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–"Adventure with a coat check," could become a new slogan for Ocean City
tourism as the concept of an eco-park gains strength and eco-tourism moves to
the forefront in the resort area.
The Ocean City Mayor and
City Council gave unanimous support to the concept of an eco-park this week,
shedding light on an under-utilized segment of tourism in the area –
Jim Rapp, director of
Delmarva Low-Impact Tourism Experiences (DLITE), presented the Mayor and
Council with the conceptual idea of an eco-park at Lewis Road along the banks of Ayers Creek
this week, pointing out a relatively untapped resource in the resort area,
nature-based tourism.
"We are trying to bring
nature and jobs together," Rapp said, as he painted a picture of a segment of
tourism that would combine the draw of Delmarva's nature with the comforts of Ocean City's
resort offerings.
Rapp noted a substantial
increase in nature-based tourism throughout the country over the past few
"We are seeing trends in
tourism surveys," Rapp said.
According to Rapp, in
2006, 87 million Americans pursued outdoor recreation, $120 billion was spent
on travel and equipment and 162 million paddling trips were made across the
nation in 2005. Locally, nature-based tourism has grown, not only on Delmarva,
but within Worcester
County as well. The Great
Delmarva Bicycling Trail, Seagull Century, Delmarva Birding Trail, Routes of
John Smith's Voyages and Exploration, and Delmarva Birding Weekend, which
accounts for an average spending of $246 per person, are just a few eco-tourism
events that bring visitors to the area. More recent additions such as the Smith
Island Water Trail and the Delmarva
Discovery Center,
are aiming to build on nature-based tourism as well.
Rapp presented the Mayor
and Council with the conceptual stages of a proposal that calls for a water
trail and eco-park at Ayers Landing and Lewis Road. The site, which was formally
used as a dump, has been undergoing a facelift of sorts for the past few years
and, according to Rapp, would be the ideal location for a "living" shoreline
and launching point for a water trail.
The 42-acre park is home
to a variety of species of waterfowl, birds and raptors and has the potential
to draw visitors and to work as an active "soft" landing access for canoes and
The idea of "adventure
with a coat check" would be ideal for Ocean City,
Rapp said, explaining that studies are showing that an increasing number of
people, more specifically baby boomers, are looking for a day full of adventure
followed by a hot shower, a nice dinner and a comfy bed. The idea is to create
a relationship between the amenities of Ocean City's
hotels and restaurants and the close proximity of the area's nature in an
effort to create a strong following of nature-based tourists.
Hal Adkins, Public Works
Director, and Dick Malone, Senior Project Manager, were present at the council
meeting to give their input on the future use of the site that they have been
working for years to clean up.
"In the 11 plus years
that I, and Dick, have been working on the site, we have been focusing on
clean-up issues," Adkins said, noting that a prospective use for the site has
never been addressed.
According to Adkins, they
hope to be done with the administrative efforts between Public Works and the
Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) within the next two months, which
would essentially conclude their work with the site.
Malone added that, in
his opinion, MDE would view the proposal as a favorable use of the site.
Councilwoman Nancy
Howard suggested that the land be deeded to DLITE, under the condition that the
site remains as a "soft" landing spot and eco-park. Howard suggested that the
town mirror past situations, such as with the deeding of the library land to
the county, in which the town deeded land for an intended use, with the
understanding that the land revert back to the town in the event the use
changes. City Solicitor Guy Ayres agreed that a similar deal with DLITE could
be made over the land.
Councilman Jay Hancock
gave his approval of the proposed use of the site, noting that it would
contribute to the "More Fun Here," concept that Ocean City
currently pitches to its visitors.
"I think this is just an
ideal addition to that inventory. I personally would like to see the Town of
Ocean City involved in this," said Hancock.
Hancock also noted the
green aspects of eco-tourism.
"This is relatively,
almost silent tourism. It's virtually non-polluting, other than the Volvos that
would drive out there and unload," he said.
"I'm really favor of
this too," said Council member Margaret Pillas.
Councilwoman Mary
Knight, agreed, saying, "I just think this is perfect timing."
Mayor Rick Meehan
suggested Rapp return to the Mayor and Council with a site plan to allow
officials a better look at DLITE's vision for the property.
"I'm thrilled that we're
moving in this direction," said Meehan.
The council voted
unanimously, with Councilman Jim Hall absent, to approve the concept of the
eco-park. Rapp agreed to work on design work and funding as Public Works wraps
up their work on the site.


text:
I'm back with another post! Today I'm featuring pictures from a super special photoshoot - My Bestie's Maternity Shoot! I did the makeup and the BF did the photos. You already saw a sneak peak with my B&F Airbrush Pregnant Belly Post. Here are the final pictures!
Click here for more!
My bestie knew that she wanted really clean pictures and more of an artistic look. We definitely wanted to do the look of a crisp white button down and then some other simple, basic pieces that would not go out of style.
For makeup, I did a very clean, natural look using neutral tones from the Urban Decay Naked Palette and the Sigma Bare Palette. I wanted to keep the face pretty natural to let her natural mommy glow shine.
The final look!
Shout out to the BF of MMFotography for the amazing photography skills, my other Bestie Alex for being the Fan Wind Maker he he (wind action makes the hair look fabulous) and of course my other Bestie Sai (doesn't she make an amazing model)?
I have pictures from her baby shower coming soon!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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SaLuSa, April 11, 2012
As the word spreads about the changes, so more of you eagerly await the first acknowledgement through the media. Also as the details of the exploits of our allies and the Galactic Federation become known, so more of you hold a strong belief in the outcome. After all, it has become patently obvious that unless changes take place, Man would sink further into the mire and eventually into oblivion. Those changes are being speeded up by our intervention, and intent to ensure that Divine orders are followed that will result in your release from the dark Ones. It only remains to arrest those who exercise the most power, so that the Illuminati can no longer function as a single unit. Everything is in place for a whole series of events, so much so that you will be hard pressed to keep up with them. What we want to be able to do is to keep the masses of you well informed, so that there is no misunderstanding as to our intentions. Some people with religious expectations and desires will not accept us, as they will see our coming as different to what they have been told to expect. Indeed, some have been given to understand that we are in league with the Devil. We wish to dispel those feelings and doubts, as we are God loving and serve you in order to bring you out of enslavement. We make allowances for your different beliefs, but in the end there will only be the two time lines. One will be to Ascension when you shall become more godlike, and the other one a continuation of what you already experience. We shall use every opportunity to make the truth known about your future, and it cannot be changed except that you have a choice. We exert no pressure on any soul, but we will provide proof of our mission and it will be backed up by the Masters both on and off Earth. There is so much that has been given you as the truth, yet much has been deliberately distorted or is an absolute untruth, so the harm done will have to be put right. In the past you have been obedient to your dark masters, without realizing their evil intentions. However, you have now entered a period of upliftment, and with the ever increasing levels of consciousness are more able to be discerning. The truth will carry an energy that will identify it as such, and it will act with your intuition which is your most reliable friend. Naturally you will also want proof of our statements regarding your past history. That presents no problems to us, as we will show you all relevant proof to the point of showing what is held in the Akashic records. Everything that has ever happened can be brought up again, including for example the Great Flood and similar great historical moments. Noah's Ark is a wonderful story that is surrounded in myth, but we shall put the record right. There are many such examples, and we have already prepared our courses of instruction. So clearly, we are excited at the prospect of being able to communicate with you at such levels. Until we can openly contact and converse with you, it is best that you carry on as usual and do not be distracted by what you anticipate from us. Allow it to occur naturally and in its own good time, knowing that your future is now assured. Of course you want to set your sights on Ascension, and in the time that is left you will be well informed as to what you need to do. Basically it is taking a position whereby you can remain calm whilst a lot of activity takes place around you. You the Lightworkers are our bedrock upon the Earth, and are most important to our work. Follow your heart and you will feel secure and calm regardless of what is happening. The best is to come, and with the arrests of the dark Ones any lasting interference will be brought to a halt. Remember Dear Ones, that the whole Earth is also responding to the influx of higher energies. Mother Earth is desirous of finally becoming rid of the lower energies that have caused her such pain and sorrow. So far there has not been any reason to carry cleansing that would result in catastrophic results, and we do not anticipate that it will need to change. However, Mother Earth is continually changing and adjusting to the new energies reaching her. There will therefore be some repercussions, but we will be closely monitoring such events. We can help to minimize the affects on you, and have done so for a very long time. You are so near to experiencing the outcome of our activities, and before very long the news will come out through the media. It has in fact already started but only in a small way, whereas we eventually want to see a worldwide coverage. In the near future we will take a hand in seeing that it does progress in this way, and shall be involved directly with the setting up of our own means of getting the news to you. We want you to have the advantage of new technologies as soon as possible, and set you off on the path to a new existence that will be consistent with your upliftment into the higher dimensions. You are ready to make such a leap, and have been introduced to the ideas of them so that you will take to them easily. The fact that time is still continuing to speed up is being noticed by more of you, and it is quite clear that something major is afoot. Naturally, most of you who read the contact messages are well aware as to the reasons for it. You are leaving the old vibrations behind, as they are no longer suitable for the upcoming Galactic Being that you are becoming. From the times of the Dark Ages you have surmounted the most challenging conditions, yet your Light has shone through. Not only that, you have responded in such a way that you have moved beyond the ability of the dark Ones to continue controlling you. You have cried out loud for freedom and taken the steps that have brought it to you. You can no longer be held in bondage unless you allow it to happen. I am SaLuSa from Sirius, and each time I Ieave a message I know that it is welcomed, and helps tide you over until you finally see the results of our activities. Our allies are near to completing their missions, and with that it will not be long before the situation on Earth will be suitable for disclosure to be made. Be assured that we are ready for this event and will bring it forward at the earliest opportunity. Thank you for being so patient, and God bless you all. Thank you SaLuSa. Mike Quinsey. Website: Tree of the Golden Light
Would you like to comment on this message? Visit our forum! If you're the first to comment, feel free to click "New Thread" (after making sure that you're registered and logged in of course) and copy this channeling there. If you would like to subscribe to Mike Quinsey's mailing list and receive his channelings directly, you can do this here (make sure you use the second form, the first is from Nancy Tate).
SaLuSa is also channeled by Laura Tyco. Translations of her channelings are published on our sister site Despertando.Me.
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Bertrand, 74, said his brother had "invested his own fortune" with Madoff - up to several tens of millions of dollars - along with money from friends and family.
Rene-Thierry, 65, was found dead at his desk in the New York office of Access International Advisors on Tuesday, both of his wrists slashed. A box cutter and a bottle of sleeping pills lay nearby. Police say it was a suicide.
Rene-Thierry had begun investing with Madoff three or four years ago and had a total of $1.4 billion invested with him when the scandal came crashing down, according to his brother. "At first he thought he'd be able to get the money back. He was very determined. Gradually he realized he wouldn't be able to," Bertrand said.
"He trusted Madoff completely," he said.
Madoff, 70, was arrested Dec. 11 and allegedly told FBI agents he had masterminded a $50 billion Ponzi scheme that ensnared investors far and wide, from retirees to charities to the International Olympic Committee.
Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market, has since become one of the most vilified people in America.
Rene-Thierry's fund was among the biggest losers in the scheme, and one of a handful to get taken for more than $1 billion. Famous names reported to have lost their investment with
him include L'Oreal cosmetic empire heiress Lilliane Bettencourt, listed by Forbes as the world's richest woman. Bertrand declined to identify any of his brother's investors outside the family.
Bertrand said he spoke with his brother almost every day. "My brother was a man of simple tastes," he said. "He was a very modest man.
"A lot is being said about him, like that he flew in by helicopter to his chateau - that's not true," Bertrand added. Bertrand said he'll be joining class action lawsuits against Madoff and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Rene-Thierry raised the money he placed with Madoff from friends and family. Bertrand said he lost 20 percent of his own savings in the scam.
Contrary to what some analysts say now, Bertrand said the returns on his investment with Madoff weren't too good to be true. "Over four years my gain was 17 percent - that's not crazy," he said.
The Magon de la Villehuchet family built its fortune in shipping during the 17th century according to Georges le Gorgeu, a historian in Plouer-sur-Rance, where the clan has owned a chateau for several hundred years.
The family was so rich and prominent that it loaned money to France's Sun King, Louis XIV, who ennobled them, le Gorgeu said. Many of Rene-Thierry's and Bertrand's aristocratic ancestors died on the guillotine during the French revolution, le Gorgeu said.
Rene-Thierry, who had married and had one sister, spent every August at the chateau, his brother said. In recent years he'd invested a considerable sum to renovate the chateau and protect its archives, which date back to 1200, le Gorgeu said.
Morey money-related links:


