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Friday, June 5, 2015

My Weekly Commentary: Just the Facts

My apologies.  I had commitments today and was unable to find the time to write.

For the Week:

The S&P500 declined 0.7% (up 1.6% y-t-d), and the Dow fell 0.9% (up 0.1%). The Utilities sank 4.1% (down 10.9%). The Banks jumped 2.8% (up 4.5%), and the Broker/Dealers surged 3.2% (up 8.0%). The Transports gained 2.5% (down 6.9%). The S&P 400 Midcaps were little changed (up 5.1%), while the small cap Russell 2000 rose 1.2% (up 4.7%). The Nasdaq100 declined 0.7% (up 5.7%), and the Morgan Stanley High Tech index was about unchanged (up 5.1%). The Semiconductors were hit 2.6% (up 5.7%). The Biotechs slipped 0.5% (up 20.2%). With bullion down $22, the HUI gold index fell 4.2% (down 2.6%).

Three-month Treasury bill rates ended the week at two basis points. Two-year government yields rose 10 bps to 0.71% (up 4bps y-t-d). Five-year T-note yields jumped 25 bps to a 2015 high 1.74% (up 9bps). Ten-year Treasury yields surged 29 bps to an eight-month high 2.41% (up 24bps). Long bond yields rose 23 bps to an eight-month high 3.11% (up 36bps).

Greek 10-year yields fell 20 bps to 10.66% (up 92bps y-t-d). European bonds were routed. Ten-year Portuguese yields surged 39 bps 2.92% (up 30bps). Italian 10-yr yields jumped 39 bps to 2.23% (up 34bps). Spain's 10-year yields surged 38 bps to 2.21% (up 60bps). German bund yields spiked 35 bps higher to 0.84% (up 30 bps). French yields surged 37 bps to 1.16% (up 33bps). The French to German 10-year bond spread widened two to 32 bps. U.K. 10-year gilt yields rose 27 bps to 2.08% (up 33bps).

Japan's Nikkei equities index slipped 0.5% (up 17.3% y-t-d). Japanese 10-year "JGB" yields jumped 10 bps to 0.48% (up 16bps y-t-d). The German DAX equities index fell 1.9% (up 14.2%). Spain's IBEX 35 equities index declined 1.4% (up 7.6%). Italy's FTSE MIB index sank 2.8% (up 20.2%). Emerging equities were volatile. Brazil's Bovespa index recovered 0.4% (up 5.9%). Mexico's Bolsa slipped 0.5% (up 3.1%). South Korea's Kospi index dropped 2.2% (up 8.0%). India’s Sensex equities index sank 3.8% (down 2.7%). China’s bubbling (and volatile!) Shanghai Exchange surged 8.9% (up 55.3%). Turkey's Borsa Istanbul National 100 index fell 1.1% (down 4.4%). Russia's MICEX equities index rallied 2.7% (up 18.3%).

Junk funds saw inflows of $601 million (from Lipper).

Freddie Mac 30-year fixed mortgage rates were unchanged at a 2015 high 3.87% (unchanged y-t-d). Fifteen-year rates were unchanged at 3.08% (down 7bps). One-year ARM rates jumped nine bps to an 18-month high 2.59% (up 19bps). Bankrate's survey of jumbo mortgage borrowing costs had 30-yr fixed rates up 6 bps to 4.06% (down 22bps).

Federal Reserve Credit last week fell $11.2bn to $4.427 TN. Over the past year, Fed Credit inflated $142bn, or 3.3%. Fed Credit inflated $1.616 TN, or 57%, over the past 134 weeks. Elsewhere, Fed holdings for foreign owners of Treasury, Agency Debt jumped $26.9bn last week to $3.354 TN. "Custody holdings" were up $61bn y-t-d.

M2 (narrow) "money" supply jumped $19.2bn to a record $11.960 TN. "Narrow money" expanded $633bn, or 5.6%, over the past year. For the week, Currency increased $1.8bn. Total Checkable Deposits rose $20.6bn, while Savings Deposits declined $2.0bn. Small Time Deposits slipped $2.3bn. Retail Money Funds increased $1.1bn.

Money market fund assets increased $3.5bn to $2.618 TN. Money Funds were down $115bn year-to-date, while gaining $38bn y-o-y.

Total Commercial Paper slipped $1.3bn to $944bn. CP declined $95bn over the past year, or 9.1%.

Currency Watch:

The U.S. dollar index declined 0.6% to 96.35 (up 6.7% y-t-d). For the week on the upside, the Swedish krona increased 1.6%, the euro 1.2%, the Brazilian real 1.1%, the British pound 0.1% and the Canadian dollar 0.1%. For the week on the downside, the South African rand declined 3.5%, the Norwegian krone 2.3%, the Mexican peso 2.2%, the Japanese yen 1.2%, the New Zealand dollar 0.8%, the Australian dollar 0.3% and the Swiss franc 0.1%.

Commodities Watch:

The Goldman Sachs Commodities Index declined 1.4% (up 3.5% y-t-d). Spot Gold fell 1.9% to $1,168 (down 1.4%). July Silver sank 4.3% to $15.98 (up 2.4%). June Crude lost $1.17 to $59.13 (up 11%). June Gasoline dropped 2.7% (up 38%), and June Natural Gas fell 1.9% (down 10%). July Copper lost 1.3% (down 5%). July Wheat rallied 8.4% (down 12%). July Corn recovered 2.6% (down 8%).

Fixed Income Bubble Watch:

June 5 – Bloomberg (Simon Kennedy): “There’s a $400 billion reason to worry if you’re a bond investor. That’s how much global currency reserves have shrunk since reaching a record $12 trillion last August… The decline is another potential source of volatility in debt markets rocked this week in part by ebbing deflation fears in Europe and speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon raise interest rates. That’s because contracting reserves leave countries with less money to recycle into bonds, removing a key support, strategists at… Pavilion Global Markets Ltd., said in a note… titled ‘Falling Reserves, Rising Yields.’ Periods of falling reserves historically coincided with increased fixed-income volatility, as measured by a market stress indicator created by the ECB and based on fluctuations in the German 10-year bond, according to the Pavilion team, led by Pierre Lapointe.”

June 3 – Bloomberg (Alexandra Scaggs): “More Wall Street executives are sounding alarms about the bond market. The latest to warn were Gary Cohn, president of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Anshu Jain, co-chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank AG. The concern is bond investors looking to buy, or especially to sell, will face wide prices swings and higher costs to get a transaction done. ‘The problem is on the days when you need liquidity, it probably won't be there,’ said Cohn… Large Wall Street banks, or dealers, are carrying a smaller share of bonds on their books, as regulations restrict the capital they can hold on their balance sheets. Money managers, meanwhile, are holding a lot more of them. Dealer inventories dropped by 27% between 2007 and early 2015 while assets held by bond mutual funds and exchange-traded funds almost doubled.”

June 3 – Bloomberg (Michelle Davis): “A dark shadow is lurking behind the happy façade of rising stock prices. U.S. companies are borrowing money faster than they’re earning it -- and they’re doing it at the quickest pace since the aftermath of the financial crisis. Instead of deploying the debt to build factories, hire new workers or expand product lines, companies are funneling more of their money to shareholders or using it to fund deals. Stock buybacks reached an all-time high last year and the volume of global mergers and acquisitions announced so far this year would make it the second-busiest ever… The debt undermines future growth and could dent company income when borrowing costs rise… The consequence: profitability, buoyed by cheap money since rates went to near-zero in 2008, will sink. ‘Companies have said, ‘We don’t have an ability to grow organically, so we can distract shareholders instead,’’ according to Jody Lurie, a credit analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott… ‘When they buy back shares, all it does is optically make earnings per share look better.’”

June 1 – Financial Times (James Fontanella-Khan and Robin Wigglesworth): “US dealmaking hit an all-time monthly record in May, surpassing the previous highs seen during the peak of the dotcom bubble and the zenith of the debt boom that led to the 2008 financial crisis. The overall value of deals in US-bound mergers and acquisitions activity amounted to $243bn in May compared to $226bn during the same month in 2007 and $213bn in January 2000, the previous biggest and second biggest months respectively, according to Dealogic… The data underline how frenzied US dealmaking has become as cheap debt and bullish boardrooms fuel an M&A boom of a size not seen since just before the last two equity market crashes.”

June 3 – Bloomberg (Laura J Keller): “For the hedge funds and money managers that pick over the credit market’s scrap heaps, Puerto Rico has become the new ground zero. Some of the same distressed-debt buyers that started battling seven years ago over the remains of Lehman Brothers… are now girding for a rematch over the U.S. territory’s $72 billion of debt… The conflict is heating up after the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as Prepa, met with the financial adviser to its creditors Monday to restart talks toward a restructuring that may ask bondholders to take a loss or wait longer to be repaid. Hedge funds now hold as much as 30% of the obligations of Puerto Rico and its agencies, Barclays Plc municipal-debt strategist Mikhail Foux estimates. ‘It’s extremely disorderly and nasty,’ said Joseph Rosenblum, director of municipal-credit research at AllianceBernstein… This ‘messy approach to trying to resolve something with no clear structure or guidance doesn’t give a bondholder any kind of confidence,’ he said.”

U.S. Bubble Watch:

June 3 – New York Times (Noam Scheiber and Dalia Sussman): “Americans are broadly concerned about inequality of wealth and income despite an economy that has improved by most measures, a sentiment that is already driving the 2016 presidential contest, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll. The poll found that a strong majority say that wealth should be more evenly divided and that it is a problem that should be addressed urgently. Nearly six in 10 Americans said government should do more to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, but they split sharply along partisan lines…These findings help explain the populist appeals from politicians of both parties, but particularly Democrats, who are seeking to capitalize on the sense among Americans that the economic recovery is benefiting only a handful at the very top.”

