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rylanhart	reckless revenge	 June 1, 2018 May 31, 2018 5 Minutes
As she watched across the activity across the street, Terrah couldn't help but smile in satisfaction. Her freshly dyed brown hair air-drying as she followed every movement closely. Despite the mass of black vehicles in front of the run-down hotel, she had a perfect view of the operation.
Her hotel room sat two floors above ground level. The individuals at the center of all the activity wore bulletproof vests with rifles as their preferred weapon of choice. Two people stood out from the uniform, both wearing finely tailored black suits. Four groups had gone in beforehand and now were trickling out of the front doors with more people than they started.
All of them in handcuffs and most of them men. Frequent reports of fights, drug use, and prostitution all lent to a high probability of police raids. The hotel wore its seedy reputation as a badge of honor. Anyone looking for illegal substances knew where to go. The city's police chief worked hard to shut it down entirely, but a final decision remained in limbo for years.
Today's activity, however, might be enough to shut the place down permanently. The police was the last thing the owners had to worry about. This organized operation had nothing to do with local law enforcement, but federal.
Throughout all the masses of drug dealers, arms dealers, and pimps—a blonde haired woman was escorted out of the front entrance. Skinny, pale, and eyes dilated. Her body shaking as she came off the high from her drug of choice. Everything mirrored Terrah's usual appearance.
The agents dressed in suits approached the woman, who barely responded to them. She was taken to the back of their black SUV and taken away. The remaining FBI officials spent several more hours clearing the scene. The street reopened to traffic in the early hours of the afternoon.
Terrah sent a text message on a burner phone before picking up her pre-packed bag and exiting her luxurious hotel room. The conclusion of the raid would be on the news later.
Dressed in designer labels and a new hair color, Terrah looked vastly different than just 24 hours ago. With her shoulders back, head held high, she checked out of the room and thanked the staff for a wonderful stay.
She walked out of the hotel and began trekking across alleyways to reach her destination. A few blocks away, she waited outside an abandoned building with an entrance hidden away from the main streets. No one owned the structure so there was no need for security cameras.
Terrah leaned against the brick siding, her mind running through the next steps of her plan. Nausea bubbled in her stomach. So much was at stake—and not just for her.
A red sports car turned down the alleyway, Terrah tensed at the sight of an unfamiliar vehicle in her proximity. Within seconds, the car pulled up next to her, a man behind the wheel. Sandy hair and hazel eyes that could charm anyone.
"You look like you could use a ride."
The accent was unmistakable. British in origin and hadn't faded despite living here for nearly ten years. Terrah rolled her eyes.
"I thought we were going to keep a low profile."
The man smiled, revealing perfect teeth. He was the textbook definition of a model. "This is a low profile. You're wearing Chanel. I needed a car to match."
Terrah opened the back seat and threw her bag in there without regard. The duffle contained clothes mostly—ones that had been worn down and ready to rip at the seams. They resembled nothing akin to her current outfit. The change was intentional for the time being.
Eventually though, she would need practical outfits.
She got into the passenger seat and the man leaned in. Terrah gave him a quick kiss. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, Terrah."
"We better get going if we're going to make our next destination."
The man shifted the car into gear. "Yet another reason why this car will come in handy."
The blonde woman sat a bland-looking room. A faux mirror on one of the walls. She had been left alone for several hours now. The remaining drugs in her system finally wearing off, leaving her shaky and anxious. Her mind raced through the possibilities of the future.
A few minutes later, the door banged open. Two people in tailored black suits walked in. One a woman, the other a man. The woman had dark hair and eyes, athletic in nature, and sharp features. Her face severe as she carried herself with confidence.
The man slumped his shoulders slightly, but he had beady eyes that thinly veiled his contempt. His muscles were accentuated in the suit and were an obvious product of many hours at the gym.
They glanced over her appearance, but neither of them addressed her current state. There wasn't much to say for someone whose clothes were stained and torn from repeated use. The crooks of her arms covered in needle marks and hair greasy and unwashed.
She didn't give a damn about what they thought.
All she wanted to know was what they expected from her.
"Are the remaining drugs out of your system, Terrah?" the female agent asked.
She didn't answer. Her legs shaking underneath the table.
"Your cooperation is important, Terrah."
The woman scoffed at the statement. "There's nothing in it for me."
With those simple words, the air in the room changed. The female agent forced a smile. "Nothing could be further from the truth. There's a lot I can offer you. You're looking at years in prison for drug possession, drug paraphernalia, assault, conspiracy to commit murder, illegal possession of a firearm, and aiding and abetting a fugitive."
A small smirk stretched across her face. "You can't prove half of those charges."
"I'm willing to work out a deal to where you serve a reduced sentence."
"But only if I tell you where Jaynes is."
The woman pretended to think about the offer. Of course, she had no intention of revealing that information.
"I don't know where he is."
The female agent sighed heavily. "My patience has grown thin, Terrah. I know he tells you everything. Now, tell me where your husband is."
Her eyes widened. "How do you know about that?"
"We have our sources. We've kept the information tight-lipped. We want to bring in Jaynes ourselves and can't do that if one of his many enemies comes after him first."
The woman didn't respond. The feds weren't supposed to know about their marriage. They had done it in secret and out of the country. No one was supposed to find out.
She let out a laugh in the small room. "And you think that because we're now married that I'd sell out my husband?" Her response caught the others off-guard. "I've never betrayed Jaynes in the twelve years I've known him. What made you think that I would start now?"
The stunned silence didn't last long. The female agent recovered much quicker than her male counterpart. She straightened her posture before speaking. "Terrah, let's be reasonable, you know what a danger your husband is to society. The people have been terrorized by his hands. Lives have been torn apart because of his actions. We can't let this continue."
She leaned forward, closing the gap between her and the agent. The other woman pulled away slightly to create more distance between them.
"Let me make one thing clear, Agent Corbin. I will never help you catch Jaynes McConnell. I'll die first before that happens, she growled.
The door to the small room opened. A flash went off followed by smoke. It covered the entire room. She coughed and tried to cover her nose and mouth. Then, several rounds went off. One of them hit her body, tearing through her body.
More shots were fired and soon all the sound that remained was the blare of a fire alarm.
implied drug reference
Published by rylanhart
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Published June 1, 2018 May 31, 2018
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At the 2nd Annual Diversity & Inclusion Unity in Service Celebration, UCI Law Dean L. Song Richardson received the 2018 "Be The Change" Legal Excellence Award, which recognizes "outstanding legal jurists, scholars, legal professionals and changemakers who possess courage, compassion, leadership, decisiveness, kindness, strength, open-mindedness, freedom from bias and a commitment to equity, equality and justice for all." The event was hosted by Crowell & Moring LLP and Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law.
"I am deeply humbled to have received this award and to be in the company of such impressive change-makers," said UCI Law Dean L. Song Richardson.
Rick McNeil, Partner, Crowell & Moring LLP.
Sylvia Kim, Human Rights Attorney, Regional Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Orange County.
Other sponsors for the celebration included: Thurgood Marshall Bar, Diversity & Social Justice Forum, OC Lavender Bar, Hispanic Bar of OC, Veterans Legal Institute, OC Asian American Bar, Iranian American Bar, OC Women Lawyers, Muslim Bar of So CA, Filipino-American Bar of OC, American Constitution Society, OCBA-YLD, OC Equality Coalition, OC-Coalition for Diversity in the Law, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-OC, OCBA, OCBA Diversity Committee, UCI Law, Western State College of Law, Whittier Law School, Vietnamese American Bar So Ca, OC Korean American Bar, J. Reuben Clark Law Society.


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Motorola Mobility acquired by Google for $12.5 Billion ? – In an announcement by the Company said that Google buys Motorola Mobility for $12.5 Billion in an attempt to "Supercharge" their Android Device .
Actually, this Acuring Motorola came straight from the Google's Official Blog where CEO Larry Page announces the Acquisition. Started How Android has over 150 million devices activated with 550,000 being added every day and how Motorola is amongst the leading Android smartphone manufacturers with their DROID series.
Now, expect that This Step by Google is to Compete with the Apple Products as "Put your Software on your own Hardware" policy. You can have many Motorola Devices runs Android from the Android Launched. Not forgetting Samsung and HTC Smartphones, which also runs Android OS.
Gaining Motorola Mobility means Google will also get their patents, meaning it will help them secure Android from the "organized campaigns" of rivals Microsoft and Apple.
Then waht you think about this News: Google To Acuire Motorola for $12.5 Billion ? Yes it can Compete with Apple iPhone 5 or other iOS Products or No this will be a draw back for Google taking this Step ?


The most effective way to meet your staffing needs is to hire good performers and then retain them. In the IT industry, both parts of that are tough: There are lots of people with superficial knowledge of technology but fewer with real expertise. And there's lots of demand for staff with real expertise, so top employees know they've always got the option of taking a new position somewhere else. In order to keep your best employees, you need to make sure they continue to find their jobs rewarding.
The bottom-line reward for many employees is simply their bottom line. Salary surveys are published in the technical press and by technical recruiters, so your staff will know if they're being fairly paid and what kind of increase they can achieve if they leave. So it's important that you provide competitive financial rewards, starting with base salary and an annual increase that bumps pay to keep up with inflation and industry trends. In some industries, bonuses and stock options may be routinely expected. Other financial rewards include retirement plans, insurance coverage, and paid time off.
Most technical staff enjoy working with current technology, so make sure they have the opportunity to develop new technical skills each year. This means letting people work on different projects; tempting as it is to keep the "expert" assigned to their current project, let them move to a new project. You'll still be able to ask them questions, which you can't do if they get too bored and move to another firm. Also budget for your staff to take training, and don't limit training to technologies you have immediate plans to use.
Make sure staying with your company long term aligns with your talent's career goals. Don't assume what those goals are; make a discussion of goals part of the year-end review process. Create a development plan that addresses the employee's wishes, whether that means they want to become a technical expert, they want to understand the business better, or they want to develop leadership skills and move out of the individual contributor role.
Before you can retain top IT talent, you need to hire top IT talent. InReach IT Solutions has connections to a deep pool of IT workers who can meet your needs. Contact us to learn how we can help you hire workers you'll want to retain.


