When was the tipping point, if there was one, when Unitarian Universalism in the Midwest, South and West, ceased to be Yankee religion in a strange land? What percentage of non-New England UU congregations are of a different ethnic background than Yankee, or don't have New England connections?
If we are a Yankee religion by heritage and habit (by DNA as is now said), what was the process of that no longer defining us in the present? In other words, if we are less Yankee than we used to be, then we have already been in a process of becoming more multi-cultural. How did that work? What can we learn from it?
A final set of questions, regarding the larger context.
One of the features of the rise of conservative hegemony in the USA has been the shift in the relative power of groups within the elite. New England and New York capitalists used to be dominant, but that power has shifted West and South, especially due to the economic power of the oil industry.
The political power of New England within the US has been declining. That quintessential New England Republican is a vanishing breed. New Englanders get nominated for US President, but have not won since the Irish Catholic Democrat Kennedy. A New Englander, but not a Yankee.
Meanwhile, within Unitarian Universalism, Republicans are getting rarer. In much of the country, the UU congregation is unabashedly Democratic, or to the left of that. Those to the right are just as likely to be libertarian rather than traditional moderate Republicans.
All my questions center around this larger historical trend: what happens to a New England Yankee, elite religion as the New England elite loses political, economic and social power in the country as a whole?
Arlington Street Church, Boston: A beautiful reminder of days gone by.
I suspect the shift is one generation after the formation of fellowships and new congregations in post-WWII college towns, when you would have had a professional class in those towns that had been formed more by the new state research universities and military industrial complex rather than the traditional Yankee colleges and universities.
One marker of de-Yankification that is seldom noted is the increased presence of Jews in UU congregations. This would be an interesting subject to study in its geographic, ideological, and political dimensions.
Chris, so one factor is the emergence of a counter intellectual elite based on state universities. I bet that this would match up with the rise of humanism in the midwest as a counter theology to Harvard liberal Christianity. What would happen in these non-New England congregations when the science/technology oriented lay leadership encountered their Unitarian minister fresh from Harvard Divinity school?
Dan, one place to look would be the historic changes in the rate of intermarriage among Jews in the USA. Another data point, when did Ann Landers start recommending Unitarian ministers as the go-to clergy for interfaith marriages?
Random but peripherally germane remark: many of us thought the UUA should have moved its HQ out of Boston when it sold the Beacon Street buildings. HQ should be in one of the parts of the South or Midwest where we are a dynamic and growing.
During my ministry I began to notice the ethnic aspects of UUism. I grew up in the west but was mainly chosen by churches that were neither New England nor west coast. I was not Yankee enough for New England, but I found that most of the congregations I served were not as ethnically diverse as the white population that mostly surrounded them. The cultural norms within the churches tended to be at odds with people brought up ethnically Jewish, Italian, Greek, etc. I remember one church in which I served as an RE minister in which there was only one brunette in the entire hundred or so children in the program. Indeed, in several churches, people labelled "troublemakers" (quietly, of course) were often from non-Northern European backgrounds. It wasn't a conscious thing, I think, but rather that we do inherit an ethnic culture that we are often completely unaware of and impute individual personality differences to people that are actually ethnic difference. In other words, people were outsiders not because of their membership in an ethnic group, but because of an unrecognized culture clash. (There were also huge, unrecognized, regional cultures and differences that caused problems between ministers who came from another region and churches with strong regional identities.) I don't know to what extent another generation has homogenized culture more and made this less of an issue, but perhaps not as much as we might think. The individualistic, liberal, professional, culture which Jonathan Haidt identifies in his work as being unique in its values and transgressing values held by most people in the country and in the world, holds another clue to a lack of ethnic diversity.
Yes there was a Yankee diaspora. American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodward has a lot to say about that. It is a fascinating book and probably would add to this discussion in several ways.
Interesting. Though as a livelong midwesterner I'm far from an expert on Yankee culture, based on my understanding I think that that culture is still part of our DNA.
The positive aspects of that culture include I think a commitment to social justice and reform that dates back to the abolitionists and progressives if not earlier, and generally an ethic of honesty and fairness. The negatives include an emotional reserve, and overly intellectual approach to religion/church structure.
In response Chris Walton, no doubt the culture of a Midwestern college town differs from Cambridge or New Haven in some ways but I also think there's a fair amount of cross-pollination. At least in the town I live (Ann Arbor) there are a lot of folks who are from or were educated in New England, and I think a significant percentage of our early clergy and memnbership had New England roots.


They will each have a message. Although each message is coded, an anagram of something airsoft/gun-related. You will need to work out what the airsoft/gun-related "thing" is.
Only the correct answers will win. The first 3 people to send in the correct answers will win.


Newcastle boss Joe Kinnear could face an FA charge after being asked to explain his "Mickey Mouse" comments about referee Martin Atkinson.
Football Association disciplinary chiefs have written to the 61-year-old, who has a week to respond, and then a decision will be taken on whether or not further action is required.
An FA spokesman said: "The FA have confirmed they have written to Joe Kinnear to ask him to explain his comments about referee Martin Atkinson following the game at Fulham."
Kinnear reacted furiously after Atkinson failed to award his side a free-kick in the run-up to Fulham's decisive penalty in the 2-1 win over the Magpies at Craven Cottage on Sunday.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, he said: "[Claudio] Cacapa was on the ball and [Andy] Johnson completely pushes him out the way, nicks the ball and gets the penalty.
"We have got the Mickey Mouse referee doing nothing. He's made an error that cost us."
Ironically, Atkinson was also the official confronted by Sunderland boss Roy Keane at half-time at Stamford Bridge eight days earlier, an exchange which ultimately brought the Irishman an improper conduct charge.
It is not the first time Kinnear has been asked to explain himself after voicing his opinion of a referee.
He spent his first two games in charge at Newcastle watching from the stands as he served a two-match touchline ban dating back almost four years to his time in charge at Nottingham Forest.
The penalty was imposed after he, by his own admission, called another official "Coco the Clown".
Kinnear has already received a letter from the FA this season reminding him of his responsibilities following the now infamous press conference in which he made his feelings towards sections of the national press clear in his own inimitable fashion.
The most recent development represents just another twist in the Tyneside soap opera on a day when the city awoke to read reports that the odds on former skipper Alan Shearer returning to St James' Park as manager had plummeted yesterday amid suggestions that two American consortia are vying to buy out owner Mike Ashley.
However, sources close to Shearer were quick to insist he knew nothing about the rumours.
Indeed, talk of an imminent take-over - Kinnear has suggested the picture will become clearer after the Chelsea game on November 22 - is being taken with a pinch of salt on Gallowgate despite the apparent interest from the United States.
Keith Harris, chairman of investment bank Seymour Pierce, which has been asked to fund a buyer, has hinted that the current economic climate means a sale could take some time yet.
In addition, American businessman Clark Hunt, who owns FC Dallas and NFL franchise the Kansas City Chiefs, has distanced himself from the Magpies amid speculation over the identities of the potential purchasers.
Kinnear, however, can concentrate only on on-the-field matters, and he will hope one problem will be resolved ahead of Saturday's must-win Barclays Premier League clash with Wigan at St James'.
Defender Steven Taylor missed the trip to Fulham with a groin problem, and was replaced by a rusty-looking Cacapa.
The England Under-21 skipper is determined to return for the weekend, but knows he cannot take any risks.
He said: "I am just taking things day by day, but I will be disappointed if I am not available for selection on Saturday.
"There were fears that it might be a hernia, which would have meant weeks if not months on the sidelines, but fortunately that has not proved to be the case."
The news is not so good, however, for midfielder Igancio Gonzalez, the Uruguayan controversially brought in on loan at the end of the summer transfer window.
Gonzalez, 26, has undergone surgery on an Achilles problem and will be out of action for four months, meaning he is unlikely to add significantly to the 38 minutes of senior football he has played for the club before his season-long deal draws to a close.


What Age Should Girls Start Shaving Their Legs?
My daughter is not yet 5, but she already has questions about shaving — why do I do it, where do I do it, why do other kids do it, and when should she do it? She's started noting the growth of hair on her legs, and while she hasn't outright asked for it yet (right now the big push is for pierced ears), I can tell the conversation is coming.
It's not like it's a surprise. With the wealth of information in pop culture about shaving, as well as a mom who models it every day (we live in the tropics, so I shave even in Winter), it would be more surprising if she didn't display interest.
It's not the fact that she's already interested that worries me, but more so the nature of the conversation we'll inevitably have about it. What bothers me is that she's already clear on the fact that shaving legs and armpits is a "girl thing," while shaving the face is a "guy thing." When looking up resources for how to talk about this and when to make my decision, I've seen a few major gaps in the discourse. The conversation needs to change, and my husband and I are doing our best.
I also want to let her know about the option of not shaving her legs, which is something that's being embraced by more and more women.
Right now, my daughter is too young, and I've been clear about that. My reasoning for her thus far has been "razors are dangerous," and she also just isn't that bothered by her extremely minimal leg hair. Shaving, however, won't depend on her reaching a certain age. Personally, I was miserable waiting until 12 years old to shave. I was the last girl in my class by a few years, and it was horrible during gym class and the Summer. I don't want that for my kids if they feel like shaving will make them feel more confident. Instead of setting an age limit, I'm keeping the lines of communication open until it actively becomes something that bothers my daughter.
One thing I'm keeping in mind for our future chats is letting her know about the option of not shaving her legs. A typical conversation on shaving can run something like this: "Mom, when can I shave my legs?" "When you're [old enough/responsible enough/in high school/leave the house]." That, to me, is an incomplete conversation, because it totally misses the option of NEVER shaving your legs. That's also a legitimate option, and one that is being embraced by more and more women. Even public figures are choosing not to shave, which I find refreshing.
Another thing I want her to know is that shaving body hair is NOT limited to girls and women. What about men? What about guys who like a smooth shave on their legs, armpits, arms, chests . . . or other places? Why should my son feel like this isn't an option for him, if later in life his true self is hairless? My husband and I have been very careful to explain that some men and women find this nicer to look at and feel, while others do not.
Women also shouldn't feel humiliated by shaving their lips or chins. Hair happens. We don't ask for it, and I think it's important we de-stigmatize facial shaving for women. This too is a topic we discuss openly, and we've been gratified to see a major decrease of the girl vs. boy standards my kids are clearly getting from somewhere else.
The bottom line? The responsibility of shaving, as well as the philosophy, is up to them. Until then, the conversation stays open.


