text:
See http://www.smartvoter.org/ca/state/ for current information.
Alameda, Contra Costa, Sacramento, San Joaquin Counties, CA November 4, 2008 Election
Full Biography for Abram Wilson
Member of the State Assembly; District 15
http://wilsonforassembly.com/bio.htm
San Ramon Mayor Abram Wilson and his family have been residents of the 15th Assembly District for thirty-three years. He is married to Dr. Karen Wilson, a retired dentist, and they're the parents of two adult children - Natausha and Nate.
Mayor Wilson was elected to the San Ramon City Council in November 1999, appointed Mayor in 2002 and then became San Ramon's first elected Mayor in 2003. He was unopposed in both his 2005 and 2007 Mayoral re-election campaigns.
Revitalizing a stagnant business/government relationship, Mayor Wilson helped create numerous civic projects that enhanced the quality of life for city residents. He also was instrumental in developing a police and fire Disaster Communication Plan for Bay Area cities and counties. Plus, under Mayor Wilson, San Ramon will be soon breaking ground on a $900 million downtown project + without raising taxes or fees.
Prior to his election to the City Council, Mayor Wilson served thirteen years on the San Ramon Arts Council. He was then appointed to the San Ramon Parks and Community Services Commission where he served for ten years. Last year, Mayor Wilson was Chairman of the Contra Costa County Mayors Conference where he worked to manage growth and protect local communities from excessive development.
Mayor Wilson was an investment banker for thirty years including work as a federal funds trader while Vice President of Wells Fargo Bank. As a Principal and Senior Account Executive at Bank of America, he gained valuable expertise about monetary policy, budget management and helping companies create new jobs.
A United States Army veteran, Mayor Wilson earned a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry at Central Ohio State University and he is very proud that both of his parents were public school teachers.
Next Page: Political Philosophy
Created from information supplied by the candidate: September 21, 2008 12:04


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YEAR END: Looking ahead to 2020 can be a great conversation starter
Tony Adame @t_adame
Ready to start the perfect conversation at tonight's New Year's Eve parties? Here's some forward-thinking, 2020-specific topics that will get the ball rolling and the champagne flowing.
So you're at that great New Year's Eve party and you need to start a conversation that's just as great.
What better way to do that then to talk about the upcoming year that's on tap?
Here's your conversation-starting, party-approved topics when it comes to knowing what's what in 2020. All are guaranteed to get you through at least another glass (or two) of champagne while you wind down the clock on 2019.
Don't worry, we cut a wide swath - sports, politics, history, movies.
We've got you covered:
"Who's gonna win the national championship?"
We've got an all-timer on tap (we hope) for the College Football Playoff Championship game on Jan. 13 in New Orleans when undefeated LSU takes on undefeated, defending national champion Clemson in New Orleans. Want to drop some LSU knowledge? Quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow left Ohio State with two years of eligibility remaining when current Washington Redskins quarterback Dwayne Haskins was named the starter. Want to drop some Clemson knowledge? Head coach Dabo Swinney got his unusual first name because his older brother called him "Dat Boy" when they were infants — which sounded so much like "Dabo" that the nickname stuck. Want to really impress 'em? Know future locations for CFP championship games — 2021 in Miami, 2022 in Indianapolis, 2023 in Los Angeles and 2024 in Houston.
"Seen any good movies lately?"
The Golden Globes are Jan. 5, and the Academy Awards aren't far behind. Movies like "The Joker," "The Irishman" and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" scored a lot of Golden Globe nominations and are all ones you can guarantee someone has seen, and if you want to get deep in the weeds you can hit "Marriage Story" or "Waves" as critical darlings to turn your new friends onto. Let's just make sure nobody brings up Star Wars. Want to look ahead? Sequels to popular franchises like "Bad Boys," "Wonder Woman" and "James Bond" are all on the way in 2020, as is a trippy, nightmarish verson of Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel "Dune" from acclaimed director Dennis Villeneuve ("Arrival," "Sicario," "Blade Runner 2049") and starring Timothee Chalamet.
"The Greatest Generation ... for real, though."
Don't be afraid to drop some real history on your fellow partygoers. We'll honor the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in 2020, when the United States and its allies defeated the "Axis" — Germany, Japan and Italy. Any chance you can get to spread this particular piece of information, do it. Each year we have fewer and fewer WWII veterans —people who made an unbelievable sacrifice that is very difficult for us to comprehend in this day and age, and protected the way of life we still enjoy to this day.
"Anybody still care about the Olympics?"
Yep, there's a Summer Olympics in 2020. It's in Tokyo, which previously hosted in 1964. For the people who do actually still care about the Olympics, you can drop a few useful tidbits about the upcoming games, which will have its opening ceremonies on July 24. Notably, baseball and softball are back for the first time since 2008, and surfboarding and skateboarding are Olympic sports for the first time.
"Who's gonna win the election?"
Maybe gauge your audience before you share this particular conversation starter, but our guess is that somebody else might bring it up first. What's a word for something that's over-the-top, all-consuming and brain-melting all at once? That's how you can describe the upcoming 2020 presidential election, as incumbent (and now, impeached) President Donald Trump tries to avoid being the first president in 28 years to not win a second term. The last to do it? Sitting president George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton in 1992. One thing Trump has going his way? No one has any real idea who he will run against.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


How do they make so much money?
How can hedge fund firms with fewer than 100 employees make as much profit as firms with thousands of employees?
We live in a very, very rich country. Yet we seem to be utterly consumed by a collective hysteria that we're about to go broke. Historians are certain to look back at this period and wonder why the richest country in history consumed itself in a struggle over how many teachers to fire.
Just take a look at the latest reports on what the top hedge fund managers haul in. In 2010 John Paulson led the list with a record $4.9 billion in personal earnings. That's a whopping $2.4 million an HOUR. Here's a factoid to make you wretch: It would take the median US household over 47 years to earn as much as Paulson pocketed in just 60 minutes. And, every hedge fund manager pays a lower tax rate than the average family.
The top 25 hedge fund earners took in $22.07 billion in 2010. Thanks to a generous tax loophole these billionaires will pay a top tax rate of 15 percent instead of 35 percent. Closing that loophole on just those 25 individuals – just 25 guys who wouldn't miss a penny of it — would raise $4.4 billion, which is enough to rehire 126,000 laid-off teachers.
Wait a sec. This is America, not Russia. Don't we want our entrepreneurs to go out there and earn as much as possible? We don't want to punish the successful who are building up our economy, do we?
Maybe that's a strong argument when you're talking about the CEO billionaires of Apple and Google and other successful companies that make products we use. But when it comes to financial billionaires, we don't even know what they do for a living.
Each and every day I ask people and I get a blank stare or something like: "They invest. They make money." Sure enough, but how do they make so much money? Where does it come from? How can hedge fund firms with fewer than 100 employees make as much profit as companies like Apple with tens of thousands of employees?
This much we know. They speculate. The place bets. They jump in and out of markets at lightening speeds. They have secret betting formulas just like card counters in Vegas. And as any state attorney general can tell you, a good number of them cheat by betting with illegal insider tips, front-running trades, sneaking in trades after markets close and so on. The entire industry is barely regulated as it plays with a bankroll of $2.2 trillion that comes mostly from enormously rich investors. You can bet the next crisis will bubble out of this vast and murky casino.
I have yet to hear a convincing argument that financial billionaires produce economic value commensurate to what they earn. And if they don't, that means they are siphoning off the wealth from the rest of our nation. Either we do something about it or we'll watch our standard of living crumble.
Blah, blah blah. We've heard it all before. We know that super-rich financiers are gaming the system. We know they pay low taxes or none at all. We know they're stashing their cash in offshore accounts. But now that the economy isn't crashing anymore, it seems there's nothing we can do about it. We just have to learn to live with a new kind of aristocracy. Get used to it.
) is a modest set of taxes on Wall Street trading – e.g. 0.25% (1/4 of a percent) on a stock purchase or sale and 0.02% (1/50 of a percent) on the sale or purchase of a future, option, or credit default swap. These rates are proportional to the actual transaction costs in the industry.
An FST would raise over $100 billion per year in badly needed revenue or $1 trillion over the course of a decade.This is a substantial sum of revenue, which skims the fat off of a sector of the economy that can afford to pay it.
The beauty of this kind of tax is that it grabs the financial booty before it lands in the financiers' pockets. You avoid all the lobbying over loopholes and trying to get back money that someone already has claimed as his or her own. You also avoid the entire argument about whether or not the person has really "earned" it.
By taxing financial speculation in real time, we reclaim some of the ungodly accumulation of speculative wealth in the financial sector. Everyone knows that the financial sector has grown too large for the good of our nation. Everyone knows that its size allows it to play fast and lose with our implicit guarantee of its bets. (Correction: everyone knows but Tim Geithner, who actually believes the financial sector should get even larger so it can provide more speculative services to emerging markets all over the world.) The financial speculation tax is the perfect way to put that money back to work for the common good.
Furthermore, it's the very best way to make the financial sector pay us back for all the damage it has done to the economy. Before we succumb to financial amnesia we should recall that Wall Street, and it alone, went on a massive gambling spree that crashed the economy and killed 8 million jobs. To save the system from falling into another Great Depression we bailed them out and now they are again making record profits. Meanwhile, long-term unemployment remains at record highs and states are in enormous fiscal distress.
Every American not tied to Wall Street knows that the high-stakes financial gamblers should be paying us back. The speculation tax is the very best way to do it — grab the money before they stash it in their offshore accounts.
Financial transaction taxes are high on the agenda of European nations that seem much less intimidated by their financial barons. The United Kingdom already has such a tax on stock and bond transactions, and there are no adverse effects on its financial center.
On March 8, a coalition of progressives succeeded in getting the European Parliament to endorse this Robin Hood tax by a vote of 529 to 127. This non-binding proposal if enacted would raise approximately $286 billion a year for the European Union. The G20 group of the leading industrial nations is considering such a tax, but the US and its billionaire bankers are fighting hard to keep it off the agenda.
The financial crisis has shown us the dangers of unregulated finance, and the link between the financial sector and society has been broken. It is time to fix this link and for the financial sector to give something back to society. …This money is urgently needed to raise revenue for global and domestic public goods such as health, education and water, and to tackle the challenge of climate change.
Needless to say, winning won't come easy because Wall Street is determined to kill any and all efforts to siphon money away from its casinos. The joke is that when the big boys were on their knees two years ago begging for money, this tax easily could have been a condition for bailing them out. But in truth, the Obama administration is siding with Wall Street and has come up with every lame excuse for why it can't work, even though it's working just fine in England.
Clearly, we need our own Robin Hood movement like the one organized in Europe that delivered more than 500,000 petitions to the European Parliament. And that in turn requires we develop the will to fight Wall Street.
BREAKING => Secret Fed Program Gave Billions To Goldman Sachs Unknown To Congress!
Each time I write about these issues, my editors worry that you, the readers, have given up — that nobody believes it's possible to fight Wall Street and win.
Well, I'm not giving up on you.
Les Leopold is the executive director of the Labor Institute and Public Health Institute in New York, and author of The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It (Chelsea Green, 2009).
New York's Democrat Governor Demands Mass Layoffs, Pension Cutbacks: In Order To Pay For The $14.2 Trillion Dollar Fraudulent Rothschild Banker's Bailout!
Angelides Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report: Reintroduce Glass Steagall To Save The United States.
THE U.S. CITIZEN IS TO OWN THEIR OWN MONEY NOT ROTHSCHILD!
Dodd-Frank Act Perpetuates Jimbo Carter's Failed Department Of Energy Fiasco Of 1977!
Obama Cuts $100 Billion For Higher Education, Low Income Students & Families: Feeling Bullied, Intimidated, Threatened, Cajoled, Browbeaten, Buffaloed, Hornswaggled, Seduced, Tricked, Duped, Bamboozled, Bribed, Blackmailed, Coerced Or Bought Off Yet?
← Big Sis Bull Dyke To Infiltrate U.S. Facebook & Twitter: Statists Ripping America's Moral Fabric By Orchestrating BioTerrorism & Pandemics!


