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Friday Footnotes: Higher Salaries Lead to Higher Fees; EY Auditors Quit; Senator Rags on Greedy Accounting Firms | 1.27.23 Research: Working From Home Frees Up Two Hours a Week, Time Many People Spend Doing Work If This Person Can Pass the CPA Exam, So Can You EY Germany Gives 40 Partners and 380 Staff the Boot to Boost Profitability After That Whole Wirecard Thing Do Ex-Big 4 Accountants Make Good NFL Team CEOs?
ANR June 3, 2010
Accounting News Roundup: AICPA vs. IRS on Uncertain Tax Positions; Accountants Involved in Haiti Recovery; Taxing Pot Could Yield $400k for D.C. | 06.02.10
AICPA Protests Disclosures of Uncertain Tax Positions [Web CPA]
The AICPA has come out against the IRS' uncertain tax positions proposal, saying "it should withdraw its proposed rule that would require companies with more than $10 million in total assets to disclose uncertain tax positions on a new schedule."
The AICPA is not so hot on the idea of the IRS wading into the financial reporting waters, "We understand that the UTP proposal does not change the underlying rules for financial reporting, but believe overlaying a tax disclosure construct on the financial reporting system introduces a dynamic which could work at cross purposes with the original and fundamental purpose of the financial reporting rules."
Haitian recovery needs accountants [Accountancy Age]
Nearly five months after the Earthquake in Haiti things are recovering slowly. Financial records for the government and private business have had two considerably different experiences:
[T]he finance ministry's financial controls and systems are now being restored after its headquarters were destroyed. The World Bank has helped this critical process, placing accounting experts with the ministry.
As for the private sector, Laforest said many companies' financial systems had survived thanks to accounting software packages, whose data had been uploaded to cloud computing remote data sumps on the internet. But bills, receipts and other paper records vital for making tax returns had been lost where offices collapsed.
And creating proper controls around the donations process has been crucial for organizing those funds. According to one volunteer, "[W]ithout proper controls, the money that you and your friends and your government have given might as well be left in a big bucket in the middle of the market with a sign saying 'biggest at the front, smallest at the back.'"
Pot could bring in $400K for D.C. [Post Now/WaPo]
The District's Council is expected to vote on June 15th on a provision that would levy a 6% sales tax on ganj sold there. At an approximate price of $350 an ounce, each bag would yield $21 for DC and would be expected to raise $400k in the next 5 years.
Tweedie replacement must juggle dual roles [Accountancy Age]
The candidates for the IASB chair are dwindling but most people seem to agree that having the role split into "Chair" and "CEO" roles might benefit the Board. "Richard Sexton, head of audit at PwC, suggested the role should be split." And BDO's sometime blogger and International CEO Jeremy Newman chimes in, "It's unrealistic to expect one person to cover both."
Also, whoever fills the big chair can't be a über double-entry geek or just a crafty political type to heavy one way or the other. Most think that it needs to be a balance of both, although the preference of which is more important is debatable, including one Deloitte partner's point of view, "If you don't understand the accounting, you won't be able to do the diplomacy around the debate," versus Grant Thornton, "At this stage in the IASB's life, we would place political awareness ahead of technical [knowledge] for the chair, but of course the chair must be technically astute."
Tags: AICPA, District of Columbia, IASB, IRS, Marijuana, Sir David Tweedie, Tax policy, Uncertain tax positions
PSA: Change Your AICPA Password NOW (UPDATE)
Who penetrates networks in the dark with a hood over their head? Silly. h/t @cbriancpa for tweeting this story out Hackers are claiming they gained access to a database with more than 140,000 emails and passwords from the AICPA according to Cybernews, the only outlet reporting on this as yet. We have reached out to […]
IRS December 8, 2022
Interested in Interest Rates? The IRS Has Something For You
The Fed isn't the only one raising interest rates these days. The IRS did too—and it has now for four consecutive quarters, including the first quarter of next year. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2023, the rate for overpayments and underpayments will be 7% per year, compounded daily, for individuals, up from 6% in Q4 of […]
Sr Advisor Controller Remote
If This Person Can Pass the CPA Exam, So Can You
EY Germany Gives 40 Partners and 380 Staff the Boot to Boost Profitability After That Whole Wirecard Thing
Do Ex-Big 4 Accountants Make Good NFL Team CEOs?


Don't get us wrong, rankings can have value. They certainly have tremendous value for the university - they help to build the university's brand and prestige, they help to increase the number of applications, they help to generate publicity for their research and programmes, they can be useful in attracting top quality staff, they appeal to donors - and, when they are reporting the right measures, they can be a helpful for prospective students when planning their university applications.
The questions we are asked as a result of our work over many years with parents and students in international schools around the world (not just in Singapore) have prompted us to collate some advice on how best to make use of rankings.
All is not as it seems, as we explain below.
Go beyond the rankings to find a university that is a 'fit' for the student - academically, socially, and in other ways.
This is the most important factor by far to keep in mind. As with all facets of university planning, it all starts with the student and what will best suit their individual situation and needs. There is no direct way to measure or compare the quality of a university experience for your child - how much they will learn, grow or get inspired at one institution over another. Many parents turn to university rankings to try to discern differences among their child's choices, but such rankings rely on proxies for quality which can be arbitrary or tangential to a student's experience.
While rankings can certainly be a place to start the university research process, it is important for students and parents to go beyond the rankings to find a university that is a 'fit' for the student - academically, socially, and in other ways.
Many parents have heard that University Advisors tend to suggest that they disregard the rankings. Our recommendation is that they can be a useful piece of information, if applied in context, but we urge families not to overly rely on rankings because they are incomplete at best, and can be a highly subjective and potentially misleading source of information.
In many instances, ranking statistics are not focused on the undergraduate experience and are based on factors that would mean very little to the experience of students embarking on their first university degree.
It is uncommon to find a rankings statistic that focuses on the undergraduate experience. In fact, they are largely based on factors that would mean very little to the experience of students embarking on their first university degree.
Many organizations that offer university rankings are for-profit entities that are more concerned with selling magazines than with journalistic integrity. It could be argued that the business objectives of the publisher - including maintaining their relationships with advertisers and their (sometimes dwindling) readership - are the primary driver in producing these rankings. The more 'sensational' the statistics, the better the read.
In the United States, US News & World Report (USNWR) competes with Forbes and the just recently introduced Wall Street Journal/TES ranking to dominate the US "market" for rankings. QS World Rankings and THE compete around world rankings, but these two rankings diverge significantly due to differences in the indicators used and the weightings applied when calculating overall scores.
The best approach is to look at several sources for rankings and regard each with a critical eye.
Overall rankings typically end up being the average of many factors - some of which could actually be a negative factor when assessing the university's 'fit'.
When looking at the rankings, students and parents must do their research and find out what the criteria are that each ranking is using before deciding if they plan to place value on that ranking.
While it may be important to a student or parent that faculty have the resources they need to educate their students, are alumni giving and the 'deny rate' of a university important to a student's experience and 'fit' at a university? Our opinion is no, and so we encourage our students to look at criteria that are important for them.
While student debt may not be a factor in making university decisions for all of our families, student satisfaction certainly is important.
The QS World Rankings use 'Citations per Faculty' as a major criteria, with the goal of measuring how often a professor publishes, but it is widely known that the sciences publish much more frequently than the social sciences, so a university that is strong in the social sciences will always be at a disadvantage. Another example of this can be found in the Shanghai Ranking, that weights Nobel Prize winners and the number of articles published in Nature and Sciences journals as a major criteria. As university advisors, we would argue these are not important criteria for a student to use when making a decision on a good 'fit' for university and thus, perhaps these rankings should not be used as an influential piece of information in the university research process.
While the usual suspects still remain in the top of the list, places like Washington University of St Louis and Emory University are ranked more highly than some in the Ivy League. This suggests that students have excellent futures beyond their university and that a diverse student body is valued and present on the campus.
For students at UWCSEA (and indeed, at many international schools), a university with a diverse student body and the resources to pursue employment or graduate school upon graduation can be highly valued. Thus we encourage our students look at these rankings, rather than those that measures how many students are denied entry.
For students in truly international schools, a university with a diverse student body and the resources to pursue employment or graduate school upon graduation is highly valued.
We often advise our student to sort these tables by the 'student satisfaction' measure, because the entry standards for a university will not affect them once they are there, but the student satisfaction certainly will be important to their overall happiness at a university.
In Australia, the University of Melbourne and Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra are both ranked as number one in Australia, depending on the ranking being quoted. However the experience of going to each is vastly different: the University of Melbourne is strongest in pre-clinical sciences while ANU is strongest in arts and humanities.
We strongly recommend that you avoid relying on overall rankings as these can end up being the average of many factors - some of which are at best not relevant and in others instances would actually be a negative factor when assessing the university's 'fit' for your child.
The amount of money spent on research is not a proxy for the quality of research done or an indicator of opportunities to participate in research as an undergraduate student, which are often greater at smaller colleges.
When using rankings, make sure you are comparing universities in a similar category. For example, a small, liberal arts college cannot be compared with a large research university.
QS World Rankings place 20% of their ranking on research citations per faculty member, which virtually eliminates liberal arts colleges and small universities in Europe because those institutions do not share the same budgets as large private research universities and many public universities.
The amount of money spent on research is not a proxy for the quality of research done or an indicator of opportunities to participate in research as an undergraduate student, which are often greater at smaller colleges. Observation suggests that colleges which have smaller research budgets often place a greater focus on teaching undergraduates which can mean your child's experience there would be better.
The bottom line is that the more research dollars a university has, the less likely they are to have their teachers spend time on teaching undergraduates.
By using online rankings, you are often able to filter results based on criteria that matter most to you - which may mean a very different set of institutions come out on top!
Look at rankings online rather than in print. Rankings published in magazines are often based on data that was collected a long time ago. Importantly, they can't be filtered to focus on criteria important to you.
Many online rankings will allow you to sort by the criteria that matter most to you. For example, if cost or employment prospects are most important to you it is possible to isolate that one factor and see the ranking of just that factor. This allows you to glean information that is most relevant for your personal decision-making process.
Be aware that many universities do not 'qualify' to be ranked by the rankings systems as they may not be able to provide data on some specific 'ranking measures' - despite offering excellent opportunities for their students.
The worldwide rankings only account for roughly 5% of universities, meaning there are hundreds or thousands of universities that are unranked. This does not mean they aren't excellent educational institutions. This shortcoming is evidenced by the fact that USNWR will not rank universities who do not require an SAT or ACT as part of the admission process. Because of the trend among US colleges, led by New York University, to make standardized testing optional or flexible, the place of test-optional colleges are skewed in this popular ranking system. (If you have had no exposure to the US system and are wondering what these are, they are American university admissions tests that are used by many, but not all, universities in the US and by US-linked universities in other countries).
Many students and parents applaud universities that have a holistic process and look beyond test scores, but it is important to know that by making that innovative step, these universities have 'sacrificed' their opportunity to participate in the ranking process and will not receive a ranking.
A new university, such as Yale-NUS in Singapore, will not be ranked highly within a ranking system that measures alumni giving or graduate outcomes, because they do not have any yet (their first class graduates this year). However, the opportunities and experiences that students have had at that university have been fantastic.
Success beyond university requires initiative on the part of a student and a proactive approach to finding opportunities.
We feel it is critical for students and families to understand that attending a university with a 'big' name does not guarantee 'big results' upon graduation. Again and again we hear stories from our alumni of the importance of being able to stand out in their university (the big fish in the small pond) and the importance of establishing relationships with professors, internship supervisors, etc.
Success beyond universities requires initiative on the part of a student and a proactive approach to finding opportunities. Liberal arts colleges or honors programmes in large universities can provide students with ample opportunities to make connections with professors, take advantage of career services, find internships, and many other things that can lead to success later on.
As University Advisors our goal is to match students with universities where they will be appropriately challenged, emotionally healthy and have opportunities to thrive. Rankings can be a useful tool for beginning to learn about a university, but we caution students and their families against placing too much value on rankings and the 'reputation' that these rankings (supposedly) confer. Rankings cannot tell you whether your child will find a subject he is passionate about, get along with his roommate, stay engaged in his learning or connect with a professor. It is important that research moves beyond the rankings to keep student experience and 'fit' at forefront of every decision.