Suppose someone -- say, the president of United States -- proposed the following: We are drowning in debt. More than $14 trillion right now. I've got a great idea for deficit reduction. It will yield a savings of $230 billion over the next 10 years: We increase spending by $540 billion while we increase taxes by $770 billion.
He'd be laughed out of town. And yet, this is precisely what the Democrats are claiming as a virtue of Obamacare. During the debate over Republican attempts to repeal it, one of the Democrats' major talking points has been that Obamacare reduces the deficit -- and therefore repeal raises it -- by $230 billion. Why, the Congressional Budget Office says exactly that.
Very true. And very convincing. Until you realize where that number comes from. Explains CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf in his "preliminary analysis of H.R. 2" (the Republican health care repeal): "CBO anticipates that enacting H.R. 2 would probably yield, for the 2012-2021 period, a reduction in revenues in the neighborhood of $770 billion and a reduction in outlays in the vicinity of $540 billion."
As National Affairs editor Yuval Levin pointed out when mining this remarkable nugget, this is a hell of a way to do deficit reduction: a radical increase in spending, topped by an even more radical increase in new taxes.
Of course, the very numbers that yield this $230 billion "deficit reduction" are phony to begin with. The CBO is required to accept every assumption, promise (of future spending cuts, for example) and chronological gimmick that Congress gives it. All the CBO then does is perform the calculation and spit out the result.
In fact, the whole Obamacare bill was gamed to produce a favorable CBO number. Most glaringly, the new entitlement it creates -- government-subsidized health insurance for 32 million Americans -- doesn't kick in until 2014. That was deliberately designed so any projection for this decade would only cover six years of expenditures -- while that same 10-year projection would capture 10 years of revenues. With 10 years of money inflow versus six years of outflow, the result is a positive -- i.e., deficit-reducing -- number. Surprise.
If you think that's audacious, consider this: Obamacare does not create just one new entitlement (health insurance for everyone); it actually creates a second -- long-term care insurance. With an aging population, and with long-term care becoming extraordinarily expensive, this promises to be the biggest budget buster in the history of the welfare state.
And yet, in the CBO calculation, this new entitlement to long-term care reduces the deficit over the next 10 years. By $70 billion, no less. How is this possible? By collecting premiums now, and paying out no benefits for the first 10 years. Presto: a (temporary) surplus. As former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin and scholars Joseph Antos and James Capretta note, "Only in Washington could the creation of a reckless entitlement program be used as 'offset' to grease the way for another entitlement." I would note additionally that only in Washington could such a neat little swindle be titled the "CLASS Act" (for the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act).
That a health care reform law of such enormous size and consequence, revolutionizing one-sixth of the U.S. economy, could be sold on such flimflammery is astonishing, even by Washington standards. What should Republicans do?
Make the case. Explain the phony numbers, boring as the exercise may be. Better still, hold hearings and let the CBO director, whose integrity is beyond reproach, explain the numbers himself.
To be sure, the effect on the deficit is not the only criterion by which to judge Obamacare. But the tossing around of such clearly misleading bumper-sticker numbers calls into question the trustworthiness of other happy claims about Obamacare. Such as the repeated promise that everyone who likes his current health insurance will be able to keep it. Sure, but only if your employer continues to offer it. In fact, millions of workers will find themselves adrift because their employers will have every incentive to dump them onto the public rolls.
This does not absolve the Republicans from producing a health care replacement. They will and should be judged by how well their alternative addresses the needs of the uninsured and the anxieties of the currently insured. But amending an insanely complicated, contradictory, incoherent and arbitrary 2,000-page bill that will generate tens of thousands of pages of regulations is a complete nonstarter. Everything begins with repeal.


Nickolas Gene Carter (aka Frack, Messy Marvin, and Chaos), born January 28, 1980, is the youngest and by most accounts most popular member of the world's most popular band, the Backstreet Boys. The oldest of five siblings (Ginger, BJ, Leslie, Angel, and most recognized, fellow musician Aaron), Carter was born in Jamestown, New York and at an early age, appeared groomed for success.
The grade school Carter performed his first time onstage when he played the role of Raoul in Phantom of the Opera. His performance was so energetic that he received a standing ovation, with people crying in the audience of how wonderful the boy's voice projected. Since the 7th grade though, Carter was home schooled, and he does regret missing out on the opportunities of going to high school and competing in sports, reflecting on it saying, "There's a lot of stuff that I've missed out on, but at the same time there has to be a happy medium., it had to be that kind of life or this one. I missed out on the everyday social life, the normality of being a teenager in school, the sports activities and things like that."
Nick got a huge break when he joined a vocal quintet of singers in the mid 90s in Orlando, Florida. The group was composed of himself, Kevin Scott Richardson, Brian Thomas Littrell, Alexander James (AJ) McLean, Howard (Howie) Dwaine Dorough by former New Kids On The Block tour manager Johnny Wright and his wife Donna. The group first broke through by touring Europe in 1995 where there song, We've Got It Goin' On became a hit in Germany. From there the success penetrated through the rest of Europe and in the UK the following year, where they hit #14 on the British charts with Get Down (You're The One For Me). Earlier re-released hits even did better in the UK which paved way for their self titled album in 1996 and their follow-up Backstreet's Back in 1997. There hit Everybody (Backstreet's Back) broke through in the US hitting #4 in June of 1998, followed by hits like Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) and As Long As You Love Me. The US version of their self-titled album compiled songs from their first two albums in Europe and was the third highest selling album in 1998. Following the hit I Want It That Way, the boys released Millennium, which at the time was the most successful 1st week album seller of all time and in November 2000, the group released the fastest selling worldwide album, Black & Blue, which cleared over 5 million copies worldwide its first week out.
Some controversy amongst the group erupted when Kevin Richardson admitted Nick would beat him and AJ. Kevin reveals, "I've tried to give him advice... It just gets him mad. He's hit me in the face. He's a good guy but he's gone through a swinging stage." All this aside, the group appears to be as close as ever after all they've been through, with Richardson admitting, "I'm proudest of the fact that out of all the crap we've been through - the change in management, the situation with Pearlman and everything that happened to us in the hellacious year and a half - we still came out on top." There also remains some bitterness for Pearlman's other former act, *NSYNC. Nick complained, "Well I think if there wasn't a Backstreet Boys there wouldn't have been an *NSYNC!" and referred to the rival band's music as "less vocally challenging." An argument can be made though, that the depth the similar sounding bands created helped sustain this 'boy-band' genre beyond what many music insiders thought was possible.
Nick's love life is relatively hard to gather much information from. Preferring to keep it on the down-low, Nick's only publically identified girlfriend has been Mandy Willaford, an fellow artist perhaps most known for her frequent name changes besides her relationship with Carter. Though there relationship had frequent breakups, Nick admitted recently that the two have split for good. Nick revealed, "It came to the point where I didn't want the responsibility, you know, always having to call up. I needed to concentrate on the group and the album." Carter also admitted, "Relationships are beautiful but sometimes it is a lot of stress and it's not necessarily anyone's fault, it's just the way relationships are." He also has been linked to Britney Spears and several hard-to-be-believed groupies who've posted their intimate encounters on GroupieCentral.com.
Since he moved out of the LA home he bought for his parents, Nick's returned to Florida though details which were published in the Enquirer have been disputed by Carter, calling the reports overblown and from disgruntled former employees of the family. Carter says he still loves his family and always will adding, "I want to make it clear once and for all that I love my brother and four sisters dearly, and support them in their talents in every way I can."
Get the latest news on Backstreet Boys and other pop stars at Popdirt.com!
Got a story we missed, post it on the Nick message boards!


