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Money 101 - Personal Finance Workshops for Teens & Twentysomethings
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The Retirement Gamble – A Frontline Video
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Budgeting, Part 1
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What's in a REIT?
REITs & Investment Property
You are here: Home / Investing / What's in a REIT?
Years ago, during real-estate's glorious heyday, I was drawn into a spirited debate about the economic logic of "investing" in a home versus stocks. To put this conversation in its proper historical context, it occurred at a time of stubbornly buoyant real estate prices. An overly frothy housing market that, for ten years, bubbled nowhere but up had produced speculative frenzy and a bumper-crop of ardent real-estate fans. With financing readily available to all, it seemed like everyone was eager to buy a first, second or third home. So, it may come as something of a surprise that I spent the better part of an hour trying to explain why (if past is prologue) a home isn't the best place to look for outsized investment returns.
Don't get me wrong, a house can be a great investment. Particularly if it has vaulted ceilings, a modern state-of-the-art kitchen, and is situated in an upscale neighborhood that oozes suburban charm. A home's prospects for outsized future appreciation is further enhanced if it's close to a diverse and economically vibrant metropolitan area that's supported by a highly educated workforce and a diverse employment base. It's equally helpful if the zip code you're home-shopping in boasts higher than average median incomes and has plenty of distinguished schools. Lest we forget, the appeal of home ownership is further enhanced by cozy intangibles: the comforting home and hearth amenities that a home affords. Ultimately, though these and other selection criterion may significantly boost one's odds of turning a prospective home purchase into a lucrative real-estate investment, just because a home can be a great wealth-building tool doesn't mean that it always is.
Why the ambiguity? To answer this question, let's look at the financial advantages of home ownership. For starters, homeowners can deduct their property taxes and the interest (up to a million dollar mortgage limit) paid on money that's borrowed to buy a home. This results in a sizable tax break every April 15th. But wait, there's more… Homeowners are the economic beneficiaries of a strong historical precedent of rising home values. Thanks to this trend, people who've owned their homes for 20 to 30 years can usually sell them for far more than they paid for them. Additionally, a mortgage is like a forced savings account in that, over time, as monthly payments are made and the balance owed is gradually paid off, homeowners accumulate growing wealth in the form of an ever-thickening cushion of equity. This is the difference in value between what a home is worth minus whatever debt is owed against it. Should unforeseen events force a homeowner to vacate a property for an extended period, it can be converted into an income producing rental. Finally, there's the copious availability of taxpayer subsidized mortgage debt. Thanks to this and other powerful economic incentives, real estate can be purchased and/or encumbered for mere pennies on the dollar. In light of this exhaustive list of potential financial and psychic benefits, why did I not join my friends in toasting real estate as the king of all investments? There are many reasons.
For starters, home equity has a fuzzy money quality to it. Though it's easy to confuse a dollar of equity for a hundred pennies in the bank, this can be a costly miscalculation. To understand why, let's explore a bit of real estate history. Before the Internet era, back when rotary dial telephones were commonplace, just about the only way that a homeowner could turn their home equity into cash was to put their house on the market, wait for it to sell, and use the proceeds to pay off their mortgage balance. After deducting real estate agent commissions, capital gains taxes and other miscellaneous expenses incurred in a property's sale, whatever cash is left can be pocketed or spent. Collectively, these expenditures aren't chump change; they can easily amount to thousands of dollars and consume anywhere from five-to-ten percent of a home's sale price. So, that hypothetical dollar of home equity isn't really worth 100 pennies, but rather, something like 92.5 cents. Fact is, this reduced figure is somewhat understated because it doesn't reflect the transactional expenses that are incurred in the purchase of a home. Nowadays, ingenious financial innovations like HELOCs (Home Equity Lines of Credit) enable people to treat their homes as gargantuan ATM machines. Although these complex instruments do indeed liberate homeowners from the traditional hassle of having to sell their homes in order to access the equity they contain, their use is neither hassle nor cost-free. Homeowners looking to avail themselves of such options must complete reams of paperwork, deal with stuffy bankers and sign lots of intimidating legal documents that aren't easily read or understood. Any way you slice or dice it, whether you sell a home yourself or rely on other less conventional methods, extracting money from a home is a costly and time intensive endeavor. The bottom line: unlike pure-play financial assets like stocks, bonds and REITs (which can be quickly and inexpensively sold), the added difficulty and expense of extracting equity from a home makes real-estate a comparatively less desirable investment.
Is a home a financial asset? To answer this question, and build a framework for discussion, let's define two relevant economic concepts. What is a financial asset and how does it differ from a liability? To keep things simple, let's agree that an asset is something that puts cash in your pocket whereas a liability does just the opposite, it takes money away. Sounds simple, right?
The most perplexing thing about real estate is that, as investments go, its status as an asset or liability is somewhat elusive and hard to pin down. Fact is, a home isn't permanently categorizeable as an asset or a liability; many factors go into making this determination. No matter how the economics of home ownership are analyzed, buying a property initially qualifies as a liability because it means parting company with a huge pile of cash in the form of a down payment. This sizable outlay, which amounts to anywhere from 5% to 20% of a home's asking price, will be followed by a very long series of follow-up payments as the principal and interest components of a mortgage are paid off in monthly installments over twenty to thirty years. And while it's certainly true that a home's potential for long-term price appreciation is indeed substantial, this shimmering pot of gold at the end of the debt service rainbow often takes decades to materialize. Meanwhile, the outflows associated with a monthly mortgage payment will suck plenty of cash from a homeowner's wallet. But that's not all, there are other costs for a would-be homeowner to consider. Property ownership is an arrangement that, once entered into, carries with it additional financial obligations that must be satisfied. And the failure to do so sets in motion a strange circuitous legal process that eventually results in a homeowner being forcibly relieved of his or her property. Essentially, there are two ways for a homeowner to go seriously wrong. Failure to pay a mortgage is one because it prompts foreclosure by a lender. Refusing to pay one's property taxes is another because it causes a home to be relinquished to its default owner: Uncle Sam. Our government is in the business of renting land to its citizenry; short of a successful foreign invasion, no other entity will threaten to and eventually reclaim your property in event that these taxes aren't paid. A close reading of the tax code relating to a homeowner's patriotic responsibilities in this regard should dispel any confusion on this topic. Sadly, the economic burdens of home ownership don't end there. In addition to these expenses, there's also the cost of property insurance and ongoing maintenance expenses to consider. After totaling all of these costs, and taking a thoughtful moment to contemplate the lifestyle implications of having to satisfy them for several decades, it should be readily apparent that a home purchase is a tremendous financial liability. Basically, a newly acquired home with little-to-no equity is just a rental garnished with a heap of debt and a few other financial obligations.
But here's the part where real estate fans will reach for their sparklers and break out their party hats, if a home is held long enough, it morphs into an asset. But how can this be? How can a home start out as an economic liability, and then, poof, become an asset? At some point in the long tedious process of paying off a mortgage, the amount of equity that's accumulated in a property will equal the amount of debt that's owed against it. Let's call this eagerly anticipated and widely celebrated moment in a homeowner's life the economic tipping point. At this stage of the game, monthly mortgage payments enrich the homeowner's bottom line more than the mortgage originator's. Once this delicate economic point is reached, assuming the value of the home in question doesn't decline, then and only then can a home become a financial asset. It's worth noting, however, that it usually takes decades of faithful debt-service for real estate to shift from the liability column of a homeowner's balance sheet to the asset column.
Now that we've explored the asset-liability duality of home ownership, let's examine the opportunity cost of buying a home. When we crunch these numbers, you'll see that it's enormous. What is opportunity cost? Economists define it as the highest foregone alternative. In other words, whenever you spend money you forfeit the right to invest that money elsewhere. By making an economic decision you're passing up alternative choices for how you might have spent your money. Makes sense, right? Now, when weighing the pros and cons of buying a home, it's worth noting that any economic decision carries with it a series of potential costs and benefits. Though marrying a mortgage might seem like a can't-miss wealth building strategy, there's a minor (and frequently overlooked) fine point to consider first. If the primary purpose of buying a home is to transform a hefty down payment and a staggering amount of debt into an even greater sum of money somewhere down the calendar, it's worth considering the time value of money and thinking about how rapidly the cash that's invested in a home might appreciate if it were allocated elsewhere instead. Suppose the financial capital that's put into a home were to instead appreciate at a rate equal to the S&P 500's long-term historical returns? When we run these numbers, and compare the side-by-side returns of investing in a home vs. stocks, the economic logic of buying a home is downright questionable.
To illustrate this point, we'll pit $500,000 invested in a home against $500,00 allocated to the S&P 500 stock market index (with dividends reinvested) and examine the comparative returns of both investments over three different holding periods: five, ten, and twenty years starting from July 2006. According to research conducted by Edward Jones, half a million bucks invested in a home over a five year period would've amounted to $730K, easily trouncing the S&P 500's returns by $155,000. Over a ten year period, however, real estate's luster dims noticeably; $500K invested in the S&P 500 appreciates to $1.2 million whereas $500K invested in a home is worth $937K, a $263K difference in the stock market's favor. When we compare the price performance of real estate vs. stocks over a twenty year period, the disparity in returns widens even more aggressively; $500K invested in the stock market amounts to $4.83 million whereas $500K invested in a home becomes $1.5 million—a staggering $3.33 million difference in the stock market's favor. Clearly, though real estate has proven it can outperform stocks over a five year period, it hasn't demonstrated an ability to do so over the long-haul.
Another frequently overlooked risk of home ownership is that it concentrates a high percentage of one's net-worth in a single investment. The fact that our government chooses to subsidize interest on real estate debt distorts incentives and encourages people to take on bigger mortgages than they might otherwise afford. The tax code is one reason why consumers over-concentrate their wealth in housing. From a risk management standpoint, this can be costly. Disruptive events of natural and economic origins have, throughout history, adversely affected real estate values. The San Francisco Bay Area's 1987 earthquake gave property values a nasty shake. Home values in New Orleans were similarly devastated by levee failures caused by hurricane Katrina. These and other disruptive events show how violently real estate values respond to natural disasters. Major economic events, which tend to have a less visible and dramatic impact on housing values, can be equally traumatic and damaging. Consider the market-wide adjustment in property values owing to deteriorating economic condition in hard-pressed areas like Detroit, a once vibrant and thriving metropolitan hub that was once home to a dominant and seemingly unstoppable U.S. automotive industry. More recently, during the 1990s, the loss of defense contracting jobs in southern California had a chilling effect on real estate values in that part of the country for years. The economic aftermath of the 1980s Savings and Loan fiasco exerted downward pressure on numerous hard-hit real estate markets. Clearly, economic and natural disasters both pose significant (but frequently overlooked) risks to housing wealth. Those who've been adversely affected by these and other calamitous events realize—perhaps more keenly than most—the folly of concentrating so much of their personal net-worth in their homes.
Having examined the pros-and-cons of home ownership, I think it's fair to say that a home (though it doesn't offer the best long-term returns—those bragging rights go to stocks) can be a powerful wealth-building tool. When it comes to cashing in on real estate, however, it turns out that there's an easier way to go about it than to shackle oneself to a mortgage. As investments go, real estate is dandy. Luckily, for people who don't have oodles of spare cash lying around or are unwilling to assume an astronomical amount of debt, there's a much easier way to cash-in on real estate. Which brings us to Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). These financial instruments put the American dream of real-estate ownership within easy reach for ordinary folks by enabling people of modest means to acquire professionally managed income producing commercial properties. Moreover, with REITs, the underlying asset is owned free and clear. Moreover, it generates income from the get-go without the subsequent hassle of having to pay a mortgage or fork over additional money for taxes, maintenance expenses and property insurance. Insofar as real estate investing is concerned, REITs are terrific and will be discussed in greater detail next.
Only 20% of Americans feel confident in their ability to make good investment decisions.
-- Boston Research Group
In a survey by USAA, 86% of teenagers rely on their parents for financial guidance. Meanwhile, 49% of parents rate their own financial knowledge is "okay" or "terrible."
-- Money Magazine
Adults in this country with a net-worth of $1 million or more: 1.2%. High-schoolers who expect to become millionaires by age 40: 39%.
This year, more people will file for bankruptcy than will graduate college; more Americans will file for bankruptcy than will divorce.
-- Natalie Ghidott, In Too Deep
Approximately 40% of families live off 110% of their incomes.
-- The Observer
On average, adolescents spend roughly $264 a month.
-- Coinstar, Inc.
One-in-five workers making $100,000 or more lives from paycheck to paycheck.
-- Careerbuilder.com
Median student-debt carried by college graduates: $16,432.
-- Kiplinger
Ninety-seven percent of workers over the age of 45 regret how they spent their money, in light of how much they could have saved.
-- Oakland Tribune, Money Mondays
It can take decades to pay off a $3,000 credit card balance by making only the minimum monthly payment.
-- My Vesta Organization
American households, on average, have saved only $40,000 for retirement.
-- Merrill Lynch, Retirement Preparedness Survey
Only seven states (Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, and Utah) require students to demonstrate a minimum level of proficiency in personal finance before graduating high school.
-- NCEF, Survey of the States
Sixty-four percent of consumers ages 18 to 24 don't know what interest rate they're paying on their credit card(s).
Personal bankruptcy filings in the United States jumped 40 percent in 2007.
-- Washington Post
Only 25% of Americans feel confident in their ability to manage their personal finances.
-- Fleet Boston
Seventy-percent of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck.
-- ComPsych
Forty-two percent of employees ages 25 to 34 don't invest in a 401K.
-- Vanguard
Young adults, ages 18-to-24, are the fastest growing group of bankruptcy declarers.
--Barron's
Though 80% of college upperclassmen rate themselves as "financially knowledgeable," many will still make mistakes that could tarnish their credit history.
-- BusinessWeek
From a survey of employees from 1,000 different companies, 28% reported that they are "one major setback away from financial disaster."
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Klein Lengden is a village in the Gleichen in the Göttingen district of Lower Saxony, Germany, about eight to ten kilometers south-east of Göttingen.  According to the 2010 census, it has about 1363 inhabitants.  The village lies in the Garte valley, south of the forested hills of Lengderburg (384 meters a.s.l.) with its Lengdener Burg (castle) and Westerberg (340 meters a.s.l.) and is otherwise surrounded by farm fields.  The nearest neighboring villages are Gross Lengden to the east and Diemarden to the west-south-west, each of which is about two kilometers distant.

