With all the murkiness that has been present in the UFC lightweight division for what feels like forever and a bottle of Proper No. 12, the sport really needs someone to save it from slipping any further into madness.
Justin Gaethje may not be the fighter to save it, but it sure would be damn entertaining to see him try.
Gaethje is the definition of a fan’s fighter. He’s the fighter who understands that putting on a show is just as valuable, if not more valuable, than putting himself in the best position to win.
He’s the fighter who can wrestle you to death but would much rather stand and trade, wading through your shots so we can land his own.
He’s the fighter who’s willing to put himself in danger and take risks if it means finding a way to end a fight.
Also, he’s the fighter who understands his own worth but also isn’t interested in picking and choosing opponents, so you know UFC must love the guy. Well, provided he doesn’t complain too loudly about his pay.
The former World Series of Fighting Lightweight Champion has had a bit of a stop and go start to his UFC career, from banishing Michael Johnson to the land of the featherweights to tough losses against upcoming Interim title challenger Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez (the guy who went to Japan and got wrecked on Sunday) to finding a very effective method for silencing James Vick.
That’s what led to Justin’s main event on Saturday night against Edson Barboza, a fighter who’s circled the drain of contendership but has never been able to fall into that position himself.
Well, after what Gaethje did to him, he ain’t going to be a contender any time soon.
The fight wasn’t a long one and it was one Gaethje was in control of from the start, throwing leg kicks to counter and stymie Edson’s brutal kicks, moving forward to pressure Edson and keep him from getting comfortable.
There are writers who can describe Justin’s strategy much better than me (and get paid for it…) but, suffice to say, it worked to perfection, allowing Justin to catch Edson with a right hand, putting the Brazilian down and out halfway through the first round.
And, just like that, Justin Gaethje has a win against a Top 10 opponent and can continue to hold the distinction of having more performance bonuses than fights in the UFC.
Seriously, win or lose, you know you’re getting a show with Justin Gaethje.
It really is refreshing to see someone as honest of a person and as aggressive of a combatant. Definitely someone I’d be cool with if UFC…I dunno…booked into a title fight.
I’m not going to use this space to advocate for giving Justin Gaethje a shot at Khabib “The Beeb” Nurmagomedov. I just think that a world where Gaethje is a UFC champion is a world I wish I could live in.
You have Conor McGregor, the man who started the initial logjam by winning the title and then not defending it in favor of letting Floyd Mayweather punch him in the face, selling whiskey, and smashing iPhones (among other alleged awful things).
There’s the champion, who legitimized himself by trouncing McGregor and then couldn’t go five seconds without literally throwing that goodwill away. Plus, the more he flashes his religion and ultra conservative morals and ethics, the more he starts to resemble a Disney villain.
After that are the guys fighting for the Interim title at UFC 236 in two weeks. In one corner you have Dustin Poirier, who’s much improved but is still struggling to get past Conor calling him a “peahead” 5 years ago, and, in the other, Max Holloway, the UFC Featherweight Champion who’s getting the chance to logjam another division just because he made more sense in this fight than any other lightweights, which fair enough.
After that are guys who are fun to watch but are hard to get invested in because they feel like they’re a step below the contenders, like Al Iaquinta (lost to Khabib) and Kevin Lee (lost to Tony).
I guess there’s Donald Cerrone. He’s one of those fighters no one would object to seeing in a title fight since he usually brings the goods no matter who he’s staring down. Plus, he’ll bring a case of Budweiser to the after party.
It’ll be great. Winner gets a shot. Loser buys shots.
If UFC is still only booking fights that sell, they won’t have to try very hard to sell that one. It’s one of the few fights they can promote as two guys looking to tear each other’s head off with a reasonable chance that’s actually what we’ll get when the door closes.
You won’t be able to see action like that anywhere else this side of a Diaz brother.
It’d also be the perfect kind of fight to really cement Gaethje as the Lidellian monolith he’s capable of becoming. Let’s see how much further he can ascend before his chin gives out and he’s reduced to fighting for chicken scratch being thrown at him by Oscar de la Hoya.
They never say the way down would be pretty but that doesn’t mean it can’t be worth watching, right?


For the second time in a month, Zsa Zsa Gabor was rushed to the hospital due to complications from a feeding tube in her stomach.
Gabor's husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, called 911 just before 11 a.m. Tuesday after he noticed bleeding from a feeding tube that was surgically implanted last month.
"She's in the hospital at UCLA," said her husband, Frederic von Anhalt. "It's a little worse (than last month)."
Gabor's publicist, John Blanchette, said her personal physician came to her Bel Air home and determined that the feeding tube in her stomach had come loose again, resulting in an infection.
"He called for an ambulance to UCLA and she was taken back to the hospital, her home away from home these days,'' Blanchette said.
He said it was the third time the feeding tube had dislodged since being put in, resulting in infection.
The 94-year-old actress has been hospitalized repeatedly since falling out of bed and breaking her hip in July 2010. Her right leg was amputated in January because of gangrene.
She is the last living of three Gabor sisters with careers in Hollywood. The legendary screen star has been equally famous for having been married nine times.


If Senator Elizabeth Warren thought that releasing her DNA test results showing Native American ancestry would neutralize a Republican line of attack, she was wrong.
The test — part of her strategic preparations for a likely presidential campaign — did not placate President Trump, who has mocked Ms. Warren as “Pocahontas” and once promised $1 million to a charity of her choice if a DNA test substantiated her claims of Cherokee and Delaware heritage. And her announcement of the results angered many Native Americans, including the Cherokee Nation, the largest of the country’s three federally recognized Cherokee tribes.
DNA testing cannot show that Ms. Warren is Cherokee or any other tribe, the secretary of state of the Cherokee Nation, Chuck Hoskin Jr., said in a statement. Tribes set their own citizenship requirements, not to mention that DNA tests don’t distinguish among the numerous indigenous groups of North and South America. The test Ms. Warren took did not identify Cherokee ancestry specifically; it found that she most likely had at least one Native American ancestor six to 10 generations ago.
Ms. Warren defended herself by saying she was not claiming to be eligible for membership in the Cherokee Nation — and she isn’t, given that her ancestors do not appear on the Dawes Rolls, early-20th-century government documents that form the basis of the Cherokee citizenship process. She said she was simply corroborating the family stories of Native American lineage that she has often recounted.
But that distinction actually cuts to the heart of why Native Americans are so upset with her. Fundamentally, their anger is about what it means to be Native American — and who gets to decide.
This perspective is grounded in a long history of persecution, displacement and massacre. Over many decades of United States history, the government took the land of Native American tribes, including the Cherokee, and pushed them steadily west. President Andrew Jackson’s policies, continued under Martin Van Buren, forced the Cherokee into their current territory in Oklahoma in the Trail of Tears during 1838 and 1839. Administration after administration signed treaties with tribes and then violated them. It was not until the 1930s that tribes gained the sovereignty they now have on their reservations.
“Those of us who are Cherokee citizens, we know our ancestors in some cases perished along the Trail of Tears,” Mr. Hoskin said.
“Most reasonable people can understand,” in that context, why claims to Native American heritage based on a DNA test are fraught, he added.
Neither Ms. Warren nor anyone on her staff contacted the Cherokee Nation before publicizing the DNA results, Mr. Hoskin said. A spokeswoman for Ms. Warren’s re-election campaign, Kristen Orthman, declined to comment on this point.
Ms. Warren’s announcement was clearly intended to put to rest one of Mr. Trump’s favorite lines of attack. (Mr. Hoskin criticized Mr. Trump, too, for his repeated use of “Pocahontas” as a slur.) Instead, the DNA test brought a barrage of negative headlines and opinion pieces, in liberal-leaning publications like HuffPost as well as conservative-leaning ones like The New York Post.
Asked about the criticism, the senator’s campaign spokeswoman, Ms. Orthman, sent links to a tweet by Ms. Warren and to a statement posted on Facebook by the Eastern Band Cherokee, a separate tribe from the Cherokee Nation.
The Eastern Band Cherokee’s statement was supportive of Ms. Warren, saying that she “has not used her family story or evidence of Native ancestry to gain employment or other advantage” and that she “demonstrates respect for tribal sovereignty by acknowledging that tribes determine citizenship and respecting the difference between citizenship and ancestry.” It also listed Native-friendly bills she had supported in the Senate.
By Wednesday, the post had been deleted from the Facebook page of the tribe’s newspaper, but Ashleigh Stephens, a spokeswoman for Principal Chief Sneed, said he stood by it.
Elizabeth Warren Has a Native American Ancestor. Does That Make Her Native American?