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Risk Is What You Don't See
Harry Houdini was more than an escape artist. Anything that made people gasp interested him and was something he would try.
One of his famous tricks was letting big men punch him in the gut as hard as they could. Houdini – an amateur boxer before becoming a magician – said he could flex his muscles in a way that could absorb any blow. The stunt matched what people loved about his escapes: the idea that his body could conquer physics.
One day in 1926 Houdini was resting in his dressing room after a performance when a group of students from McGill came in to visit.
One of the students, Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead, asked, "Is it true, Mr. Houdini, that you can resist the hardest blows struck to the abdomen?"
Without warning he then began slamming his fist into Houdini.
Arthur Conan Doyle's book The Edge of Unknown writes:
Houdini stopped him suddenly in the midst of a punch, with a gesture that he had had enough.
Houdini immediately after stated that he had had no opportunity to prepare himself against the blows, as he did not think that Whitehead would strike him as suddenly as he did and with such force, and that he would have been in a better position to prepare for the blows if he had arisen from the couch for this purpose.
A day later Houdini was doubled over with abdominal pain. His appendix was ruptured, almost certainty from Whitehead's blows.
And then Harry Houdini died.
The riskiest stuff is always what you don't see coming.
Risk is complicated, which is why we're not great at dealing with it. It's more than just something bad happening. How risky something is depends on whether its target is prepared for it. A big event people have time to prepare for can be handled without much fuss. A smaller one out of the blue can be deadly.
Houdini – who buried himself under six feet of dirt in a straight jacket and dug himself out weeks before he was killed by a student's jab – learned this the hard way.
It's also something we should remember when thinking about the economy and our investments.
The biggest economic risk is what no one's talking about, because if no one's talking about no one's prepared for it, and if no one's prepared for it its damage will be amplified when it arrives.
But look at forecasts of the biggest economic risks for the year ahead, which are published in force this time of year.
With few exceptions people cite the trade war and the election. Last year it was impeachment and the trade war. In 2018 it was interest rate hikes and the trade war.
The same risks, repeated over and over, sometimes several years in a row.
Google News cites 8.4 million mentions of "trade war" in recent years. People might be worried, but no one is surprised. Businesses might be frustrated, but many have prepared as much as they can.
Compare that to what in hindsight have actually been the biggest risks.
To name a few: 9/11, Lehman Brothers' inability to find a buyer, Iraq invading Kuwait, the 1973 OPEC embargo, Pearl Harbor, and a small Austrian bank called Creditanstalt whose 1931 bankruptcy set off a chain reaction of global bank failures that ignited the Great Depression.
These were big events. What turned them into disasters was that few discussed them even moments before they occurred. They were surprises. So the people affected by them did not prepare, either mentally or with actions. They could only react, often amid panic.
Which is where things get ugly.
Two things happen when you're caught off guard. One is that you're vulnerable, with no protection against what you hadn't considered. The other is that surprise shakes your beliefs in a way that leaves you paranoid and pessimistic. Driving by car surged after 9/11 as people avoided air travel, leading more excess car deaths than casualties from the actual terrorist attacks. After Pearl Harbor it was a foregone conclusion, doubted by few, that Japan would soon attack California. After a lifetime of accepting injuries as part of his job Houdini's last words after being surprised by the student were, "I'm tired of fighting." The mental toll of surprise can be crushing.
Paying attention to known risks is smart. But we should acknowledge that what can't see, aren't talking about, and aren't prepared for will likely be more consequential than all the known risks combined.
That's how history has worked.
We are bad at forecasting the economy. But that's not because we can't analyze how an event will impact the economy. We just can't analyze events we haven't considered to begin with. Risk is what you don't see.
By definition there's not much you can do about this. It's one of those things that just is.
It's impossible to plan for what you can't imagine, and the more you think you've imagined everything the more shocked you'll be when something happens that you hadn't considered.
But two things can push you in a more helpful direction.
Think of risk the way California thinks of earthquakes. California knows a major earthquake will happen. But it has no idea when, where, or of what magnitude. Emergency crews are prepared despite no specific forecast. Buildings are designed to withstand earthquakes that may not occur for a century or more.
Risk gets ugly when you think it requires a specific forecast before you start preparing for it. It's better to have expectations that risk will arrive but you don't know when or where than to rely exclusively on forecasts – almost all of which are either nonsense or about things that are well known.
Give yourself a wide berth. If the heaviest truck to cross a bridge is 5 tons you design it to be able to withstand 10 tons or more. In the same way, if you think recessions will reduce your wealth by 20%, design your allocation to be able to withstand a decline of, say, 40% or more, realizing the powerful recession you aren't thinking about will be more impactful than the one you envision. Putting extra padding around the risks you can see if one of the only ways to prepare for the risks you don't see.
Fool Me Three Times and I Give Up
It's Hard to Predict How You'll Respond to Risk
Jan 14, 2020 by Morgan Housel ·

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


engue, pl. enguai; enguetes · A surety: the engue is the thing which is pledged as security, and the enguetes the person who pledges or commits himself as a pledge. Such sureties were used in a range of legal contexts: to guarantee the payment of a fine or the appearance of a defendant (particularly a foreigner) in court; and as a deposit payable to those who contracted from the state the right to collect taxes or to operate mining concessions. But the most notable use of engue was as the necessary prelude to ekdosis in the regular Athenian form of marriage, corresponding to (but much stronger than) the modern engagement.


Direct and specific activation Of human inward rectifier K+ channels by membrane phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate.
Many ion channels are modulated by phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2), but studies examining the PIP2 dependence of channel activity have been limited to cell expression systems, which present difficulties for controlling membrane composition. We have characterized the PIP2 dependence of purified human Kir2.1 and Kir2.2 activity using 86Rb+ flux and patch-clamp assays in liposomes of defined composition. We definitively show that these channels are directly activated by PIP2 and that PIP2 is absolutely required in the membrane for channel activity. The results provide a first quantitative description of the dependence of eukaryotic Kir channel function on PIP2 levels in the membrane; Kir2.1 shows measureable activity in as little as 0.01% PIP2, and open probability increases to ~0.4 at 1% PIP2. Activation of Kir2.1 by phosphatidylinositol phosphates is also highly selective for PI(4,5)P2; PI(3,5)P2 does not activate channels and PI(3,4,5)P3 causes minimal activity. The PIP2-dependence of eukaryotic Kir activity is almost exactly opposite that of KirBac1.1, which shows marked inhibition by PIP2. This raises the interesting hypothesis that PIP2 activation of eukaryotic channels reflects an evolutionary adaptation of the channel to the appearance of PIP2 in the eukaryotic cell membrane.


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The EIQ2 process, which the toolset follows, is represented below with a following explanation for each key component.


