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Dr. Phillip Summers
It is with profound sorrow that the family of Dr. Phillip M. Summers must announce his passing and departure from the lives of his family, friends, and associates. On 29 September 2013 he succumbed to heart failure, he was among friends and passed mercifully quick and calm. Dr. Summers was born in Washington, Indiana, on August 23, 1939. Dr. Summers was the son …read more
It is with profound sorrow that the family of Dr. Phillip M. Summers must announce his passing and departure from the lives of his family, friends, and associates. On 29 September 2013 he succumbed to heart failure, he was among friends and passed mercifully quick and calm. Dr. Summers was born in Washington, Indiana, on August 23, 1939. Dr. Summers was the son of Parents: William & Mary (Alford) Summers (deceased) and survived by his wife: Pat Summers (of 52 years), Children: Lynn Brauns & husband Kevin of Indianapolis, Pam Gardner & husband David of Vincennes, Angela McHale & husband Ed of Tampa, Fl. Grandsons: Daniel Stryzinski, Eric Stryzinski, Phillip Brauns & Mitchell Brauns, Brother: Bill Summers and wife Bev of Washington, IN, Niece/Nephew: Wes Summers, Cindy Mason & husband Jeff.
Phil was person of impeccable character, notable energy, and a dedication to selfless service. He truly learned in order to serve others. He walked the path of devotion to his God and as an educator guided by Christian morals. Phil was a man of many titles and honors, reflecting his commitment to education and service, but the title that best embodies his spirit and life was that of teacher. He will be remembered for his outstanding ability to connect with people on a deep and meaningful level whether the venue was a one on one conversation or orating to a large audience. He exuded a sincerity of the soul that made him the superb teacher he crafted himself to be.
He began his career in education as a teacher and guidance counselor in 1960 at SpringsValleyHigh School in French Lick and in 1962 at
Brazil Indiana. He attended VU, completed B.S. and M.S. degrees at IndianaUniversity, and earned a Ph.D. in Guidance and Psychological Services at IndianaStateUniversity in 1974. From 1965 to 1980, Dr. Summers served at VU as Dean of Students, Director of Student Personnel and Vice President of Community Services. On July 1, 1980, Dr. Summers became VU's 18th President. He continued his commitment to students while teaching psychology throughout his 21-year VU presidency. Under his leadership the University initiated several other outreach services including statewide business and industry services, college courses for high school students, the Military Education Program, etc. Upon retirement as president in 2001, he continued teaching psychology at both VU and IndianaUniversity; where in 2003 he received the IU Student Choice Award for Outstanding Professor. Phil retired as VU's President but in no form or fashion did he retire from his commitment to education, community, church, and his beloved Fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi. He continued to teach psychology at both VU and IndianaUniversity for 13 year. All in all, education has been a long term love affair. He has taught students in High School and College for 53 continuous years. He served as chair of the Red Skelton Museum Foundation Board that successfully opened the Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy on July 18, 2013, the 100th anniversary of Skelton's birth in Vincennes.
A mention of some of his many accolades and noble endeavors include. He is the recipient of VU's Blue and Gold Cord Award, Walter A. Davis Citation, and the Presidents' Award. Summers also was named Sagamore of the Wabash by three Indiana Governors and received Distinguished Alumni awards from both IndianaUniversity and IndianaStateUniversity. In 2003 he received the IU Student Choice Award for Outstanding Professor. Other awards included Civitan's Citizen of the Year award, Kiwanis President's Award for Distinguished Spiritual Community Service, the Fourth of July Spirit of '76 award, and 1986 Indiana Vocational Association's Outstanding Vocational Administrator award. Dr. Summers was a past chair of the board of trustees of the Christian Theological Seminary and had served on the board of St. Mary of the WoodsCollege. He served on the regional and international boards of the Disciples of Christ Church, including extensive service to First Christian Church in Vincennes. The founder of the Miss VU Scholarship Program, for many years he served as the Miss Indiana Pageant Scholarship Chairman. He also was a long-time member of the Indiana Vocational Awards for Excellence Committee. During his career he also served on multiple boards including the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce, Indiana Conference of Higher Education, Indiana Business Modernization and Technology Corporation, Vincennes YMCA, and Knox County Development Corporation. Most recently, he chaired the Red Skelton Museum Foundation Board. He was also past national president of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, the Executive Committee of the Council of North Central Two-Year Colleges. Through the years Summers served KnoxCounty as president of the United Way, Heart Association, Chamber of Commerce, and Community Foundation.
Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m. Thursday October 3, 2013 at the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center on the Vincennes University Campus, Visitation will be from 4-8 Wednesday at the First Christian Church and also from 9:30 a.m. until service time Thursday. Contributions may be made to the First Christian Church, Red Skelton Museum, Vincennes University Foundation, Knox County Community Foundation, or PI KAPPA PHI.hide


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Please confirm that you want to add Synthesizers! Using Synthesis for Sound Design & Production to your Wishlist.
This classes uses the same system I've used for years in my college courses for teaching sound design: Identify and master the 4 main pieces of any synthesizer, and you will be flying when you first approach any other unit in the future.
This system keeps the technical jargon to a minimum and gets you making your own sounds quick.
J. Anthony Allen is an Ableton Certified Trainer, and a PhD in Music Composition and master of Electronic Sounds. His music has been heard internationally in film, radio, video games, and industrial sound, as well as the concert hall and theater.
He currently as an adjunct professor of composition at the University of St. Thomas, Macphail Academy of Music, and the CEO of Slam Academy in Minneapolis.
Praise for other classes by J. Anthony Allen:
Welcome to Sound Design Fundamentals: Synthesis! In this introductory video we will talk about the class, what we will cover, and how we will cover it.
In this class we will use a few different synthesizers (Subtractor in Reason, Analog and Operator in Ableton Live), to show how you can find all the key elements of any synthesizer, once you understand the main principals of synthesis.
For this class we will focus on 2 main types of synthesis: Subtractive and FM synthesis. What that means and why will be covered in this video.
This is it! The main key to understanding all virtual and physical synthesizers. Learn these four elements and you will be able to find your way through any kind of synthesizer and synthesis.
The Subtractor is a great synth for teaching subtractive synthesis. Finding our four key elements is fairly simple, and the signal flow is easy to follow. For this first section, we will use Subtractor as our main tool for creating sounds with subtractive synthesis.
The oscillator is the main tone-generator for synthesis. It is one of the most important elements in any synthesizer. In this section, we will look at how Oscillators work, what they do, and what parameters they have for us to understand when crafting our own sounds.
In subtractive synthesis, the filter is essential. In other kinds of synthesis (as we will see later in this class) filters are always present. Understanding key elements to a filter will help you sculpt the sounds you really want to design.
The envelope is the "shape" of a sound. How it begins, how it ends, and what happens in between. Envelopes are essential for creating dynamic, expressive sounds.
Sometimes the amplifier is the most simple of our main four elements. In the case of Reason, it is just a volume knob. But there are some extra parameters you will find in other synths that are important to know about.
Now that we know the main ingredients to a synthesizer, lets start designing some sounds from scratch, but putting everything together in this video.
Just to prove my theory that understanding these four elements can get you through all kinds of different software synthesizers, here we will switch over to Ableton Live's Analog synthesizer and apply these concepts.
The LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) is another element we find in nearly all synthesizers. It is a great tool to add motion and texture to your sound.
Portamento (sometimes called Glide) is how long it takes from one note to glide up to the next. Adjusting it can add a new layer to your sounds.
The trigger modes of a synthesizer govern how the envelope is applied when you play a group of notes. Knowing the settings for it will help you craft a sound for better melodies and basslines.
In this section, we will look at some of the modulation possibilities using the velocity of our keyboard, or the velocty parameter in your software.
In this video, we will take a preset in the Subtractor in Reason and pick it apart. We will walk through what makes it tick, and how slight adjustments can have big effects.
In this video, we will take a preset in the Analog in Ableton Live and pick it apart. We will walk through what makes it tick, and how slight adjustments can have big effects.
FM Synthesis (Frequency Modulation) is a different kind of synthesis that we have looked at so far, but a lot of the same elements still work. Learning how FM works now that we understand subtrative synthesis gives us a huge headstart.
The Operator in Ableton Live is a complex synthesizer, capable of a lot of different kinds of synthesis. In this video we will take an overview look at the interface and how it works.
Making sounds using FM isn't that hard now that we understand the basic principals. In this video we will use the Operator in Ableton Live to construct some FM synthesis sounds.
We will have the possiblitiy of adding an LFO, velocty control, and other kinds of modulation to our sounds. Here we look at how to add them and their effects in FM Synthesis.
In this video, we will take a preset in the Operator in Ableton Live and pick it apart. We will walk through what makes it tick, and how slight adjustments can have big effects.
In this video, we will take a preset in the Operator in Ableton Live and pick it apart. We will walk through what makes it tick, and how slight adjustments can have big effects.
The sequal to this class will focus on sampling - creating dynamic synthesizer sounds using samples, and looking at drum sounds as well.
Thanks for watching! Hope you enjoyed it! Be sure to leave questions here for me and I'll get to them as fast as I can!
A few notes about how we will be approaching the Analog Instrument.
First, we will walk through the basic outline and signal flow of Analog, paying special attention to our "4 Key Elements."
Now its time to get down and dirty: In this lesson we will program our own sounds, and explore some of the parameters in Analog.
A few extra features available to us in Analog, that we will also find in most of Ableton's Instruments.
Here is one more synth for us to look at - just for fun. Live's Impulse Synth.
There is so much more to learn!
J. Anthony Allen has worn the hats of composer, producer, songwriter, engineer, sound designer, DJ, remix artist, multi-media artist, performer, inventor, and entrepreneur. Allen is a versatile creator whose diverse project experience ranges from works written for the Minnesota Orchestra to pieces developed for film, TV, and radio. An innovator in the field of electronic performance, Allen performs on a set of "glove" controllers, which he has designed, built, and programmed by himself. When he's not working as a solo artist, Allen is a serial collaborator. His primary collaborative vehicle is the group Ballet Mech, for which Allen is one of three producers.
J. Anthony Allen teaches at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN., and is an Ableton Live Certified Trainer. He is a co-founder and owner of Slam Academy, a multimedia educational space in downtown Minneapolis. Recently, Allen founded Hackademica – an innovative net-label for new music.
J. has a PhD in music composition, 2 Master's degrees in music composition and electronic music, and a bachelors degree in guitar performance. Through his academic travels, Dr. Allen has received numerous awards along the way.
If you run into him on the street, he prefers to be addressed as J. (as in, Jay.)

