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Imagine a world in which the PTO and hydraulic systems on tractors and equipment of differing brands are not compatible. No mix and match between green tractors and red planters. No flexibility. The forced brand loyalty might make Microsoft's alleged anticompetitive practices look trivial in comparison.
Fortunately for farmers, Bill Gates doesn't control the ag equipment industry (yet). So not only can we take standardized hydraulic and PTO systems for granted, we also can rest assured that standardization among manufacturers continues in the relatively new realm of data processing and electronic controls.
As the computer age extends to tractor and implement control systems, equipment manufacturers have realized the need to standardize the way tractors and implements communicate with each other. The process of standardizing electronic control systems across the ag equipment industry began in the early 1990s and continues today.
At present, manufacturers use two related standards called LBS+ and ISO11783. Though these standards share a common lineage and operate in much the same way, from a user's standpoint they are not largely compatible with one another. Fortunately, the industry's ultimate goal is for all companies to move to a finalized version of ISO11783 within the next few years.
Marvin Stone, an agricultural engineering professor at Oklahoma State University who has been involved in the electronic control standardization process, says manufacturers will tap ISO11783 to deliver better-performing products. "Not only will implements and tractors remain compatible, the existence of the standard should result in products that are more reliable and efficient," Stone says. "Examples that already exist include the new John Deere combines or the new Cat Challenger. In addition, the ease with which equipment can be quickly diagnosed and repaired should improve."
Stone says many of the improvements will be invisible on the surface. The more visible developments will occur when virtual terminals — and implements that are able to use them — begin to appear.
Human interface
The visual part of the control system, or virtual terminal (VT), looks like the typical display and control unit that sits on the right armrest of many modern tractors. The key difference is that it also controls implements, and each implement it controls thinks it has its own dedicated terminal. With a touch of a button, the operator selects a particular "terminal" within the VT to interact with, almost like turning to a page in an electronic book.
The implement doesn't actually have a dedicated terminal, but a part of the VT, which can display and control tractor functions as well as functions of multiple implements. As standardization evolves, this will include implements created by different manufacturers. To the operator, everything will be in one place, controlled by common naming conventions and operating logic, no matter what brand of implement is behind the tractor.
Stone says that as VTs become more common on tractors, they will become an important feature to consider when evaluating a tractor purchase. A VT will be the eyes, ears and nerve center of an integrated tractor and implement system. "As you evaluate the VT, you'll want to look for things such as a color screen that is easy to understand in sun or darkness, an adequate number of simultaneous implements supported, a good keyboard and strong dealer support. The dealer should be knowledgeable about the system and have access to a good local expert," Stone says.
You might hear the terms "hard keys" and "soft keys" when listening to someone talk about a VT. Stone explains that hard keys are physical buttons on the terminal with a fixed definition (escape, enter, etc.). Soft keys are buttons or some kind of input device that is associated with a screen icon or text that defines the meaning of the button (like function keys on a personal computer).
Another device being standardized across manufacturers' lines is the task controller. You enter a prescription into this controller, and then based on the data entered, it creates appropriate commands to the implements. An example might be a precision farming system where you create a map of application rates on a personal computer. You then transfer that data into the tractor's task controller, which uses GPS and map data to create commands to the fertilizer spreader that result in an appropriate variable application rate.
Coming soon
Caterpillar systems integrator Sam Freesmeyer works with the ISO11783 standard on the new Challenger MT700 series tractors due to hit the market later this year. He says the strength of standardization of electronic controls is that it will make life less complicated for tractor operators who prefer to buy machinery based on performance, not color.
"Basically, the ISO standard assures that you will be able to hook up a green planter to a yellow tractor, or a yellow spreader to a red tractor. Regardless of who designed it, you should expect them to work together. One screen lets you monitor and control whatever implements are attached," Freesmeyer says. "It boils down to easy, intuitive operation and effective ways to harvest data regardless of equipment brand. You can choose equipment based on features, not hookups."
The idea of a communications standard all seems logical, fair and practical — an obvious choice for the equipment industry. But Freesmeyer points out that equipment marketers might be tempted by the prospect of developing competitive advantages through bundling like-branded equipment to function better with their particular brand of tractor.
Bundling discouraged
"Tractor manufacturers could conceivably provide enhanced display information, unique features or enhanced data-gathering capabilities when hooked up to like-branded equipment, but that defeats many of the potential benefits of a standardized system," Freesmeyer says. "For many farmers, the most important crop they harvest is data. Since standardization maximizes their ability to use that data, I believe farmers, and the industry, requires total interoperability between equipment brands."
Dave Murray, manager of engineering for AGCO's LBS+ based Fieldstar system, agrees that practical issues ultimately will override the significance of marketing-based attempts at exclusivity. And he says compatibility largely is already in place. "Since the ISO and LBS+ standards both come from the original LBS standard developed in Germany [see sidebar], implements designed with LBS+ are already very close to being ISO11783 compatible," Murray says.
Though the most advanced VT systems are making their debut on top-of-the-line tractors such as the Fendt and the Cat MT700, Murray says you won't necessarily have to buy a new tractor to take advantage of the benefits of interoperability. In many cases, the necessary tractor technology is already out in the field waiting to be plugged into smart implements in development, and existing technology such as the AGCO Fieldstar system can be retrofitted into older tractors. "While there are not a lot of smart implements in North America now, I'd estimate that we'll see considerably more in the next two to five years," Murray says.
Opportunities for small companies
As tractors and implements become increasingly complex, there is some worry that small manufacturers with smaller research and development budgets will get squeezed out by bigger companies. As with most new advances, the ISO standard could be either a blessing or a curse.
"It's true that smaller manufacturers might have trouble keeping up in that it requires a significant development effort to provide good quality electronics in ag products," Stone says. "On the other hand, small companies that currently provide electronics for agricultural equipment already appear to be developing products that will meet the standard. The availability of a standardized bus system on ag equipment creates an opportunity for smaller manufacturers to provide more capability at the same cost and to better integrate their products with equipment produced by other manufacturers. It is a little like having standardized hitches on tractors. You have to obtain, read and develop to the standard, but the result is that your product functions well with all brands of equipment."
Demand-driven technology
In the throwaway world of personal computers, it's not uncommon for consumers to buy a new computer with a totally new operating system every few years. But agricultural equipment is bigger and more expensive. Most farmers can't afford to start from scratch whenever they want the latest technology. It costs too much money to buy it and too much time to learn a new system. Faced with complex systems that often culminate in three kinds of software and a bird's nest of wires, increasingly it's the farmers who are demanding standardization for both implements and precision farming equipment. That includes everything from software to controller cable connectors. In this regard, it appears that equipment companies worldwide are listening to the needs of their farmer customers.
Saskatoon-based Flexi-Coil is one of many implement companies that now embraces the move toward standardization. In a recent interview with Winnipeg-based Grain News, the company's Electronic Group Project Manager Bob Benneweis discussed the need for standardization: "If you're considering a move into the area of electronic precision farming, it makes a lot of sense to look for equipment manufacturers committed to moving toward the new standards. The new standards, once implemented, will mean when you make a decision to trade up to any new tractor, seeding implement or combine, you won't need to buy a new totally separate precision farming system."
Benneweis says new equipment should be standardized soon. At that point, farmers likely will start to see technological synergies. Data formats that allow free transfer of information between different equipment, and standard connectors that allow any implement to plug into any tractor, may be just the beginning. Electronic standardization could be the key that allows precision agriculture to finally fulfill its promise of being practical and profitable.
ISO11783 Standard
The ISO Working Group includes industry engineers and university and government specialists. The group meets, discusses issues and arrives at a consensus, which is then documented as an ISO standard for manufacturers.
LBS (also known as DIN 9684) was completed before ISO11783 and allowed German manufacturers to get equipment out into the market early. European manufacturers such as Fendt, Claas, Krone, Rauch, Lemken and Pottinger jumped toward electronic standardization early with the interim LBS standard called LBS+. The LBS+ based control system was demonstrated extensively at Germany's Agritechnia equipment show in 2001. Attendees were impressed by the "plug and play" capabilities between tractors and various implements. Upon being plugged in, the complex functions of an automated Claas baler, for example, can immediately be recognized and displayed on a Fendt tractor's Vario terminal screen.
In the beginning, ISO11783 was viewed as a worldwide standard that would become the "follow-on" to LBS. (In fact, some of the members of the LBS committee served and continue to serve on the ISO11783 committee.) ISO11783 was developed to incorporate many of the ideas in LBS such as the virtual terminal and the task controller concept.
Many additional capabilities beyond what were supported by LBS were demanded in ISO11783. Some examples include higher bus connection speed, the capability to support many more network devices, and more flexible support for implement systems, such as the ability to control multiple implements of the same type (ganging three drills or two planters behind one tractor, for example).
During the development of ISO11783, additional capabilities and improvements resulted from experience with LBS. The result is that both LBS and LBS+ are on the market, which are to some extent precursors to ISO11783, but at the same time competitors to ISO11783. The LBS systems are a simpler but more limited design.
Now many North America-based companies are moving directly to ISO11783. Portions of the standard dealing with tractor control and implement control are largely complete. Standards relating to remote diagnostics and other high-tech functions are still in the works. Standards relating to extremely data-intensive functions such as video and machine vision (a sprayer that can "see" and target individual weeds, for example) are likely several years in the future.
For more background on LBS and ISO11783, visit these Web sites:


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Navigator Registration: Marine Park - May 18, June 8, & Aug. 24
Saturday, May 18, 2013
9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Please note: This event has already taken place. Please use the Search options on the right to find upcoming events.
By becoming a NAVigator, you can help young trees grow into healthy forests. NAVigators are needed to help weed and monitor new reforestation plantings, and will be trained in invasive weed identification and removal techniques. NAVigators must attend 3 training sessions and commit to volunteer 12 hours over the summer in weeding reforestation sites. All training and tools are provided by NYC Parks.
Come dressed in sturdy boots or shoes, long pants and clothing that can get dirty. Please meet your NAV Tech lead at Gerritsen Avenue & Channel Avenue. Space is limited. Registration Is Required For This Event.
Please meet your NAV Tech lead at Gerritsen Avenue & Channel Avenue
Event Organizer
Contact Number
(212) 360-3317

subset: commoncrawl


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Why Buy from Victory Nissan?
In a word - okay, two words - our people. We have a ridiculously friendly team, most of which grew up right down the street. This team is the Victory Nissan difference, and why you should buy here!
Each associate is committed to your comfort and providing the absolute best customer experience. Your wish is our command. We'll work with your budget, schedule and preference - whatever it takes!
If you've shopped at other car dealerships and left feeling a little, errrr, icky, give Victory Nissan a chance. From our professional and passionate sales team to our second-to-none service department, Victory Nissan puts the focus on you. And, it's easy with the largest selection of new and used cars in the area.