Professor Antonio Castro Neto, Director of the Graphene Research Centre at the National University of Singapore added: “We were able to identify the ideal combination of materials: very photosensitive TMDC and optically transparent and conductive graphene, which collectively create a very efficient photovoltaic device.
Why does Graphene shrink when heated?
I am genuinely surprised that no-one else has responded yet. The potential breadth of possibilities is jaw-dropping. Super-efficient solar panels and opto-electronic devices. For goodness sake, surely we are, as a human collective, crying out for renewable energy resources.
However, what has not been mentioned yet is the portability and cost of graphene solar energy devices and the ease with which these devices can be adapted for domestic needs. I suppose location on the Earth is also an important factor. Any clues on cost?
I can't wait to see if these get applied to the recently developed solar plane designs.
Personally, I'm more interested in using grapene to construct supercapacitors that can store .16 megajoules per volt/gram (current design limit is 400 farad per gram). They can also discharge 1000 or so times faster than L-ion batteries.
I think it's interesting that graphene solar cells seem to be able to absorb photons in near infrared - although less energetic and producing less energy, if I understand correctly it should offer some potential for a heat to electricity conversion - which would have potential for making use of low grade heat, from atmospheric and ground radiation (night time) or for thermal energy storage. Graphene already shows potential for improving energy storage devices, including Li-ion.
Unknowable - do you have a link for the use of graphene for supercapacitors?
A basic overview, though the sound is a bit distorted.
about how they can be made and how good they are.
Can't remember where I heard that they were 400 farad per gram (theoretical limit something like 550 farad/gram).
We might even be able to use them in L-ion batteries to make them better, but I don't know of a page for that.
Thanks for the links - interesting.
It seems there is still lots of room yet for discovery and innovation when it comes to energy storage as well as for better, cheaper PV; a bit of a worry that energy storage is held up as the biggest impediment to renewable energy yet it remains a low R&D priority. If it get's a fraction of the funding that unlikely to ever be cost competitive technologies like Carbon Capture and Sequestration or fusion power I'd be surprised.
Here's a link to another new material for improved supercapacitors - little detail unfortunately.
I don't know if there's been much recent progress - the public are rarely kept informed of ongoing efforts - but I think nantennas have enormous potential, including for the use of lower grade heat via IR being converted to electricity. I don't think the value of being able to harvest IR should be underestimated for both reducing energy waste as well as for thermal energy storage systems.
I'd say mass storage is a lot more important...even if we had cheap 90%+ efficient broad spectrum solar panels--they'd still have rather limited utility because we lack effective means to store the power, nor the electrical infrastructure to shunt power around across the nations depending on availability of that renewable source.
Disappointing that large scale energy storage, even now, is not a high R&D priority - but I don't think it's a matter of can't be done or even can't be done at reasonable cost, but that, even now, the need hasn't become that pressing. Certainly the energy companies that currently put more effort into ensuring their business model is maintained, irrespective of the climate costs have little desire to invest in efforts to develop and deploy large scale energy storage when there is still so much room to skew the political system to keep the regulatory regime favoring BAU.
But I don't think large scale storage is rocket surgery or requires technologies that don't exist or can't be adapted; like Isentropic's pumped heat energy storage system, that is currently claiming lower costs than pumped hydro without the climatic and geographic constraints.
It's transport that most needs the technological innovation and, by the look of the continuing advances and discoveries - graphene tripling LiIon capacity here, 10x there, dramatically better supercapacitor dielectric materials somewhere else, etc - leaves me thinking that none of these problems are beyond solutions. The biggest problems remain the incumbent advantages of existing fossil fuel plants and the free ride they continue to get with respect to defraying the accumulating external health, environmental and climate costs onto future consumers.
Disappointing that large scale energy storage, even now, is not a high R&D priority - but I don't think it's a matter of can't be done or even The biggest problems remain the incumbent advantages of existing fossil fuel plants and the free ride they continue to get with respect to defraying the accumulating external health, environmental and climate costs onto future consumers.
When cleaner sources of power are competitive price-wise, they will take over simply because they ARE cleaner. I'm guessing the IR PV cells will help with it. They will make nuclear, geothermal, and CPV far more efficient. Fossil fuels will become more efficient too, making them produce more energy with less fuel use.
Wind and Solar are already competitive price wise, just not 24/7 yet. That "not 24/7 yet" should be reason for enormous optimism because the electricity industry line was that they would never be competitive, not ever. Those players, unfortunately and irresponsibly, want that "not 24/7 yet" to be reason for such pessimism about adapting to distributed and intermittent energy that they are exempted from doing anything more profound than making electricity with fossil fuels a bit more efficiently. Yet it's not unreasonable (in a place like Australia and much of the world at least) to foresee that storage and distribution of cheap PV solar that's on every roof will be as much the core business of future energy companies as energy production by whatever means.
I think the difficulty and cost of large scale storage is exaggerated and won't impoverish anyone - but failure to develop it and invest in it ahead of the predictable crunch can ensure that an exaggerated problem ends up as bad as they say. I don't think they should be rewarded for that failure by being given an ongoing license to dump more CO2 into the atmosphere than the climate system can bear.
According to wikipedia (Cost of electricity by source - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) only geothermal, wind and hydro can compete in terms of cost per mwh. Solar is more expensive than even coal with Carbon capture systems, which greatly increases cost. Maybe with Graphene and new manufacturing techniques, though, they can produce more energy and will be cheaper. Though most of that cost seems to be because of the low capacity factor.
TheUnknowable - I actually had in mind the varying spot prices for electricity, where PV is replacing peak wholesale priced electricity from other sources - and that used to be a bit of high value profitable icing on the cake for generators able to ramp up and down quickly enough to take advantage of it. The electricity market, developed for the advantage of existing generators actually helps make PV more commercially viable in the daytime supply market. In Australia rooftop solar, subsidised by government schemes as well as by home owner spending choices, is already affecting daytime demand for coal and gas power. Where both wind and solar have a lot of penetration - South Australia - they are forcing coal plants to close and forcing wholesale electricity prices down.
I think we will see that window for solar grow from shaving the peak off daytime peak demand. As penetration begins to really require storage we will see it start being an element of energy network infrastructure investment. Batteries at the domestic level seem inevitable - like these systems developed in Europe to hold daytime excess solar though the evening peak and smooth the daily supply/demand cycle. In Europe this is for the benefit of the whole network. In Australia we would use this with grid tied systems to prevent gouging of grid tied PV suppliers by unfair pricing arrangements. Too expensive at this point but they will get cheaper.
Utility scale storage requires the major incumbent energy companies to lead the way - here it appears they are betting all their money and our futures on a political system being unwilling to make them do so. But having an electricity sector that actually wants a low emissions future and works to facilitate it would deliver more and quicker than any specific technological advancements.
1) Is the price still decreasing when you count the overall effect the policies have on the economy, such as loss of coal jobs, increased taxes, etc.?
2) BP Alternative Energy - Solar power BP is making solar, wind, and other, alternative forms of power.


All players must be able to closeout effectively, and all coaches should make closeouts a daily point of emphasis. Here is a drill to get your practices started.
Start with two lines under the basket, and the first player in each line steps out. 1 starts at the right block and 2 starts at the second hash mark on the left side of the lane. Both players face out to half court.
DIAGRAM 1: The drill begins with each player sliding to the opposite side of the block, tagging the lane line with their lead foot and then returning to their starting spot. The emphasis should be on wide hands, wide feet and not letting their feet come together.
When both players get back to their starting spots, they sprint to a closeout at the wing on the same side (marked with a cone). Emphasis is on sprinting two-thirds of the way to the cone, then breaking down with choppy steps and high hands over the final third.
DIAGRAM 2: The final phase of the drill begins as soon as the closeout ends. Each player, again using good sliding fundamentals, works on arcing an imaginary dribbler toward another cone placed near the center circle.
At this point, both players change sides of the floor, sprint down the sideline and back into the opposite line from where they started. Another group of players can be doing the same drill at the other end of the court.


What number should replace the question mark? 12 - - - 25; 5 - - - 11; 21 - - - 43; 18 - - - 37; 2 - - - ?
There are 31 students in a class, number of girls is one more then number.........How many ways can such a team be made?
At a children's party, 10 kids had juice, 8 had cake and 6 had cake and juice. How many kids were there at the party?
Things with names from mythology.
Bob is dead in the INSIDE of his apartment. There is a puddle of water, a ball, some glass.............How did Bob die?
What happened to the beans when they showed up late to work?
How many triangles are there in the following figure?
Prabir started walking towards South. He took a right turn after 10 metres. Then took a left turn after 20 metres.
How many pairs of letters are there in the word INSENSITIVE which have same number of letters between them as alphabet?
How many numbers between 11 and 111 are multiples of both 2 and 5?
Which number will replace the question mark in given figure?
Pointing to a boy, Meena said, "He is the son of my grandfather's only child." How is the boy related to Meena?
In the given series what will replace the question mark - J/8, P/14, Q/15, W/21, ?
If in a certain code VOWEL is coded as 46553, then how will CONSONANT be coded?
If a hen and a half lay an egg and a half in a day and a half, how many eggs will half a dozen hens lay in year days?
Which number should replace the question mark in the picture below ?
Using logic,the following clues and a large amount of patience,can you figure out the 10 digit number to crack the safe?
Al, Ben, Audrey, and Brenda are standing in a rectangular room. Two of them are standing............Who is the shortest?
There is one in every corner and two in every room. What am I ?
If panto publicity shots, the Ugly sisters appears in 29 pictures, Prince...........How many photos were taken in total?
I help engines spin and pants stay up. What am I ?
Why was the fencing champion so honest?
Can you tell how many cupcakes each of them had ?
Go through details and find out which child lives in which house and bought which ice-cream flavor with which topping.
What would come at the ? in the following image?
How many bombers can you buy using 1000 coins ?
What was the number that the man read?
Why such a different behaviour towards Shruti and Anmol?
Find the next terms of the following series - 4096; 2048; 2040; 1020; 1012; 506; ?; ?
A duck was given $9, a spider was given $36, a bee was given $27.................How much money would be given to a cat?
An ex policeman lost his house, car and girlfriend. What did he lose first?


