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Over the past few years, the advent of K-Pop has brought forward a very interesting and intriguing look in the world of styling and fashion. We're talking about Korean men styles, of course!
Slowly but surely, they have made a name for themselves and become the Backstreet Boys and One Direction of the East in terms of trendsetting! Curious to know more? Scroll down to see the full list and hit play at the bottom for a quick recap !
1. The Classic Korean Men Haircut
This is a hairstyle you might have seen around Western college campuses a lot and which young Korean men have adopted as well – whether they are students or not. Complete this Ivy League look with a sweater and glasses.
2. The Simple Korean Men Haircut
Let's start off with a very simple yet modern haircut that Korean men have been adopting. It's a comb over with a side part that has a very slick finish to it, almost with no layers at all. The hair glossing agent is optional.
3. The Epochal Korean Men Haircut
This season, Korean men have been going crazy for epochal haircuts. What does this mean? Every hairstyle you can think of that comes from another age, be it pompadours or bowl haircuts or anything in between that fits the description.
4. The Disconnected Korean Men Haircut
Any disconnected haircut is one in which the lower portion (meaning the hair on your sides and back) is significantly shorter than the hair on top of the head. There must be no fade, otherwise, it's not a disconnect anymore.
5. The 90s Heartthrob Haircut
Continuing on the above, there is no way Korean men – being as stylish and outgoing as they are – could have missed out on the chance to wear one of the greatest hairstyles of all time, the famous heartthrob haircut of the 90s.
6. Blonde Korean Men Hairstyle
Since blonde, especially extreme shades of blonde shades, has been the color of 2019, you cannot possibly miss out on the chance to try it out for yourself. If you don't like it, you can always cover it up easily enough.
7. Dark Gray Korean Men Hairstyle
It's a known fact that Korean men like to experiment with their looks probably more than both European and American guys combined. The hair color is just one way of doing that. Take this dark gray shade as an example of how you can complement the eyes.
8. Burnt Orange Korean Hairstyle
Another hair color you can try is this burnt orange shade. We recommend leaving it in the hands of a stylist though, as it is quite difficult to obtain at home – depending on the base color, it might also require bleaching.
9. Pink Korean Hairstyle
Nothing says fun and creativity quite like pink hair, even among guys and especially among Asian men. This is the classic 90s Hugh Grant haircut but in orchid pink and coupled with a Tinkerbell sweater!
10. The Layered Korean Men Haircut
Nonetheless, if you prefer something a bit more demure, try this layered and boyish haircut that helps add volume and texture even to fine hair. The feathery bangs and long sides also give it a teenage kick that's hard to beat.
11. The Frizzy Korean Men Haircut
If you weren't already convinced that we're going through a full 90s revival, maybe this will set matters straight. It's a bottle blonde, medium, blowout haircut that has been deliberately frizzed out and curled a little and which comes straight out of the last decade of the second millenium.


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Since selling my John Wood pre/power combo I have been trying to find a pre amp that delivers on every front but doesnt cost an arm and a leg. Its a challenge, especially when it needs to drive a pro-audio equaliser with a 10k input.
Right now I have;
DCB1 turbo
looks great and sounds fantastic. Smooth with loads and loads of detail. but I am maximing out the volume. I need more gain.
Philips Back Tulip AH380
dates from 1979, drives the equaliser with ease and has loads of gain. This sounds really dynamic, loads of PRAT. The detail is there too but compared with the DCB1 its a tad grainy and coarse. Toying with some cap upgrades which I am told will help - but I am not sure it will get to the smoothness of the DCB1
Toft LBPA5
rare as hens teeth, made by the legendary Malcom Toft, once the CD is padded down this is somewhere between the above 2 and in many ways a good step in the right direction but in direct comparisons the sound has slighly less body and details plus a mild shrillness on some tracks.
In the past I have tried a range of valve pre-amps but from memory they seemed to gloss over the detail, create a nice sound but having listened to the above I want to hear the detail too.
I am guessing that I could probable get close to £1500 if I sold all three of the above pre amps but I like them all in their own individual ways so am thinking is there another way?
I need to marry detail, clarity, PRAT and warmth for under £500, best of all worlds means cheap too
- stand alone 10-20db gain stage for the DCB1 that will drive a 10k load?
- a different pre - chinese, vintage, other?

subset: commoncrawl


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All the Best News and Articles
Article Writing
7 Mistakes to Avoid When Going Through a Divorce
Published: 18th June 2015
Views: N/A
Failing to Understand the Legal Aspects of Divorce
Unless you're a law student, there's really very little chance that you understand the legal aspects of divorce at all. This doesn't mean you should just leave everything to your lawyer, however. As much as possible, try to research about the subject on your own and find out what your rights are, what things you need to consider, and what other things you need to expect as soon as the legal process starts.
Treating the Entire Process as a Contest
It's really easy to get carried away by your emotions and treat the Courtroom as a battleground where your ultimate prize at the end are your kids and the properties you believe you have the right to. Believing that your spouse is your enemy and that you have to hurt him or her is wrong, however. As much as possible, you would want the entire process to end with you and your ex-spouse having a good environment to raise your kids.
Lying in Court
If there is one mistake you can commit that has the potential to make you lose everything, it's lying and cheating in court. The thing about being lying is that one untruthful comment can make everything you said or will say can be considered null once the court finds out you're not telling the truth. Aside from that, the court may even favor your ex-spouse thinking everything you will further say will just be a lie.
Not Keeping a Journal
Even the tiny details are important in a highly-contested family law case, which is why keeping a journal is very crucial. You may or may not be able to use it, but keeping record of events significant to the divorce process may prove to be a good idea later on when you need to remember details and information needed in court.
Not Considering the Mediation Option
Whether your divorce is of a friendly nature or not, having a third party help you and your ex-spouse come up with an agreement before heading for court can be very important. In most cases, it is the quickest way and least expensive way you can reach an agreement together. If everything can be settled through mediation, you and your children will be able to avoid the trauma the legal aspects of divorce can bring.
Selecting the Wrong Family Lawyer
You need to understand that it's possible to go through the divorce process without a lawyer, but if you want everything to be settled quickly with little or no hurdles at all, getting a family lawyer is your only solution. You don't want to end up with just any lawyer, though. It's easy to be tempted to just hire the lawyer who lives down the block or one who's convenient for you, but if you want to win your case, you need a lawyer who's an expert in family law and one with enough experience and high success rate.
Toby King is a legal consultant and associate, working for a prestigious law firm in Sydney. He provides expert advice on corporate and personal legal concerns like property settlements and financial and accounting services. He also recommends you
log on to Clinchlongletherbarrow.com.au
to find out more about the legal aspects of the divorce process.
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Siddhesh Rajadhyaksha
|Promo and PR
|U-BASE experience
|U-Profiel Committee and Media Committee
|Structural Engineering
|Photography, Travelling and Guitar
|Media committee and U-Profiel Committee
This year I will be responsible for all tasks concerning promotion. U-BASE has a lot of events worth joining throughout the year and I will have to make sure our members are fully aware of the upcoming activities. Besides that, my objective is to make sure U-BASE is well-known within the faculty and among companies. In my opinion, U-BASE should be an approachable association where all students feel welcome to join for activities or just have a chat at the BASE. I am looking forward to having a successful year as the 5th board of U-BASE and meeting all of U next year!


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This is an excerpt from The Prince of Transylvania's Court Cookbook
(Hungary, 16th c.)
The original source can be found at MedievalCookery.com
Burbot liver in salt. If you have many burbot fish. If you'd like to make your lord happy, take out the liver, cook it in salt, serve it when hot, then add some horseradish or mustard, if you have none, break some lemon and twist its broths onto it, and if you have no lemon either, then pour some rose or raisin water onto it, and if you lack these as well, then you may use white vinegar.
Home : Recipes : Menus : Search : Books : FAQ : Contact
© Copyright 2020 Medieval Cookery


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Scientific Name
Delphinium barbeyi (Huth) Huth
Common Names
Subalpine Larkspur, Tall Larkspur, Barbey's Larkspur
Delphinium exaltatum var. barbeyi (basionym), Delphinium attentuatum, Delphinium cockerellii, Delphinium exaltatum subsp. barbeyi, Delphinium occidentale var. barbeyi, Delphinium subalpinum
Scientific Classification
Family: Ranunculaceae
Subfamily: Ranunculoideae
Tribe: Delphinieae
Genus: Delphinium
Color: Dark purple-blue
Bloom Time: Summer
Delphinium barbeyi is a long-lived, perennial herb up to 5 feet (1.5 m) tall. The leaves line the stem but disappear from the lowest part of the stem by the time the plant blooms. The leaves are somewhat rounded in outline and are divided into several lobes. The tall inflorescence bears up to 50 flowers at a time, but a plant may produce hundreds of flowers. Each is borne on a pedicel up to 2.4 inches (6 cm) long. The flower has 5 dark purple-blue sepals with whitish or yellowish hairs inside. The fruit is a follicle up to 0.9 inch (2.2 cm) long.
USDA hardiness zone 5b to 7b: from −15 °F (−26.1 °C) to 10 °F (−12.2 °C).
How to Grow and Care
Grow Delphiniums in a sunny area with soil that is consistently moist. Don't let them dry out. Mulch helps retain moisture and keeps roots cool. Performance of this specimen is enhanced when growing Delphinium plants in neutral to slightly alkaline soil pH. Soil should be well-draining.
Care of Delphinium should include regular fertilization in spring when the plant begins to grow, and during the flowering period. Work in well-composted organic material such as rotted cow manure, or use a basic 10-10-10 granular fertilizer. Yellowing foliage or stunted growth often indicates the plant needs more fertilizer.
Sun exposure is another aspect of care of Delphinium that the gardener must get right for the showy blooms to appear. Gentle morning sun is preferable to the Delphiniums, which are picky about extreme differences in temperatures. Provide afternoon shade, especially when planted in hotter zones… – See more at: How to Grow and Care for Delphinium Plants
Native to the interior western United States, where it occurs in the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
- Back to genus Delphinium
- Plantopedia: Browse flowering plants by Scientific Name, Common Name, Genus, Family, USDA Hardiness Zone or Origin