This week the American Federation of Teachers, our national union, proposed a new tool in teacher evaluation: a sort of "bar exam" for teaching that would be required for anyone entering the profession. The rigorous exam would be based on a combination of content-knowledge and understanding of emotional and social factors in learning. As an added component of certification, teachers would be required to spend a year in "clinical practice" as a student teacher--a sort of teaching apprenticeship that I've long felt was lacking in training for our profession. In tandem with the new exam and the longer period of student teaching, education programs themselves would become more rigorous, requiring higher grade point averages for successful admission and graduation.
While some teachers will understandably balk at the idea of being evaluated by standardized tests, I'm surprised to find myself rather enamored of this set of ideas. For starters, by standardizing the requirements for certification across all states, teachers will be more easily able to obtain national board certification--reciprocity can be streamlined across all states (right now there's no rhyme or reason to which states have reciprocity with each other, and which don't.) This will make it easier for experienced teachers to move to different states without having to jump through hoops for recertification, which is a problem under the current system.
Secondly, while I don't agree with movies like Waiting for Superman, which assert that bad teachers are the problem in education, I do think raising the standards of the profession is a good idea. Currently, too many education programs simply lack rigor--students skate through perfunctorily, without learning anything useful about teaching or about their content areas. Forcing these programs to elevate their standards towards a difficult exam will enable education course-work to be more focused; teacher training can be standardized, and driven by specific metrics of proficiency. Additionally, I doubt I am alone in thinking that the most valuable component of my teacher training was my brief experience team-teaching with an experienced educator. By making this sort of internship longer and mandatory nationwide, I believe we can greatly improve teacher preparation.
Lastly, though I wish this were not the case, I think (hope?) that having passed a rigorous standardized assessment will afford the teaching profession the type of respect garnered by law, accounting, or technical professions. It will make the ways in which teachers are determined to be "qualified" far less ambiguous, and with any luck, make it less socially acceptable to suggest that teachers' incompetence is the reason behind a litany of socio-economic and systemic failures that are beyond all of our control. This, for me, is perhaps the most compelling (if also the most emotional) reason why I would support this kind of examination--to put down at least some of the existing questions about the legitimacy of training, certification, or efficacy in this profession. If teaching could be afforded a modicum of respect as a result of a "bar exam" of sorts, I'd take the test in a heartbeat, and I'm sure other teachers would as well.


NASHUA–Oliva Joseph Beaulieu, age 88, passed away unexpectedly on Monday, February 4, 2019. He was the husband of Clare (Donnelly) Beaulieu, with whom he spent 60 wonderful years of marriage.
Born in Taunton, Mass. on December 18, 1930, he was the son of the late Alphonse and Alma (Maltais) Beaulieu, who emigrated from Quebec in the 1890s. An exceptional student-athlete, Oliva was drafted to play professional baseball at the age of 16, but chose to pursue his education. He was later offered a football scholarship to Brown University, but had to decline because even the incidental costs of an Ivy League school were beyond his family’s limited means. Instead, he attended the newly founded Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., commuting by bus (or hitchhiking) between home, school, and a full-time job he held to pay his tuition. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in English, the first member of his family to achieve that distinction. He remained a proud and active Stonehill alumnus for his entire life.
After graduating, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, completing the Officer Candidate School course, then serving in the Philippines. After two years of service, he was honorably discharged with the rank of Lieutenant. He went on to a distinguished career in business, and was universally recognized by his colleagues for his extraordinary energy, skill, and integrity. He was also active in several charities, including the Boys’ Towns of Italy, from which he received Man of the Year honors, and served in a number of local community organizations, in which he was invariably elected to leadership roles. He had a capacious mind (he read at least book a week throughout his ife), a sharp sense of humor, and a boundless joie de vivre.
Above all, Oliva was a family man. Impressive as his career success was, he always put family first. He was a devoted and loving husband and father, grandfather, and friend. He loved traveling with his wife Clare, with whom he made over a dozen overseas trips, as well as numerous visits to less far-flung destinations, beginning with their honeymoon at Niagara Falls. He relished time with his children and grandchildren, and never ceased to delight in their individual personalities and accomplishments. He always considered them to be his proudest legacy.
Besides his loving wife, Oliva is survived by his five children: Marc and his wife Pamela of Nashua; John and his wife Helen of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Michael of Lowell, Mass.; Amy Duggan and her husband Thomas of Huntingtown, Md.; Ann Marie of Cochituate, Mass.; and nine grandchildren (Elizabeth, Tanner, Alana, Sabrina, Jack, Julianne, Olivia, Joseph, and Mel), as well as his brother Albert J. Beaulieu of North Carolina.
Friends and family are invited to call at the ANCTIL-ROCHETTE & SON FUNERAL HOME, 21 Kinsley Street, Nashua, on Friday February 8 from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. Oliva’s funeral service will be held Saturday February 10 at 10 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Church, 216 East Dunstable Road, Nashua. Burial will follow in St. Louis Cemetery, 752 W. Hollis St., Nashua. As an expression of sympathy, donations may be made in Oliva’s honor to The Stonehill College Fund, Office of Advancement, 320 Washington St., Easton, MA 02357. To leave an online memory or condolence, please visit www.anctil-rochette.com.


ISLAMABAD, Apr 26 (APP):The fifth Pakistan-Japan High Level Economic Policy Dialogue was held here on Thursday, emphasizing the need to give a new impetus to the economic and commercial ties between Pakistan and Japan.
According to a statement issued here, Secretary EAD said that enormous opportunities were available in Pakistan in the wake of sustained economic turnaround and improved security environment.
Dilating upon the investment opportunities in the country, he elaborated that Pakistan’s investment policy, characterized by steady liberalization, privatization and deregulation, was one of the most liberal and investor-friendly in the region.
definitely be a timely intervention to emphasize upon the strong relationship between the two countries.
dialogue on trade and investment issues.
Japanese side expressed that they would facilitate the Joint Government Business Dialogue, which was planned to be held later this year.
Both sides noted the need for further enhancing Japanese investment in Pakistan keeping in view the improved economic environment.
For future Japanese investment, the Pakistani side identified the emerging sectors of automobile, auto parts, electric cars, electronics, solar panels, chemicals and plastics. Japanese side highlighted the importance of enhancement of investment as already there are profitable businesses by many Japanese companies in Pakistan.
The Japanese side informed the Pakistani side that Japan is enhancing the assistance in the area of human resource development in order to contribute to the industrial development of Pakistan in terms of human capacity development as well. Both sides discussed enhancement of economic cooperation in the sectors of energy, infrastructure and transport.
The Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Yamazaki, Kazuyuki noted that Pakistan was a significant partner and Japan attaches high importance to its relationship with Pakistan.
He underscored the importance of further strengthening the long standing trade, economic investment relationship between Japan and Pakistan and said that the revival of the High Economic Policy Dialogue would go a long way in deepening economic engagement between the two countries.
The dialogue, it may be added is of immense significance as it primarily deals with major policy matters regarding trade, investment and development cooperation and more importantly it is held after a gap of more than seven years indicating the fact that both the countries are recognizing the need to enhance bilateral economic relationship to the next higher level.


Parking is free at the Bay Area campus.
The Bay Area campus (12647 Alcosta Boulevard) requires an access card for entrance to the suite. Students, faculty and staff are allowed access via their access cards 24/7. Incoming students will receive their access card at orientation.


"I have experienced first-hand the insecurity of zero-hour contracts, low pay and abuse by the management, to both me and my fellow workmates"
News that violence against shop workers has gone up by 28% in a year will come as no surprise to those who've worked in the industry. The British Retail Consortium reports that half of retail workers have been verbally abused, and over 8% assaulted.
Them & Us: Autumn Statement special!
Hammond's first Autumn Statement in numbers. It's one world for the super-rich, and another one for the rest of us.
The fifth anniversary of the public sector pension strike allows an opportunity to reflect on the most significant and defining trade union struggle of the recent period.


“SICKO MODE” and “Don’t Matter To Me” reach new peaks on this week’s pop radio chart.
A song that features a contribution from Drake and the latest single from the artist’s own “Scorpion” angle both reach the Top 30 on this week’s Mediabase pop radio airplay chart.
Travi$ Scott’s “SICKO MODE,” on which Drake makes an uncredited guest appearance, rises three places to #29. Drake and Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Matter To Me” concurrently jumps thirteen spots to #30.
“SICKO MODE” received 2,079 spins during the October 14-20 tracking period. This week’s count tops last week’s mark by 281.
“Don’t Matter To Me” posted a tracking period play count of 1,537 (+706).


Rooney Mara has picked up a big role as Tiger Lily in the movie version of Peter Pan, but the casting has drawn a massive controversy online.
The news that the white actress would be playing Tiger Lily, who is Native American, were met with immediate curiosity online. The casting of Rooney Mara was compared to the selection of Johnny Depp to play Tonto in The Lone Ranger, which itself was controversial.
The opposition to Mara has grown more organized in the days after her casting was announced. The hashtag #NotYourTigerLily started trending on Twitter, and more than 5,000 people signed a petition through Care2 to protest the casting.
Rooney Mara and her casting seems part of a larger issue in Hollywood. Many filmmakers and actors have taken up the cause to call for better representation of actors of color.
Disney has a difficult history with the character. In its 1953 Peter Pan movie, Tiger Lily’s father was portrayed in red face.
Some critics have taken issue with the role of Tiger Lily, calling it an insensitive portrayal of Native Americans.
Disney has tried to deflect the controversy over Rooney Mara, saying that the character is being represented differently than in the original story.
Rooney Mara herself hasn’t spoken about the controversy over the Tiger Lily casting.


