit of a backlash, though whether it extends to the judges is hard to say at this point. If it does, I imagine the Shibs will be the ones to pay the price: V/M and D/W have built too much of a reputation, but the Shibs are young, are perceived by many to have been lucky with their 2011 results, and they are in danger of being packaged as a very one-note team. Sibling teams can't do romantic stuff, but they can show more range than the Shibs will with the material they are being given.
I know they said they're sticking with it until Sochi, but I'll believe it when I see it. I will point out that they were en route at Worlds to closing the gap to the 10 points or less goal I mentioned before the error. The thing is I don't see them being dumped this season regardless. But, flashing back to Euros 2011 for a second, the gap between them and B/S was only six points. Between them and I/K, just under 14. The gap between them (with error) and D/W? Over 21 points. That suggests that the younger teams (who are more likely to/have more room to improve) will probably close the gap between them and P/B faster than P/B can with the Canton quartet. If they have a great season, I can see them sticking around, but I don't know what a great season entails, exactly.
My understanding is that the twizzle section in I/K's SD will ape the circular pattern V/M did in their FD. Set to the same music. They certainly aren't the first team to do a circular set of twizzles (Hurtado/Diaz did so in the 08/09 season) but it does seem to be a little spurious.
It'll be interesting to see if the backlash does exist with the judges and if it does extend beyond the Shibs. I agree, they're likely to be the first ones to pay the price. That said, if V/M retires due to injuries (I don't see them leaving the game otherwise), I think D/W actually become a little vulnerable too. It's easier to politic against OSM than OGM, and if the Shibs do actually show the range people hope for.....


