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March 29, 2016 by collardgreensandscaviar
Making history in the kitchen is a beautiful thing
What a great month it has been.
The National Women's History Project has done another stellar job in highlighting the accomplishments of women this Women's History Month by using their platform to show how the achievements of women matter to us all.
Word cloud: Presidential Proclamation — Women's History Month, 2016
You may not realize it, but National's Women's History Month is a big deal. So big, it gets a Presidential proclamation each March. Here's an excerpt of President's Obama final Women's History Month proclamation of his term:
"Throughout history, women have driven humanity forward on the path to a more equal and just society, contributing in innumerable ways to our character and progress as a people. In the face of discrimination and undue hardship, they have never given up on the promise of America: that with hard work and determination, nothing is out of reach. During Women's History Month, we remember the trailblazers of the past, including the women who are not recorded in our history books, and we honor their legacies by carrying forward the valuable lessons learned from the powerful examples they set."
There are many past and present women trailblazers that are so deserving of recognition. They are the bright lights among us that have illuminated a range of paths that we can now follow.
As a food journalist, I certainly have a hearty appetite for stories about women who have broke bread and shattered plates in the traditionally male dominated culinary world. They are a resilient and scrappy lot who cook with veracity, and simmer with determination and resolve.
More is certainly being written about women in the culinary world. They are quickly emerging as the newest culinary rock stars, shining as bright as their male counterparts who have enjoyed the lion's share of media attention. And there will be more. The "wings" are full of them as the next generation of new female chefs is making their way through the ranks as senior chef, sous-chef, and executive sous-chef. Many of them hale from elite culinary institutes and work in some of the nation's best restaurants. They are poised and ready to rock.
Pioneering Women
But who are some of the women who've paved the way for the next generation of women chefs? There are quite a few. And when you do a search on all the "who's who lists of pioneering female chefs," there are six women who pretty much consistently appear on all of the lists I found. They are (in no particular order):
Julia Child – American chef, PBS television personality and author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Julia is credited with demystified French cooking for American home cooks.
Rachael Ray – American chef, author, restaurateur, television personality, cookware mogul, and cooking and lifestyle expert. Her down to earth and cost effective cooking style has made her a household name.
Lidia Bastianich – American chef, author and host of the Emmy Award Winning PBS TV show Lidia's Family Table. Her forte is Italian and Italian-American food.
B. (Barbara) Smith – American restaurateur, author, lifestyle guru and host of the nationally syndicated television show B. Smith With Style. Her specialty is southern-style cuisine. B. is currently suffering from Alzheimer disease and fighting valiantly.
Alice Louise Waters – American chef, author, restaurateur, and food activist. Her specialty is seasonal farm-to-plate fresh foods. Her Berkley, California restaurant has been consistently ranked among the world's best restaurants.
Cristeta Comerford – White House Executive Chef. The Filipino-American chef joined the Clinton administration as a sous chef in 1995. She was appointed White House Executive Chef by First Lady Laura Bush in 2005. In 2011 she was reappointed to serve as White House Executive Chef by First Lady Michelle Obama.
A star in the White House
Cristeta Comerford is certainly a shining star among this list. If the culinary world were to celebrate Women's History Month and the accomplishments of women in their field, she would be an exemplary choice.
Cristeta Comerford, White House Executive Chef. Photo credit: whitehouse.gov
Many of the dishes Chef Comerford prepares for the First Family are inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama's vegetable garden. The First Lady planted the garden on the South Lawn in 2009 to inspire the nation to make healthier food choices, develop healthy eating habits in children, and reduce the epidemic of obesity.
Here's one of Chef Comerford's garden inspirations. Its broccoli soup and you can't get any simpler than that. It's nutritious, delicious, soothing, filling and budget friendly. Try it and channel your "inner White House Executive Chef." I made it, loved and wanted to share a few of my notes:
Use 6-7 cups of chicken stock instead of 8.
Simmer for 30 minutes instead of 20. It took a bit more time for the broccoli stems to get tender.
If you want a thicker consistency, don't strain the soup. Keep all the creamy goodness. It helps to thicken the soup.
A little crushed red pepper. It gives it a nice kick. Add it to taste after you blend the broccoli stem soup mixture.
Stir in a little Mexican sour cream if you want a little extra creaminess.
Chef Comerford Creamy Broccoli Soup
White House Broccoli Soup, from my kitchen to yours
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1 leek, white part only, sliced
1 sprig thyme
1 small onion, sliced
2 heads broccoli, stems sliced, and green tips reserved for puree
In a medium-size saucepan, over medium heat, add the garlic, shallots, leeks, onion and thyme. Sweat in the butter until fragrant.
Add the broccoli stem slices and saute until softened.
Pour in the chicken stock and bay leaf and simmer for about 20 minutes.
In the meantime, blanch the broccoli tips in a pot of boiling water over medium heat until bright green. Remove the tips from the water and "shock" in a bowl of iced water.
Drain the green tips and puree in a blender. Set aside.
Remove the bay lea and thyme sprig. Puree the broccoli stem soup mixture in a blender and strain through a fine chinoise into a large serving bowl. (I blended the soup in the pot using an immersion blender and decided not to strain because it have the soup more substance and thickness.)
Add the green tip puree and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Serve piping hot.
Recipe courtesy of White House Chef Cristeta Comerford
This entry was posted in Foodies and tagged Alice Louise Waters, B. (Barbara) Smith, B. Smith, B. Smith With Style, Berkley California, Broccoli Soup, caviar, Chez Panisse, Clinton administration, collard greens, cooking, Cristeta Comerford, First Lady Laura Bush, First Lady Michelle Obama, food blogger, food journalist, foodie, Julia Child, Lidia Bastianich, Lidia's Family Table, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, National Women's History Month, National Women's History, PBS, Presidential proclamation, Presidential proclamation Women's History Month, Rachael Ray, root vegetables, Trailblazers, Veronica Hendrix, White House Chef, White House Executive Chef, White House vegetable garden. Bookmark the permalink.
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One thought on "Making history in the kitchen is a beautiful thing"
Lisa Fitch | March 30, 2016 at 9:12 pm
thank you Veronica! I love broccoli soup, but haven't had it in a while because of lactose problems – I thought it had cream, but no cream or milk here! Can't wait to try this at home! Hope you and yours are having a super spring so far! ~ Lisa Fitch


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UK Economy Shrank By Almost A Fifth Under Lockdown
The UK economy shrank by 19.1% in the three months to the end of May as the country struggled under the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The economy began to bounce back in May, growing by 1.8% as lockdown restrictions began to ease. However, a record drop of 20.4% in April, which was preceded by a 6.9% fall in March, meant the economy shrank during the quarter.
Although the economy rebounded in May, the growth rate expansion was less than the 5% or so that economists predicted. The data came as sectors such as manufacturing, construction, DIY retailers and garden centres were allowed to reopen.
The manufacturing and construction sectors both grew by more than 8% during the month.
Commenting on the data, Jonathan Athow, Deputy National Statistician for Economic Statistics at the ONS, said: 'The economy was still a quarter smaller in May than in February, before the full effects of the pandemic struck.
'In the important services sector, we saw some pick-up in retail, which saw record online sales. However, with lockdown restrictions remaining in place, many other services remained in the doldrums, with a number of areas seeing further declines.'

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Up To $5,000 in Grants Available for Small Businesses
Starter Company Plus is now accepting applications
Kingston, Ontario – September 27, 2021 – Kingston Economic Development Corporation announces that applications are now open for the last Starter Company Plus cohort of the year.
Starter Company Plus is offered through Kingston Economic Development Corporation with funding from the Government of Ontario. The program is designed to provide training for both new and existing business owners who are either launching a new venture or have been in business for less than five years. This is a competitive program that provides an opportunity to pitch for up to $5,000 to support business operations and growth.
"This program is designed to help both new and existing businesses flourish. Whether it's an idea or an existing business looking to expand, this program offers entrepreneurs the financial support as well as coaching and mentorship needed to help a business succeed. We have seen businesses go through Starter Company Plus program to become a multimillion-dollar business. This is why we encourage entrepreneurs to apply, and we will be here to help guide them access key resources to help them grow," says Norman Musengimana, Busines Development Manager, Small Business & Entrepreneurship.
Successful applicants into the fall cohort will be required to participate in a weeklong virtual business bootcamp, where they will receive valuable insights into business start-up and expansion as well as business plan templates such as cash flow projections and business plans. Entrepreneurs then will pitch to a panel of judges for funding up to $5,000 to support their business.
The business training will be facilitated by Andrew Patricio, owner and founder of BizLaunch, who has trained over 100,000 entrepreneurs worldwide. They also work with small business owners who are thinking about starting a business, preparing to launch or currently running one.
"As a result of participating in the program, we have been able to: write a detailed business plan, adopt an effective marketing strategy that we otherwise would not have been able to execute, purchase equipment and tools needed to carry out business operations, finalize required legal documentation, make connections with other business owners, and most importantly, fill knowledge gaps," says Teagan McLaren, Founder and CEO of YGK Takeaway. "I encourage entrepreneurs within the Kingston community to participate in the program because funding aside, the personal support and comprehensive knowledge you acquire from the program is invaluable to not only starting a business but maintaining it as well."
Spots are limited and applications are open till October 10. To learn more about Starter Company Plus and how to apply visit KingstonEcDev.com/StarterCompanyPlus
Nour Mazloum
Communications & Events Officer
Kingston Economic Development Corporation
About Kingston Economic Development Corporation
Kingston Economic Development Corporation is focused on building a strong community and supporting Kingston's thriving economy. Its mission is to provide dynamic and collaborative leadership by leveraging Kingston's unique assets to create jobs and investments in order to sustain, grow, and transform Kingston's economy to meet the needs of the 21st century.
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I cannot believe you sat through that movie. Certainly you'll win some kind of parenting award.
100% ham w/ marmalade glaze.
TOO OLD FOR EGG HUNTS? My twenty year olds are still going strong!
Jane - Part of the problem is that they don't really like chocolate. Sigh.
Anon - Ha, I read the reviews (inc Camilla Long saying it was the worst film she had ever seen) but they were insistent. Hmm, books. I am not really enjoying the Portable Veblen. The Sheep/Goats thing was a very good story annoyingly larded with too many "THIS IS THE SEVENTIES" references (no one in the seventies ate THAT much Angel Delight). A couple of ok ish thrillers. Will update the reading page soon.
If it helps I decided to lighten (off-platinum ish) and managed a yellow/orange giraffe style patchy affair. Having found many wildly expensive chemicals to fix this I caught sight of myself in town with gardening/hairdye clothes on looking like a 75yrold on a really rough day, almost saw friends in town but managed to slink down an alley before being spotted (alley apparently terribly popular to dispose of needles - new high).
Now have lost most of the orange (can't see the bit left at back of my neck) looking much more ashy, with slight hint of blue at the front - fab at 18. I'm not 18.
Hoping prosecco will help, have to send info to accountants, managing to avoid by reading cookbooks - another pretence.
The illegible word in the note is 'anonymous'. Possibly a regular blog comment-leaver then.


