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Dordt College News
Defenders Run At Roy Griak Invite Saturday
September 26, 2013
Meet Time… Dordt will compete in the Roy Griak Invite in St. Paul, Minnesota at 2275 W. Larpenteur Ave. at the Les Bolstad Golf Course. The women's meet starts at 9:50 Saturday morning, September 28. The men's race starts at 11:30.
Participants…Dordt will be running in the Maroon II division of the event that runs most of the day. 438 runners and 39 teams will be represented in the women's race while 525 runners and 43 teams are scheduled to participate in the men's race. NAIA schools include: Dakota State, Dickinson State, Graceland, Jamestown, Olivet Nazarene, Valley City and Viterbo along with GPAC member Concordia will run at the event.
Last Year… The Dordt College women's cross country had the lowest point total of the NAIA teams competing at the Roy Griak Invite at St. Paul, Minnesota on Saturday, September 29, 2012. Dordt finished 11th in the 38 team field with 351 points.
Dordt was paced by Merissa Harkema with a time of 23:56 for 43rd place. Abby De Vries, Lauren Opp and Kayla Byl were next across the line with times of 24:20, 24:23 and 24:23 for 71st, 73rd and 74th overall. Katie Bonnema completed the Dordt scoring with a 90th place finish in 24:36.
Colorado Springs won the team title in the Division II race with 119 points. Melissa Agnew of the University of Mary was the first runner across in the 6,000 meter course with a time of 22:03. 413 runners competed in the race.
Dordt College finished 24th at the 2012 Roy Griak Invite.
The Defender men were led by Ryan Tholen's time of 27:08 over the 8,000 meter course for 67th overall. Nathan Jackson had a 27:34 which was good for 94th while Trent Kischer and Chris Postma were 118th and 141st respectively with times of 27:49 and 28:08. Ryan McNamara was Dordt's fifth runner across in 28:43 for 160 points.
Dordt totaled 590 points in the 36 team field. Colorado Springs won the Division II race with 93 points led by Emilio Trujillo's 25:33 for the individual title. 430 runners competed in the race.
Last Time… The Dordt College women's cross country team finished third out of 18 teams at the Woody Greeno Invite held in Lincoln, Nebraska on Saturday, September 21. The Defenders totaled 78 points, placing third behind Nebraska-Kearney and Iowa Central with 50 and 53 points respectively.
Lauren Opp was the first runner across for the Defenders with a time of 23:06 for seventh place. A pack of three runners wasn't far behind as Abby De Vries, Kayla Byl and Jordyn Visscher were 13th, 14th and 15th. De Vries ran a 23:21, Byl a 23:22 and Visscher a 23:24 on the 6,000 meter course.
Kelsey Lewis was 30th in 24:11 for Dordt's final points and Lillie Koerner and Renee Buikema provided the sixth and seventh place Dordt finishes with times of 24:24 and 24:28 for 37th and 43rd overall.
130 runners competed in the race and places listed are finishes and not points.
Hannah Maina won the race with a time of 21:58 while running for Iowa Central.
The Dordt College men claimed sixth place at the Woody Greeno Invite. The Defenders, competing in the 18-team college division, totaled 167 points on a day where Nebraska-Kearney won it with 49 points. Fellow GPAC members Concordia, Nebraska Wesleyan and Doane finished third, fourth and fifth. Concordia had 96 points and Nebraska Wesleyan 124. Doane totaled 162 points to nip the Defenders.
Nathan Jackson led the Defenders with a 12th place finish of 26:28 on the 8,000 meter course. Nick Vanderkooi was 20th in 26:47 and Chris Postma was 36th in 27:22. Tim Bierma and Hunter Weinert completed the Dordt scoring with placings of 65th and 68th in 28:09 and 28:12 respectively.
Derek Opp and Trent Kischer recorded times of 28:31 and 28:56 and placed 86th and 109th in the 226 runner field.
Franklin Tonui won the race with a time of 24:55 while competing for Iowa Central.
Poll…The Defender women are no. 7 in the most recent NAIA poll, up one spot from their ranking in the coaches' pre-season voting. The Defender men are in the "Others Receiving Votes" category of the top-25 rankings for the second straight week.
Next…Dordt will run in the NAIA Preview races at Lawrence, Kansas on Saturday, October 12. After the race at the site of the NAIA National Meet the Defenders will have one race before the GPAC Championships.
Media Access: Download Word Version | High Resolution Image: 1


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Notice of Claim served to Town of Highland regarding fracking ban
October 12, 2012 —
Town of Highland supervisor Andrew Boyar has confirmed that the town has been served with a Notice of Claim (NOC) from the Highland Field and Stream Club, Inc. in response to the town's passing of Local Law 3 on July 10, 2012, which bans heavy industrial activities such as natural gas extraction. The NOC is a precursor to legal action, which may or may not ensue, according to Boyar. The matter has been referred to town attorney Michael Davidoff. It is standard practice not to comment on any form of litigation said Boyar. The town's regular monthly meeting will be held on October 16 at 7 p.m. at the town hall in Eldred.

subset: commoncrawl


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By Freedom Newspapers
Good fences make good neighbors, Robert Frost has his neighbor say in the famous poem, "Mending Wall." But his own sentiment — this is poetry so it's open to interpretation — seems to be rather contrary:
"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down."
Apparently most Iraqis want torn down a three-mile wall now being built in Baghdad around the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya, which is surrounded by Shia neighborhoods. But the sentiment is hardly universal, and there seems to have been little real coordination among various branches of the Iraqi government and the U.S. military.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, at a meeting Sunday with Arab leaders in Cairo, said he disapproved of the 12-foot-high wall and would order it taken down. But Iraqi Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the prime minister had not been fully briefed on the issue. "We will continue to construct the security barriers, he said. "These are barriers that can be removed."
Meanwhile Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said the U.S. military would "respect the wishes of the Iraqi government," and Monday the U.S. military announced it had suspended construction. But U.S. military and diplomatic officials continued to defend the effort to turn Adhamiyah into a "gated community," arguing that it would improve security for the neighborhood's residents and make things more difficult for would-be terrorists.
It's not hard to see at least two sides to this issue. From a strictly military standpoint, building a wall that would deter Shia death squads from penetrating into the Adhamiyah neighborhood and make it more difficult for Sunni insurgents to transport bombs from Adhamiyah into Shia neighborhoods, makes a good deal of sense.
The six-square-mile Green Zone, where the U.S. Embassy, the Iraqi parliament and most Iraqi politicians and U.S. officials are located, is surrounded by concrete barriers. Concrete barriers of various sizes block access to police stations, hotels, hospitals, political party offices and the homes of top officials. At least 10 Baghdad neighborhoods have become or are scheduled to become "gated communities," as many U.S. soldiers have dubbed them.
Barriers make it easier to control who comes in and out of sensitive areas, or places that have experienced severe violence. In some communities the U.S. has been recording biometrics, like fingerprints and eye scans of those who live there, creating a rough-and-ready census and enhancing the ability to identify people who don't belong or might be troublemakers.
On the other hand, such walls make it more inconvenient for ordinary people to get around on workaday errands, and, while some residents feel more secure, others feel like prisoners.
Both Shia and Sunni leaders have organized large demonstrations against the walls. The walls remind many Iraqis of the wall Israel is building around (and sometimes into) Palestinian territories, a wall most Arabs resent deeply.
The issue reflects the dilemma of an occupying army fighting an insurgency or guerrilla war in a foreign country. Everybody from unflinching war supporters to fierce war critics says the most important aspect of the struggle is political, that the Iraqi people must start to buy into the idea that differences can be settled without constant bloodshed. But it's easier to acknowledge the political/social/cultural aspect of the struggle than it is to find ways to resolve such delicate and ethnically charged problems politically.
At the moment the decision to build the wall around Adhamiyah looks like a miscalculation, creating more political negatives than military positives — although that assessment could change. The way the issue has metastasized into a major source of conflict reflects poor communication both within the Iraqi government and between U.S. and Iraqi officials.
It all underlines the importance of picking up the pace of turning over increasing responsibility to Iraqis for such decisions. They may not always agree — indeed, they will often disagree — but it is their country.


