text:
Advice and prevention
Vaccine development process
Several steps are required to make a vaccine. Here is a summary of the steps:
1. Understand the disease
Recognizing and diagnosing the disease is the first step in the vaccine development process. In this step, the infectious agent (the virus or bacterium responsible for the disease) is identified. Studies are done to locate where the infectious agent is found in nature, how it is transmitted, how often it causes new cases, etc.
2. Understand the infectious agent
In this step, scientists study and try to understand the infectious agent, its biochemical properties, its ability to reproduce artificially, and analyze its genetic material (genes and antigens). They also study the immune defence mechanisms of the human body against this infectious agent. Based on this information, an animal species is identified to test the different versions of the vaccine on. It is selected based on its immune response to the infectious agent, which must be as close as possible to that of humans.
3. Conduct preclinical studies in animals
Scientists must then find a way to make the infectious agent harmless. The infectious agent is weakened, killed or divided into small portions to deprive it of its ability to transmit diseases. Then, a protein or sugar on the surface of the infectious agent, also known as an antigen, is selected. It is these antigens that will be recognized by the immune system and trigger the production of antibodies. Other substances may be added to the vaccine to extend its shelf life, improve its efficacy or facilitate its administration. To learn more about what goes into a vaccine, see Vaccine ingredients.
Preclinical studies also include the manufacture of different versions of the vaccine so that several doses and variations can be tested. The different versions produced are tested on the selected animal species. Among other things, antibody production in the animal and adverse reactions are documented. The version of the vaccine that gave the best results and is best tolerated is selected and then a few hundred doses are produced.
4. Conduct clinical studies in humans
In this phase, the new vaccine is given to a small number of healthy volunteers, usually between 10 and 100 people. The goal of this phase is to assess the immune response and the safety of the vaccine in humans.
The vaccine is given to more healthy volunteers, usually between 50 and 500 people. Phase II confirms the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, but it primarily determines the vaccination schedule and the number of doses required to protect the person from the disease.
The goal of this phase is to determine whether the vaccine is safe and effective in preventing disease in a large number of people. The vaccine is given to several thousand people. People are selected from the target vaccination group.
5. Get the vaccine approved
Approval is the process of verifying that a vaccine meets the standards and recommendations of the country in which it will be administered. It ensures that it is compliant and safe. Any new vaccine must be approved by a recognized organization before it can be distributed. Each lot of a vaccine undergoes safety testing. Health Canada is the agency responsible for approving vaccines in Canada.
6. Produce and market the vaccine
The vaccine is produced in large quantities so that it can meet demand and be marketed.
7. Document vaccine safety and efficacy
Once large-scale vaccination has begun, efficacy in the field and post-vaccination symptoms must be documented. This step is called Phase IV and is when post-marketing studies are done.
8. Add the vaccine to immunization programs
Vaccine approval does not necessarily mean that it will be used in a free public immunization program. This type of program must have public health objectives, that is, the eradication, elimination or control of a disease, and provide strategies to achieve them.
Public health objective
Permanent disappearance of an infectious disease worldwide.
The disease can be transmitted, but does not cause epidemics.
Reduced mortality, hospitalizations or complications associated with a disease.
To be able to make an informed decision regarding the addition of a vaccine to the Québec Immunization Program, Québec experts, the Comité sur l'immunisation du Québec and the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux use the following criteria:
Burden of the disease on society: severity, consequences, frequency, affected groups, alternative prevention, availability of treatment and socioeconomic impact.
Vaccine safety and efficacy.
Program objectives and immunization strategy to achieve them.
Availability of funds and comparability with other interventions:
Vaccine demand or acceptability by the population and health care professionals.
Feasibility of implementation: availability of resources and funds.
Ability to evaluate the program.
Fairness of the program: accessibility.
Compliance of the program with those implemented elsewhere.
Ethical, legal and political considerations.
Vaccines introduced in Québec since 2000 have been analyzed against these criteria. For more information, go to the page Maladies infectieuses [Infectious diseases; French only] on the website of the Institut national de santé publique du Québec.
See also the COVID‑19: How vaccines are developed video on Canada.ca to know the steps required to make a vaccine.
Progress of the COVID-19 vaccination
Demystifying Beliefs Regarding the Risks of Vaccination
Understanding Vaccines


I confess: I'm not a natural-born decision-maker. Some people—my wife, for example—can assess even very complex situations, consider the options, and confidently choose a way forward. Me? I get anxious about deciding what to eat for lunch. So you can imagine what it used to be like when I needed to confront a really big decision or problem. My approach, to paraphrase the Byrds, was "Re: everything, churn, churn, churn."
Thank heavens for Pareto charts.
What Is a Pareto Chart, and How Do You Use It?
A Pareto chart is a basic quality tool that helps you identify the most frequent defects, complaints, or any other factor you can count and categorize. The chart takes its name from Vilfredo Pareto, originator of the "80/20 rule," which postulates that, roughly speaking, 20 percent of the people own 80 percent of the wealth. Or, in quality terms, 80 percent of the losses come from 20 percent of the causes.
A Pareto chart is just a bar chart that arranges the bars (counts) from largest to smallest, from left to right. The categories or factors symbolized by the bigger bars on the left are more important than those on the right.
By ordering the bars from largest to smallest, a Pareto chart helps you visualize which factors comprise the 20 percent that are most critical—the "vital few"—and which are the "trivial many."
A cumulative percentage line helps you judge the added contribution of each category. If a Pareto effect exists, the cumulative line rises steeply for the first few defect types and then levels off. In cases where the bars are approximately the same height, the cumulative percentage line makes it easier to compare categories.
It's common sense to focus on the 'vital few' factors. In the quality improvement arena, Pareto charts help teams direct their efforts where they can make the biggest impact. By taking a big problem and breaking it down into smaller pieces, a Pareto chart reveals where our efforts will create the most improvement.
If a Pareto chart seems rather basic, well, it is. But like a simple machine, its very simplicity makes the Pareto chart applicable to a very wide range of situations, both within and beyond quality improvement.
At the leadership or management level, Pareto charts can be used at the start of a new round of quality improvement to figure out what business problems are responsible for the most complaints or losses, and dedicate improvement resources to those. Collecting and examining data like that can often result in surprises and upend an organization's "conventional wisdom." For example, leaders at one company believed that the majority of customer complaints involved product defects. But when they saw the complaint data in a Pareto chart, it showed that many more people complained about shipping delays. Perhaps the impression that defects caused the most complaints arose because the relatively few people who received defective products tended to complain very loudly—but since more customers were affected by shipping delays, the company's energy was better devoted to solving that problem.
