but rather a single, more interesting, band style engagement ring with a stone (usually bezel set) to represent a combination of both rings.
Continuous wrap-a-round free-form band 14k white gold with diamonds bead set, rhodium finish.
8th to 9th century Celtic knot-work with lions.
Textured band, sterling silver with patina, 9mm wide.
Wedding band with granulation. 14k white gold with patina, 9mm wide.
Continuous wrap-a-round wedding ring, handcrafted in 18k yellow gold with patina.
Celtic wedding rings. 14k white gold with rhodium finish. Engagement ring, diamond with sapphires bezel set. Gents band 8mm wide, ladies bands 3mm each.
Split bezel blue sapphire band, 14k white gold.
Oval blue sapphire set in split bezel setting, raised 1/2 round polished borders with brushed band, 14k white gold.
8th to 9th Century Celtic Wedding Band (6-mm wide) Bezel set garnet cabochon stones, giving an ancient look, set in 14k yellow gold, 6mm wide with patina. Celtic typeface hand engraved inside.
Oak leaves and acorn band. Wedding band with raised oak leaf and acorn repeat pattern. 14k yellow gold, 7mm wide.
Interwoven, multiple strand, freeform wedding ring. ring.
Handcrafted, fluid, organic, interwoven multiple strand, freeform band. Diamonds bezel set on 14k white gold with iridescent patinas.
Handcrafted, free-form wedding rings. 18k yellow gold with 14k white gold borders.
Matching square bands with square cut-outs, 14k white gold.
Three matching Celtic bands, white, yellow and rose gold. Rose gold with green garnet and diamonds bead set. All bands 6mm wide, 14k with patinas.
Wedding-ring with continuous wrap and spherical granulation. Custom handcrafted in 14k white with patina.
Matching ladies bands. 14k white gold with opposing diamonds and sapphires, bead set.
Free-form, wrap-a-round wedding ring with spherical granulation.
Handcrafted in 18k yellow gold with patina.
Half-Round, Wedding Band Set with Diamonds. Bezel set diamonds, 14k white gold with rhodium finish.
Beaver-tail canoe paddle wrapped around to form band.14k rose gold, 9mm wide.
Flat band comfort fit (rounded inside) with engraved borders and brushed surface, 14k white gold, rhodium finish, 8mm wide.
Handcrafted-wedding-ring with continuous wrap and granulation. Sterling silver with patina.


Outside these sectors, companies which cumulatively present annual net turnover of no less than Euro 300 million and an average number of employees of no less than 250 are also considered to be of "significant national interest".
The dimension may be reduced to Euro 240 million and 200 employees for companies whose activities are significant in terms of sideline activities and which produce benefits for the national economic-manufacturing system, also in terms of the presence of manufacturing installations throughout the country.
Companies of "significant national interest" also include foreign groups which operate in above mentoned sectors through Italian controlled companies or permanent establishments cumulatively presenting annual net Italian turnover of no less than Euro 50 million and an average number of employees of no less than 250.


. Maylene and the Sons Of Disaster released their brand new studio album this week.
The album, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster: IV, was produced by Brian Virtue (Jane's Addiction, Deftones, Audioslave).
Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster have also just announced fall U.S. tour dates with Thursday.


These Ragdoll style Crochet patterns are hard to find as the trend is just getting started. You can find 6 of these patterns below. Each crochet pattern is free for you to use. What is a ragdoll ? It is a crochet doll that is stuffed flat and may come with a unfilled section for easy grasping.
1: Shh it's a sleeping Sloth Crochet Pattern.
5: It's a Baby Groot Crochet Pattern in the Rag doll style.


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(SOCIAL MEDIA) What exactly is Clubhouse, and why is it the quarantine app sensation? There's a few reasons you should definitely be checking out right now!
Anais Dersimonian, Staff Writer
The new exclusive app Clubhouse is challenging what social media can be – and it might possibly be the best thing to blow up during quarantine.
Developed by ex-Google employee Rohan Seth and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Paul Davison, Clubhouse has only been gaining in popularity since lockdown. Here's why you need to join immediately:
What is Clubhouse?
Clubhouse is like if subreddit pages were live podcasts. Or maybe if niche, topic-centric Zoom chatrooms could connect you with people from all over the world. But it's ONLY audio, making it perfect for this period of lockdown where no one truly looks their best.
From networking events to heated debates about arts and culture to book clubs, you can truly find anything you want on Clubhouse. And if you don't see a room that peaks your interest, you can make one yourself.
Why is it special?
Here's my hot take: Clubhouse is democratizing the podcast process. When you enter a room for women entrepreneurs in [insert your industry], you not only hear from the established experts, but you'll also have a chance to listen to up-and-coming users with great questions. And, if you want, you can request to speak as well.
If you click anyone's icon, you can see their bio and links to their Instagram, Twitter, etc. For professionals looking to network in a deeper way, Clubhouse is making it easier to find up and coming creatives.
If you're not necessarily looking to network, there's still so much niche material to discover on the app. Recently, I spent an hour on Clubhouse listening to users discuss the differences in American and British street fashion. It got heated, but I learned A LOT.
The celebrities!
Did I mention there's a TON of celebrities on the app? Tiffany Haddish, Virgil Abloh, and Lakeith Stanfield are regulars in rooms – and often host scheduled events. The proximity to all kinds of people, including the famous, is definitely a huge draw.
How do you get on?
Anyone with an iPhone can make an account, but as of now you need to be "nominated" by someone in your contacts who is already on the app. Think Google+ but cooler.
With lockdown giving us so much free time that our podcasts and shows can't keep up with the demand, Clubhouse is a self-sustaining content mecca. Rooms often go on for days, as users in later time zones will pick up where others left off when they need to get some sleep. And the cycle continues.
Though I'm still wrapping my brain around it, I can say with fair certainty that Clubhouse is very, very exciting. If you have an hour (or 24) to spare, try it out for yourself – I promise, you won't be disappointed.
Related Topics:2020AppclubhousequarantineSocial MediaThe News
Anaïs DerSimonian is a writer, filmmaker, and educator interested in media, culture and the arts. She is Clark University Alumni with a degree in Culture Studies and Screen Studies. She has produced various documentary and narrative projects, including a profile on an NGO in Yerevan, Armenia that provides micro-loans to cottage industries and entrepreneurs based in rural regions to help create jobs, self-sufficiency, and to stimulate the post-Soviet economy. She is currently based in Boston. Besides filmmaking, Anaïs enjoys reading good fiction and watching sketch and stand-up comedy.
Don't panic! Google has released a new core algorithm
(SOCIAL MEDIA) Superpage is a contact page for influencers that also allows users with a fanbase to charge fans money for guaranteed attention on their message.
At times, our inboxes can get out of control. Besides email from our family and friends, marketing and spam emails wind up in there, too. While for some of us, it isn't too bad to handle. Some people might find it a little harder to manage because of the great influx of messages they receive. And, some of those people are influencers.
Well, that is one company's target – if you have a fanbase, you have an influence. Superpage is a "contact page for influencers." According to the company's website, their product will help influencers declutter their inboxes and offer them a better communication setup.
"DMs & e-mails were built for generic human communication. With huge follower-base & more people seeking their time, influencers need a slightly different communication setup – designed just for them. That's what we're building at Superpage – a communication system uniquely crafted for influencers," wrote Superpage Founder Srivatsa Mudumby.
Who can get Superpage?
Superpage is meant for influencers, creators, artists, writers, entrepreneurs, and just about anyone with a social media presence.
The platform allows fans to directly connect with influencers by letting them send a message through the influencer's Superpage. So, instead of hoping to receive a reply from the DM they sent on Instagram or TikTok, Superpage guarantees a reply, as long as it isn't illicit or spammy of course.
But, while Superpage lets fans communicate with their idol, it doesn't do so for free. Fans "pay what they want" to send a message. However, the website doesn't make it clear whether what you pay makes a difference. If someone pays more, will their message get prioritized? I doubt a $10 ticket gave anyone the chance to choose between general admission or VIP.
You sign up and set up your personalized page by adding a bio, display picture, cover photo, topics you'd like to discuss, etc. Once you link your bank account to your Superpage account, you can share your page on social media, website, or blog post. Through your unique "Superpage link" anyone can send you "Super texts" (messages).
In your Dashboard, you can view, manage, and reply to your messages. Superpage uses "restricted messaging", which means each sender receives a limited number of messages to follow-up. Once you're finished replying, the conversation will automatically close.
There is no monthly fee to use Superpage. The company makes money by charging a 5% commission plus credit card fees. And, it uses Stripe to process payments directly to the influencer's bank account.
"People want to talk to influencers of the world but because of huge volume of messages & poor incentivization, influencers can never respond to everyone mindfully. We spoke to a ton of influencers and almost everyone complained "my inboxes are spammed," wrote Mudumby.
Superpage does provide a new way for fans to reach out to their idols, but is it more like a way for them to charge for office hours? One thing is for sure, it's a way for influencers to reach out to fans, but make money in the process, too. It's up to you to decide if it's something you'd put your money into.
As for a decluttered inbox, it does seem like all those emails and messages might not end up in your messy inbox. Instead, they will live on the platform's dashboard in a, hopefully, more organized manner.
(SOCIAL MEDIA) Gen Z's favorite app TikTok is the modern epicenter for cultural appropriation – why you as a business owner should care.
Quarantine has been the catalyst for a sleuth of new cultural phenomena – Tiger King, Zoom, and baking addictions, to name a few. Perhaps most notably, TikTok has seen user numbers skyrocket since lockdown. And I don't think those numbers are going down any time soon.
TikTok is a very special place. More so than any other social media apps I've engaged with, TikTok feels like a true community where total strangers can use the app's duet or audio features to interact in creative, collaborative ways.
However, being able to use another user's original audio or replicate their dance has highlighted the prevalence of cultural appropriation on TikTok: the app, as wholesome as it may be at times, has also become a hot bed for "virtual blackface".