text:
on March 19, 2013 - 7:33 PM
, updated March 20, 2013 at 7:21 AM
The University at Buffalo's lack of participation during last week's Common Council hearing about the redevelopment of the Fruit Belt and McCarley Gardens didn't go unnoticed.
University officials may not have been formally invited with an "engraved" invitation, but they knew it was happening, said Ellicott Council Member Darius G. Pridgen.
"I don't intend on giving a yes vote for anything else for what UB intends to do in the City of Buffalo at this time until they have become much more neighbor-friendly," Pridgen said during Tuesday's Council meeting. "Maybe this is the way you do things in Amherst. It's just not the way you do things in Buffalo."
Fruit Belt residents are concerned about UB's interest in redeveloping McCarley Gardens, a low-income housing complex, and they have called for a moratorium on development of the complex and the Fruit Belt until a master plan is developed with community input.
Pridgen is calling on UB President Satish K. Tripathi, whom he called a "very compassionate and competent community-minded leader," to appear before the Council at 1 p.m. April 23 to discuss the university's plans or to send a representative.
A member of UB's Community Relations Office will attend the meeting to discuss ways it can "continue to engage the community," according to John DellaContrada, UB's assistant vice president of media relations.
The university remains interested in purchasing McCarley Gardens from St. John Baptist Church, DellaContrada said Tuesday.
Pridgen invited anyone interested in advising the Council on matters in the Fruit Belt neighborhood to attend a meeting at noon April 22 in Room 1417 of City Hall.
In other action:
• The Council approved a $49,000 settlement with a woman and her son stemming from an incident involving alleged excessive force by the city Police Department.
Yevette Paulding and her son Javon Fogan will receive the settlement for an incident that occurred May 31, 2009.
The Council also approved a $70,000 settlement with Iskalo Electric Towers LLC related to property damage.
• The Council made significant progress in eliminating a hassle for people trying to sell their homes.
The city's occupancy tax, repealed nearly 40 years ago, was still causing problems, because at the time of a property sale, the seller had to prove that the tax had been paid, which required a visit to City Hall and a receipt that cost $3 to produce.
Legislation from South Council Member Christopher P. Scanlon that was adopted Tuesday removes the $3 receipt fee, allows property owners to receive a receipt online, pay the tax online if they hadn't yet and asks the Law Department to draft legislation that allows any liens on properties caused by the tax to expire in 2018.
• Reuse of the vacant North Park Library building at Delaware and Hertel avenues, a high-profile corner, won support from the Council, which adopted a resolution urging the Brown administration to seek out federal and state funding opportunities to encourage redevelopment of the city-owned property.
The former Fairfield Library in Parkside is being redeveloped and was recently allocated a $500,000 Restore New York grant.
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
on January 13, 2013 - 10:23 PM
For Catherine "Cate" Laughlan, coming home from California for the holidays and resisting the urge to eat the Christmas cookies she saw everywhere was one of the biggest challenges of her new life.
"What I would have done in my previous life was just indulge in all of them," the Ransomville native said. "At first, I wanted to throw myself on my bed and have a temper tantrum because I wanted to eat it so bad."
The 5-foot, 2-inch blonde, who weighed 247 pounds and had trouble walking, considers every bite more carefully now that she is a contestant on the 14th season of NBC's "The Biggest Loser" reality show, which premiered last week and has a new episode at 8 o'clock tonight.
A tempting sugar cookie now makes the 28-year-old woman think about how much she has to jog to work off the 120 calories.
So that treat did not make the final cut in her spare Christmas feast of 6 ounces of grilled turkey breast, a cup of roasted broccoli and a baby spinach salad with a teaspoon of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
"The more you say, 'No,' the easier that gets," she said during an interview as an NBC publicist listened in.
Managing diet and exercise, and tough fitness coaches, are among the obstacles that overweight contestants work to overcome as the show unfolds. Laughlan and 14 other competing cast members, who live at a spalike ranch in California, are divided into three teams led by different trainers and compete for prizes, including a $250,000 grand prize, by seeing who can lose the most weight. As the weeks go by until the finale in March, people get eliminated when pound-loss totals fall behind.
By the first two episodes of when the show premiered last week, Laughlan had lost 17 pounds. When she talked last week before heading back to Los Angeles, she said the experience has been liberating.
"I didn't know what a 28-year-old body should feel like until I got started with 'The Biggest Loser,' " she said. "I was so overweight, my legs would burn."
Now she runs four times a week and is getting closer to her goal of being able to work out with her marathon-running brother. "I've always dreamed of running with him. I just never could keep up," she said. "He was the one who encouraged me to get out there on the road and just try, even if I could … only make it from one telephone pole to the next."
Laughlan, a 2002 graduate of Wilson High School, said she was one of the bigger girls there, wearing a size 16. In the years that followed, her weight grew. Last May, she finished her undergraduate degree in human resource management at Niagara University, but she felt limited and unhealthy. Recently, a doctor told Laughlan that her legs were swelling because her body wasn't strong enough to pump out the fluids.
"I don't shop," she said. "I don't go to parties and events."
Last year, after a friend noticed that there were auditions in Detroit, another friend drove her to try out for the show that she had wanted to be a part of for so long. "I could connect with the contestants so much," she said. "I could feel their pain."
Once she got to the ranch, she took pleasure in luxuries such as heading to the pool at 5 in the morning when mist was coming off the water, the moon was out, and she could feel the adrenaline kick in as she swam in the cold water.
The show also is famous for more unpleasant realities: intense workouts and trainers who yell when contestants struggle. In the first episode, Laughlan consoled and hugged a man who was berated for falling off the treadmill. "Get him out of my gym now!" shouted trainer Jillian Michaels, who is lean, muscled and well-known for her abrasive approach.
Laughlan's Niagara Falls trainer, Gail Vizzi, said her style is a mix of toughness, energy and humor. "Never did I yell," she said.
Still, when Laughlan was home for the holidays, it was obvious to Vizzi that the show has had a powerful effect.
"I had worked with Cate for a few years. Mentally, she wasn't ready," Vizzi said. "When all of this happened, she was ready. When that switch goes off and they've had enough and they're ready to do it, there's nothing that stops them."
Laughlan's new competitive spirit reinforced for Vizzi one of the fundamental secrets to life-changing weight loss: It won't happen until a person sets their mind to it.
Before Laughlan left Saturday to go back to California and her trainer for the show, Dolvett Quince, her abdominal muscles were obviously stronger, and she was doing well with crunches that involved punching at pads as she pulled herself up. "She was very excited to go back and show him," Vizzi said. "I'm hoping he's thrilled for her."
Laughlan says her career ambition is to get a job in the fitness industry to help others lose weight.
"Being a part of 'The Biggest Loser' makes me feel like finally I am getting off the sidelines and participating in my life," she said. "What I want to achieve isn't so much a number. What I want to achieve is state of mind.
"The state of mind that I want to achieve is a place where I can go to bed at night and be proud of everything I accomplished in my day. ... Before 'The Biggest Loser,' I kind of sat back and let the days roll on.
"What 'The Biggest Loser' has given me is a path."
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
CLEMSON – Maybe it was playing to the masses with the storyline, or maybe it's simply fitting ESPN analysts were a split decision picking the game of the week: two for No. 5 Georgia, two for No. 8 Clemson, during Saturday's broadcast of College GameDay from the heart of Clemson's campus.
Naturally, when longtime GameDay favorite Lee Corso threw on the Bulldog head in his trademark prop picking manner, the few thousand Clemson fans booed their disapproval. Along with the mascot head, Corso and fellow GameDay desk analyst Kirk Herbstreit closed the show with live puppy bulldogs on the set.
David Pollack joined Corso in picking Georgia, not a particular surprise considering Pollack was a three-time All-American linebacker for the Bulldogs from 2002-04. He was a sophomore and junior for the last two Georgia teams to play and defeat Clemson.
However, Desmond Howard tabbed the Tigers to win this evening, and so did celebrity guest picker Eric Stonestreet, an actor on ABC's Modern Family.
"(Clemson) lost a lot on defense, but they got a Heisman candidate, and the campaign starts tonight," Stonestreet said. "That's why I picked Clemson. And I'm a performer, and I know my audience."
Stonestreet wore his Kansas State shirt and hat – a bold move considering the defending Big XII champion Wildcats' upset loss Friday night to FCS powerhouse North Dakota State – but enjoyed his first weekend in Clemson.
"The atmosphere here, it's great. Went out last night, reminded me of where I went to school in Manhattan, Kansas," Stonestreet said. "Grand school, good people, nice time."
After GameDay gave way to games – starting with Texas A&M-Rice, with Heisman winner Johnny Manziel suspended for a half – the ESPN personalities turned around and addressed the throngs still cheering from Bowman Field.
Host Chris Fowler thanked Clemson fans for providing a "tremendous, tremendous scene" for a record-setting four-hour long episode of the popular traveling preview show.
Of course, the signs were out in full force. A sampling of some of the more clever signs (crude efforts were politely discarded by event management):
- "Tajh for Heisman: At least his girlfriend is real:
- "Clemson: SEC Speed. Players who can read."
- "Clemson can't protect a rock"
- "Hey Johnny, can I borrow a Sharpie?"
- "I slept on this board for tickets!"
- "Watching Dawgs Football … Ain't Nobody Got Time For That"
- "Set TiVo 2 'Biggest Loser' … It Recorded Georgia Football"
Those last two were the brainstorms of two Clemson students: Mellette Sutton, 21, of Columbia, and Olivia Botts, 22, of Kansas City, entering their season year.
"Reading everybody's signs, they were a lot more creative than I thought," said Sutton, studying communications and journalism at Clemson. "I know a little bit about GameDay, but I love college football, so it's exciting that it's back."
While many premier teams across the country open their seasons against less competition to work their way into playing shape, the mystique surrounding Georgia-Clemson is many national-themed goals are on the line from the opening kickoff.
"I'm excited. I'm a little nervous, because it's not that kind of game," said Botts, a biology major. "But everyone's pumped, and we're ready for the season to start."
Bradley Tucker, 21, of Ocilla, Ga. and his brother arrived in Clemson at 6 a.m. His total allegiance is to Georgia – he attends an agriculture school connected to UGa – but he used to work in the Clemson concession stands.
"It's been awesome. The energy's great, the crowd's great, I love Clemson fans, I love Georgia fans," Tucker said. "So I'm really excited about tonight."
One of GameDay's live segments involved Fowler interviewing George Whitfield Jr., a private quarterback tutor for Clemson's Tajh Boyd and Georgia's Aaron Murray, the headline matchup of the night.
"Really, truly, I think it's going to come down the kickers," Whitfield said. "Because both these two (quarterbacks), it's not like they have to avoid any major mistakes. I mean, they're so well-tested."
Check back this afternoon on postandcourier.com for another story, and read which superstar NFL quarterbacks Whitfield compared Boyd and Murray to in anticipation of tonight's top-ten showdown.