We are proud to announce that Cary Saineghi has been promoted to WhiteCoat' new Director of Marketing & Client Services. In this new position, Cary will take an even greater role in managing all creative work and will help consult on clients' marketing strategy. After working with WhiteCoat for almost two years, Cary has gained a wealth of experience in medical marketing and truly understands what it takes for doctors to increase their bottom line and enhance their brands in the local community. Cary will also be in charge of WhiteCoat's entire creative team (graphic designers, writers, programmers, etc.).


Join Test Kitchen Director Robby Melvin as he walks us through this quick and easy dessert recipe. Pecan pie is a sweet Southern favorite, and there's always a place for one on our holiday dessert tables. With this Crunchy Pecan Pie Bites recipe, however, you get all the goodness of a homemade pecan pie in a bite-size treat. (So, no judgments if you want to eat a few extras!) This recipe has a large yield, so it's ideal to make for a crowd, but if you have leftovers (which is highly unlikely), these mini desserts save well in the freezer. Whether served on festive trays at a holiday cocktail party or in a new place on the Thanksgiving dessert table, these Crunchy Pecan Pie Bites will be a staple in our kitchen all season long.
One aspect that makes this recipe so easy is that it calls for store-bought phyllo dough cups. These little dough cups are portable for a party, and they hold well in the oven. Start this recipe off by stirring corn syrup and sugar together in a large bowl. These two ingredients will make the "glue" for our Crunchy Pecan Pie Bites. Next comes the most important ingredient – Southern-grown pecans. We toasted our nutty pecans at 350 degrees until slightly browned, and they're chopped up a little bit to fit in the phyllo cups. After the pecans, add eggs, melted butter, a pinch of salt, and vanilla to the bowl, and stir it all together. Next, fill the phyllo cups with a heaping teaspoon of the pecan mixture. Be sure not to overfill the cups because as the bites bake, they'll rise and bubble a bit. These sweet pecan pie bites will bake at 350˚ for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top has a glazed, browned finish.
As Robby mentions, these Crunchy Pecan Pie Bites offer opportunities for festive toppings. Sprinkle some chocolate chips on them as they're coming out of the oven, make a crumb topping for extra crunch, dust them with powdered sugar, or pipe a little homemade whipped cream on top. This holiday season, we'll have this quick and easy Crunchy Pecan Pie Bites recipe ready to go for any and every gathering.


Mutes the monitored agent. You should use this operation when a supervisor monitoring an agent needs to intervene and take over a call.
Retrieved from "https://docs.genesys.com/Documentation:HTCC:API:SupervisorMuteMonitoredUser:8.5.2 (2019-04-22 07:17:36)"


It's this time of the year again. Time for the yearly summary of conferences, travels, community activities, open source projects, amazing people!
Like most recent years, I have been speaking at quite a few conferences around the World. The countries I visited as a speaker in 2018 were Sweden, Germany, USA, England, Denmark, France, Belgium, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
One of the highlights this year was to be awarded the JCP Outstanding Spec Lead Award together with Christian Kaltepoth for our work with JSR 371.
Another acknowledgement by the community was to be re-elected for an associate seat in the JCP Executive Committee.
Besides speaking at conferences, a great deal of my time in 2018 was dedicated Jakarta EE at the Eclipse Foundation where I act as the PMC Lead of EE4J a well as being a member of the Steering-, Specification-, and Marketing Committees in the Jakarta EE Working Group.
All in all 2018 was an eventful year and I expect no less of 2019!
It is almost two years since I was elected to the Java Community Process Executive Committee and the end of my term as a holder of one of the two associate seats are approaching. That means that the elections for representatives in the EC is going on, and you have a choice to make!
If you are an associate member of the JCP and haven't already decided who to vote for in the ongoing election, please read my position statement for a motivation why you should vote for me.
The last couple of years, we have been running a concept called JavaOneStreak the month before JavaOne. Since JavaOne is history, and the event replacing it is Oracle Code One, it makes sense to renew this concept as well.
The original JavaOneStreak was to run a mile a day for in last month before the conference and tweet about it using the hashtag #JavaOneStreak.
For this year's Oracle Code One, I want to expand the concept to include any physical exercise.


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Гутасага — скандинавская сага, включающая историю острова Готланд до его христианизации, а также несколько договоров острова со Швецией. Рукописный памятник древнескандинавского права.

Сага была написана в XIII веке и сохранилась в единственном рукописном экземпляре. Входит в сборник Codex Holm. B 64, датированный приблизительно 1350 годом, хранящийся в Королевской библиотеке Швеции в Стокгольме, вместе с Гуталагом, сводом законов Готланда.

Текст написан на древнегутнийском диалекте древнеисландского языка.

«Гутасага» содержит описание нескольких договоров Готланда со Швецией, в которых утверждается их взаимовыгодность. В тексте отмечены права и обязанности шведского короля, ярла и епископа по отношению к Готланду. Поэтому это произведение стоит рассматривать не только как исторический труд, но и как патриотическое произведение. А описание процесса христианизации острова явно свидетельствует и о христианской направленности повествования.

О структуре
Изначально текст саги не был озаглавлен и просто входил в «Гуталаг». Только при первом издании «Гуталага» в 1852 году, шведский ученый Карл Юхан Шлютер дал саге название — «История Готланда» (Historia Gotlandiae). Позже, уже в 1859 году, другой шведский исследователь Карл Сэве озаглавил текст «Сагой о гутах» (Gutasaga) и именно это название стало общепринятым в науке.

Текст саги не имел внутреннего деления. Шлютер разделил его на 6 глав, исходя из их содержания.

О гутах
Гутов часто относят к готам. Так, этноним гут для определения населения Готланда и этноним гот в восточном и западном диалектах древнеисландского языка звучит одинаково: в восточном — гутар; в западном — готар. Среди всех германских племён этот этноним относится только к готам и гутам. Это могло являться причиной, почему гуты не выделялись как отдельная группа вплоть до «De origine actibusque Getarum» Иордана. У Птолемея есть упоминания о гутах, населявших юг острова Скандия.

Изложение фактов

С основания до переселения в южную Европу
Сага начинается с Тьельвара (др.гут. Þjelvar) — первого человека, вступившего на остров, и его сына Хафти, у которого было три сына — Грайпр, Гути и Гунфьяун, родоначальники гутов. Имя Гути является эпонимом Готланда. Сыновья Хафти поделили Готланд на три тридьунга (þriþiung).

Далее сага повествует о переселении с острова трети населения вследствие перенаселённости, на что есть множество теорий.

Одни ученые соотносят эти сведения с миграцией готов, которым пришлось уйти в «земли греков» во время Великого переселения народов. Это согласуется с первым упоминанием готов в авторитетных источниках: Евсевий Кесарийский сообщает, что они опустошили «Македонию, Грецию, Понт и Азию» в 263 году. Тогда эмиграция, скорее всего, происходила в I веке нашей эры и в последующие два века переселенцы всё больше отрывались от родины, комментарий о том, что в языке эмигрантов «всё ещё есть что-то», позволяет сделать вывод о разделении диалектов. Рассказы о происходящем должны были передаваться устно в течение почти тысячелетия, прежде чем был записан текст.

Археологические исследования указывают на значительное уменьшение находок и изменение типов древностей на Готланде в конце V века — первой половине VI века, что говорит о значительном уменьшении численности населения острова в этот период. Одновременно в Восточной Прибалтике и в Северо-Западной Руси археологи констатируют готландское влияние на некоторые типы древностей.

В хронике середины XVI века «Происхождение, переселения, войны и колонии кимвров и готов», написанной на латыни датским священником Николаем Петрейем, говорится, что, в течение столетий население Готланда сильно увеличивалось. Тогда один из потомков Тьельвара, правитель Готланда — Хангвар созвал всеобщий совет, который постановил выслать по жребию из страны каждого третьего мужчину. Хангвар собрал войско из 15 тысяч воинов и с флотом из «бесчисленных кораблей» отплыл в Эстонию. Это произошло в 903 г. «после всемирного потопа».

Упоминание Двины вполне согласуется с Вельбарской культурой. Исторически сложилось так, что готы придерживались Вислы, но в эпоху викингов вместо Вислы именно Двино-Днепрский водный путь стал главным торговым путём к грекам, поэтому неудивительно, что он заменил Вислу и как традиционный путь переселения.

