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Although the stock market is still struggling, there's one market in America today that is climbing to new highs almost daily: the market for experienced junior advisors. The recovery in the independent advisory business has combined with aging baby-boom advisors' looming need to develop internal succession plans to create a demand for young advisors not seen in recent memory—if ever. Virtually every one of my own clients currently is looking for a junior advisor, and judging by the difficulty we're having finding suitable candidates, so is every other advisor in the country.
Judging from the ridiculous level of compensation in the market for experienced advisors, many advisors today are paying increasingly higher "top" dollars to attract younger advisors in the hope they will become their transition solutions. I've written about the dangers of hiring "star" advisors before (too high expectations + too little training = disaster). The current situation, however, has taken that flawed formula to a whole new level, jeopardizing the retirement plans of many owner/advisors along with it. In fact, things have gotten so out of hand that we've stopped trying to hire experienced (or lead) advisors altogether and created a grow-your-own future partner strategy that virtually guarantees success. The key is what owner/advisors do with newly hired advisors in their first six weeks on the job.
Here's the problem with hiring experienced lead advisors: If they've reached that level at their previous firm, they've almost always left seeking higher compensation. And in this market, no matter how much you pay them, in two years they'll be able to make a lot more somewhere else. Not coincidentally, our research shows that the average turnover for newly hired lead or senior advisors is just over two years. That means only if you're lucky will you keep that high-priced, star advisor for more than two years. The rate of transition to successor is much, much lower.
If hiring experienced advisors to grow and transition advisory firms is a bad bet, what's the alternative? We've devised a two-part strategy that greatly increases the odds of success. As I mentioned, we don't hire experienced advisors anymore. Instead, we hire younger, usually associate advisors. In fact, rather than hire a lead advisor, we've even hired client service reps from good firms.
The first step in our strategy is the realization that at today's inflated compensation levels, we can hire two associate advisors for what it will cost us to get one experienced lead advisor. That means we've doubled our chances of hiring a future owner/advisor from the start. And if we do that every time we hire a new advisor, we've increased our chances of success exponentially. If a firm were only to do this, it would save millions of dollars in time and turnover costs.
Hard as it may be to believe, the second step is actually the more important one. It's based on this simple notion, which is well-supported in general employment literature and confirmed in my own work: Within their first six weeks of employment, professional employees will decide whether or not they are going to be with their new firm for the long term. At the associate advisor level, if they decide not to stay they'll usually leave after between two to four years so they can get a higher level job. The firm will have wasted those years in time and training and be back to square one as far as finding a new partner.
By hiring two junior advisors, firms obviously can cut those odds in half. But half isn't nearly good enough with today's very high turnover rates among young advisors. The problem is that because junior or associate advisors are expected to play a supporting role rather than generate new revenues for the firm, most owner/advisors don't take them seriously. They start them out on menial tasks, with little or no training or attention. When young advisors who see themselves as professionals (albeit junior professionals) are given clerical tasks, they decide not to make a long-term commitment to the firm.
If you take nothing else away from this article, remember this: An advisory firm has six short weeks to convince new advisors it is worthy of their long-term commitment. If firm owners blow that chance, they can almost never undo it later. What many owner/advisors don't seem to understand is that the success of their firm—and their retirement—depends on those young advisors. Young advisors have plenty of time; they can get other jobs (for more money), and they can afford to make mistakes. Owner/advisors are on the other end of the clock: They have a much shorter time frame, and it's getting shorter every day.
Consequently, it's the owner/advisors who have to "sell" their firms to their young advisors. And they have only six weeks to do it. To do that, we've developed a six-week professional development training program that teaches new advisors about their new advisory firm, who its clients are and how it takes care of them, and how the new advisor is going to fit into it. Here's how the program works:
Week 1. We start with an overview of the firm's history: why it was started, how it grew, where it is now and its plans for the future. We talk about how the firm charges its clients and why it uses that method. We show the advisor the different types of clients the firm serves, where those clients come from, the services it provides to each type of client, how those services are delivered and what role the advisor will play on the team that provides those services. We show them the organizational chart and talk about each person's role and how the staff has evolved. We then show the advisor the firm's client database system, how to use it and who's responsible for keeping it up to date.
Week 2. After the macro-view of the firm in the first week, we devote the second week to a micro-view of the firm's administrative functions. We talk about each function, why it's important and who does it. We talk about whom to delegate various functions to, such as faxing, answering the phones, logging onto the back-office system, filing client documents, making appointments, etc. Only then do we show them how to do the various tasks that are part of their job, like how to follow up on client requests, how to change a client address, etc.
Week 3. In the third week, we describe the firm's model client experience and how to communicate with clients. We let them observe some client phone calls, show them model emails and have them read through some actual client emails. We show them how to address clients both on the phone and in the office and what to say when they leave the office. In short, we teach them how to represent the firm to create a consistent client experience and to reinforce that they will interact with clients.
Week 4. The fourth week is about the business of the firm. We talk about how we market, who brings in new clients and how we handle prospective clients. We explain how the new advisor's role will create free time for a senior advisor to be a rainmaker. We also talk about firm revenues, how the firm works economically, where the firm is now and what its goals are. We explain how the new advisor is going to fit into reaching those goals.
Week 5. Next, we teach them the financial planning process at their new firm, what we do for new clients, how we do ongoing financial planning, the firm's planning philosophy and the parameters we use, including inflation rates, life expectancies and other variables. We talk about areas where an advisor's judgment plays a role: what is firm and what is flexible.
Week 6. In the final week, we teach the firm's investment process in the same way we did the financial planning process in the preceding week.
This is a process that's designed to "sell" an advisory firm, its management, its team, its services and its client-centeredness to new advisors. It also shows them what their role will be now and in the future. We've been using this program for five years. All the associate advisors who have gone through it are still with their firms, and many have become lead advisors and junior partners.


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Everything still works and you can bid, however bids placed by others and timers will not refresh automatically. You you will need to refresh the page to see those changes!
Auction Location: 110 Industrial Drive, Boerne, TX 78006
Phone: 830-230-5362Lot Categories: Firearms (1065)
Auction Closed
08/17/2017 09:00 am
Online Auction for the complete inventory of Don White's Whitehorse LLC dba Bear Arms gun store in Boerne.
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110 Industrial Drive

subset: commoncrawl


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Room Details
Each room provides you a Muskoka style elegance nicely blended with natural décor, setting the tone for your perfect Ontario vacation. Embrace the solitude and comfort of our amenities, including cozy 100% cotton linens, and tranquil duvets and pillows. Our beautifully appointed guest rooms are designed to provide our guests a level of care and comfort that just may be enough to persuade you to stay indoors for your entire vacation. Put your feet up on your personal balcony and relax while taking in the beauty of Muskoka. Why not start your morning with breakfast or enjoy a romantic dinner in our award winning "The Birches Restaurant" where you can dine on our patio in the summer overlooking Lake Peninsula, or in the winter, snuggle up and dine by the fire.
- Telephone
- Air conditioning
- Hairdryer
- Iron
- Refrigerator
- Heating
- Wireless internet