subset: commoncrawl


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Check prices on hotels in Rome
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Grand Hotel Olympic
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Located on the waterfront, this family-friendly hotel is within 6 mi (10 km) of Parco Leonardo, Roman Ruins of Ostia Antica …
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Pocket Guide: Rome
From the Coliseum to the Pantheon, the Sistine Chapel and Palatine Hill, Rome is home to some of the world's most recognizable landmarks. While the impulse to rush from sight to sight is understandable, don't sell yourself—or the city—short. Some of your best discoveries in Rome will be those you happen upon by accident; ducking into an ancient church on a side street housing a masterpiece of sacred art, stumbling upon an expansive piazza in the early morning light, and sampling the best pizza that you've ever tasted in your life.
Rome is the Eternal City, so approach it as if you have all the time in the world to explore. There's no need to cram everything into one visit as you'll soon fall under the city's spell, and return again and again.
'La Dolce Vita'
If you're searching for the good life, all roads lead to Rome. The city is a dizzying combination of cosmopolitan capital and ancient wonderland. The home of Catholicism, it also plays host to nightclubs that stay open until dawn.
One of the most iconic images of the city comes from the filmmaker Federico Fellini, one of Rome's most adoring fans. In La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life), Anita Ekberg frolics in the beautiful Trevi fountain after a long night's revelry. The scene is spontaneous, sexy, carefree, and a little crazy, reflecting Rome itself and the visceral impact it has on visitors. Try a romantic cruise down the Tiber River or watch the world go by from a Trastevere café and you too will believe life can't get any sweeter.
Big City Charms
Rome is situated in the middle of Italy, the perfect position for the country's capital. In some respects, however, it is set apart from the rest of the country and has a personality all of its own.
Rome is as much about frenetic traffic as chilling over cappuccino, appreciating art as appreciating gelato on a hot summer day. Hit the museums (the Vatican Museums are extraordinary, as are the Capitoline Museums and a litany of others), but then slow down and stroll through Villa Borghese, a large park well loved for picnics (and its museum the Borghese Gallery).
With its culture, art, food, and wine, a Roman holiday is like no other, distilling all that can be enjoyed in life.
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The United States, Canada
The Company's commitment to diversity and leadership on diversity related issues is woven into our entire business, including our work force, supply base, marketing efforts, dealer network, and our communities.
This commitment is a longstanding and ingrained part of our culture. Encouraging diversity throughout our extended enterprise is not only the right thing to do, but it breeds innovation, mutual respect and openness, and is vital to our sustainability as a company.
At FCA, we believe it is our diversity of talents and perspectives that allow us to take visionary approaches strategically apply new technologies and forge ahead in our industry in innovation and performance.
Our team actively recruits a diverse workforce. We seek out top talent at colleges and universities and we work closely with professional diversity organizations to identify high-potential diverse candidates. We also offer many opportunities to meet with our team at diversity events across the country. Learn more.
Join our Talent Pool
FCA US is extremely proud of its recent success in increasing the number of our minority-owned dealers across the country. Since 2012, the number of minority dealers in our network has increased from 140 to 185, representing a 32% increase in less than two years.
We are also proud that 17% of FIAT franchises in the U.S. are minority-owned, representing the highest single brand percentage in the industry. In order to continue to develop and grow the number of our minority dealers and candidates, FCA US has instituted a number of programs:
• Dealer Candidate Development Program: Through this program, minority dealer candidates who are existing managers at FCA US dealerships are trained in all aspects of owning and operating a dealership. By the end of 2013, Chrysler will have invested more than $1 million in this program. Our initial class of five candidates graduated last year and one graduate has already been placed into a dealership opportunity. Our second class of five candidates is scheduled to complete the course in early 2014. In each class, four of the five candidates were African American.
• Financial Support for Minority Dealer Training: Under this initiative, FCA US pays one-third of the training costs for eligible minority dealer principals (up to $5,000 per principal per year), in order to help ensure they are best equipped to operate their dealerships efficiently and maximize profitability.
• National Dealer Council Representation: To ensure minority representation, FCA US reserves one seat for a minority dealer on our National Dealer Council. This is the only reserved position on the Council; all other positions are elected.
• Financial Support for the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers (NAMAD): Each year, FCA US makes a significant monetary donation to NAMAD to support training and education programs, offer networking opportunities, and provide regulatory updates for minority dealers. Our representatives participate in NAMAD's national convention and industry panels each year to engage minority dealers on relevant topics from a manufacturer's perspective.
• Market Investment Program: To help ensure that funding alone is not a deterrent for prospective dealers, FCA US has assisted by directly funding and operating start-up dealerships under our Market Investment (MI) Program. Under this program, MI candidates must make a significant investment, subject to loss, but FCA US provides a facility and the majority of the start-up capital for a new dealer to begin operations. Over time, the dealer buys out FCA US's financial stake using profits from the dealership, with the goal of eventually gaining full ownership. Historically, a large percentage of our MI dealer participants have been minorities.
In addition to the dealership programs, we are committed to creating a diverse and sustainable supply base that directly reflects our customer base. Since 1983, we have purchased nearly $50 billion of goods and services from minority-owned suppliers. Our dedication to supplier diversity has led us to create innovative programs, such as our annual Matchmaker event, which provides minority-owned businesses access to our Tier 1 suppliers, as well as to decision-makers in our company's procurement organization.
In addition, in 2013 FCA US received the Company of the Year for innovation award from the National Minority Supplier Development Council for the Company's longstanding commitment to developing and launching innovative programs to increase minority business participation in the Company's supply base.
Our Community Action Days initiative organizes employees in service projects that help meet urgent social and economic needs in different communities where our employees live and work. It is our ongoing commitment to create events in which people of all ages and backgrounds come together to improve lives and bridge social barriers.
Our diversity helps us compete in the global marketplace. It allows us to better serve our customers and community around us. We look to our employees for the innovations that will move our business forward. We also look to our Employee Resource Groups as powerful cross-cultural tools, helping us to better understand and market to diverse communities.
We believe our commitment to diversity is the reason we are seeing such success in targeting strategic markets. For example, this is the third consecutive year that we've been included on HispanicBusiness' list of Best Companies for Hispanics. The ranking looks at 32 variables that measure a company's commitment to Hispanic hiring, promotion, marketing, philanthropy and supplier diversity.
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text: Would Robert Pattinson make a good celeb dad? His on-screen Breaking Dawn — Part 2 daughter, played by 11-year-old Mackenzie Foy, seems to think so. During an interview, she says that while everyone's fawning over the hunky Brit (our words, not hers), she thinks "[Robert's] really nice and all, but he's more of a friend or a brother or a dad to me." Aww! Do you think RPattz would be a good parent IRL? Watch the video above for more on the subject, and make sure to subscribe to our friends at ClevverTV for more celeb news! News on the Breaking Dawn — Part 2 World Premiere! 1 Comment | Leave Your Comment by: Kaitlin Cubria on October 12, 2012 at 10:00 pm EDT | in Videos Spread the Word Tagged: Clevver, Mackenzie Foy, Robert Pattinson, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn brianna i think robert WOULD make a good father, he seems pretty nice enough to be a dad! cant wait till part 2!!


text: Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Restoring Conditioner uses the ultra– moisturizing benefits of 100% Pure Cocoa Butter and Vitamin E to nourish hair and scalp leaving your hair beautifully moisturized and shiny. These luxurious moisturizers will soften and detangle your hair for easy styling and mangeability. Natural Peppermint Oil is added to refresh hair and soothe dry scalp. A luscious minty chocolate fragrance is an added benefit to the senses.


