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By Dave Goodboy

Gold has exploded higher during the past several years. The bullishness has been ignited by massive global fiscal stimulus programs, slowing production growth and aggressive purchasing of the yellow metal by several central banks. It's no wonder gold prices are up nearly 100% during the past five years.

Take a look at the weekly chart:

(click images to enlarge)

Although the yellow metal is off its all-time 2011 highs of more than $1,900 per ounce, there is solid technical support in the $1,550 area, as you can see in the chart below. Gold has since bounced from this support, hitting $1,800 per ounce in October prior to falling back and finding support at the 50-week simple moving average at $1,665.

Despite gold's solid performance over the years, gold-mining stocks have lagged. This is unusual, since gold-mining companies make their profit on the spread between what it costs to extract gold and the price of the commodity. Historically, there is a positive correlation between the price of gold and the performance of gold-mining stocks.

But starting in 2008, there has been a disconnect. Rising production costs, political risks in some of the regions where miners operate and simple economic worries have superseded the common-sense correlation. This has resulted in gold-mining stocks underperforming the commodity itself, which in turn has resulted in much of the negative investor sentiment around gold-mining stocks.

And it is within this negativity that I see a great profit opportunity. The key strategy is simple: Buy undervalued gold-mining stocks poised for a reversal of fortune.

In this case, I think one particular gold miner is a diamond in the rough.

Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) is one of the world's largest gold miners, with 27 operating mines in North America, South America, Australia and Africa. The stock has been smacked down from its recent high of $43 a share in mid-September to $34 in November, which is just above its 52-week low. Barrick Gold boasts the lowest price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of its peers at 10.2, and its 29% earnings growth rate is the highest among the competition.

Hedge Fund Ownership
The fact that hedge fund wizard David Einhorn doubled his position in the stock during the third quarter and held it steadily this quarter despite the price drop, gives me even more confidence in Barrick Gold. The gold miner makes up about 1.3% of Einhorn's U.S. long portfolio (1.9 million shares), indicating a strong bullish bias for the company.

The Future
Barrick Gold has ambitious plans to reduce costs while ramping up copper production in the coming years.

New CEO Jamie Sokalsky is pushing for Barrick's mining costs to drop from $575 per ounce to between $500 and $525 per ounce during the next several years. The cost reduction will come from two mines in the Dominican Republic and on the Chile/Argentina border, which have relatively lower operating costs.

Although Barrick has narrowed its gold production forecast to between 7.3 and 7.5 million ounces from earlier projections of 7.8 million, Sokalsky is confident of a production increase during the next several years. If gold and copper prices stay steady, then the lower production costs will result in increased operating cash flow. Interestingly, despite all these tailwinds, the stock has dropped nearly 30% this year.

At the end of October, Barrick's price plunged through the 50- and 200-day simple moving averages, finally finding support at $33 a share. Most recently, shares have bounced above $34. The weekly chart indicates support at $32.

The company plans to release its full-year earnings report on February 15, 2013. Savvy investors will likely be waiting attentively.

Risks to Consider: Commodity-based stocks are inherently risky. The risk comes from several sides, namely the volatile nature of commodity prices. If gold prices unexpectedly plunge, then so will mining stocks. In addition, political and economic risks also loom largely due to the fact that many gold mines are located in politically and economically unstable regions. Always be certain to use stops and position size properly when investing.

Considering the stock's current value and the company's future plans, Barrick Gold is a great buy now. Any price between $32 and $35 would make an ideal entry. If gold prices remain relatively steady and the company meets its cost-reduction goals, then shares could easily rise to $50 within 24 months. My trading strategy with this company would be to enter a position within the $32 to $35 channel with stops at $32.

Original Post

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Source: A Legendary Hedge Fund Manager Owns 1.9 Million Shares Of This Gold Stock


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Thanks to CR for pointing out this BusinessWeek article with quotes from Fannie Mae's chief economist:

The federal homebuyer tax credit shifted demand in the U.S. housing market without having a lasting impact on prices, according to Douglas Duncan, chief economist of Fannie Mae, the largest mortgage financier.

"Temporary tax credits change behavior temporarily,” Duncan said today at a National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Austin, Texas. “It’s simply shifted demand forward...”

“It actually created some price appreciation that’s not supportable long term,” Duncan said of the tax credit.

Source: From the Horse's Mouth: Fannie Mae on Home Prices

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"Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends upon what we look for. What we look for depends upon what we think. What we think depends upon what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality." Gary Zukav

Facebook bashing has entered the realm of the utterly absurd. This morning I came across an article comparing Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) to Twitter, and arguing that a future Twitter IPO would blow the Facebook IPO away. Then in the afternoon I read an article from Wall Street Cheat Sheet that argued for a Facebook comparable Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)/Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) valuation of six to seven dollars; a pretty amusing argument when you consider that Facebook is sitting on almost five dollars a share in cash on hand. And let's not forget the ridiculous Reuters survey which seemed to be almost commissioned to have something negative to report. Yep, tearing something down is a lot more fun than building it up.

That is no surprise, but you'd think with something this big that at least some people would have a nice grasp of what is going on and get the message out. Sadly, that has not happened yet, so I have taken it upon myself to weigh in with an article or two that offers what I think is a more accurate assessment of the "Facebook Fiasco."

For this note I will focus on the misconception that Facebook's IPO was somehow a failure, and more specifically on a article which compared how Facebook has been managed to Twitter. An article which, by the way, I was surprised to discover was written by SA regular contributor and fellow Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) bear Rocco Pendola.

In his article, Rocco, who admittedly is bullish on Facebook, makes an argument that somehow implies Twitter has executed better than Facebook. To be specific, Rocco writes, "everything Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook have done well, Dick Costolo and Twitter have done better." Really? With all due respect to Rocco, that is a ridiculous statement and very typical of the type of stuff Facebook is getting hammered with on a daily basis. And let's be clear I am saying this despite the fact that there is no web property that has caught my eye more than Twitter over the past couple of years. It is in fact the only stock I have ever personally purchased on a secondary market, and also one that I professionally lobbied for acquiring a position in at a valuation closer to $2.5 billion. Suffice to say, I know a thing or two about the company.

I can also tell you that my interest in Twitter carried over into other microblogging sites like Sina's (NASDAQ:SINA) Weibo (a much better bargain valuation wise) before they became mainstream market stories. So why was Twitter so interesting to me? Simple: It was and still is a web property acquisition candidate the likes of which you rarely come across in markets. To me a Twitter Google marriage was a no-brainer from day one. (The same argument goes for Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) and Weibo.) The problem with this view is that Twitter knows this and so do Facebook, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO), and Apple. That is what has always appealed to me about this stock, the near certainty of a nice fat premium from an acquirer was always too tempting to pass up.

But let's be clear, knowing you are an attractive piece of web real estate isn't a measure of execution. Twitter is by no means executing better than Facebook. In fact, odds are Costolo and co. will never come close to accomplishing 10% of what Zuckerberg has accomplished. This is because Twitter's path to comparable monetization is 1000x harder than Facebook's. Twitter for me is like having Bloomberg Anywhere except I don't pay $3000+ a month for it and the array of information is much more diversified.

It is an incredible feed of data, but completely lacking in valuable display real estate or a clear subscription revenue model capable of justifying the current valuation. This is why Twitter recorded revenue of less than $150 million last year versus $3.8 billion for Facebook. So, for all the criticism about mobile, at least Facebook actually has valuable display real estate to fall back on.

See, I am of the belief that mobile is not going to be an advertising rainmaker for anyone of the big internet companies. I think the real money in mobile will go to the network operators, the transaction/payment processors, and the premium branded hardware sellers. Mobile from an ad standpoint is just not valuable display real estate, and odds are it may never be. It is similar to what has transpired in television with sporting events as on demand killed the captive live TV audience. If you control the valuable piece of a shrinking pie, you will retain pricing power. The NFL, NBA, and the likes have figured that out. The same philosophy will apply to online advertising. Basically, if Facebook owns the most valuable real estate you are checking into via a non-mobile device, they will continue to prosper even as mobile web usage rates continue to rise.

Yep, mobile monetization is a challenge for all the major content players on the web, so I am not going to lose a lot of sleep over it right now. This is also why when I hear Twitter's Costolo touting how well they are doing on mobile now that this has become a hot topic, I can do nothing but smirk. Twitter doesn't have a real display business, and thus no cash cow to milk while they experiment with ways to milk the mobile web. Their strength is also on the go news which makes them more suited for mobile as far as engagement, but that doesn't mean mobile monetization will be any easier for them than it is for Google or Facebook. Honestly, if you cornered Dick Costolo I am sure you could get him to admit that he wished he had Facebook's 'mobile problem' because as things stand he still hasn't figured out how to generate significant revenue, let alone profits, out of the entire Twitter platform.

This monetization problem has been what has held back the Twitter and Weibo IPOs, not some sort of management steady as she goes philosophy. That was the case before Facebook, which contrary to popular belief, timed its IPO to perfection. Yes, in the land of going public, raising a $7 billion war chest and providing insiders a fat $10 billion single day cash out at a $100 billion valuation is the definition of perfection.

Understand that Facebook not only raised enough cash to do as they see fit for the next decade, but they also guaranteed themselves that they hit the top of a cycle. This is pretty good news if your future business model is hiring talent and acquiring smaller start- ups. When the perception in the capital markets is that there is no more easy money in your sector, valuations start to fall and jobs disappear. If you are Facebook, you couldn't ask for a better environment to execute your strategy.