The most notable example of appropriation has to do with the Renegade dance and Charli D'Amelio – who is young, White, and arguably the most famous TikTok influencer (she is second only to Addison Rae, who is also White). The dance, originally created by 14-year-old Black user Jalaiah Harmon, essentially paved the way for D'Amelio's fame and financial success (her net worth is estimated to be $8 million).
Only after Twitter backlash did D'Amelio credit Harmon as the original creator of the dance to which she owes her wealth – up until that point, the assumption was the dance was hers.
There is indeed a myriad of exploitative and appropriative examples of TikTok videos. Some of the most cringe-worthy include White users pantomiming black audio, in many cases affecting AAVE (African American Vernacular English). Styles of dance and music that were pioneered by Black artists have now been colonized by White users – and many TikTokers are not made aware of their cultural origins.
And what's worse: TikTok's algorithms favor White users, meaning White-washed iterations of videos tend to get more views, more engagement and, subsequently, more financial gains for the creator.
As you can imagine, TikTok's Black community is up in arms. But don't take it from me (a non-Black individual) – log onto the app and listen to what Black users have to say about cultural appropriation for yourself.
Still, the app is one of the fastest growing. Companies are finding creative ways to weave their paid ads and more subliminal marketing strategies into the fabric of the 'For You' page. In many ways, TikTok is the next frontier in social media marketing.
With a few relevant locational hashtags and some innovative approaches to advertising, your business could get some serious FREE attention on TikTok. In fact, it's the future.
As aware and socially conscious small business owners, we need to make sure that while we are using the app to get ours, that the Black creators and artists who made the app what it is today are also getting theirs. Anything short of direct accountability for the platform and for caustic White users would be offensive.
(SOCIAL MEDIA) Twitter has enacted changes to how frequently Promoted Tweets – i.e., ads – are seen by users, and in true Twitter fashion, there's mixed opinions.
Robert Snodgrass, Staff Writer
Did anyone else ever watch the Strong Bad Emails cartoons from Homestarrunner? One of the running gags there – and subsequently one of my favorite bits – was when he'd just delete a fan's email outright while insulting the author. Strong Bad was great at laying down the delete hammer and had zero cares in the world about doing it.
The idea that you – as a user, person, entity – can reclaim a little bit of omniscient authority is powerful. Generally, we like being in control of our lives, and the ability to exercise that authority resonates deeply.
Digital companies are still coming to terms with the idea that their users maintain some ability to revolt against their new policies, trying to straddle the line between new features and improved tools while still keeping an existing audience happy. Typing "hate the new" into Google will show results solely around new interfaces and an endless string of abhorrence. The new Facebook layout is bad. The new Gmail is bad and here's how to revert it.
I'm sure others exist for any widely used app or service. Sometimes even new logos incite rage. I'm not here to make a statement either way, but usually there's some ground in between pure opinion and justifiable discussions about user interface and experience. Regardless, change can make users upset.
Twitter recently rolled out changes to how Promoted Tweets work. You should know first that a promoted tweet is just an ad, and were originally set to appear only once per timeline. However, recent updates to Twitter's internal services has resulted in some users reporting the same ad being shown multiple times in rapid succession, and even repeatedly over and over.
Think about Google search results – there are definitely ads at the top of the first page, and they are usually relevant to the topic at hand and only show up in that area. A user can quickly scroll downward past this and look through other results. But imagine how frustrating it might be to have a first page riddled primarily with ads, effectively choking out other results.
Twitter maintains that, "we're thoughtful in how we display Promoted Tweets, and are conservative about the number of Promoted Tweets that people see in a single day." This has led some users to believing this behavior indicates some kind of issue with their internal systems. I like to think about the scene in Office Space where Michael Bolton (not the singer) mentions that he may have put a decimal in the wrong place; that is, there's a configuration error at Twitter instead of some kind of sea change.
However, Twitter has said this is not a glitch. In fact, they stated it was intentional, and further clarified that, "We regularly experiment and deploy changes to our advertising experience. We are constantly innovating and testing, and will continue to adapt as we learn." Despite worldwide complaints, Twitter has not officially acknowledged this situation as problematic.
As a result, many users have taken to blocking the advertisers involved with the Promoted Tweets. Much like Strong Bad exercising his ultimate authority over his domain, this means that companies are in danger of losing their ability to reach users entirely. As this number grows, the consequences could widespread, and it will be interesting to see if Twitter changes their outlook and/or has potential pressure from advertisers. Twitter has stated that this may simply be temporary to exhaust a surplus of ad inventory, and this remains to be seen.
As users continue to voice their complaints, it will be interesting to see how the situation ultimately resolves.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Ahmedabad All Destinations
Ahmedabad Tours
All Ahmedabad Tours
Things to do in Ahmedabad
Sabarmati Ashram Tours & Tickets
Calico Museum of Textiles Tours & Tickets
Adalaj Stepwell (Adalaj ni Vav) Tours & Tickets
Maniar's Wonderland Snow Park Tours & Tickets
Splash the Fun Park Tours & Tickets
How to Spend 3 Days in Ahmedabad
How to Spend 1 Day in Ahmedabad
Things to do in India
Things to do in Gujarat
With just one day, you can hit up quite a few attractions in Ahmedabad, but you'll need to be organized and may want to consider booking a taxi for the day or a tour to maximize your time. Use this itinerary to help plan your day in Ahmedabad.
Morning: On the Outskirts of Town
Start your day with a visit to the Swaminarayan Akshardham complex in Gandhinagar, just north of town. Though it was built in the 1990s, its traditional Hindu architecture makes it appear much older. With a mix of shrines and exhibition halls, it's a good place to learn about Hinduism. After your visit, continue south to the Adalaj Stepwell, a 5-story-deep structure built at the turn of the 15th century and a fine example of Indo-Islamic architecture. Then head to the Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati, the former ashram of the mahatma himself, which is now a museum dedicated to Gandhi and the Resistance movement.
Afternoon: Central Highlights
After your visit to the ashram, grab lunch before starting your afternoon activities. There's a lot to see within a small area, so join a walking tour to learn about the area from a guide. Begin at the Sidi Saiyyed Mosque, the most famous mosque in town, known for its beautiful marble lattice work, notably a screen featuring an intricate tree pattern that's one of the de facto symbols of the city. From here, it's a short stroll to the Jama Masjid, an enormous architectural marvel dating back to 1424.
Night: Evening in the Law Garden
If you have time before the sun sets, head over to Hutheesing Jain Temple, a beautiful example of Jain architecture dating back to 1848. Otherwise, make your way straight to the Law Garden, a sprawling public garden that's at its most popular in the evening time. The night market here is the main draw, with all sorts of vendors offering everything from traditional handicrafts to food. It's a good spot to pick up souvenirs or grab dinner before returning to your hotel.
Ahmedabad city tour in private car with guide and lunch
Ahmedabad city tour finds out why it is India's first city to be awarded the World Heritage City by UNESCO. The 600 year old walled city is a treasure trove of architectural and cultural hot spots. Ahmedabad City Tour takes you on a cultural tour through the home of Mahatma Gandhi at Sabarmati Ashram, an ancient Step Well that is over 5 stories, an incredible Jain temple with 52 shrines, the iconic Tree of Life at Siddhi Sayid Mosque, India's largest mosque at Jami Masjid and Sardar Patel Bhavan for a story on how the Iron Man of India united the princely states into India.
Late Evening Heritage Tour of Ahmedabad with Dinner & Overnight Stay
The city of Ahmedabad has some of the finest Indo-Islamic monuments and exquisite Hindu and Jain temples. Its carved wooden houses are another unique architectural tradition. To experience the glory of Ahmedabad, it is necessary to walk through an old quarter and truly observe the nature of its architecture, its art, religious places, its culture and traditions. Highlights • Witnessing Heritage Night Life of Ahmedabad. • Drive past to several Buildings. • English Speaking Local Guide along with Entrance applicable
Discover Ahmedabad By Foot and Tuk-Tuk
Ahmedabad is the sixth largest city in India, and it's first UNESCO World Heritage City. Walking and travelling by tuk tuk is a wonderful way to discover the city's architecture and the day to day life of the locals. On your morning tour you will visit the Swaminarayan Temple and the Sidi Bashir Mosque and their "Shaking Minarets". You will also explore the 18th century "pols" - houses with their own lanes and gateways. Highlights • Swaminarayan Temple • 18th century "pols" • Jama Masjid Mosque • Sidi Bashir Mosque and the "Shaking Minarets"
More Tours in Ahmedabad
Recommended for Ahmedabad


Dunglass Castle, a stronghold of the Earls of Home, was built in the 14th century. It was destroyed by Somerset in 1548, but had been rebuilt by 1603.
In 1807 Dunglass House was built on the site of the castle, but in 1947 it was gutted, and demolished in the 1950s to make way for a new house built in 1961.
Dunglass Castle is in the parish of Oldhamstocks and the county of East Lothian.
Published on the 14th of May 2010 at 1:57 pm. Updated on the 2nd of May 2016 at 7:07 pm.


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Transcript: John Mousseau
April 12, 2020 12:00pm by Barry Ritholtz
The transcript from this week's, MiB: John Mousseau, Cumberland Advisors, is below.
You can stream and download our full conversation, including the podcast extras, on Apple iTunes, Spotify, Overcast, Google, Bloomberg, and Stitcher. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.
VOICE-OVER: This is Masters in Business with Barry Ritholtz on Bloomberg Radio.
RITHOLTZ: This week on the podcast I have a special guest. His name is John Mousseau, and he is President, CEO and Head of Fixed Income Trading at Cumberland Advisors, a firm that runs about $3.5 billion in mostly fixed income products. They do equity as well. I know Mousse for a long time. He is David Kotok's right-hand man, and I have been fishing with Mousse up in Maine at the Shadow Federal Reserve event that takes place every summer for, gee, better part of a decade.
