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Israel Nov 1, 2020
Thousands Protest in Jerusalem Against Israeli PM
Thousands of Israelis have protested in Jerusalem as part of the latest weekly demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his handling of the coronavirus crisis and the corruption charges he faces
anti-semitism Jan 23, 2020
World Leaders Rally in Jerusalem Against Anti-Semitism
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Christmas Dec 1, 2019
Relic Thought to Be From Jesus' Manger Arrives in Bethlehem
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DONALD TRUMP Nov 19, 2019
US Angers Palestinians With Reversal on Israeli Settlements
The Trump administration on Monday said it no longer considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be a violation of international law, reversing four decades of American policy and further undermining the Palestinians' effort to gain statehood. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. is repudiating the 1978 State Department legal opinion that held that civilian settlements...
officer Nov 11, 2019
Palestinian Shot in Back Says Israelis Abused Him for Hours
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Attorney Oct 2, 2019
Israel Begins Netanyahu's Pre-Indictment Corruption Hearing
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DONALD TRUMP Sep 29, 2019
Syria Demands Withdrawal of All American, Turkish Forces
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Trump Heads to UN With Long List of Deals He's Yet to Close
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Facebook Sep 16, 2019
Israeli PM's Latest Election Gambit: Vow to Annex 'All the Settlements' in West Bank
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United States Sep 10, 2019
Israel PM Seeks to Annex Parts of West Bank 'In Coordination' With US
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that he may annex the Jordan Valley and other parts of the occupied West Bank "in coordination" with the United States — a move that risks shattering the fragile status quo in the volatile region, NBC News reported. "This is a historic opportunity to apply sovereignty to communities in Judea and Samaria," he...
DONALD TRUMP Aug 21, 2019
As Trump Questions Loyalty of US Jews, Israeli PM Is Quiet
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Omar Calls on Colleagues to Visit Israel, See 'Cruel Reality of the Occupation'
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Trump Uses Israel to Fuel Partisan Fires: Analysis
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DONALD TRUMP Jun 17, 2019
Israel Moves to Name Golan Settlement After Trump
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DONALD TRUMP Jun 7, 2019
Trump Admin Tells U.S. Embassies They Can't Fly Pride Flag on Flagpoles
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DONALD TRUMP May 20, 2019
US to Roll Out Economic Part of Mideast Peace Plan
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Trump's Election Boosted Israeli Settlement Construction
Israel's government went on a spending binge in its West Bank settlements following the election of President Donald Trump, according to official data obtained by The Associated Press. Both supporters and detractors of the settlement movement have previously referred to a "Trump effect," claiming the president's friendlier approach to the settlements is leading to additional West Bank construction. While the...
lawyer Apr 17, 2019
Long-Hidden Kafka Trove Within Reach After Series of Trials
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DONALD TRUMP Apr 10, 2019
Netanyahu Appears to Edge Toward Re-Election in Israeli Vote
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be headed toward re-election early Wednesday, as exit polls and partial results showed him edging ahead of his main competitor in a tight race that was seen as a referendum on the long-serving leader. Both Netanyahu and former military chief Benny Gantz, leader of the rival Blue and White party, declared victory in...
DONALD TRUMP Apr 7, 2019
As Israelis Head to the Polls, It's All About Netanyahu
Israel's election campaign has been a three-month roller coaster of mudslinging, scandals and more scandals. But when voters head to the polls on Tuesday, one name will be predominantly on their minds: Benjamin Netanyahu. At its core, the vote boils down to a referendum on Netanyahu, the man who has dominated Israeli politics for the better part of three decades....


May was just more of the same, more of what I've come to believe will unlock financial independence and freedom. More saving and more buying high-quality dividend growth stocks with the excess capital that comes from that saving. If consistency is my superpower, I try to leverage it as often as possible.
On the buying front, I remained as busy as I possibly could, bound less by imagination and opportunity as I was by capital. And most of that capital was exchanged for equity in great businesses fairly early in the month. As such, I've been more or less passively watching stocks since then.
Since the last update, I first added to my position in Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. (OHI) after a slide of about 18% over the prior three months. The valuation, quality, yield, and growth prospects all seem incredibly appealing here. In fact, it's quite likely I'll add a bit more to OHI in June.
I then shortly thereafter initiated a position in Union Pacific Corporation (UNP), which I subsequently added to a week later. The built-in competitive advantages for railroads are incredible, and UNP complements my position in Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC) very nicely, now giving me exposure to track on both sides of the country. UNP is another stock that I'll likely be buying more of over the coming weeks.
Just before the end of the month, I received shares in South32 Ltd. (SOUHY). SOUHV is a spin-off from BHP Billiton PLC (BBL), which I discussed a bit when I last averaged down on BBL. As such, I've accounted for the spin-off shares in the portfolio as a new position.