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For the first time since he packed Michelle's things away, Michael Berke tugs the cord of the attic door above his garage. Surrounding him in the suburban Delray Beach garage are power tools, bicycles, sandpaper, and a lawn mower, though Berke's prized possession — a Harley — is in the shop at the moment.
Berke, who is 43, looks the biker-dude part. He's a solid six-footer in a black cutoff T-shirt, Harley jeans, the beginnings of a Fu Manchu, tattoos, and a freckled, clean-shaven head. He climbs the wooden ladder and, in one final, creak-inducing impetus, heaves himself into the attic.
It's mostly Michelle's stuff up here, Berke says, looking around reflectively. Just before Michelle disappeared, she gave it away to a friend, Rachael Balentine, who some day will come to claim it. Balentine has apparently hit the accessories jackpot.
"She [Michelle] had so many purses and things," Berke says, unsealing a blue plastic bin. He lifts out a knee-high black XOXO boot and studies it. "These were Michelle's favorite pair of shoes," he says, petting the leather.
He reaches into a white plastic bag and retrieves a magenta alligator purse from Guess. Michelle had Chanel shoes to match, he remembers. There was also the zebra-print jacket, with fake pink blood on it and the pink lining. Michelle loved wearing pink.
Really, she just loved to shop, Berke says. Over the year and a half that she ruled Berke's life, she bought 45 pairs of strappy high-heels, mostly from DSW. For bras, she always opted for Victoria's Secret. Everything she bought had to be tight, vibrant, and provocative.
Berke wishes that he had more pictures of her in those stunning outfits. Or a bottle of Michelle's elegant Incanto perfume. He can almost hear her gravelly voice, making those offbeat jokes. "Hickory, dickery, dock — I got tits and a cock," she used to say. He'll even miss her impulsive spending.
"She bankrupted me," Berke says with a smile.
It's been two years since those D-sized breasts, beautiful legs, fire-red hair, and killer smile all belonged to him. Literally.
That's right, Berke used to be a woman who used to be a man. He's an MTFTM, male to female to male. An ex-tranny who took a surgical U-turn. No, it never got to the big one. He's still got "Snoopy." But add up all of Berke's other surgeries, including breast implants, a brow lift, a nose job, cheek implants, and more and it equals about $80,000. Call it bankruptcy, as far as Berke is concerned. All for a big mistake.
Or was it?
In recent years, the transsexual community has beseeched the media to cover its discrimination and to help extend equal-rights protections. That's important, all right. Transsexuals are mistreated because of their gender identities, particularly in the criminal justice system and the workplace. "Transsexuality is the biggest taboo in the world," says Mark Angelo Cummings, a Hollywood transgender activist and the author of The Mirror Makes No Sense, about his life as a transsexual.
But the story of oscillating trannies has slipped under the radar. The truth is, not every tranny lives in gender bliss ever after.
Sometimes, surgery doesn't fulfill expectations. Sometimes, mental problems are exacerbated. But in Berke's case — as with others — there was another powerful force at work: evangelical Christianity.
If Berke's female incarnate had never set foot in Calvary Chapel — Florida's largest and most influential megachurch — she might have lived a long, sassy life. Instead, after several sessions of fundamentalist counseling, Berke became convinced that God didn't make mistakes. Berke's return to manhood — finagled and partially financed by the church — has outraged local transgender activists.
"I was an extremely happy baby," Berke says, sitting cross-legged in his Delray Beach home and presenting a series of photos, taken in his hometown, Cincinnati, Ohio. In each one, baby Michael displays a tuft of red hair and a toothy, carefree smile.
What happened to Berke between these photos and age 4, he's not sure. He believes he may have been abused. He remembers being ignored by his family and spending a lot of time in the basement. His father — a salesman — played catch with him just once, Berke says. In third grade, Berke was diagnosed with a neurological disorder, but he can't recall what it was.
His parents didn't keep his medical records, and after ten years, the hospital discarded them. He remembers there being something amiss in the connections between his right and left hemispheres in the frontal lobe of his brain. The disorder prevented him from getting dizzy, Berke says. As therapy, Berke remembers his doctor spinning him like a top. Sometimes, Berke would be tucked into a plastic ball and rolled around. For 70 minutes a day, his mother would secure him in a hammock — cocoon style — and spin it. (This treatment is unheard of in modern medicine.)
After a few years, the problem — whatever it was — had been corrected, but the damage was done. Berke had a learning disability. He attended a special school from third through sixth grades. Then, in seventh grade, he reentered the public school system but was placed in special classes. He was picked on mercilessly, he remembers. Though he had no early impulse to cross-dress, Berke suspects he was a little effeminate.
Kids would stick out their tongues at him or slap him. Somebody tripped him, and he knocked out his front teeth. His mother tried to be supportive, but by the time he hit high school, she had given up, Berke says. He saw himself as an outcast in the family. Neither of his parents nor his sister, Robin, who is two years older and lives in Chicago, would agree to an interview for this story. Robin said only that her brother is too unstable to be part of their lives and that he's been unstable and destructive for as long as she remembers.
As a teenager, Berke started acting out. "We were using slingshots and breakin' windows and lighting Dumpsters on fire," he says, grinning slightly as he puffs a Camel Light. But it wasn't until college that Berke began experimenting with drugs. He went to Wright State University in Ohio, where he tried LSD. He loved it.
Berke began neglecting his studies in theater tech to hang out with punk rockers, trip on acid, and go to shows. Then he dropped out completely. In 1985, his parents divorced. Berke took $10,000 that had been put away for him, packed his Datsun 310 hatchback, bought a trailer for his dirt bike, and drove straight to San Francisco, where he got a job as a roadie for the Sea Hags, a metal band. He also became a heroin addict. After the band's bass player died of an overdose, Berke moved to Mission Beach in San Diego to clean himself up.
He ended up living on the street and becoming addicted to crystal meth.
"I got absolutely out of my mind," he remembers.
He moved to L.A., hoping again for a cleaner lifestyle and a job in the music industry. He lived on the streets of South Central for a while, then moved under a bridge in Hollywood, where he became part of a street gang, the Hollywood Trolls. By now, he was in his late 20s, having spent almost a decade on drugs.
Berke started attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings, though, and he found another roadie gig, this time for the New Kind, an early '90s pop band. Berke was a diligent worker, and eventually his efforts got noticed, he says. He scored jobs on production crews for some of the biggest names of the early '90s — Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, and Barry Manilow. He's got the framed, signed programs and passes to prove it.
"I was having so much fun, you know, reaching a dream," he says. "To actually go to Hollywood and make it... "
He talks proudly about unloading Chicago's truck and hauling equipment for the Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Once, he had to retrieve Janet's exercise bike from her home. Another time, he had to transport her video — the one and only copy — to a studio. "I think that's the most valuable thing that's ever been in my hands," he says.
But the jobs were infrequent and unpredictable. If Berke wanted to finish school — and he did — he'd have to say goodbye to the music industry. A friend from San Francisco had moved to South Beach and invited Berke to follow him. He packed up again and drove back across the country — 73 hours without stopping. His secrets were coffee and the company of a pet dingo, Amber.
In Miami, things fell apart with his friend. "It didn't work out at all," Berke says. "I have trouble getting along with people."
He wound up staying at a sober house and enrolled at Miami-Dade College, planning to study psychobiology. For remedial math and English courses, he had to travel to the Boca Raton campus of Florida Atlantic University. Rather than drive up there every day, Berke persuaded his father to help him buy a home in Delray Beach.
There were straight A's at first, Berke says, but then his grades began to slip. He dropped out and started going to fetish parties. Sometimes, he dressed as a woman and liked it. In fact, he liked it a lot, though he soon tired of the fetish scene. "Once you see someone get spanked or whipped," he says, "it kinda gets old."
For Berke, the only passion that has some staying power, he says, is an intense desire to be close to other human beings, especially females. Not in the sexual sense. Berke wants intimacy. He wants the thing girls seem to have with their best girlfriends — the emotional closeness or the ability to "melt into another girl's arms."
"I would never try to touch or cuddle with girls, because I would automatically think they would think I was trying to get in their pants. There was a barrier set up with how close I would be able to get to women."
Berke says he felt jealous of the way women bonded with one another. "When you go shopping in the women's department, you can come out and say, 'How does my ass look in these jeans? Do you think this looks good on me?' Now, a guy shopping in the men's department cannot turn to another guy and say, 'Hey, man, do these jeans look good on me, dude?' "
Men couldn't hold hands walking down the street. They had to be tough. "I hated the male role model," Berke says. He wanted to have heartfelt and intellectual conversations, but any time he tried to do that with a man, the man got up and left.
And Berke wanted to look pretty. "I envied what the girls got to do," he says. "The clothes. Makeup. The theatrics of it all."
In 1997, Berke began seeing Dr. Susan Levin, a Boca Raton-based clinical psychologist. Berke came to her with a credible self-diagnosis, Levin says. Reading psychology books, Berke had noticed that his own symptoms jibed with what psychologists call "borderline personality disorder."
The lack of a well-defined identity was the tip-off. "I'm a chameleon," he says. "My identity doesn't exist."
Still, Berke is poignantly aware of his shortcomings, acknowledging that he can be suicidal or self-abusive to the point of cutting his arms and legs with razor blades. His self-image shifts with the most off-hand comment from a stranger, he says. It's not an easy way to live.
"I had always told myself that I would have my shit together by the year 2000 or I was going to check out."
His first suicide attempt failed. The concoction of Tylenol PM and antidepressants didn't do the trick. So Berke tried to pull himself together. He got a job at a tanning salon, and his father set up a trust for him. With the extra bucks, he bought an Argentine thoroughbred named Destiny's Dream, which he trained and entered in barrel races. A bad fall off the horse ended the cowboy phase and started an addiction to Percocet, a narcotic painkiller. Soon after, he injured his knee and went on disability.
"That's when I said, 'Tomorrow, I'm going to start living as a woman.' "
When he walked through Levin's door one afternoon in 2003, dressed as a woman, the psychologist knew Berke wouldn't take no for an answer. She didn't try to dissuade him. A gender specialist might have handled things differently.
Putting too much collagen in a patient's lips or leaving too much flab after a tummy tuck — those are bad but correctable surgical mistakes. But mistakenly going the distance in a transsexual transformation could be a surgical nightmare.
That's why mental health professionals and surgeons usually follow the Harry Benjamin Standards of Care (SOC). The bible of the gender-swapping community, the SOC provide strict guidelines defining what qualifies a candidate for hormones and surgery and when. But there are always a few who slip through the cracks.
Miami urologist and sexual reassignment surgeon Dr. Arthur Reed recalls three phone calls over his 24 years in practice — two from males and one from a female — asking for a "detransition." Reed, who estimates that he performs about four or five surgeries each week, did not accept the challenge. Likewise, he turns away patients who have not followed the SOC or those who are mentally unstable. They are legal liabilities.
"It's not enough for a person to look like a female," Reed says. "If the person is mentally unstable, it means they can't handle stress. I don't want to touch that person."
There's little research on the outcome of transsexual surgeries. In 2001, researcher Anne Lawrence sent questionnaires to 232 MTF patients of surgeon Dr. Tobias Meltzer. Six percent of the MTFs reported occasional regrets, and less than 1 percent switched back.
Berke is part of that extreme minority. The fact that he never had a gender specialist is troubling to experts within the transgender community.
"It's like having a heart problem and seeing someone other than a cardiologist," Miami sexologist Marilyn Volker says. She added that dual diagnoses of borderline personality disorder and gender-identity disorder raise a red flag that an individual might be gender variant — in other words, permanently undecided.
Volker has seen a lot of those kinds of patients. Some switch back and forth, or they feel they are both genders at once. Some are men who want breasts or women who prefer a penis. Gender is not a black-and-white issue, Volker insists; it's a spectrum. And for those who are gender-variant, Volker would not usually recommend any kind of surgery.
So why did Levin write a note to the surgeon, as recommended by the SOC, OKing Berke to go under the knife? Berke insisted, Levin says. Plus, she had been seeing him for seven years, so she felt qualified.
"It's difficult, because borderlines are very impulsive," said Levin, who spoke to New Times at Berke's request. "When you're a therapist, you can suggest and you can explain things, but ultimately, it was his decision. I certainly supported it if that made him feel better and made him happier with himself."
And it did — at first.
Over coffee and Camel cigarettes at his favorite Delray Beach bar, Koffeeokee, Berke talked about what it was like to be a woman. His eyes light up when he lists his surgeries, as if they are old friends he hasn't thought of in years.