Once a project has been identified, and a team assembled to improve the problem, a Pareto chart can help the team select the appropriate areas to focus on. This is important because most business problems are big and multifaceted. For instance, shipping delays may occur for a wide variety of reasons, from mechanical breakdowns and accidents to data-entry mistakes and supplier issues. If there are many possible causes a team could focus on, it's smart to collect data about which categories account for the biggest number of incidents. That way, the team can choose a direction based on the numbers and not the team's "gut feeling."
Pareto charts also can be very helpful in resolving conflicts, particularly if a project involves many moving parts or crosses over many different units or work functions. Team members may have sharp disagreements about how to proceed, either because they wish to defend their own departments or because they honestly believe they know where the problem lies. For example, a hospital project improvement team was stymied in reducing operating room delays because the anesthesiologists blamed the surgeons, while the surgeons blamed the anesthesiologists. When the project team collected data and displayed it in a Pareto chart, it turned out that neither group accounted for a large proportion of the delays, and the team was able to stop finger-pointing. Even if the chart had indicated that one group or the other was involved in a significantly greater proportion of incidents, helping the team members see which types of delays were most 'vital' could be used to build consensus.
Their simplicity also makes Pareto charts a valuable tool for making decisions beyond the world of quality improvement. By helping you visualize the relative importance of various categories, you can use them to prioritize customer needs, opportunities for training or investment—even your choices for lunch.
Creating a Pareto chart is not difficult, even without statistical software. Of course, if you're using Minitab, the software will do all this for you automatically—create a Pareto chart by selecting Stat > Quality Tools > Pareto Chart... or by selecting Assistant > Graphical Analysis > Pareto Chart. You can collect raw data, in which each observation is recorded in a separate row of your worksheet, or summary data, in which you tally observation counts for each category.
Add up the observations in each of your categories.
3. Label your horizontal and vertical axes.
Make the widths of all your horizontal bars the same and label the categories in order from largest to smallest. On the vertical axis, use round numbers that slightly exceed your top category count, and include your measurement unit.
4. Draw your category bars.
Using your vertical axis, draw bars for each category that correspond to their respective counts. Keep the width of each bar the same.
5. Add cumulative counts and lines.
As a final step, you can list the cumulative counts along the horizontal axis and make a cumulative line over the top of your bars. Each category's cumulative count is the count for that category PLUS the total count of the preceding categories. If you want to add a line, draw a right axis and label it from 0 to 100%, lined up with the with the grand total on the left axis. Above the right edge of each category, mark a point at the cumulative total, then connect the points.


MamyPoko Pure & Soft baby wipes are suitable for new born babies. It has purified water for cleaning baby's bottom safely. The pop box makes it very easy to use and it is also refillable with MamyPoko Pure & Soft baby wipes . Its cottony soft sheet is thicker which help the wipe to hold extra moisture. A mild fragrance gives the feeling of freshness to new born.
Additional Information: Blessing the Growth of Children. Gratitude for Their Beaming Smiles - is the motto behind MamyPoko brand. MamyPoko Pants is a Pant Style Diaper brand from Unicharm. A multi-national company with 30 years of experience in baby and child care, the brand ensures absolute protection and comfort during your baby's diaper days so that he/ she can grow up happy and healthy.
Explore the entire range of Cotton Buds, Balls & Wipes available on Nykaa. Shop more MamyPoko products here.You can browse through the complete world of MamyPoko Cotton Buds, Balls & Wipes .


May Christians Ever Call Other People "Fools"?
Does the Bible contradict itself? Does it say in some places we can do something, but then deny we can do it in other places? So then, was Jesus wrong to call the Pharisees "fools" after saying in the Sermon on the Mount that we shouldn't call people fools? Although some claim this proves that Jesus contradicted Himself, we shall see otherwise.
We'll also look briefly at the Christian living principle that certain behaviors are permissible sometimes, but almost surely are sinful when done routinely. Now, how does this relate to the meaning of the Days of Unleavened Bread? Well, do we mistakenly misuse a few texts in order to justify our own bad behavior and to keep on sinning?
Since the same Greek word "moros" is used here also, there's no "linguistic solution" to this problem. Instead, we need to examine difference in the situations when this word is used. Do we harshly insult other people as stupid, fools, idiots, morons, ignorant, etc., when they merely have a different political or religious view than ours on this or that subject? That is, if they would score at least a 90 on an IQ test and have a college degree, can they really be stupid, idiots, morons, broadly ignorant, etc.? Aren't we then letting our emotions get the best of us? Aren't we then using these words inaccurately and not following their proper definitions as applied to the real world?
Or maybe we insult people when they make mistakes? Well, do we ever make mistakes ourselves? Shouldn't we remember our own errors at times, and then often cut others some slack? Are we impatiently judging them unredeemable, that they can't be taught to think, to do, or to work better? Sure, if you're a boss, you eventually have to fire incompetent workers. But in most cases it pays to counsel with them to see if they can improve their performance over time.
Do we target specific individuals who can hear our insults? Do we specifically name insult certain individuals, whether famous people we don't know personally or friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors who aren't famous but we do know personally. Or do we just condemn broad, general categories of people for sinning, such as (say) all adulterers, liars, murderers, etc.? That's much more acceptable than condemning to their face or behind their backs specific individuals. Should you call an atheist a fool to his face?
Should Christians use personal insults frequently or not? This question is closely related to whether we should ever judge others and whether we should ever be angry. We insult others when we are angry with them and want to morally judge and condemn them. As a generalization, I think 9 times out of 10, our feelings of anger are sinful, although this will vary from person to person. And our moral judgments are often wrong also.
How often did Jesus use invective? Not often, according to the Gospels. Similarly, He was rarely angry. Do those few cases in which he uses insults and is angry justify us in routinely blasting other people for their faults? Of course, He was God. That means He could read people's hearts perfectly, unlike us. Furthermore, His enemies were out to kill Him although He was totally sinless. I don't think we're exactly in the same position to judge and condemn morally as He was.
Often to be morally correct, we need to balance between two extremes. Although he was a pagan, the Greek philosopher Aristotle perceived this. For example, we don't want to be cowards or foolhardy, but we should be brave. It's also bad to be either stingy or a spendthrift when spending our money. Sometimes we should be angry, we should judge others, and even sometimes we should use invective. But those cases should be rare, not frequent, when the main weight of the Bible's teaching is considered. The reactions of target of the invective should be considered also: Some people are much more sensitive than others, and a light touch can still work wonders in changing their behavior. Why use a verbal sledgehammer when a mere gentle remonstrance will do the trick?
