Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns. Things have not only not gotten better, they have gotten worse! Forward this article (or a summarized version of it) to your local congressman, senator, regulator or investment advisor, and ask them to respond to the assertions herein.
When I have sounded the alarm in the past, it made sense to take notice. Look at who has failed over the last two years, and what I have said publicly, months before each failure.
Is this the Breaking of the Bear?: On Sunday, 27 January 2008 I made it very clear that Bear Stearns was in a fight for its life and was in explicit risk of failure. Most sell side firms has a buy on this stock at $185, and it had an investment grade rating from all of the big ratings agencies. We all know what happened two months later.
"Is Lehman really a lemming in disguise?": On February 20th, 2008, I made the proclamation that Lehman was hiding significant losses on its balance sheet. We all know what happened 7 months later. It had an investment grade rating from all of the big ratings agencies.
I also warned about the more generalized life/P&C insurers when they had AAA ratings and were thought to be healthy. They have since converted into a bank to run to the government for TARP funds and aid. See In case you haven't forgotten, I'm still bearish on the life insurance industry and scroll down for the relevant links.
The current regional bank failures were called out in the spring of 2008 with the advent of the Doo Doo 32 list. They shortly started dropping like flies. See As I see it, these 32 banks and thrifts are in deep doo-doo! and "The Doo Doo 32, revisited". Prior to this, in 2007, I made it clear that Washington Mutual and Countrywide were probably done for, see Yeah, Countrywide is pretty bad, but it ain't the only one at the subprime party… Comparing Countrywide to its peer.
The list of timely and relevant warnings can actually go on for some time. As a matter of fact, after sounding the alarm on commercial real estate exactly two years ago, and singling out the granddaddy of all commercial real estate failures a full year in advance (General Growth Properties was called out and shorted on this blog in November of 2007 as a general foreclosure case while it was the 2nd largest commercial mall owner in the country trading above $60, it filed for bankruptcy a year and a half later - see If only more rich heiresses read my blog for a full chronology).
So what has happened over the last two quarters?
Long story, short - stock market prices have become totally detached from their fundamentals. This has a bifurcated meaning though. On one hand, this means momentum investors have outperformed over the last two quarters. On the other hand, markets always revert to fundamentals. and the longer this goes on, the stronger (and potentially more profitable) that reversion will be.
I have started to take a close look at those big banks that have benefited immensely from the large dollops of government welfare that has been distributed on the taxpayers dime, and potentially what is behind the secrets that the Fed and the Treasury have been attempting to hide from the public. The results have been illuminating, indeed. Please read, or re-read these in order before we move on.
As can be garnered from the links above, I posit that big banks have (with the complicit assistance of the US government) amassed a concentrated pile of risk that easily will bring down our financial system if ignited. Listen, when 5 banks have 96% of the notional value of derivatives in the world, there is simply too much concentration in the system. THEY MUST BE BROKEN UP! Plain and simple. Let's look at this from a simplified perspective. I have 100 people in a room, and I give them each one gallon of gasoline, each. Each gallon of gasoline represents one unit of risky assets which has both a potentially lucrative energy store and the propensity to burst into flames as well, dependent on how it is handled and the surrounding conditions. If one where to walk into the room and somehow threaten any group of 2, 5 or 10 or even two dozen of those people with a match or flame (akin to the recent credit meltdown), the risks are still distributed enough where the risk can be considered manageable, albeit quite dangerous as well.
Just imagine if one were to move 96 gallons of this flammable gas to just 5 people (who were attempting to horde all of the potential energy) in one very small corner of the room! Would someone who doesn't want to get badly burned consider the risks those 5 people cause to the whole population excessive. Just imagine if a match was thrown in to the side of the room where those 5 people stood!!! That is what we currently have in our banking system in regards to derivatives on and off balance sheet. Hey, it gets even worse. As you will learn as you read on, several members of that group of five are holding those 96 gallons of gas with handles made of tinder, kindling and matches!!!
JP Morgan, formally one of the largest banks in the country that was considered too big to fail, has gotten significantly larger after swallowing Bear Stearns (a former bulge bracket Wall Street bank) and Washington Mutual (a pool of mortgage and lending losses combined with an overextended retail branch network that is now being shuttered). I will be releasing a forensic report on this bank for subscribers later on this week which shows that it is not nearly as profitable as analysts seem to think it is, as well as being rife with risks.
Bank of America, probably the largest bank in the US, with a significant government stake that makes its namesake a most accurate moniker, dramatically improved upon its too big to fail status by acquiring the poster children of mortgage risk excesses, Countrywide and Merrill Lynch (a former bulge bracket firm).
Wells Fargo (see Doo-Doo bank drill down, part 1 - Wells Fargo, Doo Doo 32 Bank Drill Down 1.5: The Forensic Analysis of Wells Fargo, Wells Fargo reports in a few hours and I wonder how forthcoming they will be with their credit losse	and Fact, Fiction, Farce and Lies! What happened to the Bank Bears?),	the largest west coast lender that was too big to fail became that much bigger when it swallowed the failing Wachovia bank, which would have been one of the biggest bank failures in history if Well's didn't outbid the failing and heavily government subisdized Citibank for it.
I now posit that the already dangerous moniker of "too big to fail" has already morphed through the magicks of moral hazard into "too big to let survive intact". The biggest of these banks are literally smoking time bombs that will make the Lehman failure look like a kindergarten show and tell session.
Break'em up, and break'em up now!
We have looked at notional value of derivatives, gross fair value of derivative (before netting) and net fair value (after netting) for leading players in the "alleged" commercial banking industry and have compared them across various metrics.
· Despite higher gross fair value of derivatives, JP Morgan's net exposure on balance sheet is not the largest (with $97 bn and $67 bn of derivative assets and derivative liabilities, respectively) as the company has netted a significant part of its derivative exposure (trading direct market and credit risks for counterparty risks). Net fair value of derivative receivable to gross receivable for JPM is 5.42% compared to industry average of 9.84% while net fair value of derivative payables to gross payables for JPM is 3.84% compared to industry average of 6.03%.
· JP Morgan's total derivative exposure on balance sheet is $165 bn, or 174% of its tangible equity. JPM's gross fair value of derivatives is approximately 38 times its tangible equity while notional amount of derivatives is about 850 times its tangible equity.
· On a relative basis, HSBC ( HSBC_Holdings_Report_04August2008 - retail 2008-09-16 06:38:38 87.28 Kb - HSBC_Holdings_Report_04August2008 - pro 2008-11-06 10:11:09 138.89 Kb) and Morgan Stanley (see "The Riskiest Bank on the Street") have the largest on balance sheet derivative risk exposure with total fair value of derivatives, net (asset and liability) forming a staggering 683% and 508% of their tangible equity.
· As of June 30, 2009 Morgan Stanley's' total gross fair value of derivatives to tangible equity stood at 114x.
Needless to say, we will be following up with a revamped report on the "riskiest bank on the street" soon.
For those who don't speak banking parlance, tangible equity is the actual "spendable" capital that you have on hand to cover events that you would actually need money for. It excludes intangible nonsense that cannot be spent. What this means is that if Morgan Stanley's or HSBC's derivative portfolio moves a few percentage points againt them, theoretically (and actually) their equity can be totally wiped out. Now, what are the chances of that happening? Well, do you see that long list of dead companies in the "credibility" side bar above? Why don't you ask them? Oh yeah, you can't can you? That's because the infallible experts that worked there didn't think their excessive leverage and risk taking would turn againt them in such a fashion as described above as well. Not to worry, these "too big to fail" banks have the cusioning of the US taxpayer to save them if they fall. You know, the currently 10% unemployed US taxpayer!
I find it absolutely amazing that this country could justify breaking up a telephone company (Ma Bell, ala AT&T) yet allow these monstrosities of unproductive financial risk to grow even bigger and threaten the entire world, not once but twice, with their extreme levels of concentrated esoterica.
One would think that smaller banks and the associated banker's associations would scream bloody murder since they are being surcharged for risks by the FDIC (see More on the FDIC as a Catalyst...) that most couldn't even afford to take in the first place - the risks that were purposely borne by the big banks. The risks that are still being expanded by the big banks. For instance, Goldman makes nearly all of their profits through trading like a risky hedge fund (VaR is shooting through the roof, despite getting exemptions from accurate VaR reporting from the regulatory authorities), yet is protected by the FDIC, has access to teh Fed window and pays one of the smallest percentages of its revenues into the FDIC insurance pool. The smaller banks are being hit so hard by these insurance charges that they are losing over 13% of their gross revenues to it, despite the fact that thay are not doing anything near as risky as proprietary trading. You guys need to speak up and defend yourself against the big boys. Hey, use this article as a lobbying tool if you have to, but do something are you will soon no longer be in existance, wiped out by the re-emergence of the dinosaurs!