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Cotton growers will have a number of new varieties — conventional as well as transgenic — to consider as they plan for the 2002 crop.
Here are some of the new offerings:
Aventis Cottonseed International
ACSI plans to release four new cotton varieties for 2002.
FiberMax 958. An indeterminate cotton plant, FM 958 is a broadly adapted variety with a compact growth habit and large bolls. The company says its indeterminate nature is appropriate for high yield situations with early season management and pivot and furrow irrigation.
FiberMax 958 performs very much like an early maturing variety with high fiber quality characteristics. The recommended planting area for the 958 variety ranges from North Carolina to California.
FiberMax 966. In comparison, FM 966 is a mid-maturity determinate which sets bolls rapidly. This variety reportedly responds well to early irrigation and Pix applications when necessary. The company recommends the 966 variety for growers in the Mid-South, as well as parts of the Southeast and Texas.
Unlike 958, which fruits like a Christmas tree, filling out the bottom and then moving up the plant, FiberMax 966 fruits more in layers, a difference growers may want to consider when making their cottonseed selection.
FM 989BR is a stacked gene variety offering both the budworm protection of Bollgard and the weed control protection of Roundup Ready. FM 989BR has a distinctive appearance with dark green leaves and large bolls set in a semi-cluster configuration. It has also shown good tolerance to Verticillium wilt. The recommended planting region for this new stacked gene variety includes the South Delta, parts of the Southeast, Texas and California.
FM 832B is an okra leaf variety that contains the Bollgard gene. Like its conventional counterpart, FM 832, FiberMax 832B promises good fiber quality and a high yield potential in an okra leaf variety. The new twist, though, is that 832B also allows growers to obtain season-long budworm protection with the addition of the Bollgard gene. FM 832B will offer growers in Texas and Louisiana high yield potential with the Bollgard gene, to protect more bolls, even at sub-threshold levels.
Delta and Pine Land Co.
D&PL plans to introduce three early-maturing varieties, PM 1199 RR, SG 215 BG/RR and SG 521 R, and four mid-full season varieties, DeltaPEARL, DP 491, DP 555 BG/RR, and DP 448 B.
Early Season Cotton Varieties
PM 1199 RR is a high-yielding, very early maturing, medium- to short-statured, hairy-leaf Roundup Ready variety that has a very good fiber-quality package. Yield performance has been outstanding throughout its testing, particularly in the northern Cotton Belt.
SG 521 R is an early maturing, hairy-leaf, Roundup Ready variety with excellent seedling vigor. It has medium-to-tall plant height and is widely adapted to different soil types. The storm resistance of open bolls is rated very good. SG 521 R has both outstanding yield performance and good disease tolerance, including good tolerance to both Fusarium wilt and Verticillium wilt. Bronze wilt has not been observed in this variety.
SG 215 BG/RR is a very high-yielding, early maturing, stacked-gene variety with smooth leaves and very good seedling vigor. It is widely adapted to various soil types and farm practices, including conventional, minimum till, ultra narrow row and skip row. In head-to-head comparisons with early maturing stacked-gene varieties, it consistently was the highest performer, both in lint yield and value.
Mid-Full Season Varieties
DeltaPEARL is a mid-full maturity variety that is primarily adapted to the southern tier of the cotton belt, but has shown outstanding performance as a full-season variety in the upper southeast (North Carolina and northern South Carolina). This variety has out-performed all other major conventional mid-full varieties throughout the Belt in terms of lint yields. It has exhibited excellent yield and fiber qualities, and its crop values are superior to other conventional mid-full season competitor varieties. Beltwide averages for DeltaPEARL's staple length are superior to most of the competitor varieties. DeltaPEARL also has an impressive disease tolerance package that includes tolerance to Fusarium and Verticillium wilt and resistance to bacterial blight, race 18.
DP 491 is a mid-full season, conventional variety with smooth leaves and a diverse germplasm background. It has outstanding and consistent yield performance as well as excellent length and strength. This variety has good tolerance to root knot nematode and Fusarium wilt.
DP 448 B is a mid-full season picker variety with superior yield, high turnout and wide adaptation. It has medium plant-height with smooth leaves, good storm resistance and resistance to Verticillium wilt. Both staple length and micronaire are very good.
DP 555 BG/RR is a stacked-gene, mid-full season variety with an extremely high yield potential with excellent turnout and a very good fiber package. It has smooth leaves and is adapted across the Belt.
Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Co.
Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Company plans to offer a broad portfolio of conventional, Bollgard, Roundup Ready, BXN, and stacked-gene varieties in 2002. Those will include two new transgenic varieties and a pending conventional variety. The two new transgenic varieties are a stacked picker variety, BXN 49B, and a stacked stripper variety, ST 3539BR.
BXN 49B contains the Bollgard gene for boll protection and the BXN gene for resistance to Buctril 4EC herbicide. This early-to-mid maturity, stacked-gene picker variety has management characteristics and maturity similar to its parent variety, ST 474. Buctril helps growers manage troublesome broadleaf weeds such as morningglory and cocklebur and assists in weed resistance management with chemistry rotation.
ST 3539BR is an early-to-mid maturity, stacked-gene Stoneville Texas stripper variety, containing the Bollgard gene for boll protection and the Roundup Ready gene for broad-spectrum grass and weed control. ST 3539BR comes out of the ST 132 germplasm that has been a preferred variety across West Texas and Southwestern Oklahoma due to its widespread adaptability and high yield potential.
Stoneville's pending conventional picker variety, ST 457, demonstrates Stoneville's commitment to developing new elite varieties. Field trial evaluations indicate that this early-to-mid maturing variety has greater yield potential than the industry leader, ST 474, is earlier maturing, and offers an improved fiber package. Prior to being released for commercial sales, this variety was evaluated under the experimental designation of STX8M007. A full array of transgenic versions of ST 457 is in development.
These new varieties follow in the footsteps of other recently introduced Stoneville varieties, including ST 4892BR, ST 4793R, ST 2454R and ST 580.
ST 4892BR is a versatile variety that stacks the Bollgard gene to help protect more bolls with the weed-control advantages of Roundup Ready. It offers growers exceptional yield potential, early-to-mid maturity, season-long tobacco budworm protection and the ability to easily control a wide spectrum of weeds and grasses.
ST 4793R, Stoneville's new single-gene Roundup Ready picker variety, offers exceptional yield potential under most management systems and soil types. ST 4793R contains the weed control advantages of Roundup Ready for broad-spectrum grass and weed control.
Stoneville's new Roundup Ready stripper variety, ST 2454R, was launched in limited quantities in 2001. ST 2454R offers high yield potential, quality fiber, smooth leaf, and early-to-mid maturity. It combines the weed control advantages of Roundup Ready for broad-spectrum grass and weed control with the excellent yield potential and adaptability of its parent variety — ST 132. ST 2454R is well suited for both irrigated and dryland production systems.
Additionally, another new conventional variety, ST 580, was released in 2001. This medium-to-full maturity variety offers growers outstanding yield potential and superior fiber quality. ST 580 is adapted to the Southeast and Lower Mid-South cotton regions.
American Cotton Breeders Inc.
Americot 1621 is a new conventional cotton variety released by American Cotton Breeders, Inc., of Little Rock, Ark. This full-season variety has exceptional yield potential and has performed well in plantings from the Southwest to the Mid-South. Americot 1621 has a robust plant conformation with a large root system. This characteristic allows Americot 1621 to yield well under dryland and limited water management systems. This variety has produced high yields on heavy soils in Arkansas and Missouri.
West Gaines Seed and Delinting
WG 4207 is an early maturing, high-yielding conventional cotton variety. It has performed well in several locations in the Southwest and Mid-South; leading new strain tests in Arkansas and Tennessee. WG 4207 has a compact plant conformation and can be produced in high fertility programs without excessive plant height.
WG 8120 is a mid-season conventional cotton variety with excellent yield potential. It has a robust root system and yields well on dryland farms. It shows good resistance to Verticillium wilt and has performed well in public and private yield trials from the Southwest to the Southeast.