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text:
Remarks at the ICI Securities Law Conference
Elisse B. Walter
Good morning and thank you, Elizabeth, for your kind introduction. I'm always pleased to have an opportunity to talk about NASD's mutual fund initiatives, and there is no better place to do that than this conference.
Unlike many of you, I'm a relative newcomer to mutual fund regulation. I've spent most of my career in public service - first at the SEC, then the CFTC and now at NASD - dealing with almost every aspect of the federal securities laws except mutual funds. But, for several years now, I have found myself drawn into mutual fund regulation.
NASD of course has no jurisdiction over mutual funds or their advisers. We do, however, regulate the broker-dealers who sell funds -- including the underwriters. I can assure you that there is no higher priority for NASD than ensuring the integrity of the fund sales process. And, I like to think that my diverse background in other aspects of federal securities law and regulation has brought a fresh perspective to mutual fund issues.
Broker-dealer participation in illegal or unethical practices in the sale of mutual funds is, of course, unacceptable. NASD reviews mutual fund advertisements, whether they appear in a magazine, newspaper, radio or television commercial. We vigorously enforce our suitability rule and our prohibition against compensation arrangements that create unacceptable conflicts of interest in the sale of mutual funds. We do not hesitate to discipline brokers who fall short of our expectations.
But our interest in mutual fund sales practices is not limited to enforcing the status quo. We are constantly studying ways to make the sales process work better for investors. We also devote considerable resources to investor education and online tools that help average Americans understand mutual fund investing.
This morning, I'd like to update you on some of our key efforts in the mutual fund area, and give you a glimpse at some issues on the horizon.
Over the last couple of years you've heard a lot about breakpoints. As you know, we discovered in 2002 that many investors in front-end load mutual funds were not getting the volume discounts that were owed to them. While some of these failures on the part of brokers were inexcusable, and resulted in enforcement action, most of them were the result of confusion, operational breakdowns and lack of easy access to basic information.
So, we took disciplinary action where needed and ordered firms to reimburse investors who had been deprived of their discounts, with over $125 million refunded to over 450,000 investors to date. But, we also set out to take the confusion out of this process.
At the request of the SEC, NASD, joined by ICI and SIA, convened a Joint NASD/Industry Breakpoint Task Force to examine the difficulties in delivering fund sales charge breakpoint discounts and to recommend better ways to more completely — and more accurately — deliver breakpoint discounts in the future. As is often the case with complex problems, the Task Force determined that there was no simple cure. So, the Task Force recommended improvements to a variety of practices within the financial services industry to facilitate the delivery of correct breakpoint discounts, such as better ways to identify breakpoint opportunities, process fund transactions, and improve public awareness of breakpoints.
Since the Task Force's report came out in July 2003, the industry has worked hard and effectively to implement the report's recommendations. For example, there are now standardized definitions of commonly used terms, better prospectus and web site disclosures regarding breakpoints, better recordkeeping and required new training of registered reps.
Most significant, the Breakpoint Task Force recommended that the industry develop a central database that contains breakpoint information for all funds that impose front-end sales charges. NASD has worked closely with NSCC to create such a database, and has strongly urged the fund industry to populate the database with information on each fund's breakpoint discounts.
That database is now significantly populated. The ICI has been enormously helpful in encouraging fund group participation and NASD is very appreciative of that. The ICI has informed us that thus far 66 fund families, representing over 93% of 2004 new front-end load fund sales, have posted information on breakpoint schedules and aggregation terms.
Given the significant information that is now available, we have launched an online Mutual Fund Breakpoint Search Tool, which allows broker-dealers and investors to obtain information about the breakpoints that may be available. With online access, it is easier for investors and registered reps to get information on breakpoint schedules, aggregation rules and letters of intent. We developed this search tool in cooperation with NSCC and you can find it on our website. It is available to the public and to the industry at no cost. Hopefully, in the near future, the remaining funds will provide their information so that the database will be comprehensive.
Next, I'd like to turn to our most recent NASD-industry collaboration, the NASD Mutual Fund Task Force. The Task Force was made up of experts from the mutual fund and broker-dealer industries, as well as academicians and attorneys. The Task Force's goal was to provide recommendations to the Commission in two phases. In Phase One, the Task Force considered portfolio transaction costs and soft dollars. In Phase Two, the Task Force considered Rule 12b-1 fees and other distribution payments.
In its Phase One report, the Task Force recommended that the SEC require improved disclosure of soft-dollar arrangements and portfolio transaction costs, and that the SEC narrow the Section 28(e) safe harbor for soft dollar research. In September, the SEC requested comment on new interpretive guidance narrowing the safe harbor but preserving the ability of money managers to pay for third-party research with soft dollars. We were pleased to see that the Commission's proposed guidance is largely consistent with the Task Force's recommendations.
The SEC is now moving on to the disclosure issues. The Task Force had a number of recommendations for improved disclosure both to fund boards and fund shareholders, but stopped short of recommending unbundling.
A lot has happened since the Task Force report. Not only has the SEC issued its proposed interpretive guidance, but in the last few months, there has been some voluntary action moving toward unbundling and, in the UK, the FSA has taken action. We are watching these developments with great interest. Although concerns about soft dollars have been raised ever since the time that brokerage commissions were unfixed, recent market and regulatory developments in tandem are changing practices. Like you, we anxiously await the next phase of the SEC's guidance.
The Task Force's Phase Two report addressed 12b-1 fees and other distribution payments. I want to spend a bit more time talking about Phase Two, because it could have a profound impact on how funds are sold in the future.
As you know, the Commission has proposed to require point of sale disclosure to mutual fund investors. Although the Commission's proposal is focused on dealer issues, it also appears to reflect some concern about using the mutual fund prospectus as the means for communicating certain critical fund information to retail investors.
The Commission proposal would require disclosure about fees and conflicts of interest. In particular, the Commission would require disclosure by broker-dealers concerning revenue sharing, and differential payouts to registered reps for the sale of different mutual funds.
In its report, the Task Force built upon the Commission's proposal and developed a prototype point of sale document that reflects its recommendations. If you'd like to take a look at it, that document (which we affectionately call the Profile Plus) and the Mutual Fund Task Force reports are available on our web site.
The Task Force proposal, which NASD itself strongly endorses, differs from the Commission's proposal in two main respects:
First, the Commission would require disclosure about only fees, expenses, revenue sharing and differential compensation -- essentially the costs of investing and the conflicts presented by the way that the dealer is paid. The Task Force determined that point of sale disclosure should give an investor a broader understanding of the fund. So the Task Force's two-page disclosure document explains not only fees and conflicts, but also the fund's investment strategies, risks and performance history.
Second, the Commission proposed that a registered rep either hand the document to the customer, or read its content to the customer over the telephone. The Task Force and NASD believe that it is preferable to use the Internet to provide the information, unless an investor is uncomfortable with that form of disclosure.
This summer, we tested the Profile Plus with consumers, and found that investors strongly prefer getting this information on-line rather than having it read to them orally, or delivered to them in paper format.
These test results make complete sense. Internet disclosure would allow an investor a simple way to compare different funds. Moreover, the Task Force's document would be hyperlinked to the fund prospectus. Each customer could determine what level of detail he or she wanted. And our prototype even provides a link to NASD's enhanced mutual fund fee analyzer, which gives investors the ability to obtain a graphical picture of the impact of different expense structures. Most important, web disclosure is an effective method of getting the right information to investors at the right time - before they buy.
We have provided the SEC with the results of these consumer tests, and we have met with the Commissioners and Commission staff. We hope that when the SEC acts on its proposal, it will accept the Internet as an acceptable method of disclosure.
But, whatever form the SEC rulemaking takes, as with breakpoints, the mutual fund and broker-dealer industries will need to work together to ensure that the requirements work, both from the standpoint of an investor and the standpoint of fund and broker operations. NASD has committed to provide financial and other resources to help ensure that this effort is successful.
I'd like to spend a few moments mentioning NASD's investor education efforts because investor education is a critical component of investor protection. Between the NASD Investor Education Foundation and our own internal investor education programs, we've created or funded programs on topics ranging from 401(k)s to 529 plans, to annuities. We publish Investor Alerts, which briefly inform investors about new products that may be complicated and need a plain-English explanation, and about frauds and scams that are prevalent in the market at the moment. For example, we recently put out an alert dealing with stock fraud in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
In the fund area, recent Alerts have addressed NAV transfers, breakpoints, fund share classes and principal-protected funds. We also have on our website about a dozen calculators that investors can use. Some relate directly to mutual funds, such as our recently enhanced fund expense analyzer. Others relate to investing generally, such our college cost calculator.
I could continue for a long time because educating investors is so important to what we do and what you do. But, let me turn to the future.
A key feature of solving problems is correctly identifying them before they explode out of control. At NASD, we have an internal Ahead of the Curve Task Force that is constantly seeking out new issues that may require a regulatory response. In some cases, these issues arise as new products enter the marketplace. In other cases, old practices that have gone undetected rise to the surface and present new challenges. This internal group cannot succeed without cooperation from the industry to help us recognize upcoming trends. For those of you who either serve on NASD committees or have helped us in other ways, we thank you immensely. For those of you who have not yet worked with us, we always welcome new ideas and new faces.
In terms of the future, it's not surprising that fund-related issues will remain prominent on our agenda. Some of these issues are new twists on perennial topics. For example, for many years the securities sales culture has included gifts and other non-commission incentives. You won't be surprised to hear me say that sales incentives cannot be used as a substitute for doing what's best for the customer. An I'll-scratch-your-back-if-you scratch-mine mode of thinking just won't fly. NASD has rules on both gifts and cash and non-cash compensation, and we will continue to enforce these rules.
We'll also continue to revise these rules as needed. One anomaly that needs to be fixed is in the rules governing cash sales contests. Currently, NASD members can't sponsor a mutual fund sales contest that awards non-cash prizes unless the contest meets certain criteria, including principles of equal weighting and total production. Those rules don't apply to cash sales contests. We published a proposal to correct this inconsistency in April.
Our fund-related concerns extend beyond registered funds. We are also taking a hard look at hedge funds. Hedge funds are more popular than ever - the SEC estimates they have about $870 billion under management, and other estimates run as high as $1 trillion.
NASD doesn't regulate hedge funds. But we do regulate brokers who sell them. And we are increasingly concerned about the so-called retailization of these products. As Bob Glauber has said, the farther downstream they float, the more concerned we'll be.
Today, to invest in a hedge fund, you need to meet financial thresholds that vary depending on the type of fund and whether or not it charges a performance fee, but, generally speaking, they all require at least a million dollars of net worth, or annual income of $200,000 for an individual and $300,000 for a married couple. These thresholds were set as a proxy for a "sophisticated investor." But they were set way back in 1982. With the rapid economic growth and the huge run-up in residential real estate values over the last couple of decades, a lot more people are worth a million dollars or more today than 15 or 20 years ago. So a lot of people who might not really be very sophisticated investors are now eligible to invest in hedge funds. However well these monetary thresholds worked in the early 80's, they make much less sense in the face of the economic realities of 2005.
We are concerned that, for some, the SEC's thresholds for exemption from registration have become, inappropriately, litmus tests for suitability, which is a cornerstone of NASD's regulatory program. Our suitability rule generally outlines factors that should be taken into consideration when making a recommendation and determining whether a particular transaction is suitable, such as the investor's financial status and investment objectives.
We are considering whether NASD should adopt a rule setting a floor - setting a higher minimum net worth and income for investors to whom registered reps can recommend hedge fund shares and perhaps other risky products. Wealth is not a proxy for sophistication and suitability, but it can be a valuable tool.
In my remarks today, I have spoken about what we expect the brokerage industry to do. I can assure you that NASD will continue to emphasize that a broker-dealer has important responsibilities when it sells mutual funds. Last month, we issued an alert to broker-dealers, advising them that their sale of mutual funds must be consistent with their dealer agreements. Dealer agreements should delineate the respective responsibilities of the parties in a manner reasonably designed to protect investors. We reminded broker-dealers that the failure to adhere to the dealer agreement could violate NASD rules, particularly if the failure results in financial harm to investors.
However, the broker-dealer industry cannot bear the responsibility alone. In each of the areas that I have discussed, the mutual fund industry must police itself. Mutual fund companies also must provide brokers with the information and assistance that they need to ensure that their customers are adequately protected.
Take the breakpoint issue, for example. In many instances, individual breakpoint discounts are relatively small. Nevertheless, both mutual fund companies and their distributors cannot lose sight of their obligations to deliver on promises made, and the sum of broken promises can add up. As I mentioned earlier, over $125 million has been returned to customers under the breakpoints restitution program.
Like broker-dealers, funds have learned from the breakpoints example. As I've noted, with ICI's most welcome assistance, many of you have populated NSCC's breakpoint database. I encourage the rest of you to do so as soon as possible. And there are other lessons that can be learned as well. When new products are created, or old ones changed, funds should think carefully about whether the benefits offered can be delivered correctly and whether restrictions, such as portability, are justified given their negative impact on investors.
Of course, breakpoints are not the only area in which we have called on the mutual fund industry to shoulder its responsibilities. We have, for example, brought an enforcement action against a mutual fund distributor in connection with market timing. The distributor did send block letters to a dealer to stop market timing by the dealer's customers, but those letters were ignored and the distributor had reason to know that. Yet, the distributor did not take appropriate action.
This list could go on and on, but I won't take more of your time. My point is a simple one -- that the mutual fund industry, working with the broker-dealer community, can ensure that customers are protected. I am proud of the fact that through our Task Forces, NASD has brought together experts from both industries who hashed out their differences and found common ground - all in order to help investors.
NASD will continue to promote this type of cooperation between the mutual fund and broker-dealer industries. I am certain that working together we can ensure that broker-dealer customers, who are your shareholders, will be treated fairly. Thank you.