There was the nose job. The brow lift. Fat injections in the cheeks. Breast implants. Electrolysis. Hormones. And more.
"I love surgery!" Berke says. "I love waking up to the painkiller fairy."
Of course, not everything needed work.
"I was naturally born with big lips," he says, pouting to make the point. Berke stands, shifts his weight to one side, and runs a hand across his thigh and up his full backside. "And as you can see, I have natural hips. My legs are to die for."
The estrogen and testosterone inhibitors — which Michelle acquired right away from her primary-care doctor (another violation of the SOC) — thinned and lightened Michelle's facial hair. Still, she opted for electrolysis of the upper lip. That hurt. "Oh my God, it's like, let me go get stung by bees for a while," Berke says.
Michelle had long, reddish locks bonded to her scalp at the Hair Club for Women, and for her $300-per-month membership, she could have the hair styled and rebonded when necessary. She got a butterfly and a flower tattooed strategically over the roguish skull on her left forearm.
Dr. Arthur Handal — who did not return New Times' calls — performed the nose job and brow lift in January 2004, about three months after Berke had decided to become a woman. Several months later, Handal implanted Michelle's D-sized breasts.
Michelle was thrilled. She dressed her new body in fashionable, provocative clothing. She bought all new accessories. She taught herself to speak from the diaphragm and walked in heels as if she were born to do it.
"I even developed an eating disorder," Berke says with pride. In a matter of months, Michelle's bulimia shrank her from a size 12 to a 7. She weighed 150.
Eager to make herself beautiful, she enrolled in cosmetology school and became a nail technician. Soon, she could perform French manicures and apply acrylics. To store her polishes, files, and other nail gear, she emptied a toolbox from the garage.
The bedroom would also have to change. Michelle switched her old, off-white bedspread for a flower print. She painted the walls purple and pink. For the bathroom, Berke bought pink towels with butterflies on them, pink curtains, and fuzzy pink floor mats. Her primping station included a double-sided, light-up vanity mirror on a white table, flanked by a unicorn and a star-shaped lamp.
Michelle bought all the Max Factor, Mac, Lancôme, and Ben Nye makeup she could charge. To pull off the feminine look, the most crucial element was the foundation. She applied thick coats of Ben Nye stage makeup over her mustache and beard areas, then covered it in a translucent powder. For eye shadow, she favored reds, pinks, and purples — sometimes all at once. "Girls used to be astounded by my makeup," Berke says.
After spending a couple of hours getting ready, Michelle — unlike her shy twin brother, Michael — loved to go out on the town. She hung out at Dada, Respectable Street, and the VooDoo Lounge in Fort Lauderdale, and she was an eye magnet.
"One time, I was a little pissed," says Ben, an acquaintance from Koffeeokee. " 'Cause I saw Michelle from a block away, and I was like, 'Who's the hot chick?' Then I was like, 'Oh, it's Michael.' It made me feel like I was gay for a second."
Another time, a couple of guys were sitting on a corner of Atlantic Avenue, rating the female passersby. Michelle was nervous because "the guys were, like, total rednecks." She was sure they'd notice her Adam's apple. "But before I even got there, one was like, '10!' " Berke says. "The other said, 'Definitely 10.' "
A man approached Michelle at Starbucks and asked her to dinner. She informed him that she wasn't interested in men sexually, but he didn't mind. He took her to Kyoto Sushi & Sake Lounge, an upscale sushi restaurant, and bought her toro, an expensive cut of tuna.
"I got to feel what it would be like to be treated like a lady," Berke said. "I mean, he pulled out the chair for me. He ordered for me. It was just so beautiful."
As Michelle, Berke began to feel closer to her female friends. She and Rachael Balentine, her roommate, would go to movies together and shop together. They traded clothing. Balentine, Berke says, became like a sister. Balentine agrees they did become like family.
Berke convinced family members that the transition had been a life-changing event. She told her mother she was happy and stable and ready to become a part of the family again. For the first time since Berke's young adulthood, she was allowed to attend the family's Thanksgiving celebration in Ohio. Michelle cooked the gravy. She painted her young niece's nails. All seemed right in the world.
But soon, what Berke called "the pink cloud" — her honeymoon phase of being female — began to dissipate.
Evangelical Christianity has been trying to cure the "sexually broken" — including gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders — through reparative therapy since 1973.
Orlando-based Exodus International, the world's largest nonprofit dedicated to this cause, has cured thousands, according to its promotional materials, and local churches followed suit, some even becoming satellites of EI. Coral Ridge Ministries, the congregation of the recently deceased Rev. D. James Kennedy, hosted the "Love Won Out" conference last May, which focused on preventing homosexuality, and Metanoia Ministries in Boca Raton offers online seminars with titles like "Developing Gender Identity in a Unisex World."
Calvary Chapel, South Florida's largest megachurch, claiming about 18,000 Protestant congregants, has no formal program for the sexually broken, but it provides biblical counseling to those who need it, Pastor Fidel Gomez says. But neither he nor Pastor Bob Coy would comment on Michael Berke or on the church's view of transgenderism.
The success of Calvary comes largely from the charisma of Coy, a former cocaine dealer, gambler, and Las Vegas strip-club manager turned successful evangelical minister. It was Coy's background that convinced Michelle she had come to the right place.
She landed in the pews of Calvary after some emotional lows that stemmed from a strained relationship with her roommate. Balentine had a new boyfriend, an evangelical Christian, who moved in.
"He was staying here all the time," Berke says. "And I got booted out of the whole picture. He was turning Rachael against me. At that time, my behavior... I was off-the-wall. I was in and out of the hospital. Cutting. Suicide attempts. Living with me at that time must have been hell."
Balentine says that Berke became obsessive about the relationship.
All the old issues seemed to be resurfacing, and by then, the only thing Berke hadn't tried was God. Michelle thought it might allow her and Rachael to become close again, never imagining she'd have to give up her identity.
"I had read in the Bible that God loves me no matter what," Berke says. "So I'm like, cool, I can be a Christian transsexual."
Berke took a liking to both Pastor Bob and Pastor Gomez. Michelle loved their uplifting spiritual message, and she wanted to get more involved. After a handful of church services, Berke approached the pulpit to say a prayer and accept Jesus. Then she attended her first "deep faith" class for neophyte Christians. A classmate told her that deacon Craig Houston wanted to have a word with her.
Houston asked Michelle about herself, and she told him she dreamed of falling in love and having a family. "Do you believe in some sort of creation and order in the universe?" Berke remembers Houston asking. Yes. Next question: "Well, if there is order in the universe and some sort of creator, how could that creator make mistakes?"
At the church bookstore, Berke purchased Psychology Debunked, by Lisa and Ryan Bazler. It asserted that problems like Berke's were not mental disorders but the absence of God in one's life. Berke was shown a video of Sy Rogers, a former transsexual and homosexual turned husband, dad, and successful talk-show host, speaker, and musician, and Berke thought about becoming the next Rogers.
The church people were encouraging. "They were so very, very nice to me," Berke says. "I was almost overwhelmed with how much attention they were giving me. I just wanted to do what they suggested. I believed what they were telling me, and I fell into the whole born-again thing."
Michelle stopped wearing makeup and cut off all her hair, even though the brow lift had left Berke's bald head with a thin rainbow of a scar from ear to ear. For two weeks, she wore giant T-shirts to concealed her 36-D's. There was no money for implant removal. The transition had left Berke $80,000 in debt, forcing her to file for bankruptcy.
Then, in what felt like a miracle, the church agreed to pay for the removal of Michelle's implants. A surgeon friend of Pastor Bob's (Berke can't recall the name) had an immediate opening, and, just like that, Michelle was Michael again.
He wasn't thrilled with the results. He still had some breast tissue from the hormones, he says lifting his shirt. "I'm left with this," he says. "He didn't suck out any of the extra fat cells that I had developed from hormonal treatments."
He continued to attend Calvary for several months but eventually lost interest. He still liked listening to the uplifting sermons of Pastor Bob, but after reading the Bible and coming to a greater understanding of what was required of Christians, Berke balked.
"I couldn't get myself to believe that a guy rose from the dead," he says, shaking his head.
Upon reflection, the argument that had been so compelling about God not making mistakes all of a sudden rang hollow. What about people born with three chromosomes or both a penis and a vagina?
The depression came back, and Berke became a hermit. He missed his old clothes, his shopping sprees, and all the attention Michelle used to get. He knew how superficial it all was, though, and he didn't like the idea of growing old as a woman and losing his good looks. He still wanted to start a healthy relationship with a woman, which seemed more possible as a man.
Balentine had moved out by then, and another man had moved in. But he and Berke weren't getting along. Berke tried to kick his new roommate out of the house, and it ended in a fight, with Berke punching his fist through the other man's television set. After that, Berke took a bunch of pills. Before losing consciousness, he called 911.
When he woke up in the hospital, Berke was furious. He wanted to be dead, he says. He picked up an IV stand and wrecked the hospital room. When he got home, he found that his computer and his X-box games had all been stolen. All the photos of Michelle he had saved on his computer were gone.
That's when he traded in his Nissan Altima for a Harley. He rode around for three days, "ready for war," he says. On the third day, he pulled up to Calvary Chapel and burst through the doors with a picture of Michelle in one hand.
"This is who I used to be, and I was happy to be her," he announced. "And this is what I've become, thanks to Pastor Bob."
The pastors sent out three young men to pray for him. But when Berke began talking about how he couldn't believe Jesus rose from the dead, the conversation ended, he says.
"That's when they asked me to leave," Berke says. "I go to church, of all places, which should have been a sanctuary. I felt my life was in danger. And they turned me away. I was just like, 'Fuck this world. Fuck everything. I don't give a shit.' "
He went home, kicked in the door to his oven, and had a mental breakdown.
Karen Doering, senior counsel for the National Center for Lesbian Rights in St. Petersburg, says Calvary Chapel was smart not to comment for this article. They may be in some legal trouble.
"The church absolutely could be liable if they engaged in counseling and did not abide by professional standards of care," Doering says. "It's unconscionable and outrageous that church authorities would prey on an emotionally vulnerable person who has mental-health issues and deliberately exacerbate her already low self-esteem."
Also rallying behind Berke is Mark Angelo Cummings.
"God has nothing to do with this," he says of gender-identity issues. "These are individuals in the church, interpreting a belief system. They don't realize we all don't come with a little manual in a little box. There's a lot of shades, and we're just being who we are."
Calvary Chapel and the doctor who performed the corrective surgery should be penalized, Cummings says.
"They're messing with people's lives," he says. "They're not qualified to do what they're doing."
On a recent Friday night, Berke is handing out raffle tickets at the entrance to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. He's not an alcoholic, but these are his favorite meetings. He's content to be at the door, greeting people and making jokes as they enter the conference room.
"Welcome to the meeting," he tells each guest, breaking off a red raffle ticket. Some give him hugs and kisses, and everybody's happy to see him.
It's been almost a year since his psychological breakdown. In that time, he's been taking pleasure in his Harley, riding with a bunch of bikers who barely know him. There's not much talk with his biker pals, he says, because nobody can hear above the engines.
Berke's mother and sister once again refuse to talk to him now that he has become Michael again, saying it is a mark of his poisonous instability.
He's been attending AA meetings almost every day. Although most of the people don't know Berke well, they know that he was once Michelle. And they miss that spunky redheaded Amazon. Berke misses her too — her attitude, her fearlessness, her ability to be the center of attention.
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"If Michelle had never walked into the church, she'd probably still be here today," Berke says. He believes she would have eventually gotten sexual-reassignment surgery and lived out the rest of her life as a woman.
Sometimes, Berke says he's angry, and he thinks of taking legal action. "They warped my mind," he'll say. Other times, he says he knows they had good intentions. He occasionally thinks about going back on hormones — just to feel more feminine. Although he says he doubts that Michelle will ever reemerge, he insists she will always be part of him. "I'm a true Gemini," he says. "Michelle's my twin. I just let her out of the box for a little while. She's still with me."
After the AA meeting, Berke follows the crowd back to Koffeeokee. He gets a cup of coffee and makes the rounds with acquaintances. Ben, the one who once found himself unwittingly attracted to Michelle, is parked at an outdoor table with his friend Jason. Berke sits, and soon the conversation turns to what's next for him. Ben, though he doesn't know Berke all that well, seems to have nailed it.
"I think Michael is quite capable of morphing into different things," he says. "I think he's almost done with the biker thing. There will be another incarnation. It'll have to be something different and shocking."


