Why people move to Malta?
Today Malta is a well-connected investment location boasting an advanced communications setup and a business environment which gives every incentive for companies to invest, grow, innovate and compete in a global marketplace. Boasting a highly productive English speaking workforce, a European time zone, a Mediterranean lifestyle, a competitive incentives package, as well as frequent air and sea connections, Malta is a sure choice for foreign direct investment and international trade. In addition, Malta's status as an EU Member State, together with the adoption of the Euro on 1st January 2008, further enhances the country's attractiveness as a center for international business in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
If you are considering Malta as the ideal destination to invest in, you are not alone in your decision. With millennia of history, the country has always played a pivotal role internationally due to its location right at the heart of the Mediterranean. The more recent past, since independence in 1964, has seen the country develop its economy in an impressive way. Leveraging its well-educated labour force, good governance standards and strategic geographic position, the country has been very successful in recent years in diversifying its production and export structure towards higher value-added sectors and creating a strong knowledge based economy.
Malta is very strategically located at the heart of the Mediterranean with very close ties to mainland Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The island is considered the best choice for investments in knowledge based sectors and high end manufacturing. Malta is also considered an ideal logistical hub due to its excellent port infrastructure. This, together with EU membership, makes the country a perfect gateway to the Euro-Mediterranean region and further.
The success of a business is not achieved by financing or technology but is ultimately determined by people power. The labor force in Malta is a very productive one, highly educated and extremely flexible with an excellent work ethic. Our people are our greatest natural resource and the country has good availability of professional, managerial and technical staff as well as a ready supply of top graduates most of whom are technology-experienced. The link between education and industry is vital for our competitiveness. Education and HR-related strengths top the criteria for choosing Malta as an investment destination.
Malta is now an internationally recognized financial services hub. However, due to the sector's traditional and conservative approach it never experienced a real financial crisis. Indeed, the strength of the financial services sector was a critical contributing factor to the speedy emergence of Malta's economy from the recession. In fact, the reputation of the Maltese financial services sector improved considerably due to the resilience and stability it showed during the financial crisis. This did not go unobserved in the global scenario and the impeccable reputation of the local financial services is expected to fuel further growth in this sector.
There are many reasons why investing in Malta makes good business sense but it is not enough for the figures to add up and the stars to be aligned. In this day and age – where time, health, safety and true quality of life are precious commodities – Malta scores highly on all these aspects. Travelling distances are minimal, the healthcare facilities, which rank among the best in Europe, are first-class in both public and private hospitals and the crime rate is very low. However, the biggest selling point of the island nation is undoubtedly the lifestyle that investors and their families enjoy in the country. Indeed, those thinking of investing in Malta are highly recommended to visit the nation to explore and experience for themselves the wealth of history, culture, hospitality, bars and restaurants. That way they can also get a real taste of the flavorsome Maltese and Mediterranean cuisine that the country offers.
Malta Citizenship by Investment may be granted under an amendment passed in November 2013 to the Maltese Citizenship Act, Chapter 188 of the Laws of Malta. These amendments provided the framework for the enactment of LN 47 of 2014. The "Malta Individual Investor Programme (MIIP) rules provide for affluent persons of impeccable standing and repute to be naturalized and to receive Maltese citizenship on the basis of a contribution to and investment in Malta.
Citizenship approved after just 4 months processing time.
A total of 12 months to passport issue (inclusive of processing time) from date of initial residency.
Visa free travel to over 166 countries, including EU, USA, Canada.
To qualify under the regulations, a Main Applicant for Malta Citizenship by Investment must be at least 18 years of age and must meet the requirements outlined in this factsheet.
To qualify for Malta Citizenship by Investment, the main applicant is required to contribute at least €650,000 to Malta. Of this contribution, 70 per cent will go into the Fund set up by the Government of Malta and run by a board of trustees. The rest goes to the consolidated fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
This contribution and the investments below need only be made AFTER approval of the applicants' citizenship petition.
The "residence requirement" requires evidence of a genuine link with Malta. Approved Agents obtain advance written approval from Identity Malta of their clients' proposed links. Citizenship is granted after 12 months from effective date of commencement of the genuine link with Malta. Candidates must commit to some presence (but not 365 days) in Malta before citizenship is granted. Persons already resident one year prior to IIP approval already satisfy this requirement.


SGR: Okay so what we're doing today is we're interviewing my good friend Max Leaman from Prime Lending. Max is the number one volume producer of loans here in Austin Texas and before we go there. I'm going to kind of give a little history. I met Max probably about five years ago. And you know I just started becoming more of a top producing Austin listing agent having more listings than buyers and we kept getting pre-approval letters through our clients and our listings. With Max's name on them and they just went really flawlessly so I decided you know let's have Max let's just schedule lunch with Max and talk to him. And see if he can be our preferred lender. And we did. And we became friends after that. Now he's our go-to lender. So Max would give us a little history about how you got into the mortgage business. And how long you've been doing this. And how you got to be where you are now.
Max: Yes, so I've been doing this actually July 9th 2001 was my first day as a loan officer. I was selling cell phones in a car wash and a lady came through. And I sold her a couple phones and she said you'd be good at this mortgage thing you should give it a try. And I was twenty years old and didn't know what a mortgage was and figured let's see what happens so.
And kind of doing this ever since.
Max:: So you know I mean we just I've always kind of looked at it differently and always tried to take a different approach. Always trying to give back to the agents that referred me business. Obviously, customer service is the most important thing to us. And so we've just kind of been able to build a team around that.
Max: And talk about that when did you start your team, the Max Leaman team at Prime Lending?
Max: So I hired my first team member Amy 2010. Actually, my wife and I went we were celebrating our one-year anniversary. I went to Greece for ten days and it was just me by myself and I didn't really have anybody. And Amy was working at a branch that I co-managed in around Rockton. And so I reached out and asked her if she could kind of help cover for me while I'll be gone. And she did and it worked really well. And it was kind of like you know there can be more than one of them. And we really just grew from there. I've got a great marketing department. You know my team makes those maps that are sitting behind you.
Max: So you know its customer service is really everything from Realtors to buyers.
SPR: And how many people do you have on your team these days?
Max: So there's a total of 26. There are five loan officers and then we've got one assistant. The rest is all operations, processors, junior processors and my marketing depart.
SPR: Awesome. Well yeah, I wanted to give a little history about you know where you've been. How you got to be where you're at. And give a little bit of credibility, not that you need any but for those who may not be in the know for Austin real estate watching, kind of let them know how you know what you're doing so. Let's talk about Austin mortgages here. What's the history? What's been going on the last 12 months in mortgages in Austin?
Max: So you know really guidelines haven't really changed much. I mean lending is pretty easy so I'll turn that down. Letting itself is pretty easy obviously the big news is interest rates and what's going on there. And obviously, since the election, they've been on the rise. After the first Fed meeting back in December. Where they raised the rate that caused rates to come up a little bit and you know I mean they've steadily been increasing. We still have runs where we'll see decreases in rate. The last about two weeks or so we've had a pretty good run of rates coming back down and then yesterday, Friday really yesterday and today we started to see the price worsening.
SPR: So tell me what happens when I mean what cause is the rate to have a dip like that?
Max: A lot of different things in general kind of rule of thumb is bad economic news is good for it interest rates. You know people investors you always hear about when you're watching CNBC or whatever. They're always looking for this best place to put their money in. There's always what's called a flight to quality when you have bad economic news now unemployment numbers are worse than expected things like that. So you'll see people pulling their money out of the stock market and putting it into the bond market 10-year Treasury notes right. That's kind of what's going to dictate our rates getting better our rates getting worse. And you can kind of track it a little bit you know. If you watch the ten-year Treasury yield as that yield gets lower. And we're about 2.31 today but as that yield gets lower rates tend to get better. And as that you know goes higher rates tend to get worse.
SPR: Got you. And what do you think is going to happen in the America to predict a future but like if everything stays you know I don't know like it is now? Are there any predictions you see in mortgage rates?
Max: Yeah you know I think kind of through the end of this year and the next year It's reasonable to think. A couple of things I mean look rates most likely will continue to rise in my opinion. And talking with some of the experts at my company and the financial analysts and whatnot. You know their big thing is the president needs a win with regards to tax reform infrastructure spending. Things like that. Okay, so if he doesn't get that quote-unquote "win" if you will, and get things to go his way with regards to that. That could keep rates down where we're at. You know otherwise I think it's reasonable to think you're going to see rates in four and a half, four and three-quarters somewhere kind of in that range maybe by the end of the year into next year.
SPR: Okay let's talk about debt to income ratio so if you can explain that to like the average consumer and with that what that looks like?
Max: Yeah, so basically the deck ratio needs to be somewhere depending on what cap alone it is between 43 and 45 percent. There's definitely ways you can go higher on debt to income but the general rule of thumb in for qualifying you really want to be 43, 45 percent. It's a simple mathematic equation. You basically take the minimum payments on your credit report that you owe monthly, plus your proposed housing payment divided by your gross monthly income and that's your debt-to-income.
SPR: Okay and if you have a lower debt to income ratio does that affect that the pricing of the loan? Or the interest rate or anything like that?
Max: No, really mortgage rates are really credit score driven more than anything. When you put more of a down payment you know it certain breaks 25 percent for some products, 40 percent for some products. You will see a little bit better pricing. When you're looking for that kind of five to twenty percent range there's not really a difference. It's really just credit score.
