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Longtime MLB The Show players might identify with a common criticism that Sony San Diego has taken to heart: games of The Show simply take too long to play. With MLB 14 The Show, the series' first PS4 installment, Sony San Diego hopes to change that perception and reality.
During a demonstration of the hotly anticipated sports sim to PlayStation press, game designer Ramone Russell explained the studio's philosophy on trimming the fat: "It takes too long to watch a game, takes too long to play--your average Show game takes around an hour to play, which is pretty long. You play a game of football, basketball, or hockey, it's around 30 minutes. So one of things we wanted to do this year was kill that [and] give users a way to have quicker, more engaging experiences and play more baseball with less of a time commitment."
The first of three approaches to cutting down on playtime is a fresh approach to presentation; basically, less is more, so empty pauses between at-bats and moments without commentary or other presentation elements are removed. "If nobody's talking, if there's nothing going on, we cut the presentation and go right back to gameplay," Russell said. "That cuts down about five to ten minutes of dead time in and of itself, and it also just keeps you more engaged as a user."
The second feature designed to reduce game time is Player Lock, or as Russell coined, "Road to the Show, anywhere." This optional feature takes what people love about Road to the Show, in which you raise a single player from the minor leagues up to MLB stardom, and extends it to all season modes and exhibition matches. If you wish, you can zero in on the gameplay of a single player you care about, playing only his role while the rest of the game is simulated. "The cool part is that you can turn Player Lock off. You can't do that in Road to the Show," Russell said. "You also have all the managerial decision at your fingertips, which you don't have in The Show, as well, which lets you mix and match things."
The third, and most ambitious, new feature designed to condense the baseball experience is Quick Counts. After studying the last two years of MLB data on at-bat performance and pitching habits with different foul-strike counts, Sony San Diego developed an algorithm to simulate counts between two teams. As the player, with Quick Counts turned on, you'll jump to specific counts in the game while the moments between are simulated. It's astonishing to see this in action, as a volunteer journalist rocketed through an inning in roughly one minute. "It's a really fast, fun, engaging game mode," Russell said. "When you play in Quick Counts, you cut your game times in half. . . and that's really cool, because now, you can play a game of The Show in the exact same amount of time it takes to play any other sports games out there."
It's unclear whether Quick Counts will be an available option in every game mode. Furthermore, Russell declined to specify how the game decides what count to drop you at, or if players can set preferences. He did mention that novice players, specifically, could benefit from Quick Counts dropping you in advantageous situations, where safe, predictable pitches are more common.
It's worth noting that, with the exception of trimmed presentation, all of these changes are optional, so The Show purists can still enjoy a long, exhaustive baseball experience like they're accustomed to. If anything, the decision to shorten match times in MLB 14 is a sign of the gaming times. Many of us want to consume as many interactive experiences and moments as possible, and MLB 14 makes doubling up on gameplay in the same amount of time easy and natural.
A ton of information about other features was unveiled in a fact sheet today. Here's the official rundown on stuff not mentioned above:
Universal Profile (PS3 & PS4) – A new tendency-tracking system monitors and records gamers' unique playing styles. Those patterns are stored in the Universal Profile, which can be viewed by anyone looking to get a quick scouting report on the player. The Universal Profile can also be subbed in in place of a CPU opponent in Diamond Dynasty and Online Franchise, making for more realistic head-to-head matchups when schedules prevent synchronous play.
Community Challenges (PS3 & PS4) – Players will be able to freely toy and tinker with game situations and scenarios on the fly, whether that's the inning, score, who's on base, or where the ball is hit. These custom situations can be bundled with a creative set of goals and put forth as a challenge to the community, whether it's to relive the past, change history, or dream of new possibilities.
Online Franchise (PS3 & PS4) – Finally, Franchise mode can be shared with friends online, with most of the features from the offline version making the transition, including Scouting, the Amateur Draft, Free Agency and CPU Trades. The mode will remain highly customizable as scheduling, divisions, postseason spots and more are all commissioner options.
Stubs (All platforms) – Playing games in MLB 14 The Show rewards players with Stubs. Stubs can be used to purchase additional in-game content – like Road to the Show training points – or used in our new mode, Community Challenges. Stubs can be earned in any mode, and they are not required to progress through a mode. You can still purchase additional in-game content through the PlayStation Store.
Diamond Dynasty Extra Innings (PS3 & PS4) – In this mode, a player's team is always looking for opportunities to challenge other users in an offline setting, which allows the user to earn bonus rewards the next time they log in. When online, the player has the opportunity to challenge other user-created teams in an offline game where the CPU controls their team. Players can only benefit positively in this mode even if their team does not perform up to their normal standards.
For more on MLB 14 The Show, learn about the game's unique use of DualShock 4 and how the PS4 version's graphics will set a new standard for sports games.


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When their child is first diagnosed with diabetes, parents might spend a lot of time thinking about the disease's physical effects. But emotional issues also come with a diabetes diagnosis, and these can affect how kids cope with the physical aspects.
So it's important for parents to recognize the feelings that kids with diabetes might experience and learn strategies to help them.
Kids often experience these emotions when confronted with diabetes:
Parents often go through a grieving process when they find out that their child has a disease like diabetes. It can be difficult to come to terms with the idea that a child has a chronic condition that will need to be managed for the rest of his or her life. It's normal to feel grief and sadness.
Many parents also feel guilty about their child's diabetes and wonder if they could have prevented it somehow. Some parents also might feel unsure about taking on the tasks of caring for a child with diabetes, such as administering medications and helping their child follow a meal plan. It's also common to worry about recognizing symptoms of a diabetes problem and getting the right medical help.
What can you do to cope with your own feelings? First, don't hesitate to get the answers to your questions from the health care professionals caring for your child. Educating yourself about diabetes and the best ways to manage it can help put your mind at ease. Also ask your child's doctor for information and tips on coping with your child's emotional issues.
It's important to attend to your own needs as well as your child's. When you can, let others — like relatives and friends — share the responsibilities of caring for your family. Remember that you can't do it all.
When a child has diabetes, it affects the entire family. Siblings might resent the extra attention that a child with diabetes gets, as well as sacrifices (like eating healthier foods at family meals or going along to doctor appointments) made to accommodate the sibling. And sometimes they're the target of anger and resentment because they don't have to deal with the issues that the child with diabetes faces.
Family members like grandparents, aunts, and uncles also might worry about your child's health. Try to talk openly about all of these feelings with your family. Holding a family meeting might be one way to break the news of your child's diagnosis and address everyone's worries and concerns.
You might find it easier to talk with a counselor, your child's doctor, or others on the diabetes health care team about these emotional issues. Also, consider looking for support groups, books, and websites about how to deal with diabetes. In time, the whole family will become accustomed to dealing with the condition.
Once you learn to recognize your child's feelings, here are some tips for coping with those emotions:
Acknowledge your child's feelings. Check in with your child regularly. Try to listen to everything your child has to say before bringing up your own feelings. This kind of communication doesn't always have to be verbal. Drawing, writing, or playing music can help kids with diabetes express their emotions.
Encourage active health care management. It's important to reinforce the idea that when kids take good care of themselves and manage their diabetes, they can avoid undesirable things like extra shots or missing out on activities that their friends enjoy. Your child might even want to ask the doctor questions on his or her own.
Emphasize independence. It can be difficult, especially at first, but it's important to resist the urge to lower your expectations or overprotect a child with diabetes. Instead, encourage the same independence that you'd expect from your other kids. With the encouragement and support of their parents, kids with diabetes can take on some responsibilities for managing it — a change that often has a positive, confidence-building effect.
Help kids find their strengths. Is your child a reader, a hockey player, a son, a daughter, a grandchild, a student, a future astronomer, an art lover? He or she also is a person in control of diabetes, but this does not define someone's life — it's only a very small part of who your child is.
Focus on friendships. Encourage your child to have fun with friends, which builds confidence and a sense of belonging. Your child should know that it's OK to discuss diabetes with friends. Instead of focusing on the one thing that's different, kids can focus on all the things that they have in common with their peers.
Find ways to cope with bullying. Sometimes kids pick on peers with diabetes or other health problems. Your child might use the following ways to deal with teasing or bullying:
Correct misconceptions. Talk to your child about the fact that people do nothing to deserve diabetes — it just happens. Also, if your child feels like the diabetes is causing problems for you or your family, offer reassurance that there's no reason to feel guilty. Instead, your child should focus on dealing with his or her own feelings about diabetes, not yours.
Tell friends, teachers, and others about your child's diabetes. Ask if your child would like others to know about the diabetes. Kids sometimes find it less embarrassing if they tell friends and classmates that they have diabetes — that way, they don't have to worry about what their friends will think when they head to the nurse's office every day. Teachers and care providers also should know about your child's condition and its management (for instance, if your child takes breaks to test blood sugar or eats snacks at certain times).
Connect with others dealing with diabetes. Finding a support group for kids and families with diabetes can help kids to feel less different. These groups also can boost your confidence as you deal with diabetes and offer advice and tips on managing it. Your child's diabetes health care team might be able to help you connect with support groups in your area.
Get help when you need it. Be sure to keep your child's diabetes health care team in the loop about any emotional issues — they deal with this all the time and can provide help for your child and advice for you. If your child shows any signs of depression (such as prolonged sadness or irritability, fatigue, appetite changes, or changes in sleeping habits), talk to your child's doctor or a mental health professional.
Every parent of a child with diabetes must deal with the feelings that surround the disease. Try to keep in mind that for most kids, negative feelings about diabetes pass or change with time as they adjust to living with it.
Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: August 2013
|National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases This group conducts and supports research on many serious diseases affecting public health.
|American Diabetes Association (ADA) The ADA website includes news, information, tips, and recipes for people with diabetes.
|Children With Diabetes This website offers true stories about kids and teens who have diabetes.
|Joslin Diabetes Center The website of this Boston-based center has information about how to monitor blood sugar and manage diabetes.
|Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF) JDRF's mission is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research.
|Talking to Your Child About Diabetes The more you know about diabetes, the less anxious and better prepared you'll be to talk about it with your child.
|Diabetes: What's True and False? There's a lot of info and advice out there about diabetes, but some is wrong or bad. Here's what's true - and what's false.
|Diabetes: Dealing With Feelings It's perfectly normal for people with diabetes to feel sad, angry, confused, upset, alone, embarrassed, and even jealous. After all, these are natural emotions that everyone feels from time to time. But how can you cope?
|Sports, Exercise, and Diabetes Diabetes doesn't have to get in the way of exercise and sports competition. Like anyone else, kids with diabetes are healthier if they get plenty of exercise.
|Diabetes Center Does your child have type 1 or type 2 diabetes? Learn how to manage the disease and keep your child healthy.
|Kids and Diabetes: Wendy's Story Wendy's daughter Madison was diagnosed with diabetes at age 5. Wendy tells how her daughter learned to manage her diabetes and stay an active and happy kid.
|Diabetes Center Our Diabetes Center provides information and advice for teens about treating and living with diabetes.
|Diabetes: Dealing With Feelings Dealing with diabetes can stir up a lot of different emotions. Find out more about dealing with your feelings if you're a kid with diabetes.
|Keeping Track of Your Blood Sugar Checking your blood sugar levels is a really important part of managing diabetes. Knowing those levels will help you keep your blood sugar under control - and that helps you feel good and keeps you healthy.
|Diabetes Center Diabetes means a problem with insulin, an important hormone in the body. Find out how children with diabetes can stay healthy and do the normal stuff kids like to do.
|Diabetes Facts and Myths If your child has diabetes, it's important to educate yourself so you can help manage it. This means arming yourself with the right information.
|School and Diabetes When kids with diabetes attend school, parents should discuss the condition with teachers, school staff, and coaches. Here are some tips on what to cover.
|Diabetes: What's True and False? There's a lot of diabetes information out there - unfortunately, not all of it is based on facts. Following bad advice could actually harm a person with diabetes.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Bruer graduates
Lisa Bruer, formerly of Alberta, was one of 200 graduates of the College of Graduate and Professional Studies, the University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, Va., during their 99th commencement ceremonies on May 7. Lisa was awarded a master of business administration degree. In 1996 Lisa earned a master's degree from Illinois School of Professional Psychology, Chicago. Her husband, Lt. Commander Dan Rieken, USN, serves with the White House Communications Agency, Washington, D.C. They have two children. Lisa is the daughter of LuDean Bruer and the late Fern Bruer.