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Akon defends 'hero' Bill Cosby: 'You don't really know if he did it'
Mel EvansWednesday 9 May 2018 11:54 am
Akon has defended Bill Cosby amid actor's sexual assault case (Picture: Getty)
Akon has spoken about his 'hero' Bill Cosby this week and his comments are, well, yeah.
The Smack That singer was asked about his thoughts on the guilty verdict that was handed down to the 80-year-old last month, as he waited at a baggage carousel.
When Akon was informed by TMZ Cosby had been found guilty on all three counts of aggravated indecent assault he said he wasn't sure what a 'fair sentence' would be.
The comedian was accused of drugging and violating Andrea Constand in 2004, and was found guilty by a jury made up of seven men and five women.
He now faces 10 years in prison on each count.
Cosby and his legal team following the case (Picture: AP)
'I don't know the extent all the facts,' the rapper told TMZ. 'You don't really know if he did it.'
When Akon was informed by the cameraman he had been convicted, he replied: 'A lot of people been convicted who are innocent. In situations like this, I don't know.
'I've already been painted a picture of Bill Crosby, he's a hero to me.
'It's hard to flip that around.'
Akon, who allegedly spent three years in prison himself, added: 'I wasn't there at the trial, whatever was revealed – these allegations from 30/40 years ago.
'The truth is always a great thing to me.
More: Bill Cosby
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'I think karma does a lot and karma makes no mistakes – if the law doesn't catch you, karma will eventually.'
Cosby's sentencing has been scheduled for July.
MORE: Extra security measures to be taken at Bill Cosby sentencing 'for his own protection'
MORE: Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski kicked out of Oscars Academy
AkonBill Cosby
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Patapaa – One Corner ft. Ras Cann | This Song is Currently Most Popular In Ghana?
If you're active on social media you might have come across the kind of scenes this song has been known to cause among the Ghanaian people.
The song, like many other pop song is not the best of quality but seems to be loved greatly. Play below and watch viral reaction to the song while Patapaa was performing it live.


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THE MAN WHO LIVED FOR TOYS
By Rusty Kern
Francis X. Rice, the Chief Designer of Marx playsets, passed away at 7 A.M. EST
December 30th, 2006, at the age of 86 of natural causes. A World War Two veteran
and former Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus, he was the architect of many
of the Marx playsets we honor here on these pages. His fans came to know and love
him through his humor and insight into the creation of the line we cherish as children and
adults. He fell ill at the beginning of December, and while we all thought he would
recover; only his beloved wife Rusty and Frank himself knew the end was coming.
"He was a man who lived for toys and for Christmas, and he has passed," she said.
Frank would never have allowed a tribute to him, not while he lived. He always said the Marx playset was a team effort, the result of a collaboration of talent that started with Louis Marx' love of figures, and Ed "Click" Hjelte, the merchandiser whose success in marketing toys brought him to Marx. It was Ed who hired Frank into the research and development room at Marx headquarters, 200 Fifth Avenue in New York City. But it was Frank who maintained and fully developed the playset line, and we are publishing some of his story in the next issue.
Frank elevated the playset line from ranch houses and rodeo sets to Fort Apache and D-Day with a honed and clear-cut philosophy that rings true even today.
Frank is shown here in a detail of a pre-1962 photo of Louis Marx and others at a victory celebration following Toy Fair
He said that the playset needed to centered around something -- a fort or headquarters, and
barring that, vehicles and massed troops, to carry clear-cut conflict between opposing forces.
It was what he called "the good guys and the bad guys."
He was the designer of Davy Crockett at the Alamo, Zorro, Battleground, Ben-Hur, The
Flintstones and many other playsets of the 50's and 60's. Later, Frank designed The Guns of
Navarone, Comanche Pass and other vertical sets which were huge international hits and among
his greatest designs.
He'd never admit it but he was also important to his church. No less than five priests presided at
his funeral mass, three of whom were monsignors; all men he had helped and served to the
betterment of his church and fellow man. A man of towering spiritual beliefs, a rich past of fulfilling
the dreams of children throughout the world, Frank Rice rests tonight, his work done.
But he was a historian and storyteller at heart, and as you see his figures and settings, the playsets
with sweep and scope, details and history, you are once again living his tales of the Wild West, of
distant places and times; produced in a competitive atmosphere of the world toy market. We will continue to enjoy them as always, for their own sake and on their own terms. But we will always remember the man who designed them.
God speed Frank.


My work is situated in the intersectional spaces of Indigenous performance, youth and diaspora, hip hop culture- specifically Indigenous hip hop feminism, and Indigenous new media. I am particularly interested in new Indigeneities produced in urban hub spaces as they shape solidarity movements and social activism. My forthcoming book 'We survived we crow-walked an we learned to fly': Hip hop as contemporary urban Indigenous thought' explores Indigenous hip hop culture's activism and socio/cultural critique, offering alter Indigeneities and manifesting Indigenous futurity.


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Herrarnas lagtävling i backhoppning vid de olympiska vinterspelen 1994 i Lillehammer i Norge hölls den 22 februari 1994.

