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Monoculture tree plantations are a false climate solution
Yesterday was the 16th International Day of Struggle against Monoculture Tree Plantations. In 2004, rural communities in Brazil declared the day to commemorate the resistance against the expansion of monoculture tree plantations in Brazil. Through solidarity statements and actions around the world the day has evolved to become an International Day of Struggle. This year, a … [Read more...]
Cheetahs introduced to Majete Wildlife Reserve after decades-long absence
Two years after cheetahs were reintroduced to Malawi, in Liwonde National Park, four individuals were safely translocated from South Africa to Majete Wildlife Reserve to form a crucial founder population and help grow the range of this vulnerable big cat. A small founder population of wild Cheetahs has been successfully translocated from South Africa to Majete Wildlife … [Read more...]
How hard is climate change affecting the world's poorest nations?
When Nicholas Herold was hunting for data on how much climate change was affecting the world's poorest nations, he was surprised when he couldn't find answers in the published research. "Everyone's spoken for years about how poor countries are going to suffer more – or are suffering more – and I couldn't find one figure actually showing this," the research fellow at the … [Read more...]
African farmers sold out by secret deal on plant variety protection
"Harmonisation' is the new term used for the removal of African farmers' rights to survive by saving their own seeds as has been done over millenia. This is also the term used for removing our rights to natural and traditional medicines. On 06 July 2015, in Arusha, Tanzania, a Diplomatic Conference held under the auspices of the African Regional Intellectual Property … [Read more...]
Malawi faces 'unprecedented' flood disaster
The waters may be receding and the rainfall subsiding but Malawi is only now coming to terms with the "unprecedented" floods that hit the southern half of the country last week. At least 176 people lost their lives and another 200,000 have been displaced when heavy rains submerged homes, schools, and in places, washing away an entire village. The Malawi Defence Force has … [Read more...]
Climate threat to Southern Africa's crops
Southern Africa could be among areas hardest hit by climate change. A rapidly expanding population is likely to add to future problems, says a new study. The study, published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and with contributions from scientists in countries across the southern Africa region, uses available data and a variety of models to examine … [Read more...]
Let's keep the farmers informed
Investing in agriculture over the past two decades has proven to be a sound strategy for some, but not all regions have flourished as a vicious cycle of extreme poverty and a poor understanding of market finance have stunted economic prospects in many low and middle-income countries. Africa may be on the verge of a major economic transformation but some of the greatest … [Read more...]
Zuma urges return to the land
South African president Jacob Zuma urged millions of South Africans to return to the land as a way to augment income and reduce food insecurity. Speaking in late October at a dinner hosted by the recently-launched African Farmers Association of South Africa, Zuma said his government would continue to promote food gardens and other types of subsistence agriculture for people to … [Read more...]


Vol.20 Chapter 202: A Different World Vol.20 Chapter 201: The Highest Floor of the Shadow Palace Chapter 200: A World of Light Vol.20 Chapter 199: The Strongest Natural Enemy Chapter 198: The Five-Leaf Grimoire Chapter 197: False Hope Chapter 196: The Mastermind Chapter 195: A Complete Change Chapter 194: Spite Chapter 193: The Final Challenger Chapter 192: Page 192: Two Bright Red Fists Page 192: Two Bright Red Fists Chapter 191: Infiltrate The Shadow Palace!! Chapter 190: Let's Go!!! Chapter 189: A Trustworthy Human Chapter 188: My Reason For Living Up Till Now Chapter 187: Offense And Defense Between Heaven And Earth Chapter 186 : The Eye In The Mirror Chapter 185 : The Chance Meeting Of Dreams Chapter 184 Chapter 183: Raging Bulls At The Clash Of Titans!! Chapter 182: The Followers Of Sephirah Chapter 181: Brothers Of Spatial Magic Chapter 180: The Sharpened Blade Chapter 179 Chapter 178 Chapter 177 Chapter 176: Siblings Chapter 175 Chapter 174: Flying In Chapter 173: Final Battle At Clover Castle Chapter 172 Chapter 171: The Sleeping Lion Chapter 170 Chapter 169 Chapter 168 Chapter 167 Chapter 166 Chapter 165 Chapter 164 Chapter 163 Chapter 162: Lightning Of Rage V.s Friends Chapter 161: Human Bonds Chapter 160 Chapter 159 Chapter 158: Life In The Village At The Furthest Ends. Chapter 157: Page 157 Chapter 156 Chapter 155 Chapter 154 Chapter 153 Chapter 152 Chapter 151 Chapter 150 Chapter 149 Chapter 148 Chapter 147 Chapter 146 Chapter 145 Chapter 144 Chapter 143 Chapter 142 Chapter 141 Chapter 140 Chapter 139 Chapter 138 Chapter 137 Chapter 136 Chapter 135 Chapter 134 Chapter 133 Chapter 132 : Winner Chapter 131 Chapter 130 Chapter 129 Chapter 128 Chapter 127 Chapter 126 Chapter 125 Chapter 124 : Yankee-Senpai Vs. Muscle Runt Chapter 123 Chapter 122 Chapter 121 : Crush Chapter 120 Chapter 119 : More Chapter 118 Chapter 117 chapter 116 : Coral Peacock's Captain Chapter 115 Chapter 114 Chapter 113 Chapter 112 Chapter 111 Chapter 110 Chapter 109 Chapter 108 Chapter 107 Chapter 106 Chapter 105 Chapter 104 Chapter 103 Vol.tbd Chapter 102 chapter 101 : I'm Home Vol.tbd Chapter 100 Vol.tbd Chapter 99 Vol.tbd Chapter 98 Chapter 97 Chapter 96 Chapter 95 Chapter 94 Vol.tbd Chapter 93 Vol.5 Chapter 92 Chapter 91 : Plasma Explosion Chapter 90 : Students Chapter 89 Chapter 88 : Thrust Of The Finisher chapter 87 : I'm Not A Loser! Chapter 86 : Flames Of Hatred Chapter 85 : The Charging Bull Chapter 84 Chapter 83.1 : Jump Giga Omake Vol.5 Chapter 83 : Infiltration Chapter 82 Chapter 81 Chapter 80 : Never Again Vol.5 Chapter 79 : The Depths Of The Mask chapter 78 : The Weak's Proclamation Chapter 77 : The Better Man Will Win Chapter 76 : The Strongest Order Chapter 75 Chapter 74 : Prove Of The Right Thing Chapter 73 Chapter 72 Chapter 71 Chapter 70 Chapter 69 Chapter 68 : Awaken Chapter 67 Chapter 66 : The True Form Chapter 65 Chapter 64 Chapter 63 Vol.5 Chapter 62 : The Strong Reign Vol.5 Chapter 61 : Royal Rumble At The Water Temple Chapter 60 : The Game Of The High Priest Chapter 59 : The Water Temple Vol.5 Chapter 58 : The Story Of The Growing Water Child Vol.5 Chapter 57 : A Black Beach Story Chapter 56 : Three-Leaf Salute. Chapter 55 Chapter 54 chapter 53 : That isn't yours Chapter 52 Chapter 51 : Third Eye Chapter 50 : Verdict Of Light Chapter 49 Chapter 48 Chapter 47 Chapter 46 Chapter 45 Chapter 44 Chapter 43 V2 Chapter 43 Chapter 42 Chapter 41 Chapter 40 Chapter 39 Chapter 38 Chapter 37 Chapter 36 Chapter 35 Chapter 34 : The Wounded Beast Chapter 33 : Adversity Chapter 32 Chapter 31 : The Crimson Lion King Chapter 30 Chapter 29 : Sore Loser Chapter 28 : Whats She Start At? Chapter 27 : Gaining Strength Chapter 26 : Magic Mayhem Chapter 25 : The Zombie Brigade Comes Chapter 24 : The Riot At The Castle Town Chapter 23 : Valour Ceremony Chapter 22 : Gathering At The Kings Palace Chapter 21 Chapter 20 : One Moment Chapter 19 : Remembering You Chapter 18 : Within The Trove Chapter 17 : Destroyer Chapter 16 : Death Match Chapter 15 : The Three Of Us Chapter 14 : Teammates Chapter 13 Chapter 12 : Reunion Chapter 11 : Dungeon Chapter 10 : An Incident At The Castle Town chapter 9 : The boy's VOW Version 002 Chapter 8 : The Protectors Chapter 7 : Beast Chapter 6 : Go Go, First Misson !!! Chapter 5 : The Other Noob chapter 4 : The black sheep's crook Chapter 3 : The Road To The Magic Emperor Chapter 2 : The Magic Knights Entrance Exam chapter 1 : The Boy's Vow Chapter: Oneshot: Who Will The World Smile At?
You're reading Black Clover Chapter 195: A Complete Change at atozmanga.com.
You just finished reading Black Clover Chapter 195: A Complete Change online. The Bookmark button is a very simple way to get notifications when your favorite manga have new updates. It's very useful to anyone who loves reading manga. Let's us guide you to find your best manga to read. And if you find any errors, let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible!
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Low Mortgage Rates Supporting Home Price Growth into 2016 | Altos Research - How's the Market?
For a while this summer it seemed like everyone expected mortgage rates to climb. However, since a peak in early July, rates have been drifting lower and are back under 4% – less than half their long-term average.
With mortgage rates down from 4.5% a year ago, homebuyers can actually afford 8% more home than a year ago, according to our friends at themortgagereports.com.
Mortgage interest rates, 30-year fixed loan, across the Altos 20-City Composite, year-to-date 2015.
It may be hard to believe, but the US housing market is now well into its fifth year of recovery. Home prices across the US are up another 7% over the past year, raising concerns about affordability for cash-strapped home buyers. If rates rise, that concern gets amplified. If mortgage rates fall however, that would provide another cycle of boost for housing demand.
Long-time readers of this blog will be aware of the striking shortage of homes for sale around the country. The low-supply conditions have lead to consistent price gains as demand has gradually increased since January 2011. Today is no different. Rates under 4% add to affordability and marginally add to housing demand.
To be clear, there isn't a lot of evidence that small changes in mortgage rates change housing demand profoundly. So the last few months of mortgage rate drop are merely adding a check in the bull-market column for US home prices into 2016.
What does this all mean for home buyers? It might cost you more to buy a home, but with low interest rates, you may actually be able to afford it.
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text: Q: How to integrate iAd Interstitial Ads with Cocos2D I have a fully functioning game built in Cocos2D and I want to add the iAd full-page Interstitial serving to it. I've googled for some time without much success - all I can find is tutorials on how to add banner iAds (constant serving, placed on top or below the game) but nothing about how to serve the Interstitials at key points of the game (like "Save Me" button to watch the ad or when game is over). Can anyone please help point me in the right direction or be kind enough to share how you did it on your app? Thanks!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Introducing English Language study material for IBPS Examinations. This study material is a must help to the job aspirants who have applied for different posts both in Private & Public sector.
The size of English Language Study Material is 16.89 MB.
Content Of Study : Grammar, Vocabulary, Sentence Completion, Synonyms, Antonyms, Meanings & Opposites, Sentence Formation,Error Spotting, Ordering, Preposition, Antonyms, & many more.