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Topic: Nike plus
Massive conventional ad buy underway for rollout of Apple Watch Nike+ edition
11/04/2016, 03:11 pm
Giant advertisements for the Apple Watch have appeared in New York City, with additional, similar ads slated to pop up in the Washington D.C. metro area and other large cities in the U.S. in coming days.
Nike announces new iPhone-compatible Fuelband SE fitness tracker
10/15/2013, 11:10 am
Nike has announced a new version of its wrist-worn iPhone-compatible fitness tracker, the Fuelband SE, adding new color options to its popular device.
Nike+, Chrome, Pocket receive makeovers for Apple's just-released iOS 7
09/18/2013, 04:09 pm
The wave of iOS 7 redesigns continued apace Wednesday afternoon, as Pocket, Nike+, and Google's Chrome browser were all updated with tweaked interfaces in line with Apple's fresh new mobile operating system.
Djay 2 launches for iPad, Nike+ Running gains fitness challenges
07/25/2013, 10:07 am
The successor to Algoriddim's Djay app hit the App Store on Thursday, while Nike's Nike + Running app got new tracking and bragging rights features in the form of Nike+ Challenges.
Steve Jobs to Nike CEO: 'Get rid of the crappy stuff'
05/17/2011, 02:05 am
When Nike CEO Mark Parker called Apple CEO Steve Jobs for advice as a newly minted chief executive, Jobs told him to "get rid of the crappy stuff," claims a report.
Patent application reveals Apple-designed "smart bike"
08/06/2010, 12:08 am
The US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application Thursday for a "Smart Bicycle System" that would use an iPod or iPhone to monitor sensor data and wirelessly share information.
Nike+ heart rate monitor for Apple iPod coming June 1
05/18/2010, 11:05 am
First revealed last year following the release of Apple's fifth-generation iPod nano, the Nike + iPod Compatible Heart Rate Monitor is finally set for a U.S. release of June 1.
Apple named 'Brand of the Decade' by Adweek
12/14/2009, 08:12 pm
Apple received top honors in six categories in Adweek's �Best of the 2000s� advertising awards, including �Brand of the Decade� and �Marketer of the Decade� for Steve Jobs.
Nike plans iPod nano-compatible heart rate monitor
09/10/2009, 11:09 am
In addition to a built-in pedometer, the new fifth-generation iPod nano will be compatible with an upcoming Nike-branded heart rate monitor for fitness-minded users, AppleInsider has learned.
Apple developing activity monitor for skiers, snowboarders, bikers
06/11/2009, 10:06 am
Apple appears to be working on an activity sensor similar to the Nike+ iPod sport kit geared towards skiers, snowboarders and mountain bikers that would be capable of determining their "air time," "speed," and the amount of "power" or energy absorbed during those sporting activities.
Apple's next-gen iPhone may add radio tagging, Nike Sport Kit
06/03/2009, 02:06 pm
A new version of Apple's iTunes software released Monday includes code strings that hint at a couple of new features likely to make their debut alongside new iPhone models this month, namely radio tagging capabilities and support for the Nike+ Sport Kit.
Apple details next-gen Nike+ system with GPS, wear sensors
09/11/2008, 08:09 am
A new filing from Apple describes a future generation Nike+ system that would be capable of more accurately monitoring athletic performance in real-time, providing feedback on wear of athletic gear, and even conveying advertisements from establishments that an athlete passes during a workout.
Apple posts "Let's Rock" event QuickTime stream
09/09/2008, 06:09 pm
Apple on Tuesday evening gave those left out of the Yerba Buena Center a video stream of the company's iPod and iTunes introductions.
Notes on iTunes biz, App Store, iPod biz, Jobs, new iPod hands-on
09/09/2008, 05:09 pm
Apple today provide updates to some key statistics surrounding its music business and the App Store. Jobs later appeared on CNBC to address concerns about his health (again). And the first hands-on encounters with the company's new iPod line touch on some finer details of the new iPod touch, its Nike+ integration, and the fourth-generation iPod nano.
Apple's second-gen iPod touch features contoured metal design
09/09/2008, 02:09 pm
At its "Let's Rock" even on Tuesday, Apple introduced the second generation iPod touch featuring a thin contoured metal design, integrated volume control buttons, a built-in speaker for casual listening, and more.
Briefly: shots of Nike+ touch app not the real deal
08/20/2008, 11:08 am
A series of images making the rounds on the Internet this week as 'leaked' screenshots of an upcoming Nike+ application for the iPhone and iPod touch are not authentic, AppleInsider has learned.
Nike+ on its way to iPhone and iPod touch
04/11/2008, 09:04 am
The Nike+ Sport Kit released two years ago for use exclusively with Apple's iPod nano digital music player is finally getting an upgrade that will see support extended to iPhone and iPod touch.
Apple developing full-fledged digital lifestyle fitness companion
03/27/2008, 09:03 am
Electronics maker Apple Inc. is developing a digital fitness companion system based around its iPhone and iPod touch players aimed a helping americans, and folks in general, live a healthier and more fit lifestyle.
Apple's iPhone takes on the Enterprise
03/06/2008, 05:03 pm
Apple's SDK roadmap announcements were expected to primarily introduce the company's plans for releasing development tools for casual developers, but chief executive Steve Jobs started the event by introducing broad initiatives to greatly improve the iPhone's features to satiate the demands of Enterprise users.
Notes from Apple's iPhone Software Roadmap event
03/06/2008, 01:03 pm
Apple is presently hosting its iPhone Software Roadmap event at its Cupertino campus. Notes from a handful of live feeds will be consolidated on this page during the event.


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E-Learning at Western
ALL courses are available in Blackboard Learn, regardless if Faculty are planning on using the Learning Management System (LMS) or not. Faculty no longer will have to request their section(s) to be created in Blackboard Learn each semester. If you have sections that you want to combine into one course shell, please use the online merge request form. No need to request cross-listed sections; they are created automatically.
Students please note: Not all professors use Blackboard Learn. If you do not see your course listed, or the course contains no content, please check with your instructor to verify if they are using Blackboard Learn, and/or when the course will become available to the class. Most courses are not available until the first day of classes, but instructors control when they want their content available to students.Have you ever heard of E-Learning or want to know what Blackboard Learn is all about? Would you like to incorporate videos and other media into your online or on-ground courses? Or learn how to engage the students more? Did you know that Blackboard Learn can be used in other collaborative ways other than in the classroom – for clubs, organizations, committees, training, etc.? If you would like more information or answers to these questions, please continue to read further.
Blackboard Usage:
- Western currently uses Blackboard Learn 9.1 as its E-Learning course management system. Its primary usage allows faculty to supplement their on-ground courses with online components, or to use for fully online courses. With a standard Web browser, students and instructors can login from anywhere in the world to access their class materials and interact with one another. Blackboard includes a virtual course environment built to support different teaching styles and learning needs, and is designed to provide the tools for faculty to prepare, deliver, and manage their courses.
- In addition, Blackboard can be used as an 'Organization' which is similar to a Blackboard course, but designed for use by non-academic community groups. Organizations provide a collection of web-based tools, making it easy for group members to participate in online activities.
Faculty Support:
- Depending on what type of training method you prefer, Blackboard training can be conducted either in person, via online/webinars, or by self-paced tutorials and videos. Helpful resources include Blackboard Learn support from ConnSCU or support from Blackboard Learn Videos.
- If you would like to arrange for training, please provide us with some days and times that you are available. You may also contact, Cheryl McCann at email@example.com from the Board of Regents to set up a time for training, or to be enrolled in a Blackboard Faculty Orientation course – which is an unmonitored, self-paced online resource course for instructors.
- Please check out the training calendar periodically for updated training sessions for Western: https://calendar.ct.edu/.
Student Support:
- Explore Blackboard Learn through the On Demand Learning Center which includes short videos, Getting Started Guides, and other documentation. Also check Blackboard's Knowledge Base: Student
- Send email to the WCSU IT Help Desk at email@example.com, or call 203-837-8467. The hours of operation are: Monday through Friday 8:30am-4:30pm
- Visit our FAQ's page at http://www.wcsu.edu/ithelpdesk/elearning/.
- Visit the Board of Regents' Student Support site at https://websupport.ct.edu, or call 860-493-0221. Their hours of operation are:
Monday through Thursday 8am - 8pm
Friday 8am - 5pm
Sunday 1pm - 9pm
Please let us know if you have any questions, or how we can further assist your technology needs by sending an email to email@example.com.


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.$2.00 ticket i purchased .......
GUESS WHAT I WON guess ?????
$1000.00 on a $2.00 Cash For Life A Week .....$1000.00 I WON $1000.00
I know its not for life but i am happy happy happy
Thank You Jesus
and Hoosier Lotto
...settling for second, you might as well kiss your aunt with a hairy mustache. - Tony Stewart


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April 26, 2012 —
A few weeks ago my dad sent me a link to an article about how he had resigned from the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway board. The article said that Glenn Pontier had "resigned over the controversy concerning construction of a new Pond Eddy Bridge."
I was immediately intrigued and I called him to get the inside scoop. Our conversations all start out the same.
Me: "Hey Dad."
Him: "Hey Zac."
Me: "How's it going?"
Him: (Chuckle) It's going well.
Me: "What's going on with the Pond Eddy Bridge?"
He told me that they were taking steps to tear down the Pond Eddy Bridge and replace it with a new bridge that would hold much more weight. "Pennsylvania has a policy to replace any bridge that doesn't meet its modern standard of 40 tons," he told me.
"It's actually probably not a bad policy; most bridges that don't meet modern standards probably should be replaced—but not all of them. If we replaced all of them, we'd have no covered bridges in Vermont."
After a little bit of research, I learned that the Pond Eddy Bridge is one the last remaining petit-truss bridges in the Northeast; it was constructed in 1903 by the Oswego Bridge Company and it is listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places.
The bridge is one lane, with wooden beams below and a large steel support structure above. It stretches 521 feet across the Delaware River and connects the small community of Pond Eddy, PA to Route 97 and the world. It's a beautiful old bridge.
The community of Pond Eddy is landlocked and fewer than a dozen people live there year round. The rest of the 23 parcels of land are weekend homes, hunting cabins and fishing shacks.
The Pond Eddy Bridge has been deemed deficient by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) as well as by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), which control the bridge. Currently the only way to get emergency vehicles, deliveries and anything else into the community is over the bridge.
You get where this is going, right? The bridge either needs to be fixed or replaced. Right now, there is a plan in place to spend $12 million to tear down the original 1903 bridge and build a brand new one.
From what I understand, here's where it gets a little bit complicated. They haven't decided what kind of bridge they want to build, but in order to build any bridge they will first have to build a causeway to get equipment from one side to the other. Some methods for building the causeway have been discussed that could prevent passage by boats. This means that people rafting, canoeing or kayaking would have to get out and walk their vessels around the causeway.
Basically they are going to spend a bunch of money to build a temporary bridge, to build a permanent bridge, so that they can take down the existing bridge. It seems to me the thing to do is to spend the money fixing the bridge that is already there, which also just so happens to be a beautiful historic bridge.
Viewing an old map, it shows that there are two abandoned roads (one less than a mile, the other less than two miles) heading to the community of Pond Eddy (at least one used to go all the way). One could imagine that one of these roads could be extended to reach Pond Eddy.
After talking more about it with my dad, I started a petition at change.org and I'm going to try to help him and many others organize support to force PennDOT to change its replacement plan. Why not fix the bridge and build a road?
I think that we need to fight to maintain the character and beauty of our area. It's tough to see how important things like the Pond Eddy Bridge are to the area but they make a monumental difference to the people who drive by everyday as well as the millions of people who have floated beneath it every summer.
Let's save the bridge.