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DOCSIS 3.1 in '13
Leslie Ellis
By now, hopefully, you've heard that there's a new chapter coming in cable modems. It's the latest iteration in the specification known by technologists as "DOCSIS 3.1" for "Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification."
DOCSIS 3.1 is a doozy — both in terms of what it will do for broadband capacity, and the sheer density of the tech talk that surrounds it.
Hey! Let's face it. "QAM" is a little long in the tooth, as impressively nerdy industrial tech-talk goes. Not to worry. With 3.1, you too can impress your friends and colleagues by blurting out 3.1-speak like "Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing with Low Density Parity Check."
Feature-wise, DOCSIS 3.1 is so crammed with improvements that some of us wondered why it didn't qualify as "DOCSIS 4.0." (Answer: To thwart any misperceptions from the investor community about "forklift upgrades.")
First off: DOCSIS 3.1 matters and was devised because of the billowing consumer demand for broadband usage — 50% and higher compound growth, since about 2009. Again: In the history of consumable goods, nothing has grown at a sustained rate of 50%, year over year.
DOCSIS 3.1 basics: When complete (2013) and in market (2014?), it will expand the industry's downstream and upstream carrying capacity for digital, IP traffic by 50%.
"Half as much again" is always a big deal, especially for that spectrally anemic upstream signal path.
Also impressive about DOCSIS 3.1: It could enable connection speeds of 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps.) Note: Don't inhale too deeply on this one. It's 10 Gbps if and only if all other channels on a system are empty. No analog, no SD or HD video, no broadband, no voice.
Let's get back to the tech-talk of 3.1. What makes for these enormous gains in IP capacity and speed is a new (to cable) form of modulation called "OFDM" (see above.) OFDM, when coupled with a new (to cable) form of forward error correction (LDPC), brings the 50% efficiency gains.
OFDM is widely used by mobile carriers, because they're already pretty bandwidth-challenged (ship any video from your phone lately?). It works by chopping the typical 6 MHz digital cable channel into smaller "subcarriers," in the lingo. That's good for both transmission and dealing with impairments.
That's the basics of DOCSIS 3.1 — why it matters, and how to talk about it with aplomb. Watch for it to be a major undercurrent of the 2013 cable-tech scene.
This column originally appeared in the Platforms section of Multichannel News.
10 Gbps 3.1 bandwidth DOCSIS DOCSIS 3.1 forklift LDPC OFDM subcarrier
How to Talk to People Who Use the Word "Orthogonal"
by Leslie Ellis // September 04 2012
Here's one that's sauntering back into tech-speak: Orthogonal.
Orthogonal is an oldie-but-goodie tech term, sure to imbue the person who utters it with an unmistakable whiff of tech intelligence. (It has nothing to do with your feet or shoes.)
As an everyday term, though, "orthogonal" is still largely inscrutable: A (math) term, meaning "at right angles." Generally speaking, when people say "orthogonal" and they're not talking about OFDM (yes there are people who say "orthogonal" conversationally), they mostly mean "irrelevant." One thing doesn't affect or disaffect the other thing.
In cable tech-talk, listen for "orthogonal" in tech-talk from broadband-side technologists working on what comes next with the DOCSIS cable modem specification. One of the potential expansions: OFDM, or, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing.
Know going in that OFDM is an upstream modulation thing, just as is QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation), QPSK (quaterny phase shift key), and S-CDMA (synchronous code division multiple access.)
Refresher: Modulation is the process of imprinting information onto a communications carrier, itself an electro-magnetic wave, so as to move that information from one physical location to another.
So, people talk about OFDM in the context of getting more stuff upstream, or responding to faster upstream speeds. (OFDM could be used for downstream modulation, too, but that's not the initial application.)
OFDM, with improved error correction, could kick up some serious capacity – half as much again as what's already down there. Which is good, because the upstream path is a slender five percent of total available capacity on any cable system.
How to earn style points when talking to engineers about OFDM: Ask the person who utters "OFDM" what they think Hedy Lamarr would say, if asked how it compares to her invention of CDMA. (A variation of which – Synchronous CDMA, or S-CDMA — is still used in cable modems.)
Lamarr, a celebrated MGM actress in the '30s and '40s, was romantically involved with a ranking military official in Europe, and endured the tedium of being treated as a bubblehead long enough to collect the facts she needed to develop what is now CDMA. (It also goes by "spread spectrum.")
CDMA works by compartmentalizing a signal into a series of packets, which are smeared across a chunk of spectrum for transmission. It was initially used by the Dept. of Defense to transmit coded information. It's like OFDM in that it codes data to move over smaller spectral slices.
But in every other sense, OFDM is essentially orthogonal to your everyday life.
Data Hedy Lamarr Modulation OFDM orthgonal QAM QPSK S-CDMA

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Hint: It does more than enhance the taste.
Some things are just better together. Take Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, for example. Separately they're both funny guys, but together they've created some of the best laugh-out-loud films of our time.
Lemon and green tea are no different. Separately, they have both been shown to fuel weight loss, but together they fight fat and whittle middles even more effectively. To come to this finding, Purdue University researchers tested juices, creamers and other additives that are commonly mixed into teas by putting them through a model that simulates digestion. They found that citrus juice and vitamin C—which are both abundant in fresh lemons—increase catechin levels after digestion by a whopping 60 percent, likely thanks to their acidity, which have been shown to help catechins thrive.
Though the study only looked at lemon's effect on green tea, the research team suspects that some of the results also could apply to black tea, which is great news for tea lovers looking to get a flat stomach.
Rid your pantry of these metal-laced powders!
Why I'll keep including it in my daily routine.