Lagtävling

Resultat

Referenser

Backhoppning vid olympiska vinterspelen 1994

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Automotive History: Other European Deadly Sins (Part 2) – Monteverdi, Italicized Helvetica Bold
Tatra87
Although some of you may have discovered the existence of Belgian cars in yesterday's post, it is likely that many CC readers will be able to recognize the only post-war Swiss marque in today's topic. Monteverdi cars represent the same short-lived "Golden Age" that gave us Facel-Vega, Iso or Jensen – super-luxurious Autobahn cruisers with huge V8s and impeccable tailoring. Nearly all the Euro-American hybrids died out in the '70s, but Monteverdi carried on through to 1984. How did they manage that?
Above, the man: Peter Monteverdi (1934-1998); below, the place: Binningen, on the outskirts of Basel.
The story of the marque is often the story of the man – never more so than in the present case. Peter Monteverdi was born to an Italian father in Binningen, in the half-Canton of Basel-Landshaft, where Switzerland meets France and Germany. Almost immediately, Peter Monteverdi got involved with cars (his father owned a car repair shop) and built his first sports car by age 16. He soon started taking part in races and hill-climbs in nearby France or Germany, once Switzerland outlawed all car racing after the 1955 Le Mans disaster. Monteverdi drove a variety of cars in the '50s, but found a lot of success on Ferraris. He took over the paternal business when his father died in 1956.
In 1960, he created his own racing car under the MBM (Monteverdi Basel Motors) brand, a Formula Junior single-seater with a DKW engine. Soon, a Porsche-powered chassis was made for hill-climbs. Monteverdi even tried racing the MBM as a Formula 1, but he suffered a severe crash at Hockenheim in 1961 that led him to quit racing. That dream was gone, but at least the MBM adventure put him on the map. Back in 1957, Peter Monteverdi had managed to meet with Enzo Ferrari and officially became the Swiss Ferrari importer. Monteverdi also became the Swiss importer for Bentley, Lancia and BMW over the years, making him a figure in the relatively small Swiss automotive world. The Ferrari account was lost when Enzo Ferrari, in 1965, demanded that Monteverdi pay up front for a shipment of 100 cars, which led to a memorable shouting match and lifelong acrimony between the two hot-blooded automakers.
The first of several cars with Peter Monteverdi's personal "BL 69" plate.
In 1964, Peter Monteverdi signed a contract with Jensen and took home a CV8 coupé – a sexy, powerful yet comfortable car – as a demonstrator. He used the CV8 as his personal transport in 1964 (but sold precious few Jensens) and after a time the centime dropped: why not do something like this, with oodles of power and lashings of luxury, instead of having to put up with Enzo Ferrari's constant bickering? Certainly, it seemed the invariably middle-aged Ferrari customers he saw everyday could be tempted by a few more creature comforts than were available in the prancing horse's vehicles. Monteverdi was about to "pull a Ferruccio" on uncle Enzo.
Peter Monteverdi worked on his supercar project discreetly in 1965-66, busily determining how the project might get off the ground. The engine would be the infamous 7.2 litre (440 ci) Chrysler V8 with minor modifications, mated with the Torqueflite or four-speed manual transmission. The chassis was (allegedly) designed by Monteverdi himself.
1966 prospectus for the new car, then still named MBM.
For the car's body, the Swiss entrepreneur went straight to the best: Pietro Frua, then as the height of his fame. This was going to be an exciting mélange of US brawn and Italian style – put together in… Switzerland? By the '60s, most Swiss people would have had a hard time remembering the last national automaker.
The last Swiss car before Monteverdi: 1934 Martini NF (4.4 litre 6-cyl.) cabriolet by Worblaufen
Sure, there were a few assembly plants – notably the GM plant in Bienne, a couple of truck manufacturers and a few coachbuilders, but the last Swiss automaker had petered out in the mid-'30s. Suffice to say that Peter Monteverdi was starting from a blank page, which carried its own challenges.
The new 375 S. Peter Monteverdi liked being photographed posing (awkwardly) with his creations.
The new car was supposed to come out on home ground – the Geneva Motor Show – but the timing was too tight for an early 1967 unveiling; instead, the new car would be launched at the Frankfurt show in October. The MBM marque was ditched in favour of the boss's last name. This was a wise move, for it was a great and melodious name, a supercar's name.
The first proper Monteverdi car was the High Speed 375 S, a two-seater coupé. The body, which had been designed and built by Frua in Italy, was a thing of beauty. It immediately gave the Monteverdi cars and marque a strong visual identity that is not always present in cars of this elk (I'm looking at you, De Tomaso): quad headlamps set low within a simple, rectangular grille and a squared-off rear to match. Only a couple of Monteverdi cars really strayed from that formula.
Monteverdi also enjoyed having his stand right in Ferrari's face at motor shows.
Frua went a bit fish-faced for the 375 S's redesign, which followed in 1968. The car's startled front end is hard to put in relation to the squareness of the rear. The design must have had its fans though, as Monteverdi kept the hardtop going until about 1972 and introduced a cabriolet version that lasted until 1974.
The Frua 375 L prototype lacked the taut lines that Monteverdi wanted.
But what the Monteverdi range needed most was a four-seater coupé. The Jensen crowd were put off by two-seaters. The wheelbase stretch was to be around 10cm, enough to shoehorn a rear seat, albeit without much legroom. Frua designed the car as a fastback, but Peter Monteverdi was not happy with the result. He promptly went to Fissore, another Italian coachbuilder, and made some changes to the Frua design.
Five Fiats and a Benz, L-R from top: '47 & '51 1100, '52 170 D & '54 1100 TV, '57 Multipla & '58 600
Fissore was a relatively renowned Italian coachbuilder, located near Turin. They had started in the '20s by making horse-drawn carts and moved to motorized transport by the '30s, though trucks and buses were more their specialty initially. After the Second World War, Fissore worked increasingly with Fiat, making small runs of special bodies (wagons, coupés, etc.), commercial vehicles (hearses, ambulances) as well as the occasional special request (prototypes, one-offs) for Fiat, Italian Mercedes-Benz dealers and private individuals. All Fissore bodies from the first half of the '50s were penned by the prolific and talented Giovanni Michelotti.
By the early '60s, Fissore extended their client list to include OSCA (top left), Cisitalia and the Brazilian DKW-Vemag (top right). The carrozzeria then got involved with the TVR Trident design and also built a series of P1800 prototypes for Volvo. The Monteverdi account would bring in a limited but steady source of activity for Fissore at a time when many of the old names (such as Allemano, Motto, Touring or Viotti) had gone under.
The gorgeous 375 L was sold from 1969 to 1977 – some say in 300 units, others go as low as 50.
Fissore made a deal with Monteverdi to supply him with better-quality bodies than what Frua, who was notorious for subcontracting the bulk of his carrozzeria's work to various second-tier coachbuilders with various quality control issues. Fissore was a more serious outfit and cooperated with Monteverdi to design the 375 L – perhaps the best-looking Monteverdi and certainly the most iconic. Nobody has any idea how many were made, just like for most Monteverdis, but they remained on the marque's sales literature until the very end of the 375 series, longer than any other model. But of course, Frua flipped his lid when he saw the 375 L and successfully sued Monteverdi and Fissore for making an unlicensed copy of his design.
1968 Monteverdi 2000 GT – missed opportunity?
After all, did he not just finalize the BMW-powered Monteverdi 2000 GT? Frua had been working with Glas and BMW for years and he had suggested to Peter Monteverdi that the BMW platform could be a great base for a stylish sports coupé. But now, Frua walked away and took his BMW contacts with him.
Same car, different badges…
Or so it seems. It's unclear whether Frua made the 2000 GT as a BMW first and then took out the double kidney grille to turn it into a Monteverdi or the other way around. Whatever the timeline actually was, the mooted "small Monteverdi" never happened. Peter Monteverdi couldn't have cared less – he wanted to continue fleshing out his big V8 range.
The Hai point of post-war Swiss car making.
First order of business: a supercar. To out-Ferruccio Ferruccio Lamborghini himself, Peter Monteverdi devised a mid-engined stunner, the Hai 450, which he unveiled at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show. The Hai ("shark" auf Deutsch) was probably penned by Trevor Fiore, given the car's shape. The front end, though, is far more graceful than the French car's snout, and if we owe only that to Fissore and Monteverdi, it's already plenty. Almost instantly, the Hai became a mystical object of fantasy. The dizzying 450 hp (from a Chrysler 426 hemi), the stunning looks, the modernity of the package, the 180 mph top speed – it all seemed too crazy. And perhaps it was: despite many demands from wealthy enthusiasts, Monteverdi never agreed to a sale, perhaps thinking that it was too much car for anyone to handle. Notoriously vague with figures, Peter Monteverdi claimed that "a few" Hais were built. It could well be that only three or four were ever made, if that.
Next came the logical step: a big four-door saloon. The 375 chassis was stretched even more and was beginning to reach American proportions. The Iso S4 and the recent De Tomaso Deauville may have prompted Monteverdi to accelerate the 375/4 programme, which led to the car's launch in 1971, though it seems the first cars only hit the road by ate 1972. The rather svelte wedge-shaped luxobarge was still using the 7-litre Chrysler V8, which managed to push the car up to 240kph. The 375/4 sold quite poorly – estimates vary of course, but at best (i.e. according to Monteverdi) only 30 units were made in five years.
Be that as it may, Monteverdi sort of hit their stride by this point. The cars were not exactly flying out of the factory, but there were a few lucky takers out there. What kind of product did they get for their money? A very fast, very comfortable car with all the bells and whistles and leather, for sure. But it wasn't all top-notch Swiss quality. Having to import almost everything to make his cars, Peter Monteverdi found out how difficult it is to be an independent automaker in a small country with few automotive players and suppliers.
The 1972 Monteverdis – best-looking range ever?
The Fissore bodies rusted and they rusted quickly. The interior fittings were not up to Rolls-Royce or Mercedes standards – by quite a distance – on a car that cost as much as four Jaguar E-Types. Several parts of the 375 (e.g. brake servo, power steering unit, A/C, etc.) could be different from one car to the next, depending on what Peter Monteverdi had managed to find. Fortunately, Chrysler were happy selling their V8s and transmissions. But even in the good years, the business struggled.
The fish-mouthed 375 S was restyled for 1973, in both coupé and convertible form. The former became the 375 Berlinetta and the latter was renamed Palm Beach. The rest of the range carried on unchanged.
Above: Monteverdi range for 1974-75; below: victims of circumstance around the same time.
But by the mid-'70s, the writing was clearly on the wall. The 1973-74 Oil Shock had poured cold water on the hot Euro-American V8 hybrids, which peeled off one after the next. The whole luxury car world was in tatters – Aston Martin, Maserati and Lamborghini were also in a precarious position. AC, Iso, Jensen and Monica lay dead or dying. To make matters worse, BMW announced they would no longer use Monteverdi as their Swiss agent after 1975. But Peter Monteverdi did not panic. He had an idea.