text:
As Immunotherapy Revolutionizes the Cancer Treatment...
Expanding Use of NGS Has Largely...
Wall Street Decline Takes Its Toll...
NSCLC is "Major Battlefield" as Merck,...
The process of discovering new drugs is mainly linear—and prone to bottlenecks. Putting a new drug on the pharmacy shelf may take well over a decade, which spells a waste of time and money if the drug fails once it reaches the market.
Drug repositioning (or repurposing), however, promises to be faster and cheaper. In drug repositioning, researchers search already-approved drugs to see if they might have a hitherto unforeseen effectiveness against particular diseases (unrelated to the conditions against which they were originally developed).
Because the approved drugs have already been tested in humans, repositioning a drug saves time. Important information such as toxicity, pharmacology, and dosage details, for example, have already been gathered. Many repositioned drugs can move straight into Phase II trials, and can thus meet the needs of patients sooner, and with lower costs.
Drug repositioning can result in researchers learning more about a drug's mechanisms of action, or the biology of the pathway it affects—and sometimes leads to new and more promising drug compounds. Today, scientists are pursuing various types of drug repositioning.
Computational biology is key to the repositioning methods used by Yves Lussier, M.D., professor of medicine and engineering, and director of the Institute for Interventional Health Informatics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Lussier and colleagues use "hypothesis-anchored computational biology" to study drug repositioning, which begins with making hypotheses about how a repositioning might work.
"We use network-based repositioning to find aberrant re-entry mechanisms, which is conceptually different from pathway-based," he says. For example, for interacting proteins, they would examine the literature for known published interactions, knowledge bases such as KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) and GO (Gene Ontology project), and results from yeast-2-hybrid studies. Alternatively, they may use genome-wide repositioning with GSEA (Gene Set Enrichment Analysis).
Dr. Lussier suggests that there is room to grow in this field of research. Despite the available funding, he says that a limited number of researchers have the experience and skills required not only to apply computational biology to drug repositioning, but also to interpret the biological context and see the drugs through clinical trials. "The biggest challenge is to empower the right groups and establish the most cost-efficient approaches to reposition drugs," he says.
Researchers at Biovista are also using impressive computational power for drug repositioning. Their Clinical Outcome Search Space™ (COSS) technology ranks how relevant clinical outcomes (more than 29,000 of them) might be against all drugs, and against all human molecular targets. It can also analyze the relevance of all drugs against diseases of interest.
"COSS combines experimentally derived data about on- and off-target pharmacology with data from multiple sources about every drug, every indication, and every adverse effect, to generate unique data profiles for every drug, disease, adverse event, or human molecular target," says Biovista's president, Aris Persidis, Ph.D. "COSS then compares and ranks the data profiles to determine the most relevant ones, which are then validated experimentally."
Biovista has already repositioned two drugs for the progressive form of multiple sclerosis (MS), which has had few treatment options. Most MS drugs, for treatment of the relapsing-remitting form of MS, compromise the patients' immune systems and have significant side effects. Biovista wanted to find non-immunomodulatory drugs that would treat the neurodegeneration that occurs in the progressive form of MS.
COSS found an unknown role of mitochondrial dysfunction in MS, which previously had been thought a purely autoimmune disease. Therefore they used COSS to reposition drugs against mitochondrial—rather than autoimmune—dysfunction, resulting in two drug candidates (BVA-101 and BVA-201) that they then validated as effective in animal models of MS.
"COSS was thus able to help redefine the potential mechanism of the disease, opening up fresh new opportunities for unanticipated therapies," says Dr. Persidis. "Biovista is currently designing first-in-human studies for its MS program candidates."
To save this item to your Favorites,
log into GEN Select.
We'll be sure to take you back here after you do.
Not a member of GEN Select?
To comment on this article,
log into GEN Select.
We'll be sure to take you back here after you do.
Novum Pharma recently raised the price of an acne cream by over 3,900% in less than a year-and-a-half and Mylan increased price of EpiPen from $100 to $608 . Do you think pharmaceutical companies need to be subjected to price controls?
Be sure to add [email protected]
to your Address Book or Safe Senders List.
here for instructions.
If you have any questions about your subscription, click
here to email us or call at (914) 740-2189.
You may also be interested in subscribing to the GEN magazine, an indispensable
resource for everyone involved in the business of translating discoveries at the
bench into solutions that fight disease and improve health, agriculture, and the
environment. Subscribe
today to see why over 60,000 biotech professionals read GEN to
keep current in the areas of genomics, proteomics, drug discovery, biomarker discovery,
bioprocessing, molecular diagnostics, collaborations, biotech business trends, and
© 2016 Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News All Rights Reserved