This is why I have a hard time understanding how anyone could argue that Costolo has done a better job of positioning Twitter for its seminal market moment. Twitter didn't have what it took to IPO before Facebook rang the bell, and after Facebook they have almost no chance of coming to market without disappointing a bunch of their current investors. Their last major round was north of $8 billion. Run the numbers and you will realize that this is over 50x trailing revenue or 3x where Facebook is at today. Oh, and at this valuation the last VC guys who put in the capital Twitter is burning through while it tries to figure out its model get to break even. So explain to me how such an IPO will blow the Facebook IPO away when the last major round Facebook raised was at $50 billion, and those investors got a partial exit at $100 billion in under two years?

As things stand, the Twitter story is all about having a good poker face as a private sale is the only realistic exit that will satisfy all Twitter investors at this point in time. If they try to go the IPO route (which I still think is not an option because of de minimus relative revenue), they will have to do a managed IPO in which they float a tiny slice and play the artificial demand game and try to facilitate their exit.

This is also assuming Twitter's revenue growth - which has been a major challenge - really comes through and hits this $1 billion by 2014 mark that has been loosely tossed around. And let's not even bother with a profitability conversation right now let alone make comparisons to Facebook's pre-IPO EBITDA margins.

See, if you consider how intricately Twitter has woven itself into our daily lives, its revenue at this point in time is very disappointing. You can't say the same thing for Facebook, and that my friends, is what you call execution.

Disclosure: I am long FB via call options.

Source: Facebashing: Twitter's Non-IPO Vs. Facebook's IPO


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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

My single digit wardrobe

I have had a few people ask me recently what I wear when I run outside this time of year.

I live in Western Wyoming in the Rocky Mountains. We are at over 6200ft elevation, and snow is guaranteed from November through April, highly likely in October and May, and quite possible the other months in between. (Not kidding... I've seen snow in July and August).

I like to run outside whenever I can. This time of year, I do my speed/interval work on the treadmill (since our only tracks are outdoors and covered in snow and ice), and I do at least a couple of my easier paced runs outside each week.

Here I am, ready to go this morning
This week the temps have been in the single digits on my morning runs (I have been going at about 7:30am). This morning my friend drove by while I was running. She slowed down, rolled down the window, and informed me that it was -2 F. My phone said it was 8 F. Either way, it was cold.  I did six miles at an average pace and honestly, I was perfectly comfortable on my run.  Wearing the right clothes made all the difference.

So what do I wear to run outside in the cold?

My MOST favorite article of winter running gear is my Brooks Softshell Utopia jacket.
I have it in Cobalt and I wear it for all my cold weather runs. This jacket is SUPER warm, but very light weight and comfortable. (And it has thumb holes. I adore thumb holes). In the days I have run in rain and snow it has kept me nice and dry too. This is my one, must have, piece of winter running gear. (And I have washed it countless times and it still looks brand new).

Under my Brooks Utopia jacket, I just need one layer, so I wear one of my long-sleeved running tops.

On bottom, it depends on how far I am going and how cold it is. If it is single digits, I usually go with a base-layer of thin tights, and then my Brooks Glycerin Pants. If it is double digits then I usually go with just a thicker pair of compression tights or my Brooks pants. I haven't gotten new running pants in quite a while and I have my eye on these babies.

On my head I wear my Brooks Infinity beanie.  It is nice and warm without being TOO warm and fits perfectly. The fleece part around the ears and forehead feels great and there is a pony tail hole for people with enough hair to make a pony tail.  I love this hat. (And this is another thing I have washed over and over and over and it still looks new).
And my gloves are Brooks too... the awesome Brooks Adapt gloves. These have a great flap that goes around your fingers for an extra layer of warmth and wind/wet protection, but can fold back if your hands get too toasty. They are comfortable and WARM (which is what I need because cold hands are miserable). They are also MP3 compatible. Perfect!

I wear a good pair of socks and my usual Brooks PureFlow's. (You can read my very detailed review of the PureFlow's here.)
I know a lot of people use Yak Trax and other similar things to run in the winter, but I don't. I feel like they change my gait, and since I am marathon training, I don't want to mess with that. I find the traction with my PureFlow's to be just fine though. I try to avoid running on ice, but have had no problems in fresh snow, packed snow, and icy patches. This morning there was quite a bit of ice and I had no problems at all. The traction has been good and my feet have stayed warm, dry, and happy.

I think runners tend to need less clothing than they think they do for running outside in the winter, especially if you have a few good pieces of winter running gear (like a great jacket). Once you get moving you will warm up, and as long as your hands and head are covered, the rest of you will probably be just fine.
my Brooks gear is reflective which I love!

Someone asked me about breathing in the cold. I just breathe normally. The cold air doesn't bother my throat or lungs (and is not bad for you) and it usually feels really good to be outside and breathing fresh air (even if it is COLD). If it is really cold and I am going to be out for a longer run, I sometimes wear a Buff around my neck that I can pull up over part of my face if needs be, but I rarely feel the need for it (and rarely use it when I do wear it) and if it is THAT cold, I take the run indoors.

Those are my tips on winter running! Get a few good pieces of winter running gear, cover hands and head, try to avoid ice, go on a day when pace doesn't matter as much, don't over-think it, and have fun! I can't say how much I love going out on a cold morning when the snow is sparkling and the sun is coming up. I would take a cold, winter's morning run over a hot, summer afternoon run ANY DAY.

Do you run in the cold? What is your winter running "must have"?

fancy nancy said...

Ok if you can run in those temps then I have NO excuse!!! I actually prefer to run in the cold than the heat. You're right. It is all about getting gear for the weather! I feel so much healthier when I get out there in the fresh air!

Christie said...

I have the Brooks Jacket as well and LOVE it. It is so nice that it keeps you warm; but is still light weight enough that you can run. :)

Teamarcia said...

I run outside year round and much of my winter training is done sub zero.
I do switch to a trail shoe for snow/ice and because the wind whistles thru my usual shoes.
My best advice is, even if it's too cold to do your whole run outside, get out for even half of it and do the rest on the mill. The character you build on tough training days will pay off in spades on race day.

kaitwatts said...

I live in Wyoming as well and train for half and full marathons through the winter. Wind chill is a big factor of temp here. But, my rules for running outside with no excuse are-if it is 20 deg-run. If the wind is less than 30 mph-run. Your -2/8 makes me feel lame. Good Work!

BabyWeightMyFatAss said...

I don't mind outside running in the winter. It's all the years of Catholic school and wearing my skirt in subzero weather have made me used to the temps. But I worry about losing my traction and wiping out. because that would be my luck!

Becky said...

I have my running tights that are made for cold weather temps, and I also have a nike thermal top with long sleeves (and thumb holes!) that I can't do without. I also wear gloves and a headwrap that covers my ears. I love cold weather running! The only issue I have with it is after I'm done running, I get freezing cold and can't warm up! I have to take a bath to get my temperature back to normal! So weird.

Lacey Sue said...

I love my nike body armor and I don't run outside without it below 20F. I use some insulated gloves and a snowboarding beanie that work just fine to keep my head and hands warm. I wear compression socks in the cold- it helps for some reason- to keep my tootsie's and legs that much warmer. I have a wind breaker running jacket that I also wear if it's SNOWING while I'm running.
I think you look very stylish ;)! Happy winter running!

misszippy said...

I totally agree that people tend to overdress in the colder temps. I was reading through your list and shaking my head yes! That's about how I'd do it for those temperature ranges too. I LOVE the look of that jacket, btw.

Hey--I was chatting up my friends about Top of Utah the other day and one brought up a good question--is it at elevation? Can you email me that info? Thanks!

christa said...

I struggle with overdressing in the cold here in VT. I'm totally eying your jacket. It might be just what i want.

Penny said...

I must have a hat and glove. However I bought a Brooks jacket last year and love it. It is light weight and keep the sweat away from my body. I do run in the winter. I confess when it's cold out and my running partner is not running for some reason,I probably going to hit the treadmill. Hate to run in cold weather by myself.

Love all your tip

Terzah said...

I needed this post. I was definitely doing something wrong this a.m. because it wasn't as cold here as it was for you, and there was no wind, but I was FREEZING my whole track workout. It's the first time I've felt really uncomfortably cold running outside this year. (Normally I'm SO with you on the fresh air, and I MUCH prefer cold to hot.)

I may have to go the route you suggest and starting taking all my faster workouts inside when it's below 20 or so. Sounds like that works for you, which makes me less nervous about it. I'm always worried about the treadmill calibration factor you mentioned in another recent post, and I have no control over that since the 'mills I use are all at the rec center.

giraffy said...

First, I am 100% grateful that I do not need to contend with snow, ice, or extreme cold!

Second, your point about the cold air is interesting - my 12yr old ran a 5K on Saturday, and it was in the 40's (cold for us!), and she said the cold air bothered her... and in fact, she ran 3+ minutes slower than her last 5K in October. I guess it's just what you're used to!

Michele @nycrunningmama said...

Loved this post! Makes me feel like I have no excuse when I complain that it's 20-30 degrees out!
Great info on what you wore! I'm loving those gloves - I was just telling my hubby this AM that I need new gloves b/c I came back from a 5-miler with frozen fingers!

KimAmburn said...

Thank you! I have been researching cold weather gear since I hate the treadmill. I will definitely try these out!