Exclusive: Free Coupon Book for every customer!!!
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If you have any questions, just drop us a quick note to info@latraveltours.com or call 1-800-761-1775, In Australia, call (03) 9005 5907. American Riviera Tours reviews. We will be glad to help you with the shopping tour in Los Angeles.
Don;t miss the Memorial Day Weekend Sale at Camarillo Premium Outlet center. Enjoy Extra savings on top of already low outlet prices.
your purchase of $200 or more*. April 17 through April 28, 2013.
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Aircraft engines: how did GE beat the competition? Mohammad Ehteshami was faced with a seemingly impossible task. He needed to significantly increase the value of the next generation of GE jet engines. Mr. Ehteshami had years of industry expertise and he and his team set up to achieve the objective. After failing multiple times, a junior member of the team suggested using additive technology as a possible solution. Although usually used in prototyping, this process was successful in enabling the team to achieve its objective. Therefore, using additive technology for an engine fuel nozzle achieved a 25% weight reduction. Secondly, it achieved a 95% inventory reduction (20 parts to one part). Finally, it became 30% more cost effective and five times more durable.
A game changer? Yes! GE's success led them to purchase Morris Technologies bringing in-house the expertise that allowed them to beat the competition.
Due to legacy systems and limited IT resources, many teams are precluded from fixing inefficient processes. With Robotic Process Automation (RPA), however, companies automate tasks without impacting legacy systems and only slightly impacting IT resources. How does this work?
For example, one company manually processes customer orders. The customer service representatives would check the system for new orders and then validate the orders. Next, they would look up the customer's discount and apply it manually. This process was not only error-prone, but time consuming.
The company used RPA to develop bots that would automate the process. The bot pulled the new order data from the legacy system, and then applied the relevant discount information. All of this occurred without changing the legacy system itself. What were the results? First, productivity increased by 40%. Secondly, transaction speed increased by 20%. Finally, they achieved zero errors and a 90% reduction in manual labor.
These two examples show how technology can enhance current process technology and enable your company to beat the competition. Often you will find you are well up the learning curve while others are trying to catch up.
Process technology is often missed when companies are looking to gain competitive advantage. As you develop your strategy, give careful consideration to this area. New emerging technologies will make you more efficient and provide additional value to your customers. As your processes become more efficient you will be able to grow, even in this tight labor market.
If you have questions about how to incorporate technology assessments into your strategy planning effort, please contact me at: harrison@cssp.com or 910-763-5194.
Do you want to learn how your organization can Beat or Avoid the Competition? Attend the Simplified Strategic Planning Seminar for more instruction on how to develop all aspects of Simplified Strategic Planning.


text:
Governor James may refer to:

Arthur James (politician) (1883–1973), 31st Governor of Pennsylvania
Fob James (born 1934), 48th Governor of Alabama
Frederick Seton James (1870–1934), Governor of the Windward Islands from 1924 to 1930
William H. James (1831–1920), Acting Governor of Nebraska

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


For generations, midwives and doctors have looked for ways to imitate human physiology and nudge women's bodies into giving birth. Synthetic hormones can be used to start and speed up labor. Soft balloons and seaweed sticks placed alongside the cervix can shape a pathway through the birth canal. Self-stimulation can spontaneously spark natural labor transmitters.
But the start of labor remains a complex and mysterious process. And part of this mystery is figuring out which women to induce, when to induce labor, and how. Now, a landmark study known as ARRIVE has brought a bit of clarity.
What does the study tell us about inducing labor?
This multicenter, randomized, controlled trial involving thousands of women compared outcomes of induced labor versus "expectant management" — just waiting for labor to begin. All participants in the study were expecting their first baby, and all were within one week of their due date. For most of the women, their cervix wasn't really open yet. No special methods were used to induce labor, just what was standard at each institution.
The results were interesting. For the baby, similar numbers of complications and need for intensive care occurred in both groups. However, when compared with waiting for labor, induction decreased the likelihood that the baby would need help with breathing. Breastfeeding success was no different between the two groups.
The big news? Inducing labor was associated with a lower rate of cesarean delivery (approximately 19% versus 22%).
It's worth pointing out that the overall rate of cesarean birth among women in the study is quite a bit lower than the national average. The study participants were also younger, more likely to be black or Hispanic, and more likely to have public insurance than the general population of women having their first baby. So these results would not apply to all women equally. Also, of all the patients who were initially eligible and asked to join the study, only about one-third chose to participate. It could be that women opting to participate in a study of induction of labor had a particular leaning that could skew the results. It also tells us that many women may not want to have labor induced. And, while the chance of cesarean was lower in the induced patients, labor took longer than it did for those women who waited for labor to kick in on its own.
Doctors sometimes recommend inducing labor and birth for the benefit of the baby, mother, or both. Hypertensive diseases, including chronic high blood pressure and preeclampsia, are dangerous conditions that may require accelerated delivery. Over time, the health of the placenta that nourishes the fetus can deteriorate, leading to lack of growth and low amniotic fluid levels. When problems like these occur, inducing birth is appropriate. Other conditions — such as diabetes requiring insulin and, at times, the age of the mother — may be good reasons to induce. But even without a medical reason, the ARRIVE trial tells us it may actually be safer to induce labor in some women than to wait for labor to happen.
Should a woman choose to have labor induced?
So, should a woman choose to be induced? The answer may be yes if she is having her first baby, is not opposed to the idea of inducing labor, and is within one week of her due date. However, the benefits become less clear if her characteristics differ from those of the study participants in the ARRIVE trial. It's best for a woman to discuss the options with her health care team.
We also don't yet know how the longer labor and length of hospital stay associated with induction affect the cost of care. And most labor and delivery units are not built or staffed appropriately to accommodate the increase in occupancy that would result if many more first-time mothers were induced at full term. So, while the ARRIVE trial has answered some critical questions about inducing labor, some of the mystery remains.