June 3 – Bloomberg (Hugh Son and Pamela Roux): “Jamie Dimon, who helped assemble Citigroup Inc. and then improved on the experiment with JPMorgan Chase & Co., is responsible for two of the biggest banks the world has ever seen. His life’s work also made him rich. With JPMorgan shares near a record high, Dimon’s net worth is about $1.1 billion… Dimon’s fortune derives from a $485 million stake in… JPMorgan… and an investment portfolio seeded by proceeds from Citigroup stock sales. Dimon’s status is unusual because, with the exception of former mentor Sanford ‘Sandy’ Weill, few bank managers accumulate that much wealth. Most finance-industry billionaires start businesses or investment firms, such as hedge-fund tycoon George Soros, who is worth $28.5 billion, or Blackstone Group LP co-founder Steve Schwarzman, worth $13.4 billion.”

June 1 – USAToday (Greg Gardner): “New-car sales are running at near-peak levels, partly because many consumers are financing their purchases for longer terms. The average new car loan has reached a record 67 months, reports Experian… The percentage of loans with terms of 73 to 84 months also reached a new high of 29.5% in the first quarter of 2015, up from 24.9% a year earlier. Long-term used-vehicle loans also broke records with loan terms of 73 to 84 months reaching 16% in the first quarter 2015, up from 12.94% — also the highest on record.”

June 5 – Bloomberg (Prashant Gopal and John Gittelsohn): “The sales office for condominiums at Miami’s Brickell City Centre attracted more than 100 visitors daily last year, with prospective buyers crowding in and snapping selfies beside a scale model of the $1 billion project. Now, the flow of people has trickled to about a quarter of what it once was. ‘Buyers are asking really good questions’ instead of rushing into deals, said Stephen Owens, president of the U.S. unit of Hong Kong-based Swire Properties Ltd., the developer of the 9-acre condo, hotel, office and shopping complex. ‘Two years ago, it was, ‘Where can I sign?’.’ Downtown Miami’s luxury-condo boom -- fueled by buyers from Latin America and Europe willing to pay half the purchase price up front -- is becoming a casualty of the year-long climb in the U.S. dollar. Diminished purchasing power and rising prices are holding back the overseas investors that make up the bulk of sales at new towers, cooling a frenzied market.”

Federal Reserve Watch:

June 4 – Wall Street Journal (Kevin Brady): “In 1913 President Woodrow Wilson favored the creation of a central bank, but the legacy of President Andrew Jackson—who vetoed a bill to renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States in 1832—still stood firm in some parts of the country. So to get Congress to pass the Federal Reserve Act, Wilson had to retain the support of pro-central bank northeastern lawmakers while convincing southern and western Democrats that legislation would not, in fact, create a central bank. Wilson’s ingenious solution was federalism: a Federal Reserve composed of 12 district banks under the supervision of a board in Washington. Though arising out of political necessity, the structure of shared decision making and decentralized economic analysis has proved beneficial by ensuring that input into monetary policy comes from the diverse regions of the complex U.S. economy. But this balance is being upset by the growing power of the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., and one district bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.”

Global Bubble Watch:

June 3 – Bloomberg (Kasia Klimasinska): “The Federal Reserve should hold off from raising interest rates until the first half of 2016, the International Monetary Fund said as it cut its U.S. growth forecast for the second time in three months. The lender also said that the dollar was ‘moderately overvalued’ and a further marked appreciation would be ‘harmful,’ in a statement released in Washington on Thursday on its annual checkup of the U.S. economy. ‘The FOMC should remain data dependent and defer its first increase in policy rates until there are greater signs of wage or price inflation than are currently evident,’ the IMF said. Based on the fund’s economic forecast, and ‘barring upside surprises to growth and inflation, this would put lift-off into the first half of 2016.’”

June 3 – Bloomberg (Susanne Walker Barton and David Goodman): “With an insouciant turn of phrase, Mario Draghi whipped up a frenzy of selling in government bonds that left German securities with their worst two-day slump in the history of the euro era. Benchmark Treasury 10-year note yields had the biggest two-day increase in four months after the European Central Bank President said markets must get used to periods of higher volatility… Traders in New York canceled meetings Wednesday as the bond rout intensified. ‘The ECB doesn’t seem too concerned with recent volatility, and so that’s a green light for that volatility to continue without the ECB reacting,’ said Owen Callan, a fixed-income strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald LP in Dublin.”

June 3 – Bloomberg (Tracy Alloway): “Petrobras, the scandal-ridden, junk-rated, state-controlled Brazilian oil producer, surprised markets to sell $2.5bn worth of bonds with a 100-year maturity on Monday. Here's what the unusual debt sale can tell us about markets. Investors are still craving returns - The new Petrobras debt sold like hot cakes thanks to the juicy returns on offer. …the company issued the bonds to yield 8.45% -- that's far higher than Mexico's 100-year bonds, which are trading at a yield of 5.59% or 30-year U.S. Treasuries yielding 2.94%. But that 8.45% yield was also 0.4 percentage point less than the price guidance provided by the deal's bankers.”

May 31 – Bloomberg (Jason Scott): “Sydney is in the grip of a housing bubble, Australia’s most-senior economic bureaucrat said in one of the strongest warnings yet by a government official. ‘When you look at the housing price bubble evidence, it’s unequivocally the case in Sydney -- unequivocally,’ Treasury Secretary John Fraser said… ‘Frankly, whatever the data says, just casual observation would tell you that’s the case.’ Home prices in Sydney rose 15% in May from a year earlier… Australia’s major banks have said they will curb growth in home loans to investors after the country’s financial services regulator asked lenders to limit expansion of these mortgages to 10% a year.”

June 2 – Bloomberg (Katya Kazakina): “In November, a painting of a pensive young woman by French artist Francis Picabia sold for 145,000 euros ($181,159) at auction in Paris. Six months later, the same 1940s work appeared at Christie’s in New York, and at least three bidders pushed the price to $580,000. The anonymous seller scored a 220% gain… The practice of flipping art, popular among some buyers of inexpensive emerging artists, is increasingly reaching the market for established masters such as Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter and Picabia. Driving it are record prices for high-end artworks and Wall Street investors who are prioritizing rapid returns over long-term collecting. Trophy works that quickly returned to auction were once perceived as ‘a woman who has been divorced three times,’ said Frances Beatty, vice president of Richard L. Feigen & Co., a New York gallery. “Because art is seen as an asset class, the more rapid turnover is considered encouraging. There’s a whole new generation of collectors who are playing the art market.”

Europe Watch:

June 5 – Reuters (Karolina Tagaris and Angeliki Koutantou): “Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday spurned ‘absurd’ terms of proposed aid from lenders and delayed a debt payment to the International Monetary Fund, prolonging an impasse that threatens to push Greece into default and out of the euro zone. In a defiant speech aimed at winning parliament's backing for his rejection of the austerity-for-aid package, Tsipras balanced indignation with confidence that a deal was ‘closer than ever before’ to keep his country inside the currency bloc. The contradictory message underscored the growing pressure on Tsipras to quickly sign a deal before cash-strapped Athens runs out of money, while also trying to placate hardliners in his leftist party who oppose the terms creditors are demanding. One far-left deputy minister suggested snap elections as a way out, by obtaining public legitimacy for difficult decisions to secure aid. But Tsipras made no mention of elections in an address that focused on attacking the aid plan offered by euro zone and IMF creditors. ‘The Greek government cannot consent to absurd proposals,’ Tsipras told parliament. ‘I want to believe that this proposal was a bad moment for Europe or at the very least a bad negotiating trick and will soon be withdrawn by the masterminds themselves,’ he said.”

China Bubble Watch:

June 4 – Bloomberg: “China has granted another 1 trillion yuan ($161bn) quota to provinces to swap high-interest debt into low-cost bonds, doubling the previous amount, according to people familiar with the matter. The increase comes as the first stage of the bond swap is under way. Commercial banks have been buying such bonds after the central bank flooded the interbank market with cheap funds… The expansion will help the government cut risks from a record surge in borrowing that local authorities took on to fund a glut of investment projects. The process -- which includes inducements for banks to buy new, longer-maturity, lower yielding bonds -- is alleviating a funding crunch among provinces that had threatened to deepen the economy’s slowdown. Local-government obligations may have reached 25 trillion yuan, bigger than the size of the German economy, according to estimates from Mizuho Securities… That compares with the figure of 17.9 trillion yuan as of June 30, 2013 given by the National Audit Office.”

June 3 – Bloomberg (Ye Xie and Bonnie Cao): “China’s initial public offerings are such hot commodities that a company seeking $2 billion attracted bids approaching the entire annual economic output of Hong Kong. China National Nuclear Power Co., the country’s second-biggest atomic power operator, locked up 1.69 trillion yuan ($273 billion) in bids for its IPO… The offering may be the biggest in China since August 2010. Individual investors are piling into newly-issued stocks on mainland exchanges after regulators discouraged companies from selling equity at high valuations. Shares of the 144 firms that went public this year have jumped an average 539% so far, including a 44% increase on the first day of trading, the maximum amount allowed by local bourses…”

June 1 – Bloomberg: “One of the many mysteries behind the share price collapse of the solar panel maker controlled by Li Hejun is this: Which of the Chinese billionaire’s many creditors risk losing every yuan they put into his company? A plethora of Chinese lenders are exposed to Hanergy Thin Film Power Group Ltd. and its parent company… On May 20, 47% of Hanergy Thin Film’s market value vanished in minutes and it’s now under probe by the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission. Creditors are nervous: A group of 11 lenders have asked for a meeting to voice their concerns and discuss their $82 million loan… ‘The interesting thing with Hanergy is that so much is happening with the parent company that investors know nothing about,’ said Charles Yonts, an analyst with CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets… ‘The opacity about parent finances and billings is extraordinary.’ …Hanergy Group has given no public accounting of all its debt or the debt scattered among its units.’”