Kevin said...

Oh, wow.. that's real snow in that picture. We don't get that stuff here in Texas. You'd feel like you were in a sauna running when we think its "cold" at 30 degrees. Gah!!!

Lisa said...

Brrr! That looks cold! Although I have to say, I'm a little bummed to be injured and unable to run right now cause I actually like bundling up for a chilly run!

Be careful out there on the ice!

Jessica Washburn said...

I had no idea there were running shoes for snow. I'm from Utah but moved to AZ in 2000, I'm trying to get used to the rain this week...all I know is heat. :) Lol.

jackie said...

Thank you so much for all your info...i just added lots of goodies to my cart. I live in indiana...and it tends to get very cold over here.

Katie @ Will Race for Carbs said...

Okay, snow during every single month? That is even worse than Colorado! Thanks for giving us your picks. I am going to have to get one of those jackets. I do actually like to run in the cold. I don't think it messes with my lungs and I love not overheating!


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About Serato

Serato creates world leading audio software for professional DJs and musicians. Serato is based in New Zealand and has partnerships with many highly regarded hardware, software, and record industry companies worldwide.

The Serato Story

When you think of DJing, New Zealand doesn't spring to mind as a great powerhouse of the craft. America, yes. England, definitely. But New Zealand?

Surprisingly though this is where the story of the company renowned for changing the face of traditional DJing begins. But before digital DJing ever existed it was an elusive bass line that the company was founded on...

In 1997 Steve West, co-founder of Serato, was attending Auckland University and learning to play the bass guitar as a side interest. Steve wanted to slow down complicated bass solos in songs in order to hear each note and subsequently learn them.

He could alter the playback speed of audio files but this would alter the pitch of the music. The pitch of the notes was the most important part - Steve wanted everything to sound the same, just slower so that he could learn.

There were tools available that attempted to keep the pitch constant whilst changing the tempo but, as far as Steve was concerned, these were sub-standard. Not only did it take almost a whole day to process audio using these tools but the results sounded distorted and were poor imitation of their source.

After a little research and some incredibly nerdy mathematics Steve wrote an algorithm making it possible to change the tempo of audio independent of the pitch.

This resulted in a tool that could speed up and slow down any piece of audio (including the bass solos) without coloring and distorting the result. Conversely, it could also alter the tempo of a piece of audio without changing the pitch. Not only that, but it was all done in the time it took to make a cup of tea.

Steve's good friend, A.J. Bertenshaw, co-founder of Serato, suspected that Steve was onto something, and despite Steve's eagerness to give this algorithm away for free, convinced him to take a shot at selling it. With the help of Steve's Mum and A.J.'s Dad they set off to Japan to talk to the big electronics firms.

In Japan they met with resistance at every turn and came very close to giving up on the whole thing.

"We were essentially talking to the wrong people. At the time it was really hard going - we knew we had something that was useful and valuable but we hadn't quite hit our target yet." - AJ Bertenshaw

On a trip to L.A. in 1998 Alan Bertenshaw (A.J.'s Dad) read an article in the newspaper about Sony Pictures. On a whim he walked down to Sony Pictures and organised a meeting with an engineer to demo Steve's algorithm.

During this meeting he gave a demo of how the algorithm worked and the engineer was astounded. So much so that he kept pulling more and more engineers into the meeting to show them.

Here was a tool that would significantly decrease post production costs - no more re-shooting scenes, or re-recording whole orchestras or scrapping audio. Here, they had a piece of software that could revolutionize their workflow.

Serato had finally found its market. And so, Pitch ‘n Time was born; a plug-in for Digidesign (now Avid) Pro-Tools and Apple Logic for time-stretching and pitch-shifting.

The next couple of years were spent establishing Pitch ‘n Time as a marketing leading time-stretching and pitch-shifting plug-in. This involved literally putting CDs in boxes and mailing them from New Zealand all around the world.

All of their experience up to this point had been working with Digidesign and creating the Pitch ‘n Time plug-in for their industry standard Pro-Tools audio recording and editing platform.

But in 2000 Steve and A.J. began experimenting with the idea of scratching music with your mouse.

A.J. had a working prototype of a piece of software that allowed you to scratch audio off a CD with a mouse. After a bit of feedback Serato took this idea further.

They investigated using timecode pressed onto vinyl records to control the audio playback. This didn't work for Serato because it didn't sound right.

There was a big difference between scratching and manipulating digital music being controlled by timecode on a vinyl record compared with scratching and manipulating a vinyl record with music pressed onto it. The mathematics worked but the sound didn't.

Driven by this spark of an idea, Steve and A.J. investigated the nature of the RIAA curve on a vinyl record and how this responded to manipulation.

They asked themselves and other DJs over and over: How tight is this? How does it sound? Time after time they went back to the drawing board, reworking the software and repressing vinyl records until finally they had something that people were starting to talk about.

Through this research the Serato NoiseMap™ was created.

The NoiseMap is not based on standard timecode because, as the team had discovered, straight timecode was unsuited to very fast and slow record movements.

Instead, the NoiseMap control tone is based on a resonating frequency with multiple position indicators which dramatically reduce latency and allow for fast scratching, spin backs and stalls that sound and feel like real vinyl.

Serato had created Scratch Studio Edition, a plug-in for Pro Tools that allowed studio engineers, producers and DJs to scratch any digital sample or sound file on their computer using their existing turntables or mouse as the controller.

Scratch Studio Edition

Related Links

Serato went to the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) convention in Anaheim, Los Angeles in 2002 to show off their new Scratch Studio Edition system. Their booth was in the basement where all the small companies start.

Los Angeles had long been a center for DJ culture and turntablism. So once word spread about this new digital DJing system the best of the best rolled through to try it out. And the best were blown away by the feel and response.

DJs traditionally played off vinyl records which were heavy to travel with and expensive to manufacture and buy. The early 2000s saw the invention of the CDJ which let DJs play CDs instead of vinyl.

But DJs couldn't manipulate a CD in the same way they could a vinyl record. CDJ's were a great innovation but still not the best solution for DJs who wanted to balance their love of vinyl culture with their need for practicality on an international tour.

Scratch Studio Edition made a huge impact but it wasn't practical for live DJs - they couldn't take their Pro-Tools rigs on stage with them.

Steve and AJ knew they had a way to move with the current trend in evolving DJ technology whilst preserving the traditions of vinyl DJing. It involved making new standalone hardware to work with software based on the work they had done with Scratch Studio Edition.

After a long design process Serato made the first "black box" in New Zealand for a portable digital DJ system.

A beta tester that came to NAMM show one year to demo this new system took one look at the mis-behaving DJ mixer on the Serato booth and promptly headed off to the Rane booth to borrow one of their high end DJ mixers for the demo.

From this, Serato met Rane and talked DJing. At the time Rane had a firm foot in the DJ hardware market with their successful mixers, the Empath and TTM 56.

The two companies discovered that they shared some core values as well, including their dedication to high quality products and exceptional customer service.

Realizing that manufacturing hardware in New Zealand was unrealistic, Serato and Rane entered into negotiations to become partners in bringing Serato's ground breaking vinyl emulation technology to market.

Rane had invaluable experience making high quality hardware that sounded incredible and Serato had a window into the future of DJing.

A couple of months later contracts were signed and Serato Scratch Live, the ultimate solution for professional DJs, was released in 2004.

By connecting a piece of Rane hardware to an existing DJ setup, DJs can access and perform with their entire digital music collection using specially designed control records, control CDs or their MIDI controller of choice.

Serato Scratch Live hardware (chronologically):

Soon after the release of Scratch Live, Sam Gribben, General Manager of Serato at the time, was speaking on a panel at Remix Hotel in Miami. After the conference Sam was approached by Universal Music Group to talk about a problem they were facing.

Traditionally, all DJs had been serviced with promotional music on vinyl record (so-called 'white labels') so they could premiere new music in club sets and radio shows.

Now that digital DJing was become the norm in America, DJs were wanting digital promos rather than physical promos.

Promo music on physical media was expensive to manufacture and distribute every month - particularly for DJs who might not even use it. Also, physical promos had the unfortunate habit of being stolen off of doorsteps and desks by avid music fans.

After talking to DJs about this, Serato came up with the digital promotional music distribution service, Whitelabel.net. Using Whitelabel.net record labels could send promotional music to to DJs quickly and securely.

To ensure that music delivered via Whitelabel.net was accessible only to DJs, Serato developed the wl.mp3 audio file format.

wl.mp3 files play as a 32kbps mono MP3 file in a normal MP3 player. But when played through Serato DJ software with supported hardware attached, DJs could access a full 320kbps stereo audio file. In other words, only DJs could access high quality music.

And it was 100% free and legal.

After signing deals with three major record labels, Whitelabel.net launched in November 2008 and has had over 10 million downloads.

Related Links

After a few years and some incredible word of mouth support from DJs, Serato had made a name for itself as innovators of digital DJing.

The Serato team toured the globe experiencing first hand the evolution taking place in clubs and radio stations around the world.

Digital DJing was taking over, and this small but growing team in New Zealand were a big part of it.

Serato saw the upsides for DJs during this evolution: multi-genre sets, receiving tracks from producers via email an hour before hitting the club, dramatically decreased luggage charges.

These were some of the benefits of using Scratch Live. But many DJs commented on the declining quality of in-house equipment like turntables, and also the reliance on a laptop screen that distracted them from the crowd.