There aren't many people who understands the internal plumbing and the mechanicals of fixed income the way Mousse does. He really is incredibly knowledgeable and insightful. And I think if you are anything interested in fixed income, bonds, munis and how they actually are — are traded on Wall Street, you're going to find this to be a fascinating conversation.
So with no further ado, my Masters in Business interview with John Mousseau.
RITHOLTZ: My special guest this week is John Mousseau. He is the CEO and Director of Fixed Income at Cumberland Advisors, a bond shop that manages over $3.5 billion in assets. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and has his masters in Economics from Brown.
John Mousseau, welcome to a shelter in place version of Masters in Business. I know John for a long time. We fish up in Maine every year in Camp Kotok. We'll — we'll come back to that a little later. Let's talk a little bit about your career. Tell us about your first job on Wall Street.
JOHN MOUSSEAU, CEO AND DIRECTOR OF FIXED INCOME, CUMBERLAND ADVISORS: Hi, Barry. Thanks. I walked in off the streets of New York in the fall of 1980 and answered an ad from the New York Times for the Value Line Investment Survey. They gave me a quiz and hired me as an Assistant Securities Analyst.
RITHOLTZ: I remember getting the Value Line papers that you would put into a giant three-ring binder on updates on different companies and different sectors. That — that was a couple of years ago.
MOUSSEAU: You know, it ran that way for a long time before they got to the Internet age. And what you did as a securities analyst there is you wrote script to fit the model for the stocks. They had a relative value model that ranks stocks. But like I said, it was a great place to learn. Still have a lot of friends from there. I met Jeff Vinik there who was my deskmate early on, And, you know, the fact that the product is still out there today says a lot.
RITHOLTZ: And Vinik ended up at a little shop called Fidelity, if memory serves.
MOUSSEAU: It's — yes, a little shop called Fidelity. And I can remember him saying to me we were there out over a couple of beers. He goes, "Mousse (ph), if I ever hit it really big, I'm going to buy a hockey team," and sure enough he did.
RITHOLTZ: For sure. So — so where did you go from Value Line? What was your next stop?
MOUSSEAU: From there I spent the next 12 years out of combined firms of E.F. Hutton and then Shearson after they took over Hutton, and did most of my work there in the beginning-ish for the Government Bond Department and the Municipal Department Bond Department and eventually ended up doing portfolio analysis at Hutton and ended up basically running our Portfolio Analysis Group right to 1993 where we analyzed municipal bond portfolios and suggested changes.
And in 1993 I went to Lord Abbett and became the Director of the Municipal Bond Management. That was a great spot; learned a lot from Bob Dow who ran the firm and ran the fixed income area there. And I was there until year 2000, and that's the year I joined Cumberland Advisors.
RITHOLTZ: So you end up at Cumberland Advisors in the year 2000. Why did you gravitate more towards fixed income over equities?
MOUSSEAU: I really always enjoyed fixed income because of the way it tied together math and the idea that all bond prices, more or less, moved in the same direction, but none of them moved in the same velocity depending on maturities, et cetera. So it always had a lot more appeal to me.
And it's — it's funny because when I started at Value Line and you're actually analyzing earnings of companies, I was excellent at predicting earnings, I still couldn't figure out why stocks might hit their earnings, but go down or go up, and — and bonds always tied together much more rationally for me.
RITHOLTZ: So that leads to a question, I've heard over the years bonds called the "smart money," why is that? Is it — is it that rationality that leads people to thinking bonds are — are a little less random or emotional than stocks are?
MOUSSEAU: I think the idea is with — particularly with municipal bonds, you know – it's not my line, but I thought it was a great line – they don't make you rich, but they keep you rich. And the idea of bond investing overtime and the compounding of interest, it's — it's terrific. And, you know, you go back and look back to the early 1980's when interest rates are high. If you had bought something like zero coupon strips at 14 percent interest for 30 years, it'd be very hard to replicate that anywhere else.
RITHOLTZ: When I think of bonds, I think of three factors that go into the specific value of a bond. It's the credit quality, the — the coupon or yield and the duration. Is it that simple or are bonds just a mathematical formula?
MOUSSEAU: No, there's a lot more that goes into it. It's not just credit quality, it's relative credit quality. It's not just duration, it's a relative duration to the market. And — and it's a structure of bonds, too, call protection or lack of call protection, a convexity comes in. I mean, that's — that's really — a lot of those judgments are what you would call total return bond management. And that's where David Kotok is still the Chairman of Cumberland. And I agreed early on it was, you know, we — we — we saw the world the same in the world of bonds.
RITHOLTZ: Explain convexity of bonds positions to me.
MOUSSEAU: Sure. Convexity is — is really the — they call it the second derivative. So if you look at a bond and you can judge its duration or basically how much the price changes for a — a given change in yield, the convexity will tell you how fast that duration is changing. It's like the — it's like the equivalent of acceleration to speed.
RITHOLTZ: Huh, quite interesting. And — and for most of my career I've heard bonds described as the adult supervision in the room. The bond vigilantes were going to keep the Congress in check and make sure they didn't deficit, spend too much. They were going to keep their eyes on inflation and fight that. Whatever happened to the so-called bond vigilantes?
MOUSSEAU: Well, that was a while ago. And — and, you know, if you go back one of bill Clinton's favorite lines was – and I'm taking out the swear words, but that do you mean I — I really have to bow down to all the — the bond traders. And the answer back then from Alan Greenspan is yes, you do.
And they figured out a way back then to actually lower the government deficit and actually get it to a surplus. And along the way, interest rates came down which was really not a surprise. Now you've gone the other way and the deficit really haven't mattered and you're at all-time lows in yields. So to answer your question, a lot of that has been thrown out the door.
RITHOLTZ: His — his political adviser, James Carville, I believe, is the one who said, "When he comes back, he wants to be reincarnated as the bond market because everybody is terrified of it."
MOUSSEAU: Right, maybe not this bond market, but yes.
RITHOLTZ: So, Mousse (ph), let's talk a little bit about how the bond market has changed over the past 30 years. What are some of the big differences between 2020 and 1980?
MOUSSEAU: I think there's some differences and there's some similarities, Barry. I think the biggest difference, of course, is electronic trading much more prevalent on the taxable side. On the municipal side, you actually just need to talk to dealers and underwriters, and that's because of the diffused nature of the municipal bond market.
The municipal bond market is still much more of a people business. You have to kind of know where the bonds are, where the levels are, who's offering what bonds.
On the corporate side, it is much more electronic-oriented, block trading-oriented. And — and that's been — that's been the biggest change, so a lot less people, clearly a lot less firms and bigger volume electronically.
RITHOLTZ: So — so let's talk about what I think is the most fascinating difference between stocks and bonds. You know, the Wilshire 5000, the joke is it's now about 3,000 stocks. Adding some of the over-the-counter and really small caps, maybe you have 4,000 stocks.
When we look at the world of bonds, there's hundreds of thousands of individual bonds. It's almost as if putting together a bond portfolio is bespoke. How infrequently do these bonds trade and how unique are each of these issues that are out there?
MOUSSEAU: Again, it — it differs. When you're in the world of corporates, and mortgages and treasuries, it's a fairly defined universe of — of bonds. And putting your portfolios together is probably a little easier than on the tax-free side where you probably have a million different CUSIPs out there, and that's because of the nature of many bond issues that come to market where they have serial bonds and term bonds, and so just the amount of issues is almost overwhelming. So in the tax-free side, only a fraction of the available bonds that are out there actually trade every day.
RITHOLTZ: And explain what CUSIPs are for the audience who may not be …
MOUSSEAU: Sure.
RITHOLTZ: … on a bond desk.
MOUSSEAU: It's a — it's a uniform identification system so each bond has its own unique identifier, which is crucial to identify in the bond itself as well as processing the trade later on.
RITHOLTZ: And — and let's talk a little bit about processing those trades. You know, early in my career and certainly early in your career, every brokerage firm had its own bond trading desk. Every bank, every insurer, trading was done constantly all over the place. Today it seems — and — and I rely on my friend, David Nadig who's been pushing this argument for a long time.
Nadig says, "All that has been replaced with BlackRock and Vanguard as — as the new street bond desks." Is he exaggerating or how true is that?
MOUSSEAU: Yeah, certainly, behemoth is out there. But look, you know, you can — you can look at that and say, "Does that work to your advantage or not?" As — as a smaller investor and advisor relative to those — those guys, a BlackRock is not going to care about a $25 million water bond from Eastern Ohio some school district. We care about $25 million water bond from Eastern Ohio because it's meaningful to us. So to the extent that they've gotten too big and a lot of issues aren't relevant to them, we can take advantage of that. So I would disagree with Dave a little bit.
RITHOLTZ: And at Cumberland, are you guys putting together bespoke bond portfolios? Are you buying bond mutual funds or bond ETFs? How do you deliver a fixed income mix to clients?
MOUSSEAU: No, we — we will use individual bonds as we put portfolios together. On our own — our thoughts have always been that the final product looks much better when you have individual bonds as opposed to owning mutual funds. And — and part of that reason is the ability to input certain yield levels and duration levels in the portfolios.
You know, the other part, too, just talking about mutual funds, in general, the difference between owning a portfolio of individual bonds and owning a mutual fund of bonds is the fact that if you want a mutual fund, you're subservient to one price and one price only, and that's the price that I find at the end of the day or if it's an ETF, the price of that ETF at the end of the day.
If you own individual bonds, they can be spread out if you have some longer-term bonds and some shorter-term bonds. So if there's a need for cash and maybe it's not a particularly good bond market, you can find assets in the portfolio that have not been hurt price-wise and — and use them to your advantage. So I think individual bonds offers a much greater degree of flexibility.
RITHOLTZ: We've had some clients say to us, "I don't want to own bond mutual funds because I'm concerned if during a bond selloff I'm subject to the whims of what my fellow mutual fund investors are doing, and that could drive the price below either fair value or net asset value." How realistic of the threat is that to people who are bond mutual fund investors as opposed to buying individual bonds themselves?
