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The White House's Advice for Your Rabbi

Tevi Troy

The Jewish High Holidays are upon us, so naturally it’s time for the White House to feed political talking points to rabbis.

As has become its annual practice, the Obama administration on Thursday convened a conference call with several hundred rabbis and Jewish leaders. According to a participant on the call, President Obama promoted his jobs bill—noting that those who have been more blessed should pay their fair share—and briefed the rabbis on U.S. efforts to counter the push for a declaration of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations.

I was on another such call recently, the purpose of which—according to the Jewish rabbinical group that invited me—was to help listeners “understand the current state of the economy; learn about the impact of the proposed budget cuts on the poor and disenfranchised; consider the consequences of the increasing gap between the rich and poor in America; and, glean homiletic and textual background to help prepare their High Holiday sermons on this timely topic.”

The agenda of the call organizers was clear. Two speakers, one of whom was a (non-Jewish) Democratic senator, spoke of our country’s need for “raising revenue,” the new code phrase for tax increases. When I suggested that we separate politics from spirituality, a third participant pushed back, saying “the Torah is a political document.” A curious assertion in a crowd that would quickly denounce any invocation of the Bible in political discussions.

Of course the Obama administration didn’t invent the politicized sermon. In the Conservative temple in which I was raised, the joke (not an original one) was that the rabbi would take homiletic guidance from the New York Times editorial page. In his memoir, former Nixon speechwriter William Safire told of his displeasure with a Yom Kippur sermon in which the rabbi warned “not to let our country be divided and polarized by those who use the technique of alliteration“—referring to Vice President Spiro Agnew’s critique of “nattering nabobs of negativism.”

So President Obama is taking advantage of an existing proclivity toward political sermonizing. Other presidents have acted similarly, hosting calls around holidays or meeting with Jewish leaders before the White House Hanukkah party, as George W. Bush did. But Mr. Obama has innovated, as by focusing on a specific issue or two with rabbis before the High Holidays each year.

In 2010, according to the New York Post, he “asked a conference call of about 600 rabbis to preach his Mideast peace plan from the pulpit.” In 2009, he invited a group of 1,000 rabbis to discuss his health-care plan and then preach about it afterward. Some certainly delivered. Rabbi Amy Schwartzman of Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Va., for example, gave a Yom Kippur sermon that year entitled “The Jewish Understanding of Health Care: A Moral Imperative,” declaring that “working towards health care for all, however that might be accomplished, is a Jewish mandate.”

Political sermonizing is a mistake for many reasons. First, the Holy Days are supposed to bring forth a universal message about the unity of the Jewish people, the importance of our shared religious tradition, and the need to rededicate ourselves to observance of the Torah in the year to come.

Then there’s the risk of alienating part of the congregation. Even if you know that 70%-80% of your synagogue votes one way—and public opinion polls suggest that this may be the case in Conservative and Reform synagogues—why risk alienating the other 20%-30%? In many (or most) communities, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the only time certain congregants set foot in synagogue that year. Why risk driving them away with a message that could offend?

Furthermore, while it may appear easy to find support for left-wing political positions in the Torah and rabbinical sources, the truth is that the Jewish tradition doesn’t give much guidance on the optimum level of marginal tax rates, Medicare restructuring, or food-stamp funding. To claim otherwise is to give false guidance.

The passages read aloud on the High Holidays each year are filled with the most important problems of the human condition, including Jonah’s attempt to shirk his responsibilities, Hannah’s desperate plea for a child, and God’s testing of Abraham’s faith with the binding of Isaac. All of these stories still resonate today, and skillful speakers can use them to guide congregants.

The mandate of religious leaders is to convey to their communities spiritual encouragement and the wisdom of the ages. For the other stuff, there’s cable news.

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Existential moments in Hoboken street paving
Sep 13, 2013 | 2590 views | 0 0 comments | 81 81 recommendations | email to a friend | print
HOBOKEN -- Various street corners have been paved in Hoboken the last week, including this corner of upper Bloomfield Street. But why the Kafka-esque granite? Perhaps one of our literate readers can craft a new short story involving this project and leave it in the comments section below!

The true story, on the company's website, is this: "In 1979, at the age of 21, Glenn Kafka of Stratford, WI, owner of Kafka Granite, LLC, purchased a backhoe at a local auction for $8,500. He provided a service laying drain tile for local farms with the intention of making their land more productive for growing crops. He also provided small backhoe jobs for the local area as needed. With his first office located out of his mother’s very small laundry room, Glenn was able to find work and process his invoices. While visiting with a neighbor around a campfire in 1981, Glenn was offered an opportunity to purchase a forty-acre granite pit."

So the true story may have little to do with Frank Kafka, or Hoboken, but it's a nice short story nonetheless.

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Check out the comments on Hudson Reporter stories!
Mar 18, 2013 | 3585 views | 1 1 comments | 11 11 recommendations | email to a friend | print

HUDSON COUNTY -- Which stories got reader comments over the past seven days? Find out by heading to the lower right of this screen to read the Reporter's "Most commented" stories.

For instance, you can read our Hoboken staff writer's harrowing account of trying to get her car after it was towed, and the comment it elicited, here, and leave your own comment.

To see what our readers had to say, come back to often and scroll down to the bottom right.

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March 19, 2013


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Hindu Temple Faces Fine Over Tsunami Donations

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A Hindu temple has been fined $301,869 by the Canada Revenue Agency for sending money to "non-qualified donees," which include a group that Ottawa alleges was part of a support network for the Tamil Tigers.

The Hindu Mission of Mississauga, which is a registered charity, sent money to an overseas charity in the aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami, which devastated part of Sri Lanka.

The temple sent $84,604 to the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization — known as TRO — in Sri Lanka, in the fiscal period that ended in May 2005.

During the same period of time, the organization also sent money to the Sri Lanka-based North and East Community Development Organization, which the CRA believes “was affiliated with, and supported the projects of, the TRO.”

Shan Shanmugarajah, the president of the Hindu Mission of Mississauga, which operates the city’s Jeya Durga Hindu Temple said the "TRO was the only organization that was working in the north because of the Tiger problem.”

But, in documents obtained by CBC News, the CRA says that TRO is "an organization that formed part of the support network for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam."

The Conservative government put the LTTE on Canada's terrorism list in April 2006 — more than a year after the tsunami.

Stockwell Day was minister of public safety at the time. In an interview with a local Tamil radio program in the days after the LTTE was put on the terrorism list, he said, "the functioning of the TRO, I can assure you, will not be affected in any way. People can support that organization. They can give funds to that organization."

Hari Nesathurai, the temple's lawyer said "it's sad that their reputation has been tarnished by reports and allegations that are significantly later in time."

However, the CRA in Apr. 23, 2012 letter reiterated its stance on the issue. As it said in a previous missive, the CRA told the Hindu Mission of Mississauga that a registered charity is “not meeting the definition of a charitable organization…when it uses its resources to finance or sponsor the support network of an entity that engages in terrorist activities.”

And the CRA said in the letter it believes the Hindu Mission of Mississauga was “aware of the affiliation” between the TRO and the LTTE, and “agreed to provide funding to the TRO in spite of that affiliation.”

The CRA has also told the temple that if it does not pay the fine, it could lose its charitable status.

Temple officials say they will pay if necessary but they insist they did nothing wrong. Nesathurai says the CRA isn't the final arbiter and he intends to appeal the decision in court.

The CRA declined the opportunity to comment on its audit when contacted by CBC News.

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Exercises for Two

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Why Men and Women Are More Alike Than You Think

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During my first foray into journalism, a veteran reporter cautioned, "Never read your old stuff." I soon understood why:

1. Your style will mature and old voices will likely sound elementary and unsophisticated to you.
2. You've already read and written on the subject. Learn something new.
3. Rereading what you yourself wrote is a self-centered indulgence, teetering on narcissism.

Not to mention, the infamous adage, "You are your own harshest critic," most certainly applies to all writers.

Admittedly, while shying away from rereading my own "stuff," I occasionally peruse comments from readers.

On my most recent piece, Is Dating a Cold, Careless Game?, a reader offered the below:

Instead of constantly talking about Mars and Venus and how different men and women are, I wish we'd focus more on what common ground we have and how we complement each other. Doesn't that sound like it'd make life easier -- and wouldn't it make our differences easier to love?