In 2006 Serato started development on project "Skeletor" - an all-in-one compact DJ controller system that would put essential controls at a DJs fingertips, taking them away from the computer screen and keyboard.

There were already DJ controllers in the market but most came with software that DJs had to configure themselves and the experience was far from user friendly.

Serato's vision consisted of dedicated hardware units that, upon installing their software, would work straight out of the box. Simple.

They carefully chose hardware manufacturers to partner with and worked hand-in-hand to ensure that the hardware and software were integrated seamlessly.

"I guess we could see where the industry was heading back then. The controller market was very small at that time, but turntables in clubs weren't being serviced and the industry in general was shifting very quickly." - Sam Gribben, C.E.O.

In January 2008 Serato ITCH launched with its first supported hardware controller, the Vestax VCI-300.

Running alongside project "Skeletor" was a new project - "Gargamel".

Developers and DJs at Serato were interested in video DJing - VJing - and how digital vinyl systems could enhance this niche. DVD-based systems ruled the VJ market at the time and, although useable, were expensive and inflexible.

"Gargamel" was designed to be a simple addition to Scratch Live that would let DJs play digital video files much as they would their digital music collections. It had to be flexible, inexpensive and provide a familiar workflow for those experimenting with adding visuals to their sets for the first time.

By following this thought process Serato created not only a user-friendly, cost effective video plug-in for its existing product, but it had built one of the most portable and flexible audiovisual solutions on the market. Video-SL was born.

Video-SL quickly found a home in bars and clubs around the world. Headlining artists also adopted it for large scale visual shows at festivals and arenas, leaving behind the rigidity of VJ hardware for the flexibility of software.

"The philosophy we have when we develop products is that the software should have functional depth but be incredibly straight forward to use. Most of the time people don't need a million different options, just a few key layers and some rock solid reliability. We were blown away by the performances DJs made with Video-SL, and we still are blown away today by our Serato Video artists. That kind of creativity fuels our fire in-house to constantly improve and make new features." - Sam Gribben, C.E.O.

Serato Video-SL was released in 2008 as a plug-in for Scratch Live. In 2011, Serato Video-SL was retired and Serato Video was released as a free update for all Video-SL users. Serato Video is plug-in for both Scratch Live and ITCH.

Related Links

After 10 years in the professional audio software industry Serato had amassed an enviable collection of business partners and strategic relationships.

This started with Pitch ‘n Time and the work involving Digidesign (now Avid), continued with Rane's involvement in Scratch Live and was further advanced with ITCH and it's numerous hardware manufacturers.

Serato had been regularly meeting Berlin-based audio software company Ableton at industry events since 2007. The companies discovered that they shared similar outlooks on software development, business and the evolution of the music industry.

Ableton had taken a different approach to software based music performance and had made a huge impact with its popular digital audio workstation, Ableton Live.

After a meeting of minds Serato and Ableton agreed to develop a high level of interoperability into their Scratch Live and Ableton Live products.

The result was The Bridge - Scratch Live and Ableton Live working in harmony together. Scratch Live DJs could sync Ableton Live sessions with their DJ set and record a mixtape as an editable Ableton Live session.

The Bridge was launched in 2010 and is a free add-on for people who own both Scratch Live and Ableton Live 8.2 or higher.

Related Links

As the digital DJ industry grew so did the demand for an entry level software product from Serato.

Scratch Live, ITCH, Serato Video and The Bridge were all aimed at the professional DJ. But the Serato team knew the same plug-and-play approach used in their professional products was also well suited to those just starting out on their DJ journey.

Serato DJ Intro was launched in September 2011 and works with a range of controllers from a number of highly respected DJ hardware manufacturers.

Serato DJ Intro empowers anyone with a passion for music to take it one step further and start mixing.

Serato continues to develop innovative tools for digital DJs. Serato is dedicated to encouraging people everywhere to play with music.

Related Links

Hot off the heels of Serato DJ Intro, was project "Sauron"... One software to rule them all.

With three different DJ software offerings, Scratch Live, ITCH and Serato DJ Intro, Serato looked to consolidate their software platform and rebuild from the ground up. The goal was to have one professional platform, Serato DJ, speeding up and simplifying development, maintenance and providing a new platform to continue to innovate for DJs into the future.

Serato wanted to build the future of digital DJing.

1st November 2012 saw the release of Serato DJ 1.0, which supported the highly popular Pioneer DDJ-SX!

Thus spawned the long road of hardware support for existing ITCH controllers and also Serato DJ Intro controllers which could now be used with Serato DJ with a paid upgrade.

The next big milestone was Serato Remote, the first official App for iPad, a control accessory for Serato DJ and Scratch Live and then Serato Remote Mini for Serato DJ. Now DJs with simple setups could take advantage of all the exciting new performance features that only controller DJs or those with on-board mixer controls had at their fingertips previously.

The 1st October 2013 release of Serato DJ 1.5 was the first of two big releases and an announcement which would consolidate and define Serato: there would be no further updates to Scratch Live because Serato DJ now has Vinyl and CDJ control.

There were three very important pieces of hardware released with Serato DJ 1.5. Rane released the Rane Sixty-Four, a four-channel club mixer with dual USB ports. Pioneer released their first Serato supported mixer, the DJM-900SRT and their first add-on controller the Pioneer DDJ-SP1. This portable but powerful companion to the primary Serato DJ setup works with all Serato DJ supported hardware. DVS (vinyl and CDJ control) DJs could now take advantage of all the exciting new performance features Serato DJ had to offer.

On December 17th 2013 Serato released a Beta version of Serato DJ 1.6 and much appreciated support for the Numark V7. For the first time Rane DJs could use Serato DJ and see what all the commotion was about.

Then on February 4th 2014 came the biggest release in Serato’s history, Serato DJ 1.6 with DVS support. Serato DJ had been through a very thorough beta testing program to provide our dedicated user base with the opportunity to give us feedback on the new features and functionality with this huge release. It was now ready to be released.

It came with support for a long list of hardware, including the Denon MC6000 MK2Numark V7Pioneer DDJ-SZ (at this point unannounced), Rane SL2Rane SL3Rane SL4Rane Sixty-OneRane Sixty-TwoRane Sixty-Eight and the Reloop Terminal Mix 8, as well as the Pioneer CDJ-900 and Denon DN‑HC1000S accessories.

This release also added two more Serato DJ Expansion Packs, the Jet Pack FX and the impressive Pitch 'n Time DJ.

Stay tuned for future updates...


text:
Take the 2-minute tour ×
Server Fault is a question and answer site for system and network administrators. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I have problems accessing my website www.egytex.com, ping to the site works and has no lost data but direct access gives me a no route to the server available !?? how could ping works if there is no route to the server !?

anyone has a solution for this?

Thank you!

share|improve this question
Try "telnet www.egytex.com 80" –  Khaled Nov 7 '10 at 14:10

3 Answers 3

Ping usually uses ICMP whereas web access uses HTTP over TCP. So it is possible that some firewall or filter is blocking one but not the other.

Are you sure the webserver is running, is listening on the port you expect (80?) and does not have any allow/deny rules that are blocking access?

Are you using a hosting provider? Do they have a help desk? Are they still in business?

share|improve this answer

To expand on RGB's answer, this is almost certainly a firewall issue, because I can reach the ssh port on the server, too:

[madhatta@risby ~]$ ping www.egytex.com
PING www.egytex.com ( 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from www1.texmarkcorp.com ( icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=112 ms

[madhatta@risby ~]$ telnet www.egytex.com 22
Connected to www.egytex.com.
Escape character is '^]'.

[madhatta@risby ~]$ telnet www.egytex.com 80
telnet: connect to address No route to host

and in the last case, that answer is immediate, so it's not an ARP timeout (wasn't likely anyway). It's not DNS, because the same address is displayed each time. Check your local firewall with iptables -L -n -v and ensure that incoming TCP traffic to port 80 is allowed. If it is, take it up with your ISP.

share|improve this answer

Unfortunately, your browser and your OS can use different DNS resolvers in certain cases. What OS are you using? Can you try a different browser? Does 'nslookup www.egytex.com' agree with the IP address that ping is showing? How about traceroute? Your browser or machine may have cached DNS.

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text:
Take the 2-minute tour ×
Server Fault is a question and answer site for system and network administrators. It's 100% free, no registration required.

Windows Small Business Server 2011

Hi had a strange problem this morning someone reported that when they send an email from OWA their signature was coming out incorrectly, there was no spacing between certain elements etc...

After having a look a the emails html I notices that OWA seems to be appendning it's own

style as shown below:

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="MSHTML 9.00.8112.16450">


text:
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Server Fault is a question and answer site for system and network administrators. It's 100% free, no registration required.

Trying to get this up and running:

I have everything except CURL installed and when I attempt to, it fails with the following:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.
Need to get 196kB of archives.
After this operation, 311kB of additional disk space will be used.
WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
Install these packages without verification [y/N]? y
Err http://us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main curl 7.19.5-1ubuntu2
  404  Not Found [IP: 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/c/curl/curl_7.19.5-1ubuntu2_i386.deb  404  Not Found [IP: 80]

Thank you!

share|improve this question
It is past time to upgrade. You should start looking at that now. Yuor system is almost certainly vulnerable to several security issues. Support was dropped for that release over 18 months ago. –  Zoredache Oct 30 '12 at 21:51

1 Answer 1

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Karmic is no longer supported, you have get update from old-versions mirror.