Возможно миграция с острова случалась неоднократно.

Далее в главе делается краткое описание языческих культов, практиковавшихся на острове до христианизации.

Вхождение в состав Шведского королевства
Вторая глава рассказывают о вхождении Готланда в состав Швеции. И хотя в саге говорится, что в войнах со свеями гуты побеждали, в конце концов они стали отправлять посольства к свеям с предложением мирного договора. Как следует из дальнейшего текста саги, посольство было сопряжено с высоким риском для жизни для посла, поэтому посланный Авайра Соломенная нога потребовал заплатить ему 3 вергельда за него самого, его сына и его жену. Авайр добился мира со свеям. Здесь же в тексте упомянуты саги о колдовстве и мудрости Авайра, не дошедшие до нас.

По договору гуты стали платить дань Швеции — шестьдесят марок серебра ежегодно (из них 40 — конунгу Швеции, и 20 — ярлу Швеции). Было образовано общее для свеев и гутов пространство со свободной миграцией, торговлей и судебной защитой. Подчеркнуто право гутов требовать от конунга свеев защиты во время их пребывания в Швеции и наоборот. При этом остров сохранил самоуправление в виде тингов разных уровней. Это должно было случиться до конца IX века, когда Вульфстан из Хедеби доложил, что остров подчиняется шведам.

В третьей главе кратко упомянут визит Олафа Святого на остров Готланд во время его изгнания из Норвегии и начало распространения Олафом христианства на острове.

Христианизация острова
В четвертой главе, на примере первых церквей на Готланде, рассказывается как распространялось христианство на острове. Согласно саги христианство на острове укреплялось купцами. Новая религия встретила сопротивление местного населения и первая церковь была сожжена (теперь это место, дословно названное «сожжённое место», находится в современном дворе Кульстеде в приходе Валльс, западнее Румы). После была воздвигнута ещё одна церковь, которой удалось устоять. Тем не менее, сага говорит о ненасильственном принятии гутами христианства и живо описывает все перипетии того, как построивший церковь уговорил народ не жечь её.

В пятой главе рассказано о том, как Готланд стал подчиняться линчёпингскому епископу, и о порядке и времени посещения епископом острова, условиях и размере взимаемой им платы, порядке разрешения им споров и обращения к нему.

В шестой главе подробно описываются права конунга Швеции и гутов в призыве на ледунг — когда конунг может это требовать, и когда этому требованию гуты могут безнаказанно не подчиняться. При этом уточняется, что свеи могут требовать участия гутов в ледунге только против язычников, но не христиан.

Также, в последней главе описываются некоторые процессуальные моменты взаимоотношений Готланда и Швеции. Такие, например, как право на собрание, порядок отдачи приказов. Уточняется порядок сбора и передачи дани свеям:

Примечания

См. также
 Сага
 Гёты
 Готы
 Готландцы

Германо-скандинавская мифология
Манускрипты
История германцев
Саги
Литература Швеции
История германо-скандинавской мифологии
Готланд

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Relish - My Life on a Plate
02 October 2015 Prue Leith 10
❰Epub❯ ❤ Relish - My Life on a Plate Author Prue Leith – Jobs-in-kingston.co.uk Prue Leith describes herself as greedy in all senses of the word Cook caterer restaurateur food writer journalist novelist businesswoman teacher television presenter charity worker lover wife and moth Prue Leith describes herself My Life PDF ↠ as greedy in all senses of the word Cook caterer restaurateur food writer journalist novelist businesswoman teacher television presenter charity worker lover wife and mother she has certainly been greedy for life Born in South Africa the daughter of a well known actress Prue came to London in Relish - MOBI :¿ the early s set up a successful catering company and later opened Leith's Restaurant a food lovers' oasis in London's then gastronomic desert By the mid seventies she was a regular food columnist on the Daily Mail had published several cookbooks and opened Leith's School of Food and Wine But it wasn't all - My Life PDF/EPUB ¾ work For thirteen years she had a secret affair with the married man who was to be her husband for another twenty five years She writes movingly of the anguish for both families; of her longing for children; the birth of her son Daniel and the adoption of her daughter - My Life on a PDF/EPUB ² Li DaPrue writes - My Life on a PDF/EPUB ² with relish humour and honesty Whether she is running her own businesses or sitting on the boards of public companies; founding charities or leading institutions her down to earth attitude to triumph and disaster is an inspiration She is forthright about her love life; her mother's senility; her husband's smoking himself to death; the theft of her savings and falling in love at sixty six with a manic depressive Above all Relish reflects one lucky woman's incredible zest for life. Five stars I don't believe it My bedtime reading is meant to be cheerful tosh before I drift off into the land of Nod But Prue Leith's auto biog was different What a gal She is an outrageous woman who has led uite an anarchic life but also a good life She is intensely readable and I couldn't help liking her in spite of sometimes tut tutting at her at her wanton behaviours She is such a gutsy woman who has achieved many great things and she's a woman with a big heartOne of her most attractive traits is her huge capacity for pleasure All we can do is hang onto her coat tails as she gallops from one enterprise to the next She is obviously remarkably able – in all sorts of businesses and charitable initiatives as well as in her cookery exploitsEvery bit of the book is interesting from her childhood in South Africa and early family life to her struggles as a young chef and then successful restaurant owner and boy did she have some spectacular on the edge of your seats cooking crises From there she goes on to describe her life in business which I found eually fascinating She's an incredibly able businesswoman and although she glosses over her successes you can see that she shines as an entrepreneur Most of all I enjoyed hearing about her extraordinary relationships with the two big loves of her life and seeing her intense loyalty towards both of these men in spite of massive challenges I also enjoyed reading about her wonderful relationship with her childrenThroughout the book she is both funny and charmingly self deprecating I had lots of laugh out loud moments reading this book and in spite of her innumerable conuests in all sorts of fields she could not be less big headed or complaisant She is also astonishingly honest You get the good the bad and the uglyAnother marvellous trait in my eyes is her intense practicality She prefers the challenge of cooking for hundreds of people to the finesse of producing perfection for the few and when foxes keep digging up the front lawn of her London house she simply puts down Astroturf She is also never frightened to roll up her sleeves and do dirty work where necessaryWarning this is NOT a book for foodies If your idea of bliss is going to bed with a superb recipe book then Prue Leith is not the woman for you She is so much bigger than her cooking and I say that in a good wayA darn good read Prue Leith 2011 Pic by Steve Chilton I have just finished reading Prue Leith's lively autobiography and I enjoyed it very much I am not particularly interested in cookery but I have fond memories of seeing Prue Leith's mother the brilliant South African actress Margaret Inglis in Separate Tables when my family and I were on holiday in Durban in 1957 Prue Leith is four years older than me and grew up in South Africa so we shared similar childhood experiences I found the account of her early years in South Africa and later years in France and the UK fascinating With most autobiographies and biographies the years of struggle are usually far interesting than the years of success as the successful years often amount to no than a brag list of achievements and awards Although Prue Leith discussed her many achievements her story held my interest to the end of the book as her personality and humanity shine through in her writing Despite success fame and riches Prue suffered her fair share of setbacks and she does not skim over the setbacks as others embarking on writing the story of their lives might have doneNot only did Prue succeed as a cook and caterer but she has published a number of novels in the later part of her life I have only read one of them but intend to read the others in due course A very interesting look at a very talented womans life I knew nothing about Prue Leith before reading this apart from that she was known for cooking and had written some fictionI enjoyed learning just how much depth this lady had to her life from her childhood in South Africa to the Leiths Cookery school restaurants to the brilliant contracts won etcReally enjoyable read Really enjoyed this an adventurous life well lived To think of Prue Leith as a presenter of GBBO is to vastly underestimate her accomplishments in cooking business charity and food policy as well as her rich personal life She doesn't minimise unpalatable truths and is candid in her opinions and her assessment of her own shortcomings At the end of her Acknowledgements she writes 'I have been lucky in many things but in the company I have kept than anything' She prefers a polite debate to a shouting match to settle disagreements Her sense of humour radiates throughout the book More than anything if I had a fraction of this woman's verve I would consider myself formidable Prue Leith's zest for life shines through the pages of this autobiography Leith is one of the current judges on "The Great British Baking Show" and has had a long and storied career in the food industry in both South Africa her original home and England She writes frankly and humorously about her successes and failures professional and personal A fun read especially if you enjoy cooking and people with larger than life personalities This biography was very inspiring as Prue Leith seems so approachable and real Her life has been amazing worked hard met people and she loves those great little things in life I read this at the perfect time in my life where I needed to be reminded that hard work and passion takes you places but that we have to remain optimistic honest and above all love life I ordered it from my library during the GBBO as I thought it was her cookbook Really interesting life she has led she is a great woman and I like her even now I was hooked the whole way through Not a fan of biography but this is such a good read It's advertised as "The searingly honest life story" and it is indeed and all the better for it I've seen that Prue Leith has now written some novels so I shall look out for them Interesting read I enjoy a life story