June 4 – Bloomberg: “Guangxi Nonferrous Metals Group Co. may have difficulty repaying its bonds on its own, China Credit Rating Co. said, highlighting the risk of it becoming the second state-owned firm to default. The company, based in Nanning in China’s southern Guangxi province, must repay 1.3 billion yuan ($210 million) of principal and 62.92 million yuan of interest on its 4.84% notes due June 13… A bottle maker that supplies Coca-Cola Co. became the fourth company to miss obligations in the onshore bond market last week and a maker of smoked duck leg cited increasing difficulty getting credit as it defaulted on bank loans ahead of a bond deadline June 12. ‘Lower-rated issuers are facing big pressure to repay debt,’ said Sun Binbin, a bond analyst at China Merchants Securities Co. in Shanghai. ‘But given the loose monetary environment, there won’t be a surge in bond defaults in China.’”

EM Bubble Watch:

June 3 – CNN: “Venezuela's economy is imploding. Its currency, the bolivar, is literally worth less than a penny. Just a month ago, $1 was worth 279 bolivars. That was already pretty dismal for Venezuela. Now $1 equals 408 bolivars, according to the unofficial exchange rate, which most Venezuelans get when they try to trade currency. Put another way, one bolivar equals $0.002 -- less than a penny. The country's currency has lost nearly half its value since the beginning of May…”

June 1 – AFP: “Saudi Arabia's foreign currency reserves dropped by $49 billion in the first four months of 2015 following the dive in world oil prices, a report said… The reserves, piled up in the past decade due to high crude prices, dropped from $732 billion at the end of 2014 to $683 billion at the end of April, Saudi firm Jadwa Research said in a report. In March and April alone, the reserves dipped $31 billion, it said.”

June 4 – Bloomberg (Deema Almashabi): “Saudi Arabia’s oil-fueled economic boom is showing signs of losing steam. Official data released last week showed demand for loans growing at the slowest pace since 2011 and the kingdom’s currency reserves plunging for a third month in a row. An index reflecting the performance of the non-oil private economy fell to the lowest level in a year in May. The numbers signal that the drop in oil prices is starting to hurt the biggest Arab economy at a time when the kingdom is undergoing sweeping political changes at home and waging a regional war. The government is moving ahead with spending plans that will widen the budget deficit to 20% of economic output…”

June 3 – Bloomberg (Onur Ant and Selcan Hacaoglu): “Turkey’s consumer price inflation accelerated in May to the highest level this year, led by price gains in transportation and housing. The annual rate of inflation rose to 8.09% from 7.91% in the previous month…”

Brazil Watch:

June 3 – Bloomberg (Mario Sergio Lima): “Brazil raised interest rates for a sixth straight time as policy makers work to convince investors that inflation will reach target. The bank’s board… raised the benchmark rate by a half-point to 13.75% Wednesday, the highest since January 2009… Economists and traders bet the deepest recession in 25 years will prevent Tombini from raising interest rates as much as needed to slow inflation to the 4.5% target next year. Meanwhile, Tombini has pledged to do what it takes to meet the goal even as unemployment rises. ‘The central bank needs to regain credibility to help confidence rise, and they are on the right path,’ Flavio Serrano, senior economist at BESI Brasil… ‘Wrong economic policies are to blame for the economic state right now.’”

Geopolitical Watch:

June 3 – Reuters (Kiyoshi Takenaka): “Philippine President Benigno Aquino made a veiled comparison… between China's activities in the South China Sea and Nazi Germany's expansionism before World War Two, echoing similar remarks he made last year that outraged Beijing. Aquino, who is expected to agree beefed up defense ties with Japan when he meets Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, also urged Beijing to rethink its land reclamation projects in the disputed waters… Asked about Washington's strategic ‘rebalance’ to Asia and China's maritime moves, Aquino suggested the U.S. role was key, and alluded to Nazi Germany's territorial expansion before World War Two and Western appeasement. ‘If there was a vacuum, if the United States, which is the superpower, says 'We are not interested', perhaps there is no brake to ambitions of other countries,’ he said… Recalling documentaries on Germany's expansionism before the war, Aquino added: ‘The commentators on these documentaries were saying, 'If somebody said stop to (Adolf) Hitler at that point in time, or to Germany at that time, could we have avoided World War Two?’ ‘So, I say again, America's rebalancing sends a definite signal that we are all supposed to be living under norms that we agreed upon.’”

June 5 – Reuters (Siva Govindasamy): “Vietnam is in talks with European and U.S. contractors to buy fighter jets, maritime patrol planes and unarmed drones, sources said, as it looks to beef up its aerial defenses in the face of China's growing assertiveness in disputed waters. The battle-hardened country has already taken possession of three Russian-built Kilo-attack submarines and has three more on order as part of a $2.6 billion deal agreed in 2009. Upgrading its air force would give Vietnam one of the most potent militaries in Southeast Asia.”

June 5 – Bloomberg (Michael A Riley and John Walcott): “The disclosure by U.S. officials that Chinese hackers stole records of as many as 4 million government workers is now being linked to the thefts of personal information from health-care companies. Forensic evidence indicates that the group of hackers responsible for the U.S. government breach… likely carried out attacks on health-insurance providers Anthem Inc. and Premera Blue Cross that were reported earlier this year, said John Hultquist of iSight Partners Inc., a cyber-intelligence company… The thefts are believed to be part of a larger effort by Chinese hackers to get health-care records and other personal information on millions of U.S. government employees and contractors from various sources, including insurers, government agencies and federal contractors, said an American intelligence official…”

Russia and Ukraine Watch:

June 4 – Reuters (Richard Balmforth and Pavel Polityuk): “Ukraine's president told his military on Thursday to prepare for a possible ‘full-scale invasion’ by Russia all along their joint border, a day after the worst fighting with Russian-backed separatists in months. His address in parliament was one of the first times Petro Poroshenko has used the word ‘invasion’ to refer to Russia's behavior since the start of a separatist rebellion in the east… Referring to a 12-hour firefight involving artillery on both sides on Wednesday when Ukraine says the rebels tried to take the town of Maryinka, Poroshenko said: ‘There is a colossal threat of a renewal of large-scale military operations from the side of the Russian-terrorist groups.’ ‘The military must be ready as much for a renewal of an offensive by the enemy in the Donbass as they are for a full-scale invasion along the whole length of the border with Russia. We must be truly ready for this.’”

Japan Watch:

June 4 – Bloomberg (Toru Fujioka and Masahiro Hidaka): “The excessive strength in the yen that damaged Japanese manufacturing in recent years has now been corrected, according to an ally of Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda. ‘The abnormally strong yen has been corrected,’ said Yutaka Harada, who joined the central bank’s policy board in March… Harada’s remarks underscore that Japanese policy makers aren’t seeking further declines in the currency… Since reaching a postwar high of 75.35 in 2011, the yen has fallen 40%, aided by unprecedented monetary easing that Kuroda’s using to reflate the world’s third-biggest economy. ‘Harada’s comments indicate that the BOJ sees no need for additional easing anytime soon,’ said Kazuhiko Ogata, an economist at Credit Agricole SA. ‘The government has become increasingly aware of the negative effects of the weak yen on households and small companies, and that’s something the BOJ can’t ignore.’”


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Cross Pointe Church

Service Times

Sunday 9:15 AM

Sunday 11:00 AM

Montana Mission Trip #1

Montana Mission Trip #1

Tuesday, August 20, 2019 - Monday, August 26, 2019

Location: Montana, Helena, MT US 59601

Cost: $1200.00

Attendance Limit: 15

Come alongside this flourishing church plant as they reach into the community with block parties. This area continues to be open to the many outreach efforts of Capstone Church, so this is the perfect opportunity for those going on their first mission trip.The only requirement is a willingness to serve! Team size: Up to 15 people.

Apply For This Mission Trip

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‘Breathalyzer’ Is Not a Police Tool — It’s a Brand Name

We all know ‘Kleenex’ and ‘Jello’ as commonplace terms for household items; marketing can create a powerful effect on generations. There’s also plenty we don’t even realize:

When most think of ‘Breathalyzers’ the image of police likely comes to mind — a generic tool used by law enforcement, not unlike a gun or flashlight.  An Indiana University professor, Rolla N. Hargen, first invented the Drunkometer in 1938 to sense alcohol content by having subjects breath into a balloon. In 1954 another Indiana University professor, Robert F. Borkenstein, invented the Breathalyzer, borrowing concepts used by the Drunkometer in a much more practical, portable platform. ‘Breathalyzer’ is still trademarked by the Indiana University Foundation to this day.

It’s like finding out ‘taser’ is actually a brand name, not just a generic term. Oh wait, that’s trademarked too…

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Draw a timezone conversion chart in C#

timezone conversion chart

The example Use Microsoft Word to make a timezone conversion chart in C# shows how to make a timezone conversion chart in Word. This example creates a print document holding a similar chart. When you select two timezones and click the Make Chart button, the program displays a print preview of the chart. You can use the preview’s Print button (which looks like a little printer) to print the chart.

This example is even longer than the previous example, so I’ll spare you the details. The way the program generates time values is the same. The only difference is in how the programs display their results. The previous version uses Word while this version creates a printout.

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DMES retreat at lake Attersee

The three divisions CUBE, DOME and TER met for the first retreat of the Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science (DMES) from October 5-7 at lake Attersee in Upper Austria. Scientific presentations by master students, PhD students and postdocs gave an overview on ongoing and future research in the department. In a "world cafe" we've discussed six topics that connect the divisions, including research foci, infrastructure and teaching. One of the highlights of the retreat was the hike to the Schoberstein. DMES retreats will be organized from now on once per year.


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Cult Film Finder: Finding the Cult Movies We All Enjoy

Code Red DVD

Final Specs for Sergio Martino’s Hands of Steel!