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March 2016 home page
support us
Surprising Seniors
Nancy Fisher | 24th Street
Most residents know that Del Mar is bursting at the seams with support for our seniors, but the Sandpiper decided to do a fun reality check. If money wasn't an issue, we asked, what would be on your no-holds-barred wish list? What would bring you joy or relieve stress? And to get the juices flowing we suggested a range of services from an in-home hair cut or pedicure to a fund that would help pay for a portable defibrillator or supplement dental insurance.
Surprisingly many passed on the in-home pampering, offering that "most of us who can get out to take care of haircuts, etc., enjoy getting out." All were onboard with financial assistance for hearing aids, prosthetic devices, glasses, and defibrillators, as long as it "didn't tread on the toes of Medicare," and also wished for a loaner supply of wheel chairs, canes, and other small medical aids. The Sandpiper spoke with Kim Ramsey of Del Mar Community Connections, and learned that they indeed offer this service, loaning wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and crutches for as long as needed.
Rounding out the list were two wishes - inexpensive delivery of take-out meals, since few restaurants offer it and private delivery service can be costly, and help with downsizing. "I'd love to have someone help me divide my belongings into keep, throw, or decide later."
The touching lesson learned by us is that our seniors mostly just wish they had enough support to continue doing the things they've always loved, as so beautifully expressed by Del Mar's Carol Mason.
"One thing I really miss is giving parties. So in my fantasy a shiny RV, like a candidate's van, pulls up and out tumbles the string quartet, the four course delicious food, my silver miraculously polished, and oh, the great flower arrangements! After a very little hustle and bustle, I find myself listening to my friends' witty provocative conversation at my beautifully appointed table and as my friends laugh and enjoy each other's company, the music of Mozart sings from the balcony. Well, you get the idea. I've been watching too many PBS commercials."
© 2007-2015
Inc. All


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Italian. Acquerello is known for its extensive collection of Italian wines and fine dishes to match, such as sea bass carpaccio with Sicilian olive oil, lemon zest and green onion, or the ridged pasta with foie gras and black truffles. Tender pillows of Swiss chard and ricotta malfatti served with brown butter, sage and shaved Parmigiano are not to be missed. More than one critic has named Acquerllo as one of the best Italian restaurants in the country.Facebook Tweet Linkedin Pinterest Google +
Giancarlo Paterni's Acquerello has stood as San Francisco's single most acclaimed Italian destination restaurant for well over a decade. Rustic refinement is the order of the day; Aqcuerello's dining room is all vaulted ceiling, dramatic floral arrangements, and stained glass. The food is sublime, the service polished, and the wine list deep and well researched.
This is not a place for your flashy Armani suit; the crowd at Acquerello is decidedly conservative, but on the night of our visit, the Charles Schwab types were packing it in for chef Suzette Gresham's acclaimed Italian cookery.
- Excerpt from Acquerello, Country Italian Elegance on Russian Hill by Luke Raimondo


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Intensively silver endumentes plants show their true color when wet.
Here the plant is drinking, in fact. All silver plants use these thricomas to allows them to capture the water from the air.
SDpecial care must be takem when foliar fertilizing them as they really absorb the water and the fertilizer and a bit mot may be too much.
this plant is just recently travelled South to my garden and it is it very firt time blooming but
its flowers will allow me to get true Dyckia goehringii seeds.


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New Mexico Lawmakers are forced to face the Driver's Licence REAL ID issue. Finally!
Published: Journal staff and wire reports Wednesday, January 20th, 2016
SANTA FE — The U.S. Department of Defense says it will no longer accept New Mexico driver's licenses at its installations nationwide.
Defense Department officials announced Wednesday that driver's licenses from New Mexico — along with those from Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri and Washington state — can't be used as proof of identity to enter its bases.
The move comes after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security declined to give New Mexico an extension on complying with tougher rules under the federal REAL ID Act. Those rules require proof of legal U.S. residency in order for state driver's licenses and IDs to be valid for some federal purposes.
Some U.S. Air Force bases previously had said New Mexico licenses still would be accepted, but this new announcement makes it clear all U.S. military bases must stop accepting that form of identification.
Sandia Labs, a Department of Energy installation, as well as DOD sites White Sands Missile Range and Fort Bliss also said this month it would stop accepting New Mexico IDs.
New Mexico lawmakers are set to begin debate Thursday on a REAL ID fix.


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Trying too hard
By Matt Adams on July 23, 2009
Reading Time: < 1 minute This is what trying too hard looks like. the new terrible chevy volt website So clearly Chevy is trying their hand at social media integration. Lets count up all the "apps" shall we. videos facebook link ohh i can create my chevy account a foum a blog photo feed news polls events twitter tweets and…Read more


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Museum Building Contract
Categories: Keith Smith, News
The Firefighter's Historical Preservation Foundation of Missouri (museum) is pleased to announce that a contract was signed with Morton Buildings on January 5, 2019. The first phase of this project and available funding at this time provides for the full size structure as revised and presented at our 2018 Convention. It is fully enclosed, insulated, doors and windows, concrete floor with rough-in utility provisions. Additional funding will be needed to finish all of the interior, display fixtures and related preparation before we can announce a Museum opening date. That time line depends directly on the success and timing of continued fundraising efforts for what we are now calling Phase-II. Additional information follows at the end of this announcement regarding several options on how you can assist. Some at no additional cost to you while making certain purchases. The good news is Phase-I covers a projected 65% of the total project cost. We are well on our way toward an eventual opening date but clearly more fund raising is required.
Preliminary time lines for Phase-I has initial construction beginning in March with a possible completion date of this first phase in mid May. This is providing we have favorable weather, no serious delays with the usual things related to permits and the other construction trades which will need to be involved and scheduled. The Foundation is extremely excited with this project finally moving forward and the honoring of numerous financial commitments. Additionally the realization of a goal in eventually having a combined memorial with an adjacent firefighter's museum. For those of you familiar with the grounds, the building will sit 25 feet to the West of the memorial.
There will be more to follow in the next newsletters on how you can help finish this project. Also be looking for the Foundation table at Winter Fire School and Convention. We would like to talk with you on the current phase of this project and how you may assist in finishing it up.
Fundraising Links:
• smile.amazon.com
• networkforgood.com
• facebook.com/fundraisers


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May 31, 2019
A bill that would grant a path to citizenship for DACA recipients is headed to a House floor vote after a party-line vote in the chamber's Judiciary Committee.
The Dream Act (H.R. 2820) would grant conditional status to the young immigrants known as dreamers, who then could apply to become permanent residents and subsequently U.S. citizens.
Under the bill, the applicant would have to:
Outlook: Despite pressure from the Department of Justice, the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet made a decision whether to take up DACA. The legislation itself faces dismal chances in the Republican-controlled Senate, where nominations and appropriations remain the priority.


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Wonderful staff
Wonderful staff with clean rooms. Great price.
Nice place!
The room was clean, and the staff was helpful and friendly. Nice place.
Good place to stay
Good place to stay. Friendly staff and more updating/remodeling of the rooms!
the people here are very caring
This place is clean and caring it worked with me when I had no where to go…the people here are very caring and loving…i go to the front office all the time and the staff and I have good laughs all day the coffee is always fresh they always have smiles on their face and always try to make your stay feel like home. One of the management gave me a ride to d.c when I had no ride there so I can make it to a family emergency in new york now if that's not caring and great customer service I don't know what is I'm very thankful I found this place and met everyone who works here such great people who keeps this place clean and very safe 5 stars all day if I could 10 plus stars
This place has gone through renovations
This place has gone through renovations, the cook top and large sink were a huge plus at the price point. My one and only complaint was the bed wasn't the most comfortable. But other than that it's a wonderful extended stay place.
Edit: checked in to my second stay here and I have to say it's still The BEST value in town. Staff is great.
service is awesome
Very nice place service is awesome beds are comfortable


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This 1983 Honda Civic wagon is for sale in in St. Louis, Missouri for $25,000 OBO. The car was built by Rutledge Wood and Charles Warren of Mainstream Performance (MP). The car features a 1.8 L B18B1 inline-four from a 1995 Acura Integra LS that makes 140 horsepower with custom MP intake and upgraded headers. The drivetrain consists of an Integra GSR five-speed manual transmission with Driveshaft Shop custom axles sending power to the Enkei 15-inch 92 gold lace wheels with Yokohama 195/50/R15 tires. The interior features Recaro Mk II GTITrophy seats covered in Volkswagen Westfalia Celery Green with plaid accents, GLI Nardi wooden steering wheel, and Momo F1 wooden shift knob. Other interesting upgrades include the wooden roof rack and Coleman cooler battery holder. The air condition does not work and the car come with a mileage exempt Missouri title.
Source: Motoexotica via Hemmings