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Britney Spears requested a photo of Princess Diana backstage at her UK gigs.
The 'Hold It Against Me' hitmaker – who has hit the country on the latest leg of her Femme Fatale tour – asked for a picture of the late royal, who died in 1997, in addition to portions of fish and chips and 100 figs and prunes.
A source said: "Britney adores the monarchy, Diana was in many ways her inspiration. Also, she doesn't count calories when she's in Britain."
Toothpaste, McDonald's cheeseburgers minus the bread rolls and toothpaste were also part of her rider before she performed at London's The O2 last night (27.10.11).
Britney has previously revealed she would love to perform For Diana's son Prince William and his wife the Duchess of Cambridge – who married in a glittering ceremony at London's Westminster Abbey on April 29 – should they wish to come and see while she is in the UK.
She said: "I'm sure they're very, very busy, but if they could squeeze it in that would be amazing.
"It would be amazing if they came to one of my concerts. That would be really crazy and cool. I think they're a beautiful couple."
- Diana Vickers: Underwear Collection "Diana Vickers' Knickers"
- Lady Gaga worries she may die like Princess Diana
- Prince William and Duchess Catherine's charity efforts have been praised by former James Bond star Sir Roger Moore
- Katy Perry: She wants to meet Prince Harry
- Britain's Prince William bought Duchess Catherine a puppy


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GSI resources provide information about subsidies and tools for subsidy accounting and analysis.
Introductions for Non-Experts
The GSI's introductions for non-experts explain subsidy issues in a short and accessible fashion for a general readership.
Technical Manuals
The GSI's technical manuals are addressed primarily at individuals interested in preparing estimates of subsidies to particular products or sectors.
GSI Policy Briefs
The GSI's Policy Brief series offers concise analysis on a broad range of topical subsidy issues.
Archive of Non-GSI Subsidy Studies
The GSI's Subsidy Watch blog regularly reviews studies conducted by other organisations. To browse these reviews, visit the archive.
List of All GSI Publications
Can't find a specific GSI publication? Browse this comprehensive list of studies that have been prepared by the GSI.


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Engagement: Smith/Hanes
Ralph and RuthAnn Smith of Browerville and Lyle and Robin Hanes of Bertha are pleased to announce the engagement forthcoming marriage of their children, Jennifer Smith and Ethan Hanes. Jennifer was a 2009 graduate of Browerville High School and is a student at Central Lakes College in Brainerd. Ethan graduated from Bertha-Hewitt High School in 2009 and is employed at Hydraulic Doctor in Bertha. They will be married at Peace United Church in Long Prairie on July 24, 2010. After a short honeymoon they will be at home in Bertha.


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Photo 12 of 12
All American
Another controversial figure in the world of fashion is American Apparel's founder and CEO Dov Charney. The label's grossly sexualized ads often feature naked or seminaked women in sexual positions, and even worse, many of these models and other female employees have filed sexual-harassment lawsuits against Dov.
And then there was that whole exposed butthole situation . . .
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Bespoke – the Handbuilt Bike
One of co-curator Sacha White's custom built touring bikes.
While bespoke usually refers to clothing, back in the 1880s, when the bicycle was first invented, the two-wheeled wonder was handcrafted to suit the size and style of its rider. Now that bikes have made their way back into popular culture, not only for recreation but as practical transportation, the bespoke bike is no longer a thing of the past. The latest exhibition at the Museum of Art and Design, "Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle," salutes the bike builders of today and shows off their snazziest wares.
Curated by Michael Maharam, the exhibition profiles 6 of the world's leading bike artisans, including Sacha White of Vanilla Bicycles in Portalnd who helped Maharam with the curatorial process. The designs range from vintage-inspired, like Mike Flanigan's Basket Bike, an updated versions of the old French mailman's bike, to White's children's bike designed to grow along with the child, to racing bikes like Richard Sachs' Signature Track Bicycle, constructed for use in the velodrome out of repurposed bike parts from the 70s.
"Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle" at MAD until August 15, 2010