text:
Excellent! I was just looking Illustrator's tut's!
If you're trying to learn a new application there's nothing better than having an expert guide you through the various menus and tools. This post rounds up 30 of the most detailed Adobe Illustrator video tutorials and screencasts on the web. Each one features a mix of clear commentary and useful techniques that will help you on your way to becoming an Illustrator pro.


text:
Maritime Mug
- Weight:
- Shipping:
- Calculated at Checkout
Groomsman Gifts - Gift for Dad
Maritime Mug #726-4000SU $24.00
Your choice of etching initials or a name, or logo on the mug
Price includes etching of text, names, etc. on one side of the mug.
Mug comes in a white cardboard gift box.
Free Custom Etching, which includes, Free Logo Etched, Free Personalization Of glass Gift Etched, Free Proof and Free Set-ups on this glass Gift.
Once your order has been placed, you will receive a layout for your approval before the item is etched.
Please send us your logo or image in black and white with no grey areas. Preferred images are black and white, however, if you only have a colored image, we can possibly work with it. There may be an extra charge for converting the image to black and white. Send as a jpeg, jpg, or pdf. If you are uncertain about your logo, please feel free to send it to us at firstname.lastname@example.com and we will take a look at it for you and let you know if there will be an extra charge to convert your logo.
We use UPS and USPS to ship throughout the U.S. and Canada.We take pride in our customer service, so please do not hesitate to call us at 651-437-6800, with any questions about your gift needs.


text:
I have really strange problems with debuging sharepoint solution. Sometimes i cannot debug sharepoint webparts. Now i have such situation and nothing helps. I tried to restart computer\recycle pools\iisreset Problem that when i am attaching to processes visual studio starts to really slowly loads some symbols.
and after 10 minutes i have message:
What can cause such problems? I also tried to set huge timeouts and its not helps either.
Studio running under admin rights.
Also ping was changed and tested in both 'enabled' and 'disabled':
And without results.


text:
Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
When you sell a mobile home, you must get a tax release from the County Assessor. With the tax release you pay any current or delinquent taxes and taxes for the future year. After you do this, you take the tax release to the Motor Vehicle Division with the title and they will change the name on the title. After this is done, you will bring the new title back to the County Assessor and they will change the name on the tax rolls and the tax bills will then be sent to the new owner. This is the only way to change the name on a mobile home. If all these steps are not completed, you will continue to get the tax bill.
Show All Answers
We do not track whether you have a mortgage company paying your taxes or not. We send all tax bills to the owner on file. Your mortgage company may pay the taxes, however it is your responsibility to ensure that your mortgage company is paying your taxes. If you are not sure if you mortgage company is going to pay, please contact them.
The following are when tax payments are due:
If payments are not received on time the following penalty and interest will be applied on the night of the 10th of every month.
Since property taxes in New Mexico are based on a calendar year, your closing officer will generally impound, from the seller, a pro-rated share of the current year's taxes in advance. The buyer will then be credited with the amount that the seller has paid into closing. When the taxes become due, the buyer will be responsible for the entire bill since he has been credited with the seller's pro-rated amount.
The only way to acquire property with delinquent property taxes is by purchasing it at the auction put on by the State of New Mexico. When property taxes have not been paid on real property for three years, the law requires the County Treasurer to turn these properties over to the State. The State then tacks on a $125 Cost to State fee and will auction the property.
Yes, we accept postmarks!
Currently, in the office, we accept cash, check and credit card (with a 2.5% convenience fee or a $3.95 flat fee for Visa Debit.) You can also pay online with an Echeck for a convenience fee of $2 or with a credit card with the same fees as in the office. For more information, go to the County Treasurer's payment page.


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Colorado Common Cause, a political non-profit which aims to serve "the public interest, rather than the special interests," is a political powerhouse with revenues of more than $6 million in 2011 alone. It first registered to operate in Colorado on October 4, 2002, and spent the next ten years raising money and directing it to liberal causes and candidates. Despite operating in the state as a clearly political entity since its inception, records show that Colorado Common Cause has failed to consistently file required disclosure reports with the state since 2003.
But Common Cause is not alone when it comes to refusing to file required disclosure reports. Liberal organizations in Colorado have been exploiting gray areas surrounding a 2005 amendment to a key financial disclosure law, intentionally refusing to file required periodic reports on time. Before the law was amended, any organization that failed to file its financial disclosure reports on time could be administratively dissolved.
Since October of 2005, entities which fail to file periodic reports with the Secretary of State are designated as "Delinquent," but no action is taken to dissolve the entity. Instead, the state now attempts to bring delinquent organizations back into compliance with a sternly written letter or small fine assessment.
The change in the law — specifically the removal of any real consequence for refusing to file the required disclosure reports — did not go unnoticed by numerous left-leaning political organizations in Colorado.
Due to an ambiguity in the current law created by the 2005 amendment, a charitable organization such as a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) organization may continue to solicit contributions from donors even if it is delinquent in filing required financial disclosure reports. This gray area in the disclosure law appears to contradict the spirit of the law by allowing tax-exempt groups to raise tax-free money without disclosing details of its operations to state authorities. Any charitable organization that solicits more than $25,000 contributions is required to register as a charitable organization with the Secretary of State.
Organizations such as Colorado Common Cause, The Colorado Conservation Voters, Clean Water Action, Environment Colorado, and ProgressNow Colorado refused to file the required disclosure forms for several years, from 2009 through 2011. Many of these organizations were also deemed "delinquent" charitable organizations according to an analysis of records provided by the Secretary of State.
Records available on the Secretary of State's charitable organization search show Colorado Common Cause receiving three extensions to filing deadlines in 2009; the organization was finally listed as "Delinquent" in September of 2009. In 2010, the Secretary of State issued four separate reminders and one extension to Colorado Common Cause and eventually listed the organization as delinquent once again. The pattern continued to a lesser extent in 2011, with Colorado Common Cause being issued a mere two reminders and being listed as delinquent once. Additionally, Colorado Common Cause failed to file its required periodic business reports between December of 2008 and March of 2009, as well as December of 2009 through March of 2010.
ProgressNow Colorado's record is similar to that of Colorado Common Cause. It was assessed fines in two instances and was fully suspended in 2009. In 2010 ProgressNow Colorado received two reminders and two extensions from the Secretary of State's office, and in 2011 the Secretary of State issued three reminders, two extensions, and eventually listed the organization as delinquent in August of 2011.
Ambiguity in the law, the removal of real tangible consequences, and the resulting empowerment of policymakers to interpret the law according to their whims created an environment of non-compliance by groups eager to hide their finances and operations.
During his short tenure as Secretary of State, Democrat Bernie Buescher — a co-sponsor of the 2005 amendment when he served in the legislature — exploited the ambiguity and allowed the groups guilty of non-compliance to continue operating as if nothing happened. The non-compliant groups appear to be less confident in the willingness of current Secretary of State Scott Gessler to look the other way when it comes to their disclosure violations.
Since his election, many of the non-compliant organizations – including Colorado Common Cause – have managed to come back to full compliance as of May 2012 for their periodic business reports. ProgressNow Colorado and Clean Water Action are currently operating under an extension on their required charitable reports, while Colorado Common Cause cured their delinquency in November 2011.
This post was originally published at Media Trackers Colorado.