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ karmic main restricted

to sources.list

share|improve this answer
I am sure you meant karmic, not gutsy right? –  Zoredache Oct 30 '12 at 21:52
Thanks! That worked... after I changed 'gutsy' to 'karmic. Very much appreciated! –  Racertim Oct 30 '12 at 21:53
Thanks for completing my answer. It was my mistake :) –  Hex Oct 30 '12 at 21:53

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Server Fault is a question and answer site for system and network administrators. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I terminated an instance because I had no more use for it, but to avoid creating another one I want to know if it is possible to reactivate it, I've tryed in the management console but reactivate doesn't look like an option ...

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1 Answer 1

up vote 4 down vote accepted

No, once an instance is terminated, it's gone.

That's why they have the termination protection bit you can enable for critical instances.

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PatternReview Blog > PR Weekend Los Angeles - April 24th-26th Registration is OPEN
PR Weekend Los Angeles - April 24th-26th Registration is OPENBy Deepika on 1/19/15 1:41 PM

13th Annual PR Weekend -  Los Angeles, California April 24th-26th

 See highlights from last year's event

Official Hotel

Headquarters of PR Weekend will be the Hotel Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles. This is a historic property built as a YWCA in 1926, converted to a hotel in 1930.  The hotel is decorated in a Moroccan theme harking back to a bygone era.  The hotel features plenty of public space on the first floor so there will be ample opportunity to enjoy a beverage and hang out with your PR friends.  We will be ideally located across the street from LA Live and a short 4 block walk from FIDM so you can visit the Scholarship Store and the Museum.

Room Rate: We've negotiated an awesome rate of only $139/night for all the PR Weekend attendees. To take advantage of this rate, register soon! The link to book the room at this rate will be in the confirmation email when you register. The rooms have either two double beds (ideal for sharing) or one king bed. Specify which room you'd like when you book.

Event Schedule

Thursday, April 23rd -Pick up your program booklets, ID badges and make connections! Optional group dinners will be planned (TBD)

Friday, April 24th

Shopping day!  Board a bus and explore a wonderland of fabrics.  We will be running buses from the hotel to Mood Fabrics, The Fabric Store and to the downtown shopping district with more fabric stores than you can count.  Your program will include a write up on members favorite stores in the district as well as listing the specialties of many stores.

Friday night – You don't want to mis this! Bernina is sponsoring a fun evening of show and tell (to share your favorite fabric purchase of the day), there will be a table for pattern adoptions, Bernina will be demonstrating their newest machines and there is plenty of space to move around and visit with all the other participants. We will be serving hors D’oeuvres with a cash bar.

Saturday, April 25th Interactive Fit Seminar with Lynda Maynard

Renowned fit expert and author of Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques, in her all day seminar Lynda will fit upto 4 garments (time permitting) on our live fit models. She will start with an A-Line Skirt, moving on to the Sheath, Pants and a Jacket! 4 volunteers will bring their pre-sewn muslins to the seminar and Lynda will show us how to fit them right there. She will then demonstrate how to transfer the alteration on the pattern pieces. During lunch break, we will have practice workstations so people can try those alterations on half-scale patterns. Lynda will be available to answer questions during this time.

Saturday Night - Group Dinner at a local restaurant.

Sunday, April 26th (optional)

Plans for Sunday will be on your own but the program will include options for bunch and other things to do in downtown LA.  If you haven’t bought enough fabric, most of the stores in the garment district will be open for business.

Ready to Party?

Register Now PR Weekend Registration is now CLOSED.

PR Weekend Registration - $150 (Non-refundable) If for some reason you cannot attend, you can transfer your registration to another member.

Registration will cover

1. Guided fabric shopping and transportation to Mood Fabrics and LA Garment District.

2. Friday night reception with hors D’oeuvres (cash bar)

3. Transportation to fabric stores

4. Interactive Fit Seminar with Lynda Maynard on Saturday

5. Saturday night group dinner

6. Information Packet and Souvenirs

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text:
Out Of The Ashes

7455978968_04b8efb882_o (2) (Photo credit: Flickr)

I believe in life after death, not every one does, but I do. Human beings aren’t merely flesh and blood, we have souls, and soul are indestructible. I’ve got friends who are atheists, so I’m not going to expand too much on this before I start a debate that would rival a sitting in the House of Commons.

Yesterday marked exactly ten years when people with warped views of life took the lives of 52 Londoners, they also left almost 100 people with life changing injuries and scars. Yeah I know, my post is a day late but the topic isn’t. After work yesterday, I caught a few glimpse on the news and was sad at such wanton destruction of human lives. But I was proud, (in fact, I still am) to be a Londoner. Years has passed, but we’ve grown stronger as a city. More tourists visited London than ever before, I love travelling on the tube, bus or on a private car. It’s testament to the fact that evil will and cannot win.

If we read the news, there’s always stuff that would make our tummies churn (my daughter always says that), but life isn’t all gore and horror. There’s the incomparable breath of fresh air, there’s the sheer joy of clean water, what about the juicy goodness of an orange? The list is endless, life is good, and it’s tough, I won’t dispute that.

The relatives of the 7/7 bombing and the senseless and needless attack in Sousse would be comforted by the love and prayers sent their way. I believe in prayers but I also believe in living each day with a heart of thanksgiving in spite of my circumstances, that, I believe is what would keep me sane and out of the ashes of stress and despair. My husband used to say that everyone has problems, it’s just our ways of dealing with life’s daily grind that’s different.

I would end my post with this simple quote from Groucho Marx, ‘I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.’ 15598033400_01b66cb659_k (2) NP: I’m still writing, albeit slowly. I’ve informed my publisher of my inability to submit my manuscripts until next year. Life seems to have a way of sending many distractions my way and I always oblige :) I hope everyone is fine. Please, stay safe! Much love to you guys, always! :) :)

Failure Is Not Terminal!

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 (Photo credit: Flickr)

“I really don’t think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don’t mind the failure but I can’t imagine that I’d forgive myself if I didn’t try.” Nikki Giovanni

“No man ever achieved worth-while success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure.” Napoleon Hill

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” Theodore Roosevelt

When we have peace within ourselves, we can think clearly. I stared at this picture for ages and it gvae such tremendius joy!

Just like this amazing creature, let’s pause and gather our strength, we can succeed!

I love these three quotes on what I’ll call ‘the near success syndrome’ a.k.a failure. Life is so dynamic yet mysterious and sometimes, what we call failure could well be delay. My dad used to say that the fear of failure mostly propelled him to succeed. He did failed miserably in some aspects of his life, but he succeeded in several as well. To ignore failure or looming failure, we must have courage. Courage is also borne out of the ability to build on one’s failure and squeeze success out of it, Abraham Lincoln failed continuously before he became the celebrated figure most people adore today.

I also believe that dreams have a way of taunting us if we don’t do much about it, I don’t think losing or failing should discourage or cut our enthusiasm short. Succinctly put, don’t give up! There’s more to learn from failing than not attempting something in the first place. I also believe that success derived from failure is the sweetest of all.

I don’t why I’m writing this, but if it touches someone to continue living and not give up on their dreams, then I’m happy.

NP: I’m still hard at work writing my books, it’s not as fast I would have loved but it’s still worth it. I’ll still ensure I visit all your blogs as time permits. I appreciate your friendship and visits guys, thank you!

I hope everyone would enjoy the rest of this great week!!

Much love, always. :)

The Hope Journey

15780916262_e599cd0cb4_b (2)

Hope has no age barrier!

(Photo Credit: Flicker)

For the past two weeks, I’d thought of a girl I met several years ago, a girl who taught me about hope, she once told me that, ‘hope is an endless journey, it never stops because if it does, it ceases to be hope.’

This is a true story:

Roughly around thirty years ago, as I was pushing towards my tenth birthday, my dad moved us into an exclusive neighbourhood, it was an eight bedroom duplex with what we called boys-quarters at the back. It was massive with house-helps and guards posted to the front gate and all sorts of people tending the garden. The house fitted us perfectly, we were a large family of eleven. My mom had nine kids, but even at that, I desperately missed my friends.

I preferred our former house, it was a bungalow in a quiet leafy street where kids could play outside. Our new home was different, everyone I met tried to speak with a posh accent. I was wild at heart at that age, I loved adventures, running around, stealing past guards and walking through the woodlands behind our  home, giving my poor parents such grief.

Then one evening in September, the African sun was slowly receding into the clouds, I sniffed the air in contentment as I strolled along the road which led to our home with one of my brothers. A girl my age walked past and waved, she wore a white dress and green sandals, I waved back, stealing one more look. She had the kindest eyes, and a lovely smile. I liked her at once, maybe I’d found a friend at last. Within two weeks we met properly. She lived on the next street, and her dad was in one of those boring clubs my dad frequented, where middle age men drink and exchange business ideas.

Ayo and I became fast friends, if she wasn’t in my house I was in hers. She was extremely beautiful, I nicknamed her ‘china porcelain,’ because my mom had a set of china plates and heaven helped whosoever dared touched the plates, I think I broke one or two though! :)

She was very fragile, her pale, pallor skin often gave her an ethereal glow, more like a ghost at times but we still played hard. Sometimes I’d noticed the worried expression on her dad’s face but I ignored it, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t understand why he always seemed so pensive. She was my best friend and I loved her to bits, I didn’t for once think anything could be wrong with her. Then one day I visited her house and saw her sweating on the couch, she looked very ill. I touched her forehead and it was so hot. Her dad came into the living room and walked her to the door. They left for the hospital and I couldn’t sleep well that night.