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I am a stall man. I have nothing against urinals. I will use the urinal if I have to. But if I go into a public restroom and have a choice between a stall or a urinal, the stall will win every time. You have a greater sense of privacy. You can take your time and be a little more relaxed, sometimes your peter needs some time to get comfortable before anything starts flowing. There can be a little performance anxiety at the urinal sometimes, especially when other people are waiting in line. It's kind of weird knowing that other guys are standing around watching and waiting for you to pee. The stall alleviates some of that pressure. Just try not to pee on the seat.
Critically Rated at 12/17
Written, Rated, and Reviewed by Brendan H. Young


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The UK government recently launched a £400m fund to boost investment in "full-fibre" broadband.
The aim is to offer speeds of up to 1Gbps to households and businesses.
Rather than relying on copper cables to connect them to roadside cabinets, fibre-optic cables will run directly to their properties.
The plan, announced by the chancellor in November, has been called "a drop in the ocean" compared with what will be needed to make "full fibre" the norm.
Although many households and organisations do not currently need 1Gbps speeds, the idea is to provide a "future-proof" solution.
The government is tapping private investors to bring the total sum to £1bn, and the money will be managed and invested by two fund managers.
Until now, the UK government's focus has been to deliver "super-fast" broadband speeds - meaning 24Mbps or more. It has pledged that 95% of UK properties will have this by the end of this year and 100% by the end of 2020.
BT's telecoms infrastructure division, Openreach, has said it believes two million premises will have access to "full fibre" by the end of 2020.
But it aims to provide speeds of up to 330Mbps to a further 10 million premises via a copper-based technology known as G.fast by the same date.
Source: www.bbc.com
Sent to us by: Roy W. Nash
A car made from biodegradable natural materials has passed road safety tests in the Netherlands.
TU Ecomotive, a student team from Eindhoven University of Technology, unveiled LINA earlier this year.
The four-seater's lightweight structure is made from sugar beet and flax which takes 20% of the energy used to produce today's aluminium or carbon-fibre based cars.
The university says the concept car will undergo a few final adaptations before being allowed on public roads within the next few weeks.
Source: www.bbc.com
Sent to us by: Roy W. Nash
The relentless march of the self-driving car is in danger of grinding to a halt in Australia because the technology cannot cope with kangaroos.
While other large animals walk, run, trot of lope - kangaroos jump.
This has proved all too much for Volvo. In fact, Volvo has been trying to solve the kangaroo problem for nearly two years, having sent experts to examine them in their natural habitat in 2015.
There are more than 16,000 kangaroo collisions on Australia's roads, which cost the insurance industry just over £44 million.
The company has been working on tweaking its self-braking system to deal with the problem.
Martin Magnusson, Volvo's safety manager said, "Kangaroos are very unpredictable animals and difficult to avoid, but we are confident we can refine our technology to detect them and avoid collisions on the highway."
To that, the kangaroos said, "Yeah, right."
Despite the company's best efforts, Volvo's large animal detection system has yet to crack the problem. Nevertheless, Volvo remains confident that it will have solved the conundrum by the time its self-driving cars are available in 2020.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Sent to us by: Jeff Weston
If you want to play the original version of Doom II, the game will set you back just £1.49 during the current Steam Summer Sale. If you want a boxed copy of the original floppy disk version, circa 1994, there's a copy available on eBay right now for $75.
But if you want Doom II floppy disks that were once owned (and potentially signed) by Doom co-creator John Romero, you'll need to pay over $3,000.
John Romero himself posted "Original DOOM 2 disks / 3.5" floppies / PC" on eBay and promoted the listing via Twitter. The auction drew 84 bids from 31 distinct bidders over three days, ending this morning with a winning bid of $3,150. "I will sign these disks if you like," Romero wrote in the eBay description.
Source: arstechnica.co.uk
Sent to us by: Roy W. Nash
Yet another example of a clever project that makes me feel like I need a 3D printer. This @argon_forty Argon ONE ha… https://t.co/SybEFizDInOpen Tweet
The @elgatogaming #StreamDeck finds a spot on all our sets and let's me control the whole show from one intuitive c… https://t.co/nQAk06U4BuOpen Tweet
Woh: The @top500supercomp world's fastest supercomputer is now @ARM based. https://t.co/OwJan8htRDOpen Tweet
Yes, I'm late to the DJ lighting game. Discovering DMX is truly exciting to me. A little customization with Arduino… https://t.co/x0KmAFHfzxOpen Tweet
La Corriveau of New France, Quebec https://t.co/el0Hu3YtG7Open Tweet


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Art speaks a universal language. It breaks all barriers and touches you in a way like never before. One such form of art that screams out loud without really making a sound, is Graffiti art.
Graffiti's are generally writings or drawings found on walls and they can range from a few words to elaborate paintings or sketches.This vibrant form of expression is considered illicit in many places as it is used to present views on political and social issues. But we consider it as a form of expression!
The weapons of new age graffiti include spray cans and markers."New Age" because graffiti is an ancient art form that has evolved and become the colorful impression the aerosol sprays create today. Surprising isn't it? Yes. Graffiti has been around since time immemorial.
The first form of modern graffiti can be found in the ancient Greek city called Ephesus (Present day Turkey). The symbolism is that of a heart or a palm, a footprint and a number. The folklore has it that these images depict prostitution or a brothel near by. You can find ancient forms of graffiti in the ruins of the ancient roman empire, Saudi Arabia and even Egypt.
These ancient forms of historical depiction carved onto walls and on age old surfaces generally symbolize political inclinations, love declarations, lovers lament and in Pompeii you will be surprised to find latin curses and magic spells too.
Sigiriya in Sri Lanka, has inscriptions and graffitis that date back to the period between the 6th to the 18th century. Yes! That old. If you ever travel to these places, you maybe able to find over 1800 graffiti impressions etched on the walls.
With the dawn rock n roll during the 1960's, a fan in London took to the walls to spray paint the phrase "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. This saw the advent of aerosol spray cans! During the late 1970's, the world saw the rise of hip hop culture. It is said that hip hop culture has had a massive impact on Graffiti works around the world.
Even to this day, these colorful pieces of art has found their space on subways, latrine walls, underside of bridges letting the viewer catch a glimpse of the creator's mind. You can call them rebels or criminals. But for art lovers they are and will be artists!


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Food, Wine & Cooking — biryani
Indian Recipes : FIVE STAR INDIAN RECIPES 1000+ Chef Style Recipes of Indian Food Cuisine
Posted on
Make wonderful Mouthwatering dishes at home and surprise your loved ones, friends and relatives. It is not just a collection of recipes, Five Star Indian Recipes E-book has detailed step-by-step instructions, which actually shows, you how Indian 5 Star
"This e-book is very easy to use and the finished dish came out as good as any Indian restaurant. I have prepared variety of Indian dishes from this, for my family & friends and have received nothing but Praise. "
- Tags: aloo, biryani, indian cooking, Indian cuisine, Indian food, indian recipe, indian recipes, Recipes


text: Delhi air 'severe', only rain could bring relief Jan 13, 2019 0 1118 12345 New Delhi: The air in Delhi-NCR turned 'severe' on Saturday due to calm winds and high humidity, authorities said, adding only rain could improve the situation to some extent. The overall air quality index (AQI) of Delhi at 4 p.m. on Saturday was recorded at 423 (severe), on a scale of 0 to 500. In the National Capital Region, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida also recorded 'severe' levels of particulate matter (PM)2.5. (IANS) Pages 12 RELATED ARTICLES Kerala tops list with 5 out of 10 tourist spots in India Jan 13, 2019 0 350 India rejects Pakistani claim over Chinese mission attack Jan 13, 2019 0 307 Modi makes strong pitch for re-election, takes aim at oppn Jan 13, 2019 0 278 Tripura shutdown cripples life in tribal areas Agartala: A 12-hour shutdown, called by six tribal parties in the tribal areas of Tripura to protest police firing earlier this week injuring six youths agitating against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, crippled .. New SP-BSP alliance increases pressure on India's ruling party AFP Lucknow Two regional parties that were former bitter rivals announced an unlikely alliance Saturday to fight Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist party in a looming general election. The .. Nigeria's chief justice facing assets charges: Code of Conduct Court Abuja: -Nigeria's most senior judge has been charged with failing to declare his assets, the Code of Conduct Tribunal said on Saturday. Tribunal spokesman Ibraheem Al-Hassan said the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter .. Many feared dead after tanker blast in southeast Nigeria Warri: Nigerian police on Saturday said many people were feared dead after a petrol tanker veered off the road, caught fire and exploded as people tried to recover fuel. The vehicle crashed in the Odukpani area of the .. ANC kicks off S Africa poll campaign with vow to restore democracy Durban: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday launched the ANC's campaign for legislative elections in May, acknowledging the party's past mistakes and promising to restore democratic institutions .. Pro-Kabila camp wins DRC legislative poll; recount sought for presidency Kinshasa: Parties supporting outgoing Democratic Republic of Congo president Joseph Kabila won a majority in long-delayed legislative elections, according to a tally of results released Saturday, as the opposition .. 10% upper caste quota bill gets Indian president's nod IANS New Delhi President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday approved a constitutional amendment that provides 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker general category people in education and government jobs. The .. 2019 polls will be fight between democracy, dictatorship: Cong IANS New Delhi The Congress on Saturday said that 2019 general election will be a fight between "dictatorship and democaracy" and between "empty sermons" of the ruling party and its own "impeccable" record of service ..