Here is the final specs for HANDS OF STEEL and it is packed with extras onto a BD-50! The release to end all future releases! Sinister industrialist Francis Turner (John Saxon, ENTER THE DRAGON, MOONSHINE…


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> 2013

Cultural Human Resources Council

Welcome to the
CHRC Newsletter
November 2013

The time and energies of staff over the past 2 months have been largely dedicated to 2 great projects: the revision of the discipline enhancements for The Art of Managing Your Career (TAMYC); and setting up pilots for A High School Teacher's Guide on Digital Media.

In this issue!

TAMYC Discipline Enhancements go online!

As you know, in collaboration with the Canada Council for the Arts, CHRC has engaged practising artists to revise the 2007 versions of The Art of Managing Your Career discipline enhancements for actors, writers, visual artists, craftspeople, musicians, filmmakers, dancers and digital media content creators. Our writers – all seasoned, practising professionals in their fields – have submitted excellent 2013 versions of the enhancements, and we at CHRC - drawing on Michael's excellent web and layout skills, Lucie's remarkable editorial skills in English and in French, and Mark Lloyd's designs - are taking them over the finish line.

A word about the writers. They have all gone beyond what we asked and were able to pay. Just because they love and are committed to their art forms, and want young artists breaking into their respective fields to have the very best advice and counsel possible, in order to be successful. The good, the bad and the ugly. They haven't pulled punches. It's all there.

Some of the enhancements have required more changes than others (the one for Digital Media content creators being the one with the most changes – not surprising given how rapidly that industry has evolved over the past 5 years!). Web sites have been updated, points related to new digital technology have been inserted, fresh examples have been added.

To give you a taste of the tone and content of each of the enhancements, here are the Tables of Contents.

And just to remind you… these are available free of charge to CHRC members; and are for sale, along with the The Art of Managing Your Career guide at a nominal cost. There is also an attractive licensing price to encourage educators in the arts to incorporate them into their curriculum and classrooms.

Click to expand the Tables of Contents below:

+ Craft

+ Dance

+ Digital Media

+ Film

+ Music

+ Theatre

+ Writing

+ Visual Arts

CHRC Members can download for FREE

Purchase the PDF Package

A High School Teacher's Guide: Towards a Career in Digital Media

This exceptional resource for high school teachers is being shared with Ministries of Education in several provinces. It is a full-blown curriculum piece, developed by educators and industry professionals in collaboration, based on CHRC's Interactive Digital Media Team competency chart and profile.

The genius of this resource is that it breaks down discipline silos and shows how teachers and students in the visual arts, creative writing and computer science can work together to create an IDM product (e.g. a video game), using the skills taught in and meeting the learning requirements of the curriculum for visual arts, creative writing and computer science. Easy to integrate into existing curriculum, the Guide provides a series of lesson plans - each with specific learning objectives - to teach a four-week mini-course.

Here are the titles of the 12 Lesson plans.

  1. Introduction to digital media and the mini-course
  2. Generating a concept
  3. Pre-production
  4. Production
  5. Marketing
  6. Introductory concepts for visual arts: all students will get an overview of basic concepts in visual arts.
  7. Visual Artist on a DM Team: what the visual artist needs to be able to do to work on a DM Team.
  8. Introductory concepts for writers: all students will get an overview of basic concepts in writing.
  9. Writers on a DM Team: what the writer needs to be able to do to work on a DM Team.
  10. Introductory concepts for programmers: all students will get an overview of basic concepts in programmers.
  11. Programmers on a DM Team: what the programmer needs to be able to do to work on a DM Team.
  12. Personal and interpersonal skills needed to be a DM Team member. A career in the digital media industry will be explored.
  13. Reflection and Evaluation

CHRC is now working with partners in different provinces to pilot the resource. It represents a challenge to the "usual way of doing things", bringing together students and teachers from three distinct subjects to create a common DM product. It encourages and applies lateral, creative, out-of-the-box thinking.

If you are interested in this material, please contact CHRC directly to take part in this pilot phase.

Canadian Interactive Industry Profile for 2012

CHRC was one of the partners in the development of the Canadian Interactive Industry Profile for 2012, spearheaded by CIAIC, the Canadian Interactive Alliance. Our interest in this iteration of the biannual study of the DM industry was to collect labour market data to give us context for the other DM projects we have been involved with: e.g. the development of an IDM Team competency chart and profile.

This rich and exhaustive study touches on many aspects of the DM industry. Here are some of its findings related to human resources and training:

"The majority of the core IDM workforce is employed in technical and creative positions, a pattern that is repeated across all sizes of companies.

On average, core IDM companies in Canada feel that well-trained, experienced talent that meets their needs is only rarely or sometimes available, regardless of the job category. More senior talent appears to be slightly more difficult for companies to find than more junior talent.

There are a number of key skills gaps that exist among the current core IDM talent pool in Canada, despite the fact that the workforce is generally quite highly educated, with the majority of companies indicating that average level of education of their employees is either a university or college degree. For example:

  • Technical digital skills were most frequently identified by core IDM companies as the skills most lacking in Canada's current IDM talent pool; and
  • Business and leadership skills and production management and pipeline skills were also seen to be lacking by a significant group of respondents.

Technical digital skills were most frequently selected as the top in-demand skills in the next three to five years. Respondents also indicated a number of specific skills areas for which demand will increase, including:

  • Monetization expertise;
  • Skills related to cross-platform development and transmedia products; and
  • Data analytics skills and expertise.

In response to these skills gaps in the core IDM talent pool and the low availability of talent with adequate skills and experience to meet demand, many companies offer or facilitate in-career training for their employees. Indeed, about half of respondent companies indicated that they do so either via on-the-job training or by accessing formal professional development and training services facilitated by a third party."

Looking for a job? Looking for talent? Check out CultureWorks.ca

CHRC members receive a 25% discount on job postings!

Keep in touch…

Featured Organisation Plus Member

Association of Canadian Publishers

The Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP) represents approximately 135 Canadian-owned and controlled book publishers from across the country. It assists Canadian-owned publishers in promoting the excellence of Canadian books, in bringing more Canadian books to more readers in Canada, and in expanding Canadian-owned publishers' domestic and international market share.

Friendly reminder: CHRC is on Facebook and Twitter ...

Do you have something you want to share with the Cultural Sector? If it's related to culture or HR, don't hesitate to post it on our Facebook page.

Susan Annis, Executive Director
Extension 22 - sannis@culturalhrc.ca

Erma Barnett, Finance Officer
Extension 29 - ebarnett@culturalhrc.ca

Lucie M. D'Aoust, Sr. Project Manager
Extension 21 - ldaoust@culturalhrc.ca

Michael Lechasseur, Web Coordinator
Extension 26 - mlechasseur@culturalhrc.ca

A list of 2012/2013 Board members can be found on CHRC's web site at www.culturalhrc.ca

Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC)
606-151 Slater St., Ottawa, ON K1P 5H3
Tel. 613-562-1535   Fax 613-562-2982


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Not my cup of tea

Posted by Marion de Groot on November 30, 2011
Story / No Comments

A quote from my Bulgarian language course book:

“Although traditionally in Bulgaria you only drank tea (without milk) when you were unwell, you can find all kinds of tea, including tea made from a variety of different herbs. Remember, though, that if you do want a traditional ‘cuppa’, you will probably be presented with a cup or, more likely, a glass of hot water, some sugar and a tea bag. You will be expected to brew up yourself at the table. And if you want milk, you will have to ask for it!”*

Needless to say, the course book is written by a British guy. Brewing your own tea at the table! Ridiculous! And having to ask for milk! Has the author never been anywhere else but the UK and Bulgaria? Or is he taking into account that the audience is not well-traveled? Either way, he is consistent. Another quote:

“Bulgarian has almost the equivalents of the English words for [the] subject pronouns, but there are two small differences. First, the Bulgarian аз, I is written with a small letter and, second, Bulgarian has two different words for you: ти for the singular, familiar form and вие for the plural.”*

Again, nothing new to me here. English is the only language I know (and I know a few) that writes I with a capital, and that doesn’t make a difference between singular and plural in pronouns. It’s hard to imagine that the Bulgarian language would be the first encounter of a native English speaker with the outside world.

I find it very funny to see how the background of the speaker so strongly reflects in the texts. I always prefer to buy English books for studying languages and culture, because these are often cheaper and easier to find than Dutch ones, and the language is not a problem for me. However, all too often the perspective of the author (American or British) is clearly influencing the story, which makes me long for a Dutch version.

If only it was for a proper explanation on the conjugation of verbs…

*Quotes from Teach Yourself Bulgarian, by Michael Holman and Mira Kovatcheva, 2009

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June 2012 Blog Posts (34)

Marina del Rey Summer WaterBus Now in Service

  • Fisherman's Village, 13755 Fiji Way;
  • Burton Chace Park, 13650 Mindanao Way;
  • Waterfront Walk/Fire Station #110, 4433 Admiralty Way;
  • Mothers Beach, 4101 Admiralty Way;
  • Dolphin Marina, 13900 Panay Way Dock Gate #C-200;
  • Esprit I, 13900 Marquesas Way Dock Gate #B-401; and
  • Del Rey Landing, 13800 Bora Bora Way, Fuel Dock Gate.

Special WaterBus service will…

Added by Scupine on June 29, 2012 at 6:00pm — No Comments

Board of Education Announces Selection of New CCUSD Superintendent

The Culver City Unified School District Board of Education has announced that it has selected David LaRose to be the new CCUSD Superintendent.

LaRose has served for the past four years as the superintendent of the South Kitsap School District in Washington State. He was recently named South Kitsap’s 2012 Man of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce, and received…

Added by Geoff Maleman on June 29, 2012 at 12:16pm — No Comments

Look Who Rides the Expo Line: Culver City Councilman Jim Clarke

Last week, I happened to be riding in the same Expo Line car as Culver City Councilman Jim Clarke.