MOUSSEAU: I think it's a very good point because you don't have control over that. And the route we just went through is a perfect example of that. You walk in the door March 9th and treasury prices were skyrocketing because of the Saudi selling of oil. That meant that a lot of the corporate and municipal bond dealers couldn't hedge anything anymore with prices and treasuries doing what they're doing. So what do they do? They'd back off their prices.
So then evaluation services don't have many prices to — to put on that night, so they take prices down. So the poor guy whose only holdings is XYZ bond fund looks at his NAV the next day's net asset value and it's gone down. He says, "Maybe I should sell some," so he sells some and the next day the mutual funds have to meet these redemptions by selling bonds into a market that's already eroding.
So prices go down further. The next day, same investor looks, "Oh, my NAV went further, I better sell some more." So now you've gotten yourself into a negative feedback loop of selling of mutual funds. And we saw that on a right absolutely gargantuan level in the middle of March.
RITHOLTZ: And had they wrote it out for a couple of weeks, the worst of it would have passed and we would have seen some sort of recovery in the – in the mutual fund and bond market. Is that a fair statement?
MOUSSEAU: That is a more than fair statement. It was not only a rebound, it was a rebound of historic proportions. So the back-off was also historic. It went essentially from two percent to four percent in about seven business days — six business days. And then you rebounded three-quarters of that in about three business days. I've been managing money for 36 years, I've never seen anything like it.
RITHOLTZ: So we have a mutual friend from Fidelity, Eric Golden who runs a quantitatively-driven fixed income portfolio. He said he saw a prices do things that the model say it just can't happen. Your — your experience sounds like it was very similar.
MOUSSEAU: Very similar. And — and I can tell you just from — I mean, having good trades on, we saw bond prices down over 25 points and certainly some discounted bonds and lower coupons, so think about a bond that came in December at 100 cents on the dollar that was trading at $0.75 on the dollar in mid-March, and less than a week later it was being priced at par.
RITHOLTZ: So if you were nimble, there was …
MOUSSEAU: That was — that is (inaudible) …
RITHOLTZ: … there was upside to be had?
MOUSSEAU: Oh, sure, absolutely. You know, in a total return manager is going to use that type of a distress in the market to go and change the mix of his portfolios. And in our view, that sell-off that you saw in March was not credit-related, it was all liquidity related because of what was going on in the stock market. People wanted cash. It didn't matter whether it was in a bond mutual fund or a — a — a REIT or — or anything else or selling gold and by the end of the week, they are also selling treasury bonds, so anything to get cash.
RITHOLTZ: The old line is in an emergency, you sell what you can, not what you want.
MOUSSEAU: And that's true about the meltdown in mutual funds. You know, a mutual fund manager won't sell what he'd like to sell, which might be a — I'm making it up — a hospital bond that you lean the wrong way and buying, it doesn't have the greatest credit in the world. It's exactly what you said, Barry, you sell what you can sell, which is usually a high-grade bond.
RITHOLTZ: So earlier we were discussing the dislocation in corporates and treasuries, let's talk a little bit about the muni market from everything I heard and saw during the beginning volatility early in March. It looked like the muni bond market had just gone berserk, maybe even the most severe dislocation of any of the fixed income trading we've seen. Tell us what happened. And so far, have the markets recovered yet?
MOUSSEAU: Sure, Barry, I mean, it was certainly a — March was certainly historic volatility and historic loss, and almost historic rebounding. You know, I — I still I harken back to March 9th when treasury prices were spiking upward and yields are dropping, and that rendered most firms out there on Wall Street impotent to actually give you a bid on bonds because they couldn't hedge anything. So prices were backed off.
And that combined with the stock market and it started to roll over partly because of the price of oil is dropping and there was concern on the economy and the coronavirus picking up. And you suddenly had a perfect storm of dropping equity prices, people looking for cash wherever it could be, and that involved the selling of bond funds and bond ETFs into a market that was overwhelmed. So when you think about bond yields moving up from two percent to four percent, that is a historic rise in a very short period of time, 200 basis points and, essentially, a doubling of yields.
And — and, like I said, most of that was almost all liquidity-related and — and not credit-related. And — and — and yet there are concerns out there about — of course, about municipalities and how they're going to fare through this. Our viewpoint on that is that most really kind of high-quality general obligation and — and essential service bonds are going to be fine. You know, what you end up doing is you're looking at the essentiality of the services, the prism of the virus and things look a little different if you're talking about something like a — a rapid transit bond or an airport bond, et cetera. But that — that was not the cause of the sell-off in the mutual funds.
RITHOLTZ: So this wasn't a systemic issue, this was just a massive amount of volume that overwhelmed the normal liquidity that exists in the bond market?
MOUSSEAU: That's exactly right. And you hadn't seen that before where the meltdown in the bond market was occurring alongside a meltdown in the stock market. The last time you really saw that was in 2008, and that was after Lehman failed. And that sell-off in municipal bond funds was credit-related because nobody knew whether anything was going to pay. In other words, when — when Lehman went under, it was like a 13th strike of a clock and people wondered, "Oh, does that mean my school district is not going to pay off its bonds or that the water authority won't pay off its bonds?" It was really overdone, but — but that was the nature of that sell-off.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RITHOLTZ: So let's look at the current circumstances, which seem to be not comparable to anything else that's come before, including '08, '09. Uncle Sam has shown an ability to keep running deficits for as long and as deeply as needs, but states and cities don't have that luxury. And we know that these states and we know that these cities, especially areas like New York, New Jersey, Washington State, wherever the virus has — has hit pretty hard, we're starting to see signs that's happening in Florida, how are these states going to operate if they can't run a deficit and have hundreds of millions or billions in shortfalls? Are these states potentially at risk for defaulting on whatever general obligation bonds they've issued?
MOUSSEAU: It's a good question, Barry. And what you look at is really two-fold? One, almost all bond issuers have debt service reserve funds. Sometimes that can be a half-year, sometimes a year, it depends on the — depends on the issue.
Will we see credit downgrades? Absolutely, you're seeing it now. Will you see invasion of debt service reserves? Sure, and you're going to see thinner debt service coverage across the board. That's a given.
We don't think you're going to see massive defaults, especially if you come out of this within the next month or two. So what it — what it is it's a — it's a torpedo to the side of the ship, but the ship is going to continue the sail. And then you start restoring debt service. We think that there is a lot of federal support for certainly some of the bigger agencies out there. Let's take a very high profile one.
Look at the MTA in New York City, the subways. You can certainly think of, you know, MTA as a — as a poster child for transportation, and transportation is certainly a poster child for infrastructure. And I think that's one thing that the administration is really keen on. So I — I see certainly a lot of support for that. I see a lot of state of New York support for that, so I — I don't expect to see a default on that. It doesn't stop bonds from trading cheaper, we've seen that for sure. And that's — that includes airport bonds as well. You look at the hub airports out there, the federal government is not going to have those airports go into default because they are necessary for the restoration of the economy when we're back at work in hopefully a month.
RITHOLTZ: We normally think of equity investors as the risk-takers who are more greatly compensated for assuming that risk than the traditional bond investor. But I have to ask given what you just said, what sort of compensation are risk-takers receiving in the fixed income market these days?
MOUSSEAU: Well, you can — you can argue that — look at a lot of deals that have come in the last week or so, the long end of the tax-free bond market, the high-grade and it's restored itself to roughly about a three percent yield. That doesn't sound particularly high and like a — and it doesn't sound like a particularly rewarding yield if you think about the potential for downgrades down the road or a thinning of debt service coverage, et cetera. It does look relatively cheap when you compare it to a long treasury bond of 135, but I would contend the treasuries are probably a little overbought in here and municipals may be a little cheap and they're going to eventually meet in the middle.
I think the important part is to keep the long-term really economics of municipalities in the forefront when you're investing. If you went back to the worst period in our history, which is the Great Depression — and we don't think we're going back to that — you had about 1,700 municipal entities in this country stopped paying their debt. It didn't mean they went bankrupt in a legal sense, but they just stopped paying.
And in the end, as the economy turned around, they all — except for a few dustbowl times in Oklahoma — almost all paid off their debt and arrears, and got turned on their debt and continued to pay. And that's because of the monopolistic powers that municipalities have. If a meteor came tomorrow and hit the Saint Louis Water Authority, would they stop paying their debt? Yeah, most likely. When they rebuilt things and started to get debt service again, would they repay it? Absolutely.
RITHOLTZ: So, John, in all of this we haven't talked about the mack daddy in the room, the Federal Reserve. What is the role today of the Fed in the fixed income market?
MOUSSEAU: Barry, the role is probably more important than ever, and you only have to look back at the last few weeks to figure it out. You look at the Fed and how did they step in on this crisis? Well, the first thing is that they fixed the short-term bond market. You think about things like revenue anticipation notes, bond anticipation notes, these are the things that money market funds invest in. Some of them are non-rated. Their — their promise is to pay.
The bid dropped out of the market in the middle of this crisis in mid-March. What the Fed did is they establish credit facilities that would buy these bonds from the money market funds, these (RAMs) and (TAMs) at their cost basis, not at the market, and give them cash, so that kept the money market funds in business. And you can't really get an improvement in equities until you can improve the bond market. So their first stop was to fix the short-term bond market.
Then you saw the legislation come in where the treasury through the Fed as their agent was going to start to buy municipal bonds one out of five years. It have to be investment grade or better not high-yield. They haven't done it yet. Just the fact that they established it was enough to really improve the bond market a couple of weeks ago as that packages putting together. So the Fed, through either their ability to do credit facilities or their special ability that buy bonds out through six months which they have and they have not exercised, and now the ability of the Treasury to go through the Fed and try to buy bonds out through five years, all of that has helped shore up the market and has been very important.
RITHOLTZ: So the mere announcement that, hey, we have the ability to buy munis if you want to is sufficient to stabilize the bond market.