Takes an image, finds the sentiment of the image and does object recognition. Later a RNN makes a poem on the image. The RNN is trained on famous poets of the past like Shakespeare,Robert Frost and T.Elliot. The RBM generates the music from the image based on its sentiment.The RBM is trained on famous musicians and try to convey the feelings of happiness, sadness, scary and suspense.
We created two deep generative models: RNN and RBM. Later, we used the Microsoft Cognitive Services API to get objects and emotions given an image. This API has been implemented in the iPhone. As soon as the iPhone receives the tags and emotions, it sends to the servers for text and music generation. Connection between the iPhone and the servers is established using Flask and Rest APIs. On top of that, we create a GIF using 20 frames of the image. We provide the user a culmination of all senses in the form of text, music and image using just a picture. What makes it even more interesting is, the text and music is dynamically generated by the computer. And, the poems generated are created based on the style of different poets.
Deep neural nets require a lot of computation power due to which training takes a lot of time. And since we were creating models for different poets and different emotions of song, time was a huge constraint.
Establishing communication between our servers (laptops) and the iPhone was very complicated. We used sockets initially but it wasn't working.
After working on the previous problem for few hours, we came up with the idea of implementing Flask and creating our own Rest APIs.
Learning something as diverse as Rest APIs was a challenging problem.
After creating all the models of the project, getting everything to perfect together was difficult, but we completed it.
Two of our members did not have enough expertise on front end development. But, they learnt about Flask and Rest APIs and was able to merge it with their existing back-end code.
The fact that we were able to work together as a team on different concepts and implementations and ultimately being able to merge everyone's code without much difficulties shows how well we communicated as a team.
Initially we didn't think of implementing GIFs for a given image. It was one of our team-mate's idea that lead to that and this kind of shapes up our entire application as a whole.
We created a new iteration of GIF which includes music and text generation.
Most importantly, we have been able to inculcate modern state of the art techniques to bring back the art form of legendary poets and musicians into something which is considered to be the most famous form of media -- Image. This is our version of 'Hack the Past'.
We learned the importance of working together as a team and communicating at every point of time. This gives all the members an idea of the progress being made by the members.
Setting a deadline for every task boosts up the performance of all the team members and also gives enough time to validate an evaluate the project at the end.
Our main motive will be to entertain the users by providing a fun, intuitive and an interesting UI which not only presents the information in a fun way but also brings back the memory of poets and musicians who are not alive, by dynamically generating poems and songs in their style.
Along with the existing RBMs and RNNs, we can introduce a recommendation engine that suggests users about poets with respect to the location of the user. eg: If the user is in Cambridge, MA suggestions like Robert Frost might pop up. In India, suggestions like Rabindranath Tagore might appear.
For the users, we will be improving the performance of our app for a better overall experience.
In terms of research, our data can be used by scientists to measure correlation between different forms of data -- image, text, music and come up with better models of interaction between different forms of media.
I worked in the development of the iOS app using Swift. I mainly worked in the backend of the iOS app, implementing Microsoft Cognitive Services API (Computer Vision and Sentiment Analysis), in Swift. Then, I helped to implement the restful API developed in Python (Flask). Lately, I contributed with the communications between server and iPhone, where I created and played MIDI (audio) files in iOS. I strongly contributed in the main design of the app.
Implementing the Microsoft Computer Vision and Emotion Analysis for iOS was a real challenge. Microsoft doesn't have any documentation in Swift to make it work... However, there was a GiHub project really useful. The MS evangelists were really helpful as well!
Also, working with MIDI audio (and sending over the net) was a real challenge as it was something really new for me.
Lastly, helping to implement the Restful API was challenge due to the main reason.
I worked on creating the Restricted Boltzmann Machine to generate music.
Later I worked on a REST API on Flask that is used to collect and send data to the frontend, mainly the MIDI files which were encoded and sent .
I worked on the front-end of the app and connecting the iOS app to the backend. In the front-end, I worked on implementing the AVFoundation camera to allow the user take a 20 frames of an image taken in 0.5 seconds. I also worked with Fabian to decode the base64 into MIDI and this was one of our biggest challenges.
I worked on the poem generation part of the backend. I used Keras with Tensorflow as the backbone. Models were trained on .txt files containing poems of famous poets.
After getting access to the poem, I was responsible for writing a server program which interacts with the iOS device. This was done using Flask and my own Rest API.
1. Getting data set of poems of different poets was time consuming.
2. Being able to train the models for separate poets was challenging (RNN training is computationally expensive, hence, takes a lot of time).


TL;DR: I did a computer simulation of behavior evolution of monkeys, continue reading to see how problem was stated originally in The Selfish Gene. First part shows my Java implementation, second part shows charted results and conclusions.
I read The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins recently, very wide-opening book despite being 40 years old. While the original text is sometimes outdated ("you could pack only a few hundred transistors into a skull - more like trillions these days, hello Moore's law) general claims are as appealing as they used to.
Suppose B has a parasite on the top of his head. A pulls it off him. Later, the time comes when A has a parasite on his head. He naturally seeks out B in order that B may pay back his good deed. B simply turns up his nose and walks off. B is a cheat, an individual who accepts the benefit of other individuals' altruism, but who does not pay it back, or who pays it back insufficiently. Cheats do better than indiscriminate altruists because they gain the benefits without paying the costs. To be sure, the cost of grooming another individual's head seems small compared with the benefit of having a dangerous parasite removed, but it is not negligible. Some valuable energy and time has to be spent.
Let the population consist of individuals who adopt one of two strategies. [...] Call the two strategies Sucker and Cheat. Suckers groom anybody who needs it, indiscriminately. Cheats accept altruism from suckers, but they never groom anybody else, not even somebody who has previously groomed them. [...] the cheats will be doing better than the suckers. Even if the whole population declines toward extinction, there will never be any time when suckers do better than cheats. Therefore, as long as we consider only these two strategies, nothing can stop the extinction of the suckers and, very probably, the extinction of the whole population too.
Quote from: The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, ISBN 0-19-857519-X.
Later on the author conducts a series of computer simulations to observe how these three strategies play together under various conditions. Obviously source code is not available, and I'm actually happy about it. Firstly because I had an opportunity to write some code for fun. Secondly: book was published in 1976, 4 years after C was invented and many years before C++ (to put you in perspective) and I am not really in a mood for (I guess) Fortran.
This allowed me to capture the concept of random period of time with expected value, standard deviation and normal distribution. make() method simply generates one such random period. I am not going to explore full source code of this simulation, it's available on GitHub. Now it's finally time to run it a few times and observe how population grows (or extincts). By the way I use the same planner and action mechanism to peek what happens: I simply inject Probe action once every year (logical time!) and output the current population size.
Do you see how grudgers quickly expand and almost always outnumber suckers? That's because suckers are much more vulnerable in an environment where cheaters sometimes appear due to a mutation. Did you noticed how population quickly shrinks every time even a small number of suckers appear? Grudgers are vulnerable as well: they groom newborn cheaters without knowing yet who they are. However they don't repeat this mistake like suckers do. That's why suckers always loose, but they don't extinct entirely since they are somewhat protected by grudgers. Not directly, but grudgers kill cheaters by not grooming them, reducing the threat. That's how different behaviors cooperate. So why did the population extinct after all? Look carefully at the end of the chart, at some point for a random reason the suckers outnumbered grudgers - this was especially possible in the absence of cheaters at that time. So what happened? A few cheaters appeared suddenly due to a mutation and this society of monkeys was doomed.
Interestingly suckers dominated in the population for quite some time, but yet another epidemic attack of cheaters killed most of suckers. Unfortunately the last growth of cheaters reduced the number of grudgers to the point when they could no longer protect suckers and suddenly everyone dies.
You are free to extend conclusions to human society. Full source code is available on GitHub, feel free to experiment, pull requests are welcome as well!