The current market value of the Freedom Fund stands at $195,305.61, which is a decrease of 0.7% since last month's published value of $196,596.75. The S&P 500 declined a bit since the last update, and my capital additions weren't enough to offset the broader declines across the portfolio. Nonetheless, I'm actually hopeful that we see greater declines in the market – cheaper stocks means higher yields, which means my future capital would be more effective in terms of helping me achieve my short-term and long-term dividend income goals.
I remain exceedingly pleased with how the portfolio is shaping up. It's a collection of really wonderful businesses across all areas of the economy, selling products and/or services to billions of customers around the world. These products and/or services are mostly ubiquitous, and these companies, as a whole, have substantial competitive advantages that should ensure growing dividend income (on the back of growing profits) for years to come. Even better, I continue to add to the collection every month, increasing its quality, breadth, and diversification, while at the same time further limiting the risk of substantial dividend income loss as a percentage of total dividend income.
Looking forward, I expect to be quite busy in June. Quarterly estimated taxes have to be paid, so that'll constrain me a bit. But I think I'll still be able to make a few sizable purchases. I'm very excited about the possibilities for capital deployment over the coming month. I remain as aggressive as ever in regards to turning cash into cash flow. I still have a few free trades remaining in my Scottrade account, so I'll look for opportunities to use those even as I continue to build out the new TradeKing account.
The Fund has positions in 58 companies. This is an increase since last month. UNP is a new position that I initiated over the course of May. And the SOUHV spin-off shares are now a new position as well.
Full Disclosure: Long OHI, UNP, NSC, SOUHY, and BBL.
How did May treat you? Able to deploy capital advantageously? Your portfolio growing as expected?
Nice Update, my portfolio would have also gone down if it wasn't for adding about $1,300 in fresh capital. Finding quality stocks that aren't overvalued right now is pretty difficult. I'm going to take a look at your previous OHI reviews, maybe even pick up a few shares.
way too protect your assets.
As always an excellent month full of smart purchases. The market really has been a bit of a basketcase now for a little while, and though the price of your fund has decreased, its value continues to grow. Congrats, hopefully we see a big May dividend output in your next post and we will see a large gain in your June dividends too.
I am with you as I would welcome a pullback in the markets. I have not tallied my numbers yet for the month but I expect the portfolio value to be near the same as last month. My money from paying myself first also went towards both savings and investing this month instead of the usual 100% into the investing accounts.
Trying to decide on which investment to make is a problem I do not mind dealing with .
I just did a quick look at my financial securities decreased as well. As a result, my change in net worth for the month was much smaller than I had anticipated.
On months like this, I find it important to remind myself of the core principles of financial independence and acknowledging whether I followed them or not.
Have I controlled my expenses? Did my savings rate remain the same or even increase? If so, then keep chugging along and in the long-term the principles will prevail.
Congrats on steady progress. Even though the value decreased you still added to some excellent companies. I'm looking at adding UNP myself because the company is excellent and their rail network reinforces their moat. You should be crossing over the $200k mark over the coming months. Although I know you'd be fine if that got pushed back some because the markets retreated and you got to keep making purchases at lower prices. Any plans with the South32 shares?
It seems that it is possible that we will get a falling market. At the moment we have a market which is doing at the end not so much. Hopefully we will get lower courses.
Today I got as well the SOUHV and this is now my smallest position with around 300 € for 40 shares. I don´t think I will sell them as this doesn´t make any sense.
I can imagine that the reach of the target getting the 200k is tougher as you have expected at the beginning of the year. But I assume you will get the rest of 5000 $ over the time by investing new money. As you wrote this figure is not that important. Getting more dividents is what we are looking for. And for this you are on a good way.
Solid update, love the good use of links so I can catch up on what I've missed. The chart is very cool looking too!
I was wondering how you catagorize your spinoff shares of South32. Is there a cost basis for that even though you didn't have to purchase those shares you received? I just got some shares of South32 as well, and didn't know how I should keep track of them since they're the first spin off shares I've ever gotten. Thanks!
Would you agree with Charlie Munger that the first $100K is the hardest to reach? At what monetary level can one start to feel the effect of compounding?
The freedom fund continue to grow at nice pace with new companies entering the fund… Like all of us, we are waiting June with some fears and a lot of things could happen, like market correction, the Greek issue, and others.
What is your view for the next 4 months?
The broader market continues to march upward, which is something that I think a lot of people (including myself) are surprised about. I've been hearing about a major correction for years now, and I know some investors out there stopped investing a while ago, choosing to go in cash and wait for cheaper stocks. But that's why I don't bother timing the market. It's not possible. But it's also not necessary. The market generally goes up – a lot – over long periods of time, so trying to dance in and out is foolish, in my view.
I don't find any value in using stop losses. You could also refer to using them as "stop gains", since that's really what you would have been doing by using them at any point over the last five years for most of the stocks I discuss and invest in. Focusing on the day-to-day or even month-to-month movements of stock prices ends up putting you in a position where you're missing the forest for the trees. The trees might temporarily shrink in size, but the forest is growing at a pretty robust rate over the long haul.