text:
A New Duet for Woodstock, School of Rock Founders
By Kirthana Ramisetti
One of the men behind the Woodstock Festival plans another creative venture—a music college—near the same upstate New York community that hosted the landmark rock concert 44 years ago.
Michael Lang, co-creator of the famed festival, is teaming up with Paul Green, the music educator often credited as the inspiration for actor Jack Black's character in "School of Rock," to found the Woodstock College of Music.
The venture between Messrs. Lang and Green—the latter of whom opened more than 57 schools before selling his nationwide chain of music academies in 2009—is slated to start in 2014.
Students will be exposed to all aspects of the music industry and will not have majors, Mr. Green said, an approach designed to prepare students for a career in a business where the likeliest path to stardom these days seems to be auditioning for a reality show or uploading a video to YouTube.
"Everyone who comes here is going to learn how to write, play, record, produce, arrange, engineer, legally protect and shop their music," Mr. Green said. "We basically want everyone who comes in through these doors to leave here a Stevie Wonder."
A guitarist in several late-'80s and early-'90s rock bands, Mr. Green has a long history in music education. He opened the first Paul Green School of Rock Music in 1997 in Philadelphia, when he was 25. The after-school program used Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd to instruct his young charges and attracted media attention.
And though the screenwriter for "School of Rock" has said hard-rocking teacher Dewey Finn isn't based on Mr. Green, many have noted similarities. (Mr. Green says his connection to the hit film "depends on who you ask.")
The exposure from "School of Rock" helped his business, and he began opening schools across the nation. But in 2009, he decided to sell the chain because he felt that he was spending more time administrating than teaching.
Mr. Green wanted to turn his attention to older students who find the present-day music industry unreceptive.
He initially tried to re-create the creative process of bands like the Rolling Stones—who would rent a house and spend months recording there—by outfitting a mansion on Long Island with a recording studio for 17 of his graduates.
But his six-month test run found that the teens just hung out until they were presented with projects to work on and producers to work with, and then, "they learned more about recording music, writing music, arranging music, than anybody who I'd ever seen who'd gone to a music college before."
Mr. Green began scouting for locations and contacted Mr. Lang, whom he first met when Mr. Lang produced a 2009 documentary about the 40th anniversary of the festival, held on a farm in Bethel, N.Y., featuring Mr. Green's students.
"He definitely has a unique ability to communicate with kids and teach music," Mr. Lang said about why he chose to join forces with Mr. Green.
The Woodstock College of Music so far has been funded by the founders, Mr. Green said, though they are seeking additional funds from private backers. The goal is to open as a two-year professional school for about 50 students as the founders wind through the state Department of Education's process to become a degree-granting institution for 400 students. The founders' aim is that credits for the two-year program will be transferable to four-year colleges.
While Mr. Green has extensive experience in music education, Kathleen Getz, dean of the Quinlan School of Business at the Loyola University Chicago, says there are other considerations when opening a new school, including whether the school meets needs that other programs don't.
"Having a great idea isn't enough," said Ms. Getz. "You need to ensure that there's a market for what you offer."
Messrs. Green and Lang plan to draw on their industry connections.
Instructors will include Yes lead singer Jon Anderson and Ween frontman Aaron Freeman, who will teach songwriting. Besides Messrs. Green and Lang, the college's partners includes Los Angeles-based entrepreneur David Jarrett, who will serve as chief operating officer, and Bill Reichblum, a former dean of Bennington College, the academic advisor.
Some locals see the college as a potential boon for Woodstock.
Meira Blaustein, the co-founder and executive director of the Woodstock Film Festival, said the new college could help ensure that musicians will continue to make Woodstock their home.
"There is a saying that if you throw a rock in the town of Woodstock, you're bound to hit a musician," Ms. Blaustein said. "But the generations are always changing, and Paul's music college will be integral to a whole new generation of talents."
The college is slated to be situated inside the same facility as the Paul Green Rock Academy—a year-round music education program that Mr. Green opened because he missed working with youngsters—in Saugerties, only a few miles from Woodstock.
When asked how the Woodstock College of Music would compare to elite music universities such as the Juilliard School of Music, Mr. Green laughed.
"We'd love to be Juilliard," he said. "We want to be the Juilliard of popular music."
Corrections & amplifications: The Woodstock Festival was held at a farm in Bethel, N.Y. An earlier version of this article imprecisely described the location of the festival.


text:
Pressure Regulator
This item is currently not available.
Additional Information
Pressure Regulator for Soaker Hoses
- Regulator improves uniform water flow over the length of the hose
- Ideal for use with our Flat Soaker Hose
Does your garden faucet have high water pressure? You can still use an efficient low-pressure soaker hose system for watering your garden. This pressure regulator limits the inlet pressure to a soaker hose irrigation line to 10 PSI.
Product Details
- Durable PVC
- Approx. 3" L
- Reduces water pressure to 10 PSI
- Inlet is 3/4" female hose threads; outlet fits a 3/4" male hose connector
- Recommended for systems up to 100 feet L
There are no special shipping restrictions or charges associated with this item. For detailed information about our delivery methods and charges, click here.
We're proud of the fact that this item is shipped to you directly from our warehouse in Vermont, by one of our 250 employee-owners. In-stock items are packed with care and shipped within the next business day to ensure prompt delivery to your home and garden!


text:
Top Definition
The skin between the penis and the ass and/or the vagina and the ass. This part of the body typically smells bad and needs to be cleaned frequently.
Wow, Jack's G Pooch is disgusting. Last night while we were hooking up I came across it and screamed. He is unhygienic.
av Chelsea Leigh Allen 18 oktober 2008
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?


text:
Green Tomato Ladders, Set of 3
Product Actions
Additional Information
Exclusive | Our Heavy-Duty Tomato Ladders Hold Over 100 Pounds!
- Each ladder can hold a huge harvest — over 100 pounds
- Ladders cradle fruit-laden vines more effectively than stakes
- V-shaped design protects each plant's main stem
- Ladders nest for compact off-season storage
If you have a really big tomato crop this year, will your plant supports be able to handle the load? Our exclusive Tomato Ladders are the sturdiest you can buy, because they're made with 7mm steel uprights — 20% thicker than others on the market! They'll last season after season too, thanks to a weatherproof powder coating. Best of all, our Tomato Ladders are better for your plants. The rounded-V shape protects plants from wind and accidental breakage. The seven cradle-shaped cross-members give multiple places for vines to rest, and make it easy to set the ladders into the ground. Tomato Ladders will make the most of your garden space, reduce pests and disease, and give you a bigger harvest of juicy, unblemished fruit — guaranteed!
Product Details
- Powder-coated steel
- Sturdy 7mm diameter upright supports
- 6" W x 6" D x 57" H overall including 13" legs
- Patented
- Gardener's Supply Exclusive
There are no special shipping restrictions or charges associated with this item. For detailed information about our delivery methods and charges, click here.
We're proud of the fact that this item is shipped to you directly from our warehouse in Vermont, by one of our 250 employee-owners. In-stock items are packed with care and shipped within the next business day to ensure prompt delivery to your home and garden!


text:
Top Definition
An Mexican who's been in America for more than 10 years,but still "no can speaka da ingles",but wants to make $25 hour
"I told dat little taco bandit that the telemarketing job was filled"
od uživatele San Diego Ken 27. říjen 2003
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
A man that is very active in voyeuristic activities. This may include upskirts. His possible hang outs include the bottom of stairwells, Taco Bell, and in the women's bathroom. He is not known to have a job. Preferably he would eat taco's. He can differentiate many different types of underwear by small glimpses.
Taco Bandit could be found by leaving his trademark hat behind.
od uživatele bob 05. duben 2005


text:
Top Definition
Usually written ol' chap since the apostrophe should be placed where the missing letter is. Short form for "Old Chap", which is a British way of saying "Dude".
"My word, 'ol chap, the Queen just snogged that fag." means "Check it out, dude, the Queen just french kissed that cigarette."
Beküldő: SeanAnthonySmith 2006. március 24.
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
This is an oldie word....it means an old friend...
How ya doin 'ol chap? or Where to 'ol chap? (Where do you want to go)
Beküldő: *princess* 2005. szeptember 8.