Quite the insightful comment.

It got me thinking...

The Feminist Movement, at its origin, sought to help women gain equality in the legal, justice and employment systems: equal rights and opportunities when it comes to voting, the courtroom and the workplace -- all unquestionably necessary and admirable pursuits.

However, by the second-wave feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s, the Women's Movement was -- as any good movement does -- branching out.

A feminist submovement, with roots in John Stuart Mill's 1869 The Subjection of Women, began to gain traction. Members of this submovement advocated not only equal rights and opportunities, but absolute equality of the sexes. In referencing original premises proving men and women's equal rationality, many proponents extrapolated conclusions that gender was "accidental." That is to say, because gender has no bearing on an individual's capacity to reason, it follows that human nature is androgynous and equal.

So, basically, there's zero difference between men and women because we have equal reasoning capacity.

That is a dangerous extrapolation.

While men and women certainly have the same intellectual capacity to reason, by virtue of being humans, they also have very different qualities, by virtue of being men and women (also known as "humans," by the way).

Why suppress and deny these different qualities rather than celebrate them?

Understandably, a necessary backlash occurred in which women sought to celebrate their femininity: wear makeup, spend time on your hair, get sentimental, watch The Bachelorette, ogle babies, sob to The Notebook, wear bras... cast off those shoulder-pads, step into those heels, strut into the office and run it.

To be sure, no woman should be expected to champion every feminine convention (for the record, I loathe The Bachelorette), but you get the point.

A resurgence of "feminine pride" occurred throughout society as we re-established ourselves as affirmatively different from -- but equal to -- men. However, in doing so, have we perhaps gone so far as to lose our "common ground?"

Magazines like Cosmopolitan devote whole sections to answering questions like, "What does he really want?" in a sad, repetitive effort to offer women insight into the presumably unknowable minds of men. GQ does the same, offering men tips and tricks for everything ranging from "winning her over" to "making her happy." Bestsellers like The Game coach men on how to become scheming pick-up artists. As a result, dating is now synonymous with strategic manipulation.

What about, instead of trying to out-smart the other into a meaningless hookup or unwanted relationship, we try to understand? Understand that -- contrary to popular belief -- he likes being hugged as much as she does or that, sometimes, she just does not want to talk. What about understanding that each cares just as much as the other, and any front posturing the contrary is just that: a front.

Men and women playing today's no-strings-attached dating game have so exerted a brutish, self-serving independence that they have lost sight of one another's humanity, assuming manipulation and maliciousness at every turn. We would do better to reread the comments and work to "focus more on what common ground we have and how we complement each other."


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Huffpost UK Politics uk

David Cameron Visits Morrisons (PICTURES)

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He might have been any other shopper, popping into the supermarket after a busy day in the office to pick up a few bits for dinner.

But the man queueing up at the checkout with a basket full of fresh fish and vegetables for a family meal had in fact just dealt with a resignation from one of his Cabinet ministers.

The Prime Minister made the impromptu visit to a branch of Morrisons on his way home to Oxfordshire after spending the day in Plymouth, Devon, meeting Royal Marines.

He spent about 15 minutes in the Plymstock store, on the outskirts of Devon, causing other customers to do a double take as they saw who else was browsing the aisles.

Cameron selected items for his dinner tonight including sea bass from the fish counter, new potatoes, lemons and other fruit.

One shopper who was in the shop during the unannounced visit this afternoon said: "He went in the queue and paid for it himself. There was quite a conservative reaction, with a small c. People noticed him, but no-one mobbed him.

"He had the most people chatting to him as he was in the queue - it took him about five minutes to get served."

Shoppers seemed so nonplussed by the visit that the man in front of the Prime Minister was playing with his phone as he waited to pay for his goods, seemingly oblivious to the VIP in the queue.

Mike Cliff, general manager of the Plymstock store, said: "We were surprised and delighted to see the Prime Minister popping into Morrisons to pick up his weekend groceries."

Cameron visited Stonehouse Barracks in Plymouth, headquarters of the Royal Marines, before he made his unscheduled detour to the supermarket.

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PMQs Sketch: Cameron Likes Farming Today, But Keeps On Digging

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Is it possible that MPs are scared of Lord Justice Leveson? It certainly looks that way - following the judicical equivalent of a telling off yesterday, there was not a squeak about anything forthcoming at his inquiry at PMQs about Jeremy Hunt or Adam Smith.

The only reference to anything Levesonian was from Ed Miliband, who suggested David Cameron should sign off a text to President Hollande of France with "LOL" - a question which seemed entirely posed just to get that gag in. Surely there was a better home for it?

Cameron could only attack Gordon Brown's record with phones in return, saying at least he didn't throw his around. Tories liked that, but you're in dangerous territory when all you can do is mock former Labour leaders and not the current one.

PMQs began with a relatively high order of civility. Miliband welcomed the fall in jobless totals, and David Cameron welcomed Miliband's welcoming. But it quickly descended into yet another statistics-spat, with the PM growing increasingly annoyed with that old chestnut about how many front-line police officers were left.

Ed Balls managed to derail Cameron's reply on this with his usual gesticulations. Balls has gone back to the flat palm going up and down manoeuvre, characteristic of his later-winter period. Despite being an old trick it managed to grate.

"I'm extremely calm," said Cameron at one point during his exchanges, although his face was reddening, as usual. Cameron has a new haircut, which makes his temples pulse like airport landing lights.

Miliband later went for an omni-cuts attack strategy, asking how many frontline police officers had been slashed (Cameron was unclear), then on how many nurses had gone (Cameron said the number of clinical staff had risen but wouldn't give a number on nurses). The exchanges were so predictable the Hansard writers could almost CTRL+C bits from every previous PMQs from the last six months and paste it into today's entry.

We did learn that Andy Coulson was in the process of being fully vetted for security clearance before he resigned, despite a previous decision by Number 10 that spin doctors shouldn't be given the full clearance. Why they changed they mind about this is unclear.

We also heard David Cameron confirming that he listens to Farming Today on Radio 4 - which is admirable and adds weight to his recent claim that he's at his desk and working by 5:45am every morning. Shouldn't he be listening to Wake Up To Money on 5 Live though, given the state of the economy?

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Annie Lennox Headshot

Sound and Vision

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Earlier this year, my exhibition 'The House of Annie Lennox' moved from London's Victoria and Albert Museum to the Lowry Arts Centre in Salford Quays, Greater Manchester. During the weeks before the opening, I made several trips from London to Manchester, to finalise details of the presentation. The two hour train journey is very relaxing and enjoyable, and shortly before you get into the city, the surrounding landscape suddenly transforms from 50 shades of verdant rolling countryside to solid facades of red bricked Victorian factories, churches, bridges and buildings, intermittently juxtaposed by an audacious variety of glass, concrete and steel constructions, dating from the 60s to the present day.

I'm fascinated by remains of buildings and objects from the past. If it were possible to travel back in time, I'd probably be first in line for the ticket. Of course that's impossible (sigh!) but I've discovered that one way to get closer to this notion is to study old photographs or recorded film. Photography can actually act as a magical portal, through which you can connect to frozen moments of time in a two-dimensional form, albeit in black and white or sepia tone.

In the Lowry Arts Centre bookstore on the ground floor of the building, you can look at books with photographs of the artist (LS Lowry) himself, standing somberly in his old fashioned trench coat and hat, sketch pad in hand, on an anonymous street corner, or on stairs leading up from the cobbled towpath of an old industrial canal, in profile against a background of industrial smoke plumes, rising darkly from a horizon of industrial chimney stacks, reaching up like blackened fingers against an industrial polluted sky. If I use the word 'industrial' once, I'll use it four times!

Lowry's Manchester and Salford were very different from today's version.

Swathes of previous existence have been erased, but the remains of a proliferation of historic buildings are still (miraculously) standing, having survived the cull of the early 70s; in spite of nature's rampant dereliction which often appears to be winning the war against men's grandiose creations.

Decades ago, I passed through Manchester quite often on tour, but touring rarely gave me opportunities to take in the views, stroll down the streets, or smell the roses. I mainly just passed through and glossed over.