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Home Mzansi Celebs Singer Kelly Khumalo explains phone calls to Senzo Meyiwa murder suspect
Singer Kelly Khumalo explains phone calls to Senzo Meyiwa murder suspect
Rekeni Marhons
Reality star and singer Kelly Khumalo has responded to the allegations that she made phone calls to one of the suspects implicated in the murder of former Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa.
The National Prosecuting Authority mistakenly leaked court papers that implicated Kelly in the murder case to the media, The papers suggested Kelly has a case to answer and sought to obtain calls records to one of the suspects.
The NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said: "This document is not something that should be in the public domain… We need to make sure, all of us (law enforcement) and you (media) that at the end of the day we don't compromise the integrity of the case."
The police managed to get confessions from two of the suspects, according to the lake document.
One of the suspects was allegedly in contact with Khumalo in 2014 before the 26 October shooting of Senzo Meyiwa at then-girlfriend Kelly Khumalo's family home in Voslorus.
Khumalo has now hired Former Economic Freedom Fighters Treasurer General Magdalene Moonsamy as her defence attorney to fight to clear her name from the issue that has stalled her career.
Her attorney made a statement responding to the allegations of the leaked document suggesting phone calls were made between Kelly Khumalo and the murder suspect."Our client notes the recent developments of which at this sad time allowed her the opportunity to remain private in the best interest of herself and children especially that of the daughter she has with Mr Meyiwa," said Moonsamy in the statement.
"We wish to place it on record that our client is not implicated nor charged in this matter and is therefore not a suspect," Moonsamy said while responding to the calls linking Khumalo to one of the suspects.
Watch a Tribute to Senzo Meyiwa
In Other News: Ntsiki Mazwai on Sizwe Dhlomo: He will never have my respect!
Controversial media personality, Ntsiki Mazwai, has never been one to mince her words, nor has she been one to join in on a conversation that has literally nothing to do with her. Whilst most of her interactions have been based on her personal views on particular subjects, it appears as though Sizwe Dhlomo's past opinions have irked her again.
In a long Twitter thread on Friday, 30 October 2020, Ntsiki looked back on Sizwe's comment that claimed Black South Africans have it better than any other race in the country. Referencing the tweet, which was…learn more
National Prosecuting Authority
Senzo Meyiwa
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Leaked chats: Somizi breathes fire, takes revenge on woman who exposed his divorce from Mohale


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CCH vs SYL | 1st T20 Match Team Prediction | 11-12-2019 13:00
Bangladesh Premier League T20 Prediction
Match: CCH vs SYL Fantasy Team Prediction
Series: Bangladesh Premier League, 2019
Venue: Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka.
Toss: CCH won the toss and elected to bowl first
Mahmudullah Not Playing Today :✖:
CCH: L L W L L
SYL: W L W W L
CCH Won 01
SYLWon 03
Sylhet Thunder have beaten Chattogram Challengers on the previous three occasions including both the matches of the last season.
Sylhet Thunder have a strong bowling attack but their batting looks thin as compared to that of the Chattogram Challengers.
Chattogram Challengers are a well-balanced team and have more experienced campaigners in their line-up than Sylhet Thunder.
Bangladesh Premier League T20 2019:Where to watch/Live streaming
TV channels: DSport, Star Gold, Geo Super, Gazi TV, Flow Sports 2.
Live Streaming: Bet365, Hotstar, Rabbitholebd Sports.
CCH vs SYL Toss Prediction
The venue offers a good batting pitch but it does tend to slow down a bit during the second period of play. And also since four of the last five T20 internationals here have been won by the side batting first, the toss-winning team is more likely to bat first.
CCH vs SYL Weather Report
Clear skies with plenty of sunshine is what one can expect for this game. It should be warm in the afternoon with temperature likely to be around 25-26 degrees Celsius and humidity between 41% and 45%.
CCH vs SYL Pitch Condition
The pitch at the Shere Bangla has favored the batsmen more in recent times, especially during the first-half of a game. 152 is the average score at this ground in the first innings in the 20-over format.
CCH Team News
Chattogram Challengers have confirmed that Chris Gayle will be featuring in BPL 2019-20, which is the seventh season of the Bangladesh Premier League.. However, the West Indian batting star is currently recovering from a hamstring injury and will only be available after the first-half of the tournament. Captained by Mahmudullah, the Challengers have recruited the likes of Imrul Kayes, Rubel Hossain, Rayad Emrit and Imad Wasim in their squad.
SYL Team News
Sylhet Thunder will be led by Mosaddek Hossain in the BPL 2019-20. Johnson Charles is likely to open the batting while the skipper himself along with Mohammad Mithun and Jeevan Mendis will form the team's middle-order. Mohammad Sami and Ebadat Hossain will probably start off the proceedings when it comes to bowling. Sohag Gazi and Rony Talukdar are the two all-rounders apart from Mosaddek Hossain and Jeevan Mendis.
Chattogram Challengers
Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Avishka Fernando, Mahmudullah (c), Nurul Hasan (wk), Ryan Burl, Imad Wasim, Rayad Emrit, Rubel Hossain, Enamul Haque Jr, Muktar Ali.
Sylhet Thunder
Johnson Charles, Shafiqullah Shafiq (wk), Mohammad Mithun, Mosaddek Hossain (c), Jeevan Mendis, Monir Hossain, Rony Talukdar, Sohag Gazi, Ebadot Hossain, Nayeem Hasan, Mohammad Sami.
CCH vs SYL D11 Fantasy Team:
Watch video for detailed Match Information.
Remove A Fletcher & E Hossain from Initial Team & Pick N Hasan & K Santokie
1. N Hasan
2. A Fernando(VC)
3. J Siddique
4. R Talukdar
5. J Charles(C)
6. N Hossain
7. J Mendis
8. R Hossain
9. R Emrit
10. Naveen ul -Haque
11. K Santokie
CCH Key Players:
Chattogram Challengers will look to their top-order batsmen Imrul Kayes and Avishka Fernando to take them off to a good start with the bat. Both these batsmen have a fair amount of international experience in T20Is. Mahmudullah has four half-centuries to his name and he will be the key man for the Challengers in the middle order. Rubel Hossain, Imad Wasim and Rayad Emrit will be the one's to watch out for with the ball. Rubel Hossain will lead the team's bowling attack and the onus will be on him to take wickets upfront. Imad Wasim, with his left-arm spin, will play a big role in the middle overs.
SYL Key Players:
Sylhet Thunder will rely heavily on Johnson Charles and Mohammad Mithun to score the big runs at the top of the order. The former is an explosive batsman and, on his day, can take the game away from the opposition very quickly. Mohammad Mithun and skipper Mosaddek Hossain will form the heart of the team's middle-order batting. When it comes to bowling, the Thunder will bank on their new-ball pair of Mohammad Sami and Ebadot Hossain along with leg-spinner Jeevan Mendis. Mohammad Sami will be the biggest threat of the trio due to his ability to hit speeds over 140 km/hr.
Chattogram Challengers:
Chattogram Challengers had a pretty good tournament last time, finishing third on the points table at the end of the league stage with seven wins and five losses from twelve matches. They got their campaign off to an excellent start with six wins from their first seven fixtures. However, their performance dipped in the second-half of the tournament and they ended up losing four of their last five league matches. The Challengers made it to the Eliminator where they got knocked out with a six-wicket drubbing at the hands of Dhaka Dynamites.
Sylhet Thunder:
Sylhet Thunder had a forgettable BPL season last time. They failed to make it past the league stage after finishing second from the bottom in the standings with five wins and seven losses from twelve matches. The Thunder managed to win only two of their first eight encounters and that pretty much ensured their ouster from the tournament. They did finish on a high though, winning three of their last four matches, but it wasn't enough for them to break into the top four.
CHATTOGRAM CHALLENGERS: Imrul Kayes, Avishka Fernando, Chadwick Walton(w), Junaid Siddique, Pinak Ghosh, Mahmudullah(c), Ryan Burl, Rayad Emrit, Nasir Hossain, Imad Wasim, Rubel Hossain, Jubair Hossain, Enamul Haque jnr, Muhammad Musa, Nasum Ahmed , Nurul Hasan, Muktar Ali.
SYLHET THUNDER: Johnson Charles, Monir Hossain, Mohammad Mithun(w/c), Sherfane Rutherford, Shafiqullah Shafiq, Rony Talukdar, Mosaddek Hossain, Sohag Gazi, Jeevan Mendis, Krishmar Santokie, Nazmul Islam, Delwar Hossain, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ebadot Hossain, Nayeem Hasan, Ruyel Miah.