Insurers seem to be getting lesser new business, as new premiums (single premium policies + new regular premium policies) drop 4.2% in the first half of the year. Last year, new policy premiums had fallen over 20% . (Source: IRDA and individual insurer disclosures) Some of the top insurers (HDFC, ICICI, Bajaj) have picked up from the massive drop last year, but other than Met Life, no one seems to have really gotten back to the highs of 2010. 2010 was, if you recall, when IRDA changed the rules for ULIPs so they would become less sucky for buyers, in terms of lower surrender charges and clearer cost disclosures. The ULIP problem has resulted in lower commissions offered to agents, and insurers have shifted, for the most part, to "traditional" policies, which aren't unit linked. However, while traditional policies have increased in sales, the investment avenues for such policies are more regulated and thus do not provide the great upside that every Indian believes is their birthright: the kosher 15%. You can also see the sizes of the premiums each of the companies have earned. LIC is out of the graph, having received over 35,000 crore (Rs. 350 billion) in the first six months. As you can see, even those that have recovered are still way behind their 2010 highs. LIC has to get to 46,700 cr. just to break even with the number in 2010 (it's done only 35,000 cr.) With potential IPOs of these insurers, the slowdown in growth must be disturbing. However, one needs to do a more detailed analysis of the industry to find out if: a) Renewal premiums are growing fast enough to offset the drop in new premiums. That means the industry gets to not lose too much while things consolidate. b) Insurer profits are dropping. Profits could still rise because of a higher cut in expenses. c) The source of insurer margins is largely (or seems to be) surrenders. If so, then surrenders of older-than-2010 policies will have continued to line margins of insurers for at least three years. Remember that prior to 2010, surrenders upto three years would result in customers getting no money at all (they forfeit the entire amount) but post 2010, policies can be surrendered anytime, and they will still get their money – minus costs already charged – in five years. So, in 2013, most of the big profits out of surrenders will have gone and the industry will need to really get lean and mean. Many of the Insurance companies are unlisted subsidiaries of listed companies (like ICICI Pru, HDFC Life and so on). While some of the arms started to see some profitability in 2011-12, they'll need to climb a wall to retain that status going forward.
Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) fell to a low 7.24% in November. However, remember that these are preliminary figures and subject to revisions later. If you look at the past data, nearly all inflation numbers that were reported as low first have been revised upwards recently. Note that even the September headline number, first announced at a 10 month high of 7.81% , has been further revised to 8.07%. And none of the numbers that were first announced under 7% initially (four months this year) have retained that status after revisions. Component wise: The shady thing seems to be manufactured goods, which is nearly 65% of the index. I don't think this is accurate and we'll only know after the revisions. RBI has a intermediate rate check meeting on Tue. I doubt they'll raise rates. But then, stranger things have happened.
SEBI has made misselling a fraudulent practice by adding a clause into the "Prevention of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices" Regulations, via a notification : (s) mis-selling of units of a mutual fund scheme; Explanation.- For the purpose of this clause, "mis-selling" means sale of units of a mutual fund scheme by any person, directly or indirectly, by─ (i) making a false or misleading statement, or (ii) concealing or omitting material facts of the scheme, or (iii)concealing the associated risk factors of the scheme, or (iv) not taking reasonable care to ensure suitability of the scheme to the buyer. At first glance this appears to be a far reaching addition because you can hardly prove (or disprove) such an allegation when it occurs. Did the agent conceal a material aspect of a scheme? How can you prove it if he said he did reveal it? The last bit (ensuring suitability of the buyer) seems even more subjective, but I suppose it could be on a "reasonable effort" basis where you can only get rapped in a very extreme case. Having gone through the rest of the "fraudulent" practices, it seems we do have a framework of subjectivity. For example: (b) dealing in a security not intended to effect transfer of beneficial ownership but intended to operate only as a device to inflate, depress or cause fluctuations in the price of such security for wrongful gain or avoidance of loss; You could easily state that most intraday "strategies" of a large size will qualify. However I believe the framework is subjective because it needs to be so: given the range of appeals available (SAT, courts) it is better to have a law that is broad and subjective, rather than create a tight and restricted rule which the big and bad jokers will easily find a way around. So overall, I don't find it such a bad deal to not have a strict definition of what misselling is. What I would like to see, however, is that SEBI investigates cases, and has HUGE penalties on extreme forms of fraud of any sort, including jail time. Today, fraudsters get away with small fines and a small period of a ban on trading. That should not be the case. If we want to deter other people from a crime, the punishment should be huge and visible. That means when they catch the big frauds, those people need to go to prison. We need to see people banned for life from the markets. We need to see fines that are so heavy they will leave the fraudsters with nothing – I mean, for a fraud of Rs. 100 cr. we should see fines of Rs. 500 cr. as punitive damages. In this respect, if a bank is found to be selling equity mutual funds to old women who come in looking for a deposit, I think the bank should be fined a minimum of Rs. 10 cr. as a deterrent. Banks seem to have the most serious offences of misselling agents who pose as "relationship managers". Misselling may be provable only in an extreme case, and with respect to mutual fund selling I think it's difficult to prove either side. Online players need to be careful; they must provide all information available (risk factors etc.) and have some defence available to state that they tried to provide "suitable" products for a buyer. For others, agents have to be careful to reveal such information pro-actively. I don't believe this regulation changes much: misselling in mutual funds has been cut down since SEBI removed entry loads and the new offer frenzy died. But I would welcome something similar in insurance and banking.
In a massive jump, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) jumped to +8.21% in October 2012. While Mining indexes slowed, the jump was because of the heavily weighted Manufacturing and Electricity indexes. While the spiky nature of this data makes it unreliable, it's important to note the heavy deviation from the downtrend. This may be explained by the Diwali effect. Production slows in Diwali in India, and has done so for hte last six years. In 2011, Diwali was in October, while in 2012 it was in November. While it might be taken as an uptrend resumption, we'll have to see a couple more months of data to see if this is real or a random outlier. The Use Based Indexes show a massive move in consumer goods data, both durables and non durables: The Index of September 2012 was marginally revised downwards, while that of July was revised marginally upwards. No large surprises on that front.
Consumer prices went up 9.90% according to the "new" CPI (a measure being recorded from Jan 2011, which is what qualifies for "new" in this context). (WPI data for November is not yet out) Component wise, we still have a Food at high levels, beyond 11%. Housing hasn't been below 10% for about a year now. (The size of the box below indicate the weight in the index) Finally, the rural folk are catching up to urban inflation: Conclusion: I think this level is too high. However, RBI looks at wholesale prices for an indicator and those are out on the 15th. I believe that with this kind of trend we should not see a reduction in interest rates (I would advocate an increase).
FinMin Pressures RBI to Prolong Housing Bubble?
In response to buyers not being able to afford property and thus not allowing builders to buy more Bentleys*, the Finance Ministry has asked RBI to consider making housing a part of the "infra" sector , which will help to increase price even more. The finance ministry has asked the Reserve Bank to consider giving infrastructure status to the housing sector, and relax provisioning norms for it so banks can extend attractive loans to buyers. RBI has mandated that banks set aside from their profits an amount equal to 1% of total standard assets in commercial real estate, which also includes housing projects. This means if a bank lends 100 towards a commercial real estate project, it will have to keep aside 1 to offset any loan to the sector turning bad. The provisioning rises to 15% of net investment in case of secured sub-standard asset. A finance ministry official confirmed the government has asked RBI to look at all possible options to provide an impetus to the housing sector. Here's why I hate this concept. Real estate is not "infrastructure". If it was, then we would be giving infra status to the auto industry, the furniture industry, the TV industry and even the toothpaste industry. Housing is not infrastructure. Infrastructure is something on top of which other things can be run – roads are, since it provides access and thus businesses can be built around it. Ports are because they facilitate transfer of goods and passengers over the sea. An Airport is. (An individual airplane is not). A house is not, and therefore the housing sector is not. Secondly, we have just seen massive housing bubbles burst in the west due to horrible policy actions of promoting housing over all other things. (We do too) Japan's real estate market hasn't recovered in twenty years, and neither has its economy. Don't tell me India is different. It is not. It's the same crap peddled with an Indian accent. The impetus is simply because RBI has provided better lending and provisioning norms for infrastructure projects. Infra projects are an NPA only if they are delayed by over 2 years, while a delay of 6 months will cause them to be NPAs if they are not an infrastructure project. This will help banks that have provided loans to builders, whose projects are now seriously delayed, since the recognition of an NPA means that banks have to provision 15.00% (initially), up seriously from the current 0.25% to 1.00%. Further, the infra sector enjoys relaxed ECB (external commercial borrowing) norms, lower initial provisioning, and some special clauses in takeout financing. But should we be giving an even higher status to real estate? The answer is no. Becuse they already have a high enough status. In " Building affordable housing by curbing bubbles in real estate ", I wrote about how we have mollycoddled this sector, pretty much at the cost of most other retail funding. We allow large tax cuts for housing I mean seriously large, compared to anything else, really. 1. You, as an individual taxpayer, get a deduction of Rs. 150,000 per year on interest paid, deducted from your income. If you think this is okay, consider that you don't get to deduct on interest in any other expense (with the possible exception of educational loans). You can't get a deduction in the interest paid for a car loan, a personal loan or even on the loan to pay the medical expenses of your family. Housing gets an elevated status. 2. You get to deduct even the principal (upto Rs. 100,000) in a combined format under section 80C. 3. Further, for a second house, you can deduct the FULL interest (without limit) from your salary or other income. In other business ventures you can deduct interest against income made from that venture, not against your salary or capital gains income. For housing, a second house's interest cost can be deducted even from your salary income! What are we telling people? Don't bother investing in a business, invest in real estate instead? That's just encouraging a bubble. 4. Capital gains when selling houses can be avoided by just buying another house. You can't do that with any other capital asset. Profit from gold? You can route that into a house and get a capital gains tax waiver; but you can't do it the other way around. This Home lending is further prioritized RBI allows banks to allocate their capital based on what they lend to. So if they lend you money for a personal loan, they have to provision some money against it, and further, they have to put a "risk weight" on it. For housing loans below 25 lakhs, the weights are lower; in effect, giving housing loans a priority over others, and this results in lower lending rates. Lending to real estate companies is now often disguised as loans to retail buyers, though back-to-back arrangements like "Builder pays your EMI" and "Upfront Loan" kinds of products. The idea here is that the builder gets the money you borrow, at a lower rate, and it doesn't even get qualified as loans to them (which distorts the data on sector concentration for banks). In this context, with so many incentives, is it sane to now classify the sector as an "infrastructure" sector? I say no, and I say let's start penalizing it now. Because of this attitude: Home sales across the country have dropped over the past year because of unrealistically high prices. The finance ministry has been trying to impress upon developers to reduce prices to improve sales. It has also advised banks to fund partially finished housing projects that are viable, if developers are willing to bring down prices. But developers say bringing down prices would be difficult unless liquidity for projects improves and interest rates for housing projects are reduced. Really? Prices will only move up if rates are reduced, sir. That's the way of every market. Can we not go down the same path that seems to have cannibalized western economies? * I am kidding. I'm sure they have better use of the money than buying Bentleys. Like buying a helicopter .
November 2012 saw a good run on the indexes, with both the Nifty and Sensex going up more than 4.5%. This is way better than November last year, which was a hugely negative 9.3%. The Sensex has done well for itself too: The last 10 years have been largely, very positive. As you can see, the Nifty graph has been, for the most part, positive. In the last ten years, YTD till November has been positive for 8 years. Prior to that, the years were mixed bags. And then, the 5 year snapshot shows you the move: (Click for larger picture) We are just 7% off the all time high and are at a new high since April 2011. December has generally been rosy but that rule was broken last year. What happens this year? Do we hit new highs in 2012 or look forward to them in 2013? I'm not wagering a guess – the trend is up, and I'm all long and loving it.