text: Hatter Rowing Alumni Fund 2015 October 23, 2013 Celebrating 25 years of Stetson Rowing With the recent purchase of the 11-acre site that has been home to Stetson Rowing for the past decade, Stetson University is committed to enhancing its program and resources for its student-athletes, the community, visitors and outside teams. We are poised to make significant strides as the newest member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this spring. Please support Stetson Rowing. Your support now at this critical time will help push our program into new, exciting and competitive waters! Make a Gift to Stetson Rowing Alumni Boat Fund - $50,000 Goal This fund will be used to upgrade the current fleet of 8s to include a newer mid-sized women's 8 and a newer men's 8 acceptable for novice and varsity competitors. Boat Endowment - $25,000 minimum Would you like to see your name on a Stetson Boat in perpetuity? This option is open to families, companies, teams and individuals who would like to make a minimum gift of $25,000 to endow a boat (and transfer that name to a new boat as the old is replaced). Boat classes and endowment levels are noted below. These funds generate interest, which, coupled with the proceeds of selling older boats every five or six years, help us purchase new boats and keep our fleet competitive. 1x- $25,000 endowment 2-/x - $30,000 endowment 4+/4x - $50,000 endowment 8+ - $65,000 endowment Make a Gift to Stetson Rowing Contact Questions or comments? Please contact Head Coach Mark Wilson at firstname.lastname@example.com or (386) 822-8102 office.Print Friendly Version More Headlines


text:
- Admissions
- Academics
- Campus Life
- Athletics
- Cost & Aid
- News & Events
- About Plattsburgh
Our program is designed to prepare you for a 21st century career in a field that will soon be the largest employer in the world. A program requirement of 600 hours of fieldwork greatly enhances your understanding of the industry.
The hotel, restaurant, and tourism management program combines liberal arts with professional studies, giving you tools for making sound professional decisions. The hotel, restaurant, and tourism management program at SUNY Plattsburgh combines theory with hands-on experience in food service, lodging, tourism, international hospitality, marketing leadership, management and accounting.
The program's strong business management emphasis makes it easy for you to earn a business minor while completing your hotel, restaurant, and tourism management degree requirements.
The mission of the Department of Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management Program is to prepare students to be ethical, competent, and culturally aware leaders and professionals in the global hospitality industry.
In accomplishing the department's mission, graduates of the hotel, restaurant, and tourism program will possess:
Specialized courses in this program help you select a particular field for a career specialization. Our students have had work experience at Walt Disney World, the Waldorf Astoria, Radisson Hotels and Spirit Cruises as well as at a myriad of other restaurants, lodging, and tourism businesses including:
We prepare students for careers in food service, lodging, resorts, convention planning, travel and tours, cruise lines, theme parks, event management, and much more.
Student Michelle Zimmerman talks about the HRTM program
With internships, a semester abroad in Sydney, Australia, and loads of hands-on course experience Michelle is ready to hit the ground running.
Hotel, Restaurant & Tourism Management in Plattsburgh Magazine
Read about the hotel, restaurant and tourism management program, the Samuel D's facility, how the program has grown over the years and what current students think about the program. You can also find out what several of our alumni are doing now and how the HRTM program helped them get where they are.
If you would like more information about hotel, restaurant, and tourism management at SUNY Plattsburgh, please contact
Mr. Peter Ensel, Interim Chair
Office: Sibley Hall 403C
Phone: (518) 564-4208
Email: email@example.com