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By Bioengineer On Aug 18, 2014
A team led by researchers at the University of Exeter Medical School and King's College London has uncovered some of the strongest evidence yet that epigenetic changes in the brain play a role in Alzheimer's disease
Photo Credit:EpiGenie
A team led by researchers at the University of Exeter Medical School and King's College London has uncovered some of the strongest evidence yet that epigenetic changes in the brain play a role in Alzheimer's disease.
Epigenetic changes affect the expression or activity of genes without changing the underlying DNA sequence and are believed to be one mechanism by which the environment can interact with the genome. Importantly, epigenetic changes are potentially reversible and may therefore provide targets for the development of new therapies.
Globally, more than 26 million people are currently affected by Alzheimer's Disease. As this number grows in line with an increasingly aging population, the need to identify new disease mechanisms is more important than ever. Post-mortem examinations have revealed much about how Alzheimer's damages the brain, with some regions, such as the entorhinal cortex, being particularly susceptible, while others, such as the cerebellum, remain virtually unscathed. However, little is yet known about how and why the disease develops in specific brain regions.
The current study found that chemical modifications to DNA within the ANK1 gene are strongly associated with measures of neuropathology in the brain. The study, published in Nature Neuroscience, found that people with more Alzheimer's disease-related neuropathology in their brains had higher levels of DNA modifications within the ANK1 gene. The finding was particularly strong in the entorhinal cortex, and also detected in other cortical regions affected by the disease. In contrast, no significant changes were observed in less affected brain regions or blood.
Professor Jonathan Mill, of the University of Exeter Medical School and King's College London, who headed the study, said: "This is the strongest evidence yet to suggest that epigenetic changes in the brain occur in Alzheimer's disease, and offers potential hope for understanding the mechanisms involved in the onset of dementia. We don't yet know why these changes occur – it's possible that they are involved in disease onset, but they may also reflect changes induced by the disease itself."
Dr Katie Lunnon, first author on the study, from the University of Exeter Medical School, added: "It's intriguing that we find changes specifically in the regions of the brain involved in Alzheimer's disease. Future studies will focus on isolating different cell-types from the brain to see whether these changes are neuron-specific."
Dr Simon Ridley, Head of Research at Alzheimer's Research UK, the UK's leading dementia research charity, who also provided funding for the study said:
"We know that changes to the DNA code of certain genes are associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Investigating how epigenetic changes influence genes in Alzheimer's is still a relatively new area of study. The importance of understanding this area of research is highlighted by the fact that epigenetic changes have been associated with development of other diseases, including cancer.
"This innovative research has discovered a potential new mechanism involved in Alzheimer's by linking the ANK1 gene to the disease. We will be interested to see further research into the role of ANK1 in Alzheimer's and whether other epigenetic changes may be involved in the disease."
"Alzheimer's affects millions of people worldwide and we need pioneering research to understand exactly why the disease occurs. Alzheimer's Research UK is helping to fund research which will take us a step closer to understanding and defeating this devastating disease."
The above story is based on materials provided by University of Exeter Medical School.
Scientists make major breakthrough in understanding leukaemia
Bionic Liquids from Lignin


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Berhana Chats About the Creative Process Behind his Music
An interview with the genre-bending artist who takes things slow
By Alex Garner
Photographer Chris Lee
Fashion by Sue Choi
With two singles out last year—both of them hypnotically catchy and layered, "Whole Wide World" and "Wildin'"—Berhana is a calculated, focused artist who doesn't rush his process for the sake of production. His vision of what he wants to create, and how he creates it, is centered on his personal progress, while a lot of his inspiration centers on his experiences, many of them including his family and his upbringing. With one eye on the future and the other on the past, he shows his self-evaluation through music; his sound is hard to categorize, pulling from different genres and influences (he's heard it been described as "retro pop . . . which seemed terrible and also kind of cool"), but his determination is definitive. Here, Berhana shares his ideas and goals for the future.
Read Next: Harry Hudson and Jaden Smith Get Real About Life
How did you get started in music, and how long have you been making it?
It started off pretty personal. I'd write songs on my keyboard after school, show a few friends, and that's all it really was. When I moved to New York, my friend Jimmy had me record something over one of his beats. That's when I decided to pursue it in a more focused way. At first, music was just an outlet, a way to express myself. I never really played anybody anything for the first few years.
Who are your musical influences, and what did you grow up listening to?
I like artists who just create whatever it is they want to create. You never really know what their next release is gonna be like. The Beatles, Prince, Kanye, Squarepusher, Bjork, 3 stacks. It's a long list. When I was younger, I just soaked up what was around. I was definitely an MTV kid growing up. My brother and sister are ten and twelve years older than I am, so I ended up listening to a lot of whatever they listened to. My sister used to make me these blue mix CDs with Fugees, Coldplay, Stevie, Broken Social Scene . . . a bunch of stuff. My brother was the one who put me on to full-length albums. Black on Both Sides, Licensed to Ill, The Love Below. I stole everything when he went to college.
You feature your family in your music, and you post about them on social media pretty frequently. Why have you included them in your music?
I'm very close with my family. I don't have the traditional come up. We've gone through a lot together, which just made us that much closer. With the EP, I wanted people to get a glimpse of that.
Why do you think it's important to take your time with your creative process?
For me, I just want what I'm creating to see its full potential. I'd rather take a couple years getting something right than put something out in six months and go crazy over the things I could've done differently.
What's in store for the future, and are there any goals you have for this year?
I don't think I have a crazy, far-reaching goal, when it comes to my music. Before, music for me was just a thing I would do as a hobby now and then, and the goal wasn't necessarily to get better. But now the goal is to get better. I have a project I'm very excited about coming out this year.
What is your main source of inspiration?
Past experiences play a pretty big role. That's normally the jump off point at least.
How would you define fearless independence, and what makes you fearlessly independent?
Not being afraid to see out your ideas the way you envisioned. When I finished my first record, I was living on a couch, so there wasn't really anything to lose. . . . I feel like you have to get past certain memories, and the hurt, the pain, the joy, or whatever it is to really be able to see the full scope. I don't think I'm fearless. I think I have a fairly strong sense of self, and when it comes to my music, I just want everything to be right, the way that I pictured it from the beginning. Always being able to create from that mindset, that's the goal.
Hip-Hop, New Balance