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LG G3 Overview :
The LG G3 is a dirt-cheap Android phone that is as basic as it gets. No large screen, no fancy features, no frills. It's a super compact device that not just fits, but almost gets lost in a hand. The L1 II Dual features a 3-inch display, a barebones 2-megapixel fixed-focus camera, dual SIM connectivity and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
LG G3 Sim Unlocking :
Unlock LG G3 to use any where in the world with any supported service provider like
Optus Australia Brasil, Straight talk, FamilyMobile, Vodafone, Personal, Claro, O2, Digicel, Telcel, Orange, Telenor, Optus, Tele2, MTN Rogers, Fido, Chatr, Bell, Virgin, Sasktel, MTS, PC telecom, Tbaytel, Telus, Koodo
Only at
Click here to buy Unlock code
LG G3 Unlocking instructions:
1: Turn on phone with Not Accepted SIM card.
2: A menu will pop up to Insert the code.
3: Insert the provided code and press OK
4: Device is now unlocked.
How to Factory reset/ Hard Reset LG G3:
How to Reset LG G3 pattern lock:
Hard Reset will erase all of your data
All described operations you are doing at your own risk.
First Method:
In order to switch off the cell phone, use the Power key.
The hold down the Volume Down + Power button together for a couple of seconds.
When the LG logo is displayed, let go of the Power key, keep pressing the Volume Down and then press once more the Power button.
Afterwards you should see a factory reset menu on your screen.
Confirm processby choosing appropriate options using Volume rockers to navigate and Power button to confirm.
Now your phone should restart.
Success! The hard reset has just been completed.
Second Method:
If the display is off hold down the Power button to turn it back on.
Afterwards go to Settings.
Select General and then Backup & reset.
In the next step tap Reset Phone.
Choose Erase Everything if you are sure you want to clear all your data.
Select OK to confirm the whole operation.
Well done!
How to Update LG G3 to Latest Firmware:
On the computer, launch LGMobile Support Tool.
Connect the phone to the computer using the USB cable.
You'll be prompted if an update is available. Click Start Updating.
Read the warning and click Yes.
The update process will now begin.
The software will be downloaded to the computer.
Wait while the software is installed on the phone.
Note: Do not disconnect the USB cable from the phone during this process.
The update is complete. Click Exit and Disconnect the phone.
How to Root LG G3:
You will lose all your data and it is possible that you may brick your device
All described operations you are doing at your own risk.
How to Root LG G3 H443 with using a computer. In this tutorial we will use the Windows computer. This method should work on any LG official firmware (Kitkat 4.x.x / Lollipop 5.x.x). Smartphone Clinics is not responsible for any gain or loss incurred as a result of following this guide. Root your device at your own risk.
Make sure your phone battery is charged to 70% or more
Enable USB Debugging, by open Settings > Developers Option > USB Debugging
If Developers Option is hidden, go to Settings > General > About phone > Common > Software info (tap on it for 5-8 times)
Download and Install the LG USB Driver on the PC
LG driver
LG driver for Verizon
Download and extract the LG One ClickRoot
If the file above does not work, please download LG One Click Root 1.3
One Click Script to Root LG G3 :
Connect your device with computer
Run One Click Script by double-clicking the LG Root Script.bat file
This will open a command window. Follow the instructions.
Wait until the root process is complete.
If the SuperSU App exist on your Application Menu on your smartphone it means you've succesfully rooted your device.
If the phone not recognize, try to switch between MTP and PTP options.
If you got "MSVCR100.dll is missing" error, install Visual C++ Redistributable.
Download: 32 bit / 64 bit.


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For millions of Americans, retirement planning is all about accumulating a "nest egg" of savings and investments to generate enough income to pay for a comfortable standard of living after they stop working. The quality of life in your golden years, this line of thinking goes, is determined almost solely by how well you've estimated the size of the nest egg you need and how close you get to accumulating it.
But this process, especially as applied by the trillion-dollar financial services industry that many would-be retirees turn to, often raises more questions than it answers — some of which are unknowable. How long will you live? Will stocks and bonds perform as well in the next 25 years as they have in the last 25? And what happens if your retirement coincides with a period of high inflation that takes a big bite out of the spending power of your hard-earned nest egg?
Some contrarians believe that the conventional wisdom — by focusing so heavily on savings and paying less attention to spending patterns in retirement — may cause some people to save more than they really need to.
In some cases, balancing savings and spending means rethinking retirement goals. Because living costs vary so widely from one part of the country to another, for example, many retirees find themselves cutting costs by moving from high-cost locales to more affordable neighborhoods.
Rebecca Hale, 58, of Tucson, Ariz., is an example. Hale, who is single, says family obligations kept her from stashing savings in her 401(k) until late in life. So she's counting on pensions, Social Security and the sale of her home to top off her nest egg. She's set her retirement sights on moving south of the border.
Retirement calculator"I kind of calculated that I wouldn't have enough to retire in the U.S., and I've always been fond of Latin countries," she said. "I figure that for $4,000 a month I can live like a queen in Mexico.
But you don't have to move to another country to match your spending goals with your retirement savings.
"The traditional methodology is giving very bad advice," said Lawrence Kotlikoff, an economics professor at Boston University. "The targeting for how much to plan on spending in retirement is being done by people that are trying to sell securities and insurance policies. That right there is a conflict of interest."
Kotlikoff, who has developed his own methodology (more on that later), argues that for some people, the typical method of shooting for a fixed minimum income for life creates a savings target that is higher than it needs to be. But that suits the financial services industry just fine, he says.
"I'm not suggesting that everyone is oversaving or that we don't have a saving problem with a lot of the population. We do," he said. "We also have an oversaving problem with a lot of the population. They're different people."
The lucrative business of advising individuals on retirement planning is a relatively new one. Just a generation ago, most workers relied on an old-fashioned "defined benefit" pension plan that promised to pay a monthly check for life after they reach a certain age. Income from savings and investments might pay for "extras" — like a cruise or gifts for the grandchildren — but weren't needed to cover basic living expenses.
But the pool of people who can expect to retire with a guaranteed monthly check from their employer is rapidly shrinking, an artifact of a bygone era. In 1979, nearly two out of every three U.S. workers participated in a defined benefit plan; by 2005 that number had fallen to one in 10.
Pensions have been largely replaced by "defined contribution" retirement savings plans that rely on employees diverting part of their paychecks, with employers kicking in some matching funds. Participation in these plans has risen from 16 percent of the work force in 1979 to about two-thirds as of 2005.
As a result, the financial risk — of setting aside enough money and investing those funds to produce a reliable income in the future — has been shifted from employer to individual employees. If it feels like you're on your own, you are.
To encourage you to get started, the financial services industry has tried to keep retirement planning simple. The typical process starts with an estimate of how much income you'll need to maintain a "comfortable" standard of living. Most retirement plans rely on what's known as a "replacement" model — enough to replace 80 percent or more of your income before retirement.
You're then asked to decide how long you expect to live and try to guess how well your investments will do and how high inflation will be after you retire. Plug those numbers into one of many available calculators, and out pops a number — usually a very big number.
That represents the nest egg you need to accumulate by retirement age to generate the annual income you desire. After taking into account how much you have already saved and invested, along with the number of years left before you retire, you're then instructed how much you need to save each month to reach your target. That's your retirement plan. (For one version of this approach, check out our own retirement calculator .)
But your plan is only as good as three critical assumptions that you have been asked to make: How long you will live; how much you'll earn on your investments in up and down markets over your lifetime; and your armchair inflation forecast for the next several decades. Even the most gifted economists and financial analysts acknowledge these variables are all but unknowable.
For many prospective retirees, in fact, it's hard enough predicting what retired life will look like. A generation ago, choices were fairly limited, according to Ron Manheimer, director of the
North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement, which runs workshops for people making the transition to retirement. Some people continued to work as long as they were able, whether because they had to or needed to. Others stopped work and filled their days with leisure, travel or lifelong hobbies.
"I think what's happened is that we are now in a time when for many people that sort of black-and-white or static picture is gone," Manheimer said. "People are exploring different combinations and different degrees of continued work, leisure and volunteering and so on. And that becomes more complicated and more difficult to predict."
That uncertainty about the course of your retired life — never mind your forecasts for inflation, investment returns, and your own longevity — leads some people to throw up their hands at the idea of realistic planning. Others wind up making assumptions that may be overly conservative, says Kotlikoff, creating nest egg targets that may be bigger than needed.
No matter how modest the target, some people — especially younger workers supporting families — say they can't afford to fund it. At least not now. But the situation for late-in-life savers isn't hopeless — far from it, says Kotlikoff. His research suggests that most people don't start saving for retirement until their late 40s — especially if they're focused on things like raising kids, buying a house in a neighborhood with good schools, and paying off student loans.
The solution to these retirement planning shortcomings, says Kotlikoff, is a lifetime approach that attempts to smooth out the ups and downs of living standards by better accounting for swings in income, saving and spending throughout life. To help people do the math, Kotlikoff has come up with software package called ESPlanner that sells for $149. (While the math behind it is sophisticated, the user interface is a little clunky.)
ESPlanner includes some of the conventional calculations about saving and investing for long-term spending goals. But instead of assuming you'll need a fixed income for life when you retire, the software attempts to forecast how your spending will go up — and down — after you stop earning a paycheck.
The effect, for some people, is to reduce the size of the nest egg that a "fixed-income-for life" retirement plan would require, said Kotlikoff.
"For a lot of people who are young and have mortgages and have college tuition to save for and a lot of mouths to feed what the program is saying is, 'Don't save a whole lot when you're young, and save a lot right before retirement — which is what most people do," he said.
Starting later in life means missing out on the powerful boost that compound returns can provide the early saver who amasses a nest egg that can grow for decades. But Kotlikoff says no matter when you start saving, you'll be better off with a more realistic approach to the ups and downs of income and spending that inevitably crop up once you're retired.
If your retirement investments have a bad year, you can postpone buying a new car. On the other hand, if your returns are above average, that may be the year to splurge on a cruise.
"Our dynamic programming model says people are going to adjust their spending based on how they do in the market every year," he said.
Kotlikoff's software virtually eliminates the risk you'll outlive your savings target by assuming you'll live to be 100. By doing so, the software also assumes you'll spend your savings down to zero — which some conventional retirement plans don't. That, along with better forecasting of changes in actual retirement spending, means some people can do a lot better than they think by saving less than conventional retirement calculators tell them to, he said.
Regardless of their planning process, several retirees told msnbc.com that managing spending and cutting expenses have had as much to do with maintaining a comfortable lifestyle as the effort they made on saving and maximizing their retirement income.
Earl Skovsgard, a retired policeman in Port St. Lucie, Fla., said in a recent e-mail that after paying off some big expenses, his retirement plan is working out pretty well. With two kids in college (most of which they're paying on their own), a house and two cars paid for, the couple is living comfortably on his police pension and Social Security, supplemented by his wife's part-time income.
"I am obviously not able to live at the French Riviera," he said. "But if you eliminate some of the bigger-ticket items, like paying off the house, and buying an economy car that you can afford to drive, you can live well on a lot less than you think."
Bill Murphy, who worked in data processing jobs for several large companies, decided after taking an early retirement in his mid-50s that he needed to keep working a little longer to make his retirement numbers add up. Now fully retired, he and his wife have "downsized" from the Detroit suburbs to a bigger house in Indianapolis. About a third of their current income comes from savings and the rest from pensions and Social Security. By withdrawing about 2 percent a year from his investments, he's able to supplement his pension income and still watch his savings grow.
"I live a very comfortable life; I'm not extravagant," he said. "I buy a new car once every 10 years. A couple of times a year we can go to both coasts and see the grandkids."
Murphy says his retirement plan relies on a simple, one-page running financial analysis that he does once a month or so. He sets a spending limit on his credit cards; if he needs to go over that, he borrows from savings and then "pays it back" with the next interest payment from a bank CD.
"You match your expenses to your budget," he said. "If I go over, it's not the end of the world."
Unfortunately, for some future retirees, no monthly savings goal is attainable. Don Voge, 42, works full time for a real estate title company in Minneapolis and figures he still has time to save for retirement. But a series of unexpected medical expenses forced him to refinance his home with a subprime mortgage that is now consuming 65 percent of his take-home pay and will soon rise to consume all of his income, he said.
"Retirement is something that's going to happen 20 years or so, but I will likely lose my home in the next year," he said. "So it really doesn't matter thinking about retirement savings when I could be homeless in a matter of months."
© 2013 msnbc.com Reprints