Max: You guys the debt to income ratio is going to call going to determine how much you qualify to be lent.
SPR: Okay and I skipped this question before but this is something we get asked a lot in real estate. If you have a $300,000 and the interest rate goes up half a point, what would it what does that do your payment?
Max: About 80, 90 bucks. I ran some calculations earlier and I did it based on a $300,000 loan amount. And it was a half appoints about $90.
SPR: ok, what about $500,000?
Max: On a $500,000 loan it's about $150.
SPR: Okay let's switch gears just a little bit I want to talk about condos. I'm assuming that one of the cons of a condo is that you're you know you have a high HOA fee of $250, $350. Some are even higher. Does that count against your debt-to-income. How does a loan officer qualify you that with that payment?
Max: So, first of all, you'll always qualify for more of a single-family residence then you will for a condo just because of that reason. It's really difficult when someone's tr to prequalify that variable of the HOA does is really difficult to kind of pinpoint. Because they can be all over the map you can have two identical $250,000 condos and one has an HOA fee of 200 and one is 350.
Max: I subscribe to the philosophy that when pre-qualifying people I'll use one percent of the sales price as the HOA fee because I have to put something in there. So if it's 250 purchase price. I'm going to use $250 for the HOAs. Sometimes that's too high, sometimes it's a little bit low but it's really kind of the best way to gauge it.
SPR: Yeah, what's interesting is you know. I've had people that are looking for condos for simply the reason that they like don't want to do any yard work. I could get it if you're like if you don't want to do yard work, you don't want to be responsible for their for the exterior maintenance things along that those lines. But I thought people say I just don't want to do artwork. And $250 a month pays for an awful lot of hard work in my experience.
SPR: How much do mortgage rates jump up on condos vs single family homes?
Max: That's a great question. So in general if you put less than 25 percent down and the loan term is greater than 15 year, there is a condo hit to the pricing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it's three-quarters of a discount point. So you'll see that reflecting the interest rate depending on where rates are pricing. It will increase the rate anywhere from 0.125 to 0.25 percent. Not a increase you know 1/8, 1/8 of a point or so in your payment. Not huge on a $300,000 loan. a quarter points going to change it about 40, 45 bucks somewhere in that range.
SPR: Where if you put more down you don't have to pay that extra amount?
Max: So once you put 25% down again if the term is greater than 15 years of 20 25 or 30 and you put 25% down then you're not subject to the to the higher interest rate. On a 15-year you're never subjected to the higher rate. There is no condo adjustment on a 15-year loan.
SPR: Yeah, And so for a lot of people that may even realize that they look just like single-family homes. And they're in the condo regime. And a few years ago you got into this practice in Austin where I think the Austin board of realtors would want it listed as a condo even if it was in the condo regime. You had to list as a condo. Now the rule is if there are no common walls then you can call it a house. But I think that that's really a good point for you to point out. If there are no detached walls then the bank treats it as a condo. And you see more that where it's a house rather and you see more than Austin I think like PSW Homes does these developments like that. And I think the reason they do that is because it's easier to build they don't have to pay for the development of cutting up the land and attorney fees and all that. So yeah, that's a big trend in Austin real estate that you're basically there a single-family home and a condo regime so.
Max: Not to cut you off but it allows more density as well.
SPR: Yeah right, they don't have to deal with quite all of the city regulations which of course we have that here. But that's for another time so I want to switch a little bit to like construction loans and before I do that you know Max does all of our personal loans. And you know we have been buying duplexes either with cash or mainly through a line of credit. We will buy an Austin investment property rather in most cases pay cash. We get the property for you know say 200,000. I'm just using that round number and then if we put $30,000 into it. Then within six months I can refinance or actually delayed finance it for up to what is it seventy-five percent of the value?
Max: The single-family at 75 percent of the as of the current value for multifamily its seventy percent.
SPR: Okay, so you know if you're watching this and you know if you have some kind of way to you know get cash from a family member or whatever. This is a really great product for several reasons and one of the reasons is, you know if they're in a multiple offer situation cash it's always king if all the other terms are alike. But the other reason is if you think about it like on that duplex where we paid $200,000 for that home. And we did recently one within last year where we put $40,000 or renovations. I'd actually paid 210,000. We put $40,000 into it. Well, the house was worth 330,000 after we were done with it. So you know if I would have bought that Austin duplex for $210,000. I'd be out $40,000 for the down payment, plus another 40,000 what we put into it. So it's a really good way to leverage your money do I have that whole process. Does it sound right Matt?
Max: Yep, you got it. Yeah, you should know.
SPR: Yeah what it's 70 percent up to the value that you paid for it correct?
Max: That's correct. So you can't get out more than what you paid for the property.
SPR Yeah and you can refi for more after one year right?
Max: Yeah, after a year it's no longer delayed financing. Delayed financing is really that first six month period from when you bought the property cash to when you're trying to pull out your money. If you go past that six month period it's no longer delayed financing it's just a cash out refinance to be able to do just a normal cash out refund.
Max: And so typically you need to wait 12 months to be able to do just the normal cash out.
SPR: Okay is there a product like this for someone looking for a distressed property who wants to remodel it or tear it down and rebuild for their own occupant. What kind of products are out there for that?
Max: Yeah, I mean we've got a couple of different things obviously there's the Austin real estate construction loan. Which it's pretty simple you, buy a property so you've got your price plus whatever construction is going to be. You put your down payment based on whatever that total cost is. As money gets drawn you'll have a draw to buy the property. You'll have a draw to demo the property. You'll have a draw to frame and pour the slab and all that. As money is drawn you're making interest-only payments on money that's been drawn.
Max: Once it's complete then it's just a regular refinance we take whatever balances owed and refinance that into a 30-year loan.
Max: That's really more for people who are doing complete tear downs things like that. We also do renovation loans and we've been doing a lot of you know there's a lot of stuff there's a lot of Austin fixer-uppers in this town now. And it's a way for people to get into a home for sale in Austin for a little bit less money. So you buy a property that needs to have the kitchen updated or the bathroom updated or foundation work whatever that may be. We can actually get bids from your contractor and roll that into the loan. So say you're buying a place for 250,000 it needs $50,000 worth of work. You've got to have some contingencies for overages in there but for this example, we're just going to go to 50 and 50 so you're at 300,000. Houses to appraise for 300,000 and your down payment which can be 5 percent is based on that 300,000.
Max: And then you close that loan. You 180 days to complete the work the contractor gets four drawers and you're done.
SPRr: Okay, so it's it to qualify that loan it's five percent down?
Max: Yes, it's a conventional loan. It's a conventional renovation loan. So it's treated like qualifying and the down payment is all treated just like a normal conventional purchase loan.
SPR: And what about the interest rate is it higher?
Max: A little bit more depending on how the market prices again it can be an eighth of a point. Usually, it's an eighth of a point. Sometimes it could be a quarter there's an additional fee of about $865 because we have to order inspections and handle the drawers and things like that. You know if you're doing five or ten thousand dollars maybe not always worth it. We kind of got to compare with what that does to the payment long term cost. But you know when you're getting in there forty fifty sixty a hundred thousand. It's a pretty good deal.
SPR: And that is up to jumbo right for that right?
Max: Correct. 424,000 in Austin right now. We do have some jumbo renovation products as well.
SPR: Okay, let's talk about that. So that was actually good segway into my next questions of jumbo loans. So if you would do over how jumbo loans are structured, what do you need to put down you know what's the cutoff for jumbo loan in regards the interest of that.
Max: Virtually anything over 424 100 is a jumbo loan. Jumbo loans are more nitpicky with qualifying, in other words, everything has to be verified whereas on the conventional loans you can get around some stuff. You know jumbo loans, once if you're if you've been renting for the last two years, we have to verify that your rents been on time for the last two years. You know we don't have to do that on a conventional so there are just different nuances that jumbo loans have but and typically people will do 20 percent down. That's really where you get the best rate there are 15 percent options. There is 10 percent down options and you know sometimes we really need to look at that. I generally encourage people to put 20 percent down because that's where you are going to get the best the best financing.
SPR: And how does that rate compare?
Max: A lot of times these days jumbo rates are actually a little bit better than conventional rates conforming loan rates. I think that's partial because there's a lot of banks trying to add those loans to their portfolio. It's so much like I said earlier they're more nitpicky loans when it comes to documentation that you need. I guess you're considered a little bit more qualified on those so it's a little bit less risk.
Max: I mean it's we've doing jumbo loans I don't know we're probably doing 20 percent of my business to 15percent of my business every month is jumbo financing. Sometimes even we've had a couple of people where we've gone for 424,200 instead of for 424,100. So we could get a jumbo loan and get a little bit a little bit of a better rate.
SPR: Wow okay, and then so on a jumbo loan, there's a certain amount you go to what you know it one-and-a-half million, 2 million, 3 million?
Max: I mean we'll go up to uh two and a half or three million thanks.
SPR: Okay and it's still kind of the same principle with your debt to income ratio and right?
Max: Yeah, now jumbo loans are real strict with debt to income and I was kind of saying between 43 and 45 jumbo is 43 percent.
Max: A couple years ago the government put out what they call QM qualified mortgage which are the guidelines to which most jumbo loans are underwritten so it's got to be that 43 percent debt to income ratio. Everything has to be verified where you have variances on that with the conforming stuff to 424 100 stuff.