Somehow, having the exhibition at the Lowry gave me an opportunity to see things differently, in a more up close and personal way.

I have an iPhone. I mainly use it to send and receive texts and emails, but the function I'm mostly in love with is its built-in camera. I love to point and click wherever I am. As long as my iPhone's in my bag or pocket I can do just that, easily and discreetly. When I've captured the object of my interest, I can either delete it or keep it. And lots of times, I can time-travel back to where I've been and what I've seen in my own existence. It's not just 'seeing' in the normal sense; it's looking deeper. That's what I like to do most of all; I like to look deeper.

So, to cut a longish story just a little bit shorter... I became fascinated with Manchester and Salford, and started taking pictures of what I saw there.

The first picture was taken through net curtains in my hotel room, and after that I knew I had to continue. I got up very early one morning, and went for a drive around the vicinity, capturing things that spoke to me, and from hundreds of images that emerged, I started creating collages on my laptop.

This is where I have the chance to become very quiet, and very deep within myself. I discovered this over four years ago after having back surgery, when I was more or less obliged to lie in a hospital bed for several days.

Rather than resorting to television on the wall, I retreated to photographic images stored in my laptop, where I found myself compelled to cut and paste.

Cut to Glorious Manford Salchester. There is actually no such place in the world, but in the universe of my collage, it becomes quite tangible. The title is a gentle prod at invisible boundaries between two places and their identities. People of Salford can be mildly offended if you lump them in with their Manchurian neighbors, and I have to assume it's probably the same in reverse for the good folks of Manchester; although somehow I doubt it, as it's usually the smaller guy who feels defensive in the need to assert autonomy.

To sum up, my photographs are about the way I see things. Light and shade... banal and mystical... ancient and new. The small details of inconsequence, focused in on and transformed to an 'other worldly' place. The world of Glorious Manford Salchester.

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Murdoch and the Godfather

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Was I the only one who expected to see Frank Pentangeli wheeled out at the Murdoch inquisition yesterday?

With its committee struggling to land their punches on the defiant Godfather and his trusted consigliere, the Wilson Room was transformed into an extended scene from Frances Ford Coppola's masterpiece.

Watching the family in action- one speaking with precise, scripted evasiveness, the other punctuating seemingly improvised murmurings with energetic gesticulation- was certainly something to behold.

Murdoch Senior is so senior in his media empire, we learn, that he is rarely required to, coining a phrase, "give the order". His son found it bewildering that the committee had given any credence to the idea that the highest echelons of News Corps' management would give, or be aware of, orders of any sort. A legion of delegates across the 52,000 or so employees would do that. But, as Willi Cici points out before throwing his former boss to the lions, "the family had a lot of buffers". Rebekah Brooks take note.

Like Michael Corleone, that other great patriot, "This country has given me, our companies and our employees many opportunities. I am grateful for them", Murdoch Senior proclaimed, before briefly sweeping aside his remorseful persona: "I hope our contribution to Britain will one day also be recognized."

Murdoch harked back to his father, to the days of investigative journalism at their best. Those were the great old days, you know, when the Murdoch family was like the Roman Empire. For those unlucky 'traitors' who Murdoch Senior claims 'let me down', a word of advice from Tom Hagen: "When a plot against the Emperor failed, the plotters were always given a chance to let their families keep their fortunes."

So, what next? A dead prostitute found in Leicester East and a Senator Geary-style turnaround for Keith Vaz? And how long before we hear cries of: "Senator. Senator. This committee owes an apology! This committee owes an apology! Apology, Senator!"?

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Near Death Experiences

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No Excuse for Gruesome Unlawful Killings by Nigeria's Military Forces

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Ever since the world turned its attention to north east Nigeria earlier this year following the kidnap of the schoolgirls from Chibok and the intense Bring Back Our Girls campaign, Nigeria's authorities have been under intense pressure to restore peace to that region.

Foreign leaders held meetings to discuss how to tackle the actions of Boko Haram and other armed groups who were destabilising the country's north. International media questioned the Nigerian government's competence on whether they were doing enough to stem the tide of killings, kidnaps and other abuses committed in the region.

It's certainly the case that Nigeria's government has a duty to protect the country's citizens and must do everything they can to secure the return of the women and girls, and stop the abuses committed by Boko Haram and other militant fighters. But, there can be no excuse for the gruesome unlawful killing of detainees - evidence of which was featured in footage recently released by Amnesty International, and more will be shown on Channel 4's Dispatches this evening (Monday 18).

The footage shows graphic detail of detainees having their throats slit and dumped into mass graves by men who appear to be members of the Nigerian military and the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) - effectively state sponsored militias. The video also showed how in another incident which took place in Bama - south-east of Maidiguri - the Nigerian military and CJTF ordered men alleged to be Boko Haram members to lie down side by side on the ground, and then beat them with sticks and machetes.
It goes without saying that the situation in north east Nigeria is perilous. Boko Haram and other armed groups have committed some of the most horrific crimes in recent years and have intensified their attacks this year. Residents of Bama - for example - have been living in constant fear of attacks by militant fighters. In February this year Boko Haram staged its most deadly assault on the town. Locals report that attack left almost 100 people dead and more than 200 injured. Improvised explosive devices and grenades were used to destroy huge swathes of the town.

One resident told how the fighters went on a spree of "killing, burning and demolishing". Justice must be carried out swiftly and thoroughly by the Nigerian authorities to stem the killing spree of Boko Haram - that is certain. But this can't be achieved by Nigeria's security forces committing despicable crimes of their own.

Following Amnesty's release of this footage, I was surprised that Nigeria's National Security Adviser chose to criticise Amnesty. Retired Major General Sarkin Yaki Bello claimed that Amnesty had placed its "desire for publicity ahead of the justice and accountability that Amnesty claims to seek for victims". This couldn't be further from the truth. In revealing the brutality and barbaric acts committed by some members of Nigeria's own security forces, it is more likely that the culpable will be quickly located and investigated.

It seems to me as though the fury of the Nigerian officials is wrongly targeted. Rather than pour scorn at the feet of Amnesty for revealing some of the horrific abuses committed by its own security forces, shouldn't there be greater concern and anger at the gruesome unlawful killing of the detainees seen in this footage?

We need to see the Nigerian government carry out an independent investigation into these crimes, rather than the military investigating themselves here.

Let's hope that the Nigerian authorities' reaction to this evening's documentary by Channel 4 galvanises them to take the action not against the media outlet but to track down and bring to justice the perpetrators of these heinous crimes. The government knows its actions are being scrutinised by the world. Let's hope they do all they can to investigate and ensure that suspected perpetrators are given prompt but fair justice so they can stand tall under the media spotlight.

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The Art Of Technical Analysis (Part 2)

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Continued from Part 1

So what is the advantage in technical analysis?

As it is this human element that moves price, the nature of the market can to a certain extent be predicted, but only over the long term. Let me illustrate this point with a simple example. Call 50 people and we could comfortably predict that a good portion of them, say 50% to 60%, would answer with the classic "hello". So natural is this response that most would be willing to bet a wager on this. But here is the catch; it is not guaranteed what each individual will say, rather similar to flipping a coin and guessing heads or tails. However, over a large number of guesses we will be correct around 50% of the time.

With this same logic, the patterns, or trends, that traders look for that are generated on the bigger time frames such as on the daily chart, repeat themselves time and again over days, weeks and months. Understanding this and knowing how to capture these trends before they have happened, is where the 5% Smart Money excel and consistently bring home the huge life-changing monetary gains a trader wants. However, the result of any single trade can not be guaranteed and so this is where having a money-management system comes in. A Smart Money trader always keeps his own personal bet low incase he gambled wrong but knows that when he is right, his returns will be massive in comparison. Unlike, guessing right or wrong with the phone example above or flipping a coin, being on the right side of the trend makes your money work for you, bring home a much larger slice of the pie than your initial investment.

Trading is a paradoxical art where us traders predict what is going to happen next, based on probabilities, but also accept that there is no guarantee our prediction is correct. This is where trading psychology comes in, which is a whole other article in itself.

So how exactly do you make technical analysis work for you?