I have now had a few people complaining to me – including my own mother – that relationship managers in HDFC Bank have been strongly selling HDFC Crest, a life insurance product, while they were looking for a fixed deposit. Latest in the list is someone who is above 60, and who has had some post retirement income that needed to be safely placed. This is very very disconcerting, because this product is not at all meant for a person of that profile, including my mother. I have a detailed video of why this product is unsuitable for anyone looking for an investment avenue for their money. Let me now elaborate about why I think it is a bad idea to buy HDFC SL Crest . (First, note: all details taken from their brochure or online calculators) Salient points You pay 50K or more premium for five years You wait the remaining 5 years for a total of 10 years You can either get a "guaranteed" Highest NAV in the first 7 years or Choose one of the regular non-guaranteed plans Insurance 10x to 20x Sum assured Direct Costs of 4% of premium (years 1 and 2), 3% (year 3) and then 2% (years 4 and 5) Extras: 0.31% per month (of premium) as Admin charges Management fee of 1.35% (plus 0.5% if you take the guaranteed plan) Lower Returns with Comparable More Flexible Options Let's look at illustrations for three cases: HDFC Crest with the "Guarantee" HDFC Crest without a guarantee A mutual fund with 2% management fee, with a term plan of 10 lakhs (35 year old – I even took HDFC's own online term plan that offers 10.65 lakh cover for Rs. 2,002 per year) Assumptions: 10% return on whatever's in the fund. ( Click on any of the images to get a larger view) First, with the guarantee , the returns are substandard: (what is below is the output of their own calculator – so while my formulas show even lower returns, I presume theirs is correct and have displayed that instead) As you can see, the guarantee costs clips the return; the yield on this investment is about 5.31%. Not what you would consider very good, really. (Technical note: the "yield" is an internal rate of return. That is, what interest rate would take the same investment numbers and return the exact end value we have in the illustration. This is done in Excel using XIRR) Without the guarantee , things get slightly better: The return goes up to 5.88%. Note that I don't include tax benefits in this case, and I will elaborate later about them. The taxes one saves are elusive, and one might be able to get tax advantages in alternative investments (ELSS mutual funds or long term fixed deposits). Now let's take the online term plan for Rs. 2002 per year, and put the remaining money into a mutual fund instead. We'll have to pay out the term plan for the full tenure. But the returns are much better: This is substantially better (even better than the one in the video) in terms of returns. It is more than Rs. 30,000 higher than HDFC Crest's returns in a similar setting. Also look at the Total Death Benefit column. If you die your family will get the full term plan sum (Rs. 10 lakhs) plus whatever is accumulated in the mutual fund. This column is substantially greater than the corresponding numbers in the HDFC Crest cases. This also gives you flexibility – if you aren't in for the insurance (like those above the age of 60 with no dependants) you should ignore the insurance completely. (The return magnifies) The other huge advantage of an MF + Term plan is liquidity. The maximum lock in for mutual funds is 3 years after each investment (ELSS) with no restrictions on money redeemed afterwards. In HDFC Crest, you're locked in for five years, but even after that you can't withdraw, in total, more than 3x your original premium. (In the above example, you would be limited to total withdrawals of Rs. 150,000). Also, if you consider that this is being sold to retired people, their alternative is to buy a simple fixed deposit for 10 years . Current rates at private banks are 8.25%, and one public bank offers 9% ( PNB ). Let me take 8.25% and assume we can get it for five more years, and assume a tax rate of 20% (most people seem to come in that tax bracket anyhow) There is reinvestment risk in this option, i.e. the interest rate in subsequent years may not be as high. Also, liquidity is a problem, since you can't exit a fixed deposit without a penalty. I just wanted to illustrate these options – while you might think these are not directly comparable for one reason or the other, the point remains that to most people that are investing, these are usable options. In fact, to two people I know who are beyond the age of 60, suggesting HDFC Crest is ridiculous as they can lock in nearly 10% on a Fixed Deposit for 10 years, plus they have no use for the insurance piece. Also, these comparisons are tax neutral since equity gains and insurance returns are tax free, and all options above get the 80(C) deductions as well. Limited Insurance While this is not really being sold as an insurance plan, insurance is touted as one of the benefits. But let's look at primarily the insurance part and see what's wrong. 1. You get only 10x to 20x the annual premium as insurance ("Sum Assured"). 2. You get the GREATER of the fund value or the Sum Assured. If you pay Rs. 50,000 per year, your insurance cover ranges from Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh. Every premium you pay actually reduces the real insured amount. After two years, you would have paid Rs. 1 lakh in premium, so the insurance company is on the hock for Rs. 1 lakh less, and so on. In the images above I demonstrate how, by taking a mutual fund plus term plan, you would actually have a much higher sum assured. In fact, if you die in year 9, your family would only get Rs. 10,00,000 (1 million, or 10 lakhs) with HDFC Crest. But with the MF plus term plan option, they would get more than 14,00,000 (1.4 million or 14 lakhs). That's a 40% better alternative. (Apart from the fact that if you didn't die, you'd have made more money as well) For people above the age of 60 with kids well settled, there is hardly a need for insurance (especially if their spouse is no longer alive). Useless Guarantee The guarantee is, for the most part, useless. They say they'll give you a minimum of Rs. 15 per unit (current rates are around Rs. 10 per unit) or the highest NAV in the first seven years. The seven years is important: you get your guaranteed money only after ten years , but the highest NAV is only for the first seven . First, let's see how anyone can guarantee this kind of return. It's not coming from someone else's pocket. No one's that benevolent. Every guarantee has a cost and a structure to achieve it. Manish from Jagoinvestor explains how it's done . The concepts are of Constant Proportion Portfolio Insurance (CPPI) and Dynamic Hedging, but what happens in India is mostly a shift of money between debt and equity. As the "guaranteed" NAV gets higher and higher, more money gets locked into debt in order to make the guarantee. Next, let's look at the Rs. 15 guarantee. We all assume we buy at Rs. 10 per unit. That's a 50% return! Stop. 50% return over ten years is chicken-droppings. If you gave me Rs. 50,000 every year for five years, you've given me Rs. 250,000. Can I give you back a 50% return, i.e. 375,000 back? The return I need to give you is a mere 5.2%. Of course, because you will actually buy more units at a higher NAV (say Rs. 11 in year 2, Rs. 12 in year 3 etc.) the actually guaranteed return comes down some more. The second option – the "highest" NAV sounds very pleasing but it's fleeting. Managers will move money into debt as the equity portion rises, in order for them to be able to make the guarantee. You are in effect moving money out of the "winners" and locking the return for the future. That also means if the stock market rises over time, you are likely to miss most of the bus, as the manager try to lock in the existing NAV returns for the rest of the time. We'll see this play out when we actually analyze performance. The guarantee is an overstated piece in this pie, and should not get much attention. Plus, there is needless confusion by weasel-clauses like pay for five years, get money after ten years, but guarantee applies only on seven years etc. High Costs The cost of every instalment is quite high, it turns out. Comparable costs for a mutual fund are 0% today. Mutual funds tend to have a higher asset management fee. I've assumed it will be around 2% (versus Crest's 1.35%). However, HDFC Taxsaver, which is run by HDFC Mutual Fund (a fund house I respect very much) charges just 1.85% according to Value Research Online . Elusive Tax Benefits There are two tax benefits to insurance: a) That the total sum returned is tax free, including all gains and partial withdrawals and early surrenders. b) That the amount invested is exempt from tax under section 80(C). For a) the concept applies in many other cases as well. Equity returns are also tax free if held for over a year. Investing even in bond funds or mutual funds can give you a tax value of zero; because of indexation benefits. ( Read this article for how that works) You could invest even in Public Provident Funds to get tax free returns. For b), I throw you the assertion that for the most part, 80(C) tends to be covered by something else. 80(C) is a cumulative tax deduction, so you can spend or invest in various heads and the total deduction per year is Rs. 100,000. The other heads that apply are: Children's education fees Employee PF deducted by your company Public Provident Fund National Savings Certificates Repayment of the principal part of a home loan Equity Linked Mutual Funds (ELSS) Just my child's education costs and the PPF that I invest in add up to the 100K per year deduction. Even if people had none of the others, better than insurance would be to invest in a PPF account (Rs. 100K per year) which is an 8.5% return, tax free, and backed by the government. Finally, these tax gains are current. We've seen amendments that make tax saving methods vanish, and it might well be the case that later, tax structures change and make these investments irrelevant. All else being equal, taxes should not tip the scales in any direction. Substandard Actual Returns Lastly, let's come to how the funds have actually performed in the last two years or so. (since their inception). Let's compare the plan's NAV with that of compable mutual funds. For a mutual fund investor, the NAV is the real return over time, since the number of units bought changes only at repurchases or withdrawals. For an insurance buyer, the NAV is only one part of the story; even when there is no purchase or sale transaction, the insurers keep deducting units as some charge or the other (mortality, policy admin, etc.) So, an NAV comparison will still overstate the return of an insurance buyer, but it'll be close to what the mutual fund investor sees. Comparable funds like the Franklin Bluechip (a mutual fund) with HDFC Crest's Bluechip (a non-guaranteed fund) provides one perspective: the Crest's funds are still struggling to come on par with mutual fund returns. What about the guaranteed fund? It still is at the NAV of 10.17, with the "highest" NAV in the last two years being 10.34, achieved in Jan 2011. (A fixed deposit would be more than 15% up in this time, making it a comparable NAV of 11.5) Of course, we'll only know about the guarantee when seven years have passed and the CPPI has had time to play out the full cycle; but it's evident that it doesn't really track the returns of the Nifty. Conclusion I don't like to diss funds of any sort. They're doing their job. But most ULIPs are confusing to people, almost by design. HDFC Crest is no different and it takes a while, even for an experienced hand, to understand the fact that there are far better alternatives. When such ULIPs are sold to widows and retired people, without apparent care about whether it is useful, it's important that we bring the reality to everyone's notice. I understand that the HDFC folks are not going to be happy about this – not the bank, and not the insurance company. However, I hope they strengthen their practices and curb attempts by representatives to hard-sell this product, and stand for the cause of the small depositor. And remember: HDFC Crest is NOT a fixed deposit. It is sold by a bank representative who's only an agent. The real company behind it is HDFC Insurance. This is a different company that shares four letters with the bank. The parent shareholder of HDFC Bank and HDFC Insurance are the same, but the bank is the one you want to deposit your money with, not the insurance company. (They are not the same. Banks are safer for depositors.) Would deeply appreciate your comments. This is a long post, and it was supposed to be one.
The RBI, in the October Policy banned loans against Gold, citing that it causes speculative trading in the yellow metal. A notification has now been issued : Bank finance for purchase of gold Please refer to paragraphs 102 and 103 ( extract enclosed ) of the Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2012-13 announced on October 30, 2012, proposing that other than working capital finance, banks are not permitted to finance purchase of gold in any form. 2. In terms of extant guidelines issued vide circular DBOD.No.Leg.BC.74/C.124(P)-78 dated June 1, 1978, no advances should be granted by banks against gold bullion to dealers/traders in gold if, in their assessment, such advances are likely to be utilised for purposes of financing gold purchase at auctions and/or speculative holding of stocks and bullion. In this context, the significant rise in imports of gold in recent years is a cause for concern as direct bank financing for purchase of gold in any form viz., bullion/primary gold/jewellery/gold coin etc. could lead to fuelling of demand for gold. Accordingly, it is advised that no advances should be granted by banks for purchase of gold in any form, including primary gold, gold bullion, gold jewellery, gold coins, units of gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) and units of gold Mutual Funds . However, banks can provide finance for genuine working capital requirements of jewellers. The scheme of Gold (Metal) Loan detailed vide our circular DBOD.No.IBS.BC/ 1519/23.67.001/1998-99 dated December 31,1998, as amended from time to time, will continue to be in force. (Emphasis mine) This means no more loans against *purchase of* Gold in any form. including overdrafts with gold as security and so on . Edit : It seems this only applies to loans for the purchase of gold, not loans with gold as security. Apologies. According to a Cognizant Report , the market for Gold Loans was around Rs. 50,000 cr. (500 bn) in 2011, and of that, around 55-60% was with banks. (46% with public sector banks). The loans are of 6 months to 2 years in duration, with an interest rate of between 12% and 15%. Lending will contract to that extent over the next year or so, and borrowers will need to either return the money or provide fresh collateral to renew loans. Currently, banks lend to NBFCs (Mannapuram, Muthoot etc) which then further lend against gold. That can continue ("indirect" financing). We are likely to see a movement of the loans to the NBFCs, and further, to moneylenders and pawn shops. One argument would be that the RBI should similarly curb lending to real estate which has just about the same level of speculation. However I fully support the legislation – leverage compounds speculative interest, and loans are leverage. We should effectively cut all real estate second purchases (i.e. if a person already has a house) to only 25% of the house value.
Official figures show October 2012 Inflation (based on Wholesale Prices) at 7.45%, slightly lower that September's 7.81%. The problem is that this data is likely to be revised substantially. August data, first announced at 7.55% has now been revised to +8.01% – the first 8% plus figure since November 2011. So what seems to be 7.45% today may actually be 8% when revised. The confidence decreases as we enter into component level checks: While fuel inflation remains high, the fact that food inflation is coming down is suspect (especially after it was revised up nearly 1% to over 11% in August). Manufactured goods inflation seems to be stable, however consumer prices are more indicative of real inflation and that is nearly 10%.