Just outside the village, on L569, the road to Benniehausen, is the Historische Spinnerei Gartetal (historical spinning works of the Garte Valley). In the late 16th century, a flour mill was erected on the site.  In the middle of the following century, a paper mill was added.  The Industrial Revolution led to the conversion to a spinnery for flannel and woolen yarn.

History

The earliest known record of the town was as Lengithi or Lengidi in A.D. 822 in the Fulda monastery's Codex Eberhardi.

During most of the years in which the Garte Valley Railway operated, Klein Lengden was one of the stations, closing in 1957, two years before the disbandment of the line, which ran between Göttingen and Duderstadt.

Government

Mayor: Klaus-Werner Hanelt

Sources

Das bietet Klein Lengden:  http://www.gleichen.de/kl-lengden/home.htm

References

Villages in Lower Saxony

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Guests enjoy the sights of Casas Craenenburg - Bouchoute and reserve a table for good meals here. Belgian and French dishes are to be tasted here. Good sea bass, smoked duck and bouillabaisse are among the dishes to be tried at this restaurant. You can share tasty parfait, vanilla ice cream and chocolate pie with your friends and spend a nice time here. Come to De Stove for delicious house wine, gin or champagne. Chocolate frappe that you can order is great.
Invite your soulmate to this place with a wonderful atmosphere. The patient host reflects the style and character of this spot. Fabulous service is something that people highlight in their reviews. From the visitors' point of view, prices are attractive. Many clients describe the decor as divine. The TripAdvisor score for this restaurant is 4.5.
Fantastic experience. Wonderful couple. Great food.
Great little restaurant with amazing food and friendly service.
Lovely restaurant and great food presented professionally. Bookings are essential to avoid disappointment. We loved our visit there, and would definitely go back.


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Q: Instagram api - Get all the photo's/content of a specific user Does anybody know if there is a way to get more then 20 photo's of a user?

Is there a way to get all content from a specific user on Instagram. Because of the API only allows me to get the first 20 pictures.
The problem is when I filter on 20 pictures there is not enough content to show. Does anybody know if the API still supports to get all of the pictures? instead of the first 20.

This is the way I do it right now:
  $access_token = "TOKEN";
        $json_link ="https://api.instagram.com/v1/users/self/media/recent/?";
        $json_link .= "access_token={$access_token}&count=19";
        $json = file_get_contents($json_link);
        $obj = json_decode(preg_replace('/("\w+"):(\d+)/', '\\1:"\\2"', $json), true);

On stack overflow, there was a way to get everything by setting the count on -1 but this doesn't work anymore

Thanks for your help!