Yeah, the S&P 500 chart resembles a roller coaster YTD. Up, down, up, down. I hope we see a few more downs over the coming months.
Thanks for the support. Hope you had an excellent month over there as well!
I think my purchases will be largely repetitive. I tend to buy in blocks, whereby I find an attractive stock or two and purchase over and over again until I'm all filled up. We'll see. Very much looking forward to seeing how June shapes up.
Good luck allocating that capital as you see fit. I imagine you'll have fun over there.
Besides, cheaper stocks are something to really look forward to for anyone out there accumulating assets aggressively. It would be a blessing to see the market drop by 10%+ over the coming months. I'll keep hoping!
I'm going to keep the South32 shares. They're going to pay a dividend, though I'm not sure how that's going to work out with taxation and what not. Nonetheless, it's too small of a position to really worry about. If taxes become a headache, then maybe I'll use a free trade or something to sell. But I doubt I'd do that. Spin-off shares tend to do well over long periods of time, so we'll see what the fundamentals look like now that they're an independent company.
The next best update after the dividend income reports. As usual another great month even though there are a small decrease but as I always comment it's more about our growing dividend income stream than capital appreciation. With that being said a few solid names have been added in May. Here we are approaching the midway point to the year and once again I'm excited about my buy this month as well as reading about others buys among our dividend blogging community. Thanks for the update.
Yeah, I'm hoping the portfolio doesn't hit $200k for many more months. That would mean stocks are falling, which would also mean yields are rising. And that would allow my goal for $7,200 in dividend income this year to become that much easier. The dividend income is what will buy me my freedom, not the portfolio value. So I'm very hopeful for a broader correction.
Thanks for dropping by. Hope you had a fantastic May!
You'll see my shares on the portfolio page now.
There's still a cost basis there with SOUHV, even though you didn't directly purchase the shares. That cost basis will be determined for you, and you should see it by checking your unrealized gains in your brokerage account. If you can't find the information, you may want to contact your brokerage.
Agree completely on the use of stop loss orders. As Peter Lynch explains in his books, given the natural volatility of market prices for stocks, a 10% stop-loss order pretty much guarantees a 10% loss on your investment.
I'd definitely agree with Charlie on that. And it's really just emblematic of the power of compounding. Gotta have money to make money when discussing compounding, and getting that first $100k means you have money working for you and compounding starts to take over a bit. But I'd focus less on the overall number and more on the income that's actually rolling in and being reinvested. That income is what will really work for you.
But I think that's about the level you start feeling the effects of compounding. Assuming a 3.5% yield, you'd have about $3,500/year in dividend income coming in, which is about $300 per month. That helps out tremendously when added to the fresh capital you're already investing. I know I started feeling the effects somewhat dramatically toward the end of last year, when the dividend income started to become rather substantial. The dividend raises really help as well, as I demonstrate with the quarterly updates.
Happy to see the portfolio values languishing a bit which means our purchasing power, in terms of dividend yields, is not falling as it has done since you started. Imagine your dividend income if the market was still around 10-12k for the dow. Alas, we have to take what the market gives us and you are a testament to that. Congrats on picking up more UNP today! We can't wait to see your dividend income and recent buy posts later this week. Keep up the great work!
Purchased AMGN, GILD, and UNP this morning. Got my South32 stocks too. I want to purchase more healthcare/bio stocks, but the P/E is very high.
We'll see, my friend. I've been hearing about the upcoming correction for years now. But even a broken clock is correct twice a day. I'm sure when the market finally does correct that we'll all hear about it from the people that have been pounding the table for the past two or three years. Funny how that works.
What is your opinion on SOUHV? Do you think it is worth to hold, being a very small position?
We'll see how June goes. I already added to UNP to get the month rolling. Hope we get even more opportunities over the coming weeks.
I'm really excited about the spin-off. Baxter has a history of spinning off assets, which generally all end up doing very well for long-term shareholders. The dividend hasn't been cut, however, so I'm not sure what you're referring to there.
I'm with you. Maybe traders would find good use of using stop losses. But a long-term investor shouldn't even be thinking about using them, in my opinion.
You'd just be allowing the market's volatility to get the best of you. Huge mistake.
Wishing you and your family all the best as well!
I got my SOUHV shares also. I'm holding mine. The trade fee alone wouldn't justify me selling my $200 worth.
Jason any thoughts on RIO? In the same sector, and decent yield.
Looks like you also picked up some UNP recently. Glad to be a fellow shareholder. Keep up the great work!
I plan on just holding SOUHV. It wouldn't make economic sense to sell and I think it'd be awfully presumptuous to sell before even seeing how they operate as an independent company for a while. Spin-offs tend to do well more often than not, so I'll likely see how it all plays out. It'll probably not make much of a difference either way for me (due to its size), but you never know. PSX wasn't that big of a position when it was spun off, but it's grown quite nicely. And I made the mistake of selling ABBV way back when it was spun off from ABT, which is a mistake I learned from.