Max :So your I need a loan application filled out that part's really easy. Its takes about 10 minutes to do online. We send instructions when we send the link to the application so. And we tell people if you do it if you spend more than 15 minutes filling this out you're thinking about it too much. I just need some basic information and then essentially it's pay stubs, bank statements and tax returns. That's all we need and when we have that we're pretty good now. If you're self-employed I need to go through business returns and if you're commissioned or bonus we might have to send something off to your employer to get a break out so we know we can use for income. But we're going to do all of that upfront. What I have found is although it is annoying, it is best for the buyer. You're going to have to do it anyway. But it's better to do it up from so you know there's no problems rather than waiting, like you said, on the big banks or whomever to do that at the end of the process. Which is why you always hear about these horror stories about they said I was approved and then I wasn't. And it all fell through and this and that. The other reason the big mortgage companies fail because they don't do their due diligence upfront.
SPR: Yeah, so there's that. That's obviously a key component especially you'reself-employed but you know I think another key component of what happens when people get in trouble is strictly negligence. And I don't remember if it was last year or the year before Max but we had three deals during spring and summer. Where I was a listing agent and one was a two of those deals was with one company. And you know who I'm talking about and I won't mention names here. But it we got, you know five days away from the closing table, and they would say that they couldn't close it. And so basically what we said is like if they want an extension they had to release earnest money to the buyer and to go get approved with Max and then we would issue an extension based whether Max says he can get it done in two weeks three weeks whatever that date was.
And I just remember when we got in on all three of those deals we got to the finish line and I go back to Max and I said: "what was the problem there?" And I remember you were just like I don't really know and there should have been not been a problem though. I think if you're out there and you're actually looking for a mortgage broker what you need what you do when you're looking for a real estate agent. You need to look at the reviews. You need to talk to some of their past clients. And you know obviously we recommend Max Leaman and his team, they're the best. But I think you really need to look into who you're working with because these type of things happens all the time. But now some agents aren't going to go through that you're just going to cut the deal. You're going to be out your earnest money. So this has been really good. I think we went over everything I wanted to go over. Max, I really want to thank you can you tell everybody where they can find you. Max: Yeah, always you can go to my website www.MaxLeaan.com. We've got our local number is 512-765-4300. We also have a toll free number (800) 301-3405. You can also email us at [email protected]. And you can always give me a call 512-617-5636.
SPR: Awesome man well, thanks again.
Max: Yeah thanks for having me man I appreciate it.


text:
Md.
194 Md.
194 Md. 550 (1950)
STATE v. BELLE ISLE CAB CO.
[No. 89, October Term, 1949.]
STATE, USE OF STEHLEY v. BELLE ISLE CAB CO., INC., ET AL.
Court of Appeals of Maryland.https://leagle.com/images/logo.png
Decided February 15, 1950.
Z. Townsend Parks, Jr., with whom was Howard C. Bregel on the brief, for the appellant.
Samuel S. Smalkin, with whom were Ginsberg & Ginsberg, H. Beale Rollins and Sigmund R. Kallins on the brief for the appellees Abels and Keim.
Theodore Sherbow, with whom was James J. Lindsay on the brief, for the appellees Hopper and the Belle Isle Cab Co., Inc.
The cause was argued before MARBURY, C.J., DELAPLAINE, COLLINS, GRASON, HENDERSON, and MARKELL, JJ.
Court of Appeals of Maryland.
MARBURY, C.J., delivered the opinion of the Court.
The accident, from which this case arose, took place on the morning of September 24, 1948, about 6:15 a.m., at the intersection of North and Pennsylvania Avenues in the City of Baltimore. The deceased, Alexander Stehley, was a 59 year old employee of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. He lived in Forest Park and worked at the Mt. Clare Shops. To reach his place of work it was his custom to leave home at 5:50 a.m., take a street car at Belle and Garrison Avenues and then, at North and Pennsylvania Avenues, transfer to a street car going south on Pennsylvania Avenue. On the morning of his death he left for work at his usual time. He alighted from a street car on the safety zone at the southwest corner of North and Pennsylvania Avenues and then started to cross towards the northwest corner of North and Pennsylvania Avenues on a green traffic signal. He was apparently struck by an ice truck when he was about at the northernmost rail of the west bound car tracks on North Avenue, and then, subsequently, was run over by a taxi cab, and was found by a police officer under the latter at 6:24 a.m. He was, at that time, apparently dead. He had wounds and fractures of five ribs, compound fractures of the fibula and tibia on the right leg and fracture of the left leg just above the knee. At the time of the accident it was dark and the street lights were on. The suit was brought under the provisions of Article 67 of the Code, by the widow and sole dependant of the deceased against the operator, Abels, and the owner, Keim, of the ice truck, and against Belle Isle Cab Co., Inc. and its driver, Hopper. At the end of all of the testimony the court directed a verdict in favor of all defendants, and from the judgment entered on this verdict, this appeal comes here.
It is now agreed by the appellant that the ice truck was loaned by Keim to Abels for use solely on the business of the latter, and, therefore, the appeal from the judgment in favor of Keim is abandoned.
Pennsylvania Avenue does not cross North Avenue at right angles. The acute angle made by the crossing is at the southwest. The safety zone located near the corner, but not at it, is placed there in order to permit passengers from the street cars to alight in safety from cars passing along the street between this zone and the south sidewalk of North Avenue. There are no marked cross walks at the intersection, and in the absence of such marks, the pedestrian's right of way across North Avenue is the space between the extension of the building line of Pennsylvania Avenue on the west and the extension of the curb line of that avenue on the east. Code, Article 66 1/2, Section 2, sub-section (a) (9). Within this space pedestrians have the right of way, and outside of this space, vehicles have the right of way. Code, Article 66 1/2, Section 181. When a pedestrian starts to cross a street, in such cross walk, with a green light, he has the right to continue, even though the light changes during his progress (providing he is proceeding in the normal manner), and vehicles must give him the right of way. Shaivitz v. Etmanski, 164 Md. 125, 164 A. 169; United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Continental Baking Co., 172 Md. 24, 29, 190 A. 768; Caryl v. Baltimore Transit Company, 190 Md. 162, 58 A.2d 239. These questions become important in this case because, apparently, the light did change, and both the ice truck and the cab, which were going west on North Avenue, had the green light when they reached the intersection and started across.
There is some confusion in the testimony of the only person who saw the deceased start across the street. The safety platform is long enough to permit two or three cars to stop beside it. The deceased got off the first car, which was there, and a seventeen year old colored newsboy who was occupied in disposing of his papers, got off the second car. This newsboy testified that the deceased left the safety platform, and, in one place in his testimony, there would seem to be an indication that he started across the street between the two street cars. However, in other parts of his testimony the witness said the deceased started across in front of the first car. As this is the testimony most favorable to the plaintiff, we take that testimony as the basis for our consideration of the case. This witness also made a mark on the blackboard to show the place where the deceased left the safety platform. This mark is not at the east end of the platform, but even if we assume that the deceased went to the east end, and from there started across the street to go to the northwest corner, where he would have to take his street car, he would still be several feet from the projection of the sidewalk when he reached the place where the evidence shows he was struck. There is, therefore, no evidence whatever that he was within the space where he would have the right of way with a green light. Billmeyer v. State, use of Whiteman, 192 Md. 419, 426, 64 A.2d 755, 758.
The driver of the truck testified that he was driving west in the west-bound car tracks at a speed of about 25 to 30 miles an hour. The light was green when he reached Pennsylvania Avenue, remained green as he crossed it, and about 40 or 45 feet west of Pennsylvania Avenue a man darted out from the south side of North Avenue, running north. He was about three yards in from of him when he first saw him. He tried to avoid hitting him, and applied his brakes, but the man, according to him, tripped on the north rail and fell. The driver of the truck said he did not think he hit him, but the officer, who examined the truck, said there was a fresh rub mark on its right front wheel and also, on the top of the radiator, there was a fresh rub mark. The taxi cab was at the right and to the rear of the truck, proceeding in the same direction. The driver was looking ahead, and to the right to see if there were any passengers. He said that when he got into North Avenue, after crossing Pennsylvania Avenue, his headlights picked up the body of a man lying across the road. He was then 20 or 25 feet away. He put on his brakes, but skidded over to him and ran over him with the wheels of the cab. The truck at this time was about eight feet in front of him. The officer testified that there was a 42 foot skid mark beginning six feet west of the west curb line of Pennsylvania Avenue, and running up to the front wheels of the taxi cab, and underneath the taxi cab was the deceased. The right skid mark was thirteen feet eight inches south of the north curb line of North Avenue.
Assuming, as we must, that the truck did hit this man at or about the north rail of the west bound car tracks, which is the testimony most favorable to the plaintiff, the truck at that time had the right of way, as it was proceeding on a green light. There was, as we have stated, an obligation on the truck driver to give that right of way to any person who had already started to cross in the pedestrian cross walk, but that obligation only extends to those pedestrians who are using the defined right of way to cross the street. Chasanow v. Smouse, 168 Md. 629, 632, 178 A. 846; Legum v. State, Use of Moran, 167 Md. 339, 173 A. 565. The deceased had not yet reached the cross walk, and there is no evidence that the truck driver saw or could have seen him until he was about three yards ahead of the truck. The truck driver was not bound to anticipate that a pedestrian would cross the street between cross walks, and whether or not the deceased had the green light when he started, if the truck driver did not see him until too late to stop, we are unable to find that the truck driver was guilty of any negligence. If he could have seen him, even though he was not in the cross walk, and had time to avoid him, that would raise another question. But there is no such evidence, and under the circumstances we think a verdict in favor of the driver was properly directed.