In conclusion: Jesus didn't contradict His own teachings when calling the Pharisees fools. Since He was God and able to read men's hearts perfectly, He had prerogatives that we don't have. Furthermore, just as we should be wary of most anger and the moral condemnation of others, we should almost always avoid personally insulting specific people. So although all atheists are fools, we rarely should call an atheist a fool to his face!


Janiel's MOM show reacted to BraveStarrTG's post in the thread Question If You Could Change One Thing For Your Youtube Channel... with Like.
Janiel's MOM show reacted to Ikerot's post in the thread Question If You Could Change One Thing For Your Youtube Channel... with Like.
Oh man, that was would the life xD Just having someone edit videos for you.
Janiel's MOM show reacted to Beanie Draws's post in the thread Question If You Could Change One Thing For Your Youtube Channel... with Like.
I hear ya. My desktop is a bit outdated but my laptop is much more up to date.
Janiel's MOM show reacted to Snowyamur's post in the thread Entertainment Channel intro with Like.
Janiel's MOM show replied to the thread Entertainment Channel intro.
Janiel's MOM show reacted to Nature MC's post in the thread Entertainment Channel intro with Like.
Janiel's MOM show reacted to Nick Nimmin's post in the thread How-To Channel I'm Nick Nimmin...and I'm addicted to TubeBuddy. with Like.
Janiel's MOM show reacted to Andrew's post in the thread Question If You Could Change One Thing For Your Youtube Channel... with Like.
Janiel's MOM show reacted to Bitbat's post in the thread Question If You Could Change One Thing For Your Youtube Channel... with Like.
Janiel's MOM show reacted to Aaron's post in the thread Question If You Could Change One Thing For Your Youtube Channel... with Like.


text:
Q: Is there a way to import once (or not import) a CocoaPod Framework in Swift I've build a Pod library called UsefulExtensions. It's a framework written in Swift 3 which adds some useful class variable and functions to standard classes and types like UIView or String.
Everything worked perfectly, and my framework is accessible from everywhere in the workspace.
The problem is that I have to import it everywhere I use it.
Is there a way to make my functions visible without import my framework?
If not, is there an elegant way to import only once my framework for the whole project?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — President Barrack Obama is calling on Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey to lead a national task force, which has the mission to come up with ideas on better policing amid the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.
Tensions are high in the wake of a grand jury's decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson for the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb in August.
Obama spent most of Monday discussing ways to prevent the situation in Ferguson from happening elsewhere in the future. The president met with Commissioner Ramsey and other police officials, along with community leaders and clergy for nearly three hours to talk about Ferguson and other racially charged law enforcement confrontations.
The panel is slated to tackle various law enforcement issues, especially in communities where the thick cloud of distrust covers those communities and the cops who serve them.
In Ferguson's aftermath, there has been a call from many about the need for police body cameras. Ramsey is a proponent of cameras. A six-month pilot program is now in effect for some officers in the city's 22nd District, but the commissioner said the technology can only take them so far.
Ramsey said the task force isn't just about talk either, it's about action for the next few months, and then passing along concrete recommendations to the President.


text:
Mini Boss
Work, Mass Effect 2, YMMV
Mass Effect 2/YMMV
< Mass Effect 2
And the Fandom Rejoiced: The fans were generally very pleased to hear that Lance Henriksen would be returning as Admiral Hackett for the final DLC pack.
Demonic Spiders: Scions. Their shockwave attack can instantly deplete your shields, it can hit you even if you are behind cover and it has very long range. On top of all that, Scions can take a lot of damage before going down. Scions are the reason that the Reaper IFF mission has become That One Level for many players.
The various Pyros also qualify, as the flamethrower mechanics and the game's lack of Mercy Invincibility means that, if they get close to Shepard and score a hit, Shepard will likely end up trapped in the hit animation as the Pyro roasts him/her to death. Not that it takes them long to do that in any event, as their flamethrowers can cause a lot of damage. The only saving grace is that Pyros only have a basic health bar and, even then, they can take more punishment than most mooks.
Even Better Sequel: This is considered amongst the fandom to be the Empire Strikes Back of the Mass Effect trilogy. It even ends the same way, with Shepard looking out at the galaxy and the cliffhanger that the Reapers are now very close to reaching the Milky Way galaxy...
Faux Symbolism: Go ahead and pick the Renegade ending in the Overlord DLC. Does that final image look familiar at all?
Funny Aneurysm Moment:
During his mini-mission, Joker wonders if he's dooming the galaxy by hooking up EDI. At one point, he mutters "...now I have to spend all day computing pi because Joker plugged in the Overlord!" Then comes the Overlord DLC...
A YouTube user made a video that depicted the series ending like Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was meant as a joke, but turned out to be prophetic when the third installment came out six months later and the fans' reaction towards the ending was similar to that of Evangelion's 16 years earlier.
One of Jack's lines is "If I die, I'm haunting you, Shepard.", a typical Badass Boast that shows her Hidden Depths that she believes in that sort of thing. In Mass Effect 3, those who have died haunt Shepard in his/her nightmares.
Game Breaker:
The Sentinel's Tech Armor. With the right upgrades, the cooldown times are short. When destroyed, it automatically replenishes Shepard's natural shields and creates a wide pulse that stumbles nearby enemies, and when activated, automatically sets squadmates' cooldowns to zero (the last one thanks to Good Bad Bugs).
The M-96 Mattock, combined with Heightened Adrenaline Rush.
The M-98 Widow Anti-Material Rifle - and enough skill on the player's part to headshot enemies.
Game Breaking Bug: The save file transfer doesn't properly import your handling of Conrad Verner in Mass Effect 1 and instead defaults to the Renegade response, which has you "shoving a gun" in his face and inadvertently making him go "hardcore". There are hex fixes that allow one to see the ME1 Paragon Flagged start.
Genius Bonus:
The ship that Morinth left Ilium on is the "Demeter". In Greek mythology, Demeter was an extremely powerful goddess who lost her daughter to the underworld and walked the Earth endlessly searching for her. Sounds a bit like a certain justicar... which makes this a literal Mythology Gag. For bonus points, "Demeter" was also the name of the ship the Count travelled on in Dracula.