If we now understand that these patterns or trends repeat themselves on the bigger time frame, then the first point to drive home is that trading is not a get-rich-quick scheme but deserves the time and education to be mastered just like any occupation one may pursue. With the right education, the best being trained by a Smart Money mentor who already has the knowledge you desire, one will know how to break down the chart to determine an "edge" in current price movement. An edge, in trading, is an area where price has a higher chance or probability of going on to reach a predetermined target and bring home a profit.

It is with this knowledge that the Smart Money keep their risk small, yet consistently outmanoeuvre the market. The word "edge" actually comes from gambling, where in games likes Poker your cards have a higher chance of taking the pot than your opponents. By using technical analysis to look for and by ONLY risking your money on this edge, is how you succeed in trading.

What are the long-term benefits of using technical analysis?

Technical analysis has many advantages once the initial education period, which can take several months, has been completed. Of course, I am assuming that the trader is being smart and getting mentored by a top trader rather than setting off on their own. This is usually a futile and almost impossible way to learn to trade. Many set out with good intentions, but never gain the knowledge to master the markets, some after years of wasting a lot of money and more importantly time, something we can not get back. The advantages are:

  • There is no need to bury your head in newspapers and news channels like Bloomberg to catch up on financial events. News items usually have short-term impact on the major trend and have been usually traded on by the big institutions before they filter out to us, the Smart Money private traders.
  • There is a misconception in trading that one has to trade every day to be a trader. In fact, you trade when the trends or patterns are in play and you stand aside when the market is moving sideways. A good knowledge of technical analysis will prevent you from wasting your money through over-trading, which is a common trait of those who go on to totally blow their accounts.
  • Once you have technical analysis and trading working for you, the biggest advantage is the time factor. In time, you will bring home an income you can build a very rewarding life on, and in no more than 30 minutes a day. It is, after all, more time and not just more money we mostly desire. How many other jobs or fields can allow you to do that?

Can anyone learn to use technical analysis?

The simple answer is: if you have basic analytical skills, then yes, anyone can grasp technical analysis. Spend enough time in the market and you will be able to break down a chart into its basic elements. The real challenge, however, is being able to put this together with the other elements of risk management and trading psychology. It is here where a mentor is essential to guide you from being a novice, to becoming a professional trader, one with a ruthless and mechanical approach to the markets. There is no room for emotions, such as fear, greed and hope, in trading.

Who has learnt to use it successfully?

Individuals in the limelight who have learnt to use technical analysis to make a killing from the market are John W. Henry, the American owner of Liverpool FC, and the legendary Turtle Traders.

How do we at The Traders' Cosmos use technical analysis?

At The Traders' Cosmos, we have learnt to model ourselves on those individuals who have made a success out of trading, those in the 5% Smart Money elite. My knowledge was passed onto me by my own mentors, Javid and Anne, at The Dynamic Trader. They shared with me their simple yet highly effective price-based strategies that I then put into practise and mastered. The conditions of the markets are always changing and the knowledge of a top trader has to allow one to adapt and use the right strategy for the right conditions.

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A Cook's Guide To Rice Varieties

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Rice is more than just a side dish -- it's one of the most important and widely consumed food staples in the world. For many cultures, it's not just a food, but a way of life. It's grown throughout the world, especially in Asia, with China as the leading producer.

You'll find that many classic dishes from around the globe are made with rice. Just think of Asian stir-fry recipes, Italian risotto, Spanish paella, Southern dirty rice, Japanese sushi and so much more.

When you're shopping for rice at the grocery store, you probably reach for the same box or bag every time. We're here to show you the world of possibilities rice offers.

The rice you probably use most often is white rice, which is a long-grain rice that is polished down to remove the bran and germ, leaving just the white endosperm (the rice kernel). But there's more to rice than just the standard white. Brown rice, which is gaining popularity, is considered whole grain, because it includes the bran and germ. But before we get into brown vs. white, you must know that rice comes in three types or sizes, long grain, medium grain, and short grain.

The Sizes Of Rice

Long grain is a classification for rice that is at least three times as long as it is wide. Think of long-grain white rice, like Carolina, or long-grain brown rice, like Uncle Ben's. Basmati and Jasmine, popular in Indian and Thai cuisine, are also long-grain varieties. Medium grain rice is less than three times as long as it is wide. Risotto rices, like Arborio, Carnaroli, and Vialone Nano are considered medium grain, but are sometimes lumped together with short grain. Short grain rice is less than twice as long as it is wide. Sushi rice is a good example of short-grain rice.

Cooking Rice

Cooking rice can be as simple as combining rice with double the amount of water and boiling it until tender. That works best for long-grain white rice, but other varieties can take longer to cook, or require less water. We recommend reading your package instructions for the correct amount of water to use per cup of rice. There are two other methods for cooking rice beyond the simple method mentioned above. Rice can also be cooked like pasta, in an abundant amount of water and then drained. Or, as many Asian cuisines dictate, certain rice, like sticky rice or sushi rice, should be steamed, which involves placing the rice in a fine-mesh steamer basket over boiling water.

Storing Rice

White rice can last many years, because the bran and germ are not intact. But brown rice and other whole-grain rices tend not to keep longer than 6 months. It's best to use whole-grain rices within 3 to 6 months. It's also a good idea to store the rice in a cool dry place, or better yet in your refrigerator or even freezer.

Browse the gallery below to learn more about some of the major varieties of rice available in the market.

What's your favorite rice variety? How do you prepare rice? Leave a comment below.

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Car Rental Fees Continue To Shock Drivers

Posted: Updated:
Many consumers fall victim to backless claims by car rental agencies. Don Nelson was charged after his rental vehicle's "check engine" light came on. | CBS

Have you ever felt duped by a car rental service? You're not alone.

California resident Don Nelson is the latest victim of errant fees and backless claims, according to a report by CBS San Francisco. Nelson drove a rented vehicle without incident until the final day of his rental contract, when the "check engine" light lit up on the dashboard. The vehicle was acting fine, and when Nelson returned it to Enterprise that day, he was told by the agent, "don't worry about it." A week later, he was served a bill for $145 for supposedly damaging the vehicle by revving the engine, according to the company's claim.

The local television station's consumer watch advocates went after Enterprise and the charge was eventually dismissed as a "mistake," but Nelson's experience isn't the first and won't be the last. Atlanta resident Carrie Finegan disputed an astronomical charge of $464 from National for a minor dent to her rental vehicle -- damage she insists did not happen while she was operating the car. After being threatened with having the bill reported to a collection agency, Finegan sought the help of author and consumer advocate Christopher Elliot, who managed to get the claim dropped.

While Finegan maintained her innocence, she had broken a cardinal rule of car rentals: Take photos. Jason Alderman, senior director at Visa, advises: "Before you drive off the lot, thoroughly inspect the car, inside and out, for any pre-existing damage and note it on your contract; otherwise you could receive a hefty bill for someone else's minor scratches and dents. Likewise, when you return the car, consider taking time-stamped photos or video to prove it was in good shape."

While some renters are hit with surprise charges after the fact, others are facing higher fees before they even leave the lot, thanks to what many rental agencies call "dynamic pricing."

In a report on Frommer's, rental client Hal Gordon complained of some odd pricing and booking policies by several companies, including Hertz and Avis. Gordon was doing some research for a friend from Israel, but, "the website said there were no vehicles available for the dates chosen," he told Frommer's. "I checked for other countries in the Middle East -- same result. However, for UK or Venezuela -- no problem. Vehicles were available," he said.

Gordon's inquiry uncovered a common pricing system that can alter consumer search results based on, "level of demand, cost of service, currency exchange rates, and the competitive environment," according to an Avis spokeswoman. Alderman suggests it's best to do your research ahead of time and use comparison sites like Hotwire or Priceline to see competing offers.

Have you been subjected to ridiculous car rental fees? Tell us about it in the comments.

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Jason Gilbert Headshot

Nokia Discounts Lumia 900 'Superphone' On AT&T -- Still An Iffy Purchase

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In slashing the price of the Lumia 900 to $49.99 this weekend, Nokia's gorgeous, super-intuitive Windows Phone is now -- as the poets at Gizmodo put it -- "crazy cheap." Other smartphones that cost $50 or less feel plasticky and inexpensive, have lousy screens and use outdated technology. Not so with the Lumia 900, which is premium all-around and flies in everyday use.