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The last resort of the true patriot is a fart joke.
What else can be done when lies, greed, cowardice, and entitlement stifle every other outlet for political protest and resistance?
There once was a time when raunchy humor and scatological satire were the weapons of choice for subversive voices to lampoon the establishment and the powers that be — in ancient Athens, for example, with Aristophanes, or Rome with Petronius, medieval England with Chaucer, and Renaissance France with Rabelais. And then, in the 18th century, there was the master, Jonathan Swift.
More recently, we've had Americans such as Mark Twain, Lenny Bruce, and George Carlin — all funny people who have aimed their profane, blasphemous, iconoclastic, and obscene wit at the absurdity and tyranny of oppressive regimes, ossified traditions, mind-boggling hypocrisy, and venal stupidity.
But, nowadays, blue comedy doesn't necessarily mean blue politics.
So many of progressive to moderate bent, such as myself, have long taken it for granted that, if a movie is dirty and funny, its politics are probably okay. I first started to question this assumption, however, back in 2004 with South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone's feature film Team America. I was a big fan of their 1999 debut feature South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. I thought these were guys with the courage of their radical, subversive, dirty-minded convictions, willing to take on the powers that be. But something must have happened to them in the intervening five years, because, in Team America — X-rated puppet sex notwithstanding — they can't find any more formidable figures to eviscerate than ineffectual lefties Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon.
My misgivings grew with Jason Reitman's debut feature Thank You for Smoking (2005). At last, I thought before the opening credits appeared, an acrid, black-comic satire about the corrupting power of lobbyists. But by the end, my expectations were confused, if not stymied, when the film seemed to be an endorsement of the profession.
And I needn't go into my disappointment with Knocked Up, which uses its gleefully irreverent smuttiness to further a family-values agenda that could actually be embraced by Mitt Romney. Even Borat, with its nude wrestling and blatant irony, amounts at best to a takedown of such mighty institutions as redneck rodeos, drunken frat boys, and aging feminists. When it comes to the really tough targets (Alan Keyes?!), the equal-opportunity trickster Borat gets gun-shy.
So when the formerly hilarious Steve Carell turns bird-shit jokes into Bible lessons in Evan Almighty, or when the long-irrelevant but once-inspired Robin Williams does kicks-in-the-balls duty as a priest in the sanctity-of-marriage-boosting License to Wed, or when even the iconic enfant terrible John Waters has mellowed into the doting grandfather of a PG-rated musical by way of Broadway with Hairspray, I've got to wonder: what happened to the left's monopoly of taboo-taunting, dumb-ass farce? Or was this tradition all just an illusion, one that crafty right wingers — or fence-sitting opportunists — have learned to exploit, masking their reactionary politics with sophomoric blasphemy and potty talk to lure in credulous, knee-jerk liberals?
See all articles by: PETER KEOUGH
All Slideshows


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I've been talking a lot to people lately about the rule of law and how important it is to the foundation of our economy. It is THE critical element, without it, no functional economy. You can have massive human and natural resources, but without the rule of law, you will not have capital formation and you will not have an economy that works.
The basis of a functioning economy is a rule not of man, but of nature. It is natural because man can attempt to manipulate or bypass the process, but man will lose every time they stray outside of the rules. The same rules win out every time they are tested, just like gravity. The basis of economies are ruled by the same rules of mathematics and of physics, it is bound and limited in its construct by both. Create a system that is not harmonious with those bounds and well… welcome to exponential math and the limits of the physical world.
Sometimes when what you're doing isn't working, it's best to get back to the basics. Allow me to start with a most fundamental concept, one that many people are aware of but may not be able to verbalize real well. I call it BE – DO – HAVE. The concept is simple. In order to have, you must first BE, then DO… THEN you can HAVE. Take, for example, the lotto winner. They skip right over BE and DO and proceed straight to HAVE. This is what people are attempting to do every time they gamble, every time they buy that ticket at the 7-11.
And what happens to those lucky enough to win, do they hold onto their wealth? Of course not, they failed to first BE and then DO. Thus they do not HAVE for very long.
My point? The same thing is true for nations. This is the root of socialism and WHY it is not harmonious with nature. Sharing the wealth destroys work ethics, it undermines BE and DO. It is an attempt to HAVE from the efforts of others. I was in the Soviet Union at the height of the cold war, I saw the lack of work ethic first hand. I saw how it impeded the progression of mankind – it was like stepping back in time 50 years or more. Innovation? Forget it. Security? No way. Freedom? Hardly.
Of course Plutocracy, rule by the rich, is hardly efficient at advancing humankind either. That doesn't work because it too eventually destroys work ethic, serfs and slaves forced to give away all their productive efforts will eventually give up.
A Dictatorship, Mr. Chavez, is also an attempt to proceed directly to HAVE while skipping over BE and DO. This is why dictatorships do not last; they too are not harmonious with nature.
So let's take a look at the basis of a healthy and functioning economic system, one that is built upon a solid foundation.
Pyramid of national wealth:
Note that the first bricks of the foundation are built upon the rule of law. They are not built upon money and they are not built upon human or natural resources. The rule of law comes FIRST, without it the others are meaningless.
If you attempt to head straight to wealth, you are skipping over BE and DO. This is the current method, it is top down, not bottom up. This is why money printing fails, it is not real wealth, and it is the "solution" being offered. It is destined to fail in exactly the same way that the gambler is destined to die broke.
Think that our nation can just go straight to creating jobs? Never happen, will never work without first starting at the foundation and building your way up to it. Think you know the answer to job creation? Build this project, build that project? If you think that you can just fire up job creation, you are mistaken.
Large projects and infrastructure building, real wealth, cannot be stolen, it cannot be dictated. In order to create jobs, the rule of law must be in place, a system of exchange and way of providing capital must work, there must be human resources at the appropriate level, there must be natural resources available, and THEN you can HAVE jobs that build wealth.
The rule of law is necessary FIRST because without it capital will not be formed, it is not attracted, it will not concentrate. Would you give your money to Hugo Chavez as an "investment?" Would you lend your money to someone who is constantly changing the rules of the game? Would you put your money to work by giving it to a lazy person with no work ethic? Would you lend your money to someone who spends three times what they earn?
NO? Neither would I. Capital, you see, is free to come and go as it pleases, it is a part of nature and it cannot be contained, not in the long run.
Lawmakers skipping over and creating new procedures to pass healthcare? Is that the Rule of Law? Bailing out bankrupt companies, is that the Rule of Law? TARP, Quantitative Easing, Mark to Fantasy accounting, government buying of mortgage paper, are those the things that comprise the rule of law? Private individuals charging people interest to use their own money system, is that the Rule of Law?
These things are gouging huge holes in the foundation of our economy. They are causing capital to flee. This is a part of why so many do not have jobs, and why we are becoming less wealthy as a nation. It begins at the foundation. Who is responsible for maintaining the rule of law, the foundation? It is WE the People.
Money and exchange systems are necessary to provide working capital. Want to build a nuclear power plant? Where's the capital coming from? Capital concentration is completely necessary to the advancement of human kind. A person and his capital can accomplish little things. Combine capital with several partners and you have the basis to accomplish something greater – the core of a simple partnership or business.
Want to send wooden sailing ships across the ocean without risking ALL your capital? Better have some limited liability, the foundation of corporations and the next level of capital formation that was necessary to advance humankind.
Want to accomplish something larger than is capable by a corporation? You will need capital that is directed and formed by government. That capital, however, will not last long if it is manufactured or not formed in accordance with the rule of law.
Let's go back and visit the way in which capital is free. You may recall from the following diagram from my article Asset Classes and Capital Flow…
There are 5 principal asset classes:
1. Currencies – for capital to flow from one asset to another, it must first be exchanged for currency.
2. DEBT – Debt, because our money is backed by debt, it is as large an asset class as currency. Yes, debt, although likely a liability to you is an asset to someone else. An asset to someone, like say, the central bank who issues an instrument of debt when YOUR money is created.
3. Equities – Providing working capital for corporations is an essential process for capital formation. This is, in case you have forgotten, the reason that we have stock markets. No, they do not exist for the pleasure of market makers, quants, banks, or gamblers in derivatives.4. Real Estate – Sections of the earth. Under our current rule of law, by the way, you don't really own, you rent.
5. Commodities – Things of the earth.
It's a fascinating study watching money pour from one asset class to another. The equity bubble in technology leading up to the year 2000… pop, into currency, into real estate… pop, into DEBT, pop… and now which asset class do you see capital flowing to?
New home construction lowest level on record. No, not there, keep looking. Meanwhile, with each cycle the DEBT piles higher, our money system adds on another three zeros. We are forgetting the basics, it's time to head back to the fundamentals.
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking a link, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!