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Jim Edwards
Make What You Sell A Necessity… NOT An Optional Luxury
What's going on in the world right now that we can compare to the 1970s?
Inflation and interest rates are going up. People's credit and ability to borrow money is going down. It's here, but it doesn't hurt bad enough — YET.
I got a C in economics in college (hey, C's get degrees Mom!). But I did learn.
I learned about leading indicators vs lagging indicators.
A leading indicator means the world is telling you "Here's your sign!" It's like you are walking (or running) down the roadway. Everything's great. You then see a sign that says, "There's something bad up ahead — be careful." But you are thinking. "I don't see it, so there's nothing to worry about." You keep running and bam, you fall into the hole.
We have a whole lot of leading indicators coming at us right now. What's in the news a lot right now?
The price of gas.
Why is that important?
It means food is going to get real expensive, which means your ability to buy stuff is getting squished because you're spending what was previously your "extra" money on gas and food.
Electricity is going to go up too. What does this mean?
Everyone's ability to spend is going down as we speak.
Do you think this might affect your customers? Hint…. YES!
The people who spend money to keep this wonderful thing we have called a "consumer-based economy" flowing are feeling the pinch.
A consumer-based economy means the economy moves on people buying stuff from each other, as opposed to moving capital around like they used to do when we were all farmers.
This is an issue because guess what? If you and others are low on money, what does everybody spend money on?
It starts with an N and ends with an S. What does everybody keep spending money on? No matter what.
People spend money on necessities.
What is a necessity?
Beer (I don't even drink beer. But I know it's a necessity because my wife does)
People are still going to have fun. They find creative ways to have fun, but they want to have fun. PT Barnum said "People will spend their last nickel to have a good time." That's back when a nickel was the equivalent of like five bucks.
The point that I want to get across is that everybody has ideas on what rates as a "necessity."
Bottom line: A necessity is anything your target audience defines as a necessity.
Whatever you're selling, whatever you're doing, must be a necessity for your target audience compared to anything else they could spend their money on. Because if it's not, and they're making a choice between gas, food, Netflix, the internet, or your product, you might be out of the running.
When we had the economic downturn in 2008 & 2009, we actually did not have that much of a drop in our membership, The Net Reporter. Why? Because I made sure that what we were selling was a necessity for people to get, and remain, successful in their business. I made that membership a necessity.
How did I do that? By tying what I taught to their ability to get all this other stuff they wanted in their life and business:
Make more money.
Avoid effort.
Escape the pain of failure.
You must do whatever it takes to move from the level of convenience to necessity for people.
You do that through better messaging, through perhaps making some changes in your product, upping your game, having a better offer than your competitors, being a category king or queen… whatever it takes!
Now is the time to start positioning yourself in the necessity.
Now's the time, not six months from now, when somebody's credit card balance is jacked.
Now is the time, not when they're making a decision between staying with you or with somebody else; buying your book or buying somebody else's book.
Remember: Nobody gets paid when your potential customer says "I almost bought your course."
The best way to become a necessity in the lives of your ideal customers is to create massive value they can't live without. Become a fixture in their lives with incredibly valuable content they depend on to get the results they want.
Head on over to https://contentmarketingscripts.com. I will train you how to create amazing content, in less than 10 minutes, that makes you a necessity they'll never let go!
More from Jim Edwards
Jim Edwards helps entrepreneurs create MORE Leads — MORE Sales — And Stronger, More Profitable Relationships => https://linktr.ee/thejimedwards
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I was told that when you file bankruptcy, that it only shows up for 7 to 10 years?
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Applying Warren Buffett's "20 slotcard" rule to property investing


text:
We hope you like our gorgeous newsletter header, taken from our latest Year in Review, where we celebrate many outstanding examples of accessibility leadership from across the country. The fish symbol represents the momentum we see building within the Accessibility movement as more and more business leaders, community leaders and citizens of Aotearoa realise and actualize the value of a truly accessible world for us all.
How fabulous are the Fab 50- our network of accessibility champions! They have been really busy this month: Sarah Trotman from AUT hosted the AUT Business Excellence Awards, which once again achieved a platinum Be. Welcome rating for exceptional accessibility. We love how the team continue to grow the accessibility of the event year after year, and you can read more about what they've been up to below. Congratulations too to our friends at Jasmax, who we've enjoyed working with on some great projects. Jasmax provide architecture, interior, landscape and urban design services throughout the country and were recognised with the award for Excellence in Business Support in the large business category.
We are very excited by the work that is being guided by Fab 50 member Michael Boersen of Yellow to integrate accessibility into the company's products and subsidiaries. A big congratulations to Yellow's Tourism platform, the New Zealand Tourism Guide, for achieving a Be. Welcome Gold Accessibility Rating- a New Zealand first! You can read all about how this committed and responsive team achieved this on our website.
And Fab 50 member Phil O'Reilly has written an excellent article on the need for and benefit of achieving true diversity in employment.
We celebrate another example of accessibility leadership as we look at the upcoming Parnell Rose Festival taking place in Auckland in November. The team have continued to build on the gold-rated accessibility of the event and this year's event is more accessible than ever.
And with the University year coming to an end, now is the perfect time to consider the fabulous opportunity for tertiary students to register for the Be. Employed paid internship. We speak with the Be. Employed team, and hear what they have to say about why our internship is the best next step for students nearing the end of their degree.
A reminder to our outstanding leaders in communities across New Zealand that applications for the one-of-a-kind Be. Leadership Programme are coming to a close- so get in quick!
Finally, this month the Be. Team are on the move! We are very excited to announce that we are moving to fabulous new premises in Grey Lynn- the new Be. Hive has lots of space to allow our growing team to continue doing what we're doing, and also welcoming any of you who want to pop in to see us!
Read on to find out more about these fabulous stories below...
The Be. Accessible Year in Review - Finding the Flow
The Be. Accessible Year in Review is out now.
Our CEO Minnie B. looks back at the highlights of this amazing year that has been - WATCH THE VIDEO NOW!
Watch this month's newsletter in NZSL
Click here to watch this month's newsletter in NZSL thanks to Seeflow!
Turning Yellow into Gold
We are excited to be partnering with Yellow Online, and congratulate them for achieving Gold Rated Accessibility Rating on the New Zealand Tourism Guide Website.
Excellence at the AUT Business Support awards
Congratulations to Fab 50 member Sarah Trotman and team- the AUT Business Support Awards has achieved a platinum rating for the second year running! Over on our blog we take a good look at what makes this evening so special!
Fab 50 champions employing those with access needs
Fab 50 member and CEO of Iron Duke Partners, Phil O'Reilly, writes in the New Zealand Herald promoting the need for and benefits of employing people with access needs.
The Waitemata Local Board have once again gone all out to make the Rose Festival as accessible as possible! Taking place in Auckland on Sunday 13th November it will be a fun day for all.
FIND OUT MORE NOW
Apply for the Be. Employed Internship
We speak to the Be. Employed Team and ask them to answer a few questions for those who are wanting to know more about this paid internship programme.
Be. Leadership 2017- get in quick!
Applications for Be. Leadership close shortly, but with only a few places left you'll need to get in quick!


Discussion in 'iOS 8' started by eclipse01, Dec 15, 2014.
does anyone have this problem? Sometimes when I text someone using imessage it will fail right away (in which I would have to send as text message). Every text after works just fine in imessage.
I haven't seen this, but I've seen some goofy iMessage behavior lately in iOS8 for various friends.
I would try signing in and out of iMessage, just to give it a little settings "kick in the pants" and see if it helps.
Settings -> Messages -> Send & Receive. Then click on your Apple ID and select sign out. Then click where that was to sign back in.
After you sign out and sign in, be sure to make sure your phone number is selected in "you can be reached at" and as the "start new conversations from."
If that doesn't help, keep an eye on your network connectivity when this happens. Curious if you on/off wifi and on/off cell data.


One of a series of stories covering the quadrennial International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity, June 7-11, 1999, in Guntersville, Ala.
June 11, 1999: While lightning is one of the most dangerous aspects of severe storms, it appears that inside the storm lightning itself avoids the most violent regions. This finding has implications for tracking where tornadoes are likely to form and where large hail may fall.
"This can be a monitor of severe storm intensity, another tool to monitor when storms might produce tornadoes or hail," said James Dye, a researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Dye spoke this week at the International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity.
Lightning has long been associated with convection in storms. At a simple level, the charging mechanism is similar to shuffling across the carpet on a cold winter day, then touching a door knob. The friction between your feet and the rug builds a static electric charge that you carry until you touch something grounded. Inside thunderstorms, the mechanism which separates charges is collisions between growing snow pellets and numerous ice particles.
But storms still conceal a number of surprises in many elaborations and variations on that simple description. Dye said that scientists now are learning that the most energetic storms are prolific sources of intracloud lightning. Intracloud lightning, though obscured by the clouds, may provide another tool for monitoring severe storms.
Dye's findings come from the Stratospheric-Tropospheric Experiment: Radiation, Aerosols and Ozone (STERAO) Deep Convection experiment in northeast Colorado in June and July 1996. He used data from a French radio interferometer that collected five hours of uninterrupted observations of the locations of lightning within two major electrical storms, and from Doppler radar that shows wind direction and speed within a storm. Combining the two data sets showed where lightning was relative to updrafts and downdrafts.
"It seems that lightning channels themselves are not in the most intense updrafts," Dye explained, "but in the weaker updrafts and downdrafts." This would seem to go against expectation. But while the lightning avoided the updraft cores, it became more frequent around the cores as the storm grew stronger.
Dye said that storms with updrafts at speeds less than 5 meters/second (about 11 mph) produce little or no lightning. Storms with updrafts of 10 to 20 meters/second (22 to 44 mph) might have flash rates of 5 to 20 strikes per minute. At more than 40 meters/second (90 mph or more), things get busy and the flash rate goes to 1 per second or more.
Dye says no one knows sure why, but the answer probably lies in the microphysics of ice and hail formation, the separation of charges as these bodies grow and move past each other, and how they are transported inside the storms by vertical and horizontal winds.
Human Voltage (June 18, 1999) Scientists discuss biology, safety, and statistics of lightning strikes.
News shorts from Atmospheric Electricity Conference (June 16, 1999) Poster papers on hurricanes and tornadoes summarized.
Soaking in atmospheric electricity (June 15, 1999) 'Fair weather' measurements important to understanding thunderstorms.
Spirits of another sort (June 10, 1999) Thunderstorms generate elusive and mysterious sprites.
Getting a solid view of lightning (June 9, 1999): New Mexico team develops system to depict lightning in three dimensions.
Learning how to diagnose bad flying weather (June 8, 1999): Scientists discuss what they know about lightning's effects on spacecraft and aircraft.
Three bolts from the blue (June 8, 1999): Fundamental questions about atmospheric electricity posed at conference this week.
Lightning Leaders Converge in Alabama (May 24, 1999): Preview of the 11th International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity.
What Comes Out of the Top of a Thunderstorm? (May 26, 1999): Gamma-rays (sometimes).
Lightning research at NASA/Marshall and the Global Hydrology and Climate Center.
The French interferometer is one of several systems that have been developed in recent years to give scientists an inside view of lightning in storms. Cloud-to-ground strikes across the United States can be recorded by the National Lightning Detection Network. But intracloud strikes in local storms can be recorded only by the Lightning Detection and Ranging system at Kennedy Space Center and the Lightning Mapping System at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Also, when they are overhead at the right time the Lightning Imaging Sensor and the Optical Transient Detector, both in orbit, can count lightning from above the clouds.
An exciting addition to this new suite of research tools would be a satellite-borne Lightning Mapping Sensor, under study at the Global Hydrology and Climate Center, that would observe the Earth continually from geostationary orbit.
"This would provide much more information in terms of intracloud strikes," he said. "It could be an additional forecasting and nowcasting tool" for meteorologists watching severe storms.
Dye cautioned that his and other results are not conclusive yet, but "they're highly suggestive and promising, but we have more work to do."
45th Weather Squadron at Patrick AFB, lightning reference page.
Lightning Detection and Ranging project at Kennedy Space Center.
National Severe Storms Laboratory Photo Library, where we got a lot of the neat pictures in these stories.
NASA's Earth Science Enterprise Information on Earth Science missions, etc.