And yet: As good as the Lumia 900 is, and as enticing as it may be at $49.99, most cell phone shoppers should still steer clear. As Reuters points out, the recent announcement that the Lumia 900 will not be fully upgraded to the upcoming Windows Phone 8 operating system -- and this is the generally non-editorializing Reuters talking here -- "render[s] them obsolete."

When Windows Phone 8 -- the next-generation operating system for Microsoft's Windows Phone devices, which is the mobile OS that the Lumia 900 runs -- arrives this fall, the Lumia 900 will not be eligible to download it. Like many other current Windows Phones, the Lumia will instead be upgraded to Windows Phone 7.8, which will include some, but not at all, of the features in Windows Phone 8.

As the numerical difference between 7.8 and 8 implies, Windows Phone 7.8 comes up just short of Windows Phone 8. The main concern for potential Lumia 900 buyers would seem to be about apps: Windows Phone 7.8 will not be able to run most of the apps developed for Windows Phone 8, which means that Lumia 900 customers could be stuck with a smaller app library than their friends who wait for a Nokia phone that can run Windows Phone 8.

While Windows Phone 7.8 will certainly receive the jazzy new start screen of WP8 and a few other features, it is hard to recommend the Lumia 900 when Windows Phone 8 -- and the faster, more fully capable smartphones running it -- are so imminent. Indeed, I called it a "great smartphone you shouldn't buy" in a recent column, largely because of the unfortunate half-upgrade that's being offered. If you're planning on keeping the Lumia 900, you have to be thinking: "What other upcoming updates will my phone not be fully eligible for?"

Now, it could be that you are in the market for a smartphone that is easy to use, and with a large, attractive screen that can make phone calls and send text messages and access your email and do all of the basics. You don't care about apps, and you don't even know how to upgrade your operating system: You just want a high-quality smartphone that can do the basics. For you, the $49 Lumia 900 is a great deal, and you should jump on it, if you need a smartphone now and want to save some money.

For most everyone else, patience is a virtue. Wait for the next Lumia smartphone, running Windows Phone 8, to arrive some time in the autumn if you can. You will be rewarded with a faster smartphone that will be capable of more than the Lumia 900; though you might spend a little more cash, the price difference will include all of the apps and new features coming with Windows Phone 8, not just the select ones that are being tacked on to Windows Phone 7.8.

The announcement of Windows Phone 8 -- and, too, Windows Phone 7.8 -- means a difficult period for Nokia, whose flagship smartphone is suddenly outdated and who cannot release a smartphone that won't be outdated for another several months. That's a pretty good argument for making new hardware available immediately after you announce it, rather than waiting a few months and having to rely on obsolete products and flashy price cuts to entice buyers who know that the Next Big Thing is coming soon.

For those consumers who need a smartphone now and don't care about apps or bells and whistles, and just want a well-made, fully-functional smartphone that can do the basics, a $50 Lumia 900 is a steal. For everyone else -- and that's most of you -- it's probably better to wait for 8 (Windows Phone 8, that is).

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Most Popular (Worst) Passwords Of 2012: 'Password' Tops List For Second Year In A Row

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"Password" has topped the list of most popular -- or worst -- passwords of 2012.

This week, SplashData released its annual list of the most common passwords used on the Internet -- and you may be surprised as to how obvious many of them are.

The top three passwords of 2012 -- "password," "123456," and "12345678" -- remain unchanged from the 2011 list, while others such as "baseball," "iloveyou," and "111111" became a little more popular this year.

New entries to this year's top 25 include "jesus," "ninja" and the highly imaginative "password1."

As a PR Web press release notes, users of "any of these passwords are the most likely to be victims" of security breaches.

"At this time of year, people enjoy focusing on scary costumes, movies and decorations” said Morgan Slain, SplashData CEO, referring to the upcoming Halloween festivities. "But those who have been through it can tell you how terrifying it is to have your identity stolen because of a hacked password.

“We're hoping that with more publicity about how risky it is to use weak passwords, more people will start taking simple steps to protect themselves by using stronger passwords and using different passwords for different websites," he added.

Indeed, in the wake of the "high-profile hacks of Yahoo!, LinkedIn, eHarmony, and passwords this year, Internet users have hopefully given some additional thought to their online security," Mashable writes.

Security, however, is also a big concern when it comes to finances.

Through an analysis of a database of 3.4 million stolen passwords made public over the years, researchers at Data Genetics were recently able to determine some of the most popular ATM PINs.

Birth years, as well as simple combinations, such as "1234," "1111," and "0000," were said to be among the most commonly used PINs. The safest -- or at least what was the safest -- four-digit combination was "8068."

SplashData’s list was compiled from "files containing millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers," according to the press release. Needless to say, the company "advises consumers or businesses using any of the passwords on the list to change them immediately."

Need tips on choosing strong passwords? Watch the Mashable video above.

h/t: Gizmodo

View the list of the 25 most popular passwords below:

  1. password (Unchanged)
  2. 123456 (Unchanged)
  3. 12345678 (Unchanged)
  4. abc123 (Up 1)
  5. qwerty (Down 1)
  6. monkey (Unchanged)
  7. letmein (Up 1)
  8. dragon (Up 2)
  9. 111111 (Up 3)
  10. baseball (Up 1)
  11. iloveyou (Up 2)
  12. trustno1 (Down 3)
  13. 1234567 (Down 6)
  14. sunshine (Up 1)
  15. master (Down 1)
  16. 123123 (Up 4)
  17. welcome (New)
  18. shadow (Up 1)
  19. ashley (Down 3)
  20. football (Up 5)
  21. jesus (New)
  22. michael (Up 2)
  23. ninja (New)
  24. mustang (New)
  25. password1 (New)

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Maria Rodale Headshot

The Magic of Tiny Voices

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The other morning my littlest daughter put on a full, Disney-esque princess show. She played all the characters with their different voices. She made up songs. There was a cat named Pearly. It went on for over an hour. And for most of that time, she was under a tiny table--this show was not for others. As long as she ignored me, she could continue in her own little world.  But if I actually spoke to her or looked at her, it broke the magic spell and she couldn't really continue creating until she found her private space inside again.

It reminded me of my favorite Saturday Night Live performance of all time. Admittedly, I haven't watched SNL in more than 20 years (It's on way too late for me!), but I remember laughing hysterically when Gilda Radner played a little girl named Judy Miller playing alone in her room.

My question is, where does that magical creativity go when we grow up? As friends make fun of us and parents tell us to quiet down and not embarrass them, we bury that tiny voice deep inside somewhere where it, perhaps, turns into a bitter, evil troll under our bridge, trying to stop us from reaching the magical land of happiness. Or, if we are lucky, it becomes the little fairy on our shoulder whispering tips like "don't trust that guy or you'll loose your magic powers!" If we are really unlucky, it becomes the voice of an evil queen or king telling us that we are not good enough and should be banished to the dungeon of suffering--for some slight of humanity that no one even remembers--where we will be nibbled to death by rats.

Is this magical tiny voice perhaps the seat of creativity? Perhaps it's the people who hold on to this voice the hardest and clearest who become novelists and painters and big dreamers. I see one of my primary jobs as a parent as being not to crush that magical tiny voice in any way, to protect it, nurture it, and guide it to fruition of some sort (what that is is up to each person, not my choice!). Often, as a parent, that means allowing hours of unstructured playtime, letting kids play alone in their rooms or under tables without interference. That works for me, too, since I get that time to myself, as well! It's a win-win parenting situation.

But sometimes, I think it's my kids' job to remind me that that tiny voice still exists inside of me. Just because I'm all grown up doesn't mean I can't tap into that magic. In fact, I think I must tap into it to remain vitally alive.

Excuse me while I go up to my room...

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Affirmations in Bed

Affirmations Alert

Kendra Cunningham | Posted 05.13.2013 | Comedy
Kendra Cunningham

My favorite affirmation regarding love is: "(Insert name) is deeply and passionately in love with me, as I am with him." I stick a bunch of different names in that one. Sometimes I leave off the "as I am with him." It just feels better.


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Owlwood Mansion

Ann Brenoff

Holy Batman! City's Real Estate World Rocks With Talk Of $150 Million Listing | Ann Brenoff | Posted 08.13.2012 | Los Angeles

The #1 Rule of Real Estate: You can ask any price you want; it doesn't mean you'll get it. The #2 Rule of Real Estate: If you have the highest pric...