text:
on May 3, 2013 - 7:46 PM
, updated May 7, 2013 at 2:03 PM
A principal in the Lancaster School District is retiring at the end of this school year in protest over "excessive" standardized testing of elementary school students and what she considers the time-consuming process now used to evaluate teachers.
Kathleen C. Knauth, who has served as principal of Hillview Elementary School for 10 years, is taking early retirement and plans to seek a job working as an advocate for children or education reform after she steps down June 28.
She said that she has nothing but warm feelings for the district but that she has grown increasingly disenchanted with the requirements imposed on students, faculty and administrators by the state Education Department.
"It is just so cumbersome," Knauth said in an interview Friday.
Knauth's retirement is the latest – and perhaps most notable – protest lodged against the controversial systems introduced by state education officials to measure the performance of students and their teachers.
Educators have strongly objected to the use of the new evaluations in employment decisions. And parents across New York have criticized the focus placed on testing young children, with some refusing to let their children take the exams.
"I'm glad she's taking a stand, and I hope she will be heard," said Yvonne Calabro, who is co-president of the Parent-Teacher Organization at Hillview.
Knauth's decision has stirred up considerable reaction since she made her announcement April 26 in meetings with her superiors, with staff at Hillview and in a letter to the parents of her students.
The 56-year-old Knauth has worked as a teacher, school administrator and consultant for 36 years, including in the Clarence and Springville-Griffith Institute school districts. She took over at Hillview, which serves students in kindergarten through third grade, in 2003.
She said her love of her job has dimmed as she and her team at Hillview have put in place the mandated student-testing and teacher-evaluation systems.
"New York State is directing us to test and test your children, now starting in kindergarten and continuing every year after. It is excessive," Knauth wrote in a letter to Hillview parents revealing why she chose to retire.
This testing puts pressure on even the highest-achieving students, Knauth said, and she also worries about its effect on students with special needs.
She pointed out to The Buffalo News that the New York section of the state bar exam, taken by law school graduates, lasts 375 minutes in one sitting – the mutlistate section of the bar exam takes 360 minutes on a second day – while the state's assessments for 10-year-old students for math and English last 540 minutes over six days.
For 8-year-olds, it's 420 minutes of testing, Knauth said.
"The question is: What are we doing?" she said.
Critics say the focus on preparing for and taking statewide tests leaves less time for other types of instruction beyond math and English.
A small but growing number of parents are boycotting the assessments by pulling their children from the exams.
The News reported last month that 110 students in the West Seneca district, 132 from the Hamburg Central School District and at least 64 in Springville-Griffith refused to take the tests this spring.
"There's a lot of flaws in this system, and I hope this is a start to change it," Calabro, who has three children in Lancaster schools, said of Knauth's criticism of the testing.
Teachers and their union leaders in districts across the state are concerned that the students' performance on these assessments will be used in employment decisions.
Knauth said she believes this practice is "destructive" to students and their teachers, and she said the new teacher-evaluation system required her to spend too much time entering data on her instructors into the computer.
She said that this left her little time to interact with her students and faculty, and that the inefficient new system replaced a perfectively effective evaluation method used for Lancaster teachers.
"We didn't need all this," Knauth said.
A spokesman for the state Education Department did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Lancaster Superintendent Edward J. Myszka said Knauth is one of 21 employees taking an early-retirement incentive offered by the district.
"Mrs. Knauth has been a valued member of the administrative team for the last 10 years. She has contributed greatly to our educational program in Lancaster, as a leader, mentor and – most especially – caregiver-in-chief to the thousands of children who have walked the halls of Hillview Elementary during her tenure," Myszka told The News.
The district will post the job opening next week and screen candidates over the next month or two, he said.
Knauth isn't in a position to stop working because she and her husband have two children in college. She said she would love to get a job as an educational consultant.
"I'm sort of an activist at heart, but I've been quiet recently," Knauth said.
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Sunday, May 18, 2014
I got my hand stuck in my guitar.
The only place where you can get your hand stuck is in the little hole in the center. One would think that one would have enough sense to know not to stick his bearpaw hand with the hotdog fingers into the little hole in the center of the guitar because chances were better than not one would get his hand stuck.
I did.
And I dont.
I suppose I could offer an explanation.
I was cleaning my guitar and changing my guitar strings. I had the strings and the little guitar string changing kit so I figured Id change the strings and clean up my guitar and then play some.
The first string I removed just fine. I used the little wrench thingie on the kit and popped the string peg out just fine.
The second string though, I wasnt so fortunate.
The string peg broke and there was no way to remove it from the little string hole.
I was left with a conundrum, and for the record, I dont do so well with conundrums.
When I ponder, bad things happen.
Like when I set myself on fire... three times. The last time the only reason I didnt go up in flames was because I smelled bacon frying.
I imagine my surprise when the pork belly frying turned out to be me.
There was also the time when mowing the lawn that I came upon a patch of unruly looking weeds along the back fence.
Do I leave the weeds or trim them down?
If I left the weeds my dad would surely fuss at me for not finishing my job properly.
So I weed-whacked the weeds that turned out to be my moms herb garden of chives, parsley, oregano and thyme.
I didnt know what Id just weed-whacked but I had a strong hankering for a baked potato and Italian food.
It probably would have served me better had I removed the remaining strings first because my hand got stuck.
I pressed harder to reach the broken peg, which I was successful at unsticking it popped right out.
But like trying to refold a road map, my hand would not retreat from whence it came.
I thought about Lucille Ball and her hand stuck in the brass flower vase, and then how she tried to hide it from Ricky. This was a guitar and not a flower vase.
It was not easy to hide at all.
Plus, because I didnt remove the guitar strings, they acted like a garrote wire you see in spy movies. The more I wiggled my hand trying to get free, the more the guitar string sawed into my forearm.
A thought hit me:
What Would MacGyver Do?
MacGyver was that super spy from the 1980s who could escape from a jail cell using a tablespoon, a wad of chewing gum and a toothpick.
He was the Mac Daddy of escape wizardry.
So I figured Id be like MacGyver and escape from my guitar.
I assembled my ingredients necessary for my escape - one handed, mind you - fingernail clippers and a bath towel. The towel was to drape over my head just in case there was some recoil from the snapped guitar string.
Just like Id seen MacGyver do on TV.
So I slipped the towel over my head and commenced to clipping the guitar strings.
Probably not how MacGyver would have done it.
He would have had the sense not to put the towel over his head first.
Never underestimate the value of proper vision and sight lines.
I clipped everything that night but my fingernails.
© 2016 The Journal Scene an Evening Post Industries company. All Rights Reserved.
Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Parental Consent Form.


text:
Former U.S. ambassador Charles (Chas) W. Freeman, Jr., who withdrew his name from nomination as chairman of the U.S. National Intelligence Council in the Obama Administration on March 13, 2009, has been president since 1997 of the Middle East Policy Council (MEPC), a Washington, D.C.-based group which "challenge(s) the conventional wisdom" on issues involving the greater Middle East. MEPC has received funding from the government of Saudi Arabia. Freeman served as U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 1989-1992.
Freeman, who joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1965, served as director of Chinese affairs at the U.S. State Department from 1979-1981, among numerous other U.S. government postings. He currently serves as co-chair of the United States-China Policy Foundation and has served on the advisory board of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), among whose major stakeholders is the communist government of China and Chinese state-owned companies. He has justified the Tiananmen Square massacre as "overly cautious behavior" by the Chinese leadership, and described the uprising in Tibet against China as "race riots."
This report summarizes Freeman's positions on Middle East-and Israel-related issues in his own words.
� 2009 Anti-Defamation League


text:
Top Definition
wearing nothing under a coat, only to open it and show your junk to everyone.
Some shithead came to the party, opened his coat, and flashed everyone.
von Ricky Roma 30. September 2003
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
To show an "inappropriate" body part by quickly moving a object or artical of clothing out of the way then back "flashing" the part at somone
dude, she just flashed you!
von Chirs Stage 14. Februar 2005
HM 05 of the Pokemon games; it lights up dark areas (like caves), and in battle reduces your foe's accuracy.
Flash is a Normal type attack; it can be taught to nearly every Pokemon
von Shawn B. 23. Oktober 2003
Fastest man alive. Runs the speed of light(that's 186000 miles per second holmes)also the most kick aznass superhero ever to live, he is so fricken awesome that he could f your mom fifty times and then run around the world in less than a second.
Stoner: Dude! Why is your mom lying on the floor naked in a pool of her own blood?
Dude: I dunno, must have been the flash.
Dude: I dunno, must have been the flash.
von deflatemouse 13. März 2004
Flash is a program developed by Macromedia. It is widely used for internet development. It can be intergrated with most other Mecromedia products, such as d
reamweaver or Fireworks.
reamweaver or Fireworks.
This program was developed in Flash
von Mince 16. Juli 2004
adj; showey. ostentatious.
Mo fo think he flash as a rat with a gold tooth.
von herbie 25. August 2004
Pre-drawn designs for tattoos.
I was looking for flash of a shark.
von octopod 18. Februar 2004


text:
You are here: Home /
Publications /
CWS: Cotton and Wool Outlook /
Cotton and Wool Outlook: September 2012
Stay Connected
Outlook No. (CWS-12g) 18 pp, September 2012
The latest USDA projections for U.S. and world cotton supply and demand are presented and discussed in this report. Relevant fiber data tables and charts also are provided.
Keywords: cotton, supply and use, forecast, textile trade, exports
In this publication...
Need help with PDFs?
Last updated: Thursday, December 20, 2012
For more information contact: Leslie Meyer, Stephen MacDonald, and James Kiawu