A: To the best of my knowledge the Instagram API is limited to those 20 images. If you're looking to get all the images I'd say your best bet is to scrape all of the image urls/ids from the page of the account (or hashtag) your looking to pull from. Facebook doesn't want to give much access to the APIs since they are trying to direct traffic to their sites and get that $$$.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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A Lesson in Humility
"If you're not humble, life will visit humility upon you."
Offering his bit of knowledge on boxing, Ernest Hemingway wrote, "If you fight a great left-hooker, sooner or later he will knock you on your deletion. He will get the left out where you can't see it, and in it comes like a brick. Life is the greatest left-hooker so far.."
As Muhammad Ali approached his late thirties, he had by then taken too many hits in the ring. Boxing was becoming increasingly dangerous for him, as those around him would notice. He started to move less smoothly, speak more slowly, and the twitching in his hands was getting harder to ignore as time dragged on.
"How do you feel about physicians saying that you have brain damage?", Ali was asked in an interview.
"Brain damage.." Ali responded, "Sitting here, do I sound like I have brain damage?"
"No," said the interviewer.
"I think I sound more intelligent than anybody who would answer your questions, and I don't care who you talk to, your boxer, politician, president, mayor, governor; I don't think anybody on earth could answer more better or more precise than me."
Just about a year ago after a fight, Ali collapsed on a table. He had a towel draped across his chest, and his father, Cash Clay stood by his side. Ali closed his eyes and placed his hand on his head, trying to soothe a great pain. While he had escaped defeat in the ring as he often did, he could not escape the damage. "The twilight zone, it's really coming up on me now," he said. "I can feel it in my bones."
Cash told him, "Quit, son, before you get hurt."
But Ali couldn't do it. He softly said to his father, "I'm on the tightrope."
It was always difficult for Muhammad Ali to admit defeat. After all, it was his cosmic self-belief and defiance that made him "The Greatest", as he loved to call himself. Time and again, he pushed himself to win fights in the ring — He would train hard, publicly taunt his opponents and indulge in his own greatness. But he would slowly learn that it doesn't work the same way with physical health.
"You start punching or I'm going to stop it," yelled Angelo Dundee, Ali's trainer. Ali was fighting against Larry Holmes. Ali had only landed 12 shots, while Holmes landed 141.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." Ali said.
The crowd began to boo, and while Ali was used to being booed, it was usually because of his abrasive personality, his politics, his religion, or his arrogant clowning — Only this time, it was due to his sheer lack of ability.
Some time later, a few editorials were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, calling for boxing to be abolished. One editorial argued that in other sports, injury is an undesired byproduct, but "the principal purpose of a boxing match is for one opponent to render the other injured, defenseless, incapacitated, unconscious."
Ali, interviewed on TV, was asked on his opinion about the editorial, whether it was possible that he suffered brain damage from boxing. Appearing exhausted and unfocused, he faintly replied, "It's possible."
As his boxing days ended, Ali was often bored and depressed. To entertain himself, he would pull out his personal phone book and call his friends — Sometimes, he would pause in the middle of his conversations, having forgotten whom he was speaking with. He would spend the rest of the day watching his younger self in his early fights and interviews, reminiscing his glory days.
Ali seemed to develop a clearer sense of humility as he became more actively involved in charity events, as well as performing the obligatory Hajj. Being closer to his religious faith, he learned to truly appreciate having enough. The writer Thomas Hauser said of Ali in an interview, "When Muhammad started to get sick and realized he was no longer invulnerable, he started to get scared. That was one factor that led to his taking his religion more seriously."
He had also gained the strength to apologize for the many hurtful things he said about his opponents. Apologizing for calling fellow boxer Joe Frazier an Uncle Tom and saying that Frazier was too dumb and ugly to be champion, Ali remarked, "I said a lot of things in the heat of the moment that I shouldn't have said. Called him names that I shouldn't have called him. I apologize for that. I'm sorry. It was all meant to promote the fight."
When he was once asked who had helped him most in his career, Ali responded, "In my career, everything…" He paused and smiled, "Allah. All my success, all my protection, all my fearlessness, all my victories, all my courage : Everything came from Allah."
The story of Muhammad Ali reminds us that we don't truly own everything that we own. At some point, we will be reminded of the fleeting nature of our belongings.
Maybe you've lived in your beloved home for more than 30 years, and suddenly certain circumstances arise and you have to sell it off. Your favorite watch breaks and shatters beyond repair. A loved one passes away.
It applies to our talents as well. You could be a great guitarist, for example, and one morning you could wake up not being able to use your fingers anymore.
For Ali, boxing was his greatest asset, his identity. When his ability to fight was taken away, he remained an inspiration for us — Not in brute strength, but in humility and contentment.
Writing for GQ, Peter Richmond proffered, "Where Ali's voice once moved mountains, Allah struck him mute. Where Ali's swift fists once rained upon opponents with the precision of a surgeon, Allah struck them with terrible tremors so that they struggled to hold a piece of cake…
"And this is how Allah made sure that Muhammad Ali would be doing his work again. Tenfold. For in infirmity, Ali came to mean much more than he had ever been before."
Remind yourself that everything you have in your life — Your talents, your skills, your human abilities, your possessions, your friends and family, are all but a loan to you. It's part of nature that they will be taken away and returned to the One who blessed you with them.
It's just a simple thought for the day, but think about the things, or people, that you've been taking a little bit for granted. Think on what you can do to put your possessions to their best use, or to show the people in your life how much you care for them.
Hopefully, we don't have to wait until they're gone, for us to do any of these things.
Posted byIzzat Zailan 7 Mar 2020 7 Mar 2020 Posted inArt, LifeTags:Art, Books, History, Life, Literature, Music, Reading, Recommendations, Songs, Time, Work
The Invitation to Think

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Leiomyosarcoma of the right atrium is a very rare cardiac tumor. Various combinations of treatments including resection or transplant surgery and Chemotherapy have been advocated. We report a case of a man who presented with pulmonary embolism secondary to right atrial leiomyosarcoma. He was managed by excision of the tumor and reconstruction of the right atrium with autologous pericardium. Postoperatively tumor dissemination was controlled with adjuvant chemotherapy.
A vigorous attempt aiming at tumor clearance followed by adjuvant multimodality therapy along with a tumor surveillance program may improve survival.
Primary cardiac malignancies (PCM) are rare. The prevalence of primary cardiac malignancies has been estimated at only 0.001% - 0.28% . Primary cardiac tumors are detected in 1 in a 1000 autopsies and PCM are found in only about 0.0017% of autopsies [2, 3]. Metastatic cardiac tumors are a 100-fold more common than primary lesions. The majority of Primary Cardiac tumors are benign (with half of them being myxomas)  and approximately 25% of primary cardiac neoplasms are malignant. Among malignant primary cardiac tumors, the most reported are those histopathologically considered as undifferentiated, followed by angiosarcomas with leiomyosarcomas being rare. Due to delayed presentation there is infrequently, a systemic spread at the time of diagnosis. As a result management of this condition is difficult and controversial.
We present a case of a 36 year old male who was admitted with recent onset of shortness of breath. CT pulmonary angiogram demonstrated large right sided pulmonary emboli (Figure 1). Moreover, a filling defect was noticed in the right atrium (Figure 2). The defect appeared to be lobulated, irregular, of low attenuation and arising from the free atrial wall. On transthoracic echocardiography (Figure 3) the mass was demonstrated to be extending through the tricuspid valve. A presumptive diagnosis of right atrial myxoma with complicating pulmonary embolism was made. Urgent surgery was arranged. At the time of surgery the right atrial appendage was noted to be very congested and "angry looking". Total cardiopulmonary bypass was established using aortic and bi-caval cannulation. The right atrial cavity was found to be replaced by a friable tumor which had "fronds like" appearance (Figure 4). The mass was extending through the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle. A sample of the tumor was subjected to frozen section examination which suggested the diagnosis of Leiomyosarcoma. The entire free wall of right atrium was excised extending from and to the origin of vena cavae. Anteriorly the incision was carried forward up to the atrioventricular groove, taking care to preserve the right coronary artery while ensuring macroscopic clearance of tumor. The resection margins were submitted for histological examination and were subsequently proven to be tumor free. The right atrium was reconstructed using autologous pericardium (Figure 5). Bilateral pulmonary embolectomy was also performed. Histological examination of tumor confirmed the frozen section findings. On the cut surface, the tumor had a whirled white appearance, with focal brown areas. The microscopic examination revealed the presence of a spindle cell tumor, forming fascicles orientated at right angles. The study revealed the morphological aspect characteristic to leiomyosarcoma.
Three dimensional reconstruction of Computerized Tomogram Pulmonary Angiogram demonstrating large filling defect in the branches of right pulmonary artery.
Intravenous contrast enhanced Computerized Tomogram demonstrating right atrial wall tumor which appears to be lobulated, irregular and of low attenuation.
Transthoracic Echocardiogram demonstrating right atrial tumor extending from the free wall to the tricuspid valve and protruding through it to the right ventricle.
Right atrial reconstruction with autologous pericardium.
Although resection margins were clear the margin width was deemed to be inadequate. After recovery from surgery the patient was submitted to chemotherapy with Doxirubicin and Isofomaide. A tumor surveillance plan involving serial echocardiograms is planned.
Of the few hundred cases of malignant tumors of the heart reported, most have been based on autopsy series. Moreover, throughout the last 30 years literature from a 100 plus articles on cardiac neoplasms, only few publications are reporting on primary cardiac malignancies .
Cardiac sarcomas are the second most common type of primary cardiac neoplasms with Leiomyosarcomas to consist of 8% of cardiac sarcomas [6, 7]. As per Kim et al  angiosarcomas and unclassified sarcomas are the most common sarcomas of the heart accounting for 76%of the cases, with leiomyosarcomas being a minority. There is a wide age and size range with a slight female predilection. As per Zhang et al  the sarcoma arises in the atria/pulmonary vessels in 74% of the cases, and in the ventricles, mitral valve, and epi/pericardium in 14%, 3.7% and 7.4% of the cases correspondingly. There is probably a slight left side predilection. In contrary, predominantly right side distribution is given in other reports  with right atrial involvement being 58% and left atrial 25% of the cases.
Leiomyosarcoma favors the left atrium and most likely originates from pulmonary vein smooth muscles and present as a left atrial tumor. Affected patients typically present in the 4th decade of life which is slightly younger than the average age at presentation for cardiac sarcoma patients. Unlike angiosarcomas hemorrhage is unusual. Those tumors are likely to involve the mitral valve and extend into the pulmonary veins and therefore present with pulmonary congestion. Macroscopically the tumor appears as gelatinous mass and maybe multiple in up to 30% of the cases .
In our case report the site of origin of the tumor was the right atrium which is rare. The presentation was consistent with thromboembolic phenomenon commonly associated with this tumor site. Other possible presentations include progressive or sudden right sided cardiac failure on the account of tricuspid valve blockage by the tumor or paroxysmal atrial arrhythmias. Broadly speaking, cardiac tumors produce a large variety of symptoms through any of 4 mechanisms. Their mass can obstruct intracardiac blood flow or interfere with valve function. Local invasion can lead to arrhythmias or pericardial effusions with tamponade. Bits of tumor can embolize, causing systemic deficits when the tumors are on the left side of the heart. Finally, the tumors may cause systemic or constitutional symptoms.
Echocardiographic imaging is the most sensitive imaging technique with ability to identify tumors as small as 3 mm. However, soft-tissue characterization remains limited compared with that achieved with computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, and myocardial disease such as tumor infiltration is not clearly depicted . On the other hand with MRI or contrast enhanced CT the tumor has to be around 1 cm in size before becoming detectable.
In this case CT scan raised the suspicion of intracardiac tumor by depicting a low attenuation filling defect and echocardiography confirmed the diagnosis. A preoperative tissue diagnosis was not attempted due to the emergent presentation. However atypical appearance of the right atrium and of the tumor raised the suspicion of malignancy and frozen section examination was confirmatory. It has been recommended that all atrial tumors should be subjected to frozen section examination in order to ensure optimum surgical resection.
According to Mayer et al half the patients with cardiac sarcomas, are presented with high grade tumors and distant metastases: lungs 35.7%, lymph nodes 14.2%, and liver 7.14%. Tumor spread from primary cardiac sarcoma to the bone is very rare and has a poor prognosis. Only six cases have been reported in the literature . Furthermore, from the patients that are deemed suitable for surgery, complete macroscopic resection is only possible in 33% .
Operative mortality has been reported to be high at 8.3% with an overall actuarial survival of 14% at 24 months after resection . Likewise other groups [8, 12] have reported poor prognosis with a median survival time of 25 months after diagnosis.
As per Burke et al , the survival rate on univariate analysis was more favorable for patients with tumors located on the left side of the heart, without necrosis, with a low mitotic count, and without metastasis at diagnosis. By multivariate analysis, a low level of mitotic activity and any therapy were the only significant factors affecting survival rate. Furthermore tumor grade, unlike histological type, appears to be prognostically important in cardiac sarcoma .
The optimum treatment of Leiomyosarcoma is not known. Of the several reports in the literature, patients subjected to multimodality treatment including heart transplantation (The most common cause of death is local recurrence of the tumors in 50% of the cases ) have longer survival.
We adopted a strategy that would ensure local control of the tumor by surgical resection and address systemic spread by adjuvant chemotherapy. Tumor shrinkage can be achieved by chemotherapy prior to surgery in non emergency setting. Given the high risk of tumor recurrence we plan to follow-up the patient with serial echocardiographic scans with the view to further surgical or chemotherapeutic intervention aimed at early treatment of recurrence.
In conclusion PCM are rare and will always pose a diagnostic dilemma. Nevertheless, atypical presentation of suspected "atrial myxoma" should raise the possibility of rare atrial tumors. Unfortunately, almost half of those tumors have metastasized at presentation, up to 30% could be multifocal and the rest may be amenable to surgery. All such tumors should be subjected to frozen section examination intraoperatively.
Surgery carries a high mortality and the overall long survival was only achieved in patients who survived the initial surgery well.
Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report and accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for the review by the Editor-in-Chief of this journal.
HP conceived of the study and wrote the manuscript with the help of MTA. VY overlooked the progress of the manuscript and advised on valuable points. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.