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One of the most underrated topics in Auto safety is child safety, especially in regard to car seats. Before you even begin to read about safety tips, be sure you are following the two foundational axioms of Car Seat Safety:
- Children are almost always safer when in the back than in the front.
- Children MUST be in a car seat appropriate for their HEIGHT and WEIGHT.
Using a car seat correctly is one of the best ways to prevent injury to your child. However, incorrect usage is very common, and even a minor mistake in how the seat is used can translate to serious injury in the event of an accident.
(List courtesy of the insurance information institute)
- Never put an infant in the front seat of a vehicle with a passenger air bag.
- Route harness straps in lower slots at or below shoulder level.
- Keep harness straps snug and fasten the clip at armpit level.
- Make sure the straps lie flat and are not twisted.
- Dress your baby in clothes that allow the straps to go between the legs. Adjust the straps to allow for the thickness of your child's clothes. Do not use bulky clothes that could increase slack in a crash.
- To keep your newborn from slouching, pad the sides of the seat and between the child's legs with rolled up diapers or receiving blankets.
- Put the car seat carrying handle down when in the car.
- Infants must ride in the back seat facing the rear of the car. This offers the best protection for your infant's neck.
- Recline the rear-facing seat at a 45-degree angle. If your child's head flops forward, the seat may not have reclined enough. Tilt the seat back until it is level by wedging firm padding such as a rolled towel, under the front of the base of the seat.
- All new car seats are now required to come equipped with top tether straps. A tether strap is a belt that is attached to the car seat and bolted to the window ledge or the floor of the car. They give extra protection and keep the car seat from being thrown forward in a crash. Tether kits are also available for most older car seats. Check with the manufacturer to find out how to get a top tether for your seat. Install it according to instructions. The tether strap may help make some seats that are difficult to install fit more tightly.
Do not use a car seat if any of the following apply:
- It is too old. Look on the label for the date it was made. If made before January 1981, the seat may not meet strict safety standards and its parts are too old to be safe. Some manufacturers recommend using seats for only 6 years.
- It does not have a label with the date of manufacture and model number. Without these, you cannot check on recalls.
- It has been in a crash. If so, it may have been weakened and should not be used, even if it looks all right.
- It does not come with instructions. You need the instructions to know how to install and use the car seat properly. Do not rely on the former owner's instructions. Get a copy of the manual from the manufacturer.
- It has cracks in the frame of the seat.
- It is missing parts. Used seats often come without important parts. Check with the manufacturer to make sure you can get the right parts.
To find out if your child safety seat has been recalled, you can call the Auto Safety Hotline ( 888-DASH-2-DOT ). If the seat has been recalled, be sure to follow the instructions for the recall or to get the necessary parts. You should also get a registration card for future recall notices from the Hotline.
When to switch your child to a regular seatbelt:
Keep your child in a car seat for as long as possible. When he or she is big enough, make sure that seat belts in your car fit your child correctly. The shoulder belt should lie across the shoulder, not the neck or throat. The lap belt must be low and flat across the hips, not the stomach. The child's knees should bend easily over the edge of the vehicle seat. Seat belts are made for adults. If the seat belt does not fit your child correctly, he or she should stay in a booster seat until the belt fits.
Never tuck the shoulder belt under the child's arm or behind his or her back and use lap belts only as a last resort. Try to get a lap-shoulder belt installed in your car if it doesn't already have one. If you must use a lap belt, make sure it is worn tight and low on the hips, not across the stomach.


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Micro droplets and coated micro droplets serve as well defined tiny reaction chambers or basis for capsules in chemistry and microbiology. However, the initially separated droplets tend to form groups (or coalesce) whenever geometrical defects occur in the channel. By introducing a defined perturbation in form of a sudden channel expansion, we can study this group formation systematically. We get beautiful images of very regular trains of coated micro droplets turning into well defined groups of different sizes. Using a purely kinematic model we can even predict, how many droplets will join a group, depending on initial distance, length and coating thickness. Thus, an initially undesired effect became a well defined and visually appealing phenomenon.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Any reuse must credit the author(s) and provide a link back to this page.


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Home ownership is usually the biggest financial transaction that a person engages in. Because of this, there is a tendency to focus on the numbers and the market, overriding the overall and incalculable reasons to buy and own your own home.
Here are 5 priceless reasons why the value of owning a home far outweighs the alternative of renting…
Create a Sense of Home
When you own your home, there's a lot more tying you to your neighborhood, community and city. This stability and level of permanence can be positively transformative for many people; particularly those with a history of moving a lot who are looking for more establishment. But even if the stability of your living situation isn't a priority, we all want home to feel like home, and ownership provides far more options and flexibility. From wallpaper to paint or even adding a room or knocking down a wall, the value of owning a home is that you can create the most ultimate homey ambiance.
Express Your Personality
Beyond the sense of home, your house is a canvas on which to express your art, or a ball of clay to be moulded to your creative aspirations. By owning your home, you can express your personality in the decor and design of every room, from top to bottom with little to stop or limit your dreams. You can even express different parts of your personality in different rooms or features of your home.
Increase Your Sustainability
There's a widespread desire to live more sustainably, reducing our harm on the environment in as many ways as possible. When you own your home, you can make improvements to the materials that make up the building's structure and function, replacing them with more environmentally conscious, eco-sourced or energy-efficient alternatives. You can also add or integrate more 'green' features such as solar panels or drip irrigation systems to help reduce the carbon footprint your home makes.
Make Space to Grow
For some, buying a home is that next step toward personal aspirations such as having a family. With this dream in mind, you can purchase a home that will accommodate your growing family (immediately or with options for future add-ons). The stability of owning your home will also translate to amplifying the feeling of security and belonging that the space inspires in your little ones as they grow up.
Attain Better Privacy
One of the drawbacks to renting a home is the access your landlord has to your personal space. Sure, they must give notice before entering, but this is rarely specific and you may find yourself avoiding certain tasks or activities on the chance they will arrive when it's least convenient. You cannot control your privacy near as much as when you own your home. If desired, you can also enhance the privacy features when you own property by adding a fence or planting some thick shrubs or hedges.
Of course, it's an asset! A home that you own is a literal 'nest' egg for your future, making your housing expenses more fixed and giving you a long term plan to reduce them significantly when you pay off your mortgage (therefore making your retirement budget more attainable).
The decision for home ownership is about more than just the numbers. Consulting with a trusted mortgage planner can help you weigh and discuss all the calculable and incalculable reasons to own your home versus renting.
Contact a trusted mortgage broker at Seattle Mortgage Planners today!


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Robert Priddy (1). Erosion of Trust in Sai Baba Over Time
Posted by Barry Pittard on August 18, 2007
Robert Priddy was long known by many as a ceaseless worker in the Sathya Sai Organisation, as indeed he has been in the former Sai Baba devotee cause.
The latter – since people from many countries are affected and since billions pour to the Sathya Sai Central Trust globally – is one of exposure of various forms of allegation and of anomalies in the teaching content – to the world.
He was founder member of the Sai Organization in Norway in 1983 and, for over 15 years, the national leader of the Sathya Sai Organization, resigning his membership 2000. He lectured in philosophy and sociology in various institutes, and retired from his tenure at the University of Oslo in 1985. (See Wikipedia reference under: Robert Priddy)
Expressing the great wish he shares with other former Sai Baba devotees, and critics beyond, to see proper, third party investigation of Sai Baba and his organization, he has been active in researching, analysing, creating web presences both via static sites and blogging, and campaigning in the media and so on.
But the Internet is not the Exposé
The greater part of this work of exposure has been off-screen, and he has often supported those who have more recently become disaffected. Grief – both overt and, more often, controlled – is common in this area. We also have most qualified and experienced male and female counseling professionals ready to assist, but a lot of the work requires being humanly supportive in the most basic ways – listening compassionately, providing information, etc. There are many former devotees who appreciate, and have benefitted by, Priddy's gentle and patient kindness, a side to his personality which will not always be visible in his writings critical of Sai Baba and the cultic mind that adheres to him. The ever-swelling Priddy opus can be hard-edged and quite polemical. In this service of caring and supporting, sorrow and joy are inseparable. It embodies same spirit of loving service to others that motivates many who have been drawn to Sai Baba.
I well recall in early 1998 reading his book Source of the Dream, – My Way to Sathya Sai Baba (1994, Bangalore/1998 USA/2000, and 2002, Puttaparthi). At that time, I was working as a voluntary service with the publisher Sai Towers in Puttaparthi. Doing a computation in this busy publishing house's library, I had estimated that there were at least 600 plus books written by devotees on Sai Baba. Many of these were terribly gushing and rambling, even from the point of view of Sai devotee readers, cried out for editing if not refusal to publish. Fortunately, the owner, R.Padmanaban was very supportive of my editing approach, which was to wield something of a 'scalpel'. Perhaps I should be kind enough to spare someone else the bother of saying that a sharp editorial blade needs to be directed at my own writings.
Priddy in the Exposé Continuum
But – such a relief! – the Priddy book was from a disciplined mind, and far more readable. It sold very widely within the Sai movement. He has since written End of the Dream: The Fall of Sathya Sai Baba (published 2004 in India by a leading Indian rationalist Basava Premanand. By stark contrast, a book by David Bailey – A Journey to Love, Prasanthi Nilayam: Sri Sathya Sai Towers Hotels Pvt. Ltd., 1998 (1997) – was of the devotionally effusive sort. Happily, Bailey, a well-known British semi-classical musician and teacher, renounced, along with his wife Faye, his extremely close connection with Sai Baba which included lecturing in Music at Sai Baba's university and global ambassadorial duties. He and Faye Bailey wrote (one might say, cobbled together, a work seminal to the exposé of Sai Baba, The Findings (March 200). Faye had been a key figure in the Australian Sathya Sai Organization – and their marriage in 1997 was, and so very summarily, Sai Baba-arranged and officiated. By the time Priddy was ready to become significantly more active, Bailey had left Exposé activity, having been part of a first then second wave of concentrated activity circa late 90's up to 2002.
The second greater burst of activity was especially that of a small but extremely busy group, the Central Coordinating Group, led by Glen Meloy (now deceased, of Palm Desert, California, USA) and Hari Sampath (Chennai, India, but then on a Green Card as a software engineer in Chicago, USA). For example, Robert Priddy was not part of the small pepper group (CCG) which worked extremely hard (with many selfless inputs from its much wider global network) and succeeded in drawing serious media attention to the allegations against Sai Baba, including a UNESCO Media Advisory in September 2001 and UNESCO's and Flinders University's cancellation of joint participation in a large Sai Baba promoted education conference in Puttaparthi, See HERE. Other successful exposures included articles in Times of London, Daily Telegraph, the mass circulation magazine India Today, and major news media in Europe, Canada and Australia. The group gained the attention of the Danish national broadcaster DR, and its television documentary Seduced was first aired in January 2002, then elsewhere in Scandinavia. See this program (with an English overdub) HERE and an English transcript is HERE. It was screened in an English version by Australia's national multicultural broadcaster SBS as Seduced by Sai Baba in February 2004. By early 2004, however, Priddy, who had in the meantime begun, from time to time, to support efforts coordinated by Glen Meloy and the present writer, was closely involved in assisting the BBC with vital contacts and other documentation as it researched what became The Secret Swami, first screened June 14, 2004 and shown in many scores of countries around the world. See: The BBC's The Secret Swami – A Revision and The Genesis of the BBC's The Secret Swami.
The first 'wave' was a surge of effort mostly by those leaving the Sai Organization in USA, U.K., Holland, Sweden, Denmark and Australia. In this perspective, Priddy (and the Australian linguistis scholar Brian Steel) may be regarded – so long as we can acknowledge the nature of overlaps – as comprising part of a third 'wave' of intense activity, and both of their involvements strongly orienting to research and writing and unfolding of their websites, although both were, naturally, supportive of those who came to them grief-stricken with their accounts.
The date of Priddy's Sathya Sai Organization resignation (2000) occurred at the height of great activity by networked former devotees but this does not indicate his specific activism at that time. Especially, he was intensely investigating, reflecting, writing and developing his website. His broadest endeavours came in the months after Glen Meloy's deeply and internationally mourned death, on January 1, 2005.
To be continued
Furthur Reading
End of the Dream – My Credo and Rejection of Sathya Sai Baba. (Article)
His very regularly maintained blogsite is at: http://robertpriddy.wordpress.com
3 Responses to "Robert Priddy (1). Erosion of Trust in Sai Baba Over Time"
August 18, 2007 at 9:28 pm
All true. Great job, Barry. Both you and Robert continue to be an inspiration, along with Brian Steel–so KEEP THEM COMING!
Dave Lyons, founder and former president of the Sathya Sai Baba Center of Greater New Orleans (1995-2000); devotee 1981-2000; resigned and defected Sai Org. April, 2000.
August 22, 2007 at 7:29 pm
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September 7, 2007 at 9:59 am
[…] Robert Priddy (1). Erosion of Trust In Sai Baba Over Time Robert Priddy (2). The Protection of the Young and Innocent Robert Priddy (3). Friendship With V.K. Narasimhan […]