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CellarHand Newsletter March 2016
Congratulations, Theresa Breuer! Just a few weeks after she left these shores, Theresa was named German Winemaker of the Year by influential European wine magazine Falstaff. Great news among many snippets in this month's newsletter. We've had various domestic releases, such as the excellent 2015 single-vineyard Rieslings from Frankland Estate , Wantirna Estate's 2014 Lily Pinot and a leftfield, limited-edition Chardonnay from Airlie Bank. There's also been a clamour for the 2013 Chablis from Louis Michel and new Rhônes from Pierre Amadieu of Gigondas. On…
Europop Top 20 Countdown
They're on high rotation round here: 20 greatest hits from CellarHand's imports range, featuring 13 producers and 10 different regions. Distinctly European and with an irresistible feel-good factor, these wines are priced for everyday enjoyment. Please get in touch for mix n' match opportunities to create your own playlist… (more…)
Titchy Batch Originals: Chalmers Project
Chalmers Project is a new initiative from Australia's undisputed champions of wine diversity. Kim and Tennille Chalmers combine vineyard and winery experimentation with some of the most exciting Mediterranean grapes thriving on the family's Heathcote and Mildura properties. They've variously played with soil type, altitude, picking dates, skin contact, wholebunch ferments and more across Moscato Giallo, Fiano, Greco, Negroamaro, Aglianico and Nero d'Avola. Please note that the micro-batch production means that only very limited quantities are available, so you might have to move swiftly to…
Jacquesson 739: The Numbers Tell A Story
"Each time I look, this little house in the village of Dizy appears more like a fanatical grower producer," wrote wine writer Tyson Stelzer in The Champagne Guide 2016-2017, adding that no one else in this storied region can match its trajectory. "Jacquesson has leapt from ranking among Champagne's top 20 houses to a lofty position among its top 10." Laurent and Jean-Hervé Chiquet go against the grain in order to go forward. While some notable names are looking to procure more fruit and up output, the brothers…
Chablis Shebang: Louis Michel 2013s
"Chardonnay lovers will enjoy them virtually from the get-go," wrote Antonio Galloni of Vinous Media of the Chablis wines of 2013. "Many wines are opulent and open-knit in the early going, with highly expressive aromatics," he went on to say, adding that many growers reckoned the fruits of this vintage "more minerally than their 2012s".It'd be wrong to paint is as plain-sailing, though. Some beautiful sunny summer days and a fine spell in late September were interrupted by smatterings of thunder, cold and rain. But…
The Jay & Erni Show: J. Christopher 2013 Pinots
"Jay is a dude. He looks like a rock star, and in his spare time he is one," wrote British wine writer of the winemaker behind Oregon estate J. Christopher Wines. He's a proper good guitarist, and the fact that he has a hobby band called Vin Halen hints at a sense of humour that serves him well in a partnership with the other dude in this enterprise: Mosel Riesling legend Ernst Loosen. Jay and Erni struck up a friendship in the early 2000s, cemented…
Frankland Estate Refined & Redefined
With each passing year the release of the single-vineyard Rieslings from this domain in far-flung Great Southern is greeted by greater and more widespread excitement and respect. These new wines are sure to continue that trend. But this isn't simply business as usual; it is a momentous occasion for the estate. For the past six years, second-generation winemaker Hunter Smith has been joined in the winery by brother-in-law Brian Kent. They've determinedly set about building on the tremendous progress made since Judi Cullam and Barrie…
Cracking Beers With Punt Road's Brewery Brethren
Sharing wonderful wine is and always will be CellarHand's raison d'être. But the business is underpinned by family, a fact reflected by the evolution of our portfolio. Thus Mosel Riesling (Dr. Loosen) begat Oregon Pinot Noir (J. Christopher) and biodynamic Alsace (Ostertag) spawned Chilean Pinot (Montsecano). And now we bring you Napoleone Brewers, whose stream of small-batch beers has started to flow from a Yarra Valley source. We've enjoyed a tremendous relationship with Napoleone's sister winery, Punt Road, having taken on the role of Victorian distributor in 2001 and…
Charting The Rise Of Charteris
"No matter what the variety, what the style, PJ has already been there and done it," writes James Halliday of one of the two protagonists of Central Otago's Charteris. The other half of this trans-Tasman love story is PJ's wife, Christina Pattison. The couple met at Brokenwood, the iconic Hunter Valley estate where PJ spent 12 fateful and rewarding years. In 2015, CellarHand had the honour of welcoming Charteris and its superb wines to our portfolio. By this time, of course, PJ had become something of…
The heat is on - so we'd like to take the pressure off a little. To help you on the way, we've compiled a short guide to some of the most refreshing wines kicking round at CellarHand. It features sparkling wines, aromatic whites, rosés, light reds, magnums and a cocktail option - all at pourable prices. Take a look at the full CellarHand Summer Style guide by clicking here, and make sure this sunny season's as beautiful in your glass as it is in the vineyards.
Balnaves: Kings of the Coonawarra
Congratulations to the Balnaves family, for whom 2015 marked a quarter of a century of making wine under their own name. As Coonawarra born-and-bred Kirsty Balnaves puts it: "We made it – 25 years and the family are still speaking". This is also the 20th year of former Qantas Winemaker of the Year Pete Bissell making the wines for the family. Theirs is a story of faith and faithfulness. They've stayed true to the vineyard, to their region, and to each other. They've made a…
Ladies' First: Wine Awards Not A Sexist Gesture
Isn't that nice? They're letting the girls have a go. And all by themselves, too, to make sure they win! The inaugural Australian Women In Wine Awards (AWIWA) are with us – and some mightn't know what to do with them. "My first thought was: What a lot of sexist nonsense," confessed wine writer and convert Winsor Dobbin. How many others questioned whether these were a "necessary" addition to the wine calendar, or deemed this women-only competition self-defeating, serving to undermine the very people it…
Prager 2013s: A Cultural Monument
"This impressive 2013 is virtually a cultural monument and a must-buy for all those who regard wine not just as a drink, but as a handcrafted cultural attainment." Yes, it's a big statement. But then 2013 in the Wachau was a monumental, must-have kind of year. Jancis Robinson called the Austrian whites she tasted from this vintage "dazzling", and the results across the CellarHand portfolio more than live up to the hype. It was largely re-reading the declaration above, uttered by Wine Advocate…
Everyone's In On Onannon
Onannon is a young venture that's grown up fast. In fact, there's been some debate over when Onannon arrived. The tight-knit band of brothers released their first wine under this label in the very late noughties and James Halliday wasted no time in offering an avuncular slap on the back. He was in the know from day one, since Sam Middleton, Kaspar Hermann and Will Byron had all worked various vintages at Coldstream Hills. "Strictly speaking, I should disqualify myself from making any comment about them…
Way Out West: Frankland Estate Insta-Diary
Its remote, pristine environment is the calling card of Frankland River, a sub-region of the vast, sprawling Great Southern region of Western Australia. It is, as you might imagine, bloody miles from anywhere. No noise, no fumes, no industrial eyesores - in fact very little to distract the senses from the pure air and even purer Riesling. Serenity, you say? Sip a beer in a kayak on the Frankland River and you'll get it. Just to give you a sense of it, we're here: a…


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text:
/*
 * Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) and its related class files.
 *
 * ZAP is an HTTP/HTTPS proxy for assessing web application security.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package org.zaproxy.zap.spider.parser;

import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;

import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder;
import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
import javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPath;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPathConstants;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPathExpression;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPathExpressionException;
import javax.xml.xpath.XPathFactory;

import net.htmlparser.jericho.Source;

import org.parosproxy.paros.network.HttpMessage;
import org.w3c.dom.Document;
import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;
import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
import org.zaproxy.zap.spider.SpiderParam;

/**
 * SitemapXMLParser is used for parsing URLs from a sitemap.xml file, which sometimes (very helpfully) resides in the web root.
 * @author 70pointer
 *
 */
public class SpiderSitemapXMLParser extends SpiderParser {

	/** a pattern to match the sitemap.xml file name*/
	private Pattern SITEMAP_XML_FILENAME_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("/sitemap\\.xml$");

	/** a pattern to match the sitemap.xml file.. hint: It's XML*/
	private static final Pattern xmlPattern = Pattern.compile ("^<\\?xml\\s+version\\s*=\\s*\"[0-9.]+\"\\s+encoding\\s*=\\s*\"[^\"]+\"\\s*\\?>");

	/** The Spider parameters. */
	private SpiderParam params;

	/** used to parse the XML based file format */
	private static DocumentBuilderFactory dbFactory;

	/** used to parse the XML based file format */
	private static DocumentBuilder dBuilder;

	/**
	 * an x path expression to match the "loc" tag in sitemap.xml
	 */
	private static  XPathExpression xpathLocationExpression;

	/** statically initialise the XML DocumentBuilderFactory and DocumentBuilder */
	static {
		dbFactory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
		try {
			dBuilder = dbFactory.newDocumentBuilder();
			XPath  xpath = (XPath) XPathFactory.newInstance().newXPath();
			xpathLocationExpression = xpath.compile("/urlset/url/loc/text()");
		} catch (ParserConfigurationException | XPathExpressionException e) {
			log.error(e);
		}
	}

	/**
	 * Instantiates a new sitemap.xml parser.
	 *
	 * @param params the params
	 */
	public SpiderSitemapXMLParser(SpiderParam params) {
		super();
		this.params = params;
	}

	@Override
	public boolean parseResource(HttpMessage message, Source source, int depth) {

		if (log.isDebugEnabled()) log.debug("Parsing a sitemap.xml resource...");

		if (message == null || !params.isParseSitemapXml()) {
			return false;
		}

		// Get the response content
		byte [] response = message.getResponseBody().getBytes();
		String baseURL = message.getRequestHeader().getURI().toString();
		Matcher xmlFormatMatcher = xmlPattern.matcher(new String (response));
		if (xmlFormatMatcher.find()) {

			if (log.isDebugEnabled()) log.debug("The format matches XML");

			try {
				Document xmldoc = dBuilder.parse(new InputSource(new ByteArrayInputStream(response)));
				NodeList locationNodes = (NodeList) xpathLocationExpression.evaluate(xmldoc, XPathConstants.NODESET);
			    for (int i = 0; i < locationNodes.getLength(); i++) {
			    	String location = locationNodes.item(i).getNodeValue();
			    	if ( location != null )
			    		processURL(message, depth, location, baseURL);
			    }
			}
			catch (Exception e) {
				log.error("An error occurred trying to parse sitemap.xml", e);
				return false;
			}
			// We consider the message fully parsed, so it doesn't get parsed by 'fallback' parsers
			return true;
		} else {
			//the file name is right, but the content is not. Pass it to another parser.
			if (log.isDebugEnabled()) log.debug("The content of the response from '"+ baseURL + "' does not match the expected content for a sitemap.xml file. Ignoring it.");
			return false;
		}