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Common Core State Standard
SL.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: An essay of a current news event is provided for discussion to encourage participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the article. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event within the news, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support.
The latest classroom battleground: Darwin vs. Intelligent Design
Ask the students to check their newspapers for stories about the school district. Then have them do a fact check on the stories. Did the newspaper accurately report the facts? Was the story complete, or did it leave questions unanswered? Did it explain the facts clearly?
Ask the students to search their newspapers for stories about education issues. For example, are their newspapers covering the Dover case? Are their papers covering the Government Accountability Office's ruling Friday finding that the Bush administration violated federal law by buying favorable news coverage of the president's education policies? The Education Department paid a conservative commentator to praise those policies. Are their newspapers covering education trends and student test performances? If they are not satisfied with education news coverage, ask them to invite a local editor to talk to the class about how school news is covered.
Have the students attend a school board meeting and write a report about it. Have them compare their stories with the newspaper coverage of the meeting. Have a class discussion about their impressions of the meeting, the decisions made by the board members and how the board reached its decisions.
Are we the random result of a primordial chemical soup, mutation and natural selection?
Or could only a higher being's intelligent design explain human existence?
Those questions and whether both theories should be taught in public schools have ripped apart a small community in Pennsylvania and landed the Dover school board in federal court because it decided that intelligent design must be presented to science students along with evolution. The board has required teachers to view a videotape which asserts that there are gaps in evolutionary science. Ninth grade biology teachers are required to read a four-paragraph statement to their students. It declares in part: "Because Darwin's theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is discovered. Gaps in the theory exist for which there is no evidence." It also says, "Intelligent design is an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin's view." The statement also informs students that a textbook teaching intelligent design is available in the school library.
Eleven parents in the district, outraged by what they regarded as the school board's violation of the separation of church and state, took the board and the district to court. The trial, expected to last six weeks, is under way in the federal court in Harrisburg and drew people on both sides of the question from across the country for opening arguments Sept. 26.TALKING POINTS:
Back door? A spokeswoman for the National Center for Science Education said the week before the trial began that the Dover school board is trying to sneak religion through the back door of taxpayer-funded schools.
Front door? A proponent of the teaching of intelligent design replied that teaching evolution is bringing atheism through the front door of schools.
Freedom of speech? One Dover parent who supports the teaching of intelligent design views it as a freedom of speech issue. She told the New York Times, "I think we, as Americans, regardless of our beliefs, should be able to freely access information because people fought and died for our freedoms."
Freedom from religion? "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." That part of the First Amendment was cited by the Supreme Court when it ruled in 1962 that prayer in public schools was an unconstitutional attempt to establish religion. It also was the basis of the Supreme Court's 6-3 decision in June 2000 that student-led prayers at public school football games were unconstitutional. Neither court was charting new legal territory. President James Madison, regarded by many as the main brain behind the Constitution, scolded the House of Representatives 151 years before the 1962 no-school prayers decision, when it passed a bill chartering a church that intended to teach poor students. He reminded them n sternly n that "the bill exceeds the rightful authority to which governments are limited by the essential distinction between civil and religious functions, and violates in particular the article of the Constitution of the United States which declares that 'Congress shall make no law respecting a religious establishment.'" He vetoed the bill.
The voters' decision? In November, seven Dover district residents who oppose the teaching of intelligent design will challenge seven incumbents in a runoff election. The incumbent board voted 6-3 in October 2004 to adopt the intelligent design instruction. One of the challengers, a former Dover science teacher and a plaintiff in the case, has said that opponents did a "monkey dance" when he campaigned recently at a firemen's festival. "There's no way to have a winner here," he told the Times. "The community already has lost, period, by being so divided."
Front Page Talking Points is written by Alan Stamm for NIEonline.com, Copyright 2017
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Front Page Talking Points Archive
A starting whistle blows this week for holiday shopping online and in stores
Get used to cars without drivers because they're starting to roll out of labs and onto streets
Congress pushes social media firms to block foreign election mischief on their influential sites
'Reckless, outrageous and undignified:' 3 Republican senators and an ex-president speak out about Donald Trump
New evidence of huge stars colliding long ago excites astronomers
'What Happened:' Hillary Clinton revisits Campaign '16 in her book and national tour
'Democracy on the line:' Supreme Court considers what's legal when politicians redraw election district maps
As Puerto Rico struggles after devastating hurricane, Trump feels backlash about pace of help
Another climate change impact: Solidly frozen Alaskan permafrost is thawing
Scientists urge changes to ease impact of what flows down the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico


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Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.26
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Ebrahim Karkhanei, chairman of the Iranian parliament's nuclear committee, revealed some details about a proposed plan for the redesigning of the heavy-water Arak reactor.
"A change and review of the reactor's design", "a change in the number of fuel rods at the Arak site" and "adding bit of enriched uranium to the reactor's fuel" are some of the redesigning plan, Iran's Tasnim news agency quoted Karkhanei as saying on April 26.
Apparently, about one or two percent of enriched uranium will be added to the reactor fuel in a bid to lower production of plutonium in the reactor's fuel cycle, Karkhanei added.
On April 19, Iran's nuclear chief announced that Tehran has presented a proposal to the major powers to redesign the core of the Arak heavy-water reactor in order to significantly lower plutonium production at the planned reactor.
The 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany) has accepted the offer and the issue of the Arak reactor "is almost resolved", said Ali Akbar Salehi, the director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
The design change will not affect the process of producing isotopes for medical uses, but will reduce plutonium production to one fifth of the original output.
In addition, Salehi said that Iran has also put forward a proposal about uranium enrichment which would allow Tehran to increase the number of its centrifuge machines in stages so that the country would be able to produce 30 tons of nuclear fuel for the Bushehr power plant.
Iran and the 5+1 group are scheduled to meet on May 13 in Vienna to work on a final solution to the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.
The Arak reactor has become a major issue in the negotiations. The major powers claim that the reactor could be a potential source of plutonium for building nuclear bombs.
Follow Trend on Telegram. Only most interesting and important news


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Eurozone nations lay out budget cuts
By AOIFE WHITE, AP Business Writer Aoife White, Ap Business Writer
45 mins ago
LUXEMBOURG – The 16 nations that use the euro will lay out plans to cut public spending Monday as they try to convince jittery markets that no more countries will need bailouts and that the debt crisis can be contained.
Despite a massive rescue plan and pledges to cut deficits, confidence in the currency and European countries' ability to handle heavy debt loads remains fragile — the euro has touched a series of four-year lows in recent days and stock markets have fallen.
The latest hit came from Hungary, which is not part of the common currency but where some government officials warned the country is close to default — two years after it received a bailout from the EU and the International Monetary Fund.
Hungary's government has tried to downplay those comments, but the impact — pushing the euro below $1.19 on Friday for the first time since March 2006 — highlights how closely market fears stalk the region.
Dutch Finance Minister Jan-Kees de Jager shrugged off the new drop, telling reporters that "the present exchange rate of the euro is at its historic average" and that eurozone average debt and deficit amounts are still below countries like the United States, Japan and Britain.
European nations pushed for an immediate start on budget cuts at a weekend Group of 20 meeting of finance ministers from leading rich and emerging countries. The U.S., by contrast, called for governments to take care withdrawing stimulus spending that supports growth.
EU Economy Commissioner Olli Rehn said Europe's governments need to tackle debt and deficit as a priority in an opinion piece to be published in French daily Le Monde on Tuesday.
Europe is "not out of danger," he warned, and budget cuts should be in place by 2011 "when the economic recovery should be picking up."
Rehn rated Hungary's latest crisis as "shadow boxing," telling reporters in Luxembourg that "it's not a real crisis."
Hungary's economy minister Gyorgy Matolcsy said the country is still aiming to bring its budget deficit — the gap between government spending and revenue — down to 3.8 percent this year, downplaying comments by officials that it could go as high as 7.5 percent.
However, trade unions warn that budget cuts could be going too far and could choke a fragile recovery that so far relies more on exports than domestic demand in European countries where people are still slow to spend and companies are reluctant to hire new workers.
Unemployment in the eurozone reached a ten-year high of 10.1 percent in April — adding extra welfare costs to governments struggling with higher outgoings, lower tax revenue and debt that has soared since they paid out hundreds of billions to shore up the region's banking system.
There is intense pressure on all countries to make cuts. Even Germany, Europe's largest economy with one of the region's lowest deficits, is laying out plans to cut social welfare benefits, slash public sector jobs and raise taxes.
Spain and Portugal were ordered to make bigger cuts last month and Greece has agreed to a harsh austerity program in return for a euro110 billion ($132 billion) EU-led rescue package. Italy also recently promised cutbacks.
Britain is likewise warning that it will need to squeeze public spending. British Prime Minister David Cameron said "the overall scale of the problem is even worse than we thought." He gave no details of possible cuts, but suggested that welfare programs and the civil service could be targeted.
Monday's talks between eurozone finance ministers will be followed by a meeting of most European Union finance ministers and EU officials who will thrash out plans for long-term ways to avoid a new economic crisis, including a proposal for more EU oversight of national budgets.
Associated Press writers Emma Vandore in Luxembourg, Greg Keller in Paris, Pablo Gorondi in Budapest and Bob Barr in London contributed to this story.


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Southwest CEO: AirTran merger 'hedge against higher fuel prices'
By AviationBrief
Published: February 28, 2011
Southwest Airlines Chairman, President and CEO Gary Kelly said Friday that rising fuel prices make the LCC's planned acquisition of AirTran Airways (ATW Daily News, Feb. 25) "absolutely imperative." Speaking at a hearing held in Milwaukee by the US Senate's subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer protection, Kelly said, "The economies of scale and the revenue synergies presented by this merger are a hedge against higher fuel prices."
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.), chairman of the subcommittee, has said the panel "will carefully examine this proposed merger to determine whether air travelers will continue to see the low fares that they have come to rely on, especially in cities like Milwaukee where AirTran and Southwest are key competitors."
But Kelly asserted that neither carrier will be able to grow without the merger, a situation that would ultimately lead to less service for consumers. "High fuel prices have stymied growth in the airline industry and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future," he explained. "The AirTran acquisition is a strategic hedge to enable a resumption of growth by Southwest. Absent the merger, both carriers will be constrained and even hard-pressed to maintain current capacity levels."
While Congress often holds hearings on pending mergers, it has no formal role in approving the transactions. The SWA/AirTran merger, which the carriers expect to close in the second quarter, still requires US Dept. of Justice clearance.
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Tagged with: 'hedge, against, AirTran, fuel, higher, merger, Prices, Southwest


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The "Customize your feed" forum preferences don't do anything for me, even after clicking the save them all sub forums still show up. This problem is present in both Firefox and Chrome browsers for me (win7).
Here's an example.
I have reported this problem back when the new sire launched and the issue is still present, nor has there been any reply another time it was posted. Now that Rorie is around people are getting a bit more replies so I though it might be worth a shot to bring it up again.