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Grade 8 algebra is a reach for many middle school students. But why are some schools more successful at helping students learn more advanced math at an earlier age? What schoolwide policies and practices might account for the difference in performance?
A new study of 303 California middle schools identifies 5 policies and practices associated with schools whose students performed better in math in the California state standardized assessment.The report was published by the nonprofit organization EdSource. (Improving Middle Grades Math Performance, A closer look at district and school policies and practices, course placements, and student outcomes in California.)
The study is based on a follow-up analysis of survey responses from 303 middle school principals, 1,857 math teachers in grades 6-8 and 152 district superintendents and 5 charter management organizations (CMO).
In an earlier study published last year by EdSource, (Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades: Why Some Schools Do Better) findings were reported across 10 domains of middle school instruction and management(e.g. positive, safe, engaging environment, school organization of time and instruction, etc). This follow-up study looks specifically at policies and practices associated with higher student math performance on the California Standards Test (CST).
To better control for socioeconomic factors, researchers divided the schools into 2 bands—those that served socioeconomically disadvantaged students, Hispanic, English learners and students whose parents had not gone to college (144 schools) and those whose students were white and/or whose parents had completed some college (159 schools). Each socioeconomic band included both lower- and higher-performing schools.
The 5 characteristics below were identified by assessing the levels of agreement in the survey responses of principals, superintendents and math teachers. The surveys made statements on middle school instruction and management (447 items for principals, 313 items for teachers, 187 for superintendents). Staff at higher-performing schools agreed more strongly and reported a greater intensity of implementation on the following 5 themes:
The school aligns instruction with state academic content standards
Staff at higher performing schools agreed more strongly with statements about the school's alignment with California's academic content standards and with statements about select key standards being a focus for instruction. The school's use of select key standards was associated with higher achievement for 8th graders on both the General Mathematics CST and the Algebra 1 CST. Teacher reports of more extensive collaboration to break down state standards was also associated with higher outcomes in Algebra 1.
Measurable goals are set for student achievement
A school's focus on measurable student achievement goals were another theme among the practices and policies that differentiated higher from lower school-level math performance in grade 8. Students in schools where educators were in stronger agreement with statements about the emphasis on measurable goals across grade levels and subject areas tended to have higher achievement on both the General Mathematics CST and the Algebra I CST. Students also had higher achievement in schools where measurable goals were used to increase the number of students who would be able to succeed in Algebra I and could score proficient or higher on the Algebra I CST.
School has a strong future orientation toward high school
Students tended to have higher outcomes in Algebra I if they attended schools where math teachers reported that curriculum and instruction were designed to prepare students for a rigorous high school curriculum. Those schools were oriented towards helping students leave the middle grades ready to begin taking courses required for University of California (UC) or California State University (CSU). Staff also agreed more strongly with statements that the school was focused on getting students to pass the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).
Student assessment data is reviewed and used in decision making
Schools where the principal reported meeting more frequently with teachers, individually, by grade level, by department or on a school-wide basis, to review CST results (including results for student subgroups) tended to have higher achievement on the General Mathematics CST.
In addition, students in schools where math teachers reported more extensive collaboration among teachers to analyze student data for the purpose of identifying effective instructional practices tended to have higher achievement on the General Mathematics CST.
Finally, schools where math teachers reported that students' CST scores are considered more in student placements in grade 7 and 8 general math classes tended to have higher achievement on the test.
School and district work together to identify and address students' instructional needs
The final area of practice and policy that differentiated higher from lower school-level math performance in grade 8 in Algebra I CST related to how much the district and school worked together to identify and address students' different instructional needs. Schools where the principal agreed more strongly that the district prioritizes early identification of students who are 2 or more years behind grade level and need academic support, tended to have higher school-level Algebra I achievement.
But another facet of this theme is seen in superintendents' responses to statements about middle schools' autonomy in diagnosing student needs. Schools with superintendents who reported that middle schools are allowed to determine the need for diagnostic assessments, to develop their own standards-aligned diagnostic assessments and do their own analysis of student results also tended to have higher outcomes in Algebra I.
"Improving Middle Grades Math Performance, A closer look at district and school policies and practices, course placements, and student outcomes in California," by Trish Williams, et al., Mountain View, CA, EdSource. February 2011.


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In Last night's (October 18) episode of Bade Acche Lagte Hain, Ram (Ram Kapoor) lands up at Priya's (Sakshi Tanwar) doorstep. Priya asks whether everything is fine. Ram replies, "Should I answer all the questions from here itself?" Priya welcomes Ram inside.
Ram tells Priya that he wants to make sure that he should understand Peehu better and so must she. Priya calls for Peehu. Peehu comes out and hugs Ram. Ram shows Peehu an album that would give Peehu more of an idea about him and family.
Priya then brings Peehu's things to Ram. The three of them are having a good time and bond well. Ram finds Peehu snoring and feels happy. Priya notices Ram sleeping with rhymes book on him. Priya takes off the book and speeds up the fan and leaves saying good night to Ram.
Next day morning, Priya slowly wakes Ram calling him. Ram wakes up smiling and wishes Priya 'good morning'. Priya tells him that they are getting late for orientation. Ram tells Priya that if he goes home he would get late so he would ask his driver to bring his clothes and asks Priya to get Peehu ready.
Rajat is at the hotel and tells dhaija that they would stay in Mumbai till Peehu's custody case gets solved and he has booked a service house so that they can feel home. Kady comes to the bakery where Rehan works and asks him why he has spoiled Rahul's birthday. Rehan sends away Kady giving reckless answers.
Aayesha finds their worker taking Ram's clothes. When she asks them, they reply that Ram has asked them to bring his clothes to Priya's house. Mamaji taunts Ayesha that Ram will be spending his time with Priya and she should be content being known as 'Ayesha Ram Kapoor'.
Stay tuned for further updates on Bade Acche Lagte Hain.
Ram, Peehu Snoaring
Like father, like daughter! Both Ram and Peehu are just like each other. Both daughter and father are snoring. This is a picture from yesterday's episode.
Ram Sleeping At Priya's House
Ram is seen here sleeping at Priya's house. He has the nursery rhyme book upon him.
Priya Looks Sad
Priya aka Sakshi Tanwar looks sad here. But all will agree that nobody could have portrayed the role of Priya better than Sakshi! What say guys?


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LAMPS PLUS Blog Policies
1. Use an extra oven mitt to store all your barbeque gear.
2. Reuse your old Crocs as a new planter.
3. A colander holds the ice and the icebucket collects the water.
4. One of those..."why didn't I think of that?" moments.
5. Labels + Skewer + Lime = Place Cards
6. Apple + Candle = Centerpiece
7. Use ribbon to tie the bottle opener to the bucket handle. This way it won't get lost.
8. Reuse an old colander as a planter. Great drainage!
9. Use toothpicks and name tags to introduce your guest to the cheeses.
10. A cupcake liner can catch all the drips from a popscicle--unless you are like me and it never seems to last that long.
If you have a summertime tip, I would enjoy hearing from you. Just drop me a line in the comments. Thanks!!
Images courtesy of CFA Brdige Designs, House Logic, Martha Stewart, Real Simple and Tree Hugger.