Heavily modified version of the 2012 Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR). Alterations made based on (1) U.S. government DRI; (2) Wiki-info on each substance; (3) Official Soylent guidelines; (4) Soylent Discourse / Reddit suggestions.
?: Saturated fat: 0g. Do we not need at least a miniscule amount?
!: I used to have max values on mono (47.8) and poly fat (23.9), but I can't seem to figure out why, so I've deleted them until I find a source.
?: According to this, "We are seeing the potential for negative effects at really high levels of omega-3 fatty acid consumption."
!: Added 5mg pantothenic acid (B5). Again, very shy compared with Rob's 10ug/day.
Biotin. "Biotin deficiency is rare because, in general, intestinal bacteria produce biotin in excess of the body's daily requirements"
!: Increased phosphorous to 0.7g.
but see discussion on how serious this UL is.
?: Chloride: Unsure. Follow Rob on this point and set DRI at 3.4g and no UL.
!: Changed calcium to 1g (AI).


text:
Top 10 Young Adult
Dispatches next business day (10)
The Secret Runners of New York
PaperBack | In stock
A new city, a secret club and the end of the world - the new thriller from no.1 bestselling author Matthew Reilly.
THE COMING END
When Skye Rogers and her twin brother Red move to Manhattan, rumours of a coming global apocalypse are building. But this does not stop the young elite of New York from partying without a care.
CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?
And then suddenly Skye is invited to join an exclusive gang known as the Secret Runners of New York. But this is no ordinary clique - they have access to an underground portal that can transport them into the future. And what Skye discovers in the future is horrifying.
RUN! AS FAST AS YOU CAN!
As society crumbles, Skye and Red race to figure out how to use their knowledge to survive the impending annihilation, they soon discover that the chaotic end of the world is perfect time for revenge...
Aurora Rising: The Aurora Cycle 1
Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch: A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates A smart-ass tech-whiz with the galaxy's biggest chip on his shoulder An alien warrior with anger management issues A tomboy pilot who's totally not into him, in case you were wondering. And Ty's squad isn't even his biggest problem--that'd be Aurora Jie-Lin O'Malley, the girl he's just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler's squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy. NOBODY PANIC.
Five Feet Apart Film Tie In
In this moving story that's perfect for fans of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, two teens fall in love with just one minor complication-they can't get within a few feet of each other without risking their lives. Can you love someone you can never touch? Stella Grant likes to be in control-even though her totally out of control lungs have sent her in and out of the hospital most of her life. At this point, what Stella needs to control most is keeping herself away from anyone or anything that might pass along an infection and jeopardize the possibility of a lung transplant. Six feet apart. No exceptions. The only thing Will Newman wants to be in control of is getting out of this hospital. He couldn't care less about his treatments, or a fancy new clinical drug trial. Soon, he'll turn eighteen and then he'll be able to unplug all these machines and actually go see the world, not just its hospitals. Will's exactly what Stella needs to stay away from. If he so much as breathes on Stella she could lose her spot on the transplant list. Either one of them could die. The only way to stay alive is to stay apart. But suddenly six feet doesn't feel like safety. It feels like punishment. What if they could steal back just a little bit of the space their broken lungs have stolen from them? Would five feet apart really be so dangerous if it stops their hearts from breaking too?
Six of Crows
Nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2017, thisfantasy epic from the No. 1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of the Grisha trilogy is gripping, sweeping and memorable - perfect for fans of George R. R. Martin, Laini Taylor and Kristin Cashore.
Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams - but he can't pull it off alone.
A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.
Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist.
Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction - if they don't kill each other first.
An epic new exploration of the Grisha universe from the writer of SHADOW AND BONE, SIEGE AND STORM and RUIN AND RISING, totally consuming for both old fans and new.
A collection of all eight Ghosts of the Shadow Market stories, along with two brand new ones, about characters from Cassandra Clare's internationally bestselling Shadowhunters series.
The Shadow Market is a meeting point for faeries, werewolves, warlocks and vampires. There the Downworlders buy and sell magical objects, make dark bargains, and whisper secrets they do not want the Nephilim to know. Through two centuries, however, there has been a frequent visitor to the Shadow Market from the City of Bones, the very heart of the Shadowhunters. As a Silent Brother, Brother Zachariah is sworn keeper of the laws and lore of the Nephilim. But once he was a Shadowhunter called Jem Carstairs, and his love, then and always, is the warlock Tessa Gray. Follow Brother Zachariah and see, against the backdrop of the Shadow Market's dark dealing and festival, Anna Lightwood's doomed romance, Matthew Fairchild's great sin and Tessa Gray plunged into a world war. Valentine Morgenstern buys a soul at the Market and a young Jace Wayland's soul finds safe harbor. In the Market is hidden a lost heir and a beloved ghost, and no-one can save you once you have traded away your heart. Not even Brother Zachariah. The series features characters from Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments, Infernal Devices, Dark Artifices and the upcoming Last Hours series.
The Shadowhunter world has captivated 40 million readers worldwide. Rights have been sold in over 30 countries, and the books have made bestseller lists all over the world.
Stories originally published as eBooks only – two new stories included in this bind-up.
The Netflix series Shadowhunters is now in its third season.
Akarnae (The Medoran Chronicles Book 1)
Lynette Noni
EMBRACE THE WONDER. Book 1 in the Medoran Chronicles
With just one step, sixteen-year-old Alexandra Jennings's world changes - literally.
Dreading her first day at a new school, Alex is stunned when she walks through a doorway and finds herself stranded in Medora, a fantasy world full of impossibilities.
Desperate to return home, she learns that only a man named Professor Marselle can help her... but he's missing.
While waiting for him to reappear, Alex attends Akarnae Academy, Medora's boarding school for teenagers with extraordinary gifts. She soon starts to enjoy her bizarre new world and the friends who embrace her as one of their own, but strange things are happening at Akarnae, and Alex can't ignore her fear that something unexpected... something sinister... is looming.
An unwilling pawn in a deadly game, Alex's shoulders bear the crushing weight of an entire race's survival. Only she can save the Medorans, but what if doing so prevents her from ever returning home?
Will Alex risk her entire world - and maybe even her life - to save Medora?
The Tattooist of Auschwitz - YA Edition
I tattooed a number on her arm. She tattooed her name on my heart. In 1942, Lale Sokolov arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was given the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival - scratching numbers into his fellow victims' arms in indelible ink to create what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust. Waiting in line to be tattooed, terrified and shaking, was a young girl. For Lale - a dandy, a jack-the-lad, a bit of a chancer - it was love at first sight. And he was determined not only to survive himself, but to ensure this woman, Gita, did too. So begins one of the most life-affirming, courageous, unforgettable and human stories of the Holocaust: the love story of the tattooist of Auschwitz. This edition is edited and updated for younger readers, and also contains extra materials, including classroom discussion points, additional photos, maps and documents and other educational resources.
Contender: The Chosen
Taran Matharu
Double Hamish: Hamish and the Worldstoppers and Hamish and the Never People
Danny Wallace
Hamish and the PDF are back in this special set featuring Hamish and the WorldStoppers and Hamish and the Never People! Two hilarious adventures from presenter, prize-winning journalist and bestselling adult author, Danny Wallace!
Land of Fences
Finn and Kas are surviving on the coast - more than surviving - they're enjoying the surf, the summer and being together. And now, the lights of Wentworth mean life could soon be back to normal. Finn is cautiously optimistic, but Kas knows she can never escape her status as a Siley, and that a return to slavery is a very real possibility. She's nervous. And it turns out she's right to be. When Kas is captured and taken inside the fences, Finn faces his greatest challenge yet. Land of Fences is the compelling third and final novel in Mark Smith's highly acclaimed action-packed trilogy that began with The Road to Winter.