How can creatives produce top-notch work in a hurry while adhering to increasingly strict deadlines set by brands?
The speed at which we all produce and expect things in 2014 is incredible. Most of us no longer have the virtue of patience. But then why do we need this when most things in the 21st century are instant? It has been found that 47% of consumers expect a webpage to load in two seconds or less and up to 87% of us will abandon a site if we experience this full delay. It seems we can't spare seconds, let alone minutes.
Similarly with design, creatives are no longer cutting and sticking letterforms in the dead of night in order to send them by post the next day. Of course not, we have Macs, CMD+Z and email. But not only are we expected to design more quickly we're expected to produce killer ideas and concepts faster. The question is, what's the effect of a speedy outcome?
A while ago I listened to a talk by Paul Smith at the Design Museum, where he's currently holding his exhibition: Hello I Am Paul Smith. That evening it became clear just how he had got to the top – and stayed there. He isn't greedy; he isn't narrow-minded; he simply loves what he does. Everything inspires him – a bird, a building, a binman, you name it. He thrives on experiences and capturing moments on camera you know, instead of Googling them, and he understands people – his designers, his customers and the people he collaborates with; and that's because he gives them time. He works in his office every weekday and in his shops every weekend.
We live in a world of thinkers and makers. Thinkers tend to produce at speed because they want instant growth and profit. They are the ones behind bands such as JLS, for whom there was never a long-term plan. There didn't need to be, as bands such as these can be reproduced easily. The only problem is, they start from the top and work their way down.
Makers, on the other hand, are all about doing what they love, not for the money or recognition, but for pure joy and contentment - people like Paul Smith.
Unfortunately, time is not an indulgence creatives are afforded. Because of consumers' increasing impatience, brands are under pressure to deliver everything quicker – including content and campaigns. Over the past few years the rise of social media and reactive campaigns – such as Oreo's campaign in response to the blackout at the Super Bowl, has started to slip into regular campaigns. Brands now expect creatives to deliver at a similar pace.
Processes have had to change to enable creative departments to keep up with the expected pace, and there's always going to be the odd job that needs to literally be thrown out of the door and couriered, but what about the jobs that have far too much potential to rush?
I picked up a book a few weeks back called Do You Want It Good or Do You Want It Tuesday? by Ruth Artmonsky. This hit the nail on the head. Of course I can deliver this deadline, but there's going to be compromises, and what's the point in that? Inevitably, doing the right work takes time because it relies on feedback to grow, and is a team effort. To ensure longevity in a design – or indeed anything, you need to work with people to grow from the bottom up.
Emma Benyon is a junior designer at creative engagement agency Rufus Leonard.


In 2018, the stock market suffered the worst December since the Great Depression. We see the headlines on the internet, we hear about it on the news, even our President is talking about it. So what does this drop in the stock market mean to your clients, and what might you do about it?
Since November 2009, the stock market has generally gone up, but 2018 marked the first year that we recorded a loss in nearly a decade. For most investors, this recent downturn in the market is expected. The severity, though, is catching many investors, especially those close to or in retirement, off guard.
We are also witnessing very unusual levels of volatility in the market, with erratic swings going up and down 1 to 3 percent in a single day of trading. This volatility only adds to our fears of losing money and not getting out of the market in time. So what can your clients do in the midst of all this volatility and market loss? Consider buying a fixed indexed annuity.
2018 represented the first year since 2008 that the S&P 500 finished lower than it started. The losses were sustained in the last 90 days of the year.
Milvesky’s point is valid; there are many types of annuities built for various purposes. So I urge you to help your clients understand how an FIA could make sense for them right now.
An FIA isn’t right for everyone. But the latest breed of FIAs are excellent options for investors who are in the midst of a bear market and need to create stability and safety but don’t want to miss out on the potential of future gains in the market when it rebounds. Furthermore, many accumulation FIAs can immediately help clients gain back some of the losses they may have suffered in December with something called a premium bonus when transferred. Let me explain.
An FIA uses indexing to gain indirect exposure to the market. Indexing is accomplished through the purchase of something known as “call options.” This purchase of call options comes from the interest gained from the general investment pool of the insurance or annuity carrier offering the FIA. If the index rises, the options pay out (and can be a significant gain). If the index drops (the market continues to go down), then the options are worthless, but the investor has lost nothing.
To illustrate this best, let’s examine one of the simplest annuities, the fixed annuity. A fixed annuity, also called a multiyear guaranteed annuity, simply gives the purchaser fixed annual interest crediting during the contract period. This interest is generated by the general investment pool of the annuity carrier and is guaranteed by its strength and financial standing as a legal reserve company in the state in which they do business in.
For example, if a client has $200,000 to purchase a fixed annuity, they could purchase a 5-year MYGA that yield a guaranteed 3.25 percent annual compounding return. Because it is an annuity, it would grow tax deferred and also be subject to limited liquidity with a surrender charge. So each year, the client would get a 3.25 percent compounding interest credit to their $200,000. Straightforward and not confusing.
An FIA works in a similar fashion, but rather than taking the “safe money” and keeping the 3.25 percent, the annuity carrier purchases call options on an index with the 3.25 percent. Their goal is to get the best price for the options to maximize return. So if a client purchased an FIA with $200,000 of premium, instead of having a guaranteed 3.25 percent, they would have a guarantee of zero percent, but would have that 3.25 percent dedicated toward the purchase of call options on an index such as the S&P 500. These options would generally have a term of one or two years. When the maturity date for those options comes up, the options would either pay out or expire and be worthless. However, the client’s principal is never in danger, thus the zero percent guarantee.
So if the S&P 500 (which closed at 2,448 on Jan. 3, 2019) rose to 2,750 by Jan. 3, 2020, then the index would have gone up 302 points, or 12.3 percent. At that point, the options would pay out. If we use a hypothetical 60 percent participation rate, then the $200,000 would be credited 60 percent of the 12.3 percent, or 7.38 percent. This means that $14,760 would be credited to the account as a realized gain.
Historically speaking, the increases in the market index have outperformed the guaranteed fixed amounts of a MYGA, which is why the FIA has grown so dramatically in popularity. The following is an example of an actual MYGA vs. an FIA offered by an A-rated carrier using a variation S&P 500 index for the FIA over the previous five years from 2013 to 2018.
Actual performance comparison of a MYGA and FIA from the same annuity provider for years 2013-2018. Accumulation values and average annual yield are listed in the TOTAL GAIN row. The FIA outperformed the MYGA by 2.24%.
There are multiple benefits to this: not risking any principal in down markets, not having to decide when to buy or sell. But the most significant benefit is that the interest credits are locked in as realized gains and you don’t have to sell shares to achieve them.
Here’s a question: If I have a mutual fund with $100,000 invested in it and the fund rises to $125,000, how much have I made? The answer is: I’ve made nothing until I sell. Furthermore, I am also suffering from something called unit depletion when I sell. If I have 1,000 shares of a mutual fund, stock or ETF and I want to capture some gains, then I would have to sell some shares. Let’s say I sell 100 shares to capture gains, I now have only 900 shares. Even if the stock price rises, I will have a diminishing opportunity to capture future gains. Fast-forward a few years, and assuming your client is selling shares every year, either to fund retirement or to capture gains, they could be down to 50 percent of their original shares. This is the effect of unit depletion, and it is eliminated with an FIA. With an FIA, all gains are simply a payoff of interest credited to your client’s account, and the options purchased for this payoff were generated through the interest of their premium, not by using any of their actual principal.
So how important is it to eliminate negative returns in the market? In 2018, the markets finished the year lower than they started. The S&P 500 index started 2018 at 2,696, but finished the year at 2,507, which represents a drop of 189 points, or 7 percent. So if your client had $200,000 invested in the S&P 500 at the start of 2018, by the end of the year it would have decreased to $186,000. Compare that to having $200,000 in an FIA, and your client would have lost nothing.
If the market continues to drop in 2019, a traditional portfolio exposed to stocks would continue to drop, but an FIA would never experience negative market crediting. In this sort of scenario, you can see how even a zero percent return, when compared to a sustained down market, can be far superior and demonstrates the power and safety of an FIA.
Sean A. Ruggiero is president and founder of SafeMoneySmart.org, a nonprofit that advocates for alternatives to the stock market in retirement. Sean may be contacted at [email protected].
© Entire contents copyright 2019 by InsuranceNewsNet.com Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted without the expressed written consent from InsuranceNewsNet.com.


He was everything Mariners fans might remember when he was here – fast, efficient - only better.
The trade now seems absurd. Fister was sent to Detroit along with reliever David Pauley in exchange for pitchers Charlie Furbush and Chance Ruffin, outfielder Casper Wells and then-third base prospect Francisco Martinez.
Of what the Mariners received in return – only Furbush is contributing to the major league club. Wells was designated for assignment after failing to make the team. Ruffin – once thought to be a future closer - is trying to re-invent himself as a starter in Double A. Martinez is his center fielder in Jackson after being converted to the outfield and never hitting as expected.
And Fister? He was 3-12 with a 3.33 earned run average when he was traded in 2011. Down the stretch for the Tigers that season, he went 8-1 with a 1.79 ERA in 10 starts and one relief appearance, helping them reach the playoffs.
Last season, he posted a 10-10 record with a 3.45 ERA and helped the Tigers reach the World Series.
After Tuesday night, Fister improved to 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA in three starts.
Fister was perfect through three innings and cruising. But Kyle Seager’s one-out double over the head of Austin Jackson in center field in the fourth inning broke up the perfect game. Kendrys Morales ended the shutout moments later, doubling to right-center. Michael Morse, back in the line-up after missing the last three games, plated Morales with a single up the middle. The Mariners had a 2-1 lead against Fister and were looking to get more.
But Fister didn’t allow it. He got Raul Ibanez to pop out to shortstop, walked Justin Smoak and then got Kelly Shoppach to ground out.
That was the Mariners one and only chance against Fister. He retired the nine of the next 10 hitters he faced.
Meanwhile, his teammates – Cabrera specifically – made sure he was in line for the win. The reigning American League Most Valuable Player put the Tigers up for good in the fifth inning. He reached out and drove a 2-2 fastball over the wall in right-center field for a two-run homer off Mariners starter Aaron Harang, who was making his 2013 debut.
Harang worked five innings, giving up the three runs on seven with a walk and five strikeouts. He threw 95 pitches was about the limit considering he hadn’t pitched in a game since spring training.
The Mariners bullpen couldn’t keep the game close.
Blake Beavan gave up an RBI single to Cabrera in the seventh, while Bobby LaFromboise and Yoervis Medina each walked in batters in the eighth inning to stretch the lead. The Mariners simply weren’t going to come back against that deficit.