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Home » Posts tagged 'indigenous peoples'
Tag Archives: indigenous peoples
"Indigenous People of the Germanites": More News from the Nationalist Fringe
May 20, 2017 7:13 am / Leave a comment
In the wake of the refugee crisis since 2014, populism, nationalism, and right-wing extremism have surged in Germany. Protagonists within this discourse frequently invoke Native American imagery for their nativist and xenophobic arguments. I have discussed aspects of their ideas and claims in earlier posts and linked them to the nationalist and Nazi ideologies of the early twentieth century:
https://frankusbeck.net/2015/05/22/indian-imagery-as-a-role-model-for-german-racism-and-nationalism-then-and-now/
https://frankusbeck.net/2015/09/17/indians-couldnt-stop-immigration-part-ii-a-national-indian-party-saves-the-german-people/
https://frankusbeck.net/2015/10/05/indians-couldnt-stop-immigration-part-iii-to-some-cultural-exchange-means-genocide/
The latest example of cross-cultural references to Indigenous peoples in German nationalism came up when I read about a ruling at the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht). The issue concerned one of the so-called Reichsbürger (Reich Citizen) groups, a movement that does not acknowledge the Federal Republic of Germany as legitimate, arguing that the German Reich, as far as international law is concerned, never ceased to exist. They refuse to pay taxes and fines and have been known to physically attack representatives of the state, such as police, court officers, and civil servants. See this informative article in The Guardian for more details on the Reichsbürger, especially on incidents involving guns and violence in 2016.
This week, the FAC in Leipzig issued a statement that it did not acknowledge the legitimacy of a particular Reichsbürger group. The problem is that German courts had a thumb rule of never engaging in any dispute with Reichsbürger over their interpretation of the law, never accepting their phony documents, nor addressing them with their self-proclaimed titles. The FAC, apparently, had addressed one such group by their own title which they then had interpreted as the court's acknowledgment of their legitimacy as an independent state. In a public statement yesterday, the court made clear that their address, in fact, did not acknowledge the group's legitimacy (see this article in German in Legal Tribune Online for more).
Where is the connection to Native Americans in all this? The Reichsbürger group had proclaimed itself as the "indigene Volk Germaniten" (the Indigenous people of the Germanites), calling their state "Germanitien" (something like "Germanitia" in German). The court had apparently addressed them as "the Indigenous people of the Germanites" in their correspondence.
I have found one of their documents online, an "accreditation certificate" for a member of the diplomatic corps of "Germanitia" in which they describe their group as a "free church," a "human rights organization," but also as the representatives of the "constitutive Indigenous people of the Germanites" who claim the right to constitute a sovereign "interim" state independent from the laws of what they see as the illegitimate state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
I could not yet verify if this particular group, or others within this movement of conspiracy theorists, are particularly invested in ideas of German Indianthusiasm or if they make direct historical comparison to Native Americans, but I find it remarkable that their argumentation follows the old nationalist idea of Germans as an Indigenous people. Their bizarre notions of international law employ both blood-and-soil ideology, as well as a vague notion of modern Indigenous sovereignty/human rights claims.