We Are One is the official newsletter of the Philadelphia Union family. With the launch of Bethlehem Steel FC, the Union have a complete path to the professional ranks, starting from age 7. Now with all levels officially up and running, We Are One will bring Union fans an inside look at all things club-related, and the valuable relationships each level has with each other.
Along with Official Youth Development Partner YSC, the Union has developed an innovative model for developing youth talent from the home territory of the Philadelphia Union. The objective is to identify, develop and nurture local youth soccer talent into world-class players to someday represent the Philadelphia Union at Talen Energy Stadium.


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Zoog Disney, on Disney Channel
BuzzFeed; Disney Wiki
This was a block of both live-action and animated series, which aired on weekend afternoons and evenings (Friday through Sunday). It began in August 1998 (or 1997?) and ended in September 2002. Shows that aired during this period included Flash Forward (1996-97), The Famous Jett Jackson (1998-2001), So Weird (1999-2001), Even Stevens (2000-03), Lizzie McGuire (2001-04), the animated series "The Proud Family" (2001-05) and Kim Possible (2002-07; it barely qualifies, since it premiered not long before the Zoog block ended), as well as some shows I never watched, and reruns of various shows that originated on other networks (such as Boy Meets World).
The block can also be said to include pretty much any Disney Channel Original Movies that premiered between August 1997 and March 2003 (see Disney Wiki).
blocks index

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Hobie Forums • View topic - What are your top 5 kayak fishing purchases?
What are your top 5 kayak fishing purchases?
Post subject: What are your top 5 kayak fishing purchases?
Excluding the kayak/fishing rods, what pieces of gear do you get the most use out of? I am brand new to kayak fishing and I've seen all kinds of cool pieces of kit, but I have no idea which ones to start with. This might be a good way to gauge which gadgets I should pick up first.
Post subject: Re: What are your top 5 kayak fishing purchases?
I am also new to kayak fishing, but I can give you my two cents (for what it's worth). The day I bought my kayak I immediately made a list of all the gear I thought I would need, and prioritized each item from most important to least. After my first couple fishing trips, it became apparent that I needed to re-prioritize certain items. Therefore, my first recommendation would be to take your kayak out a few times before investing in any gear. You will quickly realize what you need immediately, and what can wait.
Secondly, I think how you rig your kayak should be dictated by your personal preferences, and the situation (i.e., where you fish, what you're fishing for, etc.). This will obviously vary by person. For me, an anchor trolley, rod leashes, and a dry bag were top priorities. These items I could not do without. Take your yak out a few times to where you will normally be fishing, and it will become quickly apparent how to prioritize your gear purchases.
Small Pelican box for wallet, phone, etc.
Safety wise, I went with a full style PFD.I have an inflatable style but realized if I was to get hit by a passing boat I may not be able to deploy the inflatable, I also went with a mango color. Something bright.
Leashes, leashes and more leashes - if its not tied down sooner or later it ends up in the drink.
Good quality sun block, long sleeve shirts, long kayaker pants and hat - Australasia has the worlds highest melanoma, (skin cancer), rates. It concerns me to see so many photos of people in yaks with inadequate sun protection - Hobie advertising included. Also wetsuit or waterproof kayak gear for cooler weather.
Good quality dry storage systems for terminal tackle - rust never sleeps.
High energy snack bars wrapped in foil, (that way they don't get wet an soggy).
The sixth best thing is my flask of hot coffee waiting in the car for me.
Leashes, leashes and more leashes - if its not tied down sooner or later it ends up in the drink.High energy snack bars wrapped in foil, (that way they don't get wet an soggy).
Do you have zip lock bags down under? foil leaks up here.
Oh I meant the prepacked snack bars, we call them meusli bars. Great for hiking, kids school lunches etc. Yep we do have zip lock bags - I use them to store pre made rigs.
Cool, I didn't even know about SPOT. Sounds like it'd be really reassuring to have onboard. And leashes are something that I always see in videos but somehow I forgot to buy them.
Someone mentioned the importance of a good depth finder: what do you use it for? Would it be better to have a depth finder/fish finder/gps combo? I'm having a hard time finding a well reviewed GPS/Fish finder... are they just not very reliable?
Buff and light gloves, good hat, don't like sun blocking creams.
A comfortable PFD is the most important, if it is not comfortable you won't probably wear it in a consistent basis.
1) Hobie Gear Bucket -- the one that fits in the hatch just in front of the seat. It really is the perfect ergonomic arrangement for tackle for the fishing I do, anyway. My mind boggles when I see folks with 4 or 5 plano boxes stuffed in a crate.
2) One of those freezer 'tote' bags. Get them at Sams Club, BJ's, WalMart...about $10. (this is either a fancier or overpriced model http://www.keepyourcooler.com/freezertote.html) Drop a few frozen bottle of water, fold it flat and it's the perfect fish storage solution.
3) X-tools fishing pliers. You can get these foam-handled tools online or sometimes in WalMart or other sporting good sections. They're cheap, visible, they float and they can cut braid.
1) Anchor. Just never needed one. Easy enough to hold approximate position without the hassle and tangle to say nothing of needing an 'anchor trolley'.
2) Stake-out pole. As above. Just never used it often enough to bother taking it with me.
5. Lastly - an inflatable donut ring (aka hemorrhoid pad) to make those long days in the saddle a little more tolerable.
Other items that were under consideration are the Deep Hobie Gear Bucket and the YakAttack GearTrac accessory mounting system. The Deep Gear Bucket is my battery storage option, and the GearTrac provides flexibility for the fishing style I opt for on a given day.
Well, maybe it's me, but I thought you were asking what FISHING gear you find most useful, not safety gear.
The photo is the single hook, but you get the idea. This grapple hook works like a third hand and extended as well. I can reach out and grab my line in order to re-bait, etc. Really handy and keeps me in my seat and not leaning, stretching or bending any further than I need to.
2. Fish Finder. Face it, there's just no use fishing if there's nothing lurking down there.
3. Down rigger. I use a small Scotty downrigger mounted to my PA side boards. It's so easy to reach down to where the fishies are with a minimal amount of line trailing behind the yak.
4. GPS. If you aren't consistent with your troll speed, you probably aren't catching fish with the trolling method.
5. Extra pre-rigged poles. I can swap from a trolling rig to ultra light or spincasting very easily if the pole is on board, rigged and ready to cast.
Good stuff so far! I meant for this topic to include both kayak-specific items as well as fishing items, not either or.
Could anyone recommend a quality GPS/fish finder? Or two separate units?


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Q: MatLab вывод функции Запрограммируйте функцию, которая возвращает sin^2(x)cos(x) из каждого элемента x входной переменной и, таким образом, работает точно так же, как стандартная функция Matlab (то есть «элемент за элементом»). Не используйте циклы for или while для программирования функции.
этот код в функции (имя файла sincos )
function [ y ] = sincos( x )
y = power(sin(x),2).*cos(x);
end

это вызов функции (имя файла CV2)
function_sincos

не понимаю почему не вызываеться функция можете помочь

A: Функция должна вызываться следующим образом:
sincos(x)

x в скобках - это заданный аргумент в виде числа или массива чисел.


Life Before the Dinosaurs: Haikouichthys.
Haikouichthys was the first fish. It lived in the Cambrian Period. It wasn't good at swimming, though, because it didn't have a single fin. It just had to slither around in mid-water like a snake and try to move. But it was probably a very slow swimmer. The name is pronounced high-coo-ICK-theez.
As you would probably guess, Haikouichthys was a jawless fish, so it probably ate extremely tiny things.
Haikouichthys was 1 cm long, about as big as your thumbnail. This semicircle-shaped fish probably went extinct because of being overeaten, because there were so many monster predators around that Haikouichthys probably was the perfect prey.