It's hard to pinpoint the birth of the SUV. The 1963 Kaiser Jeep Wagoneer could certainly count among the forefathers of the genre; some also argue that the 1970 Range Rover was one. But the guy who really nailed it, arguably, was Peter Monteverdi with the 1976-82 Safari.
As we can see from this amusingly translated brochure, Monteverdi took a humble International Scout, stuffed a great big V8 in the front, redesigned the body to give it some of that Monteverdi style (taillights courtesy of the Peugeot 504 wagon), stuffed as many extras as he could think of and trimmed the whole thing in leather. Now that was a mid-'70s Escalade, far from the Jeep's dated styling and the Range Rover's dodgy quality.
The Monteverdi Safari was quite a hit. It was expensive, but it had no competition. If you were swimming in petrodollars like the OPEC leaders were at the time, the Safari was an obvious choice. The last of the 375 range, now paired down to the saloon and the 2+2 coupé, was kept alongside the Safari for 1976 and 77, but production was stopped by then.
Transforming existing models was certainly easier than making a car from the ground up. Seeing how the Safari had saved his company, Peter Monteverdi figured he might try to market a new saloon based on a series-produced car. Even the Swiss preferred to buy smaller cars by this point in time. He naturally turned to Chrysler. The corporation's new Plymouth Volare, though it had no pretense of prestige, seemed like a good base for the 1977 Monteverdi Sierra.
I'm confident many of you have an opinion on the Plymouth Volare, which was, according to Paul, a clear-cut Deadly Sin for Mopar. Judging by comments on various Volare/Aspen-related CC posts, negativity is the norm when discussing this particular car. Monteverdi did two positive things: he restyled the car, inside and out (taillights courtesy of the second series Renault 12) and tweaked the engine. But the rest of the car was as terrible as any other Plymouth Volare. Rust, rattles, cramped seating and high fuel consumption were just as bad on the expensive Monteverdi as on the cheapo Plymouth.
Undaunted, Peter Monteverdi introduced a Sierra drop-top, which was quite a looker, and even produced a finished prototype Sierra wagon. Alas, sales were dismal: three cabriolets and somewhere between 25 and 40 saloons in five years. What was to point of proposing a cheaper (but still very expensive) Monteverdi saloon if the new one fared as badly as the old?
But Peter Monteverdi likely did not lose too much sleep over the Sierra: the Safari had been paired up with a cheaper version, the Sahara, which also sold pretty well. From 1977 to 1980, over 300 Monteverdi cars were being sold per year on average – triple the numbers of the early '70s. It was all thanks to the 4×4 range. The same Monteverdi treatment that had been applied to the IH Scout and the Volare was also attempted on a Subaru wagon and a Toyota Hi-Ace. But the world wasn't ready for a deluxe MPV yet…
In 1979, Monteverdi unveiled a new military vehicle design – a Swiss Jeep, if you will. Always on the cutting edge, the Swiss army were immediately taken by the 230M and its CoE version, placing an order so large that Monteverdi were unable to even begin fulfilling it. Swiss truck and bus maker Saurer ended up licensing the Monteverdi design, making three versions (a military Jeep and a CoE, as well as a civilian version of the Jeep) for several years and further improving Monteverdi's profitability.
Also in 1979, Monteverdi tried stretching the Safari to turn it into a four-door wagon. The results were certainly handsome and Monteverdi soon got a call from Rover (or Rover got a call from Basel, the story is characteristically unclear). They inspected the prototype thoroughly and paid a large sum of money for the design rights. Monteverdi were ideally placed to do a trial run, and the four-door Range Rover, decked in leather and festooned with "Monteverdi Fissore" badges, was presented at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show.
This initial run of four-door Range Rovers, which (crucially) had the same wheelbase as the two-door, was sold through Range Rover dealerships. The chassis and body were sent from Sollihull with two sets of doors to Fissore in Turin, who made the cars more or less by hand. The cars were then transported to Binningen, where the interior was gussied up and badges applied. This went on until late 1982, by which time Rover had introduced their own slightly revised production version. As is often the case, production data are a mystery, but the consensus is that 150 to 300 Range Rovers were made by Monteverdi.
Peter Monteverdi was financially set up for life by the early '80s. The Sahara and Safari 4x4s were getting on a bit by now, and the Sierra had been a complete flop. What was the Swiss carmaker's next move? Still in cahoots with Fissore, in 1980 Monteverdi toyed with a Ford Grenada-based hatchback prototype called the Monteverdi Macho (above) that had few realistic prospects of reaching production. Whatever a Monteverdi was, it should be a big, powerful car. Chrysler had had their day, now Monteverdi switched to Mercedes-Benz.
The new W126 S-Class was everything Monteverdi wished he could make – big, imposing, well-engineered and supremely comfortable, albeit in a more Germanic vein than the Plymouth-derived Sierra. With a little Fissore magic, the Benz became the new Monteverdi Tiara, launched at the 1982 Geneva Motor Show.
I'm not sure what to make of the result. The front-end restyle did not mate well with the beefy Benz's look and ended up looking rather anonymous. Monteverdi's continuing infatuation with French-sourced rear lights resulted in his grafting the Peugeot 505's clusters on the S-Class's tail, giving it a strange look of déjà vu. No mechanical changes were made, rendering the car somewhat pointless.
Perhaps the Tiara's best feature…
In 1984, after a mere four Tiaras built, Peter Monteverdi decided to halt all production and reassess his business model. Unlike most dead marques, his was still in the black and he had several options to consider. In the end, he turned the garage in Benningen into a museum, thereby ensuring the Monteverdi mystique could live on. He may also have built a Hai or two at this point, just to make sure he could claim to have made "a few" of the phantom supercar.
Above: 1971-85 Fissore Scout 127; below: Rayton-Fissore Magnum
The end of Monteverdi also spelled trouble for Fissore (officially renamed Rayton-Fissore since 1976), which went into administration in 1984. The Swiss partner, coupled with the traditional Fiat-derived products, had helped sustain the coachbuilder throughout the '70s – especially the Méhari/Mini Moke-like Scout. But the era of small specialized production seemed at an end, even in Italy. However, a new project was put together with American backing: a sprirtual successor to the Monteverdi Safari. The Rayton Fissore Magnum, sold in the US as the LaForza, used an IVECO 4×4 chassis and a wie variety of engines. Initial clients included the Italian police, but European sales went south after a few years. Nevertheless, the Tom Tjaarda-designed SUV was built for (mainly US and Middle-East) export in Turin until 2003. Rayton-Fissore were also behind the aborted '90s rebirth of Isotta-Fraschini.
In 1990, like several other deceased marques around that time, Monteverdi designed a brand new Hai model and voiced hopes of launching a small series of new cars, but it was not to be. That same year, Peter Monteverdi bought a 50% share of Onyx Grand Prix, a fledgling Formula 1 team, turning it into Monteverdi Onyx. Alas, the team was beset with issues and the project collapsed before the end of the year. Peter Monteverdi's health was starting to take a turn for the worse. Though he never stopped his activities, he had to slow things down. Having managed to publicize and sometimes aggrandize his automotive achievements for the sake of posterity, Peter Monteverdi passed away in 1998, aged 64.
The paradox of Monteverdi is that the firm always remained a very small niche player, but tried different niches instead of sticking to just the one. The 375s were gorgeous, SUV move was inspired. The Deadly Sins might lie with the later saloons, the Sierra and the Tiara. The Sierra was a particularly poor excuse for a luxury saloon – even though its styling was still pleasant. After the 1979 sequel of the Oil Shock, nobody had any notion of Monteverdi as anything but a Scout with fancy trim – in Europe, the Sierra was dead in the water, with its gas-guzzling V8 and awkward road manners. In the Middle-East, it lacked prestige and off-roadability. In the US, it was a non-starter (and was never imported). The Tiara was too little, too late and too half-baked. Were they Deadly Sins? In some way, yes: Monteverdi did close shop. But the time for this type of niche artisanal production was up in any case, and there are two other points to consider.
The little shop of Felbers: the Oasis model (top right) was also based on the IH Scout.
Point one: the nefarious Willy Felber, whose little operation on the shores of lake Geneva probably stole a few dozen clients from his Basler competitor. Felber initially went for retro sports cars, but soon graduated to butchering Ferraris. By the late '70s, Felber was the anti-Monteverdi. He proposed his garish designs on a variety of American or European saloons and coupés (anything from Autobianchis to Buicks), as well as a deluxe 4×4 that would have irked Peter Monteverdi even more had the Binningen works not been at its busiest during this period. One wonders whence these ideas came from (and why he took them to such extremes). Another remarkable coincidence: Felber folded in 1984.
Monteverdi's Benningen works, offices and showroom all fit in this small building.
Point two: Peter Monteverdi quit while he was ahead, financially speaking: the Range Rover, the Saurer license, the Safari and the Sahara had brought him more wealth than he had before. His ego had been satisfied and his wallet was still full – from then on, he polished his image and that of his cars. I'm not aware of any parallel in the automotive world: automakers have often merged, gone bust or retrenched to other activities, but the founder rarely just quit the business of making cars to enshrine his own legend and turn the place into a museum.
Hope this was as much fun for you as it was for me. Let us bid farewell to the mountainous Confederation and head back to the flatter parts of the continent for the big story of a little Dutch wonder called DAF.
Monteverdi Sierra – The Plymouth Volare Gets Some Italian Tailoring, by PN
The Scout Gets Seriously Tarted Up By The Swiss: Monteverdi Sahara & Safari And Felber Oasis, by PN
Carshow Classics: Highlights From MotorClassica 2017, by Don Andreina
European Deadly Sins series
French DS 1 (Hotchkiss, Panhard, Citroën) — French DS 2 (Bugatti, Facel-Vega, Monica)
British DS 1 (Jowett, Armstrong Siddeley, Daimler) — British DS 2 (Alvis, Lagonda, Gordon-Keeble)
German DS 1 (BMW, Borgward, Glas) — German DS 2 (Neckar, DKW, NSU)
Italian DS 1 (Autobianchi, Iso, Lancia)
Joseph Dennis
Fantastic (early-morning) read, and another one to bookmark. I have long been fascinated with the Monteverdi story, having read bits and pieces here and there, but this piece is a wonderful, well-researched and written overview.
What a shame abut the Sierra… We had a '77 Plymouth Volaré that rusted out in short order. Imagine shelling out all that money for a Sierra only to experience all the lackluster qualities the Chrysler F-Bodies, well, embodied. The wagon prototype was something to behold!
Love it, I think I'm a fan of all the Monteverdis except for the Tiara and strangely enough, the Hai, something about its proportions just seem off…