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In this Earth and Beyond program, host and producer Robin Song tells the story of a tame magpie which endeared itself to several households. Text follows audio.
Most folks know that members of the Corvid family are pretty smart birds. Ravens, crows, jays and magpies live in social societies and are problem-solvers. Anyone who has watched a Nature program about scientists devising tests for corvids comes away with a whole new respect for these feathered "Einsteins".
Several years ago some local Talkeetnans crossed paths with a special magpie and recently I learned the whole story. Unfortunately, the sex of corvids cannot be deduced by their plumage, so they never knew if the bird was male or female, but it became "Maggie", nonetheless.
John Reynolds is an auto mechanic, and also works on school busses. The busses parked there easily locate his shop. Next to his shop is the small house which used to be occupied by his daughter, Kerrie, and her former husband, Ralf. One day in 1999 a magpie arrived on the window ledge while Kerrie was giving a piano lesson. It looked in, and didn't seem in any hurry to leave. When the lesson had ended and the student had gone home, the magpie was still there. Kerrie called her dad, who lived just down the road.
"Well, maybe it will go away," John said. It didn't- for five years. And so "Maggie" came into their lives.
The school busses are parked in front of the shop during the day, and Maggie liked to fly from mirror to mirror, talking to her reflection. One morning, when John came to work, Maggie was on one of the busses' mirrors, jabbering away at her reflection. John walked over to her. She flew off, but landed again, not far away. John went into the auto shop and got some dog kibbles from the bag kept there for the family's dog. He put a few down for the magpie and backed away. She came over and ate a few. He put some in his palm and held it out. She hesitated.
It took about four days for Maggie to fly from the gas pump to John's hand. She'd grab a few kibbles and fly to the forest. Patience won out. Eventually she'd stay on his hand and eat. John thought that maybe she'd been hand-reared by someone, which would explain why she had little fear of humans.
One day one of the bus drivers called to say he had a passenger- Maggie had gotten inside the empty bus unnoticed. After that, she'd often go for a ride when there weren't passengers, standing on the back of a seat, watching out the windows.
Maggie would hang out in the forest near the shop, often with other magpies. John would go outside and call her. She would fly from the trees to his hand to receive her handout of kibbles. One day the fuel man came by with a delivery. John had spotted Maggie in the forest nearby with five other magpies just as the fuel truck arrived. John asked: "You want to see something?" He reached into his pocket, put a few kibbles in his hand, and called Maggie. She flew from the trees across the road, glided to John and landed on his outstretched hand. She ate the kibbles, then flew back across the road and into the forest, where her buddies were waiting. The stunned fuel man asked: "Did I see what I just saw?! How did you get her to do that?" John grinned and answered: "Oh, it took about three weeks and a lot of patience."
John told me: "We could always tell her apart from the other magpies because she was plumper." His wife, Kathy, would call from their home to tell him Maggie was there. As Kathy went about her household chores, Maggie would follow her, flying from window to window so she could watch Kathy.
There's a sliding glass door leading out onto the porch, and one day it was open. Maggie flew inside the house. She roamed about, checking things out. But when she found the goldfish bowl and landed on the rim, she had to be shooed outside again, before she ate the fish.
One day they slid open the door while Maggie was on the porch. John placed a piece of toast on the edge of the dining room table, a few feet from the door. He invited Maggie to come in and get her treat. She hopped inside and stood looking up at the table. John told her she had to come up onto the table. After a few moments Maggie flew onto the table and gracefully took her piece of toast and flew out the door, heading for the forest.
Kerrie told me Maggie would frequent her house, as well, landing on the windowsill and screeching until someone brought her some food. She'd stand on the windowsill, watching while Kerrie's students had their piano lessons. If their dog, "Pepper" was outdoors, Maggie would land, walk around and tug on the dog's tail. Maggie would also take food from Kerrie and her husband Ralf's hands.
Maggie would disappear in the spring through summertime, as most magpies do- busy raising families. Then, one autumn day, here she'd be back. She'd make the rounds from the Reynolds' home to a neighbor's, to the Bus Barn, to Kerrie's house, and back to the Reynolds'. After five years of her robust friendship, Maggie disappeared one spring and didn't return. The end of her story is anyone's guess. For five years she chose to include humans in her life, and endeared herself to them. When a wild creature crosses that invisible line and chooses to make humans a part of its life, it's a special gift. Maggie still lived in the wild, still lived within her social flock of birds. She was self-sufficient, and yet chose to interact with humans. Her reasons were her own. She touched hearts, for when I talked with John about Maggie, I could see the affection in his eyes as the memories of her came alive for him. And I could hear it in Kerrie's voice as she told me about Maggie over the phone. They knew what a gift she was, and I'm glad they decided to share her story with us. Wherever you went, Maggie, I hope your life was a good one.


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By Ed Dove
At first glance, the summer of a European Championship may be considered an off-peak period for analysts and enthusiasts of the African game. However, the nature of football, and of international demographics, means that a number of players competing for European nations this summer would also have been eligible to represent African national sides.
Goal.com runs the rule over an 'African Euro XI' – a team of players present at the championship in Poland and Ukraine who were born in Africa, or who are of African descent.
Congolese talent in Europe typically come to the fore by representing Belgium, where players such as Romelu Lukaku and Vincent Kompany have heralded a new era of Belgian football in recent times. But France has also benefited from Congolese players; the former Zaire has played a crucial role in furnishing the French national team.
Midfielders Rio Mavuba, the son of a Zairian international, and Claude Makelele, born in Kinshasa, are both part of this tradition, having anchored the Les Bleus midfield to great acclaim. Recently, it has been Steve Mandanda, also born in the Congolese capital, who has excelled for Laurent Blanc's side.
Were misfortune to befall Hugo Lloris this summer, French fans should be confident that their Congolese backup – nicknamed 'Frenchie' by his family – would provide a more than adequate replacement.
Did you know: Mandanda is one of four brothers, all of whom ply their trade as goalkeepers – Parfait, of Belgian club Sporting Charleroi, has represented DR Congo as a full international.
While France has a long and storied history of incorporating players from former colonies into its national side, many of the nations on show this summer do not. The Czech Republic, having no overseas territories, has no history of being represented by players of African descent. That will change this summer, as Theodor Gebre Selassie takes his place in the defence.
The son of an Ethiopian father, Gebre Selassie is a relatively new face to a transitional Czech side. Still playing in the domestic league for Slovan Liberec, he is an unknown quantity to the wider European public.
Did you know: Gebre Selassie's sister Anna is also a Czech international, representing the nation at handball.
Versatile defender Ogbonna is another newcomer to the international stage. Like Gebre Selassie, however, he appears to have taken to it with ease, and will be relishing the prospect of international competition with Italy. Born in Cassino, to Nigerian parents, the imposing centre back has come through the ranks with Torino, contributing to the side's promotion from Serie B this past season.
Ogbonna is an international novice having been capped only a handful of times, and would probably just have been happy to have made the squad a week or two ago. However, with regular left-back Domenico Criscito being forced to withdraw while under investigation for match-fixing, the Torino man may well find himself thrust into the starting line-up sooner than expected.
Did you know: Ogbonna had a brush with death in December 2008 after losing control of his car and driving off a bridge into the Sangone River.
While it is Kevin-Prince Boateng who is more familiar to African audiences, it is the younger Boateng, Jerome, who will be flying the family flag in Poland and Ukraine this summer. Born in Berlin, to a Ghanaian father, the two brothers had conflicting international loyalties; Kevin-Prince preferring to represent Ghana – the country for whom his uncle Robert had also played, with Jerome opting for Germany – for whom the two had excelled at youth level.
The pair famously fell out in 2010, after Kevin-Prince's tackle in the FA Cup final ruled then Germany captain Michael Ballack out of the World Cup in South Africa. Kevin-Prince caught the eye in that tournament, helping to guide Ghana to the quarter-finals, but has since retired from the Black Stars set-up, leaving Jerome as the only brother standing on the international stage.
Did you know: Despite immersing himself in the Bavarian lifestyle at Bayern, even going as far as learning the regional dialect, Jerome is strictly teetotal, meaning he has been unable to sample any of Munich's famed local beers.
Unlike some of the other names in this list, Patrice Evra is by no means a newcomer to international football, and is a name recognised worldwide as a top-class competitor. A Champions League and Premier League winner with Manchester United, as well as an established international with Les Bleus, having made his debut in August 2004, Evra is often cited as the classic example of a modern full-back.
Evra was born in Dakar to a Senegalese diplomat of Guinean descent and a Cape Verdean mother. This summer is potentially Evra's swansong at international level, and the player will be keen to excel in the blue shirt and erase memories of South Africa two years ago.
Did you know: He has been heavily criticised within Senegal for choosing to play for France over the nation of his birth.
Portugal are many people's dark horses for the tournament; despite a tough first-round draw the Portuguese boast an exciting roster of players and a first eleven filled with menace. As is often the way for the national side, it is in the wide areas that the stardust can be found: continuing the tradition of Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo, now it is Nani's time to cement his place among Portugal's revered wide men.
Born in Praia, Cape Verde, Nani moved to Lisbon at an early age. His ability to strike with both feet and to produce the unexpected will comfort Portuguese boss Paulo Bento.
Did you know: He honed his craft playing in the streets with old friend and Portuguese colleague, Manuel Fernandes.
Born in Toulouse to an Angolan father and a French mother, Blaise Matuidi grew up idolising former Super Eagles midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha. Enchanted by his shimmies and his shakes, Matuidi dreamed of one day replicating the mesmerising ballet of his hero in the elegant blue of Paris Saint-Germain.
If you arrive in Paris looking for the new Okocha though, you may be disappointed. Instead, Matuidi predominantly supports the side's more flamboyant players from the base of the midfield, energetically breaking up the play with his boundless stamina and fierce tackling. His performances recall those of his predecessor in Paris, another son of Africa, the great Claude Makelele.
Did you know: While Matuidi has made the squad for Euro 2012, his club captain, the French-Senegalese defender Mamadou Sakho, failed to make the cut.
Mesut Ozil, the star of the team, is of Turkish descent, while Sami Khedira, his midfield partner for both country and at Real Madrid, is of African heritage. Born in Stuttgart to a German mother and a Tunisian father, Khedira has become the heartbeat of die Mannschaft. So impressive in the 2010 World Cup, where he bagged the winning goal against Uruguay in the third-place play-off, Khedira has already chalked up half a century of appearances in Madrid under Jose Mourinho.
Did you know: German/Nigerian full-back Dennis Aogo has had a promising start to his Germany career, but unfortunately failed to make the cut for the Euro squad.
Hatem Ben Arfa's ascent from France's breeding ground at Clairefontaine has been a laborious road. Once touted as the jewel of the French football system, Ben Arfa's progress has been stymied by ill-disciple and injury. Incidents at Clairefontaine, and later in Marseille, cemented his reputation as l'enfant terribleof French football. A fresh start in England, with Newcastle, was devastated by a double leg break in early October 2010, and it seemed then that Ben Arfa was destined never to realise his potential for Les Bleus.
This season, however, things have taken a brighter turn for the precocious talent from Clamart. Ben Arfa's rehabilitation was a long and arduous process, but the time and effort taken have reaped great rewards – with Alan Pardew's Magpies flying high, Ben Arfa has produced performances worthy of his billing, the sparkling genius in a Newcastle attacking line awash with Francophone talent.
Performances this season, particularly those against Blackburn and Bolton, both accompanied by incredible goals, have cemented Ben Arfa's place within the France squad.
Did you know: Ben Arfa could have chosen to represent Tunisia at international level.
In March 2011 Danny Welbeck made his debut for England at Wembley, against Ghana. Unusually for an international contest, Welbeck was booed by the away fans as he made his entrance on 81 minutes. This expression of Ghanaian discontent is understood in the context of Welbeck's upbringing – the Manchester United forward is the son of Ghanaian parents.
Many Ghanaians were disappointed at his choice to play for the Three Lions after Black Stars officials had scouted him since 2008, and others scoffed at his decision: "Why play a bit part role for England, when he could have been a star in Ghana?"
Did you know: Welbeck's full name is Daniel Nii Tackie Mensah Welbeck.
To close, one needs to consider Mario Balotelli – the high profile striker who is likely to lead the line for Italy this summer. Balotelli is acutely aware of the tremors and tumult that accompanies integration into European communities for African immigrant families. In that sense, he is in many ways the perfect person to close this list – drawing together his heritage, as well as his current place as the figurehead for one of Europe's leading international sides.
While Italian fans are hoping that the only headlines Balotelli writes concern on-field successes, observers should expect a vocal and often strident spokesman. The players on this list will certainly be conscious of Balotelli's negative premonitions concerning racism in Ukraine ahead of the tournament, having threatened to walk off, or worse, if he encounters abuse. Super Mario has the potential to emerge as the star of the competition, and the brightest African involved.
Did you know: In 2007 Balotelli was called up for Ghana by then coach Claude Le Roy, but he refused, insisting that he was holding out for the invitation from Italy.
Follow Ed Dove on