Unit 6Unit 6 Anne wanted to danceAnne wanted to dance 第一课时 A Let s Listen and Say B Let s Learn 1 1.能听懂、会说、认读新单词或词组"dancing room,put arms out,move?with music, step on one s foot,stand on one foot,paint a picture,play the piano,read a story aloud"等。 2 2.能运用句型"want to do sth"表达人物的意愿。 3 3.理解和阅读 A 部分内容。 4 4.培养学生克服困难的勇气和乐于助人的优良品质。 1 1.重点:对课文 A 部分的理解。 2 2.难点:学习用英语说出克服困难的某次经历。 单词卡片,录音带,课件,教学挂图等。 一、热身/ /复习(WarmWarmup/Revisionup/Revision) 1 1.Greeting. 2 2.师生交流,谈论各自的爱好。 T:What s your hobby? Ss:I like dancing /drawing/playing ping-pong?? T:I like dancing,but I can t dance well.Can you help me?Let s dance together. 二、新课呈现(PresentationPresentation) (一)学习 B B 部分 Let s LearnLet s Learn 1 1.课件出示图片。 T:Who can do like the boy? Ss:I can. T:What are you doing? 板书单词 stand on one foot,带读单词。 2 2.用同样的方法学习 read a story aloud,paint a picture,play the piano. 3 3.跟录音朗读单词。 4 4.Game: Let s do. 教师说词组,学生快速反应,边读词组边做动作,然后变换方式,老师做动作, 学生说出对 应的词组。 5 5.Pair work. 同桌两人练习以上活动,进一步巩固新学词组。 (二)学习 A A 部分 Let s Listen and SayLet s Listen and Say 1 1.出示教材 25 页挂图,学生观察图片,师生交谈。 T:What is Lingling doing? And what is Anne doing in picture one? Ss:Lingling is dancing.Anne is watching her. T:Guess,what did Anne want to do ? Did she dance well? Ss:? 2 2.Listen to the tape and repeat. 3 3.教师指导理解 move,step,again, smile 等词语意思。 4 4.再次跟读课文,模仿正确的语音、语调。 5 5.针对课文,互相交流。 How did Anne dance with Lingling?What happened? 三、趣味操练(PractisePractise) 熟读 A 部分内容,根据课文创编课本剧演一演。 四、作业布置(HomeworkHomework) 1 1.读背 B 部分短语。 2 2.跟读 A 部分课文。 Unit 6Unit 6 (A A,B B) stand on one foot,read a story aloud, paint a picture,play the piano, Anne wanted to dance like Lingling. She stepped on Lingling s foot.


If music is your thing, then you would know that nothing beats the excitement of seeing your favorite artist perform live. The atmosphere at the venue and the thrill of listening to your favorite tracks is a feeling that just cannot be described in words.So the next question is are you a fan of Mana? If that is the case, then you have come to the right place as Mana is coming to Corpus Christi on 9/4/2019 to take the stage at American Bank Center at 8:00 PM. Every time Mana performs live, fans pack arenas to buy Mana tickets in big numbers because they know something special is in store for them.Now buying tickets online is not a cumbersome process either. At Ticketsmate, we have done all we could to make sure that the process is simple and absolutely hassle-free. You can get 100% genuine tickets for different categories, be it standard or VIP. So, book your Mana tickets at the earliest because the demand is high and they might not last for long. Mana is coming to American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX and this your chance to catch your favorite star live in concert.


U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says he will deport two million to three million undocumented immigrants who have criminal records when he assumes power and keep his campaign pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to thwart the stream of illegal migration into the country.
The blunt-spoken real estate mogul said, "I'm very good at this, it's called construction." He has vowed to get Mexico to pay for the wall, but the U.S.'s southern neighbor says it will not.
Overall, about 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the U.S., but Trump said that after the border is secure and the initial group of law-breaking immigrants is deported, his government would decide what to do with the remaining millions of undocumented migrants living in the United States.
In the interview, Trump, who vowed during the campaign to dismantle President Barack Obama's signature health care reforms, said he would keep parts of the program, including a provision banning insurers from denying coverage to those with major preexisting health conditions. Trump surrogates have also suggested that he may abandon or reshape other favorite campaign pledges, but he has yet to detail many of his intentions.
Trump is working quickly to shape his new government, even as thousands of protesters are taking to the streets in major cities in nightly demonstrations against his election.
Meanwhile, Trump's administration is beginning to take shape. He announced Sunday that Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus will be his new chief of staff — the highest-ranking White House employee who is basically the top assistant to the president.
He also named right-wing media executive Steve Bannon as his chief strategist and counselor.
Other top names reportedly being considered for senior jobs include former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as attorney general and Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as defense secretary.
Meanwhile, most of the European Union foreign ministers were meeting Sunday in Brussels to discuss the impact of Trump's election on trans-Atlantic relations and how it might complicate the West's contentious standing with Russia, whose leader, President Vladimir Putin, Trump often praised during his campaign. The British and French foreign ministers were staying away from the meeting, saying they objected to the Trump-related discussions.
Much of Europe was shocked by Trump's election because of his suggestion during the campaign that the U.S. revisit its support for NATO, which has been a bedrock U.S.-European military alliance since the end of World War Two. EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Trump poses risks for the relationship.
"I believe we'll have two years of wasted time while Mr. Trump tours a world he doesn't know," Juncker said, referring to Trump's lack of solid foreign policy priorities that has kept much of the world guessing as to his intents.
While Trump worked on taking office, Clinton, the former U.S. secretary of state who was trying to become the country's first female president, on Saturday blamed her loss on the renewed investigation in the late stages of the campaign of her email practices and her handling of national security material while she was the country's top diplomat.
Clinton said the directive of James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, reopening the probe of the emails 11 days before the election after ending it without charges against her in July, curbed her campaign's momentum at a time when she was surging against Trump.
Comey subsequently, two days before the election, said investigators had found nothing new to change its mind that she was "extremely careless" in handling the classified documents but that no criminal charges were warranted. Millions of people voted during the nine-day period in early balloting.
While Clinton cited the effects of the Comey intervention in her loss, numerous political analysts in the U.S. have attributed it more to her failure to connect politically with white, working class voters expressing their anger at cultural changes in the United States and global economic forces that have pushed U.S. companies to open manufacturing plants in other countries with cheaper labor.


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Q: c/c++ convert position dependent object to be position independent I have some compiled object file with debug symbols, but no acces to the sources.
Is there any method to convert this file to be position independent?
As far as I understand the '-fPIC' flag it makes all jumps to be relative. I'm wondering if having debug symbols is enough to be able to fix this jumps and so create a PIC binary.
If not please tell me why this operation is impossible to be done.

A: I think this question is rather platform than compiler specific since different platforms implement PIC code differently.
Nevertheless, I don't know of any platform where it would be possible with a simple tool to convert conventional code into position indepependant code. This is a decision that has to be made at compile/code generation time. Probably the only way to achieve your goal would be to disassemble the code and modify every absolute code/data reference into relative addressing.
The short answer would be: no, (practically) impossible.