I spent part of my Christmas holiday 1991 in an A-frame cabin with a woodburning stove in the still snow-covered woods among the hills and "hollers" of Central Indiana's Brown County . But we weren't there for skiing or even simply to chill out . Instead , I was there to record the private rehearsal for the upcoming John Mellencamp tour .


Taking advantage of some sunshine to re-cover the paths although too wet to dig.
Forum fixing, new toys for me and a bit of digging on plot 29 in the sunshine.
A really great night at the NVS meeting with a talk by Medwyn Williams and a progress report from Ford Lane Allotments.
Where are the Autumn Leaves to Make Leafmould?
Where are our leaves? Is this an evil plot or have we offended the allotment lords? And where was the sun for us today?
Continuing the autumn tidy up and starting the digging.
The nights drawing in mean less time on the plot, just when I need it. Still, managed to plant the garlic, clear a bed and get a few beans.


There are large uncertainties regarding not only the future of the hydrologic cycle and water resources but also their spatial and temporal variability in the present. Many components of the water cycle are difficult to measure accurately, creating one source of uncertainty. Sparse observing networks in the Arctic create another type of uncertainty in that sampling may not be spatially representative. Water-related resource managers must take these uncertainties into account while facing other unknown factors such as the timing of supply and demand and the reliability of infrastructure. This talk will discuss techniques for identifying and where possible quantifying various types of uncertainty.


Cozy Cabin Rustics in Plymouth, NH is an authorized dealer of Hughes Furniture Products. Hughes Furniture Industries is a second generation business, founded in 1989. Hughes Furniture Industries and Motion-Eaze Recliners manufacturing facilities are located in Randleman, North Carolina, USA.
So if you are looking for Hughes Furniture products in Plymouth, Lincoln, Meredith, Waterville Valley, Laconia, Moultonborough, Holderness, Boston, Conway, Gilford and Ossipee, or if you have any questions about Hughes Furniture products, please feel free to call us at 603-238-3250 or simply stop by Cozy Cabin Rustics at any time and we would be glad to help you.


You may not be aware that, over time, slight furrowing and frowning are causing severe facial signs of aging. The brain impulsively sends messages to facial muscles to tighten and tense every day. Your instinct to wrinkle is hard-wired.
What are Botox & Dysport?
In addition to helping you reach aesthetic goals, recent research shows that a trained professional can shrink even the slightest risks of procedure like Botox.
BOTOX TREATS WRINKLES, HEADACHES AND DEPRESSION?
Botox has many beneficial application areas and effects, such as reduced sweating and wrinkles. Men and women as patients and research professionals are steadily finding new consequences to celebrate. In addition to physical improvements, for example, Botox injections may also apply positive mental and emotional effects. Supported by proper research and personal accounts, Dr. Raval shares why a procedure he performs daily might reduce his patients' headaches and improve their mood.
"My experience tells me that a man's decision to utilize Botox or Dysport is a strong combination of competition, fitness, and economics." Board-certified surgeon, MBA, and nationally-recognized Medical Director, Dr. Raval predicts the number of men who take advantage of services non-surgical procedures will continue to grow aggressively. "In a society of global competition," observes Dr. Raval, "I'm not surprised that men build up 10% of the 2.8 million Botox procedures last year." As the #1 Non-Surgical Procedure for men in his leading practice, Dr. Raval understands what motivates the men in the market.
The passage of time cannot be prevented, but the process of aging can be slowed. Knowing the internal and external factors that speed up the aging process allowed Dr. Raval to compile this simple list for your aesthetic health. He hopes this list helps his new and loyal patients to preserve and protect their natural youth.
It's just not fun! We all get wrinkles as we age. However, there are multiples things we can do to combat those little pesky lines on a daily basis. Whether you want to do something simple that's a part of your daily routine or something more aggressive, we have some answers for you!


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by YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
Joseph Kremen Memorial Fellowship
The Joseph Kremen Memorial Fellowship in Eastern Euro-pean Jewish Music, Art, and Theater, established by the family of the late Joseph Kremen, is designed to assist a researcher at the YIVO Archives and Library. This fellowship carries a stipend of $2,000 to defray expenses connected with research in YIVO¿s music, art and theater collections. A […]
Abraham & Fannie Immerman Memorial Fellowship
The Abram and Fannie Gottlieb Immerman and Abraham Nathan and Bertha Daskal Weinstein Memorial Fellowship in Eastern European Jewish Studies, established by Mr. Brian Weinstein, is designed to support travel for Ph.D. dissertation research in archives and libraries of the Baltic states, with preference given to research on the Jews of Courland and Latvia. This […]
Maria Salit-Gitelson Tell Memorial Fellowship
The Maria Salit-Gitelson Tell Memorial Fellowship supports original doctoral or post-doctoral research in the field of Lithuanian Jewish history, the city of Vilnius in particular. This fellowship, which carries a stipend of $1,500, is for one to three months of research at the YIVO Library and Archives and a public lecture by the holder.
Dina Abramowicz Emerging Scholar Fellowship
The Dina Abramowicz Emerging Scholar Fellowship is intended for post-doctoral research on a topic in Eastern European Jewish Studies leading to a significant scholarly publication. The fellowship supports research at the YIVO Library and Archives for a period of two to three months.
Aleksander & Alicja Hertz Memorial Fellowship
The Aleksander and Alicja Hertz Memorial Fellowship supports doctoral or post-doctoral research on Polish-Jewish history in the modern period, particularly Jewish-Polish relations and Jewish contributions to Polish literature and culture.
Vladimir & Pearl Heifetz Memorial Fellowship
The Vladimir and Pearl Heifetz Memorial Fellowship supports undergraduate, graduate or post-graduate research in Eastern European Jewish literature. The fellowship supports two to three months of research at the YIVO library.
Rose & Isidore Drench Memorial Fellowship
The Rose and Isidore Drench Memorial Fellowship supports doctoral or post-doctoral research in American Jewish history, with special consideration given to scholars working on some aspect of the Jewish labor movement.
Professor Bernard Choseed Memorial Fellowship
The Professor Bernard Choseed Memorial Fellowship and the Natalie and Mendel Racolin Memorial Fellowship support three months of original doctoral or post-doctoral research at the YIVO library in the field of East European Jewish studies.
Workmen's Circle/ Dr. Emanuel Pratt Visiting Professorship
The Workmen's Circle/Dr. Emanuel Patt Visiting Professorship in Eastern European Jewish Studies, established by the Van Cortlandt Workmen's Circle Community House, supports three months of post-doctoral research at the YIVO Library and Archives.
Dora and Meyer Tendler Fellowship
The Dora and Mayer Tendler Endowed Fellowship in Jewish Studies supports doctoral or post-doctoral research in American Jewish history, with special consideration given to scholars working on some aspect of the Jewish labor movement.


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Mayer Brown pro bono team secures victory for thousands of asylum seekers
Ori Lev
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Colleen Snow
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Sydney R. Fields
Stephen M. Medlock
A Mayer Brown pro bono team, along with co-counsel from the Southern Poverty Law Center, Center for Constitutional Rights and American Immigration Council, helped achieve two important victories that will ensure that thousands of people have access to the US asylum process at ports of entry on the US-Mexico border.
Asylum seekers at ports of entry on the US-Mexico border had been caught in a legal catch-22. Initially, they were told to wait in Mexico for months before accessing the asylum process. Then, the US government imposed new requirements for making an asylum claim that effectively stripped these individuals of their eligibility for asylum. On November 19, 2019, the US District Court for the Southern District of California granted plaintiffs' motions for class certification and preliminary injunction, barring the government from applying the new requirements to those who were made to wait before those requirements came into effect.
The multi-office Mayer Brown Litigation & Dispute Resolution team included partners Ori Lev, Stephen Medlock (both Washington DC) and Matthew Marmolejo (Los Angeles) and associates Matthew Fenn (Chicago), Michelle Webster, Colleen Snow, Sasha Keck (all Washington DC) and Sydney Fields (New York).
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Cybertech P.D. (1995)
12 April 2003 2 June 2020
aka Terminal Justice
USA/Germany. 1995.
Director – Rick King, Screenplay – Frederick Bailey & Wynne McLaughlin, Producer – David Lancaster, Photography – Chris Holmes Jr, Music – Michael Hoenig, Special Effects Supervisor – Laird McMurray, Production Design – Tim Bider. Production Company – Spectacor Films/Promark Entertainment Group/Videal GmBh/Action Pix Productions
Lorenzo Lamas (Sergeant Bobby Chase), Kari Salin [Wuhrer] (Pamela Travis), Tod Thawley (Hiroshi Takamura), Chris Sarandon (Reggie Matthews), Peter Coyote (Deacon Vivyan), Barry Flatman (Lieutenant Phillips), Lori Heath (Alice), Barry Yourgrau (Brady), Colin Green (Efram), Lynne Cormack (Captain Polansky)
The year 2008. Police sergeant Bobby Chase's partner is killed while they are pursuing a suspect during an unauthorised surveillance on Reggie Matthews, the CEO of a corporation that produces ultra-violent Virtual Reality games. In disgrace, Chase is partnered up with Hiroshi Takamura from the Cybertech division who plugs into a hi-tech system that monitors action through Chase's lens implants. Chase becomes involved with Pamela Travis, a virtual sex star that he and his late partner were moonlighting as bodyguards for. Hiroshi has Chase investigate the mysterious case of two separate murders in which both the dead girls are identical. The trail leads Chase back to Reggie who is masterminding a blackmarket cloning operation. However, Chase's persistent attention provokes Reggie to attempt to kill him, abduct Pamela and force Chase to a showdown inside a deadly Virtual Reality game.
Cyberpunk is a genre that has met with relatively little success on film. There have been odd efforts like tv's Max Headroom (1985, 1987-8), Wild Palms (1993) and Almost Human (2013-4) and films like Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Strange Days (1995) and New Rose Hotel (1998). Usually it is only a backdrop that has been co-opted for various killer cyborg action scenarios. In the downmarket arena of the direct-to-video action film there have been some odd successes though – the likes of Nemesis (1993), Cyborg2: Glass Shadow (1993) and Cyborg3 (1994).
A Lorenzo Lamas film with a title like Cybertech P.D., alternately known by the even more cliched action movie title of Terminal Justice, does not exactly give much inspiration up front – it seems to promise to be nothing more than a tedious futuristic copy of RoboCop (1987). The surprise is that Cybertech P.D. actually goes from zero expectation to being a quite decent Cyberpunk film.
The script manages a more than competent airing of the Cyberpunk milieu – commuter beltways, houses with AI personalities that give reports and temperature readings when the owner comes in, the hero's infrared adaptable lenses that get taken over and used as live-feed monitors by the geek tech support, virtual crime scene simulations, the Neal Stephenson-esque image of a former container facility turned into a hotel.
Police officer Bobby Chase (Lorenzo Lamas) and virtual sex star Pamela Travis (Kari Wuhrer)
There is a captivating story, which builds an intriguing thriller plot up out of the initial oddity of two identical murdered girls and then segues into the trail of a missing cloning specialist. The themes of cloning, Virtual Reality, virtual sex and the Cyberpunk future are wielded with a confident assurance. The Virtual Reality scenes even obey the rules of VR illusion that many of these films flagrantly abuse. There are all sorts of amusing side touches – especially the scenes where Lorenzo Lamas recruits geek technician Tod Thawley into meeting a hooker and sends him into the fray only to realise he hasn't had any actual sexual experience outside of VR. The ending makes a particularly sardonic twist on the legal definition of a clone.
On the minus side, Rick King is not much an action director – although there is one good scene where Lorenzo Lamas and Kari Wuhrer are attacked in a restaurant by a lethally-armed remote-controlled model helicopter. The upside is that this is a film that has a script good enough to carry it and does not need action scenes. If nothing else, Cybertech P.D. deserves some attention as a Lorenzo Lamas action film that can also manage wind in a discussion on the works of Claude Monet.
Trailer here
Director: Rick King
Actors: Lorenzo Lamas, Kari Wuhrer, Chris Sarandon, Peter Coyote, Barry Flatman
Themes: Cyberpunk, Virtual Reality, Videogames, Clones and Cloning, Law Enforcement in Fantastic Cinema, Films of 1995
Haphead (2015)
Virtual Combat (1995)
The 6th Day (2000)
Appleseed Ex Machina (2007)
Nirvana (1997)
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Xchange (2000)
Judge Dredd (1995)
After Yang (2021)
Seobok (2021)
BigBug (2022)
LX 2048 (2020)
A Glitch in the Matrix (2021)
Bliss (2021)