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Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted review in Amalgamated Transit Union v. Superior Court (First Transit) (no. S151615).
The Supreme Court's docket does not yet indicate the specific issues on which review has been granted, but the Court of Appeal's opinion addressed a union's standing to assert a UCL claim on behalf of its members post-Prop. 64:
In this writ proceeding, we hold:
(1) An individual's statutory right to sue in a representative capacity, conferred under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (Labor Code section 2699) and under the unfair competition law (Business and Professions Code section 17203), may not be assigned to a third party.
(2) Section 17203 of the unfair competition law, as amended by Proposition 64, providing that representative claims may be brought only if the injured claimant "complies with Section 382 of the Code of Civil Procedure," means that private representative claims must meet the procedural requirements applicable to class action lawsuits.
Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1756, AFL-CIO v. Superior Court, 148 Cal.App.4th 39 (2007) (modified Mar. 22, 2007) (slip op. at 2). My original post on the Court of Appeal's decision (now no longer citable) is at this link.


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|Previous Page | Table of Contents | Index | Next Page
Interest Income(p5)
Words you may need to know (see Glossary)
Form 1099-INT.(p5)
|Interest not reported on Form 1099-INT.(p5)
|Incorrect amount.(p5)
Form 1099-OID.(p5)
Exempt-interest dividends.(p5)
|Information reporting requirement.(p5)
Interest on VA dividends.(p5)
Individual retirement arrangements (IRAs).(p5)
Taxable Interest — General(p5)
Dividends that are actually interest.(p5)
Money market funds.(p5)
Certificates of deposit and other deferred interest accounts.(p5)
|Interest subject to penalty for early withdrawal.(p5)
|Money borrowed to invest in certificate of deposit.(p5)
Gift for opening account.(p6)
Interest on insurance dividends.(p6)
Prepaid insurance premiums.(p6)
U.S. obligations.(p6)
Interest on tax refunds.(p6)
Interest on condemnation award.(p6)
Installment sale payments.(p6)
Interest on annuity contract.(p6)
Usurious interest.(p6)
Interest income on frozen deposits.(p6)
Bonds traded flat.(p6)
Below-Market Loans(p6)
Loans subject to the rules.(p6)
Forgone interest.(p6)
|Applicable federal rate.(p6)
Rules for below-market loans.(p6)
|Gift and demand loans.(p6)
|Term loans.(p6)
Exceptions to the below-market loan rules.(p7)
|Exception for loans of $10,000 or less.(p7)
|Exception for loans to continuing care facilities.(p7)
|Exception for loans without significant tax effect.(p7)
|Limit on forgone interest for gift loans of $100,000 or less.(p7)
Effective dates.(p7)
U.S. Savings Bonds(p7)
For other information on U.S. savings bonds, write to:
For Series HH/H:
Series HH and Series H
Bureau of the Fiscal Service
Division of Customer Assistance
P.O. Box 2186
Parkersburg, WV 26106-2186
For Series EE and I paper savings bonds:
Series EE and Series I
Bureau of the Fiscal Service
Division of Customer Assistance
P.O. Box 7012
Parkersburg, WV 26106-7012
For Series EE and I electronic bonds:
Series EE and Series I
Bureau of the Fiscal Service
Division of Customer Assistance
P.O. Box 7015
Parkersburg, WV 26106-7015
Or, on the Internet, visit www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/indiv.htm.
Accrual method taxpayers.(p7)
Cash method taxpayers.(p7)
Series HH bonds.(p7)
Series EE and series I bonds.(p7)
|Series EE bonds.(p7)
|Series I bonds.(p8)
|Reporting options for cash method taxpayers.(p8)
If you plan to cash your bonds in the same year you will pay for higher educational expenses, you may want to use method 1 because you may be able to exclude the interest from your income. To learn how, see Education Savings Bond Program, later.
|Change from method 1.(p8)
|Change from method 2.(p8)
By the date you file the original statement with your return, you must also send a signed copy to the address below.
Internal Revenue Service
Attention: CC:IT&A (Automatic Rulings Branch)
P.O. Box 7604
Benjamin Franklin Station
Washington, DC 20044
|One co-owner's funds used.(p8)
|Both co-owners' funds used.(p8)
|Community property.(p8)
|Table 1-2.(p8)
Child as only owner.(p8)
|Choice to report interest each year.(p8)
Ownership transferred.(p8)
|THEN the interest must be reported by ...
|you buy a bond in your name and the name of another person as co-owners, using only your own funds
|you buy a bond in the name of another person, who is the sole owner of the bond
|the person for whom you bought the bond.
|you and another person buy a bond as co-owners, each contributing part of the purchase price
|both you and the other co-owner, in proportion to the amount each paid for the bond.
|you and your spouse, who live in a community property state, buy a bond that is community property
|you and your spouse. If you file separate returns, both you and your spouse generally report one-half of the interest.
|Purchased jointly.(p9)
Transfer to a trust.(p9)
|Decedent who reported interest each year.(p9)
|Decedent who postponed reporting interest.(p9)
Savings bonds distributed from a retirement or profit-sharing plan.(p9)
Savings bonds traded.(p10)
|Choice to report interest in year of trade.(p10)
Form 1099-INT for U.S. savings bond interest.(p10)
Interest on U.S. savings bonds is exempt from state and local taxes. The Form 1099-INT you receive will indicate the amount that is for U.S. savings bonds interest in box 3. Do not include this income on your state or local income tax return.
Education Savings Bond Program(p10)
Form 8815.(p10)
Qualified U.S. savings bonds.(p10)
The issue date of a bond may be earlier than the date the bond is purchased because the issue date assigned to a bond is the first day of the month in which it is purchased.
|Verification by IRS.(p10)
Qualified expenses.(p10)
|Eligible educational institutions.(p10)
|Reduction for certain benefits.(p10)
Amount excludable.(p10)
|Figuring the interest part of the proceeds (Form 8815, line 6).(p11)
If you previously reported any interest from savings bonds cashed during 2014, use the Alternate Line 6 Worksheet below instead.
|Alternate Line 6 Worksheet
|Enter the amount from Form 8815, line 5
|Enter the face value of all post-1989 paper series EE bonds cashed in 2014
|Multiply line 2 by 50% (.50)
|Enter the face value of all electronic series EE bonds (including post-1989 series EE bonds converted from paper to electronic format) and all series I bonds cashed in 2014
|Add lines 3 and 4
|Subtract line 5 from line 1
|Enter the amount of interest reported as income in previous years
|Subtract line 7 from line 6. Enter the result here and on Form 8815, line 6
|Modified adjusted gross income limit.(p11)
|Modified AGI.(p11)
|Royalties included in modified AGI.(p11)
Recordkeeping. If you claim the interest exclusion, you must keep a written record of the qualified U.S. savings bonds you redeem. Your record must include the serial number, issue date, face value, and total redemption proceeds (principal and interest) of each bond. You can use Form 8818 to record this information. You should also keep bills, receipts, canceled checks, or other documentation that shows you paid qualified higher educational expenses during the year.
U.S. Treasury Bills,
Taxation of interest.(p11)
Treasury bills.(p11)
Treasury notes and bonds.(p11)
For other information on these notes or bonds, write to:
Bureau of the Fiscal Service
P.O. Box 7015
Parkersburg, WV 26106-7015
Or, on the Internet, visit www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/indiv.htm.
Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS).(p11)
Retirement, sale, or redemption.(p11)
Bonds Sold Between Interest Dates(p12)
Interest option on insurance.(p12)
State or Local
Even if interest on the obligation is not subject to income tax, you may have to report a capital gain or loss when you sell it. Estate, gift, or generation-skipping tax may apply to other dispositions of the obligation.
Tax-Exempt Interest(p12)
Obligations that are not bonds. Interest on a state or local government obligation may be tax exempt even if the obligation is not a bond. For example, interest on a debt evidenced only by an ordinary written agreement of purchase and sale may be tax exempt. Also, interest paid by an insurer on default by the state or political subdivision may be tax exempt.
Registration requirement.(p12)
Indian tribal government.(p12)
Original issue discount.(p12)
|Stripped bonds or coupons.(p12)
Information reporting requirement.(p12)
Taxable Interest(p12)
Federally guaranteed bonds.(p12)
Tax credit bonds.(p12)
Mortgage revenue bonds.(p12)
Arbitrage bonds.(p12)
Private activity bonds.(p13)
|Qualified bond.(p13)
|Qualified bonds issued in 2009 or 2010.(p13)
|Qualified bonds issued after December 31, 2010. (p13)
|Enterprise zone facility bonds.(p13)
|New York Liberty bonds.(p13)
Market discount.(p13)
|Previous Page | Table of Contents | Top of Page | Index | Next Page