If the White House wants to know which foreign leaders support presidential candidate John Kerry, it should check with the CIA, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said yesterday.
Although the intelligence agency is prohibited from domestic spying, Mr. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, suggested that the CIA knows which countries support Mr. Kerry through surveillance at the U.N. building in New York.
“All we have to do is go down the list of members of the United Nations to find out where the support is. The CIA knows it. They work for the president. They can give him the names of all of those countries,” Mr. Kennedy told “Meet the Press” in an interview yesterday.
Mr. Kennedy was “alluding to the well-known fact that the CIA and other domestic intelligence agencies have a good handle on what is discussed at the United Nations,” his spokesman Jim Manley said after the interview.
The Washington Times surveyed embassies of key countries opposing the U.S.-led war in Iraq — including France, Russia, Canada and Mexico — and embassy officers said there had been no meetings since the beginning of 2003 between Mr. Kerry and visiting presidents, prime ministers or foreign ministers.
A review of Mr. Kerry’s public schedules showed no opportunities for face-to-face meetings between the senator and any foreign heads of state or heads of government.
Mexico’s former U.N. Ambassador, Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, accused the United States and Britain of spying on diplomats before the Iraq war, saying “privileged” information was obtained through “eavesdropping.” The Chilean government says its telephones at the United Nations were bugged.
A CIA spokesman yesterday declined to comment on Mr. Kennedy’s assertion.
The mission of the CIA is to collect foreign intelligence and foreign counterintelligence, but it cannot involve the domestic activities of U.S. citizens, according to frequently asked questions on the agency’s Web site.
Domestic spying restrictions were placed on the CIA in the 1970s after the Rockefeller Commission investigation found the agency spied on antiwar demonstrators at the direction of Presidents Johnson and Nixon.
Mr. Kerry has “met with leaders over a period of time” and it “isn’t a big mystery,” Mr. Kennedy said.
The Bush campaign said it would be improper for the White House to direct the CIA to spy on Mr. Kerry.
The Kerry campaign said last week the senator would not accept endorsements from foreign leaders, after former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has said Jews secretly run the world, endorsed the senator. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain’s Socialist prime minister-elect, also has voiced support for Mr. Kerry.
Earlier this month, Mr. Kerry said he met face to face with foreign leaders who want him to beat Mr. Bush in the fall election but has refused to name names.


View ad in full below.
This assertion was followed by short supportive quotations beneath a rogues gallery of Israel’s security establishment: three rows of pictures, the top one of Six former Israeli IDF Chiefs of Staff, in the middle five former Shin Bet heads (internal security agency), and on the bottom five former heads of the Mossad (international intelligence agency). To be sure this is an imposing array of top Israeli officials together indirectly expressing their collective dismay with respect to the Likud government led by Netanyahu turning its back on the two-state solution. As such, it is an impressive expression of Israeli elite and informed opinion, but whether it reflects a consensus with political leverage either here in the United States or in Israel seems doubtful. At minimum it conveys the strong impression that an influential part of the Israeli establishment has lost confidence in the Netanyahu leadership to protect Israel’s vital interests, and this is itself significant.
The ad consists of two main features: photos of these military and intelligence officials, many familiar and some notorious names to those following Israeli politics and one-line quotations from each one expressing the need and urgency of implementing some version of the two-state solution for the sake of Israel’s security. Not surprisingly, all 16 are men who have been during the careers instrumental in the dispossession and oppression of the Palestinian people.
Also not surprisingly, the ad makes clear that this break with the Netanyahu approach has nothing whatsoever to with seeking deferred justice for the Palestinians or some kind of empathy for their long ordeal. Support for a Palestinian state is exclusively connected with the supposed need to defuse the so-called ‘demographic bomb.’ Or in the language of the ad, “The only way Israel can remain a Jewish, democratic state is if the Palestinians have a demilitarized Palestinian state.” This rationale is the prelude to positing a conclusion in bold type and enlarged format: “It’s Time: Two States for Two People[s].” And to remove any doubt there is a sidebar summarizing the demographics: 2015 52% Jewish, 2020 49% Jewish, 2030 44% Jewish.
I find this anti-Likud rejection of the current drift toward an Israeli one-state outcome noteworthy for two different reasons: first of all, it proposes a solution that will not work; not only is there no mention of the need to give up the settlements or to address the rights of Palestinian refugees, but the conception of ‘a demilitarized Palestinian state’ is such an affirmation of the inequality of the two peoples that it is a virtual guaranty that even if the Ramallah leadership turned out to swallow such an arrangement, the Palestinian people would not. The only path to a sustainable peace needs to be based to the extent possible on the equality of the two peoples, and if a Palestinian state is ever acceptably established it must be endowed with the same sovereign rights as Israel.
Secondly, it is worth noticing that Netanyahu is far from alone in rejecting the two-state diplomacy. The President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, elected in 2013 by the Knesset, is an unapologetic proponent of the one-state approach, endorsing the biblical and ethnic claim to the whole of the West Bank, the maximal territorial version of Greater Israel. Similarly, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, is a settler firebrand and government official who has long spearheaded opposition to any politically viable accommodation with the Palestinians that acknowledges their right of self-determination.
Against such a background, it seems obvious that any revival of the two-state diplomacy along the lines proposed in the ad, let’s say at the initiative of the next American president, would soon reach a dead end. There is no doubt that resorting to such an ad in the leading American newspaper is convincing evidence of a deep split in Israeli leadership circles, but its proposed alternative approach fails to move prospects for a just peace forward. It suggests a split between those Israelis worried about ruling over a Palestinian majority population and those Israelis guided by territorial and colonizing ambition. Neither orientation is located on a path leading to sustainable peace.
Only a solution and vision based on the equality of Jews and Palestinians deserves respect and engenders hope. Let’s not be further misled, this weighty statement by Israel’s security establishment should not be confused with a revival of the Israeli peace movement or some expression of civil society disaffection directed at the Netanyahu leadership. It is, at most, lending transparency to a long ongoing conversation within Israel’s governing elite, nothing more, nothing less.
Furthermore, the idea of safeguarding Israel’s democratic character seems to presuppose that Israel remains a democracy. Yes, as with other apartheid structures, it is ‘democratic’ but for Jews only. For Palestinians, whether living as a minority in Israel, under occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, subject to captivity and collective punishment in Gaza, and in refugee camps scattered within the occupied territories and neighboring countries, the label ‘democracy’ has long been a cruel joke. To qualify as an authentic democracy rights based on non-discrimination must be upheld for all those living under the authority of the governing process.
The S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace makes no secret of its Zionist leanings and Israeli outlook, although it seems genuinely to believe that Likud governance of the country is endangering Israel’s identity as well as its security. Its webpage proclaims a commitment to peace, honors the memory of Yitzhak Rabin, and calls favorable attention to the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002. At the same time it refrains from criticizing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people or any of the numerous daily denials of Palestinian rights, avoids mentioning Israel’s apartheid governance structures, and refrains from expressions of empathy for the multiple forms of suffering imposed upon the Palestinian people.
Would that world leaders possessed Richard Falk’s wisdom, integrity, and humanity!
(Europe and the U.S.), have backed this anti-Semitic project. (Arabs are Semites too).


James Upholstery can be found at 1 Madison Ave . The following is offered: Interior Design. The entry is present with us since Sep 8, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 12, 2013. In Spotswood there are 1 other Interior Design. An overview can be found here.


The London practice – working with local firm Bovenbouw Architectuur – defeated an undisclosed shortlist of international teams to win the prestigious city centre commission.
The project will transform a former béguinage – a Flemish building type similar to a convent or almshouse – into a landmark new 6,800m² public space and home for the university’s architecture faculty.
The high-profile appointment comes just two months after DKA won an invited contest for an iconic new 6,720m² residential complex south of the Tiergarten park in Berlin.
DKA’s winning scheme will deliver a mix of cultural and educational uses for the University of Hasselt, including multi-functional spaces, studios, teaching spaces, an auditorium and associated ancillary rooms.
The redevelopment follows the creation of an enlarged headquarters for Hasselt’s art and architecture centre, Z33, which formerly occupied the 18th century béguinage.
DKA director David Kohn, director at David Kohn Architects, said: ‘The project in Hasselt has provided us with an opportunity to further develop our approach to integrating contemporary programmes within historic sites, now internationally.
Bovenbouw director Dirk Somers said: ‘Bovenbouw and David Kohn Architects share a strong desire to embrace the richness of a historic context and turn it into a contemporary, surprising experience.
Following the competition win, DKA is recruiting a Dutch-speaking architect with experience of delivering projects in Belgium and The Netherlands to lead the London-based design team for this scheme. The deadline for applications is 16 September.
Located in Hasselt’s city centre, the béguinage surrounds a church that was once the tallest structure in the city. Having being bombed in the Second World War, the church now lies as a ruin and the surrounding gardens have become leftover spaces, resulting in the overall complex being a shadow of its former self. Seeking to recover the historic balance of the site, DKA and Bovenbouw’s proposal reorganises the gardens to create a series of new outdoor spaces, the largest of which is a generous circular lawn. Combined with the sensitive refurbishment of the béguinage, the strategy seeks to reposition the complex as a destination for a broad range of users from students to local residents to regional tourists.
Surrounded by a continuous wall with few openings, the enclosed nature of the site reflects its original function to exclude the city. DKA and Bovenbouw seek to increase the permeability of the site whilst retaining this strong sense of an inside and outside. A large circular opening in the wall creates a new street entrance while recent insensitive openings in the boundary are replaced with small circular perforations. A cobbled route through the site connects the old and new entrances while connecting each of the new garden spaces.
With focus placed on restoring and refurbishing the existing buildings, the only built addition to the site is a panoramic belvedere in the southern corner, a bold intervention that rises above the beguinage wall. At 26m and taller than the original church, it is a confident statement of the relationship between the past and present, reinstating the centrality of the béguinage and acting as a wayfinder for visitors to the city.
With the refurbishment of the historic buildings, the design team’s proposal seeks to recover the original domestic character of the terraced houses which have previously been unsympathetically knocked through.
Each house accommodates five individual rooms and a common area, organised using the historic privacy gradient – communal courtyard, shared garden, shared kitchen, private bedrooms and bathrooms. Where original staircases have been removed for example, large pieces of timber furniture will be inserted and offer users a multitude of different uses. A nod to the way furniture was traditionally used to define spaces, these multifunctional pieces and smaller interventions seek to provide compact spatial solutions and will allow the architecture school to organise itself around the memory of a béguinage.
Within the public garden, the footprint of the church becomes a reflecting pool offering a place of contemplation that ensures the continued role of the ruin in the life of the complex. Alongside the dramatic increase in green space, the introduction of water improves the site’s ecological value, helping to create a sustainable legacy for the city. The pool can be drained when needed, to provide a stage for the architecture school and public events.