Essex, the concrete-sculpted haunt of Essex Man, the fog-draped marshland setting of Great Expectations, and home to the anarchist punk collective Crass, is defiantly the base of The Owl Service, who have released a slow trickle of albums and EPs over the years since their debut "Wake the Vaulted Echo" in 2006. Centred round the guiding hand of multi-instrumentalist Steven Collins, The Owl Service also makes use of a number of different female voices, on this album Diana Collier, Jo Lepine and Nancy Wallace (on unspecified tracks) and a further three guest vocalists.
Taking its title from Alan Garner's eponymous novel, and with never a fiddle, whistle or banjo in sight, "His Pride. No Spear. No Friend." suggests an immersion in tradition through intelligent use of sources and restraint in The Owl Service's use of a modern sound palette.
As you expect in these days when you can access the entire recorded output of the 20th century via a mobile phone, though, The Owl Service's influences are not limited to the eastern seaboard of southern England, nor even its hinterland. The album clearly draws from a number of essentially modern sources, ranging from the opening title of Robin Hardie's "Wickerman" in "The Widow's Lament", through Tim Hart and Maddy Prior ("The False Knight") to Martin Carthy ("Willie's Lady"). This secondary account of British folk music is accentuated by Collins's use of electric instrumentation and "dry" drums, albeit in understated form, throughout. In the notes to the album, Collins is keen to point out that this is not a folk album, saying "I started trying to play folk songs but with a modern, minimal rock approach and it felt just right". There are certainly hints of bands like Pavement in the sound, but there is no dissonance in this - it is a perfect environment to draw out the story-telling within these songs, some of them many centuries old and others - originally recorded by Midwinter, Caedmon and Anne Briggs - much more recent.
The Owl Service do seek to mask the distinction, though - aside from the relative sophistication of the lyrics, the modern songs are difficult to tease apart from the traditional within the context of the instrumental approach. Michelle Bappoo's take on the anti-Semitic broadsheet "Hugh of Lincoln", layered in echoes, seems as up to date in style as Briggs' "Living By The Water", originally released in 1971 (perhaps this IS becoming ancient history!), whilst Laura Hulse Davis' reading of "Geordie" could have been released by Vashti Bunyan at any time between 1965 and the present day.
There are no stand-out tracks amongst the nine on offer - all are of consistently high quality, though "Sea Song" has made me determined to acquaint myself with Caedmon. The overall product is very pleasing - a dip into a tradition and its successors which shows just how capable of reinterpretation the British folk canon is, without relying on the tried and tested formulae of the (late) twentieth century.
There are signs this may be the last from The Owl Service - that would be a shame, but if so it's another great final release in what has been a sad year for them so far.


"I'm moving web servers at the moment, so some documents (particularly larger ones, like PDFs, may be missing for a few days, until I work out what will fit."
for quite some time now. I'm wondering if they're available somewhere else online? There used to be just about everything there and I really enjoyed reading through them.
Also, if the owner of vt100.net is out there and having problems finding a place to put them due to space, I'd like to offer to help!
There was some talk on the classic computing mailing list. Quite a few people wanted to help and get it going again. Not sure what happened to it, but there seemed to be quite serious efforts to get it back up.
I checked it this morning; it's still there. More than a little slow, but the site's responding.
Not sure what exactly you're working for but at least bitsavers does have a dec archive. It's been a while since I looked, I remember a surprising number of dec manuals being online still with Compaq owning Digital but I haven't tried searching the HP website to see if they were nostalgic enough to keep things archived. Maybe archive.org will have something on one of the other sites (I checked this morning but looks like vt100.net had a robots file so they followed the rules and didn't archive it).
Yes, bitsavers is a fantastic site with tons of DEC stuff. However, the vt100.net site had lots and lots of great scans that I cannot find anywhere else on the Internet...even on bitsavers. So, I was wondering if there was any plans for the owner of the site to bring his archive back up online. If it was an issue of server space or bandwidth expense, I would be more than willing to host the materials for free.
There are hundreds of examples. This particular manual is not available on bitsavers, but was available on vt100.net. There are tons more manuals that were on vt100.net which are now not and are nowhere to be found on bitsavers or anywhere online.
Have you asked Paul about it? It could be that some party took a (copyright) exception to the posting.


WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump publicly contradicted a major policy position of his own administration for the second time in a week on Thursday, during a period when his stability and grasp of details have come under renewed fire.
In the latest incident, Trump sent a tweet that rattled the national security community and lawmakers from his own party, nearly derailing a vote in the House to renew the National Security Agency's broad authority to collect surveillance of foreigners, without warrants, including those communicating with U.S. citizens. Though it passed the House, 256-164, the extension still faces uncertainty in the Senate, where Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, has threatened a filibuster.
The House vote was preceded by chaotic debate over an issue that has split lawmakers into unusual bipartisan alliances since former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's disclosure of the scope of the eavesdropping program in 2013. A competing measure, which would have required additional privacy protections for Americans, was rejected.
Trump added to the chaos with his itchy Twitter finger early Thursday, insisting angrily and contrary to all known evidence that the program was used to spy on his campaign during the 2016 election. The tweet, sent hours before the already contentious vote, prompted concern from the program's supporters, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who called the president to discuss the program, according to a person familiar with the call who requested anonymity. Trump issued a second tweet, more supportive of the surveillance authority, after his talk with Ryan.
It was a striking contradiction between Trump's dueling identities as a man, often guided by impulses, grievances and what he sees on television, and Trump the president, responsible for taking a broader view of government and security issues.
Trump also contradicted his administration's policy on Tuesday, during a public meeting with lawmakers to discuss immigration at the White House. During the meeting, Trump said he would agree to sign a stand-alone bill extending legal protections to so-called Dreamers, 700,000 immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children. Trump also had to walk that statement back after lawmakers reminded him that his own White House was insisting such protections would only be agreed to in exchange for a host of other changes to immigration law.
And on Wednesday, Trump contradicted his own statement in June that he would agree "100 percent," to sit down with special counsel Robert Mueller to discuss the probe into potential collusion with Russia during the election and subsequent obstruction of justice. "We'll see what happens," Trump said in a news conference.
The Thursday tweets had Republican lawmakers at a private meeting listening to real-time updates on the president's stream-of-consciousness, with at least one tweet read aloud by Rep. Devin Nunes, the California Republican and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who authored the surveillance bill extension, who showed his phone to the House majority leader, according to lawmakers and others familiar with the private meeting.
"It was funny," said Rep Tom Cole, R-Okla. "He is a rookie But that's one of the reasons the American people chose him."
Chief of staff John Kelly has tried to calm reactions from White House staffers to such incidents, telling reporters in November, after Trump provoked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, that he has instructed staffers to avoid reacting to Trump's Twitter account. But on Thursday, he found himself in the Capitol, just ahead of the vote he and other administration officials had been lobbying for intensely.
"It's not more difficult. It's a juggling act," Kelly told a CNN reporter.
Trump's tweet about the NSA program came on the same morning "Fox & Friends," Trump's favorite program and a frequent inspiration for his Twitter account, aired a segment in which Judge Andrew Napolitano, a commentator, offered scathing criticism of the surveillance program.
"Mr. President, this is not the way to go," he said.
That may have been what prompted Trump's tweet claiming the program had been abused.
"This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?" Trump wrote.
More than an hour later the president reversed course.
The political fallout, though was already underway, and the House floor debate quickly turned as critics of the legislation seized on the president's comments.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, went to the House floor to urge Republicans to postpone the vote after the "inaccurate, conflicting and confusing statements."
Authority for the surveillance program was set to expire at the end of last year, but Congress agreed to a temporary extension, though mid-January, as lawmakers debated reforms.
Under the bill, the surveillance program would be extended for five years, though 2023.