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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the '1980s' tag.
High in the '80s
Monday, August 20, 2012 in Class Reviews, Dancing | Tags: 1980s, chakras, inspiration, yogadance | 3 comments
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how my summertime dancing has pretty much worn me down to the bone, so I guess it was a blessing that there were no 5Rhythms events on the calendar this past weekend. Instead, I was able to attend something much lighter and less intense—an '80s-themed YogaDance class led by Nikki, who admitted to being sick and feverish but still managed to be her usual firecracker self.
To be honest, at first, the '80s theme almost scared me away. I was born in 1980, so I never felt particularly connected to the songs that made the decade. I mean, for most of that time period, I was listening to Rainbow Brite books on tape, Jem and the Holograms cassettes, or music that came along with my Barbie and the Rockers doll. It wasn't until the '90s when I started to fully understand the music of my times; you know, classics like Kris Kross' "Jump," Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do (I Do it For You)" (which can make 12-year-old girls in love with their classroom D.A.R.E. officer weep…true story), and, of course, "Ice, Ice Baby."
The tipping point that got me to go to the '80s class was the fact that a decent number of people had already RSVP'd, and, well, I'm beginning to understand and appreciate the power of a group. I'd get to dance, sneak in a "doesn't-feel-like-exercising" workout, and be around some fun people. I realized that I genuinely wanted to be part of the party!
…And a party it was! There were scarves! We "Vogue"d! Heck, we even re-created the chair/water scene from Flashdance's "Maniac"!
However, it took me a while to get into the groove. The premise of YogaDance is to move through the chakra system; most classes start with the lower "feeling" chakras and work their way up into the "speaking" and "thinking" chakras. I was so much in my head at the start of class that diving first thing into the muladhara and swadhisthana chakras just didn't feel natural. I struggled to find my sultry cat during "Stray Cat Strut" and may have let George Michael down with my half-assed rendition of "I Want Your Sex." I'm curious how my movement may have been different had these numbers come later in class, after I worked through the mental chatter.
The disconnection I was feeling was unsettling, so I thought back to the reason I came to the class: The power of a group! I shifted my attention to everyone else, being aware of not just my own movement but of everyone around me—fully acknowledging their smiles, exuberance, and connection to the music. I loved seeing YogaDance newbies just let it all loose, watching fellow dancer Suzie rock out like Cyndi Lauper, witnessing women belt out the lyrics to "Tainted Love." Before I knew it, I had been infected (with love!). People frequently tell me that my passionate movement inspires them to dance deeper, but that Friday night I really needed others to be my lighthouse.
Even with the '80s theme, Nikki constructed appropriate ways to dance into the more sentimental upper chakras. She used a beautiful ballad version of "Time After Time" (by Cassandra Wilson) as music for an Irish circle dance that may have brought tears to my eyes. (OK, it did.) For our last song, Joe Cocker's "Up Where We Belong" was the soundtrack to our individual prayer dance. I loved how some people bust out into a full-blown lyrical dance (me) and others sat in stillness but yet bursting with gratitude. Everyone's prayer was one of love, but they were expressed so uniquely.
I didn't even realize it at the time, but Nikki sneakily led her class for an additional 30 minutes. The hour-long class I was originally reluctant to take had grown into 90 minutes without my knowing, and I have to thank not just Nikki but every other person in that studio for showing me just how fun an evening of INXS, Michael Jackson, and The Cure can be.


text:
AJ Armstrong jury deadlocked in double murder trial
Thread: AJ Armstrong jury deadlocked in double murder trial
KambingSociety
https://abc13.com/aj-armstrong-jury-...trial/5270608/
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- What was unpredictable by close observers of the double murder trial against A.J. Armstrong was whether he was guilty or not guilty of killing his parents.
This gave rise to the possibility of a hung jury.
On Thursday, just a couple of hours after jurors resumed deliberating the 19-year-old's fate, the panel told the judge it was deadlocked.
This was in the midst of the second day of deliberations, which began Wednesday afternoon. Jurors informed the judge of the deadlock with four and a half hours total of deliberations.
RELATED: A.J. Armstrong jury ends first day of deliberations without verdict
The teen defendant faces life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years if he is convicted of capital murder. He was first detained back in July 2016, at the age of 16, after his parents, Antonio and Dawn Armstrong, were found with gunshot wounds in their Bellaire-area family home.
So far, the jury asked to examine the Armstrong home security logs, text messages between A.J. and his parents, an ominous note left at the scene and the written magistrate warnings when A.J. was arrested.
ABC13 legal analyst Steve Shellist indicated the length of the decision-making by jurors is open-ended.
"When you have a trial with someone so young, with so much at stake, combined with thousands of pages of documents, combined with the fact that the trial lasted for two to three weeks, those three factors would suggest that yes, they're going to take a while to deliberate. How long that is, there is no formula. There is no magic," said Shellist.
RELATED: What could happen after A.J. Armstrong jury's verdict
The expectation is deliberations won't roll over to the next week.
In all, jurors heard 11 days' worth of testimony in this high-profile case.
JULY 29, 2016 - THE MURDERS
Inside the townhome of Antonio and Dawn Armstrong, the couple, who were owners of a gym in the Bellaire area, were found shot in their bedroom. Both sustained wounds to the head.
Dawn had died when police arrived at the scene. Antonio, who had played professional football and then retired to become a trainer and motivational speaker, held on but was slipping away as hours passed.
Police were informed of the shootings through a phone call to 911 by their 16-year-old son A.J.
Investigators were told by A.J. an intruder pulled the trigger, but they later found nothing out of place inside the home and no signs of a scuffle.
Police also stated A.J.'s sister was at home at the time of the shootings.
A.J. was taken into custody, charged with capital murder.
https://www.click2houston.com/news/d...rations-friday
After two days of apparent deadlock, the judge presiding over the trial of A.J. Armstrong announced a mistrial on Friday.
Jurors attempted to resolve their differences but were not able to do so.


text:
An evaluation of speed management measures in Bangladesh based upon alternative accident recording, speed measurements, and DOCTOR traffic conflict observations
van der Horst, A.R.A.
Thierry, M.C.
Vet, J.M.
Rahman, A.F.
With 21,000 people annually killed in road traffic (estimated figure by World Health Organization), Bangladesh has one of the highest fatality rates in the world. Vulnerable road users (VRUs) account for over 50% of road traffic casualties, and 70% of casualties occur in rural areas. As in many Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs), the official road accident statistics are incomplete and biased. Safe Crossings (Netherlands) and the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research Bangladesh (CIPRB) (Bangladesh) received permission from the Bangladesh government in 2014 to design and implement an integrated speed management program (consisting of a combination of small-scale infrastructural measures, active community involvement and road user education) at three locations where a national highway intersects small communities. The infrastructural countermeasures to improve road safety consisted of speed humps, rumble strips, signs and road markings and were designed following the Dutch road design guidelines. In a Before–After study design, we used a combination of three research methods to monitor and evaluate the road safety interventions. We created our own traffic accident recording system with trained local record keepers, we conducted laser-gun speed measurements of motorized traffic (both at intervention and control locations), and we applied the Dutch Objective Conflict Technique for Operation and Research (DOCTOR) for observing serious traffic conflicts at the intervention locations. The latter was based upon DOCTOR scores from video recordings of the behaviour at the three experimental locations Before and After the interventions. Prior to installing the intervention program, the three locations combined had, on average, about 100 serious accidents, 10 deaths, and 200 injured people on a yearly basis. In April 2015, all infrastructural measures were completed. In the after period (till the end of January 2016), the alternative accident recording system showed a 66% reduction in the number of serious accidents, a 73% reduction in the number of injured people, and a 67% reduction in the number of people killed. The unobtrusive laser-gun speed measurements resulted in a net reduction of 13.3 km/h (or 20% in relative terms) on average at the intervention locations by taking the general speed development at the control locations into account. According to Nilsson's power law this would result in a 59% reduction of the number of people killed, well in line with the actual accident figures. The total number of serious conflicts (only DOCTOR scores 3, 4, and 5) was significantly reduced from 64 serious conflicts per location in a 4.5 h period Before to 29 serious conflicts in the After period, on average (Poisson distributed variable, p < 0.01), or a 55% reduction in relative terms. By including the traffic volumes, the reduction in conflict risk overall is 54%. Moreover, the severity of conflicts was reduced in the After period with only one most severe conflict (DOCTOR score 5) left. Buses represent the largest portion of road users involved in serious conflicts at all three locations, followed by cars and CNGs (Compressed Natural Gas vehicle). By far, the most frequently occurring conflict is of the type head-on conflict between an overtaking bus or car that is encountering a road user in opposite direction (for the greater part a CNG). All three evaluation measures point to a similar impact of the intervention program and unveil an improvement in road safety between 54% and 60%. The speed-reducing measures indeed considerably reduce the speed of motorized traffic, both the mean speed and 85th percentile values, both the number and severity of serious conflicts are reduced, and the actual number of accidents has decreased. It appears that Nilsson's power law for the relation between a difference in mean speed and the change in the number of accidents also applies to LMICs. Speed management measures as common in high-income countries appear to be also effective in LMICs. For evaluation purposes of road safety impacts, a Traffic Conflicts Technique approach (also developed in high-income countries) seems valid and effective as well for application in LMICs. As there are thousands of traffic black spots with similar characteristics as the three intervention locations in Bangladesh, this integrated approach may well offer similar road safety improvements elsewhere.
PCS - Perceptual and Cognitive Systems
Safe and Clean Mobility
Countermeasures
Road user behaviour
Speed management
Traffic conflicts
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:60378db5-433d-4de4-8812-4f955bc2199b
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2016.05.006
Transportation Research Part F, 46 (Part B)