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Experiencing Paul Chatem's work is like picking dried dirt and blood out of your fingernails with the tip of a rusty knife – methodically hypnotizing, uncomfortably familiar and an exhale away from dangerously deranged.
His illustrative style is reminiscent of 1940s era advertisements gone terribly wrong and his clever symbolism cuts to the quick with unabashed brutality and exploitation. It seems his raw themes are tweezed directly from societies underbelly, revealing a myriad of ugly demons who are all too easy to recognize.
Makin Mud Outta Clear Water
Left Out in the Gold
Runnin This Red Light
His damning and morbidly honest themes coupled with his exquisitely crafted style is enough to solidify his place in today's art scene as an unforgettable powerhouse. But that is not all he has done to suck a few eyeballs out of their sockets – in the last few years, many of his works have become interactive, multi-geared, movable paintings that are undeniably mesmerizing.
Below is a link to view a well-crafted video that Colin M Day created for the Shooting Gallery blog.
Chatem standing next to "The Side Stepper Really Steps in It"
I visited the show with artist Scott Wilson. He is operating the HUGE painting "Anatomy of Atavism" (In the background is a ROA wall painting from his solo show at the White Walls Gallery next door.)
Chatem's collective body of work spins tales of cruelty, lust and human suffering. Watching each piece turn over on itself (through the motion of the gears), provides an unapologetically biting commentary of the never ending foibles of man.
The Doctor Knows Where the Bones Float
His current show "Island of the Colorblind" is at Shooting Gallery in San Francisco.
Shooting Gallery
839 Larkin Strreet
San Francisco, CA 94109
"Island of the Colorblind" at Shooting Gallery
Shooting Gallery has this to say about the show:
In Chatem's Island of the Colorblind, tone-deaf musicians entertain colorblind painters, tongue-less chefs feed stomach-less eaters, side-steppers lead forward thinkers, and empty bottles satisfy thirst-less drinkers. Isolated by a tumultuous environment, this cast of characters is united by a common interest to survive and thrive despite their differences. He has constructed an entire world of contradiction and wonder, using wood and paint.
The show had a great write up by Josh @ Creep Machine. He had this to say:
"…With these new kinetic works the viewer is surely to stick around longer and be drawn in not only with the application of paint, the beautiful line-work the characters have, or the splattered, aged, and rusty elements, but also with the fact that this painting moves! …
… if I haven't raved enough about these works, do yourself a favor and get to this show. Its not often you get to see a show this cohesive, exciting, and interactive."
Paul was kind enough to answer the five questions I ask everyone.
Chatem Notes
What artists or creative person has influenced you?
Max Fleischer cartoons, E.C. Segar's Popeye comic strip, and Daniel Clowes' Comic book Eightball probably had the biggest influence on me when I was starting out.
Not including other artists or art, what inspires you?
Music and stories from the Depression era, especially stories about overcoming or just dealing with hardship. I like to read books about off beat characters in American History; Dust Bowl survivors, Medicine show men, hobos, harlots, sideshow performers.
What is the part of your process you enjoy the most?
I like the early stages of constructing and figuring out a piece as well as that last day of painting when everything is clicking and falling into place.
… the least?
The thing I like least about my process would probably be all sanding and finish work I have to do to make the gears work.
If you were NOT an artist, what would you be doing?
I'd be swinging a hammer on a construction site. Good old honest hard work.
Another interesting tidbit:
Chatem is actually color blind and sees limited reds and greens. He speculates this might be the reason he tends to use more yellows and browns than other colors. For the series of paintings for "Island of the Colorblind" he used Ishihara Tests. As he painted them, he began with the numbers and then filled the colors around them until he could no longer see the original script.
Chatem is a prolific artist who has had many solo shows – all with specific themes, such as "Death of Bighead" at C.A.V.E. Gallery in 2010…
Hook or by Hook Crooked Hook (detail)
"River Rock Bones " at Dialect Gallery in 2010 …
"Until the Whistle Blows" at ShootingGallery in 2009…
and "Trainwreck" at CoproGallery in 2007.
He was also a part of the highly acclaimed tribute to David Lynch – "In the Trees – Twin Peaks 20th Anniversary Art Exhibition"
A Damn Good Cup of Coffee
Chatem has a wide range of fantastic editorial coverage by luminaries such as Hi-Fructose, Who Killed the Music, Fecal Face dot com, and Juxtapoz.
You may view more work at Paul Chatem's website and also purchase non-editioned, unsigned Giclées at Society6 and Art Whino.
Thank you for your time Paul!


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Series return ***1/2
This underrated series returns for a third season tonight, bursting with energy. The "twist" this year (there has to be one) is that along with team competing against team, we also have four Australian teams going up against four New Zealand teams. The competitors are the usual mix of the adorable, the intriguing and the immensely irritating, and already we're seeing national pride giving way to personal allegiance as they make their way through a delirious set of challenges. Animal lovers may be a little concerned at the rough treatment of sheep during one of them but otherwise this is good high-octane fun from beginning to end.
Series return ****
Tuesday 8.30pm, ABC
There's not really anything else like it on television: hugely entertaining, educational and with a life well beyond the small screen. The documentary series run by early childhood experts started with a diverse group of kids at one year old and has been tracking their development over the subsequent eight years, periodically popping up to share the findings. As the title suggests, our babies are now nine years old and beginning to spread their wings. How to help them do so is the crux of this intriguing and thoroughly charming episode.
New series ***1/2
Monday 9.30m, SBS2
A great scripted comedy doesn't just provide laughs. The really good ones – whether that's Modern Family or Will and Grace (or I Love Lucy) – also give us characters we can relate to, relationships that mean something and space to deliver something more than the occasional LOL. And that's the tantalising promise held out by this new series set in a low-rent New York police station. It's certainly funny, but it also has the potential to be emotionally engaging, too.
New series ***1/2
Wednesday 8.30pm, Fox8
Unfortunately previews weren't available of this new fantasy/horror/drama from Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, but early notices from the US have been positive. A plane lands at JFK with the lights off and the doors sealed. Inside, a specialist from the Centre for Disease Control finds 200 corpses – and four survivors. And things just get weirder from there. Del Toro has long had a fascination with fairy tales as parables for the human condition – and with scary monsters. I think we can expect plenty of both those things here.
Tuesday 7.30pm, Bio
One day I suppose I'll get sick of watching docos and retrospectives on Queen and Freddie Mercury. But not yet. Not just yet… And if you're not a Queen tragic, you'll get even more value from this tidy primer on one of last century's more unusual bands. In it a range of British music writers clearly elucidate all the many things that made Queen special – up to and including Freddie Mercury appearing in a music video in drag and a handle-bar moustache, decades before Conchita Wurst wowed Eurovision.
Saturday August 2 8.30pm, TLC
What's weird is not that there's a cooking show devoted entirely to deep-frying. What's weird is that there's more than one of them. Less weird is that most seem to take place in Texas, in this episode in San Antonio where the State Fair attracts millions of people eating tonnes and tonnes of greasy goodness. Our competitors are drawn from those concession stands and manage to produce some truly extraordinary "food", including deep-fried cheeseburger sliders on a stick and deep-fried lemonade.


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Our friendly staff are always happy to help or advise on buying shoes for your children!


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Welcome to Business Impact Solutions
Business It is something that you do everyday if you are able for a living. Nobody wants to 'beg' for a living. Everybody is a salesman. Some sell products; some sell their time in exchange for money. In past centuries, people exchanged goods until 'money' came.
Impact Dictionary.com defines an 'impact' as 'the force exerted by a new idea, concept, technology, or ideology.' The tools we provide will impact your personal life and business no matter what your area of influence is.
Solutions that will impact your personal life and business. Our solutions span a wide range including but not limited to Leadership workshops, financial advice, technology (software development). That is exactly what we provide to anyone interested; not a 'get rich quickly' jargon!
Links Linking like-minded entrepreneurs and providers for common benefit.