Laurent Joué is a senior portfolio manager on the Systematic Equities and Alternatives team at LOIM. In addition to the LO Funds-Alternative Risk Premia Fund, he has been co-managing a top-down Hedge Fund replication strategy with Marc Pellaud since 2009, as well as two long-only commodities Funds since 2011.
Laurent had been part of the Geneva-based Hedge Fund selection team since 2005, and specialised in CTA, Macro and Systematic strategies before joining the systematic portfolio management team at LOIM.
LuxHedge: Could you kindly introduce Lombard Odier Investment Managers for us?
Laurent Joué: Lombard Odier Group has approximately USD 120 billion under management with 2,100 staff based in 26 offices around the world (as at 30 June 2015). Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM), the asset management business of Lombard Odier, focuses on institutional clients, third-party distributors and financial intermediaries. As of 30 June 2015, we manage around USD 47 billion in Fixed Income, Equities, Convertibles, Multi-Assets and Alternatives. We strive to create greater transparency in the sources of return by separating alpha and beta. We believe that beta exposure should be diversified, cost-efficient and highly scalable, while alpha should be unconstrained and add value for our clients.
LH: Could you describe LO Funds–Alternative Risk Premia in a few sentences?
LJ: The Fund invests in liquid derivative instruments, implementing long/short strategies across major asset classes. It has daily liquidity and operates under a UCITS structure. As an absolute return product, we aim to deliver net returns of cash +5-7% p.a., while maintaining volatility of 6-8%. This leads us to an expected Sharpe ratio of 0.9 over a 24-month period. We aim to provide diversification through low correlation with core asset classes, as well as a potential source of return enhancement in global balanced portfolios.
Individual alternative risk premia strategies need to be implemented in their purest form, without excess optimisation or specific timing concerns. Transparency is of the utmost importance in our process.
The combination of alternative risk premia needs to give stability regardless of market conditions. While market trends may be challenging to predict, the mutual behaviours of the strategies are more easily predictable.
Execution should guarantee healthy liquidity as well as cost-efficiency.
LH: You have two sources of return: an income premia and a trend premia. Could you detail it?
LJ: Sure. Income strategies are designed to extract yields from structural spreads within asset classes, and are market-neutral. They deliver a regular yield flow and have long risk profiles. While this source of return works well under normal market conditions and rising markets, it might suffer large losses during market crashes.
Trend strategies are designed to take advantage of the persistence of directional moves across asset classes, and are directional. The trend premia allows us to have a hedge profile by going against the market. It aims to offers protection in case of severe downside events.
The combination of these two sources of return has several advantages. It can reduce the drawdown of the portfolio and can limit the idiosyncratic risk of each individual sub-strategy. It can also improve the global risk/return profile. Last but not least, it has the potential to provide more robust returns that are less dependent on market regimes or cycles.
LH: How is your investment process organised?
Selection of individual alternative risk premia. We look at structural, transparent and liquid strategies that we believe can lead to an improvement in the portfolio’s risk/return profile.
Combination of alternative risk premia strategies. We equalise the risk contribution between and within each source of return (Income and Trend). The higher-risk a strategy, the lower its capital allocation within the portfolio.
Management of overall portfolio volatility. The portfolio’s overall exposure to the market is managed such that volatility is kept within a target range of 6-8% Portfolio rebalancing is monthly under normal circumstances, and is also triggered if volatility passes a threshold value. The nature of the individual risk premia strategies dictates their volatility targets and rebalancing frequency.
LH: How do you calibrate the risk model?
LJ: We have designed a dedicated risk measure to take into account specific hidden risk of L/S strategies such as extreme losses, asymmetrical payoff, liquidity and correlation risk during periods of market stress. Equal risk is allocated to each source of returns (50% income / 50% Trend).
Skewness, measuring the asymmetry of the distribution of long/short strategies: This measure is important since some alternative risk premia strategies exhibit significant left-hand tail risk, which is typical for carry strategies.
Conditional correlation: While our strategies have very limited correlation with traditional asset classes, this correlation can increase significantly during risk-off periods.
Liquidity: We take into account each instrument’s market capacity in order to keep the portfolio cost-efficient.
LH: The Fund was launched just over a year ago, on 6 August 2014. Could you comment on its performance thus far?
LJ: Since inception in August 2014 to the end of September 2015, the Fund is up 7.14% on a net basis (USD Class I) with volatility of 8% i.e. a Sharpe ratio of 0.8. These results are in line with the Fund’s objectives – cash +5-7% net p.a.) and a target Sharpe ratio of 0.8 to 0.9. The past year’s performance has been realised with a low correlation with traditional asset classes, measured at 0 versus the MSCI World Index and 0.4 versus the Citi WGBI All Maturities Index.
The strategy is continuing to evolve, adding new alternative risk premia with the aim of improving the risk/return profile and diversification between income and trend sources of return. The Long/Short commodity backwardation strategy was successfully introduced into the portfolio in July, as was the Long/Short equity factors strategy in August.
Over this period, the diversification between the strategies has worked well. Each strategy has brought some value depending on the market environment, while displaying low cross-correlations. The best contributors since the launch have been the carry 10-year bonds, cross-asset trend, carry credit and L/S commodity backwardation. The carry FX G10 and equity/volatility arbitrage strategies have hurt performance.
LH: You mentioned many different strategies. Could you detail them?
1. Carry 10 years bond strategy: We seek to exploit risk premia in yield curves across global government bonds markets. We take long positions in 10-year bonds in the three markets with the steepest curves, and short positions in the three markets with the flattest curves. We are currently long Gilts, US T-notes and Canadian 10-year, and short Euro Bunds, Australian 10-year and Japanese 10 year bonds.
2. Carry FX G10 strategy: We aim to extract yield return from interest rate spreads between G10 currencies. We use the forward IR ratio (Yield/Volatility) to gain long exposure to the four currencies with the highest forward IR ratios and short exposure to the currencies with the lowest forward IR ratios.
3. Carry credit strategy: We aim to benefit from the carry difference between the investment grade and high yield corporate universes by being long risky assets and short safer assets.
4. Cross-Asset trend strategy: We use a trend-following model to take long/short positions in a diversified set of asset classes such as equities, bonds, credit, currencies and volatility. We use liquid derivative instruments.
Finally, we have three ‘hybrid strategies which we believe are able to extract both income and trend premia.
5. Commodity backwardation strategy: We seek to extract yield from the natural carry of commodity forward prices while benefiting from the momentum effect induced by imbalances in supply and demand. The strategy takes long exposure to commodities in backwardation and short exposure to commodities which are in contango.
6. Equity volatility curve arbitrage strategy: We aim to take advantage of the spread between implied and realised volatility, while extracting the carry from the volatility in forward prices.
7. Long/Short equity factor strategy: We are long global equities that are exposed to factors such as momentum, quality value, and low risk, and short the index adjusted for beta.
LH: How do your fund distinguish yourself from the other Trend-Following CTAs?
LJ: The main advantage that we believe we have is that we are able to deliver the same beneficial features, while avoiding the usual drawbacks. We offer similar risk/return profiles, as well as diversification benefits and protection levels.
In addition to trend opportunities, the combination of income to trend allows to exploit yield spread opportunities within asset classes. At equal risk, assets can have a different risk-reward due to their carry. Risk adjusted to carry has the effect to maximise yield of the long book while reducing negative carry of the short book. To us, it is essential in today’s low yield world.
Trend and income have historically had low correlations to one another, so we expect them to be complimentary in different market conditions. In our view, our strength comes from combining Trend and Income in the right proportions based on their overall risk contribution, targeting a smooth return over time and ensuring that, at the macro level, the portfolio remains robust throughout varying economic cycles.
LH: Where does interest in this Fund come from?
LJ: Interest comes from two main groups of investors. The first is Multi-Asset portfolio managers seeking to diversify their portfolios with investments that are uncorrelated with equities and bonds. The second is hedge fund investors looking to reduce or replace single or multi-manager exposure where they find that our Alternative Risk Premia Fund displays the same risk-return profile as some of their current investments but with better transparency and liquidity and at a lower costs.
For more information please visit loim.com or contact Lombard Odier IM through email.


Definition - What does Unicorn mean?
In IT, a unicorn refers to a project or firm with a unique potential. This broad term can be used to refer to a company in the tech field that has experienced impressive gains or to a project that is, in some ways, groundbreaking or unique.
The term unicorn is most commonly used to describe a company, for example, a Silicon Valley startup, that started out small but has since increased its market capitalization to, say, $1 billion or more. Now, the tech industry has started using the term "super-unicorn" to describe a firm that stands out from the competition even more. For example, the social media giant Facebook, which has a market capitalization of more than $100 billion, is considered as a "super-unicorn among unicorns"; it started from a dorm room and, years later, is now a dominant technology firm.


Perhaps wait to sell until after the November 2018 Ballot?
Proposition 5 would amend Proposition 13 (1978) to allow homebuyers who are age 55 or older or severely disabled to transfer the tax-assessed value from their prior home to their new home, no matter (a) the new home's market value; (b) the new home's location in the state; or (c) the number of moves. As of 2018, homebuyers over 55 years of age were eligible to transfer their tax assessments from their prior home to their new home if the new home's market value is equal to or less than the prior home's value and once in their lifetimes. Furthermore, counties, not the state, decide whether tax assessments can be transferred across county lines.
Example: An individual sold her house for $500,000. The house had a tax-assessed value of $75,000. She bought a new house for $800,000. The tax-assessed value of the new house would be ($75,000) + [($800,000)-($500,000)] = $375,000.
Example: An individual sold his house for $500,000. The house had a tax-assessed value of $75,000. He bought a new house for $300,000. The tax-assessed value of the new house would be ($75,000) × [($300,000) ÷ ($500,000)] = $45,000.
California Proposition 13, the Tax Limitations Initiative, was on the ballot for the election on June 6, 1978. Voters approved Proposition 13. Proposition 13 required that properties be taxed at no more than 1 percent of their full cash value shown on the 1975-1976 assessment rolls and limited annual increases of assessed (taxable) value to the inflation rate or 2 percent, whichever was less. When a property is sold or transferred to new owners, however, the property is reassessed at 1 percent of its full cash value and the limit on increases to assessed value resets.
Who is contributing to the campaigns surrounding this initiative?
As of July 8, 2018, there was one ballot measure committee registered in support of the measure—Homeownership for Families and Tax Savings for Seniors. The campaign had raised $7.20 million, with 58 percent from the California Association of Realtors Issues Mobilization PAC and 42 percent from the National Associaton of Realtors. As of July 8, 2018, there was no committees registered to oppose the initiative.
Older PostSeniors looking to downsize?


1. Preheat oven to 375'.
2. Spray cookie sheet with oil or cooking spray.
4. Whisk egg white, blend in nuts, seeds and spices.
5. Spread on baking sheet.
6. Bake 10 minutes, then break apart and bake 10 more minutes, or until golden brown.
Makes 20 (1/4 cup) servings.


What does it say about the following cartoon image?
We all lead complicated and time-consuming lives. If you are bored 20 years ago you may have had the joy of going to the library and getting a good book. Watching football on the TV and yelling at the bad plays. You would be at work dealing with ’emails’ and your ‘assignments’.
Present-day with video streamed from everywhere about anything and a lot that is just entertainment. You can stream from Netflix, Amazon, YouTube forever or until you are tired on that day and go to sleep. We need to take a deep breath and see how we can do things smarter? You have heard from the text “Don’t work harder. Work smarter.” The way that you can start is by opening your eyes and listen to alternative ways to solving problems. Just like the calculator changed my life in high school despite having to figure out math problems manually with scratch paper. The college experience expected the use of the calculator as it applies to the real world job. The invention of the smartphone took applications to a new level where they were always accessible. That document. The contact # all integrated into one device. More on this in a future note… for now — Listen to options presented and stop telling the salespeople you are too busy to hear it.