MOUSSEAU: Absolutely, and — and it not only has stabilized the short-term market, which is also in disarray, but it helped to stabilize the long-term market because within that confine, there is the ability to take that beyond five years. I mean, State Mnuchin can call up Jay Powell and say we want this extended to 15 or 20 or 30 years, and they could do that.
RITHOLTZ: I recall during the '08, '09 crisis the big complaint I heard from the Fed haters and the people wringing their hands over the various rescue packages was that the Fed is adding $3 trillion to their balance sheet. This is going to cause all sorts of trouble. Well, here we are a decade later, what is their $5 trillion on the way to $6 trillion? What does that mean for — fill in the blank — the economy, fixed income, inflation for the Fed to potentially have trillions and trillions on their balance sheet?
MOUSSEAU: Well, what did we learn from the '08, '09 and actually it's essentially three rounds of quantitative easing? It never created inflation even though you saw the Fed take their balance sheet up to what was then record levels and they're buying treasuries, agencies and mortgages. The key to that was the fact, A, they're trying to keep rates lower, but it didn't create inflation because if they bought $100 million worth of treasuries and they bought it from the bank of Barry Ritholtz and deposited $100 million, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the bank of Barry Ritholtz put that money back on deposit at the Fed earning a quarter of a percent. What it was not doing was lending the money out, so the velocity of money and the expansion of money, that way, was not happening. The quantitative easing was effectively keeping rates in — in — in a certain range.
What could cause inflation is the $2 trillion plus clearly more money coming on the government spending side. And that's what you didn't have. I mean, you had $800 billion in programs back in the '08, '09 crisis. That is going to be tripled or quadrupled here.
I would expect you …
RITHOLTZ: And remember that …
MOUSSEAU: OK.
RITHOLTZ: … remember that $800 billion was — $300 billion was a temporary tax cut, $300 billion was a temporary extension of unemployment benefits. The pure stimulative fiscal part of it was — was barely $200 billion.
MOUSSEAU: Right. And — and you — you saw some other things like the BABs programs, et cetera. You might see a resurrection of something like that. What I …
RITHOLTZ: That's being Build American — Build America Bonds, right.
MOUSSEAU: Build America Bonds, which is really to try to get municipalities to borrow in the taxable market because the — at that point treasuries were at three and long tax rebonds were at six, so that is really ineffective borrowing. So this allowed them to get a 35 percent subsidy from the federal government, really lowered their borrowing costs to something under four percent. And they were essentially building new things.
So think about a — an airport building a new runway or a state university building a new dorm where they're pouring concrete, hiring people, building stuff. That was the stimulative nature of it. Whether we see something like that here, we don't know. The administration has announced that $2 trillion infrastructure policy, but we haven't seen any particulars on it yet.
I would — I would think though that if you don't get inflation down the road from this amount of government spending, then we might never see inflation.
RITHOLTZ: Huh, that's quite — that's quite fascinating. So let's — let's talk about the opposite of inflation. Let's talk about deflation and negative rates. When — when you started your career, did you ever imagine a set of circumstances where rates could go negative?
MOUSSEAU: No, and I guess one of the nice things of having a long career is I've seen the peak in interest rates and I have seen the low in interest rates like forever. You know, you — you don't think about negative interest rates when you think about textbooks back in the 1980's or 70's or even — even 90's. But you saw negative interest rates and you saw them in Europe over the last year. So if you — if you get back from this particular crisis and go through last year, you saw negative rates.
Not here, and our interest rates dropped in the U.S. last summer really not because the economy here is floundering, but because our rates are too high relative to what was going on around the world. And all negative rate means is that you're expecting rates to go more negative, so you want to lock in something. Losing half a percent is better than losing one percent. So you want to lock that in.
I think Europe was coming to the agreement that this was not good for banks. And you saw a lot of noise in some movement, and before all this, you'll start to see rates rise. So Germany had gone from negative 10-year bond rates to actually positive rates.
In the last — in the last few weeks they have gone from negative, like minus 0.9 to up to -0.3, so I think we're going to move out of the negative interest rate range over time. And I think the idea is if you can get back to a world we have a — a steeper yield curve than the banks are in shape to make money, and you need a decent banking system and a banking system that's in financial health and can make money to get the economy moving.
RITHOLTZ: They used to call it a zero bound for a reason, I guess so we can't use that phrase anymore. So — so it sounds like you're not looking at rates going negative from here even if we have a — a pretty substantial rescue package.
MOUSSEAU: No, I think what you'll see is you will actually see rates turned positive. I think you'll see a — a more positive looking yield curve. And I think if all the kind of government stimulus that you see, that should produce a positive yield curve because you'd think you would start to build that inflationary expectations as you go further out, and that's reflected in the shape of the yield curve as well.
RITHOLTZ: So that leads to the obvious question, are we ever going to see inflation in our lifetime?
MOUSSEAU: I think so. And, you know, if you look — if you look last year at the kind of the middle part of the year, you had a cover of Business Week and it had a picture of some kind of animal and it said — says "The Death of Inflation," that was good enough for me to realize an inflation is probably coming back. It — it — it takes a while and it will take a while to build up. And I think you wonder about where — where will it end up, what asset class will it end up.
And we've seen some of the Fed's actions in the past that it ends up and maybe small cap stocks or it ends up in the housing market. Does — this time, does it end up in commodities, which are — are, you know, it's been severely depressed?
You would think that if you come out of this mess, those kind of traditional things like copper, and timber and things of that nature would start to do well. And so I would start to think you'd see some inflation.
RITHOLTZ: And yet throughout this whole post credit crisis recovery period, we've seen a huge uptick in multi-family housing construction. We've seen a lot of sectors of the economy over the past 12 years slowly come back online and still no inflation. So what's going to be the — the spark that lights that fire?
MOUSSEAU: You know, it's hard to say that because you — I think what's going to be going on here is a lot of it based on demographics. And what you're going to see is the millennials who, if you draw a belt curve of the millennials, the biggest part of that curve is just starting to turn 30, and they're just starting to get into the years where they will start to spend money on family formation and all the things the baby boomers did except maybe a little more delayed. And — and a little more delayed partly because of the financial crisis of 2008, '09.
So kids who get out of college between say 2008 and 2011 were really behind the eight ball a little bit in terms of getting jobs or getting the quality of jobs that people just a couple of years younger got later on. So even they are now approaching that point of lift-off from a spending standpoint. And if you look at the millennials as a group, they are bigger than the baby boomers, so I think that's where it's going to come from.
RITHOLTZ: Quite interesting. So normally if we were in the Bloomberg office I would be asking my 10 favorite questions, but we don't have the full 90 minutes to do that, so I'm just going to give you a speed round, five …
RITHOLTZ: … questions, quick answers. Let's plow right through this.
Where are you streaming these days? Give us your favorite Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ shows.
MOUSSEAU: I am back watching all the Ken Burns specials on baseball, World War, prohibition, et cetera. So, you know, you're never too old to learn and you're never too old to relearn.
RITHOLTZ: Quite interesting. Who were your early mentors? Who influenced your career?
MOUSSEAU: Really when I look back a named Billy Gaw (ph) at E.F. Hutton who was a Public Finance Banker. And he — he really kind of took the liking to me and got me into the municipal bond area, and then later on Bob Dow Lord Abbett.
RITHOLTZ: Tell us about your favorite books. What are you reading? What do you like to give as gifts?
MOUSSEAU: I'm big into history. You know, one of my favorite books is "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," which is a (inaudible) by William Shirer. I — I go back and read "Free to Choose" by Milton Friedman every once in a while. They make sure I'm oriented the right way. And I'm — I'm trying to read the Ulysses Grant biography right now by Ron Chernow.
RITHOLTZ: Quite, quite interesting. A recent college graduate considering a career in fixed income comes to you and ask for some advice, what would you tell them?
MOUSSEAU: I would say find a spot on any firm and do everything they ask from sweeping the floors to, you know, make sure you show up the first one there every day and find a mentor. But I would give that advice to anybody that's starting out. If you can find a mentor and — and even if it takes a few years, it is well worth it because you have somebody to bounce ideas off of.
RITHOLTZ: And our final question, what do you know about the world of fixed income today you wish you knew 40 years ago when you were first starting out?
MOUSSEAU: I wish I had known the importance of international flows in currencies. You know, as a — as a municipal bond expert, back 40 years ago you didn't realize the importance of international flows and how they would affect things. So the fact is that the change in the Chinese currency would affect municipal bond have actually would never occur to you. It definitely affects it today. So I — I think that's the one thing that I've learned.
RITHOLTZ: Quite interesting. We have been speaking with John Mousseau. He is President, CEO and Director of Fixed Income Trading at Cumberland Advisors.
If you enjoyed this conversation, well, be sure and come back for the podcast extras where we keep the tape rolling and continue discussing all things fixed income.
We love your comments, feedback and suggestions. Write to us at mibpodcast@bloomberg.net. Give us a review on Masters in Business at Apple iTunes.
I would be remiss if I did not thank our crack staff that helps put these conversations together each week under trying conditions from various remote locations. Michael Boyle is my Producer. Charlie Vollmer is my Audio Engineer. Michael Batnick is my Head of Research.
I'm Barry Ritholtz. You've been listening to Masters in Business on Bloomberg Radio.
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text:
Latest News from Sarah Bush | 2019 | Sep | A Newfound Hope
A Newfound Hope
September 6, 2019 9:13 a.m.
After receiving a grim prognosis, SBL Regional Cancer Center gives new hope to Joyce Curtis.
Joyce Curtis had given up hope when she visited Sarah Bush Lincoln's Regional Cancer Center for the first time.
"I was a cancerous mess and I was scared to death," Joyce said. "I had given up. I'll admit that." It all started when Joyce suffered a mild stroke at a family gathering in June 2017. She was rushed to the hospital by ambulance where doctors detected two blocked arteries. While those blocked arteries were serious enough to cause a stroke, they didn't concern her cardiologist nearly as much as the discovery made two weeks later when Joyce went in for a follow-up CT scan.