Does the name of Jacob's father's ship (the Hugo Gernsback) sound familiar to you? If you're a sci-fi buff, it should. Hugo Gernsback is generally considered the father of modern science fiction and founder of the Amazing Stories magazine. It's who the Hugo Award is named after. Although considering that the ship named after him is populated in the game by a bunch of self-centered jackasses who routinely perform Mind Rape on their crew, it's not the best tribute they could have given the father of modern science fiction...
Goddamn Bats: Husks, on any difficulty. They don't use guns, they just run up to you and start whacking you. Mowing them down before they can get to you can be hard because they move ridiculously fast. They also tend to swarm you while you're focused on trying to shoot down something else. They have a few Weaksauce Weaknesses (biotics, being set on fire, being frozen, being shot in the legs), but these tend to not be particularly useful if you're facing ten at once.
Good Bad Bug:
Hitting melee halfway between the Claymore's reload animation causes it to auto-complete, and you can fire instantly with it. The Claymore is the single-shot uber-tier shotgun, and basically turns into a semi-automatic.
There was also a button trick that allowed a character as early as level 6 to max out every ability. This was removed by a patch on May 17th 2010.
If certain conditions are met while Charging as a Vanguard, Shepard's shield will shoot through the roof, going from between 150-325 to somewhere close to 4000. It only lasts for a single mission but you could essentially go through the rest of it meleeing things to death; and yes, charging would indeed refill it to max.
In Arrival, a sound bug can result in the indoctrinated troops on the asteroid screaming non-stop due to a looping voice file (which plays in nicely with the subject matter, even if it's unintended).
Guide Dang It: Good luck getting everyone through the suicide mission alive on your first playthrough. You're given the knowledge on how to do that throughout the game, and hints are dropped on preparations you should make, but there is still a possibility that, even if you get all the upgrades, all members are loyal and you assign them to the right tasks in the endgame area, one of them might die at the end due to the way the game calculates each member's "defense" score during the Hold the Line portion.
Of particular note is the crew kidnap scene. It comes out of nowhere, and if you don't handle it immediately, you can get a significantly worse ending. For added fun, there's a very good chance that your party won't be fully loyal at that point, which can lead to even more problems...
Suffice to say, if a character isn't loyal, odds are they'll die regardless of your actions to protect them during the suicide mission. It's possible to keep non-loyal characters alive, but that generally requires a knowledge of the underlying systems governing the mission that a first-time player isn't going to have.
Holy Shit Quotient: Gets taken Up to Eleven, especially in the loyalty missions.
Like You Would Really Do It: Subverted. Shepard dies ten minutes into the game, and is brought back... but can potentially die for real at the end of the game, so, yes, they would really do it. Then subverted again, in that save-games where the entire team dies won't carry over to Mass Effect 3.
Memetic Badass:
Niftu Cal, the biotic god. Fear his great biotic wind!
Also, Sir Isaac Newton is THE DEADLIEST SONUVABITCH IN SPACE!
Memetic Mutation:
"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL". [1]
SHEPARD IS PLEASED. [2]
"I've had enough of your disingenuous assertions!" *PAWNCH* [3]
"I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite page on TV Tropes!" [4]
Ah yes, "Tropers"... The internet subculture allegedly recording recurring story elements seen across a number of fictional genres. We have dismissed this claim. [5]
"Councillor Sparatus can dismiss any claim! He dismisses things out of existence!"
Shepard removes Tali's mask to reveal... <Insert photoshopped face here> [6]
"I should go." [7]
Garrus is impressive! [8]
Thane is excellent... [9]
"Can it wait? I'm in the middle of some calibrations." [10]
"WE KNOW GAVORN'S TRICKS! WE LEAVE!" [11]
"But the PRIIIIIIIZE." [12]
"You humans are all racist!" [13]
"I had reach, she had... flexibility." [14]
"Geth do not intentionally infiltrate." [15]
"I AM A BIOTIC GOD!" [16]
"Humans are a blight on galactic purity!" [17]
"You, sir! You are a blight!"
"What can you tell me about [x]?" [18]
That freakin' dancing turian made me fail an update! [19]
Most Annoying Sound/Limited Sound Effects:
If you've offered celebrity endorsements to every shop on the Citadel: "I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel!"
The "LAUNCHING PROBE!"/"PROBE LAUNCHED!" resource mini-game.
The music constantly playing while you explore will drive you to madness.
So worth it when you get to the solar system and try to probe Uranus.
EDI: "Really, Commander? Probing Uranus..."
If you do something to enemies (such as set them on fire), they will let out a scream that goes on for about thirty seconds before they shut up.
"Assuming control. Shepard, if I must tear you apart, I will. This hurts you." During combat, Boss in Mook Clothing Big Bad Harbinger is painfully able to spray comments about you and your teammates at about the same rate as his weapon.
The screams of the VI during the Overlord DLC seems designed to make you jump out of your seat and tear off your headphones. During the trek through the inert geth ship, the designers go out of their way to blurt out the noise at just the right time to scare the crap out of the player - they even lampshade it with a crew log about Halloween.
And this time, instead of the enemies using the same lines over and over and over and over, it's your teammates. But they are right, though - gravity is one mean motherfucker.
Most Wonderful Sound:
The "Mission Accomplished" track. It sounds so... accomplishing.
Ironically enough, "assuming control" becomes this when Legion says it on its loyalty mission.
Using Slam is the grinding sound of using biotics couple with bones breaking. Oh yes.
The M-98 Widow. Boom. Headshot. And you're probably hearing it in slow-motion, since if you HAVE it you're either an Infiltrator and get Bullet Time when you look down the sight, or a soldier and using Adrenaline Rush to help conserve ammo.
Narm: Jacob's infamous "Heavy risk... but the priiize..." line.
Narm Charm: All of Harbinger's combat lines.
Paranoia Fuel:
See those cameras in Overlord? They track you. Everywhere (at least you can shoot them).
The ads on the Citadel, which seem to know EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU, right down to who your Love Interest is.
Player Punch:
The destruction of the Normandy. Being reunited with Ashley/Kaidan. Seeing your crew get kidnapped when the Collectors attack the second Normandy. Seeing what happens to the people abducted by the Collectors, especially if it happens to your crew because you didn't get to them in time. Plenty more. Mass Effect 2 loves this trope.
A good chunk of the loyalty missions are also this. You have a really messed up squad.
Project Overlord may as well be entitled "Player No-Holds-Barred Beatdown" after you reach the end and find out the real reason why the VI went berserk. Believe it or not, Pistol-Whipping the person responsible is the Paragon response.