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WASHINGTON - When former Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced his presidential exploratory committee via a Facebook message, he was the first ever to do so on the social networking site.
That was just the beginning of Pawlenty's online roll-out.
His committee website lets supporters earn points and badges, like the mobile app Foursquare, for completing tasks such as recruiting friends and declaring support via Facebook. Pawlenty has generated buzz for sharply produced online-only campaign videos rather than traditional TV ads.
Pawlenty's Web strategy shows that online campaigning -- once considered extraneous bells and whistles -- now ranks up there with trips to Iowa and New Hampshire for presidential hopefuls. Pawlenty, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and other potential 2012ers are planning online campaigns that could make President Obama's pioneering 2008 campaign look like something out of the era of America Online and 56k modems.
The 2012 campaign wars will be waged in ways that were unimaginable in the last presidential race. From the rise of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to the use of "geo-targeting" through mobile phones and search engines, 2012 presidential candidates have powerful tools to track down supporters and keep them engaged.
"It's easy to forget that when the 2008 presidential was getting started, Facebook and Twitter were barely a factor," said Mindy Finn, Pawlenty's new media adviser. "The big shift that's occurred since then is the growth of participation on social networking sites ... half of Americans are on Facebook."
Search and social networking websites like Google have responded by staffing politics teams in Washington. Facebook recently hired a second person for the 2012 campaign.
But online campaigning isn't all fun and games. Relying on social networks like Facebook and Twitter cedes some control of the message, as commenters have free rein to attack and criticize. And technical snafus can become a public embarrassment, as Bachmann found out last month when a Facebook town hall event suffered technical difficulties.
Still, the last two presidential elections have each pushed the bar higher for online campaigning. In 2004 it was Howard Dean's online fundraising; in 2008 Obama's online organizing and use of text messages.
The Pawlenty campaign hopes it can make its mark on 2012.
"Facebook and Twitter will play a significant role in 2012, and I think Governor Pawlenty has embraced that technology more than anybody," said Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant.
The president's reelection announcement on Monday -- which came via YouTube -- provided a window into how the Web will be used for rapid response. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney lobbed his attack via Twitter, saying: "@barackobama I look forward to hearing details on your jobs plan, as are 14m unemployed Americans."
Pawlenty had his own video response ready, which begins with lightning striking outside the White House and Pawlenty narrating: "How can America win the future when we're losing the present?"
Pawlenty's Web videos, which look like Michael Bay-style movie trailers, with quick cuts and soaring music, are produced by 22-year-old Lucas Baiano, a former Hillary Clinton supporter who worked for the Republican Governors Association in 2010. The videos have attracted attention from pundits for addressing one of Pawlenty's biggest knocks in the GOP presidential primary: that he's too boring.
Won't replace shaking hands
Slick Web videos and Twitter accounts will play a role in the 2012 race, but they still won't replace the on-the-ground retail politicking that's essential in early primary and caucus states like New Hampshire and Iowa. Nor will they replace the high-dollar fundraisers that can measure a candidate's viability.
"The things that candidates have been doing for hundreds of years, having the small events and meet-and-greets, that's going to continue," Finn said.
What online campaigning will do is keep potential supporters engaged. Perhaps most important, the Web lets users take an active role in a campaign, offering direct feedback and helping recruit others.
Pawlenty's website has a feature called "Pawlenty Action" that rewards supporters for recruiting friends and posting their support for Pawlenty on Facebook. "The idea is that there's a bandwagon effect, and when you see that your friend has done something, you're more likely to do it," said Vincent Harris, a GOP digital consultant who worked for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Iowa in 2008.
Because so many people are now on Facebook -- and spend so much time on the site -- campaigns have moved away from Obama's 2008 model creating his own social network. "The majority of people are on Facebook, so why try to reinvent the wheel?" Harris said.
Campaign at your fingertips
The other big change in 2012 is the rise of smart phones, opening up a new avenue for finding supporters: geographic-based advertising.
Bachmann, who is weighing a 2012 White House run, used this tactic in her 2010 congressional race with mobile ads on State Fairgoers' phones that accused her opponent of trying to raise taxes on fair foods.
The tactic can be just as effective in a presidential primary, where candidates could buy mobile ads in the area surrounding the August Ames Iowa Straw Poll, an important measuring stick for presidential hopefuls.
While campaigns have all sorts of tools at their fingertips to attract supporters, one of the most basic elements of the Internet remains key for fundraising: e-mail.
Eric Frenchman, a Bachmann digital strategist, said one-third of her $2.2 million in fundraising came from online donations last quarter. "Even though Twitter, Facebook and YouTube get a lot of press, direct marketing via e-mail and search still brings in the overwhelming majority of donations," he said.
For candidates like Pawlenty, who lacks the built-in national fundraising base that some 2012 rivals have, the Internet is a way to help level the playing field and tap donors nationwide without having to visit every city and town.
He still has to do the traditional things to win supporters: speeches, shaking hands, television appearances. But now Pawlenty and other upstart candidates can ask for money or get a message out across the country with the click of a mouse button -- and at a fraction of the cost of buying TV time. Said Finn: "The value of engaging online is not proportional to the amount of money spent on it."
Jeremy Herb • 202-408-2723


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No. 3 Marquette wallops No. 2 Miami to reach regional final
WASHINGTON -- After sweating through a pair of edge-of-your-seat comebacks, Marquette's first Sweet 16 victory in a decade was as straight and smooth as the 15-foot step-back jumper that Vander Blue nailed at the end of the first half.
It helped that the Golden Eagles ran into an out-of-sorts Miami team that, in an echo of its bus ride to the Verizon Center, was able to make as much headway as a frustrated commuter in rush-hour traffic.
Marquette is in the Elite Eight for the first time since 2003, getting there with an emphatic 71-61 win over Miami on Thursday night. The Golden Eagles were never threatened after taking a double-digit lead in the first half, quite the contrast from their rallies that beat Davidson by one and Butler by two earlier in the NCAA tournament.
"It's fantastic. It feels good not to have to worry about, are you going to lose on a last-second shot or are you going to win on a last-second shot?" said Jamil Wilson, who had 16 points and eight rebounds. "To have a cushion like that, these guys played with tremendous heart, and we did it all game."
Blue, who made the shot that beat Davidson and led the comeback against Butler, finished with 14 points. He wasn't Marquette's leading scorer, but his offensive and defensive energy pushed the Golden Eagles to a big lead early. It's a good thing he got his buzzer-beater before halftime -- for a change, Marquette didn't need one at the end of the game.
"We're so used to people not giving us credit. ... That fuels our fire," Blue said.
The third-seeded Golden Eagles (26-8) will face No. 4 seed Syracuse in the East Regional final on Saturday, aiming for a spot in the Final Foul for the first time since the 2003 team lead by current NBA players Dwyane Wade and Steve Novak. Marquette was knocked out in the round of 16 the past two years.
"after 3 tries in the sweet 16 we finally figured it out. Congrts," Wade tweeted after the game.
This one wasn't hard to decipher. Marquette could shoot; Miami couldn't. The Hurricanes (29-7) had sentiment on their side, returning to the arena where coach Jim Larranaga led mid-major George Mason to the Final Four seven years ago, but they made only 35 percent of their field goals and missed 18 of 26 3-pointers.
"You ever have days where you're just out of sync or things just don't run along smoothly?" Larranaga said. "Almost like our trip over here. Our hotel is a mile and a half, it took us 45 minutes to get here. We had to go on nine different streets, weaving our way in and out of traffic and everything. And that's the way it seemed on the court. We were trying to find our way and never could. Never could get in rhythm offensively, and defensively. I don't think we communicated like we have been doing all season long."
Shane Larkin scored 14 points to lead the No. 2 seed Hurricanes, whose NCAA run to the round of 16 matched the best in school history.
"I think what we did this year was lay a foundation of what the program could be like," Larranaga said. "We're not anywhere near where I would like to be."
Marquette, meanwhile, shot 54 percent, a stark turnaround from its 38 percent rate from the first two games in the tournament. Davante Gardner added 14 points, with 12 coming in the second half when the Golden Eagles were comfortably ahead.
Comfortable being a relative term. Coach Buzz Williams, who relishes the Golden Eagles' underdog status, hardly seemed to know how to take such an easy win. He didn't look or sound like a winning coach afterward.
"Because of my path to this point, I do have an edge, and I probably need to have better wisdom as to how to handle that edge," Williams said. "But it's really delicate because our edge is why we win."
Blue got going when he picked off a pass and converted the steal into a one-handed jam to give Marquette an 8-4 lead. His running one-hander made it 12-4. Blue and Junior Cadougan forced a steal, getting Larkin to commit his second foul in the process.
Blue ended the half with an exclamation point, hitting the jumper just before the horn to give Marquette a 29-16 lead at the break. He drained the shot, strutted backward downcourt, cocked his right arm and gave Wilson a chest bump.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes couldn't sink anything. They started 2 for 12, including 0 for 6 from 3-point range, and Larkin's 3-pointer more than 11 minutes into the game was the first Hurricanes field goal scored by anyone other than Kenny Kadji.
In the second half, Blue's basket with 10:03 to play gave Marquette a 51-30 lead. The Hurricanes, who by then had started to press full court, then put together their best sequence of the night, a 7-0 run that cut the lead to 14 with 8½ minutes left.
But Wilson's dunk and Gardner's inside basket stretched the lead back to 18. Gardner became the scene-stealer late, thumping his chest to the Marquette fans after a dunk in the final four minutes.
The Hurricanes played without backup center Reggie Johnson, who had surgery Tuesday for a minor knee injury. Johnson was averaging seven rebounds, but he would have helped only if he could've put the ball in the basket.
"There are only two things you have to do in basketball -- one, put the ball in the basket, two, stop the other team from putting the ball in the basket. We weren't able to do either," Larranaga said.
Game Information
- Referees:
- Mark Whitehead
- Gregory Nixon
- Dwayne Gladden
2023-24 Big East Conference Standings
Team | CONF | GB | OVR |
UConn | 15-2 | - | 25-3 |
Marquette | 11-4 | 3 | 20-6 |
Creighton | 11-5 | 3.5 | 20-7 |
Seton Hall | 11-5 | 3.5 | 18-9 |
Providence | 9-7 | 5.5 | 18-9 |
Villanova | 8-8 | 6.5 | 15-12 |
Xavier | 7-8 | 7 | 13-13 |
St. John's | 7-9 | 7.5 | 15-12 |
Butler | 7-10 | 8 | 16-12 |
Georgetown | 2-14 | 12.5 | 9-18 |
DePaul | 0-16 | 14.5 | 3-24 |
2023-24 Atlantic Coast Conference Standings
Team | CONF | GB | OVR |
North Carolina | 13-3 | - | 21-6 |
Duke | 12-4 | 1 | 21-6 |
Virginia | 11-6 | 2.5 | 20-8 |
Wake Forest | 10-6 | 3 | 18-9 |
Clemson | 9-7 | 4 | 19-8 |
Pittsburgh | 9-7 | 4 | 18-9 |
NC State | 9-7 | 4 | 17-10 |
Syracuse | 9-8 | 4.5 | 18-10 |
Florida State | 8-8 | 5 | 14-13 |
Virginia Tech | 7-9 | 6 | 15-12 |
Boston College | 6-10 | 7 | 15-12 |
Miami | 6-11 | 7.5 | 15-13 |
Notre Dame | 5-11 | 8 | 10-17 |
Georgia Tech | 5-12 | 8.5 | 12-16 |
Louisville | 3-13 | 10 | 8-19 |