"That's when they noticed the spots on her lungs and lymph nodes," Joyce's daughter, Norma Blythe, said. "They did a biopsy, and she was diagnosed with stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer."
Though Joyce has smoked since she was a teenager, she was caught off-guard by the news, because she hadn't had any symptoms. Her health quickly deteriorated, and Joyce landed in the hospital before she was able to meet with cancer specialists to discuss a possible treatment plan. When an oncologist at another hospital gave her a grim prognosis that included very little chance of survival, Joyce sought a second opinion at the SBL Regional Cancer Center.
Joyce immediately felt newfound energy after meeting SBL Regional Cancer Center Oncologist Abdur Shakir, MD, for the first time. "Dr. Shakir was awesome with her," Norma said, recalling her mother's initial consultation with Dr. Shakir. "They hit it off right away. He explained things to us in medical terms, but then he put them in words that we could understand."
Since Joyce had numerous tumors and her cancer was widespread, surgery wasn't an option. Instead, Dr. Shakir recommended beginning radiation therapy right away, and he ordered DNA testing to see if immunotherapy would work for her. In August 2017, Joyce began a series of 10 radiation treatments with Radiation Oncologist Seong Cho, MD. Joyce then learned that she was a good match for Keytruda, a new type of cancer drug that unleashes the body's immune system to attack tumor cells. In September 2017, Joyce started receiving infusions of that immunotherapy drug at three-week intervals.
She and her family have been amazed by how well the treatment has worked. In fact, Joyce was deemed cancer-free after a CT scan on November 30, 2017! "I praised God, and then I praised my doctors," Joyce said. "If you've got God and these doctors on your side, then you can do anything." Joyce has been in remission ever since, though she continues to receive infusions of Keytruda every three weeks to keep the cancer at bay.
Joyce looks forward to visiting her "cancer family" each month. With her feisty personality, she is quick to let those around her know what's on her mind. "I don't put on airs for anyone," she said. "I come here and we get to joking around and acting up. I have a good time. It's like coming to see family that I haven't seen for three weeks, and that's who I consider these people – part of my family. I love them all." Joyce definitely makes her presence known during her visits. "She makes us all laugh," oncology nurse Bing Bennett, RN, said.
Never one to dwell on the past, Joyce swears that she never suffered from negative side effects of the treatment. Her daughter recalls things a little differently. "There were times when it made her weaker than normal," Norma said. "Once she found out she was in remission, that's when she got back to being her spunky self again, because, for a while, she wasn't spunky at all." Since having the stroke, Joyce has relied on a cane for stability, and she needed oxygen therapy until November 2018.
At nearly 80, Joyce deals with life as it comes. She raised six children in Effingham County with husband Lenvil, who died more than 30 years ago. She and Norma recalled that the family was always outside: working in the garden to put food on the table, chopping wood, fishing and having fun. "My mom would be out there having foot races with us kids down the side of the road— and she'd beat us too!" Norma said.
Fiercely independent, Joyce is sometimes hesitant to let people in, but she is grateful for the instant connection that she made with Dr. Shakir. "Honestly, I thought I was dying, and I guess I was, but I came up here and away we went – and I can't praise Dr. Shakir enough," she said. "He isn't the type of person who says, 'Well I'm the doctor and you're going to do whatever I say.' He'll sit and talk to you and find out how you're feeling." Norma also likes the way that Dr. Shakir quashes patients' fears. "I've asked what do we do when the Keytruda stops working and he smacks my hands and says 'Then we have Plan B, C and D,'" she said.
Lung cancer is the second most common cancer among men and women in the United States, but it causes the most cancer-related deaths — more than colon, breast and prostate cancers combined. Although disease rates have declined along with smoking rates, lung cancer is still responsible for one in four cancer deaths in the U.S.
In a way, Joyce considers her cancer a blessing. "If I hadn't gotten cancer, then I wouldn't have all these wonderful people in my life," she said. "I'm going to live as long as God wants me to, and that's just it."
For more information or to make an appointment at the Sarah Bush Lincoln Regional Cancer Center, call 217 258-2250.
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Currently Reading: A Newfound Hope
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Portal is a first-person puzzle-platform video game developed by Valve Corporation. The game was originally released as a part of The Orange Box bundle for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in October 2007 and for the PlayStation 3 in April 2008. A standalone Windows version became available through Steam in April 2008, with additional releases for Mac OS X in May 2010 and the Nvidia Shield in May 2014. The game primarily comprises a series of puzzles that must be solved by teleporting the player's character and simple objects using a portal gun.


It is important to note that the programmes are frequently inconsistent in their orthography. In some cases these reflect contemporary spellings, which have been reproduced without comment; in others, they are clearly typographical errors which have been indicated with 'sic'.
Indexing: Each programme is indexed using standardised forms of date, name, title, and genre as applicable and follows the conventions of the internationally-recognised standard of the Library of Congress Authorities.


Ashland feature WALK-IN will play in the Varsity Theatre June 15-28. Written and directed by Ashland resident Scott Blum, the film is based on his best-selling novel Summer's Path, and stars OSF actors Danforth Comins, Miriam Laube and others. Walk-In was filmed on location in Ashland, Medford and Merlin, and premiered locally at the 11th annual AIFF. This unique film is about a man with a fatal disease who trades his diseased body for that of a puppy.


text:
Nicholas John Caire b. 28 February 1837
Also known as Nicholas John Junior Caire
Artist (Photographer)
Nicholas John Caire was a portrait and landscape photographer. He was one of the first photographers to create literary and narrative photographs about the lives of pioneers.
Biographical Data b. 28 February 1837 Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK
Exhibitions 5 exhibitions
Recognitions 2 recognitions
(1867), 'South Australian Almanac and Directory'.
Pitkethly, D.; & Pitkethly, A. (July 1981), 'Nicholas John Caire', Australian Photography, .
McCulloch, Alan (1984), 'Encyclopedia of Australian Art', Hutchinson, 2nd Edition, Hawthorn, Vic.
Astbury, L. (1985), 'City Bushmen: The Heidelberg School and Rural Mythology', Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Vic.
Cato, J. (1955), 'The Story of the Camera in Australia', Institute of Australian Photography, Melbourne, Vic.
Caire, N.J.; & Lindt, J.W. (1904), 'Companion Guide to Healesville Black's Spur etc', Melbourne, Vic.
Downer,C. & Phipps, J. (1985), 'Victorian Vision: 1834 Onwards', National Gallery of Victoria Exhibition catalogue, Melbourne, Vic.
Millar, D. (1980), 'Nicholas John Caire: Photographer 1837-1918', Art Gallery of New South Wales Exhibition catalogue, [1980-11-01/1980-12-14], Sydney, NSW.
Newton, Gael (1988), 'Shades of Light: photography and Australia 1839-1988', Collins Australia & National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT.
Statton, J. (1986), 'Biographical Index of South Australians 1836-1885', Adelaide, SA.
(1905), Victorian Naturalist, [21], [no.9].
(1884), Argus, [27], [02].
Millar, David P. (1866), 'Nicholas John Caire', South Australian Advertiser, [04], [2].
McCulloch, Alan; & McCulloch, Susan (1994), 'Encyclopedia of Australian Art', Allen & Unwin, (3rd Edition, revised and updated), St. Leonards, NSW.
Davies, Alan; & Stanbury, Peter (1985), 'The Mechanical Eye in Australia: Photography 1841-1900', Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Vic.
Davies, Alan, Information from:.
Lennon, Jane, Information from:.
Life & Health Journal.
'Selector's Hut, Gippsland, 1883?, albumen silver photograph, 15.1x19.6cm, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT.'.
Initial data sources
DAA with additions


text:
CHINA NEXT FOR CHAMPIONSHIP-CHASING TOYOTA RACING
TOYOTA Racing aims to extend its lead of the FIA World Endurance Championship this weekend in the Six Hours of Shanghai, the sixth of eight rounds this season.
The team heads to China on the back of a dominant one-two victory at Fuji, its third consecutive win on home soil, which saw TOYOTA establish an eight-point lead in the manufacturers' World Championship.
Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi, drivers of the #8 TS040 HYBRID, extended their lead in the drivers' standings to 26 points with their third win of the season.
They will again race together alone in the #8. Nicolas Lapierre will again be absent.
Based on its experience in Fuji, the team considers it is the best option to continue with a two-driver line-up of Anthony and Sébastien in Shanghai and for the remaining races of the season.
The #7 crew of Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima will be looking to score that car's third consecutive pole position in Shanghai, having been the class of the field in qualifying for the past two seasons.
Last year's visit to Shanghai ended in frustration, despite that pole position. The #8 car looked to be on its way to victory before suspension damage forced its retirement, while the #7 had to make do with second due to a late puncture.
However, TOYOTA Racing does have a winner's trophy from Shanghai on display at its Cologne base; Alex and Nicolas piloted the #7 to a comprehensive victory there in 2012, the team's first season of WEC competition.
The 1,000PS, four-wheel-drive TOYOTA HYBRID System – Racing, which uses 25% less fuel in 2014 whilst delivering more power, is expected to be well suited to the 16-turn, 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit.
Practice in Shanghai begins on Friday with two sessions of 90 minutes (10.45 and 15.30 local time), with a final one-hour practice on Saturday (9.30) prior to qualifying (13.55). The race starts on Sunday at 11.00.
Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Team President: "After our one-two finish in Japan we have maximum confidence going to Shanghai. But we have to be fully focused on this weekend's race; we cannot ease off in our battle for the World Championship. In the past, our TS030 HYBRID showed impressive performance in Shanghai, so we hope to continue that with the TS040 HYBRID. We know we will face tough competition as always; Audi and Porsche will be looking to hit back after Fuji so it should be an exciting and unpredictable fight this weekend."