The city council has been accused of “losing democratic accountability” after “dissolving” its flagship locality committees after just one year.
The four locality committees began to meet in February 2018 to “ensure a local focus is provided which responds to residents and communities”.
However, one year into the project, the meetings have been scrapped because of an “inability to properly engage with local communities”.
A leading community councillor has blasted the authority for refusing to trial the new locality model first, which he claimed “didn’t give communities a voice”.
The council divided the city into four quarters to manage some services and scrutinise local police and fire services. Conveners were appointed for each of the four committees, which have only met five times each, who receive additional salary for the responsibility.
New organisations are set to replace the committees to give local groups a stronger voice through the Edinburgh Partnership called ‘neighbourhood networks’.
The council said any replacement for the locality committees will involve more of a community-led engagement and meaningful participation at a local level.
Council leader Cllr Adam McVey said: “This is essentially a tidy-up to make sure our governance arrangements at a local level mirror and are consistent with the arrangements of the Edinburgh Partnership.
Liberal Democrat group leader, Cllr Robert Aldridge, said the decision was an “attempt to take back control to central committees” and that the authority risked “losing democratic accountability for a range of really important functions”.
A community councillor has labelled scrapping locality committees as “an excellent decision” – but warned any replacement must have communities at the core.
Norman Tinlin, secretary of Fairmilehead Community Council, added: “They don’t trial anything, and rather just have a big bang like they did with the bins.
“They didn’t do enough preparation beforehand and the communities didn’t have a voice. If they go for a neighbourhood partnership model, that would suit the community where we could influence things.


The Verve have revealed how they settled the differences that split up the band after the release of their classic album, ‘Urban Hymns’.
Richard Ashcroft and his band members explain how they resolved their issues in the new issue of NME, on sale now.
“We had quite a lot of time being angry,” guitarist Nick McCabe explained, talking about the fighting that split the band. “Then, once you’ve sort of resolved a lot of things in your own mind, you kind of realise that it wasn’t such a big deal in the first place.
The band are set to tour the UK in November. To read the interview with The Verve in full, get the new issue of NME, on sale now.


With the Syrian regime losing ground in the Ghab Plain and Qaryatayn last week, the protagonists in Syria are slowly preparing for the aftermath of the conflict. Few believe president Bashar Al Assad can prevail in the war, and even he conceded his army’s difficulties late last month.
With Mr Al Assad’s foes gaining, all eyes have been on diplomacy in recent weeks. Russian, Saudi and American officials have met in Qatar, the Russian and Saudi foreign ministers met in Moscow on Monday, and Russia mediated a recent meeting in Jeddah between the Saudi deputy crown prince and defence minister, Mohammed bin Salman, and the head of Syria’s National Security Bureau, Ali Mamlouk.
Even Iran has offered a plan for a political solution in Syria. Two things are apparent in these exchanges: Mr Al Assad’s vulnerabilities have prompted his allies to begin a process of finding a negotiated outcome in Syria that could potentially save him and prevent a power vacuum that benefits extremists; and the Syrian president has become increasingly irrelevant, his fate almost entirely in the hands of others.
Mr Al Assad’s enemies have sensed this, which is why they have raised the pressure on his regime. The progress of Jaysh Al Fatah, a coalition of opposition forces including the Al Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat Al Nusra, in the Ghab Plain on the weekend was highly significant. The plain borders the Alawite heartland and now the rebels have the option of heading southward toward Hama or westward into Alawite districts.
The ISIL advance into Qaryatayn was, by most accounts, an effort to link up with militants already in the Qalamoun district bordering Lebanon. That would allow the group to cut the vital Damascus-Homs highway, position men in Qalamoun for an offensive against Damascus, and challenge Jaysh Al Fatah and others in shaping the aftermath of Mr Al Assad’s downfall.
In the south of Syria, reports have suggested that the Jordanians are thinking along similar lines. They want to ensure that extremists do not take control of the Syrian capital. That may explain why ISIL, under increasing attack in northern Syria, saw a need to capture new areas in Homs to guarantee that it is not marginalised in the Syrian endgame.
Little has filtered out on the tenor of the diplomatic deliberations, and what has is often politically manipulated. While accounts of Mr Mamlouk’s visit to Saudi Arabia were published in Lebanon’s pro-Hizbollah Al Akhbar newspaper, last Saturday the Saudi daily Al Hayat ran its own version to counter it.
According to Al Hayat, the Saudis linked Mr Al Assad’s fate to a Syrian political process. For one to begin, however, a primary condition is the withdrawal of Iran and Shia militias from Syria in exchange for an end to Saudi support for the opposition, “so the solution [can be] a Syrian-Syrian one”.
In its version, Al Akhbar did not go into details, saying only that the meeting failed. Yet if the Saudi condition is true, it is also subtle. It effectively invites the Syrian president to regain authority over his country from Iran. At the same time, the Saudis allegedly insisted they did not demand a severing of ties between Damascus and Tehran.
By keeping Mr Al Assad’s destiny vague, the proposal fudges over a major obstacle to the negotiations, even if the Saudis insist the Syrian leader must ultimately go. It is interesting that Al Akhbar underlined that Russia did not believe Mr Al Assad could be removed. To buy time for Mr Al Assad, Moscow has sought to create an antiterrorism coalition including Syria and Saudi Arabia. However, last week the Gulf countries rejected it.
The Russian attitude toward Mr Al Assad is likely to be more nuanced, Al Akhbar’s account notwithstanding. Moscow is said to have been unhappy that the Syrian president undermined its efforts to initiate dialogue between the regime and moderate opposition groups. Yet it does not want Mr Al Assad’s removal to be a prerequisite of a political accord even if it knows that for as long as he stays in power a solution will be near impossible.
Increasingly, Russia’s view of events in Syria seems at odds with Iran’s. Where the Iranians have exacerbated Syria’s fragmentation to preserve Assad rule, Russia believes this has created an ideal environment for extremists, many of whom hail from Central Asia and the Caucasus and may later threaten Russia.
Some observers believe the recent military victories by Jaysh Al Fatah were aimed less at bringing about a collapse of the regime than to impose a political solution. That may be true. Most parties, with the exception of ISIL, seek a managed transition in Syria, not a destructive free-for-all as in Afghanistan after 1988.
Things are accelerating in Syria, even if the contours of a political settlement remain uncertain. We are at a stage where regional and international powers are manoeuvring to determine what others will accept. But for the first time we are seeing not the end of the war in Syria, but maybe some hints of an end.


Aztec historians recorded that in 1487, at the great pyramid of Tenichitilan, executioners sacrificed four lines of prisoners, each two miles long. But before they were ritualistically killed, the victims were forced to climb up the pyramid's two hundred and thirty seven steps. At the top were two killing rooms, with priests wielding sacrificial knives.
Sacrifices were necessary to satisfy their hungry sun-god who demanded blood as payment for creating the world.
This was killing on an industrial scale, which the Aztec's meticulously documented in their art. According to Aztec beliefs, the sacrifices were necessary to satisfy their hungry sun-god who demanded blood as payment for creating the world. If his gory fee were not paid, the sun would go out. By constantly reminding the people of the debt they owed the sun-god through the imagery of this wholesale slaughter, the Aztec leaders instilled loyalty and obedience throughout the population.