Thanks for another well crafted history of one of sutomobiledoms more intriguing characters.
The only real looker for me is the 375 L; the rest don't grab me too much although the 2000 shape is nice. Sedan looks like a backyard effort at the rear, and the fish face S. Nuff sed. Hai… meh. There were two variations, you've shown the 450 SS, there was also a 450 GTS with slightly different frontal treatment.
But the 375 L is way up in the stratosphere of great shapes. As with the Grifo, ruined by rhinoplasty.
Gordon-Keeble, Iso, and now Monteverdi. Writ superbly right here on CC by our very own Tatra87. I can now die a happy man.
"Die a happy man"?
Don't do it, Don! We can get you help!
Posted March 17, 2018 at 4:48 PM
hehehe primo shit man
Lotus Rebel
Monteverdi could have certainly benefited from the Monteverdi 2000 GT and Frua's contacts with BMW, since it would have been in essence a reliable Swiss equivalent of the Facel Vega Facellia. Monteverdi could have even benefited from BMW M10-based V8 and V12 engines.
Quite like the Fissore styling of the Monteverdi Sierra and Tiara, pity larger carmakers never poached Fissore.
Interestingly the Monteverdi Macho hatchback prototype appeared in both 3-door and 5-door forms. Also given the prototype was powered by a 2.8 Ford Cologne V6, it would have been interesting seeing a production Macho feature turbocharged and twin-turbocharged versions of the Cologne V6 to make it a Swiss equivalent of a Maserati Biturbo.
Credit to Monteverdi for managing to significantly tweak the styling of the Scout and Volare, to create very modern, and elegant designs.
Very interesting and well-written article; I'd known very little about these cars before now. It is fascinating how many vehicles – these, Lamborghinis, the GT40 – had their origins in a dispute with Ferrari.
Lokki
Fascinating cars. I always loved the idea of a Monteverdi 375L with a honking Chrysler 440. I had always thought of them as being as exciting as any of the Italian/American hybrids without all the terrors of a handbuilt Italian car -Swiss watch quality- but now thanks to this article, I know better. I still want one though.
Still, I have to say no to the Deadly Sin designation. Anytime you leave the fight on your feet with your money in your pocket, you're a winner.
You're seeing the glass half full. Monteverdi still felt the best move was to quit. While he was ahead, sure, but he still had to quit.
In a very Swiss way, he euthanized his marque rather than go out "all guns blazing like the Jowett Jupiter", as Montagu used to say. One last roll of the dice? Most people say yes (or don't know when to quit). Monteverdi's move was that of a wise man, but ultimately, the Deadliness of the Sin remains.
Chrysler should've bought the rights to the Sierra design, it's certainly a more attractive and convincing-looking attempt to make a luxury car from the A/M-body than the Fifth Avenue ended up being.
I agree. Unfortunately, Chrysler was still in the Iacocca Era. Where wire wheel cover, tufted pillow cushion seats, and padded vinyl roofs defined 'luxury'. More understated luxury design would come later.
PRNDL
Monteverdi… Tasteful. (Mostly) sleek and powerful.
Felber… Umm, let's just say those left me fumbling for the eye bleach! Even the lowly GM X body didn't deserve such indignity. And that F body? Atrocious!
Posted March 16, 2018 at 10:12 PM
What's in a name:
Monteverdi (ital.) … Greenhill.
Felber (german)….. Willow.
However, I am pretty sure that Monteverdi also made power boats for nearby Lago Maggiore, Lake Geneva and of course Mediterranean. Or it was another Pietro Monteverdi, but I think not. Google says nothing here, but that does not mean much. Italian Google is lousy.
He did design boats (see my answer to William Stopford below).
But making boats in a landlocked country is a bit like making ice sculptures in the (Monteverdi) Sahara.
johnh875
Have you heard of the Henley on Todd boat race Tatra? It is held on the river at Alice Springs in central Australia, and let's just say there is no risk of drowning…
I had been barely familiar with Monteverdi and this excellent piece fills in lots and lots of gaps.
That Sierra is fabulous. Having driven a Volare a time or two I can see where it would not have felt like it belonged in the price class the Sierra inhabited, the styling is beautiful. Had the Volare or the later LeBaron/Diplomat been styled to look like the Sierra these cars could have become a hit of Cordoba proportions for Chrysler.
Also that second generation 375S has a lot of Packard Hawk in the front end. The Monteverdi makes it work better.
Beat me to it! I saw the same thing, along with a hint of 240Z in the grille and especially the headlight scoops.
Great call on the Packard. There's a bit of a Daimler Dart feel too.
Ichthyoid.
According to the fine print, Monteverdi reworked the front end of the Volare.
Note the mention of coil springs. Also note that any mention of the rear suspension has been conveniently omitted.
This appears to be a translation mistake. The German text does not say "coil springs" ("schraubenfeder") but says "progressive springing elements", which of course would apply to torsion bars.
It would have been absurdly expensive to redo that front end suspension, and for what reason?
J.Metzinger
Thanks for the history lesson, though I was hoping you would tell us more about the cars of that Elk named De Tomaso. Sorry couldn't resist!
Autobahnraser
Another well written piece by you tatra 87.
The 375 S is really a pretty car, except that fish faced version. The Hai and lacks of proportions and the Tiara is really crap. An S Klasse Mercedes with another front clip. Looks like two different cars. I think they done a better job on the Sierra/Volare.
But the SUV idea was great.
Interestingly I saw my first Monteverdi in flesh and blood at car show few weeks ago. Must be a 375 L.
I watched this unfold in real time, and it was quite a show. It started out so superbly with the 375S (pre faceflift) and the 375L was of course terrific too. And I admit to having a teenage crush on the Hai; what young guy wouldn't? A Chrysler hemi in the back seat? Why didn't Chrysler buy this design from Monteverdi? It would have made quite the halo car.
But after that, things went rather downhill. One has to remember that the prime customers for almost of of his cars after the energy crisis were rich oil sheiks, which explains the Tiara. That was very mild compared to all of the extremely garish W126 (and other) customs that soon polluted the world in the 1980s. Monteverdi was relatively restrained, likely too much so for that clientele.
XR7Matt
In the back seat? It seems to be the chatty middle passenger by the look of it!
Looks like it would compromise space for the passenger seat too! And good luck making a rhd version.
Great article! I just happen to have bought a Sierra previous weekend. For those interested, see my blog: http://monteverdisierra.blogspot.com
Wow, that is awesome. Quite courageous, too. Welcome to the tiny elite of folks who own a Monteverdi.
Do you know when it was manufactured?
Thank you. According to the UK registration papers it's from 21-11-1978 with VIN 9153 (it's a LHD by the way). However I have seen VIN 9160 with registration date 30 Dec 1977. So based on that I would say ours must be from an earlier date. I will update my blog once I find out more, still doing some retrospective blogs writing up.
tonyola
Posted March 16, 2018 at 10:37 AM
Yet another in a series of terrific articles by Tatra87. My favorite of the Monteverdis is the 375/4 limousine – long, sleek, and slightly sinister.
MikePDX
Who knew the lofty Range Rover traces its lineage back to the humble IH Scout!
Thanks Tatra87 for yet another fascinating history.
I agree with lokki, no Deadly Sin here since the company didn't go broke. Peter Monteverdi must have been a very interesting man.
The launch of the Range Rover predates the Scout II by a year. I have to disagree with my learned colleague T87 in his claims as to the place of the Safari in the way of things SUV. Without the Range Rover creating a market segment for the well-to-do to enjoy a non-agricultural (sorry Wagoneer) 4WD wagon, who knows whether the Safari would have even existed?
Great read, and is actually a rare happy ending for an automaker. I've heard the Monteverdi name thrown around from time to time, and recognize a few like the cabriolet and the Hai certainly looks familiar, but mostly this is all new to me, so I'm having fun looking at the cars and details.
The original 375 High Speed kind of reminds me of a perfect blend between a Maserati Ghibli and an Aston Martin DBS, in fact the 375/4 saloon looks like how the Laganda should look. And 440 power? Oh my!
I knew about the 375's and the Hai, plus a few others, but the Sierra, Tiara, and 4 door Range Rover link to Monteverdi were all new to me. Thanks! A lasting memory of a trip to Italy in 2000 or 2001 was seeing Rayton-Fissore Fissore (LaForza) police cars in small Italian hill towns, along with 110 Land Rovers and 4wd Fiat Pandas.
Thank you, Tatra. A great article about an interesting manufacturer I knew little about.
I love the 375 and I kind of like the Sierra.
William Stopford
So, weirdly, I knew about the Sierra and the Safari but I didn't know anything about Monteverdi's other cars. Wow. That Tiara smacks of pointlessness, and that 375 sedan is just… astonishingly proportioned. I love it, don't get me wrong, but it looks like it's out of some video game… It doesn't look real.
The Macho is neat. Weird to make a three-door hatch off of a large-ish sedan platform, though.
Question, though: you mentioned Monteverdi building prototypes off of Subaru and Toyota HiAce bases. Are there any photos of these? I find that utterly fascinating.
Also, P.S: another amazing article from you Tatra and you really taught me a lot. It was especially interesting to learn about the assembly quality of these cars, which wasn't quite at Swiss watch levels.
Thanks for your very kind words, William!
Here's those Jap-Monteverdi curios. Felber-level stuff, if you ask me. No idea how many (if many) were made. A coupe version of the Subaru also exists.
Oh, how very disappointing. They barely look different!
I'm tempted to use "Felber-level" as a descriptor in future!
Great, well written article.
The 'planned'Opel Diplomat based Monti shown to left is intriguing- it could have been quite a package – was it taken to prototype stage? In identally, I had a ride in a gold Montiverdi 4 door Range Rover in the early 90s. When RR launched their 4 door the front door was shortened. I think Montiverdi's version used the long front door from the 2 door RR – I remember the rear door aperture being very narrow……
As always, a very educational Tatra 87 article….
justy baum
Ditto ditto to all the praise-givers, fully justified, T87.
For once, I knew a fair chunk of this story, but I had never known of the 375 sedan, and now wish I didn't. Did it have a rear badge saying "Stretched by Amatuers"? Not good.
No wonder Frua sued. His original is the best looker to me. The rear side window line on the production 375L looks off. The 375s and 375 L are by far the best lookers though. As for the rest, I see a lot of Excalibar-taste kit-carness, quite unconvincing. And you'd have to wonder if anyone who bought the 4×4 actually drove a Rangie, because a Rangie the Scout ain't. (Which for those who valued actually getting to their destination was the best thing about the Scout compared to the Rover, but I digress).
These cars did fascinate me as a kid, World Book of cars exotics made in, wow, Switzerland, like our really expensive cuckoo clock, only faster (and not as annoying). I don't see a Deadly Sin either, though Monteverdi is dead and plenty of the designs were sins against styling, because he didn't fold or over-reach or make fundamental errors. He made exotica, sort-of, he sold cars, he kept his shirt and then some, and retired rich placing the myth in aspic. Rather tidy, I think.
So, rich and tidy – rather like Switzerland itself.