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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Had a bad day? Extending your normal exercise routine by a few minutes may be the solution, according to Penn State researchers, who found that people's satisfaction with life was higher on days when they exercised more than usual.
"We found that people's satisfaction with life was directly impacted by their daily physical activity," said Jaclyn Maher, graduate student in kinesiology. "The findings reinforce the idea that physical activity is a health behavior with important consequences for daily well-being and should be considered when developing national policies to enhance satisfaction with life."
The team examined the influence of physical activity on satisfaction with life among emerging adults ages 18 to 25 years because this population's sense of well-being appears to worsen more quickly than at any other time during adulthood.
"Emerging adults are going through a lot of changes; they are leaving home for the first time and attending college or starting jobs," said Maher. "As a result, their satisfaction with life can plummet. We decided to focus on emerging adults because they stand to benefit the most from strategies to enhance satisfaction with life."
Study details
The researchers recruited two groups of college students at Penn State. The first group, consisting of 190 individuals, entered information into a diary every day for eight days.
The second group, consisting of 63 individuals, entered information into a secure website every day for 14 days.
Both groups answered questions aimed at determining participants' satisfaction with life, physical activity and self-esteem. The personalities of all participants in the first group were assessed at the outset of the study using the Big Five Inventory short form.
For the second group (the 63 individuals who filled out questionnaires online for 14 days), the researchers wanted to further investigate whether physical activity was indeed, the cause of participants' increased satisfaction with life rather than some other factor such as mental health, fatigue, or Body Mass Index.
"Shifts in depression, anxiety and stress would be expected to influence a person's satisfaction with life at any given point in time," said David Conroy, professor of kinesiology.
"In addition, fatigue can be a barrier to engaging in physical activity, and a high Body Mass Index associated with being overweight may cause a person to be less satisfied in a variety of ways."
By controlling for these variables, the researchers were able to determine that the amount of physical activity a person undertakes in a particular day directly influences his or her satisfaction with life.
Specifically, the team found that by exercising just a little more than usual a person can significantly improve his or her satisfaction with life. The results appeared online this week in the journal Health Psychology.
"Based on these findings, we recommend that people exercise a little longer or a little harder than usual as a way to boost satisfaction with life," said Conroy.
The National Institute of Aging at the National Institutes of Health funded this research.
Up-to-date agriculture news in your inbox!


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It's been a loooong while since I've posted, been laying low while I get started on my post-Essex County projects (more to come on that soon). At any rate I'm back, and first off there is a new interview with me at Publisher's Weekly.
Secondly I wanted to post my convention schedule for 2008. This year, in addition to my Essex County books and Lost Dogs, I'll have a new mini-comic! I'll also have tonnes of original art, and paintings for sale. And I will be happy to do commissioned sketches. At any rate here are the shows I'll be appearing at:
Toronto Hobbystar Comicon April 12-13.
MoCCA Comic Art Festival- New York-June 7-8th
Toronto Paradise Comicon-July 12-13
San Diego ComicCon-July 24-27
SPX- Baltimore-October 4-5
APE- San Fransico-Nov 1-2
So please, if you're coming to any of these shows, stop by and see me!
P.S. A new 5 page Western comic I did coming tomorrow....


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My not-so-profound thoughts about valuation, corporate finance and the news of the day!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
What betas can... and cannot do...
I think the biggest mistake that people make is to wrap betas up with the assumptions of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). Does the CAPM make unrealistic assumptions about no transactions costs and no private information to get to its final conclusion (that all exposure to market risk can be captured in a beta, which should then be the sole determinant of the differences in expected returns)? Absolutely. However, just because you don't like the CAPM's rigidity does not mean that you throw the baby out with the bathwater and abandon beta as a measure of risk, or worse, use no measure of risk at all.
I think of betas as measures of relative risk, with the risk defined as exposure to macro economic variables (interest rates, overall economic growth, inflation). Thus, a stock with a beta of 1.2 is 1.2 times more exposed to macro economic risk than the average stock in the market. That proposition stands, whether one buys into the CAPM or not. Seen from that perspective, here are the things betas cannot do:
1. Explain changes in returns for the entire market. The betas for all stocks cannot go up at the same time, since they have to average out to one. (This is in response to those who have argued that the recent drop in equity prices can be explained by an increase in betas across the board.)
2. Capture emerging market risk. If we regress the returns on emerging market stock against emerging market indices, which is the standard practice for most estimation services, the average beta for Indonesian stocks will be one, as will the average beta of Swiss stocks. If we run regressions against a global index, the results are often unpredictable, with betas for emerging market companies often dropping simply because they are such as a small part of the index.
3. Capture firm specific risk: Betas cannot incorporate risks that affect only a firm or a few firms, even if these risks are huge. Thus, a tobacco company's beta cannot reflect litigation risk and a biotech firm's beta will not capture the uncertainty inherent in the FDA approval process.
Here is what betas can do. They can capture shifts in risk across the market. If a sector gets riskier, its beta should go up, but there has be another sector whose risk has to go down to compensate. Thus, banks will have higher betas today than they did a year ago but technology firms may have seen their betas decline, as they have held up fairly well in this downturn. They provide simple, intuitive and surprisingly effective snapshots of how risky an investment is, relative to the rest of the market, especially if you are an investor with multiple investments in your portfolio.
I do have to mention in closing that running a regression of stock returns against a market index is both a terrible way of estimating betas and of thinking about betas. However, this post is already way too long for me to suggest alternatives to regression betas. That will come in the next post.
12 comments:
- ValueHunt said...
I agree with Professor's view. If beta is not the correct measure of risk, what else can be taken as risk measuring tool? If Mr. Buffet is not using beta, it is because he is gonna hold a stock for his life time. Only Mr. Buffet can do that. Not all.
- February 7, 2009 at 11:36 PM
- Unknown said...
There is a huge difference between investment and Trading. Investment is what Warren Buffet does(he holds a huge ownership stock in the particular company.) He analyses a company's future prospects by understanding the business, Market for the products produced by that company. Which is very much difficult for a person who is engaged in the activities like buying a stock for a certain period,or buying a call option, trading in Futures(allowed in India) etc.
Aswath sir, How an individual can analyze a stock for trading practice? - February 8, 2009 at 3:02 AM
- Aswath Damodaran said...
The contrast between investing and trading does not really make sense. If you invested in Google long term, do you not think that you are going to be exposed to more risk than investing in Coca Cola? An investment is risky and having a long time horizon cannot make real risk go away. As for Buffet, I would not take everything he says at face value. He may not adjust his expected returns for risk but he sure does adjust the cash flows.
- February 8, 2009 at 9:50 AM
- STF said...
I'm actually in the middle of teaching Ch. 4 of "applied corp finance" right now in my course right now, so this is timely.
Just found this blog so haven't posted here before, but many thanks for all the help you provide on your website! I'm an economist who was converted to teaching finance about 8 years ago and ended up loving it . . . but there's been a steep learning curve to become any good at it. Your books and website have been tremendous help to me.
By the way, and a bit off topic, I just received my copy of strategic risk taking. Are you planning a course around this material in the future? If not, I'd be interested in hearing how you might be using it or suggest using it in the classroom.
Thanks. - February 8, 2009 at 10:54 AM
- Mahesh Sethuraman said...
This brings me to another question that was very often asked in placement interviews in B-Schools by some of the equity research companies. Can there be companies with negative beta? And if yes then is CAPM an invalid framework?
I have never quite got a convincing answer for this from most people. I know there are companies with negative beta in the market. But isn't that because of our narrow understanding of index being a true representation of the market. If you have to take the market as a whole - there should n't be a negative beta right?
And given this limitation, how do we adjust for the same in calculating the Cost of Equity within the CAPM framework? - February 8, 2009 at 11:38 AM
- Aswath Damodaran said...
I will address the negative beta question in another post, but the true beta for an asset can be negative, if acts as insurance against a major macro economic risk. One example that is often give is gold, a hedge against inflation... If the bulk of your portfolio is composed of financial assets that can be hurt by unexpectedly high inflation, adding god to this portfolio can reduce its overall risk.
- February 8, 2009 at 1:21 PM
- Roshan said...
Dear Sir,
Apart from risk-free rate issues, this is also a scenario where assets will likely be impaired. Once impairment sets in, return ratios, like, ROE, ROA will be inflated (of course, returns themselves are negative! Still, these ratios are inflated owing to denominators!)
Doesn't this call for adjusting these ratios? How should one do the adjustment in a scenario like this? Request your comments.
Roshan - February 10, 2009 at 3:31 AM
- Mahesh Sethuraman said...
Could you also give us your take on Fama-French's critical review of CAPM in one of the posts please?
- February 10, 2009 at 10:36 AM
- eran said...
I second Mahesh Sethuraman's comment, if it's not too much trouble
- February 11, 2009 at 5:40 PM
- eran said...
When you say all betas must average 1, is it theoretically speaking?
- February 12, 2009 at 3:21 AM
- Aswath Damodaran said...
The betas have to average to one, on a weighted average basis, because they are all computed against a common index.
- February 14, 2009 at 11:50 AM
- eran said...
Of course, but in practice, if I compute a weighted average beta for the entire market against the S&P 500 (for example), can I get a result higher than 1? After all, not *all* stocks are included in that index so my weights aren't any good. Is there a known index that will yield an average beta of 1 for the entire market?
- February 14, 2009 at 5:50 PM