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Peter Schmuck's Orioles midseason report card
The 2013 season is well past its mathematical halfway point, but that can't be helped. The All-Star break still is considered the traditional midpoint in the season, so you'll just have to multiply everybody's quantitative stats by a factor of 1.69 to project them over a full 162-game season. While you try to do that in your head, here's our Orioles midseason report card. -- Peter Schmuck
Copyright © 2019, The Baltimore Sun, a Baltimore Sun Media Group publication | Place an Ad


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Homemade Defense
random mutterings about military history, firearms, preparedness, military technologies, and whatever else I feel like talking about. but not zombies anymore because the hipsters ruined them & now they have jumped the shark.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's
the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even
an armed one, can only make a successful living in a
society where the state has granted him a force monopoly."
---from the Gun is Civilization By Major L. Caudil, USMC (Ret)
Posted by Kevlar at 3:48 PM 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: Gun Control, gun quotes, gun rights, guns and society
Don't Buy from Cheaper Than Dirt!
You know, life is hard enough for American gun owners with un-American, wrongheaded people like Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Michael Bloomberg and Michael Moore doing everything they can to destroy our Constitutional freedoms and innate right to self defense.
Then we have Cheaper Than Dirt. They are one of the largest online retailers of ammunition, magazines and other "survival" type gear. I have bought from them in the past and been generally happy with them.
With the panic induced by the left wing gun banning crowd, Cheaper than Dirt has taken the initiative to increase their magazine and ammo prices. Some by as much as 10 times. This is extortion of their customer base and I am frankly appalled. I called Cheaper than Dirt today, let them know (politely) my complaints and told them to take me off their mailing list and that I would never do business with them again, even though I had been a customer for ten years. I hope you will do the same. With attacks coming from the rabid and unthinking Far Left Statists, we can not afford to be taken advantage of by a company that owes its existence to the American gun owner.
Then we have Cheaper Than Dirt. They are one of the largest online retailers of ammunition, magazines and other "survival" type gear. I have bought from them in the past and been generally happy with them.
With the panic induced by the left wing gun banning crowd, Cheaper than Dirt has taken the initiative to increase their magazine and ammo prices. Some by as much as 10 times. This is extortion of their customer base and I am frankly appalled. I called Cheaper than Dirt today, let them know (politely) my complaints and told them to take me off their mailing list and that I would never do business with them again, even though I had been a customer for ten years. I hope you will do the same. With attacks coming from the rabid and unthinking Far Left Statists, we can not afford to be taken advantage of by a company that owes its existence to the American gun owner.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Thoughts on firearms from the Revolution
"And we do each of us, for ourselves respectively, promise and engage to keep a good firelock in proper order, & to furnish ourselves as soon as possible with, & always keep by us, one pound of gunpowder, four pounds of lead, one dozen gunflints, & a pair of bullet moulds, with a cartouch box, or powder horn, and bag for balls."
"They tell us that we are weak -- unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Three million people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us."
"Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: first, a right to life, secondly to liberty, thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can."
John Adams:
"Arms in the hands of the citizens may be used at individual discretion for the defense of the country, the overthrow of tyranny or private self-defense."
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined. The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun."
Noah Webster, 1787:
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, because the whole of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops."
Tench Coxe, writing as "the Pennsylvanian" in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, 1788:
"The power of the sword, say the minority of Pennsylvania, is in the hands of Congress. My friends and countrymen, it is not so, for the powers of the sword are in the hands of the yeomanry of America from 16 to 60. The militia of these free commonwealths, entitled and accustomed to their arms, when compared with any possible army, must be tremendous and irresistible. Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress has no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American. The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people."
"All persons shall bear arms, and every male person shall have in continual readiness a good muskitt or other gunn, fitt for service."
Article 3 of the West Virginia state constitution:"A person has the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home and state, and for lawful hunting and recreational use."
Virginia Declaration of Rights 13 (June 12, 1776), drafted by George Mason:
"That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe defense of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power."
A proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution, as passed by the Pennsylvania legislature:"That the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and their own states or the United States, or for the purpose of killing game; and no law shall be passed for disarming the people or any of them, unless for crimes committed, or real danger of public injury from individuals."
Halo P-12
P-12 with HK UMP 45
The P-12 would be limited to 2 3/4'' shells for pump operated fire, but you can hand load and fire 3" magnums. Ejection is said to be from the bottom. The Halo Mfg website does not have any new info on the P-12 and it was orginally de to be released in 2008, but I certainly haven't seen one. Rumor has it that the design is currently being refined by Monolith Arms. I would love to see it come to market and offer some competition to the Kel-Tec KSG. I would like to see a muzzle brake of some kind added, maybe just a standoff breacher-type, because recoil is likely noticeable in a bullpup 12 gauge firing slugs. A nice beefy rubber recoil pad would not be out of place either.
P-12 with FN P-90
Whether or not we will see this design come to market remains to be seen. Certainly there is plenty of vaporware out there these days, seemingly invented just to torment us.
(I am looking at you Kel-Tec PDW. )
Posted by Kevlar at 7:39 PM No comments: Links to this post
Monday, January 28, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Missile Silo Blast Door art
Grim but cheeky I like it.
Posted by Kevlar at 5:26 PM 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: NBC, nuclear weapons
Simple Choice
Posted by Kevlar at 4:58 PM No comments: Links to this post
Two more
Posted by Kevlar at 4:55 PM No comments: Links to this post
Posted by Kevlar at 4:52 PM No comments: Links to this post
Posted by Kevlar at 4:06 PM No comments: Links to this post
Leading Causes of Non-natural Deaths in the USA
Posted by Kevlar at 3:25 PM No comments: Links to this post
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Nothing else to say
Posted by Kevlar at 7:57 PM 1 comment: Links to this post
Monday, November 19, 2012
Nuclear scale
Posted by Kevlar at 5:28 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Castle Bravo, nuclear weapons, Tsar Bomba
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Barrett back on top
Well, it has happened again. The record for longest sniper kill has been broken. Two unnamed snipers from the Australian Army have made what is apparently the successful longest rifle shot in the history of warfare. The snipers both used Barrett M82A1 .50 caliber rifles. The snipers fired simultaneously at a Taliban commander, hitting and killing him. It is not known which of the snipers fired the successful shot. This will likely remain an unofficial record for longest shot in warfare as it is unknown who fired the shot or for that matter, who the snipers were. The implication being that they were both members of Australia's Special Forces, probably 2 Commando Regiment, and will likely not be identified. The distance as measured by GPS was 3079 yards or 2815 meters. At this distance the flight time of the bullet is estimated at 6 seconds. At distances like this, great skill is of course needed, but luck certainly is a major factor. It would be next to impossible to measure the crosswinds, anticipate the targets position after the shot is fired and a dozen other factors that are important for super long range shooting. The previous record for longest sniper kill shot was held by Corporal Craig Ferguson of the British Army. His shot(s) were taken at a distance of 2707 yd or 2475 m with a .338 Lapua fired from a L115A3 rifle.