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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Canada for three days with a staunch political ally, urged the world to rattle the sabre louder to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program: Time is running out, he warned, and proposed new talks with Tehran could be a trap.
But Stephen Harper was careful to cool his own past heated rhetoric on Iran, at a time when the United States is encouraging Israel not to rush into a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Standing side-by-side with Mr. Netanyahu at a joint news conference in Ottawa, Mr. Harper did not urge his Israeli counterpart to forswear a unilateral strike, but called for a diplomatic solution.
"We of course recognize the right of Israel to defend itself, as a sovereign state, as a Jewish state," Mr. Harper said. "That said, we want to see a peaceful resolution of this issue, and we want to see every action taken to get a peaceful resolution of the situation."
Mr. Netanyahu's visit to Ottawa, marked by an honour guard, a 19-gun salute and a warm reception from Mr. Harper, was a chance for the Israeli leader to press his case on Iran in a country whose prime minister, according to Mr. Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, "sees the issue in a similar vein."
But Ottawa was in many ways a staging ground for a tug-of-war next week in Washington with Barack Obama. The U.S. President insisted in an interview that he's not bluffing when he says he will stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, including using the military – but cautioned against an early Israeli strike because it could allow Tehran to "portray itself as a victim."
Mr. Harper is hosting Mr. Netanyahu in Canada over the weekend before the Israeli leader heads to Washington to meet Mr. Obama and address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a large pro-Israel lobby in the United States. Mr. Harper and Mr. Netanyahu are said to be friendly, but with a business-like relationship; they have an opportunity, at a private lunch Saturday, to discuss a shared interest: their read of U.S. politics.
The issue that divides Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Obama now is not whether a military strike would be used, if needed, to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons – but how soon that might be needed, and how loudly the sabre should be rattled until then.
While the United States has sought room for diplomatic talks, Mr. Netanyahu emphasized a threat that he said will be a "hinge of history," and warned that Tehran could use talks to deflect pressure.
"It could pursue, or exploit the talks, as they've done in the past, to deceive and to delay, so that they can continue to advance their nuclear program and get to the nuclear finish line by running the clock," he said. "I think the international community should not fall into this trap. I think the demands on Iran should be clear."
Israel wants Iran to commit to pausing nuclear development while talks go on, and Mr. Netanyahu set new lines on what he believes the world must demand: the dismantling of an underground nuclear facility in Qom, the ceasing of all enrichment of uranium, and shipping its current stock of enriched uranium out of the country.
Mr. Obama, in an election year where he has been accused by Republicans of being soft on Iran, sought to quell doubts – and provide an assurance Mr. Netanyahu has sought – that he would use the U.S. military to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons.
"I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as President of the United States, I don't bluff," Mr. Obama said in an interview with The Atlantic published Friday. "I also don't, as a matter of sound policy, go around advertising exactly what our intentions are."
Iran, he said, is feeling the bite of harsh sanctions, and that makes it possible for them to make a "strategic calculation" that at least delays their ability to develop nuclear weapons.
But he said threats of early military action could allow Iran to gain support at a time when sympathy for it is weak and its only real ally, Syria, "is on the ropes."
"Do we want a distraction in which suddenly Iran can portray itself as a victim, and deflect attention from what has to be the core issue, which is their potential pursuit of nuclear weapons?" Mr. Obama said.
Crucially, his read of the urgency seems to differ with Mr. Netanyahu's. Mr. Obama said Iran can't acquire nuclear weapons without the United States "having a pretty long lead time in which we will know they are making that attempt." Mr. Netanyahu, asked when the clock will run out, said: "Every day brings that point sooner."Report Typo/Error
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KEVIN Nolan scored an injury-time equaliser to end 80 minutes of stubborn Sunderland resistance and earn his West Ham side a point at Upton Park this afternoon.
Steven Fletcher kept up his fine form in front of goal by firing the visitors into an early lead and it looked like they would hang n for their first league win of the campaign.
But Hammers captain Nolan, so often the saviour of his side with important goals, hooked home the equaliser in the dying seconds to maintain their unbeaten home start to the season.
Sunderland took a ninth minute lead when Sebastian Larsson was given too much time on the right to pick out the unmarked Fletcher.
The former Wolves man took a steadying touch before smashing it through the legs of James Collins and into the bottom corner via the hand of Jussi Jaaskelainen, for his fourth goal of the season.
Fletcher did little else of note all afternoon but that predatory finish will have a drawn an envious glare from Hammers boss Sam Allardyce, for whom striker Carlton Cole continued to flatter to deceive in the absence of injured Liverpool loanee Andy Carroll.
West Ham dominated the game but time and time again were thwarted by some manful defending from a Sunderland backline marshalled terrifically by Titus Bramble and John O'Shea.
After Fletcher's goal had silenced the majority of the 33,052 packed into Upton Park, the Hammers went close when Matt Taylor's nicely shaped cross was headed into the ground and just over the bar by the arriving Ricardo Vaz Te.
Cole then out-jumped O'Shea to send a header narrowly over and Nolan hooked an improvised effort wide as the half drew to a close.
The hosts continued to dominate but could not come up with the final-third quality needed to open the Black Cats up.
They came very close three minutes before the interval when Guy Demel's tenacity allowed Vaz Te to swing in a cross from the right with which Nolan drew a fine one-handed stop out of Simon Mignolet with an acrobatic volley.
The pattern of unfulfilled West Ham dominance continued after the break and 10 minutes in Allardyce made a double substitution with Matt Jarvis and Yossi Benayoun replacing Vaz Te and Matt Taylor.
Hammers centre back James Collins skimmed the top of the crossbar with a header from a Mark Noble corner, but West Ham were lucky not to find themselves two down when substitute James Vaughan somehow failed to connect from six yards following James McLean's whipped delivery.
West Ham's salvation came in the second of four minutes of injury time as Jarvis kept a seemingly lost cause in play.
And when fellow substitute Modibo Magia headed the ball down, Nolan swivelled brilliantly to hook the ball inside the post, despite a gallant effort to save it by Mingolet.
Allardyce said: "We'll wake up disappointed tomorrow knowing we should have had a win rather than a point.
"Sunderland had four attempts at goal in the 90 minutes and that showed our dominance, but our finishing was our Achilles' heel."
On the performance of Sunderland's goal-scorer Fletcher, Allardyce added: "He's justifying the sort of money Martin's paid for him and we nearly paid the price today."
West Ham (4-5-1): Jaaskelainen; O'Brien, Reid, Demel; Taylor (Benayoun 60), Diame, Nolan, Noble, Vaz Te (Jarvis 60); Cole (Maiga 77).
Sunderland: (4-4-2): Mignolet; Rose, O'Shea, Bramble, Gardner; McClean, Colback, Larsson (Vaughan 61); Sessegnon (Campbell 70) (Meyler 90), Fletcher.
Echo MOM: John O'Shea (Sunderland).


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A man accused of attacking women while they were walking or jogging on bike paths in Melbourne's west appeared briefly in court on Thursday.
Phillip Taupin, 31, of Lalor, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court just after 10.30am, following his arrest on Wednesday.
Wearing a black T-shirt and grey tracksuit pants, Mr Taupin sat for most of the brief hearing with his head bowed but occasionally looked up at the magistrate, Donna Bakos, or around the courtroom.
Mr Taupin faced 18 charges over attacks on seven females between December 30 and January 4.
He was also charged with three counts of raping a woman at Lalor train station on August 18, 2011.
The prosecutor John Riordan told the court the police brief of evidence against Mr Taupin would be handed to his lawyers by February 21.
Mr Taupin did not apply for bail, and Ms Bakos remanded him in custody to appear again on March 28.
The charge sheets reveal Mr Taupin allegedly attacked the victims at Mill Park, Reservoir, Coburg Lake, Thomastown and Lalor.
He is charged with two counts of assault with intent to rape, two counts of recklessly cause serious injury, seven counts of assault, five counts of indecent assault and two counts of committing an indecent act with a child under 16 years.
The indecent acts with the child allegedly involved slapping and groping the child's bottom.
Mr Taupin was arrested after the victims came forward to report they had been attacked on the bike paths.
Five victims said their attacker, who wore a motorcycle helmet with a full visor in all the attacks, smelt of alcohol and may have not washed.
In a public appeal for information on Tuesday, one woman told of being tackled from behind on a Mill Park running track before fighting the man off. Six more victims came forward after initial reports.
Police said the man slapped or groped three of the women on the backside as he rode past them on his motorbike. In two other attacks he got off his bike and tackled the women before they escaped his grip.


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An Open Love Letter to Zach Galifianakis
The following post comes from OnSugar blogger FashionistaFaye, who posted it on life as a twenty something.
Oh, Zach Galifianakis — with that scruffy beard of yours and that beer belly that surely suffocates the top button of your jeans, you're not exactly the picture of a clean-cut guy. Normally, I would never go for a guy like you who is so seemingly rough around the edges. But, when I saw you swapping spit with that hairy dog in the very beginning of The Hangover, it was as if you cast a spell on me. And now, with your latest hilarious role in Dinner For Schmucks, I must admit, I'm in love.
Sure, I had no idea who you were before The Hangover came out. The most memorable moment of yours before that epic trip to Sin City was when you got your naughty bits stuck in a hot tub in Out Cold. I laughed viciously as you screamed in agony, thinking, "That poor dope." I never expected to see you again.
To see the rest of this post, just
And then you popped up alongside Ashton Kutcher in What Happens in Vegas. Of course, it wasn't even a contest with you standing next to Mr. Demi Moore, but I thought your adolescent boy crush on Cameron Diaz was pretty cute — a little bit creepy, but cute.
It was when you lit up the screen as Alan Garner in The Hangover that you really shined and your glisten caught my eye. What it was about you I'm not exactly sure: it could've been that hilariously dorky chuckle you had or the fact that you considered yourself a "one-man wolf pack." Or maybe, it was because you rocked a "satchel," otherwise known as a man purse, or admitted you once found a baby in a Coffee Bean. All I know is that when you descended that escalator Rain Man-style, I wish I was on that casino floor to run up to you and profess my undying love. You reminded me of an old teddy bear; all tattered, torn and comfy that I just wanted to snuggle with every night as I fell blissfully off to sleep (only after you accidentally slipped me Rohypnol, of course).
In Dinner For Schmucks, you took it to the next level, and I loved every hilarious second of it. When you're sitting at that long table full of rich men and their crazy delusional guests, I wish I could be the one sitting next to you. I'd let you use your mind control powers on me, and I'd definitely pay the $14.99 plus shipping and handling for your book, Your Mind Is My Puppet, even if you did just hand me a copy in person.
When you're not on the big screen, I'm happy I get to see you in your web series for Funny or Die, "Between Two Ferns." Who knew that all you need for a successful talk show is some shrubbery and a Staples "Easy" button? As the host, you managed to make two of my personal favorite hotties, Bradley Cooper and Jon Hamm, look like fools. That's talent, Zach, and another reason why I adore you.
After extensive
stalking research, I know you got your start as a comedian, playing small gigs throughout the country. You played the piano at some of your shows, similar to what you did for your opening monologue for SNL. I just love a guy who can play an instrument. Sure, there may not be enough room for me to sit on the piano bench next to you, but the fact that you can serenade me with song earns you major points.
You know, I met you once. OK, not technically, but I was at the same party as you, and you were close enough to touch. Did you notice me? I was the one mildly freaking out because you, Bradley Cooper, Renee Zellweger, Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell, and most of the SNL cast members were all in the same room. It took a lot of inner strength for me to not embarrass myself by sitting down next to you on the couch and asking, "Can we please be friends?"
A lot of strength.
Because guess what, Zach? I'm pretty awesome, and I think you and I would really hit it off. You'd say something funny and I'd giggle, which would make you giggle, which would make me giggle even more to the point where a little pee would come out. I'd tickle that furry brown beard of yours and you'd tell me what it was like to work with George Clooney in Up in the Air. I'd swear up and down he wasn't my type.
Because I only have eyes for you, Zach Galifianakis.
Yours Always,
Want to see your OnSugar post featured on BuzzSugar? Just start your own blog, and if you write about anything entertainment-related, you may see it here!


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Hayden Panettiere Kissed a Girl
Because we love you, here's a picture of Hayden Panettiere kissing her onscreen roommate Gretchen (portrayed by Madeline Zima) from next Monday's episode of Heroes.
According to the episode description sent out by NBC along with the photo, next week "Claire discovers that her roommate Gretchen may have a hidden agenda."
If this is part of the agenda, we have to say that we approve so far.
Let us know in the comments section: Will you tune in to Heroes next Monday to see Hayden get all kissy-face with Madeline Zima?