The following are the terms and conditions governing all promotions (the "Promotion Terms & Conditions") conducted by SBOBET (the "Website"). To the extent that there is inconsistency between the General Terms and Conditions and those under the Promotion Terms and Conditions, the General Terms and Conditions shall prevail.
A customer may only participate in one promotion at a time. Before a customer is allowed to participate in any new promotion, they must first complete or cancel any existing promotion that they are participating in.
By participating in the promotion, each entrant agrees to release, discharge and hold harmless SBOBET, their legal representatives, their affiliates, subsidiaries, agencies and their respective officers, directors, employees and agents from any damage incurred or losses suffered or sustained in connection with the acceptance of any prizes and/or the participation in the promotion.
Bonuses and winnings are not-transferable to other accounts.
All decisions by SBOBET relating to the bonus and promotion matters shall be final and not subject to any appeal or review.
Where there is evidence or suggestion of the presence of "abnormal bets" (as defined in the General Terms and Conditions) or a breach of any terms relating to the promotions or bonuses, SBOBET reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
Players found to be manipulating and/or abusing the bonus system either through arbitrage betting combining different selections within the same event where the outcome of one will affect the other, unlawful use of technology or bots to trick the system or employ such other wrongful actions or means to obtain the bonus may have their bonuses and/or all winnings derived therefrom forfeited at the discretion of SBOBET.
All SBOBET Promotions are intended for recreational players and SBOBET may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
SBOBET reserves the right to levy an administrative charge on the customer for any cancellation, early withdrawals of funds and/or meeting any unusual requests by the customer in relation to the bonus and promotional offers. SBOBET reserves the right, at any time, to amend, vary of revise these Promotion Terms and Conditions at its sole discretion including cancelling, modifying or suspending the promotion.
SBOBET reserves the right to request for identification documents (e.g. passport or identity cards) for verification purposes prior to any withdrawal and crediting of any bonus.
SBOBET reserves the right to exclude any customers from this promotion at any time and to vary, amend, change and/or withdraw any bonus offers or promotions without providing any explanation whatsoever.
These Promotion Terms and Conditions, as published in English from time to time, govern this contract. Translations into other languages are made as a service and are made in good faith. In the event of ambiguity between the English version and a translation, the English version prevails over any translation.
All other terms & conditions not stated above shall be governed by SBOBET's General Terms & Conditions.


text:
Lettrapub opens vehicle graphics shop in Montreal
by John G Smith
Lettrapub
SAINTE-MARIE, Que. – Lettrapub has opened a new installation site in Montreal, better supporting vehicle lettering activities.
The location at 1402 Saint-Armour Street, Ville Saint-Laurent, specializes in large-format digital printing and has three large service doors to accommodate trucks, trailers, and buses.
"With the construction of a new 19,000-sq-ft plant in Sainte-Marie and this new facility in Montreal, we want to move up a gear and ensure that we have the resources to serve all our customers well," said Stephane Labillois, the company's new CEO.
Lettrapub has been in business since 1994.
John G Smith
John G. Smith is the editorial director of Newcom Media's trucking and supply chain publications -- including Today's Trucking, trucknews.com, TruckTech, Transport Routier, Canadian Shipper, Inside Logistics, Solid Waste & Recycling, and Road Today. The award-winning journalist has covered the trucking industry since 1995, when he was named the editor of Truck News and led the development of trucknews.com. Since then he has been a contributing editor to industry publications across North America, served as a frequent speaker on industry topics, and been honored for his coverage of business and technical matters alike.
All posts by John G Smith
ATA, NACV Show partner to deliver educational conference
Fu named CFO at Titanium


Software Downloads for "Account Manager Sales Plan Example"
User Account Manager (UAM) simplifies the management of user accounts in Microsoft networks. UAM manages the account through its complete lifecycle, from creation -moves - changes and finally deletion, all without the need for complex scripting knowledge. With the use of templates, bulk users can be imported all with the correct settings in a matter minutes.Supports Active Directory Supports Exchange 5.5 Supports Exchange 2000, 2003 Import bulk users from CSV or similar format file. IT Direct | User Account Manager | IT Direct.
Team Account Manager is a simple utility that was especially designed to help you keep tack of transactions and manage expenses and income in a straightforward manner.
The program is best suited for managing youth sports teams since it comes with an attendance module and has a powerful reporting component.
Designed by professional money managers, and used by investors Worldwide in related forms since 1985, the Investment Account Manager's (IAM) purpose is to help you better understand and manage your investment portfolios.
Whether you're a seasoned investor or a novice, you'll find IAM to be a comprehensive and intuitive portfolio management software tool. If you have the responsibility of overseeing and managing one or several portfolios, you'll discover many comprehensive features that save time, help you to avoid mistakes, all the while leading to better portfolio management decisions.
IT teams usually have many shared user IDs and passwords for managing servers and applications. With hundreds of systems and applications, the routine management of privileged accounts can become a real challenge, with significant productivity tradeoffs. Privileged Account Manager introduces a new approach for secure management of privileged passwords, to reduce risks and ensure regulatory compliance. The product creates a secure storage facility (password vault) for all privileged passwords, accessible from a web browser.
This is account manager toolbar for IE which manages your accounts and provides auto-login facility to saved accounts..
Local Account Manager is a tool you can use to manage local user and group accounts. With Local Account Manager you can easily add, modify, delete users and groups (manage security accounts), change account properties, assign user rights and privileges on Windows XP Home like within Windows XP Professional administrative tools (Local Users and Groups, User Rights Assignment). Local Account Manager can be used not only for creating, deleting or renaming users. You can add a user to a group, define privileges for groups or users, permit or deny to perform a security task for any account or temporary disable a user.
RMRExpenses (PPC) - Expense Account Manager allows you to keep track of your Expenses Accounts. You can create multiple trips to record business expenses. You define named trips with a vehicle rate and operating currency. You can define categories for classifying expenses as meals, train, taxi etc.RMRExpenses (PPC) - Expense Account Manager Main Features: You can then enter expenses or mileage distance of company car journeysthe cost is automatically calculated from the vehicle rateThe program also allows entry in foreign currencies, with conversion to the defined trip currencyYou can then reconcile entries when expenses are reclaimed and export the entries to a text file for importing into a spreadsheet or wordprocessor.
Account Manager LITE is a powerful website membership management program with features including automated user/member signup, administration approval/denial control panel, automatic addition/deletion to .htpasswd/.nsconfig files, form fields verifications and account finder for lost username/passwords, and much more..
Account Manager is simply the only program you will ever need to manage your Membership Websites!.
LDAP Account Manager is a webfrontend for managing accounts stored in an LDAP directory. Features: - management of Unix user and group accounts (posixAccount/posixGroup) - management of Samba 2.x/3 user and host accounts (sambaAccount/sambaSamAccount) - management of Kolab 2 accounts (kolabInetorgPerson) - profiles for account creation - account creation via file upload - automatic creation/deletion of home directories - setting quotas - PDF output for all accounts - editor for organizational units (OU) - schema browser - tree view - multiple configuration files - multi-language support (Catalan, Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish) - support for LDAP SSL.
Java Account Manager is an LDAP client focused designed to manage user accounts in a directory tree, such as OpenLDAP. It is focused on ease of use for end users, and on configurability and extensibility for administrators.
Java Account Manager for LDAP License - GNU General Public License version 3.0 (GPLv3).
WoD account manager*******************Look the REV_LOG file!
WoD account manager License - GNU General Public License (GPL).
LDAP Account Manager (LAM) is a webfrontend for managing accounts stored in an LDAP directory. You can use templates for account creation and use multiple configuration profiles. Account information can be exported as PDF file.
Use IFS Account Manager to set up the IFS Cloud account details you need in order to use other Android apps from IFS.
The credentials specified in IFS Account Manager are used by the other Android apps from IFS so that you only need to specify your system id, user name and password once, even if you use multiple apps that connect to the same IFS Applications system.
Use of IFS Account Manager requires that your company has a valid service order for IFS Cloud.
Access your Lincoln Automotive Financial Services vehicle finance or lease account information on the go with the Account Manager app. Simply download this app and connect to the information you need, whenever you need it, all from your mobile device.
• Set up PUSH notifications to receive ""Statement Available"" and ""Payment Received"" notifications on your mobile device.
Create a Territory Sales Plan in half the time, and take the tedium and guess work out of strategy planning. We can cut the time in half, and create a more effective plan. Whether in a vertical market or geography, a strong territory plan helps the seller understand the business needs of customers and prospects. Create strategies to build stronger ties with customers and land new accounts too. Our software helps sales reps by working through important tactical questions about customers, prospects, markets, and goals.
MobileFox - Account manager with USSD(MMI).
* Not only you will always be aware of your expenses, but you will also get detailed statistics about your connections (SMS length, Network traffic, Call duration etc).
IMPORTANT: The program does not work if your operator does not support USSD queries or if on USSD query your operator send SMS message.
* Program can display not only balance, but also any other information which can provide you operator on the USSD queries (bonuses, minutes, etc.
Do you need a solid dependable checking account program, but find that software programs like Quicken and MS Money are too complicated and tedious for your standard checking, savings, and credit card accounts?Then find out what tens of thousands of users have found since 1987: MyCash is the best computer-based personal checking account manager you will find anywhere at any price!MyCash maintains up to 100 separate financial accounts (checking, savings, credit cards, etc.).MyCash does all of the things you would want in a home-oriented program.