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Home List of Titles Solution bias in ant colony optimisation: lessons for selecting pheromone models
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/27730
|Download PDF (Author's final draft) (Adobe Acrobat PDF, 352 KB)
- Title
- Solution bias in ant colony optimisation: lessons for selecting pheromone models
- Author(s)
- Montgomery, James; Randall, Marcus; Hendtlass, Tim
- Abstract
- Ant colony optimisation is a constructive metaheuristic in which solutions are built probabilistically influenced by the parameters of a pheromone model—an analogue of the trail pheromones used by real ants when foraging for food. Recent studies have uncovered the presence of biases in the solution construction process, the existence and nature of which depend on the characteristics of the problem being solved. The presence of these solution construction biases induces biases in the pheromone model used, so selecting an appropriate model is highly important. The first part of this paper presents new findings bridging biases due to construction with biases in pheromone models. Novel approaches to the prediction of this bias are developed and used with the knapsack and generalised assignment problems. The second part of the paper deals with the selection of appropriate pheromone models when detailed knowledge of their biases is not available. Pheromone models may be derived either from characteristics of the way solutions are represented by the algorithm or characteristics of the solutions represented, which are often quite different. Recently it has been suggested that the latter is more appropriate. The relative performance of a number of alternative pheromone models for six well-known combinatorial optimisation problems is examined to test this hypothesis. Results suggest that, in general, modelling characteristics of solutions (rather than their representations) does lead to the best performance in ACO algorithms. Consequently, this principle may be used to guide the selection of appropriate pheromone models in problems to which ACO has not yet been applied.
- Publication type
- Journal article
- Research centre
- Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies
- Source
- Computers & Operations Research, Vol. 35, no. 9 (Sep 2008), pp. 2728-2749
- Publication year
- 2008
- FOR Code(s)
- 010206 Operations Research; 010303 Optimisation; 080201 Analysis of Algorithms and Complexity
- Keyword(s)
- ACO; Ant colony optimisation; Constructive metaheuristics; Pheromone model; Solution bias
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- 0305-0548
- Publisher URL
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Paper reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.
- Full text
- Peer reviewed


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Andy Capwell
I am the host of the All Request BEE-stro, weekdays from noon-1pm. I'll play all your requests! Then, I'll keep your workday flying by and be with you on your way home until 5pm. You might even catch me at your party on Saturday nights during the "Saturday Night Stampede." Make sure you come by to meet me at one of our many live local broadcast


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Check back soon for more articles…Ian Wahl
Behavioral problems are aggravated by allergies and sensitivities, especially in children
Allergies or sensitivities to certain foods, molds, artificial preservatives, food colorings/flavorings, sweeteners, fragrances, chemicals, even sensitivities to sounds and touch, can contribute to behavioral and emotional issues. There is also research that indicates certain food sensitivities can aggravate autism symptoms in many people.
If you suspect that you or your child's behavior may be affected by food, chemical, or stimuli sensitivities, schedule an Advanced Allergy Therapeutics (AAT) assessment to find out. We will even include the first treatment at no charge.