If anyone was actually thinking or hoping they would find all of the abducted colonists alive at the end and be able to save them, they were tragically mistaken.
The ending of the Arrival DLC is an enormous punch in the gut for both the player and Shepard. Shepard is forced to destroy an entire solar system and its 305,000 batarian inhabitants in order to prevent an imminent Reaper invasion. Hackett notes that, even though he believes that Shepard did the right thing, the Alliance will haul him/her before a tribunal in order to satisfy the Batarians, who are now out for Shepard's blood.
Replacement Scrappy Mechanic: The Mako planet-roving gets replaced with two: The Hammerhead and planet scanning. Even BioWare admits that, in retrospect, planet scanning was handled poorly in Mass Effect 2. On the official forums at least one BioWare employee has said that "nobody liked it", and as a result the planet scanning system has been completely overhauled for Mass Effect 3 so that it's less tedious and time-consuming.
Rewatch Bonus: Keep an eye out for someone who has assumed direct control when watching the surveillance footage on Freedom's Progress.
Ruined FOREVER:
When the PlayStation 3 port was announced, an epic meltdown unfolded over Bioware releasing Mass Effect on another platform.
A small minority of fans felt that Mass Effect 2's faster-paced combat meant that the game was dumbed down to increase its appeal to the Lowest Common Denominator.
Special Effects Failure: Despite being a visually sound game, it does fall into this on a few occasions. Most common are issues with clipping, which, if you tried to list them all, could probably get a whole page all to themselves.
During the first conversation with Garrus on the Normandy, Shepard is meant to be leaning on a railing, but ends up leaning on thin air.
During the meeting with the Council, Udina's eyes notably clip through his character model when he walks in.
When you wake Grunt up and he pins Shepard against the wall, his shoulder armor visibly clips through his upper body and Grunt's upper arms always clip through his armor.
Mordin's eyes often clip through his eyelids, and Miranda's neck tends to clip through her collar.
Because there's twelve party members, and they're largely interchangeable during missions, cutscenes often use the same animations for each character. This works fine for the most part, but can get strange if you have Garrus and/or Grunt in your party - their models are noticeably larger than the rest of the characters', meaning that an animation or pose which works for the other ten characters ends up... not working for Garrus or Grunt. For example, bring Garrus on Tali's loyalty mission - during Tali's trial, check the background. Garrus is sitting in the stands... with his arms clipping through his legs.
Bringing Zaeed to Garrus's recruitment mission triggers an extra conversation between him and Tarak. At the end, there's a closeup of Tarak's face - with his head clipping through the camera.
Tainted by the Preview: The first teaser for the game was met by quite the reaction, as was Jack's reveal.
Take That Scrappy: Tela Vasir, at the cheapness of Vanguards.
Tear Jerker: There are a couple moments in some of the characters' loyalty missions, but the big one is at the end of the Project Overlord DLC. By the time Shepard has made it to the final boss, he/she has learned that Dr. Archer exploited his autistic younger brother David by integrating him into a VI, trapping him in a reality of perpetual suffering. After defeating the final boss, Shepard chews Archer out for what has happened to David, who now lives physically plugged into the facility's computer system.
Shepard: "So you'd sacrifice your own brother's happiness for your own ambitions?!"
(Archer looks David, who has just shed a tear, in the eye.)
David: "The square root of 906.01 is..."
Archer: "...30.1. What I've done to David is unethical. If he dies, I'll never be able to forgive myself."
That One Boss:
Tela Vasir.
In Arrival, the Object Rho battle if you are going for the Last Stand achievement. Luckily, this one's optional; the game will continue even if you fail.
That One Level:
The disabled Collector ship can be this, especially the first room. The problem is, you hardly ever get anything other than low cover, which Harbinger excels at knocking you out of, which results in you getting cut apart by Collectors and Scions unless you get back in immediately. It doesn't help that the Illusive Man forces you onto it, and that he's leading you into a trap because you're taking too long.
Horizon. Horizon. Horizon. HORIZON. If you pick the wrong team or class, it may be easier to just begin the game from scratch.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: In the first game, it was revealed that Cerberus was behind the Thresher Maw attack that killed a Sole Survivor Shepard's squad. Shepard works with Cerberus in this game, but is never given a chance to call anyone in Cerberus out for the events on Akuze or the background-specific sidequest from the first game (in which it's revealed that there was another survivor, Corporal Toombs, who was captured and used as a test subject by Cerberus scientists). All you get is a very angry email from Toombs calling Shepard out for working with Cerberus, much like everyone else in the game.
Uncanny Valley:
A lot of the faces just don't look quite right. Miranda's potato-shaped face (i.e. she does not look like she does on the game box) is probably the most noticeable one. The Unreal Engine 3's age is starting to show with its inability to handle flowing water without significant modification; PC Gamer's review wondered why the characters cried "oil slicks". Dr. Chakwas' face is particularly frightening in the brief moment when she swivels in her chair to face you before a conversation.
Shepard himself (It's not much better if Shepard is female).
The Illusive Man may be this deliberately. According to one dev diary, they deliberately made him perfectly symmetrical. Combine that with the normal mapping on his skin, and he's deep in the valley.
Jacob has big teeth. VERY big teeth. Not fangs, just big, big teeth. And the way his mouth moves accentuates exactly how big they are. In certain lights they look as though made of silver or chrome too, which we can only hope wasn't intentional.
Morinth and Samara, despite being modelled on the same woman, have different animations. Samara looks a lot more normal than Morinth and her creepy square teeth and her creepy smile. Considering who Morinth is, this may very well be intentional.
What Do You Mean It's Not Political?:
C-Sec has instituted new security and travel rules, including seemingly random no-fly lists and item confiscations, as a knee-jerk reaction to a massive attack. They're so ineffective they label a pair of asari as geth infiltrators and fail to notice the geth in your party. Anyone familiar with post-9/11 airport security in the US will recognize the system and the common criticisms of it.
Also, a great deal of the background dialogue in the planet of Illium appears to be an elaborate satire of extreme anarcho-capitalist political beliefs.
Squadmates
Kasumi Goto
Les Yay: A tiny hint in the intro to her loyalty mission. When commenting on how great female Shepard looks in her Little Black Dress, the camera angle makes it seem that Kasumi is staring straight at her boobs. Being Shepard, who wouldn't?
Base Breaker: Whilst possessing her share of fans, many dislike Jack for her overly-brazen tomboyishness. Some guys like that, though...
Even during a romance, she is nasty and abrasive.