Everyone knows that Gartner is the big gorilla of the technology research & advisory business. It's not just that it now generates six times the annual revenues of its nearest competitor, Forrester Research, but how it plays the game. Gartner bets big, & expects to win big.
Gartner & Forrester have both reported their 2013 financial results in the past few days, and the CEOs of both firms came across on the earnings calls as happy with their numbers. They pretty much hit the revenue & income targets they forecast 12 months ago, and were comfortable about hitting similar targets in the coming year.
The difference is in where the bar is set.
For the year ended December 31, 2013, Gartner generated total revenues of $US1.784 billion, a 10 per cent increase on 2012, and at the lower end of 10 to 13 per cent growth forecast it announced 12 months ago. This year, its revenue growth guidance is 9 to 12 per cent.
Forrester reported full year revenues of $US297.7 million, a 2 per cent increase on 2012, and at the upper end of the -1 to 2 per cent growth it forecast a year ago. This year, its revenue growth guidance is of the order of 2 to 5 per cent.
Issues of scale and nuanced discussions about the difference in the research portfolios aside, these two firms effectively sell the same products into the same markets, yet one expects – and gets – double-digit growth, while the other sees single-digit growth as a reasonable outcome.
For all the similarities between Gartner & Forrester, there are also plenty of subtle and not-so-subtle differences – in their research agendas, the type of analysts they employ, their sales approaches and so on. Perhaps they can provide some insight into the difference in performance between these two firms?
In 2012, the difference between these companies was much about sales execution, which was covered in detail in our blog post A tale of two sales teams – an analysis of Gartner's & Forrester's 2012 financials. This post is our most-read article of all time, by a significant margin, and continues to attract hits 12 months on.
The 2013 results are a little more complex, but I'm going to break them down in a similar way as 2012 to provide some insights into how these two firms approach a multi-billion dollar market which both of them continue to claim is under-penetrated.
Gartner's Q4 revenue growth was similar at 10 per cent, while Forrester's was a little stronger at 3 per cent. Gartner's Q4 income growth was weaker at 4 per cent, but so was Forrester's – declining 56 per cent. Gartner CFO Chris Lafond highlighted investment in the salesforce as impacting Q4 income, and while Forrester didn't discuss this issue specifically, it pointed to investment in its consulting headcount & weaker conditions in Europe as affecting its overall bottom line.
Syndicated research services continue to account for the bulk of revenue for both firms – 71 per cent for Gartner, and 68 per cent for Forrester. But while Gartner's research revenues grew 12 per cent for the year, Forrester's were flat, and declined 1 per cent in Q4. Gartner's guidance for 2014 research revenues is 11 to 13 per cent, and while Forrester didn't provide a specific forecast for research, it did suggest that growth would come from other areas.
As we saw last year, Gartner didn't spend a lot of time talking about research, apart from the numbers, while Forrester chairman & CEO George Colony introduced the earnings call with a discussion about the firm's research focus in the "Age of the Customer", as well as highlighting the increase in delivery of playbooks – now totalling 64 & double the previous year.
Forrester includes consulting in "Advisory & Other" which also includes events, while Gartner breaks it out as a separate line item. From a growth perspective, Forrester appears to have done better here than Gartner, with a 5 per cent increase in advisory, compared with 3 per cent growth in consulting for Gartner.
Consulting has become a key focus for Forrester – it increased the number of consultants to 60 at the end of 2013, and plans to almost double that to 114 by end 2014. That's still a lot fewer than Gartner's 480+ consultants, but a serious statement of intent. The aim is to move Forrester analysts out of project consulting to focus more on research & advisory, and consulting was flagged as one of the areas of strongest growth in 2014.
Gartner also seems to have fixed a few issues in its consulting business, which delivered disappointing results in 2012. While 2013 & forecast growth is modest, Gartner highlighted a backlog of $US106 million at the end of Q4.
With a 15 per cent growth to just under $US200 million in revenues, events are the gift that keeps on giving for Gartner. That growth was achieved by adding just three events to the calendar, bringing the worldwide total to 64 events. Attendee revenues increased 11 per cent and exhibitor revenues increased 17 per cent for the year, suggesting that Gartner has struck a good balance between the needs of its delegates and sponsors.
Forrester doesn't break out its events revenue, but indicated that it was pretty comfortable with its 2013 commitment level, focusing on "fewer, bigger, better" events focused around its most important five to seven roles.
Gartner didn't break down its headcount figures in its earnings statement, but CEO Gene Hall pointed to a 16 per cent increase in sales headcount at the end of 2013, and said that the long-term sales headcount growth target was 15 to 20 per cent a year.
For Forrester, total headcount grew 4 per cent, with research (including consulting) increasing 10 per cent to 475 and sales growing 5 per cent to 485, and with Forrester also highlighting that salesforce attrition was at its lowest in eight quarters. Once again, Gartner's greater focus on the salesforce is obvious, and while it continued to fill research roles through 2013, it is unlikely that research headcount grew at the same pace as its sales team.
Client retention is a critical metric for analyst firms – as it is for many sales organisations – because it's generally easier to renew & increase an existing contract than to sign a new client. Generally, these are calculated on 12-month rolling averages, and we're assuming that Gartner & Forrester use similar approaches, despite slightly different terminology.
Gartner reported a 82 per cent retention rate in terms of total client numbers, compared with 73 per cent for Forrester, while Gartner claimed a 98 per cent wallet retention rate, compared with 86 per cent in dollars for Forrester.
For Gartner, year-on-year contract value grew 12 per cent to $1.423 billion, while Forrester's agreement value declined 2 per cent to $US216.5 million.
Both Gartner & Forrester appeared reasonably bullish about 2014, despite the different target growth rates. For Forrester, 2013 was impacted by weakness in Europe due to economic issues & client restructuring, while Gartner highlighted the US federal government and government in some parts of Europe as areas of softness last year. While no major improvement in government spending is expected this year, neither firm flagged it as likely to have any deeper impact in 2014.
Forrester went into 2013 on the back of a weak year characterised by poor sales execution, and set itself some modest goals as it set about correcting those problems. Delivering against its guidance, it has proven that it can execute against a plan, so can be expected to do that again in 2014 if it continues to focus its efforts on the areas which will grow its top & bottom lines.
Gartner went into 2013 on the back of a strong year, with all its ducks in a row. It's in pretty much the same position as we go into 2014, and has a pretty strong track record of executing against its plans.
In 2010, Gartner was just over five times bigger than Forrester, but based on 2013 revenues, Gartner is now six times the size of its closest competitor. With a significant margin between the growth forecasts of these two firms and barring any major changes in the market, we can expect this delta to increase this year, and probably beyond that.
So long as Gartner bets big in terms of investment in its sales & research headcount and the growth targets it sets itself, as well as playing those cards sagely, it will continue to outperform not only Forrester, but many of the smaller firms which follow it in the revenue rankings. This might be good for Gartner, but whether it's good for the technology research & advisory business overall is open to debate.
Dave, interesting to watch the momentum that Gartner seems to has generated. Another way of looking at their growth is that the incremental growth for them in 2013 was approximately 60% of Forresters total revenue …. That is scale we all wish we had.