When we come to the consideration of the case against the taxi, we find a different situation exists, because here we have a possible application of the doctrine of last clear chance. In Jendrzejewski v. Baker, 182 Md. 41, 31 A.2d 611, we held that a pedestrian who left a safety zone, similar to the one in the case before us, and wrongly guessed the side of the zone on which an automobile was passing, was guilty of contributory negligence. A passenger who alights from a street car on a safety zone, has a right, of course, to leave that zone in any direction he sees fit. Unlike other jurisdictions (See Nisley v. Sawyer Service, Inc. 123 Or. 293, 261 P. 890) there is here no prohibition against a pedestrian walking anywhere in the street he desires. But if he steps from a safety zone in front of an oncoming automobile or street car, he is just as guilty of contributory negligence as if he stepped off a sidewalk in the middle of a block under similar circumstances. There is evidence in this case that Stehley left the safety zone and crossed the car tracks in front of the truck, which at that place and time had the right of way. If he was struck by the truck under such circumstances and thrown in the path of the taxi, his negligence continued at least until the end of that particular impact when he was recumbent. That was when the taxi driver said he first saw him, and it is from that moment that we must determine whether the taxi driver had no chance to avoid running over him as a matter of law.
He was driving (he said) between fifteen and twenty miles an hour. He put on his brakes, both hand and foot, thus affecting all four wheels of the cab. He skidded straight over the figure he saw lying in the roadway in front of him, and, apparently, from the marks on the road, pushed Stehley three or four feet before the cab stopped with Stehley under it, behind the front wheels which had passed over him. The cab driver said Stehley was twenty or twenty-five feet away when he first saw him lying in front of him, but the officer who measured the skid marks leading to his front wheels said they were forty-two feet long. If we deduct the four feet Stehley was pushed, and, even if we assume the beginning of the skid mark was made by the rear wheel and the end by the front wheel (of which there is no evidence), and deduct the distance between the wheels and assume this to be ten feet (without any evidence) the brakes must have been applied when the man on the street was twenty-eight feet away. In order to determine when the taxi driver first saw him, we must add to this distance, the space travelled by the taxi after the driver saw the figure, and before the braked wheels began to mark the pavement — in other words during the time required to transmit to the pavement the result of the driver's impulse. It is obvious that, no matter how quick might have been the reflexes of the driver, the car did travel some distance while the driver was putting on his brakes and while the brakes were taking hold with sufficient grip to skid the wheels. There is no evidence how far this was but it is a frequent occurrence to put on brakes and it is a matter of common and ordinary knowledge that some time elapses before the impulse to apply them is transmitted into their application. If we add some space to that already shown by the skid marks it becomes apparent that the driver saw Stehley when he was at least several car lengths away. He had thirteen feet to his right in which he might have turned to avoid the recumbent figure. When he was asked whether he could have done so, he said he did not know. He said he did all he could, but the physical facts do not bear this out, at least to an extent that we can say he did not have the last chance to avoid the accident after he saw Stehley in his path.
Of course when a driver is confronted with an emergency, even if he does the wrong thing, he is not necessarily held liable, but whether his actions under such circumstances are negligent, unless the facts are undisputed, is not a question of law for the court, but is a question for the jury. Newman v. Stocker, 161 Md. 552, 157 A. 761; Consolidated Gas etc. Co. v. O'Neill, 175 Md. 47, 200 A. 359; Fogle v. Phillips, 191 Md. 114, 60 A.2d 198. In view of the mute evidence of the skid marks, and in view of the wide space to the right to which the taxi might have been turned, we think there was a jury question presented whether or not the driver of the taxi was negligent. We think therefore, that a verdict should not have been directed in favor of the taxi cab company and the driver, but that the case against them should have been submitted to the jury.
Judgment affirmed as to Orem Richard Abels and Louis C. Keim, with costs. Judgment reversed with costs as to Belle Isle Cab Co., Inc. and Philip Hopper, and case remanded for a new trial against these defendants.
MARKELL, J., dissents in part and delivered the following dissenting opinion.
I cannot agree that when a "safety zone", sometimes called a safety island, does not extend to a street intersection, it is for the street car passenger, as a matter of law, only a safety island, completely surrounded by a sea of perils, where he has no right of way to escape to either shore, automobiles on every side have a right of way to mow him down blindly and he can only plunge into the sea and perish, unless by chance, without legal right or protection, he manages to reach shore and survive. In his plight this court says that "the truck driver [or the taxicab driver] was not bound to anticipate that a pedestrian would cross the street between cross walks, and whether or not the deceased had the green light when he started, if the truck [or taxicab] driver did not see him until too late to stop, * * * the * * * driver was [not] guilty of any negligence." The driver may mow him down blindly because the driver is not bound to "anticipate" what every one knows, viz., that a passenger cannot make his abode on the island but must try to "cross the street", to one side or the other, and can only do so where the island is, i.e., "between [street intersection] cross walks."
This Draconic result is reached by construing several statutory provisions, intended for the protection of street car passengers, as having the combined effect of giving him no protection but depriving him of the protection he had at common law without statutory requirement. At common law, before safety zones or traffic lights or statutory rights of way or requirements of stopping behind street cars, the automobile driver's duty of due care in all circumstances — which has never been superseded by statute — included a duty to "anticipate" the obvious dangers of running by street cars. "* * * it is unquestionably very dangerous to have automobiles and other motor vehicles running by street cars, which are taking on or letting off passengers. Anyone who uses street cars to any extent has probably observed that some drivers of automobiles are particularly careless and indifferent to the safety of others getting on or off street cars * * *." Dashiell v. Jacoby, 142 Md. 330, 339, 120 A. 751, 754. Cf. Winner v. Linton, 120 Md. 276, 87 A. 674; Maryland Ice Cream Co. v. Woodburn, 133 Md. 295, 105 A. 269; and cases collected in Note, 47 A.L.R. 1233, on liability of the owner of a motor vehicle for injury to a person who has alighted from or is waiting for a street car. Such liability has been enforced in cases of accidents at regular stopping places not at a street crossing, and in cases of persons crossing in front of the street car to the left sidewalk, or crossing behind the car to the sidewalk. See cases cited in Berry on Automobiles (7th Ed.), paragraphs 3.310, 3.318, 3.319. In some circumstances the street railway company may also be liable for letting off a passenger at a dangerous place. Berry, paragraph 3.312.
Safety zones and stop laws do not supplant but implement the duty of due care. In Maryland the stop law is an alternative for a safety zone. "Except where safety zones are provided, the driver * * * of every vehicle shall * * * stop" at least five feet behind a street car which has stopped. Code, Supplement 1947, art. 66 1/2, sec. 183. A safety zone thus relieves the driver of an automobile of the statutory duty to stop, but not of the universal duty of due care. Dashiell v. Jacoby, supra. It has never been suggested by the court that because a safety zone does not extend to the street intersection (as it seldom does) the passing motor car driver is thereby relieved of all duty to look out for the passenger. In Dashiell v. Jacoby, there was a platform along the tracks "just south" of the intersecting street, and plaintiff "jumped from the street car across the safety zone," necessarily still further south. Supra, 142 Md. 332, 333, 120 A. 751. Though the stop law does not protect the passenger on the island, he is protected either if, (a) the safety zone is a "marking on the surface of the roadway" which "distinctly indicates a portion of the roadway for pedestrians crossing" or if (b) the duty of due care includes the same care to look out for passengers leaving the island as to look out for passengers leaving a street car in the absence of an island or a stop law. In ignoring both of these views of this case, the court in effect holds that the successive physical devices and legal duties required by statute, largely or solely for the protection of passengers and other pedestrians, e.g. safety zones, traffic lights, the stop law and statutory rights of way, have defeated each other and destroyed the paramount duty of due care, so far as the pedestrian on an island is concerned, and have outlawed him as a "jaywalker", as if he had selected the location of the island and had deliberately selected a forbidden one.
The definition of a "crosswalk" in section 2(a) (9) supplants judicial interpretation of "street crossing" as meaning a customary or reasonable crossing in case of an irregular intersection. Legum v. State, for Use of Moran, 167 Md. 339, 173 A. 565; Consolidated Gas & Electric Light and Power Company v. Rudiger, 151 Md. 226, 134 A. 326. As applied to regular rectangular crossings, the new definition may simplify and clarify the law. As applied to irregular crossings, the imaginary lines in the definition would often be dangerous and inadequate and would be quite unworkable as a measure of due care.
No case has been cited, and I have found none, which outlaws any passenger marooned on a safety island who takes the most direct route to escape. By a reasonable construction of section 2(a) (9) a safety zone per se indicates a "crosswalk". In any event the duty of due care requires the same protection for the passenger in crossing, whether or not he has a technical right of way. The only cases on like facts that I have found in any jurisdictions seem to sustain both of these propositions.