He’s found numerous buttons, coins, jewelry and other metal objects lost and hidden from sight for decades until he discovered them again.
EAST LANSING – Tom Shively, also known as Treasure Tom, wants to know if you’re missing some jewelry.
Using a metal detector, he has turned up a woman’s 1978 Mason High School class ring on a silver chain, a silver ID bracelet engraved with a first name and a silver locket with a diamond and “I love you” engraved on the outside and two photos on the inside.
He’s unearthed the items at parks in East Lansing and Meridian Township in the past two years.
He wants to return them to their owners.
In January, Shively, of East Lansing, retired from the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget after a 34-year career in information technology.
Treasure hunting has been a longtime passion. He got his first metal detector in high school.
I first connected with him in 2016 when I wrote about a young Holt widow who lost her late husband’s wedding band while passing out Halloween candy. It was a precious item to her, and it took Shively’s persistence to find it. The ring had likely been stepped on and pushed into the ground by trick-or-treaters.
Last year, he also helped a friend find a family ring that fell into a creek with a rocky bottom. It was a 2 ½ hour search in the cold.
To date, he’s been involved in about a half-dozen search missions for irreplaceable items. He’s also found numerous buttons, coins, pieces of jewelry and other metal objects lost and hidden from sight for years or decades until he discovered them again.
“My goal, and what I live for, is to discover and preserve history one relic at a time,” he said.
Since he retired, his treasure hunting is a larger part of his life. He’s working on scuba certification so he can dive shipwrecks.
“I want to treasure hunt on both water and land,” he said.
His sort of treasure hunting turns up far more junk than treasures. He belongs to a Lansing group called the “Pull Tab Posse” so named because of all the can tabs their metal detectors find.
He and his Garrett AT Pro metal detector, which he nicknamed “Betsy,” spent several weeks beachcombing in Florida this year and connecting with other treasure hunters. He found two silver rings, lots of pull tabs, and the welcome company of like-minded people.
“I firmly believe I’ve been doing it so long that Betsy…is more like my third arm,” he said.
His biggest find to date, though, has been close to home. Last fall he unearthed a small, hammered copper cross estimated to be 300 to 500 years old. He found it, buried, on an old trail in East Lansing.
At first, Shively, a history buff, thought its shape made it a Knights Templar cross, an item that would have belonged to a wealthy Christian military order that offered protection to European travelers to Jerusalem during the Crusades. Legends connect the Knights to the Holy Grail.
Shively took the cross to Lori Verderame, known as “Dr. Lori,” an antiques appraiser for the History Channel, when she held a show in Michigan.
She placed it in the Spanish colonial era, from 1500 to 1700, after the era of the Knights Templar.
Even so, such an old cross found outside of old military forts, missions and major waterways is a rare find, Shively said. It’s curved as if it was attached to a box or a saddle.
French missionaries and explorers were active in Michigan in the 1600s, but it’s a mystery how a Spanish cross might have made it to Michigan. He’s still researching it and recently read about a new process to date copper items.
But back to more modern-era finds.
Shively contacted the manufacturer of the class ring he found but discovered the company had been sold and didn't have records from that era.
If the ring or other items are yours, you can let Shively know. But be prepared to answer questions about the jewelry. You'll have to identify the letters on the inside of the ring, the name engraved on the bracelet and the pictures in the locket. Contact him at treasuretom@yahoo.com or on Facebook.com/tom.shively.33.
He doesn’t want a reward, just the satisfaction of knowing he’s returned them to their rightful owners.


As the founder and director of a nonprofit animal shelter on the East Coast, Alana has spent most of the past decade caring for pets that might otherwise be euthanized. Her work also resonates with people online—the Facebook page for the shelter has more than 1.3 million followers. But in August, she noticed something strange: A series of unfamiliar posts began appearing on the page, and no one at the shelter could say where they were coming from. For several days, Alana and her staff simply deleted them. It didn’t initially occur to Alana that her account may have been breached.
Then, in the early morning hours of August 19, a link to a fraudulent GoFundMe fund-raiser appeared on the shelter’s page, claiming the nonprofit was raising money for pets displaced by wildfires thousands of miles away in California. By the time Alana spotted the fund-raiser, it had already raised around $1,500. She quickly crafted a Facebook post alerting donors that it was fake, but it was useless. “The post was immediately removed,” says Alana, who for privacy reasons requested that her last name and the name of the shelter not be used.
Another staff member soon discovered that a stranger had been added as an administrator to the shelter’s Facebook page nearly two months earlier, silently waiting for the right opportunity to act. In a Facebook Messenger chat, the stranger warned the animal shelter to stop telling people the fund-raiser was bogus. “If I see one more post we will delete the page forever,” he wrote.
Frightened and angry, Alana scrambled to ensure GoFundMe canceled the fund-raiser, which it did. “Our fraud protection measures prevented this individual from gaining access to any of the funds raised. This user has been banned and the money has been refunded to donors,” a spokesperson for GoFundMe said in a statement.
But the incident marked only the beginning of what would become a months-long struggle between Alana and a hacker determined to steal her nonprofit’s donations—by weaponizing Facebook.
Americans gave a record-breaking $410 billion to nonprofits last year, according to Giving USA, an annual report from Indiana University researchers. More people are also donating online, either directly through organizations’ websites or via social media platforms.
Facebook entered the game five years ago when it introduced a simple “Donate” button, which allowed users to send funds directly to a select group of major nonprofits. Since then, charitable giving has become a central part of the social network. The company has developed more tools for both nonprofits and regular users interested in raising money for causes; Facebook notifications encourage people to start fund-raisers for their birthdays. Last year, the company stopped charging nonprofits fees to accept donations (though Facebook still collects a small percentage of the money raised via personal fund-raisers).
As Facebook expanded these features, more nonprofits seized the opportunity to connect with a wider audience of potential donors and people who care about their causes. In the US, any registered 501(c)(3) organization with a bank account can sign up to use the social network’s tools. Today, over one million charitable organizations in 19 countries accept donations on Facebook, according to the company. More than 20 million users have either donated or started a fund-raiser themselves. That’s a fraction of Facebook’s over two billion monthly users, but still represents a significant source of funding for many organizations.
Facebook’s nonprofit efforts have also remained a public relations bright spot for the company while it's been embroiled in one scandal after another since the 2016 US presidential election. And they play right into Mark Zuckerberg’s new mission for the company, to “bring the world closer together.” Last week, for example, Facebook announced that users contributed more than $125 million to nonprofits around the world during its annual Giving Tuesday event, over $80 million more than the year before.
But some nonprofit leaders say Facebook’s decision to prioritize charitable giving hasn’t coincided with an appropriate increase in support for the organizations that use its products.
Desperate, Alana reached out to Facebook for help by every method she could imagine. She sent emails, tweets, and even mailed letters to Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and the company’s board of directors. She says she also tried contacting the FBI and the Better Business Bureau. Weeks went by before she reached anyone who could help. Finally, on September 29, Alana heard back from someone via Twitter: Guy Rosen, Facebook’s vice president of product management. It was the day after Facebook announced a cybersecurity breach that impacted around 30 million users.
Several days later, the hacker evaporated from the animal shelter’s page for good. He had gained repeated access to Alana’s account using a combination of social engineering and malicious phishing links—traps that can be avoided if you’re trained in how to spot them, but not by changing passwords.
After WIRED reached out to Facebook in early October, an employee from the social network’s communications department also contacted Alana to ensure that her account was secure, according to emails. But Alana’s problems weren't over. Numerous fake Facebook accounts soon began appearing that impersonated people who worked for the shelter, or their friends and family. The harassment was exhausting, and it didn't stop until Alana transferred $1,500 to the hacker via an anonymous PayPal account—the same amount the fake GoFundMe had raised before it was shut down and the money returned to donors. Since then, Alana says, she and the shelter's Facebook page have been left alone.
Facebook says it provides plenty of support.
Amanda Lollar also struggled to reach someone at Facebook who could help her after her nonprofit’s page was abruptly shut down.
Lollar tried creating a new Facebook page for Bat World Sanctuary, but the social network initially barred her from using its fund-raising tools. It took a lucky coincidence and Alana’s involvement for help to arrive. After hearing about Bat World Sanctuary’s plight from a Facebook user who followed both pages, Alana connected Lollar with the same Facebook communications representative who had helped her.
Experts say that charities are uniquely vulnerable targets online. Collectively, they process millions of dollars in donations, but individual organizations often operate on tight budgets, with limited resources if something goes wrong. Almost 60 percent of nonprofits say they don't provide cybersecurity training to staff on a regular basis, according to a recent survey of 250 nonprofits in the US and Canada by Microsoft and the Nonprofit Technology Network, an organization that helps nonprofits use emerging tech. Almost 70 percent say they don't have a plan in the case of a cybersecurity attack.
Even organizations that do have room in their budget might not want to spend it on hiring another employee. Donors tend to avoid nonprofits that spend higher percentages of their budgets on administration and fund-raising costs. “Often the funding support specifically for more efficient technology isn't matched with the donations being sent specifically for the programs or services,” said a spokesperson for Charity Navigator, an organization that evaluates nonprofits in the US.
Before their Facebook pages were targeted, neither Alana nor Lollar’s organizations were using two-factor authentication, a basic security protection recommended by most experts. Neither woman recalls being warned by Facebook about potential security risks, even though both pages had large followings and processed significant amounts of money each month. And while Facebook’s Charitable Giving Playbook for Nonprofits “covers all of Facebook’s Charitable Giving tools, and gives instructions and tips to help you use them,” it doesn’t provide any advice about cybersecurity or warn about social engineering or phishing scams that could put nonprofits at risk.
Despite their negative experiences, however, both Lollar and Alana stress that Facebook has been transformative for their organizations. The platform connected them with a flood of new donors, which translated to far more resources for the animals they are dedicated to helping.


The agent -2006 represents an entity (e.g. person, organization, etc.) associated with resources found in Boston University Libraries.