text:
Podcast on what life is really like for the millions of unfortunate victims of Communism, as documented by memoirs, stories, and novels published over the past century, as well as personal interviews. Check out our first blog post for more about the aims of this podcast.
Episode 20: Outsmarting The Bureaucrats
Audio Link
Welcome to Stories of Communism, the podcast where we review and discuss the firsthand testimony of those who lived through the horrors of Communism over the past century. This is Erik Seligman, your co-host, along with Manuel Castaneda, recording from the suburbs of Portland, Oregon.
Today we're going to talk about a well-known Soviet dissident, Vladimir Bukovsky, who has made it his life's mission not to let people forget the abuses of Communism. Many critiques of the Soviet Union and similar regimes tend to focus on the Stalin years, a natural tendency given the tens of millions of deaths. But Bukovsky began his dissident career during the Krushchev "thaw", when the regime was still spreading violence and death throughout the world, suppressing political speech, and causing widespread economic misery for its population. He has repeatedly made efforts to point out that when Communist regimes seem to be promoting peace, slight economic reforms, or improved relations with the West, they are usually just engaging in intensive PR for what is still a fundamentally totalitarian system causing untold human misery. Naturally, his outspokenness on these issues resulted in over 12 years of imprisonment, at various times in prisons, mental hospitals, or in labor camps.
When the Soviet Union fell in the early 1990s, Bukovsky thought it especially important that the documentation of the government's actions over the past few decades be preserved. He knew that there would be a tendency to gloss over the more recent abuses, since the officials involved were in most cases still alive and often in positions of power in the "new" Russian government. And that's not accounting for their many collaborators in the West, who would have a similar interest in papering over such issues. Thus, he headed to Moscow as soon as he could, to gather any available information and preserve documents before they could be destroyed. The story of his attempts to preserve documents, and the shocking contents he found, is told in his memoir "Judgement in Moscow: Soviet Crimes and Western Complicity".
Bukovsky returned to Moscow in 1991, hoping to initiate something equivalent to the Nuremberg Trials for Communism. As he summarizes it, this wasn't about revenge, but about exposing the massive scale of Communist human rights abuses so they could never be denied or papered over. He considered it an important principle that he would not try to name and expose every "informer" who collaborated with the police— he knew that many had been pressured into cooperation by threats against themselves or their families. His worst fear is that a few bad leaders, like Stalin, would be blamed, and the fundamental horrors of the system would never be exposed:
The aim was not to winnow the more guilty from the less guilty and punish the latter, but to attain a moral cleansing of society. Not mass hysteria, reprisals, denunciations, and suicides … but repentance. And in order to achieve this, the entire system and the crimes it perpetrated should have been put on trial, while it would have been quite sufficient to pronounce judgment on its leaders, who were already in prison…
I considered it vital to show the millions of people who would see the program that we, former political prisoners and dissidents, had no desire to seek revenge, that the foundation for my proposals was not vengeance but interests much more far-reaching and not at all personal.
Bukovsky, Vladimir. Judgment in Moscow: Soviet Crimes and Western Complicity (Kindle Locations 1605-1612. Ninth of November. Kindle Edition.
After Bukovsky began his attempts to gather critical documents from the archives, various Russian media outlets and KGB officers began spreading rumors that there was nothing to be found, and the crimes of Communism had been exaggerated. Various mid-level employees started giving Bukovsky various excuses and delays when he asked for documents— and he even discovered that some critical ones had been burned. He was frustrated to realize the the so-called "reform" of the KGB after Yeltsin took over was largely an illusion:
Splitting up the KGB into separate directorates and services… was as pointless as chopping off a lizard's tail or dividing an amoeba. The result was that every unit regenerated itself and even expanded, just as in the fairy tale in which every dragon tooth grows into a new dragon. Those archives were the essence of the KGB, the heart of the dragon, hidden behind seven seals. The only way to vanquish the beast was to pierce its heart, but the hero of the story, who was supposed to accomplish this magnificent feat, went on a drunken spree instead…
Meanwhile, mysterious "commercial structures" began to appear around the archives, and a brisk trade in documents ensued, but only those deals that profit the KGB, and only through the reliable hands of those who suit the KGB.
(Kindle Locations 1723-1735).
Walking into the buildings of the supposedly reformed KGB, Bukovsky's description sounds like a mix of a Kafka novel and a Three Stooges movie:
The archive administration occupied only one floor of Number 12; the rest was like the labyrinth of the Minotaur, the entrance and exit of which could not be found without Ariadne's thread. The superb parquet flooring of the corridors seemed to stretch into infinity past sealed office doors that still bore the nameplates of their former occupants… Here and there, mounds of files and papers marked "top secret" lay right on the floor. I picked up one at random and glanced at the contents: it was a report by some regional party committee about youth work…
The decree ordering the seizure of the party archives had been signed by Yeltsin on 24 August, and the commission with the new guards had entered the Central Committee buildings that same night. At first the electricity supply was cut off to prevent any use of shredding machines, but then it had to be turned on again, because it was impossible to find anything in the dark. The shredding machines were already jammed with hurriedly destroyed documents and not in working order….
It was a fact that all the entrances and exits were manned by sturdy young men with submachine guns. We literally stumbled into one of them, a strapping young fellow with a childish, bewildered face, as we turned a corner: "Can you tell me where the canteen is?" he asked pleadingly. "I've been wandering around for half an hour, and still can't find it…."
Experience showed that it was well-nigh impossible to destroy any archive material selectively, or, for that matter, to forge it. In the first place because it had been established that there were at least 162 archives, totally unconnected to each other by cross-referencing in card indexes or by computer; the communist regime trusted nobody, even its own apparatus. It would take months of searching just to establish whether there were any copies of a document from one archive in another…
Fortunately, the ultimate disorganization and lack of internal trust ensured that despite attempts to cover the tracks of past Soviet officials, plenty of papers would remain available somewhere in the archives. But Bukovsky gradually came to realize he was facing another critical obstacle, the lifetime of conditioning of petty bureaucrats under the Soviet system:
In reality, the administrators of the archive were in no hurry… They were no fighters, just typical Soviet bureaucrats who had built their careers under the old regime, cowardly and cunning, like all slaves. Their attitude toward the authorities, their overlords, was a slave's mixture of fear and hatred, and the more they hated, the more they wanted to cheat their masters in some way. So they regarded the unexpected bounty that fell into their hands as their personal windfall, to be guarded jealously from all outsiders….
It stands to reason that from their point of view, I was an outsider, a thief eyeing their riches from whom they tacitly agreed to protect their "personal property." Moreover, they simply could not understand my motives—what was it I was after, anyway? Was I trying to get a cut for myself?…
they agreed with me in everything just in case, but managed to invent new excuses for delay every day.
(Kindle Locations 1783-1798)
As the holders of the archives created endless delays, Bukovsky was dismayed to see the continued increase in former Soviet officials attaining positions of power under Yeltsin's supposedly reformed government. They even pressured Yeltsin to pass a 1992 law on "preserving state secrets", yet another obstacle to any attempts to gather more data from the archives.
Fortunately, later in 1992 the former officials got a bit too brazen for their own good, filing an appeal with the new Constitutional Court of Russia to try to force Yeltsin to re-recognize the Communist Party. If they succeeded, Yeltsin might even be forced to return buildings and property that his new government had taken from the Communist Party— so it was a very serious threat. Now, the reputation Bukovsky had for trying to independently document past abuses became an advantage.
Alarm, even panic seized all the president's men. And this led to what I had spent almost a year trying to achieve: the CPSU archives were opened, at least in part, and I, who had been hurriedly summoned to Moscow as an expert witness to the proceedings, received access to them. That was the categorical condition I made—payment, if you like, for my participation in the pending farce.