Clarke says he tries to take the train a couple of times a week as he commutes to his job in Los Angeles City Hall. He serves as Director of the Mayor’s Office of Grants for the City of Los Angeles, helping to secure federal, state, non-profit, and foundation…

Added by Scupine on June 28, 2012 at 6:00pm — No Comments

Royal/T Celebrates Its Closing with Greatest Hits Party

Prior to closing its doors in August, Culver City's Royal/T (seen above when it featured rad murals covering its windows) will hold a "Greatest Hits Party" starting at 8:00 this Saturday, June 30. Past curators -- including Warhol Museum Director Eric Shiner and Whitney Biennial co-curator Jay Sanders -- and artists such as Kenny Scharf will offer a guided tour of the space from 8:00 to 9:00 pm, followed by a party until 12 am, with dessert, a performance by Prince…

Added by Scupine on June 27, 2012 at 6:00pm — No Comments

Culver City Historical Society To Hold Annual Picnic

The public is invited to attend the annual Culver City Historical Society Picnic and meeting held in Veterans Memorial Park at 5:30pm on Wednesday, July 18.

The picnic will be catered by Santa Maria Barbeque and its chef Jim Rodrigues, who will grill tri-tip beef roasts and chicken, which will be served with his special chili beans, potato salad, green salad, garlic…

Added by Scupine on June 27, 2012 at 6:00am — 1 Comment

Marina del Rey's Classical Thursday Summer Concerts Starts July 12 - A Must for Music Lovers in Culver City

You live in Culver City and haven't checked out the Summer Music Series in Marina del Rey's Burton W. Chace Park, you're making a big mistake.

This series of fee outdoor concerts - which begins on July 12 - is held in one of this area's the most spectacular waterfront settings: Burton W. Chace Park. Four classical music concerts featuring the 75-member Marina del Rey…

Added by Scupine on June 26, 2012 at 6:00pm — No Comments

New Community Garden is in the works

STAR Education

10117 Jefferson Blvd.

Culver City, CA 90232

June 25, 2012

To our Community Partners, the gardening community and all interested parties,

In response to the overwhelming interest in the Culver City Community Garden, STAR Education has joined together with several other organizations to strive towards providing an alternative option to Culver City’s current community garden’s shortage of available plots and extensive…

Added by Lee Wolkowitz on June 26, 2012 at 1:33pm — No Comments

Culver City Announces Line-up for 2012 Boulevard Music Summer Festival

This summer, as always, Culver City will present a series of free concerts in the courtyard of Culver City City Hall. The 2012 summer series offers rock, r&b, jazz, soul, and country acts on four consecutive Thursdays between July 12 and August 2 at 7:00 p.m. This year's festival is produced by Gary Mandell of Culver City’s Boulevard Music.

Here's the…

Added by Scupine on June 25, 2012 at 6:00pm — No Comments

Where Am I in Culver City? Game 031

Every other friday, I'll post a picture of something in Culver City that is 'hiding in plain sight.'

This time, the question is: Do you know where in Culver CIty this ornament is? If you know, enter your response in the comments box of this post! I'll reveal the answer in two Fridays, when I post a new game.

Last time, I posted this sign:…

Added by Scupine on June 22, 2012 at 6:00am — No Comments

Awesome Culver City Photos

Wow. I just google-ing for CC images and found some beautiful Culver City Photos by Richard Hawkins.

Photos of SONY Pictures building and Culver City Sign, both against dramatic clouds, are awesome. His "Culver Blvd" shot is my favorite.…

Added by Chris Wilde on June 21, 2012 at 3:32pm — No Comments

Green Peas Restaurant in Culver City Will Re-Open Next Week

According to owner Jose Maceira (pictured below), Green Peas Restaurant on Sepulveda Boulevard in Culver City will re-open on June 27 or 28. The restaurant has been closed for months as Maceira expanded the restaurant's kitchen area and added a patio in the back of the restaurant. Green Peas offers delicious sandwiches, salads and soups -- its one of my favorite places to go…

Added by Scupine on June 21, 2012 at 6:00am — No Comments

VIDEO: Culver City's Expo Station is Open

Here's a video I took today of an Expo Line train making its way to the Culver City Expo Line Station. It's a day for celebration for Culver City. And back:

Here's some pictures of the new station:…

Added by Scupine on June 20, 2012 at 7:21pm — 3 Comments

Take a Bus to the Expo Line's Culver City Station for It's Opening Today at Noon

With the Expo Line’s Culver City station opening today, Wednesday, June 20, at noon, Culver City bus offers the above map reminding us that two Culver City buses stop near the Expo Line station:

  • Culver City Line 1 runs along Washington Boulevard from Venice Beach in the west to Washington and Fairfax in the east.
  • Culver City Line…

Added by Scupine on June 20, 2012 at 3:00am — No Comments

Culver City Celebrates Third Wednesday "Summer Solstice" Happy Hour

The public opening of the Expo Line Culver City Station coincides with Downtown Culver City's Third Wednesday "Summer Solstice" Happy Hour event which features special offers and free goodies from more than 25 businesses downtown, as well as outdoor entertainment and activities. This Wednesday, the…

Added by Scupine on June 19, 2012 at 6:00pm — No Comments

Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City Announces Its 2012-13 Season Slate

The Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City has announced that it will host three world-premiere productions — Twist Your Dickens, The Nether and The Royale — in its 2012-13 season. A production of Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape starring John Hurt is also scheduled.

The full schedule will…

Added by Scupine on June 15, 2012 at 6:00pm — No Comments

Culver City Council Invites Your Participation in a Community Dialogue Series on City Finances Tonight

The City Council invites all Culver Citizens to participate a series of five "Dialogue Meetings" held in locations throughout the city to garner community input on the current state and future plans for the city’s finances. The first meeting will be held this Monday, June 18, at 7:00 at the City Council Chambers.

The schedule for additional meetings…

Added by Scupine on June 15, 2012 at 6:30am — No Comments

Culver City Will Celebrate Fiesta La Ballona on August 24, 25 and 26 This Year

Fiesta La Ballona, Culver City's "Party in the Park" is scheduled for August 24, 25 & 26 this year, in Veteran's Park, as usual. With carnival rides, live music, games, a food court, a petting zoo and pony rides, and a beer and wine garden for the adults, there'll be good times for all. Mark those calendars!

Added by Scupine on June 14, 2012 at 6:00pm — No Comments

LA Spice Cafe Coming to Sepulveda Boulevard in Culver City

This storefront on Sepulveda in Culver CIty -- right next to El Rincon Criollo cuban restaurant and across the street from Abbot's Pizza -- is the future home of L.A. Spice Cafe. It'll be the first store-front restaurant for L.A. Spice Catering & Special Events, named by the Daily News as the 'Best Caterer in Los Angeles' for two years running. Check out…

Added by Scupine on June 13, 2012 at 6:00pm — 1 Comment

Try Culver City's New Open Ropes Course at Culver Park for Free

Culver Park is home to at new open ropes course, run by a company called Fulcrum Adventures. The "Culver City teambuilding high ropes challenge course" features eight elevated events, including a fifty-foot climbing wall, a beam walk, a power pole, and a trapeze jump. Looks scary but very fun, if you're not too freaked out about heights.

Added by Scupine on June 12, 2012 at 6:00pm — No Comments

Culver City Residents Favor a Half-cent Sales Tax Increase to Maintain City Services

At the June 4, Culver City Council Meeting, City Manager John Nachbar introduced Rick Sklarz, of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates, who shared the results from a survey they conducted of Culver City voters.

Two-thirds (68%) of respondents indicated that they believed Culver City needs additional funds to maintain essential city…

Added by Scupine on June 11, 2012 at 6:30am — 2 Comments

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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Tuareg Prep Drawings

I've been doing lots and lots of preparatory drawings for the next book, Crogan's March (I'll probably refer to it as "March" in shorthand), and I figured I'd post a few. These are for the Tuareg camp.

Also, Atlanta cartoonist Justin Wagner's website is up and running, and he has some great sketches up on his blog. You should check it out; he's one of those guys that straddles animation and comics, and does does both well.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Twelve Days of Christmas T-1: The Wet Bandits

You know, drawing these guys, I just cringed. Ouch! I was going to draw the old man, but I don't have the DVD and google image search wasn't particularly helpful. I'm kid of glad - figuring how to work the iron scar in with flat colors was challenge.

Well, that's it! Have a Merry Christmas, everyone! Hohoho!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Twelve Days of Christmas T-2: Impromptu WWI Cease-Fire

For the next-to-last Christmas drawing, here's a Hun, a Frog, and a Limey having a soccer game in no-man's land during the famous Christmas Eve cease-fire of 1914.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Twelve Days of Christmas T-3: X-Mas Santa

Here's an X-Mas image bristling with holiday terror - Santa!

In case you haven't seen the Futurama Christmas episodes, Santa is a murderous robot who judges everyone to be on the naughty list and thus destroys anyone he sees out on X-Mas eve.

Also, I realize too late that my title numbering system was off - I should have started with T minus ELEVEN, because as it stands Christmas will still be one off from the theoretical Christmas blastoff. Curse you, advanced arithmetic!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Twelve Days of Christmas T-4: Triple Dog Dare Recipient

Poor, poor Flick:

The Christmas Story holds a special place in my heart, for reasons beyond its exceptional comedic quality. From the time I can remember, my parents and all of their friends would hold a Christmas Story party each year, where everyone would come dressed as a character from the film. The first couple of years were standard - Randy who can't put his arms down, Scott Farkus, stuff like that - but as the years went on, and no one wanted to be repetitive, the costumes became more nuanced and obscure - the Christmas Tree Salesman, the teacher in paper-grading regalia, the lamp, the old man knee deep in Bumpus hounds, dead Black Bart... it was tons of fun for me and my sister to see, as a kid, these adults going all out to make a big evening of it.