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BOSTON - It is the same locker room they were in last spring, the same sports crazy city that's intimidating for any opponent, regardless of the sport.
It is the same visiting crease that saw the Maple Leafs suffer their epic Game 7 collapse and the same big, bad Bruins, who intend to make you pay a physical price with every shift.
But two thing that weren't here last May had a huge presence Tuesday night at the TD Garden to help send the Leafs to an emotionally invigorating 4-3 win over their pesky nemesis.
It didn't come easy and it didn't come without some terrifying deja vu moments in the third period. But a pair of goals from Tyler Bozak — who was injured in the infamous Game 7 collapse — and some steady play from Jonathan Bernier — not yet a Leaf in the playoffs — assured their wouldn't be a total collapse.


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There's that leaf hopper tea "je ne sais quoi" again!
Thanks to Stacy for including this one as a sample. I smell and taste that same essence I encountered in the Gui Fei Oolong and the Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black. I like it best in this tea, though. It's a more mild version of that special flavor, and otherwise the tea is very smooooooth. Of the three, this is the one I am most likely to buy again!
Update: 2nd steeping was "meh". Not much flavor of any kind. Next time I will try a longer 2nd steeping since at least one previous reviewer had a good result on a 2nd steeping.


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The eqn2graph and pic2graph scripts in groff 1.18.1 allow local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on temporary files.
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There's nothing like a bull market to cast portfolio rebalancing in a bad light. Rebalancing, of course, is the periodic buying and selling of investments within a portfolio for the purpose of restoring its original allocation. Since uncorrelated asset classes perform differently as economic conditions change, portfolios naturally drift from their initial weightings. In the unprecedented equity market run-up of the last decade, the winners just kept on winning. The idea of taking profits from stocks to increase one's positions in the fixed-income or real estate markets seemed like taking from the rich to give to the poor. Hopping from the fast track to the slow lane produced no apparent benefits; in fact, it decreased returns. And who wants to do that?
Now that the days of easy money for growth investors have faded, however, portfolio rebalancing doesn't look like such a bad idea after all. Let's take a closer at this important investment management process.
That Was Then
There's no question that non-rebalanced portfolios have outperformed in the last ten years. It's easy to see why: As equities have steadily risen throughout the bull market, a portfolio with an ever-increasing allocation to stocks could not help but outpace a portfolio rebalanced on a regular basis.
For example, suppose that a diligent investment advisor set an initial allocation of 60% stocks and 40% bonds for a client in 1995. By the end of 2000, the steadily increasing valuation of equities would have shifted the client's original allocation to nearly 80% stocks.
Because the non-rebalanced portfolio had a larger exposure to equities, the total return for the portfolio for the six-year period would be higher than for the portfolio that was rebalanced annually. But the amount of excess return--about 60 basis points (or 0.60%) per year--would come at a big price: The unbalanced portfolio experienced more than 20% more volatility. The bottom line: the Sharpe ratio of the rebalanced portfolio (which measures the risk-adjusted return of an investment) is more than 15% higher than for the non-rebalanced portfolio (see graph, page 90).
Even in the most extreme market cycle--in this instance, the highest five-year return for stocks ever recorded--a rebalanced portfolio garners a much higher risk-adjusted return than its non-rebalanced brethren. If that is the case during extreme examples, more normal market conditions must favor rebalancing even more.
"With the increased volatility of the markets during the last 12 months, we have certainly paid more attention to rebalancing," says Bill Johnson, consulting director of CapTrust Financial Advisors in West Palm Beach, Florida. "Instead of quarterly or semiannual reviews, we are monitoring client allocations on an almost continual basis."
Rebalancing also becomes more important if aggressive mutual fund managers are a part of the investment mix. "It is not unusual for a momentum-type fund to gain or lose 20% in one month. In that instance, it does not take long for portfolio realignment to become a necessity," says Johnson.
The Rebalancing Bonus
How can rebalancing be so beneficial to the investment process? According to Ronald Kahn, a managing director of Barclays Global Investors in San Francisco, the technique captures the tendency of capital markets to revert to the mean over long periods of time. "Rebalancing involves selling what has outperformed, and buying more of things that have lagged," says Kahn. "Markets have a tendency to outperform after a few years in the cellar, and this extra gain is captured through periodic rebalancing."
This "buy low, sell high" effect is often referred to as the rebalancing bonus. The size of this bonus is dependent on a number of factors. In general, portfolios with highly volatile but uncorrelated assets have the most to gain from regular rebalancing. According to William Bernstein, an investment advisor and publisher of the online journal Efficient Frontier (www.efficientfrontier.com), an annually rebalanced mix consisting of emerging market equity indices produces an excess return of 5.7% per annum compared to a passive, non-rebalanced portfolio. Even after adjusting for transaction costs and taxes, rebalancing still pays off big. As a result, Bernstein recommends buying emerging market funds that rebalance their country exposures regularly, as opposed to capitalization-weighted international index funds.
Another area where rebalancing seems to pay off is U.S. small-capitalization stocks. The low correlation of these stocks and their high volatility make them perfect candidates for generating a rebalancing premium. This extra return largely explains the enhanced value of active management versus an indexed strategy in the small-cap universe, which is one of the few areas where indexed investments have lagged over long periods of time (see sidebar on right).
But not all are convinced that rebalancing can create the same degree of real-world gains that it seems to generate on paper. "Rebalancing is not a new concept," says Rob Reiner, managing director of international equities at Deutsche Asset Management. "Rebalancing can reduce risk by avoiding portfolio concentration in a few big positions. But that does not necessarily mean that there is a strong tendency for mean reversion in the capital markets. The markets are too efficient to exhibit that type of simple price movement."
In Reiner's view, advisors who rely on rebalancing are too focused on performance relative to indexed benchmarks. "Alternatively, international managers that are intent on delivering good absolute performance will concentrate on other ways to generate return, such as stock selection and the prudent management of currency risk."
Even so, Reiner admits that it is hard to completely ignore the concept. "We tend to trim down positions that have grown due to appreciation, and add to stocks that have suffered." Vijay Chopra, the director of research, echoes Reiner's viewpoint. "Our ability to reduce positions in stocks as the share price goes higher is really a byproduct of our sell discipline, which puts target prices on all positions."
This view nearly puts rebalancing on par with active management. But just because cap-weighted indices are not rebalanced does not mean that rebalancing is not a good complement to passive management also.
In the Zone
Rebalancing has even received a fair bit of attention from academia. Most of the research on the subject recommends using "no-trade zones" around a client's asset allocation targets, and only rebalancing when those targets are exceeded.
A recent paper by Hayne Leland of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley (http://econ-wpa.wustl.edu/eprints/fin/papers/9610/9610004.abs) is a case in point. Leland suggests that, for a 1.5:1 stock-bond ratio (i.e., a 60% stock /40% fixed-income asset weighting), no readjustment should be made when the stock-bond ratio remains between 1.44 and 1.56. If the ratio moves above this range--say, to 1.58--then trading should take place to restore the ratio only to the upper band (1.56). In this approach, transaction costs and "tracking error" (the difference between the actual return and the return of a perfectly weighted portfolio) are minimized.
Barclay's Kahn is a big fan of no-trade zones. "Most of the time, the portfolio naturally drifts back in the direction of the target allocation," he says. "Using these zones can significantly reduce both transaction costs and realized capital gains."
Johnson also favors no-trade zones, but for a different reason. "There are occasions when a fund manager is shooting the lights out, and if it is due to an intermediate or long term economic change, the last thing you want to do is take money away from him. No-trade zones give these investments room to run," he says.