But even this new power didn't solve the issue of the stubborn bureaucrats, who were still the ones controlling the archives day-to-day, and could still create endless delays. Nobody refused him directly, but there was always a reason some document couldn't be found. Or they would come back with a request for an exact "date and reference number", details which could not be known without directly searching the archives for the document. He suspected that some of them just wanted bribes, but this was a line he refused to cross:
From the arsenal of our prison stratagems, there was only one I consciously never employed: bribery. Maybe I was wrong, but it seemed to me that it would be too demeaning to descend to this level, as it would have been offensive to, say, a former inmate of a Nazi concentration camp to try to buy documents indicting the Nazis from the SS. The thought that the scum who had built their former well-being on our bones would derive profit now… was too repugnant to contemplate.
Bukovsky managed to slowly gather some documents, but knew his access would soon end as the relevant court case came to a close. Even worse, while he had gathered a large number of relevant documents, they were still stored in another part of the archive building, where he could permanently lose all the documents he had put so much effort into gathering. Luckily, he had one more trick up his sleeve.
I took the precaution of acquiring a miracle of Japanese technology: a portable computer with a handheld scanner. At that time this piece of technology had only just appeared in the West, and it was completely unknown to our Russian savages. Because of this I was able to sit right under their noses and scan piles of documents, page after page, with no worries about the curious, who kept coming up to admire my machine. "Look at that!" would exclaim the leaders of democratic Russia, peering admiringly over my shoulder. "Now that must have cost a few bucks!"
Nobody realized what I was doing until the court hearing was almost over, until December 1992, when one of them suddenly saw the light and yelled loudly enough to be heard a block away: "He's copying everything!!!" There was a deathly hush. I kept scanning, as though I had not heard. "He'll publish everything over there!!!" I finished working, packed up my computer, and headed calmly for the door, looking neither left nor right. From the corner of my eye I could see the horrified faces of Yeltsin's elite… Nobody said a word as I made my way to the door. They were probably busy calculating what untold millions I would make in the West.
Thus, Bukovsky was able to escape with copies of thousands of pages of authentic Communist Party documents. While most of the abuses were already well known, there were plenty of explosive revelations. He solidly documents how many Western political and media figures were collaborating directly with the Soviet government, even though similar collaboration with Reagan or Thatcher would have resulted in their ostracism from fashionable society. He discusses in detail how Gorbachev, the supposedly reformist Soviet leader, was at all times in firm control and in solid agreement with the so-called Kremlin "conservatives"— he never wanted to overturn the totalitarian Soviet system, but merely to make it more robust in the face of Western challenges. But perhaps worst of all, as had long been suspected, the Soviets directly had a hand in most of the "national liberation movements" that caused chaos in South America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East throughout the 1970s and 1980s. As Bukovsky writes,
Even I was amazed by the scope of this murderous activity across five continents. Even Hitler could not have dreamed up something like this. The tempest they unleashed swept away millions of lives in Ethiopia, Vietnam, and Central America; it will rage on in Angola, Sudan, Somalia, and Afghanistan long after the last communist regime vanishes from the face of the earth.
We won't elaborate more on these topics here, since this podcast is about telling personal stories, but you can find all this information in detail in Bukovsky's book. One item uncovered in the items did hit Bukovsky personally though, due to his having spent several years confined to Soviet insane asylums: he uncovered plans for a new "Psychiatric Gulag". In the key document, we can see:
The KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR in the Krasnodar region possesses materials that indicate that there is a significant number of mentally ill persons who exhibit socially dangerous and hostile signs, harbor criminal, politically harmful intentions, and have a demoralizing effect on the lives of Soviet people…
Many of those suffering mental illness attempt to create new "parties," various organizations and councils, prepare and disseminate draft charters, program documents and laws…
At present, according to data supplied by regional health authorities, eleven to twelve thousand persons stand in need of hospitalization…
This document was written with respect to only one of around 100 administrative regions— so if the plan had actually been implemented, over a million Soviet citizens would likely have ended up in Brezhnev's new psychiatry-based gulag. Luckily, a few dissidents including Bukovsky had managed to report their abuse to foreign psychiatric associations at just the right time to embarrass the KGB into giving up this plan.
…it turned out that our campaign had hit the bull's-eye. Half a year had not yet passed, and the Politburo had not reached a final decision, when my first interviews appeared in the Western press, and by summer they were on television, where the question of psychiatric repression became a top story. It was as though we had caught them red-handed at the scene of the crime, and quite by chance at that. It is probably like this in wartime, when a rogue shell hits the arsenal… The regime had to defend itself with all it had, and the decision to create a psychiatric gulag was shelved…
Anyway, as you can probably guess, many of Bukovsky's revelations were very embarrassing for Western liberals who had continually collaborated with Brezhnev and his successors in the name of "peace", "disarmament", and similar causes, or supported the many Soviet-sponsored "national liberation" movements. As a result, even though Bukovsky first published his book in 1996, it took over 20 years for the first English language edition to come out. At first he was connected with the wrong publishers, who turned out to be more concerned with protecting their liberal friends than letting the truth be revealed. They kept demanding that he cut passages that would be embarrassing to various public figures, and he completely refused. Then he found a smaller publisher, who was planning to print the book but got intimidated into silence by continual threats of lawsuits. These threats successfully suppressed the edition from being published by anyone for years, until an independent group of supporters in the U.S. decided to publish it on their own last year.
Overall, thanks in part to Bukovsky's work, nobody can now deny the human rights abuses of the later period of Soviet history, the past actions of many officials who are even now active in the Russian government, or the corrosive effect that Soviet Communism had as they exported violence throughout the world. Or, for that matter, the guilt of Western liberals who continually supported the Soviet Communist party line throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The next time someone accuses you of paranoia or "McCarthyism" for worrying about the dangers of Communism, be sure to refer them to Bukovsky's "Judgement In Moscow."
<closing conversation with Manuel>
By the way, we'd like to thank listener Dusty from Sunup Creative for sending us a nice new logo for the podcast. Remember, if you want to help but aren't as artistic, we could always use a few more nice reviews at Apple Podcasts or similar sites.
And this has been your story of Communism for today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Bukovsky
https://www.amazon.com/Judgment-Moscow-Soviet-Western-Complicity-ebook/dp/B07NTQTRHN/
What Is This Podcast?
This blog contains the episode scripts from the Stories of Communism podcast. In this podcast, we explore what it's really like to live under socialism and communism, based on the many stories, novels, and memoirs published over the last century. These stories have been largely ignored by Western media and popular culture, and it is only through understanding them that we can see the true dangers posed by these totalitarian systems. See more details in our first post.
Since this is a relatively new podcast, we would love to hear your feedback and suggestions. Please email us at this link with your comments!
You can find us on iTunes at this link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1352803323 .
To subscribe to this podcast in any other podcatcher, use this RSS feed address: http://www.erikseligman.com/soc/SOC_RSS_FEED.xml.
If you like our podcast, come join our MeWe fan group at https://mewe.com/join/stories_of_communism , and/or "like" our Facebook fan page at https://www.facebook.com/storiesofcommunism/ .
And of course, click the options to suggest these groups/pages to your friends.
The podcast is hosted by Erik Seligman & Manuel Castaneda.
Erik writes & speaks the scripted portions, with Manuel reading quotes from our storytellers. Of course, both of us contribute to the conversational segments near the end of each episode.
The viola music that opens and closes each episode is played by Sonia Seligman.
Anticommunism Action Team
Tribute to Liberty
Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation


Hulu is running a promotion for their limited commercials plan for just 99¢ per month for 12 months. The deal is good for new subscribers. Previous subscribers who have not had active accounts for a year can also qualify.
Hulu is also running a promotion to add Showtime for just $5 a month for the first 3 months.
Showtime is usually $11 a month. If you would be buying Showtime anyway you can actually save $4 by getting Hulu for a year ($12) and three months of showtime ($15).
Ebates also offers $10 cash back for Hulu. I'm not sure if this 99c deal qualifies but its certainly worth trying since you'd get $10 cash back and that covers the discount Hulu price for 10 months. I don't think I can test the $10 cashback since I've already had Hulu myself and I can't get this deal.
Note I'm not 100% sure the $10 cash back from Ebates works on the 99c deal but I can't see why it won't.
Note that this is the 'limited commercials' version of Hulu which kind of a misnomer since there are several commercials. Their 'commercial free' option is the more expensive version and you can NOT upgrade from the 99c deal to the commercial free without paying the full cost of commercial free. Still for just 99c a month its a good deal for all the programming on Hulu but you do have to suffer through their commercial breaks. Its usually a few minutes of commercials per hour or something like that if I remember right. Its similar to the amount of commercials you see when watching video-on-demand on a cable network or streaming programs free online.


KCC carefully trains operators on all tasks and monitors their work to assure high quality. Each unit of work is individually inspected and appropriate edit and balancing routines are performed to aid in maintaining and improving accuracy. Each operator is randomly monitored and verified in addition to client specified verification procedures.
KCC provides a Data Control unit whose primary function is to audit and monitor all work flow and to communicate with clients. The Data Control unit receives all work, performs logging, prepares work orders, prepares batch tickets and accounts for all batches of source documents at each work stage. After work is completed and appropriate media or reports are prepared, Data Control will perform final balancing and control procedures before exit packaging and shipment is performed.
When verification, audit and monitoring procedures highlight a particular problem with documentation, corrected documentation is prepared and operators are notified, usually with revised documentation. When a particular operator is pinpointed as having specific stroke errors or a lack of task understanding, that operator is notified immediately and additional training provided to assure the problem is rectified.
With the volume of keystrokes produces, some level of stroke error is to be expected but KCC's goal for allowable error is ZERO! While we have yet to attain this goal, it is one we strive for daily. Where data to be processed allows check digiting, hash balancing and batch balancing in addition to verification, accuracy approaches 100%. During a recent statistical period, a stroke error rate of less than one tenth of one percent was reported on a volume of approximately 50 million keystrokes.
KCC's Data Control unit receives many client requests and addresses those requests with a minimum of delay. Additionally, the unit resolves any problems or considerations brought to light by internal audit procedures.


The most difficult step on the road to recovery is usually the first one.
There certainly are 1 month alcohol and drug abuse processes. Because everyone is different and everyone's situations vary. In many instances, when people imagine recovering from addiction to alcohol and/or drugs, they generally presume a 1 month long treatment. There are really various treatments that can be much longer or shorter. 180+ day drug or alcohol rehabs generally to have the best track record. There are many drug/alcohol addiction recovery programs are for 200 days.
All through your treatment periodand beyond, we are there equipping you with the best systems and methods to manage any problems you may encounter. We'd love to discuss your personal needs and plan your rehabilitation and recovery. Our highly experienced, caring, and certified specialists provide the most cutting-edge alcohol/drug addiction recovery techniques to rehabilitate alcohol and/or drug addiction.
Using the best life practices such as relationship techniques, wholesome stress and anxiety management techniques, and methods for set healthy boundaries in interpersonal relationships, will largely raise your odds of a long-term recovery with minimal or no backsliding.
Our experienced, compassionate, and certified professionals will instruct you in these truly effective techniques in order to provide the best likelihood for a complete rehabilitation.
If we don't deal with and treat any hidden root causes for the addiction, the expectation of long lasting recovery much lower. Often, substance abuse occurs simultaneously along with mental health issues. Effective drug and/or alcohol abuse treatment calls for major changes in lifestyle and outlook. Drug/alcohol abuse is a crippling problem that harms mind and body, alike. Since this is the case, our trained professionals must deal with both aspects of the recovery process.
What's usually essential to have long-lasting results? Alcohol/drug abuse programs that focus on rehabilitation from addiction to drugs and/or alcohol in a all-encompassing way foster rehabilitation on a deep level and they assist their patients to fully revamp their way of life. Alcohol and/or drug programs that are more comprehensive appear to many experts to work the best. What's generally found in rehabilitation from addiction to alcohol/drugs that is long-term are detoxing thoroughly with professional supervision, recovery at a local facility, continuous rehabilitation at home away from the facility, and outpatient recovery.
To get help finding a drug rehab near you in the Hallandale Beach, FL area, give us call us today at our toll free help-line.


text:
package com.nec.strudel.instrument;

public interface TimeInstrument {

    void start(String name);

    long end();