	}

	@Override
	public boolean canParseResource(HttpMessage message, String path, boolean wasAlreadyParsed) {
		if (log.isDebugEnabled()) log.debug("canParseResource called on '"+ path + "'");
		// matches the file name of files that should be parsed with the sitemap.xml file parser
		Matcher matcher = SITEMAP_XML_FILENAME_PATTERN.matcher(path);
		return matcher.find();
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Bal HarbourBal Harbour- Surfside, Florida: Â Homes, Condominiums and Town-Homes For Sale Bal Harbour is a most luxurious and peaceful village, nestled within the high-paced, large South Florida metro area. Located between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean in northern Miami-Dade County. It is home to Bal Harbour Shops, one of the most productive shopping venues in the world (by revenue per square foot). Bal Harbour Shops is anchored by Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. Other stores include Gucci, Chanel, Brioni, Tiffany's, and many other top-designer boutiques.Bal Harbour is very safe, according to crime statistics provided by the Bal Harbour Police Department. There is a strong police presence in the Village, despite its small size. There are red-light cameras at nearly every intersection.Bal Harbour is an exclusive place to live, as prospective residents must first be vetted by strict condo association boards or home owners associations. Interestingly, it is home to the highest concentration of palm trees than anywhere else in the world.


text:
Trying To Perceive Things That Aren't True
David Brooks in today's NYT : "My sense is that this financial crisis is going to amount to a coming-out party for behavioral economists and others who are bringing sophisticated psychology to the realm of public policy. At least these folks have plausible explanations for why so many people could have been so gigantically wrong about the risks they were taking.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb has been deeply influenced by this stream of research. Taleb not only has an explanation for what's happening, he saw it coming. His popular books "Fooled by Randomness" and "The Back Swan" were broadsides at the risk-management models used in the financial world and beyond.
In "The Black Swan," Taleb wrote, "The government-sponsored institution Fannie Mae, when I look at its risks, seems to be sitting on a barrel of dynamite, vulnerable to the slightest hiccup." Globalization, he noted, "creates interlocking fragility." He warned that while the growth of giant banks gives the appearance of stability, in reality, it raises the risk of a systemic collapse — "when one fails, they all fail."
Taleb believes that our brains evolved to suit a world much simpler than the one we now face. His writing is idiosyncratic, but he does touch on many of the perceptual biases that distort our thinking: our tendency to see data that confirm our prejudices more vividly than data that contradict them; our tendency to overvalue recent events when anticipating future possibilities; our tendency to spin concurring facts into a single causal narrative; our tendency to applaud our own supposed skill in circumstances when we've actually benefited from dumb luck.
And looking at the financial crisis, it is easy to see dozens of errors of perception. Traders misperceived the possibility of rare events. They got caught in social contagions and reinforced each other's risk assessments. They failed to perceive how tightly linked global networks can transform small events into big disasters.
Taleb is characteristically vituperative about the quantitative risk models, which try to model something that defies modelization. He subscribes to what he calls the tragic vision of humankind, which "believes in the existence of inherent limitations and flaws in the way we think and act and requires an acknowledgement of this fact as a basis for any individual and collective action." If recent events don't underline this worldview, nothing will.
If you start thinking about our faulty perceptions, the first thing you realize is that markets are not perfectly efficient, people are not always good guardians of their own self-interest and there might be limited circumstances when government could usefully slant the decision-making architecture (see "Nudge" by Thaler and Cass Sunstein for proposals). But the second thing you realize is that government officials are probably going to be even worse perceivers of reality than private business types. Their information feedback mechanism is more limited, and, being deeply politicized, they're even more likely to filter inconvenient facts.
This meltdown is not just a financial event, but also a cultural one. It's a big, whopping reminder that the human mind is continually trying to perceive things that aren't true, and not perceiving them takes enormous effort."
I've finally realized why I'm so drawn to Brooks. We share so much in terms of the way we think about humanity, yet our conclusions based on that thinking are so often diametrically opposed.
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text:
A black day, indeed!
October 27, 1947 - the day when India landed its forces in Srinagar - veritably marks the birth of an unending tragedy that continues to bleed to this very day. The day marked the culmination of a conspiracy hatched by the Indian leadership in connivance with Lord Louis Mountbatten, the then Governor General of India, to wrest Kashmir with the force of arms.
The State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was one of 584 princely states, which, with the lapse of paramountcy of the British Crown in August 1947, had to exercise the option of joining either India or Pakistan. The state, which was ruled by the Hindu Dogra Raja, Sir Hari Singh, had an overwhelming Muslim preponderance. Notwithstanding its rule by Dogra Maharajas, whose ancestor, Maharaja Gulab Singh, had been sold the Kashmir Valley along with its inhabitants by the British for just Rs 75 lakh, there was no rationale under which it could be absorbed into India under any pretext.
The subcontinent was being divided in deference to the Two-Nation Theory, which demanded carving out a nation state comprising contiguous Muslim majority areas in undivided India. Kashmir's union with Pakistan, based on this criterion, was only too obvious. In addition, there were compelling strategic compulsions recommending such a course. Sources of three major rivers irrigating Pakistan - Indus, Jhelum and Chenab - lay in Kashmir.
Besides, Kashmir's outside linkages passed through the territory that was to constitute Pakistan: Road Pindi-Murree-Muzaffarabad-Srinagar comprised one route, while Sialkot-Jammu-Banihal Pass-Srinagar constituted the other. The third route - a dirt track - passed through the Muslim-dominated district of Gurdaspur in the Punjab, providing a minor link to Srinagar through the Pathankot railhead. It was certain that once Punjab was divided, Gurdaspur being a Muslim-dominated district of Punjab and contiguous to other Muslim majority areas, would form part of Pakistan.
However, the Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, himself a Kashmiri Pandit, had a pathological fixation for acquiring Kashmir; by hook or crook. He was joined in such scheming by the British Viceroy and the first Governor General of India, Lord Mountbatten, whose antipathy to Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Pakistan is no secret.
The Mountbatten-Nehru duo hatched a deep-rooted conspiracy to wrest Kashmir and thus sowed the seeds of a tragedy that has ever since overshadowed the prospects of peace in South Asia.
The notorious design to occupy Kashmir began to unfold on August 16, 1947, with the announcement of the Radcliffe Boundary Award. The June 3 partition plan envisaged establishing boundary in Bengal, Assam-Sylhet and Punjab under the stewardship of Sir Cyril Radcliffe. When the Award was announced, its most controversial decision dealt with awarding the Gurdaspur District to India.
There is overwhelming evidence to suggest that Mountbatten prevailed upon Radcliffe to configure the Award in line with the conceived plan for subsequent occupation of Kashmir. The rationale would remain a mystery, since Radcliffe had left India by the time it was announced, taking all his papers with him. He died in 1977 without ever uttering a word, either on or off record, to explain the underlying reasons for his fateful Award.
With a land route now becoming available for the Indian armed forces to move into Kashmir, the plan for military occupation began to take shape. A political fig leaf had to be in place to justify and validate the aggression. To this end, it was essential to acquire an instrument of accession from the Maharaja and the occupation had to be camouflaged in an open-ended commitment to hold a plebiscite to decide the final fate of Kashmir's accession. Nehru's political chicanery, at this juncture, becomes manifest in the manner in which he used Sheikh Abdullah to advance his plans. Abdullah, was then in jail and Nehru employed considerable effort to have him released in the first week of October.
According to the plan, Abdullah, at the behest of Nehru, was to endorse an accession by the Maharaja and form a government in Kashmir, with the support of the Indian forces.
Nehru outlined the role that was to be played by Abdullah in annexing Kashmir, in a letter to Patel on September 27, 1947: "We have definitely a great asset in the National Conference. Sheikh Abdullah has given assurances of wishing to cooperate and of being opposed to Pakistan; also to abide by my advice."
As October progressed, Kashmir got engulfed in strife. There was a rebellion in the state forces, which revolted against the Maharaja's authority and were joined by a small number of Pathan tribesmen, who voluntarily joined the rebels. Mounbatten, as Governor General of India, called a meeting of the Defence Committee to assess the situation on October 25.
The Committee under his chairmanship decided to immediately send V.P. Menon, along with senior army and air force commanders, to land in Srinagar the same day, reconnoitre the ground situation and advise the Maharaja to abandon it for the safety of Jammu across the Banihal Pass.
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Mountbatten also ordered the British Commander of the Indian forces to assemble a fleet of 10 transport aircraft for an airlift operation after 48 hours for landing troops in Srinagar.
Menon's visit on October 25 so unnerved the Maharaja that he packed all his valuables and left for Jammu by road in the morning of October 26 without signing any instrument of accession. Hence, there is no evidence that establishes that the Maharaja ever signed the instrument of accession. It has never been shown in any official Indian document or held in any archives and there is a widely held belief that it does not exist.
Mountbatten, while chairing another meeting of the Defence Committee on October 26, ordered the landing of the first battalion of the Sikh regiment in Srinagar on October 27. At about 0900, hours the Sikh regiment began to land at the deserted Srinagar Airport. It is to be poignantly noted that on that fateful day, as the Indian aggression commenced, Jammu and Kashmir existed in the same constitutional limbo of insecure independence in which it had remained since August 15, 1947; following the lapse of the British paramountcy.
As the Indian aggression unfolded, Pakistan's military response remained stymied by refusal of General Gracey, the Acting Chief of Pakistan Army, to send forces in Kashmir. It was with much delay that Pakistan was able to respond militarily in Kashmir. On December 31, 1947, India made an appeal to the UN Security Council to intervene and a ceasefire ultimately came into effect on January 01, 1949, following the UN resolutions calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir.
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October 27, 1947, very early marked India's propensity for aggression in realising its territorial and political ambitions. In doing so, it, however, failed to factor in the will of the Kashmiri people, whose grassroots resistance to the Indian occupation has been the major factor in New Delhi's grudging acknowledgement that Kashmir is a bleeding wound whose pain is only getting worse with the passage of time.0
The writer is a freelance columnist.
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text:
Bona Fide Intercompany Loan – Are you Sure?
By Louis Vlahos on July 12, 2021
Posted in Business, Loan
Head-Scratchers
The Code is chock-full of provisions that will challenge the intellectual capacity, not to mention the patience, of most tax professionals. The complexity of these rules does not arise out of some sadistic intent on the part of Congress, the Treasury, or the IRS to torment taxpayers and their advisers;[i] rather, it is often a reaction to, and a direct function of, the complicated, multifaceted schemes that many of those very same taxpayers and advisers devise with the intent of reducing the taxpayer's income tax liability.
Then there are those provisions of the Code that appear straightforward, at least until you try to apply them to a set of convoluted, and often poorly documented, transactions. Unfortunately, examples of such instances abound in the world of the closely held business, and especially in the case of transactions among[ii] related companies. The truth of this statement was illustrated by a recent decision[iii] of the U.S. Tax Court in which the principal issues in dispute arose from the transfer of funds among commonly owned business entities and the tax treatment of those transactions.