text:
Home / Honda News and Reviews
By Parks McCants G+ Jan 18 2018 - 4:54pm
Honda's most fuel efficient 2018 Civic Hatchback is not sold in the U.S.
This week in Honda News: The market arrival of Honda's most fuel-efficient Civic Hatchback is announced in Great Britain. Representing the next generation of the world MPG record holder, the final variant in Honda Motors Company's 10th generation Civic lineup, will not be sold in the U.S...
We that follow the Honda brand recognize the Tokyo headquartered industrialist, as a world-market leader in the production of small displacement gasoline engines, generators, snow blowers, garden rototillers, scooters, motorcycles, cars, and light trucks. In fact, Honda is the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines, and motorcycles. It's also Japan's 4th largest automaker, and number 5 in the United States, with Accord, Civic, CR-V, and the Odyssey minivan, posting segment-leading sales growth.
The Honda brand is recognized in the United States as a leader in fuel efficiency, durability, and long-term low cost of ownership. Yet, there's one engine technology that Honda does not present in its North American lineup, a majority automotive propulsion preference in Europe and beyond.
This 2018 Honda Civic Hatchback completes the offering in Great Britain and beyond
While the 1.5 Liter direct injected and turbocharged 4 cylinder VTEC gasoline engine powers the most fuel-efficient Honda Civic variant sold in the U.S., Europe's MSRP Guinness Book of Records holder finds its motivation from yet another petroleum distillate - Diesel fuel. As announced today in Great Britain, the final, and newest Civic Hatchback variant to roll off of the assembly line in Swindon, is i-DTEC diesel engine powered, and manually shifted -- something you won't find in the United States. Read the British announcement here.
While Diesel is not dead in the U.S., Honda will have nothing to do with it
Looking to the E.P.A. approved Diesel powered car list for 2018, only 11 nameplates from 5 makers make it into the U.S. The reason for this goes well beyond Diesel Gate, although that presents a major hurdle in Diesel powered car and light truck marketing. At best, according to the #1 importer of Diesel power to the U.S., JLR (Jaguar, Land Rover,) diesel motivates less than 15% of light truck, and 9 to 10% of the maker's car sales in North America -- that's a very small niche market.
From where I sit, the closest competing brand offering to Honda Civic Hatchback is the Chevrolet Cruze. And although it's available in Diesel, I've yet to encounter one on the sales lot or the road. In other news, it's forecasted that due to heightened air quality mandates, Diesel is effectively dead in the United States by mid-decade 2020. In automotive development time, that's tomorrow morning. looking for extreme Civic Power?
The introduction of Honda Clarity and Insight kills the possibility of a Diesel powered Civic
Unlike Europe, where 40+ percent of all passenger cars run on Diesel, U.S. consumers prefer unleaded gasoline. This long-running trend in the U.S. stems from retail fuel availability, stringent EPA mandates, and mainstream multiple-model-common-line auto manufacturing production and promotion. With 377,286 Civics sold to U.S. consumers in 2017, Honda's bread and butter transportation conveyance sets yet another record year without a Diesel powered variant.
Beyond higher fuel efficiency afforded by high compression, low displacement Diesel engines, lays an exhaust emissions particulate concern. Honda sees a viable future in electrification, as demonstrated through Clarity and Insight, a hybrid electric compact sedan that will come off the same production line as Civic and CR-V. I anticipate the application of Honda's 2 electric motor hybrid system to Honda Hatchback sooner than later -- its 50+ MPG rating will render Diesel mute in the U.S...
Honda News and Reviews
Honda Civic News, Pricing and Reviews
Honda's Water Vapor Clarity Fuel Cell That May Never Catch On With Public
Congress Must Pass The RPM Act To Save The Aftermarket Industry And Save The Racecars
Amazon Sells Counterfeit Honda Parts Warning
Kia And Hyundai Combined Outsell Honda In The U.S. For First Time
Lucid Air Finishes Runner-Up For North American Car Of The Year 2022
Honda's Plug-in Hybrid Clarity Tops List of the Hottest-Selling Used Vehicles In America
2022 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport Touring Review - Best of the Bunch
Car Repair Stress Cure with ASMR Brake Job
Honda Launches All-New 2022 Civic Si - You Had Me At Rev-Matching
Why the Honda Fit is the Best Car for the Money
2022 Honda Civic Tops Tesla Model 3 In IIHS Safety Testing In Three Ways
2022 Honda Civic Touring Review and Photojournal - Still Fun at 50
Honda AC Failed? A Condenser Failure May Be Covered Under An Extended Warranty Program
Honda Announces Its Next EV - Prologue - Here's When It Arrives
New '22 Honda Civic Hatchback Updates and Images - Yes the Stick Remains
Helio Castroneves Captures His Legendary Fourth Win at Indy 500
Honda Clarity: The Hybrid, Fuel-Cell, EV That Few Know About


text:
package org.ovirt.engine.core.dao;

import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.equalTo;
import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.not;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertThat;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
import static org.junit.Assert.fail;

import java.util.List;

import org.junit.Test;
import org.ovirt.engine.core.common.businessentities.storage.ImageStorageDomainMap;
import org.ovirt.engine.core.common.businessentities.storage.ImageStorageDomainMapId;
import org.ovirt.engine.core.compat.Guid;

public class ImageStorageDomainMapDaoTest extends BaseDaoTestCase {

    private static final Guid EXISTING_DOMAIN_ID = new Guid("72e3a666-89e1-4005-a7ca-f7548004a9ab");
    private static final Guid EXISTING_DISK_ID = new Guid("1b26a52b-b60f-44cb-9f46-3ef333b04a35");
    private static final Guid EXISTING_IMAGE_ID = new Guid("c9a559d9-8666-40d1-9967-759502b19f0b");
    private static final Guid EXISTING_IMAGE_ID_WITH_NO_MAP_ENTRY = new Guid("f9a559d9-8666-40d1-9967-759502b19f0f");
    private ImageStorageDomainMapDao dao;

    @Override
    public void setUp() throws Exception {
        super.setUp();
        dao = dbFacade.getImageStorageDomainMapDao();
    }

    @Test
    public void testGetAllByImageId() {
        List<ImageStorageDomainMap> result =
                dao.getAllByImageId(EXISTING_IMAGE_ID);

        assertNotNull(result);
        assertFalse(result.isEmpty());
        for (ImageStorageDomainMap mapping : result) {
            assertEquals(EXISTING_IMAGE_ID, mapping.getimage_id());
        }
    }

    @Test
    public void testGetAllByStorageDomainId() {
        List<ImageStorageDomainMap> result =
                dao.getAllByStorageDomainId(EXISTING_DOMAIN_ID);

        assertNotNull(result);
        assertFalse(result.isEmpty());
        for (ImageStorageDomainMap mapping : result) {
            assertEquals(EXISTING_DOMAIN_ID, mapping.getstorage_domain_id());
        }
    }

    @Test
    public void testSave() {
        ImageStorageDomainMap entry =
                new ImageStorageDomainMap(EXISTING_IMAGE_ID_WITH_NO_MAP_ENTRY,
                        EXISTING_DOMAIN_ID,
                        FixturesTool.DEFAULT_QUOTA_GENERAL,
                        FixturesTool.DISK_PROFILE_1);
        dao.save(entry);
        List<ImageStorageDomainMap> entries = dao.getAllByImageId(EXISTING_IMAGE_ID_WITH_NO_MAP_ENTRY);
        assertNotNull(entries);
        assertTrue(entries.size() == 1);
        ImageStorageDomainMap entryFromDb = entries.get(0);
        assertEquals(entry, entryFromDb);
    }

    @Test
    public void testRemoveByImageId() {
        dao.remove(EXISTING_IMAGE_ID);
        List<ImageStorageDomainMap> entries = dao.getAllByStorageDomainId(EXISTING_IMAGE_ID);
        assertNotNull(entries);
        assertTrue(entries.isEmpty());
    }

    @Test
    public void testRemoveById() {
        dao.remove(new ImageStorageDomainMapId(EXISTING_IMAGE_ID, EXISTING_DOMAIN_ID));
        List<ImageStorageDomainMap> entries = dao.getAllByStorageDomainId(EXISTING_IMAGE_ID);
        for (ImageStorageDomainMap entry : entries) {
            assertFalse(entry.getstorage_domain_id().equals(EXISTING_DOMAIN_ID));
        }
        assertNotNull(entries);
        assertTrue(entries.isEmpty());
    }

    @Test
    public void testChangeQuotaForDisk() {
        // fetch image
        ImageStorageDomainMap imageStorageDomainMap = dao.getAllByImageId(EXISTING_IMAGE_ID).get(0);
        Guid quotaId = imageStorageDomainMap.getQuotaId();
        // test that the current quota doesn't equal with the new quota
        if (quotaId.equals(FixturesTool.DEFAULT_QUOTA_GENERAL)) {
            fail("Same source and dest quota id, cannot perform test");
        }
        // change quota to the new quota 91
        dao.updateQuotaForImageAndSnapshots(EXISTING_DISK_ID, EXISTING_DOMAIN_ID, FixturesTool.DEFAULT_QUOTA_GENERAL);
        // fetch the image again
        imageStorageDomainMap = dao.getAllByImageId(EXISTING_IMAGE_ID).get(0);
        quotaId = imageStorageDomainMap.getQuotaId();
        // check that the new quota is the inserted one
        assertEquals("quota wasn't changed", quotaId, FixturesTool.DEFAULT_QUOTA_GENERAL);
    }