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|From: Jay McCarthy (jay.mccarthy at gmail.com)
Date: Wed Feb 20 09:27:05 EST 2008
I updated the contracts and then, a little bit later, realized I made all the keywords mandatory, so I had to change them. There was a time when the bad contracts were committed. It is odd that you caught those though. Jay -- Jay McCarthy <jay.mccarthy at gmail.com> http://jay.teammccarthy.org
|Posted on the users mailing list.


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New Project! We need your help!
Greetings, fellow feminists! It's been a while since you've heard from us–since GAB officially closed up shop back in April–but that doesn't mean we haven't been thinking of new ways to advance the feminist movement. For our upcoming project, we've decided to take a more focused look at feminism around the world, that is, finding out directly from you what your experiences with feminism have been like and how the hardships affecting women around the world that we hear about on the news, affects you in real life.
For this, we've created a brief survey that anyone can fill out (the more entries we have the better) and the results of which will be pieced together and hopefully form the embryo for something that might someday be published.
If you're interested, check out our survey here and be sure to spread this around to anyone who thinks might be able to fill it out!
Former GAB Editors: Emily Heroy, Colleen Hodgetts, and Kyle Bachan
To contact us for more specific information or to take part directly in our project, please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Like Gender Across Borders on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter and Tumblr. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter. UPDATE: to take part in our survey regarding international feminism, click here.


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Hi all, I need to store some confidential information in my database, the messages need to be read from the database too so I need two-way encryption. I'm not sure how to use mcrypt...any pointers would be appreciated greatly.
[This user comment on the manual should get you going, I prefer the look of [URL="http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.mcrypt-encrypt.php#78531"]this one](http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.mcrypt-encrypt.php#87526) though.
Hey bud, that is just what I'm after. How safe is mcrypt? If I was to be hacked, I'm guessing it wouldn't be impossible to reveal the message. I'm guessing it just adds another challenge to a hacker rather than having the raw data exposed and in a readily available format?


text: Elk River boys lacrosse lost to Osseo-Park Center 10-9 on a goal with just seven seconds left at home Wednesday. Alex Stull notched four goals for the Elks (2-4) and Zach Griffin had a strong game at midfield, winning several face-offs. The Elks will play at Anoka on Friday evening.


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Folio Society publishes Aeneid by Virgil
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BUZZINGS: Alec Baldwin Wants Out Of '30 Rock'
• Alec Baldwin says that he wants out of 30 Rock (and show business) when his contract is up in 2012. Alec, no! (PopEater)
• Former Saturday Night Live star Rachel Dratch is pregnant with her first child. Congratulations, Rachel! (Wonderwall)
• A group of plastic surgeons say that Lindsay Lohan's drug abuse and tanning addiction has made her look like she is 35 rather than 24. (Hollywood Life)
• Geek goddess and Daily Show correspondent Olivia Munn wrote a book! Look for it on the shelves of awkward geeky boys in college dorms across America. (Starpulse)
• Is recent high school graduate and R&B legend Mary J. Blige heading for Howard University? Hey, it's never too late to go back to school. (Bossip)


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Singer Katy Perry, who recently broke up with her beau of nearly two years John Mayer, was in Australia yesterday (which probably means she's in Australia today, or is flying over the ocean today—though, wait, is it already tomorrow in Australia? So was she in Australia yesterday, meaning today?). She was promoting her new tour and, I dunno, just saying hi to all the weirdos down there. She went on a TV show and a young fan asked, "I was just wondering if you have a boyfriend?" Perry reportedly took a second to process this question, repeating, "If I have a boyfriend?" before saying, "All of my fans are my boyfriend!" Then she turned to a koala bear, because all Australian television shows are mandated by law to involve a koala bear in some capacity, and she said "This is my boyfriend! See!" (That actually happened!) So, there's a lot going on here.
First off, I love that there was just some koala bear on the show with Katy Perry for some reason. "Welcome to Oz, mate, here's a didgeridoo and some Vegemite and, look over there, it's a koala fightin' a kanga." And then a huge wildfire devours the whole TV studio. Australia! Second of all, "All of my fans are my boyfriend" is a strange thing to say, yes? I know what she was going for, but really this means that all of her fans, from middle-aged women to fey teenage boys, are providing her with emotional support and fulfilment as well as some measure of sexual stimulation and gratification. And then to say that the koala bear is her boyfriend! Doesn't that mean, then, that the koala bear is one of her fans? If all of her fans are her boyfriend and the koala bear is her boyfriend, then, ergo ipso facto etc., the koala bear is a fan. Which I think is a really presumptuous thing to say! She doesn't know if the koala bear likes her music. Or, even if it does like her music, if it considers itself a fan. These days "fan" means something pretty intense, like you have to have a Twitter or Tumblr account named after the person and occasionally send nasty notes to fans of other musicians, like you're in the upside-down butter wars or something. So I don't know. She should maybe make sure the koala bear even knows who she is, or has a concept of what people and music are, before she declares it a fan of hers. You totally botched this question, Katy. You could have said something simple like "Not at the moment" or "That's private!" But instead you said "I'm f--king all of you, and this koala bear." So now that's a whole PR mess that needs cleaning up. I mean, it was Australia, so who was really paying attention, but still. [Us Weekly]
Oh, dear. Carla Bruni, model, musician, and former First Lady of France, was caught on tape complaining about her husband Nicolas Sarkozy's salary while he was in office. Recorded by a political adviser who "taped meetings after he was told he could not take notes," according to Page Six, Bruni can be heard saying, "I thought I was marrying a guy that made some money. I had lucrative contracts and now nothing." On the tapes, Bruni talks about how she's basically financing Sarkozy's life, as he only made a measly $330,000 a year as president. Oh, well, I can see why she's complaining then. She thought she was marrying a man who made some money. Instead she married a guy who was only pulling down a third of a million dollars a year. That would be quite a blow for anyone. Look, it's impossible without hearing the tapes to tell what the tone of this was. Part of it seems pretty jokey, like when she supposedly tells Sarkozy that she's "maintaining" him. But who knows! Maybe Carla Bruni really was talking that openly and bitterly to some political adviser and now it's been revealed that she, a model and singer who married a powerful politician, has some measure of financial and career ambition. I know it goes against everything we know about people in the glamour and entertainment industries and people who align themselves with politicians, but Carla Bruni may be the rare example of someone who is all three of those things and who has some pretty strong feelings about money and power. Who would have guessed! Anyway, apparently Sarkozy is furious, because he wants to run for prez again and this is not a good look for the campaign. He's also mad because he just found out how little he got paid. Ah, France! [Page Six]
Speaking of Sarkozys (Speaking of Sarkozys, coming this fall to E!), you know how Nicolas's brother Olivier is marrying Mary-Kate Olsen? Oh, yeah, they got engaged recently. We've talked about it. You should know this by now. Anyway, they are getting married and everything's great, everyone's super happy. Olsen gets along with Sarkozy's kids really well, remembering all their "special events," whatever that means, and is actually trying to get pregnant herself. But it wasn't always like that! It took some convincing for Mary-Kate to say yes to Olivier's proposal. Us Weekly says that he proposed for the first time last year, but she said no. It was really weird. Things were going great, and he thought it would be a no-brainer, but when he proposed, Olsen looked horrified and said, "What? Ew! Gross no!," and ran away. The next day, things were back to normal, but Sarkozy was too scared to ask again, until one night about a year later when it hit him like a ton of bricks: he'd asked Ashley by accident. Classic twin problem, when your twin sister's weird French boyfriend, whose brother is the king of France, proposes to you by accident. It happens. So yeah, Olivier felt like a real dodo brain and then asked Mary-Kate, the real Mary-Kate, and she said yes and everything's fine. But he and Ashley don't talk about that little mistake, ever. Mostly because she'd been staying at his house for two days at that point so the other implications are pretty troubling. Oh, well. Doesn't matter anymore! [Us Weekly]
Might this be our last bit of Oscar party news? It could be! If so, it's a nice note to go out on. Remember the after-party that Guy Oseary, Madonna's manager, threw at his mansion, and how a bunch of the big celebrities were there? Well, that happened on Sunday night and it sounds like it was quite the fête. One potentially awkward situation was that Leonardo DiCaprio was there and so was his ex, Gisele Bündchen. But apparently it wasn't awkward at all! Page Six says they were getting along quite well, and that Leo's current girlfriend, a model named Toni Garrn (I'm beginning to think Leonardo DiCaprio likes dating models!), "sat back to let Leo and Gisele talk." Isn't that nice? Exes and current girlfriends all being nice to one another. I mean, Gisele is married to Tom Brady, who was at the party, so I'm sure Toni didn't think she had anything to worry about, but still. Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom, also exes, were there and getting along too. And Sean Penn was at the party canoodling with Charlize Theron right in front of Madonna. So basically this was the most amicable group of ex-lovers that's ever been assembled. Which is nice! Good for Hollywood. Not so good for Hollywood is that some person at the party told Page Six that Madonna "was literally grinding the dance floor." That's not as nice. Because unless she had some sort of meat grinder and was feeding planks of wood into it, sending sawdust flying into the air, I don't think Madonna was literally grinding the floor. It's a possibility, I suppose. I wouldn't put much past Madonna. But, I kinda doubt it. [Page Six]