CIA agent Roger Ferris uncovers a lead on a major terrorist leader suspected to be operating out of Jordan, but while he tries to capitalize on the intelligence he has uncovered he must also be wary of the double-dealings of his boss in America.
Taglines: Trust no one. Deceive everyone.
Ayesha's cousins are named Yousuf and Rowley. Rowley is an unusual name for a Muslim boy and it stands out. It's possibly a nod to the FBI whistleblower of the same name.
Errors in geography: The area around Balad, Iraq is flat, not mountainous.
Al-Saleem: As we destroyed the bus in Sheffield last week, we will be ready and prepared for the operation in Britain. We avenge the American wars on the Muslim world.
The main thing I was curious about with "Body of Lies" is what sort of film it would end up being. It could have been a post-Bourne action thriller, a serious dramatic thriller with a political edge ("Munich", "Syriana"), one of those intolerably dull post-9/11 films ("Lions for Lambs"), or something like Ridley Scott's brother Tony's "Spy Game", a movie with an interesting premise and disappointing execution.
I would argue that "Body of Lies" is the exact opposite on paper of "Spy Game". It's a movie with a questionable, sketchy premise and damn good execution. I'd always definitely preferred Ridley's sensibilities and films to Tony's, and his take on a story about a CIA agent working against agency politics is definitely superior as well, although a very, very large amount of my preference for "Body of Lies" comes from the script by "The Departed" scribe William Monahan. "Body of Lies" bizarrely manages to work as both a hugely entertaining, nifty action thriller and as a socially/politically-conscious drama. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but it really does go from "Syriana" to "The Bourne Identity" in a second, and does so without feeling ridiculous, contrived, or silly. It just somehow pulls it off, and I'm crediting Monahan with most of this success although Scott certainly handles the shifts in tone extremely well.
All you should know about the story going in is that DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, a CIA field agent in an important position in the middle east division, just below the leader of the division Ed Hoffman (played by Russell Crowe), a snarky, racist, and mostly unlikeable man who leads the missions remotely through his laptop and cellphone. Ferris uncovers a lead on a major terrorist leader potentially operating out of Jordan, and chooses to act on it, involving Jordanian intelligence leader Hani Salam, played brilliantly by Mark Strong. His performance is just the right side of slightly hammy, and works wonderfully well. There are twists and turns and it's a lot of fun.
Now here's where I'm going to start sounding really bizarre: I know I just said it was a lot of fun, but there's a good amount of substance here and a good deal to be learned about middle-eastern politics (having lived there for many years, I can assure you that this film works as a primer on the mindset and cultural feel of the locations it is set in, and of the political system there. Its observations on Jordanian intelligence in particular are very much spot-on. There are scenes where the film gets really dark and serious, and they completely work as well. In particular, for a white American screenwriter's work, this is incredibly perceptive and understanding of how Jordanians act and feel. Something like "Rendition" from last year, while generally just not a good film, was also hopelessly inaccurate on just about everything. There was no work there, just a message the filmmaker wanted to send. With "Body of Lies", every second feels (and is) authentic and real (outside, perhaps, of some of the details of the espionage aspects, although the writer of the book it was based on was CIA), and there's even some cultural jokes completely in Arabic, untranslated on screen, that basically no non-Arabs will understand. It's a remarkably vivid, real portrait, and considering Hollywood's past of portraying Arabs generally in a 'dem Ayrabs, we America' way, which completely ignored the basic dress and attitude of real Arabs, something like this is refreshing.
The movie isn't perfect, and there's a key scene at the end which feels very didactic and heavy-handed (although judging by the twentysomethings who left the theater talking about how cool one of the torture scenes was, even a message delivered this bluntly just isn't getting into their thick skulls), but it somehow gets away with being an enjoyable genre piece and a genuinely thought-provoking and perceptive film (but not one which focuses on these elements to the point of being overbearing), with actual understanding of mid-eastern politics and culture, wonderfully involving characters (including the refreshingly non-sexual love interest Aisha, played by Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani), and even a surprising sense of humor. "Body of Lies" is most definitely a cut above most in its (overall quite poor) sub-genre, and one of the biggest surprises of the year.


The French Government is backing a new 'Google law' which would force the Internet giant to pay for links to newspaper articles.
It's understood that French publications feel Google is profiting from their copyrighted content: or, at least, is hindering their profits - and they want Google to cough up for linking to their copy.
Google has fought back claiming its search engine draws around four billion clicks every month to French media sites.
Despite this, France's ailing newspaper industry is pressing on with calls for Google to cough up.
Google regularly links to news sources via its Google News page: but publications must, essentially, apply for listing in this section of the search engine. Organic search results will display news items: and with Google focussing on 'fresh, unique content', that may mean news items get an extra bump up the search results.
If France pushes on and makes this law, there could be widespread ramifications across Europe - especially if other Governments decide they too believe Google should pay to link to content produced in their country.
In an interview with France's Le Figaro newspaper, France's minister for high technology, Fleur Pellerin, suggested their Government was studying the idea and suggested that: "Europe will be stronger if it can move ahead unified on that idea."
With Pellerin clearly saying Europe should unite to tackle Google, this could be a massive game changer if France gets its way.
In SEO terms, forcing Google to pay for all European news content could create huge headaches, as Google will refuse.
That could mean the "open Internet" as we know it now, would be partly shut, much like it currently is in Brazil, where newspaper articles aren't even listed in Google. Euro countries which 'opt out' of Google would simply have their news publications ignored by the search engine.
French President Francois Hollande has told representatives of the French regional press that he would fully support any legislation to force Google to pay for linking to their content – with the French parliament potentially bringing in a new search levy as early as January.
The proposal would see Google taxed by the current French Government, in order to support the country's ailing newspaper industry.
However Google has scoffed at the idea that the company has a negative effect on French newspapers, pointing out that the company draws in four billion clicks a month to various French media and newspaper sites.
In an emailed statement Google said: "It's not a secret that we think a law like the ones proposed in France and Germany would be very damaging to the Internet. We have said so publicly for three years."
Having already seen Brazilian newspapers pull out of Google News, the Internet giant has taken these proposals as a threat to its very own existence. As a result, Google has even threatened to remove French newspaper sites from its listings entirely if the proposed laws were to go through.
Their executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, was due to meet with Hollande today (Oct 29).


The company's investors are generally upbeat about its strategy. But they still wonder why the stock isn't worth more.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California--At their annual meeting here today, Netscape Communications' (NSCP) shareholders made clear that they are enthusiastic about the company's strategy and think its financials are solid.
But they can't help but wonder why the stock isn't worth more.
That was the main theme of the meeting at Netscape's headquarters, where the company outlined its general business position and tried to explain why the company's share price has dropped 62 percent in the past 12 months.
Investors who attended the meeting weren't hostile, but perplexed: Why doesn't Netscape's stock performance reflect a generally optimistic outlook for the Internet software giant?
Chief executive Jim Barksdale's explanation is that Netscape shares are a particular favorite among speculative investors who trade securities constantly in a practice known as "short-selling," keeping the stock on a perpetual roller coaster.
"I think we have a lot of momentum players in our stock," Barksdale said this morning. "We also have a high proportion of [short-sellers]."
Short-sellers account for roughly 20 percent of Netscape's investors, according to Quincy Smith, an investor relations manager for the company.
Netscape CFO Peter Currie added that the company's stock is broadly traded, which makes it easier for speculators to "short" the stock. "It's one of the great casinos," he said.
This explanation may have been small comfort to the investors gathered at company headquarters here this morning because it's entirely out of the company's hands.
Barksdale tried to temper those concerns with what he characterized as good news, specifically a gradual but definite shift in the company's sales to a more profitable mix.
Netscape now as an even three-way split in its revenues among client software, services, and server software. That's a slight shift from what the company reported as part of its first-quarter results, when client software accounted for 38 percent of revenues, services 25 percent, and server suites 37 percent.
"I think our services business provides great opportunities that we'll try to capitalize on and also the systems sales and support services that go with it are a great opportunity," Barksdale said.
Executives wouldn't make any forecasts for Netscape's coming quarters. But Curry said Wall Street is expecting earnings growth in the second half of the year, in part helped by the release of Communicator during the current quarter.
Netscape's shareholders--the youngest of whom is a 14-year-old named Brian Warner--generally agreed with this optimistic forecast and supported Barksdale's management of the company.
One thing that sits particularly well with investors is Barksdale's decision to forgo all but $1 in salary for 1997, an expression of his commitment to raising Netscape's stock price.
"This really demonstrates Jim's commitment to shareholders. We continue to be strong supporters of the company," said Irene Yu, an analyst for Amerindo Investment Advisers, which holds nearly a 4 percent stake in the company.
Meanwhile, a portfolio manager for another large institutional investor said Barksdale's gesture sends a strong signal that the CEO is optimistic for the company's future. "I think this is more a signal of what he thinks the prospects are for the company," the investor said.
Still, a lot of this enthusiasm is based more on faith than any indications from the stock itself.
Netscape closed at 29-1/2 a share today, down from its 52-week high of 75-1/4 in late May of last year. At the company's shareholder meeting then, the stock had already started a descent from its all-time high of 86 in late January of that year. But its drop was not as steep as this year's.
Barksdale defended the company's stock performance at a meeting with industry journalists yesterday.
"We're trading at much higher multiples," he said. "The price is like a roller coaster. The price has been up before, and it will go back up again."
Barksdale characterized Wall Street's view of the company this way: "We have 30 [analysts] who follow the company. Five think we're dead meat, but the other 25 think we are a big deal."
The portfolio manager agreed with Barksdale's favorite 25 analysts. "Microsoft is a tough competitor, but Barksdale is a bright man and has surrounded himself with bright people," he said.
Netscape reported first-quarter profits of $7.9 million on revenues of $120.2 million, compared with profits of $4.7 million on revenues of $55 million a year ago.
The company attributed its 114 percent revenue growth to strong server sales, highlighting the growth in its email and groupware areas.