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Piano Concerto No. 27 (Mozart)
The Piano Concerto No. 27 in B♭ major, K. 595, is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's last piano concerto; it was first performed early in 1791, the year of his death.
Piano Concerto in B♭ major
by W. A. Mozart
The opening page of the autograph manuscript
B♭ major
Larghetto
The manuscript is dated 5 January 1791. However, Alan Tyson's analysis of the paper on which Mozart composed the work indicated that Mozart used this paper between December 1788 and February 1789, which implies composition well before 1791. Simon Keefe has written that the composition of the work dates from 1788.[1] By contrast, Wolfgang Rehm has stated that Mozart composed this concerto in late 1790 and early 1791. Cliff Eisen has discussed the controversy over the time of composition in his review of the published facsimile of the score.[2]
The work followed by some years the series of highly successful concertos Mozart wrote. The concerto may have been first performed at a concert on 4 March 1791 in Jahn's Hall by Mozart and the clarinetist Joseph Beer.[3] If so, this was Mozart's last appearance in a public concert,[3] as he took ill in September 1791 and died on 5 December 1791. Another possibility is that it was premiered by Mozart's pupil Barbara Ployer on the occasion of a public concert at the Palais Auersperg in January 1791.[4]
The work is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, solo piano and strings, which makes it thinner than Mozart's other late concertos, all of which except for No. 23 have trumpet and timpani.
It has the following three movements:
Larghetto in E♭ major
Although all three movements are in a major key, minor keys are suggested, as is evident from the second theme of the first movement (in the dominant minor), as well as the presence of a remote minor key in the early development of that movement and of the tonic minor in the middle of the Larghetto.
Another interesting characteristic of the work is its rather strong thematic integration of the movements, which would become ever more important in the nineteenth century. The principal theme of the Larghetto, for instance, is revived as the second theme of the final movement (in measure 65). The principal theme for the finale was also used in Mozart's song "Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling" (also called "Komm, lieber Mai"), K. 596, which immediately follows this concerto in the Köchel catalogue.
Mozart wrote down his cadenzas for the first and third movements.
Simon Keefe has discussed the concerto in detail, with emphasis on the distinctive character and experiments in style of the concerto compared to Mozart's other concerti in this genre.[1]
Keefe, Simon (2001). "A Complementary Pair: Stylistic Experimentation in Mozart's Final Piano Concertos, K. 537 in D and K. 595 in B". The Journal of Musicology. 18 (4): 658–684. doi:10.1525/jm.2001.18.4.658. ISSN 0277-9269. JSTOR 10.1525/jm.2001.18.4.658.
Eisen, Cliff (September 1990). "Music Reviews: "Klavierkonzert F-dur, KV 459" and "Klavierkonzert B-dur, KV 595"". Notes. Second Series. 47 (1): 207–210. JSTOR 940558.
Deutsch 1965, 387
Dexter Edge, "Mozart's Reception in Vienna 1787–1791, in Wolfgang Amadé Mozart: Essays on his Life and his Music, (Oxford, Clarendon 1996), p. 90
Deutsch, Otto Erich (1965) Mozart: A Documentary Biography. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Konzert in B für Klavier und Orchester KV 595: Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
Piano Concerto No. 27: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
BBC Discovering Music (browse for .ram file for discussion of this work)
Piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Childhood arrangements
No. 1 in F major, K. 37
No. 2 in B♭ major, K. 39
No. 3 in D major, K. 40
No. 4 in G major, K. 41
Three Concertos after J.C. Bach, K. 107
Salzburg concertos
No. 5 in D major, K. 175
No. 6 in B♭ major, K. 238
No. 8 in C major, K. 246 (Lützow)
No. 9 in E♭ major, K. 271 (Jeunehomme / Jenamy)
Concertos for two
and three pianos
No. 7 in F major for 3 Pianos, K. 242 (Lodron)
No. 10 in E♭ major for 2 Pianos, K. 365
Early Vienna concertos
No. 11 in F major, K. 413
No. 12 in A major, K. 414
No. 13 in C major, K. 415
Major Vienna concertos
No. 14 in E♭ major, K. 449
No. 15 in B♭ major, K. 450
No. 16 in D major, K. 451
No. 17 in G major, K. 453
No. 20 in D minor, K. 466
No. 24 in C minor, K. 491
Later concertos
No. 26 in D major, K. 537 (Coronation)
Concert rondos
D major, K. 382
A major, K. 386
About the Mozart piano concertos
List of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart


Starting mid-April, look out for a new AboutKidsHealth.ca!
Patients and families can still rely on AboutKidsHealth for up-to- date, trustworthy health information from the experts at SickKids, but new features will allow the website to better meet its users' needs.
Why did we update the site?
Over 70% of our users now visit AboutKidsHealth on their mobile devices. Our new site will allow parents and caregivers to view all of our Health A-Z articles — including 3,000 medical illustrations and animations — at any time on their phones and tablets.
Our new search tools and updated article layouts will highlight relevant information for patients and families, directing them to what they need faster than before.
AboutKidsHealth will now introduce its articles with a brief overview and set of key points. This summarizes the most relevant content for users, so they can assess the information they need more efficiently.
If parents and caregivers aren't sure of the exact article they're looking for, AboutKidsHealth can quickly direct them to relevant topics. With our new search tools, it's possible to filter results by body system, body part, health specialty, health category, and language. Users can also find articles on a main A-Z index page.
Looking at a Health-AZ article? Our new design allows you to jump to sections such as "Signs and symptoms", "Treatment" or "When to seek medical attention" — bringing you the info you need, without having to look through the whole article.
To see more of what the new site will offer, check out our video tour and FAQs!


text:
Q: Access last value from a SignalProducer when terminated I have a signal producer, when it's terminated I would like to know if a value was sent, I only need the last one, seems so simple ...
let myProducer: SignalProducer<MyObject, MyError> = getMyProducer()

myProducer.on(terminated: {

  // I need the last value here

  // Or I need to know if value was never called

}).start()

I've tried to store the value in a local var :
let myProducer: SignalProducer<MyObject, MyError> = getMyProducer()
var myValue: MyObject?

myProducer.on(value: { value in

    myValue = value

}, terminated: {

    guard let value = myValue else {
        // value was never called
        return
    }
    // value was called

}).start()

But sometimes terminated is called while value has been called but myValue is still nil...

A: First, are you really sure that you want the terminated event?
Under normal conditions, an event stream ends with a completed event. Exceptions are failed when a failure has occurred and interrupted, when the observation was ended before the stream could complete normally (E.g. cancellation).
Second: Can your SignalProducer fail, and in the failure case, do you still want the last value sent before the failure?
If not, its as easy as using the take(last:) operator:
enum MyError: Error {
  case testError
}

let (signal, input) = Signal<Int, MyError>.pipe()

let observer = Signal<Int, MyError>.Observer(
  value: { print("value: \($0)") },
  failed: { print("error: \($0)") },
  completed: { print("completed") },
  interrupted: { print("interrupted") }
)

signal
  .take(last: 1)
  .observe(observer)

input.send(value: 1)   // Nothing printed
input.send(value: 2)   // Nothing printed
input.send(value: 3)   // Nothing printed
input.sendCompleted()  // value 3 printed

I'm using a Signal here so I can manually send events to it just for demonstration, the same works for SignalProducer as well.
Note: If we send interrupted or a failed event, the last value 3 will not be sent because those to terminating events short circuit the normal flow.
If your SignalProducer can fail, and you still want to get the last value before the failure, you can use flatMapError to ignore the Error before the last operator:
signal
  .flatMapError { _ in
    return .empty
  }
  .take(last: 1)
  .observe(observer)

A: my answer :
producer
.flatMapError { _ in SignalProducer<Value, NoError>.empty }
.collect()
startWithResult( { result in
  case let .success(results):
    done(with: results.last)
  case let .failure(error):
    () // should not happen as errors are flatmapped
})


The bestselling, acclaimed, authoritative account of one of the most famous battles in Australian military history – now established as a classic.
For Australians, Kokoda is the iconic battle of World War II, yet few people know just what happened – and just what our troops achieved. In his bestselling book, Peter FitzSimons tells the Kokoda story in his distinctive gripping style. Conditions on the track were hellish – rain was constant, the terrain close to inhospitable, food and ammunition supplies were practically non-existent and the men constantly battled malaria and dysentery, as well as the Japanese. Kokoda was a defining battle for Australia – a small force of young, ill-equipped Australians engaged a highly experienced and hitherto unstoppable Japanese force on a narrow, precarious jungle track – and defeated them.


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Why Lenny and Larry's Complete Cookie - Pumpkin Spice?
ALLERGENS: CONTAINS WHEAT. MANUFACTURED IN A FACILITY THAT ALSO PROCESSES PEANUT, TREE NUT, SOY, MILK AND EGG. + NO GENETICALLY ENGINEERED INGREDIENTS.