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Robert Heinecken

Into the Woods... With Giuseppe Penone

Edward Goldman | Posted 12.07.2014 | Arts
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One hopes that this happy marriage between visual art and theater performance will continue to flourish in LA.

Bound to Do It: Curating Erotic and Fetish Photos

Lisa Derrick | Posted 06.21.2014 | Arts
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"So, wanna curate a booth with me at Photo Independent?" Of course I said yes. I love curating. Then came the kicker: My friend asking, noted SoCal art world photographer Eric Minh Swenson, dropped this on me: "It's gonna be all fetish photographers."

Wallace Berman: The Aleph Male

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All too rare is an art exhibition that invites the viewer to share in the joy of discovery, engaging us as confidants in new revelations that suddenly seem self-evident. "Speaking in Tongues: Wallace Berman and Robert Heinecken, 1961-1976," is just such an exhibition.

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Thanksgiving Stuffing

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A good indication to check if the turkey is done, is to pierce the thickest part of the breast and the leg joint with the point of a knife.

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You know you want it. Now find out how to make it better.

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Rana Florida
As Chief Executive Officer of the Creative Class Group, Rana Florida manages new business development, marketing, consulting, research, and global operations serving such diverse clients as BMW, Converse, IBM, Cirque du Soleil, Audi, Zappos, and Johnson & Johnson— to name just a few. She brings to this leadership role more than two decades of experience in corporate strategy, communications, and marketing, having directed global strategic communications for HMSHost, the world’s largest airport developer, as well as having executed marketing initiatives for such premier brands as Disney and Starbucks and events experience working with The Atlantic, The Aspen Institute, and The Knight Foundation.

Well known as a writer on business and leadership—for Fast Company,, and the Huffington Post—Rana has also served as a guest business analyst on The Today Show and MSNBC’s The Cycle, has been a Fox News contributor for several years, and has been featured in the Business section of The New York Times and in interviews for the Wall Street Journal, Market Watch, CNN, The Globe and Mail, and other major media outlets.

Her one-on-one high profile interviews have covered notables—from President Bill Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama to tennis great Andre Agassi and NBA owner (and TV star) Mark Cuban, from chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mario Batali to singer Nelly Furtado and fashion designer Tory Burch, from the United Nations Director of Girl Up to world renowned architects Peter Marino and Zaha Hadid—and many more.

The thought-provoking chronicler of Creative Spaces for HGTV and the Huffington Post, highlighting public and private spaces that epitomize creativity, innovation, and design, Rana is particularly interested in the public-private intersection, and today serves as Juror on Design for Marketing Magazine Awards and Director of the FIU-Miami Creative City Initiative, a collaboration demonstrating how creativity, culture, and design can drive a regional economy.

She is also involved in philanthropic work. A former board member for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, co-chair of the Design-Exchange, and ambassador for Girls E Mentoring, she lent her expertise to the Boards of the Airports Council International in Washington, DC, the Council for International Visitors, The Founders Junior Council of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Isabella Blow Foundation Committee, which supports aspiring art and fashion students. As CEO of the Creative Class Group, she worked with the UN Habitat, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). She is currently an advisory board member for the online retailer

Rana holds a Bachelor of Arts in communications and an MBA in marketing and management.

Her book, Upgrade—Taking Your Work and Life From Ordinary to Extraordinary (McGraw Hill, 2013) was a ‘Business Best Seller.’

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Five Industries Ripe for Disruption

(15) Comments | Posted August 3, 2015 | 9:38 AM

Air travel is just one of several industries in need of a serious disruption. Too many hours are wasted in loss productivity in the current system.

By now we are all familiar with market disruptors, innovative products or services that use new...

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Watch CREATE: Detroit's Inaugural Ideas Fest on City Building

(0) Comments | Posted July 9, 2015 | 9:51 AM

Last week over 300 people turned out at the College for Creative Studies to participate in CREATE: Detroit, the inaugural ideas fest on place making and cities, led by world-renowned urbanist and professor Richard Florida and sponsored by Rock Ventures.

A city can be...

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Lessons From Other Cities at Detroit's Global City Forum

(0) Comments | Posted June 10, 2015 | 8:07 AM

It's a fact of life: cities rise and cities decline. While the largest can hold their dominance for a very long time, second- and third-tier cities come and go. Foreign competition or the rise of altogether new industries and modes of production can erase their advantages; so can shifts in...

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A World-Class Global City-Building Forum: The First-Ever in Detroit

(0) Comments | Posted May 19, 2015 | 7:51 AM

Great cities shape their own narratives and they create new lessons for the world. Though Detroit has been the poster-child for urban distress, it is also charting a new path back.

I grew up in Detroit and spent my early years...

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Want World Peace? Focus on Two Simple Things

(0) Comments | Posted February 4, 2015 | 11:16 AM

The state of the world got more gruesome yesterday with the barbaric killing of Lieutenant Muath al-Kasabeh. In a video released by the terrorist group ISIS, the 26-year-old Jordanian pilot can be seen dressed in an orange jump suit and locked in a cage, where he was burned...

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Holiday Out-of-Office Message

(0) Comments | Posted December 19, 2014 | 11:31 AM

That's it! As of today, I'm done with conference calls and meetings. I'm breaking up with Twitter, dumping Google Plus and LinkedIn, and quitting email cold turkey.

According to McKinsey, the average knowledge worker spends 28 percent of their workweek...

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Tech Giants' Freeze-Your-Eggs Policy Is Not Enough

(0) Comments | Posted December 1, 2014 | 9:18 AM

Photo Credit: Lindsey Jeanne Photo

Work now, live later. That is the mantra behind the egg-freezing initiatives recently announced by Silicon Valley tech giants Apple and Facebook. Apple's statement read in part:

"We continue to...
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Lessons from Kidpreneurs on Launching a Global Business

(0) Comments | Posted November 24, 2014 | 7:51 AM

"Never give up," says Christian Vaughn CEO of the newly formed company Nooloos. "Just keep pushing forward." Their simple yet valuable lessons are useful for any entrepreneur to apply to their own business. "It's all about making your customers happy," advised...

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Great Ideas Are Worthless Without Strong Execution

(1) Comments | Posted November 7, 2014 | 10:45 AM

2014-11-07-461180850_441754d5e9_z.jpg Photo Credit: Flikr user Helen Flamme

Most people think a Great Idea -- a breakthrough discovery, a killer app -- will make them wealthy beyond their dreams. But successful entrepreneurs know that Great Ideas are a dime a dozen. True success lies in...

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Creative Entertaining: Spooktacularly Sophisticated

(0) Comments | Posted October 29, 2014 | 9:42 AM

Most of us think of trick-or-treating with kids when it comes to Halloween, or thumping night club parties filled with raunchily-costumed revelers. But there's no reason why you can't host a Halloween dinner for sophisticated grownups. Lose the kitschy marshmallow ghosts and goblins,...

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The Politics of Fashion | The Fashion of Politics (VIDEO)

(2) Comments | Posted September 29, 2014 | 12:31 PM

Fashion and politics may be strange bedfellows, but they definitely go together. "Design," observes Shauna Levy, the president of the Design Exchange, "is a view-finder, if you will. It's a way in which to look at political events, it's...

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Creative Entertaining: Cozy Autumn Dinners

(0) Comments | Posted September 25, 2014 | 8:27 AM

As summer slipped away this week, the air is crisp and the leaves are falling, it's the perfect time of year to entertain at home with friends over some hearty and delicious comfort foods.

Entertaining doesn't have to be timely, expensive or fancy. Here are 10 tips to keep...

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How to Run Your Business Like a Rock Star

(0) Comments | Posted September 19, 2014 | 9:45 AM

Richard and Rana Florida with musician Jack White at Third Man Records, Nashville.

Bands and startups have a lot in common. Sleepless nights, fueled on caffeine and adrenaline, they both have a lot at stake and...

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How to Scale Your Business, Make a Profit and Do Good (VIDEO)

(0) Comments | Posted September 15, 2014 | 8:38 AM

Starting with $120,000 - their entire life savings, Warby Parker has emerged as a fashion giant, selling over a million pairs of designer eyeglasses. More than that, it's made the world a better place, donating an equal number of eyeglasses to needy people in the developing world while...