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Pompeii, Italy
Pompeii is a ruined and partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples and Caserta in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, its sister city, Pompeii was destroyed, and completely buried, during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in AD 79.
Pompeii was a lively place, and evidence abounds of literally the smallest details of everyday life. For example, on the floor of one of the houses (Sirico's), a famous inscription Salve, lucru (Welcome, money), perhaps humorously intended, shows us a trading company owned by two partners, Sirico and Nummianus (but this could be a nickname, since nummus means coin, money). In other houses, details abound concerning professions and categories, such as for the 'laundry' workers (Fullones). Wine jars have been found bearing what is apparently the world's earliest known marketing pun, Vesuvinum (combining Vesuvius and the Latin for wine, vinum). Graffiti carved on the walls shows us real street Latin (Vulgar Latin, a different dialect than the literary or classical Latin).
In 89 BC, after the final occupation of the city by Roman General Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Pompeii was finally annexed to the Roman Republic. During this period, Pompeii underwent a vast process of infrastructural development, most of which was built during the Augustan period. Worth noting are an amphitheatre, a Palaestra with a central natatorium or swimming pool, and an aqueduct that provided water for more than 25 street fountains, at least four public baths, and a large number of private houses (domus) and businesses. The amphitheatre has been cited by modern scholars as a model of sophisticated design particularly in the area of crowd control. The aqueduct branched out through three main pipes from the Castellum Aquae, where the waters were collected before being distributed to the city; although it did much more than distribute the waters, it did so with the prerequisite that in the case of extreme drought, the water supply would first fail to reach the public baths (the least vital service), then private houses and businesses, and when there would be no water flow at all, the system would then at last fail to supply the public fountains (the most vital service) in the streets of Pompeii.
The volcano collapsed higher roof-lines and buried Pompeii under many meters of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. Today, it is both one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with 2,571,725 visitors in 2007, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The ruins of Pompeii are situated at coordinates 40°45′00″N 14°29′10″E / 40.75, 14.48611, near the modern suburban town of Pompeii. It stands on a spur formed by a lava flow to the north of the mouth of the Sarno River (known in ancient times as the Sarnus). Today it is some distance inland, but in ancient times it would have been nearer to the coast.
The archaeological digs at the site extend to the street level of the 79 volcanic event; deeper digs in older parts of Pompeii and core samples of nearby drillings have exposed layers of jumbled sediment that suggest that the city had suffered from the volcano and other seismic events before then. Three sheets of sediment have been found on top of the lava bedrock that lies below the city and, mixed in with the sediment, archaeologists have found bits of animal bone, pottery shards and plants. Using carbon dating, the oldest layer has been dated to the 8th-6th centuries BC, about the time that the city was founded. The other two layers are separated from the other layers by well-developed soil layers or Roman pavement and were laid in the 4th century BC and 2nd century BC. The theory behind the layers of jumbled sediment is large landslides, perhaps triggered by extended rainfall.
The town was founded around the 7th-6th century BC by the Osci or Oscans, a people of central Italy, on what was an important crossroad between Cumae, Nola and Stabiae. It had already been used as a safe port by Greek and Phoenician sailors. According to Strabo, Pompeii was also captured by the Etruscans, and in fact recent excavations have shown the presence of Etruscan inscriptions and a 6th century necropolis. Pompeii was captured a first time by the Greek colony of Cumae, allied with Syracuse, between 525 and 474 BC.
The large number of well-preserved frescoes throw a great light on everyday life and have been a major advance in art history of the ancient world, with the innovation of the Pompeian Styles (First/Second/Third Style). Some aspects of the culture were distinctly erotic, including phallic worship. A large collection of erotic votive objects and frescoes were found at Pompeii. Many were removed and kept until recently in a secret collection at the University of Naples.
At the time of the eruption, the town could have had some 20,000 inhabitants, and was located in an area in which Romans had their holiday villas. Prof. William Abbott explains, 'At the time of the eruption, Pompeii had reached its high point in society as many Romans frequently visited Pompeii on vacations.' It is the only ancient town of which the whole topographic structure is known precisely as it was, with no later modifications or additions. It was not distributed on a regular plan as we are used to seeing in Roman towns, due to the difficult terrain. But its streets are straight and laid out in a grid, in the purest Roman tradition; they are laid with polygonal stones, and have houses and shops on both sides of the street. It followed its decumanus and its cardo, centered on the forum.
Besides the forum, many other services were found: the Macellum (great food market), the Pistrinum (mill), the Thermopolium (sort of bar that served cold and hot beverages), and cauponae (small restaurants). An amphitheatre and two theatres have been found, along with a palaestra or gymnasium. A hotel (of 1,000 square metres) was found a short distance from the town; it is now nicknamed the 'Grand Hotel Murecine'. In 2002 another important discovery at the mouth of the Sarno River revealed that the port also was populated and that people lived in palafittes, within a system of channels that suggested a likeness to Venice to some scientists. These studies are just beginning to produce results.
The people and buildings of Pompeii were covered in up to twelve different layers of soil. Pliny the Younger provides a first-hand account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius from his position across the Bay of Naples at Misenum, in a version which was written 25 years after the event. The experience must have been etched on his memory given the trauma of the occasion, and the loss of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, with whom he had a close relationship. His uncle lost his life while attempting to rescue stranded victims. As Admiral of the fleet, he had ordered the ships of the Imperial Navy stationed at Misenum to cross the bay to assist evacuation attempts. Volcanologists have recognised the importance of Pliny the Younger's account of the eruption by calling similar events 'Plinian'.
The eruption was documented by contemporary historians and is universally accepted as having started on August 24, 79, based on one version of Pliny's letter. However the archeological excavations of Pompeii suggest that it was buried 2 months later; this is supported by another version of the letter. People buried in the ash appear to be wearing warmer clothing than the light summer clothes that would be expected in August. The fresh fruit and vegetables in the shops are typical of October, and conversely the summer fruit that would have been typical of August was already being sold in dried, or conserved form. Wine fermenting jars had been sealed over, and this would have happened around the end of October. The coins found in the purse of a woman buried in the ash include a commemorative coin that should have been minted at the end of September. So far there is no definitive theory as to why there should be such an apparent discrepancy.
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NEW YORK (Jul. 1)
American Zionists were called upon today to display "unremitting vigilance" in helping to safeguard the security of Israel. The call was issued at the opening session of the 68th annual convention of the Zionist Organization of America by Rabbi Max Nussbaum, ZOA president, who delivered the keynote address to the delegates assembled from all parts of the country.
The opening session highlighted addresses by Israel Ambassador Avraham Harman, who brought greetings on behalf of the Government and people of Israel; Senator Jacob K. Javits, and Paul Screvane, chairman of the New York City Council, who, in the absence of Mayor Wagner, welcomed the delegates on behalf of the City of New York, Rabbi Irving Miller, honorary chairman of the American Zionist Council, presided.
Reviewing the latest developments in the Middle East with special emphasis on Arab-Israel relations, Dr. Nussbaum asserted that "for the first time Israel's arch enemy, President Nasser of Egypt, was confronted during recent months by events which led to a succession of defeats for him," He added that "parallel with these, voices were heard throughout Moslem lands, from the innermost circles of the Arabs themselves which spoke of peace with Israel or, at least, of moderation and reasonableness."
Dwelling on the tasks now facing the Zionist movement, Dr. Nussbaum stated that "for many decades the Jewish people throughout the world exerted all its efforts for the building of the Jewish State. Now Israel, as it is about to enter its 18th year, is ready to join with the Zionist movement in building the Jewish people." He listed four steps that are essential to be taken towards the building of Jewish people hood:
1. The unification of the American Jewish community. He said that this year there have been significant trends in this direction as reflected in the unprecedented united voice of the American Jewish community relating to Soviet Jewry. He urged that the existing Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations be transformed into a Conference of Organizations leading to the emergence of an American Jewish Assembly.
2. Involvement by Zionists in the Jewish life of the community in which they reside. Zionists should find their way back to the mainstream of American Jewish life, "exercising our influence on the course of community affairs, fighting for Jewish values, participating in leadership."
3. Involvement as Zionists in the educational system of the Jewish community by placing the subject of Israel on the curricula of Jewish religious schools, by fostering the study of Hebrew and by deepening the Jewish content of instruction in Jewish schools.
4. Stimulation of immigration to Israel within the meaning of its American terminology, ranging from "participation in summer projects in Israel by our teen-agers to permanent settlement of adults, but always relentlessly pressing for the exposure of our young generation to the exciting adventure and romance of the newly born Jewish State."
The speaker emphasized that "in concentrating on these four points in close cooperation with all Zionist forces in America, we will at the same time contribute to the strengthening of a unified Zionist movement which will redound to the credit of our present and future generations."
Dr. Nahum Goldmann, President of the World Zionist Organization, in a message from Geneva, Switzerland, declared that "the Zionist movement finds itself in a decisive stage of its development," adding that: "It must try to reconquer its leading position in Jewish life everywhere and, above all, within the strongest Jewish community of the world, the U. S. A."