Among the issues addressed by the Court in its seventy-page opinion – the greatest part of which was dedicated to describing and unravelling the relevant facts (which will not be covered here) – were the following:
(1) Were transfers from a corporation to related companies bona fide loans, or should the transfers be treated as distributions by the corporation to the individual taxpayer-shareholder, such that the amount by which they exceeded the taxpayer's adjusted basis in their stock should be treated as taxable capital gain?[iv]
(2) To the extent the funds transferred to the taxpayer and the related companies were bona fide loans, did the taxpayer receive taxable distributions when the loans were canceled and, if so, what was the amount of the distribution: the face value of the loan or something else?[v]
(3) To the extent loans existed, did the taxpayer have taxable cancellation of debt (COD) income, or was the taxpayer insolvent such that the discharge of indebtedness was not includable in the taxpayer's gross income?[vi]
(4) Inextricably linked to the first three issues was the question of whether the taxpayer was entitled to a nonbusiness bad debt deduction[vii] for the canceled indebtedness?
Talk about a chain of dominoes.[viii]
Intercompany Loans
The taxpayer in the above-referenced decision was in the business of purchasing assets that were used as security for nonperforming loans. The assets typically included a business entity and its associated real estate. The taxpayer would foreclose on the collateral, make improvements to the business and property, and then either operate the business or resell it.
Initially, the taxpayer borrowed money from third-party lenders to finance the purchase of the nonperforming loans. In a typical transaction, the taxpayer would set up two special purpose entities: one to own the foreclosed real estate and one to manage any business operations connected with the real estate; in this way, the risks from the business operations were isolated from the real estate.
At some point, the taxpayer decided to start transferring money between their affiliated companies to fund the taxpayer's business ventures and recorded the transfers as loans. During the years in question, approximately $100 million of intercompany transfers were made which were characterized as loans. There were also some direct transfers to the taxpayer individually which were likewise recorded as loans.
Promissory notes were prepared and executed to reflect these transfers; they provided for interest at the short-term AFR.[ix] The accrued interest was tracked, and approximately $6 million of principal was repaid during the periods before the Court.
Bona Fide Loan?
The taxpayer's businesses started to suffer beginning with the Great Recession. They lost money, the erstwhile loans could not be satisfied, and some loans were written off.[x]
The IRS audited the taxpayer's income tax returns and determined that the intercompany transfers of funds were not bona fide loans. The Service issued notices of deficiency[xi] for the resulting income tax liabilities (plus interest and penalties), and the taxpayer petitioned the Tax Court.[xii]
As indicated above, the key issue in the case was whether a series of transfers from one of the taxpayer's corporations to the taxpayer and/or his other controlled entities were bona fide loans or should be reclassified as taxable distributions.[xiii]
The taxpayer had consistently maintained that the transfers were loans, but the IRS disagreed.
According to the Court, the existence of a bona fide debt requires an intent to establish a debtor-creditor relationship when the transfers at issue are made. A bona fide debt, the Court continued, is a debt that arises from a debtor-creditor relationship based on "a valid and enforceable obligation to pay a fixed or determinable sum of money"; there must be "a real expectation of repayment and an intent on the part of the purported creditor to secure repayment."
Whether an advance gives rise to a bona fide debt for tax purposes is determined from all the facts and circumstances. The Court explained that caselaw has established objective factors to consider when answering the question of whether a bona fide debtor-creditor relationship exists. Those factors include:
(1) whether the promise to repay is evidenced by a note or other instrument that indicates indebtedness,
(2) whether interest was charged or paid,
(3) whether a fixed schedule for repayment and a fixed maturity date were established,
(4) whether collateral was given to secure payment,
(5) whether repayments were made,
(6) what the source of any payments was,
(7) whether the borrower had a reasonable prospect of repaying the loan and whether the lender had sufficient funds to advance the loan, and
(8) whether the parties conducted themselves as if the transaction was a loan.
Critical to the Court's analysis was factor (7), above.
Can The "Loan" Be Repaid?
The Court observed that, early on during the years in question, the taxpayer no longer had a reasonable prospect of repaying the "loans" notwithstanding their argument that other factors supported the characterization of the transfers as loans.
For example, the taxpayer argued that loan treatment was supported by the accrual of interest and, in most cases, the taxpayer's companies followed the formalities[xiv] of documenting the transfers as loans.
The taxpayer also maintained that the repayment was derailed only by the downturn in the economy that adversely affected the taxpayer's real estate holdings and the profit potential of the taxpayer's numerous transactions. Although the Court found this argument reasonable for the first year at issue, it lost its credibility afterward, the Court stated, when the taxpayer was fully "aware the economy was turning negative to" their businesses "but continued to have funds transferred" from their corporation "with less and less expectation of repayment."
The taxpayer's and his companies' respect for loan formalities also waned as the economy made repayment all but impossible. Although the taxpayer's companies followed a practice of careful accounting of loans, with some repayments, through the first year under exam, their respect for the loan characterization and repayments gradually disappeared after that first year.
Accordingly, the Court held that the intercompany transfers were not properly characterized as loans beginning with the second year under exam. This holding, in turn, affected the IRS's position on whether the transfers were capital distributions or dividends and, alternatively, whether the taxpayer had COD income for the year the debts respected as such were canceled.
The Court held that the transfers beginning with the second year under exam were distributions to the taxpayer as a shareholder.
COD Income and Bad Debt Deduction
For the last year under audit, the taxpayer's personal income tax return reported COD income, but excluded it from gross income based on the taxpayer's alleged insolvency. The taxpayer also claimed a short-term capital loss deduction for bona fide debt which the taxpayer claimed became worthless within that taxable year.
The COD income was based largely on intercompany loans and was not calculated with enough precision to eliminate intercompany debt or to ensure that only the taxpayer's personal debt was forgiven. Likewise, the capital loss deduction claimed by the taxpayer for the bad debt was calculated using the total of the recorded intercompany debts.
According to the taxpayer, because the debt was cancelled and was reported as COD income on the taxpayer's return, "the other side of the same coin was a bad debt deduction" – it was a "zero sum" in that "without one you cannot have the other," or so the taxpayer argued. For example, when the taxpayer's lending entity was not able to collect the debts owed to it from various related entities, the amount of such debts was cancelled, creating a bad debt deduction for the taxpayer. Concurrently, when the debt owed to the lending entity was cancelled, the taxpayer "picked up the amount as cancellation of debt income."
The Court rejected the taxpayer's logic. The bad debt deduction, the Court stated, is not a function of alleged COD income; rather it arises from a debt owed to the taxpayer, not a debt owed by the taxpayer. The taxpayer's "zero sum" argument, the Court continued, ignored the need to eliminate the debts between the taxpayer's companies. These companies regularly passed funds between them. The taxpayer was unable to prove that the COD income on the business bad debts was properly calculated and that the debts were actually owed to or by the taxpayer. According to the Court, the taxpayer could not create a deduction by recording intercompany debt and then simply canceling it. To create a business bad debt, the Court stated, there had to be a debt owed to the taxpayer that was uncollectible. The taxpayer failed to establish such debt existed or was worthless. In any case, the Court added, its prior holding (above) transformed much of the alleged debt into distributions in earlier years, which had to be eliminated.
Tax Value of the Debt Distribution
Finally, the taxpayer argued that the distribution of the shareholder debt and other distributions caused by the forgiveness of shareholder debt, as found by the Court (above), should be valued at the fair market value of the debt rather than the face value of the debt.
Again, the Court rejected the taxpayer's position. This argument, it stated, turned on the "characterization of the debt as property and not as a cash equivalent." This argument was without legal support, the Court countered; the cancellation of shareholder debt "is considered the equivalent of a distribution of money in the face amount of the obligation."
Economic Reality
The key to determining the character of a payment between related parties as a loan or as something else ultimately turns on the economic reality of the payment.
If an outside lender would not have extended credit on the same terms and under similar circumstances as did the related entity, an inference may arise that the advance is not a bona fide loan.
On the other hand, if the transfer and surrounding circumstances give rise to a reasonable expectation, and an enforceable obligation, of repayment, then the relationship between the parties will resemble that of a creditor and debtor.
In that case, the form of the transaction should be consistent with, and support, its substance: a genuine loan transaction. Thus, there should be a written promise of repayment, a repayment schedule, interest, and security for the loan. However, as indicated above, merely following the formalities will not be enough in the absence of any substance.
The factors identified by the Court, above, provide helpful guidance for structuring and documenting a loan between related persons, including a business entity and any of its owners. If these factors are considered, the parties to the loan transaction will have objectively determinable proof of their intent, as reflected in the form and economic reality of the transaction.
Of course, the parties will also have to act consistently with what the transaction purports to be – they will have to act as any unrelated party would under the circumstances.
[i] Though I imagine many taxpayers view themselves as a tiny insect in the clutches of some malevolent child – which, from their perspective at least, represents the IRS – who is intent on removing first their wings, one by one, then their legs, one by one, until at last they are no longer capable of writhing. Sorry about that.
[ii] "Between" two parties; "among" at least three parties.
[iii] Kelly, v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2021-76. https://www.thetaxadviser.com/content/dam/tta/summaries/2021-76-kelly.pdf .
[iv] Although not the case here, how many times have you encountered loans from a corporation to its shareholders in amounts that are proportionate to the shareholders' respective equity interests? How about the case of a single shareholder of a corporation that has never made a dividend distribution but has a large entry on its balance sheet for loans to shareholder? I wish these were infrequent occurrences.
[v] Of course, there are many factors to be considered in determining the fair market value of a loan: the interest rate, the term of the loan, the frequency of interest and principal payments, whether the loan is secured or guaranteed (and by what or whom), the creditworthiness of the borrower, the economic health of the borrower, etc.
And when the loan is between related persons, always consider what unrelated parties would do under like circumstances.
[vi] IRC Sec. 108. COD is treated as ordinary income. I borrowed $X, had the benefit of its use, then was absolved from repaying it – I have realized an accretion in value and should be taxed thereon. The insolvency exception recognizes that the forgiveness has not improved my position, at least to the extent of my insolvency.
[vii] IRC Sec. 166. No easy feat where related persons are involved.
[viii] Not to be confused with the pseudo-pizza, Dominos. Don't get me started. I'd be skinny if that were the only choice in town.
[ix] IRC Sec. 1274. Basically, the minimum rate required by the IRS. It is set monthly and is dependent upon the term of the loan, if any, and the frequency of payments.
[x] For obvious reasons, this is often an audit trigger when the loan is between related persons.
[xi] IRC Sec. 6212. The so-called "90-day letter."
[xii] IRC Sec. 6213.
[xiii] IRC Sec. 301 and Sec. 1368.
[xiv] I will give them credit for that.
Tags: Congress, Intercompany Loan, IRS, Loans, Tax Code, Taxpayers, U.S. Treasury Department
Shared Appreciation Interest: Debtor-Creditor or Partners?