And then there are the people who have no problem with overly-brazen tomboyishness, but are extremely put off by her psychopathic, misanthropic, and generally Ax Crazy tendencies. Although that might have been okay, if she was at least somewhat personable about it.
Fan Nickname: SuZe was her nickname before people knew it was "Jack". Short for "Subject Zero". It's fallen out of use now, probably because hardly anyone in the game calls her "Subject Zero".
Jerkass Woobie: As revealed by her loyalty mission, Jack was constantly tortured by Cerberus in order to turn her into the ultimate weapon. When she was a kid, she would be thrown into an arena to fight to the death against wild animals and other biotic kids, in addition to the brutality she had to endure from the scientists and guards.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: See Jerkass Woobie above. Even after she gets some closure via her loyalty mission, she admits that she "still kinda want[s] to kill everyone [she] meet[s]. No offence."
Angst? What Angst?: The strongest complaint fans have is that he is "boring". Even after his loyalty mission where Shepard and company find out that Taylor Senior has forced his crew to eat toxic food, driven off or murdered the males and kept the women as sex slaves, he merely shrugs it off (and becomes offended if Shepard insists that he should express anything otherwise). This becomes Fridge Brilliance when Shepard gains access to the Shadow Broker's dossiers and finds Jacob was placed on the team because he's a "stabilising element". He's supposed to be this way, and with good reason, considering how screwed up the rest of Shepard's squaddies are.
Base Breaker: Jacob is The Scrappy to many a fan, for various reasons:
His criticism of Thane (and lack of similar scenes with the more obviously objectionable team-mates) in his boarding scene and his suggestion to space Legion rather than re-activate it have drawn ire from fans
His stoic demeanor, disposition and low-level development makes him come off as one without much of a personality.
His romance path often invokes Stop Being Stereotypical (sneaking into the Captain's Quarters). It also gives off vibes of being rather forced, by comparison to the other romances.
In the third game, he cheats on Shepard with Brynn Cole, admitting that he wasn't sure if he'd ever see Shepard again, even though it'd only been six months and Shepard didn't die this time.
Memetic Molester: Jacob wants his prize.
Memetic Mutation: "Heavy risk... but the PRIIIIIZE."
Narm Charm: His romance path is not known for being especially well-written, though it did provide a nice meme.
Tier-Induced Scrappy: He is by far the weakest character in the game. His skills are Pull (an okay move, but useless against enemies with barriers), Incendiary Ammo (okay ammo power, but weak compared to others like Warp Ammo and Armor Piercing Ammo and redundant, considering that Grunt and Shepard may also have it), and Barrier. His weapon selection could be worse, but he'd have to be able to use heavy weapons, which no one but Shepard can do, in order to make up for his shortcomings.
What really screws him up is Barrier, because the AI keeps auto-casting that for no reason. He is actually a pretty well-balanced character who is good at crowd-control thanks to Pull and Inferno Ammo and won't die as often as most of the other characters thanks to his high HP.
The Barrier problem is negated if you have the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, as you can redistribute his talent points entirely and simply choose not to spend the leftover points on Barrier.
Miranda Lawson
Base Breaker: Quite possibly one of the biggest examples in the entire trilogy. Most fans either love Miranda or absolutely loathe her. It's hard to find a fan who has a neutral opinion of her. Some find her hot, others find her blatant status as Fanservice (complete with many a shot of her ass) annoying. Some feel sorry for her, others think she's whiny and arrogant. And then there are some who don't like her for her loyalty to Cerberus
Canon Sue: BioWare uses Miranda to explore the entire concept of the perfect human. She's unbelievably gorgeous, brilliant and skilled. She is those things because her father, an egotistical prick, designed her that way in a lab. Miranda is tortured by all of those gifts, seeing in them constant evidence of her father's influence.
Jerkass Woobie
Memetic Mutation: DAT ASS.
Uncanny Valley: Her face looks a little... off at times. Fridge Brilliance comes in when it's meant to be perfect, thus it looks a little off.
Wangst: The main reason she's reviled by certain fans. It's not that she doesn't have a reason to be upset, it's because she drones on and on about how much it hurts her to be perfect and how her father was emotionally distant, especially during a romance, whereas every other character besides Jack has much bigger problems that they don't complain about. The fact that she says that she was always given what she wanted and grew up in wealth has not helped matters.
Mordin
Ear Worm: Mordin singing "Scientist Salarian".
Too Cool to Live: Survival during final assault unlikely. Recommend assigning to crew escort duty.
Iron Woobie: Having three Ardat-Yakshi daughters (and one of them being a Complete Monster of a Serial Killer, to boot) is obviously taking its toll on Samara.
Ron the Death Eater: A lot of Morinth sympathizers blame Samara for Morinth's addictions.
Thane Krios
Stoic Woobie: He's dying from a incurable illness, yet has already come to terms with his impending death.
Too Cool to Live: As mentioned above, he has a terminal illness. And if he survives the Suicide Mission, he'll eventually end up buying the farm in Mass Effect 3 (though it's a Dying Moment of Awesome).
Zaeed Massani
Base Breaker: Some fans think Zaeed is a total badass. Others view him as a stereotypical Bounty Hunter, a cheap knock-off of Canderous Ordo or yet another generic guy like Jacob. There are also some people who just dislike him for being a bastard.
Cargo Ship: This video ships Zaeed with his rifle, Jessie.
Memetic Mutation: Zaeed once went out to dinner with his family. He was the only survivor.
Moral Event Horizon: Letting the refinery and everyone inside burn to make sure he kills Vido.
Secret Characters (Warning: Heavy Spoilers)
Ugly Cute
Values Dissonance: A lot of Legion's dialogue involves it explaining how the geth operate in terms both Shepard and the player can understand. During its loyalty quest, Legion will agree with Renegade Shepard's point that organic and synthetic moral values are fundamentally different when the other teammate questions the moral ramifications of rewriting the programming of the heretics, explaining that organics are individuals and that consensus takes time and effort whereas there are no individuals among synthetics and that communication between them is instantaneous. Legion will even go as far as saying that it would be racist to think otherwise.
While there are a lot of differences between the geth and organic life, it is still possible to find common ground. The following quote can be Values Resonance for a lot of people:
Legion: "The geth believe all intelligent life must self-determinate."
Morinth
Alas, Poor Villain: After killing her, Samara quietly despairs about how she's forced to kill her most talented daughter.