I am sure that they are pleased with this at Barrett Firearms Mfg, Inc. The last three records were made using their competitor's rifles. Congratulations to the Australians, I hope they will all come home safe and soon.
|Completely unrelated picture of a American sniper with a Barrett M82A1 in Iraq
Posted by Kevlar at 5:30 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: .50 BMG, Afghanistan, Australian Army, Barrett M82A1, Snipers
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
More Improvised Firearms
.22 LR lipstick gun. Not very useful, but cool in that James Bond kind of way.
The muzzle brake closely resembles the one from the Tabuk sniper rifle. It seems to have a commercial rail system tactical light and what is likely a inexpensive Chinese scope. I can't tell if any of the other parts come from a real gun or not. My question is, in a country awash with AKs, why risk your fingers and nose with this thing?
Posted by Kevlar at 3:12 PM 2 comments: Links to this post
Labels: Improvised firearms
T13 "Beano" Impact grenade
During WWII, all sides tried to come up with new military products for use in the war. Some were real breakthroughs and others, well not so much. And that brings us to the T13 "Beano" Impact grenade. Standard fragmentation grenades are used by pulling out the pin which holds the "spoon" or "paddle" on. When the pin is pulled, spring pressure throws the paddle off the grenade and ignites a fuse that burns for approximately 3 to 5 seconds and then detonates the primary explosive. The Beano worked differently. Instead of a timed burning fuse, it used a pressure trigger and an in-flight arming mechanism. To throw the grenade, the user would grip it like a baseball, that is with the first and middle finger together over the top of the grenade and its knurled "butterfly cap". Then the pin was pulled and the grenade thrown. The butterfly cap would come off when the grenade was thrown and then a nylon cord attached to it would play out until it pulled a second arming pin from the interior of the grenade. This armed the grenade to explode when it impacted a hard surface.
Obviously, this raises some important questions. What if you threw the grenade and it landed in soft dirt or mud or water? You have a highly dangerous piece of UXO is what. How much pressure is needed to pull the secondary arming pin? Would it fail to work or be pulled accidentally? How sensitive is the impact fuse? Could you tangle the cord and butterfly cap in gear or barbed wire and cause the grenade (now armed) to come back at you like a tetherball?
The T13 grenade was developed by the OSS, the forerunner of the CIA and manufactured by the Eastman Kodak company. The idea behind its shape was that American soldiers were almost all familiar with throwing baseballs and that they would be able to throw a baseball-shaped grenade further, more accurately and with greater ease than the oblong shape of earlier grenades like the Mk2 "pineapple" grenade or the Mills bomb. Despite accidents and deaths during the testing process, the T13 was approved for field use and some 10,000 were sent to the field for use during the Normandy invasion. It was apparently withdrawn due to a high incidence of accidents and injuries from misuse or poor design. Most existing examples were destroyed and the plans classified. There was a similar design from Italy called the SRCM 35/38 or the "Little Red Devil". It was used during the same time period and there are many documented cases of the grenades being found in an armed, but undetonated state, sometimes killing those who further disturbed them.
Posted by Kevlar at 12:42 PM No comments: Links to this post
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Museum of Naval Aviation, Part 2
|A-7 with A-6 Intruder (right) and OV-10 Bronco and UH-1 Iroquois (above)
The A-1 Skyraider is one the most respected aircraft that the US military has ever flown. It was flown by the US Navy, USMC, and the US Air Force. It also in service with the Royal Navy. It saw extensive combat use with the French Armee de l'Air in Algeria and has fought in many of the post colonial wars in Africa. Designed for WWII, it was used by the US in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, were its ability to provide heavy air support with bombs and strafing runs with its four 20mm cannon made it very popular with ground forces. Many of the features of the Skyraider made their way into its replacement in the Air Force, the A-10 Thunderbolt II. Slow speed maneuverability through a long straight wing. Heavy cannon firepower to destroy armored enemy ground assets. Long loiter time to provide support as needed. (the A-1 could stay in the air for up to 10 hours) It was provided with heavy armor on critical areas, making it much more likely to survive hits from ground fire than the fighter bombers of its day like the F4U Corsair or the P-51 Mustang. It had an amazing 15 external hardpoints for up to 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) of rockets, bombs, gun pods, mines or anything else that can cause hurt feelings. It was a radial piston engine driven aircraft in the jet age, lasting longer than anyone ever thought it might. For my money, the Skyraider could beat out the stupid Super Tucano any day for a modern COIN aircraft.
Not all the aircraft in the museum belonged to the US Navy. Of special note was the Messerschmidt Me 262, the world's first operational jet fighter. Feared in the sky for their heavy armament of four 30mm cannons and amazing speed of up to 550 mph /900 kph. These were a treasure when captured by Allied ground forces in Germany. They were tested extensively after the war and the technology were used to advance the jets of both the Navy and Air Force. Only about 1400 were ever made and only a few dozen are known survivors today.
Not an aircraft and and not a friend of them either. The Bofors 40mm Anti Aircraft gun in a double mount. This was the primary AA gun of the US Navy in WWII and the variants of the 40mm Bofors cannon are still in service today. The US versions were built by Chrysler and heavily modified from the original Swedish guns. Water cooling for extended firing burst was added and the manufacturing process itself was vastly simplified and cut down. The Bofors 40mm was responsible for thousands of enemy aircraft shot down. The Navy was reportedly so pleased with the weapon that they would telegraph the serial numbers of weapons that shot down enemy aircraft back to Chrysler. This is simply one of the best weapons ever made in the modern era. Several times, in the military forces of several different nations, people have attempted to replace it with something more flashy, more tech-y and more expensive. Then they had to look stupid when the Bofors came back like the cat in the hat.
NAS Pensacola is the training home of the Blue Angels, which are of course the United States Navy's flight demonstration team. In the atrium, the museum displays four Blue Angel A-4F Skyhawks in diamond formation. The Skyhawk was flown by the Blue Angels starting in 1974, replacing the F-4J Phantom II and was replaced by the F/A-18 Hornet in 1986.
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The very first Tarte product that I ever tried was the cheek stain. I alternated regularly between Dollface and Tipsy, and used them down to the very last slick. Before I got married in 2007, I treated myself to Blushing Bride cheek stain and rocked that practically my entire engagement. What do all of these shades have in common (besides the fact that I love them)? They are all available in powder form now via Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush.
Available in eight shades and infused with Tarte's Amazonian Clay, these solar-baked blushes bring new meaning to long-wearing. Amazonian Clay is a smart ingredient, and somehow manages to mitigate problems that plague every skin type. This is especially important in a blush, because it is none too flattering too have blush chilling in crater-sized pores. I should know, been there and done that! Amazonian Clay helps minimize oil in and around pores to balance your skin and keep the blush in place, where your intend it to be. And it also helps restore moisture in your skin and improve skin texture.
Beyond the magic of the clay, Tarte added beeswax, a waterproofing agent that has been known to naturally stimulate collagen production, and Vitamin C and E to fight and protect against signs of aging. The result of these good-for-your-skin ingredients? Long-lasting blush that brightens up your face. The colors are all so wearable and beautiful. Here's a closer look at some of the available shades:
I heart these blushes, and think everyone needs at least one in their makeup bags. Our summer pick is Tipsy — you can't get more summery than this orangey coral. It's the perfect universally-flattering shade, and since it performs like a rock star you don't have to worry about this disappearing from your face during a long day (or night!).
Tarte Amazonian Clay Blushes retail for $25, and you can snatch them online at Tarte or at Sephora!