Ayo stayed in the hospital for two weeks, I was dying to hear news but my parents just told me she would fine. I knew something wasn’t right. It was like that for almost six months, Ayo would be fine for one week, then she would be sick for four. One day in March, we were almost a year in our new home when she came in for a visit. Her eyes were bright and she looked healthy, I sensed she wanted to tell me something and when she did, I was clueless. My best friend had ‘Sickle-Cell Anaemia,’ a terrible disease of the blood. When she left, I went into my dad’s library and rummaging through his vast array of encyclopaedias (there’s nothing like Google then) found information on the disease. What I read was too advanced for my age, but at best, I understood her condition.

Three weeks later, on a hot Friday afternoon, I went to her house and saw her on the bare floor, writhing in pain. This time around, it was serious, she was crying and I held her head in my hands. Her mouth was dry and her eyes were yellow.

‘I’m so sorry.’ I kept muttering under my breath. I think my voice did a little trick and she stopped crying. She managed to sit up and gave me a weak smile.

‘Seyi, don’t ever give up on hope, it’s what kept me going all these years.’ She said and I laughed.

‘You’re just weeks older than me.’ I said, still smiling, I wanted to wish away her illness and pain.

‘If I didn’t have hope, I would have gone, but I stayed for my dad…’ there was silence, ‘and you.’ She added with a twinkle in her eyes. We hugged tightly and I felt a tremor passed through her body.

‘It’s time,’ her dad muttered looking down at us. I felt lost and my heart was beating very fast.

I helped her to her feet and into her dad’s car. Her elder sister stood in the doorway, her ashen face portend sad tidings. I stood beside the car, I wanted to follow her but was too scared. My parents walked in through their gate and spoke tenderly to Ayo’s dad.

That night, my eyes stayed open. The next morning, I dashed to Ayo’s house but the gates were locked. A week later, Ayo was gone. In a way, I was relieved she was no longer in pain, for my ten-year old brain, an ordinary fever is hell compared to the endless pain Ayo endured for her short stay on earth. However, I won’t really remember her for that debilitating illness, I would remember her warmth, faith and hope. She was a girl who believed in hope, and for someone like that, why can’t we have hope?

Although she passed, but I believe she did when she wanted to, she was way older than her years. If she were to be here today, I knew she would still be spreading her message of hope. Thank God for science, people with Sickle cell lived longer and less painful lives now.

Thanks for reading my long story, I try to keep my posts short but I’ve not posted for almost six weeks and I sincerely hope I haven’t bore you. I apologise for my absence, It wasn’t deliberate. I would visit your blogs as much as time permits. I love you guys and I hope you’ll all enjoy the rest of this week.

Much love, always! :)

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To live well we must adapt to change

                       (Photo credit: Flickr)

The most constant thing in life is change. Sometimes we may try to fight it, other times, we could do the wise thing and let nature or life, as the case may be, take its course. As Heraclitus, the Greek Philosopher would say, ”there is nothing permanent except change.”

I agree, the only constant thing in life is change. George Bernard Shaw also penned that ”progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

However, how do we enjoy the changing seasons of our lives? How do we glide seamlessly through the seemingly unknown tides of change? We could either attune our attitudes to conform to whatever changes are before us or despair which would do us more harm than good. Not all changes are bad, actually, some things needed changing to ultimately give us a breather in the chaotic life we sometimes lead.

Using myself as an example, I’d deliberately changed some aspects of my life, and life has thrust some changes on me too. Like when my dad passed, or when I left my job, or when I decided to go solo on my career. Those were necessary but not all changes are pleasant though; the death of a loved one, betrayals from people you love, not been able to keep up mortgage repayments, illness, financial worries…

The list is endless but there are good changes too; the chuckling of a baby, the miracle of new birth, finding love, nature, the beauty of life in its entirety. I could go on and on about changes. I don’t think we should shy away from it. Most times, a seemingly bad change in fortune could well be a catalyst for a better and more productive life.

When our situation changes, it will do us well to live in spite of it. Sir Pratchett said it best in the above picture. I think we should live well before it’s too late.

I’ve missed you all, and I hope you’re all well. I’ll be popping by your sites as time permits! Have a great Easter, and if you’re not a Christian, have a great holiday!

Much love guys! :)

In the Spotlight: Author Seyi David

Seyi sandra:

I hardly find time to blog nowadays, writing a new book(s) is a long and arduous journey. That was why I was pleasantly surprised when Nadine decided to shed the spot light on me! I was taken aback by her kind generosity in writing the feature, and also, the love and loyalties of my friends always amazes me. Thanks guys! :)

Writing is the easiest part while advertising is the hardest job on the planet, even for the effervescent writer like my humble self.

Dear friends, do visit Nadine’s website, not only to peruse the feature written on my behalf but she has so many great stuff on that website of hers. I would continue to visit as many blogs as I can, and hopefully before the end of the week, I would update my website.
I’ve missed you guys soooo much!

Much love, always!! :)

Originally posted on nadine tomlinson :: live, love, write:

Today’s feature is about a woman with big dreams, a bigger heart, and the Aha! moment that inspired her latest novel.

Meet Seyi David

© Seyi David © Seyi David

Seyi David loves to write, and has done that for several years. She has worked as a reporter, teacher, and accountant. She had a brief stint as an actor while at university, before she finally decided to write novels full-time.

She is a committed blogger and a columnist for Black Heritage Today, a London-based Magazine, and Rev Up Media. Her first novel, The Impossible President, sold out of its first print run in 2004. She wrote a short story, “Tales of Five Lies”, which gripped readers worldwide. The Feet of Darkness, her second novel, is still on sale worldwide. Her latest work of fiction, Cydonia: Rise of the Fallen, is out now.

Seyi lives in London with her husband Kay, and three…

View original 922 more words

A Glimpse Of Bliss

Love is in the air!

Love is in the air! It’s all around us!!

(Photo credit: Flickr)

Life (love) is a pilgrimage. The wise man does not rest by the roadside inns. He marches direct to the illimitable domain of eternal bliss, his ultimate destination.

Swami Sivananda

How does one attain bliss in life? How does one attain bliss in relationships? I don’t think there is a clean-cut answer, but I bet it starts with a pure heart. That doesn’t mean the pure don’t get dumped, they do, but they can always pick themselves up again and march on regardless of their situation.

Not everyone celebrates Valentine’s day, the day set aside for lovers because some don’t believe in love anymore, maybe they have been burned several times and are now cynical. I still believe in love in its purest form, (not the kind of trash we see on films sometimes) there is still a lot of love in this beautiful planet of ours, we only need to look deeper to find the truth.
I hope you would all have a wonderful day today, love is the only thing we need in this world, the only remedy that can make our world full of bliss. We would not only catch a glimpse of bliss when we allow love into our hearts, we would live in a world free from pain.
Much love, always!

The Bystanders

15227687844_dd5519ccb7_o (2)

(Photo credit: Flickr)

Today marked the 7oth year of the liberation of that notorious death trap in Poland, Auschwitz. It’s a solemn day for the 300 hundred survivors who attended. Roman Kent, who gave a very moving speech where he implored people not to become bystanders, those words stood out for me. The word struck a chord in my heart, and I realise that by and large, we could be guilty of being a bystander.

We can do more to make the world a better place, but rather, we sometimes turn our eyes away, thinking, ‘it’s not my problem, I’ve got enough of my own.’ True, we all have one baggage or the other tied to our tired gait, but if every human on this planet (minus ISIS, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram  and all those crazed lunatics prancing about killing innocent people in the name of their blood sucking god, they relish in murders anyway), decides to stamp out evil, malice, hatred and our differences, we would be living in a crime-free world indeed.

I don’t want to be a bystander, I really don’t. If we all feel like that, maybe, there would be a chance that the world would prevent another near annihilation of innocent people.

For this post not to be an irony, I have to state categorically that Auschwitz is practically repeating itself all over the world. Killings of civilians continue unabated while the world looks on unperturbed. If I were to be the president of the world, I would abolish all weapons of mass destruction. However, since I am not, and would never be, I think I would be able to abolish hatred on my street.

Spreading a little love around need not bring any ills to the giver, and while I go to work daily afraid of a bomb going off by a crazed Jihadist, I still have hope that one day, all that ails the world would soon be forgotten.

I know we can’t choose where we come from but we can choose where we go from there.

I remain your loyal friend. :)

NP: I have missed several posts from some of you, please bear with me friends. This new adventure I’d recently embarked upon (writing two novels at once) makes me search for time, but I would find it and visit your lovely sites soon!

Much love, always! :)


text:
Simply S

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Dance - An S Routine and/or "free dance" blending all of the above, set to various genres of music.

60 minutes

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text:
Baba Rampuri talks about Patanjali Yoga Sutras and the Bombay muscle beach culture origions of Sivananada, Krishnamacharya Yoga and Patabli Jois Ashtanga

Baba Rampuri interview
Baba Rampuri: Patanjali was one of the greatest ever humarians, the greatest ever thinkers, a brilliant, brilliant man beyound believe.

His yoga sutras was a menemic device that was easyily memorized, as a commentary on Pāṇini’s Ashtadhyay. It has to do with speech.