In Nisley v. Sawyer Service, Inc., 123 Or. 293, 261 P. 890, 891, the facts were substantially the same as in the instant case except that the passenger was crossing from the island to the near side of the street. The court said, "The `safety island' was either placed in the street by the city or with its permission. It was not at an intersection of two streets, but was near the middle of the block between Morrison and Yamhill streets. It was placed in the street to facilitate loading and unloading passengers. The `safety island' would be of no benefit if the passengers were not permitted to pass from the sidewalk to the island and from the island to the sidewalk. It cannot be said that a passenger on a street car who passes from the island directly to the sidewalk, thereby traveling a distance of 10 feet, is violating a city ordinance because he is crossing the street at a place other than an intersection. A person passing from the island to the sidewalk is crossing part of the street at a place designated by the city authorities, or under their supervision. The ordinance provides that pedestrians shall refrain from crossing streets within the restricted district, except at the regular crossings and at right angles. Plaintiff was crossing at right angles the part of the street between the platform and the sidewalk. If it be conceded that he was crossing the street within the meaning of that term, as used in the ordinance of the city of Portland, then we must conclude that he was crossing at a regular crossing, because we cannot conceive that the city, in order to protect the lives and limbs of its citizens, would require a person to travel longitudinally along the street more than 40 feet, and then be as far from the sidewalk as he was from the place from which he started. To do so would be to require the citizen unnecessarily to take the extra hazard of walking near the center of the street in the midst of the traffic in a congested and restricted area, and then at right angles through the traffic to the sidewalk. A street car had just unloaded passengers at the `safety island.' It was the duty of all automobile operators to proceed with the utmost caution to avoid injuring a passenger while passing from the safety island to the sidewalk. Plaintiff had all of the right to cross from the island to the sidewalk that the defendant had to operate his car between the platform and the sidewalk. Whether or not plaintiff was guilty of negligence in not discovering the automobile before it struck him is a question of fact for the jury under all circumstances."
In Kingston v. Hardt, 18 Cal.App.2d 61, 62 P.2d 1376, the same result was reached (one judge dissenting) in a case (like the instant case) in which the passenger was crossing to the far side of the street. See also Croxall v. Broadway Department Store, 127 Cal.App. 153, 15 P.2d 546.
A pedestrian who sees an automobile a few seconds distant and steps off a safety island in front of it, may be guilty of contributory negligence. Jendrzejewski v. Baker, 182 Md. 41, 31 A.2d 611. In the instant case, unless any attempt to leave the island is negligence per se, as "failing to yield" the all-encircling right of way, the victim in the instant case was not, as a matter of law, guilty of contributory negligence. He grasped the only straw at hand, the traffic light. When the light changed his reliance on it proved illusory in fact; the court now holds it was illusory in law. He had no chance of escape at all to the south. Cars dash by on the south at all times, to the light when it is red, through it when it is green. In the circumstances any question of contributory negligence is for the jury.
In Kingston v. Hardt, supra, in which the passenger crossed to the far side of the street, the court said [18 Cal.App.2d 61, 62 P.2d 1378], "If custom and usage has established the practice of walking from the safety island over the Van Ness tracks to the safety zone on the easterly side of that avenue, then to the curb, and then to the boarding zone on Geary, it cannot be said as a matter of law that one is guilty of contributory negligence in following that established custom. On the other hand, if no such custom or practice is established, and the course followed by the plaintiff was the course which a reasonable person would have followed under the circumstances, the question of contributory negligence is equally one to be determined by the jury."
I concur in the result in reversing the judgment as to the taxicab and in holding the evidence legally sufficient to show that the taxicab driver, after he saw the victim knocked down by the truck and lying helpless in the street, could by the exercise of due care have avoided running over and killing him. I cannot concur in finding the victim guilty of contributory negligence or breach of duty to the taxicab driver in being knocked down by the truck, or in the dicta, apparently an afterthought, on the subject of "last clear chance". When the driver saw the victim lying helpless in the street it was his duty to exercise due care to avoid him. How he got into his helpless position — whether by being shot down by a gunman, or thrown out of a truck or car by kidnappers, or by his own negligence — is immaterial. This broad elemental principle is the basis — or one of the bases — of the "last clear chance" doctrine; to treat it as in any way based upon or affected by that doctrine is to put the cart before horse. If the victim had negligently stood still in the street and was not really helpless or unable to step out of the way of the taxicab, it would have been necessary to determine whether the taxicab driver had the "last clear chance" to avoid him after it was too late for him to save himself, i.e., whether his continuing negligence was a concurrent — or sole — proximate cause of his injury and death. As the victim was obviously helpless when the taxicab driver first saw him, no question of contributory negligence (and, as the court now holds, there was no "primary" negligence) or "last clear chance" is presented. The confused subject of "last clear chance" becomes only more confused if applied outside of its proper field.
It is incredible that the legislature, by cumulating physical and legal protections for street car passengers, intended to leave them on an island without any physical or legal protection at all in getting off. The street car seems to be on the way out. If before it becomes extinct drivers of motor vehicles become aware of their rights and their freedom from any duty to look out for passengers trying to escape from a safety island, passengers will be extinguished unless the Baltimore traffic authorities paint on the surface of the roadway lines of escape for pedestrians, which ought to be plainly enough "marked" by the island itself without "saying it with paint."
I think the judgments should be reversed as to both the truck and the taxicab.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
R. O.'s New Yorkers
Françoise Mouly
Genevieve Bormes
R. O. Blechman
Blechman celebrated the city's high days and holidays with wit and concision
Between 1974 and 1996, R. O. Blechman created fifteen New Yorker covers, many of which have become famously iconic, including his first and last, write Genevieve Bormes, Covers Associate, and Françoise Mouly, Art Editor, The New Yorker.
The first, 'April 29, 1974' (note: New Yorker covers didn't receive titles until the era of Tina Brown's editorship, from 1992-98, so until then they are known by their cover dates), depicts the New York City skyline, including the recently erected World Trade Center, with all its buildings converted into windmills.
'After I did that first New Yorker cover, I slept for a week,' says Blechman. 'It just took it out of me … I've since recovered,' he laughs. 'I was responding to fuel shortages throughout the city. I thought, well, New Amsterdam had it right. Bring back the windmills and we'll have a nice new energy source. This is long before it ever became an urgent undertaking to find new energy sources. So I guess I was a bit in advance of the times.'
Many of his covers pay homage to the city he clearly loves. 'December 22, 1975', which shows the city encapsulated in a snow globe, remains a classic.
'October 1, 1979' shows the gem-like lights of the city at night, while 'October 31, 1977' shows the sky filled with aircraft, ranging from early airplanes to hot-air balloons to an alien ship. 'March 7, 1977' shows a whimsical hand-glider at the beginning of spring.
'October 1, 1979' and 'October 7, 1991'.
Other covers offer a playful take on holidays. On the 'December 19, 1988' cover, a Christmas tree goes rogue. 'December 17, 1990' shows classical statues entwined with tinsel and lights. In 'January 2, 1978', a child peeks through a celestial curtain at the coming of the New Year. 'November 2, 1981' shows eager trick-or-treaters as seen through the eyes of a Jack-o'-lantern [a carved pumpkin face]. 'July 2, 1984' and 'July 7, 1986' celebrate the 4th of July. One of our favourites, 'May 14, 1990', celebrates Mother's Day with a wry portrayal of Whistler's Mother (aka Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1, 1871), unmoved by the gifts piled at her feet.
Blechman did not limit himself to commemorating yearly milestones, though. 'July 21, 1975' pokes fun at a group of lawn-conscious neighbours. 'October 7, 1991' depicts The Thinker, a symbol of man's intelligence. However Blechman's man, unlike Auguste Rodin's famous statue, is replaced by a robot.
Blechman's last cover was published when the stakes were high, back in 1996. Tina Brown was editor then, and many die-hard New Yorker staffers and readers were loath to open up to the changes she was seeking.
A mid-February anniversary issue was coming up and many wanted us to adhere to tradition and reprint the original Regency dandy known as Eustace Tilley, drawn by Rea Irvin for the magazine's first issue in 1925. We approached many artists, but Blechman's 'Eustacia' was one of the few that gathered consensus around the office.
'I recall when I did the "Eustacia Tilley" cover, there were objections to the fact that she looked old and dowdy,' says Blechman. 'And I appreciated Françoise saying, "Well, wait a minute, Eustace Tilley doesn't look so great himself!"'
R. O. Blechman's image of Eustacia had everything that makes his work so memorable: wit and concision. It was a perfect match to Rea Irvin's archetypal original cover. And, like all of Blechman's contributions, it helped the magazine navigate a new era, without losing any of its charm and sophistication.
The New Yorker, 26 February and 4 March 1996.
Top: The New Yorker, 29 April 1974.
Genevieve Bormes, Covers Associate, The New Yorker
Françoise Mouly, Art Editor, The New Yorker
First published in Eye no. 95 vol. 24, 2018
Eye is the world's most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It is available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop, where you can buy subscriptions and single issues. You can see what Eye 95 looks like at Eye Before You Buy on Vimeo.
'Firm grasp on a shaky line' in Eye 95
'The draughtsman's characters' in Eye 95
'The anti-Rockwell' in Eye 95
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Fruit Mandi which is needed the most in Shopian district in South Kashmir and was approved nearly 13 years ago, remains as on date incomplete which looks really surprising. It may be noted that Shopian district, because of growing of famous Kashmiri apples, contributes significantly towards the economy of the State on account of its apple trade.
What was promised to the people as back as in 2005 was a state -of -art Mandi, with all infrastructural facilities required to improve various types of facilities required for the apple crop, remains till date unfulfilled although a sprawling 4 acres of land for the purpose was identified and notified by the State Government. The fruit market which should have been by now existing as planned and promised, is nowhere to be seen. A satellite market with parking facilities of hundreds of vehicles mainly trucks, offices of traders, residential quarters for workers, banking facility and boarding and lodging facilities for businessmen from outside the State were the distinct features of the proposed fruit market.