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I just read this quote from the Caelum et Terra blog: "It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society. It would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid. When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendour of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion – its message becomes meaningless." Abraham Joshua Heschel, "God in search of Man: a Philosophy of Judaism."
There is a lot of truth in this. It is too easy to blame "modern society" for the collapse of religious belief in this country. We should look in the mirror and ask ourselves the question "If I were arrested today for being a Christian, what proofs would be found to convict me?"
Tim Stanley said much the same thing in his article, "Christians need to find some old-time zeal" in the Telegraph on Wednesday. After describing the de-Christianisation within Britain today, he concludes: "In our new consumer-driven, postmodern order, Christians have to compete with people pushing other religions or no religion at all. We no longer enjoy a privileged status in the popular imagination. And while it's easy to blame politicians and courts for this, responsibility ultimately lies with the true believers. The only thing that will renew British Christianity is to drop all the lazy presumptions that Britain is basically Christian, and start again from scratch."
"To start again from scratch": I think we are only just beginning to wake up to this truth.
One thing in Stanley's article I disagree with: when he comments, "Although the Government insists that no church will be compelled to carry out gay marriages, more than 1000 Catholic priests wrote a letter to this newspaper last week protesting that equalities legislation makes a nonsense of this guarantee and that attempts to legalise gay marriage amount to a renewal of historic persecution against Catholics. I, too, am a Catholic – and the idea that the wedding of Adam and Steve can be likened to Cromwell's rampage across Ireland strikes me as hysterical. But it reflects a wider panic among religious conservatives – the fear that a metropolitan political establishment is conspiring against us."
I demur for several reasons: equality legislation will certainly undermine the Government's supposed "guarantee." Even if the Church wins in the courts when future cases are brought against her, there will be a long, slow war of attrition against those of all faiths and none who believe marriage can only be between a man and a woman. For instance, the Government has said that teachers must continue to uphold marriage: but if the word "marriage" is redefined they will be breaking the law if they don't uphold the new definition; they won't be able to uphold the old understanding and the new one at the same time.
Stanley describes the letter of the 1000 priests – including eight bishops and four abbots – as "hysterical." I would rather describe it as good sense and right judgement. Are the more than 600,000 signatories to the Coalition for Marriage petition (C4M) also "hysterical"? Perhaps the letter reflects justified forebodings at such a fundamental change to the natural order of relationships and is not about "panic" or "fear" or "religious conservatism". "Marriage" should never have been used as a political issue in this way and it is not "conservative" for Christians and others to champion it. These 1000 priests are not zealots and religious extremists; they are decent, God-fearing men, alongside all the other people who signed the C4M document, who rightly see that there will be far-reaching implications to a change of definition which will, in the course of time, amount to a form of persecution.
You don't have to refer to Cromwell to realise that persecution need not be bloody or violent; it can simply be quiet, boring, relentless and implacable, fought through the courts and leaving mental and emotional stress and pain in its wake. That is what opponents of a re-definition of marriage will face if the Government forces through this legislation and I am not remotely "hysterical" in pointing this out. So far only individuals have been challenged, such as Christian B+B owners, a Christian registrar, a Christian marriage counsellor, a Christian psychotherapist. If the definition of marriage is changed by law, the whole of society, whether married or unmarried, priest or lay person, will be affected by it.
But to return to Stanley's main point: there is no use being aggrieved or wringing one's hands over this approaching confrontation. Those who want to defend marriage must indeed start again from scratch: acknowledge our own lukewarm support for marriage in the past; our tacit acceptance of a widespread contraceptive mentality; our tolerance of cohabitation as an acceptable alternative; and our placid illusion that the comfortable Christian status quo would last forever.


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Major Section: ACL2 Documentation
ACL2 provides utilities that rely on the underlying Lisp image to trace functions. There are two interfaces to the underlying lisp trace:
o Macros
untrace$call the underlying Lisp's
untrace, respectively. See trace$ and see untrace$.
o Macro
with-error-trace, or
wetfor short, provides a backtrace showing function calls that lead to an error. See wet.
Wet turns off all tracing (i.e., executes Lisp
(untrace)) other
than temporarily doing some tracing under-the-hood in the evaluation of the
form supplied to it.
2. The underlying Lisp
trace and
untrace utilities have been modified
for GCL and Allegro CL to trace the executable counterparts. Other Lisps may
give unsatisfying results. For GCL and Allegro CL, you can invoke the
trace and
untrace by exiting the ACL2 loop and invoking
old-trace and
old-untrace, respectively..
3. Trace output for
trace$ and
untrace$ can be redirected to a
file. See open-trace-file and see close-trace-file. However, the backtrace
printed by
wet always goes to


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If we consider human nature, making New Year's resolutions a singular endeavor is akin to pulling your fortune out of a cookie: it might just happen, but the odds are against it.
But involve your friends and neighbors in the effort, and the success rate jumps dramatically.
Taking that as a cue, let's set a few resolutions for the New Year as collective communities and mark our progress as the year evolves.
In Middlebury, let's resolve to:


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It's an increasingly bifurcated, asymmetrical market, marked by record highs on the Dow and S&P 500 and record low interest rates; an emerging energy boom and stubbornly high unemployment; domestic markets up one minute and emerging markets the next; and on and on it goes.
Yet somehow our 2013 SMA Managers of the Year continue to outperform. How it is done?
"Consistency," Paul Viera of Earnest Partners, one of this year's winners, said with a coy smile. Thankfully, Viera and the other winners opened up in one-on-one-interviews with Investment Advisor (videos of those interviews can be found on AdvisorOne.com) at the Envestnet conference in Chicago in early May, where the awards were announced.
So how did our winners not only manage in such an environment, but consistently outperform—as measured by 13 factors—in calendar year 2012? How did we choose the absolute best? Was it all about one-year performance? (No, it was not.) Picking the finalists and eventual winners was a difficult decision that sprung from a well-honed, collaborative process that always kept advisor access and the strategies' place in client portfolio-building top of mind.
The process begins each year with Envestnet | Prima looking for repeatable, sustainable investing processes in the SMA managers' strategies. Each strategy must have a clear "alpha thesis" and be available to advisors on multiple platforms to even be considered as candidates for this annual honor. The products must report to the PrimaGuide research application, have at least $200 million in assets and have tenured management of at least three years. Products and managers must rate highly according to Prima's due diligence process, which uses a proprietary, systematic, multifactor manager evaluation methodology that combines both quantitative and qualitative criteria. There are 13 factors that the Prima analysts consider before recommending the finalists for SMA Managers of the Year, including performance, firm, people, process, style, customer service, tax efficiency and a composite score.
The goal? To identify finalists for each award in four separate categories: U.S. Equity Large-Cap; U.S. Equity Small-, Mid- or SMID-Cap; International or Global Equity; and Fixed Income. The Awards Committee that chooses the winners in each category—and this year, an individual SMA Manager of the Year who stands out among this already stellar crowd—includes Gib Watson, CIMA, the founder and long-term leader of Prima (and now Envestnet vice chairman); Cliff Stanton, CFA, chief research officer of Envestnet | Prima; and two members of the advisor press: myself, editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor, and James J. Green, editorial director of the Investment Advisor Group of Summit Business Media.
The process of choosing the award winners is no casual affair, and the Prima analysts who present multiple managers for consideration in each category must defend their choices to the Awards Committee, using their quantitative skills but also their qualitative knowledge of the managers and their teams and the firms that employ them.
With that, Envestnet | Prima and Summit Business Media are proud to present the 2013 SMA Managers of the Year.
U.S. Equity Large-Cap Award
The first award in U.S. Equity Large-Cap Awards went to Robeco Boston Partners for its BP Large-Cap Value strategy.
"The strategy is an excellent option for investors seeking a relative value large-cap manager, which we believe has identifiable and sustainable competitive advantages as well as a clearly articulated alpha thesis," Green said in announcing the award.
"We try to find three characteristics to stocks—valuation, fundamentals and momentum," Robeco Boston Partners' David Pyle said upon receiving the award. "We found that these characteristics over time lead to outperformance. When we find these characteristics and put a portfolio together, we've found that over time that's what helps us out, really, in any market."
St. Louis-based Wedgewood Partners took home the second award, a repeat of a win in 2011, for its Large-Cap Focused Growth strategy.
"With respect to the team's alpha thesis, it seeks to identify stocks that it believes are mispriced in the short term, as investors are often overly concerned with near-term events while this team is focused on the long-term sustainability of growth," Watson said. "While it's common amongst long-only active managers, the team does approach the large-cap growth space in a differentiated manner from the vast majority of its competitors."
Wedgewood's David Rolfe said "it all comes down to discipline. We've just entered the fifth year of a bull market, and different sectors and stocks come in and out of favor. But I'm very proud of the work our team has done in sticking to our philosophy of investing in terrific growth businesses but with the discipline of paying attention to valuation."
U.S. Equity Small-, Mid- or SMID-Cap Award
Earnest Partners took home the third award for its Mid-Cap Core strategy.
"Unlike most managers, Earnest has built out a very unique investment team, which we believe is the firm's edge and will be the driver of excess returns," Green said, quoting Envestnet | Prima's analysts. "Indeed, instead of hiring personnel with buy- or sell-side investment-related experience, the firm takes a different approach in hiring research analysts who have substantial real-world industry or sector-specific experience."
"You have to not pay attention to the everyday noise that occurs in the market," Earnest Partners' Paul Viera said with the aforementioned grin and still holding his cards close to the vest. "You have to look at businesses that are building something of value brick by brick. In the fullness of time, that smooths out the performance and allows you to get pretty good performance."
For the fourth award, Boston's GW&K Investment Management was recognized for the Small-/Mid-Cap Equity Strategy. It was the first of two awards the firm took home this year.
"The alpha thesis of the manager is that a portfolio of high-quality stocks will outperform the index over a full market cycle, where quality is defined as firms with tenured and quality management that are well-positioned with strong products and services in attractive niche markets and have a distinct competitive advantage," Watson said, referring to Envestnet | Prima's analysis. "I think what sets us apart from our competition is our long-term view," manager Dan Miller said. "We feel that it's the consistency and sustainability of earnings growth over time that really rewards investors. We think other managers are too focused on the short term and too focused on the quarters, and they really just don't get to know the managers as well as we do."
International or Global Equity Award
In this category, Thomas White International ADR won the fifth award, which was also was a repeat of 2011.
"The investment universe includes several international companies," Watson observed. "These stocks are divided into approximately 100 valuation groups that include sectors by regions (e.g., consumer staples in Europe) and by countries (e.g., health care in Japan). In each valuation group, stocks are placed into deciles based on analytical factors that have been identified by the investment team as having significant predictive power based on results from single-factor models and an optimization process."
"We have a very deep research staff that we depend on heavily," said Tom White, president and CIO of the firm. "We take their advice up through the ranks. As we've been getting deeper and deeper, our performance has only been getting better. Being an international manager with a world emerging market account, we felt it was very important to have an international perspective. More than half of our professionals, as it happens, are from India and from China."
Fixed-Income Award
In a significant achievement, GW&K snagged the second of two wins this year with the trophy in the fixed-income category for the second year in a row, for this year's sixth award.
"The firm's Enhanced Core Bond strategy combines top-down analysis to determine the overall sector allocation of the portfolio, and bottom-up fundamental research to select individual securities," Green said in announcing the award. "The team begins its top-down approach with analysis of present economic conditions, focusing on current and secular inflation trends. This provides the foundation for the team's view of the business cycle and its longer-term outlook for interest rates. GW&K does not attempt to forecast short-term interest rates; instead, this macro assessment drives the allocation to both investment-grade corporate issues as well as high-yield corporate bonds."
"One of the things we're really good at is research," manager Mary Kane said. "We think of ourselves as value investors, but only on the bond side. We're always looking for good, relative value opportunities on the corporate bond side. If you go back and look at what created our success over the last few years, we moved to corporate bonds at the exact right time. When spreads on high-grade bonds got to their widest on a historical basis, we moved to our maximum position."
Overall 2013 SMA Manager of the Year
A new category this year, and the seventh award, was then announced—the overall SMA Manager of the Year, which went to David Rolfe of Wedgewood Partners.
"I wish my mother was here," he said to laughter. "She'd say she was proud, but not impressed. I humbly thank you on behalf of everyone at Wedgewood."
The Awards Committee specifically mentioned Envestnet | Prima's research note in granting Rolfe the honor.
"We believe it is the combination of a highly-concentrated portfolio, a concerted effort to diversify the portfolio by business model, the fact that the stock must trade at compelling valuations, as well as David Rolfe's deep experience and sole focus on this strategy that gives this team a competitive edge."
Judging from the track records of this year's winners, we wouldn't be surprised if we see them in the competition again next year. Judging by their cool demeanor and steady confidence in what can best be described as a market and economy that needs more stability, neither would they.