Can you give me names of nannies? How can I find one?
I work a non-traditional schedule (late shift) at a hospital. Is there any child care available after 6:00 pm and before 6:00 am?
I would like my baby and my 3-year-old to be together in child care, for convenience and their comfort. What are my choices?
Is "preschool" better quality than "child care/day care center"?
Will child care/preschool programs take my child on a drop-in basis? I have occasional needs for care.
No, facilities listed on this site are State-licensed or exempt centers or homes. You can find a nanny or au pair through a nanny agency, referrals by friends/other parents, ads on bulletin boards, etc. If you find someone informally (not via an agency that screens and background checks), you can use the TrustLine background check service.
Child care centers close by 6:00 or 6:30 at latest; there isn't sufficient demand for 'non-traditional hours care' to support that type of service. (Palcare in Burlingame is the only such program in San Mateo County.) Fortunately, some family child care home providers provide evening, early morning, night and/or weekend care.
Family child care homes are the best option since they are licensed to care for children up to 12 years of age, allowing a family home-like setting.In the few child care centers that serve infants/toddlers as well as preschool-age (2.5/3 to 5), children are in care groups/classrooms by age group with different (required) adult/child ratios and age-appropriate programming and physical environment. Siblings may be allowed to spend limited time together. Hiring a caregiver in your own home is an option, of course.
Most programs prefer to fill their spaces with regular, paying clients or find it too disruptive to other enrolled children to take drop-ins. Others may allow it on a space available basis. Family child care home providers tend to be more flexible about taking drop-ins than centers. In any case, they would need to have on file the enrollment paperwork that State Licensing requires for any child attending. If your occasional child care needs could be accommodated in a regular part-day schedule (e.g. 2 mornings per week), many programs offer options.


Could targeting ROS enzyme provide a broad antiviral strategy?
Collaborative research led by RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia) has identified a host enzyme, NOX2, that appears to exacerbate viral pathogenicity, and the study has suggested that targeting this mechanism could provide an antiviral strategy for a wide range of infections.
This study, published recently in Nature Communications, aimed to try and uncover the action of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in humans. ROS are known to protect plants, fungi and some animals from invading pathogens; however, in mammals the reverse is reported, with ROS production linked to increased viral pathogenic activity.
The researchers identified the primary enzymatic source of ROS in humans, NOX2 oxidase. They observed that that NOX2 oxidase, which is housed in endocytic compartments, is activated by single stranded RNA and DNA viruses such as flu, dengue and HIV.
The team demonstrated that once activated, NOX2 oxidase generates hydrogen peroxide, which in turn supresses key antiviral reactions via the modification of Toll-like receptor-7, allowing stronger and more virulent disease in mice.
This study is the first to report that endosomal NOX2 oxidase is activated by infecting pathogens, and exacerbates viral pathogenicity. In addition these findings suggest this enzyme could be an antiviral target with impactions for broad range of disease.


Yogurt is a widely consumed dairy product for its myriad health benefits. Here the passages elucidate the different ingredients used in it.
Yogurt essentially means fermented milk. Certain species of 'good bacteria' bring about the transformation of milk to yogurt. It is a rich source of protein and calcium. It provides all the health benefits of milk, without the possible health concerns caused by consuming milk.
It can also be safely consumed by people with lactose intolerance. Although its ingredients vary extensively depending upon the manufacturer, the basic ingredients- milk and bacteria culture remain the same.
Milk is the most fundamental yogurt ingredient, which undergoes fermentation when treated with live culture of bacteria. Fat content of milk determines the fat content of yogurt.
Low fat yogurt is made from low fat milk while a fat free one is made from skimmed milk. The usual plain, full fat one is made from whole milk. Milk can also be combined with other dairy products, such as cream, in order to adjust the fat content. Sometimes, dry milk may also be used to obtain the desired consistency.
Milk can often be substituted by soy milk in order to prepare soy yogurt. In this case water and ground soy are mixed together to get soy milk, and lactic acid may be added externally. Usually it is naturally present in all dairy products.
Mostly, cultures of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus are used together for manufacturing yogurt. Although these cultures can work on their own, the acid production during their symbiosis is far more than when individual species are used.
Additionally, cultures of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, and Bifido-bacteria are also used as probiotic bacteria. These bacteria are good for gastrointestinal problems and relieve symptoms, such as bloating, gas, stomach pain etc. They also reduce the occurrence of fungal infections and maintain the general health of colon.
Apart from the two basic ingredients mentioned earlier, commercially available yogurt also contains some additives and artificial sweeteners. The other flavoring ingredients are given here.
Some manufacturers may add sweeteners to their yogurt. These sweeteners are often in the form of sugar or sugar substitutes. Fructose, sucralose, and aspartame are commonly used sweeteners for their low calorie content.
Organic yogurt makers prefer to use evaporated cane juice as a sweetening agent, instead of artificial sweeteners. Evaporated cane juice is also a part of most soy yogurts.
Fruits are purely added to increase the flavor and nutrition value of the yogurt. They also render an aesthetic appeal to it.
If the fruit is packaged at the bottom of the yogurt pack, then this type is termed as 'set-style yogurt'. On the other hand, if the fruit is blended in it, then the yogurt is referred as 'Swiss style yogurt'. Artificial coloring agents may be added to emphasize a particular fruit flavor.
Stabilizers are often added to achieve desired consistency and texture. The common stabilizers used for this purpose are gelatin, cornstarch, pectin, and several other phosphates.
Commercially, yogurt is manufactured by separating fat from the milk. Other dairy products may be added to achieve desired consistency and fat content. The mixture is then agitated to thoroughly mix the various ingredients and then pasteurized.
Stabilizers are added to the mixture after which the mixture is homogenized. Strains of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus are added in equal proportions. An optimum growth temperature is maintained to initiate the fermentation process.
The coagulated product is then collected and various flavoring and coloring agents are added. Fruits may be added at this stage and then the yogurt is packaged. The processed yogurt is then stored at a temperature of about 5°C.
While making it at home, you will only require the basic ingredients i.e milk and culture. Homemade yogurt is an healthy option as it is freshly prepared and free from any artificial ingredients.


The Olympic Final, two Chinese players, two players competing for the final piece to complete their grand slam. Wang Hao a 2 time Olympic finalist seeking out a dream to win gold in London, Zhang Jike the hotshot powerhouse, current world champion and world number 1. The match was set to be one of amazing quality as both players gave it their absolute all.
The start went very much in Zhang Jike's favour, he powered ahead to claim quite an extensive lead in the first set, only to have it clawed away at by Wang Hao. It went to deuce and still at 14-14 there was no outcome. A flick error left Zhang Jike wishing he'd closed the first set off earlier but Wang Hao couldn't convert, 15-15. Wang Hao had another opportunity and failed, it was 16-16. Zhang Jike went up a point, could he convert it to the set he so thoroughly deserved in the start? He called a timeout, a surprising move for the world number 1. Clearly getting ahead was first on his agenda, he did just that with an excellent service receive to the forehand side just out of reach as Wang Hao flew round the corner expecting a pivot forehand opportunity.
Taking no such risks in the second set Zhang Jike was off again leaving no margin for error. Claiming point after point and utilising his marvelous reverse serve to open up 3rd ball attack opportunities, it was Zhang Jike who took a 2-0 lead in the match. Speedy backhand to backhand rallying seemed to be the common theme of the match so far and Jike had, as usual, made great use of his backhand flick off Wang Hao's serves. Zhang Jike on the other hand was targetting Wang Hao's weaker forehand flick which presented simpler opportunities for him to attack the receive. Long fast serves came into play on occasion and the rallies which followed were of equal speed, amazing table tennis. The looping game was opening up from the World Champion but Wang Hao was clinging on tight in the 3rd set, but again it was Jike who broke away after the halfway mark and ploughed his way to an 11-6 win and a 3-0 lead.
Wang Hao's chances of Olympic gold were fading and it was probably looking all too familiar for the 2nd seeded player. Would it be another silver to the collection? At this stage it looked as though Zhang Jike was unstoppable in this final. Again in the 4th Zhang Jike set off at flying pace. Wang Hao called a timeout to try and halt his opponents rush of momentum, it appeared successful, Wang Hao was able to cling on with the score drawn at 8-8 towards the end of the set. The set hit deuce again, Wang Hao throwing away a set point with an unreliable forehand flick but converting his 2nd game point to bring it back to 3-1.
Wang Hao took a massive 5-0 lead in the 5th set but Zhang Jike demonstrated his superb control and came back to trail by one point at 5-6. A vicious forehand flick at 6-7 levelled the score at 7-7. An edgeball sparked controversy as both the umpire and Wang Hao rejected the appeal of Zhang Jike, he kept his composure to stay in the game trailing 9-8 and then drew it even at 9-9. Full length it would be but there was no stopping the Chinese superstar Zhang Jike. Another silver medal for Wang Hao to live with, a grand slam for Zhang Jike becoming the only athlete ever to hold the World Championships, World Cup and Olympic Mens Singles titles simultaneously!