Joe Riener, long-time teacher of high school English and adviser in theater and journalism, joined the Education Town Hall on February 11 to discuss literature and the conversations it can inspire, in- and outside the classroom, and his new publications on The Possibilities of Literature and Composition. The two-volume work highlights the "value of a liberal education" and the full humanity of young people.
The books offer both the class-to-class readings and thoughts about them, as well as the rationale involved in selecting each work for students to consider. Riener says his hope is that the books will "serve as a guide and inspiration to young teachers, about what might be possible for them, if they were trusted to find their own voice in the classroom." In addition, his work can serve to help adults, whether educators or not, newly approach literature they may think they know.
The BUS program regularly airs on the 4th Thursday of each month.
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Scientists find increase in asteroid impacts on ancient Earth by studying the Moon
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It is unlikely that the pope's button controlled the electricity flowing to the lights at the base of the statue. More likely, he sent a signal to an operator situated near the switches. But by touching a button, the pope activated a virtual circuit that linked his own body to the mountaintop figure of Christ half a world away. The gesture reaffirmed — indeed, embodied — the connection between the Brazilian state and the Catholic Church. But it did so in distinctly electrical terms: the smallest of human gestures, a touch, summoned a force of nature, instantly and across a great distance.
The new year's eve drama in Rio underscores the ways in which the workings of electric light are resonant with divine action. First, it can be exercised from far, far away — the pope was on the other side of the Earth. It is effortless — the pope had only to touch a button (God, presumably, does not struggle in the creation of earthly events). It is instantaneous — the pope's will, his gesture, the visual effect, and the crowd's awe were virtually simultaneous. And, like God, electricity is unseen, known only through its effects, and historically has been most visible as one or another form of radiant light. As such, electric light recalls ancient religious iconography, despite its technological provenance. 2 Light is laden with literary and pictorial tropes heavy with scriptural significance; at many points in Western religious history it has indexed the very presence of God. But rather than address such momentous matters, here I will look in a different direction: toward the button.
Although small and easy to overlook, the button, or switch, is a highly charged interface between individuals and technological systems. Turning a light on, instantly and at a distance from the lamp, at first felt like a kind of magic, especially since electricity was so unlike other fuels or forces or sources of light. With a switch, we could change the space around ourselves, visually at least, on a whim. It put the resources of what soon became a vast infrastructure at hand, literally. A common trope held that the pressing of an electric button was an easier way to summon the "modern genie" of great power than Aladdin rubbing his lamp. 3 Politicians seized on the switch's powers of instantaneity and action at a distance to inaugurate a new way to celebrate public works projects: the switch became a live-action metaphor of the authority and ability to get things done. With all these uses, the switch generated a visual space whose merit was measured best by the gap between its effortless operation and its broad scope of effect. Its symbolic power rested on a disproportion: the minimum haptic gesture sparked the maximum optical transformation.
The light switch is part of a long history of control mechanisms that regulate an otherwise continuous flow. In this sense it is antique in conception, akin to the dams or sluices that control the movement of water. Although there is no evidence for valves in ancient oil lamps, the Roman Egyptian author Hero of Alexandria described something akin to an automatic fuel supply that worked by means of a pneumatic contrivance. 5 A window shade or shutter might be considered a kind of switch that controls the presence of visible light; similarly, a door controls movement between inside and outside a building or from one room to another. 6
Electricity, an invisible force whose operation lay outside ordinary experience, was often explained by means of a hydraulic analogy employing terms such as hydraulic head, flow rate, and pipe diameter to help students grasp electrical potential, current, and resistance. 7 The analogy, although inexact, remains common today.
The English term "switch" derives from a riding switch, a long stick used to indicate to a horse the rider's interest in greater speed, essentially to convey a rider's will wordlessly and convincingly. Railway operators picked up the term in the 1820s to designate the set of rails used to shunt trains from one track to another; the lever an operator pulled to effect the shift was called a "switch-rod." More generally, the switch was a means to change the configuration of a track or circuit, which facilitated its application to electrical circuits. Later in the 19th century, the term was used to describe a telegraph key; with its then unprecedented speed of transmission — as if thought itself leapt across continents — the switch-activated telegraph enabled what seemed nothing less than a compression of time and a collapse of space. By the end of the century, "switch" denoted a manipulatable tool used to regulate potentialities within a larger current of objects or forces, most notably electricity.
Earlier forms of lighting were not so much switched on as they were prepared for illumination. Generating light from an oil lamp, for instance, required several steps — removing a protective enclosure for the flame; assuring the fuel supply; examining the wick; igniting it (no small task in the days of the tinder box, before the commercialization of wooden friction matches); adjusting the flame; and, finally, lowering the enclosure. 9 These steps were sufficiently laborious to preclude the use of any term suggesting an instantaneous operation. Although gas lamps were simpler to light than oil lamps, they still required a sequence of steps that had to be repeated in turn for each lamp. 1
While valves had already become familiar as cities were interwoven with water and gas lines, electric switches became common only in the late 19th century. As the electrical industry grew, switches began to appear across a range of new commercial products including irons, fans, toasters, kettles, and home sewing machines. After visiting an exhibition in Philadelphia in 1884, one reviewer noted, "The alternate making and breaking of an electrical circuit is an old device, but its recent applications have brought it into the domain of marketable commodities." 11 But even then switches were a novelty, and unthinkingly making and breaking circuits was a habit yet to be acquired. For those who could afford electricity in their own homes, it was lights, more than anything else, that were getting switched on and off.
Engineers and inventors designed many configurations of switches to account for a range of situations. Switches had to tolerate line voltages that were more variable than they are today, and to accommodate higher loads over time as more devices were added to existing circuits. Engineers had to consider the location of a switch in relation to the heat it gave off or to the consequences of failure. Even variations in users' dexterity could be a factor. For instance, with a knife switch, a hinged lever that was raised and lowered into a metal slot, slow operation could generate sparks or electrical arcs and create a fire hazard. Some early switches were little more than a "circuit-closing screw" operated directly at the fixture, as described in an 1880 patent filed by Thomas Edison, which required someone to twist a contact screw one way to turn on the light and the opposite way to turn it off, similar to a valve in a gas lamp. 13
The design of a switch, even its necessity, was not immediately obvious in consumer settings. Another Edison patent, from 1881, used gas piping as conduit and included such details as bulb fittings and insulation from the gas meter. But it made no mention of a switch within what was supposed to be a complete system of home electric lighting. 14 In just a few years, however, manufacturers were producing a wide range of light switches with various types of actuators, or controls, whether toggle, rocker, push-button, rotary, and so on. The convenience of the switch was so great that manufacturers even began to offer electrical switches for gas lamps that could open a valve and ignite the gas from a remote plate on the wall, thereby acquiring "one of the great advantages of the incandescent electric light" that was just then threatening to displace gas altogether. 1
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Q: Linq - Selecting or iterating through all grandchildren with VB.NET All,
I am experimenting with Linq and Entity Framework (athough I am using nHydrate) in VB.NET.  Lets say I have 3 tables as follows:

So Table1 is the top level grandparent which has a number of records/entities.
I want to select all of Table3 records/entities that are related to a specific Table1 instance.  I want to do this as part of some search functionality.
I want to take an instance of Table1 as my starting point, i.e.
Public Class MySearch

    Private _lookUnder As System.Data.Objects.DataClasses.EntityObject

    Public Sub Search()
        ...
        CType(_lookUnder, Table1) ' ???? need to linq here ????
        ...
    End Sub
End Class

Can this be done completely with Linq?  C# answers are welcome.
I've tried looking at this but didn't help too much.
Thanks,
Andez

A: Ideally, you should have access to the context, making something like this possible (C#):
var relatedTable3s = context.Table3s.Where(t3 => t3.Table2.Table1.id == _lookUnder.id);

I suppose something like this might work, too:
var relatedTable3s =
    from t2 in _lookUnder.Table2s.AsQueryable()
    from t3 in t2.Table3s
    select t3;

... otherwise written as:
var relatedTable3s = _lookUnder.Table2s.AsQueryable()
    .SelectMany(t2 => t2.Table3s);


BPH is an old man's disease.
FACT : BPH usually affects men from their 50s. This is because as a man ages, his prostate naturally enlarges due to hormonal changes.
BPH occurs as a natural part of aging in men. Most elderly men can expect to have some form of prostate problems.
FACT : Hormonal changes are inevitable as men age and his prostate naturally enlarges due to these hormonal changes. However, these can be minimised by proper diet, exercise and a healthy lifestyle.
BPH can lead to prostate cancer.
FACT : BPH is a non-cancerous condition. However, its early symptoms often may be confused with that of prostate cancer.
Frequent or infrequent sexual activity is unhealthy for the prostate.
FACT : There is no evidence that BPH is caused or aggravated by sexual habits.
FACT : BPH is not known to cause any sexual function impairment. The sooner you see a doctor, the earlier you will be treated.
Surgery is the only treatment option for BPH.
FACT : There are non-surgical treatment options available.
The TURP surgery is the only operation available for BPH.
FACT : There are other surgical options to treat BPH. These include the transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), transurethral incision of the prostate (TUIP) and open prostatectomy . Minimally invasive treatments are relatively new, e.g. the transurethral microwave thermotherapy and laser therapy.


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Greeley police seek public's help to find suspect in Guaranty Bank robbery
Crime | November 23, 2015
To help
Police ask anyone with information about the robbery at Guaranty Bank, 930 11th Ave., to call (970) 350-9605.
Greeley police are seeking the public's help to locate the man who robbed a downtown bank Friday.
The robbery happened just before 3:30 p.m. at Guaranty Bank and Trust Co., 930 11th Ave. A lone suspect walked into the bank and handed a teller a note. The suspect then left on foot through the south-side exit with an undisclosed amount of money.
"We did not see anyone else with him or a vehicle involved, but that doesn't mean that's not possible," said Greeley police spokesman Sgt. Joe Tymkowych.
The suspect was described as a white or Latino man in his 20s or 30s who is about 6 feet tall and slender. He was wearing a red sweatshirt, Tymkowych said.
The bank was closed following the robbery, which is consistent with police procedure, and it remained closed Friday as investigators worked into the night. There were no reports of injuries.
Tymkowych said investigators are asking anyone with information to call (970) 350-9605.
"If anybody witnessed any of this, we'd like to hear from them," Tymkowych said.
Guaranty Bank and Trust Co. has operated in Colorado for 60 years, according to its website. It has 26 branches across the state, including two in Greeley.
79-year-old woman accused of pimping, keeping place of prostitution at Fort Collins spa
Suspects with pellet guns allegedly shot more than 100 car windows in Commerce City, police say
Man impersonated officer, gained entry into older resident's home, Brighton police say
Weld County animal control officers rescue wolf mix from east Greeley home