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These two pups are Dachshund mixes named Jack and Jill. They are 4 months old and have short stubby legs. They weigh about 10 pounds each and are full of energy. They have never met a stranger so be prepared for a complete face licking when you pick them up. If you are looking for a good puppy for your children, pick one of these little babies.
They have been fixed, had 2 distemper/ parvo vaccines, several de- wormings , had rabies vaccine and have been micro-chipped.
Come meet these little guys at PetSmart from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday and noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, 3698 E. Franklin Blvd., Gastonia. Tri-County Animal Rescue will have many other pets for adoption at PetSmart this weekend.
UPDATE: PeeWee was adopted. Blind Cowboy is still available and looking for his permanent home.
ABOUT TRI-COUNTY ANIMAL RESCUE: Serving Lincoln, Gaston and other surrounding counties, the nonprofit�s mission is to end pet homelessness in this area. Volunteers and donations are needed. For more information, call 704-263-2444, send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com, or visit www.tcar.us or on FaceBook at Tri-County Animal Rescue.
Donations can be sent to Tri-County Animal Rescue, PO Box 483, Alexis, NC 28006
Joann Hager is founder of Tri-County Animal Rescue. She writes about pets for The Gazette.
COMING SUNDAY IN LIFE: The Top 10 reasons to adopt a dog


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The Samsung LCD 530 HDTV brings you the powerful picture quality, vivid colors and stunning clarity of Full HD 1080p resolution. Not to mention a handy ConnectShare input that enables you to connect a thumb drive or digital camera quickly and easily, and a user-friendly interface that allows you to access videos, music playlists and pictures via remote. It's entertainment made easy. Samsung's Wide Color Enhancer delivers the entire spectrum of color and luminance for rich, saturated images that pop.
Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 43.4 x 25.7 inches ; 47.4 pounds


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Late-night talk show music performances can sometimes be a drag. The musical guest is performing not to an audience of dedicated fans, or even fans of music in general. They could be there to see the other guests on the show, or the host. Or just need a place that's air conditioned to sit down for awhile. But Sia Furler came up with a novel way to get people to sit up and take notice of her performance on "Late Night With Seth Meyers" on Monday. She got Lena Dunham to do all the face work.
The socially phobic Furler doesn't show her face when she performs, and when she promoted her new single, "Chandelier" on "Ellen" last month, she recruited the 11-year-old dancer from her video to re-create her moves live on stage. Furler stood in a corner and faced away from the audience while she sang.
On "Late Night," she one-upped herself. Gone was the 11-year-old dancer, instead it was the star and creator of the HBO critics' darling "Girls," dressed in a white suit and doing her own interpretive moves. Where was Furler? Lying facedown on a bunk bed.
Suprisingly, Furler's music hasn't yet been featured on a "Girls'" soundtrack, but maybe "Chandelier" will be the first one.
Though Dunham's interpretive dance may be viewed as a parody of the dancing in the video, it comes from the same choreographer. According to the UK newspaper, the Daily Mail, Furler recruited Ryan Heffington, the song's original choreographer, to guide Dunham through her moves.
Twitter: @patrickkevinday


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There is a change in our New Mexico landscape. I have said for a long time our state flower should really be the broken down car that decorates so many yards in this state. The high price of steel suddenly brings a welcome change as all sorts of old junk steel is now hauled off and sold.
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Occupy Wall Street lawyer in dash for Sandy Hook cash
Suit claims $100 million in damages for survivor who heard tragedy on intercom
An attorney seeking to sue Connecticut for $100 million on behalf of a Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting survivor who heard Adam Lanza's murderous rampage on a loudspeaker also serves as the official lawyer for Occupy New Haven, WND has found.
New Haven lawyer Irving Pinsky told the Associated Press today he is filing the claim against the state on behalf of a 6-year-old female student, nicknamed "Jill Doe," claiming the student suffered emotional and psychological trauma.
"As a consequence, the claimant-minor child has sustained emotional and psychological trauma and injury, the nature and extent of which are yet to be determined," the claim says.
"She was in her classroom, and over the loudspeaker came the horrific confrontation between the fellow who shot everybody and other people," Pinsky said. "Her friends were killed. That's pretty traumatic."
WND has found that Pinsky doubles as the attorney for Occupy New Haven. He has represented the anti-Capitalism movement in scores of cases against the city.
For example, this past March, Pinsky helped Occupy defy city demands to vacate a park where they had built a tent city. Pinsky told the local media Occupy protesters wouldn't leave since city officials hadn't met Occupy demands for improved school funding and low-income housing, longer library hours and an end to foreclosures.
Eventually, Pinsky's legal aid helped the Occupy movement win an extra few weeks in the park.
Pinsky has also faced disciplinary action in his legal career. He had his license suspended in 2003 and was reprimanded in 1989.
In his suit over the Sandy Hook massacre, Pinsky is alleging the city is to blame for not providing adequate security at the school. The lawsuit also complains the child heard "conversations, gunfire and screaming" over the school's intercom after someone in the office switched on the system.
That claim may draw the ire of other survivors, since the trauma broadcast over the intercom reportedly helped to warn other classrooms about what was going on, prompting teachers to lock doors and help students take cover.
This is not the first time Pinsky has represented a claimant in a $100-million lawsuit some may find questionable.
In 1991, Pinsky represented Miss Black America in a $100-million suit against boxer Mike Tyson, alleging Tyson had placed a hand on her buttocks while they were posing for photographers.
With additional research by Brenda J. Elliott


text: Promoter Michael Rosato knows what makes a music and art festival successful and he's modeling his new Bay Harbor Festival after some of the region's top events. "Imagine a New Orleans Jazz Fest with a beach," he said at a press conference Tuesday in Bay St. Louis officially announcing the festival. "Imagine a (Gulf Shores) Hangout Fest with a base ...Read More »


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View Map | 707-227-5036
Cost: $250
Step off the beaten path and join Cooking with Julie for an insider's tour of the Napa Valley culinary scene and learn the delicious secrets of Napa. Start the morning at the market with Julie, browsing the produce market with its sparkling fresh produce from local farmers, and selecting cheeses and salumi from specialty vendors. Oxbow Public market offers the season's finest and freshest products. Learn how to select and cook the unique vegetables and fruits found only at boutique markets. Then on to the kitchen, for a hands-on cooking class where we will turn our bounty into a wonderful wine country feast.
Includes tour and tastings, hands-on cooking class, recipes, three-course lunch with Napa wines, and logo apron.
Posted By: COOKING with JULIE
Contact the Poster | View Other Events by this Poster
Event ID #738832
You can find current events for Napa County-Solano County by clicking here.
LocalWineEvents.com is the #1 ranked website for consumers who ARE ACTIVELY seeking local wine & food events to attend.