The traders and others in the area connected with the apple business feel betrayed as they sense no seriousness on the part of the Government in expediting the work on this mega project despite repeated requests and reminders to the authorities. The existing facilities at the site of the proposed Mandi even lack the basic ones like drinking water and electricity. This market, when fully completed, has the potentiality of providing jobs to hundreds of local youth. The administrative lackadaisical approach has topsy-turvy the entire mega project and we urge the authorities to expedite the remaining work to be completed as soon as possible looking to the utility of the Mandi and its contribution towards the economy of the State and the long wait of 13 years by the apple traders of Shopian.


text:
Q: Adcolony delegate not getting called I am trying to add Adcolony in my app. Here is my code:
[AdColony configureWithAppID:myAppID
                         zoneIDs:@[myZoneID]
                        delegate:self
                         logging:YES];
[AdColony playVideoAdForZone:myZoneID withDelegate:self withV4VCPrePopup:YES andV4VCPostPopup:YES];

-(void)onAdColonyV4VCReward:(BOOL)success currencyName:(NSString *)currencyName currencyAmount:(int)amount inZone:(NSString *)zoneID
{
    if (success) {
        // some code
    }
}

The problem is the delegate method onAdColonyV4VCReward: is never getting called.

A: The solution for us was to set the app to "client side" on the Dashboard.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


There has been heavy fighting just across this peaceful river in recent weeks.
The headline is a touch misleading, since it has always been Thai policy that the refugees return home once there is no fighting and their homes are safe. The refugees wait for that day too. What is new and involves a flagrant disregard for the truth is the claim that the elections in Burma have ended the fighting and removed the need for the refugees to remain. In view of the shelling, mortar fire and repeated gunfire (heard in Mae Sot as well as in smaller Thai towns close to the border) this claim either betrays a total disconnect from reality, or a blatant lie by Govenor Loifah.
Loifah said Myanmar was no longer violent and "we should start considering asking them to return voluntarily".
But the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR said voluntary returns should only happen if there was no longer any fighting and refugees could sign papers saying they wanted to go back.
"That means Myanmar would have to be welcoming them home and guaranteeing their rights when they go home. UNHCR would need to be able to monitor their safety when they go home. It's fairly clear that none of these conditions exist right now in the areas these refugees come from," said UNHCR spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey.
Loifah said he would be happy to work with the European Union and the UNHCR if they started reducing spending on assistance to the camps to persuade residents to leave.
"Ideally, the province would like to be able to set a deadline for closing these camps but realistically, it's hard to do so because of international organisations. So it's likely to drag on," he added.


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text:
Distribution & Exhibition
Production & Post-Production
In Sound, Size Does Matter
Thu, 12/17/2015 - 12:32 -- Perry Robertson
The obvious difference between sound for the big screen, the small screen, and now, the tiny screen, may not seem that different. In many ways they are not. As sound designers and editors, we want the viewer to experience every gunshot and explosion as well as every word, whether listening in a theater, at home on a TV, or earbuds on the subway. Sound for the big screen on a movie like Trumbo means you can use 5, 7 or in the case of Dolby Atmos, unlimited channels, for panning. We also have a large dynamic range because of the room size and speaker size. This, in many ways, is the easiest for those of us creating the sound tracks.
Because of Dolby and THX, the rooms and speakers have become standardized, so that we have an idea of how the show is going to be heard in a theater. As a sound designer/editor, we are able to use all the factors for creating the sound: volume, frequency, panning, augmenting with subwoofers and unlimited tracks for combining as many individual sounds as needed. We also have a lot more time to create the sounds to make sure the theatergoer hears and experiences every little detail that the director wants.
To get the detail directors and audiences expect now we use every tool available. Virtually all of us cut on Avid Pro Tools, software specifically designed for this task. We have a large library of sounds that have been recorded by different people in the industry for all kinds of shows.
Singularly recorded sounds do not always convey the feelings we want. For the prison in Trumbo, we used several techniques; combining backgrounds recorded in different jails and prisons, sprinkled in some specific sounds such as jail cells closing, added reverb for the largeness of the space, and topping it all off with loop group (a group of actors that is recorded, using just their voices to fill in spaces and convey a time and place in the film for prisoners, guards, and announcements).
In another instance, a single recorded gun probably will not have the impact we want, so, we will combine several gun sounds to make a single sound. On Rambo, the hero gun was 40-50 tracks wide. We wanted the detail of the gun. For that we used tracks for the trigger, hammer, shells ejecting, and of course the explosion of the gun.
We might use a single gun for the center, a stereo recording for the left and right, maybe something like a mortar in the sub for the weight, and then the retort (the decay of the gun off the hills or canyons).
Sometimes we need to go out and record sounds, such as when cars started changing to electric. We had all these wonderful sounding V8s but then we needed to have our hero in in a Tesla or Prius. All new sounds had to be recorded. We also use wonderful new software from iZotope and Waves that allows us to clean up noise on the dialog track before it gets to the mix stage to help speed things up.
Sound for the small/tiny screen on shows like Togetherness (HBO) or Casual (a Hulu Original Series) has many more variables. Is the viewer listening in a home theater, on a television, on a computer, or with headphones?
If it is a home theater, then we want to provide the closest thing we can to a movie experience, with dynamic range and panning. However, here we also have to deal with commercials. We need to limit the dynamic range so that the dialog is consistent while the sound effects are not too loud and so that the commercials do not seem too loud.
At the mix, we are usually limited on the amount of tracks that we can take to the stage, not because our tools can't handle what we take for a feature, but because we have to move so fast in the limited mix schedule. The edit schedule for TV is usually a show per week, give or take a day or two as opposed to a feature edit which is four or six weeks to several months because there is not always a deadline. The typical mix schedule for a half hour TV drama is one to two days, for a one hour show it is three or four days. I think these days, most people would be happy with a day per reel for pre dubs and one or two days for the final mix.
Yes, I said reels. Even though digital will allow us to work on a full-length show, we still think in 15-20 minute segments, or reels. Before digital we were limited to approximately 20 minutes per reel of film. Movies were typically made up of five to six reels. That amount of time makes for a good barometer of time. So, if it is a five-reel show, we would like five days of dialog pre-dub (working only to clean the dialog so it is as intelligible as possible), five days of effects (effects, Foley, and backgrounds), 7-10 days of final mix altogether with the music, and then two days of playback and fix.
To handle the amount of sound work for a TV show now, it means that the editors have to make decisions on what sound effects can be combined beforehand or not used at all. For example, it sounds like a small thing but, in features we used to send alternate choices for a door close. In TV we don't have time to choose during the mix so we just send one sound. Our job is to make every sound count while requiring minimal time during the mix.
We mix every show in 5.1 surround and then matrix it down to a stereo pair. We mix much like we do for a feature: left, center, right front speakers, a subwoofer, and stereo surround speakers. That is then matrixed down to a stereo pair that is compatible with mono. It can also be spread back out into a LCRS (left, center, right, and mono surround. No subwoofer.) We cannot lean on the panning or the subwoofer as much as in features because they will not be perceived as much in the stereo mix with two small speakers. The large majority of people listening on a TV will listen with the two small speakers on the TV as opposed to a setup with left, center, right, subwoofer, left and right surround. So, the stereo mix is just as important as the full 5.1 mix because so many people watch the shows on a television or on their mobile device with headphones. What is lost with this is the spatial panning you can do from front to back or use of the subwoofer to add weight because they are non-existent.
Perry Robertson is the founder and owner of EarCandy Post in Los Angeles.
EarCandy Post
Mixing Sound
Editing Sound
Studio Movie Grill Announces Major Expansion
4DX Format Broke Box Office Records in 2019
Facing the Challenge of Giant Screen Close-Ups
New Jumanji Raised the Stakes in Sound Production
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A new book on the sinking of HMS Hampshire a hundred years ago has been published. Julie Anya Guthrie welcomes it and reflects on the story of Lord Kitchener and the loss of the ship.
The hit TV series Downton Abbey opens in 1912 with a predicament for Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham. He has no sons to inherit his earldom, and an "entail" prevents his daughters – the Ladies Mary, Edith and Sibil – from inheriting his lands.
Fellowes is no stranger to the exclusion of women. He is married to Emma Kitchener, a great-grandniece and heir general of Herbert, 1st Earl Kitchener.
The 2011 Perth Agreement between Commonwealth Heads of State replaced male-preference primogeniture and ended the disqualification of those married to Roman Catholics. However, this agreement applied only to the Royal Family and was not extended to peerages. Therefore Emma Kitchener, like her fictional counterpart Lady Mary Crawley, could not become a countess in her own right.
Earl Kitchener of Khartoum has been described as "the most famous imperial title of the early 20th century". The first Earl, Herbert Kitchener was born on 24 June 1850 near Listowel in County Kerry in Ireland.
Kitchener was educated at the Royal Military Academy, obtained a commission in the Royal Engineers, and in 1886 was appointed governor of Sudan. In 1892, he was appointed commander in chief of the Egyptian army, and in 1898, he crushed the forces of al-Mahdi in the Battle of Omdurman and avenged the death of General Gordon.