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Finding the Right Withdrawal Rate: One Key to Portfolio Sustainability
by Maria Crawford Scott
Like all investors, individuals who are living off of their retirement savings need a blueprint to construct a successful portfolio.
But the blueprint that works for the typical investor who is saving for retirement won't work for those who are living off of their retirement savings.
That's because the goals of these two types of investors are not quite the same.
All investors want maximum returns on their savings. But those living off of their retirement savings are also "savings consumers" who use their savings to support themselves. These investors typically have two goals:
- Goal One—Savings That Last: One goal is that your savings need to provide you with your living needs throughout your entire lifetime. In other words, your savings need to last at least as long as you do, through all kinds of market conditions—both bull and bear.
- Goal Two—Savings That Provide Large Annual Paychecks: The other goal is that your savings should provide you with enough financial resources so you can do the things you want to do during retirement. In other words, you want your retirement savings to provide you with as large an annual paycheck as possible.
Unfortunately, this presents individuals living off of their retirement savings with a dilemma: Their two savings goals are actually working against each other.
If you are living off of your savings, how do you balance those goals? To be more specific: How do you find the point at which you can spend the maximum amount of your retirement savings each year, and still be sure that you will have enough savings to support you for the rest of your life?
There are three key elements that will help you keep these goals in balance and allow you to maintain a successful retirement portfolio—one that you can comfortably live off of, and that can survive during bull and bear markets:
- You need an appropriate systematic withdrawal approach that focuses on realistic rates of withdrawal.
- You need an appropriate asset allocation that includes diversification among the three major asset classes (stocks, bonds and cash) and diversification within the most volatile categories (particularly stocks).
- You need an appropriate monitoring system that includes: 1) Rules regarding annual spending amount increases and decreases to help ensure that you stay on course; and 2) Periodic reassessments of your asset allocation and rebalancing.
This article focuses on the first key, and helps you answer the question: How much of your retirement savings can you "safely" withdraw each year?
Your Withdrawal Approach
To answer this question, you first have to settle on the approach you are going to use to determine your annual withdrawal amount. The approach that you choose is critical, because it will have a big impact not only on the obvious issues of how much you can withdraw each year and on protecting your savings so they last your lifetime, but also on your asset allocation strategy.
For example, one relatively popular rule-of-thumb is to withdraw only the income generated from your investments. This approach is popular because it seems like a good way of "protecting" your principal value—after all, you're spending only the income.
However, the typical impulse is to maximize income by putting a large amount in higher-yielding investments, such as bonds. The downside to this approach is that, over the long term, both your savings and the income it generates may not be able to grow in real terms to keep pace with inflation, and eventually you may be forced into a lower standard of living. In other words, you will be consuming current income at the expense of future growth.
One way around this problem would be to simply invest your assets for maximum return and live off of your portfolio's real rate of return each year. This approach encourages a heavier stock commitment, which maximizes long-term growth.
However, the returns over the last few years illustrate perfectly the havoc this approach can wreak to your income: Using this approach, your income tends to fluctuate wildly year-to-year. It does not produce a steady source of income.
A more useful approach—the one that is used by most financial advisers today—is to basically create an immediate annuity out of your savings portfolio. To do that, you:
- Total up all of your investable assets, estimate your life expectancy, and determine a "first-year" withdrawal rate for that portfolio. The withdrawal rate takes into consideration all of the earnings that will be received on all amounts of your remaining invested savings until the portfolio is exhausted, and it divides everything up equally over the time horizon. This basically allows you to withdraw both principal—your original savings—as well as earnings on that principal amount, over your lifetime.
- That first-year withdrawal rate is translated into a dollar amount, which becomes your first-year "income"—the actual dollar amount that you can withdraw from your portfolio.
- The next year, you are allowed to withdraw your prior-year dollar amount increased by the rate of inflation.
Under this approach, in your first year of retirement, a first-year "withdrawal rate" is determined that is a percentage of your first-year investment portfolio; that percentage rate translates into a specific dollar amount that becomes your first-year withdrawal. That first-year dollar amount then becomes your annual withdrawal amount—although typically the dollar amount is increased each year by the rate of inflation. Note that, in subsequent years, your withdrawals as a percentage of your portfolio value will vary, depending on your portfolio's performance.
For instance, if you have a $1 million portfolio in your first year of retirement, and your first-year spending rate is 4%, your first-year withdrawal would be $40,000. The next year you would increase $40,000 by the rate of inflation and withdraw that dollar amount.
Now, if several years down the road your portfolio has had significant losses, your annual spending rate in those years may be greater than 4% of that year's portfolio value; if your portfolio has had significant gains, your annual spending rate in those years may be less than 4% of that year's portfolio value.
Withdrawal Rate Clarification
It should be emphasized that the rate I am talking about in terms of the withdrawal rate approach is a rate that applies to your first-year withdrawal only.
You should also be aware that the withdrawal amount I am talking about in using this approach is a "gross income" type of figure. This gross amount, along with any other sources of income, is what is used to pay your annual living expenses—and by that I mean all expenses, including taxes. The withdrawal amount does not take into consideration taxes due based on the source of the withdrawal. So, two individuals may have the same initial withdrawal amount, but one may have a much higher tax bill—and therefore less to spend on everything else—than the other individual, depending on how they are withdrawing from their savings.
Lastly, please be aware that the withdrawal rate discussed in this article has nothing to do with "required" minimum withdrawals from retirement accounts.
The advantage to this approach is that it allows you to separate your asset allocation decision from your withdrawal needs, so that you are not focusing too much on one particular need at the expense of another. This tends to encourage you to invest for the long term, since the withdrawal rate does not depend on any income component. Therefore, higher-growth potential investments such as stocks are less likely to be pushed aside in favor of higher-income but lower long-term growth investments.
Adapting the Approach to the Real World
Before you get worried about "annuity formulas" and "how to figure out the percentage rate," we'll take a look at how this approach has been adapted to the real world—and you'll see that you don't need to worry about working through any formulas.
If you were to use a strict annuity approach, you would plug your assumed long-term average annual rate of return on your portfolio into an annuity formula and you would come up with a withdrawal rate. But that withdrawal rate would probably be a much higher rate than is warranted. That's because that average annual rate of return over your time horizon comes from actual returns that in the real world vary tremendously year-to-year: One year your return may be up 15%; the next year, it could be down 45%.
The annuity formula would work fine if you were to make no changes to your portfolio—if you neither added money to nor withdrew money from your portfolio: The sequence of returns makes no difference to your ending amount for any given long-term rate of return. But if you are making withdrawals from a portfolio—as anyone living off of their retirement savings would be—the timing and sequence of the returns that you receive make a big difference on your ending portfolio value: If you receive higher returns in the earlier years, when your savings are at their highest level, your risk of outliving your assets is much lower than if you receive higher returns toward the end of your life, when you have less savings because of all your withdrawals.
Unfortunately, investors have no control over return sequences. Fiddling with your asset allocation by substantially increasing your commitment to low-volatility assets won't solve the problem because that substantially lowers your average long-term rate of return.
So…the solution still uses the annuity concept, but not the actual formula—and that concept has been adopted very carefully by the financial planning community and financial academics.
Instead of relying on one annuity formula, they have been testing the concept using various rates of withdrawals and different asset allocations over real market conditions—with lots of different return sequences—to see which withdrawal rates and portfolio combinations are actually safest. In other words, they examine a portfolio's "success rate," which is the percentage of times that a portfolio is able to sustain the given payout over the entire time period without running out of assets prematurely.
Withdrawal "Success Rates"
Figure 1 is from an article that appeared in the AAII Journal way back in February of 1998 written by three finance professors from Trinity University in Texas. This study is frequently quoted—it was one of the first and, I think, one of the best because of the long time period it covered. For that reason, I think it is still valid, even though it may appear to be a bit dated.
This figure shows the portfolio "success rates" of various stock and bond combinations—the top grouping is a portfolio consisting solely of U.S. large-cap stocks; the second group is a portfolio of 75% stocks and 25% bonds, and so on.
These success rates were determined based on the actual annual sequence of returns from 1926 to 1995 for varying rates of withdrawal (the vertical columns, starting with 4%), and payout periods (the leftmost column covering 15 years, 20 years, 25 years and 30 years of payouts).
The success rate is the number of times a portfolio was able to make annual withdrawals without running out of assets over the time period relative to the number of total scenarios. The annual withdrawals are determined in the same way I described earlier—an initial spending rate is determined, converted into a dollar amount and then increased for inflation in subsequent years.
For instance, if your portfolio were invested 75% in stocks and 25% in bonds, and your withdrawal rate was 4% of the initial portfolio value with inflation increases in the following years, your investment portfolio would have completely supported you for 98% of all 30-year time periods from 1926 to 1995.
In other words, there would have been a 2% chance you would have run out of money if you lived off of your portfolio for any 30-year time period between 1926 and 1995.
In contrast, if you withdrew 6% of the initial portfolio value with inflation increases in the following years, your investment portfolio would have completely supported you for only 68% of all 30-year time periods.
Interestingly, the professors originally set out to study the importance of asset allocation in a withdrawal portfolio (a portfolio from which withdrawals are being made annually). Certainly, the study did show that asset allocation was an important aspect.
However, the most important conclusion they came to—and that more recent studies support—is that the primary way to ensure your own investment portfolio's success rate is to establish a realistic initial withdrawal rate of not more than 4% to 5% of your investment portfolio assets.
You can clearly see from the table that withdrawing at higher rates will significantly increase your risk of outliving your assets, especially for longer payout periods.
More Recent Studies
Figure 2 shows a more recent study based on returns that ran through 2005. It only considered a 30-year payout period, but used a wide range of withdrawal rates and a wide variety of stock and bond allocations. The curved lines represent various withdrawal rates, with a 3% rate running along the bottom, close to the horizontal axis.
Simulated return sequences were determined by randomly selecting 30 one-year real returns from 1926 to 2005 for each 30-year period. A total of 10,000 separate 30-year sequences were calculated, so you can see they are using a slightly different methodology than the Trinity study.
This chart shows "runout percentage," which is the opposite of survival rates—it indicates the percentage of times a portfolio was unable to sustain all of the payouts.
This study is shown because it includes returns from a more recent time period. But its results are strikingly similar to that of the first study: For an investment horizon of 30 years, a 3% withdrawal rate would keep you safe under almost any scenario, but that's an exceptionally low withdrawal rate. As you can see in the chart, if you want to remain at 10% or under in terms of shortfall risk, you need to keep your annual withdrawal rate low, at around 4%.
(To put a shortfall risk into perspective, remember that the actual chance this will occur is combined with the chance that you or you and your spouse will survive over that entire time period.)
Keep in mind, too, that in all of these studies, the stock portfolios were diversified, typically by using a major market index, and the asset allocations were held steady—there was no attempt to time the markets.
The Bottom Line: Realistic Withdrawal Rates
The bottom line from these studies is that you don't need a rock-bottom withdrawal rate to be safe. However, you do need to keep the withdrawal rate realistic—and in these studies, that meant taking not more than 4% each year if you want your portfolio to survive throughout retirement.
Keep in mind that this doesn't mean you can select a realistic withdrawal rate and then put your portfolio on "autopilot." You still need the other elements of portfolio management: a proper asset allocation that includes commitments to all three major asset classes, and a portfolio monitoring system that includes spending adjustments—midcourse corrections—to ensure that you stay on track.
But setting a realistic withdrawal rate is the first step toward reaching your ultimate goal of striking the fine line between spending the maximum amount of your retirement savings each year and being assured you will have enough savings to support you for the rest of your life.
The Withdrawal Rate Approach
These are the major points to keep in mind:
- The advantage of a withdrawal rate approach is that it allows you to separate your asset allocation decision from your immediate withdrawal needs so that they do not drive your asset allocation decision.
- This encourages you to invest for the long term, since the withdrawal rate does not depend on any income component.
- Annuity tables assume unvarying return rates each year, but your return rates will vary significantly year-to-year.
- For that reason, base your withdrawal rate on studies of portfolio success rates. You can use the tables here to help you determine an appropriate initial withdrawal rate. This withdrawal rate only applies to your first-year withdrawal; after that, you can withdraw the same dollar amount as the prior year adjusted for inflation. This is a pretax amount that does not take into consideration what type of account your withdrawals are made from (taxable or tax-deferred).
- Make sure you use a realistic spending rate—not more than 4% of the initial portfolio value.
- This approach is not an "autopilot" approach. You still need to develop an appropriate asset allocation strategy and a portfolio monitoring system that allows for midcourse adjustments to ensure that your portfolio remains on track.
Bernard Biltek from FL posted over 4 years ago:
This discussion does not consider that currently bond yields are at historical lows. Will the average bond yields be much lower over the next 30 years than they were over the 1926-1995 time periods. If so that will have a major effect on using this data to determine withdrawal rates.
H Padden from NJ posted over 4 years ago:
So, you must pay taxes from your 4% and you (very luckily) make 15% on your investments the first year. Your combined tax bracket is, say, 40%. You must, therefore pay 6% (15% X 40%) from your 4%. So, you are required to live on -2% in your luck year. Who will pay you that money?
You simply cannot use this simple rule inflexibly, but only as a very rough guideline for your overall planning.
Robert Brooks from AZ posted over 4 years ago:
30 year averages are a bit unrealistic. For the first time since 1920, there is a 10 year period (1998-2008) in which investments in the S&P index would have produced a net loss!
Most of us over 65 are concerned that another precipitous drop in the market would essentially wipe our our stock investments in that a 50% decline would require a 100% increase to just break even.
It is very difficult to maintain a "relatively safe" return of over 4% in order to be able to withdraw at that same rate.
I have decided to anuitize a good portion of saving into a single life, no beneficiary, annuity (actually, diverifying among the top rated insurance companies). I can receive a 7.8% return of investment and principal for life. If there is money left over in early retirement, then those dollars can be reinvested into "riskier" assets.
The key, as you pointed out, is to maintain enought fluidity for emergencies and potential investments if the market really takes another dive.
We can thank Mr. Greenspan and his guru, Ayn Rand, for starting this lowest interest rate paradigm which has lasted for over 10 years now. It has had a major negative effect on retirement incomes and all of the retirement portfolios of major agencies (i.e. STRS).
I believe interest rates will rise again (cycles tend to repeat) and hopefully I will have enough cash to reinvest at a higher rate. Now is the time not to invest in bond funds as the upside potential is minimal and the downside risk is horrendous.
Bob Brooks
Prescott, AZ
James Stewart from MA posted over 4 years ago:
Seems that you would only pay 40% taxes on any money you withdraw from IRA type accounts, or 4%X40%=1.6%, for example, plus taxes on dividends, capital gains,other income,etc.
Robert Krisch from PA posted over 4 years ago:
An alternative approach bases the withdrawal rate for each upcoming year on the current value of the portfolio at the beginning of the year, along with the retiree's life expectancy at that same time. This gives a substantially more irregular rate of annual return than the Bengen model that you outline, but has NO risk of running out of money before you die and takes automatic account of fluctuations in the year to year value of the portfolio. This observation is not a revelation. This is the basic principle on which the German retirement system and numerous other large governmental and private retirement systems work. It is also the dominant principle behind the US Social Security System, with various political tinkering around the edges to decrease the short term risk to the annuitant, but with no guarantee that these modifications are permanent.
I understand that this approach to withdrawal from retirement accounts has never been popular with financial planners because it has never been popular with their clients, who generally want a fixed lifelong stream of inflation protected income. I have always believed that with some effort to carefully explain this approach to people in parallel, the risk benefit tradeoff compared to the accepted Bengen approach would look much more attractive. Running out of money at an advanced age without any remaining earning power seems to me to be a much more serious risk than is a significantly fluctuating annual income. As a bonus, this approach also automatically eliminates the long term risk of taking out too little money if the investment markets do unexpectedly well over an extended period. As another bonus, it is very easy for intelligent individuals to apply to their own retirement accounts. Life expectancy tables are widely available on the internet, including multiple tables from the Social Security Administration.