Ex-The Ark drummer Sylvester Schlegel will step aside from his role as frontman for The Guild to record a solo album with producer Mattias Glavå (Broder Daniel, Håkan Hellström, etc). Of course he won't be totally alone, two fellow members of The Guild will contribute as well.
Via #1 Hits from Another Planet comes word that revived ex-The Ark band Stereo Explosion has posted a trio of tracks to SoundCloud. Not sure what I think yet, but I am (very) cautiously optimistic.
Ex-The Ark members Martin Axén, Jepson, Leari Ljungberg and Jens Andersson have revived their long-dormant old band Stereo Explosion and have started working on new material together for the first time since 2000. Look for them to start playing live this summer.
The Ark are officially done as a band now, but they'll be putting out (at least) one final release: a live DVD filmed at last summer's Peace & Love Festival as part of their farewell tour. Official release date is February 15 and 10% of the proceeds will be donated towards the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation.
The Ark has never been a band content to write songs. They write anthems, through and through. From their breakout top ten hit, "It takes a fool to remain sane", to newest single, "Breaking up with God", they've graced us with a string of the finest, most bombastic pop/rock of the new millennium. "Arkeology", spanning twenty tracks, spills over with hits. Stacked one after another, it's a staggering ride through 70's glam rock, emotional new-wave and heart-on-sleeves balladry -- always with a sing-along chorus at the forefront. While their albums were consistently top-notch, especially at the band's mid-decade peak, The Ark will always be remembered by their singles. And there are some giants here. The dizzying "Calleth you, cometh I"; the sneering "Father of a son"; the contemplative, rousing "One of us is gonna die young". If you're only familiar with the band from their glitzy 2007 Eurovision entry, "The worrying kind", you may be stunned by what else is on offer. This music will make you feel giddy. The Ark have a knack for taking simple pop ingredients and making them seem impossibly galvanizing. The band wisely curtail entries from their less-than-stellar 2010 album to a pair of singles towards the end of the compilation. Thankfully, "Stay with me" receives a remix, giving it a fuller sound more in keeping with the rest of the tracks. Two new recordings, "Breaking up with God" and "The apocalypse is over", bookend the collection. The former is a punchy pop confection proclaiming frontman Ola Salo's break with organized religion in his usual uplifting fashion. The latter manages to sum up The Ark's career in a triumphant, yet bittersweet swan song. It's a milestone when a band like this decides to call it quits, but I can't think of a better collection of songs -- er... anthems -- to leave as their legacy to the world.
As with all "greatest hits" anthologies, The Ark's "Arkeology", due out February 23, will of course contain a new single entitled "Breaking up with god" as well as another new one called "The apocalypse is over".
16. Eric Gadd - Rise up!
04. Eric Gadd - Rise up!