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Purina Gives Us Big Thoughts From Small Animals
A series of six videos, all of which follow the animals-are-cute-so-we-will-use-them-to-get-lots-of-social-sharing strategy, aim to share with humans the many benefits of Purina's Small Animal Food. We get wisdom from a rabbit, a parakeet and a hamster on the various trials and tribulations of being an animal. Colle+McVoy created.
by Steve Hall Oct-10-12 Click to Comment
Topic: Campaigns
Topic: Campaigns


text:
With dozens of water technology companies already operating in Massachusetts, political and industry leaders on Wednesday detailed a plan for building the low-profile sector into a global leader producing innovative products and services needed to satisfy the growing demand for water worldwide.
The proposal calls for the creation of a New England Water Innovation Network to connect firms with laboratories and operating facilities, such as the state's Deer Island sewage treatment plant, to more quickly prove and commercialize new technologies.
For instance, the plant might be a good place to test technology that detects toxins or other contaminants in water.
"If we could have access to real-world scale, actual test beds, we could do a lot better job preparing new technologies for market cheaper and faster," Per Suneby, president of waste-to-energy firm BioConversion Solutions LLC and one of the executives behind the proposal, said in an interview Tuesday.
The idea for the network was developed by several executives and presented at the second Symposium on Water Innovation in Massachusetts at Northeastern University.
While a still relatively small part of the state's innovation economy, the water technology sector already generates roughly $4 billion in revenue.
Water technologies monitor, treat, and transport drinking water, storm water, wastewater, industrial water, and coastal waters.
The global water industry today is estimated to generate between $360 billion and $600 billion in annual revenues, according to separate analyses by the S-Network Global Water Indexes, which tracks the performance of companies working in the industry, and Lux Research, a Boston market intelligence firm.
It has the potential to grow bigger as water becomes an ever more precious commodity around the world as populations increase, putting more stress on clean, fresh water supplies. Water is used in many ways, from growing food to extracting oil and natural gas, and ensuring a sufficient supply is one of the central challenges facing the global community today, according to the United Nations and other organizations.
With nearly 300 Massachusetts companies, organizations, and institutions involved in water technology, according to the state, firms here could tap a large chunk of that global water market.
But first those companies and institutions must pull together as an industry, working to expand access to money, technical support, and other resources to commercialize products. That's where the innovation network comes in.
Suneby said he expects the formation of the New England Water Innovation Network to take less than $10 million in upfront capital, which it could raise from government, corporations, and foundation grants. In addition to start-up costs, the money would cover the expenses of developing test sites at facilities like Deer Island, as well as equipment, lab services, and other costs.
Future funding, Suneby added, would come from membership and service fees and grants. "It's meant to be funded by the people using it," he said.
Much of the effort to build the water technology sector in Massachusetts has been led by industry executives, but the spark came from Governor Deval Patrick's 2011 visit to Israel, a global water industry powerhouse, where drip irrigation and other breakthroughs were developed.
While he was there, Israeli leaders repeatedly told Patrick they were interested in working with Massachusetts' water tech industry, but felt the cluster needed to mature more.
Speaking at Wednesday's conference, Patrick said his administration was prepared to provide support to the emerging sector. In a brief interview following his speech, Patrick said he sees the government's role in water technology as flexible — perhaps pushing legislation to jump-start the industry, as the state did with the alternative energy industry, or providing financial support, as with the life-sciences sector.
"It's little interventions where the private industry tells us it's helpful," Patrick said.
State policy makers are already working through agencies like the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to help identify what needs to happen to make the state's water cluster grow. The Clean Energy Center, for instance, recently hired a business development manager for water innovation to act as a liaison for the industry.
State Representative Carolyn Dykema, a Holliston Democrat, has proposed legislation to create incentives and pilot programs for water technologies. "These are all signs that the government is in," said David Goodtree, an organizer of Wednesday's water symposium.
Earl Jones, a Sudbury-based member of global investment firm Liberation Capital, headquartered in North Carolina, which funds clean technologies, agreed. These and other efforts are helping the water technology sector figure out how to "harness the assets that we have here to locally innovate and globally deploy."
"What we lack is just something to grab onto," Jones added, "and we're trying to build that now."
Erin Ailworth can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @ailworth.


text:
Edition 9 of the OLPC Australia Education Newsletter is now available.
In this edition, we provide a few classroom ideas for mathematics, profile the Jigsaw activity, de-mystify the Home views in Sugar and hear about the OLPC journey of Girraween Primary School.
To subscribe to receive future updates, send an e-mail to education-[email protected]laptop.org.au.