In summary, I feel strongly that this general model should always be offered in parallel as a serious alternative approach to retirement withdrawal, both by financial planners in individual sessions and in articles such as this one, whenever the Bengen approach is presented as a "reasonable" one and that the Bengen approach should never be presented without serious discussion of alternatives such as this.
Robert Krisch from PA posted over 4 years ago:
ADDENDUM to my post above. I apologize, but I somehow forgot to include an important, familiar and classic example of the alternative withdrawal plan discussed above. It is a fairly pure example and is widely used by many prosperous retirees in the US, including I am certain, many readers of this Journal. It is the minimum required annual withdrawal plan laid out by the Federal Government for retirees over 70.5 who own IRAs and/or any other lump sum tax sheltered retirement accounts. With these accounts, you generally don't even have to figure out the required withdrawal amount each year, since the managing institution will almost always do it for you, mail your checks to you regularly and do all of the required record keeping. The life expectancies used are generally for two joint lives, giving a lower than necessary withdrawal rate for single people, but you are always allowed to take out more than this minimum.
Steve Laube from GA posted over 4 years ago:
The classic 4-5% adjusted for inflation approach to withdrawal is flawed in several ways:computr modelsthat run "10,000" simulations usingrandomly selected returns remove the bjsiness cycle from the data, bastardizing the data to the point that one can say it is invalid. More importantly, these secnarios typically assume ALL withdrawals come from the stock portion of the portfolio, even though the asset allocation contains typically 50% bonds and cash. Why use this "safe" allocation and then not use it correctly to withdraw from the non stock portion when the market/portfolio is not at a high water mark. Selliong stocks when the market is down 30 or more per cent results in a double whammy wher ein more tock must be sold to raise money andthen that stock is gone forever when the recovery comes. Last, for many of us, the 3% inflation assumption is way overstated. Unless you are living a minimal lifestyle, age will take care of the gym membership, country club membership, travel and entertanment expenses, mortgage payment, big home/utility bills/taxes, and even the transportation as one goes from two or more cars to one and then none. Also, it is very easy in real life to use a combination wherein the 4% guideline is combined with the ability to cut spending via "substitution" and denial for a year or two if the portfolio is trashed and you are concerned; the withdrawal models assume no adjustment to withdrawals, even as one sees the approaching freight train of running out of money.
Richard Abbott from FL posted over 4 years ago:
Michael Frey from OH posted over 4 years ago:
No way can one take out 4% (in real terms) and expect to maintain the value of the account over time. It's a pipe dream. I've seen this flawed argument over and over from people who should know better.
John Borrows from FL posted over 4 years ago:
Too much attention to what I cannot control and not enough to what I can.
During my 69 yrs. I've lived high on the hog and eaten pigs feet. Can't say that there was a lot of difference in the happiness and satisfaction at either end.
So, the first step is to decide on a minimally acceptable life style, and its annual price. Using whatever conservative estimate you want to decide if you can afford it. If you can't -- resume' time. But you probably can with quite a bit of cushion. Proceed to live that way and watch for truly valuable things to spend the excess on. If all is well with the reserves (money not needed to maintain the minimum acceptable) spend for it and enjoy. If things are going south with your reserves, add the thing to your bucket list.
What is different here is that it seems if you calculate your income first with the idea that you will then do your budget to match, you'll find a way to budget to the income.
I see too many people who spend hours of work and lots of worry on maximizing or estimating their incomes without having a clue of how much they are spending on stuff that really isn't all that important to them. Until you figure out what you really want, you won't know anything about what you have.
Back to managing income, what I would really like to see is a plan for what to withdraw. Building up these assets I had this wonderful plan of steady, equal, investments leading to dollar cost averaging. An assurance that I was buying more at the lows and less at the highs.
The financial planners have not provided me with any way to cash in my investments that is better than a constant percentage rate assuring long term average recovery. If I take out a set amount each year (as suggested here) I get dollar cost average in reverse, assuring below average returns in the long run. I would not want to try to make my living selling that "plan" to paying clients.
Robert Franzen from MO posted over 4 years ago:
What I recommend is tracking your draw rate on a monthly basis using the following process:
1. Create a paper account and credit it with 4% (divided by 12) of your 12 month average portfolio value
2. Reduce the account by your actual draw for the month
3. Monitor the account balance and make adjustments as desired or required
The benefit to using a 12 month average is that values do not suddenly change radically due to market volatility.
If the account builds a surplus value over time, you may decide to reward yourself with an unplanned vacation. If the account builds a deficit value over time, you know it is necessary to reduce spending.
The two most important things one can do to reduce the risk of running out of money are:
1. Setup a disciplined process to manage and monitor as described above
2. Maintain a diversified portfolio containing as many asset classes as you feel comfortable with and rebalance regularly.
James Johnston from NV posted over 4 years ago:
The more I read about this subject the more confused I get.This is my first year in retirement, (lost my business) I'm 61.
Is there a good program that would help me determine a withdrawel amount showing diferent examples?.
Robert Krisch from PA posted over 4 years ago:
In response to Mr. Johnston's post, I agree that this is a somewhat confusing subject, but hopefully the following comments will be of some use to you. My two adjoining posts from yesterday briefly discussed the easy, do it yourself program of treating your accumulated retirement assets as if they were in an IRA and calculating your regular annual withdrawals as if they were your required minimum withdrawals from the IRA. These are calculated very simply. The only information you need is the current market value of the accumulated assets and your current life expectancy or the joint current life expectancy of yourself and your wife. You then divide the market value by your life expectancy and that gives you the amount to be withdrawn for the upcoming year. It can be withdrawn either as a lump sum or in monthly or quarterly installments. At the beginning of the next year you repeat this procedure with the updated value of your accumulation and your updated life expectancy. Individual and joint life expectancy tables are readily available on the internet. For example, the IRS provides several such tables with their instructions for IRAs. Your age is below the starting age of 70.5 for mandatory IRA withdrawals, but I believe that they have data for younger ages for single lives but not joint lives. Those could easily be found at other websites or in a reference library. For more detailed information and for examples of typical scenarios, you just need to look at the section on withdrawals in a few books on IRAs. There are many such books in every public library. Remember, some major advantages of this approach are: 1) You can't ever run out of money if you follow theses rules, although as with any approach where you can't run out of money, if your assets continually produce a low rate of return your annual withdrawals will eventually become lower. As I described in the earlier posts this method is officially endorsed by the US government for IRAs and by a number of other governments for corresponding retirement accounts. 2) It is pretty easy to do it yourself, with no fees and a minimum investment of time and energy, as described above and detailed in numerous other sources on IRAs. 3) It works as advertised, without any fiddling, no matter how you have invested the accumulation, although as noted above, the size of the annual withdrawals will eventually depend on the rate of return. Accordingly, this approach does not alter the need for diversification between and within asset classes or the need to keep a large fraction of the assets in equities. 4) Unlike the Bengen 4% approach, if your investments do unexpectedly well for any extended period, this approach automatically adjusts your annual income upward without any effort on your part.
The major disadvantage of this approach is that your income will not be certain from year to year because it will be calculated from the total value of your accumulation at the beginning of that year, which may fluctuate a little or a lot, depending on how you have it invested and on what the markets did during the previous year. This would be less of a negative once you start collecting additional stable, inflation protected income from social security, but it seems to me that even in the absence of social security, the likely degree of unavoidable annual fluctuation would be a small price to pay for eliminating even a small probability (say 5% as in many of the Bengen type models) of entirely running out of money at an age when you are unable to work.
Alan Thelen from MI posted over 4 years ago:
Because of the impact and difficulty of predicting the sequence of (good) market year returns I have been considering allocating at least the percentage recommended for bonds to an index annuity. I would then forgo any bond investments with my remaining funds. Any thoughts, comments, or dirty looks?
William Porter from IL posted over 4 years ago:
I've been retired "officially" only since the beginning of February, but I think the actual situation for most retirees is a whole lot more complicated than simplistic rules, such as a "4% initial rate" or the IRA distribution rule suggest. Some us lucky few do get to collect traditional pensions, which others might need to create for themselves by purchasing an annuity from an insurance company (or companies!). This income, plus whatever Social Security pays you, provides a guaranteed minimum annual income -- which is something most retirees desire most of all. But if you have other investments in stocks, bonds, whatever, inside or outside of IRAs, 401k plans, etc., in addition to the amount set aside for annuitization, a more flexible approach can be adopted for those additional funds. Yes, your income will fluctuate if you use the IRA withdrawal rate as a guide, but if this is in addition to a fixed annuity-style income (and not instead of a fixed, annuity-style income) derived from Social Security, traditional pension or an actual annuity, then such fluctuation should be tolerable. Indeed, with a proper mix of investments, the IRA-withdrawal model can provide a growing income stream, part of which can be invested outside of tax-deferred accounts, to continue to grow in net asset value, so that the fraction invested in equities becomes ever larger as you age.
It's important to look at ALL of your investable funds, whether in an IRA, 401k plan, or taxable accounts, and calculate the maximum allowable withdrawal based on this total. If you have too much in tax-derferred accounts, and are forced to withdraw more than this calculated value to satisfy IRS requirements, re-invest the difference in a taxable account.
Warren Flick from GA posted over 4 years ago:
For Mr. James Johnston, and others: at laterlivingblog dot com, I advocate a 4% rule, but without automatic inflation adjustments. Withdraw 4% of your initial total investments in the first year, then again in the second, then again in the third. Over that period, read about other approaches, and experiment with a calculator or a computer and spreadsheet (if you program one to model your investments). If your diversified portfolio is heading south, withdraw less. If your portfolio is bounding upward, cautiously increase your withdrawal by an inflation adjustment—maybe to 4.1% of your initial total investments—then hold that steady for some years.
Another factor not yet discussed is the asset allocation of the portfolio. In studies, authors often use the S&P 500 index along with a long series of bond returns, such as long-term, high-grade corporate bonds, or U.S. Government Bonds. Long data series are available for that data.
But keep in mind that a long-term data series is not a real investment. At laterlivingblog dot com, I'm writing about a real portfolio of four assets: domestic stocks, international stocks, bonds, and REITs. I use Vanguard index funds and trace portfolio performance over the most recent 11-year period, from the end of 2000 through 2011.
It turns out that a well-rounded portfolio having approximately 50% exposure to bond or bond-like assets and 50% exposure to stock and stock-like assets performed reasonably well over the 11-year period. I used a 4% rule—withdraw 4% of the initial value of the portfolio, then keep that amount constant. I also report results for an inflation-adjusted withdrawal, using 2.5% as the inflation rate. The approach is simple, and the results show that it would have worked well, even during the turbulence of the past 11 years. Of course no one can guarantee future performance. You might take a look at the blog posts—there are several about investments and withdrawals.
This coming Tuesday I'll write about putting a human face on managing your investments, such as dealing with rebounding children or other relatives who need help.
Kenneth Dillman from CO posted over 4 years ago:
I've been retired for 20 years running a portfolio of 60% equities and 40% fixed income. My expenses are covered by social security, a small pension and withdrawal from savings. The savings are in a tax defered IRA, ROTH IRA and taxable brokerage account. I have more in savings now than when I started 20 years ago even with the 2007-2008 major downturn. If your going to manage your own portfolio and withdrawal rates you need to understand tax law, tax brackets and how RMD's are calculated. Everyone is different and one size does not fit all. Most retirement plans tell you to withdraw from taxable accounts first before using tax deferred accounts. This may keep your tax rate low in the beginning but your RMD may increase the rate later in life. What worked for me was to control my spending (stick to a budget)and take more out of my tax deferred accounts when the market was up but only enough to keep me in the same tax bracket. This reduces your RMD when you reach 701/2 and increases your taxable account that you can withdraw from and not increase your tax rate. Again, any standard withdrawal rate maybe a starting point but will probably not benefit most people. There is no substitute for knowing the tax law, having a deversified portfolio and controlling spending.
Clifford Wyble from PA posted over 4 years ago:
Warren - Sounds like the best advise to date.
Dave Gilmer from WA posted over 4 years ago:
Alan, stay away from the indexed annuities, until you can read and understand all the fine print. Once you do you will see there are much better options you can do yourself.
I like your approach of keeping the 4% constant for a few years and then adjusting.
Also like your term "bond like" investments. For me 2 pensions and one SS are all bond like income streams so I really don't need any other "real" bonds, especially in this interest rate environment. For my income I use a stock dividend portfolio, which has it's own built in growth of income. Since my "yield to cost" is of main concern, if any one of the dividends goes down, I just replace it with my large pool of money from my bucket 2 growth pool. Right now there are more companies with 25+ years of dividend growth than I even need.
Ted Nicholas from CA posted over 4 years ago:
There are a number of articles on withdrawl rates during retirement but nearly all are too complex for quick review or too simplistic to be accurate. AAII has a chart in their Investor Classroom under Step 3 of Fund Mechanics investing and redeeming article. The X axis has the % annual withdrawl rate of capital (from 5 to 16%) and the Y axis has the % annual asset growth (from 1 to 12 %). You simply match the two variables and their intersection tells you how many years your savings will last. Here is the link: http://www.aaii.com/classroom/article/fund-mechanics-investing-redeeming?page=3
I'm surprised at two things:
1. that the chart isn't at least referenced in every general article like this one.
2. that the chart starts at 5% withdrawl rate rather than the ubiquitously recommended 4% (or less).
It is without doubt the best single chart I've seen on managing retirement savings. Why? finances can change literally overnight. A quick glance at the chart with the new figure allows instant determination of a new withdrawl rate and/or time frame.
obie ephyhm from MN posted over 4 years ago:
man, i wish the investment world would stop pumping this bilge out year after year just because it was the paradigm 45 years ago.
it doesn't work today. people live longer, save less, work longer, have had their savings eaten by inflation . . . on and on and on.
if you're smart enough to invest your own money, you should be smart enough to build a dividend income growth portfolio and then live within your means. no need for bonds. no need for stupid annuities.
articles like this are making me question why i became a life-time member of aaii. this is just standard financial "advice" designed to move products, part seniors from their money without providing any real security and it does not deal with the real world.
Curt Peterson from GA posted over 4 years ago:
I like Warren Flick's approach. Ted Nicholas' recommendation also is valuable. Unfortunately, market performance during the last decade and currently, doesn't mimic past performance cited in many of these withdrawal studies, and there is no way to know with any certainty that future peroformance will behave similarly to past performance. Monitoring spending and making sure your portfolio includes opportunity for growth of principal over time are two ways to insure that you do not run out of funds. This approach requires discipline and courage during Bear markets and other unexpected downturns.
Dennis Roubal from MI posted over 4 years ago:
I have subscribed to the 4% rule, with corrections, for a long time. Ultimate success requires some reasonable investment returns to maintain purchasing power. Most withdrawal programs are set up using historical returns as a guide. Future returns may be a real problem for income maintenance.
Research looking at past financial crises, like we are experiencing, indicate a very long period of low interest rates and under-performing equities.
Rheinhart and Rogoff and several other studies show results similar to Japan's current malaise. Their stock market peaked in 1989 and is about 80% lower. Their Treasuries are at about 1.6% yield.
If the U.S. follows this same path, and I think we will, a 4% withdrawal rate may be difficult to maintain.
J Morlock from NJ posted over 4 years ago:
I would like to thank to everyone for sharing their insightful comments.
Here is an article worth reading if you are looking for other retirement income planning tools and ideas.
Jim Otars's website is one of the best I have found for retirement income planning considerations.
I also like the consumption smoothing approach incorporated into the ESP financial planning software.
I would love to see AAII publish interviews with the owners of these two websites.
David Brenner from AK posted over 4 years ago:
I agree with Mr. Roubal that a 4% withdrawl rate is hard to count on in the long-term downtrend we find ourselves. A year-by-year approach of 4-5% max understanding that such may mean decreasing gross withdrawl amounts and a committment to try for a lower 3-4% goal may make a big difference going forward, especially considering the tandem of European problems and poor growth in the US. Hopefully the eventual recovery, when it arrives, will signal a return to the likelihood of success with the fixed (x% + inflation) withdrawl strategies discussed. As always, asset allocation will matter!
Charles Hinners from WI posted over 4 years ago:
The discussion below is limited to vanilla income annuities in which an insurance company pays a fixed amount for life in return for a lump sum now.
The central problem of financial planning is converting a lump sum to an inflation adjusted lifetime income
Nearly all annuities carry sales commissions of 3 to 5% that translate to a proportional decrease in benefit.
Annuities are priced of bond yields with durations matching life expectancy.
Berkshire Hathaway Life offers a no commission annuity in a limited number of states.
Their crediting rates for income annuities is 2.55% today 8/3/12.
It pays to shop carriers.
Incomesolutions.com offers lower commission alternatives.
They deal with several companies and more information can be gained by talking to Drew Hueler at 866-297-9835