There is a more practical reason why a gradual approach makes sense. As clients get older and their retirement savings grow, their objectives naturally change over time. Acknowledging that individual portfolios should slowly migrate toward a more conservative posture is an important element in a long-term rebalancing program.
The Price Tag
Like any investment decision, rebalancing isn't a free lunch. While smart rebalancing can enhance returns while reducing risk, an ill-conceived rebalancing plan can cost a great deal.
|Rebalancing and Index Funds
Since the vast majority of passive investment products are based on capitalization-weighted indices, these funds are never rebalanced. As a result, they tend to be increasingly dependent on a few relatively large-cap stocks for performance. The S&P 500 index is a case in point; after five years of big gains, about one-half of the index's value is concentrated in the largest fifty stocks.
Pricier alternatives to index funds are structured offerings that rebalance their portfolios in an effort to minimize this concentration effect. DFA Emerging Markets Fund (DFEMX), for example, equally weights to 11 countries contained in the Morgan Stanley Europe, Asia, and Far East Index (EAFE).
Is the DFA fund worth the extra 1% fee over passively managed funds like the Vanguard Emerging Markets Index Fund? It has been in the past. Since 1995, the DFA fund has beaten the EAFE emerging markets index by about 3% per annum after fees.
But don't expect the same type of superior return with a rebalanced large-cap fund. Since such stocks have relatively low volatility and the correlation within the large-cap universe tends to be high, rebalancing costs outweigh the benefits. Investors are usually better off with exchange-traded funds or low-cost open-end funds like the Vanguard 500 Index Trust (VFINX).
The best bet for constructing a portfolio that can benefit from rebalancing is to include asset classes that benefit from a variety of economic conditions. Diversifying among the growth/value and large-cap/small-cap categories makes sense, as does adding non-correlated investments such as managed futures and high-yield debt to the mix.
Critics of rebalancing cite increased capital gains and the transaction costs incurred by shifting assets around as drawbacks to the process. Others tend to avoid rebalancing because of a distaste for pulling back on winners in order to finance laggards. For these reasons, many planners tend to revisit allocations only when things get severely out of whack. But by not doing so, these advisors miss out on the golden opportunity to sit down with their clients on a regular basis to review what has worked and what hasn't.
A large part of rebalancing is just good common sense. Mark Dillon, a financial planner and investment advisor with Park Meridian Bank in Charlotte, North Carolina, lets tax law dictate a large part of the rebalancing process. "Although I have quarterly meetings with all clients, we usually rebalance once a year. Most of this process is dictated by taking capital losses to offset gains. Last year is a case in point. We were very busy realizing losses to offset capital gains, as the market sell-off forced many mutual fund managers to take gains on their positions.
"We have also found that it is much better not to reinvest capital gains or dividends on mutual funds. By doing this, there is ample cash at year-end to pay capital gains taxes, and any remaining cash can be used for rebalancing. And by not reinvesting, it's much easier to keep up with the cost basis on mutual fund shares."
Indeed, wrapping the concept of rebalancing around tax-loss selling goes a long way in minimizing the impact of realizing gains and incurring additional transaction costs. In planning for tax-loss selling, there are a few rules to keep in mind. Probably the most important caveat is that there is a difference between short-term losses (i.e., those generated in less than 12 months) and long-term losses (those associated with a one year or greater holding period. The IRS requires that short-term gains must first be used to offset long-term profits, and only to the extent that they exceed the long-term gains can they be used to offset short-term gains.
A Step Further: Reallocating
Some investment advisors do not stick with fixed allocations. Citing the need to respond to changing economic conditions, they do not merely rebalance--they reallocate their client portfolios in response to changing macroeconomic conditions.
"In many cases, calendar-based rebalancing does not give you much bang for your buck," says Louis Llanes, president of Blythe Lane AssetManagement, a Denver-based money management firm. "Take Japan, for example. If a planner took money out of winning positions and increased his allocation to Japan, over the last several years he would have done nothing but throw good money after bad."
Instead of periodic rebalancing, Llanes is fond of tactical asset reallocation. "We change our investment weightings for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is prompted by volatility increases in certain markets. Other times, it's due to changes in monetary policies, either domestically or abroad."
Kahn takes a similar view, but only when economic conditions change. "Advisors need to ask themselves if they have new information that justifies a strategic shift in investment policy. If not, it is probably better to leave things the way they are."
Such a take on asset allocation seems to fly in the face of market efficiency. But according to CapTrust's Johnson, the very fact that markets are not predictable gives credence to reallocating. "Take a fund manager who, after years of 20% returns, suddenly gains 50%. I would argue that because of efficient markets, this type of outperformance is not sustainable. From that standpoint, it certainly makes sense to reallocate some of the manager's profits to other investments."
Johnson says that his strategy worked like a charm last year. "We consistently took profits from our growth and momentum managers through the big run-up in the summer. By the fourth quarter, we were down to a minimal allocation to tech, and had large positions with value funds. This made a huge positive impact on our client returns."


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(L-R) Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Andre Carson, Chairman Emanuel Cleaver II, Rep. Donna Christensen, Rep. Yvette Clarke
Washington, DC – Recently, the Congressional Black Caucus met with the United States Attorney General, Eric Holder–the first African American to ever serve in this prestigious role. They discussed a myriad of issues including juvenile justice, federal contracting for minority businesses, new state voting laws, and the impact of draconian budget cuts on the Justice Department. Attorney General Holder discussed his ongoing commitment to preservation of civil rights and the accomplishments of the Department of Justice including efforts in crack-cocaine sentencing disparities, fair lending and housing, and juvenile justice. Members of the CBC reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the relationship with the Attorney General and agreed to continue the dialogue on key issues impacting the country's most vulnerable.


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So many patients who are suffering from terminal illnesses like hemophilia, thalassemia, leukemia etc. need regular blood transfusion to stay alive. Blood Donation Day is your chance to help them. But, first lets break down some myths.
Myths Versus Facts About Blood Donation:
Myth 1: Blood donation makes you weak.
Fact: If you are a normal healthy individual who can do all the daily activities like walking, going to office, bathing, cooking etc. then donating blood will not make you weak.
Myth 2: You need to rest for a long time after donating blood.
Fact: If you are in proper health condition, i.e. you do not have low blood pressure or anemia, then you need not rest for more than half an hour. In fact you can go back to work straight away after doing your duty on blood donation day.
Myth 3: Blood donation hurts like hell! Have you seen the needles!
Fact: It hurts just as much as it hurts to give blood for a blood test. It is just the needle pricking and coming out that hurts. There might be a bit of soreness as the needle will be lodged in your arm for a while. But, it shouldn't last for more than a day.
Myth 4: Blood donation camps are breeding grounds for HIV.
Fact: That is total misnomer. The organisation holding the blood donation camp would obviously use fresh needles. If you are scared, you can buy your own needle and have it sterilized.
Myth 5: The blood that is donated is 'lost' from the body. In other words, you will be short of blood if you donate it!
Fact: This is a ridiculous and an uneducated belief. The body starts producing blood instantly. so it does not take more than a few hours to replace the amount of blood donated by you. As far as iron is concerned, you can easily regain all the iron with a healthy diet. So, there is going to be no shortage of blood for you.
Myth 6: Sports persons should not donate blood because it will affect their performance.
Fact: This is another misnomer. People who play sports have much higher level of fitness than normal people. They also eat much healthier by virtue of their profession. So, there is no reason for them to fear blood donation.
Myth 7: Women should not donate blood because they have less blood.
Fact: It is a fact that women have lower hemoglobin levels than men. But, if you have the normal amount of hemoglobin that women are supposed to have, then you are totally healthy and free to donate blood.
After breaking these myths, would you be ready to donate blood on Blood Donation day?