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My latest New Yorker piece, on how David beats Goliath, is here.
I've been very pleased with the reaction. I did want to respond, though, to a number of comments that have been made about the parts of the piece dealing with Rick Pitino and college basketball. (Nothing is quite as fun as arguing about sports,)
Since most of the commenters make the same arguments, I'm going to pick a post by Ben Mathis-Lilley, over at New York magazine's blog. He writes, in part:
The truth is that almost every team tries to make its opponents work for all 94 feet in some fashion, and not every underdog is born to run a full-court press. For example, take a team of mediocre players plus two pretty good athletes — one a tiny but quick guard, the other a big man who's strong but slow on his feet. If that team ran a full-court press, the opposition would exploit the big guy by sending the player he guards sprinting down the floor on a fast break, while the small guard would be wasted guarding someone who probably doesn't have possession, since the standard reaction to a press is to pass the ball around. A better strategy would be for the quick guard to pressure the opposition's ball handler while the other players retreat, giving the big guy time to lurk near the basket and shot-block.
The first sentence--that almost every team makes its opponents work for all 94 feet--is, of course, nonsense. But the rest of the paragraph makes perfect sense. The press is not for everyone. But then the piece never claimed that it was. I simply pointed out that insurgent strategies (substituting effort for ability and challenging conventions) represent one of David's only chances of competing successfully against Goliath, so it's surprising that more underdogs don't use them. The data on underdogs in war is quite compelling in this regard. But it's also true on the basketball court. The press isn't perfect. But given its track record, surely it is under-utilized. Isn't that strange?
The New York piece then goes on:
The most misleading part of Gladwell's case concerns Rick Pitino, the Kentucky coach who was famously defeated on a last-second play by Duke in the 1992 NCAA tournament when he decided not to guard Grant Hill, who was inbounding the ball (ignoring the inbounder is a key component of the press).
Hmmm. Small point. Ignoring the inbounder is not a key component of the press. It is a key component of someversions of the press. Pitino also uses a version of the press that does guard the inbounder. (Also Pitino is no longer the coach at Kentucky. He's now the Louisville coach.) The piece then objects to my attempt to "shoehorn Pitino's teams into the underdog category" because Pitino's 1996 Kentucky team "featured featured a staggering nine players who would go on to play in the NBA." A number of others have pointed this out, and I'm still somewhat baffled by the criticism.
Pitino has been a college head coach since 1978 at four schools--Boston University, Providence College, Kentucky and the University of Louisville. At BU, he took over a team that had won 17 games in the two years before his arrival. He went 91-51 in five years, and took the team to the NCAA. At Providence, he took over a team that had gone 11-20 the year before. Two years later, he won 25 games and went to the Final Four with what may have been one of the most spectacularly untalented teams to have ever reached that level. And at Louisville he took his team to their first final four in 19 years in 2005. The star of that squad? Francisco Garcia. Ever heard of him? Exactly. Not to mention this year's Louisville squad which reached the Elite Eight with really only one NBA caliber player. You can also make an argument (and Bill Simmons at ESPN does) that Pitino did an awful lot with a very little while at the Boston Celtics, briefly, in 1998. Pitino's Kentucky experience is an anomaly. And by the way the nine players who got drafted into the NBA off that anomalous 1996 Kentucky squad consisted of eight journeymen and one, marginal star--Antoine Walker. Pitino has had a fraction of the talent that his contemporaries at Kansas, Carolina, Duke or Connecticut have had.


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For customers wanting bulk linen envelopes LCI custom manufactures genuine Classic Linen Envelopes. This line is sold in bulk at wholesale prices.


text:
Australians are eating themselves to death and food choices are one of the nation's leading causes of environmental damage, according to a new report released by the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA).
At the launch of A Future for Food 2, the PHAA made an urgent call to the Federal Government to take responsibility for the crisis in our food system and establish a dedicated Ministry of Food with a position within Cabinet to drive cross-portfolio efforts.
PHAA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Moore said obesity and other diet-related disease were evidence of a serious failure of the current food system and a 'do nothing' approach will allow the system to slip into crisis.
"There is growing evidence that in Australia a poor diet contributes more to people being sick than any other single risk factor including tobacco and alcohol," Moore said. "Australians need to eat less and eat differently to address the sky-high rates of preventable diet-related disease. The current food system is skewed towards energy dense foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt. We need to make healthy food choices the easiest and most affordable option for all Australians."
The PHAA also believes that while the phenomenon of diet-related disease is grabbing headlines and what is not recognized is the significant impact of our food choices on carbon emissions. The association pointed out that more than 30 percent of Australia's carbon footprint is related to food production.
According to PHAA Food and Nutrition spokesperson, Associate Professor Heather Yeatman from the University of Wollongong's School of Health Sciences public health nutrition has the responsibility to promote food that is not only healthy, but also environmentally sustainable.
"There is overwhelming evidence that certain diets and styles of eating impact more heavily on the environment than others. Fortunately, an environmentally sustainable diet is also a diet that protects against preventable disease," Yeatman said. "Moving toward a plant-based diet with smaller amounts of meat from sustainable sources and reducing consumption of highly processed foods -- such as takeaway foods that rely on fossil fuel use in production, or use excess packaging -- will help to achieve two goals. These goals are reducing the incidence of diet-related disease and reducing the impact of the food system on the environment."
Moore added that working with the food industry was essential to implement changes in the food system, however, vested interests must not drive the policy decisions of governments. The food-related research and policy actions of government in the different sectors of health, primary industry, environment and social justice must also be connected.
"The Federal Government must lead the collaboration and establish a healthy, sustainable and fair food system with public and environmental health at its core," Moore said.
This free educational webinar will provide a detailed process for climate-driven "pre-response" in a variety of key areas including: Supply Chain Disruptions, Employee Safety and Productivity, Regulatory and Compliance Risks …and many more areas.


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Outdated egg!
This is an egg for CHICKEN 3, the unsupported old release. You're almost certainly looking for the CHICKEN 4 version of this egg, if it exists.
If it does not exist, there may be equivalent functionality provided by another egg; have a look at the egg index. Otherwise, please consider porting this egg to the current version of CHICKEN.
Library for creating parsers for certain languages. The API is still under development and might change in the future.
It is mostly just used by the stream-wiki egg.
This egg is made by Alejandro Forero Cuervo <email@example.com>.
Copyright (C) 2006 Alejandro Forero Cuervo <firstname.lastname@example.com>
The stream-parser egg is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
The stream-parser egg is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with the stream-parser egg; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
- 1.2
- Fix dependency (previously required format, now requires format-modular).
- 1.1
- Extended the macros to support new forms/cases.
- 1.0 (r2134)
- First public release


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#1 ROI In Home Improvement – New Garage Doors
Both recent and long-term key trends indicate that curb appeal projects generate higher return on investment than work completed in the interior of the home. Compared to other upgrades, garage door replacement now ranks at the top in a recently released annual survey.
Garage Door Replacement Offers the Biggest Bang for Your Buck
Remodeling Magazine's 2018 Cost vs. Value Report compares the average cost for 21 popular remodeling projects with the value those projects retain at resale. In this national survey, garage doors rank #1 with the least amount invested and the highest return. Nationally, homeowners can expect up to a 98 percent return on investment for their garage door replacement, on average. Now that's using your money wisely, AND making the neighbors jealous!
Don't wait until you are prepping to sell to make the improvement. Replace your garage doors now and enjoy your curb appeal while you still live there. Request a free quote today.
Old or new, annual planned maintenance on your garage door system plays a big role in the efficient operation, safety, and the lifespan of the system. Schedule your garage door maintenance here.