In 1900 Kitchener became commander of chief of the British forces in South Africa during the Boer war, ruthlessly facing up to the Boers' guerrilla resistance by burning their farms and entering families in concentration camps. In 1902 Kitchener became commander in chief in India but quarrelled with the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, who resigned. Kitchener was not appointed Viceroy however, but was transferred to become proconsul of Egypt and the Sudan.
But despite his popularity with the public, Kitchener was not a team player and was disliked by his cabinet colleagues who made him the scapegoat for the Shell Crisis of 1915. Kitchener died on 5 June 1916 when HMS Hampshire hit a mine near the Orkney islands, while on a secret mission to Russia. At that point in the war the trench warfare and stalemate convinced the Allies to that it was essential to force Germany to transfer forces from its Western to Eastern fronts, to relieve the pressure on the French who were besieged at Verdun.
However, many forget that Lord Kitchener was not the only person who died in that tragedy and this is why HMS Hampshire: a Century of Myths and Mysteries Unravelled by James Irvine, Brian Budge, Jude Callister, Kevin Heath, Andrew Hollinrake, Issy Grieve, Keith Johnson, Neil Kermode, Michael Lowrey, Tom Muir, Emily Turton and Ben Wade is going to be such a valuable contribution to social history.
In fact, only 12 men survived when the Hampshire was sunk and no less than 737 men perished in terrible conditions. Orkney Heritage Society have restored the Kitchener Memorial and added an arc-shaped HMS Hampshire commemorative wall which is engraved with the names of all 737 victims of the Hampshire disaster.
It is a must-read for everyone who is interested in the history of the First World War and the conspiracy theories that Kitchener was assassinated by a German spy, that he was the victim of a plot by Churchill or even that he survived the sinking of the Hampshire and transformed himself into Joseph Stalin.
Julie Anya Guthrie is from a small hamlet on the west coast of Scotland. She has Scottish, French and Russian ancestry and is married to an Italian. After graduating from Edinburgh University, she worked in France and Switzerland before returning to her native Scotland. Her influences include William Wallace, Gaetano Donizetti and Rosa Luxemburg.


The housing market remains strong—and sales could surpass last year's record—despite the low inventory of homes for sale, says F.C. Tucker President Jim Litten.
See which solo real estate agents and which teams rack up the most home sales in central Indiana.
A new study shows that Indianapolis area home values have increased just 12.8 percent increase over a 15-year period. That's less than in metro areas on the coasts and even some in the Midwest.
February's decrease in existing-home sales came amid a steep increase in prices and a big decline in housing inventory.
Real estate agents lick chops as wealthy Trump team moves into D.C.
President-elect Donald Trump is moving to the nation's capital next month and bringing with him an administration of millionaires and billionaires who are going to need places to live. Many are looking right now.
The MIBOR Realtor Association on Thursday announced that Shelley Specchio will become CEO on Feb. 1, succeeding the retiring Steve Sullivan.
Encore Sotheby's International Realty said the property was the largest single-family residential real estate sale in the local office's six-year history and the largest ever in Marion County listed in the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors database.
Existing-home sales in central Indiana rose 3.6 percent in October amid rising prices and a continuing decline in housing inventory.
For the first time in almost a decade, there's a new group at No. 1 in the IBJ All-Star team ranking: Dennis Nottingham's Indy Home Pros Team. Meanwhile, there's a familiar name atop the list of solo agents.
Realtor Joe Shoemaker spends most of his days studying home interiors and exteriors. That's why he opted for a minimalist approach when he constructed his Fletcher Place abode.


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chairs-chatter progress-sep-2021
Hello everybody, and welcome to this month's Chair's Chatter. I hope all are well and that you are all enjoying the freedoms restored to us after the 19th of July.
For everyone who joined LAM just before or during the pandemic, thank you for sticking with us. Whilst some of you have been out on OR's as the various stages of lockdown have eased, it was lovely to see so many of you moving from the Zoom screen into what my 19-year-old son calls IRL, at our first in-person meet at Tatsfield and again at Banstead.
Many thanks to The Ye Old Ship @ Tatsfield, who hosted us and provided bacon sarnies. A special thanks to Jane (Harle) and Mark (Coltman), who made it all happen. Likewise, a huge thank you to Adele Hawes and Norton who went shopping in the early hours of a Sunday morning to purchase essential supplies so that they could provide us with tea and coffee at Banstead whilst also joining me in a quick game of hunt the key for the car park – which was fun!
That said, we did find Steve Trinder, who had been locked in a filing cabinet since February 2020, surviving on a diet of Penguin biscuits, PVA glue and powder paint. He kept himself amused by wearing his black-soled bike boots on the badminton courts whilst playing table tennis and fencing at the same time, avoiding pregnancy and cannabis and producing a colourful artwork on the joy of Easter. Confused? Come to the next Banstead group meeting and you will see what I mean.
So we are back and hopefully can continue "for real." but it might be too much of a stretch to say we will continue an uninterrupted service.
More thanks, and then I will shut up! Thank you to all of the Committee who have steered this oil tanker known as LAM over the past eighteen months, often making decisions with very little information, whilst always struggling with their heads and hearts.
Thank you all for your help and sagacity. We have all struggled to do this concurrent to our own personal COVID landscape, which was at times unfolding rapidly and rather unpleasantly. We are all volunteers, none of us are paid, and you did and continue to do, a fantastic job.
The above is not just from me; it comes from several people who have written or spoken in-person to say thank you, in particular to Trevor, who has written to a number of associates. As a result, they have now re-engaged with their IAM journey.
It's now August (yeah, it really is!) and then into September, where at the time of writing, there are just seven spaces left for Wales (sharing rooms only). This is an opportunity to ride some of the best roads in the country, generally car-free, set in the backdrop of the most beautiful landscape and usually ending with fabulous cake and/or fish & chips by the sea. What better way to leave autumn than to go to Wales, come back, book your test and pass. Our Training Weekends always sell out quickly. If it's sold out, pop your email in the 'waiting list' box and you'll receive an email notification if there are any returns from people who's plans change and can't make it. However, jump on the email quickly, as it's first-come, first-served.
Ride safe and enjoy any summer holidays or trips. If you do manage to go away, please take pictures and share your great roads with the group, as we love seeing your adventures.


Bitcoin Poker rake chases is a similar promotion to rake races, with the main difference being that players do not race against other players, but rather chase their own individual targets. Both are meant to provide players with extra value, but rake chases can work better for most players as it usually offers multiple targets that players can go for.
Many regular poker sites have hosted rake chases for their players over the years, since it is a good promotional tool to get players to increase their rake as well as make the sites able to give more value back to the players, however it is not something that many Bitcoin poker sites offers. Rake chases are popular due to the fact that all types of players can participate in them because of its multiple rake targets. Rake chases have a lower risk for the poker sites to offer than a normal rake race, because in a normal rake race they have to add the prizes and pay them out no matter how much the players rake, where in rake chases the players have to hit targets to get their prize, meaning that the site will almost always get everything covered and not end up with a loss.
Many smaller sites still do rake chase promotions, while the bigger sites now have switched to doing rake races instead, just divided into different categories if they want to cater to the small raking players. Rake chase targets usually have a maximum amount of players that can win at each rake target, so be sure to reach the level you want to reach as soon as possible, to avoid not getting a prize.
So when you join a online poker site, check if they offer any rake chase promotions to maximize the value for yourself and make it more fun to play.
How does a Rake Chase work?
It doesn't take much to understand the principles of a rake chase. Basically a rake chase is a added value promotion to players, where they have to rake a certain amount of money to get a higher percentage of their rake paid back.
So if you manage to rake 1 Bitcoin in a month, you will receive a 0.150 Bitcoin prize, which adds up to 15% extra value. If you reach some of the other targets you will get the prize and the additional value which it brings.
If a site has limited winners of each level, they will provide a leaderboard showing which players have qualified for each target first, but if they let everyone win if they reach a target, they will simply just pay you the money when the promotion is over, directly to your poker account.
How do I participate in a Rake Chase?
When you join a poker site that offers a rake chase promotion, you will need to check if you are automatically qualified to participate in the promotion, if you have to opt-in to the promotion or if there are any requirements you need to fulfill to participate. If you have to opt-in to the promotion, this can usually be done by opting-in directly on the promotion page or by contacting the sites support. If you have to fulfill some requirements to participate, they will be listed on the promotion page and once fulfilled you can contact the site to participate.
Sometimes the rake chase promotion is exclusive to an affiliate. In that case you will have to contact your affiliate to know how you can participate in the promotion. Most of the times, you will automatically participate in the promotion if you sign up via the affiliate, but always contact them to be sure that you are participating.
Once you have successfully opted-in to participate in the rake chase promotion, there is nothing left to do than begin to play and rake to reach your target. Unless other is stated, the rake collected from all types of games will count towards the chase and you can play whatever game you want to, to collect a prize.
If the rake chase has limited winners per target, you can follow who has reached the targets first and how many spots are still available directly on the site or by contacting your affiliate.
Can I get other promotions with the Rake Chase?
Rake chases are more often than not an additional value promotion to the promotions you are already participating in. This means that you should be able to keep your rakeback/VIP/Cashback system as well as bonus while taking advantage of a rake chase.
The best players can experience high returns of up to 60% combined with all other promotions while grinding out a rake chase. But even small stakes players can get incredibly high returns just by winning the smallest targets. Many players move around from site to site to take full advantage of all the rake chases they can and optimize their win rate.
Always make sure to check if any rake chase winning will be deducted from any other promotion you are taking part in and if that is the case, figure out which promotion gives you the most value.