text:
The Heart of Little Bangladesh
This blog entry is about the Midtown Los Angeles neighborhood of Little Bangladesh. To vote for more neighborhoods to be the subject of future blog entries, click here. To vote for Los Angeles County communities, click here. To vote for Orange County neighborhoods, vote here.
Pendersleigh & Sons' Official Map of Midtown


text:
Staff Picks: What College Food Item Did You Depend on for Survival?
Whether you're hittin' the books or the bar, late night grinds and grinding hangovers have at least one thing in common—they require a whole lot of fuel. Also, college. These are the items that we simply couldn't have survived without.
Peanut Butter Cups "Oh man, this was the golden age of peanut butter cups for me. I had a near-unlimited amount of monopoly money to spend at the campus convenience store (thank you, scammy first year dining plan), and they had the grace to to stock peanut butter cups in the bulk candy bin—and be open until the wee hours of the morning. So during every late night (which was basically every night during one semester when bedtime was roughly 5 a.m.) there came time for a candy run. A fistful or two of PB cups became an essential of my college diet. It's a marvel I made it through there alive." —Max Falkowitz
Pie "Peppermint stick pie! A Wellesley cult favorite in the dining hall." —Tracie Lee
Animal Crackers / Cup-A-Soup "For me, it's a toss-up between those giant tubs of Animal Crackers (the smooth, plump animals they sold in bulk at Walgreens not the old school Barnum's ones) and packets of Cup-A-Soup. But really, if we're talking about living, I couldn't have lived without the electric kettle that automatically shut itself off after boiling because I'd probably have drunk-soup-making burned my dorm down." —Carrie Vasios
Coffee "My college life often involved papers due each Thursday, and thus, it involved VERY tall coffee drinks each Wednesday from Small World. Pretty-much-raw-dough chocolate chip cookies from the U-Store were essential, too." —Maggie Hoffman
Hot Plate "I straight-up smuggled an electric single burner into my NYU dorm room freshman year. It lived under my bed, and I used it mostly to boil water to make the fancy pastas I picked up in Little Italy. I had to be really careful not to burn a hole in the carpet with it and arouse the suspicions of my RA, who cared little for my desire to move beyond microwave cookery." —Jamie Feldmar
Cheesy Popcorn "I've already touched on on my obsession with cheesy popcorn, but allow me to elaborate: I freaking LOVE it. While writing my thesis, I went head-to-head with a family size bag...I literally ate so much of it that it started to cut up the inside of my mouth." —Niki Achitoff-Gray
Slim Jim's "I was a Slim Jim's freak. Some folks' parents sent them care packages with home-baked cookies or perhaps giant bags of candy bars to get them through mid-term season. My mom would send me giant boxes of mini Slim Jim's in the dispenser packaging—you know, the kind with the fold-out mouth that you see at the check-out lane in gas stations? My dresser was that checkout lane.
There's just something about the decisive snap of that smoky beef snack filled with mechanically separated chicken, corn protein, dextrose, and hydrolyzed soy that can't be beat. The ideal snack to help power me through problem sets, help cure my hangover, or to comfort my crushed soul when that-girl-who-was-definitely-the-one-or-at-least-more-the-one-than-the-last-the-one-or-at-least-she-has-a-cute-smile dumped me (again).
Modern Slim Jims don't seem to have the same snap as they did back then, and I've largely given up on them. Somewhere up there Macho Man Randy Savage is looking down on the world and sadly shaking his head." —J. Kenji Lopez-Àlt
Dried Fruit and Nuts "I spent my first year of college in Poughkeepsie, New York. ...While on a raw food diet. Yeah...ffffun. (I wasn't trying to torture myself or anything; I believed in it, until I, um, gave up on it.) My favorite things to keep in my dorm room were dried fruits (dates, figs, raisins) and nuts (mostly almonds) because those were the easiest things I could snack on while on my diet. A special treat was when my mom would drive up from New Jersey and bring me a case of persimmons. Oh, how times have changed since then." —Robyn Lee
Instant Ramen "I know it's a cliché, but I'm pretty sure I would have withered away without packaged ramen when I was junior. I'm going to blame one of my roommates for the addiction. Faced with a surplus of money on his college dining card at the end of the semester that would disappear if he didn't use it, he decided to blow all of it on ramen. This resulted in a stack of dried noodles that towered to the ceiling (I'm not even kidding). Though he had enough to feed the entire hall for a month, he was very protective of his stash. Because they were just there and I couldn't have them, I became obsessed. Sometimes my other roommate and I would drink too much and steal packets, but then we had to slurp them up as fast as possible so he wouldn't catch us in the act. Eventually we decided to pool our money and purchase our own boxes of ramen, creating a competing tower of noodles on the other side of the room, which the ramen roommate was not allowed to touch. I don't think any of us actually enjoyed eating ramen that much, and after we stopped living together, our ramen consumption dropped dramatically." —Nick Kindelsperger
Contraband Coffeemaker "I was already a coffee junkie by the time I left for my freshman year at Emerson College; I could not have made it through that year in the dorms without the contraband coffeemaker that lived in my dorm room closet. It brewed directly into a to-go cup. I remember it fondly."—Ben Fishner
What did we miss? What foods did (or do) you depend on in your college days?
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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All-American Chef and Popular Television Personality Guy Fieri to Host
UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIF. - February 16, 2010 - NBC adds more family fun to its upcoming Sunday night line-up by extending the premiere episode of its new primetime game show "Minute To Win It" to two hours on the previously announced date of Sunday, March 14 (7-9 p.m. ET).
The two-hour premiere episode of the third season of "The Celebrity Apprentice" will immediately follow from 9-11 p.m. ET.
"Minute To Win It," hosted by All-American chef and television personality Guy Fieri ("Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives"), features competitors participating in a series of simple, yet nerve-wracking, games that can lead to a $1 million prize.
In each one-hour episode competitors will face 10 challenges that escalate in level of difficulty using everyday household items. Each game has a one minute time limit and failure to finish the task on time will eliminate the contestant. At various points throughout the game, the competitor can walk away with the money earned up to that point - but it'll take nerves of steel to complete all 10 tasks to win $1 million.
The competitors, who come from all walks of life, are shown over 60 games prior to the competition and are encouraged to practice these one-of-a-kind challenges at home. Some of the challenges include:
HANKY PANKY - Using only one hand, the competitor must pull tissues out of a tissue box one-at-a-time until the box is empty.
JUNK IN THE TRUNK - A belt with an empty tissue box is attached around the competitor's waist and positioned against the contestant's back with the hole facing outwards. Ping-pong balls are placed inside the tissue box and the competitor must jump and wiggle to shake the balls out of the box without letting his hands touch the ground. All balls must be out of the box within the minute time limit to successfully complete the challenge.
EGG ROLL - Contestant must move three eggs across the floor and into a target area only by "fanning" the eggs with an empty pizza box.
BOBBLE HEAD - A pedometer is attached to the competitor's head and he must move his head to rack up a total number of steps to complete the game.
MOVIN' ON UP - Contestant is given a stack of 49 blue plastic cups with a red cup on the bottom. He must race to move the one red cup to the top by holding the stack and continuously moving the cups, one-by-one, from the top to the bottom through the entire stack.
"Minute To Win It" is produced by Universal Media Studios with Friday Television. Craig Plestis, Tim Puntillo (NBC's "Identity"), Mattias Olsson and Jock Millgardh serve as executive producers.


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Two Scientists, One Frigid Continent, and the Thrill of Discovery
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Palisades Geophysical Institute/Lamont Research Professor
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Senior Lamont-Doherty researcher Robin Bell and Columbia graduate student Adrienne Block discuss a recent expedition to Antarctica to map the subglacial Gamburtsev Mountains. In addition, they speak about the satisfaction that comes from pursuing a career in the sciences.
Produced by Ari Daniel Shapiro.


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Surely the facts are being wildly oversimplified
I received a provocative e-mail from a prominent gay journalist this week. It had two words: "It's over."
We had been exchanging thoughts about what a remarkable week it has been in the battle for gay rights: The Boy Scouts moved toward ending their gay ban; word came that the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A stopped donating to antigay causes;
No it hasn't. Haven't you ever heard of "Bait and Switch"?
and the Mormon-founded Marriott Corp. joined the gay side in the legal fight against the Defense of Marriage Act.
A "Business Decision" if there ever was one.
And that was just Monday.
By Tuesday, President Obama announced his sweeping immigration reform plan that includes protections for some same-sex binational couples.
The operative term is "some."
By Wednesday, 49ers player Chris Culliver's offensive remark about not welcoming gays on the team
- and the immediate backlash followed by his apology – reminded us of how unacceptable homophobia has become, even in the macho world of professional sports. By any measure it does, indeed, feel as if we have passed the tipping point in the crusade for gay rights and that there are only individual battles still to be fought.
And here's a perfect example of one of those "individual battles"
Similar polls at the national level show a clear majority favoring not only rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, but also same-sex marriage. Even a survey of young evangelicals, done in 2011 by the Public Religion Research Institute, shows 44 percent of them supporting same-sex marriage, compared with only 12 percent of evangelicals over 65.
And that's because of –
Opponents of full equality for gays and lesbians are still vocal, of course. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., immediately threw cold water on the president's gay protections on immigration. But even McCain may just be mouthing the expected words, considering he had an openly gay chief of staff for many years.
THIS queen.
Other conservatives are more realistic. Newt Gingrich (something of an expert on marriage himself), recently told Republicans opposed to same-sex marriage to surrender, saying, "Gay relationships will be legal, period." Add to that the LGBT election victories in November, and the future political wins on the horizon. The biggest prize may be New York City, which seems poised to become the largest American city with an openly lesbian mayor, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is the Democratic front-runner.
Though not everyone's on board for that
All of this comes after an election in which Obama's support of marriage equality proved a total nonissue – just eight years after it was the wedge issue that helped re-elect George W. Bush.
Similarly, there was very little criticism after Obama used his inaugural address to compare the civil rights movement to the gay rights struggle that was launched at the Stonewall Inn in 1969. Is it any wonder that in this climate, celebrities like Anderson Cooper could no longer giggle his way through Kathy Griffin's gay jokes without acknowledging his sexuality? Even Jodie Foster finally did her best to – in the words of the satirical Onion newspaper – "inspire teens to come out using vague, rambling riddles." Being closeted seems more passe with every awards show
Somebody tell —
Even the sports world has bet on the gay side. The San Francisco 49ers already won the gay Super Bowl by becoming the first NFL team to record an anti-bullying "It Gets Better" video. The Niners follow the San Francisco Giants, which was the first major-league team of any sport to join the campaign.
The fight is far from over, of course. Next up, besides Prop. 8 and DOMA, is an attempt to finally pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban antigay hiring practices. In 29 states, someone can still be fired for being gay.
Despite the repeal of the lawspertaining to the subject of Meryl's song
Leave us not forget. . .
Oh Fuck You, Tony!
And the mistreatment of gays and lesbians in some foreign countries is pervasive, but it is finally in the spotlight, thanks to social media and the wired world.
Thanks to the likes of –
Marriott told Business Insider's website that while he still thinks marriage should be between a man and a woman, he added, "We have to take care of our people, regardless of their sexual orientation or anything else. We have all the American values: the values of hard work, the values of integrity, the values of fairness and respect."
And that's really all that many gay people wanted in the first place.
Uh, no.
What we always wanted is what we always had — provided we possessed the guts
Gavin Creel will Sondheim us out