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NYU (US) — Students with autism had a significant decrease in aggression, social withdrawal, and hyperactivity when they did yoga daily, researchers report.
Students attending District 75's P.S. 176X in the Bronx—which serves the largest population of students on the autism spectrum in the United States—took part in the yoga regimen for 17 minutes a day, five days a week, for 16 weeks.
"We found that teachers' ratings of students who participated in the daily yoga routine showed improved behavior compared with teachers' ratings of students who did not," says Kristie Koenig, assistant professor of occupational therapy at New York University and co-author of the study published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy.
"Our aim in this research was to examine the effectiveness of an occupational therapy yoga intervention. Our research indicates that a manualized systemic yoga program, implemented on a daily basis, can be brought to public school classrooms as an option for improving classroom behavior."
"Get Ready to Learn," (GRTL) the intervention program used in the study, was designed by occupational therapist and yoga instructor Anne Buckley-Reen in 2008, in collaboration with Barbara Joseph, District 75 deputy superintendent. District 75 is the nation's largest special education district in an urban public school system.
GRTL uses yoga postures, breathing, and relaxation techniques to help energize, organize, and calm students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It helps prepare students mentally and physically for the day's lessons.
"GRTL gets children out of the stressed state and prepares their brains and bodies to learn," Reen explains. "Children with Autism often exhibit characteristics of 'fight-or-flight' response. They are in a constant state of stress and struggle with staying calm, trying to concentrate, communicating clearly, or even controlling their movements.
"Many students with ASD and other challenges have missed critical developmental stages which impact body awareness and perception of self. How can we expect these students to connect to others, if they are not connected to themselves? GRTL provides opportunities to make and strengthen these mind-body connections."
With GRTL training supported by both the district and participating school, teachers led the daily routine that includes eight minutes of varied postures, three minutes of weight-bearing poses, three minutes of deep breathing to help reduce stress, three minutes of muscle tension and release, and concludes with a circle of song.
"This circle of song creates a vibrating of the lungs which helps students to find their voice and contribute to classroom harmony," says Reen. "We sing the name of the students in back and forth exchanges. This encourages engagement from all students, even those with limited speech."
GRTL is currently being implemented in more than 500 classrooms in District 75 across the city of New York with students ages five through 21 with significant disabilities. It is also in typical classrooms in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Vermont.
"This research points to new ways that can help students self-regulate their behavior for longer periods of time. This type of daily programming provides them with a foundation for function so they can focus and attend for longer periods of time.
"This is one way they are able to learn effectively," says Joseph. "Programs like this can enhance communication and socialization skills. Parents have seen changes in their children at home. They tell us they have seen improvement in their children's speech, communication, and behavior."
Source: New York University


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Continue reading C# Features: An Exhaustive List of the Best Ones
Author: Carlos Schults
Visual Studio Enterprise vs. Professional: Essential Differences
If you're a .NET developer, then it's overwhelmingly likely that you're a Visual Studio user. There are alternatives to it, sure. But the product from the Redmond giant is the go-to when it comes to developing for the .NET framework.
For a newcomer, though, things can get confusing since Visual Studio isn't a single thing.
Instead, it comes in several shapes and sizes.
Which one should you pick? What are the features that matter for your use case?
Since Visual Studio isn't free—most editions aren't, at least—you want to get the best bang for your buck.
That's what this post is going to cover. As its title suggests, we'll focus on the differences between the enterprise and professional editions of the integrated development environment (IDE).
By the end of the post, you'll have learned enough to make an informed decision on which version of the IDE better suits your needs.
Download a free trial of NDepend and check out all of the architecture visualization you can get without needing to upgrade your VS edition. See also: Case Study: 2 Simple Principles to achieve High Code Maintainability
Let's get started.
Continue reading Visual Studio Enterprise vs. Professional: Essential Differences
When Is It Okay to Use a C# Partial Class?
Today's post attempts to answer a very simple and straightforward question: "When is it OK to use a C# partial class?" And the answer as straightforward as this: "When you need to allow the user to edit code that was automatically generated."
Whoa, that was hands down the easiest post I've ever written. So, that's it for today, folks. Thanks for reading and see you next time!
OK, I'm just kidding, of course. If you've found this page by googling around on "C# partial class," chances are you have a number of questions regarding this topic. For starters, what is a partial class? How do you actually use it? Are there any restrictions regarding its use? And the list could go on.
That's what today's post is all about. We'll start out by explaining what a partial class is and providing some examples. Then, we'll go a little bit deeper, giving a more detailed view of the partial class, its inner workings, and the rules that must be followed when using it.
Finally, we'll explain the main use case for the C# partial class, nicely tying the end of the post to its beginning.
What Is a Good Unit Test? 5 Must-Haves
In this day and age, unit testing isn't as controversial as it once was. Sure, you still see the occasional inflammatory, clickbait-y, confrontational "unit testing is garbage" type of post on Reddit and Hacker News.
And there are still developers out there ignorant of the existence of unit testing—or any type of automated testing, for what it's worth. Believe it or not.
However, if we consider the developers that do know about unit testing, I'd say the debate is pretty much over. It's generally agreed, today, that unit testing has a positive influence on software projects.
With that in mind, the next question then becomes "what makes for a good unit test?" That's what this post is all about. Today, we present you five must-haves for a great unit test.
3 Design Patterns That Have Aged Poorly
Design patterns seem to be a controversial topic. On one hand, many developers seem to love them and treat the famous book by the Gang of Four like sacred scripture. On the other hand, many developers loath the very idea of design patterns. It's not too hard to find posts around the web with titles such as "Design Patterns are Bad Design," "Following Design Patterns Is A Bad Idea," and of course, the inevitable "Design Patterns Considered Harmful."
What can we take from that? Well, as it is with pretty much everything in our industry, it's really hard to reach some form of consensus on design patterns. My take is this: design patterns are tools. Some are more useful, others less useful. Some may be outright harmful. And others may not make sense for your scenario, but maybe for Joe who sits three desks from you, they're a gift from heaven.
But that's not what this post is really about (i.e. deciding whether design patterns are "good" or "bad"). As we've seen, such discussion is simplistic and misses the point.
What we're going to do instead is cover three design patterns that haven't aged quite well. These design patterns are ones that you no longer go around implementing. And if you do, you probably shouldn't.
Let's get started.
Continuing Our Clean Architecture Example in C#
After a somewhat long delay, it's time to finally continue our series on clean architecture. This is the second post in the inner series in which we show you a quick implementation of said architecture and the third post in the overall series. In case you haven't read the previous posts, please do so by using the links in the series layout below:
- An Introduction To Clean Architecture
- A Clean Architecture Example in C#, part 2 (this post)
Without further ado, let's continue our implementation.
Continue reading Continuing Our Clean Architecture Example in C#
Use NDepend to Measure How SOLID Your Code Is
Not that long ago, we published a post defending the SOLID principles of object-oriented design. In today's post, we take it a step further: we're going to present NDepend's rules that will enable you to measure how SOLID your app is and show you the actions you can take to make it even better. Continue reading Use NDepend to Measure How SOLID Your Code Is
Imperative Programming in Depth
Programming languages come in all shapes and sizes: interpreted vs. compiled, weak vs. strong typing, low-level vs. high-level, terse vs. expressive… There are many buckets you can put a programming language into, even though not all are equally meaningful.
One very common way people classify languages is to organize them into paradigms. You can think of a paradigm as a group of languages that share similar characteristics. There are many paradigms currently in use: procedural, functional, and object-oriented. Many of these terms are often misused or confused; there's also some degree of overlap between different paradigms, which definitely doesn't make things easier.
Add all of that together and what you get is a landscape that's not too easy for a beginner to grasp. In today's post, we'll try and fix this situation by giving you a clear picture of the imperative programming paradigm.
Separation of Concerns, Explained
Software development is a very young field, particularly when you compare it to, say, medicine or law. Despite this, there's no shortage of wisdom pearls, which accumulated in the decades that preceded us.
One interesting phenomenon I've observed in myself over the years—and I'm sure there's a name for it—is that some of these sayings sound like they must be right, even if I don't really understand them the first time I hear them. For instance, in my post about the SOLID principles, I mentioned how the SRP's definition—"each class should have just one reason to change"—just ticks the right boxes for me in some way that I can't even pinpoint.
Unfortunately, just hearing a phrase and acknowledging that it kind of sounds right doesn't do much to really make you understand the topic, right?
Then why do so many in our industry act like that's the case? I've lost count of how many times I've seen experienced developers toss around catchphrases like this as if they're able to automatically inject the necessary information into beginners' heads.
In this spirit, I've decided to demystify one of these catchphrases that happens to be one of my favorites: "Separation of Concerns." What does that mean and why should you care? That's what today's post is all about.
Null Is Evil. What's the Best Alternative? Null.
"Null is evil." If you've been a software developer for any reasonable length of time, I bet you've come across that statement several times.
I'd say it's also very likely that you agree with the sentiment, i.e., that the null reference is a feature our programming languages would be better off without. Even its creator has expressed regret over the null reference, famously calling it his "billion-dollar mistake."
Bashing poor old null tends to get old, so authors don't do just that. They also offer alternatives. And while I do believe that many of the presented alternatives have their merits, I also think we may have overlooked the best solution for the whole thing.
In this post, we're going to examine some of the common alternatives for returning null before making the argument that the best alternative is null itself. Let's get started! Continue reading Null Is Evil. What's the Best Alternative? Null.