Starting on day one of classes, the cross-curricular learning began. Global Studies teacher Andrew McLean challenged the grade 10 students to exhibit their understanding of Ecuador's geography and ecosystems by creating clay models of the country. The end result were stunning.


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God Eater Resurrection Review – Feed My Frankenstein
By Deleted User September 15, 2016 0
It has been five years since Bandai Namco threw its hat into the monster-hunting ring with God Eater on the PSP. However, in the intervening years, that landscape has changed quite dramatically. The king of the genre that Namco's series sought to depose has left Sony systems entirely. With Monster Hunter now all but ubiquitous with Nintendo, the crown of the "king of the hunt" (on PSVita and PS4, at least) is there for the taking, but is God Eater a worthy successor or a mere pretender to the throne?
Bundled together with its sequel, God Eater Resurrection is a remake rather than a remaster of the original PSP game, with numerous improvements across the board. It actually feels like a fresh entry in the series in its own right. Being bundled with the (admittedly superior) sequel, God Eater 2: Rage Burst is enough to make an already decent game more attractive — especially since God Eater 2 follows directly after the events of Resurrection and allows you to transfer over character and equipment from the revamped "prequel." As Julie Andrews once sang, the beginning is the very best place to start.
If you're not a fan of Monster Hunter (or The Sound of Music), you would be remiss in writing-off God Eater as a simple clone — big weapons and even bigger beasts aside. Tonally and mechanically the two are very different beasts. The most obvious difference is the setting and the atmosphere. While Monster Hunter strikes a slightly more western, classical fantasy kind of vibe (in the vein of Robert E. Howard), God Eater is unashamedly Japanese, reveling in typical anime tropes and overwrought post-apocalyptic settings.
Players are cast in the role of the newest member of the titular God Eaters, a corpus of soldiers that are hated, feared and revered in equal measure. They also happen to be humanity's last defense against the Aragami, a race of rapidly evolving monsters that have eradicated and assimilated almost all life on the planet, and have nothing to do with folded paper swans.
God Eaters are able to take the fight to the monsters that have sent humanity to the brink of extinction thanks to the power of the God Arcs, huge weapons constructed from the remains of fallen Aragami that often dwarf their wielders. They're bound to their hosts, transforming into a shadowy maw filled with razor sharp teeth to literally feast upon the flesh of the monsters they were constructed to kill — which is probably the most metal paragraph I'll ever write.
If the lack of a convincing narrative in Monster Hunter put you off, you won't have the same issues with God Eater. It's not simply a matter of being a monster hunter, killing for profit and the femurs needed to fashion the world's most ridiculous line of bastard swords — you take on the role of the latest member of a tight-knit group of survivors, desperately fighting to push back the endless tide of nightmare fuel that now inhabits the ruins of what was once civilization, and drag humanity off the endangered species list.
That said, you do still use the organs of your enemies to make a fine line in ridiculous mallets, as well as swords, scythes, spears and shotguns for that matter. It's just that there's a much more compelling reason to do so, as well as a (fairly plausible) reason for the game's hero being able to lift a claymore the size of shed.
Don't expect anything as complex or deep as something like Attack on Titan, or Neon Genesis Evangelion, though; the world and setting are fairly well-drawn the main cast, though likeable, all fall into the usual predicable JRPG templates, with your player character being the new kid on the block that everyone loves despite being mute and having zero personality (except during battles where I think Troy Baker turned him into a wise-ass for five minutes) but some incredible secret power, with the rest of its cast there simply to tell you how great you are and get through their own personal traumas while you seem to have none. It's a weird disconnect in a game about teenagers being sent out to kill or be killed by nigh-on unstoppable beasts. The beasts I can believe, but a teenager who doesn't have problems is too much to swallow. And, being Japanese, pretty much the entire female cast seem to be dressed like they're about to go out on the pull, instead of fight for their lives.
That being said, the translation is top-notch and the voice work from the game's main cast is superb. It certainly features veteran hands like Wendee Lee and Troy Baker to great effect.
The game's presentation has seen a significant boost, in both visuals and technical performance too. Character models have been revamped and improved, and the game now runs flawlessly on both the PS4 and Vita (while the PSP version had more than a few dips when things got hectic).
There have also been a slew of mechanical tweaks and updates as the gameplay has been brought more in line with God Eater 2: Rage Burst (which came out before Resurrection in Japan). Most notably, the arsenal of available weapons has doubled, introducing new types added in the sequel as well as tweaking and improving how the games various 'God Arcs' perform in battle.
For example, the Charge Spear adds a charged lunge attack that closes in on the enemy, as well as a backflip to swiftly dodge sweeping attacks, while the Boost Hammer is a huge, rocket-powered mallet that allows you to deliver a series of rapid blows. Meanwhile, the Variant Scythe specializes in wide, sweeping attacks that allow you to easily wade into an enemy while maintaining a little distance. The original three varieties of swords (Short, Long and Buster) have also been reworked to allow for more distinct playstyles, adding an attack cancel to long blades to allow players to create infinite combos as well as increasing the short blade's ability to air dash and step cancel.
The biggest change comes in the form of "Predator Styles," which revamp each weapons' devour mode. They confer various benefits to players, based on when players choose to take a bite out of enemies during a combo string, as well as adding additional attacks which allow you to nip at enemies while dashing or jumping.
Firearms have also had a bit of a spit-polish, with short-range shotguns and blood bullets from God Eater 2 being added to the mix, while cannons, assault weapons and sniper rifles have been reworked and rebalanced to feel more distinct. Add to that the new (and deliciously unnecessary) Bullet Editor that enables players to create their own customized projectile ammo, and there's plenty of options available to allow players to approach each fight in pretty much any way they see fit.
Despite the mechanical depth that the numerous tweaks to weapon styles and systems add to the experience, the combat admittedly still lacks the depth and heft of combat in Monster Hunter, moving at a much faster pace. It's (thankfully) much more forgiving, due in no small part to Resurrection's notable improvements to party member AI, seeing them make more of an effort at bringing down smaller beasts, while medics like Kanon are an invaluable part of the team as she patches you up long before you're on the ropes. Other members will make a bee-line for you should you be knocked unconscious, because they know who the big dog is. This is bolstered by a new system that allows you to unlock new behaviours and improve their skills with each hunt you take them on.
Despite all the changes and added depth, the game's pace has not slowed one iota. You won't have to spend hours harvesting herbs and other resources in order to be able to keep up with the monsters you slay. In fact, completing challenge missions actually makes obtaining materials needed to unlock new weapons and upgrades a lot easier, allowing players to focus almost entirely on the fun part – indiscriminately slaughtering towering Japanese monster-things.
Players can work together online regardless of whether they wish to play the game on PS4 or Vita, as multiplayer is supported across both systems, as well as cross-play, cross-save and also cross-buy (if purchased as part of the God Eater 2: Rage Burst bundle).
However, regardless of the new features, shiny new graphics and improved performance, there's really no escaping the fact that at its core, God Eater: Resurrection is a five-year-old game. Though, it may as well be a new game to most, and it plays far better than it ever did on PSP, the sparse environments and limited scale make the game feel a little bit quaint at times, and no amount of spruced up character models can hide that.
It may have taken a move to home consoles and a thorough remaster, but God Eater: Resurrection shines as a serious contender for the crown of King of the Hunt. If you've been searching for a viable replacement for Monster Hunter on vita ever since it headed to the sunny shores (and murky caverns) of the 3DS, then God Eater could well be just the series you've been looking for. It's a faster, flashier and less demanding alternative that never asks for the same insane level of dedication. Though it may turn a few off, those that always loved the hunt for monsters, but not the accompanying slog for resources will find a fantastic monster-slaying romp to sink their teeth into.
God Eater: Resurrection was reviewed on PS4 and Vita with a copy provided by the publisher.
Developer: Omega-Force | Publisher: Koei Tecmo | Genre: Hack 'n Slash | Platform: PC, PS4, PS Vita | PEGI/ESRB: 12+/T | Release Date: September 2, 2016 (EU), July 30, 2016 (NA)
[wp-review id="77968″]
God Eater Resurrection
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is an informal organization dedicated to promoting Christian unity through public worship.
CUSP was formed in the wake of Holland's October 2017 commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
A month-long series of events that marked this momentous event in the history of Christianity culminated in a community-wide worship service at Christ Memorial Church.
The rich experience of worshipping together with fellow Christians separated by the institutional divide that opened up between Catholic and Protestant in the sixteenth century left a profound impression on many—leading to a consensus that "Reformation 500 Holland" should go forward, building on the momentum generated by what we experienced together in 2017.
In the crucified and risen Christ, we are reconciled to God and to one another. This is at the heart of the Christian message to which the Church is called to give witness in the world. Deep and painful divisions among its members today, however, obscure this message and therefore compromise its witness.
Out of a shared commitment to overcome these divisions, Christians Uniting in Song and Prayer (CUSP) was formed. Located in the Holland community, we are a fellowship of Protestants and Catholics convinced that Christians joining in public assembly to sing and pray together can help to restore and promote our unity. Our conviction is rooted in the acknowledgment that Christian unity is both gift and task.
In celebrating together our common faith, we recover a vision of the inestimable gift that God has granted to us in Christ. Renewed thereby in our appreciation of this gift, we go out energized to take up the difficult task of reconciling with fellow Christians whose differences keep us separated.