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Heavenly Sweep Of The Cubs
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then God said, Let there be Lee: and so Lee was deposited into the lap of the Phillies. And God saw Lee, and it was good. Then on the seventh day, he created a sweep of the Cubs; and it was also good. He then rested and boarded a flight to Atlanta…
A little Biblical humor for you; however, I am sure the Cubs saw nothing funny about the 3-game sweep at the hands of the Phillies. Cliff Lee, who may indeed be a gift from the heavens, pitched 8 full innings of 1 run ball in the finale this afternoon. And just to put an exclamation point on the win, he struck out 8 batters and went 1 for 3 at the plate with a double; it was Lee's 2nd double as a Phillie. In fact, Lee now has 3 hits as a Phillie and has given up a total of only 3 runs in 24 innings pitched. Stick a halo on the man's head – he is officially an angel.
The bats continued their bid for sainthood today as well; even Ryan Howard has been resurrected and is beginning to hit again. Today, Howard went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI on a home run in the 4th inning. And after showing off his new speedy moves yesterday when he hit a triple, today he continued to amaze as he stole a base. Howard's 5th stolen base of the year is a career high for him, and an impressive sight to behold from such a large and cumbersome looking man.
Pedro Feliz looked like he had his bat blessed by a higher power as well; Feliz had 3 hits in the game and 2 RBI, including a solo homer. Chase Utley and Shane Victorino had 2 hits each and are now hitting .299 and .311 respectively.
Can the Phillies offense continue to perform like they are playing on hallowed ground? A trip to Atlanta will give us the answer. Tomorrow night Joe Blanton will face the man named after a lotion, Jair Jurrjens (or is it Jergens?), who is a slippery opponent and generally, the Phillies hate facing him. The weekend series begins at 7:30pm. Go Phillies!
Lee photo by Jenn
*Read more about the Phillies at my other home page, Phightin' Phils Phorum in the My Team Rivals network*
6 Comments
Will Cliff Lee make up for Hamels inconsistancy? But you can never go wrong when Lee has a great game!
Jenn: Wow that is a funny picture! Nice! My Yankees had a nice blowout win vs the Mariners last night, 11-1! I hope they can win on Sunday (my birthday!) -Virginia
Was a great game yesterday, its good when all the elements of a team play together and everything comes up smelling of roses, as the saying goes…
Outside the Phillies Looking In
Cliff Lee was a gift from your general manager! What an acquisition for the Phillies. I had a feeling he'd been sensational in the NL and he is.
I was recently in Southern NJ and I was surprised how many Phillies fans there were. The shirts I kept seeing were Utley, Howard and Victorino. I even saw a Mrs. Utley shirt!
I looked them up after I got home, and they're pretty good players!
Congrats on your win!
I was cursing Pedro's glove earlier, but hopefully Ryan's bat might save the night against Atlanta! With some divine intervention, maybe the bullpen can provide further salvation!