text:
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Charleston's distillery, Striped Pig Distillery, officially opened its doors on Oct. 1, 2013, the same time their spirits hit liquor stores in Charleston and Hilton Head. After only three months on the market, this local micro-distillery that handcrafts all of their spirits from scratch announces that their spirits are now available throughout South Carolina.
It is not very common for a small micro-distillery to launch into a larger market so quickly. According to Striped Pig Distillery, unlike many brands, their focus isn't on marketing tricks or gimmicks. Instead, they focus on making quality spirits from local ingredients, and leave the rest to the consumer's taste buds. Apparently, their spirits have a had a great reaction from the Charleston and Hilton Head markets since their distributor, Ben Arnold Beverage Company, wished to take their spirits statewide so quickly.
Ben Arnold Beverage Company Palmetto Division Business Manager, Jason Johnson, said of the launch, "Working with the Striped Pig family in Charleston and Hilton Head Island in late 2013 was truly a pleasure. As a distributor, it is exciting to work with a producer that is as passionate and dedicated as the Striped Pig team. Breaking into a market place that is dominated by national brands is no easy task. Striped Pig Distillery is full of hard workers, from staying up late manning the still to keep us in stock, to walking Jackson through the streets of Charleston creating brand awareness, the whole team is eager to succeed. With this dedication and the quality of the products that they are producing, there is no doubt that Striped Pig will achieve statewide success as we broaden our base of distribution in 2014."
Striped Pig Distillery asserts that their mission is to make their spirits from the freshest, local ingredients possible. Their vodka and 'Shine is made in small batches from corn grown on Myer's Farm in Bowman, SC and their rum is made from molasses from Savannah, GA.
Striped Pig Distillery offers free tours and tastings of their distillery Wednesday through Friday from 3 to 7 P.M. and Saturday 12 to 5 P.M. You can also schedule your own tour by visiting their website at StripedPigDistillery.com.
© 2016 Moultrie News an Evening Post Industries company. All Rights Reserved.
Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Parental Consent Form.


text:
By | June 20, 2011
Okay, I know, it looks like just a salad, and you may be thinking, "Who wants that?" The answer is simple: You should! It's healthy, it's easy, and it's an inexpensive way to eat green, both literally and figuratively. In June and July, lettuces are plentiful and in season at the farmers' market, and they only need a little help to go from ingredient to meal.
In addition to making the most of seasonal ingredients, I have recently wanted to revisit the basics when it comes to my cooking and baking columns. Some part of me wants to challenge myself to try a complicated dish, but I'm more excited about refining and perfecting the simple recipes I've made time and time again.
When it comes to salad dressing, basic vinaigrette is always the name of the game for me. One of the first tasks that my mom delegated in the kitchen to my sister and me was making the salad dressing. Ours was nothing fancy, just Dijon mustard, olive oil and vinegar.
You can use anything acidic for the vinegar element. After reading about the benefits of apple cider vinegar recently, I decided to use that in my weekly batch. With the salad dressing, you can make it in a bowl, combining the Dijon and the vinegar and then slowly drizzling in olive oil to make an emulsion, which gives vinaigrette a creamy consistency. I am of the mind that less dishes makes for a happy chef, so I combine the three ingredients in a reusable glass jar and shake to get an emulsified Shake and Pour salad dressing. Simply use what you need and store the rest in the refrigerator. This way, there are no dishes necessary until you've finished the batch.
I like to pour slightly less vinaigrette than I think I'll need over the leaves, then toss to coat, and taste a lacquered leaf. If it needs more dressing, more salt, or pepper, then I adjust. I tweak, I adjust. I don't coat with my fingers, but I've heard of people who do. There's no perfect or codified way-it's all about establishing your own salad dressing routine and I'm just here to give you a nudge in the right direction.
In France, this sort of salad is served after the meal, as a palate cleanser. In theory, I'd like to do that, too, however I try to fill up on veggies first, so that I am less likely to stuff myself with less healthy ingredients.
This salad is the perfect meal-starter for filling up on vegetables. The almonds give a nice crunch, and you can doctor it with sliced hard-boiled eggs or boiled potatoes for a riff on a traditional Nicoise Salad, (which is what I did after I took the photo).
Make it a meal by adding even more summer produce. Corn and tomatoes will soon be in season, and I'll probably shave an entire cob onto the greens. Until then, I'm content to enjoy a well-dressed salad for a healthy, light meal.
Healthy and Simple Green Salad with Shake and Pour Vinaigrette in a Jar Recipe
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp vinegar, apple cider, red wine, and white wine vinegar all work well
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Pinch of sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 1 large bunch lettuce, washed and torn into 2-inch pieces
- 2 tbsp slivered almonds, toasted
- 1 handful basil leaves, cut into thin strips
- Sea salt, to taste
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
- Sliced hard-boiled eggs
- Boiled potatoes
- Halved tomatoes
- Shaved corn
To Make Dressing:
Combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a jar and shake until emulsified. Use immediately after shaking. To re-emulsify, simply shake and pour.
To Make Salad:
Place the lettuce leaves in a large bowl. Pour about 2 tablespoons of the dressing over the leaves and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and add more dressing if necessary. Garnish with toasted almonds.


text:
From near the top of Goat Fell, Arran, around sunset:Sunset on Goat Fell, Arran [IMG_3019] by GammyKnee, on Flickr
Lovely picture from Goat Fell Paul. Well handles exposure balance in HDR, just how I like it ! I must visit Arran again.Did you really get up there with a gammy knee ?
Same picture with 2 different PP. Which one do you prefer?
The second one got my vote. Beautiful colors in your sky.
Quote from: madmailman on June 16, 2013, 11:36:39 AMSame picture with 2 different PP. Which one do you prefer?The second one got my vote. Beautiful colors in your sky.
I posted this one in a thread for the 10-22mm EF-S lens as well, but I felt it merited a showing in this thread too as I am very pleased with how f/3983 came out in the end. f/11 Camera setting + 17 stops of filters. Landscape trickshot... by K3ntFIN, on Flickr
Storm clouds building up over the Sierra Nevada. 5D mk3, 24 - 70 f4 IS ( yes, that one It looks surreal, but it is, in fact, real !