Alex Wurz (TS040 HYBRID #7): "I am really looking forward to Shanghai simply because I have good memories of this track. The flow of the lay-out fits my driving style very well and I can find a nice rhythm, plus I have had some good results there; winning from pole position in 2012, and getting pole last year. I think the nature of the circuit should suit the TS040 HYBRID's strengths so I am optimistic. Our one-two in Fuji was the perfect preparation so we are going full throttle for the last races of the season."
Stéphane Sarrazin (TS040 HYBRID #7): "I am quite excited to drive in China again. I like the track, which has some fast corners and interesting elements. It was a good race for us last year until we had some misfortune; both cars were very strong and very fast. Alex in particular was flying there! We have shown good performance all season so we should be confident again this weekend. Our target is clearly to increase our lead in the World Championship with another strong team result. We'll be pushing as hard as we can."
Kazuki Nakajima (TS040 HYBRID #7): "It is exciting to be going back to Shanghai as it is the first time for me since 2009, and my first time to drive there in an LMP1 car. It is a tricky track which is not easy track to learn. It is hard on the tyres and can be difficult with traffic. We know we can be quick on this track so we aim to challenge for the win again, in what will be an important race for both World Championships. The end of the season is coming so it is important to score a lot of points."
Anthony Davidson (TS040 HYBRID #8): "It's great to be going to Shanghai in the lead of both World Championships; we will be giving our all to stay there until the end of the season. For me, Shanghai feels like unfinished business because we were controlling the race last year but had the technical issue. I am determined to make up for that and give the team another win in China. We're all still buzzing from the Fuji result but we know we have three more races to go and we are determined to stay on top. It's full attack from now until the chequered flag in Brazil."
Sébastien Buemi (TS040 HYBRID #8): "I am happy to be going to China, where we had a good experience last year until the problem. The team was on pole position and leading the race; our car was clearly quick. So I have some good memories of Shanghai and I want to enjoy an even better weekend this year. I think the circuit will suit our TS040 HYBRID so I expect and hope to have a good race. It can't get better than a one-two from pole position in Fuji but we have to maintain that momentum as we fight for the World Championships. This is our target in the final three races."


text:
Practicing the Physical Art of Parkour
Jul 6, 2020 | Issue 103, Summer, Sports and Athletics
By Janice Tober
Everyone gets that we need to stay healthy and exercise, but joining a gym and taking up most sports costs cash, sometimes a lot of cash. And getting in 10,000 steps a day? Boring. This is where parkour, literally, leaps onto the scene.
With its focus on climbing, jumping and rolling over obstacles, parkour seems to be a sport made for the urban landscape, although that is not how it started.
Evolution of Parkour
Many people believe that parkour started in the late 80s with a man named Raymond Belle. While Belle, a fireman and former member of the French Special Forces, helped create the modern form of parkour—along with his sons and their friends—its origins are actually much earlier than that.
According to the World Freerunning Parkour Federation (WFPF), in 1902, the Caribbean island of Martinique was hit by a devastating volcanic eruption that wiped out the town of Saint-Pierre, killing almost 30,000 people.
Georges Hébert, a young French naval officer, lived through it and coordinated the evacuation of over 700 Indigenous and European peoples. As the survivors began to move out of the area, he noticed that the Indigenous Peoples were seemingly able to do so much more easily than the Europeans, gracefully and creatively making their way over obstacles, while the Europeans seemed to be looking for familiar pathways which were gone. In Hébert's view, "modern man" had lost the ability to move effectively and efficiently except in routine, easy surroundings. And, because of the bravery and loss he saw that day, he believed that to be of any real value, athletic skill and courage must be paired together and lived. Hébert's life-changing epiphany gave rise to the original motto of parkour: "être fort pour être utile," or "Be strong to be useful."
Hébert began to travel throughout Africa and elsewhere, noting the physical agility of the Indigenous Peoples he saw. Based on his observations, he developed a physical training system he called The Natural Method. It consisted of climbing, swimming, running and completing man-made obstacle courses built to simulate the natural outdoor environment.
The Natural Method soon became the training method of choice for all French military forces. With a little bit of refinement by the Special Forces, it became known as "parcours du combattant," or "the path of the warrior."
This is where we come back to Raymond Belle. He took his military training and taught his sons what he had learned. This became the modern evolution of parkour.
Today, most parkour practitioners do a bit of parkour, all physicality and efficiency, and a bit of freerunning—a more creative style that incorporates breakdancing and martial arts moves. Serious aficionados of the sport know, though, that the practice is not just physical. To be really good at parkour you need to be mentally agile too. The sport tests your problem-solving and creative capabilities as well as your ability to be steadfastly calm.
The WFPF and the International Parkour Federation both offer certifications, training and competitions for seriously experienced athletes, and are also good places to get information. Less formal groups exist throughout Canada as well. In Winnipeg, Manitoba, for instance, there's a Facebook group with over 800 members. Experienced and newbie parkour athletes get together at different spots to practice the sport together, at no charge, and offer encouragement and tips to each other. If you want to go solo, though, all you need is an obstacle course or just a few park benches. You'll develop a strong body, strong mind, and you definitely won't be bored.
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text:
Tattooing The Surface Of The Moon
Super pleased to be doing my first feature at this newish gig in the CBD, Voices in the Attic.
Also featuring is Laurie May from Alice Springs, the SONNY VERONICA DUO and DJ LAPKATwho will be on the 1's and 2's to close up the night.
8 open mic slots
Open Mic registration starts at 6:30pm
LAURIE MAY is a desert rat from Alice Springs. Her work draws on experiences in poverty as well as themes of loss, change and homelessness. Politically charged and passionate Laurie takes listeners on a journey into understanding through poetry.
Tuesday June 10th.
FERDYDUKE.
Levels 1 & 2. 239 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.
Posted by Sean M Whelan at 5:20 PM 25 comments:
Liner Notes 11 coming up soon at the Melbourne Writers Festival
This year, Liner Notes, a literary cabaret in tribute to a classic album, takes a lysergic road trip with Jim Morrison to scatter the ashes of the '60s in the Mojave Desert, as we celebrate the swaggering shamanic blues of The Doors' L.A.Woman. Featuring special guests Missy Higgins, Andy Griffiths, Ophira Eisenberg (US), Dave Graney, Doug Johnstone (UK), Jane Caro, Luka Lesson and Josh Earl, with Emilie Zoey Baker, Sean M Whelan and Alicia Sometimes, and led by MC Michael Nolan and a kick-arse live band. So, join us for the Lizard King's swansong before he ran a warm bath in Paris for the American Dream. The Regal Ballroom, Northcote, Friday 23 August. Tickets:http://tickets.mwf.com.au/session2_mwf.asp?s=300
1. 'Changeling' JOSH EARL
2. 'Love Her Madly' ANDY GRIFFITHS
3. 'Been Down So Long' JANE CARO
4. 'Cars Hiss By My Window' EMILIE ZOEY BAKER
5. 'L.A. Woman' DOUG JOHNSTONE (Edinburgh)
6. 'L'America' OPHIRA EISENBERG (Host of the Moth StorySLAMs, USA)
7. 'Hyacinth House' ALICIA SOMETIMES & SEAN M WHELAN WITH THE HYACINTHIANS.
8. 'Crawling King Snake' GEORGE MEGALOGENIS
9. 'The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)' LUKA LESSON
10. 'Riders on the Storm' MISSY HIGGINS
If that line-up doesn't get your mojo risin', nothing will.
Friday 23 August 2013 at 9.00 pm
tickets here: http://tickets.mwf.com.au/session2_mwf.asp?sn=Liner+Notes
Posted by Sean M Whelan at 1:08 PM 5 comments:
ContraVerse - new regular poetry gig in Fitzroy.
Performing tonight at a brand new monthly spoken word event called ContraVerse. Also featuring is the Paul Kidney Experience.
There's an open mic with a People's Choice Award. Ten spots only so be there at 7pm sharp if you want to participate.
63 Johnston Street, Fitzroy.
See ya there.
Posted by Sean M Whelan at 12:55 PM 2 comments:
My good friend Omar Musa has produced one of the best poetry books of 2013 and tomorrow I have the great joy of DJing at his Melbourne launch for the book held as part of the March edition of Slamalamadingdong. This will be a fantastic evening. I highly recommend your attendance. You can get tickets right here. x.
Bar Stanza Episode 2
Performing at a sweet new gig tonight run by Anthony O'Sullivan in Richmond at The Owl and the Pussycat. This is only the second time it's been run. Four writers, no open mic. Very happy to be sharing a stage with three of my favourites, Michelle Dabrowski, Steve Smart and Ben Pobjie.
Here's Anthony's blurb for the show...
After a ripping first show that saw knock-out performances and many a happy punter, we are tickled to be giving more of the best in our 2nd show! Anth is knicking off to Europe after this wee shindig and Bar Stanza will be on hiatus, but the venue was pretty pleased with how we filled the space, so once MC Idiot gets back, fingers crossed we'll have ourselves a whole run of shows in late 2013! That is, so long as you cats and kittens drag yo' bums on down for this tight gig and blow the place apart again! Be there! Support! Encourage! Drink!
So who's gonna be dazzling your earbits this month?
Sean M Whelan - Sean M Whelan writes poetry, fiction and works for performance. He also collaborates extensively with musicians. His band The Interim Lovers released an album called Softly & Suddenly in October 2010, based on Lewis Carroll's poem 'The Hunting of the Snark'. He also currently works with electronic musician Isnod. Sean is a co-founder and producer of the successful literary cabaret Liner Notes, presented to sell out crowds to the Melbourne Writers Festival every year since 2009. His latest book of poetry is titled Tattooing the Surface of the Moon, through Small Change Press. He is currently working on his first full length play and a collection of recordings made with Isnod.