text:
Indonesian Ulema Council strongly condemns oppression of Chinese Uighurs
Uighur Muslims in China. (dancingturtle.org)
Jakarta, (ANTARA News) - Chairman of the Advisory Board of Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) Din Syamsuddin has strongly condemned oppression of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, China.
As reported by the international media,Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang had been tortured, isolated, and banned from practicing Islamic teachings, Din said in a statement here, Monday.
"Such an oppression is a blatant violation of human rights and international law," he remarked.
The human rights and International Covenant on Social and Political Rights have stated that every human being is free to practice his or her religious belief, so Uighur Muslims, who are majority in Xinjiang Province must have freedom to practice their religion`s teachings.
Din, who is concurrently the president of the Asian Conference on Religions for Peace (ACRP), has demanded that the oppression must be ended.
He also urged the Islamic Organization Cooperation (OIC) and the international community to help save Uighur Muslims and demand the Chinese government to give Uighur Muslims their human rights.
The MUI`s Advisory Board particularly asked the Indonesian Government to echo and channel the stance of Indonesia`s Muslims by taking a firm stance against the Chinese Government, and to defend Muslims in China.
He also appealed all Muslims throughout the world to give assistance to Uighur Muslims in any possible way.
Aljazeera reported that more than one million Uighur Muslims are estimated to be in detention in "counter-extremism centres" in China`s far west, the vice chairperson of a United Nations anti-discrimination committee has said, citing credible reports.
Gay McDougall made the comments on Aug 10, 2018, as the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination started reviewing China`s record over recent years in the Swiss city of Geneva.
Members were "deeply concerned" about reported detentions of ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, which have "turned the [Xinjiang] Uighur Autonomous Region into something that resembles a massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy - a sort of `no rights zone`," McDougall said at the start of the two-day hearing.
"Another two million have been forced into so-called re-education camps for political and cultural indoctrination," she was quoted as saying by Aljazeera.
Reporting by E007, Fardah
Editor: Andi Abdussalam
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"Amie's classes are different from other yoga classes in that the practice is truly about the individual. There is no competition in her classes and she offers modifications for all levels and shapes, insuring that yoga can be experienced true to one's form. She also celebrates the little victories, such as a pose held, a different level attempted or a new release. In that, I know that Amie cares that my practice, however limited, grows and meets my needs.
Because of Amie, yoga is now something that is part of my life. Even if I'm off the mat, or taking a hiatus while the sessions are on break, I bring the elements we practice into my daily life.
"Three kids and work and so many obligations fill my schedule. Our budget is tight. And I live 30 minutes away from the studio. But still I find my way back to Amala. I always do. Because unlike any other class I have attended, Amie's class is complete.
She sequences each practice with intent, bringing her knowledge and energy together to create an artful flow that meets a purpose of the body and mind. This week, we might focus on cleansing twists. Next time – invigorating backbends. And as she explains poses or pieces of yogic philosophy, her soothing voice and passionate wisdom always make me think of poetry. Her words are that beautiful.
In her presence, yoga is more than just exercise – it is the union of body and mind and spirit; it is a place of endeavor and of ease, where we strive to move forward but ultimately discover ourselves right where we are. Though she physically challenges her students with the asanas, she knows how to safely counterpose and she always ends her classes with relaxation and breathing practices that melt any remaining mental chatter. I leave her class feeling strengthened and stretched, balanced and relaxed.


Mitt Romney will speak at the Republican National Committee's winter meeting in San Diego on Friday in another sign that he is serious about a presidential run.
The speech will be Romney's first since news broke on Friday that he is looking closely at another run. That original announcement came in a closed-door meeting of donors.
The remarks will come on the USS Midway aircraft carrier, lending an impressive backdrop to the speech.
Romney has been pushing hard in recent days to line up former donors and aides for another run, and speaking to the party's meeting is a chance to bring that effort to a wide circle.
It remains to be seen how much support Romney will get beyond the world of donors and former aides that have urged him to run.
Other likely Republican presidential contenders, including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and neurosurgeon Ben Carson, are also slated to address the RNC meeting.
Romney's speech comes toward the end of the meeting, on Friday.


Money makes the galaxy go round.
How exactly does a Sentinel fight in close combat?
SD question: Sarpedon in Vacuum?
God Emperor becomes a Chaos god?
Imperial incursions into the Eye of Terror.
What is the sign of the Aquila?
Mirror, mirror! An alternative 40,000 Universe.
Did the Primarchs have children.
So the Imperium is right to fight every other alien species?
Which is more precious? The gene seed or power armor?
The Darkest Parts of the Dark Millenium.
What happened to the solar system?
Making deals and kicking puppies? Dark Eldar question.
will adeptus mechanicus turn to the necrons?
So what happens when the sun goes bye bye?
So what Happens when a Wolf goes bad?
ever wonder if wfb is some backward planet in the 40k universe?
How do Phoenix Lords die?
How do tyranids feel about necrons?
Are DE Incubi, Aspect Warriors?
Flayed ones, the one's who resisted?
Space Wolf Gene-seed used to make new chapters?
Why aren't there any Space Marine Inquisitors?
Whatever happened to old one eye?
The Emperor, a tasty snack?
Do jump packs make marines fly?
Looking for an old WH40k poem, help!
13 trips outta the eye and all I got was this crappy tentacle!
Chaos vs. Imperium - Fascism vs. Freedom?
Space marine rhino - Too complex for you!
How 'accurate' are the effects on DOW?
Marines too old to fight?
Did Tau Defeat A Hive Fleet?
What are the types of psyker?
What do Imperial Citizens ride in?
Chaos Squats - previous background fluff?
Any scholars of High Gothic (Latin) about?
Thunderfire Cannon: Appropriate for Raven Guard?
Any Fluff examples of Chaos corrupted Commissars?
Old Ones - still alive in another galaxy?
Are Eldar Craftworlds self-sufficient? and so could they flee the galaxy?
Roster of an Imperial Guard Mechanized detachment?
Tyranid Hive Mind vs Eye of Terror.
Is GW Burning it's bridges by deleting too much stuff?
SM Scout Sniper Rifles = Energy Weapons?
Awkward question! Empaths and Blanks?
are there hobgoblins in 40k?
The LION and the WOLF , help.
How were pre-heresy land raiders mean to kill things?
the sword of the emporor?
What is the fluff on Chaos Enforcers?
Compilation of Crusading Marine Chapters?
Wait... so lysander is not dead?
Do Orks Have Feelings Too?
Marines Loosing to human opposition.
Why are the assasins so powerfull?
Who are the High Lords and where can i find out more bout them?
Can a Cardinal be a member of the Inquisition?
In in your home, stealing your genes.
Dark Eldar Warrior - Red Shirt or Intelligent Alien?
Amount of Guard Regiments raised?
Basic organisation of Guard Regiments?
Would a Phoenix lord stand a chance against a Primarch ?
Tallarn - when was it raized?
So, uh... who needs helmets anyway?
Shadow in the Warp effects on the WAAAAGH!
Necrons, do they replenish their number?
Chaos - what's with all the arrows?!
Are there humans who are stronger, tougher than orks?
Some questions about servitor background.
Active camo on scout cloaks?
Eldar Aspect Warrior colors strictly necessary?
What makes the Orks cool?
Whatever happened to Inquisitor Czevak?
Help with Iron Hands Clans & Info..


text:
El Malh de Santa Bàrbara és una muntanya de 1.225 metres que es troba al municipi de Vilamòs a la Vall d'Aran.