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Hockey isn't normally the first sport that comes to mind in New Mexico, and finding an all-girls team is even more rare, but it's the team's goalie who is defying the odds.
One-handed hockey goalie defies odds
Published On: Dec 30 2013 07:34:09 AM HST Updated On: Apr 30 2014 08:54:59 AM HST
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text: What's happening? Plenty when the subject is Israeli innovation. And that was the question answered at Har Zion Temple, which hosted a major function on the topic for its Patrons Event. More than 500 well-wishers and the curious gathered to discover the latest trends, addressed by Dan Senor, author with Saul Singer of Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle. Those attending also learned of 10 seminal Israeli companies focusing on medicine, first response and technology. Helping to shape the function (from left): Event co-chairs Morria and David Pedowitz, Steven and Andrea Tanenbaum, and Jeannie and Mark Cohen.


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Blackberry Cream Bars
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 38 min
- Ready Time: 90 min
- Yield: 36 bars
- Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
- 1 package Pillsbury™ Moist Supreme® White Premium Cake Mix
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted, divided
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 (12 oz.) jar Smucker's® Seedless Blackberry Jam
Preparation Directions
- HEAT oven to 350°F. Position oven rack in middle of oven. Spray the bottom only of a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.
- RESERVE 1 cup dry cake mix. Set aside. Place remaining cake mix, 1 egg and 1/4 cup melted butter in large bowl. Blend 1 to 2 minutes with an electric mixer at low speed until well blended. Press in an even layer in prepared pan.
- MIX 3 eggs, sour cream, sugar and 1/4 cup melted butter in medium bowl with electric mixer at low speed until well blended. Add reserved cake mix. Beat until moistened and mixture is smooth.
- POUR over prepared crust. Using a spoon, stir jam until smooth and of spreading consistency. Drop by small spoonfuls over surface of filling. (Jam will settle and filling will puff up around it during baking.)
- BAKE 35 to 38 minutes or until filling is just set. Place on wire rack and cool completely. Cut into bars. Store in refrigerator.
Nutritional Information Per Serving
Serving Size (1 bar of 36), Calories 130 (Calories from Fat 50), Total Fat 6g (Saturated Fat 3g, Trans Fat 0g), Cholesterol 35mg, Sodium 130mg, Total Carbohydrate 19g (Dietary Fiber 0g, Sugars 14g), Protein 1g; Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 4%, Vitamin C 0%, Calcium 2%, Iron 2%.
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
* Ensure all recipe ingredients are gluten free by referencing the ingredient labels, as products may vary. If uncertain, contact the ingredient manufacturer.


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The Book of the Crowman by Joseph D'Lacey
"Joseph D'Lacey is one of our best new horror writers, delivering surprises, intensity, and scares aplenty with each new book. And with every book, he's upping his game."
Tim Lebbon, author of The Heretic Land and London Eye
"Dreadfully visionary. Appallingly inspired. One could wear out a thesaurus trying to articulate the singular fusion of qualities that has come to define Joseph D'Lacey's work. Alternately (and sometimes simultaneously) horrifying, mesmerizing, shocking, unsettling, and beautiful, and always deeply intelligent, it's utterly unlike anything else I'm aware of. It's also utterly wonderful."
Matt Cardin, author of To Rouse Leviathan and Dark Awakenings
It is the Black Dawn, a time of environmental apocalypse, the earth wracked and dying.
It is the Bright Day, a time long generations hence, when a peace has descended across the world.
The search for the shadowy figure known only as the Crowman continues, as the Green Men prepare to rise up against the forces of the Ward.
The world has been condemned. Only Gordon Black and The Crowman can redeem it.
File Under: Fantasy [The Crowman Returns] [Two Eras United] [End of Days] [Help From Afar]
Book Info:
The Second Book in the Black Dawn Duology
UK Print
Date: 6th March 2014
Format: Medium (B-Format) Paperback
North American Print
Date: 25th February 2014
Format: Small (Mass-Market) Paperback
Date: 25th February 2014
Format: Epub & Mobi
Other Books in This Series:
1. Black Feathers (World: April 2013)
Buying Info:
UK Print & Ebook
Amazon.co.uk | Book Depository | Waterstones | WHSmith
North American Print & Ebook
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | BarnesandNoble.com | IndieBound.org
Global DRM-Free Epub Ebook
On-sale 25th February 2014 from the Robot Trading Company
Author Info:
Joseph D'Lacey: WWW | Twitter | Facebook
Discuss and Share:
Discuss and Review The Book of the Crowman at Goodreads.com
Read an Extract:
Sample Chapters to follow…
Praise and Reviews for Black Feathers:
"An exceptional piece of apocalyptic/horror/fantasy fiction."
– Tor.com
"D'Lacey's passages are rife with urgency … its message on environmental issues, meticulous setting of scene, and successful intertwining of the characters' narratives makes for an engaging read."
– Publishers Weekly
"If you're a horror fan and you're not already reading Joseph D'Lacey you had better have a bloody good excuse."
– The Eloquent Page
"In the end, The Book of the Crowman is a novel that made me think; a novel that paired with Black Feathers, the first half of The Black Dawn, revealed a story that will sit with me for quite a while. There is powerful resonance in the story." – SFF World
"D'Lacey's stories access terror and beauty, combining to produce something exquisite. It's poetry and it's in my soul." – And Then I Read a Book
"I have always admired Joseph D'Lacey's writing from the early novels like Meat and Garbage Man to his excellent novellas Kill Crew and Snake Eyes but this is his finest work to date. A magnificent, touching and deeply thought provoking story, literary horror at its finest. 5 out of 5." – The Wanderer in Unknown Realms
"The Black Dawn is a stunning feat by a talented word-smith. The Book of the Crowman is a fantastic ending, which couldn't have been more emotionally engaging or rewarding if it tried. The Black Dawnis a series that shouldn't be missed." – A Fantastical Librarian
"D'lacey is a master craftsman, and can construct worlds and sentences with what looks like ease, but I'm sure is hard work underneath." – The British Fantasy Society
"A fascinating and engaging story that continues the seamless integration of multiple genres and styles." – Strange Currencies


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Did you have trouble logging onto Facebook on Friday? You're not alone -- the social networking site briefly went down for some users Friday.
"Some visitors to the site were greeted with a message that read 'Sorry, something went wrong. We're working on getting this fixed as soon as we can,' " Reuters reported.
According to Mashable, the outage began around 12 p.m. ET. "Users began to regain access to the site about 30 minutes later, according to various tweets," Mashable reported.
A message posted on Facebook's developer page said, "Facebook is currently experiencing an issue that is affecting all API and web surfaces. Our engineers detected the issue quickly and are working to resolve it ASAP. We'll update shortly."
During the outage, the hashtag #FacebookDown was a top trending topic on Twitter.
This is the second Facebook outage in as many months. The site also went down for about 30 minutes in June.


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'Cliff' deal sends stocks up, but problems lurkBy CHRISTINA REXRODE
The Associated Press | January 03,2013AP Photo
A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange as the market shoots higher Wednesday.NEW YORK — The "fiscal cliff" compromise, even with all its chaos, controversy and unresolved questions, was enough to send the stock market shooting higher Wednesday, the first trading day of 2013.
All the major U.S. stock indexes swelled more than 2 percent in early trading and were up 308 points at the closing bell. The Dow Jones industrial average briefly surged to its biggest gain in six months.
The revelry multiplied across the globe, with stocks throughout Europe and Asia leaping higher.
In the U.S., the rally was extraordinarily broad. For every stock that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, roughly nine rose. Technology and bank stocks rose the most. U.S. government bond prices fell as investors pulled money out of safe-harbor investments.
But for all the euphoria, many investors cautioned that it can't last long. The deal that politicians hammered out merely postpones the country's budget reckoning, they said, rather than averting it.
"Washington negotiations remind me of the Beach Boys song, 'We'll have fun, fun, fun 'til her daddy takes the T-Bird away,'" Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of BMO Private Bank in Chicago, wrote in a note to clients.
"Nothing got solved," added T. Doug Dale, chief investment officer for Security Ballew Wealth Management in Jackson, Miss.
According to them and others, the markets were celebrating Wednesday not because investors love the budget deal that was cobbled together, but because they were grateful there was any deal at all.
"Most people think that no deal would have been worse than a bad deal," said Mark Lehmann, president of JMP Securities in San Francisco. He called the current package "not too Draconian."
The House passed the budget bill late Tuesday night, a contentious exercise because many Republicans had wanted a deal that did more to cut government spending. The Senate had already approved the bill.
The late-night haggling was a product of lawmakers wanting to avert a sweeping set of government spending cuts and tax increases that kicked in Jan. 1 in the absence of a budget deal, a scenario that came to be known on Wall Street and Washington as the fiscal cliff, because of the threat it would pose to the fragile U.S. economic recovery.
Wednesday's market performance gave no hint of the dark clouds on the horizon.
The Dow briefly surged as much as 273 points in early trading. At the close, it was up 308 points, to 13,413.
The Standard & Poor's 500 was up 24, or 1.7 percent, to 1,450. The Nasdaq composite was up 68, or 2.3 percent, to 3,088.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose sharply, to 1.83 percent from 1.75 percent. Prices for oil and metals including gold, copper and platinum, were up.
The gains persisted despite small reminders that there are still serious problems punctuating the world economy, like middling growth for the U.S. economy and the still-unsolved European debt crisis. The government reported that U.S. builders spent less on construction projects in November, the first decline in eight months. And the president of debt-wracked Cyprus said he'd refuse to sell government-owned companies, a provision that the country's bailout deal says it must at least consider.MORE IN National / World BusinessNEW YORK Its not just the musical Hairspray that will air live on NBC tonight. Full StoryOXON HILL, Md. Far from the Las Vegas Strip, MGM Resorts International opens its $1. Full Story
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A federal judge approved Monday a preliminary settlement in a class action lawsuit filed by thousands of former NFL players against the National Football League over concussions. Take a look at NFL players who have died young, many from brain injuries related to hits on the field.
Junior Seau. On May 2, 2012, football great Seau was found dead in his home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 43. The cause of death was ruled to be a suicide and brought to light CTE, which is a progressive disease associated with repeated head trauma. Seau was a linebacker who spent 20 years in the NFL. He played for the San Diego Chargers, New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins.
Dave Duerson. In 2011, former Chicago Bears safety Dave Duerson, 50, shot himself in the chest, leaving a suicide note donating his brain to science. Boston University pathologists found lesions in Duerson's brain.
Ray Easterling. In 2012, Easterling, a former player for the Falcons, was found dead in his home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 62. Easterling was part of a group of players who are suing the NFL over head injuries. In 2011, Easterling was diagnosed with dementia.
Jovan Belcher. In late 2012, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher committed suicide in front of the team's coach and general manager at the training facility Saturday after killing his girlfriend in a separate shooting, Kansas City police spokesman Darin Snapp said.
Paul Oliver. A former San Diego Chargers defensive back, Oliver died from a self-inflicted gunshot in Marietta, Ga., on Sept. 24, 2013. He was 29 and said to be depressed over his release from the Chargers.
Chris Mims. The former lineman for the San Diego Chargers was found dead in 2008 in his Los Angeles apartment. He retired in 2000 and had extensive medical problems. The cause of death was an enlarged heart as Mims weighed 456 pounds at the time of his death.
Andre Waters. In 2006, Waters, who spent most of his career with the Philadelphia Eagles, was found in his house dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His brain issue was examined after his death and doctors believe that Waters sustained brain damage from playing football.
Jeff Alm. In 1993, 25-year-old former Houston Oilers defensive tackle fatally shot himself shortly after he crashed his car on an exit ramp because he was distraught over the death of his best friend. Alm was speeding and lost control of his car. His best friend was thrown from his car and killed.
Shawn Lee. Defensive tackle Shawn Lee, died in February of 2011 at the age of 44 from cardiac arrest brought on by double pneumonia. Lee had also been struggling with diabetes over the last several years. He played in Super Bowl XXIX for the Chargers (and played with them from 1992–97, and ended his career with the Chicago Bears.
O.J. Murdock. A reserve receiver for the Tennessee Titans, Murdock was found in 2012 in his car parked outside of the Tampa Bay high school he attended. He had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. He was 25.
Doug Miller. A linebacker for the San Diego Chargers in the 1995 Super Bowl, Miller was killed when he was struck by lightning while camping on the Colorado River. He was 28. Miller was struck by lightning and was receiving CPR when a second bolt struck and killed him.
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February 17, 2012
American Goldfinches Find Feeders and Get CountedAmerican Goldfinches, Spinus tristis, have found our bird feeders! Flocks of them have been visiting the nyger seed feeders that the Museum's live animal caretakers fill on an almost daily basis.
American Goldfinch (upper left) and
Lesser Goldfinch (lower right) feeding on nyger seed
Like most finches, American Goldfinches are primarily seed eaters, making them some of the most readily-attracted birds to feeding stations. They are fond of the small seeds of grasses and annual plants, especially a type of thistle seed called nyger. Within 24 hours of putting up our first nyger feeders, we recorded both American Goldfinches and the very closely related Lesser Goldfinch, Spinus psaltria. Of the two species, Americans are slightly larger and more numerous, but are usually only present in Exposition Park...
Posted by Lila Higgins at 11:17 PM | 0 COMMENTS