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The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD "District") historically has Petitioned its Hearing Board for an Order of Abatement against ExxonMobil Refinery to cease and desist ("abatement") violating District Permit rules. On 4/2/2016, the SCAQMD Petitioned its Hearing Board for an Order of Abatement that actually was an extraordinary start-up order, in violation of its own District Rules. Dr. Eng submitted a Citizen's Petition and Citizen Petition Addendum requesting disclosure of proposed start-up conditions ("stipulations"), along with requesting that a formal Health Risk Assessment (HRA) be done, and he also testified against allowing an arbitrary amount of pollution under the start-up as not being properly protective of the Public Health.
3 minute video summarizing Dr. Eng's experience and why he is running for Torrance City Council 2016.


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Linking to Saturday's Critters
hope you, pixie, your friends and neighbors all stay safe!
Sounds like hurricane Ana will miss you. A
And you have Pixie to watch over you!
Batten down the hatches :) You all stay safe out there now. I read 'ifthethunderdontgetya' and certainly hope this is the case.
Pixie, just in case, have an emergency bolt hole or five in mind!
Good luck! I hope you don't lose power at all. take care, sp
Stay safe. You (and Pixie of course) are in my heart.
stay safe.
Stay safe, and please don't eat the kitties... Glad you are all prepared.
Dear Cloudia...I had to stop over to let you know that I am thinking of you all! Stay safe my friend...xo Jeanne
Hope all goes well. Love Kitty. Have a great week.
Waiting is never a fun thing. I do hope you all are safe.
Excellent photos.
Great pics! Yes it is good to be aware and are prepared for it! Nicely Cloudia!
Hello Cloudia, I hope you and kitty made it thru the storm safely.. Love the pretty sky, birds and the your adorable Pixie. Thanks so much for linking up this week. Have a happy Sunday!
Pixie, your foodlady sure talks some rubbish! :-)
Hoping all will be safe!
Just heard from my island fam and they are riding the storm out...all is well. Aloha from the colorful, chilly Northeast U.S. Be safe!
You and Pixie stay safe!
A L O H A ! The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts. Marcus Aurelius Many people li...


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Stochastic Network Calculus: From Theory to Applications
Jorg Liebeherr (University of Toronto, Canada)
Current applications in the design of smart grid systems, as well as in the certification of aircraft data networks have broadened interest in network calculus methodologies. Network calculus was conceived in the 1990s, as an analytical tool for the provisioning of network services with deterministic performance guarantees. The main advantage over other analytical approaches is that end-to-end performance metrics, e.g., the delay experienced on a network path of multiple nodes, are easily obtained. However, the worst-case analysis associated with deterministic guarantees has created the misconception that network calculus largely overestimates resource requirements. More recently, probabilistic extensions of network calculus, referred to as stochastic network calculus, have been able to capture statistical multiplexing gain. This makes network calculus an attractive tool for economies of scale, such as data centers or smart grids.
The objective of this tutorial is to give an overview of the techniques of the deterministic and stochastic network calculus, without assuming prior knowledge or familiarity with its methods. The approach is to present network calculus as a systems theory for communication and electrical power distribution networks. An emphasis will be placed on the state-of-the-art of the stochastic network calculus, its potential and limitations, as well as application scenarios.
1. A Network Calculus Primer
- Buffered links
- Envelopes and service curves
- Min-plus algebra primer
- Performance bounds for multi-node networks
- Case study: Bandwidth estimation
2. Stochastic Network Calculus
- Statistical multiplexing gain
- Statistical envelopes and sample path envelopes
- Statistical end-to-end analysis
- Assessment of the state-of-the-art (beyond hype and myths)
3. Application areas
- Wireless networks
- Data centers
- Smart grids
Biography of the presenter:
Jorg Liebeherr received the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1991. After a Postdoc at the University of California, Berkeley, he joined the Department of Computer Science at the University of Virginia in 1992. Since Fall 2005, he is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Toronto. He was Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Network in 1999-2000, and served on the editorial board of IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, as well as the boards of other journals. He was co-recipient of a best paper award at ACM Sigmetrics 2005. He is a Fellow of the IEEE. He has a long standing research interest in network performance analysis, especially, approaches of the stochastic network calculus. Since 2004, he has been teaching courses on network calculus at the undergraduate and graduate level.


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Google Pay is still not as widely used globally as Google would want it to be because it takes time for banks to integrate it into their various products and of course all the various banking regulations per country. So every time a financial institution is added to their list of supported companies, it's good news for both Google and consumers. Finnish-based Nordea Bank has announced that their customers can now use Google Pay for both online and offline cardless mobile payments and this includes around 19 countries in Northern Europe.
Nordea has actually been on a digital payment kick lately and adding Google Pay is significant for their customers in the Nordic region. All of the consumer cards and Nordea First Card can now be linked to their Google Pay account and so they can leave their cards at home and just use their Android smartphones to pay for purchases in stores that support the platform.
For corporations that have accounts with Nordea, they can also add their corporate cards to Google Pay. Employees can use either their plastic cards or their Google Pay app and all of the payments will still be reflected in the same invoice, making life easier for when they're traveling and need to use their corporate account.
Of course, Google Pay is not just about transactions at contactless payment terminals but you can also use it to make payments at online stores and even for in-app transactions on your various installed apps on your phone. According to Topi Manner, Head of Personal Banking at Nordea, their customers want "easy, accessible, and secure" hence pursuing this partnership with Google's mobile payment platform.
If you're a Nordea customer, simply download the Google Pay app from the Google Play Store on your smartphone and add your card as a source. Instructions are pretty easy to follow so it shouldn't take you long to do so.
SOURCE: Nordea