Referències

Muntanyes de Vilamòs


text:
Home » Politics » Implementation of 2014 confab report will solve many troubles of Nigeria – Jonathan
Latest • Politics
Implementation of 2014 confab report will solve many troubles of Nigeria – Jonathan
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the solutions to most of the multiplicity of challenges facing Nigeria can be realised if the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference are implemented.
He stated this on Thursday in Lagos when he spoke at the launch of a book in commemoration of the 80th birthday of a former senator, Femi Okurounmu.
The book is a memoir by the politician and is entitled "The Dream: Pursuing the black renaissance through the murky waters of Nigerian politics".
Jonathan said, "Our country is faced on all corners by a multiplicity of challenges, bothering mainly on security and national cohesion.
"Although these problems are not new, the discord has continued to widen over time. I understand that efforts are being made toward addressing some of these challenges, however, we seem to play politics with sensitive and serious matters.
"The call for reforms has continued to grow louder, gathering the kind of momentum that should no longer be overlooked, if the nation must make real progress. I believe that the solutions to most of the problems we face today lie in our honest assessment of the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference.
"If we take politics out of our consideration, there is every likelihood that a diligent implementation of the key recommendations of the conference will lead the nation out of the woods."
Jonathan had convened the conference in 2014 to address some of the challenges the country was facing.
Between 2014 and 2015 when he left office, his administration appeared not to have shown the will to implement the recommendations of the conference.
However Jonathan, who was the chairman of the book launch, explained that his administration did not implement the recommendations of the conference because the report was submitted to him towards the end of his tenure.
According him, he got the report while 2015 elections were approaching, and the executive and legislature were very busy preparing for the polls.
Jonathan had lost in that election to President Muhammadu Buhari as incumbent, a development that put a final stop for him to be the one to implement the report.
"I noticed that each time I express this belief and optimism, I always get hit with the counter narrative that seems to question my inability to implement the recommendations during my presidency.
"This is a question I have answered in many fora. In my book, 'My Transition Hours', Chapter 10 provided detailed answers in this regard.
"My administration was prepared to change the narrative for our constitutional democracy with the assurance that sovereignty really belongs to the people.
"However, we were time constrained. The conference was concluded less than one year to the end of my tenure.
READ ALSO: MINISTERIAL LIST: Buhari admits he didn't know people he appointed in 2015
"We received the report specifically on August 21, 2014, at a time the nation was in the mood of electioneering.
"Then, the members of the National Assembly, whose duty it was to consider and validate the process, were pre-occupied with the battle of political survival.
"I believed that given the nature of the consultations and due deliberations involved in advancing the process, an orderly and systematic implementation could have been concluded in less than a year.
"It was obvious we did not have that time before the end of my administration."
2014 confab 2014 National Conference Goodluck Jonathan Nigeria
Police arraign 38 shiite members in Abuja court
Smugglers kill more than 200 customs officers yearly – Hameed Ali


text:
[http://ethw.org/Milestones:First_Transatlantic_Transmission_of_a_Television_Signal_via_Satellite,_1962 ''Telstar'' Satellite:] The ground station in Andover, Maine, was no longer in existance, and the land itself was owned by a new owner, and was not publicly accessible. The plaque was therefore mounted on a stone in the town commons nearby, where many more people would see it and be aware of the importance.
[http://ethw.org/Milestones:Thomas A. Edison West Orange Laboratories and Factories, 1887 Thomas A. Edison West Orange Laboratories:] The Laboratories are owned by the United States National Park Service, which does not allow plaques on its property. The nominators approached the Town of West Orange, which made a site for the plaque available in a well-trafficked area a little more than 1 km away from the labs.
[http://ethw.org/Milestones:Thomas_A._Edison_West_Orange_Laboratories_and_Factories,_1887 Thomas A. Edison West Orange Laboratories:] The Laboratories are owned by the United States National Park Service, which does not allow plaques on its property. The nominators approached the Town of West Orange, which made a site for the plaque available in a well-trafficked area a little more than 1 km away from the labs.
[[Image:2012-01 Optical fiber laser plaque mounting.JPG|thumb|left|352x437px|Here is a photograph of an attractive mounting of the Milestone plaque for the First Optical Fiber Laser and Amplifier in the Southbridge, Massachusetts town common.]]
Here is a photograph of an attractive mounting of the Milestone plaque for the First Optical Fiber Laser and Amplifier in the Southbridge, Massachusetts town common.


You get even more with our water heater offerings. It's best practice to change your water heater connectors & cold water valve at the same time you change your home's water heater. So we are providing a new pair of water heater connectors and a new lead free brass ball valve as a value-added bonus!
3/4" Pair of stainless steel flex lines (Choose between sweat or push-to-fit connections) One side has threaded female, the other is a sweat end.
Did you know we include Technical Installation Support?
Our technical support team is ready to assist you with plumbing questions relating to your water heater and the actual install. Our technical installation team can help you with your installation over the phone.
Are you attempting a DIY installation? Our customers appreciate this aspect of our business. We give you the opportunity to call us, email, text, and even Facetime video calls. Our new 'Show us rather than try to describe' method. Our focus is on simplifying the consumer experience with our product and our customers agree.
Why are we giving the special to these residents?
Water heaters require special handling (read below). We still ship nationally, but with an additional $300 shipping charge. As you will review in your shopping, we are still competitively priced and you will get our install guidance support if you decide to DIY the install...and that's Priceless.
Requires shipping care which we include: Water heaters are lined internally with a thin layer of glass. Shipping this product to your door step requires special shipping care. Our care for your product and your customer needs is what sets us apart from online water heater retailers. We ask you to consider this in your shopping evaluation, because it does impact your future with the product and the company involved. We consider this a value added service inclusive to our company.
Every unit features a sophisticated design for high efficiency, low standby loss, high first hour delivery & money saving performance.
High quality standards: this water heater was triple tested during fabrication to ensure the highest standards of quality and performance for a long service life. 6 year limited tank & parts warranty.
Adjustable thermostat: this accurate control provides an easy way to reset water temperature for best economy. An automatic over-heat safety device is standard.
Non-cfc foam insulation: superior material formulation provides a thick blanket of insulating foam. Non-cfc polyurethane closed cell foam minimizes standby losses & maximizes heat retention.
This is a residential 40 gallon electric water heater. Glass-lined steel tank. The durable glass lining is fused to the tank at 1, 600 degrees to assure lasting protection against rust and corrosion while providing clean, clear hot water.


Create on-demand die cut products with the UD-M300 Hand Feed Die Cutter!
The UD-M300 Hand-Feed Die Cutter produces a variety of digital print and packaging products such as custom-shaped brochures and direct mailers, stationery, retail packages, labels, and folded boxes. Designed for use with flexible dies, the UD-M300 performs multiple cuts, slits, slit-scores, kiss cuts, perforations, and window punches for single- and multiple-up pieces on a wide range of paper stock up to 14" x 20" with affordable cost.
The UD-M300 features similar specifications as the UD-300 model, plus a hand-feed tray and fine-tuning adjustments for precise and accurate die-cut applications. It also comes standard with a receiving tray. However, a separator and conveyor unit is available as an option.
Click the PDF image to the right to view the UD-M300 Rotary Die Cutter brochure, or right-click to download.
Please take a look at the video below to see what the UD-M300 Rotary Die Cutter can do for you!


text:
FALL 2011 MENSWEAR
Neil Barrett Fall 2011 Menswear
By Tim Blanks
Neil Barrett has always been the most body-conscious of designers, and neoprene offers such a straightforward way for him to define the male form that taking scuba as the starting point for his Fall 2011 collection could almost seem too easy. But the other half of Barrett's aesthetic is shaped by his family heritage, with a father and grandfather who were military tailors. You can see that background in his silhouettes, as precise as a uniform, as well as in his parkas and peacoats. Today he incorporated his two sides to produce a collection that was less single-minded than usual. At the outset, the scuba leggings underpinned sharply tailored upper halves to create the kind of active, urgent silhouette that Barrett loves. But how much more interesting things got when he pumped up the volume with baggy, cropped, cuffed pants paired with a more generously cut jacket. He claimed the trousers were inspired by sailor pants, but the result looked like the demob suits that his grandfather might have cut for soldiers leaving the military in the late forties. It was an attractive, masculine proportion, and it even took on a degree of elegance when Barrett banded it in different shades of gray. He extended the sailor theme into marine-striped knits collaged into sweaters and a long cardigan coat, which also offered a new volume for him. The handful of women's outfits Barrett showed had a leathered, feathered edge of hard glamour.


text:
Q: dividing one DateInterval by another Suppose I have one DateInterval that is 1 year, and another that is 3 months.
Is it possible to divide one by the other and get an answer of 4, that is, there are 4 intervals of 3 months in an interval of 1 year?