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TYLES Tuesday: Boom, Boom, POW!
I talk a lot about the inspiration behind my patterns. And there's almost always a thread, something I can trace the concept back to. But sometimes... sometimes it's just happenstance.
The political climate was... interesting... as I was putting together my last collection in early 2017. I wanted to express my love for my neighbors and for our diverse country as a whole, but how? I mean, I'm making patterns for wall decor -- not protest posters. So how could I channel all my thoughts and energy?


text:
Q: How to get the result of an SQL query from Big Query in Airflow? Using Airflow I want to get the result of an SQL Query fomratted as a pandas DataFrame.
def get_my_query(*args, **kwargs)
    bq_hook = BigQueryHook(bigquery_conn_id='my_connection_id', delegate_to=None)
    my_query = """
                 SELECT col1, col2
                 FROM `my_bq_project.my_bq_dataset.my_table`
                """
    df = bq_hook.get_pandas_df(bql=my_query, dialect='standard')
    logging.info('df.head()\n{}'.format(df.head()))

Above is the python function that I want to execute in a PythonOperator. Here is the DAG:
my_dag = DAG('my_dag',start_date=datetime.today())
start = DummyOperator(task_id='start', dag=my_dag)
end = DummyOperator(task_id='end', dag=my_dag)
work = PythonOperator(task_id='work',python_callable=get_my_query, dag=my_dag)
start >> work >> end

But, the work step is throwing an exception. Here is the log :
[2018-04-02 20:25:50,506] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask: [2018-04-02 20:25:50,506] {gcp_api_base_hook.py:82} INFO - Getting connection using a JSON key file.
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,035] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask: [2018-04-02 20:25:51,035] {slack_operator.py:70} ERROR - Slack API call failed (%s)
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,070] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask: Traceback (most recent call last):
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,071] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:   File "/opt/conda/bin/airflow", line 28, in <module>
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,072] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:     args.func(args)
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,072] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:   File "/home/airflow/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/airflow/bin/cli.py", line 392, in run
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,073] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:     pool=args.pool,
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,074] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:   File "/home/airflow/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/airflow/utils/db.py", line 50, in wrapper
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,075] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:     result = func(*args, **kwargs)
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,075] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:   File "/home/airflow/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/airflow/models.py", line 1493, in _run_raw_task
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,076] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:     result = task_copy.execute(context=context)
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,077] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:   File "/home/airflow/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/airflow/operators/python_operator.py", line 89, in execute
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,077] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:     return_value = self.execute_callable()
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,078] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:   File "/home/airflow/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/airflow/operators/python_operator.py", line 94, in execute_callable
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,079] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:     return self.python_callable(*self.op_args, **self.op_kwargs)
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,080] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:   File "/home/airflow/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/processing/dags/my_dag.py", line 37, in get_my_query
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,080] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:     df = bq_hook.get_pandas_df(bql=my_query, dialect='standard')
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,081] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:   File "/home/airflow/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/airflow/contrib/hooks/bigquery_hook.py", line 94, in get_pandas_df
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,081] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:     schema, pages = connector.run_query(bql)
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,082] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:   File "/home/airflow/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pandas_gbq/gbq.py", line 502, in run_query
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,082] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask:     except self.http_error as ex:
[2018-04-02 20:25:51,082] {base_task_runner.py:98} INFO - Subtask: AttributeError: 'BigQueryPandasConnector' object has no attribute 'http_error'

This exception is due to this issue, which accroding to the description

When BigQueryPandasConnector (in bigquery_hook.py) encounters a BQ job insertion error, the exception will be assigned to connector.http_error

hides another exception, still strange because I'm not doing any insertion.
What am I doing wrong? Maybe there is a problem with bigquery_conn_id used in the BigQueryHook. Or, dataFrame is not the way to go in order to handle query results.
PS: result of pip freeze
alembic==0.8.10
amqp==2.2.2
apache-airflow==1.9.0
apache-beam==2.3.0
asn1crypto==0.24.0
avro==1.8.2
Babel==2.5.3
backports-abc==0.5
bcrypt==3.1.4
billiard==3.5.0.3
bleach==2.1.2
cachetools==2.0.1
celery==4.1.0
certifi==2018.1.18
cffi==1.11.4
chardet==3.0.4
click==6.7
configparser==3.5.0
crcmod==1.7
croniter==0.3.20
cryptography==2.1.4
dill==0.2.7.1
docutils==0.14
elasticsearch==1.4.0
enum34==1.1.6
fasteners==0.14.1
Flask==0.11.1
Flask-Admin==1.4.1
Flask-Bcrypt==0.7.1
Flask-Cache==0.13.1
Flask-Login==0.2.11
flask-swagger==0.2.13
Flask-WTF==0.14
flower==0.9.2
funcsigs==1.0.0
future==0.16.0
futures==3.2.0
gapic-google-cloud-datastore-v1==0.15.3
gapic-google-cloud-error-reporting-v1beta1==0.15.3
gapic-google-cloud-logging-v2==0.91.3
gapic-google-cloud-pubsub-v1==0.15.4
gapic-google-cloud-spanner-admin-database-v1==0.15.3
gapic-google-cloud-spanner-admin-instance-v1==0.15.3sta
gapic-google-cloud-spanner-v1==0.15.3
gitdb2==2.0.3
GitPython==2.1.8
google-api-core==1.1.0
google-api-python-client==1.6.5
google-apitools==0.5.20
google-auth==1.4.1
google-auth-oauthlib==0.2.0
google-cloud==0.27.0
google-cloud-bigquery==0.31.0
google-cloud-bigtable==0.26.0
google-cloud-core==0.28.1
google-cloud-dataflow==2.3.0
google-cloud-datastore==1.2.0
google-cloud-dns==0.26.0
google-cloud-error-reporting==0.26.0
google-cloud-language==0.27.0
google-cloud-logging==1.2.0
google-cloud-monitoring==0.26.0
google-cloud-pubsub==0.27.0
google-cloud-resource-manager==0.26.0
google-cloud-runtimeconfig==0.26.0
google-cloud-spanner==0.26.0
google-cloud-speech==0.28.0
google-cloud-storage==1.3.2
google-cloud-translate==1.1.0
google-cloud-videointelligence==0.25.0
google-cloud-vision==0.26.0
google-gax==0.15.16
google-resumable-media==0.3.1
googleads==4.5.1
googleapis-common-protos==1.5.3
googledatastore==7.0.1
grpc-google-iam-v1==0.11.4
grpcio==1.10.0
gunicorn==19.7.1
hdfs3==0.3.0
html5lib==1.0.1
httplib2==0.10.3
idna==2.6
ipaddress==1.0.19
itsdangerous==0.24
Jinja2==2.8.1
kombu==4.1.0
ldap3==2.4.1
lockfile==0.12.2
lxml==3.8.0
Mako==1.0.7
Markdown==2.6.11
MarkupSafe==1.0
mock==2.0.0
monotonic==1.4
mysqlclient==1.3.10
numpy==1.13.0
oauth2client==2.0.2
oauthlib==2.0.7
ordereddict==1.1
pandas==0.19.2
pandas-gbq==0.3.1
pbr==3.1.1
ply==3.8
proto-google-cloud-datastore-v1==0.90.4
proto-google-cloud-error-reporting-v1beta1==0.15.3
proto-google-cloud-logging-v2==0.91.3
proto-google-cloud-pubsub-v1==0.15.4
proto-google-cloud-spanner-admin-database-v1==0.15.3
proto-google-cloud-spanner-admin-instance-v1==0.15.3
proto-google-cloud-spanner-v1==0.15.3
protobuf==3.5.2
psutil==4.4.2
pyasn1==0.4.2
pyasn1-modules==0.2.1
pycosat==0.6.3
pycparser==2.18
Pygments==2.2.0
pyOpenSSL==17.5.0
PySocks==1.6.8
python-daemon==2.1.2
python-dateutil==2.7.0
python-editor==1.0.3
python-nvd3==0.14.2
python-slugify==1.1.4
pytz==2018.3
PyVCF==0.6.8
PyYAML==3.12
redis==2.10.6
requests==2.18.4
requests-oauthlib==0.8.0
rsa==3.4.2
setproctitle==1.1.10
setuptools-scm==1.15.0
singledispatch==3.4.0.3
six==1.11.0
slackclient==1.1.3
smmap2==2.0.3
SQLAlchemy==1.2.5
statsd==3.2.2
suds-jurko==0.6
tableauserverclient==0.5.1
tabulate==0.7.7
tenacity==4.9.0
thrift==0.11.0
tornado==5.0.1
typing==3.6.4
Unidecode==1.0.22
uritemplate==3.0.0
urllib3==1.22
vine==1.1.4
webencodings==0.5.1
websocket-client==0.47.0
Werkzeug==0.14.1
WTForms==2.1
xmltodict==0.11.0
zope.deprecation==4.3.0

A: Another possible way would be to use the pandas Big Query connector.
pd.read_gbq

and
pd.to_gbq

Looking at the stack trace, the BigQueryHook is using the connector itself.
It might be a good idea to
1) try the connection with the pandas connector in a PythonOperator directly
2) then maybe switch to the pandas connector or try to debug the BigQueryHook when the connection works

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
var test = require('tape')
var printf = require('pff')
var getTypeParser = require('../').getTypeParser
var types = require('./types')

test('types', function (t) {
  Object.keys(types).forEach(function (typeName) {
    var type = types[typeName]
    t.test(typeName, function (t) {
      var parser = getTypeParser(type.id, type.format)
      type.tests.forEach(function (tests) {
        var input = tests[0]
        var expected = tests[1]
        var result = parser(input)
        if (typeof expected === 'function') {
          return expected(t, result)
        }
        t.equal(result, expected)
      })
      t.end()
    })
  })
})

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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– In 1997, after 35 years practicing as a clinical psychologist and counseling thousands of married couples, Dr. Neil Clark Warren had come to believe that there was a better way to find love than leaving it up to chance. He knew from his experience in clinical work that although some American marriages were ending in divorce, many others were deeply satisfying unions of two fulfilled individuals. He observed that, in many cases, the marriages that endured were composed of compatible people, while marriages that deteriorated often did so because the differences between the individuals became harder to resolve over time. What if he could define the traits most likely to lead to relationship success? Could certain characteristics predict compatibility and lead to more satisfying relationships?
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