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Low voltage is basically your security system, surround sound system, TV and phone connections. We call each access point a drop and you can choose where you want them. You can also choose the amount. For example, if you want a TV in your bathroom, you'd need another drop for it.
This includes all the home automation. Depending on what you want you spend, you can setup Alexa to do almost anything. For example, you could say "Alexa, movie time" and your home might lower the motorized shades, turn on your Tv and Av system, turn your lights down, and set the temperature in your media room to 68 degrees. The options are pretty much endless.
Security can be simple or complex. Generally we standardize with a central panel, sensors on doors and windows, and a glass break sensor in the main room. If you wanted, you could build a full home surveillance system with overlapping sector camera systems, laser barriers that when cross project a pre recorded message or security lighting that triggers via motion sensors. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination and wallet.
Like I mentioned in the smart home section, you can setup different lighting "scenes" throughout your home that with a voice command or touch of a button changes the entire look of your home. Lighting is also used to highlight specific portions and key aspects of your home. For example, if you have an archway you might position up lights on either side to accentuate that key feature. In the audio department there are a TON of options. You can choose from different calibers of surround sound systems like 5.1 and Dolby Atmos. You can also choose whether or not you want to see your speakers. Some speakers can be implanted into your drywall in such a way that audio quality is not impacted but they are invisible to you and your guest. You can choose to hardwire speakers or you can utilize wireless options like those from Sonos.
We highly recommend our clients consult with interior designers before building their home. Interior designers do way more than decorate your home. They can take a wholistic approach to crafting how your home interacts with you. They will look at your plans day one and begin to help you craft your vision for not only how the home looks but feels when you're in it. They will expertly accentuate the most appealing portions of your home and create living spaces you never want to leave. We cannot stress enough how much these professionals can change your home for the better.


NEWARK - The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs has filed a Complaint against Englewood Cliffs-based Stanley Warranty LLC d/b/a Stanley Safe Club ("Stanley Warranty") and its owner and CEO, Alpine resident Stanislav Mankovsky, alleging that the company defrauded consumers in New Jersey and in other states to whom it sold contracts for the repair and/or replacement of home systems and appliances, and/or motor vehicles.
The company allegedly used deceptive tactics to sell its so-called "warranties" – which were actually residential or motor vehicle service contracts. It also refused to respond to consumer claims for the repair or replacement of items covered by residential contracts. As a result, consumers paid up to $2,400 per year for coverage that, according to the Stanley Warranty website and other advertisements, were supposed to provide "100 percent" cost reimbursement for the repair or replacement of covered items. However, many customers ended up paying out of pocket for repair claims that Stanley Warranty ignored or refused to honor.
Failing to respond to consumer inquiries for several weeks, if at all.
This is the first action filed by the Division alleging violations of the recently enacted Service Contracts Act.
Deputy Attorney General Mark E. Critchley, of the Consumer Fraud Prosecution Section within the Division of Law, is representing the State in this action.
The Bergen County Office of Consumer Affairs also assisted in this matter.


text:
Tyler Richardson
Ellie Walter, Business Manager
Filed under Spotlight
With over 1,600 people there are many different students at ARHS. Senior Tyler Richardson was nominated by a teacher to interview. While talking to him you realize that he is a very kind and a self proclaimed goofball.
"I'm just more okay with me being weird, before [freshman year] you just are more concerned about people and I don't care [what others think]."
He has been going to Riverside since freshman year and has loved every second of it. He has tried different sports from golf and waterpolo and admires Mr. Van Eaton.
"I did it [waterpolo] this year for the first time and I wished I did it all four years," Richardson said. "It's just the best sport ever it's actually amazing. I thought it was stupid before I played it."
Playing sports helped Richardson to understand the value of hard work, " It's a place where I can push myself constantly. There's never a place where you can just sit and be okay with yourself," Richardson said. "It has a lot of lessons it can teach you. Like when you work hard you can see improvements in yourself."
He is just trying to figure out what he wants to do next year and where he wants to go.
"I'm probably going to start a mission for my church hopefully to someplace warm."
Over is four years at Riverside a some teachers have made impacts on Richardson, from Mr. Huylar or Mr. Van Eaton to his favorite teacher Ms. Conant.
"I had her last year and she's just pretty fun," Richardson said. " She's almost like a student, when she's teaching she doesn't seem like one of the other teachers."
As Richardson's days at Riverside start to wind down he remembers all the fun times he has had here, "We had a pancake party last year, that was pretty fun cause we were with another class, we won the food drive."
Senior Reflection – PJ Sills
Disney comparison of senior year for class of 2019
Class of 2019 advice for all
Seniors' memories from high school
Seniors ready to jump out into the adult world
Three seniors, three futures
Senior tribute 2019
Seniors looking back at their time at Riverside
Senior spotlights: Christopher Penrod, Noah Horn-Nunes and Abigail Juth


text:
Blairgowrie – miasto we wschodniej Szkocji, w hrabstwie Perth and Kinross, położone w dolinie Strathmore, u podnóża Grampianów, na lewym brzegu rzeki Ericht, naprzeciw miejscowości Rattray, z którą tworzy jeden organizm miejski. W 2011 roku łączna liczba mieszkańców obu miejscowości wynosiła 8954.

Miasto rozwinęło się pod koniec XVIII i w XIX wieku dzięki przemysłowi włókienniczemu. W 1870 roku działało tu dwanaście zakładów włókienniczych, do napędu których wykorzystywano energię przepływu rzeki, z użyciem kół wodnych. W latach 1855–1965 w mieście funkcjonowała stacja kolejowa. W XX wieku miasto stało się ośrodkiem turystyki i rekreacji, w tym m.in. narciarstwa, turystyki pieszej i gry w golfa. Obszar wokół miasta jest regionem uprawy owoców, w szczególności malin.

Przypisy

Miasta w hrabstwie Perth and Kinross

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Find out how our delicious coffee is produced at our Royal Kona Coffee Center in Captain Cook, Hawaii.
And yes, there will be tasting! Lots of coffee samples, chocolate & cake.
Also, you will get to see where Kona coffee growers bring their coffee cherries to be processed. This includes separating the bean from pulp (fruit), drying the "wet" coffee beans, grading coffee beans by size and packing coffee for shipment to our roasting facility in Oahu, Honolulu.
After the coffee beans are hulled, they are set out to dry in the warm tropical air.
This photo overlooks one of our coffee drying areas – if you look closely you can see the racks of beans laid out on the floor to dry.
The scenery is absolutely gorgeous, isn't it?! Our visitors love taking memorable photos here.
In this photo, visitors are on their way to take a stroll through an old fashioned lava tube. If you've never seen a lava tube, you don't want to miss this part of the tour. It's a visitor favorite.
Walk the grounds and enjoy the fauna and the sights, from carved Tiki statues to lush palm trees.
PLENTY OF SAMPLES TO ENJOY!
Enjoy samples of our many varieties of coffees while taking in the beautiful views of Kealakekua Bay. Be sure to try some of our Island Flavor Favorites.
Visit with our friendly staff and, if you wish, purchase bags of our coffees to take home with you.
Large groups please call ahead so we can prepare for your visit!
BEST OF ALL? ALWAYS OPEN!