A: You could just try converting your DateIntervals to seconds and dividing that:
$dateInterval1     = new DateInterval('P1Y');
$dateInterval2     = new DateInterval('P3M');
$dateInterval1Secs = date_create('@0')->add($dateInterval1)->getTimestamp();
$dateInterval2Secs = date_create('@0')->add($dateInterval2)->getTimestamp();

var_dump($dateInterval1Secs / $dateInterval2Secs);

Of course, this is really precise, and this code outputs 4.0555555555556
Converting to seconds from Convert DateInterval object to seconds in php

A: Directly no, since DateInterval is an object. Something like this could help based on this answer
$y = new DateTime('@0');
$x = new DateTime('@0');
$secondsOfYear = $y->add(new DateInterval('P1Y'))->getTimestamp();
$secondsOfThreeMonths = $x->add(new DateInterval('P3M'))->getTimestamp();

print_r([$secondsOfYear,$secondsOfThreeMonths,(int)($secondsOfYear/$secondsOfThreeMonths)]);
// output
Array
(
    [0] => 31536000
    [1] => 7776000
    [2] => 4
)

Check it out on PHP Sandbox

A: Dates do not lend themselves easily to mathematical operations. We can just about do addition and subtraction, that's about it. Multiplication makes little sense (1 month times 12 months = 1 square-year?) but division can be understood as "how many of this interval are there?" which can be implemented by repeated subtraction.
Create a DateTimeImmutable for now. add the first of the intervals you are trying to perform division on. Then, subtract the second interval until you obtain a new date/time that is less than (or equal to) your original DateTimeImmutable. Count how many times this takes. That's your division answer.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Unity Pavilion project with the Hall of Peace is a hub for interaction and expression of human unity and unity in diversity. As the project activities expand and the work connecting the Peace Tables of Asia, America, Africa and Europe takes off, it will find its place not only in the Auroville context but on the National and International arena.
The Hall of Peace with the Peace Table provides a space for dialogue, for being in silence together, as well as for healing through coming together, for forgiveness, for finding agreements and for joining together in aspiration for peace whenever there is conflict: conflict amongst individuals and conflicts amongst peoples and nations. The objective is to keep at heart the crises in many places of the world today – be it armed conflicts, economic or natural calamities, or threats to environment or health – while aspiring for peaceful coexistence of all nations and cultures.
Though the Hall of Peace was inaugurated in 2014 along with the installation of the Peace Table, there has been an ongoing search for a beautiful seating arrangement around the Table. This year it was decided to fund-raise for the means to buy eight Connoid Lounge Chairs from the Nakashima Workshop in new Hope, USA. The Nakashima Peace Foundation has generously offered to donate more than half the cost as well as the shipping expenses to India. Even then quite a large sum needs to be raised; but we are all in agreement to go ahead, with the assurance that the funds will come.
The total cost for the eight chairs is US$ 22,400 and excluding the contribution of the Nakashima Peace Foundation, the sum needed is Rs 6,61,050/ US$ 10,000/ Euro 9,380.


wow! very nice, Patriclese. Did/could you post the specs anywhere?
Are those the new Holdsworth pick ups? I am kind of curious about the differences between the newer versus the older pick ups; I have the older version in my HH2X, and I like them very much.
bd wrote: wow! very nice, Patriclese. Did/could you post the specs anywhere?
marzzz wrote: Are those the new Holdsworth pick ups? I am kind of curious about the differences between the newer versus the older pick ups; I have the older version in my HH2X, and I like them very much.
I'm curious about that too, however these are the Lithiums. I like them quite a bit so far, although I have more experimentation to do.
So I tried every way I could think of to place the GK3 pickup on this guitar, but I couldn't find any place that was practical or comfortable. I wanted something completely reversible, too. So an internal installation was not a consideration.
I ended up drilling a hole in the pickup casing and installing it over the tone pot. I used a 9/16 bit being very careful not to ruin the pickup cable. That's a standard 1/4 washer attached to the guitar with some stick on foam protectors. I'm using a Well nut to go over the tone pot. It's just rubber but it makes a tight fit. It has threads in the top opening so I'll put a small bolt for easier access. Also, I cut the stock GK bracket that attaches the pickup to the strap button because it's too long.
The design could be improved upon a bit. The pickup is stable, but a larger surface that would take more Velcro would probably be good for a gigging musician, although I had the cable hanging straight down while testing with no issues.
I had never done any business with him before but he was excellent to deal with and he did a great job with the custom pickup rings. I ordered a second Carvin ring in case I go back to stock. It took about four weeks after the final design approval and well worth the wait. Nice visual upgrade, too.
All I need to do now is fine tune the GK adjustments. The string spacing on the XTrem is such that the low and high E strings are just inside the edge of the respective pickup.
Hopefully this will help out anyone else who wants to try the mod.
Last edited by johnnyninja on Tue Mar 01, 2016 4:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
Very cool solution Johnny, well done. Neat engineering of the bridge pickup ring.
Thanks. I'll refine it as time goes on but at least it's out of the way.
Wow, this is awesome. I wonder if you have enough slack to wrap the cord around the lower strap button.
How can one go about ordering those rings?
Not enough slack to reach the strap button but a simple rubber band or hook could be used. The rings can be ordered at fretsonthenet.com. Dave should still have the measurements I gave him for mine.
Here's me trying to play the Allan Holdsworth tune "Home" from Metal Fatigue. My Vader has the Holdsworth Kiesel Bridge pickup, the Lithium Neck Pickup, and the XS JCustom v2 Tremolo.
Last edited by derrylgabel on Wed Mar 09, 2016 2:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hey guys, I was having a small issue with my trem arm on my JCustom Trem becoming just loose enough to be annoying even though I would tighten it down. Today I tried something that I didn't think would work but figured I would do it anyway. I put some teflon tape on the trem arm screw that attaches and tightens the arm. This worked! Now my trem arm is tight enough that there is no "wiggle" room yet it's just loose enough to where you can move it out of the way when not in use with ease. Try it out if you are having this issue.
Sounds like you filled the gap the way plumbing tape is used to do the same thing. I know some people with other screw in arms use springs down in the hole before dropping the arm in and screwing it it, so it is always under a state of tension and unable to wiggle (at least not as easily).
Wilkies I guess are notorious for this. Had a light touch of that on my old Strat vintage trem, I've not had that problem thankfully with my Kahler pro. But I also don't use it a huge amount.
I've actually been thinking about joining the headless club for some time now (I own a USA musicyo Steinberger GM4S).
Ever since I bought that Steinberger in 2003 I've wanted one with a maple f/b.
What are you guy's take on the HH2 vs. Vader 6? Pros & cons compared to one another?
Jbird wrote: I've actually been thinking about joining the headless club for some time now (I own a USA musicyo Steinberger GM4S).
I prefer the Vader 6 because of the ergonomics and the body style. I just wish they offered a tremolo which I think they probably will in the future. As you can see I had a JCustom trem installed on mine and I really dig it.
Jbird wrote: What are you guy's take on the HH2 vs. Vader 6? Pros & cons compared to one another?
For me, the HH is just a killer guitar. So much so that I have a third coming in a few weeks. The playability is incredible, it is very light, and very comfortable. I love the organic shape of it and it reminds me in some ways of Roger Dean's art. I love the touch sensitivity and sound that the hollow body gives. The neck is beefy and the flat radius is the best I have ever played. I have not played a Vader yet, but I struggle with the aesthetics of the extreme forearm cut and don't like seeing a good top get cut off where sometimes the transition from one wood clashes with another. It works on some guitars. However, I'm sure it is very comfortable. I have grown very accustomed to the smaller body of the HH and anything else feels huge to me now. I sold all my other guitars in fact and the HH is The One for me. If Kiesel discontinued the Holdsworth HH, I'd be really pissed, but after I got over it after much swearing and yelling, I would default to a Vader as a second choice.
So I am thinking of getting another HH2X, with the new Holdsworth pickups but otherwise fairly standard. I am considering a flame maple top, and was kinda liking the Deep Yellow Flame (sorta like Colossal's), but - what about Deep Teal Flame? My current HH2X is Candy Red Metallic (with the original Holdsworth PUs).
I've since taken the Lithiums out of my HH2X (wasn't a fan), and put in two pink DiMarzios - Mo' Joe in the bridge, PAF Joe in the neck. Guitar has improved in sound tenfold!
I'll get around to doing a proper video demonstration in time.
Hey Guys, I need some help diagnosing a ground problem. I'm pretty sure it's the lousy ground contact that the XS trem provides (All it is is a wire that the trem sits on). I'm getting really bad noise when I'm using high gain sounds. I've tested continuity between the ground points in the electronics cavity successfully, and my multimeter also reads zero from the volume and tone knobs to the jack.
What I don't get is a good connection from the strings to the jack. I'm registering about 20 on my multimeter. The bridge itself hardly even registers. If someone has a multimeter, please test the connection between the strings and the jack. I'm curious if it's just my guitar or if others register the similar values.
Edit: Deleted what I had previously written. I think the problem is with my condo's power. The strong buzzing that comes through even when grounding the strings comes and goes. I doubt it's the guitar at this point. I wonder if a power conditioner would help my situation?
I finally finished the project. I had Dave from fretsonthenet.com make me a tone knob that would work with the setup. I put a felt bumper under the controller to stabilize it, and it's very solid now. All I need to do is make a shorter cable.
I'm on the fence whether I'm going to keep this long term or not. It depends on Boss this Winter, but I can say that it's completely out of the way and doesn't affect playing at all.