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Frederick Jermaine Carter Hanging 7 Months Later: Advocate, Provocateur, Or Saboteur: The Enigma Of Valerie Hicks Powe
Attorney Valerie Hicks Powe
Advocate, Provocateur, Or Saboteur: The Enigma Of Valerie Hicks Powe
By Bro. Ron a.k.a. R2C2H2 Tha Artivist
W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News Special Report...
"A Lawyer Who Is Not A Social Engineer Is A Social Parasite" ~Charles Hamilton Houston
Valerie Hicks Powe is known as a corporate lawyer, well I can't say she is truly that well known or what her true purpose is, advocate, provocateur or saboteur, as it relates to this case...I do not understand for the life of me why Brenda Carter-Evans decided to get a corporate lawyer without any or very limited trial experience in this area instead of a seasoned, knowledgeable civil or criminal lawyer is beyond me…A source knowledgeable of the case told W.E. A.L.L. B.E News that Valerie Hicks Powe, who lives and works in Birmingham, Alabama, was recently hired by the Mississippi Highway Patrol last year to conduct seminars/workshops…This same source also told W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News that Valerie Hicks Powe was recommended to Mrs. Brenda Carter-Evans by a family friend who is also a Mississippi Highway Patrolman…Valerie Hicks Powe has made several claims through the media that she feels that Frederick Jermaine Carter was murdered and that she felt that the law enforcement officials in Leflore County have failed to do their jobs in terms of preserving the crime scene, conducting a proper investigation thus alluding that the Leflore County Sheriff and Coroner's Office were involved in a cover-up conspiracy from the start…Does it seem like a conflict of interest to have a lawyer who recently worked for law enforcement officials of a state on favorable terms to now accuse members of the law enforcement community of the same state in a murder cover-up conspiracy?
And if this is Valerie Hicks Powe's reasoning then why hasn't she filed a lawsuit against Leflore County or the state of Mississippi? What is she waiting on? Perhaps a settlement? Once again I ask the question why has the Carter-Evans family retained a corporate lawyer as their legal representative in this scenario which would seem to be a criminal/wrongful death matter? Let's define what a corporate lawyer is…
The definitions of a corporate lawyer are as follows:
Whether serving as in-house or outside counsels, corporate lawyers are hired to keep companies out of trouble by anticipating and helping to circumvent problems. They also keep their clients up to date on new business laws and regulations. Corporate lawyers provide advice on labor relations, employee contracts, tax issues, suits against the corporation, employee injury, patents, and contracts with suppliers of raw materials.
http://careers.stateuniversity.com/pages/722/Lawyer-Corporate.html
The role of a corporate lawyer is to ensure the legality of commercial transactions, advising corporations on their legal rights and duties, including the duties and responsibilities of corporate officers. In order to do this, they must have knowledge of aspects of contract law, tax law, accounting, securities law, bankruptcy, intellectual property rights, licensing, zoning laws, and the laws specific to the business of the corporations that they work for.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_lawyer
Here is Attorney Valerie Hicks Powe's own definition of what she does from her website http://www.valeriehickspowe.com/ :
Valerie is a practicing attorney specializing in employment law and mediator trained through the Atlanta Justice Center. With nearly a decade of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and an extensive background with government agencies, she offers her clients myriad of management resources and training tools.
Valerie is an effective leader, whose past and present activities includes serving on Boards of Directors for the National Employment Lawyers Association, Legal Services, the Alabama Lawyer's Association and a Committee Member of Operation New Birmingham.
I will ask again, what is a corporate lawyer used to conducting workshops and seminars for government agencies doing involved in a wrongful death situation where government authorities are accused of not doing their jobs and possible cover-up? And why is a person more familiar or seasoned in the Alabama legal culture stepping foot into seemingly foreign Mississippi territory? Does she has a license to practice law in Mississippi? Not one of her credentials mentioned on her website lets us know she is otherwise qualified to handle Mississippi's interpretation of law and order...Also her experience in law seems to make her more acclimated and sympathetic towards the corporate or government agency culture of doing things (Goliath) than towards the underdog (David)…In other words why should she take on a case with a client who alleges wrongdoing was perpetuated by those government entities that basically sign her paychecks and butters her bread???
Why Is Valerie Hicks Powe Keeping Both Autopsy Results In Her Possession & From The Public?
Another thing I have learned about Valerie Hicks Powe is that she has been going around telling folks that the autopsy results have not been released and that the state is withholding evidence thus stopping a true investigation from taking place…This is a lie…A source told me she said something similar to the above at the 47th Annual Mississippi Martyrs Memorial Service in Neshoba County,Ms, during Father's Day Weekend 2011…Valerie Hicks Powe also told same source that Mrs. Brenda Carter-Evans, her client, was also causing problems in the case as well…Oh really??? The same Brenda Carter-Evans who seems to put all of her abiding faith and confidence in Valerie Hicks Powe so much so that she refuses to give interviews without her consent???
I reminded the source that this wasn't true and that W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News was instrumental in securing the release of said autopsy results from the Miss. State Medical Examiner's Office this past March and that the evidence is all over the internet…As a matter of fact Dr. Adel Shaker said that he indeed did send a copy of the autopsy results to Attorney Valerie Hicks Powe…I also informed the source that Leflore County Coroner Debra Sanders stated that the state autopsy results were indeed in her possession but when she spoke to W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News in late April she said that no one from the immediate family has come to claim the autopsy results and that she will release them to immediate family only due to the HIPPA Act (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIPPA…
This however contradicts what Dr. Adel Shaker stated to W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News back in March about the availability of the autopsy results to the public but he later recanted and for the most part backed Coroner Debra Sander's assertion that the autopsy results could not be available to the public due to the HIPPA Act as well as a pending investigation which begs the question if there are no plans to really conduct an investigation when will these autopsy results be available??? Why hasn't anyone from the family sought to get the autopsy results from the Leflore County Coroner's Office if they have been available since April???
***News Alert!!!***W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News Has Secured A Copy Of The First Autopsy Report For Frederick Jermaine Carter…Read For Yourself:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2014/12/suspect-lynching-victim-frederick.html
WATCH: W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Exclusive! INterview With Leflore County Coroner Debra Sanders On Frederick Jermaine Carter Hanging (4/19/2011)
http://youtu.be/vaT-RkQr0dM
WATCH: W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Exclusive! Update Interview With Miss. Medical Examiner Dr. Adel Shaker On Frederick Jermaine Carter Hanging (3/25/2011)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvOgugWY06s
Once again why is Valerie Hicks Powe telling folks that she doesn't have access to the state autopsy results??? To add even further insult to injury Valerie Hicks Powe has been telling folks she doesn't have the second autopsy results…Does anyone beside me see a disturbing pattern developing?
The first autopsy results were sent directly to her from the Miss. State Medical Examiner's Office and the second autopsy results were sent by Dr. Matthias I. Okoye of Nebraska Institute of Forensic Sciences, Inc.,…The first autopsy results according to Attorney Valerie Hicks Powe are not complete because they do not include photos from the first autopsy nor the full toxicology report…Dr. Adel Shaker didn't rule on cause of death according to several sources because he wasn't sure what a second opinion would say…Also Dr. Shaker's autopsy report states that the toxicology results "reveals negative results for the tested substances tested"…However, what were "the tested substances tested" and could there be drugs that aren't tested for that wouldn't show up on a toxicology report if the examiner wasn't necessarily looking for them? This case is really contradictory on many levels…At this point one cannot be sure if there is a true conspiracy or a true comedy of errors now going on, making this tragedy even more of a travesty than it really should be…
Please Read Next: Frederick Jermaine Carter 7 Months Later: The Shame Of A Nation
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2011/07/shame-of-nation.html
More Frederick Jermaine Carter On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/search?q=frederick+jermaine+carter
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Labels: emmett till, frederick jermaine carter, greenwood ms, hanging, investigative journalism, leflore county, lynching, murder, racism, suicide, tallahatchie river, unsolved crime, valerie hicks powe, white supremacy
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Play A 'Movie' In The Time It Takes To Watch One!
You, your friends and family can enjoy creating an original story in a single session without the game master required by most roleplaying systems. Lucid is structured to let you be as creative as you like, and still experience 3 Acts of unexpected plot twists that will culminate in a conclusive finale! Create your own characters, or build a dream-team of your fictional heroes. Tell stories in any settings you can imagine, play in one of our sample campaign worlds, or let your group drop into their favorite movie, novel, TV show, video game or comic. Lucid blends the free creativity and cooperative strengths of roleplaying games with the structured fun of a board game, making a storytelling experience that players of all ages can enjoy together!
Lucid's creator or producer/lead developer will play with you personally to ensure your gaming time is maximized!
No infringement of copyright intended by the use of artwork on this under-construction site.
Links to location of original artwork provided where available.


Meth is a controlled substance, classified as a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act because it has a high potential for abuse.
Methamphetamine is a prescription drug (Desoxyn) which is sometimes used to treat: attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy and obesity. Physicians may chose to prescribe methamphetamine when amphetamines (Adderall®) or other stimulants fail to be effective. Meth also has legimate military applications.
Meth is chemically related to amphetamine but it is is more potent, longer lasting and more harmful to the CNS than amphetamine.
Meth is a controlled substance classified as a Schedule II drug.


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Mathematics to face the challenges of personalized medicine | Coffee and theorems | Science
In June 2000, with the splendor of the great moments, the President of the United States Bill Clinton announced – together with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair – the completion of the complete sequencing of the human genome, the "genetic design of human beings humans". A revolution was predicted in the knowledge of the genetic basis of the biological characteristics that define us, including diseases. Since that presentation, what has happened? What stage is personalized medicine at? And what does mathematics have to do with all this?
The strategy seemed clear. If until then it was known that a few genes affect certain aspects of our biology, the availability of the entire genome would make it possible to extend that knowledge to situations in which the characters were determined by numerous genes. The former are the so-called simple characters and the latter are complex. Equivalently, diseases determined by a few genes (or a single gene) are known as Mendelian (eg, cystic fibrosis), and as non-Mendelian, those related to many (eg, hypertension).
However, the sequence of the same gene can change in each person and this also modifies their characters (height, susceptibility to hypertension, etc.). The ideal, then, is not simply to match genes to characters, but to associate specific sequences –variants of the same gene– to their magnitude. If we obtain this relationship we will achieve two objectives. The first is that we would better understand the biological foundation of that property. The second is that we could predict it in those individuals who presented the specific sequence identified. Both aspects would contribute to the development of personalized medicine.
However, despite the cheaper sequencing (in the year 2000 it was about 300 million dollars; today, 1,000 dollars), sequencing the genome of many people – which is necessary to be able to make the sequence-to-character association – is still complicated . The GWAS experiments genome-wide association studies) offer an alternative: exclusively sequencing the regions of the genome in which the most frequent type of genetic variability is exhibited. These regions are called SNPs (from the English single nucleotide polymorphisms) and only contain one nucleotide, the basic constituent of the genome, which can present four different states, abbreviated G, A, T, C.
Variation in a SNP does not have to be the cause of the presence, or modification, of the corresponding biological property. The SNPs act in most cases as "signallers" of the existence, physically close in the genome, of genetic variants that are the true causes. This is due to the "linkage" that exists between physically close sequences in the human genome, known as linkage disequilibrium.
Using special methodologies to examine these cheaper and easier regions, around a million SNPs can be evaluated per individual. However, the first works were unable to identify the sets of SNPs linked to the variability found in complex characters or in susceptibility to non-Mendelian diseases. To our amazement, it seems that most aspects of human biology are determined by far more SNPs and with much weaker influence than we expected. These SNPs also appear distributed throughout the genome.
On the other hand, from the sequence of the genome to the manifestation of the biological aspect, there are intermediate levels of molecular activity, which modulate the possible expression of this aspect, which further complicates the understanding of this relationship. The latter is known as the genotype-phenotype map problem.
And this is where mathematics comes in. The promotion of quantitative methods allows a better understanding of the association between sequence and biological character, incorporating information from the molecular and cellular context, in the form of genetic networks. For example, these techniques make it possible to identify SNPs whose variation is significantly associated with susceptibility to a disease. These tools include simple regression models and more complex methodologies that incorporate Bayesian estimation and, more recently, the use of deep neural networks and causal inference.
Regarding the second objective that we exposed, that of prediction, mathematics is used to develop systems that predict the value of a given character from information of the individual sequence. To this end, all the information of the available SNPs is being added, taking into account the intensity of their effect, in a single polygenic risk "predictor". As their prognostic ability improves, many propose their use as independent biomarkers and for grading the severity of patients. However, they also have limitations: our understanding of the functioning of these predictors is very limited, given the tangled nature of the genotype-phenotype map described. Furthermore, its development depends on the specific population under examination (and on the environment-dependent interactions between genes) and is thus difficult to generalize.
Thus, polygenic risk predictors represent one more example –in genomics– of the challenges faced by other disciplines whose objective is quantitative prediction based on the so-called big data. These tools do their job, but we don't really see why. Warren Weaver, one of the pioneers of information theory, highlighted in his writing on Science and Complexity (from 1947) that this type of challenge, which he called "organized" complexity, would be the ones that would dominate science and technology. future. Deepening them through the use of mathematics will undoubtedly mark the advancement and success of the coveted personalized medicine, but we should always keep in mind the inescapable restrictions imposed by complexity.
Juan F. Poyatos directs the Laboratory of Logic of Genomic Systems at the National Center for Biotechnology, integrated into the LifeHUB connection of the Superior Council of Scientific Investigations, and is a visiting researcher at the ICMAT.
Coffee and theorems is a section dedicated to mathematics and the environment in which it is created, coordinated by the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT), in which the researchers and members of the center describe the latest advances in this discipline, share meeting points between the mathematics and other social and cultural expressions and remember those who marked its development and knew how to transform coffee into theorems. The name evokes the definition of the Hungarian mathematician Alfred Rényi: "A mathematician is a machine that transforms coffee into theorems."
Editing and coordination: Agate A. Rudder G Longoria (ICMAT).
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A musical at The National Liberty Museum 321 Chestnut St. 800/822-8487, ext.437.
The Liberty Museum is open 10am-5pm daily. Adults: $18, Seniors: $15, $6 for children under 6. Group rates available.
Two Great Attractions, One Great Price! We The People is a rousing musical tribute to the spirit that has defined America. Exhilarating and inspiring, the award-wining production spotlights our nations heroes and heritage. Admission includes full access to the acclaimed National Liberty Museum.