Steve Smart - Some days Steve Smart wishes he had someone to write his bio's for him. Famous people think they have it hard with the lack of privacy and the stalking, the fragile self-image too easily destroyed by tabloid mockery, but they have people to write their damn press text. So they can all shut up. Steve Smart has been doing this for a long time. The bio writing. Between writing his own bio's he also writes poems. Which often also involves writing about himself. Sometimes he makes people up to write about and this amuses him no end. When he describes himself as a cult figure, it's a nice way of saying poor and not very famous. He performed at the Sydney Opera House but that was a long time ago. He currently has 16 projects on the go. Approximately. He's really not this grumpy in person.
Michelle Dabrowski - Michelle Alina Dabrowski is a Canadian multi-disciplinary artist, poet, event curator, arts educator and community/arts development practitioner based in Melbourne Australia. From Montreal's Blue Metropolis Festival to Melbourne's Forum Theatre, Michelle has performed, taught and produced internationally for the past ten years. As a passionate and trail blazing entrepreneur Michelle is well known for actively engaging groups of artists to create charismatic and transformational social movements through her work in communities. She gave birth to and co-ordinated the Montreal Throw Poetry Collective (2006) and is the current Founder and Artistic Director to Slamalamadingdong; a cross disciplinary community platform and poetry slam series. Helping students find and refine their voice through the medium of creative performance Michelle has facilitated over five hundred and seventy two workshops in schools and has coached artists from all mediums supporting and leading them to a place of risk taking and performance break throughs. Her work has been featured on the Indiefeed Performance Poetry Channel and on Triple RRR's Aural Text Radio Program. Published in 2012, Michelle's latest collection of poetry is Curb Side Angel Spit. A live album featuring performances from her latest nationwide tour alongside Poet Joel McKerrow, can be found at www.bandcamp.com/SoleofAustralia.
Ben Pobjie - Ben Pobjie is a writer, comedian, and poet. He is best known for his weekly satirical articles on Australian current-affairs site New Matilda.
Pobjie began writing his weekly articles in early 2008. His subject matter is drawn from topical issues, and he has written humorously on issues ranging from maternity leave and the federal Budget to Catholicism, child pornography and incest. His articles are often followed by angry reader comments from those who have not realised the work is satirical. Right-wing columnists such as Miranda Devine and Andrew Bolt are often the target of his humour.
His work has also appeared in Melbourne's daily broadsheet newspaper The Age.
Pobjie is also a performance poet and comedian, performing around Melbourne. In 2008 launched a campaign to be named Australia's first poet laureate. He used to be heard regularly on Helen Razer's radio show on the ABC.
Man, these guys right good bio! Don't they just sound like awesome people? You'd totally want to meet each of them and enjoy their words all in your head....
And you can! At Bar Stanza!
Tuesday, March 5th, 7:30 for an 8:00 start, a piddling $5 entry or $1.25 per poet! You can't get a litre of petrol for $1.25! (What has that got to do with anything? Idiot).
Bar is open, room is ready, Anth is keen to dance again, the performers want your attention.
Come!
Be a cool person!
It's what you were made for!
34 Swan Street., Richmond, Victoria 3121
Posted by Sean M Whelan at 1:17 PM 1 comment:
White Night Melbourne
This Saturday I'm pretty amped to be taking part in the White Night festival in Melbourne. This basically involves the City of Melbourne being open all night long from 7pm - 7am with all manner of artistic activities all over the shop celebrating music, film, food, writing, art and light. And mostly free as far as I can tell. I'm part of the EWF Writing Camp at the Wheeler Centre. I'll be appearing alongside some of my very favourite writers in Melbourne. We'll be performing as well as hanging around to offer advice to anybody who wants it and have a bit of a chat. I'll be performing at 9pm. Check out the full program below.
8pm —
Eric Yoshiaki Dando was born in Tokyo in 1970. He has had stories, cartoons and poems published here and there. He is best known for his cult classic counter-culture novel Snail. He is currently writing his third novel called Beautiful Useful Things.
Sean M Whelan writes poetry, fiction and works for performance. He also collaborates extensively with musicians. His band The Interim Lovers released an album called Softly & Suddenly and his latest book of poetry is titled Tattooing the Surface of the Moon, through Small Change Press. He is currently working on his first full length play and a collection of recordings made with electronic musician Isnod.
10pm —
Briohny Doyle is an award winning Australian writer, fan-grrrl and scholar of the apocalypse. Her writing appears in the pages of Ampersand Magazine, Going Down Swinging, Overland, Cordite, Voiceworks, The Lifted Brow and as meaningful pixels all over the internet.
Jessica Alice presents and produces 'Spoken Word' and 'Women on the Line' on 3CR 855AM community radio, and edits poetry for Voiceworks.She made her debut at the Abbotsford Convent in 2008 and won The Spinning Room's performers place in 2010.
MIDNIGHT DOUBLE FEATURE 1 —
Laura Jean McKay is an award-winning writer best known for smearing cat food all over herself on stage. Despite this, she is published in Best Australian Stories, The Big Issue, Women of Letters and The Lifted Brow, among others. Her short story collection Holiday in Cambodia will be published by Black Inc in July 2013.
Lawrence Leung is a TV writer, comedian and director. He created two ABC1 telly shows, 'Lawrence Leung's Unbelievable' and the AFI-nominated 'Choose Your Own Adventure'. He also wrote pranks for 'The Chaser's War On Everything' and toured his award-winning stand up shows nationally and overseas. He once solved a Rubik's Cube whilst skydiving.
1am —
Tom Doig is a writer, performer, editor, moron—has been published in The Big Issue, The Lifted Brow, Sleepers Almanac and Voiceworks. His plays include Survival of the Prettiest, Hitlerhoff and Selling Ice to the Remains of the Eskimos. Mörön to Mörön: two men, two bikes, one Mongolian misadventure is his first book.
2 am —
YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU!
Luke Ryan is a freelance writer, comedian and man about town. I write short-form non-fiction with a comic edge and am currently working on my debut book, I Guess You're Only as Sick as You Feel, a comedy memoir about having had cancer a couple of times due for release through Scribe Publications in late 2013. Work has appeared in The Vine, Smith Journal, Crikey, The Lifted Brow, Kill Your Darlings, Time Out and many others.
Nick Modrzewski is a writer and painter. His work has been published in The Lifted Brow, Helmet Magazine, Six Years Later, Rabbit Poetry Journal and Voiceworks. He has written for and performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival as well as 'Short and Sweet,' and the Edinburgh and Melbourne Fringe Festivals.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
There will be coffeeeeeee! Bring a pillow or a rug if you like. Bring your writing equipment – lap top or pen and paper – and, best of all, bring your inspiring ideas that you've been waiting to test out way way late! Hope to see you on the night!
Posted by Sean M Whelan at 11:52 PM 12 comments:
Big Feats - Little Feat 2013 Cabaret Fundraiser
From one Independent Theatre fundraiser into another. On Monday night, Feb 18th, I'll be one of many performers appearing at a special Cabaret fundraiser to try and raise some money for Little Feat Theatre. They have a great little performance space on St Georges Road. I've already seen some wonderful productions there and very happy to do my bit to ensure they put on many more.
Here's what they have to say about it:
Hi there, everyone and happy new year!
We are holding an exciting fundraising event for Little Feat Theatre on MONDAY February 18th, and we'd LOVE to have your support!
It's now been 2 years since Feat In Space (the company) began and a year of running our own venue, the Little Feat Theatre. During the past year we've had an exciting (and exhausting) range of events, including our first Friday play readings held every month, our own productions and some great visiting productions too.
We've got some wonderful plans for 2013, kicking off with a fantastic fundraising soiree party!
WHY A FUNDRAISER?
Running a theatre venue, you'll appreciate its pretty hard to balance the books as its really a labour of love. This year we want to spread the word wider about Little Feat and hire a publicist – but first we need the money to pay them!
The soiree night will be on Monday, February 18th at local Thornbury tapas restaurant, Perri on St Georges Road. There will be delicious tapas finger food and a variety of live entertainment for pleasure, as well as a silent auction of local businesses services and products. Put it in your diary, we'll let you know more details soon. Tickets $50 (drinks not included but there is a full bar operating on the night).
We hope to make $2000 in total and have set up this Pozible account with an aim to make $1000 (the rest at the fundraiser event) for those who are keen to support us but can't make it on the day. This way no donation is too small to make an enormous difference to us.
Friday 26th April. DJing at Going Down Swinging Warehouse Party. 18 Dawson Street, Brunswick, 3056. 8pm.
Saturday 27th April. Pipe Up Poetry Slam. Stockroom. 98 Piper Street, Kyneton, Victoria 3444. 6pm.
Sean M Whelan
Prose, poetry, my photos and random thoughts. I hope you enjoy hanging out here in the garden of the Evil Bunny.
there's more to the internet than LOLCATS.
EZB online. Oh yeah!
The Home of alicia sometimes. Bass Player, Radio Announcer, Artist and Super Fox Poet.
Blog Eats Poet - Nathan Curnow
The Greatest Face Painter in the Universe
Cordite Poetry Review
The 9th incarnation of the amazing Davey Dreamnation
Small Change Press
Justin Heazlewood - The Bedroom Philosopher.
Going Down Swinging
The Wonderful World of Klare Lanson
Sleepers Publishing
3RRR's Aural Text. Stream It Live!
I Ate A Bee
Amazing Melbourne singer/songwriter Chris Chapple. You must hear him.
Super pleased to be doing my first feature at thi...


Hair has won out over Harry Potter at the weekend box office.
Mandy Moore's animated musical "Tangled," a new take on long-haired fairy-tale princess Rapunzel, sewed up the No. 1 spot with .5 million in its second weekend. That raised the movie's domestic total to .5 million.
"Tangled" debuted in second place over Thanksgiving behind "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1," which had been at the top of the box office the two previous weekends.
"Harry Potter" slipped to No. 2 this weekend with .7 million. The next-to-last chapter in the franchise about the teen wizard lifted its domestic haul to 4.2 million.
PLAY IT NOW: Would Daniel Radcliffe Do Another 'Harry Potter' Film?


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