text:
The Russell Brothers Circus Scrapbook
With the American Circus a dying breed, it warms my heart to see that there are a number of good folks who are taking the time to dig into archives, newspaper files and track down family relatives to compile reference guides documenting and preserving the big top. Keith Webb and Joseph F. Laredo recently published The Russell Brothers Circus Scrapbook with dozens of rare and previously unpublished photographs.
Little did I know that the circus was featured in the 1942 Alfred Hitchcock suspense classic, Saboteur, the great animal trainer Clyde Beatty would join forces with the Russell Brothers Circus, and that silver screen cowboys made professional appearances over the years: including Hoot Gibson, Reb Russel, and a brief appearance by Ken Maynard.
Hollywood celebrities were also part of the program from time to time, often to promote their motion-pictures. The circus sometimes crept into the participation of film production. The elephants in the circus were transported to the Iverson Movie Ranch for Tarzan's New York Adventure. Johnny Sheffield, known as "Bomba, the Jungle Boy," was among the endless parade of movie personalities dining in the Russell Brothers cook hour on tour, along with Henry Fonda, James Cagney, Tyrone Power, Don Ameche, Betty Grable, Alice Faye, Gene Tierney, and others. Maureen O'Hara apparently possessed a tomboy streak so she took to the animals. There is a story about John Barrymore drinking too much at the circus, and how the circus helped with the war cause during the Second World War.
The book is available at www.russellbrotherscircus.com
The Lone Ranger and The Mystery Ranch
In 1936, three years after The Lone Ranger made his debut on radio, the publishing company of Grosset & Dunlap contracted with George W. Trendle to produce a series of books based on characters of The Lone Ranger and Tonto. It can be assumed that the books sold very well because a total of 18 were published from 1936 to 1956.
The first was penned by Gaylord Du Bois, and titled simply: The Lone Ranger. After reading the novel, both Trendle and Striker were disappointed. This was not at all the character portrayed on the radio program. Striker edited (and slightly re-wrote) the novel for a second edition, hence why there are two versions of the novel, each one credited to a different author. From that day forward, Striker began writing The Lone Ranger novels. (The later ones did not originate from Striker's typewriter.)
I haven't read all of the novels but having read more than half of them I can attest that two of them are must-reads. I'll focus on one of them, the second novel (and the first written by Striker following his disapproval of the way Du Bois handled the first novel): The Lone Ranger and The Mystery Ranch (1938), because it's one of the renditions of the Texas Ranger massacre, without the later creation of Butch Cavendish.
In the novel, The Lone Ranger and Tonto are on the trail of the Night Legion, the notorious, ruthless gang of criminals responsible for an untold number of crimes across the States and territories, and responsible for the Texas Ranger massacre that forced the sole survivor to don a mask and set out to seek justice. The Lone Ranger and Tonto stumble on the dying testimony of Joe Frisby, overhearing a plot complicated by two halves of a treasure map. After rescuing two young women arriving from the East, Sally and Marge Whitcomb, from an ambush plotted by members of the Night Legion, The Lone Ranger deposits the girls at the ranch owned by their uncle, a known reclusive, whom they haven't seen in more than a decade. After discovering that Uncle Whitcomb's place is also nicknamed The Hoodoo Ranch, and someone there leaked information to the leader of the notorious gang, the hooded leader, The Lone Ranger and Tonto agree to keep an eye on the ranch for the girls' safety.
Fran Striker
Meanwhile, a council of war is gathered in the office of Sheriff Cook, who recruits a number of deputies to help purge the town of Sundown of the notorious gang. The horrors of the Night Legion have swept across the countryside but with The Lone Ranger in the area, the Sheriff is certain the gang will be apprehended. When Sally finds a blue vest worn by one of the men who killed Joe Frisby, she sneaks off the ranch to alert the Sheriff. Marge, attempting to cover for her sister, is escorted off the ranch by her uncle and soon learns that he is the hooded leader that has masterminded the numerous crimes across the plains. He plans to eliminate the girl after he discovers where she and her sister hid the remaining half of the map. Without possession of her piece, Joe Frisby's half of the map is worthless. Upon learning where she hid it in the house, he returns to the ranch.
The Lone Ranger, meanwhile, has discovered a cellar underneath the house where an old man is being starved to death. He is the real uncle and the leader of the notorious gang has been masquerading as the girls' uncle. During their confrontation, The Lone Ranger shoots the killer's gun out of his hand and beats a confession out of the criminal as to the whereabouts of Marge. The much-feared boss becomes a sniveling coward, begging and pleading for mercy. After learning that she was being kept against her will in Flynn's Cave, the law races out to apprehend the gang members and rescue the girl.
While the plot is simple enough, the back story is more complex: this novel was loosely based on the radio broadcast of November 2, 1933. (more about this in a few moments and I promise you, it'll be a corker...)
The novel helps describe the characters not as they are seen in the Clayton Moore television program, but as Striker envisioned them when he wrote the novel, and the radio dramas. In chapter one, Tonto was described as smaller than The Lone Ranger, with a bronzed, high-cheek boned face. His long, black hair was parted in the center of his head and drawn back tightly to be fashioned in a war-knot at the back of the neck. As for The Lone Ranger, Striker described him not physically, but as others saw him in the West in the following narrative:
"His daring acts of courage in the name of Justice made him known throughout the West. To many of the pioneers he existed as an almost legendary character. Only a small portion of those who knew of him had seen him, and none of these had ever seen his face unmasked. Many times, his safety had depended upon his knowledge of a cave or other place of hiding. Many outlaws had sworn to kill the masked rider for his work in bringing countless desperadoes to justice and breaking up untold rustling gangs and outlaw bands. Even lawmen wanted The Lone Ranger. Only a few had been convinced that this strange figure was not an outlaw, and those few thanked God for the man who had no thought of personal glory or reward… for the man whose only purpose in life seemed to be to help the deserving and punish the lawless in a region where laws were few and those few, seldom enforced."
One of the most fascinating benefits from reading the Striker novels are the trivial matters which geeks like myself find amusing. Examples? After burying a dead man, whom Tonto and The Lone Ranger found hanging from a tree, the masked man pays his respects in an unusual way.
"The shallow grave was finally prepared, and the body, wrapped in one of The Lone Ranger's blankets, was gently lowered to its final resting place. Then, hat in hand, The Lone Ranger did a rare thing. In the darkness, he removed his mask. For an instant, while his clean-cut face was lifted toward the sky in silent prayer for the departed soul, and while Tonto's head was bowed, the moon again broke through the clouds. Tonto echoed the white man's 'Amen.'"
Chapter two offers a description of The Lone Ranger's guns, including the fact that it had ivory butts. The same chapter revealed the notorious outlaw gang, The Night Legion, and how Tonto used miraculous cures to save The Lone Ranger (pp. 12-13) and Chapter 13 (pp. 113-114). Chapter five revealed Tonto's friendship with The Lone Ranger.
"Tonto's hand showed white across the knuckles from the way he'd gripped the branch in tension! Though the Indian had yet to kill his first man, and though he knew it was against the principals of The Lone Ranger, his companion, to shoot to kill even the most evil of outlaws, he had been ready to shoot the Boss, if his masked friend has been killed."
Chapter 13 reveals that The Lone Ranger and Tonto rarely woke after the sunrise. The Lone Ranger's cry of "Heigh-Yo Silver!" was explained at the end of the same chapter, as he shouted loudly to his great white horse when escaping custody of the Sheriff and his deputies, who temporarily assumed he was a bandit until his cry of escape gave the Sheriff cause to tell his men to hold back their fire.
"His modesty made The Lone Ranger totally unaware of the way his ringing cry had spread throughout the region. He had no way of knowing Sheriff Cook's new attitude toward him. As far as The Lone Ranger knew, his sudden burst for freedom had made both him and Tonto outlaws, sought by the men of Showdown for the murder of Joe Frisby. Now, he must be more careful than ever as he tracked down the Boss of the Night Legion."
Chapter 17 revealed the color of The Lone Ranger's eyes: grey. Chapter 19 revealed The Lone Ranger was right handed. The final chapter in the book revealed The Lone Ranger's anger towards the man responsible for the massacre of his close friends. After beating the Boss into a corner and revealing the criminal as a sniveling coward, begging and pleading for mercy…
"The Lone Ranger had no place in his heart for mercy of sympathy. Hanging would follow in due course, but first, there was an unholy satisfaction in feeling his fists punish the hateful creature whose sadistic nature brought torture and death to so many fine men of the West."
The closing chapter reveals The Lone Ranger's intent to continue the good work they accomplished from this adventure.
"We have the Night Legion," the masked man told his Indian companion, "but there are so many countless other outlaws to be run down and there are so many people who need Justice, that… well, good friend, I think as long as we've made the name Lone Ranger mean something, we can continue to help people!"
Tonto nodded, agreeable to anything his tall white friend suggested.
"I'll not unmask just yet! I want to carry on, just as the Texas Rangers would, if the Night Legion hadn't wiped them out."
Earle Graser, radio's The Lone Ranger
Remember I mentioned this novel was adapted from the November 2, 1933 radio broadcast with Earle Graser playing the role? (The early radio broadcasts were never titled.) Well, check this out for similarity.
Plot: Molly and Madge Stebbins arrive in Texas from Louisiana to manage their Uncle's Bar Square Ranch, only to discover their uncle had recently died and suspicion mounts that he was stealing and re-branding other ranchers' cattle. Tonto keeps tabs on Senor Pablo Casabo, whom The Lone Ranger suspects kidnapped and hid Uncle Dan and is keeping him captive till he can secure the ranch for himself through a signed deed. The Masked Man, meanwhile, rides to Mexico to fetch evidence against Casabo and returns to find the girls have been evicted against their will. Angry, The Lone Ranger barges into the house and against eight men, the Masked Man sought deadly vengeance with his guns and made arrangements for the girls to return home… thanks to the arrival of Uncle Dan, who confesses that he was kept prisoner and forced to sign the land over.
Keeping in mind that phraseology from the past can often be interpreted as "politically incorrect" by today's standards, I'd like to think that we're mature enough today to understand that slang from the thirties was the norm at the time. For historical purposes, I am reprinting a few script pages below without any form of editing. Here, you'll see what might be the only time The Lone Ranger took the law into his own hands with his ivory-handled guns. And a side of The Lone Ranger that has rarely been explored anywhere else.
ANNOUNCER: And so the two girls are forcibly taken from the house and the ruthless, unscrupulous Pablo Casabo moves in. The Lone Ranger is returning from his trip into the Mexican territory and has finally reached Tonto, who is filled with news..
TONTO: They take gals from house.
RANGER: Who did. Casabo?
TONTO: Ugh. Tonto, me watch, me no can do help.
RANGER: Where are the girls now?
TONTO: They go, widdow Taylor... they stay there.
RANGER: ARE THEY INJURED AT ALL?
TONTO: Nope. Not hurt, but mad.
RANGER: They refused to go back east eh/
TONTO: Ugh. Young un, she say her cowboy him come back mebbe some day.
RANGER: Um, Tonto, I would not want a finer girl than Madge Stebbins.
TONTO: Ugh. But what you do?
RANGER: Who is in the ranch house now? Casabo?
TONTO: Ugh! Him an' Greasers, mebbe eight, mebbe nine.
RANGER: All of them living there?
TONTO: Ugh.
RANGER: Alright! Tonto, I'll want BOTH guns now.
TONTO: UGH. YOU GO FAST ACTION AGAIN! EH?
RANGER: LOADED FULL!
TONTO: UGH. TONTO HAVE 'EM READY.
RANGER: SILVER BULLETS! IT IS TIME THAT THESE MEXICANS WERE SHOWN ANOTHER LESSON IN JUSTICE!
TONTO: UGH. THERE GUNS! ME STRAPPUM ON TIGHT!
RANGER: And LOW, Tonto, so they'll draw fast! I seldom go out, Tonto, with INTENTIONS to kill men, BUT WHEN LYING GREASERS LAY HANDS ON YANKEE GIRLS THAT ARE BRAVE ENOUGH TO COME OUT TO THIS COUNTRY...
TONTO: (CHUCKLE)
RANGER: Is the mask snug and tight?
TONTO: HEAP SNUG ! Silver, him see you. Look him ears!
RANGER: (WHISTLE)
SOUND Distant whinny.
TONTO: Silver, him know him ride to action.
RANGER: HERE SILVER..
SOUND Hoofs approach.
RANGER: THERE WE'RE OLD BOY... HI YO SILVER... AWAY-Y-Y-Y
SOUND Start hoofs fast, and fade.
MUSIC Interlude.
ANNOUNCER: Casabo sits in his newly acquired home with a great sense of satisfaction at the ease with in which his plot has carried thru. His safety is assured by the eight men that live in the house with him, all of them handy with knife orgun. Whena single man with a masked face brust open the door, Casabo felt perfectly sure of the fact that his own life was safe..
RANGER: CASABO!
PABLO: Ah, you come to see me senot?
RANGER: Casabo, you're going to be KILLED! Draw your gun, so I wont have to shoot you without giving you a chance to defend yourself. You've robbed, lied, cheated swindled, stolen and killed and you've been warned by me before.
PABLO: But I do not know you senor..
RANGER: These guns, will send a silver bullet into that vile heart of yours!
PABLO: SILVER.. YOU... YOU ARE THE LONE RANGER? (SHOUT) AMIGOS! HELP!
RANGER: (LAUGH) CALL YOUR ARMY... WE'LL FIGHT IT OUT!
SOUND Distant shot.
RANGER: YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE MISSED YOUR FIRST SHOT JUAN.
SOUND Shot.
PABLO: MANUEL, SHOOT HEEM!
SOUND Shots ad libbed to fade out!
ANNOUNCER: One after another of the henchman of the Mexican leader draw aim at The Lone Ranger, the heavy guns with their bullets of Silver were unerring and when the both guns held nothing but empty chambers The Lone Ranger, strode from the house, the victor, due to the uncanny speed of his fire and the deadly accuracy of his aim. In the home of the widow, the girls are approached by a white haried man, who walks with a limp. It is a full week after the shooting affair---
DAN: Aint yew the Stebbins gals?
MADGE: Yes, I'm Madge and this is Molly.
DAN: Wal bless my soul Molly, yore the image o' yore Maw...
MOLLY: ARE.. ARE YOU.. UNCLE DAN?
DAN: Yup. That's me gals!
BOTH GIRLS: (AD LIB JOYOUS GREETINGS)
DAN: That thar now, I know what's happened tuh ye, an' what yuh been told, I was took prisoner by that thar crook an' he tried tuh make me sign away what I was aimin' tuh give yew gals, but I wouldn't do it, an' whilst his men was tryin' tew force me tuh sign papers an' things, this yere Pablo, he FORGED my name tuh show yew gals, an' then a feller wearin' a mask, an' ridin' a white hoss...
MADGE: THAT'S MY COWBOY!
The reason I reprinted the script was because the recording is not known to exist in recorded form. The radio drama, however, was recreated on stage at the 2010 Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Convention. Leah Biel played the role of Madge and Roy Thinnes from TV's The Invaders played the role of Tonto. The convention policy is to do recreations of "lost" radio programs, as a necessary part of historical preservation.
In closing, if you ever find a copy of The Lone Ranger and The Mystery Ranch (1938), I recommend you buy it and read it. Grosset & Dunlap books vary in price. Finding one with the original dust jacket will cause the price to go up. However, if you prefer to find one without the original dust jacket (and yes, that's easy to do), you can easily find a copy for $10 or less, which is a great price. (Avoid the 1980s paperback reprint. It's briefly edited and costs about the same as the G&D original anyway.)
Mae West: Between the Covers (Book Review)
"In my long and colorful career, one thing stands out: I have been misunderstood."
-- Mae West
Mae West: Between the Covers, edited by Michael Gregg Michaud, is not a biography of Mae West though first impression from the outside was that this was a 540-page biography. I welcome a biography that can dig up more facts than the prior volumes but this is not that type of book.
The name Mae West conjures up a sex symbol whose status diminished as a result of the Hayes Code, but few remember that she broke box office records, earned an Oscar nomination for "Best Picture" with She Done Him Wrong, and fought against William Randolph Hearst who insisted his editors avoid mention of her name in his newspapers. In private, she was different from her screen counterparts: he led a quiet, moral life. It was West herself who confessed, "I am a showman and I know that the public wants sex in their entertainment, and I give it to them."
It is this last remark that makes up the majority of the book -- reprints of vintage magazine articles of the times, chronicling her career as it was documented on the newsstands beginning with an article from Liberty magazine, August 10, 1927. As most serious scholars and historians will attest, many articles in magazines and newspapers of the times were fluff pieces -- with quotes and information provided by the movie studios and their publicity departments. In short, we take what was on the printed page with a grain of salt.
The earliest articles in this book provide interesting information on the stage plays she starred and co-starred, including one from 1929 that appeared in the International Police Bugle, printed and circulated in Detroit, Michigan. The year of 1933 featured numerous articles warning readers to be prepared for the Mae West that was coming to a theater near them, with such headlines as "Broadway's Most Daring Actress Drops Into Hollywood" and "Look Out! Here's Mae West!"
The supposed daring jewel heist from which Mae West was a victim is documented in the January 1933 issue of Movie Classic, Lew Garvey's fascinating article "I Fired Mae West for Doing the Shimmy," and "Mae West's Personal Maid Tells All" from January 1934 verified she was headline news of the time. Of amusement was a rash of articles from late 1933 and early 1934 suggesting sh knew more about sex than the average reader, with such articles as "Sex is Beautiful, Mae West Sex-plains It All," "Mae West Tells How to Handle Men," "Mae West Discusses Men and Sex Appeal" and "It's the Caveman Within Us Calling for Mae" that suggest she would say almost anything to hype her latest motion-picture.
For a fan of old-time radio, such as myself, the March 1934 issue of Radio Stars featured "Can Mae West Beat the Radio JINX?" The articles venture to May 1977 when After Dark printed an article about her personal and screen career.
The book is a fascinating and entertaining read. If you love reading those old magazine articles from the 1930s and 1940s, you will enjoy this book. If I had but one complaint... there is no index which would have been great when someone like me wants to look up Cary Grant or Edgar Bergen to see how her name was reported alongside those personalities.
Christopher Robin (2018): Pooh has Pathos
In an era where superheroes destroy half of Manhattan in an effort to save the human race from an alien invasion, and young children cheer on as Jedi knights duel lightsabers on the silver screen, Christopher Robinmay be Disney's attempt to close down the Winnie the Pooh franchise to make way for more promising marketing potential. Christopher Robinwill not even come close in box office dollars compared to Soloor The Avengers: Infinity War, and one has to wonder if this was the studio's attempt to reboot a franchise that was destined to make way for Intergalactic fisticuffs.
There are numerous movies that fall into a genre that has yet to be defined: husbands and fathers who are too busy with work to focus on the real importance of living. An element of fantasy creates intervention with the curmudgeon, long enough for them to catch a glimpse in the mirror and make amends. James Caan in Elf, Robin Williams in Hookand even James Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life fall into this category. The latest entry in the Disney live-action film franchise based on lovable animated cartoon characters is Christopher Robin, and is not a motion-picture for children. The first third of the movie is so depressing that one almost wondered what type of storytelling was attempted. But a film addressing the psychological exploration of a man's mind during trial and tribulation would have been welcome had the film stayed on course.
The stories of Winnie the Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Woods was clearly the imagination of a nine-year-old boy who, with no friends to play with, kept himself preoccupied with fairytale creatures that existed only as stuffed toys. As Robin grew up and forgot about his friends, they ceased to exist. After being reminded of Pooh through a cartoonish drawing he made as a child, Pooh wakes to find himself alone in the woods -- and sets out to find his friends. As Robin's boyhood memories come back to him, so do Tigger, Owl, Rabbit, Eeyore, Kanga and Roo. A number of quick cuts and questionable "displacement" of real-life artifacts establish that Pooh and friends are mere fantasy in the mind of Robin. One momentarily questions whether Christopher Robin (played by Ewan McGregor) is suffering from a breakdown as a result of a major deadline due Monday at work.
Over the years there have been motion-pictures centering on fantasy cartoon characters who get sucked into our world, defined as "the real world," establishing a difference between the two worlds, and vice versa. (Fat Albert, The Smurfsand others come to mind.) They were dreadful because the suspension of disbelief is difficult to maintain with celluloid. Thankfully the computer graphics for Winnie the Pooh and friends is magnificent; acting by everyone in the cast is satisfactory under the circumstances. But asking people in the real world to interact with fictional characters during the final third of the movie is where the film, as depressing as it might have been up to that point, is flawed. Perhaps there had to be a Disney-esque ending to this movie... but I suspect the resolution, though somewhat expected in this genre, could have been applied without the whimsical humor.
Until the recent Star Wars and Marvel acquisitions, Winnie the Pooh was the second highest-grossing merchandise for the Walt Disney Company (with Mickey Mouse number one). As Winnie the Pooh himself says in the film, "I would have liked it to go on for a while longer." If this be Pooh's swan song, this would be a satisfactory final chapter.
Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman's The Fantastic Four
In 1994, Roger Corman produced a low-budget movie based on Marvel's popular comic book series, The Fantastic Four, starring Alex Hyde-White, Jay Underwood, Rebecca Staab and Michael Bailey Smith. This marked the first of what would be four live action renditions. Regardless of the fact that the three movies to follow had huge million-dollar budgets, fan boys at comic cons generally agree that the 1994 film is perhaps the best of them. Yet, the Roger Corman film was never released theatrically in theaters, commercially on VHS or DVD, and continues to sit on the shelves gathering dust. In fact, the only way anyone can watch the movie is to buy a VHS or DVD bootleg. Even worse is the fact that the movie was produced with no true intention to release the film - ever!
In the mid-1980s, German film producers, Constantin Films, bought the screen rights from Marvel Comics for an initial $250,000. Among the terms of the contract was that the studio had to produce a movie within ten years or the screen rights would revert back to Marvel. Just before the ten-year option ran out, and in order to meet the terms of the contract, executives at Constantin hired Roger Corman and hurriedly put this film into production. According to the story, executives at Marvel were not impressed at the low-budget results and in order to avoid damaging the brand the studio quietly bought the few existing film prints and negatives from Constantin Films to avoid the possibility of a theatrical or video release. Both Roger Corman (who produced the film), director Oley Sassone and the cast and crew of the film were not consulted or informed of this move, as there were indeed plans in place for a small theatrical release. (A movie trailer was made with this in mind.)
Constantin Films was able to maintain another ten-year option on the screen rights, secured funding from 20th-Century Fox, and the big budget 2005 version was the end result. A 2007 sequel and a terrible 2015 reboot followed.
While the movie was a means to tap dance around a contractual clause, fan boys today have managed to secure a primitive form or preservation by mass duplicating copies of the 1994 movie on VHS and DVD. It is estimated that every fan of The Fantastic Four, across the country, have a copy of this movie in their collection. (I had the good fortune to watch the movie at a fan gathering in Michigan a number of years ago.) If executives at Marvel or Constantin wanted to keep the movie locked away, their plan failed. To believe the film could be suppressed at this point would be futile.
So you can imagine my pleasure when I learned that two years ago director Marty Langford produced an 84-minute documentary titled Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman's The Fantastic Four, providing the view from the ground of what it was like to pour your heart and hopes into something that was never going to be seen by the general public. Practically every actor, writer, producer, director, stunt man and crew technician was approached and interviewed for commentary, providing background into the film that today you can find easily on YouTube. It is pop culture documentaries like these that I find enjoyable. Now available on DVD through Amazon.com, I recommend this to anyone who loved the 1994 Roger Corman gem.
Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman's The Fan...