On January 26th in Rotterdam, we continue the work we began at our recent Industry Talk: Solidarity with Filmmakers at Risk. We invite all film professionals attending IFFR to join us for the event Call to Action: Solidarity for Filmmakers at Risk, moderated by IDFA's artistic director Orwa Nyrabia.
As the world faces a growing crackdown on freedom of expression, more and more filmmakers struggle to make their voices heard. Over the last several years, threats, violence, imprisonment, and even murder has escalated in the global filmmaking community, in an attempt to silence filmmakers.
To seek solidarity with these filmmakers at risk, IDFA hosted the Industry Talk: Solidarity with Filmmakers at Risk last November. By inviting filmmakers to share their experiences, the event sought to examine how to reach a coordinated strategy of action that effectively serves filmmakers at risk.
Now, we continue the conversation at IFFR. From solidarity flows support. From discussion flows a call to action. On January 26th from 16:00 to 18:00, IDFA's artistic director Orwa Nyrabia will moderate the IFFR Pro Debate Call to Action: Solidarity for Filmmakers at Risk, with an introduction by Agnieszka Holland.
The Debate will be preceded by an invitation-only think tank with participants: Marion Döring (European Film Academy), Srirak Plipat (Freemuse), Steven Markovitz (producer, Big World Cinema), Marianne Wulfsberg Hovdan (International Cities of Refuge Network - ICORN), Bianca Taal (IFFR), Kaveh Farnam (producer, Advanced Media), Antoine Thirion (Locarno Festival) and Vonne van der Meer (PEN Netherlands). They will be joined in the IFFR Pro Debate by Miko Revereza (filmmaker) and Marriët Schuurman (Dutch Human Rights Ambassador).
Listen to the podcast recording of our Industry Talk: Solidarity with Filmmakers at Risk below.


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Technical Updates (by: TACKtech Team) [Page: 8 of 629] @ TACKtech Corp.
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11.02.2016 - Notepad++ v7.2.0
Notepad++ is a free source code editor (and Notepad replacement), which supports several programming languages, running under the MS Windows environment. This project, based on the Scintilla edit component (a very powerful editor component), written in C++ with pure win32 api and STL (that ensures the higher execution speed and smaller size of the program), is under the GPL License.
Full View / NID: 70390 / Submitted by: TACKtech Team
10.22.2016 - foobar2000 1.3.13 Final
Foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include ReplayGain support, low memory footprint and native support for several popular audio formats.
10.18.2016 - Oracle: VirtualBox 5.1.8 Final
VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). See "About VirtualBox" for an introduction.
10.18.2016 - Oracle: VirtualBox 5.0.28 Final
10.12.2016 - foobar2000 1.3.13 beta 2
09.30.2016 - Scooter Software, Inc.: Beyond Compare 4.1.9, build 21719 (v4.1.9.21719)
Beyond Compare allows you to quickly and easily compare your files and folders. By using simple, powerful commands you can focus on the differences you're interested in and ignore those you're not. You can then merge the changes, synchronize your files, and generate reports for your records.
09.24.2016 - Mp3tag 2.79
Mp3tag can rename files based on the tag information, replace characters or words from tags and filenames, import/export tag information, create playlists, and more. It supports online freedb database lookups for selected files, allowing you to automatically gather proper tag information for select files or CDs.
09.20.2016 - Mozilla Firefox 49.0 Final
Mozilla Firefox is a fast, full-featured browser for Windows that makes browsing more efficient than ever before. Firefox includes popup blocking; a tab-browsing mode that lets you open several pages in a single window; integrated Google searching; simplified privacy controls that let you cover your tracks more effectively; a streamlined browser window that shows you more of the page than any other browser; and a number of additional features that work with you to help you get the most out of your time online.
08.18.2016 - Corel Corporation: PaintShop Pro X9 Update 1
Get more productive with performance and stability improvements. Corel PaintShop Pro X9 Update 1 will update the previous release of Corel PaintShop Pro X9.


Brad Filliponi starts his career in real estate photography. Brad would spend his days taking photos and his evenings in Photoshop.
Brad has the initial idea of creating a photo editing website for real estate agents.
Q1: First photo editing website was born. Files from clients were sent to and from using Dropbox and Brad managed everything manually.
Q2: Business needed a catchy name and was rebranded to BoxBrownie.com. It was identified that the business wasn't scalable so development started on an online system and new website.
Q3: The second website, now branded BoxBrownie.com, is launched!
Q4: The new website system wasn't as scalable as planned. The decision was made to bring Mel Myers into the business and start a brand new system and website from scratch (again).
Q2: New website and system launched with a focus on scalability. Traditional marketing including door knocking, phone calls, etc continues.
Q3: BoxBrownie.com reaches 150 customers. Online marketing commences to grow business outside of local contacts and word of mouth.
Q3: BoxBrownie.com reaches 2,500 customers. As cash flow increases it is used to accelerate web development and marketing.
Q3: Soft launches in the US and UK. A new front end website is launched with multi-currency functionality and an improved look and feel.
Q4: Test marketing campaigns in the US, UK, and Canadian markets. Determined that the US market had the best return on investment so this becomes the new focus.
Q1: Marketing spend increased with a focus on the US market. Officially releases the CGI render product targeting new developments.
Q2: BoxBrownie.com reaches 10,000 customers.
Q3: The BoxBrownie.com team flies to the US for the first time and exhibits at its first US conference.
Q4: Customer service continues to grow and becomes 24/7 across phone, live chat, and email.
Q1: BoxBrownie.com reaches 20,000 customers. US conferences are attended regularly and BoxBrownie.com becomes a RE/MAX internationally approved supplier.


Beshara Magazine is an independent, non-profit publication which aims to provide a platform for intelligent and thought-provoking material embodying a unifying perspective. Its concern is not with one particular field of activity, but with unitative ideas and initiatives as they arise in many different areas of contemporary thought – for example, within the spiritual traditions, the sciences, economics and finance, and the arts, as well as in our developing understanding of the environment and the fundamentals of well-being.
Our aim is to present a few articles each month, allowing the content to grow into a substantial collection over time. As such, we hark back to the original root of the word 'magazine', which derives from the Arabic term for a storehouse or treasury (makhzan, pl. makhāzin), as well as to its 19th century English usage as "a storehouse for information" or "a portable receptacle for valuable things". The word Beshara is originally Aramaic, and its meaning can be rendered as "good news"; thus it, too, indicates the very positive and valuable effect that any movement towards a more inclusive and harmonious perspective represents.
Beshara magazine is published by the Beshara Trust, a UK-based educational charity (Reg. nos. 296769 England & Wales, SC039933 Scotland). It is supported entirely by donations and voluntary work. Any donations received through this website go towards editorial expenses and support of the web-site.


Shibuya means fashion, and fashion – like it or not – tends to mean shopping. There'll be around 300 shops taking part in the third Shibuya Fashion Festival, a retail bonanza in the vein of the Vogue-sponsored Fashion's Night Out. Expect a wealth of special discounts and limited edition goods at participating stores, many of which will be staying open until 10pm. There'll also be a variety of action taking place in Miyashita Park throughout the day, including a flea market, catwalk shows and live music.