After more than five months of excruciatingly unnecessary hype and emotional torture, Crayola has finally revealed the name of the new blue crayon that will replace the now-retired Dandelion yellow color in boxes around the world.
Crafty colorers everywhere — get ready to grip: Bluetiful.
On Thursday morning at 9 a.m. ET, Crayola made the long-awaited announcement on its Facebook page.
In a livestream that lasted less than two minutes, CEO Smith Holland — joined onstage by 12 children wearing blue crayon shirts — yelled "BLUETIFUL," and the new crayon mascot and her polka dot tights made their first appearance.
The crayon's bio is already on Crayola's website. And apparently, Bluetiful enjoys coding apps and video games, along with a good relaxing DIY project.
A two-ish month voting process, which seemed to be more thorough than that of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election then commenced, and on Sept. 14 — more than five months after this whole ordeal was announced — Crayola finally put us out of our misery.
Earlier this year, the brand new crayon was revealed at an on-campus event at Oregon State University — where the vibrant YInMn Blue pigment that inspired it was first discovered by chemist Mas Subramanian in 2009.
Cool. Change happens, we get it. But was the way this change was brought about truly necessary?
Let's take a trip down a messy memory lane before we forget this madness ever happened, shall we?
June 2017: The top five names are revealed. Now people have to vote.
An art supply announcement that spanned the course of seven months? Crayola clearly colored out of the lines with this one, but at long last, the Crayon Hunger Games have come to an end.
So artists of the world: Go forth, color, and live your lives — but never forget the light that the Dandelion crayon once brought to this world.
And as for you, Crayola — please don't put us through something like this ever again.


The Cauldron – A Perfect Container For My Magic.
All around my house you’ll find cauldrons. I have a large replica of the Gundestrup Cauldron on top of one prominent altar. There’s a collection of mini cauldrons nestled on the wood burning stove. I have cauldrons filled with beans for sorting. Another with drops of Awen (okay, they are gold coloured marbles but they are Awen to me) and two in my office that I work magic with each morning. The cauldron, for me, is the perfect metaphor for the way I do my magic.
I spent years studying Tibetan Buddhism in the Gelugpa lineage. One of the central tenets of Buddhism is The Heart Sutra and it deals with Emptiness. Emptiness is described not as the lack or absence of anything but rather the potential for almost anything to arise from that emptiness. In my witchcraft, the corollary to or symbol of Buddhist Emptiness is the cauldron.
There’s never a time when my cauldrons are filled with nothing. They might not contain a particular obvious thing in them, but that’s not the same as saying they are devoid of anything. There is something in the cauldron at all times. What that something might be depends largely on how I approach working with it. Before beginning any magical undertaking, I ask myself and the cauldron and my guides and my intuition, just what might want to issue forth as a result of the magic that’s being called forward.
Saying that another way, my cauldron has the potential to produce almost anything because just about everything is already in it. It’s just a matter of re-configuring everything into one thing.
Before I start any working I go through a type of checklist, if you like. I ask myself why am I taking on this particular piece of magic? What might I need to complete this spell? What would this magical spell look like, under ideal circumstances? How would I know the result if, indeed, it comes to fruition? Knowing the What and the Why of the magic determines a lot of the How of the magic.
Most people that know me, know I love to cook. Cooking is a great metaphor for cauldron magic. If I want to make a stew, buying the ingredients for a yellow cake isn’t going to net the result I’m looking for. If I have all of the correct ingredients for a stew but follow the recipe for a soup, my concoction won’t be quite right either. So knowing what I want the result to be, at least generally, has to be the first step. Now I have my intention, I can get about filling the Cauldron with exactly what I need.
Now this filling of the cauldron business occurs on three levels. I do actually take real things like herbs and liquids and stones and bits of this and dashes of that (the proverbial eye of newt and wing of bat) and make a brew or elixir or paste or poultice. In alchemical terms, this is the prima materia. When my brewing is done I will have a tangible manifestation of the magic I’ve been making. Depending on what I’ve just made, I can apply it, wrap it, or eat it as the spell calls for.
Now the next level is a bit divinatory in nature, I suppose. Looking at what’s in the cauldron gives me a sense of how my magic might turn out. I can use what’s actually been made in the cauldron as a benchmark for what’s occurring in the magical realm. If my stew looks soupy, my magical outcome could well be a bit watered down as well.
Lastly, there’s the realm of mystery and potential. What occurred during the brewing process that I didn’t plan for? Maybe one flavour came through stronger than another. Perhaps the goop was more goo and, as it turns out, adhered better to the thing I was pasting the goo with. See, there’s this element of mystery and something happens here that I think many witches and magic workers forget about in their spell work.
Looking back at the many cauldrons we find in mythology and lore, there’s often an action that has to be completed to make sure the potion being brewed is effective. In the story of Gwion Bach and Ceridwen, the cauldron has to be stirred three times a day for a year and a day to produce the three drops of Awen. There’s also something else rather interesting about this story too, that’s found in other cauldron stories. The brew in Ceridwen’s cauldron becomes deadly poisonous right after the concoction has worked it’s magic. The cauldron breaks and the contents seep into the ground and nearby streams.
The cauldron then is the both the container of the magic and an active participant in the spell work. One might say that it is actually the most important ingredient in the whole process for without the it, there’s nothing to put the other bits and bobs into.
The mystery of the cauldron permeates all of the work and play I do with magic. One could posit, and it is true for me, that the cauldron is the absolute quintessential piece of magical equipment that one needs to do effective, practical spell workings.
A Little Bit of Time Magic - Without The Tardis.


Rep. Johnson worries that the island of Guam will ‘tip over and capsize’ if U.S. troops relocate there.
JOHNSON: This is an island that at its widest level is what twelve miles from shore to shore, and at its smallest level location its seven miles between one shore and the other. Is that correct? […] My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.


My friend Stephen Smoot sent me the following, which I believe is germane to the discussion of Book of Mormon historicity.
A note on the limits of archaeology from a post-modernist Mormon apologist … no, wait, that’s a conservative Roman Catholic priest.
Archaeology does not, and cannot, claim to know all about the places it excavates, or the people who lived there. The nature of the finds–––scattered, broken, and accidentally preserved by the fortunes of time and weather, or the oversight of ancient and modern plunderers–––requires scholars to interpret them as pieces in a large jigsaw puzzle, of which most of the missing pieces are lost for good. Through careful detective work, by suggesting models and testing them against the evidence, much can be suggested about the shape of ancient life. Writings in particular allow us to look in on the thoughts of the peoples whose charred and buried cities have been found. But in no case do we have the full story. Evidence from one ancient site often seems to contradict information gleaned from another. The task of dating objects of stone or clay, even written tablets, is tricky and as much an art as a science.
Lawrence Boadt, Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction, rev. 2nd ed. (Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2012), 49.
But when Bill Hamblin says this about the nature of archaeology and history, he’s dismissed by Phillip Jenkins and other critics of the Book of Mormon as some clumsy idiot whose methodology is too ludicrous for words.
July 22, 2015 Jenkins 22: Credible and Plausible?


Programed will be the famous Gloria for orchestra, soloists, choir and harpsichord under the direction of Dr. William Eichorn, Minister of Music and the Arts. The piece, having been lost since the 18th century, was rediscovered in 1939 and has become one of the most popular choral pieces of our time.
St. Bartholomew's Coventry Choir with Diana Villwock and Evangelina Woo, soloists will be accompanied by St. Bartholomew's Camerata Strings along with trumpet and oboe.
The second half of the concert is dedicated to the ever popular Four Seasons, a violin concerto depicting scenes appropriate to each of the seasons. The visiting group, Sorrento Camerata, who are some of San Diego's best string players, will play this very well-known concerto.
Tickets, a $10 donation, will be available in the church office, on the patio before and after weekend services during the weeks leading up to Dec. 8 and at the door the day of the concert.


A new study provides insight into the molecular characteristics that make a brain susceptible to anxiety and depression and less likely to respond to treatment with antidepressant medication. The research, published by Cell Press in the January 14th issue of the journal Neuron, may lead to more effective strategies for treating depression, a major health concern throughout the world.
Although brain mechanisms associated with depression and anxiety are not completely clear, recent research has implicated a combination of stressful life events and predisposing biological factors as playing a causal role in depressive disorders. The most popular antidepressant medications, such as the commonly prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), increase serotonin levels in the brain.
"Unfortunately, more than half of all depressed patients fail to respond to their first drug treatment," explains senior study author Dr. Rene Hen, from Columbia University. "The reasons for this treatment resistance remain enigmatic. Elucidating the exact nature of both the factors predisposing to depression and the mechanisms underlying treatment resistance remains an important and unmet need."
Previous studies in humans have suggested that regulation of serotonin receptors may be linked with depression and the response to antidepressants. The serotonin-1A (5-HT1A) receptors are found in the serotonin neurons themselves (autoreceptors), where they inhibit serotonin release, and in target areas that receive serotonergic innervation (heteroreceptors). The autoreceptors are critical for setting the "serotonergic tone" in the brain. Interestingly, a recently identified genetic alteration in humans that may regulate 5-HT1A autoreceptor levels has been linked with susceptibility to depression and a decreased response to drug treatment.
Dr. Hen and colleagues developed a novel system with which they could specifically manipulate autoreceptors without altering heteroreceptors. Mice that had higher levels of autoreceptors exhibited a blunted physiological response to acute stress, increased behavioral despair, and no behavioral response to treatment with antidepressants. Interestingly, when 5-HT1A autoreceptor levels were reduced prior to antidepressant therapy, mice that did not initially respond to therapy were converted to therapy responders.
"Taken together, our results establish a causal relationship between 5-HT1A autoreceptor levels, resilience under stress, and response to antidepressants," concludes Dr. Hen. "We predict that treatments aimed at increasing serotonergic tone prior to beginning SSRI administration might prove to be efficacious and possibly faster-acting antidepressant therapies, particularly for individuals with higher autoreceptor levels."
The researchers include Jesse W. Richardson-Jones, Columbia University, New York, NY; Caryne P. Craige, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Bruno P. Guiard, Universite´ Paris, Paris, France; Alisson Stephen, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Kayla L. Metzger, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Hank F. Kung, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Alain M. Gardier, Universite´ Paris, Paris, France; Alex Dranovsky, Columbia University, New York, NY; Denis J. David, Universite´ Paris, Paris, France; Sheryl G. Beck, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Rene´ Hen, Columbia University, New York, NY; and E. David Leonardo, Columbia University, New York, NY.
Genova, Cathleen. "Why Some Brains Are More Vulnerable To Stress And Resistant To Antidepressants." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 14 Jan. 2010. Web.