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Macroeconomic Model of Transition Economy: A stochastic Calculus Approach
An integrated stochastic macroeconomic model of transition economy at the early stage of reforms with optimising representative risk averse agents is constructed. The equilibrium growth rate of the economy,real asset returns, domestic money demand, and expected inflation rate are determined as functions of the exogenous risks in the economy. The main issue addressed are: domestic money demand, currency substitutution ratio, expected rate of inflation, real asset returns, the equilibrium growth rate of the economy as well as government ability to control these variables.Analysis of the model finds that the equilibrium growth rate of the economy is not independent on the monetary and fiscal policies but can be affected by the government through its ability to fix the real cost of capital for the firm, expenditure and monetary policy parameters.
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Volume (Year): 4 (2000)
Issue (Month): 2 (Winter)
Pages: 192-219
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| Web page: http://www.ekonomia.ucy.ac.cy/
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The M-Spector AV M12 Cordless Lithium-Ion Multimedia Camera Kit is the next generation of professional inspection technology for Milwaukee Electric Tool. With the addition of picture, audio and video capabilities, professionals can now inspect and document issues, download the information to their computer and send visual confirmation to a customer or supervisor for review. The new M12 M-Spector AV is available with a 17mm digital flexible camera cable (2311-21) for general applications or a 9.5mm analog flexible camera cable (2312-21) for automotive applications.
- 2GB Memory Card (included) records 90 minutes of audio/video or 12,000 photos
- USB Cable for downloading files to a computer
- Integrated microphone and speaker
- Rotate both live and captured images
- 4X zoom, 4X LED brightness control, and auto-shut off
- 3' and 8' extension cables (Recommended maximum extension is 30')
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Power Source Cordless Battery Voltage 12 V Batteries Included Yes Product Type Inspection Camera Specifications No Preorder Date N/A Product Special Message N/A
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The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops over the bishops' ethical guidelines for Catholic hospitals, the Associated Press reported.
The suit, filed last Friday, claims the guidelines — which prohibit abortion, contraception, sterilization, and some infertility therapies — were responsible for negligent treatment of a Michigan woman whose child died hours after birth. Because of the religious directives, the suit alleges, the woman was not told that her pregnancy posed grave risks to her health and that her child was not likely to survive.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Michigan, is over the treatment in 2010 of a woman who was 18 weeks pregnant when her water broke, and she went to the nearest hospital, Mercy Health Muskegon. The ACLU alleges that because of the ethical directives the woman was never told during several emergency visits that "the safest treatment option was to induce labor and terminate the pregnancy." The pathology report found the woman had infections that could result in infertility and other damage, the ACLU says. The baby later died within three hours of birth.
"It's not just about one woman," said Kary Moss, executive director of the Michigan ACLU. "It's about a nationwide policy created by non-medical professionals putting patients in harm's way."
Neither Mercy Health Muskegon nor its corporate parent, Trinity Health in Livonia, would comment Monday, the AP reported. Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the bishops conference in Washington, said the conference had not been officially notified of the suit and couldn't comment until it received the complaint.
While roughly 13 percent of all hospitals in the United States are Catholic, a number of mergers between Catholic and lay hospitals in recent years have sparked controversies over the extent to which the merged institutions retain a Catholic identity and the range of reproductive services they offer. Trinity Health and Catholic Health East completed a merger earlier this year of more than 80 hospitals in 21 states, the AP reported. The ACLU and other organizations claim the mergers have resulted in a shrinking access of women to abortion and other medical procedures that the Catholic Church opposes.
The suit is likely to raise issues similar to those still being litigated over the Department of Health and Human Services mandate under ObamaCare, requiring employers at institutions other than houses of worship to include abortifacient and contraceptive services in healthcare coverage for their employees. While supporters of the mandate claim it falls within a woman's legal right of access to abortion and other reproductive services, opponents argue it is the right of employers to refrain from offering coverage for medical procedures that violate their moral or religious beliefs. The Conference of Catholic Bishops is among the organizations that have filed suit over the mandate as it applies to religious-affiliated institutions, claiming it violates the rights of conscience and the freedom of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Robin Fretwell Wilson, a University of Illinois professor who specializes in family and health law, told the AP that the negligence claim the ACLU filed against the bishops would require a court to find that the conference has some direct control over the hospital. The bishops exercise a moral authority over Catholic hospitals but are not involved in case-by-case decisions or the administration of the facilities.


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|October 12, 2013, 04:37 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: February 12, 2013
Posts: 575
.303 British extraction problem with handloads
The cases are neck-sized (Lee Loader) Prvi Partizan with WLR primers. The load is a minimum charge of Varget (weighed out) as advised in the Lee Loader insert chart, over a 174gn Hornady FMJBT, seated to the Cannelure.
Before starting, I had fired 28 minimum loads with similar features, except 150gn Hornady SP's, likewise seated to cannelure. I then started on the 174's.
At about the 10th round into the string of 19, I started getting failures to extract. No sticky bolt lift, no hard tugging, the bolt just came straight back and the cartridge stayed in the chamber. Passing a clearing rod down the barrel got them out with practically zero effort. The primers looked fine. After each one of these, it would load, fire, extract a few more without an issue and then the problem would repeat itself. Reclosing the bolt on the empty case and attempting re-extraction did not solve the problem.
Suggested causes:
1) Extractor is stuffed (most of these cases have seen three or four reloads already).
2) Brass is stuffed & extractor is not binding.
3) Chamber is overheated and binding on the brass; extractor claw is slipping off.
I understand from speaking to the gunsmith who built the rifle that the barrel was "donated" from a P14 and then fitted in some Frankenstein fashion to the Lithgow SMLE receiver. I shot 40 rounds from it a couple of weeks ago without a hassle, though there was quite a bit of time between shots on that occasion. Looking at the fired primers and judging from the rounds that extracted and ejected cleanly (no sticky bolt lift, extraction smooth and effortless when it worked), I do not think I have pressure problems.
Maybe it's time to just invest in a huge quantity of new unfired .303 Brit brass and take the hammer to all this stuff?
|October 12, 2013, 11:00 PM
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Join Date: September 28, 2013
Posts: 1,840
Check the extractor claw. Make sure it has proper spring-out and positive engagement angle. It doesn't hurt to take a looksee at the casing's rims either. Make sure they are worn. They rarely are.
I just let go of a batch of PPU .303 brass. They started to have head separations after some 20 firings. Never have extraction problem. None of the rims were worn.
|October 13, 2013, 02:38 AM
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Join Date: October 1, 2013
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 110
Good advise , I also load for .303 but use projectiles from the 7.62x39 ( 123gr .311) I bought 5,000 of these for 5 cents each some years ago, when my sons were 13 & 11 yrs old respectively. Their grandfather had gifted them 2 Longbranch No4 mk1 rifles, still in their original grease & I worked up a load that gave the equivalent recoil of a .243. This proved so effective on goats, pigs & deer that I have never changed the load. They have since grown up & brought their own modern rifles but I still load & use the .303 to this day.
After hollow pointing these, I get a 119gr hpbt doing 2650fps.
|October 13, 2013, 07:45 AM
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Join Date: September 27, 2004
Posts: 4,811
99% of the time its the extractor spring is either weak, broken or "bunged up" with crud.
Because it started suddenly I'm thinking a broken extractor spring.
Allan Quatermain: "Automatic rifles. Who in God's name has automatic rifles"?
Elderly Hunter: "That's dashed unsporting. Probably Belgium."
|October 13, 2013, 04:41 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: February 12, 2013
Posts: 575
Thanks for the input, all.
Got a chance to go out to the range again today and run 20 rounds through the rifle. I now suspect it may have been due to a feed issue when the magazine was close to capacity, with the extractor not riding over the rims and picking them up properly - today, ten single-loaded rounds fed, fired and extracted perfectly; two lots of five loaded from the magazine, likewise.
I was a bad boy and did no cleaning last night, so any "crud" from yesterday was still there today.
Because I never expect to need more than five in the magazine, I'm going to let things sit as they are unless the problem repeats itself. If something were permanently broken, I'd have expected to get the same problem at least once in the box I shot today, but no; nothing bad happened.
|October 13, 2013, 07:40 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: February 2, 2010
Posts: 5,282
I'm not all that familiar with the Brit Enfield BUT, if the round chambers and fires, how does the extractor not engage the rim?
|October 14, 2013, 08:32 AM
Senior Member
Join Date: September 27, 2004
Posts: 4,811
Another possibility is the spring might snap over the rim, but have a lack of tension on the claw to keep it engaged during primary extraction.
Allan Quatermain: "Automatic rifles. Who in God's name has automatic rifles"?
Elderly Hunter: "That's dashed unsporting. Probably Belgium."
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text: How does one respond in love when you're angry with your spouse? Usually it requires calling a "time out" on yourself. After you calm down a bit, you might say, "I still feel pretty upset. Can we talk about this in an hour or later today?" How do you usually handle anger?