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RICHARDSON, Texas (March 4, 2005) – NASA astronaut and University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) alumnus Dr. James F. Reilly, II, will discuss the history and the future of the exploration of the planet Mars in a presentation at UTD March 18 aimed at both the university community and the general public.
Reilly's talk, titled "Mars Exploration: Rovers to Human Geophysical Crews – A (Fun) Work in Progress," will be held from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the School of Management building, Room 1.118, on the university's campus in Richardson. The lecture will be free.
Reilly, who earned three degrees (B.S., M.S. and Ph.D) in Geosciences from UTD before becoming an astronaut, will provide a retrospective on efforts to learn more about the Red Planet over the last three decades – from the early Viking landers in the 1970's to the "wildly successful" Spirit and Opportunity rovers still collecting scientific data on the Martian surface.
Perhaps the biggest find to date, Reilly said, is fairly strong evidence of the presence on the planet of liquid water sometime in the past – and with the water, the possibility that early forms life once existed here.
While he has great admiration for the abilities of the rovers and their mechanical predecessors, Reilly will discuss why he believes humans must one day travel to Mars in order to fully explore the planet.
"Although robotic missions have proven to be astoundingly capable in many areas, the best explorer still remains the human examiner," he said. "With the ability to adaptively reason at relatively high speed, a human explorer on the surface of Mars will give us the best capability to rapidly examine, theorize, re-examine and refine the theory to best fit the available data, then respond to the next decision, which is, 'What is next?'"
Reilly, who has logged more than 500 hours in space on two Space Shuttle missions, will discuss the formidable challenges of a manned Mars mission, including how to outfit the explorers and how to deal with long-term isolation that crew members would experience on such a trip. He will explain how NASA is beginning to gear up now for possible future voyages to Mars, and provide details of a field exercise in which he participated last fall outside Flagstaff, Arizona, whose purpose was, in part, to develop training protocol for such missions.
"Jim Reilly is one of UTD's most distinguished graduates, and his appearances here always draw large numbers of students, faculty and staff," said Dr. Robert J. Stern, head of the Geosciences Department. "However, his upcoming topic – the exploration of Mars – should have appeal well beyond our campus, to include members of the community and students at all levels, from elementary school through high school. Naturally, all are welcome to attend."
For additional information about the presentation, please call UTD's Geosciences Department at 972-883-2401. Directions to UTD are available at http://www.utdallas.edu/directions.html and a campus map may be found at http://www.utdallas.edu/campusmap.html.
For more information about Reilly, you may view his biography on the NASA web site, http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/reilly.html.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls more than 14,000 students. The school's freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university's web site at www.utdallas.edu.


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New link in the top of page "IRC Chat".
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|0 users currently in Xeo's Hot Tub.
Posts: 11794/11794
|These days Spotify is life. I hate playing the regular radio at work when I have to drive the company vans and I can curate vast playlists for every occasion.
What do you do in your leisure time between work, school, etc?
Posts: 153/153
|dunno really. not a big fan in general.
still have a local mp3 collection or do you just stream nowadays?
Posts: 11791/11794
|Depends. If there's a time crunch, flying.
I've always been a road trip enthusiast, though, especially when it comes to driving through and seeing the world at my own pace, stopping in towns and trying to local food along the way. Before the honeymoon, I'd never driven across the country before, now I'm so happy I got to experience all these amazing cities and sights.
What is your favorite amusement park attraction?
Posts: 9669/9671
|"The Hangman's Daughter" by Oliver Pötzsch. It was a really interesting murder mystery in 1660 Bavaria and the kindle version actually has animated illustrations. Only downside is they don't work when you have the background set to black.
Donuts are either maple Amish donuts, freshly made, or double chocolate cake donuts.
What is your preferred method for long-distance travel?
Posts: 11741/11794
|The buttermilk bars from Primo's.
The best donut I ever had was the chocolate malted chip that Sidecar Doughnuts did as a collaboration with Salt & Straw. That is probably the most hipster thing I've ever said. Anyway, it was like a soft chocolate chip cookie with a crunchy outside.
Otherwise, the fresher from the fryer the better. I prefer cake donuts to yeasty ones.
What's the last great book you read?
Posts: 11627/11675
|I honestly love Ramen thesedays for some reason... I grew up eating the chicken flavor all the time but I only like beef now. Dash in some pink salt, pepper, the seasoning, and toss in some lettuce, maybe with some lunch meat too... and it turns into a solid meal. I still wonder if it's healthier than frozen meals too, haha. Even though I know all those preservatives are bad.
Sadly I've bean eating fast food a little again, haha. Arby's is right around the block from my place so it's easy to grab on the way home... and I have a bunch of Steak & Shake gift cards for some reason. On that note, I don't know if it's just the local one here or what, but their fries are terrible! Good burgers though.
I've noticed dark soda really messes me up though, even though I drink coffee these past few years... so I guess it's something to do with the syrupy crap and sugar, rather than caffeine (unless soda just had 100x more than dark coffee even?) So I just stick with sprite, but I rarely even finish a full soft drink thesedays. You can even feel the sugar and junk between your teeth! Nothing really soothing about it.
I'm finally trying to branch out a bit from Stouffers frozen meals... I've upgraded to getting some Marie Callender's meals lately and those are pretty awesome.
Now I've fallen into a trend of getting some McDonald's breakfast after my Sunday morning grocery run since it's on the way home... but I've also been on a Dunkin Donuts kick Saturday mornings thesedays too... and sometimes might pickup a few extra donuts for a snack at other points in the weekend, lol.
Well that was a lot...
What's your favorite donut?
Posts: 11740/11794
|I like milk chocolate, but most have just gotten too sugary these days. I know there's a world cocoa shortage, but it's really turned into basic chocolate just tasting like vanilla and sugar.
I know red velvet is supposed to be chocolate. When you get real red velvet, it actually does taste like it not Playdoh or vanilla with red dye. Still, I haven't eaten red chocolate. I should track it down.
What's your cheap, fast dinner plan?
Posts: 9643/9671
|Food and sometimes alcohol... but mostly food.
As the great chocolate time descends upon us, what are your preferences? Dark, milk, white... bonus question of what do you think of this new "red" chocolate?
Posts: 11735/11794
|I took lessons for violin and piano, but never went past being able to play a few songs on either.
What is your go-to vice (smoking, drinking, complaining, porn, etc)?
Posts: 11622/11675
|That's a good one... I've been at a loss for the last several years now. Especially when dubstep really took off and even took over trailers, etc. I can't think of any mainstream modern artist I like or know much about. It's bizarre how society worships a bunch of artists that are either ancient or passed away for years at this rate. We're never going to have some icon like Michael Jackson or whatnot ever again, if that makes sense. Nobody right now is going to be remembered 10 years from now or whatever. lol
Do you or have you ever played any instruments?
Posts: 11733/11794
|I guess it depends on your definition of poster. I had a medieval brass rubbing I did in 7th grade, mounted with a string on one wall, and a print of a painting someone did of Frida Kahlo getting raped by a skeleton on another wall, hung up with pins over my bed.
Oh and a gun range target of a zombie that I shot up. That's taped over Brandon's desk.
Do you "get" music these days?
Posts: 11618/11675
|I've actually noticed that bending forwards, as if you were working to stretch your lower back touching your toes, it also helps my neck and head a lot. I'm guessing since that gets some blood rushing up in there and moves some things around. Then slowly roll up neck relaxed and all.
How many posters do you have hanging up?
Posts: 9640/9671
|Besides cell phones in general?
I honestly don't know if I would call any product life changing. I would have said the bed frame from Ikea for getting rid of my back pain, but that has finally come back after months... so now, I don't really know. Maybe Epsom salt?
What do you do to get rid of nasty muscle cramps in your neck and shoulders?
Posts: 11728/11794
|Believe it or not, I have not played much Smash Bros. I've been to parties where most of the gathering is in the living room, watching everyone play. People with Gameboys and Switches joining in on the screen. Eventually they all get bored and everyone plays as the same character in seven different colors.
So.. uh.. Pikachu?
What product has changed your life?
Posts: 11610/11675
|Hmmm, does broccoli cheddar count? haha. I love soup but I honestly rarely have it. Miso soup is great too, chicken noodle, tomato, love all of it.
Who's your favorite Smash Bros character(s)?
Posts: 11724/11794
|It's one of the few things I get superstitious about -- talking about upcoming things to which I'm looking forward -- because it's as though I always jinx them and then they fall apart.
I actually wrote out something of a list and then got anxious and deleted it.
I'll just say, I guess, that I'd really like to find a new job. I've been pretty unhappy with this one for a while now. I'd also like to travel some in the next year, and I'm making some attempts to put that into motion.
What is your favorite kind of soup?
Posts: 124/153
|Good question!
* Nicole, my girlfriend
* Food
* Drink (not sugarfree bullshit)
* Cirno
* Windows XP startup sound
What are three things that you're excited for next year?
Posts: 11711/11794
|Well, there are videos by people I look forward to, like Pop Culture Detective and Every Frame a Painting (though he sadly hasn't put out videos in years.)
I don't dedicatedly follow YouTube, though, to the point that the moment someone drops a video I MUST watch it.
What are five things that are guaranteed to make you happy?
Posts: 11602/11675
|"Execute Order 66..."
"Unlimited POWER!"
Yes... the Emperor from Star Wars Episode 3.
Do you follow some channels on youtube or twitch?
Posts: 11709/11794
|Latest would be that Brandon and I actually sat down together and carved jack-o'-lanterns last night and did a pretty good job of it for two people who've never really carved jack-o'-lanterns.
Otherwise, I guess it's my Tina costume I threw together. I got a few people complimenting it and others wanting geek about "Bob's Burgers." The other night we went to see our friends' bands show and another friends came dressed as Louise while Brandon and I were Gene and Tina. It ended up being a thing for some of the bands to mention on stage. "I'd like to thank all the Belcher kids for coming to the show!"
Yeah, it's stupid, but I was proud.
What line from a TV show or movie do you repeat to yourself simply because it brings you joy?
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