We moved to Kentucky when I was eleven, but the Lousiana folks STILL have the Christmas story party each year. Gosh, it's coming up on twenty-five years, I'd bet! Liz and I were lucky enough to live a couple of hours away when we ran the hotel, and made it up for it.

So while I've heard griping of TBS's annual 24 hour marathon, I couldn't be happier with it - each scene in that movie is the funniest scene, and its as much a part of Christmas to me as opening presents.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Twelve Days of Christmas T-5: Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine:

A sort of composite likeness based on existing period depictions.

She had been a crusader, queen of two countries, and a cunning political mind before being locked away by her second husband, Henry II, to keep her from stirring up any more civil wars. I picked her as a Christmas character because of Goldman's excellent play The Lion in Winter, which is about Henry bringing his family (Eleanor and surviving sons Richard, Geoffrey, and John) home for the holidays to play mind games and ostensibly decide on a successor. The play was made into two very, VERY good films, one starring Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor and Peter O'Toole as Hal II, and the other with Glen Close as Eleanor and Patrick Stewart as the vengeful hubby.

When compared, both films have their strengths and weaknesses - in the 60's version, Hepburn plays Eleanor as increasingly desperate in a way that Close seems to try and mask; Patrick Stewart, with the same lines, is a far more magnanimous Henry. O'Toole seems downright cruel and diabolical; Stewart says everything with a smile and you can't help but like him even when his behavior is contemptible. In fact, that's a good way to look at the films as a whole: the dialogue is the same in both, but everything uttered in the sixties version is hard-walled contempt, and everything in the 2003 version seems to be good-natured ribbing. As a medieval political movie, the former works best; as a home-for-the-holidays movie, the Stewart/Close version wins out.

I don't care for the performance of John in the older movie, and I don't like the performance of Richard in the new one. Both, though, are worth watching - give 'em a queing in your netflix cycle.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Twelve Days of Christmas T-6: Krampus!

The Krampus is Saint Nicholas's dastardly sidekick. He takes your toys if you're bad, womps merrymakers with a birch twig club, and carries naughty children away to work forced labor at the North Pole. I for one am upset that he doesn't see more play in the good ol' U.S. of A.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Twelve Days of Christmas T-7: Linus (Christmas Variant)

I originally did a more realistic, less Schultz-design-oriented Mr. Van Pelt, which I based on the Phillip North-Beardsley kid from the old Lucy/Henry Fonda Yours, Mine, and Ours film, because I was, for years, convinced that the kid was the voice of Linus. Turns out I was wrong (not WAY wrong - turns out it was that kid's little brother), but I always envisioned real-life-counterpart Linus as being that kid. But it looked weird to have a non-Schultz design, and I thought the Peanuts purists might call for my blood. So here's the traditional Christmas Linus. If you haven't watched the special yet this year, shame on you. It's tradition.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Twelve Days of Christmas T-8: Gormaanda!

It wouldn't be the holidays without Gormaanda.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Twelve Days of Christmas T-9: Emmet Otter

Jugband Christmas time!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Twelve Days of Christmas: T-10: 80's Terrorist

Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs.

I haven't seen this movie in forever (I don't have it on DVD, only VHS) and so the depiction is from memory. If there are details wrong, chalk it up to interpretive recollection.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Twelve Days of Christmas T-11: Balthazar

The second drawing is of ol' Balthazar!

Balthazar, one of the three kings, possibly a Zoroastrian, immortalized in the brilliant Franco Zeffirelli movie Jesus of Nazareth by James Earl Jones, and played with regularity throughout my childhood by my dad in the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors. It's a great bass part, and I had the opportunity to play Amahl alongside him when I was about eleven.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Twelve Days of Christmas: T-12 and counting!

Yeah, yeah, I know, the twelve days of Christmas come AFTER Christmas, but so what? Our culture has firmly embedded the idea of the countdown into my psyche, and for me Christmas spirit is usually sapped by noon of the 25th, so therefore I am starting on the thirteenth and working my way to the big day itself. Each day for the next twelve, I'll be posting a drawing of a holiday character. Some may be obscure, some may be heavily popularized, but all will be drenching with yuletide cheer!

Day #1: Jacob Marley!

In other news, the signings went very well, the break from classes is going nicely, and the missus and I went to go see the Terra Cotta Army of Chin Shi Huang at the museum today for my b-day, which was AMAZING. And those "life-size" reproductions you see? A big ripoff. For one, the figures are mostly whiteish-green (they're usually depicted reddish brown, black and brown), and for another they're almost all well over six feet tall, and quite a few were taller than me. All the repros I've seen are five feet at most. Just so you know!


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Benefits of using roller blinds

When it comes to decorating the house, then you should think about the roller blinds. Roller blinds look very attractive and beautiful when you will install them in your home’s windows. They will work as the main attraction of your house. If you ask from the interior designer to decorate your home, then they will

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• Broad spectrum

    of products for

    your industry

zwitterionic detergent, crystalline powder

For further processing only.

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Order information
CHAPS material number and pack size:
Material Number Pack Size
10810681103 custom fill
Will be supplied as "CHAPS". Unit of measure is "kg".
Zwitterionic detergent for diagnostic tests.
Use CHAPS to reduce protein-protein interactions. CHAPS can be easily removed by dialysis.
Nomenclature: 3-[(3-Cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate
: C32H58N2O7S
Molecular weight: 614.9 D
Detergent type: Zwitterionic detergent, nondenaturating
Appearance: White, crystalline powder
CHAPS (from N): ≥99%
N (elementary analysis): ≥4.49%
A260 (against water): ≤0.10
A280 (against water): ≤0.10
Thin layer chromatography (TLC): Chromatographically homogeneous, corresponds to reference
Stability: At +2 to +8°C within specification range for 24 months. Store dry. Protect from light.


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• Broad spectrum

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    your industry

BM Condimed H1

0.2 μm filtered, solution

For further processing only.

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Order information
BM Condimed H1 material number and pack size:
Material Number Pack Size
04155645001 custom fill
Will be supplied as ''BM Condimed H1, Bulk''. Unit of measure is ''Liter''.
BM Condimed H1 is a culture medium supplement for proliferation of hybridoma cells.
BM Condimed H1 is prepared from the supernatant of a mouse lymphoma cell line stimulated with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). It contains a complex mixture of growth factors and cytokines that have a marked stimulatory effect on the growth of hybridoma cells after fusion and during cloning.
Use BM Condimed H1 as a supplement to the normal culture medium to support the growth of B-cell hybridomas after fusion and during cloning. BM Condimed H1 replaces feeder cells. It is also used to optimize the growth of hybridomas after the thawing of cells stored in liquid nitrogen.
Working concentration: 10% (v/v) in culture medium that contains 10-20% FBS.
Appearance: Clear, reddish solution
Function (cell culture): Corresponds to reference
Filtered through membrane 0.2 μm, microbiol. tested: Corresponds to reference
Stability: At -15 to -25°C within specification range for 24 months.


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• Broad spectrum

    of products for

    your industry

Activator Bio

System reagent for the Cedex Bio and Cedex Bio HT Analyzers

For use in quality control / manufacturing process only.

expand | collapse
Order information
Activator Bio material number and pack size:
Material Number Pack Size
07766700001 4 x 9 mL
Unit of measure is "piece".
System maintenance reagent.
Used for preparation of the pipetting probes in the daily initialization procedure of the instrument, and for activation of the membranes in the ISE module.
Turbid white solution.


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Neilson Active Holidays

Tourism and Leisure Travel Agencies

0845 070 3464

Enquiries 0844 879 8155
Customer Services 0845 070 3464

Tour operator Neilson Holidays was established over 25 years ago and is made up of two companies which provide customers with various holiday services. The owners Thomas Cook decided to merge both companies to form Neilson in 1999, based in Brighton Marina, the company offers Ski and Snowboard holidays as well as Yachting and Beachclub options. The Ski and Snowboard packages cover 12 countries while the Beachclubs and Yachting programme features Greece, Turkey and Egypt.

Important info:

The service offered by is independent of the brands listed in this directory. bears no association to any of the brands listed

Service users must be over the age of 18, and the bill payer of the phone in which the call is being placed. phone directory is updated and expanded on a daily basis. We specialize in providing phone numbers that are difficult to obtain, allowing you a quick and easy way to acquire non-premium numbers, thus saving you money and time on your call to Neilson Active Holidays .

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    My partner and I have tried booking our holidays from various places before, we now have settled with Neilson Active Holidays as we feel that as opposed to many other companies around, their services and assistance are of much higher quality.

We offer a high quality directory service. When calling the phone number you will hear a short recording with the Neilson Active Holidays customer service phone number.

We will give you the customer service phone number from Neilson Active Holidays in a timely and easy manner.

Once you have called, we will immediately provide you with the Neilson Active Holidays customer service phone number.

Once you have contacted Neilson Active Holidays through our service, you can leave your feedback on the quality of the support received by the brand assistance service, so that other users and companies can check the general level of satisfaction given by Neilson Active Holidays customer service.


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3152 W 88th St (017-04-056)

This vacant lot MAY be eligible for our Side Yard Program. For more information contact Jason Knauer at sideyard@cuyahogalandbank.org or 216-698-8336.

Click here to download our Side Yard Program Application.

Parcel Number017-04-056
Address3152 W 88th St
StatusVacant lot
Date Posted03-16-2017
Cleveland Ward14
Census Tract1024.02
NeighborhoodWest Boulevard
NSP 2 Area
Tot Num Bldgs0
Auditor's Fair Market Value$9,000
Auditor Land Use CodeVacant Land
Lot size4,340
Lot ShapeRectangular

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The Cuyahoga Land Bank utilizes data from NEO CANDO and other sources to develop and manage its property listings. Although we make every effort to ensure that data displayed online are current and correct, accuracy is not guaranteed.

Copyright © 2009-2018 Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corp. All rights reserved.


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Exercise Physiology

Coastal Work and Rehabilitation Solutions, offers Exercise Physiology services in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Townsville and Cairns. We can deliver individual assessments and exercise programs to clients funded through third party insurance, or deliver corporate health and wellness programs to employers.

Please click here to learn more about our WorkFIT program


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Game Physics Engine Development

In this review, I will discuss my experience with Game Physics Engine Development: How to Build a Robust Commercial-Grade Physics Engine for your Game by Ian Millington. This is actually the first book I’ve ever read solely on game physics and I think I made the right choice here. Although I have developed several physics engines previously, they were only in 2D and the extra dimension complicates matters significantly. Game Physics Engine Development is a book specifically about 3D game physics, though the author does make a short reference to 2D physics at the end. I felt like the book had just enough math to explain the concepts, without getting bogged down in technical minutia. I also enjoyed the friendly writing style, the approachable implementations, and a rational coding standard.

Ian Millington’s book covers a lot of ground, and each chapter builds up a single aspect of the engine. Many chapters could stand alone in one aspect or another, though they do come together at the end. Some of the topics covered include: basic 3D math (vectors, matrices, quaternions), laws of motion, particles, rigid bodies, mass aggregate physics, springs, collision, contact resolution, velocity and acceleration, torque, friction, broad-phase collision detection, bounding volumes, and more. While the book is “only” 552 pages, there are a ton of things packed into those pages. I found the coverage to be fairly in-depth, without getting lost of mathematical proofs or anything like that. The book is very practical in that way, and a lot of the code samples could easily be the basis of a real implementation.

Overall I enjoyed the book at lot, and breezed through it within a week, eagerly anticipating each new chapter. Being the only physics book I’ve read so far, I don’t feel 100% confidant creating a physics engine myself just yet. However, I do feel it has explained a lot of key concepts necessary in physics development. The book was everything I was hoping for, and gets my recommendation.

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Dining Room Table Pool Table

By Admin || Posted 2017

Dining Room Table Pool Table. This wonderful photo selections about Dining Room Table Pool Table is accessible to download. We collect this best photo from internet and select the top for you. nursing home designs photos and pictures selection that published here was properly selected and published by our team after choosing the ones which are best among the others.

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Macks on the Track

I bet some of you didn’t believe me when I said a Mack M18 made a few laps around the test track of the Mack Museum and Customer Center. A picture is worth a thousand words.

It was quite the sight to behold and one that I certainly never thought I would see. This year the Pedigree of Power parade had more than a few unique trucks in the mix including the last B-Model to ever roll off the production line(see video below) along with the last Superliner. Even the famous Wellington model FJ did a lap or two. You’ll see more of them in the next video. Until then, some more photos and a short video to get your attention.

This entry was posted in Truck Show and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

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Discussion Guide for Titus 1:10-16

“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD.
And all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.”

– Psalm 22:27-28

One of the foundational truths of Jesus Christ is that his kingdom extends to the entire world.

This stands in contrast with every other deity throughout human history whose identity was to be the god for a particular tribe of people.

The religion of the Jewish elite at the time of Jesus made the mistake of believing God’s intent was for the all of the world to become Jewish. They had fundamentally forgotten that God set the Hebrews apart in the Old Testament to point all of the peoples of the world to Himself.

Jesus didn’t come to establish a religion, but the true worship of God.

Paul and the other apostles were commissioned by Jesus to authoritatively preach the pure Gospel. A Gospel free from cultural and nationalist trappings. A Gospel that would be heard by all of the nations, tongues, and tribes of the world.

This led to constant battles within the early church that continue to echo today.

Every Christian must answer this central question: Is Jesus only the Lord and savior for people who identify with a tribe of religious folks, or for every tribe of people including those who do not have a Judeo-Christian religion as part of their cultural heritage?

Read Titus 1:10-16.10

For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. 12 One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

The people in Crete and other places fell into two different traps in attempting to live out Christianity:

  1. Believers were led astray by Judaizers insisted they had to also become circumcised keepers of the Jewish law to be full followers of God. They would forget that the Gospel is greater than the law of salvation by works.
  2. Believers returned to their old pagan cultural roots of sexual immorality, lying, debauchery, laziness, or general lack of Christian integrity. They would forget that the Gospel fundamentally transforms men and women from sinners into people who conduct lives that are pleasing to God.

What do you think?

  • Do you continue to see these two follies among Christians today?
  • How are legalism and libertinism (disregard of morality) both perversions of the Gospel?
  • What do you make of the statement “to the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.”?
  • How does legalism often mask uncontrolled fleshly desires?

Titus is being instructed to contend with false teachers so they may be silenced and quit perverting the church’s understanding of the pure Gospel.

We don’t know exactly what these people were teaching, but we know that whatever they were teaching was rooted in a misunderstanding of the difference between Christianity and culture. People were instructed that their primary identity was either as a Jew or a Cretan.

The Gospel says that believers in Christ take on a new identity as the family of God.

Paul was not telling Titus that Jewish people completely ceased to be Jewish or that Cretans ceased to be Cretan. But he was telling Titus to teach people that to be in Christ means that we are Jewish in a new way, or Cretan in a new way.

Or American in a new way.

To make nationalism or tribalism more important than the Gospel is to deny the faith. This sort of false teaching must be rebuked.

Discussion Questions

  • Does the church today struggle with separating our tribal, national, and cultural identity from our identity in Christ?
  • How do we fail to make that distinction?
  • Why is it important to place the Gospel ahead of our culture if we want to reach the world?
  • Talk about a situation where you had to place your own cultural identity underneath your identity as a follower of Christ.

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Jonathan Pugh

Jonathan Pugh

Associate Pastor: Life Groups & Church Partnership
Jonathan Pugh

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The Problem of Evil | Sunday, May 22, 2016

May 22, 2016 |

Genesis 2:16-17

How can God and evil co-exist?

The following are helpful resources to explore the subject deeper:

Divorce & Remarriage | Sunday, May 15, 2016

May 15, 2016 |

Luke 16:18

What does the Bible say about divorce and remarriage?

Successful Marriage | Sunday, May 8, 2016

May 8, 2016 |

Ecclesiastes 9:9

What are the Biblical keys to a successful marriage?

Law or Grace? | Sunday, May 1, 2016

May 1, 2016 |

Romans 7:1-6

Do we have to follow all the Old Testament laws to be a Christian? If not, why were they put there in the first place?

Faith & Works | Sunday, April 24, 2016

April 24, 2016 |

James 2:14-26

How do faith and works go together?

How do we reconcile our free will and God’s sovereignty? | Sunday, April 17, 2016

April 17, 2016 |

Romans 9:6-29

  • How can we have free will if God is sovereign?
  • Are we puppets?
  • How do we mentally reconcile these two realities in Scripture?

Free Online Study Materials

Awesome presentation by Dr. R.C. Sproul that highlights the sovereign work of God in the Old Testament and then moves from that to speak to the reconciliation of man’s free will with the sovereignty of God.

Short audio file from Dr. John Piper (includes a written transcript as well) of a summary that deals with important matters related to the questions at hand.

Excellent blog with a wealth of Scripture references that speak to the heart of the issue.

Dr. John MacArthur looks at the Biblical teaching of faith, human responsibility and God’s exclusive sovereignty in salvation. He walks through numerous Biblical passages that show these principles at work.

Unconditional Election | Sunday, April 10, 2016

April 10, 2016 |

Ephesians 1:3-14

How does God choose who will and will not be saved?

How Can We Trust the Bible is God’s Word? | Sunday, April 3, 2016

April 3, 2016 |

2 Timothy 3:15-17

Is the Bible really the Word of God? How can we be sure?

The following blogs and audio presentations provide great material for you to research this question further:

You can find other great material on the following trusted websites:

Jesus: The Only Way | Sunday, March 27, 2016

March 27, 2016 |

John 3:14-18

Is Jesus really the only way to heaven? How can we make such a claim?

Heaven | Sunday, March 20, 2016

March 20, 2016 |

Revelation 21

What is Heaven going to be like? Can I see what's happening on Earth? Will we know each other?


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Why Everyone Should Leave the Church

The church is dead. The church is dying. The church is sick.

Turn all the churches into community centers. Repurpose them into condos. Tear them down and use the land for something worthwhile.

All they do is talk about fairytales. They just take people’s money. They are all hypocrites.

Everyone should just leave the church and be done with it.

The church is dead.

Have you heard anything like this lately? It seems like every week there’s a news story about how the church continues to lose influence in our culture.

Admittedly, I’ve written about the challenges the church experiences today. I’ve written about the lies the church tells and the threats the church faces (here and here).

Last week, popular author Donald Miller wrote a blog entitled “I Don’t Worship God by Singing. I Connect With Him Elsewhere.” It created a lot of noise, so much so that he followed up with a much longer explanation.

He regularly asks serious questions about the role faith and religion plays in our lives. He can be challenging to a lot of our preconceptions, but we shouldn’t ignore what he has to say.

After 2,000 years of business, maybe its time for the church to roll up the sidewalk, shutter the stained glass windows, and close up shop.

The world is smaller now and we cannot deny there are other valid religions.

Maybe when you grew up the biggest doctrinal challenge to your faith was whether the Methodist or Catholics had it more correct than you.

Now, there is no denying there is more than a billion people who are Muslim, there are hundreds of millions who are Hindu or Buddhist, and tens of millions of people who are Jewish or some other faith.

You cannot ignore their belief and Christianity can’t trump them by talking louder.

The church is all about fairytales and myths, so no intelligent person can honestly believe that stuff.

Science marches on and continues to unveil the mysteries of life. We don’t need God to protect us from the unknown like we used to need him.

You can’t trust the Bible as a source of truth because its racist or patriarchal. There are so many contradictions who can believe it?

I mean, really, how is the church different from the “pastafarians” who worship the “Flying Spaghetti Monster?”

The church is filled with hypocrites who prove Christianity is not real.

Obviously the defrocked priests, the humiliated pastors, and church members swept up in lurid sex scandals show that the message is not real.

Spend some time in a church and you’ll discover selfish, manipulative, and controlling people.

Just watch a Christian walk past someone in need. How can their faith be real?

And so it goes. And so it has gone. And so it will go as it has for 2,000 years.

None of these complaints or attacks on the church are new. All of them have some validity and challenge we who believe to be honest about living our faith.

We must answer questions given to us. We must invest our lives. We must work hard to bear witness to the gospel.

Sure, anyone can leave the church. If you have lost faith in the church maybe you should focus on Jesus for a while.

The gospel message about how Jesus changes the world has weathered many storms over the last two millennia. The church has been reinvented and reinvigorated many times.

The church is being reinvented right now before our eyes.

If you leave the church now, you’re just leaving it to someone else who will work to find a way to share the message that God loves you in Jesus Christ.

The church may be dead in your eyes, but the gospel isn’t.

We just need to do a better job sharing it.


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 Darryl Cherney Music

Green Bubba (Part 2)

(Where I Inadvertantly Inhale Jerry Garcia's Ash and Attain Enlightenment)

by Darryl Cherney

The plane from Katmandu to Varanase was only three hours late, and I should have been grateful it flew at all. India is a place that preys on tourists as a pastime, and canceling flights is one of the nation's greatest pleasures. Besides, while waiting I met an English couple who had pre-planned their route to the Hotel Surya and were happy to drag me along for the entertainment value. I was, after all, traveling as the Green Man, with belt buckle, green dungarees and postcards of the redwoods to prove it.

After slacking in Nepal for weeks, I was off to India. I wasn't sure if I was going to get giardia, bubonic plague, or robbed, but we made it to the hotel with only one backpacked being ransacked. Not bad, since it wasn't my pack. Enlightenment don't come cheap.

Between the food and meds I was injesting, I was the Green Man in more ways than one. "Want to lose weight, go to India," they say. Of all the clever sayings, my favorite was, "It is a brave man who farts in Nepal." At some point, however, I was going to have to brave the rickshaw ride to the "ghats," the legendary riverside temples down by the Ganga (a/k/a Ganges) River.

The river blew me away.

Miles of stone walkways and temples lined the wide watercourse. Men slapped their laundry against large flat stones. Huge buffalo swam and sunbathed. Cowpies carved into hamburger-size patties dried by the hundreds in the sun to be used for cook-fires. A corpse burned on a wood-pile. Far from the cacophony of honking traffic that drives on both sides of the street while dodging the lounging cows and dogs, the River Ganga was an oasis of tranquillity. The next day I moved to Hotel Temple on the Ganges, complete with lecherous meditation director and food that didn't make you ill, the latter being the most redeeming of qualities.

I slung my guitar over my back and strolled, as I had in Nepal, offering my bardic services to the world. Only instead of being stopped constantly, no one in India gave a flying karma sutra position #25 about my music. Where the Nepalese were helpful and humorous, the Indians were antipathetic and surly. The cows may not have been meat, but I was.

Later, I learned upon my return to the U.S. that the very week I was on the Ganga, Jerry Garcia's ashes were being secretly spread over the river. I can't say I saw any of the Dead's entourage there, but I may well have unwittingly inhaled one of Jerry's ashes. Whoah.

I should have known the first man to be interested in my music, Raju, from Ravi's Classical Sitar Shop, had me pegged as a mark. The mitigating fact is, however, that an Indian will show you the entire town for several days just to have his cousin overcharge you five dollars. It's almost worth it.

"Hello," said Raju, speaking the word I'd learn to dread the most in India. "I see you play guitar. Come to my shop." And so I did. Raju took me all over Varanase to batique stores, silk factories and a kundalini yoga center. Following him at a brisk pace I had to dodge long-horned cows, make way for chanting men carrying a tinsel-adorned corpse down a narrow alley, and gawk at power lines that make a bowl of spaghetti look organized. Suddenly, a full-on brick crashed before my feet, stopping me in my tracks. As I looked up to find the culprit, I spied a red, sneering monkey! I was truly in Ganesh's hands.

The first of my two epiphanies occurred the next night. After visiting Raju and his sitar-playing brother, I departed at 11 pm, weary of listening to why I should buy his tablas. I navigated the maze of alleys that led me away from his shop and did something one should never do: hire the first bicycle rickshaw driver I saw.

He was a very, very old man. I should have been pedaling him around. I had bargained for 15 rupees (15 cents) for a three kilometer ride and found myself instantly transformed into a rich, white slave owner being carted around by a brown-skinned person. The ride was extra slow, giving me an eternity for reflection.

I did not feel guilty. I do all I can to help this world. Rather, I felt sad. As we passed the other rickshaw driver's sleeping by their carts, I felt sadder. As I debated whether to give him 50 or100 rupees, I wished the ride would be over so I could make him feel better sooner. And then I realized something that as a political activist I had never realized before. No amount of money was going to help. There was nothing I could do.

And as I handed him 50 rupees, I was swarmed by all the usual hustlers. I barely nodded goodbye.

At the hotel, I grabbed my guitar and went to the roof to collect myself and instead ran into a partying group of tourists. They wanted me to play but instead I broke down. I cried for two days. Something inside me had changed forever.

  Home | Music & Lyrics | Bio | Tours | Music Links | Photos | Prose | Contact Us


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Apples and Oranges, Bitcoin and Stocks

I have never really understood why “Apples and oranges…” is supposed to mean, “Those two things are totally different!” Both are fruits. Both grow trees. Both are roughly round. Both make juice. You get the idea. Apples and oranges are much more alike than different.

But every time we highlight the correlation between bitcoin and US stocks, someone invariably says “Apples and oranges!” At one level, I totally understand the comment. We value stocks on earnings and interest rates. Bitcoin’s long-term value comes from incremental user interest and adoption. Those fundamentals are, indeed, different.

At the same time, there is one common link: the people that own each asset.The only requisite to own stocks or bitcoin is investable capital, and we suspect most bitcoin owners also own stocks and other financial assets. So it is entirely plausible to run the correlation numbers and see if common ownership creates common price action. Or, perhaps, bitcoin will earn its “Digital gold” nickname by exhibiting no sustained price correlation to US equities.

The recent global equity swoon makes for a great case study question: “Do bitcoin owners panic out of the crypto when their stock portfolios suffer?”The short answer is “No”. Here is the data:

  • The correlation between bitcoin and the S&P 500 for the 10 days ending last Friday (3/23) was -0.025.
  • Both assets saw losses over the period. Bitcoin was down 4.1%, and the S&P 500 was 5.5% lower. They just took their own paths lower and correlations declined as a result.

Looking at longer time horizons and including today’s market action for both the S&P 500 and bitcoin:

  • 30-day price correlations between bitcoin and the S&P 500 are -0.05 as of today’s close. They were much higher (+0.40) earlier in the month but declined noticeably as US equities lost their footing over the last 10 days.
  • 90-day price correlations are 0.16 between the two. As with the 30-day correlations, these were higher at the start of the month (0.24).

The conclusion here, supported by the graph below: bitcoin and US stocks seem to be going their own separate ways for now. Frankly, that makes sense. Stocks stumbled recently because of concerns over tariff and trade. Bitcoin is unencumbered by those issues, but has its own problems to address. Over the near term, we expect bitcoin and US stocks to trade largely independently of each other.

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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Straying In One Place

Urban Monk Cunningly Disguised as Yachting Enthusiast
There is a patch of water near Cadboro Bay in Victoria where the tide is particularly strong.  Small sailboats race there, and when the wind abates somewhat, it's not uncommon to see them with their sails filled but drifting backwards. Since their direction is the nearby U.S. coastal waters, a rather overused quip from fellow sailors is, "Have you got your American money?"

For the last several months my forward progress has felt like moonwalking - effortlessly striding ... backwards. And the common perception that time seems to accelerate as we age doesn't help matters. I walk into Monday full of hope and ideas and things to achieve, then rest for a moment, have a little nap, and it's Monday again.

One of the things that seems to have been drifting just beyond my reach is connecting with the sangha.

For the longest time, I have been meaning to drag my butt to the Zen Centre and plant it on a zafu, but the weeks have turned into months and I haven't gotten any closer.

Another place I wanted to spend more time is the blogosphere, reading and writing, but haven't done much of that either.

The paradox here is that a big part of the solution to the problem is to simply overcome the problem. What I mean is that interacting with sangha - cyber or otherwise - is a strong motivator to engage in practice, in this case communal sitting in zazen and reading and writing blog posts about practice - i.e. interacting with sangha.

So as we used to say in the hippie days, "nothing to it but to do it." I could go on about this, but I think today is more about action than verbiage. So I'll click the 'publish' button, go sit with the Twitterverse, read some blogs, and trek on over to the zendo.

Hope to see you soon.

  1. Ahh yes David. In your forward/backward journey, perhaps you may find your way over here to Victoria. 7pm Tuesday nights at Zenwest at the Interfaith Chapel at UVic, we offer a public sit. We provide everything, zafu, zabuton, brief intro to sitting, dharma talk, tea, sangha. No charge. Come fifteen minutes before the sit. It would be nice to sit with you.

    1. Hi Tommi. Thanks for the invite. I'm not usually there on Tuesdays, but if I am, I'll definitely make the effort!

  2. I can relate to the drifting backwards" feeling - rudderless. :) Yeah, gotta keep returning to that cushion - in my case "the chair" :) - but the intent is the same: to turn those sails inward to the Silence within that will carry us along... Ahhhhhh.... Quite an impressive photo there Captain :) Is that your Yacht as well? LOL

    1. Hi Christine - oops missed your reply until now :/ I only dress like that once a year on Opening Day - and no, it's not my yacht. I wish... ;)

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