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The transformation of the NFL into a passing league has turned receivers into marquee players on the free-agent market. Teams are looking for difference-makers on the perimeter who can impact the game with speed and dynamic skills.
Free-agent tracker
Where will Mike Wallace wind up? Follow him and all the other NFL players on the move in our free-agent tracker. More ...
Based on their production, performance and potential, Mike Wallace and Greg Jennings are considered the receiver gems of the 2013 free-agent class. Wallace, a four-year veteran with 4.3 speed, is one of the most explosive playmakers in the league, scoring 32 career touchdowns in just 63 games with the Pittsburgh Steelers, averaging a ridiculous 17.2 yards per reception.
Jennings has been a silent killer as the Green Bay Packers' unheralded No. 1 option. He has amassed 425 receptions and 53 touchdowns during a solid seven-year career that has seen him develop into one of the most polished receivers in the NFL.
Several teams desperately need a weapon on the perimeter. I thought I'd compare Wallace and Jennings in five categories to determine which wideout is the superior player. Here is what I discovered after my film study:
Ball skills
Jennings is one of the best pass catchers in the NFL. He snatches the ball out of the air with his big mitts; his hand-eye concentration is remarkable. He tracks and adjusts well to the flight of the ball while shielding defenders with his body to keep them from knocking the ball away at the last moment. Jennings' exceptional reactions and body awareness particularly stand out when he boxes defenders out on over-the-shoulder catches or back-shoulder fades. Though he's a receiver of relatively small stature (listed at 5-foot-11 and 198 pounds), Jennings is unquestionably one of the best 50/50 pass catchers in the game today.
Wallace is a dependable receiver, but most evaluators would describe him as a "body catcher." He prefers to trap and cradle the ball against his chest rather than snatching the ball cleanly out of the air. There are times when all receivers are forced to cradle the ball, due to ball positioning or the proximity of defenders, but the fact that Wallace routinely utilizes this method suggests he isn't a confident pass catcher. This might explain his large number of drops (six in 119 targets). Of course, his propensity for dropping passes in 2012 could have been an aberration, caused by the distraction of last offseason's contract dispute. But the lack of consistency must be factored into his final evaluation.
Advantage: Jennings
Route running
Jennings is one of the slickest route runners in the game, using a vast array of stems and releases to obtain leverage on defenders at the top of routes. Additionally, he understands how to vary his tempo and speed to set defenders up for double moves down the field. While Jennings regularly opened his bag of tricks to get open in Green Bay, this rarely affected the timing of the passing game. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers -- who routinely released the ball before Jennings would hit the top of his break -- certainly trusted in Jennings' ability to get to the designated spot. Every NFL quarterback covets a No. 1 receiver with exceptional route-running skills.
Harrison: Team needs in free agency
With free agency set to kick off at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 12, Elliot Harrison identifies priorities for all 32 NFL teams. **More ...**
Wallace burst onto the scene in 2009 as one of the fastest receivers in the league. The Steelers capitalized on his explosiveness by featuring him as the designated vertical option on most plays. During the early portion of his career, Wallace's repertoire consisted of the go, post and deep comeback. Wallace's fastball is certainly enough to bring him success, but if he wants to anchor a team's passing game as the No. 1 receiver, he must be able to run a variety of short and intermediate routes. When I study Wallace's game, I'm not impressed with his ability to get open consistently against elite corners on intermediate routes. He lacks the creativity and cleverness to set up defenders with a variety of stems, and he still tips off his routes with his body positioning and choppy steps when getting into his breaks. Although Wallace's speed and explosiveness keep defenders from squatting on his routes, he must continue to refine his game as a route runner to be considered a true No. 1 receiver in the NFL.
Advantage: Jennings
Run after catch
Offensive coordinators love receivers who can make plays with the ball in their hands. Receivers with exceptional running skills can turn short passes into big gains, making the offense more difficult to defend. Jennings is a crafty runner with sneaky wiggle and elusiveness in the open field. While he lacks the speed to completely run away from defenders in space, Jennings is productive and effective with the ball in his hands.
Wallace, meanwhile, is downright scary in this capacity. Not only is he fast enough to run past defenders in the open field, but he displays the elusiveness to weave through traffic for big gains. Wallace repeatedly turns bubble screens, crossing routes and fly sweeps into explosive plays, revealing his remarkable speed and short-area burst. Additionally, Wallace shows toughness and strength when running through arm tackles en route to productive gains. Playmaking is especially important in today's game, and Wallace's speed and running skills make him a potent weapon on the perimeter.
Advantage: Wallace
Offensive coordinators in the NFL will tell you that the passing game is designed to yield big plays, touchdowns and first downs. Receivers who can deliver in those three areas are viewed as valuable commodities. With a sneakily explosive game, Jennings (who has 425 receptions for 6,537 yards and 53 touchdowns in 96 games) fits the bill. Most importantly, he's tallied 97 receptions of 20-plus yards, including 33 of at least 40 yards. Those numbers suggest that he is a big-play weapon who can impact the game from the perimeter. Now, he is not a vertical threat who can rely on his speed and athleticism to get open down the field, but he does have a knack for slipping behind defenders to produce big plays. Jennings' yards-per-catch average of 15.4 makes it hard to dispute his impact as a playmaker.
Darlington: Dolphins take aim
After missing the free agency boat last year, Miami is determined to land Mike Wallace, Jeff Darlington reports. **More ...**
Judging by his ability to repeatedly run past defenders on the perimeter, Wallace might be the fastest man in the NFL. He explodes past defenders on vertical routes; the Steelers capitalized on this by frequently targeting him on the go-route, post and deep crosser from the outside. Pittsburgh also attempted to get him the ball on an assortment of short crossing routes, allowing him to utilize his speed to run away from defenders on horizontal routes. Not only are Wallace's career numbers (235 receptions for 4,042 receiving yards and 32 touchdowns) impressive, but they are remarkable when factoring in his 67 receptions of 20-plus yards -- including 27 of at least 40 yards -- over just 63 career games. Given his robust career yards-per-catch average (17.2) and penchant for delivering impact plays, Wallace ranks as one of the most explosive players in the NFL.
Advantage: Wallace
Clutch factor
Just as quarterbacks are judged by their ability to raise their level of play when it matters most, receivers are evaluated according to their capacity to impact big games, particularly in the postseason. Evaluating Jennings' play throughout his career, I was most impressed with his postseason performance. He consistently stepped up his game in the playoffs, thriving as the Packers' No. 1 target when the pressure was on. In 10 postseason games, Jennings has 50 receptions for 673 yards and six scores. Although injuries and the emergence of Jordy Nelson limited Jennings' production somewhat during the Packers' last two playoff ventures, the fact that he was so instrumental in helping the team win Super Bowl XLV makes him a special player, in my mind.
In four postseason games with the Steelers, Wallace was a major disappointment -- a non-factor whose lack of production robbed the offense of its explosiveness. When I reviewed his play and tallied his numbers (16 receptions for 141 yards with one score), I came away concerned about his ability to function as a No. 1 option in the passing game. As the lead receiver, Wallace must be able to impact the game against coverage designed to limit his opportunities. Defensive coordinators showed that they could effectively neutralize Wallace during those four playoff games, making it tough for me to consider Wallace a clutch performer at this time.
Advantage: Jennings
The free agency frenzy will lead teams to overspend on potential impact players. Jennings and Wallace are obvious candidates to break the bank based on their enticing skill sets. While both could find success wherever they go, I believe Jennings is the better overall player, someone who could succeed in any system. Now, I know that age (Jennings will turn 30 in September) and a relative lack of speed might prevent him from receiving a deal that rivals Wallace's contract on the open market. But as time goes by, I believe we will look back at Jennings as the marquee player of the 2013 free agency class.
Follow Bucky Brooks on Twitter @BuckyBrooks


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This image was taken by the Sojourner rover in the area behind the 'Rock Garden' at the Pathfinder landing site and gives a view of the Martian surface not seen from the lander. Of note here are several dune-like ridges in the foreground. These features are less than a meter high but several meters wide. They are thought to be created by surface winds blowing right to left (approximately northeast to southwest). These features are called dunes, because of their asymmetry, although the rover has not examined the sediment within them. Such sediment on Earth would be sand-size grains less than 1 millimeter in diameter.
Image from: NASA/JPL


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Brooke Shields - Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression
When Brooke Shields welcomed her newborn daughter to the world, her joyful expectations were quickly followed by something unexpected--a crippling depression. In what is sure to strike a chord with the millions of women who suffer from depression after childbirth, Brooke Shields shares how she, too, battled a condition that is widely misunderstood, despite the fact that it affects many new mothers. She discusses the illness in the context of her life, including her struggle to get pregnant, the high expectations she had for herself and that others placed on her as a new mom, and the role of her husband, friends, and family as she struggled to attain her maternal footing in the midst of a disabling depression.
data wydania: 2 maja 2006
liczba stron: 240
język: angielski


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I am somewhat ignorant of how/if voting data on SO can be mined, so I was wondering if it's possible to run a search of voting patterns to see if people tend to up-vote less when the author is in their approximate rep bracket (either sub-consciously, or on purpose).
If you ask "why would anyone do something ilke that" - I actually have a plausible theory.
Joel at least once mentioned, when promoting SO, that the SO rep these days is sometimes used as a sort of score when job hunting (I know I'd at least pay attention to that datum on a resume when I interview people, although it won't be even remotely most important).
So people may treat their rep standing (if not exact value) as something of a scarce resource and - possibly sub-consciously - try to deny that resource to closest competition (as in, you don't have to be faster than a bear, just faster than the fellow next to you :)
Jon Skeets of the world are way out of reach anyway so up-voting them does no harm as far as one's own relative rep standing, whereas up-voting much lower rep users is safe enough since they will be unlikely to catch up to you. But up-voting someone with score similar to you may feel like helping the competition.
I don't know if it's possible to mine for that, but I have observed a couple of times when people "accepted" obviously not-the-best answer from either very low or very high rep user yet left alone a much better one from similar reps (that's what started me wondering).
EDIT: Just to be clear, in response to Brad's note, I don't expect (or want :) to see the voting data - I assume that very few people (may be only 2) have access to it.