Draco in Leather Pants: Some of the fanbase consider her actions to be completely the fault of her genetics, which are in turn Samara's fault, and thus Samara's the monster for hunting down a serial murderer who kills solely for her own benefit. In spite of the fact Samara's other daughters have the same genetic disorder, neither of them went on a killing spree, Morinth never shows so much as a single redeeming feature or hint of remorse and her argument for Shepard saving her is that she is already as powerful as her mother, so she would be a more powerful ally. She will kill Shepard if she is given the opportunity - hell, that's how you recruit her, by offering yourself as bait. As awful as her early life must have been, she's spent the subsequent four hundred years burning out the brains of innocent victims to boost her own power for fun.
Evil Is Sexy: As per the vampirism parallel. Also, asari.
Magnificent Bitch: Samara considers her as such, calling her "the bravest and smartest of [her] daughters."
Memetic Molester
Moral Event Horizon: Morinth crossed it long before you first encounter her.
Quarian Admirals
Never Live It Down: The name of Zaal'Koris's ship, the Qwib Qwib, so named because it's a repurposed ship that was originally non-Quarian and the Quarians are unable to format the ship's registration documentation. Tali warns Shepard not to ask about the name, but Shepard can inquire anyway.
The ensuing dialogue implies that there are Quarians toting names that end in "vas Defrahnz" or "vas Iktomi", completely unaware of what they sound like to humans.
Alas, Poor Villain: In the third game.
Internet Backdraft: Pretty much any topic about the Illusive Man will eventually devolve to whether he's a Necessary Evil or a Manipulative Bastard.
Magnificent Bastard: Until the final major choice of the game, everything that happens in the story is driven by the Illusive Man.
Kal'Reegar
Ensemble Darkhorse: To the degree that people want him back in ME3 as a squadmate.
Most people wanted him as a squaddie as early as in ME2 after seeing him for the first time in one of the pre-release trailers.
Kelly Chambers
Base Breaker: Yet another polarizing character, due to her "psychological assessments" being generic with no real insight, her apologist attitude, and her memetic status as a complete slut. On the other end of the spectrum, some people like her sweetness and her status as Cerberus' Token Good Teammate.
Player Punch: Remember when you told her you'd get everyone through the mission alive? If you didn't go through the Omega-4 relay quickly enough after the Collectors invaded the Normandy, you get to watch her disintegrated alive and screaming.
And even if you do manage to save her, she ends up being utterly traumatized by the whole experience.
Poison Oak Epileptic Trees: So, how did the Varren scale-itch get on board? Do you really want to know?
Yes we do. In graphic detail.
Aria T'Loak
Ensemble Darkhorse: Large Ham. Memetic Precision F-Strike. Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Fetish Fuel Station Attendant. Badass. Worthy Opponent to one of the most popular characters in the fandom (probably). Aria's popularity far overshadows her screen time.
Epileptic Trees: There are more than a few involving her, one being that she's acquainted with Wrex, which is heavily hinted at in-game.
Evil Is Sexy: Okay, Aria may not be straight-up evil, but she is a crime lord, and she's sexy even for an asari.
Memetic Mutation: Once more: "Don't fuck with Aria."
Ensemble Darkhorse: Quite a few players have expressed the desire to take Urz back to the Normandy with them after watching him follow Shepard adoringly around Tuchanka.
Ugly Cute: Just look at that adorable face!
"Good varren".
Matriarch Aethyta
Ensemble Darkhorse: She's at least as popular as some of Shepard's squad thanks to her combination of being a Cool Old Lady and Deadpan Snarker.
Epileptic Trees: Some believe she's Liara's father. Yep, father, with asari being one sex and all.
The game itself seems to heavily imply this, as one of the videos Shepard can watch in the Shadow Broker's archives is footage of Aethyta sitting at home alone, drinking and staring at a holograph of (what is almost undeniably) Liara.
Confirmed in Mass Effect 3.
Crack Ship: It's mostly a joke, but Harbinger/Shepard, drawing upon such lines as "I KNOW YOU FEEL THIS", is oddly popular.
Fountain of Memes: "Assuming direct control! This hurts you. If I must tear you apart, Shepard, I will. We are Harbinger. Direct intervention is necessary." And so on and so forth.
Memetic Mu-ASSUMING CONTROL
The Collector General
Alas, Poor Villain
The Woobie: Many people feel sorry for it considering it was most likely under Harbinger's control its entire life and the ending cinematic has it looking around in what looks like confusion and sorrow when Harbinger releases control.
If expressionless bug aliens could make an Oh Crap face, that's what it would have done right then.
Gavin Archer
Moral Event Horizon: Forcing his own brother to take part in Project Overlord.
What an Idiot!: Yeah, go ahead and shoot your gun at a supremely pissed-off PARAGON COMMANDER SHEPARD. That will end well. In the end, probably the only thing that saved his life was that Paragon Shepard was more worried about helping his brother than killing Archer.
Tela Vasir
Best Boss Ever: Vasir is an asari Spectre. An asari Spectre Vanguard. Especially awesome if your Shepard is also a Vanguard.
Draco in Leather Pants: The reason she went rogue and joined forces with the Shadow Broker is Not So Different from why Shepard works for Cerberus. She has no choice, because the Council gives Spectres squat. The Commander would be going nowhere fast without the intelligence and funds Cerberus provide, funds that always match or better what credits you can scrounge. She has much less to work with.
While her situation is understandable, she takes way more enjoyment in what she does than she needs to. She has a worryingly sadistic grin when threatening her hostage, her troops shot down civilians who were wounded and she killed a lot of security guards at the hotel, even though she could have gotten them on her side by pointing out she was a Spectre. Her racism against Purebloods also makes her motivation for targeting Liara very suspect.
Ensemble Darkhorse: For such a short amount of screen-time, she's quite a popular character. Possibly due to an awesome boss fight, her being a total Badass and a remarkable Shut Up, Kirk speech.
Hell Is That Noise: QWEEGHPRRZZMZZKKKSKKKTTTPPP! Translation: "QUIET, PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP!"
Not only is it a horrific sound in itself, but the volume for it is incredibly loud. At a normal volume, on a normal TV, the scream is downright earsplitting. If you're wearing headphones or have a surround sound system, it'll blast your brain out of your skull.
Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant
The Woobie/Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Born with autism, exploited by his own brother, turned into a machine against his will and insane from the strain of being in charge of a computer network. David Archer's life is just one heartbreak after another. Unfortunately, he's also incredibly unstable and dangerous, and has become so withdrawn and broken that he doesn't realize the harm of his actions.