Here is a summary of the research that makes the point that women are better for the environment than their male counterparts.
According to Hansa-GCR women decision makers in business are more environmentally-conscious than men. The Center for Women's Business Research (CWBR) released a brief called the "Environmental Consumerism Among Women Business Owners," that reported the environmental friendliness of a product does have a moderate to major influence on the purchasing habits of 77% of women decision-makers in business.
According to a 2010 study by Tiller, more women than men said they would make a green New Year's resolution. The study shows that women are more likely than men to experience "green guilt," as the poll calls it--41% versus just 27% of men. As a result, women are more focused on following through with their green resolutions (52% will "very likely" adopt green habits in 2010, as opposed to 33% of men). About 41 percent of women compared to 27 percent of men cite eco-friendly living as a daily goal, a national survey finds. The same study showed that more women than men want to use reusable shopping bags and women reduce their household's energy use.
Women are more likely than men to buy eco-oriented or recyclable products, according to an international study. This is significant because research indicates that women make at least 75 percent of home purchase decisions.
Women are the driving force behind two-thirds of households that regularly recycle. According to a 2009 survey. women also do most of the housework and therefore most of the recycling.
According to a 2009 report, State of World Population, women respond more positively to environmentally friendly advertising.
Women buy more environmentally conscious fashion design than men. The eco-fashion movement is big in women's apparel. Women's clothes are also smaller requiring less resources.
Women consume less meat and processed foods than men. According to two European studies – two categories of food that are especially resource-intensive. Women eat more fruits and vegetables, which use up less land, water and CO2.
Men drive and fly longer distances for their jobs, the European studies show. Women use more public transportation, which lessens their carbon footprint.
Aggressive driving lowers gas mileage by 33 percent on the highway, says the U.S. Department of Energy, and studies repeatedly show that women drive slower than men and are less likely to speed than men.
Today everyone aspires to do everything possible to help our planet, our lives and the future of generations to come. People today are conscious of the ecological impact modern living has on nature and on societies and its no wonder abundant laws exist to monitor our environmental course.


There's quite a lot riding on Assassin's Creed. Previous attempts to adapt video games have failed rather badly. But there's hope that the Michael Fassbender led adaptation of the hugely popular action adventure game will finally break that trend. And to help it do just that, Fassbender himself has admitted that it will be heavily influenced by The Matrix.
The Irish actor, who recently finished shooting Assassin's Creed, made this revelation to Empire Magazine, confessing that ever since he's been working on the blockbuster he's constantly be thinking about the Wachowski Siblings' classic.
I've always thought about The Matrix when we've approached this. This idea of DNA memory elevates it from a basic fantasy genre [piece], because you have something an audience can actually believe in. Then the journey becomes so much more elevated, because you're on board in a different way.
In Assassin's Creed , Michael Fassbender plays the dual lead characters of Callum Lynch, a modern man, and his ancestor from 15th century Spain, Aguilar. After Callum discovers that his ancestor was an Assassin, he starts to use Aguilar's memories to get the necessary skills and knowledge to fight the Templars, who just so happen to be the centuries old enemies of the Assassins. If that doesn't sound like The Matrix's rivalry between the Agents and humanity, we don't know what does. Alongside Fassbender, whose performance in Steve Jobs is in the running for the Best Actor Academy Award, Assassin's Creed has assembled as rather formidable cast. The Irish actor will be joined by Marion Cotillard, Michael K. Williams, Jeremy Irons, and Brendan Gleeson.
Michael Fassbender will also reunite with Justin Kurzel on Assassin's Creed, with the pair having worked together last year on Macbeth, also with Marion Cotillard, which was widely praised for being a stylish and moody adaptation of William Shakespeare's seminal piece. It's hoped that this will be the first video-game adaptation to truly chime with a mainstream audience, and the comparison to The Matrix certainly helps with both the brand recognition and storytelling aspects. Every other cinematic adaptation of a video-game has been met with only lukewarm reviews. But with 20th Century Fox having invested somewhere between $150 and $200 million on Assassin's Creed, they clearly have confidence that the tide is now set to turn.
Assassin's Creed might actually be beaten to the punch though. That's because the Duncan Jones directed Warcraft, which is based on the hugely popular fantasy epic, is due out in June, and Universal Pictures have spent around $100 million on that adaptation. Either way, it seems as though it's now or never for the video-game genre. Because if these two fail, it will take a huge leap of faith from another studio to invest in another adaptation from the medium.
Assassin's Creed will be with us on December 21, 2016, while Warcraft precedes it by a couple of months, hitting cinemas on June 10, 2016.


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Mille Dinesen Net Worth, Age, Height, Weight, Early Life, Career, Bio, Dating, Facts
Mille Dinesen is a Danish actress. She is known for her role as Cecilie Toft in the Tv series Borgen (2011).
Name Mille Dinesen
Birthday March 17, 1974
Height 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m)
Nationality Danish
Parents Peter Tonnisen Frederiksen and Vibeke Sørensen
Married/Single Married
Children Eddie
Education Danish National School of Performing Arts
Instagram milledin
Twitter @milledin
Mille's other notable works include Rita (2012-2020), Swinger (2016), and All For One (2011). Furthermore, she has also starred in many reality Tv series as herself.
10 Facts on Mille Dinesen
Mille Dinesen (March 17, 1974) is a Danish actress. She is the age of 46 years old. Likewise, her zodiac sign is Pisces.
Mille is well-known as one of the casts of the Tv series Borgen (2011). Furthermore, she portrayed the role of Cecilie Toft in the 6 episodes of the Drama show.
Following her bio, Mille Dinesen was born and raised in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark. Hence, she is Danish by nationality. In addition, her ethnicity is white.
The actress is a woman of tall stature and slim body figure. Similarly, she stands at a height of 5 feet and 10 inches tall. Likewise, she has blue eyes and blonde hair.
Speaking about her family, Mille's parents are Peter Tonnisen Frederiksen and Vibeke Sørensen. However, information about her siblings is off the web.
Mille Dinesen is currently married to her husband and long term boyfriend, whose name is not disclosed yet. Moreover, the couple has been blessed with a kinder named Eddie together.
According to her Wikipedia page, Mille attended the Danish National School of Performing Arts. Similarly, she graduated with an acting degree in 2004.
Mille has been working in the industry over a decade now. Her IMDb profile mentions that her debut role was the character Nynne in the movie "Nynee" (2005).
Acting is one of the highest-paying jobs. Therefore, with her successful career, we speculate that Mille must be worth a decent net worth as well.
You can follow her on both Twitter and Instagram as @milledin. Moreover, she has amassed 162k followers on her IG account.
actressMille Dinesen
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Armed Forces Day Luncheon in honor of our military service members, both in service and those retired.
Join us as we connect our business community with service member stationed at Fort Drum.
Sponsor Soldiers $275 – Business & Soldier Tickets. Includes 1 ticket for you in a reserved section plus 10 tickets for soldiers to be seated throughout the room.
Mixed Corporate Table $250 – Business & Soldier Tickets. Includes 4 tickets for your business and sponsors 4 tickets for soldiers. Sit with those who serve our nation!
Corporate Table $250 – Business Only Tickets. Includes 8 tickets for your business.
Individual Ticket $30 – Business Only Ticket. Join us as we support those who serve our country and community.
Enjoy grilled Bourbon Chicken thighs served with mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and followed by carrot cake.


Exciting technology is helping bring mātauranga Māori and physical activity together with the launch of a new augmented reality app for Manukau, the first of its kind in Aotearoa.
'The Journeys of Manu' prototype, made by Conical Interactive studios, was activated at the Puhinui Stream Challenge on 28 October, 2017. The Challenge was a free, all-ages 6km 'fun walk' from Hayman Park to Totara Park and had approximately 500 registered participants.
The technology superimposes the animated Māori youth, 'Manu', when participants view their route on their device through the app.
"Manu will teach people about some of the Manukau landmarks along the trail and about the tohu (signs) of Spring according to the Maramataka (Māori lunar calendar)," says Isaac Warbrick of AUT University's Taupua Waiora centre for Māori health research.
"For example, alongside the awa (stream) you learn about tuna (eels) spawning and further along about maara kūmara (sweet potato gardens). You then collect the virtual taonga (token) for your kete (basket) and at the end of the trail, the taonga reveal a key word, a sort of prize for reaching the end," he adds.
Families can also take photos with Manu from their phones or tablets and share them online.
The concept for the app was developed by AUT University's Research and Innovation, Healthy Families Manukau, Manurewa-Papakura, Auckland Council's The Southern Initiative (TSI). All three organisations have a strong interest in South Auckland and a willingness to collaborate broadly.
The group have spent the past 6 months exploring ways to make Hayman Park in Manukau a 21st Century park as part of the Transform Manukau project.
"The ultimate goal is to give the community interactive experiences that support health and wellbeing, and bring together culture and technology," says Healthy Families Manukau, Manurewa-Papakura Kaiwhakahau, Anaru Ah Kew.
"Using augmented reality in this way is an opportunity to use innovation that helps people move more. Similar to how games like Pokemon Go encouraged many to get out and be active, exploring their neighbourhoods, 'The Journeys of Manu' reconnects our whakapapa and mātauranga through physical activity.
Looking at the use of cultural knowledge as an important driver of health and wellbeing is one of the key focus areas for Healthy Families Manukau, Manurewa-Papakura in their work to create healthy changes in their local community. This involves working with Māori, educators, academics and the Council to try traditional approaches to modern issues.
Now that the prototype has been tested at a large-scale local event, the team will be sharing it amongst local schools and installing markers along the pathway for public to access and use the app on location this Summer.
The free 'Journeys of Manu' app is available on Google Play and the App Store – just search 'Manu Journey'. The app requires data for download but once downloaded, can be used offline.