I'm with you on the economics of selling. Doesn't really make sense. And it could turn out to be a great investment. To sell now would just be making an uneducated guess.
RIO is comparable to BBL, but BBL sports better and more consistent numbers across the board. So that's my choice in this industry.
So very close to that $200k milestone. Keep it up Jason, I'm sure you'll cross that line in the next couple of months.
Initiated positions in Union Pacific (UNP), Covanta Holding (CVA), Omega Healthcare (OHI), Potash Corp (POT) and Chevron (CVX).
Had a personal record dividend haul – up 15.4% from last May.
On the downside, my business was slow so income was low(er).
Your post about 4 stocks to consider buying got me excited – I am itching to get some JNJ and PM. Maybe in June.
That's a great looking month right there, so many excellent purchases! I especially like seeing the split from BBL enter your portfolio for free, it'll be interesting to read your updates on taxation there. I'm really looking forward to what June brings for you, glad to hear about one of the new purchases already in UNP. I'm so happy all you fellow bloggers brought its recent price decline so clearly to my attention, thank you for that! Here's looking for a drop in market prices to make our decisions that much easier through the rest of the month. I always find so much value in your posts, so thanks for sharing!
It's great to see consistent progress of your overall portfolio. You are definitely correct in that you'd be closer to financial independence of stock prices dropped or stayed flat over the past 5 years. It seems that people don't view the stock market like ANY other market, then again not everyone embraces a DGI strategy for income.
Keep up the great work, it looks like you're very close to critical mass where the dividends alone can purchase new shares each month… A great position to be in if/when the market correction occurs.
Great job with four different stock purchases. It's rare that I'm able to spread capital around quite that much, but I think I might just have one of those months in June.
Thanks for all the support. Keep up the great work!
You're correct. Any other market and people are complaining of rising prices. But it seems people are all to happy to pay more for stocks. Funny how that works. Seems to defy logic.
Yep, I feel the same way. Those who zero in on monthly stock market performance or something of that nature are really missing the big picture. Zooming out to the 10-year or 20-year picture shows something very, very different. And since my time frame is the rest of my life, that picture is more apt.
Have fun shopping over there.
Hope June is good to you!
Jason, I think Brian is talking about the possibility that the combined dividends from the 2 companies will be less than BAX today. Even, if this is the case, I think the long term prospects are very healthy for both companies.
Same here for SOUHV. I am in your camp on leaving it alone. I may even add more to my position on BBL.
Actually, SOUHV showed up in my account on the 18th(I think), but I couldn't do anything with it (can't sell etc). I think this is where the cost basis will be based on.
Definitely not a race, though. As long as you're on pace for your own goals, that's all that matters.
Ahh. It's all speculation now, though. Unless I'm mistaken, there haven't been any numbers released on exactly what the total dividend will be between the two companies. If an actual dollar amount has been released, I've missed it.
Until both companies announce their next dividend, I'll just sit tight. It's just noise until then.
We'll see how SOUHV does. But, in the end, it'll be a nice little dividend raise when factoring it in addition to the sizable BBL dividend. I like that!
Hi Jason! Your blog is so inspiring, I love reading your posts. I also have a portfolio valued at approximately 200K, but my dividend income may be slightly higher than average probably because I own more high yield stocks with a good dividend history. I am a sucker for high yield, which may not be a good thing. Life in Los Angeles can be expensive, which is why I get attracted to blue chip stocks with a yield of 5% or higher, along with a mix of high yield reits and close ended funds. I do plan on balancing my portfolio a little better by initiating new positions in different industries over the next couple of years. In the meantime I would really like your opinion on PMT. My cost basis is about $20.8, now the price has fallen to about $18.6. The current P/E ratio is about 8.01 and I am considering adding PMT to my position to lower my cost basis. Generally, is it better to initiate a new position in a different equity or is it better to lower the cost basis of an existing equity when the opportunity arises? (PMT gets a 57% rating based on Benjamin Graham's methodology. UNP currently has a 43% rating, as seen on Nasdaq). I am debating between initiating a new position in UNP or adding to PMT, even though UNP only has a current yield of about 2.16%. I'm trying to be a better investor! I would love to hear your opinion and to learn from you. Best of luck on achieving your goals and dreams as soon as possible, and thank you for inspiring the rest of us!
I don't know if you take post ideas but your last sentence definitely sounds like a post idea and something I would find interesting to read about.
Nothing wrong with seeking yield, but it can become problematic when you chase yield down and sacrifice quality in the process.
Making money doesn't need to (and probably shouldn't) be complicated. That said, I can only tell you that UNP has far outperformed PMT since the latter went public (I only compare the two since you brought up UNP) in terms of total returns. It's not even close really. Now, PMT has provided more total dividend income over that period, so you're sacrificing overall return for that income (UNP provided a good chunk of return in the form of capital gains). And I would argue you might be sacrificing quality as well.
So it really all depends on you. Are you interested in distressed mortgages? Do you think management (didn't Stan Kurland come from Countrywide?) has what it takes to succeed if there's another financial crisis? Do you understand how they make money? How likely will they continue to profit? What are the risks? How does the quality stack up against the competition?
I think not just of dividend income today, but dividend income 10, 20, and 30 years down the road. And if I don't see how a company can continue to pay out growing dividends for decades to come, I don't even bother. Typically speaking, most stocks that yield above 10% tend to be low quality/high risk and offer subpar total returns.
Thanks for dropping by from Germany. Really appreciate the support. Wish you nothing but the best of luck as you start your journey. I hope you find even more success than I have!
I also own Anglo American,bought at £10.00,yield 5.5%,(Im UK based).Might be a tough few years, but im only interested in the dividends 5,10,15 years from now.
The sector is beat up, but the forward free cash flows should make dividends move forward a few years out.
I love it when quality stocks i own go down.Buying income cheaper gives me a warm feeling.
I have been accumulating cash for the last few years since my divorce. I was not able to do so until then as my ex spent money faster than i earned. I have regularly earned over 100K for years in the automotive profession working 60-70 hour weeks. I recently switched professions to a somewhat lower paying municipal employee with a defined benefit plan and am much happier now with a lot more time to enjoy myself. I am now 52 and have managed to save about 40K in the past 3 years. I searched for quite some time trying to figure out how to invest until coming across your blog as well as DGI and it was exactly what I had been looking for. I did not want to "play" the stock marked as I felt that was for suckers. Your dividend growth approach coupled with frugality has really given me inspiration. I have been diligently working on reducing my spending as well as purchasing my first 17K in dividend stocks since March. I will continue to deploy the rest of my cash and believe I can add 1.2K per month and 2K per month by the middle of next year because of some loans that will be paid off. It is really exciting to know that I have purchased great companies at fair valuations that will bear fruit in the future. I just wish i had started earlier. I only have 15 years before I plan to retire.
I just want you to know that I really appreciate and enjoy reading your blog and tell you what an inspiration you have been to me.
Great job moving from where your were to where you want to go.
We all wish we would have started earlier. I sure wish I would have started back at 21 years old when I received an inheritance, instead of wasting it (and much more money I'd later acquire) away. But all we can do is learn from our mistakes and move forward. Besides, those mistakes make us who we are and allow us to appreciate the success when we do achieve it. Gives us perspective.
The good news is that you're still relatively young, you're cognizant of your financial position, and you're making the hard choices now to allow yourself freedom down the road. I think once you start to see the results, you'll find that the "sacrifices" aren't really sacrifices at all.
Best of luck as you start down this path. It's incredibly rewarding and exciting to take control of your financial future.
Hmm, I might have been too late to get the South32. Still no sign. Bought BBL on the 15th of May, settlement date the 20th. Which is odd, because it plunged the following week which I thought was to reflect the spin off. Any thoughts?
Either way, a small position like you said but certainly was curious to watch the little guy grow over time! Also picked up KMI today. I understand it's a bit tricky to value now but payout ratio seemed really high.. any thoughts there also!?
Thanks a bunch, your blog keeps me going!
As far as KMI goes, it still operates like an MLP. So you'll have to look at the distributable cash flow in order to determine profitability and its ability to pay out a dividend (the payout ratio). That information can be accessed via its financial reports.
Congrats on another month of purchasing DGI stocks bud. I like the additions to OHI here. I really should start keeping track of my portfolio balance month-to-month in a more organized way, definitely important to see how you're doing over time.
OHI is really appealing here. I'm looking forward to adding a little more this coming month. Should have some more capital over the coming days, so it just has to stay still for a bit here.
Hope you had a great month over there. And I hope you find some fantastic opportunities (along with the capital to pick them up) in June!
The portfolio seems to building very nicely, and the dividends should be rolling in as well. You have done quite well for yourself. Great job!
Yes, I just wanted to back up what you (and Charlie Munger) are saying here. 100K is where you really start to see the compounding taking over. Plus, there's a psychological effect, too. I know when I hit 100K, it was like, WOW! I had the feeling that I had some real degree of financial security behind me. No, I wasn't quitting my job or anything like that, but if some adverse event happened, it would hurt but I'd have some real breathing room compared to most people. It took me 9 years to get out of debt and get to 100K. 6 years to 200K. And only 2 years to 300K. If I'm lucky I may hit 400K this year…but that may be pushing it. The markets will correct at some point.
Absolutely. That sense of financial security is something I discussed a little while back when I wrote about the spectrum of freedom. And that sense of feeling like I could take a leap of faith without falling is what led me to trying out writing full time (which has worked out great thus far).
As a fellow SBSI shareholder, you gotta love the 5% common stock dividend paid out on 14 May. It actually slipped under the radar but I caught it yesterday when I went over my monthly statement with Fidelity. 10 free shares…whoo hoo!
Your portfolio is growing quite nicely with high quality holdings. My portfolio also declined a bit last month, but stock market decline is actually a good news for us as we are still in accumulating stage.
Keep building your freedom empire!
I can see the point here and do want to thank you for your good feedback. However, I have read that in Stock Market Cashflow that over the past 40-50 years the investors that used protection systems where the ones who gained the highest yearly yields.
But indeed I can also see the point where you can touch a 10% stoploss quite quickly indeed.
Anyway, quite some insight once again.
Thanks for the inspiring updates! I was able to invest $4,219.12 in new capital in May, which the majority was from our tax return. Built up my positions in O, OHI, and CAT so I am excited to see these new editions to my portfolio grow over time.
Great point about the benefits of a flat or declining market – you can buy more shares at a cheaper price. That's an under appreciated "benefit" of a crappy stock market. We certainly bought tons of shares back in the 08-09 recession that have since gone on to double (both in value and in dividend payout).
1) I realized that while you have recommended all of these stocks recently, they may not be the stocks you would recommend to start with. Maybe you have already written about this somewhere but is there a list of "must have" stocks that you would start a portfolio with?
2) I started my portfolio through a Roth IRA so that I would not be taxed. Is this a smart move? The only downside that I see is that I won't be able to take out money without penalties until I am 59 1/2 besides things like new houses or medical emergencies.
The Freedom Fund is becoming its own unstoppable force; a locomotive on a mission higher. I'm confident it won't be long before you're not just breaching $200k, but even half a million. Keep rolling on down the tracks, brother.
I know this is of considerable less importance to you, but what return have you earned on your portfolio since inception? Just curious to see how much of your portfolio is made up of your own contributed capital vs how much is pure profit…thanks.
Well, must be my lucky day! They just showed up in the account! Haha!!
Keep going… the 200K mark is still very close. It's a matter of days before you reach that new milestone.
Keep the snowball rolling over there!
Congrats on working your plan and adding some more stocks. I've been working on the healthcare sector for my "Freedom" fund and in my Roth IRA. In May, I added 22 shares of OHI and 10 shares of JNJ. I also like WM and HAS. Hasbro has the licensing for "Star Wars", Marvel and Disney's Frozen and pays a 2.5% divvy. The P/E is a bit high at the moment, but I think they'll kill this Christmas season when the new Star Wars movie comes out.
Not every month will be that great, I'm sure. But stick with it. Amazing things can and do happen with seemingly small additions. Consistency matters.
We'll see what we get. I wouldn't mind seeing a 10% or 20% drop, though.
Thanks for dropping in. Glad you found the blog. You're at an exciting point there, just starting out. I can tell you that it actually gets more exciting as you march forward. It's just a lot of fun.
2. A Roth is actually pretty flexible. I don't use any tax-advantaged accounts for a variety of reasons that are pretty specific to my own situation. But you can actually withdraw contributions at any time from a Roth, meaning it's really flexible in terms of accessing the money before the traditional retirement age.
Yeah, it's all an inevitability now. I'm hoping for cheaper stocks, but it'll also be fun to write about hitting that second $100k. It'll also be interesting to compare hitting the first $100k to hitting the second $100k and seeing the difference between the two. I imagine that unless we see a major pullback, the portfolio should hit that $200k mark within the next couple months. Cheaper stocks or higher portfolio value… it's a win-win, either way.
Hope you had a great month over there!
I don't calculate total return often because it's fairly irrelevant to what I'm doing, but I decided to take a look at it at the end of 2014. I'll probably run the XIRR every five years just to make sure I'm not way off track. It was around 18.5% annualized from the point I started in 2010 until the end of 2014. I suspect I'll look again in 2019.
We'll see how it goes. It'll be fun to compare hitting that second $100k to hitting the first.
Hope you had a great month over there as well.
Sounds like things are rolling along for you over there. Very nice!
I'm also looking for good opportunities in healthcare. It's one of my favorite areas of the economy and I'm currently underexposed there. A richer, older, and bigger world all bode well for increased healthcare spending over the long haul.
Wow! 58 companies that is a lot to keep track of. You're getting so close to $200K.
May was an nice improvement over April for me. I was able to increase my net worth by almost $7,000 in May. I did deploy some new capital into a non listed commercial real estate trust ($1,000). It's currently paying a 7.5% dividend. Paid down $1,900 in principal on my mortgages and contributed about $1,600 to retirement accounts.
And savings went up about $1,900.
So far we are on track to reach our goal of increasing net worth by $69,000 this year.
It is so motivating to track this along with everyone else in the community. We all have our unique goals, but it's all for the same purpose.
Thank you so much for sharing Jason! Are you using google docs to update your progress? I have a template almost identical to yours but google only allows for a maximum of 50 entries and after that, it just goes crazy. How are you able to keep it up to date with so many positions? I really want to get started with keeping track of my progress but not sure what the best way of doing that would be. Thanks again for all your efforts!
That's awesome work over there. A ~$70,000 increase in your net worth in one year would be amazing. I seem to recall reading you have a pretty high income going on over there, but that's still excellent work. People with high incomes don't necessarily save a lot because they let lifestyle inflation set in.
I manually update my portfolio page. I think it's important/useful to go over the numbers once a month for perspective. Not absolutely necessary, but I don't find it particularly time consuming (takes about an hour). Allowing everything to automatically update might make it more difficult to really see what's going on with everything. Just my take on it.
Appreciate the support. Hope that answer helps.
Should I reduce the cost basis for BBL with the new SOUHV (or SOUHY – Fidelity gives this ticker)?
Lets say I had 100 BBL with cost $4500 (100 x $45). I got 40 SOUHV with cost $330.8 (40 x $8.27), so new cost basis for BBL should be $4500 – $330.8? Is this how it works ?
I corrected the ticker. Not sure why I listed it as SOUHV. SOUHY is correct.
Should be a fun month coming here for June! With dividends received alone – this month should provide any extra bang you need even with the tax payment deployment. Great opportunities are amongst us, lets hope we can all dip into the valued companies that have dropped a bit. I own BBL too and it was cool to see the new shares of the spin off. Any word on the dividend policy for them? Thanks Mantra, great job, don't worry if it dropped a bit, I know MV doesn't matter much for you!
The freedom fund is doing well and I am still excited about you getting it to a value of 200k. I also cannot wait for your dividend income report for May. I am sure it will be published in the next few days.
BBL announced that South32 would pay out about 40% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, so that'll be a nice little kicker on top of the hefty BBL dividend. More snow for the snowball!
Hi Jason! Thanks for your insightful thoughts. Yes, that was definitely helpful. I enjoyed reading the links you provided. Wanted to provide you with an update on what I decided to buy. Upon doing a little more research, I noticed that UNP has declining dividends and PMT (PennyMac Mortgage) has increasing dividends.
I also noticed that respectful institutions with quality management such as Vanguard Group Inc owns 4,530,222 shares of PMT and BlackRock Fund (are they a Hedge Fund?) owns 2,691,450 shares of PMT as of 3/31/2015, to name a few. I am also quite familiar with PMT (PennyMac Mortgage) since they are headquartered 15 minutes away from our home, and we have been a client of theirs for a few years. All they focus on are home loans. Some of the homes in our community here in L.A have mortgages with PMT, including many of our neighbors. (Homes on our street are currently worth about a million, even though most of us purchased when they were under half a million. Just got lucky there!!) Yes, they do buy a lot of distressed mortgages on discount, but they also have a large number of high quality loans, based on what I have read about them. Since PMT and UNP are both considered "strong buys" currently, I decided to split my purchase so I can lower my cost basis on PMT and at the same time buy shares of a quality company like UNP (although I wish they had a higher yield lol!!) I'm still young so I decided I can afford to take a calculated risk on PMT for now.
Thank you again for your words of wisdom. Love reading your articles!
You're just looking at the absolute dividend, which doesn't factor in stock splits. UNP has split its stock twice over that period, which means twice the number of shares at half the dividend rate. That's not a dividend cut. UNP has actually increased its dividend on an annual basis for longer than PMT has even been public.
Best of luck with the purchases!
Stocks go down. All part of the journey. I look at it as an opportunity as I know you do as well. Keep up the great work!
Let's hope we get some more volatility over the coming months!
Waiting for a market correction in Canada also. I lightened up on bonds and oil stocks a few months ago and have 100 k ready to invest. Sell in May and go away did not happen last year as markets really climbed. However my dividends in May this year easily out distanced last year. After 15 years of doing this, and a seven figure portfolio the dividend train will only get bigger with another 100 k to invest.
Looks like your portfolio is firming up. The increases in dividends over the next year should become significant in the sense that the increases will help funding new positions as the dollar amount increases. A great psychological boost even though the percentages should be similar as when your portfolio was smaller.
My portfolio has been treading water the past three years as I have two kids college tuition we have been funding. I was able to initiate a position in TROW this month. I hope to be able to initiate one new position per month going forward. Having the cash flow of dividends has been huge in paying tuition.
I will be changing gears next year and retiring from my current job at age 53. I could not be making this career decision without the monthly cash flow dividends provide. I am sure people at work are wondering how I can retire with two kids in college.
It has been incredible to see what a 50% savings rate and investing in dividend stocks will become over a ten year period. I certainly am not stressing about life and finances. All smiles.
I'm right alongside you in regards to hoping we see a 10%+ pullback here pretty shortly. I don't have that much cash to invest, but our portfolios are obviously quite different in size. Nonetheless, I'm still putting a healthy chunk of capital to work regularly in relation to the size of what I'm working with. We'll see how it goes!