Kaidan/Ashley
Alternative Character Interpretation: Were they ungrateful and paranoid about Shepard, or was their reaction a natural one to their former commander (and possible lover) coming back into their life after two years of being dead as part of a terrorist organization?
The Scrappy: Quite a few people hate them for their reaction on Horizon, even if they did not in Mass Effect 1.
↑ Harbinger, the Big Bad of Mass Effect 2, uses Villain Override to possess any of his mooks on the battlefield at any time, and says this line when he does.
↑ Shepard's Uncanny Valley rape face is used to make any situation more uncomfortable.
↑ A reporter who made you look bad no matter what you said in the first game returns; if you didn't punch her the first time, you can punch her now and say that line.
↑ A Paragon Commander Shepard may get discounts from any Citadel Store by offering an endorsement, which is "I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel!". S/He can do this with every store, however, without worry. Eventually, every store will have the aforementioned recording. Mark Meer (the voice for male Shepard) has stated that he gets bugged by many of his friends to make a custom ringtone for them based on that line.
↑ The turian Councilor who hated you in the first game continues to not believe you that Reapers are real despite him accepting humanity onto the council at the end of the last game (and the giant Reaper corpse in the middle of the Citadel) - and he uses turian air quotes (they only have two fingers and a thumb) to do it.
↑ The player has never seen a quarian without a helmet on - the first time Tali takes hers off, the camera cuts away, and fans decided to supplement for themselves.
↑ How Commander Shepard usually ends a conversation.
↑ One of Garrus' combat shouts, usually after sniping a headshot. For himself and you.
↑ One of Thane's combat shouts, to compliment the player.
↑ When Garrus has nothing else to say, he says that. He never finishes with the calibrations, ever, and has only two conversations in the game.
↑ What one member of the brutal and primitive vorcha race will say to if you just walk up and start talking to him.
↑ When romancing Jacob, he'll come to Commander Shepard right before the Pre-Climax Climax leading to the suicide mission and seduce you with cringeworthy, cheesy porn-level lines, including "Sneaking into the captain's quarters... heavy risk. But the priiiiiiize."
↑ A turian civilian at C-Sec customs declares one of the human officers to be racist every time she holds him up for small things like trying to sneak a 15-inch serrated blade aboard.
↑ Garrus is talking about a female turian crew member on an old ship he served on. He says this line to emphasize their talents in combat... and in bed.
↑ The C-Sec customs officer, when asked about tightened security, says that she's there to ensure there are no geth infiltrations. If Legion, the geth party member, is with you he'll tell her geth don't infiltrate. She assumes he's a (non-sentient) VI - and Legion says that line.
↑ A volus - a guy from a race of small, squat, rotund race of merchants - insists he can wipe the floor with anyone while stoned off his ass.
↑ A crazy "prophet" batarian on Omega is loudly announcing to anyone who can hear that humans are an abomination unto space.
↑ Shepard has a very blunt way of asking about what s/he wants to know in the "Investigate" dialogue option.
↑ During Thane's loyalty quest, at one point, you will stop at a bar/club area and a turian (which looks suspiciously like the Groundskeeper) walks over to some humans and asari then dances like he freaking owns the place
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.fandom.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_2/YMMV?oldid=371948"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
What I'm Watching This Week – 11 August 2014
Published on August 11, 2014 by dredheadz
Investor indecision about the future of equities prices, coupled with light summer trading volumes, led to volatility across the board last week. Friday's 186-point rally gave the Dow some relief after two down weeks, though not enough to nudge the index into positive territory for the year. The small caps of the Russell 2000 had their strongest week since early July, though they also remained down year-to-date. Meanwhile, geopolitical tensions increased demand for the relative security of the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond, sending its yield down. However, riskier high-yield bonds saw some selling pressure.
DJIA 16576.66 16493.37 16553.93 .37% -.14%
Nasdaq 4176.59 4352.64 4370.90 .42% 4.65%
S&P 500 1848.36 1925.15 1931.59 .33% 4.50%
Russell 2000 1163.64 1114.86 1131.35 1.48% -2.77%
Global Dow 2484.10 2561.22 2532.94 -1.10% 1.97%
.25% .25% .25% 0 bps 0 bps
10-year Treasuries 3.04% 2.52% 2.44% -8 bps -60 bps
Last Week's Headlines
Growth in the U.S. services sector accelerated in July. The Institute for Supply Management's gauge of activity in service industries rose 2.7% to 58.7%–its highest level since the index was launched in 2008.
New orders at U.S. manufacturers were up 1.1% in June. The Commerce Department said the gain boosted factory orders to their highest level since record-keeping began in 1992 and that June was the fourth month of the last five to see an increase.
A drop in oil imports helped cut the U.S. trade deficit by 7% in June, according to the Commerce Department. U.S. exports rose 0.1% to their highest level on record, while imports dropped 1.2%.
Italy's economy fell back into recession, falling 0.2% in Q2; it was the second consecutive quarterly contraction. The GDP of the eurozone's third largest economy also was down 0.3% from the same quarter a year earlier.
In retaliation for new European Union and U.S. economic sanctions, Russia imposed a one-year ban on a variety of food imports and said it's considering prohibiting EU and U.S. flights from Russian airspace over Siberia.
As expected, the European Central Bank left key interest rates unchanged. President Mario Draghi said measures already adopted are having an effect and that it was too early to assess the potential impact of Russia's ban on European food imports.
Eleven of the largest U.S. banks must rewrite their proposed plans for handling a potential bankruptcy. The Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the plans contained "no credible or clear path" to achieve an orderly failure and avert any need for the type of bailouts provided during the 2008 financial crisis. The banks have until July 2015 to submit revised so-called "living wills."
Fair Isaac Corp. said it will change the way it calculates credit scores, underweighting unpaid medical bills and excluding overdue bills that are subsequently paid or settled with a collection agency. The changes could make it easier to get credit.
With the Q2 earnings season winding down, retail sales and wholesale inflation data will vie with global conflicts for investor attention. Speeches by two members of the Fed's monetary policy committee are likely to review the arguments for and against accelerating an interest rate hike. Finally, options expiration at week's end plus trading volumes that are likely to remain relatively low could mean additional volatility.
Categories Financial•Tags business, corporate revenues, doom and gloom, earnings results, economy, education, Financial, Financial advice, Future Plan, global perspective, investment, Investment plan, market volatility, money, politics, revenue expectations, unemployment claims, wealth accumulation
Previous What I'm Watching This Week – 4 August 2014
Next Members of the Military: Estate Planning