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Democracy in Tea Party America
By J. Bradford DeLong, September 7, 2012
Tea Party protesters
Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley, Bradford DeLong, imagines what moral philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville might have made of the Republican National Convention. What was once "exceptional" is heading towards "disgrace and wretchedness".
BERKELEY – When the French politician and moral philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville published the first volume of his Democracy in America in 1835, he did so because he thought that France was in big trouble and could learn much from America. So one can only wonder what he would have made of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.
For Tocqueville, the grab for centralized power by the absolutist Bourbon monarchs, followed by the French Revolution and Napoleon's Empire, had destroyed the good with the bad in France's neo-feudal order. Decades later, the new order was still in flux.
In Tocqueville's imagination, at least, the old order's subjects had been eager to protect their particular liberties and jealous of their spheres of independence. They understood that they were embedded in a web of obligations, powers, responsibilities, and privileges that was as large as France itself. Among the French of 1835, however, "the doctrine of self-interest" had produced "egotism…no less blind." Having "destroyed an aristocracy," the French were "inclined to survey its ruins with complacency."
================================================================================================
J. Bradford DeLong
J. Bradford DeLong is Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley and a research associate at the National Bureau for Economic Research. He was Deputy Assistant US Treasury Secretary during the Clinton Administration, where he was heavily involved in budget and trade negotiations. His role in designing the bailout of Mexico during the 1994 peso crisis placed him at the forefront of Latin America's transformation into a region of open economies, and cemented his stature as a leading voice in economic-policy debates.
To the "sick" France of 1835, Tocqueville counterposed healthy America, where attachment to the idea that people should pursue their self-interest was no less strong, but was different. The difference, he thought, was that Americans understood that they could not flourish unless their neighbors prospered as well. Thus, Americans pursued their self-interest, but in a way that was "rightly understood."
Tocqueville noted that "Americans are fond of explaining…[how] regard for themselves constantly prompts them to assist each other, and inclines them willingly to sacrifice a portion of their time and property to the general welfare." The French, by contrast, faced a future in which "it is difficult to foresee to what pitch of stupid excesses their egotism may lead them," and "into what disgrace and wretchedness they would plunge themselves, lest they should have to sacrifice something of their own well-being to the prosperity of their fellow-creatures."
For Tocqueville, France's sickness in 1835 stemmed from its Bourbon patrimony of a top-down, command-and-control government, whereas America's health consisted in its bottom-up, grassroots-democratic government. Give the local community enough control over its own affairs, Tocqueville argued, and one "will see at a glance…the close tie which unites private to general interest." It was "local freedom which leads a great number of citizens to value the affection of their neighbors and of their kindred, perpetually brings men together, and forces them to help one another, in spite of the propensities which sever them."
Nearly two centuries have passed since Tocqueville wrote his masterpiece. The connection between the general interest and the private interest of individual Americans has, if anything, become much stronger, even if their private interest is tied to a post office box in the Cayman Islands. Indeed, no private-equity fortunes were made over the past generation without investing in or trading with the prosperous North Atlantic industrial core of the world economy.
But the mechanisms that individuals can use to join with their immediate neighbors in political action that makes a difference in their lives have become much weaker. If, say, 25% of the 1,000 households in the 30-block Brookside "fiberhood" in Kansas City, Missouri, pre-subscribe, Google will provide all 1,000 with the opportunity to get very cheap, very fast Internet service very soon. But that is the proverbial exception that proves the rule.
And the Republicans gathered in Tampa to celebrate the rule – to say that the America that Tocqueville saw no longer exists: Americans no longer believe that the wealth of the rich rests on the prosperity of the rest. Rather, the rich owe their wealth solely to their own luck and effort. The rich – and only the rich – "built" what they have. The willingness to sacrifice some part of their private interest to support the public interest damages the souls and portfolios of the 1%.
Perhaps the moral and intellectual tide will be reversed, and America will remain exceptional for the reasons that Tocqueville identified two centuries ago. Otherwise, Tocqueville would surely say of Americans today what he said of the French then. The main difference is that it has become all too easy "to foresee to what pitch of stupid excesses their egotism may lead them" and "into what disgrace and wretchedness they would plunge themselves."
© Project Syndicate


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We require our partners to go 'beyond compliance' to implement worker benefit and empowerment programs to promote self-confidence, communication and personal development training such as financial literacy, leadership training, improved healthcare and childcare. Ten percent of our factory's operational budget goes to the Cadling Foundation to house, train and employ marginalised, homeless and excluded women.
Bintu is a young woman who was living as a homeless street hawker in Accra until she was taken on board by Cadling, our partner factory in Ghana. She received full training and support and is now one of the best machinists in the factory, working on international orders.
We are proud to be supporting the African Social Enterprise Fund (AESF), working to promote entrepreneurs in the creative industries.
The ASEF aims to promote, empower and enable outstanding individuals in the creative industries to translate their ideas into successful, socially and environmentally-minded businesses that create opportunity for all.


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Shamanic Adventure Journeys™
"I am innately nomadic.
When the seasons turn, I long for a change of scenery, climate, and culture.
My Aunt told me it was in our blood. I only know that I've always loved to travel. I was barely six when my family traveled to Mexico. And although it bordered our new home state of Texas, Mexico was clearly a foreign country."
The border town of old Juarez was a colorful jumble of tourist shops, food stalls and street vendors.
It was a noisy carnival of sights and sounds thrilling to any child, but it was the indigenous people, traditionally clothed and proudly pursuing their sacred way of life, that resonated with Donna.
Donna would return again and again to this exotic land where, as she later wrote, "sacred exist with profane, and the past refuses to be eclipsed by the future".
Mats Aguila would eventually join Donna, her teacher and other students of shamanism on their yearly ceremonial journey to Mexico.
Mats was immediately at home. The traditional stories of these indigenous people echoed the guiding sagas of his Scandinavian heritage.
"Immersing ourselves in an ancient culture's cosmology always expands our awareness and deepens our understanding and compassion for others."
These enriching travels would come to be known as Shamanic Adventure Journeys, and ever fuel the ceremonies they share.


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How Private Equity Helped America
The tension between management and private equity plus the state of the economy in the 1980s is captured in Other People's Money.
America celebrates its innovators. When Steve Jobs passed away, millions held vigil and thousands wept. Jack Dorsey and Drew Houston sell out MIT. A picture of President Obama chatting with Mark Zuckerberg goes viral. In short, Americans love people that make things that change the way we live our everyday lives.
Financial innovators, on the other hand, do not enjoy the same love and respect. At best, innovators in finance make a lot of money and have tons of fun but don't become household names. Arthur Rock, for example, should be as well known as Gates, Jobs and Zuckerberg. After all, he created venture capital – the tool that enabled Microsoft, Apple and Facebook.
At worst, financial innovators are reviled as fat-cat villains. Look no further than the topic du jour: Mitt Romney and his private equity background.
It's easy to demonise people that "don't build anything" and "make money on the transaction." But the bad rap on private equity is misguided. Private equity was an important financial innovation and a key factor in the productivity gains and technology boom that began in the 1990s.
Before going any further, this blog is NOT an endorsement for Mitt Romney. It's simply a look at the overall private equity market, and not a judgment of any specific deals done by Bain or any other firm.
This Machine Kills Conglomerates
Following World War II, American companies enjoyed nearly three decades of growth. At home, Americans consumed American-made goods. There were no German or Japanese or Chinese imports. These nations were decimated during the war and were rebuilding. And guess which economy provided the equipment, materials and services for the rebuilding? America. In short, America was #winning.
This period saw the rise of the conglomerate. According to The New Financial Capitalists by George Baker and George David Smith, three factors led to conglomerations. First, companies became bloated and staid in light of no competition. Second, ERISA (passed in 1974) limited the amount of money pension fund managers could invest into a single company. As a result, pension funds held a small number of shares in a large number of companies. Such a structure fosters passive – not active – shareholders. Lastly, antitrust rules made it difficult for two companies operating in the same industry to merge.
To put it all together, managers who face no threats from the outside (competitors) or the inside (shareholders), and who do not want to ruffle the feathers of anti-trust authorities, have only one option with excess cash: buy businesses in completely unrelated industries. It was this formula that led oil industry giant Mobil to acquire Montgomery Ward, a retail chain.
Private equity and the leveraged buyout were the change agents that dismantled conglomerates and realigned management with ownership. In its simplest form, a buyout works like this. An acquirer like Bain buys a target company using cash from its fund and debt from either a bank loan or a bond issuance. The target company's assets serve as collateral for the debt. So a company worth $10 would be purchased using $1 of cash and $9 of debt.
Debt is the secret sauce. When a company has an obligation to meet, it must trim the fat and only make sound investments. That means no more corporate jets, lavish headquarters or underperforming divisions bought for the purpose of Empire Building. It means investing in projects with expected rates of return above the companies cost of capital. I equate LBOs to a mortgage. A person who takes on a mortgage will watch his or her money more closely and make financially sound investments -- one hopes, at least.
Private equity affected all enterprises in the economy. In order to avoid a takeover, management proactively levered up. (A company that already has debt cannot take on more debt to do a leveraged buyout.) In the end, American companies got leaner and more focused. By the 1990s, the LBO dividend began to pay-off. Companies invested soundly into R&D and process improvements, which in turn improved productivity and helped fuel the information technology revolution.
In conclusion, private equity isn't perfect and it isn't always pretty. The anger over compensation and taxes is understandable; private equity managers charge a 20% fee on profits earned, which is taxed as long-term capital gains (15%) as opposed to income or a bonus (35%). Partners in private equity firms also use debt to extract dividend payments for themselves; in some cases, these payments are too burdensome and good companies are forced into bankruptcy. Overall, however, private equity is a tool - though sometimes blunt - that moves the economy forward.
Entrepreneur, The Silver Platter Definition
Today's Wall Street Journal celebrated the life of Ted Fortsmann. Fortsmann was one of the founding fathers of private equity and a prominent 'character' in "Barbarians at the Gate," a must-read about the RJR Nabisco buyout.
I'm writing about Fortsmann because his firm perfectly summarized what it means to be an entrepreneur. According to the Journal, Fortsmann Little gave their guests at a 25th Anniversary celebration a silver platter engraved with the following:
"The entrepreneur, as a creator of the new and a destroyer of the old, is constantly in conflict with convention. He inhabits a world where belief precedes results, and where the best possibilities are usually invisible to others. His world is dominated by denial, rejection, difficulty, and doubt. And although as an innovator, he is unceasingly imitated when successful, he always remains an outsider to the 'establishment.'"
This quote perfectly captures entrepreneurship. The opening line - "creator of new and destroyer of the old" - details the phenomena of creative destruction. The second sentence captures the imaginative nature of entrepreneurs; I'm immediately reminded of Steve Jobs who envisioned a world in which every person would have a computer in light of the day's leading tech firms (HP, IBM, Xerox) telling him the computer was a business tool. The third sentence encapsulates the difficult path entrepreneurs traverse. Examples of struggles are bountiful, but my favorite is the Music Genome Project; before pivoting to become Pandora, the company burned through its cash and asked employees to take no pay for a year.
The final sentence is interesting. The imitator effect has a positive but hard to measure impact on the economy. The success of one entrepreneur motivates thousands to strike out on their own to seek opportunities "usually invisible to others." Prior entrepreneurial successes, in other words, signal to current would-be entrepreneurs that the system works. One person in the new class of entrepreneurs then realizes wild success and the cycle repeats itself. If Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were stripped of their wealth or thrown in prison for challenging the statues quo, would Larry and Sergey have been motivated to start Google? And if Larry and Sergey were not able to capture the value they created, would Mark Zuckerberg have been motivated enough to create Facebook?