text:
package org.sonar.plugins.stash;

import com.google.common.collect.Sets;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;
import org.sonar.api.BatchComponent;
import org.sonar.api.CoreProperties;
import org.sonar.api.batch.InstantiationStrategy;
import org.sonar.api.config.Settings;

import java.io.File;
import java.util.Optional;
import org.sonar.api.platform.Server;
import org.sonar.api.rule.RuleKey;

@InstantiationStrategy(InstantiationStrategy.PER_BATCH)
public class StashPluginConfiguration implements BatchComponent {

  private Settings settings;
  private Server server;

  public StashPluginConfiguration(Settings settings, Server server) {
    this.settings = settings;
    this.server = server;
  }

  public boolean hasToNotifyStash() {
    return settings.getBoolean(StashPlugin.STASH_NOTIFICATION);
  }

  public String getStashProject() {
    return settings.getString(StashPlugin.STASH_PROJECT);
  }

  public String getStashRepository() {
    return settings.getString(StashPlugin.STASH_REPOSITORY);
  }

  public Integer getPullRequestId() {
    return settings.getInt(StashPlugin.STASH_PULL_REQUEST_ID);
  }

  public String getStashURL() {
    return settings.getString(StashPlugin.STASH_URL);
  }

  public String getStashLogin() {
    return settings.getString(StashPlugin.STASH_LOGIN);
  }

  public String getStashUserSlug() {
    return settings.getString(StashPlugin.STASH_USER_SLUG);
  }

  public String getStashPassword() {
    return settings.getString(StashPlugin.STASH_PASSWORD);
  }

  public String getStashPasswordEnvironmentVariable() {
    return settings.getString(StashPlugin.STASH_PASSWORD_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE);
  }

  public String getSonarQubeURL() {
    return server.getURL();
  }

  public String getSonarQubeLogin() {
    return settings.getString(CoreProperties.LOGIN);
  }

  public String getSonarQubePassword() {
    return settings.getString(CoreProperties.PASSWORD);
  }

  public int getIssueThreshold() {
    return settings.getInt(StashPlugin.STASH_ISSUE_THRESHOLD);
  }

  public int getStashTimeout() {
    return settings.getInt(StashPlugin.STASH_TIMEOUT);
  }

  public boolean canApprovePullRequest() {
    return settings.getBoolean(StashPlugin.STASH_REVIEWER_APPROVAL);
  }

  public boolean resetComments() {
    return settings.getBoolean(StashPlugin.STASH_RESET_COMMENTS);
  }

  public Optional<String> getTaskIssueSeverityThreshold() {
    return getOptionalSeveritySetting(StashPlugin.STASH_TASK_SEVERITY_THRESHOLD);
  }

  public Optional<String> getApprovalSeverityThreshold() {
    return getOptionalSeveritySetting(StashPlugin.STASH_REVIEWER_APPROVAL_SEVERITY_THRESHOLD);
  }

  public boolean includeAnalysisOverview() {
    return settings.getBoolean(StashPlugin.STASH_INCLUDE_ANALYSIS_OVERVIEW);
  }

  public Optional<File> getRepositoryRoot() {
    return Optional.ofNullable(settings.getString(StashPlugin.STASH_REPOSITORY_ROOT)).map(File::new);
  }

  public boolean scanAllFiles() {
    return settings.getBoolean("sonar.scanAllFiles");
  }

  public boolean includeExistingIssues() {
    return settings.getBoolean(StashPlugin.STASH_INCLUDE_EXISTING_ISSUES);
  }

  public int issueVicinityRange() {
    return settings.getInt(StashPlugin.STASH_INCLUDE_VICINITY_RANGE);
  }

  public Set<RuleKey> excludedRules() {
    return Sets.newHashSet(
        settings.getStringArray(StashPlugin.STASH_EXCLUDE_RULES)
    ).stream()
        .map(String::trim)
        .map(RuleKey::parse)
        .collect(Collectors.toSet());
  }

  private Optional<String> getOptionalSeveritySetting(String key) {
    String setting = settings.getString(key);
    if (StashPlugin.SEVERITY_NONE.equals(setting)) {
      return Optional.empty();
    }
    return Optional.of(setting);
  }

  public boolean acceptAnyCertificate() {
	    return settings.getBoolean(StashPlugin.STASH_CERTIFICATES_ACCEPTANCE);
  }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub