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Gulf oil spill had dramatic impact on microscopic life, study suggests
Updated: Jan. 14, 2019, 9:12 a.m. | Published: Jul. 10, 2012, 9:00 a.m.
By Brendan Kirby
View full sizeAuburn professor Ken Halanych participated in research showing dramatic changes in the microscopic life on Alabama beaches affected by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. (Photo courtesy Auburn University)
MOBILE, Alabama — Months after BP PLC capped the gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico and crews had cleared oil from coast, Alabama's beaches looked like they had returned to normal.
New research by an Auburn University professor and other scientists, though, suggests that significant changes had taken place in creatures too small to be seen by the naked eye. Those changes, professor Ken Halanych said, bear further study and could have big impacts that might not become apparent for years.
"When the samples were taken, there wasn't any obvious oil on the beaches, wasn't anything obvious to indicate that the oil spill had happened," he said. "When you went outside and looked at it, it looked rather normal. There was clearly (microscopic) community change and hidden effects."
Halanych and scientists from the University of New Hampshire, the University of California Davis Genome Center, and the University of Texas at San Antonio, published their work last month in the scientific journal PLoS ONE. The researches collected soil samples from 5 spots around Dauphin Island and Mobile Bay, as well as a persistently oiled beach in Grand Isle, Louisiana.
The researchers collected the first set of samples after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig had exploded in April 2010 but before oil reached the coast. They then compared those samples with soil collected at the same locations in September of that year.
What they found, according to the academic paper, was that diverse communities of microscopic animals had given way to fungi, some of which are associated with oil spills.
"Based on this community analysis, our data suggest considerable (hidden) initial impacts across Gulf beaches may be ongoing, despite the disappearance of visible surface oil in the region," they wrote.
Potential 'ripple effect'
Halanych said the long-term effects are unknown but potentially dramatic, since the organisms that lost ground after the spill form the base of the food chain. He pointed to the collapse of the herring population in Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. That collapse, which did not occur until several years after the 1989 spill, has been traced to changes at the microscopic level.
"When you change the ecosystem, all these things have a ripple effect," he said. "Some of these effects can take years to develop."
Patricia Sobecky, the chairwoman of the Biological Sciences Department at the University of Alabama, said the study sheds new light on a Gulf environment that many scientists contend has received too little attention.
"What they reported is completely in line with what you would expect," said Sobecky, who was not part of the research. "How to interpret that is going to the tricky part."
Sobecky was part of a team that expects to publish its own paper in PLoS ONE in the coming weeks. She said her work focused on the impact of the oil spill on microscopic life in salt marshes near Bayou La Batre.
Sobecky said the work of Halanych and others is important for establishing a baseline to track changes over time.
"I think it will ready us for future events," she said.
One the one hand, Sobecky said, the presence of microorganisms attracted to hydrocarbons may have helped break down the oil faster. Whether those organisms remain and what the effect will be is harder to tell, she said, adding that other large-scale oil spills — like the Valdez — do not offer a conclusive explanation because the environments are so different from the Gulf.
"What does that mean? Is it more resilient? Less resilient?" she said.
John Valentine, the director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, said other research he has reviewed indicates that microbes harmed by the oil spill had rebounded by the end of the year.
"It was pretty clear in the microbial community that there was a pretty dramatic effect immediately after the oil spill," he said. "It would be interesting to know if (Halanych and his partners) persisted beyond September 2010."
More research needed
Halanych said he did, in fact, collect samples a full year after the oil spill. But he said he has not yet analyzed the results. He said other research suggests that changes in bacteria reverted to normal conditions fairly quickly after the spill. But he said that does not necessarily mean that microscopic animals will behave the same way.
He agreed that more research is needed. He said funding for his project from a National Science Foundation grant has run out, but he or others might be able to get renewed support if a follow-up paper shows interesting results.
"What this research shows is we have to keep watching," he said.
Halanych said he and his team used hand-held tools to scoop up soil at the same depth in different locations. They sent those samples to a lab in New Hampshire, where researchers performed a genetic sequencing. Scientists also made observations with microscopes.
He said large animals and fish either moved or died when the massive oil slick reached them. His team focused on the tiny creatures that live between the sand grains.
"They're not going to be able to get up and swim and move," he said.
After the spill, fungi and organisms associated with hydrocarbons were dominant, Halanych said.
"A lot of these things might have been there (before) but in very low numbers, and the conditions didn't favor them," he said.
The question that cannot be answered without more research, Halanych said, is whether the new species will remain without the oil.
"I would hope they would shift back, but we need the data to tell us for sure or not," he said.
Follow Brendan Kirby on Twitter.


BEIJING — China's government censors have begun to block access to the Internet services Twitter, Flickr, Hotmail and Microsoft's live.com, broadening an already extraordinary effort to shield its citizens from any hint of Thursday's 20th anniversary of the military crackdown that ended the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement.
People in China who tried to gain access to the blocked Web sites on Tuesday instead encountered an error message saying the sites' servers had unexpectedly dropped the Internet connection — a standard indicator that access has been blocked.
Weeks earlier, censors blocked Chinese users from viewing all videos on YouTube, and in recent days some television viewers have reported that BBC World News reports related to the Tiananmen anniversary were being selectively blacked out of broadcast programs.
Government censorship of political material on Internet bulletin boards and Web sites is common in China, but this is the first time Twitter has been blocked. Some well-known political activists, unable to post comments on Chinese blogs or chat sites, had switched to Twitter in recent months as an uncensored outlet for their views.
A number of foreign-based sites that have hosted Chinese bloggers, including blogspot.com and the Chinese-language version of wordpress.com, have also been blocked in recent weeks.
The South China Morning Post, an English-language newspaper based in Hong Kong that has frequently featured articles on Tiananmen and other sensitive issues, has also seen its distribution on the Chinese mainland curbed in advance of the anniversary on Thursday. And some Beijing readers of last weekend's edition of The International Herald Tribune discovered that an inside page of the newspaper with an article on the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan religious leader, was missing.
The anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, in which army troops killed hundreds of student demonstrators, workers and ordinary citizens, is one of a series of politically sensitive dates this year that have provoked sweeping security measures by Chinese officials.
In recent days, the government has detained a number of political dissidents seen as threats to public order during the anniversary period, including one who had released an open letter complaining about economic hardship visited on former Tiananmen demonstrators who were jailed after the crackdown.
The dissident, Wu Gaoxing, was seized Saturday at his home in Taizhou, a coastal city south of Shanghai, according to the New York advocacy group Human Rights in China. Mr. Wu was among five men, all once jailed for their roles in the Tiananmen movement, who released a letter last weekend charging that former prisoners have been singled out for economic hardship long after their prison terms ended.
Human Rights in China said Mr. Wu was taken away and his computer confiscated about an hour after the letter, addressed to President Hu Jintao and other senior leaders, became public.
Mr. Wu, a writer and former educator, was taken into custody in 1989 and imprisoned for two years after he joined protests in his home province of Zhejiang against the military crackdown on Tiananmen demonstrators. "In this society that claims to be harmonious, we have become 'citizens of the three have-nots waiting to die': we have no regular jobs, no pensions, and no health insurance; if we get sick, we can only wait to die, and all this just because 20 years ago we were sentenced for political reasons," the letter says.


We work and collaborate with some of the best and brightest thought-leaders.
We decided to speak to the man in the know, one of our directors Jonathan Stanger about his top speakers at the moment.
Firstly, Jonathan picked Ben Smith, who's been on board with RTB for about two years but recently become exclusive with us. Jonathan said: "Ben's just a terrific, awesome, inspiring individual. He has a really diverse story." Most people know Ben for the incredible achievement of running 401 marathons in 401 days; what is of greater inspiration to those who are aware, is the backstory underpinning this monster feat. After being bullied in his school years for being gay, Ben felt unable to openly be his true-self. For years he hid his sexuality and married a woman. Feeling that he wasn't being honest with others, but particularly with himself, the stress led him to eating and smoking more, causing him to put on weight and eventually have a mini-stroke. Ironically having such an awful thing happen to him, is what led him to not only be his true self, but his best self. It spurred him on to be open and honest, change his lifestyle and to start running.
"So many people got behind the story and began sharing stories of the struggles that they were going through, but his whole thing is about being authentic. So, his talks cover diversity inclusion, bullying, authenticity and pushing the limits. What's good about Ben is he just rocks up and tells it from the heart. He's very engaging and covers a range of different aspects." Have a look at Ben here.
She is a speaker whose stories can affect a room full of people. Her ability is far from just the physical aspects of her story, she, as an engaging speaker can relate to a whole range of clients, from schools, businesses, public sector and private sector. "She's an absolute joy to work with as well." Check out Claire here.
Then we come to Professor Steve Peters, who wrote a massively successful book called the chimp paradox. "A lot of people have heard of him, he's all about mind-management and how we manage our own inner talk. Realising we all have an inner voice and using that to our advantage rather than work against you." With thirty years of speaking and lecturing behind him and a vast knowledge of neuroscience, he has a great story to tell. He has worked closely with sports teams like the England football team and athletes and sports stars such as Ronnie O'Sullivan, Chris Hoy and Victoria Pembleton to help train their mind to advance their sporting ability. "It's such a useable and workable model that he's developed. It's just great for all sorts of audiences. Steve's in huge demand." To find out more about Professor Steve Peters, click here.
Inclusivity has become for prevalent in the cultural zeitgeist in recent years, utilising this is advantageous and beneficial to all people, regardless of industry. "It's a huge focus right now in society. How do we use this to our advantage? How do we create a culture of equality? She is a real thought-leader in that area." To read more about unconscious bias, click here.
Jamil understands the impact that change has, how it can often create confusion and difficulty for people who don't know how to work with it. He talks about the positives of change and how to turn what can often be seen as a worrying thing into something exciting, necessary and positive. To find out more about Jamil's understanding of change click here.


Photos from your wedding day are not something to forget about during planning. After the whirlwind that weddings are has passed, you will want your photos to tell and re-tell the story of your wedding day over and over again. Hiring someone who will help you remember your day exactly as it was is one of the most important parts of wedding planning. Whether you want candid photos, something a little more edgy or someone who tries new styles, photographers in the area will meet your wishes. With so many to choose from, you may just want to hire them all.
With a photojournalistic flare, owner of Afterglow, Sarah Lehberger, brings comfort and fun to her client's weddings. Having started her own business seven years ago, Lehberger prides herself on creating emotional connections through the photographs and allows couples to be themselves on their wedding day. Lehberger values being a family historian and photographer for her clients and works to keep family legacies alive through her photos of your special day. Initial consultations are important to Lehberger and she feels you will know in your gut she is the one for you.
Christine Simmons and Jeanna Shepard provide expertise for your wedding day photos with twice the knowledge and skill. Simmons and Shepard believe wedding photos need the technique of both portraiture and photojournalism. Their company will give you the best candid shots and formal photos you could ask for. Not sure when to schedule photos? Simmons and Shepard will be sure to provide you with wedding advice given their years of experience in the business.
Switching professions to pursue her passion of photography, Natasha Montero has worked to bring her motto of "pictures for modernists" to all weddings she shoots. If you want someone who will capture the excitement and thrill of your day, Montero is the fit for your wedding. Montero wants you to feel like you could be on the cover of a magazine and to remember to not take your wedding too seriously so she can help you avoid the stress of wedding planning.
Photography runs in Bruce Plotkin's veins and weddings are now his passion. Although starting in other forms of photography, Plotkin feels he was meant to do wedding photography. He creates lifelong relationships with the couples he shoots and approaches his clients with a personal mindset. You will be provided with photos that are beautiful and have been given attention to technical details. Since your wedding is the most important day of your life, Plotkin makes sure you have memorable photos which will help you remember your day forever.
Melani Lust brings you a more sophisticated background of knowledge and outlook for your wedding day photos. With a focus on art history and education on lighting, Lust provides expert shots for her clients. Lust's passion for brides and photography comes out in her meticulous attention to detail. She creates compelling images through her candid shots that focus on glamour and style. Couples will always look natural and relaxed and the spirit of your wedding will be captured so you will not be disappointed.
As a second generation owner of Videler Photography, wedding photography runs in the family for John Videler. Striving for comfort rather than added pressure on your wedding plans and day is something Videler offers to the couples he shoots. He is always looking to learn whether it is through something he saw in a magazine or playing around with old ideas. Vintage tints, fashion shots and digital ideas are all ways in which Videler can switch up your photos. If you have something you want to give a try to make your wedding photos different, try Videler.
If you want action and personality to shine through in your photos from your wedding day, Mary Alice Fisher is the photographer for you. Formal photos are a part of the package but Fisher likes to focus on showing people relating to one another on your day. Fisher focuses on providing pleasure and ease for her clients and prides herself on not treating each client as simply a job. Every picture taken is special to her just as it is to you.


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MonoHTML5
HTML5 as a fully-fledged target platform for .NET
MonoHTML5 – What are you actually trying to make?
What are the current choices for .NET to JS?
A vision – HTML5 can be "just another platform" for .NET
bobsummerwill on What are the current choices f…
geoffreymcgill on What are the current choices f…
bobsummerwill on A vision – HTML5 can be "just…
Andres G. Aragoneses… on A vision – HTML5 can be "just…
What are you actuall… on What are the current choices f…
When pondering recently on what cool app I could make for my fantastic new Samsung Gear 2, my mind wandered back to ideas from the Xamarin Evolve 2013 Conference. "I should do a C64 emulator!". The screen is 320×320. Commodore 64 was 320×200. Letterbox it. CPU is dual core 1GHz. Should have enough juice. Job done!
Well not quite, because despite Tizen supporting both native (C++) and web (HTML5) APIs, Samsung have chosen only to expose the HTML5 API for the Gear 2 device. Fair enough, I suppose. It's "only a watch". Sucks for me, though.
And it actually sucks for other wearable developers too, because it means they're going to be writing apps in JavaScript, even though the device specs are better than many of the smartphones currently on the market. We're not really being fair to this little supercomputer by constraining it to applications authored in JavaScript.
So what's the answer? C# of course. Or more generally .NET, because F# or any of the other CLR languages could work here too. Unlike with the AGENT smartwatch, which is built on top of the .NET Micro Framework, we're going to need to dance a little to get this going. The Gear 2, however, has a chance at serious market share in the smartwatch category due to the weight of Samsung, unlike the AGENT.
Seeing what Frank Krueger has done with Netjs got me thinking. This C64 project could be run through Netjs, with a simple WebGL canvas for the rendering and then we're nearly done. We would need simple gesture input, which would have to be full screen swipes and a tap for "press button". A limited number of C64 games will be workable with that kind of simple gesture UI, but with that approach we have essentially got a working application where we've gone from C# to HTML5.
That thought process turned into the WearableC64 project.
More importantly, though, the possibility of targeting HTML5 from C# (and even of writing the WebGL bindings in C# to go through the same JS to C# pipeline) got me thinking much bigger.
I want to target HTML5 as an actual fully fledged platform, but to write the applications in C#. We would have all of the HTML5 web APIs exposed as .NET bindings, and then write an HTML5 web application in pure C#. That's exactly the same pattern as all the other platforms in Xamarin world, except that this "platform" can run anywhere you have an HTML5 capable browser. It isn't tied to a particular OS or device from a particular manufacturer.
So you would have both .NET libraries and HTML5 web APIs available – a very well defined and understood API. You could even have this as a formally defined standard – owned by ECMA or W3C or whoever. It would be the simplest standard you could ever imagine – HTML5.NET standard = HTML5 standard + .NET standard. The choice of what kind of .NET profile to use might be a little more of a discussion.
JSIL or netjs could be your starting point for the tooling, but HTML5 could become a formal target platform for Roslyn and other .NET compilers over time. It's just another back-end, right? How do you debug HTML5.NET? In this kind of codegen scenario for C++ you would sprinkle #line derivatives all over the place. Perhaps the glorious MSBuild debugger hack gives us some direction here? Or perhaps Pilchie and Miguel already have good ideas about how this HTML5.NET debugging could work?
Whatever the case, I think there is the seed for something great here.
HTML5.NET could be a real target platform. Multi-selectable for PCLs. You would use the MVVM pattern to share code across multiple native platforms (iOS, Android, WinStore, etc) and HTML5.
Your HTML5.NET UI would be written entirely in C# (or F#, etc), but using the HTML5 standard APIs, wrapped into .NET APIs.
HTML5.NET shouldn't be a commercial-only product. It needs to be free, because it is potentially a platform for a world of innovation at the junction of native app and web development.
So maybe HTML5.NET is built under the .NET Foundation banner? We could build a MonoHTML5 product (for MonoDevelop support of this platform) and a HTML5.NET for Visual Studio product (for Visual Studio support of this platform), but we shouldn't charge anything for them. They should be free of licensing costs, like MonoMac and Node.js Tools for Visual Studio.
Are other people already working towards this exact goal? If so, cool 🙂 Are there details or caveats which would hinder creation of this platform? What about performance?
Unreal Engine and Unity3D's recent asm.js/WebGL demos in Firefox (Unity3D demo, UnrealEngine demo) have, I think, proven the viability of this kind of full applications running in the browser. Another Gear 2 app I considered was a Unity3D game, exported to HTML5 and running on my watch. I honestly think you could have Quake or similar running in a browser on your watch now (or soon!)
Anyway. Enough. What do you reckon, world?
Want to help me build the HTML5.NET standard and MonoHTML5 implementation?
Bob Summerwill, Vancouver, BC, 23rd May 2014.
May 29, 2014 bobsummerwill
7 thoughts on "A vision – HTML5 can be "just another platform" for .NET"
Pingback: A vision – HTML5 can be "just another platform" for .NET | HTML5.NET
ProfessorK says:
There already exists a very advanced project to bridge MSIL to HTML5.
Look at http://jsil.org
I've successfully used it already to build a GUI library that is portable just about everywhere, including the web. You can see demos on various platforms including a live web demo at http://unseenu.wikispaces.com/AnyGUI
bobsummerwill says:
Yes, I am aware of JSIL (and mentioned it very briefly in the article above).
I think there are maybe four different parts to building a full "HTML5 for .NET platform":
1. Compiler front-end (C#/F#/whatever -> CIL)
2. Compiler back-end (CIL -> JS)
3. HTML5 API bindings (JS -> .NET)
4. BCL implementation (re-implementation in JS?)
All of the following seem to provide partial solutions towards that final vision …
http://jsil.org
https://github.com/praeclarum/Netjs
http://blogs.unity3d.com/2014/05/20/the-future-of-scripting-in-unity/
http://websharper.com/
See https://twitter.com/t0yv0/status/474982047673368576.
The other part which I need to understand better is the "bindings" part. I imagine that the HTML5 bindings would just have to be manually written. Somebody mentioned some kind of XML-like description of them somewhere, which it might be possible to auto-gen these bindings from. Do you know what that might referring to?
For the apps you've done with JSIL, how does the BCL work? Is that a re-implementation in JS? Eventually you're going to have to either hit C libraries, or to have to build an alternative implementation written in JS. For Netjs, Frank just wrote a tiny, tiny subset.
See https://twitter.com/praeclarum/status/476058083693568000.
See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11547471/jsil-vs-script-vs-sharpkit.
I'm trying to build a table comparing all the existing solutions here – https://monohtml5.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/monohtml5-what-are-the-existing-projects-in-this-area/.
Are you on Twitter, ProfessorK?
Andres G. Aragoneses (@knocte) says:
I just wanted to write a comment to point out a bit that is not accurate: Xamarin.Mac is not floss or freeware, it's proprietary software with a cost above zero. I guess you were referring to MonoMac.
Thanks, Andres! Yes, it was a mistake. I meant MonoMac, and have updated the article accordingly. Best wishes.
MonoHTML5 - What are you actually trying to make?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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text:
The greatest showman? Hugh Jackman announces world tour
Actor to perform hits from musicals including The Greatest Showman and Les Misérables across Europe and North America
Hugh Jackman as PT Barnum in The Greatest Showman. Photograph: Allstar/20th Century Fox
Ben Beaumont-Thomas
@ben_bt
Thu 29 Nov 2018 09.00 EST
Last modified on Thu 26 Mar 2020 08.30 EDT
Hugh Jackman has announced a live tour that will see him perform songs from hit musicals in arenas across the world.
The tour, titled The Man. The Music. The Show., will see Jackman perform four dates in the UK in spring 2019, as well as eight further dates across Europe and 22 in North America, closing with two concerts at the Hollywood Bowl.
As well as his action hero roles, including Wolverine in the X-Men franchise, the Hollywood star has appeared in numerous musicals on stage and screen. His early career featured a role as Gaston in a stage version of Beauty and the Beast in his native Australia, and a major breakthrough came in 1998 with his Olivier-nominated performance in Oklahoma! at London's National Theatre.
He won a Tony award in 2004 for his performance in the musical The Boy From Oz and starred in Baz Luhrmann's film epic Australia alongside Nicole Kidman. His performance as Jean Valjean in the film of Les Misérables won him a Golden Globe and Academy Award and Bafta nominations.
Most recently he has had staggering success playing circus impresario PT Barnum in The Greatest Showman. The musical film grossed £340m ($435m) worldwide, and its soundtrack has spent almost a year in the Top 5 of the UK album chart, with 21 of those weeks at No 1.
Hugh Jackman on Pan, Wolverine and his 'hammy side'
Jackman will perform songs from these musicals on the tour, which will visit Manchester on 24 May, Birmingham on 27 May and London on 2 and 3 June. Tickets go on sale at 9am on 7 December.
On screen, he will next be seen in the comedy drama Bad Education alongside Allison Janney, and voicing an explorer in the animated film Missing Link.
Musicals (Film)
Musicals (Stage)


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05-06-20 | By Rebecca Edwards
Alcohol Drove Me to Rock Bottom and Set Me Free
Personal Recovery Stories
"Rock bottom became the solid foundation upon which I rebuilt my life." ~ J.K. Rowling
The Reason I Drank Alcohol
At some point we have to ask ourselves a very personal question about how much alcohol we are drinking on a daily basis. The answer will be different for everyone as will the excuses as to why we are drinking so much. My question was, "will you allow alcohol to kill you?" The answer was an emphatic and resounding, "NO!" How I got the answer was harsh, but what happened was absolutely necessary to drive the message deep into the part of my soul that needed relief from a festering spiritual sickness that fueled my insane relationship with alcohol.
Spiritual bankruptcy was the messy result of my life experiences. Those painful experiences, left untreated, allowed a soul sickness to run loose within my mind, body and soul. When you looked at me, I didn't look sick, addicted, restless, irritable or discontent. From the outside, I looked like a successful mother, wife, career woman, school volunteer and friend to many. What you couldn't see was the darkness that was inside of me. The nagging voice that was conducting the show from behind the curtain did whatever it took to mask the symptoms and keep my abuse and alcoholism hidden behind the veil of denial. That all worked until, it didn't.
What Happened at Rock Bottom
The date was April 3, 2011. It was a typical family Sunday that started off at the beach. The sky was bright and beautiful. Since I was a child, the beach was the place I chose as an escape from my feelings of doom and gloom. But on this day, it was different. One moment I could see the sun and then, in an instant, a dark nothingness overrode every circuit panel controlling my mind. All systems failure. The alarm sounded and the only thing I knew to do to escape was drink and drink heavily. That day my soul was empty and thirsty. Nothing could not fill it. At all costs, I was going to gain control of this mental beast and take back my power. I drank and drank and drank until I was lost in a dangerous and near deadly blackout.
How I Was Set Free
Twenty-three hours later, I had arrived in hell. I was face first on hard cold concrete which I would come to know as my rock bottom. It was there, alone, in a puddle of my own vomit clinging to life that I had to come to terms with my choices. The position of my body in relation to the true stench of denial resonated with the part of me that said, enough is enough. At that moment, I surrendered to the forces that had my undivided attention. All of my pain, shame, denial, self-pity, self-loathing and hopelessness were right under my nose. I cried like I have never cried before. Finally, I was done. The only thing left to do was look up, rise up, and face the "cold hard reality" of where I was. In that moment a source of love and light gave me the spark of hope that I needed to get up and seek help. One day at a time I took steps baby steps forward, hand in hand, with those who knew how to stay sober and live sober.
What Sober Life Is Like Now
I am now celebrating nine continuous years of sobriety. The steps I had to take from that puddle of despair have not been easy. If I was to live beyond the pain, I had to engage my soul strength and do my part in my recovery. From that day on I showed up for everything including trauma therapy coupled with working the steps. I did the work required of me to get better and stronger. I also had to show up for myself and my children in ways that I did not think were possible. They say, "You don't know how strong you are until you are tested." Well, I was not only tested, my whole being was put to the test. That may sound overly dramatic to those who haven't wrestled with the beast of addiction, but nothing is more accurate than calling it an unbiased serial soul killer.
For me, AA and a 12-Step program were the channels for me to hear hope through the static of addiction. In this sober curious age, it is very important to take the road that leads you back home to yourself. There is no right way, only the way that speaks to your soul.
Being Part of the Sober/Alcohol Free Collective Consciousness
Many of us are awakening to the sober/clean collective consciousness that is rising. The veil has been lifted and many are helping to end the stigma and shame around asking for help with addiction, substance abuse, mental health challenges. It is now common to bond over pain that once kept many of us from embracing our souls' truth.
Those who continually choose to be open and vulnerable are changing the world right along with everyone else who chooses to be part of the solution. When you feel overwhelmed and think, "I can't do this," turn to those who have already opened their hearts to us. We are brothers, sisters, moms, dads, sons and daughters, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. We are friends, foes, acquaintances, homemakers, professionals and celebrities and we are all trying to do what we can to heal our pain and move beyond our demons.
There have been so many sober souls that have helped me build the solid foundation on which I have built my career as an advocate for the voiceless, a sober author and a content creator of all things spiritually fit and stone cold sober. I give back by passing the baton of sobriety forward. I must carry the message to those who still suffer. My alcoholism drove me to rock bottom and I feel it is so important to share about wonderful it is to be free.
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A healthy is life is all about feeding our complex body with all the stuff it needs. Our body functions in a very complex manner, as we need some substances from outside as food intake, and some of them we can cook on our own, inside our body. One of an example of this cycles includes our Amino acids consumption. Though our body can make few of the amino acids, we need to get most of them through food! As amino acids and proteins are an essential part of body's proper functioning and working, these can't be neglected.
In our food charts, we hold a list of protein-rich foods which somehow help us in reaching that daily protein needs a limit, but in our hectic schedules and unavailability of many resources, we often suffer from protein deficiency! On the one hand, where many of us fill our protein meter with non-veg, including meat and eggs, many of the vegetarians suffer to reach that benchmark. Hence, most of them shift to artificial supplements and alternatives, to get their targets reached. Protein supplements, protein shakes and other chemical options, have created a huge market in few recent years, but we should never neglect the long-term effects of getting dependent on artificial alternatives too. Thus, you can solve all your problems with different types of high protein flour which is an alternative to synthetic supplements.
In these conditions, where getting enough protein is turning harder day by day in our schedule, and all the other alternatives may not suit you ethically, economically or health-wise, we have something right for all of you! Protein Rich Flour is the escape from all these worries. Protein-rich Flour like Soy Flour, Wheat Flour, and Whole Wheat Flour, contains more than around two to four times of protein, as present in our accustomed flour, and hence can be very useful!
Switching to Protein Rich Flour is an effective alternative to all of our daily protein consumption needs, as flour is a part of everyday diet. Replacing your regular flour with Protein-Rich Flour is an easy, effective and economical step to a comfortable, active and fit life! This small change can make a difference, as you start feeling more energetic! Switch to Cheap Protein Rich Flour today, and live an Active and Strong Life!


We've gotten a slew of bug reports overnight as to what was wrong with the latest release. Keschte and I worked hard to address a number of these issues and I've done a mini update on the server. Check out this list of recently closed bugs to see what we did. Thanks to all those who reported bugs!
The broken tagger issues should also be resolved now.


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Research Project: Development of New Stone Fruit Cultivars and Rootstocks for the Southeastern United States
Title: Peach cultivar releases and fruit trait distribution in the USDA-ARS Byron program
Submitted to: Acta Horticulturae
Citation: Chen, C. 2021. Peach cultivar releases and fruit trait distribution in the USDA-ARS Byron program. Acta Horticulturae. 1304/29-35. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2021.1304.4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2021.1304.4
Interpretive Summary: Success of conventional plant breeding depends on optimal combination of crossing parents and selection of promising hybrids as potential new varieties, which are based on evaluation data. Dozens of peach varieties have been released and valuable mass evaluation data have been generated from the USDA-ARS high-chill peach scion breeding program at Byron, Georgia over the past decades. In this report, we summarize all the peach varieties released from this breeding program and provided an overview of the history and trend of variety improvement. We analyze peach fruit evaluation data to understand fruit trait distribution and selection tendency in the program, which may be useful for the peach breeding community.
Technical Abstract: Conventional plant breeding is often daunting and costly, but it has a long history of success and remains predominant in today's crop improvement programs. Success depends on optimal combination of parents to produce sufficient hybrids, and comprehensive evaluation of the hybrids to select potential new varieties. Decades of effort in the USDA-ARS stone fruit breeding program at Byron, Georgia have led to release of dozens of peach varieties and to generation of valuable mass evaluation data on peach fruit. In this report, all the peach varieties released from the breeding program were summarized to provide an overview of the history and trend of variety improvement. The reorganized peach fruit evaluation data were also used for statistical analysis to understand fruit trait distribution and selection tendency in the program. A normal distribution was observed for ripe date and fruit size. Other traits, including fruit set, external blush, attractiveness, firmness, and freeness, showed an uneven distribution toward the desired direction, which was expected since data was rarely taken on discarded hybrids. Correlations were also found between some of the evaluated fruit traits. The summary of all the varieties and peach fruit evaluation data should be of some value and inspiration for the stone fruit breeding community.


It's been almost twenty years since Jesus first ambushed me on the campus of the University of Colorado in a small group men's Bible study on Romans. Since then, my life has been a testimony to God's amazing grace. It includes meeting my future wife and partner in ministry, Kristi, interning at First Presbyterian Church in Boulder, evangelizing the campus of the University of Colorado, somehow graduating from CU (after failing out my sophomore year!), working as a manager at Boulder Community Hospital (with no health care background!), attending Princeton Theological Seminary (with a 2.3 GPA from college!), serving at New Jersey State Prison as a volunteer chaplain, graduating and winning the Mary Long Grier-Hugh Davies prize in preaching (which has to be the longest named prize in history!), serving for six years alongside the wonderful people of Overlook Presbyterian Church in Mobile, AL (who put up with this Yankee!), having front row seats to the spiritual renewal God brought to that congregation, moving to Sun Prairie, WI to plant a new church (which failed by the way!) and learning some painful but good lessons along the way, and then being called back home to Colorado to serve as senior pastor of PEPC. Whew! What a whirlwind journey! Along the way, God blessed us with four beautiful children – Chloe, Josiah, and our twins Emma and Sophie – of whom we couldn't be more proud! Our deepest passion is to join God in what He's doing to redeem and reclaim the world for Himself and our deepest joy is to be a part of an awesome community of people here at PEPC who share that passion! My favorite passage of Scripture is "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." Romans 8:11 My most embarrassing moment came when I played Peter Pan on Ice when I was younger…and yes, my mom made me wear the green tights!
As a family we first came to PEPC in 1993, shortly after serving as missionaries with Youth for Christ in Germany working with Military Community Youth Ministries for nine years. In 1994, I came on as the interim youth director while working at YFC/USA and I have never left the staff at PEPC. In 1999, I went from part time to full time as the Student Ministries Pastor and left YFC after 22 years. My wife, Debi has continued with YFC/USA and is now on the Senior leadership Team as the Shared Services Director. In 2005, I stepped into the role as the Family Life Pastor and have fulfilled a myriad of roles as the primary counseling pastor, utilizing my master's in Biblical Counseling from CCU in 1993, then as the interim senior pastor for most of 2009 and am currently finishing up my requirements to become ordained in the EPC in the near future. Debi and I have been married for 35 years and have three adult children, Casey, Cori and Colin. I'm involved in the community as a high school baseball coach at Ponderosa and play rec softball a few nights a week most of the year with my wife for our championship PEPC softball team. I enjoy working in my salsa garden, hanging out with my family, wrestling with our dogs Cash and Cutler and playing golf. One of my favorite verses that God has been faithful in it's promise is Proverbs 3:5,6 "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding and he will make your path straight". I am a passionate follower of Jesus Christ and live to make him known to others in all that I am and do. Some of my favorite theologians are Oswald Chambers and CS Lewis. I love being a part of the PEPC family and watching God work in and through us to fulfill His Great Commission in Parker, Colorado and the World.
By the grace of God I grew up in a home where the love of Jesus was modeled well. His pursuit of me (and my response to follow Him with my life) was a dynamic I became aware of early on, and continues to be a daily part of obedience and devotion. Music also held a high value in our home, and I grew up with it playing constantly. Some of my first musical memories are of us gathered around the old family piano learning to sing parts out of the hymnal. My first formal music lesson was Suzuki violin at age 5. After a couple painful years of "Mississippi Hotdog" and "Lightly Row," my parents opted to let me drop violin in exchange for studying the piano which I gravitated toward more naturally and ultimately wound up serving as the foundation for my further studies. By the time I got to college I possessed a deep love of corporate worship and a commitment to the local church. As such I studied music and biblical studies which accordingly prepared me for my first ministry call and set me on a trajectory for vocational ministry. I had the amazing privilege of spending my first seven years in ministry on staff at Elmbrook Church (Brookfield, WI) before moving to Colorado to complete my studies at Denver Seminary and join PEPC's pastoral staff team in 2013. I am blessed to be married to an amazing woman, a true partner in ministry, and my best friend (Sarah), and am the delightedly exhausted father of three fantastic children (Corban–age 6, Euan–age 3, and Sojourner–an infant) who are the most tangible reminders of God's generous love I could ever imagine! Most importantly, I am passionately in love with Jesus and am deeply committed to seeing his kingdom come in my life, and in the lives of his people—the church—as his chosen method for reaching the world.
I grew up as a missionary kid (MK) in the Philippines where my dad served at one of the largest MK schools, Faith Academy. I grew up in a loving home where I learned about Jesus early on in my life. When I was 14, my mom and dad were called off the mission field, which was a defining moment in my life as I learned to trust that God had a plan for my life far greater than I understood at the time. We moved to Wheaton, IL, where I attended high school and later attended Wheaton College to receive my Bachelor's in Music Education in 2003. I then moved to Colorado to be close to where my parents had moved yet again. From 2004-2008 I found myself diving in to teaching public school and pursuing my Master's in Curriculum and Instruction from Colorado Christian University. In 2008, I met my husband, Eric, and we were married in 2009. We have two beautiful children, Ellie and James, and we are so thankful God has allowed us to be their parents! Once we had children, I felt a call to leave full-time teaching and prayed God would provide another avenue for me to use my gifts and talents. In 2011, we found PEPC and felt like we found "home" in a church. I came on staff in 2014 and am so grateful for the opportunity to serve the Lord and the people of PEPC. I can't share just one verse that is my favorite, but I will point you to the book of James. The book of James has been a constant "go to" book for me ever since I was in college. I find that it always brings me back to the standards and priorities of my faith.
I grew up in a Christian home and am the second of 5 children. My parents were missionaries in South Africa where I attended High School. After High School I came back to the States with my older sister and felt the Lord calling me to Bible College in Des Moines, IA, where I received a BA in Christian Education. I met my husband, Jim while we were working together at Jeppesen in Englewood. We are blessed with two children, Cory and Christy who came to us through adoption who are both now married. What an amazing blessing adoption is and therefore one of my great loves and passions. I have one beautiful granddaughter named, Felicity who is 5. I came to know the Lord as a young child but was not really passionate about Him until He became real to me through the infertility/adoption process. I realized at that time that I am not really in control of anything, He is. I need to rely on Him totally as my source of strength and the direction for my life. What a difference this has made in my thinking. My passion in ministry is administrative/support. Anything that I can do to make another's ministry successful, really trips my trigger. I love being behind the scenes and able to see God glorified and people drawn to him. My favorite Bible verse is Psalm 30:5 – "Weeping may endure for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning!" Nothing is ever as bad as it seems at midnight. God is there and beside me in the darkest times.
My roots are here in Colorado. I grew up in the Arvada area and was blessed with being a part of a family who taught me the value of a relationship with Christ. I was heavily active in my youth ministry growing up going to youth groups, camps, retreats, lock-ins, missions trips and I was even in the youth choir. (In spite of not being able to carry a tune) I loved being a part of that community. My plan growing up was to finish High School, go to college and when I turned 21 go through the police academy and join the police force. I thought that was a great plan and a good future. And it was, only it was my plan and not God's plan. A series of event over the next couple years lead me down a different path where God revealed his ultimate plan for my life, to minister to Students. I have had the incredible opportunity over the last 10 years to show Christ's love to students. I see youth ministry as an outreach and I have a huge passion to reach into the community to share the Gospel with as many students who will listen. Nothing excites me more then to see these students develop a heart to serve and glorify our Lord, and to see them be impacted by the transformation that Jesus Christ has on their lives. My wife Savanah and I have three beautiful children, Shiloh, Caleb and Lily. I like being outdoors. I enjoy hiking, camping and sitting around campfires. I like people, and community and the fellowship we share. I love the charge we are given in Hebrews 12:28-29. "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." How awesome our God is, and what an exciting journey that we get to take part in HIS kingdom!
I joined the PEPC Student Ministry team in September of 2017 and over the years, I have been blessed to have the experience of leading youth ministry programs all over the world – LITERALLY! I grew up as the oldest of three kiddos, primarily in Northern Virginia but have lived in many different places, including more than a handful of states and even 4.5 years living overseas in Belgium and Germany. While living in Europe, I served as a Community Director (youth ministry director) with Club Beyond alongside the military teens and their families stationed at those bases. After returning to America, I learned about the youth ministry program at PEPC through connections at Youth for Christ, where I served as a missionary, in a multitude of capacities, for 11 years! I grew up in an incredible family and knew about Jesus when I was a young girl. But it wasn't until I was a teenager that God became real to me during a series of tough times. The love of Christ was demonstrated to me through the incredible leaders and volunteers in the youth group I was involved in and after I chose to accept Jesus as my Savior, He has taken me on a wild and an incredible journey! I think the passion of working with teenagers took root the very second He became my focus and youth ministry became my calling.
After serving overseas and returning to America, God surprised me again- this time with the man I would spend my life with. I found my ministry partner when I met John Spaulding! We got married in August 2015 and I became an "insta-mom" to Ryland (now almost 10) and Katelyn (now almost 7). We LOVE spending time together as a family on a regular basis and enjoy being outside, camping together, going on adventures and yard sale'ing as a family competition. We recently added another 'fur-baby' to our family- a Golden Retriever rescue named Piper and we enjoy spoiling her and her "brother" Riley- the big fat cat! Besides ministry, I love to travel and have been to more than 20 countries. I enjoy spending time by the water and I spend a lot of time singing, performing or leading worship. My husband is an incredible cook and we both crave "quality time" and receive that as often as possible by eating flavorful foods and curling up on the couch to enjoy our favorite shows on Netflix. I am excited to be part of the team at PEPC and am honored to spend time with the teens that the Lord brings through our doors!
My life's verse: Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". Gods plan was for my family to move to Colorado from North Carolina in 2014. My husband Frank and I made this prayerful decision and moved our children across the country and the Lord has richly blessed us with an amazing church family. Our four children are the greatest blessings of our life. My love for children and planting the seed of Jesus has been developed in many ways, as a mother, a preschool music teacher, a preschool teacher in a Christian school, a volunteer and as a Children's ministry worker at our North Carolina church plant. We have jumped into life here in Colorado and feel blessed to be a part of the PEPC family.
A little about me: I have a degree in Music, certification in teaching, graduate work in accounting, and CPE in human resources. I've worked as a music teacher, accountant, HR and administrative manager and small business manager – not necessarily exclusively – I like to have plenty to do. Some of the greatest ministry opportunities in my life have come though loving people in everyday life at work and in our community. My greatest blessing is my husband Keith. Together we find our family the joy of our life. I hope you get a chance to meet them: Brooke and Chad with Dylan and Addison (now of Texas); Brandon and Marilyn with James and Alex (Wyoming); and Brittan and Lindsey (Washington D.C.). I am in awe of the unbelievable love and blessings God has poured out in these rich relationships. Actually, I'm just in awe of God! I have known our Lord and Savior for most of my life, but have grown to realize I will never know Him today like I will tomorrow. The more I know and love, the more I know there is, to know and love. Going deeper is a lifetime journey. I love the Lord and I love PEPC. God has led us through approximately 30 years in community together. My first interaction in leadership at PEPC was with worship design in 1991 on the PEPC Music and Worship Committee and has included designing services, writing drama, choosing music, arranging orchestrations, conducting and serving on staff as the Worship Coordinator. Every now and then I even get a chance to conduct one of our ensembles. Administratively I have consulted on building campaigns, staff development, facility management, finance and in most Human Resource areas.
I was born and raised in Alabama. My whole family lives there but I relocated to Parker, CO in 2003. My husbands name is Ben and we have two daughters named Bailey and Emily. We also have a sweet little Miniature Austrian Labradoodle named Chewbacca.
be part of the PEPC family!
I was born in Burlington, Vermont and then my family moved to Colorado shortly after. I grew up in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. After high school, I moved to Denver to get a degree in applied science. I began a career in Veterinary Technology. I then decided to go back school to study nursing. A couple years later, I met my amazing husband and we have two children; ages 10 and 16. We also have two dogs and two cats. Faith has always been in my life but it never really took a strong hold on me until I was in my late 20's. Then after going through some family health issues and major health issues of my own, I realized then how amazing our Lord truly is and how much He loves us! I am drawn to Psalm 18:2. "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." I feel very blessed to be a part of PEPC. I enjoy camping, gardening, basically anything outdoors. I am thankful for the responsibilities given to me in the office, all the amazing staff I work with and the relationships I have developed in the time I have been at PEPC. I am excited for my ongoing journey with our Lord and to see what this great place we call PEPC has in store for me and His Kingdom!


Dr. Morris Bullock at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is quoted in the December 16 issue of Chemical & Engineering News. In the article, "Catalysts that are less precious," Deputy Assistant Managing Editor Stu Borman covers three new catalytic studies about using iron and other earth-abundant metals. These metals could replace palladium and other precious metals, which present cost and toxicity issues. Bullock is quoted at the conclusion of the article regarding the diverse approaches: "there is no exclusive single 'recipe' for success in developing catalysts based on cheap metals -- an observation that is encouraging to chemists seeking to design and develop catalysts based on abundant, inexpensive metals."
Bullock leads the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and American Chemical Society. His work in developing transition metal electrocatalysts has earned him the Royal Society of Chemistry's Homogeneous Catalysis Award in 2013.


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Q: How do you get total sum of a column for a specified date? I have a where the index column are dates. The other columns are total sales for each product for a specific day. I need to get total sales for each column for the year 2010.
I know how to get the total sum of a column, but I am having problem in getting the sum for a specific data/time frame.
The dates on index column come in the following format 2007-09-22

A: Use partial string indexing with sum:
rng = pd.date_range('2018-04-03', periods=10, freq='4M')
df = pd.DataFrame({'Product 1': range(10), 'Product 2': range(1, 11)}, rng)
print (df)
            Product 1  Product 2
2018-04-30          0          1
2018-08-31          1          2
2018-12-31          2          3
2019-04-30          3          4
2019-08-31          4          5
2019-12-31          5          6
2020-04-30          6          7
2020-08-31          7          8
2020-12-31          8          9
2021-04-30          9         10

print (df['2020'])
            Product 1  Product 2
2020-04-30          6          7
2020-08-31          7          8
2020-12-31          8          9

If need sum per rows:
print (df['2020'].sum(axis=1))
2020-04-30    13
2020-08-31    15
2020-12-31    17
Freq: 4M, dtype: int64

If need sum per columns:
print (df['2020'].sum())
Product 1    21
Product 2    24
dtype: int64

A: You can use your index pretty flexibly if it is a date-time index.
If using the the dataframe (as provided by @jezrael), you can do the following.
df.groupby(df.index.month).sum()
Output
    Product 1   Product 2
4   18          22
8   12          15
12  15          18

Or
df.groupby(df.index.year).sum()
Output
       Product 1    Product 2
2018    3           6
2019    12          15
2020    21          24
2021    9           10

A: A simple groupby can work for aggregates. If you want to aggregate using multiple columns, look it up in documentation for groupby using pandas.
import pandas as pd

data = {'Date': ['2007-09-22', '2007-09-23','2007-09-22'], 'Product 1': [1,2,3], 'Product 2': [4,5,6]}
df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns = ['Date','Product 1','Product 2'])

df.groupby('Date').sum()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Politics U.S.WND
Leftist news site's 'best-case scenario': Assassinate Trump
'Our double agent is ready to carry out the order'
Published December 9, 2016 at 7:48pm
Fusion, the liberal news site aimed at millenials and multiculturals and created by the Spanish-language Univision network in 2013, has joined those who think toying with the idea of assassinating Donald Trump is acceptable political speech.
The site posted a four-panel cartoon Thursday by Matt Bors titled, "The best case scenarios under Trump," one of which shows a plot employing Melania Trump as a Slovenian double agent being ID'd as her husband's assassin.
The comic's other panels hold out hope for anti-Trumpers in a miraculous reversal from the Jill Stein recount, impeachment and total nuclear annihilation.
"Scarlet Letters: The Ever-increasing Intolerance of the Cult of Liberalism Exposed" illustrates how the progressive movement came to mimic a religion in its structure but not at all in its spirit, while profiling those brave individuals who dared to take a stand against this inquisition.
"If President-elect Obama had been the subject of a cartoon like this by conservatives eight years ago, the howls against such a sick display of hate and incitement to violence would have reached high heaven," noted Ken Oliver-Méndez, director, Media Research Center-Latino.
"If Fusion's management has any sense left, they should immediately order that the cartoon be taken down."
The Fusion posting comes the same week leftist activist and filmmaker Michael Moore said "something crazy" could happen before Inauguration Day that prevents Trump from ever taking office.
Appearing Wednesday evening on "Late Night with Seth Meyers," Moore shared what he called his "prediction": "[Trump] is not president of the United States yet. He's not president, right? He's not president 'til noon on Jan. 20 of 2017. That is – what are we, Wednesday the 9th? – so that's more than six weeks away. … So is it possible, that within the next six weeks, something else might happen? Something crazy. Something that we're not expecting."
Moore did not elaborate on what that "something crazy" might be, but he is actively promoting efforts by groups planning to disrupt Trump's inauguration.
Only last month when Trump was rushed off stage by the Secret Service at a Reno rally, Fusion treated the scare and early reports of an attempted assassination as "fake news."
Fusion is not the only publication treating assassination of the president-elect lightly ... or worse.
WND reported a feature writer for the Guardian newspaper of London tweeting, "It's about time for an assassination."
Another Twitter user posted that the "only" remaining question after Tuesday's election is who will "assassinate" Trump, the New York Post reported.
Other users even cited the Jan. 20 inauguration as a deadline for assassination.
"Trump chose the literal worst case scenario as VP so nobody would try to impeach or assassinate him," one user, referring to his conservative running mate Mike Pence, posted on Twitter.
Even America's schools have been generated threats against Trump.
WND reported an incident last month at Ordean-East Middle School in Duluth, Minnesota, in which a photo of President-elect Donald Trump was placed in a trophy case with the caption "You're a dead man."
Get the hottest, most important news stories on the Internet – delivered FREE to your inbox as soon as they break! Take just 30 seconds and sign up for WND's Email News Alerts!
The day following last month's election, a Fusion editorial declared the site "the voice of the resistance" and committed itself to a hard-left political agenda for the Trump years ahead.
"This is our time to prove that we, too, are America – the America of tomorrow. We will not be left behind. We're survivors, we're protesters, we're vocal, and we don't give up" the editorial concluded.
What do YOU think? Sound off in today's WND Poll on left's casual talk about assassinating Trump.
A week later, however, Univision announced a six percent layoff after the company slipped into the red, with many of the job cuts targeted at Fusion. The inconvenient business decision came not only a week after the editorial staff's post-election manifesto, but also a week after the majority of that same editorial staff voted to unionize – a decision opposed by Univision.
One disappointed Fusion staffer told Politico: "The newsroom was empty after the announcement. The remaining staff is uncertain of its future and the toxic morale is palpable. No one can believe that the most talented and hardest working staffers were cut and yet a company that prides itself on diversity and progressive values chose to keep those who've contributed the least and make the most."
Univision chairman, Haim Saban, donated between $10 and $25 million to The Clinton Foundation, reported Newsbusters. His wife, Cheryl, serves on the foundation's board. Emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, released by Wikileaks, showed Saban repeatedly colluding between his network and the campaign.


text:
Nine Answers for Anxious Film Investors
by Gill Holland and Tim Kirkman
in Filmmaking, Financing
The process of finding investors for independent film can be trying, to say the least, but it can also be illuminating. Anyone who has ever attempted to find money for a film knows that there are typical questions that always get asked by first-time investors: How will I make back my investment? When do the investors get paid? How is the deal structured? Can I come to the premiere?
While looking for partners for Lazy Eye, our micro-budget feature, writer/director Tim Kirkman received an e-mail from a potential investor who had forwarded our package to a friend/advisor. The email contained a forwarded email of this investor's advisor's warnings, assertions and reasons not to invest. Tim then forwarded this to long-time producer Gill Holland, and we sent back the response below. At the same time, we realized that this email chain could be something other folks could potentially benefit from seeing, so here you go, up close and real-time indie film development.
The questions from this unknown friend or advisor to our potential investor are in bold, and our answers follow:
1. The most important thing is to read the entire script before you invest. We are happy to share the script, and as you read it, remember that film is art. It is subjective. Something that one person likes, another might loathe. The important thing to ask yourself is whether or not you think the story has potential, both artistically and commercially. If you do, we hope you will consider investing. If not, that's okay. Others believe in it, we believe in it, and we will find a way to make the film with or without you.
2. Although all these players have experience in movies, that doesn't mean that this movie will be great. We can't argue with that. Frances Ford Coppola made The Godfather films, but he also made Jack. Ridley Scott made Thelma and Louise, but he also made G.I. Jane. Brian DePalma made Carrie and Scarface, but he also made Bonfire of the Vanities. See how subjective it is? There is never any guarantee.
3. It's the script that really matters. It is true that you cannot make a great film from a poor script. But it is possible to ruin a great script with poor execution. The execution of the script determines a lot. At every stage — casting, shooting, decoration, wardrobe, editing, music, sound effects — decisions are made that affect every other component. And let's not forget those aspects that are not decisions, but events over which the filmmakers have no control: weather, illness, natural disasters. Bad weather can quickly turn a four-week, 22-day shoot into essentially a four-week, 18-day shoot which impacts a film negatively.
4. The introductory paragraph of their Prospectus (referring to the standard confidentiality disclaimer) really means that everything outlined in their final goals are not to be relied upon. The first page is almost a huge disclaimer to that effect. This is standard legalese for almost any investment, including one in films. But it is true we cannot guarantee any successful outcome, and there is always risk. We are happy for you to speak with our attorney about this standard disclaimer, if you like.
5. They don't outline here what "investor shares" are: e.g., are they 10% per $10,000 invested? The investor shares are in the proposal, but let us try to clarify better. The budget allows for (22) shares or units of $10,000. Individuals or groups may invest in one or more units. After payments of any incurred debts or balances, all revenue goes to investors on a pro rata basis until they receive 120% of their original investment. After 120% recoupment, the remaining "net profit" is split 50/50 between the investors and the production company. The 50% production company split consists of percentages given to the director, producers, actors, writer, and other participants pre-determined by the production company. Your individual investment reflects the percentage of the film you own (example: a $10K investment is about 4.5% ownership).
6. What if they run out of money and allow other investors after they are underway. Does that water down your 10%? We try very carefully to spend money only after we have enough financing to produce a film that can sell. And yes, there is always a possibility that the film will go a bit over-budget and if we need to bring in another $10-20K, the denominator of total investment will increase 5-10% so a $10K investment would increase that denominator accordingly. We have a team that has worked on many films so we are as confident in the budget as is, and we are happy to share it with you. The script was written with a micro-budget in mind with a minimal number of actors, locations and effects. Additionally, we have historically finished our four features on time and on budget.
7. Big question: If they are so good, why don't they go to a bank for a measly $200,000? There are very few banks we have heard of that do any film financing and that is only when the film (usually a studio film with a big budget and big names) has extensive pre-sales. The bank will then require the film to have a completion bond and other costly elements that independent films simply never can afford. Co-producer Gill Holland has worked on over 100 films, only one of which ever had bank financing, and it starred some big names and only had a $2 million budget. If the question is why we don't borrow the money personally, neither of us has that kind of net worth, though we are all invested considerably. Time and sweat-equity writing the film and now producing it adds up to significant opportunity costs for us. In this marketplace, $200K is not "measly" and funding a film using an LLC (the most common way of financing film) shares the risk. Most filmmakers, especially independent ones, cannot take this on their own. If your friend believes $200K is measly, then I strongly hope he or she will invest at least one share at $10K! Independent filmmakers rely on individual investors – not banks.
8. Will the investors get to see a real budget and how their investment is spent? We are happy to share the line item budget with you.
9. What happens if the movie never gets finished? What recourse do the investors have? We have always finished every movie we set to make. One (Dear Jesse) was nominated for Emmy, Spirit, Gotham and GLAAD Awards and was named Best Documentary of the Year by the Boston Society of Film Critics. One (Loggerheads) went to Sundance in the Dramatic Competition and won awards all over the world, including the Grand Jury Prize at OutFest. Three had theatrical runs and the other found a life on iTunes and Hulu. On top of that, they were (mostly) well-reviewed. That's an accomplishment very few filmmakers can assert. If the film does not get made within a certain amount of time (predetermined by the LLC), the investors get their money back. A film schedule gets set by a host of factors, including cast and location availability, timing of all funds being raised, and seasonal requirements, among other things. Flexibility in shooting schedule is key. The main thing to remember is that no one wants the film to get made more than the filmmakers.
I really hope this helps.
Tim Kirkman and Gill Holland
Werner Herzog on Tom Cruise and Harmony Korine By Scott Macaulay on Dec 21, 2012
House of Cards, the Netflix Algorithms and Me By Scott Macaulay on Feb 3, 2013
A Look at the New Blackmagic Design Cameras By Jamie Stuart on Aug 9, 2013
Ginger & Rosa Director Sally Potter on Taking Chances By Allan Tong on Mar 12, 2013


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Futures Pointing To Initial Strength On Wall Street
RTTNews.com RTTNews
Aug 3, 2020 8:51AM EDT
(RTTNews) - Following the advance seen last Friday, stocks may see some further upside in early trading on Monday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 138 points.
The Nasdaq futures are showing an even stronger upward move, suggesting technology stocks may help to lead the markets higher once again.
Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) are moving significantly higher in pre-market trading after the software giant confirmed it is in talks to acquire Chinese-owned video app TikTok.
The statement from Microsoft comes just days after President Donald Trump revealed plans to ban TikTok in the U.S. due to national security concerns.
Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) are also seeing pre-market strength after reporting better than expected quarterly results last week.
Early buying interest may also be generated in reaction to upbeat economic data from overseas, with a report showing the Chinese manufacturing sector expanded at the fastest pace since early 2011.
The Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 52.8 in July from 51.2 in June, as market conditions continued to recover from the coronavirus outbreak.
A separate report showed the euro area manufacturing sector returned to growth in July for the first time in a year and a half as output and demand continued to recover.
Shortly after the start of trading, the Institute for Supply Management is scheduled to release its report on activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector in the month of July.
The ISM's purchasing managers index is expected to inch up to 53.6 in July from 52.6 in June, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in manufacturing activity.
The Commerce Department is also due to release its report on construction spending in the month of June. Economists expect construction spending to drop by 0.5 percent in June after slumping by 2.1 percent in May.
Stocks saw considerable volatility over the course of the trading session on Friday before eventually ending the day mostly higher. The major averages all moved to the upside late in the session, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq showing a particularly strong upward move.
After falling as much as 300 points, the Dow ended the day up 114.67 points or 0.4 percent at 26,428.32. The Nasdaq surged up 157.46 points or 1.5 percent to 10,745.27 and the S&P 500 climbed 24.90 points or 0.8 percent at 3,271.12.
Despite the advance on the day, the major averages turned in a mixed performance for the week. The Dow dipped by 0.2 percent, while Nasdaq soared by 3.7 percent and the S&P 500 jumped by 1.7 percent.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 2.2 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have all shown strong moves to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index has spiked by 2.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index are up by 1.4 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are edging down $0.01 to $40.26 a barrel after rising $0.35 to $40.27 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after jumping $19.10 to $1,985.90 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are inching up $2 to $1,987.90 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 106.24 yen versus the 105.83 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1733 compared to last Friday's $1.1778.
RTTNews
Founded in the late 1990s by Andrew Mariathasan in New York, with the goal of covering Wall Street for a new generation of investors, RTTNews has expanded steadily over the years to become a trusted provider of content for a wide array of subjects across several platforms. RTT's Financial Newswire is relied upon by some of the world's largest financial institutions, including banks, brokerages, trading platforms and financial exchanges.


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NEWS: Max Biamou Nominated For Sky Bet League Two Goal of the Month
The strikers first league goal is up for an award...
Alex Low
Sky Blues striker has been nominated for the Sky Bet League Two Goal of the Month for January.
Biamou scored his first league goal for City against Swindon Town last month, when he fired in the opener from outside the box, with a thunderous effort.
The goal was voted by the Sky Blues supporters as their Goal of the Month for January, after the striker wontwith 63% of the vote.
Max is now up for the award alongside:
Sean McConville - Accrington Stanley
Dayle Grubb - Forest Green Rovers
Voting closes at 6pm on Tuesday the 13th of February, so make sure you head over to vote for Max here.


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Don't Come Knocking Trailer (2006)
Howard Spence (Sam Shepard) has seen better days. When he was younger he was a movie star, mostly in Westerns. At the age of sixty, Howard uses drugs, alcohol and young girls to avoid the painful truth that there are only supporting roles left for him to play. After yet another night of debauchery in his trailer, Howard awakens in disgust to find that he is still alive, but that nobody in the world would have missed him if he had died.
Howard gallops away on his movie horse in full cowboy regalia; fleeing from the film and his life.
At an old train station, Howard trades in his costume for the shabby clothes of an old ranch hand (James Gammon) and travels to Elko, Nevada, the place that he ran away from years before and where his 80 year-old mother (Eva Marie Saint) still lives.
Mom takes him in and treats him as if he were still a boy. Perhaps Mom realizes that Howard is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Meanwhile, the film shoot that Howard has abandoned is in chaos over his absence. The insurance company hires a private detective, Sutter (Tim Roth), to find Howard.
Mom tells Howard that more than twenty years ago a young woman called her up trying to locate Howard. Mom figured that the girl was pregnant. Howard is shocked at the thought that he has a grown child somewhere. This child could be a ray of hope, a possible salvation from his narcissistic and meaningless life. When Sutter appears in Elko, reminding Howard of the reality he has escaped from, he flees again, this time to find his child.
His destination is Butte, Montana, the location twenty five years earlier where Howard shot the movie that made him a star. It was also where he had an affair with Doreen (Jessica Lange) who then, and now, is the waitress at the local coffee shop. She has a son, Earl (Gabriel Mann), a rock musician and singer living in Butte with his girlfriend Amber (Fairuza Balk). Howard's meeting with Earl is violent and unsettling.
Earl completely rejects this unknown father who appears too late in his life. Saddened by this encounter, Howard is ready to give up and leave Butte again, when out of nowhere a young woman named Sky (Sarah Polley) appears. She is exactly the same age as Earl. She is, in fact, Howard's child, the product of another short fling that happened during the filming of the same movie. She is Earl's half-sister. These siblings do not know about each other. That's when the real complications of this American family reunion begin...
Fairuza Balk
Nov 19, 2007 Trailer
Don't Come Knocking
Sharper Trailer
On Sacred Ground Trailer
Inside Trailer
A Good Person Trailer
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Trailer for Don't Come Knocking on TrailerAddict.


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Tony Broadbent
Into The Smoke
Timeless Teachings Guru Zuzu
A Field Guide To The Climate Crisis
Unabashed | Speaker
|I live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area, but have often been known to travel.
|I speak on all kinds of subjects: 'Critical Thinking', 'Creative Writing', 'Postwar British History', 'British Crime Films', the Climate Crisis, and yeah, yeah, yeah, 'The Beatles'.
|I am a longstanding faculty member of the writer's craft based annual Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference, held in Corte Madera, Marin County, CA.
|As a San Francisco Library 'Literary Laureate' I've spoken at SF's Annual 'Litquake', have appeared at numerous Book Festivals and Mystery Author Conventions, and have been a regular at the fabled MWA 'Murder At The Bar' events.
|I've been a featured speaker at the National Kidney Foundation's Annual Charity Event in San Francisco and Sacramento, California. Spoken at Libraries, Book Shops, Rotary Clubs, Philosophical Societies, and Film Clubs.
|I was a longtime board member, curator, and presenter of the annual San Francisco 'Mainly British Film Festival'
|As an 'Unabashed Beatles Expert' I've written an in-depth history of the early years of The Beatles, as well as a standalone mystery novel…with a backbeat that explores many of the still unanswered questions about the origins of the fabled band. I've spoken about The Beatles at Rotary Clubs, philosophical societies, and film clubs on both sides of the country. And each and every time have found that every generation re-discovers The Beatles for themselves.
Unabashed | Interviewer
Inside The Writer's Loft
| IN HOMAGE TO JAMES LIPTON'S INSIDE THE ACTOR'S STUDIO
One-on-One Long-Form Q&A Interviews with Don Winslow | Jacqueline Winspear | Michael Connelly | Martin Cruz Smith | Marcia Clark
| Annual Mystery Author Fan Favorite Event: 90-120 minute Q&A Interviews
in front of a live audience of 100+ attendees and general public at famed
Book Passage Mystery Writer's Conference, in Corte Madera, California.
Interviewing mystery author Don Winslow Inside The Writer's Loft
Paperback Writer Talking About The Beatles
Dear Sir or Madam will you read my book… about The Beatles?
The One After 9:09: A Mystery With A Backbeat
Book Passage Mystery Writer's Conference (7-25-15)
The Annual Marilyn Wallace Memorial Lecture
I was privileged to have once been one of Marilyn Wallace's students.
A wonderfully inspiring teacher of infinite grace and wisdom.
And still very much missed by all who knew her.
Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference (7-26-15)
If you want a book signed or
dedicated or would like to buy
a first edition of The Smoke
For media inquiries, contact
Plain Sight Press
plainsightpress@gmail.com
For news and updates
about Tony Broadbent:
Send and you shall recieve
Nice of you to visit
© 2023 by Tony Broadbent.
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There are times in sports when being different can be good.
US Open finalist Kevin Anderson survived a scare from 19-year-old Denis Shapovalov and won 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the fourth round.
Millman spent several days training with Federer at the 20-times grand slam's Swiss base before Wimbledon and says he won't be overawed.
"There is a lot more things to explore". I think I was super, super OCD, and I tried to kind of wipe that away.
Kyrgios could have held his composure much better than he did.
There are no words for Federer's brilliance. Federer ran cross court to pull off an incredible shot by the side of the net which left everyone's jaw dropped.
The third-round match between Federer and Kyrgios lived up to the hype in these clips. Federer would later break Kyrgios' service to win the first set on a backhand victor.
Clearly frustrated by the loss of the opener, Kyrgios - who had appeared to imitate the service actions of Federer and Rafael Nadal during the opening set - suddenly fell apart.
When asked about it later, Kyrgios laughed it off, denying that he said it. Fact is, he was rattled. You know, he played really well today. I thought I was not going to get it. I have had three surgeries and every time I had extreme doubts over whether I would get back.
The world No 2, a five-time victor in NY, maintained his ideal progress through the draw with a 6-4 6-1 7-5 victory in one hour and 44 minutes. Sure, it's unusual to happen against you with your own serve.
"I know how to beat him". "He loosened up straightaway after that". Obviously I was not at my best, but that's how he makes you play. All the pressure was off him.
"He's an unbelievable frontrunner", Kyrgios said. "When he gets in front, there's not much you can do".
The match was not only an intriguing contrast in styles but also in temperament, with Federer, tennis's ultimate good guy, taking on Kyrgios, the sport's undisputed bad boy.
"At 3-3, love-40, I take one of those points, the match is wide open", said Kyrgios. "I'm very happy to have won through in three..."
Kyrgios admits he has a lot to learn.
Rather than someone just going for it, you have a tendency to play safe, as well, which can be an advantage for him.
Surging Serbian Novak Djokovic will look to book his ticket to the fourth round when he takes on France's Richard Gasquet also during the night session at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Sabalenka will play Japan's Naomi Osaka, who crushed Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-0, 6-0.
But eighth seed Pliskova, a former world number one and US Open finalist in 2016, presents a tough task for Williams. That was the most important to improve was being fit and being able to play long matches".
There was also a banner calling Ed Woodward a "specialist in failure" that flew over the Turf Moor during the game. Pogba hinted he was unhappy with life under Mourinho after the opening weekend win over Leicester at Old Trafford.
TVLine reports that Doctor Who will make its return on BBC America on October 7, with the series moving to Sunday nights. New Zealand fans will be able to see Jodie Whittaker begin her time in the Tardis on October 8.


In recent years, more and more criticism on the Model-View-Controller pattern (MVC) surfaced and MVC was often blamed for causing too much code in one place and too closely coupled code ("Massive View Controller"). Lots of different patterns were proposed to solve the "MVC-Problem" from MVVM over MVP to VIPER and more.
MVC (neither in general nor in Apple's variant) does not require us to put everything in the View Controller. In fact, if applied appropriately, most of the functionality won't end up in the View Controller.
In my experience, the proposed patterns often do not solve the actual problems. They introduce more layers for functionality and split the functionality into horizontal layers between roles/responsibilities, which often just leads to a still massive ViewModel/Presenter/Interactor. Instead, splitting into vertical "columns" by functionality would be much more useful.
They do not mix well with the existing UIKit architecture. You always need adapters or weird workarounds to force UIKit to your will. Or you even start to implement your own ViewController-like base-class and call it a presenter. You spend much too much time just forwarding stuff until it reaches a destination.
In this talk, I will briefly show that MVC, as blamed for "Massive View Controller", is grossly misunderstood and then give recommendations how to split your app into manageable parts, while staying with MVC and extend it where necessary. Instead of applying the single responsibility principle only on the technical level (splitting into views, controllers, models, interactors, presenters), I will encourage you to focus it much more on the domain level, split your models into separate separate sub-models, your controllers into different sub-controllers, and so on. Focus on composability, not layering. Doing this allows us to get away with a much simpler architecture on the technical level and cures us from the believe that there can be the one perfect app architecture. Every domain we build our app for is different and thus, every architecture must be different.
I have worked on a more than 5-year-old iOS app with more than 300.000 LOC for the last two years. Within this app, I can see different programming fashions live side-by-side depending on the year the code was written in. While working on this app, I learned that it doesn't matter how many layers you introduce, if you don't know how to split functionality into composable parts. And if you do, you can get away with much fewer layers.
Thanks for being willing to stand up for MVC. Most of the times folks complain about MVC, I have to wonder whether they truly understand how to implement it or whether they're just following some (admittedly) bad examples.
One of the questions I frequently ask folks complaining about Massive View Controllers is "Who told you your data source had to be implemented in your VC? Sure Xcode does that by default, but no one's making you do that."
I'm eager to see your take on this.
Thanks for asking. The app itself is much older, but the last rewrite is about 5 years ago. So in the meantime it was never completely rewritten.
Accordingly, it's still mostly Objective-C, but we usually write new features on Swift. But the majority is still Objective-C.
How many times your 5-years-old iOS app was rewritten from the scratch? Is it still on Obj-C partially? Just wondering, because having similar oldie project, which was written using MVC. After programming on Swift using MVVM+C architecture, looking at this project making me just said.


A small dent, scratch or ding on your car can ruin the entire look of the vehicle, or end up becoming a focal point. While it's annoying if you do it yourself, it's even worse when someone else does it.
We offer a quick and easy solution to repair minor damage without the cost of removing panels or the inconvenience of having your car out of action for days. At Lookers Paint and Body Centre we can repair everything from a chipped windscreen, torn seat, cracked bumper or a dented wing. In next to no time we will have your vehicle back to you looking as good as new with no need to claim on insurance.
For more information on the services we offer please contact us.


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Kansas State edges Ole Miss, 69-64
Tate Steinlage
MANHATTAN, Kansas — The way Ole Miss star Stefan Moody has scored this season, all Kansas State coach Bruce Weber could hope for was to keep the guard in-check.
His Wildcats did one better on Saturday.
Moody didn't attempt a shot in the second half as Kansas State's D.J. Johnson scored eight of his 14 points during a 19-2 run in the final period to help the Wildcats hold off Ole Miss 69-64 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
"We said we were going to make him pass," Weber said of Moody. "They knew how we were going to scheme it defensively, but we did a great job on close-outs and making them make tough plays. He's a good player."
Wesley Iwundu finished with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists for the Wildcats (13-8). Justin Edwards and Stephen Hurt added 10 points apiece.
A 17-point swing in favor of the Wildcats, spanning six minutes, helped blow the door open and give the home team a 63-45 lead with 7:48 remaining. Johnson led the stretch with eight points, but it was Barry Brown who bookended it. Brown missed the second of two free-throw attempts following a foul with 8:49 left, but grabbed his own rebound and then sunk a 3-pointer from the corner.
"When you go on the road in an environment such as this," Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said, "with a program that's had so much success in this building — and you're minus-seven on the glass, turn it over 17 times, and allow the other team to shoot over 45 percent while you shoot under 40 percent — that's a recipe for disaster."
Ole Miss (13-8) was 2 of 14 from the field during the Wildcats' spurt, including a near four-minute scoring drought. Moody entered with 14 straight games of at least 20 points or more and leading the SEC in scoring (24.3). But after his 10-point first half, Moody was held scoreless in the second half, with Kansas State wedging him off ball screens.
"He was doing the right thing I thought, with five assists, trying to find the open guy," Kennedy said. "He's been doing a much better job of that. I just didn't think he had much pop, which is why I sat him at the end."
Kansas State opened the game with a 16-8 lead, on the heels of a 9-0 run, before losing starting point guard Kamau Stokes to a non-contact knee injury. Stokes was examined on the sidelines briefly before being taken to the locker room on a wheelchair.
Ole Miss recovered swiftly and took its biggest lead of the first half, 24-19, with 6:30 left. Moody, who was held scoreless for the first seven minutes, hit consecutive 3-pointers and finished the first half with a team-high 10 points. However, it was the Wildcats and backup guard Carlbe Ervin who went into the locker room at halftime with the lead. Ervin scored five points in a three-minute stretch to give the home team a 38-36 advantage at the break.
Ole Miss was led by Anthony Perez with 13 points.
"We needed this game," Iwundu said. "It was very important to us as a team for us to move forward."
Ole Miss: Moody had led the Rebels in scoring in 19 of 20 games before Saturday. Ole Miss is now 0-2 against Kansas State in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
Kansas State: Undersized forward Austin Budke proved big off the bench, finishing with four points, six rebounds and three assists in 21 minutes. The Wildcats are 66-21 under Weber when holding a team to 69 points or less.


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Home » Ask The Expert » Will bonds return to their former yields?
Will bonds return to their former yields?
Posted: December 9, 2014 Ask-the-expert
Q: I'm doing some retirement planning, and trying to figure out what return I can assume my investments will earn. We have a blend of stocks and bonds, and for years we always assumed this would be good for 8 to 10 percent from the stock portion, and 6 percent from the bonds. Now though, with the bonds yielding between 1 and 4 percent, does that mean there is no chance of them earning 6 percent over the long term?
A: While it is possible that bonds could produce a total return of 6 percent over the long-term, with yields now much lower, the odds are against it and lowering your return assumption would be prudent. A look at some of the dynamics involved in bond returns will help explain this further.
First of all, there are two kinds of yield: income yield and yield-to-maturity. Income yield is the amount of interest the bond pays annually as a percentage of its current price, while yield-to-maturity takes into account both the income yield and the shift from the bond's current price to its par value between now and maturity. If you hold the bond to maturity, yield-to-maturity is more or less the total return you will get.
Over shorter-term periods, a bond may have a higher return than a yield to maturity. A drop in interest rates could boost its price, though the odds are against much of a decline in interest rates from today's levels. For lower-quality bonds, an upgrade in credit rating might give them a short-term price boost. However, these higher returns would only be over interim periods; if the bond is held to maturity, the total return would smooth out to roughly the yield-to-maturity at which the bond was purchased.
Treasury yields currently range from 0.2 percent to just over 3 percent, with longer durations providing the higher yields. Ironically though, if you want to exceed 3 percent over the long run, your best chance might be in shorter-term bonds. Long bonds will be hard-pressed to produce a total return exceeding their yield-to-maturity, but short-term bonds will have several opportunities to roll over and thus would benefit if interest rates rise.
If you want to pursue a strategy of rolling over short-term investments in the hopes that interest rates will rise, you might consider savings accounts or CDs as an alternative to bonds. These can provide you with a U.S. government guarantee like Treasuries, but the best CD and savings account rates today exceed the yield on Treasury securities of similar durations.
But again, while there are things you can do to manage your income return, lowering your return assumptions would be prudent to keep your retirement funding on track.
More from MoneyRates.com:
The best CD rates: Still worth seeking
Money market accounts vs. savings accounts
Interest rate forecast for 2014