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The Drum Beat of Success (VIDEO with Sheila E.)

(0) Comments | Posted September 9, 2014 | 9:48 AM

Musical legend Sheila E. was literally born into the business, yet she paid more than her share of dues at the beginning of her career, playing to empty rooms and living from gig to gig. For all that, she always followed the beat of her own drum, turning down a...

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10 Steps to Getting a Raise

(3) Comments | Posted September 1, 2014 | 11:07 AM

If you are afraid to ask for a raise, you are not alone. Most people, no matter how self-confident they are, feel quite anxious about this issue. But good work should be rewarded and most companies know that great talent is hard to come by and turn over costs are...

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The Creative Class With Legendary Music Producer Bob Ezrin (VIDEO)

(0) Comments | Posted August 26, 2014 | 9:25 AM

The Creative Class video series celebrates innovative creators across disciplines. This week features Bob Ezrin, one of the most commercially successful producers of all time. He's worked with many of the world's most important contemporary artists, including Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, U2, Peter Gabriel, Deep Purple,...

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Taking It to the Streets -- Walking Meetings Are All the Rage

(1) Comments | Posted August 25, 2014 | 9:44 AM

Walking strategy session with Rochelle de Goias, Founder and Executive Director of GEM

It's a sitting crisis. The offices we've imprisoned ourselves in are increasing our health care costs and taking a toll on our productivity and mental health....

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Essential Rules to Being a House Guest

(0) Comments | Posted August 2, 2014 | 11:27 AM

Photo Credit: The Surflodge

August is the most popular month for summer vacations, and if you are lucky, you have some friends who will invite you to visit them at their beach house, their mountain cabin, or their lakeside get-away....

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The Creative Class with Paddle8: Tips for Launching a Successful Startup (VIDEO)

(0) Comments | Posted July 25, 2014 | 9:53 AM

In just three short years Paddle8 an innovative marketplace infusing technology and art has held hundreds auctions with over $100MM in bidding activity and raising over $25MM for charities.

They've quickly expanded their reach with members and bidders from hundreds of countries and they are also setting records with...

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This tailored sport coat by BOSS is handcrafted in Italy's lauded Lanificio Carlo Barbera mill from an Italian wool-linen blend - a luxurious and breathable fabrication that's perfect for the season. Notched lapels and a two-button front complete this look, with front darts for a flattering fit. This sport coat has a (Show more...) partial-canvas construction, which allows for a more comfortable, natural fit and increases the lifespan of your sport coat.

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Sep 13 2012

Landmark Hotel, The

I am sure that if you invest in financial shares you will know where the Landmark hotel is as Merrill Lynch holds their flagship financials conference there. But note I did not go there whilst the conference was on, so did not gate crash it, I went there a few weeks before. Landmark hotel is located very close to my flat and it is a wonderful place to go for a drink, which I have done on many occasions, and I have some lovely memories associated with this hotel, but when I went last time a few weeks ago was the first time when I had food in the Landmark hotel in their big reception area, called the “winter garden”. The decoration within the Landmark hotel is beautiful and in the “winter garden” you are sitting beneath an eight-storey glass roof atrium and it has lovely palm trees and lights. I was not expecting much from the food and it did surprise me in a good way. At first the waiter brought us some bread with extremely delicious 3 dips, I liked them so much I asked for more when I had finished the first set. All restaurants in my view should offer things like this. Afterwards as neither me nor my dinner buddy were feeling too hungry, we decided to share 2 starters and have some “lobster risotto with saffron, watercress and baby basil” and the “Heritage tomato salad with goats cheese with lemon and herbs, Regent’s park honey, basil vinaigrette”. The lobster risotto was delicious and one of the best risottos I have had. It had huge chunks of delicious and good quality lobster on top of the risotto, which was smooth and very tasty. I loved this. As for the heritage tomato salad, I though the actual tomatoes were nice and I always like it when restaurants use different shape and color tomatoes for this salad, but for £9 this was probably the most expensive tomato dish I have had (the only other time when I have complained about a tomatoe salad was in Terroirs where I also thought it was hugely overpriced), and for £9 you can have a proper and delicious main course in many other restaurants. Also the goats cheese tasted strange, I am usually a huge fan of goats cheese and here I did not think the taste was that nice or that it went particularly well with the tomatoes, so not a brilliant dish. But nevertheless the winter garden is a beautiful and quite a romantic place where to have a meal.

Date: 13/09/12

Price for 2 with some gin & tonic cocktails and service charge: 119.50

location: Marylebone

Winter Garden at The Landmark Hotel London on Urbanspoon

Maija rated:

The Landmark hotel
222 Marylebone Road, NW1 6JQ
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Landmark Hotel, The Reviewed by Hungry Bee Maija on . Rating: 3.5


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West Lafayette, Ind. – The Nebraska baseball team (19-19, 11-4 Big Ten) moved to .500 on the season with its first conference road sweep since 2008, when the Huskers swept at Kansas State to open Big 12 play.

Following a doubleheader sweep of the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday, the Huskers capped the series with a 12-2 win on Sunday afternoon to improve to 11-4 during Big Ten play.

Nebraska scored at least 10 runs in all three games of the weekend and totaled 41 hits off Purdue pitching, including 16 hits on Sunday.

Pat Kelly led six Huskers to a multi-hit day, as the sophomore was 4-for-6 with a pair of RBIs. Michael Pritchard extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a pair of hits.

Following 5.0 innings of no-hit work in a combined no-hitter of No. 10 Arkansas on Tuesday, Kyle Kubat took the mound against the Boilermakers on Sunday and went right back to work to improve to 2-0 on the year. The sophomore lefty didn’t allow his first hit of the season until No. 9 hitter Jake Hansen reached on a one-out single in the third.

Purdue was able to get to the 6-1 Omaha native in the third, when it cut Nebraska’s lead to one run, 3-2, with a pair of runs on three straight hits off Kubat. The 2012 freshman All-American came right back and retired the Boilermakers in order in the fifth. It was Kubat’s last inning, as he went 5.0 innings, giving up a pair of runs on four hits and two walks.

Nebraska’s bullpen pitched four shutout innings to secure the win, allowing just one hit.

Clinging to a one-run lead entering the sixth, 3-2, Nebraska plated at least two runs in each of the last four innings of the game.

The Huskers got a pair in the top of the sixth on an double off the bat of Pritchard. After the Husker left fielder extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a leadoff single in the fifth, Pritchard blasted a two-RBI double to left-field gap to put NU up three, 5-2.

The Husker bats added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh to give the bullpen a 7-2 lead. Sanguinetti sacrificed in a run and on a two-out throwing error by shortstop Jake Hansen, Kelly caught the Boilermakers napping and scored from second base.

Purdue’s starter, Kyle Wood, last just 2.0 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and three walks. Seven Purdue relievers worked the final 7.0 innings and were touched for 10 runs on 13 hits.

Nebraska hosts its final non-conference home game of the year on Tuesday night, when the Kansas State Wildcats visit Hawks Field for a 6:35 p.m. game. It will be the third game of a three-game season series between the two teams, with the Wildcats winning the first two games in Manhattan.

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Playing lossless in iTunes and Zune software
post Jul 8 2011, 03:20
Post #1

Group: Members
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Joined: 8-July 11
Member No.: 92126

This might be a stupid question, but is there even a lossless audio format that can be played in both iTunes and Zune?

I like to use both of these media players, depending on which computer I'm on, and would prefer not to have two copies of each song in a different codec.

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post Jul 8 2011, 03:31
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you can use .WAV

Who are you and how did you get in here ?
I'm a locksmith, I'm a locksmith.
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post Jul 8 2011, 03:55
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Group: Members
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Joined: 23-February 05
Member No.: 20097

WAV. wink.gif

Really, that's it - Microsoft and Apple each use their own proprietary lossless formats (WMAL and ALAC), and needless to say, they don't really play well with each other.

FLAC can be played back in DirectShow players in Windows with the appropriate filters installed (fetch, Google, fetch!)...I'm *assuming* that the Zune software utilizes DirectShow - I've never used it, so I don't know.

iTunes uses its own internal (QuickTime) codecs, and not DirectShow, so it can't play FLAC.