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Are You Ready to Scream? The Hannibal Jaycees Haunted House is Open in October
The Hannibal, Missouri Jaycees are gonna make you scream with fun.
For years now, The Hannibal Jaycees have been making people scream with fear. And some how they keep making the haunted house more haunted and just down right fun.


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Legal Question in Employment Law in Michigan
My job application says I cant work Sundays, however they schedule me to work every Sunday, I cant work Sundays because I go to church. What can I do?
Asked on 11/22/10, 3:19 pm
1 Answer from Attorneys
William Morrison Action Defense Center
If you told your employer you can't work Sundays BEFORE you were hired you may have a unlawful discrimination case.
Answered on 11/27/10, 5:52 pm


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LONG BEACH >> Long Beach teachers may be getting their first pay raise in more than five years.
Last week the Teachers Association of Long Beach voted to accept an agreement with the Long Beach Unified School District for a 3 percent pay raise retroactive to July 1. If the Board of Education approves the agreement, which could happen as soon as Tuesday's board meeting, teachers may see larger paychecks as soon as January, said Virginia Torres, TALB's president.
"I think this is a very fair settlement," Torres said, "and I think now we have a very good start."
TALB represents 3,600 teachers.
In addition to the pay raise, Torres said the tentative contract also takes steps to include teachers in shared decision-making in the district. This school year, a Shared Decision Making Committee will be established. Five members appointed by TALB and five district-appointed members will make up the committee, which will review how decisions are made throughout the district and recommend best practices for the decision-making process.
A Common Core committee made up of district and TALB appointees will also be developed as a result of the agreement. This committee will collaborate on how Common Core standards, a national set of guidelines for English language arts and math instruction LBUSD adopted in 2010, will be implemented.
The tentative new agreement also makes changes to how teachers are evaluated and the amount of time they have to work. Elementary school teachers, for example, will be provided 40 minutes of preparatory time as part of their regular workday on dates designated by the district.
"We're pleased that the bargaining teams have arrived at this tentative agreement," Superintendent Christopher J. Steinhauser said in a statement. "We believe this contract will help us to retain the best and brightest teachers, which is so vital to student success."
On Monday, the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District announced it had reached a tentative agreement with teachers to give them a 3.125 percent salary increase, an ongoing district contribution of $9,800 per employee toward health care costs and an ongoing $600,000 infusion of funds into the Health and Welfare Self Insurance Fund.
Anita Avrick, president of the 33rd District PTA, which includes both LBUSD and NLMUSD, said that a number of the 30 school districts they represent are negotiating new contracts.
"The PTA believes that all school employees are entitled to the benefits of fair employment practices, including due process, optimum working conditions and adequate salaries and benefits," Avrick said in an email to the Press-Telegram. "Locally elected school boards, as representatives of the people, have legal responsibility for decision-making."
While teachers working in local school districts, such as LBUSD and NLMUSD, have negotiated pay raises, teachers in Bellflower Unified School District have been in contract negotiations since July but have failed to come to an agreement.
"The teachers in Bellflower are pleased to see the trend in our surrounding districts that teacher are being compensated," said Colin Davis, president of the Bellflower Teachers Association. "With the BUSD having one of the larger reserves around, the teachers are also hoping to be compensated for the sacrifices we've made over the last seven years."
In October, Bellflower teachers rallied to have pay raises and their other concerns addressed at a Board of Education meeting. Davis said contract negotiations should have been wrapped up last week but because that did not happen, negotiations will begin again in January.
"Seven years ago was the last time we received a raise," Davis said.
Contact Nadra Nittle at 562-499-1291.


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If you've read my Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? review, you may recall that I said that I felt that record was their best. I'd like to say right now that I'm not entirely sure what was going on in my head at the time, but that I can now say that I was wrong. That's not to say that Peace Sells isn't damn good, because it has some killer songs like the title track, "My Last Words", and "Good Mourning/Black Friday", but for all it's quality and charm, it can't beat this sparkly wall-o'-thrash Rust in Peace. This album is one of the most melodic thrash records that I have ever heard, everything scintillating hi-fidelity and most of the riffage emphatically light and blitzkrieging, even the trademark Bay Area crunch bits coming off as nimbler than even their more progressive rivals, although the trade-off being that they seem quite a bit less heavy.
There really aren't many albums out there like this to my ears, just this strangely virtuosic melodic speed, Marty and Dave not necessarily playing more complex than others, but perhaps simply playing more thought-out music at high speeds, because even the shredding when it comes it usually hooked to soaring harmony leads (and when, they cut like knives), Indian flavours, and jazz-based noodling that bust out unpredictably but generally with a modicum of logic. Perhaps my favourite lead on the album comes on "Lucretia", because it's so slow and drawn out despite the speed of the riffery in the background, a good minute and a half of amazing soloing stuffed into a highly underwritten track until the whole thing seems fit to burst like an overheated pizza pop, yet mysteriously stays a whole perfectly. In fact, many of the riffs sound like solos because they're so note-dense and often so lead-based, which just leads to this feeling of a veritable symphony of guitars. Not only that, but on tracks like "Five Magicks" they seem to cram thoughtful solos intro every available space, and with Friedman's touch it works perfectly.
In addition, the band has a secret weapon in Dave Ellefson, because whether or not he's the most technically adept player out there (I wouldn't know) his sound is lovely. The intro to "Poison Was the Cure" is simple, but I just love that warm, full bass line, unhurried and tight as the guitars solo around him slowly build before introducing a great, fast drum and superbusy riff, pointedly showing you kids how to build a mood. Furthermore, when he's given a chance to do a solo spot he's magic, his little "Take No Prisoners" bass run being a beautiful piece of business.
Yea and verily, the songs (and more importantly here, the riffs) are top-notch, each song section virtually independent of the whole, "Hanger 18" lyrical section a brief intro to the shredding solo-fest on the back-half, "Take No Prisoners" exhibiting a shoddy first verse before morphing into a near perfect thrash assault as annoying melodies are exchanged for a short multiple-solo break as segue to a completely different and infinitely superior second verse. It's funny that the sprawling "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due", despite it's abrupt shift at the midway point feels more cohesive than say, "Five Magicks" which rambles off into a half-dozen sections that hit and miss with equal frequency.
"Tornado of Souls" is the only real conventional song on here when all's told, the other candidate "The Dawn Patrol", a highly abbreviated bass with Dave's strange English accent, being so far out of the headspace of any other thrash act, hell metal act, that it becomes worthless to compare it to anything else. There is something about this very strangeness that makes RiP such an enduring album, something more being the sheer riffing genius of the thing of course.
To be fair, I've got some problems with this. The tracks are really underwritten, a verse or two before more breakdowns (I swear they fit Dream Theater's six-minute "Metropolis" break into thirty seconds on some of these tracks), some of the song structures here being more than worthy of getting some more writing time, an example being "Poison Was the Cure" which could've used either another two-verses of equal length or a re-read of the existing ones. There aren't enough choruses here either, the only one with a significant one (outside of "Rust in Peace...Polaris") "Tornado of Souls" having such a great one that it hurts that we only get to hear it twice. Also, there is still some goofiness apparent in the monster voice on "Five Magicks" (seriously, it's like a Steel Attack record or something) and the stupid backing vocals (and ending refrain) on "Take No Prisoners" that make me want to curse the 80's in general (did someone say the disc came out in 1990? Quiet, you). Oh yeah, and "The Dawn Patrol" despite having a truly awesome title, seems rather pointless.
However, despite some issues and reservations I have, or rather because every time I hear something incredible on this record (roughly every five seconds) like the chunked-up version of the main "Holy Wars" riff in the back half of the song or the spiralling descending chorus riff on "Rust in Peace" (seriously, it's such a visual riff that one can almost see the bombs dropping) or any hundred other sporadic, unique, and wonderful nuances, I find it in my heart to forgive them for all of those mistakes.
Stand-Outs: "Lucretia", "Holy Wars…The Punishment Due", "Tornado of Souls"


text:
The architecture enables enterprises to build an open converged network that can easily accommodate new applications, such as voice, while achieving high availability and better levels of security, say company officials.
The two tiers of the new architecture are a Unified Access tier and an Intelligent Core tier. The Intelligent Core runs on the company's BlackDiamond 10K switch. Unified Access Architecture, which now includes a new switching solution, the Aspen 8800 series, runs at the edge of the network.
The new Aspen 8800 series of switches offers 10/100/1000 Power over Ethernet (PoE). It also reduces the number of switching elements and eliminates the middle-tier of a traditional three-tier network. It is designed to allow enterprises to more easily add PoE ports with new blades or power modules, instead of having to add entire new switches.