text:
<?php
namespace Mmarica\DisplayTable\Output\Text\Border;

/**
 * Mysql Border Class
 */
class MysqlBorder extends AbstractBorder
{
    protected $_headerTop = ['+', '-', '+', '+'];
    protected $_headerContent = ['|', '|', '|'];
    protected $_headerIntersection = ['+', '-', '+', '+'];
    protected $_headerBottom = ['+', '-', '+', '+'];
    protected $_dataTop = ['+', '-', '+', '+'];
    protected $_dataContent = ['|', '|', '|'];
    protected $_dataBottom = ['+', '-', '+', '+'];
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
The Shattered Heart – Final Deleted Scene
It's only 2 days until you can read The Shattered Heart for yourself! In the meantime, here's one last deleted scene that takes place just a couple of months before The Shattered Heart begins. Warning: it's about to get real.
Somehow Adam drove from home to the edge of town without even noticing.
When he got in his car, planning a quick visit to the Gylf, he had started thinking through all of his questions again. When Alex had been attacked last fall, they had assumed Candice's pet was crazed from the loss of its mistress, but after Dom and Logan had nearly lost their feet to frostbite, they were forced to admit that someone was still out to get them. Even though the papers they had taken from Candice's cave had seemed useless, they were still the closest thing the Circle had to a clue about their enemy. Adam had been puzzling over them for the last few months without making much progress.
Candice's notebook mostly just outlined her plan for attacking them last summer. The margins were filled with hateful comments. It wasn't a pleasant read. Adam was more interested in the stack of letters that had been tucked inside. Someone was communicating with Candice on a regular basis, but it was impossible to tell who. The letters were written in come kind of code that mingled banal phrases about the weather with nonsense words. Nothing Adam had tried so far had helped him make sense of them. His latest attempt was to make a list of all the words that had to do with plants and animals and ask the Gylf what they knew about those things. It was a long shot, but Adam was desperate. So far, the worst damage they'd received was Logan losing all the toenails in his right foot, but it was pure luck that nothing worse had happened.
They couldn't count on luck forever.
Adam slammed on the brakes when he realized that he had just driven past the Gylf forest. The road was deserted out here, so he backed along it until he came to the spot where he usually parked.
"You're an idiot," he muttered to himself. "You should know better than to think and drive."
Grabbing his notepad off the passenger seat, Adam jumped out of the car. He figured he had about an hour before his mom would be expecting him for dinner. Being late wasn't an option.
The grass by the side of the road had grown tall, and Adam pushed through it impatiently. It was a relief to reach the edge of the forest. Under the trees, he knew the going would be easier. They all walked the path often enough to keep it clear.
Adam rounded the first big tree trunk and, out of habit, ducked under the low-hanging branches on the other side.
Two steps later, the ground erupted in front of him as a thousand stinging insects swarmed out toward his face.
Adam threw his hands up in a futile protective gesture. His notepad dropped unnoticed on the forest floor.
All the world was buzzing and dozens of pain points erupted on Adam's arms and neck as he was stung over and over. There was no defense but to get away.
Adam ran, fleeing up the path toward the Gylf's home, batting away insects as he went, forgetting everything but the instinct to get to safety.
The pain on his arms and neck spread down his back and then to his face. It was getting harder to see, and he realized his eyes were swelling shut.
Adam tripped on a branch and stumbled to his knees. Standing up again was impossible, so he curled into a ball, his face tucked into his legs, his arms covering his head. He could still hear buzzing all around, mixed with smacking noises that made no sense to his fuzzy brian.
He waited for more stings.
He waited to die.
The next thing he felt was the pressure of tiny hands pushing his arms aside. Through the slits that were his eyes, he saw several Gylf examining his injuries with concern.
"All is well now, Adam," a soothing voice said. "Your attackers are gone. Terfol is being brought. He will tend to your wounds."
Adam tried to express his thanks, but only a croaking sound came out.
"Hush," said the voice. "Do not try to speak. Rest now."
Adam slipped into a dark dream, only surfacing from time to time. Once he felt something cool being pressed against his neck. Another time, he heard many voices. He thought he recognized Logan's, but he slipped away again before he could be sure.
When Adam came fully awake, it was dark in the woods. A fire crackled nearby, and he saw dark figures sitting around it. His eyes opened a little further than before, and the unbearable pain of earlier was reduced to a dull ache and some itchiness. He tried to lift his head, but that proved impossible.
"He's awake," Eve said. "Hey, Champ. How you feeling?"
A grunt was all Adam could manage.
"That's about what we figured," Eve said. She and Alex crouched over him, working together to lift his head slightly and drizzle water into his mouth.
"How long…" he managed once he had swallowed some.
"A few hours," Alex said. "It's about 10 o'clock. Don't worry. Your mom thinks you're spending the night at Logan's house."
"Thanks…Those things…"
"Yeah, they did a number on you," Eve said, "but the Gylf say you're going to be okay. Luckily for you, you ran right into a group of them taking care of an abandoned baby fox. They fought off the stingers…and paid the price for it."
"It's nothing you need to worry about now," Alex said. "Terfol wants you to rest tonight. If you do, he thinks the swelling will be down by tomorrow, and you can go home."
She turned away, but Adam grabbed her arm. "Alex…?"
She sighed and shook her head.
"A few of them got stung," Eve said. "Terra got it the worst. She was hit several times. She…she didn't make it."
Adam dropped his hand. Alex's shoulders were shaking.
"It's not your fault, Adam." Eve's voice was angry. "If the Gylf hadn't been here, it would be you that would be dead. No one is blaming you. It's whoever is sending these attacks. They don't care who gets hurt."
Her words washed over Adam with no meaning.
Terra. He thought of her dark hair and expressive eyes. She was the first Gylf he had ever met. How could she just be gone?
He should have seen this coming. He should have known. He should have taken it all more seriously. He should have…
"We're going to find who did this," Eve said. "We will."
Yes, they would.
"We're going to find them, and we're going to end them."
Adam closed his eyes and held onto her words with all his might.
Just two more days!
The Shattered Heart – Deleted Scene 2
It's Here!


2.	Deeds relating to land may be executed before a District Judge or Commissioner.
3.	They shall be executed in duplicate and registered.
4.	Manner of execution of such deeds.
6.	No fees to be taken. Penalty.
7.	Deeds not to be written by such Judges or by the officers of their courts. Penalty.
AN ORDINANCE to provide for the Execution of Deeds which are required to be executed before and attested by a notary public before an officer of government instead of before a notary.
This Ordinance may be cited as the Deeds and Documents (Execution before Public Officers) Ordinance.
2. Deeds relating to land may be executed before a District Judge or Commissioner.
Every writing, deed, or instrument which by section 2 of the Prevention of Frauds Ordinance is required to be executed in the manner therein mentioned in order to its validity, shall, if made after this Ordinance shall come into operation, be valid and effectual, so far as relates to the execution thereof, if the same be signed by the party making the same or by some person lawfully authorised by him, and by two or more witnesses present at the same time, in the presence of some District Judge or Commissioner of a Court of Requests for the district in which the party making such writing, deed, or instrument, or the person signing the same as such attorney, resides, or in the presence of some Justice of the Peace for such district specially authorised by the Minister of Justice to act in that behalf, and of whose appointment notice shall be given in the Gazette, and if the execution of such writing, deed, or instrument shall be certified at the foot or end thereof under the hand or hand and seal of such Judge or Commissioner, or of such Justice authorised as aforesaid, anything contained in the said Prevention of Frauds Ordinance to the contrary notwithstanding.