This is a composition about speech. This is not about Hatha Yoga. This is not physical culture. This is not psycholocial culture. This is not philosophy. This is a technical text, a magical text of speech. The greatest ever compositions

Instead of reading further we propose to listen to original audio

Patañjali is known for two great great texts Mahābhāṣya and Yoga Sutras.
Mahābhāṣya is also a commentary on Pāṇini’s Ashtadhyay,
Mahābhāṣya is in the form of a dialogue between guru and student.
It is quit large, it took him 80 years for Mahābhāṣya.
It took him 2 weeks for Yoga Sutras. It is a spontaneous work
It is meant as a summary of Mahābhāṣya..
Both are intimately connected to speech a little bit better you will amaze yourself when you go over Yoga Sutras how you see it all the way through and you see a pretty strong consistency in all of this.
If you would be aware of the most powerful single device of brevity.
Brevity you make a long thing very short. If you use a zip archive you take the blank spaces out.

When I hear people talking about yoga sutras and anybody describes the third anga asana as a physical posture I can see they have not the slightest clue.

The device is called prathyahara. Prathyahara interestingly enough is fifth of Patanjali’s anga – Take a look how people translate and interprete prathyaha.
In a entirely psychological western interpretation. I have not seen one single english translation where I find the translation ‘brevity’.

henning moog Prathyahara is translatetd as bringing the senses inward like a turtle.
Baba Rampuri  Yes and that is completely psychological.
You have to see Patanjali in context of sound philosophy, Panini’s Ashtadhyay.

Prathyaha is a very specific device as yamas, nyama, asana and pranyama.
Pranyama is a very specific device. If you think about. If somebody spend 80 years writing mahabhasya, one of the greatest thinker ever, writing a manual for people 2500 years later, to instruct them to make breathing exercises? But do you think it is about breathing?

These interpretations are beyond absurd. It is incredible. It is as they are sitting in an office or an modern  yoga studio try to attract yoga students.

Henning Moog Krishnamacharya Yoga is letting out the energy body, they do not care about cakras and kundalini, they go directly to Patanjali.

Baba Rampuri They don’t go to Patanjali at all. They use Patanjali as a brand. It is a branding exercise  – where you take physical exercises and you say this is mystical east, this is mystical india. If you do this mystical exercises things will happen to make your life better just like drinking brown sugar water you will be able to join the pepsi generation, you will get access to the real thing. Coca Cola.
I hate to say it.
It is a branding exercise. If you take the whole line of Krishnamacharya to Patabli Jois. If you could believe this people.

What is source of knowledge of Krishnamcharya Yoga styles?
Where do they get it from?

I can tell you where Patabli Jois claims to get it from.
Could you believe that Patabli Jois found the book in the library in the palace of Mysore? This book popped out. He read and memorized this incredible book and then the book disappeared.

Excuse me. If you give out that story who would believe you? She would not even believe you.

I find that Patabli Jois and T. Krischnamachary have to be condemned more than anybody else because of their extreme hypocrisy.

Yama is restriction. What is the first of the restriction it has to be the truth and it cannot be any violence to it.

If you gonna make up a story where all this things come from and you kill the real thing in order to promote the story you already lost the first anga.

If you say it is a good fitness system and it makes you healthy than it is fine.

If you start superimposing it and you say this is the ancient indian tradition that is what changes is.. this becomes a curse. Patbalis Jois lives under a curse. When your son commits suicide you live under a curse. And why did he commit suicide? Because they were just about publishing the papers showing that his father was a homosexual paedophile.
Which is very consistent with a lot of the origion of this physical culture in India. Same thing is said about Krishnamachary.

Than you have this other branch that feels they taking ocker and combining ocker with this you somehow legitimize it

We have the tradition of Sivananda which is completely coming out out of the Bombay physical sort of muscle beach culture and Satyananda same thing coming out of that yogananda muscle beach culture.
We have scandal, scandal, scandal.

None of this is about the ultimate aim like I describes Patanjali which is the prosperity of the community.

That the community is prosperous, healthy and happy.

Instead the basis is self-obsession, I want to look good, I want to be more popular, I want enlightenment…

It is in strict opposition to Patanjali  &  Panini, and the yogis and shamans.
Preserving magic, to that the public may be healthy, prosperous and move on.


text:
Take the 2-minute tour ×
SharePoint Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for SharePoint enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.

Let's say you want to build a custom ASP.NET CRM app and use SharePoint as backend document storage.

  • Is it possible to redistribute WSS 3.0 / SharePoint Foundation 2010 along with your custom application from a legal perspective.
  • How do you incorporate WSS installation into your MSI or any other package.

In essence, just like SharePoint can deploy SQL Express as database backend I am wondering if I could deploy WSS as mine backend.

share|improve this question

1 Answer 1

up vote 2 down vote accepted

There are a number of vendors selling SharePoint bolt-ons but I'm not aware of any that have hidden the fact that SharePoint is being used or that it needs to be installed first. Surely it would be in your best interest to have SharePoint installed and configured before your app is installed. It is possible to script the SharePoint install and configuration, but I'm not sure I would do it for this. There are so many variables, and it may make it very difficult to connect it to an existing SharePoint system or later use SharePoint for another purpose.

share|improve this answer
Just to clarify: I am not trying to hide the fact we will be using it, just want to automate the installation procedure cause some peope will not know how to install SharePoint and give up. Many MS apps ship Express as part of their installation just to make sure users are able to concentrate on app at hand and not worry about backend system installation. –  Toni Frankola Feb 12 '10 at 21:14
I guess the best thing to do is test it. I know the install and configuration can be scripted. I would just be worried about the other variables. I would be sure to offer the option of installing it on an existing SharePoint server. I'm still of the opinion that the simple installs are not reliable installs and lead to more problems. –  Mike Oryszak Feb 12 '10 at 21:44
Yup there should be an option "Deploy to an existing SharePoint". –  Toni Frankola Feb 12 '10 at 21:48

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text:
Take the 2-minute tour ×
SharePoint Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for SharePoint enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I found this really nice effect on this website:

Please take a look at the IE advertisements on the top and the right side of the page.

It seems like some kind of elastic effect.

Has anybody implemented this anywhere??

Thanks enter image description here

enter image description here

Its probably not possible to tell the effect without actually seeing it. For all I know it might just be Flash content.

share|improve this question

closed as off topic by SPDoctor Aug 24 '12 at 15:15

Questions on SharePoint Stack Exchange are expected to relate to SharePoint within the scope defined by the community. Consider editing the question or leaving comments for improvement if you believe the question can be reworded to fit within the scope. Read more about reopening questions here. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

Not seeing the advert, could you take a screen shot snippet and show? –  Hugh Wood Aug 24 '12 at 12:45
Still can't see anything that looks like an elastic effect in IE or FF, can you show the two transition states. –  Hugh Wood Aug 24 '12 at 13:16
Per the FAQ, this does not apply to the relevant topics of discussion for this site. Please consider asking it somewhere else. –  RJ Cuthbertson Aug 24 '12 at 13:52
Sorry, per the FAQ this is off-topic for this site. –  SPDoctor Aug 24 '12 at 15:15

1 Answer 1

up vote 0 down vote accepted

Not really a SharePoint question....

It's Flash (as are all of the ads on the top of Engadget's home page). Just right click on it, and you'll see that it's Flash. That said, it's just a simple x-axis movement with easing. The core jQuery animate function could easily handle the same thing... no need for a "plugin".

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Im sorry guys. I meant to put this under stack overflow. Is there a way for me to move it? –  user7400 Aug 24 '12 at 15:39

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text:
Take the 2-minute tour ×
SharePoint Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for SharePoint enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.

How can i make the style of the OOTB navigation bar like the mega menu style. There are articles on the net, but they use a List as the data source of the menu. But i want the OOTB navigation bar behave like a mega menu? Any help is appreciated.

share|improve this question
It will take a lot of time changing SP2010 navigationbar dropdown behaviour and css modifications. Alternatively I can recommend Archetonomys solution –  Daniel Ziga Oct 9 '12 at 10:48
thanks for your concern but i am looking for a free solution –  ozdogan Oct 10 '12 at 18:44

1 Answer 1

I realise this is a really old question, but it showed up when I was reviewing some information for a blog post on achieving a mega menu using the ootb navigation.

Hopefully it helps out anyone who comes across this in future.

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text:
Take the 2-minute tour ×
SharePoint Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for SharePoint enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I have created SPD workflow with a custom ASP form. My form opens when clicking on a task link and I can show information about the task. Now I want to alter the task after pressing a button, but can't make it work.