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Note: we'll have reviews for Constantine: The Hellblazer #8 and Back to the Future #4 a bit later.
Batman/Superman #28
Written by Tom Taylor | Drawn by Robson Rocha
It's great to see Tom Taylor finally get a crack at the regular versions of Batman and Superman after all his wonderful work on alternate universe versions of those characters in Injustice and Earth 2. Taylor doesn't take any real chances at his first swing on the characters, but in doing so he still manages to tell a solid and engaging team-up tale. His set up, a dead giant alien on the surface of the moon (very evocative of The Watcher in Marvel's Original Sin), is a simple but effective way to bring out the strengths of both characters. Robson Rocha's art is similarly straightforward, but that simplicity on the art side leaves something to be desired. Through and through this is about what you would expect from a book called Batman/Superman - no more, no less. –Levi
Final Score:
Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2
Written by James Tynion IV | Drawn by Freddie Williams II
"If Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a dream, never wake us up. The tubular crossover from James Tynion IV and Freddie Williams II continues in grand fashion, the dynamic duo delivering another read jam-packed with excellent fan service and outrageous fun." -Jeff
Click here to read the entire review!
Final Score:
Green Lantern Corps: Edge of Oblivion #1
Written by Tom Taylor | Drawn by Ethan van Sciver
"Green Lantern: The Lost Army was one of the better books to launch out of the DC You initiative last year, so it was rather disappointing to learn the series had been canceled after a mere six issues. The good news is that Green Lantern Corps: Edge of Oblivion is there to pick up right where Lost Army left off. And while the previous creative team is sadly gone, having a pairing like writer Tom Taylor and artist Ethan van Sciver on board certainly helps ease that sting." -Jesse
Click here to read the entire review!
Final Score:
The Legend of Wonder Woman #1
Written by & Drawn by Renae De Liz
"Even if Batman v Superman turns out to be a cinematic travesty, at least it's compelling DC to shine a bigger spotlight on Wonder Woman. The Legend of Wonder Woman may be the ideal gateway for new readers interested in learning more about the Amazonian warrior princess. This digital-first series is set in its own continuity and recounts both the origin of Diana Prince and Paradise Island. This first issue drags a bit as it explores the latter element, but quickly livens up once Diana becomes the focal point." -Author
Click here to read the entire review!
Final Score:
Robin War #2
Written by Tom King | Drawn by Various
The Robin War crossover wraps up in this issue pretty much as it began - full of interesting but half-baked ideas and a tone that's all over the map. It's frustrating to see so many artists tackling one issue. Some of the individual scenes look pretty snazzy (especially those by Robin veteran Scott McDaniel), but the book lacks any sense of visual or stylistic cohesion. The final conflict mainly boils down to a massive brawl between Team Robin and the Court of Owls, largely ignoring the bigger issues at play and the conflict over whether teen vigilantes have any place in Gotham. This issue never seems sure of what message it wants to leave readers with, constantly bouncing between optimism and darkness in the latter pages. But if nothing else, writer Tom King should have some solid new material to work with as his Grayson run continues. -Jesse
Final Score:
Superman: American Alien #3
Written by Max Landis | Drawn by Joelle Jones
Max Landis has certainly earned the benefit of the doubt after the excellent first two chapters of this seires, but even so the premise of issue #3 was a little worrisome. Do we really need to see a comic about a 21-year-old Clark Kent partying it up on Bruce Wayne's pleasure yacht? We do, as a matter of fact. Landis avoids going the juvenile route with this tale, instead hinging it on the notion that Clark is finally venturing outside the comfortable confines of Smallville and experiencing the wider world for the first time. And while it's a little silly that nearly every single character on the boat happens to be a famous DC character, Landis strikes gold as he explores the instant bond between Clark and a villain-to-be. Joelle Jones' art style perfectly complements the story and its attractive protagonists. It's laid back while also being expressive and sexy. -Jesse
Final Score:


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Coxenburg Invertida is a mysterious dungeon beneath the supposed core of Coxenburg. It is considered separate from the rest of Coxenburg, as its only connection with the grandiose castle is a wooden hatch. The hatch has parchment on it that reads, "ONLY COOL NERDS. ALLOWED. YOUR NOT COOL."
When archaeologists explored the dank dungeon, they discovered that it was an inverted version of the castle. Upon further investigation, the only things of value discovered were the mummified remains of various goblins in shades. Further expeditions led by actual adventurers revealed high numbers of Super Deformed Satans, and the existence of Kudlaks, Draculas who hang out on the ceilings of Coxenburg Invertida. Appropriately, they hang upside down.
Despite its appearance as a carbon copy of Coxenburg, the site appears to be ancient and perhaps existed before the conception of existence itself.


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Future of state exchanges – cloudy?
April 18, 2011
Employer Benefit News' Kathleen Koster has a new piece out today on the future of the public insurance exchanges mandated by PPACA. She interviewed several industry experts including (full disclosure) our CEO Bryce Williams, on what they see happening with exchanges over the next few years as 2014 draws nearer. Will employers, large and small, migrate their insurance coverage to the exchanges?


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The first dance I ever went to my mom chaperoned. I was okay with that because at thirteen what mattered was that I got to go to the dance.
Before arriving at the dance my mom told me, "Whoever asks you to dance say yes. It takes courage to ask someone to dance and you are here to dance. When the music starts if no one has asked you to dance, then ask someone to dance with you or go out and dance by yourself." for good measure my mom added, "I do not want to see you sitting around, just dance."
I danced ever dance either with someone or alone.
"A dance card or carnet du bal
was used by a woman to record the names of the gentlemen
with whom she intends to dance each successive dance at a formal ball."
"The act of asking a lady to dance had to be carefully orchestrated. A gentleman should stand at a comfortable distance from the lady, bow slightly toward her and request the honor of her presence as a dancing partner. He should never be hasty or overly sure of himself, and should never ask the same lady to accompany him for more than four dances; as such a degree of informality is improper in a ballroom. Furthermore, he should always be well acquainted with a dance before participating since any mistakes he makes during a dance put his partner in an awkward position. A lady, in turn, should not refuse a gentleman's offer unless she has already accepted another's proposal."
"Dance cards listed the specific dances to be performed and provided lines for ladies to fill in the names of their dance partners. In many instances, dance cards and programs were designed in such a way as to make them valuable in their own right, as a souvenir of the evening" via Etiquette
Last weekend I found this carnet du bal it is especially charming as it has its pages intact,
and some of them are filled. Also, it still has its original pencil.
Thankfully my dance card wasn't full when I met French Husband at the I-BEAM.
Popular Songs, 1914
The Aba Daba Honeymoon (Arthur Fields, Walter Donovan)
Alexander's Ragtime Band (Irving Berlin)
All Aboard for Dixieland-Turkey Trot (George L. Cobb, music; Jack Yellen, lyrics)
Are We Downhearted? No! (Lawrence Wright, Worton David)
By the Beautiful Sea (Harry Carroll, music; Harold Atteridge, lyrics)
Can't You Hear Me Callin', Caroline? (Caro Roma, music; William H. Gardner, lyrics)
Everybody Rag with Me (Grace LeBoy, music; Gus Kahn, lyrics)
Fido Is a Hot Dog Now (Raymond Walker, music; Charles McCarron, Thomas Gray, lyrics)
Goodbye, Girls, I'm Through (from Chin-Chin) (Ivan Caryll, music; John Golden, lyrics)
He's a Devil in His Own Home Town (Irving Berlin, music; Grant Clarke, lyrics)


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Ash Tree Identification Guide produced by Michigan State University
A guide for identifying ash trees and learning how to distinguish them from similar looking trees. Download Here
Ash Tree Decline Poster provided by Tree Guru
Insecticide Options for Protecting Ash Trees from Emerald Ash Borer provided by The Cooperative Emerald Ash Borer Program
Confirmed EAB Infestations in Illinois from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources
The following graphic shows the spread of the EAB infestation into the southern counties of Illinois by the summer of 2015. On October 21st of that year, Illinois conceded defeat and removed the state EAB quarantine. Download a pdf version of the Original Article Here.
The map below shows the Federal EAB Quarantine Area in the US as of June 19, 2015.
The following are a list of state-licensed tree service companies in the Chicago area. They all offer the TreeAge trunk-injection treatment. Several of them offer a group discount if multiple trees can be assessed and treated at the same time. Homeowners, block clubs and other local community organizations are encouraged to band together to form treatment blocks in order to negotiate the best prices.
Treatment prices are based on several criteria such as tree size, condition and ease of access. Prices will typically be quoted based on the "DBH" of the tree to be treated. DBH is defined as "Diameter at Breast Height". It refers to the diameter of the ash tree measured at a point 4.5 feet above the ground. To determine the DBH of a tree, take a tape measure and record the circumference of the tree at a point 4' 6" above the ground. Divide the circumference by the number pi (symbol: π) or 3.14159. If you don't have a calculator handy, dividing the circumference of the tree by 3 will provide a close estimate. For group pricing, we have received estimates in the range of $7 - $10 dollars per inch of tree diameter (DBH). Several companies will offer a guarantee but only if the tree is healthy or barely infested. Contact the tree service companies directly for more details.