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Debugging Makefiles
Here is some information on debugging Makefiles:
showing symbol values, and showing file dependencies
There's a good Dr. Dobbs article on this topic, by John Graham-Cumming, at:
or printable, all-in-one page, at http://www.embedded.com/columns/technicalinsights/197003517?printable=true
This article describes some macros you can put in your Makefiles to show you the values of symbols, and to show the dependencies that led to a particular target being built. This is handy if you have a complex Makefile that you are trying to debug.
Makefile Debugger
John has also written a Makefile Debugger.
The following articles describe the debugger and how to use it:
The following resources are needed to use the debugger:
- Download gmsl (a library of gnu make stuff), from http://gmsl.sf.net/
- Download gmd (the debugger itself), from http://gmd.sf.net/
Expand the tarballs from these, and place __gmsl, gmsl and gmd in the directory with the Makefile you wish to debug.
Add the following lines to your Makefile:
include gmd
all: $(__BREAKPOINT)
remake is a patched GNU make with a debugger, better tracing and error reporting. The latest version is based on GNU make version 4.1 released sources, and there is another based off of GNU make 3.82.
See: http://bashdb.sourceforge.net/remake/
Use the option --debugger (short form is -X) in your make invocation. For example:
$ remake --debugger
But much of the time you may be able to get by using just the better tracing that is given. For that use option --trace (short form is -x). For example:
$ remake -x
Debugging a kernel build
Verbose options
There are several Kernel makefile tricks which are helpful for debugging a kernel build.
Try "make V=1 [<rest of make args...>]" to see all the full-length commands used to build the kernel.
Sometimes, if a particular step is breaking and you don't understand why, you can copy-and-paste from this verbose command output (to the shell command line). To do this you need to make sure you are in the correct source directory, and that all required files are present.
To see why a particular target is being build, use "make V=2". This is quite useful when a small change results in much more being build than you expected.
Building in a separate directory
Use the variable KBUILD_OUTPUT either as an environment variable or on the make command line, if you wish to put the build output into a separate directory from the source. This can be useful for several reasons, including when you want to build for multiple architectures from the same source, or when you wish to avoid cluttering up the source tree with object files, libraries and other generated files (to make diffs easier).


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Jeannie Thib
Jeannie Thib was born in North Bay, Ontario, and completed her BFA at York University in Toronto in 1979. Her works investigate meanings of the body and the social construction of female identity. She uses a variety of media, including large-scale linocuts, multi-panelled prints, chalk drawings, and hand-sewn paper gloves with printed inscriptions. Thib includes text in most of her works to give the images meaning at both the visual and the cognitive levels, as in Manual 1, 3, 4 (1998). She is concerned with the contribution of an object to the encyclopedic archive. Fragmented into segments, each part of the body becomes one precious artefact which will help to broaden the knowledge of the whole.
Thib was a member of the Red Head Gallery and the Name 10 Parts of the Body collective in Toronto from 1991 to 1997, and during this time she developed work about the body. She says: "The body is seen as an archive... and as a region of the imagination - a territory of uncertainty."


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Botanical Name : Trachyspermum ammi (L.) Sprague
Indian Names : Bishops Seed, Ajmo, Jowan, Ajamoda, Omum, Jawind
Family : Apiaceae
Commercial Part : Fruit
Ajwain (Bishops Seed) is very aromatic but less subtle in taste. It is a bit spicy, pungent and has a strong aroma. Even a small amount of ajwain dominates the taste of a dish. In India, ajwain is never used raw, but is either roasted or fried in ghee, which is done to develop a stronger and more prominent aroma. It is primary used as a digestive aid and ant emetic. Ajwain is often consumed after a heavy meal. It is commonly offered after dinner parties. Ajwain that we cater has a great demand across our customer base, because of strict supervision & premium quality, free from adulteration.
Medicinal Value & Use:
In medicines it is used as a Digestive, antispasmodic, stimulant, carminative, expectorant. Ajwain is much used as a medical plant in Indian Ayurvedic medicine, mainly as a remedy for diseases of the digestive tract. In the Western part of India, ajwain extract thymol is used in medicines for cough and throat irritation. It is traditionally used as a digestive aid, relieves abdominal discomfort due to indigestion and antiseptic. In southern parts of India dry ajwain seeds are powdered and soaked in milk, which is then filtered and fed to babies. Many assume that it relieves colic in babies and for kids it also improves digestion and appetite.
All Rights Reserved.(Terms of Use) Developed and Managed by Infocom Network Private Limited. |


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The R250 million house is so far the most expensive offer on the real estate market in Novosibirsk, Western Siberia. Picture: Zhilfond real estate agency
This sumptuous property and expansive grounds, some 10km from the centre of Novosibirsk is currently on the market and can be yours for R250 million, which is around EUR6.5 million or $8.5 million.
This elegant yellow-painted mansion is in Zaeltsovsky Park, in an elite and protected community of privately owned homes at 'Obskie Zori', a name conjuring the image of sunrises over the mighty Ob River, which is nearby.
It is in substantial landscaped grounds of 1,2 hectares, much of it being delightful English-style lawn with fir and birch trees, as well as bushes, and an artificial lake some 4 metres deep stocked with fish, and complete with a waterfall.
View from the house ont the lakeside pavilion. Pictures: Zhilfond real estate agency
While close to the bustle of Siberia's largest and busiest city, this is a place to relax and unwind in peaceful and secure surroundings, close to nature. The grounds are a paradise for children.
And for those balmy summer evenings, there is nowhere better than the lakeside pavilion, perhaps with a cocktail, or entertaining friends for a barbecue.
The house is a substantial 785 square metres, with fittings and tiles of Italian marble used extensively in the property, log-burning fireplaces for those cold winter nights, and a columned verandah and balconies for warmer seasons.
'The quality of work is of the highest level,' explained Igor Ponkratev, of Zhilfond Real Estate, an agency founded in 1997 and currently the largest in Novosibirsk.
'All this creates a unique atmosphere of cosiness in the house and emphasises the high status of the owners of this property. A billiard room, a hunting room and a wine cellar are located in the basement of the property which is connected to the garage by the underground passageway 60 metres long'.
Close ups of steam house (banya) and barbeque. Pictures: Zhilfond real estate agency
The walled estate includes a garage of 300 square metres with space for all family vehicles, and comes with a living area on the second floor which could be used by staff.
An outstanding and attractive feature of the property is its traditional yet palatial Siberian banya or steam sauna in a separate 176 square metre 'cottage' constructed from local timber, the ultimate place for relaxation.


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Oy. It's like she mines from the Glee cast when she needs to save face. Or hide something.
Last year Taylor Swift made sure to be seen with Cory Monteith while she was workin' it undercover with John Mayer. Now she and Jakey Gyllenhaal may or may not be broken up and she showed up with another Glee castmember at the LA Kings game last night. Now THIS is a prom king and queen and situation. He needs people to know his name - Chord Overstreet for the 90% of you who didn't - and she wants to be desirable. And if somewhere along the way they actually do end up becoming something resembling real, well that's all good too.
Does she curl her hair every day?
Photos from Jeff Gross/Gettyimages.com


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Frank Pittman
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Frank Smith Pittman, III, M.D. (1935 – November 24, 2012) was an American psychiatrist and author. He wrote a regular column, Ask Dr. Frank, which appeared in Psychology Today.
Man Enough (1993)[edit]
- As boys without bonds to their fathers grow older and more desperate about their masculinity, they are in danger of forming gangs in which they strut their masculinity for one another, often overdo it, and sometimes turn to displays of fierce, macho bravado and even violence.
- Ch. 5.
- But after the intimacy-inducing rituals of puberty, boys who would be men are told we must go it alone, we must achieve our heroism as the Lone Ranger, we must see the other men as threats to our masculine mastery, as objects of competition.
- Ch. 8.
- If fathers who fear fathering and run away from it could only see how little fathering is enough. Mostly, the father just needs to be there.
- Ch. 6.
How to Manage Mom and Dad (November/December 1994)[edit]
- Each generation's job is to question what parents accept on faith, to explore possibilities, and adapt the last generation's system of values for a new age.
- In considering the ledger equal, understand the greatest gift you have given your parents is the opportunity to raise you. The things a child gets from parents can't compare to the things a parent gets from raising a child. Only by experiencing this can you understand the degree to which children give meaning to parents' lives.
External links[edit]
- An Interview with Frank Pittman, MD, by Victor Yalom, PhD, Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference, 2000
- Infidelity Comes Out of the Closet, New York Times, April 29, 1999
- Infidelity reaches beyond having sex, By Karen S. Peterson, USA Today, 1/8/2003
- Dear Ann: Thanks for 47 years of advice, USA Today, 06/23/2002
- Marriage experts converge here; top tip is don't split, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 06/21/06
- Search for a soul mate, or love the one you're with?, 5/28/2003, USA Today
- Study: Divorce, living together new norms, USA Today
- Why men drag their feet down the aisle, 06/26/2002, USA Today
- Cohabiting can make marriage an iffy proposition, Even married, men may still feel less committed, July 8, 2002, USA Today
- Work & Family: Couples separate checking accounts, The Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2005


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Educational Research
ETS conducts research and partners with outside research organizations to study trends in education, teacher performance, student learning outcomes, teacher quality, and other related educational topics.
Resources and recent research on topics affecting teacher licensing agencies and teacher preparation programs include:
Teacher Leader Model Standards
After two years of research and collaboration, the 39-member Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium released the Teacher Leader Model Standards. The Standards are designed to stimulate dialogue among stakeholders of the teaching profession about what knowledge, skills, and competencies teachers need to assume leadership roles in their schools, districts, and profession, and how teacher leadership can be distinguished from, but work in tandem with, formal administrative leadership roles to support good teaching and promote student learning.
Toward Increasing Teacher Diversity: Targeting Support and Intervention for Teacher Licensure Candidates
National Education Association (NEA) and Educational Testing Service (ETS) have been working collaboratively to support teacher candidates in preparing for The Praxis Series® teacher licensure assessments. NEA and ETS wanted to better understand why and how minority candidates struggle with teacher licensure assessments in order to improve interventions that could help address the problem. The report summarizes the results of the data analysis and interviews to provide insight and direction to intervention, describes some model intervention programs that have been developed to assist students, and offers commitments and recommendations for the future.
Teacher Quality in a Changing Policy Landscape: Improvements in the Teacher Pool
This study examines the relationship between improvements in the academic quality of America's teaching force and the recent explosion of policy focus on improving teacher quality.
Approaches to Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness: A Research Synthesis
This report studies current measurement systems for teacher effectiveness and provides practical guidance for better evaluation. Related policy implications are also discussed.
Center on Great Teachers and Leaders
The Center on Great Teachers and Leaders provides resources and guidance to help build knowledge about educator effectiveness.