    @Test
    public void testChangeDiskProfileForDisk() {
        // fetch image
        ImageStorageDomainMap imageStorageDomainMap = dao.getAllByImageId(EXISTING_IMAGE_ID).get(0);
        // test that the current disk profile doesn't equal with the new disk profile
        assertThat("Same source and dest disk profile id, cannot perform test",
                imageStorageDomainMap.getDiskProfileId(), not(equalTo(FixturesTool.DISK_PROFILE_2)));
        // change to newDiskProfileId
        dao.updateDiskProfileByImageGroupIdAndStorageDomainId(EXISTING_DISK_ID, EXISTING_DOMAIN_ID, FixturesTool.DISK_PROFILE_2);
        // fetch the image again
        imageStorageDomainMap = dao.getAllByImageId(EXISTING_IMAGE_ID).get(0);
        // check that the new disk profile is the inserted one
        assertEquals("disk profile wasn't changed",
                imageStorageDomainMap.getDiskProfileId(),
                FixturesTool.DISK_PROFILE_2);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
A Brand New Challenge: Kim Mulkey
Trey Gowdy
On this episode, Trey sits down with Louisiana State University Head Women's Basketball Coach, Kim Mulkey, to talk about her leaving Baylor University for a brand new challenge at LSU. Kim also talks about how she feels her coaching style has changed over the years.
Later, Trey asks Coach Mulkey about some officials' calls in previous games to see how she felt about them at the time and how she feels about them now.
Follow Trey on Twitter: @TGowdySC
Keeping The Faith With Shannon Bream
Q&Trey: Who Gets Hurt When Prosecutors Don't Do Their Jobs?
The Importance Of A Republic
Q&Trey: Keeping The Civility In 2022
The Perpetual Message Of Hope
Q & Trey: What Is Your Word of The Year?


text:
HomeOzilMesut Ozil Reveals Why He Is Not Interested in Thierry Henry's Record
Mesut Ozil Reveals Why He Is Not Interested in Thierry Henry's Record
Joe Kraize Thursday, March 24, 2016
Mesut Ozil has revealed that he is not after personal records but is more interested in team success. He stated this while making it clear that he does not have the intention of breaking an assist record previously set by legendary Thierry Henry.
The German international's nice form for the Gunners has resulted to his 18 assists in 28 Premier League games so far this season but the former Real Madrid star's priority is not to break the 20-assists-in-a-season record owned by Henry
In an interview with Arsenal Magazine the 27-year old said that he only likes individual records that result to silverware.
"I don't play the game to smash records.
"I know what I can do and I know that I'm one of the best assist makers in the world, but it's all about titles for me.
"If I have a great season but we don't win anything, what does it bring me?"
Nice talk from the assist king. Of what use is the Golden Boot if the team of the player who wins it does not end up as champions in the competition?
Henry News Ozil


Australian Work Force is the agency to call for pre-screened warehouse staff. Let us find the right worker from our database of tens of thousands – efficiently – to help you keep your production line humming.
Why use us to find warehouse staff?
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Staff training and accreditation is part of the Australian Work Force suite of services to people seeking work. This means we can offer you candidates with formal training and certification for your warehouse and logistics roles.
For more than 15 years we have provided major Australian warehouses and third-party logistics companies with trained staff. Currently we provide an average of 100 workers per month to the sector.
Finding time in your day or week to hire staff can have a serious impact on your output. Australian Work Force does that job for you, with efficient professionalism. You'll get the best staffing result in the quickest time, letting your team get on with the job.
Call us today on 1300 795 965 to prevent delays when you need warehouse staff. Or you can enquire online for a prompt response from one of our recruitment specialists.


text:
Q: Open Local PDF in Android in WebView Code
    webView = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webView);
    webView.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient());
    webView.getSettings().setSupportZoom(true);
    webView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
    String url = "http://www.pdf995.com/samples/pdf.pdf";
    webView.loadUrl("https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url="+url);

This works pretty well when im trying to open an online pdf
I want the user to choose a pdf in his phone and i want to open that pdf in webview.
Is there a way to achieve this in android? I have the PDF Location. Just want to open in

A: No, that's not possible. You can't do that.
Read some websites first before creating apps.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Man arrested after bus shelter is flattened in crash near Sleaford
'Looks a mess'
Peter Hennessy
Pictures of the shelter were shared via snapchat (Image: Ms K Mosley)
A driver who crashed into a bus shelter near Sleaford in the early hours of the morning allegedly failed a breathalyser test.
Lincolnshire Police were called to Heckington at 12.22am on Tuesday, February 5.
A spokesperson said: "A 27-year-old man was arrested following a positive breathalyser test. His car had collided with the bus shelter.
"Highways were called to clear up debris (from bricks) in the road and the damage sounds significant.
Man, 49, named by police and charged with murder after man dies in alleged stabbing
"He has not been charged at present."
The bus stop is located on Heckington Road, on the way out of the village and towards Great Hale.
(Image: Ms K Mosley)
The news was shared on Facebook this morning by people who live nearby.
17-year-old boy in hospital after stabbing outside Tesco in Lincoln
One person said: "Saw it this morning. Just happy it wasn't school time when children catch the bus.
"Looks a mess."
Councillor Ken Fernandes, of Sleaford Town Council, said that the incident will not only affect people waiting for a bus, but will also cost the authority thousands.
"It will cost the district or county council thousands.
"Getting a bus shelter would probably cost around £1,700 but then to get all the work done and get it fitted you could be looking at around £3,000.
"And there is no longer a bus shelter for people to use, which isn't good for those who don't want to stand outside in the rain and wind."
Follow Lincolnshire Live
Want to get the latest breaking news sent straight to your inbox? Sign up for the Lincolnshire Live daily newsletter by clicking here and selecting Daily.
You can also follow us on Facebook - Like our Facebook page to get the latest news stories in your feed and join in the lively discussions and comments.
And to see beautiful pictures from our stunning county follow us on Instagram by clicking here.
Met Office issues weather forecast for Lincoln, Boston, Skegness, Sleaford, Gainsborough, Spalding and Grantham
Weather54 hours of solid rain is expected in some areas


Master Franchising: Is It Right For You? How Can You Minimize Time And Legal Expenses?
International Summit - Track One: How Do Franchisors Pick Countries, and How Should They Prioritize Target Countries? / Which Method of International Expansion is Right for You?
International Summit, Track 1 - What are International Licensee Candidates Looking for from Franchisors?
Conv 2012: International Summit: Track 2- International Market Update: Where is the Action Globally?
Conv 2007 : Am I ready For International Expansion?


text:
Jay Z and Beyonce Collaboration Album In The Works For This Year
Nichole Tucker
Last year, it was rumored that Jay-Z and Beyonce were to collaborate on an LP. After the 57th Grammy Award Show, that rumor became fact when producer Noel "Detail" Fisher made a statement to Billboard. The red carpet interview, which was meant to focus on Noel himself, became a revealing of Jay and Bey's upcoming project.
"I'm working with a couple of new projects that I don't want to unveil, and then me and Beyoncé and Jay-Z are actually doing something together this year."
This will not be the first collaboration between the power couple. Their first collaboration was back in 2004 when, after months of dating rumors, Beyonce and Jay-Z released "Bonnie and Clyde," a song that almost instantly made the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 list. It also made the top 10 lists in six different European countries. It was just the first of several high-ranking singles for Jay-Z and Beyonce, as they went on to record other great hits like "Crazy In Love," Jay-Z's "Lift Off," and most recently Beyonce's "Drunk In Love." Their latest duet was especially popular, making it number 7 on the US Hot R&B/HipHop Charts and spawning pop culture colloquialisms like "surfboardt."
After seeing how well fans responded to Jay-Z's collaboration with his best friend, rapper Kanye West, the Beyonce collaboration was only a matter of time, according to Noel Fisher. Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne released on 2011, producing major radio hits like "N***as In Paris" and "Otis." Beyonce's contribution to the album left fans wondering when she and her husband would do a similar project. Noel Fisher indicated that such speculation is natural when looking at artists like Beyonce and Jay-Z.
"When you think of Jay and Bey together, you think 'album.' You should already know."
Unfortunately, Beyonce did not win Album of the Year at the Grammys, a snub her fans feel was a mistake. The artist she lost to was Beck, someone most Beyonce fans have never heard of. According to them, Beyonce's influence on pop culture stomps any musical ability that other artists have, and she, therefore, should have won the Grammy.
@ladygaga the word "surfboardt" had a bigger cultural impact than Beck, sorry sis
— ryder (@ayymiPAPITO) February 10, 2015
She might not have that Grammy but at least she has a surfboardt.
— Wild Seed (@kelechnekoff) February 9, 2015
the best thing beyonce has given to us is her pronunciation of "surfboardT"
— Ryan (@Wuerks) February 9, 2015
Beyonce, of course, reacted like a good sport and had Kanye West pretend to do her dirty work again. West ran on stage at the 57th annual Grammys but walked back off causing the crowd to laugh. Beyonce and Jay-Z did win Song of the Year for "Drunk In Love," an honor that satisfied their fans.
Image via [Getty Images]


text:
This directory contains various small examples for playing and/or
experimenting with `portcl`.

---

## Buttons

`buttons` is an example of a simple Tcl/Tk based control panel that sends
messages to its Erlang (parent) process. The erlang process waits for
messages and prints them on the standard output.

Running `make test` will compile and run the erlang buttons process. Note
that you will get two identical windows, each with its own set of buttons.

The Tcl script can also be run on its own, in which case it will send
its messages to the standard output, i.e.:

> env TCLLIBPATH=../portcl-tcl ./buttons.tcl

---

More examples will be added here.


text:
Others Dream
'Others Dream' questions our relationship with nature and ourselves and ideas about female identity through unsettling, otherworldly scenes.
Female figures inhabit primordial, foreboding landscapes in poses of stillness and fluid movement that require a re-thinking of notions of vulnerability and power. These women contradict stereotypes of feminine frailty; they appear to be birthed into nature, or perhaps birthed from nature; naked yet fearless and empowered.
These images speak to a significant part of my own identity as a woman. I was born on a rural counter-culture community in Wytaliba, about 100 kilometres out of Canberra, where everyone grew their own produce on the land and washed and swam in the river. Nature had a vivid presence in our daily life that is often absent in the city, where I now live. Often, I wake and find myself yearning to be in the bush and close to flowing water.
Moonscape rock formations are merged with the female form, seamlessly blurring the lines between the human body and the ancient landscape. At dawn and dusk, the edge of slumber and first light, these figures awaken out of the darkness and live in the hours when others dream.
 Works