...which brings us back to WAV - look ma, no tags! wink.gif

My suggestion: ditch the Zune software and go ALAC/iTunes. Microsoft killed the hardware - how much longer do you think they're going to be supporting the software?

"Not sure what the question is, but the answer is probably no."
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Hits: 24339 | Favorites: 43 | Emailed: 0 | Rating: 2.7 | Category: Games | Date: 10/14/2005
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BEHOLD The Choking Game [Gif] The new fad. It`s all fun and games until somebody really chokes. What wrong with kids these days?
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this game is so much harder than mansion impossible..

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i agree with mastercif; it was crap

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mansion impossible is alot better, this was pure krap,

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no, nobody else has noticed. its all in your head

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Hey...has anyone here noticed that this game bears a striking resemblance to Mansion Impossible?

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03 FEB 2012 General News Birmingham, UK

Bleasdale to bring her momentum to Birmingham

Holly Bleasdale soars to the UK title in Birmingham (Getty Images)Holly Bleasdale soars to the UK title in Birmingham (Getty Images) © Copyright

World leader Holly Bleasdale will step up her Olympic Pole Vault preparations at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham, the penultimate IAAF Indoor Permit Meeting, on Saturday 18 February.

The 20-year-old Pole Vault prodigy, who cleared 4.87m at a meet in Villeurbanne, France, last month to move to No. 2 on the all-time list behind World indoor record holder Yelena Isinbayeva, will step out in front of a capacity crowd at the NIA in the third and final indoor meet of the Aviva Series 2012.

The last time Bleasdale competed at the NIA she placed third in the national under 20 titles with a clearance of 3.90m. This month she will return to the venue as the world’s leading pole vault athlete and one of Britain’s greatest hopes for London 2012.

Bleasdale has rapidly established herself as one of the most promising vaulters on the planet, clearing 4.70m in Mannheim last July when she was still 19 and taking gold at the European Under-23 Championships in Ostrava the following month.

Following her astonishing performance in France to launch her 2012 campaign, the Preston-born star will aim to build on her rising reputation with a strong performance at the Aviva Grand Prix, an event she considers an important step towards achieving her Olympic dream this summer.

Bleasdale, who will also compete at the Aviva Indoor UK Trials and Championships in Sheffield next weekend, said: “I’ve competed at the NIA before and I’m really excited to return to the venue and improve on my previous performance.

“It’s important that I keep competing throughout the year so I have a few milestones leading up to the Olympic Games. The field at Birmingham should be really strong and obviously it forces me to jump higher if it’s a really competitive field, so hopefully it will be a good meet for me.”

But despite her rapid rise to the top of the world’s pole vault elite, Bleasdale is determined not to allow her recent success to get in the way of her future endeavours.

“I was really pleased with my performance in France, I think I’m still in a little bit of shock but at the same time I’ve been working really hard and been really focused on my training and that’s the exact result I’ve been aiming for,” she said.

“I feel good in myself and I know what I need to do this year so it’s important that I just stick with my own preparations and keep my head down."

“I don’t want to take what happened in France and make every meet about trying to do that again because really I just want to try my best at every meet I attend and hopefully the results will follow.”

In Birmingham Bleasdale will go head-to-head with 2009 World champion Anna Rogowska, while Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell and 5000m World champion Mo Farah will headline the action on the track.

Organisers for the IAAF


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24 JAN 2008 Preview Boston, USA

Hoffa and the usual Ethiopian magic line-up on Boston’s indoor stage - PREVIEW

Reese Hoffa on his way to Shot Put gold in Osaka (Getty Images)Reese Hoffa on his way to Shot Put gold in Osaka (Getty Images) © Copyright

When Reese Hoffa was putting the shot in the shadow of two-time Olympic silver medallist Adam Nelson and top-ranked John Godina, he took other steps to get attention, such as throwing in a mask, or proposing that he compete in a bear suit. Since winning the 2006 World Indoor Championship, the 2007 USA Championship, and then the 2007 outdoor World Championship titles, all Hoffa needs to talk about to get attention is throwing far.

"I've been doing a lot more press stuff" this year, Hoffa said in a recent teleconference. He has also been talking throwing with Koji Murofushi, the 2004 Olympic gold medallist in the Hammer Throw and a renowned student of all the throws. "He's a great resource," says Hoffa of Murofushi. "He's done it all, and in Japan he's almost bigger than life. It's interesting to see how he handles that."

At the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on Saturday (26 Jan) evening, Hoffa will be one of four 2007 Osaka World champions competing, but he'll be the only one not opening his season at the Reggie Lewis Center. Hoffa threw 21.06m on Monday in California, a promising start to his campaign to defend his World Indoor title in Valencia in March. In Boston, Hoffa will face Nelson, 2004 World Indoor champion Christian Cantwell, and Dan Taylor, last year's winner and the 7th-ranked putter as a newcomer in 2007.

Dibaba and Defar separated by 218 metres

2007 World Athlete of the Year and World 5000m champion, Meseret Defar and her countrywoman and rival Tirunesh Dibaba both return to Boston, to the undoubted delight of Boston's Ethiopian community, but as is usual for this event they will not run the same race.

Dibaba, who set 5000m World Indoor records on this track in 2005 and 2007, will step down to 3000m, a distance where Defar repeatedly tried and failed to lower the World record here. The record of 8:23.72 is, of course, now Defar's, set in Stuttgart last February. This early in the season, that mark will pose a serious challenge even for the fleet Dibaba, who declined to challenge Defar at 5000m after retaining the 10,000m World Championship title in Osaka. Dibaba will be joined by one of her favourite pacemakers, sister Ejegayehu Dibaba.

Defar herself, rather than taking on 15 laps of the quick Roxbury track, will run 16 and a few extra strides in a Two Mile race, an event in which she holds the outdoor World record. The indoor World best in that infrequently-contested distance (9:23.38) was set in this meet in 2002, and should be easily within Defar's grasp. She will be joined by New Zealand's Kim Smith, 5th in the 10,000m in Osaka, and Serbia's Marina Muncan, pacemaker for Dibaba's 5000m record last year.

Klüft opens Valencia campaign

Sweden's Carolina Kluft, who currently holds the European indoor (Pentathlon) and outdoor (Heptathlon) titles as well as the World Championships and Olympic Heptathlon crowns, will open her indoor season by long jumping in Boston. Klüft, holds the event record (6.63m) from 2005 and Boston will be her first competition of 2008.

Vault opener for Stuczynski

The women's pole vault will feature Jenn Stuczynski, the second-highest vaulter in 2007 (at 4.88m). Stuczynski comes to Boston from the chilly back-yard vaulting enclosure set up by her coach, Rick Suhr, to take on Pole Vault Summit winner Jillian Schwartz. Stuczynski jumped 4.63m here last year on her way to her 4.88m, but the meet record of 4.72m (2003) is held by Stacey Dragila, who Stuczynski will face the following week in New York.

Shobukhova and Solomon

Before Defar runs the Two Miles, the woman whose 3000m record she broke will contest the Mile. Liliya Shobukhova, who won the New Balance Games Mile in 4:31.90 last weekend, will face many of the same women she raced in New York in only her second-ever race in the U.S.

In the shorter distances, 2004 World Junior 200m champion Shalonda Solomon will make her professional debut in the women's 200m. Solomon missed competing in 2007 due to injury, but she posted the two fastest marks on the 2006 list in winning the NCAA indoor title that year, which she followed with an outdoor title a few months later.

Men's 3000m all about the racing

While the Boston Indoor Games frequently brings record attempts and star athletes to their Roxbury venue, in recent years the finale has almost always been the men's 3000m or Two Miles, and the emphasis in that race has been on a deep field and thrilling competition. Last year's winner, Craig Mottram, quipped that he was in Boston on a mission to "find ice, and import it back to Australia," in the heat of its summer, but he suffered no slips in his race. This year he'll face a tougher field, including New Zealand's Commonwealth 1,500m champion Nick Willis and frequent Boston race-maker Markos Geneti.

The Boston Indoor Games will start at 5:30 PM local time at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

Parker Morse for the IAAF