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For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – August 22, 2019 – Zacks Equity Research Alibaba BABA as the Bull of the Day, Dillard's DDS as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Coca-Cola KO, McDonald's MCD and Comcast CMCSA.
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Bull of the Day:
Alibaba easily topped our quarterly estimates last week, with sales up 42% amid the ongoing U.S. and China trade war. The Chinese e-commerce powerhouse's stock price has been volatile during the past two years. But Alibaba looks strong as it prepares to enter a new era, with billionaire founder Jack Ma set to step down as chairman soon.
Quick June Quarter Overview
Alibaba's revenue surged 42% from the prior-year quarter to 114.9 billion yuan, or $16.58 billion, which topped our Zacks Consensus Estimate. Investors should note that Alibaba reports its metrics in Chinese RMB and then offers a comparable U.S. dollar equivalent for the "convenience of the reader."
The company posted first-quarter fiscal 2020 earnings of $1.83 per share. This crushed our $1.50 estimate and marked a 56% climb from the year-ago period.
BABA's annual active consumers on its retail marketplaces reached 674 million, up 20 million from Q4 2019 and 98 million from the year-ago period. On top of that, and perhaps more importantly, mobile MAUs on its China retail marketplaces reached 755 million in June 2019, an increase of 34 million over March 2019 and a whopping 121 million above Q1 2019.
The Basics
Alibaba operates the two largest e-commerce platforms in China, Taobao and Tmall, which led to its core commerce business accounting for 87% of total Q1 sales. But like its U.S. counterpart Amazon, Alibaba has expanded its cloud computing business in recent years.
BABA's cloud computing unit saw its sales soar 66% to make up 7% of total revenue. Plus, Executive Vice President Joseph Tsai last week said that Alibaba's cloud segmented is set to profit from the 5G transition.
Along with cloud computing and e-commerce, Alibaba operates a digital media and entertainment business, which accounted for 5% of total quarterly revenue. Investors should also note that Alibaba and Salesforce in late July announced a partnership. "Alibaba will become the exclusive provider of Salesforce to customers in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, and Salesforce will become the exclusive enterprise CRM product suite sold by Alibaba," Salesforce wrote.
Alibaba reportedly holds about two-thirds of the e-commerce market share in the world's second-largest economy. The company has also beefed up its logistics business as its core Chinese marketplaces, such as Beijing and Shanghai, become more saturated. The firm said that 70% of its new customers in the past quarter live in less-developed areas.
Alibaba's ability to expand its reach to more of the country's roughly 1.42 billion people will prove vital going forward. Clearly, U.S.-China trade war fears still linger over the firm. But Alibaba just proved that the fight hasn't hurt the company as much as some on Wall Street might have assumed.
Outlook & Earnings Trends
Moving on, our current estimates call for Alibaba's quarterly revenue to jump 35.7% to reach $16.82 billion. The company's full-year fiscal 2020 revenue is then projected to climb 32% from roughly $56 billion to $73.46 billion. Peeking further ahead, the company's 2021 sales are expected to climb 31% above our current-year estimate to reach $96.62 billion, in a sign of strong and stable top-line expansion.
At the bottom end of the income statement, BABA's adjusted quarterly earnings are expected to climb 11.3% to $1.56 per share. Alibaba's full-year fiscal 2020 EPS figure is then expected to surge nearly 26%, with 2021 projected to come in 25% higher than our current-year estimate.
Alibaba has easily topped our earnings estimates in the trailing four periods, by a 19% average. Furthermore, BABA's earnings estimate revision activity has moved in the right direction following its recent earnings release, especially for the current quarter and fiscal year.
Bottom Line
Alibaba is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at the moment that also holds a "B" grade for Momentum in our Style Scores system. The firm's top-line growth is expected to slow down on a percentage basis, which is to be somewhat expected as its overall sales reach eye-popping totals.
The Chinese e-commerce power has, of course, diversified and cloud computing could help prove to be a catalyst for expansion into other areas, much like it has been for Amazon. We should also note that shares of BABA rest roughly 11% below their 52-week high, which could give them some room to run.
Bear of the Day:
Dillard's posted worse-than-projected second-quarter results on August 15 as the department store chain's struggles to adapt to the e-commerce and delivery age remain. DDS shares are now down over 26% in the last 12 months and Dillard's outlook doesn't appear as though it will help boost investor confidence.
Second Quarter
Dillard's posted an adjusted quarterly loss of $1.74 per share last week. This marked a massive downturn from the year-ago period's loss and came in far below our Zacks Consensus Estimate that called for a loss of $0.66. Meanwhile, DDS Q2 revenues slipped roughly 3%, while comparable store sales dipped 2%.
Investors should also note that the company did not even provide any positive management updates or quotes in its latest quarterly press release. In fact, Dillard's provided almost no guidance whatsoever, which is hardly a good sign. The Little Rock, Arkansas-based company's rough second quarter is part of ongoing disappointment from fellow department stores.
DDS Overview
We can see that Dillard's sales have slipped in recent years amid a quickly changing retail landscape. DDS executives have focused on trying to reward shareholders with buybacks and dividends instead. The company bought back roughly 0.8 million shares during Q2 for a total $48.9 million, under its $500-million repurchase program.
As we mentioned at the top, DDS stock has tumbled recently. Shares of DDS are down roughly 6% in 2019. But this actually comes in far better than the broader department store market's 38% average decline. The chart below, however, shows just how terrible the last five years have been for Dillard's, especially against the larger retail market's impressive climb.
Outlook & Earnings Trends
Moving on, the company's third-quarter revenue is projected to fall approximately 4% to $1.40 billion, with full-year fiscal 2019 revenue expected to sink 2.5%. Peeking further down the road, the company's 2020 revenue is projected to fall 0.50% below our current-year estimate.
Dillard's earnings estimates appear even worse at the moment. The company's adjusted Q3 earnings are projected to tumble from positive $0.27 a share in the year-ago period to a loss of $0.21 per share. The firm's full-year EPS figure is also expected to sink 42%, with 2020 projected to come in 9.4% below our current-year estimate. Investors will also see just how much worse its earnings estimate picture has turned.
3 Blue-Chip Dividend Stocks to Buy as Bond Yields Fall, Global Worries Rise
Fears of a global economic slowdown have hung over markets recently. Growing worries about the trade war between the U.S. and China have also helped drag the S&P 500 down roughly 2.7% in the past month. And yields on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note have tumbled as investors pour into one of the world's safest investments.
By now, many investors might have heard about last week's yield curve inversion, which saw yields on the 10-year U.S. Treasury briefly slip below 2-year yields for the first time since 2007. Some fear the yield curve inversion could signal a recession, as it has in the past. But even if this proves not to be the case, investors do need to pay attention to the yields on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes because they could make dividend-paying stocks even more valuable.
Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes rested at 1.57% through morning trading Wednesday, down from 2.05% on July 24 and 2.39% three months ago. These low yields could make Wall Street and investors look for higher returns elsewhere, in a phenomenon known as the Tina effect or "there is no alternative" to stocks.
With this in mind, we searched for strong companies that boast impressive, stable business models that wouldn't likely be impacted too greatly by a possible U.S. economic slowdown. We then added a solid dividend yield to our criteria using the Zacks Stock Screener…
1. Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola topped estimates last quarter and raised its full-year organic revenue growth forecast. Coca-Cola Zero Sugar posted its seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit volume growth globally and the firm rolled out its first-ever Costa Coffee ready-to-drink product in Great Britain. KO purchased the British coffee chain for $5.1 billion earlier this year as part of its plan to expand beyond the soda (pop) market. This also includes investments in Gatorade rival BodyArmor, the introduction of its first energy drink under the Coca-Cola brand, and more.
KO's organic revenue—excluding currency swings, acquisitions, and divestitures—jumped 6% in Q2 2019. The firm now expects its full-year organic revenues to pop 5%. Our Zacks Consensus Estimates call for the company's fiscal 2019 revenue to jump 15.7%, including acquisitions and divestitures, with the company's 2020 growth set to come in roughly 5% above our 2019 estimate in a sign of stabilized expansion.
Coca-Cola's adjusted fiscal 2019 EPS figure is expected to climb 1%, with 2020 projected to come in 8% higher. Plus, KO currently pays an annualized dividend of $1.60 per share, with an impressive 2.97% yield. Coca-Cola is also a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) that boats a "B" grade for Growth in our Style Scores system. And just so we don't think KO's yield is artificially inflated, shares of the beverage power have surged 18% over the last 12 months to outpace the S&P's sideways movement.
2. McDonald's
Shares of MCD have soared over 37% over the last 52 weeks and are up 10% in the past three months. McDonald's stock has also destroyed the S&P 500 during a three-year stretch, up 91% against the S&P's 32% expansion. In the second quarter, the global fast-food powerhouse's same-store sales popped 6.5%, with U.S. comps up 5.7%. Company management noted that higher prices helped boost sales, along with increased delivery offerings and self-ordering kiosks.
The firm announced in mid-July that it added DoorDash as a delivery partner, which ended its exclusive relationship with UberEats. MCD's delivery push has become the norm in the Amazon age as rivals such as Starbucks race to offer consumers more options. McDonald's also expects to open roughly 1,200 restaurants this year and try to remodel and upgrade stores, while encouraging franchisees to do the same.
McDonald's longer-term earnings estimate revision activity has trended heavily in the right direction following its Q2 earnings release. Our estimates call for the company's fiscal 2019 earnings to jump 1.4%, with 2020's figure projected to come in 9.5% higher. MCD is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at the moment, with an annualized dividend of $4.64 per share, up roughly 11% from the previous-year period. Meanwhile, the company's yield rest at 2.12%.
3. Comcast
Comcast stock is up 23% in the past year and 28% in 2019. The communication and entertainment giant's booming internet business helped offset the industry-wide cord-cutting dilemma. Second-quarter high-speed internet revenue jumped 9.4%, while business services sales surged 9.8%. The company also saw its newer wireless business soar 21%. Xfinity Mobile, which launched in 2017, hopes to challenge the likes of AT&T.
Comcast's Sky acquisition is also set to help the firm expand its reach. Plus, CMCSA said it plans to launch its own streaming service through its NBCUniversal unit in April 2020. The platform, which will be home to The Office and much more, expects to compete alongside Netflix, Amazon Prime, and others.
The firm's full-year revenues are expected to jump 16.6% to reach $112.24 billion. Peeking further ahead, 2020 revenues are projected to climb a solid 5.3% above its Sky-boosted 2019 results. CMCSA's full-year EPS figure is expected to climb 20%, with 2020's earnings projected to jump roughly 10.3% above our current year estimate. Like its blue-chip peers, Comcast is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) right now that sports an "A" grade for Value. CMCSA currently pays a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, up from the prior fiscal year's $0.19, with a 1.9% yield.
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