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Saddle Leather & Canvas Tote Bag
- Overview
The fine workmanship of our collection, including hand-stitched details on the chocolate leather trim, gives it a classic yet relaxed style. A thoughtful gift for the traveler, our tote will be used again and again.
- 10.5" wide x 6.5" deep x 8" high
- Cotton canvas fabric.
- Hand-stained cow leather trim.
- Tetron lining.
- Antique-brass hardware.
- Monogram will be centered on the leather patch.
- Catalog / Internet only.
- Dimensions & Care
- Wipe with a soft dry cloth.
Also in this Collection
Saddle Leather & Canvas Weekender Bag
Weekender Bag
- Free Fast Shipping
- Monogram


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Motorcycle crash leads to DUIJuly 22,2013Motorcycle crash
leads to DUI
GUILFORD — Police said a Vernon man was under the influence of alcohol when he crashed his motorcycle into the back of a van Friday evening.
Around 6 p.m., Vermont State Police responded to a crash on Route 5. According to police, Brian A. Cobb, 36, was riding a motorcycle when he tried and failed to pass a van. Instead, police said, he drove his motorcycle into the rear of the van.
Cobb was taken to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released. None of the occupants of the van were injured.
After receiving medical treatment, police charged Cobb with drunken driving and released him with a citation to answer the charge Aug. 6 in Brattleboro criminal court.MORE IN This Just InMONTPELIER — FairPoint Communications is being purchased by Illinois-based... Full Story
Full Story
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Purpose, Mission and Goals
Council for Adolescent and School Health
The purpose of the Council for Adolescent and School Health (CASH) is to inform and advise the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) decision-makers regarding adolescent and school health issues and initiatives.
CASH may be invited to provide input and advice to other planning committees, work groups, task forces, and advisory councils seeking expertise on adolescent and school health.
Mission and Goals
The mission of the Council for Adolescent and School Health (CASH) is to support adolescent and school health and to facilitate collaboration with others to promote a coordinated family, community, and school approach to achieve healthy adolescent development. The mission will be supported by a strategic plan.
- Promote access of needed health services for school-age children, adolescents, and their families.
- Facilitate collaboration at state and local levels to improve and enhance healthy adolescent development and coordinated school health.
- Promote awareness and educational opportunities regarding adolescent health and coordinated school health.


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Tiger-Print Haircalf Bow Skinny Belt
Style: 570053844
Out of Stock
Gold-tipped patent bow on a hair calf tiger-print belt. Adjusts in back. 1.5" wide. Leather-lined. A natural with the Tiger-Print Haircalf Clutch. Haircalf leather/Man-made patent leather. Goldtone nickel-free metal. Imported. Due to the inherent nature of haircalf, color variation may occur.
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The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse College of Business Administration received the Council for Higher Education Accreditation Award for Outstanding Institutional Practice in Student Learning Outcomes.
The administration is the first university or college in the state and the second business school in the nation to receive the award.
Bruce May, dean of the college says the national honor "attests to the high quality of our programs and the great emphasis our faculty place on student learning. The award is a source of pride for both faculty and students."
The other schools recognized are Drake University in Des Moines; Harold Washington College in Chicago; and St. Luke's College in Sioux City, Iowa.


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I have never considered planting malyi but now I see I have to change my mind!
Spring Crocus 2010
Never heard of malyi...but then we have limited access locally to funky crocus species.
All of mine are now under 4-6" of fresh snow.....just as well with the temp down to -6 C and 50 km winds! Guess it will be another week before this latest snow melts.
We're doing a little better than that here, with crocus blooming a week or more early... No unusual species, but a joy for us to see, nonetheless! :)
Both the blue and yellow seem to differ from any colors I have. Have tried several cultivars to have early ones and different colors.
Well it hit 16 C today and the crocus responded! Here are some selections of C. tommasinianus...Lilac Beauty, Barr's Purple and Ruby Giant. The Barr's Purple self-seeded in the lawn.
First C. chrysanthus selection...Saturnus.
There you see, you will catch me up, Todd. Don't think we will have 16C for a while!
The lawn seems to be green too.
The tommasinianus selections look like mine which I have no name of.
More open today...C. X hybridus 'Jeanne D'Arc', C. etruscus, C. minimus and C. chrysanthus 'Advance'
Todd, I liked the Lilac Beauty, one I'm not familiar with, it is a beauty. Always like seeing C. etruscus, such a classic shape and coloration on this one. I have tried C. minimus, purchased at Home Depot in discount bonus-sized packages (Home Depot; a large "big box" home improvement chain for those unfamiliar with it), but they are not true to name, so I'm glad to see your photo which looks like the real thing.
I blundered on the ID of C. minimus...it is actually C. corsicus. Here it is with the flower closed.


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Buy for$3.78(5 items)
Written by Mr. Doctor on 27.06.2014 at 01:25
Gave it a focused listening today. Bought it a year ago or so and only listened to it in the background. Good shit. I can see why so many people loved it back in the day although I wonder why some other people didn't like it. Anyways, the riffs are the main thing that I enjoyed here plus those nice touches with keyboards and acoustic guitars. It doesn't make me go whoa. but it's great.
Oh, and Frost is quite a beast but nothing new to it.
Written by Guest on 27.06.2014 at 03:05You're telling me the end of the title track doesn't make you go "WHOOOOOAAAAA?!"
Written by Mr. Doctor on 27.06.2014 at 03:11
You talking about the dual guitars that slowly fade away during the second half and give place to a good riff with keys in the background? Yeah, it's quite boss.
But The album in general didn't leave like "whoaaaa". I definitely liked it a lot though. But for example... I remember feeling much more enthusiastic when I heard At the Heart Of Winter.
I know they are not exactly the same kind of stuff. But both give me a similar "WINTER ARGH!" vibe.


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Mrs. Brand was born Sept. 4, 1933, in Agua Dulce, to John J. and Elsie Psencik Sablatura. She was a member of St. Theresa Catholic Church and the church Altar Society in Woodsboro, and the KJZT.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Milton B. Brand; her daughter, Carolyn Sue Brand; two brothers, Edwin Joe and John L. Sablatura; and her grandson, Cameron Bowers.
Survivors include her daughters, Brenda Frankenhauser of Houston, Janine Brand of Corpus Christi, Dolores (David) Bagley of Rockport, Jo Lynn (Johnny) Ulcak of Victoria and Marsha Hall of Portland; sons, Richard (Patricia) Brand and Donald Brand, both of Bishop, Randal (Becky) Brand of Woodsboro and Kenneth Brand of Victoria; a sister, Wilma (Keith) Emshoff of Corpus Christi; grandchildren, Chris Brand, Jessica Mendez, Jennifer Brand, Aimee Brown, Kevin Rodriquez, Kaid Brand, Justin Meyer, Jordan Ulcak, Logan Hall, Jadyn Hall, Conrad Bowers and Jeremiah Bagley; 15 great-grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be from 3 to 5 p.m. today (Thursday) at Sawyer-George Funeral Home. A
rosary will be recited at 7 o'clock this evening at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles Catholic Church on Violet Road in Corpus Christi.
The funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles Catholic Church with Rev. Msgr. Morgan Rowsome as celebrant. Burial will follow in Roselawn Cemetery in Alice.
Pallbearers will be her sons and grandsons.
Funeral services are entrusted to Sawyer-George Funeral Home, 12497 Leopard St, Corpus Christi, Texas 78410. (361) 242-3205.