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It is difficult to describe the extraordinary circumstances in which the financial system currently finds itself without sounding a little crazy. It all comes down to two words: Excess reserves. These are monetary reserves above the Federal Reserve's reserve requirements that exist for all intents and purposes outside the financial system as they are not in circulation. Excess reserves are the proverbial napalm that could catch fire at any minute unpredictably, and the pile just keeps growing. Keep in mind that the only other time in history when there was any significant amount of excess reserves in the banking system was during the Great Depression, and even then they were nowhere near as high as they are now relative to total reserves outstanding.
Here is the graph. Notice that the series has been discontinued as of May 2013, likely because the graph has become too embarrassingly lopsided.
During the Great Depression, the peak amount of excess reserves was reached in 1935. December 1935 showed excess reserves at 55% of total reserves. Usually they are zero as can be seen in the graph above, so 55% may sound like a lot. But that's child's play compared to what we have now. As of the Federal Reserve's latest aggregate reserves report, excess reserves now stand at $2,528,153,000,000, written in long hand for full effect. That is a mindboggling 95% of total reserves outstanding.
This is hard to swallow. This huge sum is the big elephant in the room nobody wants to talk about, and when its existence is even mentioned, it is usually referred to as "extra cash sitting harmlessly on bank balance sheets," as if we should all collectively yawn at it.
I would like to take the rest of this article to flesh out four implications, and whether these excess reserves are indeed "harmless." They are as follows.
Implication #1: Quantitative Easing as well as Tapering are Meaningless
The first implication of having over $2.5T in excess reserves representing 95% of total reserves is that any further QE or so-called "tapering" of that QE are meaningless and inconsequential. Why is that? Because QE is designed to increase money supply in circulation, roughly the M2 numbers. Since over 95% of reserves are all backed up in excess anyway, any further QE is obviously not increasing money in circulation, at least not directly. This has been the case for some time now.
Tapering is equally meaningless for the same reason. The function of a taper would be to slow money growth. But let's say that the Fed completely stopped QE tomorrow. There would still be $2.5T in cash in reserve that will continue to leak through and expand the M2 supply. If excess reserves start to be loaned out in force, M2 will explode higher, exactly the opposite of what a taper would be trying to accomplish.
Let me preempt a possible challenge to this assertion. Some might claim that the primary purpose of either QE or tapering is to affect bond prices and thereby interest rates rather than money supply directly, an effect which would still hold sway regardless of how much excess reserves there are. While bond prices are indeed affected by Fed bond purchases, the primary function of the Federal Reserve is to control the money supply by using bond purchases as a tool. It is the money supply expansion which greases the wheels of the economy, not the bond purchases themselves. Those are just the means towards money supply expansion which the Fed accomplishes by creating the money to buy the bonds. But if the money thereby created is backed up in excess reserves, it doesn't expand the money supply.
Theoretically the Fed could execute QE by buying anything at all, even my sofa. The reason it chooses bonds as its tool is that the Fed is a creature of the Federal government and buying bonds gives the government access to the new money first. (No, it is not a "private corporation" as some try to claim. There are no private corporations that are created by an act of Congress.) Treasuries as the asset purchase of choice is just a favor to the Feds that appoint the Federal Reserve Board itself, a favor arguably political in nature, and nothing more than that.
Back when there was no meaningful amount of excess reserves in the system, roughly from 1942 until 2008, bond buying would immediately increase the M2 supply because banks would stay "fully loaned up" and put the money in the system immediately, which was and has always been the primary purpose of Fed bond buying.
So while one could claim that bond prices are still partly under the Fed's sway and thus QE and tapering are not completely meaningless, insofar as all prices in the economy, including those of stocks and even bonds themselves are ultimately a function of the money supply, both QE and tapering are practically meaningless red herrings, especially when it comes to trading signals in the market.
Implication #2: The Fed has Effectively Lost Control over the Money Supply
The second implication stems from the first. If QE and tapering are practically meaningless given the current financial environment, then the Fed has effectively lost control over the money supply. Again let me preempt a possible challenge to this assertion. One may respond that the Fed still has quite a few options for affecting the money supply in circulation. It could, say, cut the interest it pays on excess reserves, thereby encouraging banks to loan. This, however, is problematic for a few reasons. First, with 95% of reserves stuck in excess, attempting to coax some of it out however conservatively could end up disturbing a very sensitive and deadly hornet's nest and bring the whole thing out in a torrent whose inflationary consequences would be ghastly. Or the Fed could theoretically raise reserve requirements, but this is highly unlikely with Yellen as Fed Chair, as this is exactly what the Fed did in 1936 fearing the excess reserves at the time, which set off the recession of 1937-38 according to mainstream economists like Yellen. She doesn't want to do that.
But the Fed is trying something to the end of draining excess reserves, something new. It admitted back in August 2013 in its published minutes that it was attempting to set up something called a "reverse repurchase facility" in order to soak up excess reserves in case this actually started happening and excess reserve started flowing into circulation too fast. A reverse repurchase agreement is the Fed's term for selling bonds (see footnote 30 at link), basically soaking up liquidity and preventing money from entering circulation. It is still unknown if the Fed has such a facility, or if it will even work, or what the economic consequences of a massive bond-selling reserve draining operation would be (see implication #3), but the fact that they are even planning such a facility shows us that the Fed is in totally uncharted territory and doesn't really know how to deal with the current situation.
I would encourage anyone who has not watched this video to take 50 minutes out of his or her day to do so. It is the 2012 Homer Jones Memorial Lecture given at the St. Louis Fed by former PIMCO CEO Mohamed El Erian. For those who want to skip to the relevant section, it is at the 10:28 mark, where El Erian explicitly says that the Federal Reserve is in uncharted territory:
"We have not been here before and we have to understand that we have not been here before and we cannot predict with any certainty as to what this will do to the economic system.
Basically, the Fed knows it has a serious excess reserves clog in the pipeline and doesn't yet know how to drain it, if that were even possible. So it is reasonable to assume that as of now, the Fed has zero direct control over the money supply as it once did before there were any excess reserves in the system.
Implication #3: The Bond Market is Going to get Crushed
This leads us to the third implication, and that is that bonds are in big trouble. Almost any way you look at it, interest rates are headed much higher long term. In one scenario, the Fed could actually taper and stop buying treasuries completely, which it will have to do eventually anyway. QE simply cannot go on indefinitely without a serious loss of confidence in the US Dollar (NYSEARCA:UUP), which is already at 52 week lows. A taper would severely impact the bond market. In a second scenario, when excess reserves start coming into the system, and they will eventually, the Fed may try to set up its reverse repurchase facility and start draining the excess by selling bonds, again severely impacting the bond market. Or if it doesn't try to drain the excess reserves, the $2.5T representing over 95% of current reserves will start flooding the economy causing severe price inflation, again severely impacting the bond market.
In one sentence, however the Fed decides to deal with those excess reserves, by ceasing to add to them, by draining them, or by ignoring them, the bond market will be severely and negatively affected. It seems Warren Buffett may agree with this, as he just lowered Berkshire Hathaway's bond holdings to their lowest proportions in a decade.
The only way bonds can benefit in the short term is if Yellen increases QE, which may yet happen in response to any instability created by what is going on in Crimea right now. The instability there may also cause traders to react impulsively in a "flight to safety" and move to treasuries in the short term. That said, traders intent on shorting the broader bond market (NYSEARCA:TLT) (NYSEARCA:BND) (NYSEARCA:LQD) may want to wait for the current situation to blow over before establishing short positions.
Implication #4: Stagflation Ahead
This takes us to one of the more paradoxical implications of excess reserves. That is, what very well may take them out of excess and into the economy is higher interest rates on loans. When bonds do start to accelerate down and interest rates rise significantly, this may be what banks are looking for to start loaning out the excess in order to obtain the higher interest rate return. Paradoxically, this would mean higher interest rates together with accelerating money supply, the perfect recipe for curtailing long term investment at the higher orders of production and encouraging consumption. In other words, lower capital prices and higher consumption prices. In one word, stagflation. The best way to protect against that is to buy real assets. Commodities have already had a significant run, and that will likely continue. Quick low volatility recommendations post Russian crisis include the DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund (NYSEARCA:DBC) and the Agriculture Fund (NYSEARCA:DBA).
As El Erian said, we are in uncharted territory. What effect these excess reserves will have once they hit the system is unknown. We have never been here before. But one thing that does seem a near certainty is that bonds will be crushed. As soon as the Russian situation blows over and the winds of war calm down, opening shorts in any of the more liquid bond funds like TLT, BND, or LQD may be a wise decision
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a short position in TLT over the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.


text: Silithid Creepers are found in the southern part of the Barrens in Kalimdor. These silithid are very aggressive, but not all that strong. Most vary from level 20-21. Curiously, although Silithid Creepers are silithid, they are in the scorpid pet family. They also have a special weapon; they can lay a level 20-21 Silithid Creeper Egg which hatches into a level 20-21 Silithid Grub.