text:
It may be because this will be sort of a last hurrah for the guys playing over there, getting to say farewell to the fans.
Whereas the all star game in the NHL means you don't get precious days off in the middle of a grueling season.
I agree, just something interesting I thought I would point out.


text:
Johnny Weir officially retires + officially joins NBC as skating analyst
Weir announced this morning that he officially has retired from competitive skating. (He was composed when he made this announcement, but obviously -- and understandably -- felt emotional as he said it aloud to the world.)
And ... he will be a figure skating analyst for NBC for the entire season -- including the Olympic Games.
He made these announcements this morning in a brief live interview on the Today show on NBC.
The final topic of the mini-interview: The NBC anchors noted that Weir is a gay American, and asked him about the Russian laws against gays.
I'm paraphrasing Weir's reply: He affirmed that he will be on the ground in Sochi for NBC, noted that he married into a Russian family, and said that he wants to support those in Russia, and "to not be afraid."
(Can't help adding that Weir looked very classy in a double-breasted dark blazer with a colorful scarf knotted around his neck. ETA: No live skating from Weir this morning on NBC. The Today show aired a little b-roll of Weir performing on the ice.)
For those in other time zones who want to see the Today interview, it took place right after the 8:30 half hour started.


text: WQED is proud to partner with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield to cover important health topics. "Living With Mental Illness" explores diagnosis, treatment and ending the stigma associated with behavioral health issues. The "Men & Cancer" and "Women & Cancer" series reports on early detection and the latest treatment of cancers most commonly associated with men and women.


text:
Summer 2015
May 2015
Spring 2015
Winter 2015
Fall 2014
Summer 2014
For previous tuition and fees rates, click here.
For additional information on the assessment of Tuition and Fees and information on financial responsibility, please review the Course Schedule at www.utb.edu/courses.
Office Hours:
Monday - Friday
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
The University of Texas at Brownsville website uses Javascript.
To access this page as it is meant to function please use a Javascript
enabled browser.


text: Halting the HabitIs there an addiction pill on the horizon? Medications such as methadone and buprenorphine are already available to treat but not cure heroin addiction. Antabuse has been on the market since the late 1940s, but it's not widely used due to resistance and non-compliance by the addicts themselves. Naltrexone was introduced in the 1990s and has helped some alcoholics abstain or cut back on their drinking.


text:
One-year-old Brody, a golden retriever owned by Kendra Rose of Highlandtown, poses for a photo with Santa, aka Tim Palmer, during a fund-raiser for Voice for Columbiana County Dogs, a volunteer, non-profit group raising funds to care for sick and injured dogs at the county dog pound. Shannon Owens is the volunteer coordinator for the group and can be reached at 330-853-9346 for further information.
Article Photos
Morning Journal/Patti Schaeffer


text:
Ornament plants, shrubs are also susceptible to insects that can be harmful. Insects and mites can reduce the beauty of your ornamental plants and also lead for your plant becoming weak and even kill by the damage for pests.
Knowing the appropriate treatment for your ornamentals will help you reduce and eliminate any damage that can be caused by insects that feed on your ornamental plants. When damaging pests are present, the application of appropriate control measures can help to reduce damage while having little impact on beneficial species and posing minimum risk to humans and pets.


text:
Spend your summer making art at the de Young! Summer art classes for children ages 6–12 are taught by professional artist-teachers. Classes include explorations of the museum's galleries, adventures in Golden Gate Park, and visual and performing art activities.
Classes take place from 9 am to 3 pm in the de Young galleries, the Hamon Tower studio classrooms, and selected sites in Golden Gate Park. Children are grouped according to age; individual attention is given to all children, from beginner to advanced level. An optional Open Studio from 3 to 5:30 pm allows for less-structured time in the studio classrooms.
A supervised lunch period is provided for all campers. Campers must bring their own lunch.
The five-day sessions run Monday through Friday: classes run June 13 through August 5, 2016.
Camp Enrollment Dates
de Youngsters Members: January 14–February 5, 2016
Open Enrollment for Members & Non-Members: Starting February 6, 2016
Summer Art Camp scholarships are made possible with support from the de Youngsters.


text:
Top Definition
A vagina. The lips opening of the vagina looks like a cut and it never closes (literally at least)
Here's to the cut that never heals, the more you rub it, the better it feels. You can soap it, scrub it and wash it to hell but you can never get rid of that cod-fish smell.
LT4-Vette가 작성 2005년 04월 19일 (화)
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?


text:
- Flat Rate Shipping. Any Size Order! -
- A Portion of Proceeds Benefit Baltimore Ravens Athletics -
HOME Baltimore Ravens Gear Baltimore Ravens Hats Baltimore Ravens Hats Flex Fit Sale Items $10 to $20 (10 items) Product ID: 1109373
Main Content
Order as many items as you like with our $4.99 flat rate shipping.
This item ships within five business days.
Order as many items as you like with our $4.99 flat rate shipping.
Need it faster?
Show 'em your all-star pigskin pride with this men's New Era® 2012 AFC® Conference Champions Trophy Collection 39THIRTY® structured flex hat. It's loaded with plenty of spirit and includes embroidered championship and team graphics on the front and a full-color NFL® Shield on the back. Its flexible construction promises a snug fit at the gridiron.
- Embroidered and printed 2012 Conference Champions and team logo patch on front
- Flexible construction promises secure fit
- Full-color NFL Shield on back; New Era flag on left
- M/L fits size 7 3/8 to 7 5/8 (23 1/8" to 23 7/8")
- Made in China
- Officially licensed
- S/M fits size 6 7/8 to 7 1/4 (21 5/8" to 22 3/4")
- Structured flex hat
- Traditional panel construction
- Imported
- Brand: New Era
Ravens Customers also liked:
Special event items are produced by manufacturers only after the outcome of a game or event. These are advanced sale items and will ship immediately after they are received in our warehouse.
Manufacturer direct items are shipped directly from the manufacturer. These items are not available for international or expedited shipping.
Customized items can be personalized with options such as your name, your favorite number, and/or designs. Some options may be limited by league rules.


text:
Top Definition
A callipygian Russian god of sex, derived from ancient Greek myths of Alsexian. In the legend of Alsexian, he single-handedly pleased 10 women, 3 young boys, and an octopus, thus capturing the hearts and minds of an entire nation.
That hot guy Aleksey is pretty Alsexian.
door aleksey_lover69 27 juli 2008
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?