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Finding a new career opportunity that matches your professional aspirations can be challenging. At Cummins, we're interested in helping you clearly understand what our career options can offer and if your skills are a fit. We've created a new series designed to help you interact with our employees during your employment search.
"Interview Tips" is a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Cummins recruiting like we've never shown before. The series includes real answers from hiring decision-makers designed to provide candidates an insider's perspective of how to succeed during our process. Click on the individual webpage links below to find each of the different topics:
Types of interviews:
Success during the interviews:
General best practices:
Download all of our behind-the-scenes Interview Tips here: Interview_Tips_MiddleEast.pdf


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DMB on Stones stage? All signs point to maybe
No matter which town they're in, when the Rolling Stones plug in and play for an audience, there isn't a bigger event in the rock 'n' roll universe that night. But when Mick, Keith, and company play Charlottesville in October, the audience could be in for a night of star power the likes of which is rarely seen.
The big question is, will a certain local singer-songwriter and his band make an appearance?
Rumors started flying May 5 when the Stones revealed the dates for this fall's North American tour. Most curious about the itinerary is their Scott Stadium show on October 6, just three nights after they play D.C.'s MCI Center. Fans wondered why the band would travel a mere 110 miles south to play another show in the same relative geographic area. All conventional logic pointed to Virginia's most famous musical export: Dave Matthews Band.
It wouldn't be the first time Matthews has been linked to Sir Mick. DMB opened for the Stones on several occasions during the 1997-98 Bridges to Babylon tour, and Matthews himself made encore appearances with the headliner on two occasions. In a live pay-per-view concert event in St. Louis, Matthews shared vocals with Jagger on "Wild Horses." Months later, Dave appeared at all three of the Stones' shows in Amsterdam, lending his voice to the lesser-known "Memory Motel," a plaintive duet enshrined on the Stones' 1998 live album, No Security.
Given this prior connection, speculation was rife in May that DMB would come back home to occupy the bottom half of the bill for the Scott Stadium show. Such hopes were dashed on June 15 when promoters announced Trey Anastasio as the night's opening act.
But the Dave buzz did not die down.
If there's one band whose history is most intertwined with DMB, it's Anastasio's former group, Phish. Until their split last year, Phish was largely considered an equal in status and concert-drawing power. In 1999, Rolling Stone even went so far as to call them "two of the best live bands of the '90s." Not only did the two bands share the stage on multiple occasions, but both were pioneers in allowing fans to record live shows, and they're the only two bands to be immortalized with their own flavors of Ben & Jerry's ice cream: DMB's "One Sweet Whirled" and "Magic Brownies," and Phish Food.
Moreover, Anastasio has hovered particularly close to Matthews in recent years. In 2003, when Dave recorded his solo debut, Some Devil, Anastasio lent both his guitar stylings and songwriting talents to the effort. In fact, the two have become so chummy that when Anastasio sought new representation after Phish's split, he decided to join Mattews as a client of Crozet-based Red Light Management.
And if the Stones coming south from D.C. seems like a detour, Anastasio is coming all the way down from his home outside Burlington, Vermont, and won't play any shows immediately before or after Charlottesville. This is especially intriguing considering that most of the other opening acts on the Stones tour are scheduled to perform at multiple stops, including the John Mayer Trio, which will open the shows immediately before and after Charlottesville.
According to Patrick Jordan, Red Light's director of marketing, Anastasio chose Charlottesville specifically. "The Stones offered Trey a few dates, but because of commitments with his new record coming out," says Jordan, "he just decided that Charlottesville would be the place to play."
Part of that reasoning could be that his friends in the Dave Matthews Band may have wrapped up their own summer tour by then. Currently, the last date on DMB's North American itinerary is September 11 at Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre. With four-fifths of the band residing in Central Virginia and Matthews still owning a home in the area, it would only be natural for Anastasio to meet up with his friends on this short trip.
Will it be onstage with the Stones?
"If I had a good friend visiting town, I would certainly show up and hang with him. For musicians, that means performing together," says Waldo Jaquith, a founder of the newsy DMB fan website, Nancies.org. "And as long as he's here, why not do something with the Stones? It would be perfectly appropriate for them to go into 'Memory Motel' and have Dave come onstage."
"I think that's a bit of a rumor," says Jordan, "but it does make for an interesting story."
And perhaps an interesting story is all this Kevin Bacon-esque speculation will ever be. But if it does come true, it will be a musical legend retold by Charlottesvillians for years to come.


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PHOTOS: Miss America winners through the years
Women from every state are competing for the Miss America crown Saturday night, an honor that carries with it a $50,000 scholarship and a yearlong run as an advocate and role model.
Among the preliminary winners were Miss Maryland and Miss Oklahoma. Miss Alabama won the $6,000 Quality of Life Scholarship for her commitment to community service.
Here is a look at some of the past winners.


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Copper Grill & GroceryCopper Grill
3rd & Cumberland Streets
Little Rock, AR 72201 - MAP
(501) 375-3333
- Restaurant Hours
- 11a.m. - 10p.m.
- Closed Sunday
Whether you're looking for a casual dinner, a gourmet experience or the perfect business lunch, Copper Grill is the choice urban restaurant for Little Rock's food enthusiasts. It's where you can let go and relax in the comfortable dining room, enjoy a glass of wine at the lively bar or share a spread of appetizers outside on the street-side patio. No matter if you're on the go or off the clock, Copper Grill is your downtown dining destination.


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From Proteopedia
Human hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltranserfase in complex with (S)-9-(3-hydroxy-2-phosphonylmethoxypropyl)guanine
Structural highlights
[HPRT_HUMAN] Defects in HPRT1 are the cause of Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (LNS) [MIM:300322]. LNS is characterized by complete lack of enzymatic activity that results in hyperuricemia, choreoathetosis, mental retardation, and compulsive self-mutilation.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] Defects in HPRT1 are the cause of gout HPRT-related (GOUT-HPRT) [MIM:300323]; also known as HPRT-related gout or Kelley-Seegmiller syndrome. Gout is characterized by partial enzyme activity and hyperuricemia.[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [:]
[HPRT_HUMAN] Converts guanine to guanosine monophosphate, and hypoxanthine to inosine monophosphate. Transfers the 5-phosphoribosyl group from 5-phosphoribosylpyrophosphate onto the purine. Plays a central role in the generation of purine nucleotides through the purine salvage pathway.
Evolutionary Conservation
Check, as determined by ConSurfDB. You may read the explanation of the method and the full data available from ConSurf.
Publication Abstract from PubMed
The purine salvage enzyme hypoxanthine-guanine-xanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGXPRT) is essential for purine nucleotide and hence nucleic acid synthesis in the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Acyclic nucleoside phosphonates (ANPs) are analogues of the nucleotide product of the reaction, comprising a purine base joined by a linker to a phosphonate moiety. K(i) values for 19 ANPs were determined for Pf HGXPRT and the corresponding human enzyme, HGPRT. Values for Pf HGXPRT were as low as 100 nM, with selectivity for the parasite enzyme of up to 58. Structures of human HGPRT in complex with three ANPs are reported. On binding, a large mobile loop in the free enzyme moves to partly cover the active site. For three ANPs, the IC(50) values for Pf grown in cell culture were 1, 14, and 46 microM, while the cytotoxic concentration for the first compound was 489 microM. These results provide a basis for the design of potent and selective ANP inhibitors of Pf HGXPRT as antimalarial drug leads.
Inhibition of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase by acyclic nucleoside phosphonates: a new class of antimalarial therapeutics.,Keough DT, Hockova D, Holy A, Naesens LM, Skinner-Adams TS, Jersey J, Guddat LW J Med Chem. 2009 Jul 23;52(14):4391-9. PMID:19527031[17]
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
See Also
Proteopedia Page Contributors and Editors (what is this?)
Categories: Human | Hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase | Guddat, L W | Jersey, J | Keough, D T | Acetylation | Acyclic nucleoside phosphonate | Cytoplasm | Disease mutation | Glycosyltransferase | Gout | Magnesium | Malarial chemotherapeutic | Metal-binding | Phosphoribosyltransferase | Purine salvage | Purine salvage pathway | Transferase


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Eat here opened quietly in a small strip mall on Anna Maria Island about a par three distance from the Beach Bistro. It was like a little brother that needed to state its own identity.
"We are not the Beach Bistro. But our food is great."
To jolt people's expectations and differentiate from the Bistro experience, we used clipboards for menus, home-style kitchen towels for napkins and "jailhouse silver" for service utensils.
Our "silver" is mismatched. We only tell people it's a set because it was purchased at Goodwill on the same day. Why? It is difficult to expect a formal fine dining experience with a "jailhouse" fork in your hand.
Our service style at eat here is more casual, quicker and lighter. We pay less attention to strict coursing and emphasize food quality, which means we must get it to the table when it's at it's best - as soon as a dish hits the plate, we deliver it to the table. As such, we utilize a variety of plating styles that lend themselves to sharing and the comforts of family-style dining.
Eat here is open for dinner 7 nights a week from 5:00 p.m. to 10 p.m. Please call (941) 778-0411 for more information.
We are now accepting reservations! Please call us after 3:00PM to reserve. We are also still seating guests as they arrive. Thank you for your continued support and patronage!
Our restaurant is located on Anna Maria Island, just a short drive from Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Longboat Key and Bradenton.