“No, I can’t think of any,” she replied. Then he proceeded to ask a few other questions about their family history.
Debbie went through five years of infertility treatment and two years of waiting to adopt a child. Eight months after she adopted Jason, she found out she was pregnant with Jordan. Amazingly, these boys have looked almost like twins for much of their lives. As the boys have grown into young men, I cannot even tell them apart.
It was an extraordinary moment for Jason as he realized that his mom had totally forgotten he was adopted. He was simply her son, period. Ephesians 1:5 says that we have been adopted as sons through Jesus Christ. God has chosen us to be His own, adopted into His family, co-heirs with Christ. I think that God, like Debbie, probably forgets we’re adopted. He just sees us as His children.
Dear Abba Father, how precious it is that we can call You “Daddy.” Thank You for choosing me to be Your child. I am so grateful that I belong to a big loving family of believers and I can’t wait until we have our family reunion in eternity with You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.
What does it mean to you to know that you are adopted into God’s family?
What does it mean to you to know that He chose you?
Read the following verses and note what else you learn about your adoption.
Today’s devotion was taken from Sharon’s new devotional book, Extraordinary Moments with God. Come with Sharon as she dusts for God’s fingerprints that change ordinary days into extraordinary moments. As you explore this treasury of stories highlighting “God moments” in the lives of fellow travelers, you too will begin to sense His presence in extraordinary ways. If you would like a handy laminated card with more verses like the ones in today’s devotion, click on Sharon’s resource page and look at the Identity in Christ prayer card.


Accounts of the cold fusion claims of the Czech-born electrochemist Martin Fleischmann, who has died aged 85, and his American-French former student Stanley Pons often assert that their results could not be replicated. This implies that their original experiments, carried out at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, in the 1980s were flawed. Cold fusion has since come to be commonly regarded as a delusion, but the true situation is more complicated.
The Fleischmann-Pons experiments were motivated by the idea that hydrogen fusion, the source of the sun's heat, which goes very slowly at ordinary temperatures, might go significantly faster if the nuclei involved were brought closer together, as when hydrogen is absorbed at high density in a material such as palladium. The project was more successful than anticipated: returning to the laboratory after one weekend, when the apparatus had been turned off, the pair found that so much heat had been produced that a large hole had been melted into the bench and concrete floor. As a precaution they reduced the scale of the experiment and announced their findings at a press conference in 1989.
While the original nuclear claims appear to have been erroneous – it was not their area of expertise – the parallel claim relating to excess heat production is different. Some scientists failed to replicate this, but others were successful, notably Michael McKubre of SRI International, California. At the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, a nuclear product, tritium, was detected, indicating that nuclear processes were indeed occurring.
Fleischmann and Pons continued their efforts in France from 1992 until Fleischmann retired three years later and returned to Britain. In 2004 a US Department of Energy report supported the view that the excess heat claims were valid, but had little influence on general opinion. Though the nuclear difficulties were eventually resolved, the fact that heat had been observed in excess of anything that can be explained on the basis of the usual mechanisms was neglected, or talked away.
The fact that many who tried to reproduce the phenomenon failed should not have been considered conclusive, since phenomena in materials are sometimes difficult to reproduce. Scientists convinced that there was a real effect continued work in the area over the years in several countries, including France, Italy, the US, and Japan, often with government support. Some, hopeful that the process might ultimately become a useful source of energy, concentrated on increasing the power generated.
Notwithstanding the criticism that he received at the end of a career that had been highly successful in many other respects, Fleischmann expected that cold fusion would eventually receive general acceptance by the scientific community. His manner was calm, expressing regret at how things had worked out but little in the way of anger.
A native of Karlovy Vary, Fleischmann escaped with his family to Britain after Nazis beat up his father, Hans, who died soon after the family emigrated. His mother, Margaret, supported the family by creating and successfully running Old Cottage Toys, a doll company.
From Worthing high school, Martin went to study chemistry at Imperial College London, gaining his first degree in 1948 and his doctorate in 1951. His first academic posts came in Newcastle upon Tyne, initially at King's College, which was one of the bodies that in 1963 merged to form what is now Newcastle University.
He did much to establish the discipline of electrochemical engineering at the new institution before moving to Southampton University as professor of electrochemistry (1967-77). There he played an important part in discovering the principle of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), examining metal surfaces at a molecular level.
Research professorships followed at Southampton from 1983, and at Utah from 1988. Fleischmann was president of the International Society of Electrochemists (1970-72); was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry's medal for electrochemistry and thermodynamics (1979); and was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Society (1986).
In 1993 the nuclear scientist John R Huizenga produced the book Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century, one of many attacks that had the effect of kicking the subject into the long grass, and so impeding the prospects of recognition for Fleischmann's work. However, progress seems to be occurring towards the application of cold fusion as a practical energy source. It may well transpire that, in the words of one cold fusion entrepreneur: "The market will decide."
In 1950, Fleischmann married Sheila Flinn. She survives him, as do his son, Nicholas, and a daughter, Vanessa. Another daughter, Charlotte, died earlier this year.


Netflix's new biopic about rock band Mötley Crüe is being torn apart by critics and has a 46% Rotten Tomatoes critic score.
Indiewire's David Ehrlich compared it to "Bohemian Rhapsody," and said that it "could have been made about any one of a zillion other bands."
Brian Tallerico wrote for RogerEbert.com that the movie is something that the band wasn't: boring.
It looks like Netflix has its own mediocre music biopic on its hands, at least according to movie critics.
Netflix's "The Dirt," a biopic about rock band Mötley Crüe, debuted on the streaming giant on Friday, and has been torn apart by critics. It has a 46% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Here's how Netflix describes the movie: "In this unflinching biopic based on Mötley Crüe's best-selling book, four LA misfits navigate the monster highs and savage lows of music superstardom."
Indiewire's David Ehrlich called the movie "wonderfully bad" and compared it to last year's blockbuster Queen biopic, "Bohemian Rhapsody." "Bohemian Rhapsody" has a 61% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes but won four Oscars.
"For all the unique details of their story (and their sound), Queen's big screen bow was so generic that it felt like Bryan Singer was trying to gaslight everyone into forgetting that 'Walk Hard' had already reduced this entire genre to a joke," Ehrlich wrote. "And for all the legendary hedonism that defined their lives, Mötley Crüe's movie feels like it could have been made about any one of a zillion other bands. Hell, it could even have been made about Queen!"
In his one-star review at RogerEbert.com, Brian Tallerico wrote that the movie is "something that Mötley Crüe never was - boring."
"It offers nothing that the fans of the band won't already know, won't win over a single new one, and has absolutely nothing to recommend it in terms of filmmaking," Tallerico wrote.


Americana duo Magnolia North are premiering their brand-new song "Into a Hole" exclusively for readers of The Boot -- and, as a special treat, they're sharing a live performance of the song. Press play above to watch the pair play the bluegrass-tinged tune.
Country fans may recognize a familiar face in the video: Nashville up-and-comer Lindsay Lou lends her rich vocals and stand-up bass playing to "Into a Hole." Penned by band members Steve Foltz and Jennifer Middleton, the song also features fiddling from Melissa McGinley, guitarist James Dumm and Kevin Finn on drums, and is the first single from the band's self-titled debut album.
The song itself is a little bit of a study in contradictions, exploring the "highs and lows" of early love, according to Foltz: "A lot of the story has to do with each of our previous experiences. We decided to shape the music in the form of a country waltz, which kept a fun and light counterpoint to what could have been a heavy feeling," he tells The Boot. ""Into a Hole" is what emerged, anti-psychotics, old barns, roadkill and all!"
Magnolia North is Foltz's side project with his wife, Middleton; he is also a member of the bluegrass band Trout Steak Revival. The two co-wrote their self-titled debut album in Coal Creek Canyon, Colo., in a remote cabin they own.
Magnolia North is officially due out on Nov. 30, but is currently available for purchase. Fans can learn more about the band via their website.


The Storm acquired guard Katie Smith and center Jacinta Monroe from the Washington Mystics in a three-team trade, the team announced Friday.
Jasmine Thomas, the Storm’s first-round draft pick in the 2011 draft, was sent to the Mystics along with the Storm’s and the Indiana Fever’s first-round picks in 2012. The Fever also acquired guard Erin Phillips from the Storm, along with a 2012 third-round pick.
Smith, 36, previously played for Agler with the Columbus Quest of the ABL from 1996-98. The 5-foot-11 guard also won a WNBA title in 2006 with the Detroit Shock.
Monroe, a 6-5 center, averaged 2.1 points and 0.9 rebounds as a rookie with the Mystics.


June 24, 2015 BankRate, Mortgage, Real Estate Advice.
Given the historic lows on mortgage rates, would it benefit us to refinance now?
What’s best for financing home improvement?