Code of my click handler:

Hashtable hashTable = new Hashtable();
hashTable["PercentComplete"] = 1;
SPWorkflowTask.AlterTask(this._taskListItem, hashTable, true);

but it seems like this approach doesn't work, I am getting the following error:

NotSupportedException. Specified method is not supported.
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowTask.SetWorkflowData(SPListItem task, Hashtable newValues, Boolean ignoreReadOnly)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow.SPWorkflowTask.AlterTask(SPListItem task, Hashtable htData, Boolean fSynchronous)
at NewServerForms.Layouts.NewServerForms.ApprovalTaskForm_Edit.btnSubmit_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)

_this.taskListItem is not null (I have checked it) and was initiated as follows in the Page_Load:

this._listGuid = Request.Params["List"];
this._listItemId = Request.Params["ID"];
using (SPWeb web = SPContext.Current.Site.OpenWeb())
    this._taskList = web.Lists[new Guid(this._listGuid)];
    this._taskListItem =  this._taskList.GetItemById(Convert.ToInt32(this._listItemId));

I have two ideas, why it is hapenning:

  1. Probably I have to use another approach for SP2013 WFs.

  2. As I can see in msdn, this error could be if my content type is not derived from WorkflowTask Content Type.

Most likely it is really the latter, because my task content type looks as follow:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  <ContentType ID="0x0108003365C4474CAE8C42BCE396314E88E51F00F35251B8B0C24C4986783D649A695D00" Name="TaskApproveNewServer" Group="MyGroup" Description="MyCT" Version="0" Overwrite="TRUE">
      <FieldRef ID="{6f78c128-5660-4835-9b03-4c08d5eef709}" DisplayName="AbsenceStatement_Status" Required="false" Description="" Hidden="false" Name="AbsenceStatement_Status" Sealed="false" />
      <FieldRef ID="{55B29417-1042-47F0-9DFF-CE8156667F96}" DisplayName="$Resources:_FeatureId57311b7a-9afd-4ff0-866e-9393ad6647b1,TaskOutcomeField_DisplayName;" Name="TaskOutcome" Sealed="FALSE" />
      <XmlDocument NamespaceURI="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3/contenttype/forms/url">
        <FormsUrl xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3/contenttype/forms/url">

Its ID derived from WorkflowTask, but there is no Inherits="TRUE" attribute (it was removed, because I can't use custom forms when it is true because of the well-known issue).

So, could you suggest me, how can I alter the task using my custom ASP form?

Every suggestions are very appreciated.

Kind regards, Michael

PS: This is a cross-post from Microsoft forums.

Update 1:

It seems like the cause of the issue the former. At least, now I added Inherits="TRUE" attribute (and set forms from the Feature receiver), but anyway I am getting the same error.

share|improve this question

1 Answer 1

It seems like the SPWorkflowTask.AlterTask method really doesn't work for 2013 workflows, but we can change task fields directly and it works well.

For instance, instead of

Hashtable hashTable = new Hashtable();
hashTable["PercentComplete"] = 1;
SPWorkflowTask.AlterTask(this._taskListItem, hashTable, true);

We could write

this._taskListItem["PercentComplete"] = 1;

Don't forget to add Update.

UPDATE1: I have just written a walkthrough: how to implement custom task forms for SP2013 WFs.

share|improve this answer
Seems like your question is helpful but not the answer –  Gennady Vanin Геннадий Ванин Jan 4 '13 at 16:23

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text:
Monday, July 27, 2009

Missing so many points on health care

I can't say that President Obama knows little about health care and misunderstands the free market, but, based on his performance at last week's press conference, both seem likely. The notion that there is no competition unless there is a government option is absurd. Although it is not really a free market, there is competition in the current system (whether we like the market equilibrium is another matter). What a monopsonistic public option is likely to do is destroy competition since it will tend to set prices in a way that will drive out private insurers and, as a result, stifle supply side innovation and quality improvements. That's elementary economics.

It is probably true that care decisions are driven by reimbursement schedules but that is a function, not of profit, but of third party payment. Any system of third party payment is likely to develop a set of rules about what can or cannot be paid for. In fact, Obama's central selling point is that he thinks the government can set up a centralized reimbursement schedule better than the ones that have emerged from competition between insurers and plan administrators.

This seems unlikely and, if it is possible, it's not because the government doesn't have to make a profit. Public choice theory tells us that the government is just as self interested as private actors.

Once again, Obama treats profit as economic rent or as a "cost" that must be wrung from the system. The notion that it might serve as an incentive for the development of new drugs, technologies, modes of treatment, etc., does not seem to have occurred to him.

That point is central to his failure to appreciate what is good about our current system. Poll after poll shows that an overwhelming majority likes their health care. They may want to pay less for it. They may want to feel more secure about it. But they like it and they should. The best health care in the world is available in the US. The oft cited WHO "ranking" and the reliance on aggregate statistics like life expectancy don't prove otherwise. The WHO ranking is weighted heavily toward state provided or guaranteed health care and aggregate stats on general well being reflect all sorts of things other than health care. Statistics that focus on what happens to people that actually get sick tend to support the notion that the US offers the best care. Many of the drugs and technologies that are available elsewhere were developed here where firms had incentives to develop them. Blowing up that system to address an access problem for a relatively small percentage of the population and to reduce costs seems counterintuitive.

Reform is certainly warranted but, once again, Obama shows a commitment to centralized solutions. A recent article in the Weekly Standard shows the difficulty in developing a nationalized system of health care records in which a computer would decide whether you need a stent or a bypass. Perhaps the federal government has the capacity to decide treatment regimes (as Obama puts it, whether to use the red pill or the blue pill) in a way that won't harm care and innovation. But I find it hard to believe.

In the end, its hard to see anything on offer from the President but an embarassingly caricatured view of the private sector (doctors will take out tonsils of someone who just has an allergy to make more money).

And he's not the only one. Paul Krugman won a Nobel Prize for Economics by doing something, but the studiously avoids any economic erudition in his New York Times column. On Saturday, he told the nation that insurance doesn't work. That's quite a surprise given the billions of dollars that people willingly pay not only for health insurance but for life, auto, liability, business interruption, property, etc. insurance.

The reason seems to be that insurance companies would prefer not to pay claims. The government, he implies, wouldn't mind at all. But we know that's not true (and we'd go bankrupt if it were). The difference is that insurance companies have to pay what they promised to pay. This is why they engage in what Krugman believes is the "socially harmful" business of claims administration. Insurers who stiff their policyholders tend to lose customers.

But, in a single payer system, the government can deny whatever and whenever it wants. The only solution is political and we see how well that has worked with the IRS, DMV and other bastions of customer service in the public sector.

Anonymous said...

What would happened to the health care system if we didn't have a third party payer?

It seems to me that our healthcare system didn't have the problems it does now when most people didn't have insurance. It also seems to me that people were healthier then they are now.

Maybe there are lessons to be learned from the past that could solve some of these problems.

Anonymous said...

Well, Professor, your comment in a later post about Harvard instilling a sense of superiority in its students rings true here. You, a professor of constitutional law, know more than the President, with all the smart people advising him, does about health care economics. And to prove it you throw around big words like "monopsonistic." A public option would be a monopsony? Doesn't that mean when one party is the only party allowed to buy?

Offering a public option in competition with existing private options would not create monopsony. If the service you'd get from a government insurer would be the same as you get from the DMV, folks will just keep their private insurance. The private insurance will have those efficiencies and innovations you tout. If, as the advocates of single-payer health insurance say, private insurance spends way too much on administration, then a public option that offers better coverage per premium dollar spent will cause those private insurers to innovate and compete to keep their premiums down.

Most of the countries ranked ahead of the US in the WHO survey of health care systems do not have just government-provided insurance. They have a mixture of public and private insurance. Why shouldn't we?

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:18--well said. I, too, was simply amazed that Shark knows oh-so-much! Wouldn't we all be better off if Shark was in DC?

Toronto real estate agent said...

"Blowing up that system to address an access problem for a relatively small percentage of the population and to reduce costs seems counterintuitive."

Have you by any chance some real numbers? How many people out there are actually without a needed coverage? Because I've read it's 15%. If that's true, it's a lot in my eyes.

jp said...

18 million can afford it, but don't want it

8.4 million 18-25 years old and feel indestructible

9.4 million between jobs temporarily uninsured

8 million children eligible but not signed up by parents

3.5 million eligible for government programs but have not signed up

12.6 million illegos (not really here)

Thanks for asking

Anonymous said...

Julie -

Everyone is covered in emergencies by hospitals that accept Medicare.


text:
Where Were You on 9/11/2001?

Surviving 9-11Everyone can tell you precisely what they were doing when our nation’s innocence was destroyed by terrorists who used planes to toppled the World Trade Center, hit the Pentagon, and caused a fourth plane to crash into a field in Pennsylvania.

Where were you?

I was working for St. Mary’s Medical Center and had left my office at about 8:20 a.m. to attend a meeting at Bay Medical Center. I was listening to the radio as I drove. Regular programming was interrupted with an announcement that a “small plane” had hit one of the twin towers in the heart of New York City. It was assumed it must have been a small private plane, but a short while later, the other tower was hit by a second passenger plane, and the horror of the situation became apparent.

I was with a half dozen of our area’s hospital administrators. We were on a committee to run a lithotripsy service in our area. (In addition to Bay Medical and St. Mary’s, Mid-Michigan Medical Center, McClaren, West Branch, and a couple other hospitals were represented. About six of us attended the meeting.) I was the only one who didn’t hold the title of President or Vice President of his facility.

When I walked into the meeting room at Bay Medical, several others were already watching the unfolding story on television. All eyes were riveted to the news as it developed. The dramatic photos showed the damage to the buildings. Terrorism was apparently the cause.

We attempted to conduct the meeting, but it was impossible. The TV was behind me. The sound was turned down. All of the sudden there was a gasp from those on the opposite side of the table. The second tower to be hit had collapsed. Shortly thereafter the other tower came down. It was devastating.

We were silent as we listened to the reports.

The meeting concluded prematurely and I headed back to my office. The rest of the day was spent huddled around the TV set in the conference room at St. Mary’s. No one worked. There was little conversation. We were stunned.

It was an unforgetable day. Our nation’s innocence had abruptly ended.

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