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I heard this from a friend in Britain and he swears that this is true...It was even shown on TV during those talk shows over there. I dun have the video but this is what happened:
Bono, lead singer of the rock band 'U2', is famous throughout the entertainment industry for being more than just a little self-righteous.
At a recent 'U2' concert in Glasgow, Scotland, he asked the audience for total silence.
Then, in the silence, he started to slowly clap his hands, once every few seconds. Holding the audience in total silence, he said into the microphone:
"Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies."
From the front of the crowd a voice with a broad Scottish accent shouted and pierced the silence:
"Well f**king stop doin' it then, ya evil bastard!!!"
Only in Scotland…
Just so you know, I've moved… - … to a new blog persona: http://majidah.wordpress.com Let's meet there:)
10 years ago


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2018 Game-by-Game Presentations & Promotions
* promotions and giveaway items/quantities are subject to change without notice on this page. All times Central and subject to change without notice on this page.
2018 Season-Long Promotions & Offers
Social Media
Social Stadium
Geaux-Mail | Sign Up
Posters | Order Online
Game Programs | Order Online
Tiger One Village | Details & Location
Bengal Brigade


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Marshallese Interpreter Contractor Jobs Available Right Now!
On-site Marshallese Interpreter sought to assist various organizations including medical clinics and hospitals, law offices, worker compensation offices, schools and other community service organizations as well as government agencies. Appointments are generally for on-site assignments throughout the Denver Metropolitan area.
- Demonstration of bilingual proficiency.
- Flexible schedule depending on need.
- Experience is a plus.
- Certificate of an accredited 40-hour interpreting training. If none, Click here, for the training we recommend.
- Interpreters are generally notified of an interpreting assignment 2-5 days in advance.
- MUST be able to interpret for consecutive interpreting and sight-translation. Simultaneous interpreting a plus.


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The RobecoSAM Sustainable European Equities Fund—a superior-managed active equity strategy that successfully navigates bull runs, bearish slides, business cycles and ever-changing market conditions.
The information contained on these pages is solely intended for Qualified Investors in accordance with the Swiss Collective Investment Schemes Act of 23 June 2006 ("CISA") domiciled in Switzerland, Professional Clients in accordance with Annex II of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II ("MiFID II") domiciled in Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Sweden, UK, France, Netherlands or Italy holding a distributor license or herewith requesting respective information on products and services in their capacity as Professional Clients.
Some funds about which information is shown on these pages fall outside the scope of the Swiss Collective Investment Schemes Act of 26 June 2006 ("CISA") and therefore do not (need to) have a license from or registration with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). Some funds about which information is shown on this website may not be available in your domicile country.
To view the Robeco/RobecoSAM products that are registered/available in your country, please go to the respective Fund Selector and select your country of domicile. Neither information nor any opinion expressed on this website constitutes a solicitation, an offer or a recommendation to buy, sell or dispose of any investment, to engage in any other transaction or to provide any investment advice or service. An investment in a Robeco or RobecoSAM product should only be made after reading the related legal documents such as management regulations, prospectuses, annual and semi-annual reports, which can all be obtained free of charge at the Robeco offices in each country where Robeco has a presence.
By clicking "I agree" you confirm that you/the company you represent falls under one of the above-mentioned categories of addressees and that you have read, understood and accept the terms of use for this website.


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Available ebook formats: epub mobi pdf lrf pdb txt html
Billy Wong is an avid fan of heroic fantasy, with a special love for strong female warriors. He draws inspiration from the epic legends of old, and is on a quest to bring over the top deeds and larger than life heroes back to prominence in today's literary world.
Billy lives in Coney Island, Brooklyn and as one can see from the picture, works as a ninja.
A Chinese ninja.


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Additional documentation for children travelling to and from South Africa
It is highly recommended to refer to the South African Department of Home Affairs and/or contact the South African Embassy in Wellington for full details.
Where parents are travelling with a child under the age of 18, they must be in possession and able to produce an "unabridged" birth certificate. An unabridged birth certificate is one that reflects the particulars of the parents of the child. This applies to all nationalities departing from and arriving in South Africa. It is not required for passengers remaining in transit, unless he or she requires a transit visa.
In the case of one parent travelling with a child, he or she must produce an unabridged birth certificate AND one of the following
- An affidavit from the other parent registered as a parent on the birth certificate of the child, authorising him or her to enter into or depart from South Africa with the child he or she is travelling with
- A court order granting full parental responsibilities or legal guardianship in respect of the child IF he or she is the legal guardian
- Where applicable, a death certificate of the other parent registered as a parent of the child on the birth certificate
Where a person is travelling with a child who is not his or her biological child, they must produce
- A copy of the unabridged birth certificate
- An affidavit from the parents or legal guardian confirming permission has been given for the child to travel
- Copies of the identity documents or passports of the parents or legal guardian AND
- The contact details of the parents or legal guardian
Additional rules apply for the carriage of unaccompanied minors. Air New Zealand's unaccompanied minor age rules do not permit an unaccompanied minor under the age of 16 to travel between New Zealand and South Africa. However, the South African ruling mandates an unaccompanied minor as any child under 18 years. Therefore a passenger aged 16 or 17 travelling to or from South Africa is required to be in possession of additional documentation.
Applicable travellers will be asked to produce the required documentation at check-in for each flight, and those not in possession of these will not be allowed to travel.


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Your San Francisco Chiropractor Providing
Thank you for taking the time to visit our web site. Chiropractic has become so widely utilized and researched
that it can be hardly be considered "Alternative Medicine". It's my
opinion that chiropractic care (which in this clinic may include spinal
adjustments, exercise prescription, soft tissue and physio-therapies)
should be an individuals first course of treatment for acute or chronic
neck and back injuries.
Non-Surgical Relief From Back Pain
Please visit the "Research" section of the site for abstracts of peered reviewed literature.
Whether you are one of my current patients, or a prospective new
patient, I hope you will find this site useful in answering all of the
questions that you may have about chiropractic care, massage therapy, physio-therapy, and related services which we offer in our clinic.
In practice, as well as on-line, my office strives for excellence through quality patient care, education, and overall satisfaction. We are a service-orientated, personalized, small primary-care center. I treat exclusively neuro-musculo-skeletal related issues--which include, sprain/strains, back and neck pain, sciatica, carpal tunnel syndrome, whiplash, etc. (conditions dealing with the human frame, and soft tissue).
Please visit our "conditions" section of the site for more information.
Take your time to browse the numerous pages of our website. There are no pop-ups, and nothing is for sale. You will find comprehensive information on all types of health-related topics--information about our office and services, chiropractic, diet and nutrition, back and neck pain, work and auto injuries, a monthly health newsletter, and much more.
We hope you enjoy the information and share it with others. Again, thank you for visiting our site, and feel free to contact me with any questions.Yours in health,


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A global family
Bringing new experiences to life
SIE Worldwide Studios is a global development hub, a diverse network of highly successful and passionate game development studios and, above all else, a home for outstanding creative talent.
We develop and publish a range of exciting new titles each year, created either by our fantastic in-house studios, or in collaboration with independent studios from the wider industry.
Working exclusively with the PlayStation family of consoles, our studios and partners constantly push the boundaries of innovation to produce some of the platform's best-loved titles and franchises. These include The Last Of Us, God Of War, Uncharted, Horizon Zero Dawn, DriveClub, Tearaway, Gravity Rush, Bloodborne, Gran Turismo and many more besides.


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It's Snow Problem for CT
31 March, 2017
One of the ultimate driving experiences in the world.
It's one of the ultimate driving experiences in the world.
Imagine the toughest winter conditions on the globe complete with snow, ice and freezing winds. Now take a Porsche and test your driving techniques to the limit hitting a specially designed track on a unique icy surface.
Located in Yakeshi, Inner Mongolia, Porsche China Snow Force challenges those adrenaline junkies in love with Porsche to push their driving skills to the edge.
No stranger to extreme weather conditions, Creative Technology (CT) are now in their fourth year of working for Avantgarde Shanghai providing all technical aspects of audio, video and lighting for the hospitality areas. The central feature to the event, the tent structure holds briefing sessions, lunches and gala dinners for the guests that ranged from press and media to existing and potential Porsche owners.
On site for nearly eight weeks in temperatures exceeding -40°C, CT's crew saw waves of up to 50 people a time attending two days driving on the frozen lake.