As promised last week, today is dedicated to delicious Rails! This post is the first of several in which I'll talk about how the various feature implementations in Sutro, the blog engine that runs this site. In particular, today will focus on what it means to add tags to articles, and how to associate the models underneath.
Rails associations are a set of methods that enable us to tie conceptually related models together and describe their relationships. For example, a Car belongs to a Person, and a Customer has many Orders. The association keywords "belongs to" and "has many" are several of the built in associations that Rails provides. We'll see that by specifying the relationships between two models (posts and tags here), we gain access to high-level helper methods that make our lives infinitely easier.
Our first step is the most important - determing the right relationship to use between posts and tags. The complete list of Rails model associations, as well as an explanation of their purpose and usage can be found at the RailsGuide here. So which ones are right for our needs? Well, clearly a post can have many tags. But remember, the relationship must be defined both ways. In that case, a post has_many :tags and a tag belongs_to :post relationship seems like the obvious choice. After some thought though, you'll realize that's not right. A post can have many tags, but a tag can also belong to many posts. For example, if a post is tagged with "ruby", the "ruby" tag is not locked to that post. Many posts can be tagged with the same name. So the association we're looking for is has_and_belongs_to_many. A post has and belongs to many tags, and a tag has and belongs to many posts. This is a mouthful, and gets a bit complicated to put in place, but ultimately, it allows us to call the methods @post.tags and @tag.posts, which will be enormously useful. Let's move on to generating our models and migrations!
Fortunately, our tag model is extremely simple. All we care about is the tag name. Let's generate a model to represent our tags - run rails generate model tags to create the tag model, as well a migration to initialize the corresponding table.
That's all we have to do in our migration. Make sure to run a rake db:migrate afterwards. Now let's write the actual associations between our two models!
We're not quite done yet. If you were paying attention, you'll notice we haven't placed any foreign keys anywhere - nothing in either table references the other. For example, let's look at a customer/order relationship. A customer has many orders, and an order belongs to a single customer. The traditional approach would be to place a customer_id field in the Order table, so that an order now references a Customer by foreign key lookup. But a many-to-many relationship is more complicated. Since we defined that a post has and belongs to many tags, and that a tag has and belongs to many posts, we need an intermediate table to keep track of the associations called a join table. This is a table with two columns only - post_id and tag_id. The join table holds no data about either model - purely association data for lookups.
While join tables may be a tricky concept to master in your head, the implementation is fortunately fairly simple and Rails handles most of the heavy lifting for us. For example, it's Rails convention to define the table name in terms of the two model names in alphabetical order. So, our table joining Posts and Tags will be called posts_tags. To implement it, all we have to do is generate the appropriate migration using rails generate migration CreatePostTagJoinTable.
Note that we're specifying :id => false here. Rails automatically adds an id primary key to tables, but since this a pure join table we don't need it. Be sure to run a rake db:migrate again!
That's all we need to worry about in terms of migrations. Now we have to create an interface for our tags, and the ability to actually add a tag to a post.
Before I continue, I want to explain a design decision here. If you have experience with Rails, you'll know that we had the option of doing has_many :through instead of has_and_belongs_to_many. For those unfamiliar with the association, has_many :through creates an intermediary model for the relationship. For example, consider a system that tracks appointments for physicians and patients. A physician has many patients, and a patient (potentially) has many physicians, but we need information about the relationship itself as well, such as the appointment time. In this case, we'd want to create the intermediary model Appointments and change our associations so that a physician has_many :patients, :through => :appointments and a patient has_many :physicians, :through => :appointments. Again, Appointments acts as a join table tracking the relationship, but now we have access to other information about the relationship itself. Other tutorials I've seen have implemented the post-tag association using has_many :through and created an intermediary model called Taggings. This doesn't appeal to me - a direct relationship seems to make more sense, so I've chosen to implement it using has_and_belongs_to_many. For more information, I highly recommend the RailsGuide on Associations or the ActiveRecord Associations ClassMethods Documentation.
Before writing out any code, it's critical to sit back and imagine how you want the end result to work. I think of it in terms of a story - here, "when writing a post, I want to input the tags as a comma-separated list and have Rails do the rest of the work". This is possible, but takes a little bit of extra work on our part since we're no longer doing direct input as in a post title, for example. Let's write the corresponding code in our view first.
At this point, you're like to run into an error if you go to the page - after all, our Post model has no attribute tag_list. We have to define methods to accept this tag list and transform it into a list of Tags associated with this post. Let's go into post.rb and define the appropriate methods.
With that defined, our new view displays fine, and our edit view displays the tags in a nicely comma separated list. But this doesn't actually associate any tags with a post yet. To do that, we have to define the special tag_list= method back in post.rb.
We're making progress! We can now create posts with associated tags in a successful many to many relationship. Of course, we can't stop here. Tags aren't useful unless you have the ability to filter posts by their tags.
While it might seem like a good idea to generate a separate controller to handle our tags, I'm going to forgo that step. For now, it's somewhat of a lazy design decision, but we don't need that level of functionality and instead can just build our filtering into our post controller's list action. Let's do routes first.
match "blog/tag/:tag"  => "posts#list", :as => "tag"
That gives us a simple named path that matches any tag string, such as /blog/tag/ruby and dispatches it to the list action on the posts controller. In the post controller itself, all we have to do is add a little bit of logic to determine whether or not we're filtering by a tag or just looking at the main blog index.
if !params[:tag].nil? # Are we looking at a tag?
The actual Sutro implementation is slightly different (I check for status and do some pagination), but I've left those off for brevity. The full controller source is available on GitHub here.
At this point, we've done all the real work for our tag implementation and now we're just working on presentational stuff. To close, this is how the tag 'pills' are displayed at the bottom of each post. A method called render_tags is defined in a helper that takes an array of Tag objects (as outputted by @post.tags or similar), and outputs a raw HTML string containing formatted links to each tag's respective path.
Note that the Sutro implementation differs in that I use the same method for the public 'pill' display, and the backend dashboard which is a comma-separated listing. The full code is available here.
And we're done! We've succesfully created a many to many association between two models, the ability to enter tags with a post, and format them in a nice display. Rails provides powerful helpers to work with complex associations, and this is only a peek at what's possible. If you enjoyed what you read, or want to chide me on my lazy coding habits, make sure to inform me in the comments. Until next time!


The ROIC Quality of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is 6.677082. This is calculated by dividing the five year average ROIC by the Standard Deviation of the 5 year ROIC. The ROIC 5 year average is calculated using the five year average EBIT, five year average (net working capital and net fixed assets). The ROIC is calculated by dividing the net operating profit (or EBIT) by the employed capital. The employed capital is calculated by subrating current liabilities from total assets. The Return on Invested Capital is a ratio that determines whether a company is profitable or not. It tells investors how well a company is turning their capital into profits.
Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) has a Price to Book ratio of 2.981347. This ratio is calculated by dividing the current share price by the book value per share. Investors may use Price to Book to display how the market portrays the value of a stock. Checking in on some other ratios, the company has a Price to Cash Flow ratio of 14.141054, and a current Price to Earnings ratio of 22.694370. The P/E ratio is one of the most common ratios used for figuring out whether a company is overvalued or undervalued.
Checking in on some valuation rankings, Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) has a Value Composite score of 40. Developed by James O'Shaughnessy, the VC score uses five valuation ratios. These ratios are price to earnings, price to cash flow, EBITDA to EV, price to book value, and price to sales. The VC is displayed as a number between 1 and 100. In general, a company with a score closer to 0 would be seen as undervalued, and a score closer to 100 would indicate an overvalued company. Adding a sixth ratio, shareholder yield, we can view the Value Composite 2 score which is currently sitting at 34.
There are many different tools to determine whether a company is profitable or not. One of the most popular ratios is the "Return on Assets" (aka ROA). This score indicates how profitable a company is relative to its total assets. The Return on Assets for Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is 0.071076. This number is calculated by dividing net income after tax by the company's total assets. A company that manages their assets well will have a higher return, while a company that manages their assets poorly will have a lower return.
The ERP5 Rank is an investment tool that analysts use to discover undervalued companies. The ERP5 looks at the Price to Book ratio, Earnings Yield, ROIC and 5 year average ROIC. The ERP5 of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is 3944. The lower the ERP5 rank, the more undervalued a company is thought to be.
The Leverage Ratio of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is 0.152079. Leverage ratio is the total debt of a company divided by total assets of the current and past year divided by two. Companies take on debt to finance their day to day operations. The leverage ratio can measure how much of a company's capital comes from debt. With this ratio, investors can better estimate how well a company will be able to pay their long and short term financial obligations.
Watching some historical volatility numbers on shares of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL), we can see that the 12 month volatility is presently 32.840100. The 6 month volatility is 34.196900, and the 3 month is spotted at 26.541000. Following volatility data can help measure how much the stock price has fluctuated over the specified time period. Although past volatility action may help project future stock volatility, it may also be vastly different when taking into account other factors that may be driving price action during the measured time period.
The Gross Margin Score is calculated by looking at the Gross Margin and the overall stability of the company over the course of 8 years. The score is a number between one and one hundred (1 being best and 100 being the worst). The Gross Margin Score of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is 7.00000. The more stable the company, the lower the score. If a company is less stable over the course of time, they will have a higher score.
The M-Score, conceived by accounting professor Messod Beneish, is a model for detecting whether a company has manipulated their earnings numbers or not. Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) has an M-Score of -2.687668. The M-Score is based on 8 different variables: Days' sales in receivables index, Gross Margin Index, Asset Quality Index, Sales Growth Index, Depreciation Index, Sales, General and Administrative expenses Index, Leverage Index and Total Accruals to Total Assets. A score higher than -1.78 is an indicator that the company might be manipulating their numbers.
The Piotroski F-Score is a scoring system between 1-9 that determines a firm's financial strength. The score helps determine if a company's stock is valuable or not. The Piotroski F-Score of Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) is 7. A score of nine indicates a high value stock, while a score of one indicates a low value stock. The score is calculated by the return on assets (ROA), Cash flow return on assets (CFROA), change in return of assets, and quality of earnings. It is also calculated by a change in gearing or leverage, liquidity, and change in shares in issue. The score is also determined by change in gross margin and change in asset turnover.