Your position is great as well because your dividend cash flow alone can probably fund some pretty large purchases. That's the value in cash flow.
1. You can't buy as many shares with a fixed amount of money.
2. The yields are lower, meaning your future dividend income will negatively be affected.
If you have a stock at $50 with a $1/year dividend, it yields 2%. And with $1,000, you can buy 20 shares. You now have $20.00 in annual dividend income.
But if that same stock is priced at $40, it now yields 2.5%. And with that same $1,000, you can instead now buy 25 shares. You now have $25.00 in annual dividend income.
You see how that works? Repeating that over and over again makes a massive difference in terms of how much equity you own (how many shares you're able to buy), what kind of yield your investment sports, and how much dividend income you can generate from the portfolio.
I've discussed this at length over the years, so I'd recommend checking out the rest of the blog. And pulling up a compound interest calculator and playing around with some numbers can probably shed some light. Grab some stocks out there and play with the numbers. You'll see how much of a difference cheaper stocks can make.
That's a wonderful spot to be in. Being able to switch the dividends from reinvestment to paying real bills is an amazing feeling. That's something I've tried to convey as much as possible: the dividend income is real cash flow, just like any other source of cash flow (a paycheck, etc.). And this income source can make a dramatic difference in your life.
Yes, we are lucky to have a pretty high income compared to the national average.
We try to save at least 40% of our gross.
My apologies. I think in my last comment I asked you what your dividends are based on and it's pretty clear you tell us every month. Helps to read!
Hope you reach that $200k milestone soon.


Cheese-pie is a typical dish in Greece and although it is very tasty one could say that it is also so boring: cheese and phyllo. How exciting is this? When in Crete, staying at Villa Kynthia* character hotel I have finally tasted a cheese-pie which is definitely worth writing about. The pie is served at the hotel's homemade breakfast buffet and the recipe comes from the owner, Korinna Miliaraki.
It is a pie with a secret ingredient which takes it from an ordinary to a truly fine level. As you taste it you travel to the Mediterranean and its sunshine. On the day of my departure Korinna managed to show me the first steps of the pie making. We were cooking right in the middle of the enchanted patio of the villa. I had to leave for Heraklion harbor before the pie was finished baking…so I brought this recipe home to Messinia. Once at home I followed Korinna's instructions and proudly baked my first cheese-pie ever.
The cheese-pie will have a slight twist of orange which will give a refreshing, unexpected and perfectly complementing ingredient to a rather heavy content.
My first pie was a great success and goes on our family menu!
* Villa Kynthia is located in a picturesque village of Panormo in the Rethymno prefucture. Besides the great location the village has nice beach, great taverns and it also boosts with exceptional cultural activities (such as the recent Alexandria Quartet and Daphnis Kokkinos dance seminar among many others) managed by the Carob Mill Arts and Culture Centre.


text:
Musée de la Céramique
The Association des Amis des Musées de la Ville de Rouen
Adult reservation
School reservation
Home > The Association des Amis des Musées
The Association des Amis des Musées
The Association des Amis des Musées was founded in 1981, and has more than 500 members – all impassioned champions and lovers of art. Thanks to its support and dynamic energy, the city's museums have been able to enlarge their collections and carry out a number of important projects, including restoration work, exhibitions, and catalogue publications.
It also runs a highly varied programme of high-quality activities such as tours, conferences, lectures and concerts, enabling large numbers of people to develop their artistic sensibilities.
1992: Restoration of the "Mazarin" desk
1993: Restoration of a painting by Puvis de Chavannes (main staircase of the Musée des Beaux-Arts)
1994: Purchase of a Louis XV bergère armchair
1995: Organisation of a fund for purchasing two busts by Pierre Chapelle, Cérès and Bacchus, Musée de la Céramique
1996: Purchase of a terracotta bust of a Bacchante by Charles-Antoine Callamard
1998: Purchase of a porcelain "trembleuse" cup and saucer, and a ceramic helmet ewer. Participation in the publication of a book on the works of Tolmer
1999: Purchase of a gouache drawing by Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps
2000: Purchase of a watercolour by William Callow: View of Rouen
2001: Participation in the museum's bicentenary (concert and reception)
2002: Purchase of an 18th century gun lighter for the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles; purchase of a drawing by Louis Le Boulanger de Boisfremont: Portrait of Boieldieu
2003/2004: Exceptional purchase of a 16th century reliquary bust of the Virgin in polychrome wood.
2005: Purchase of The Angel of Death, a study by Gabriel Lemonnier for his painting The Plague of Milan
2007: Purchase of a ceramic vase with translucent enamel decoration by Émile Gallé (co-sponsored with the Caisse d'Epargne de Haute-Normandie)
2008: Purchase of four paintings by the Association des Amis des Musées. Firstly, two small matching paintings on copper by Moïse Jacobber (1786-1863, one of the great 19th century flower painters), one of fruit, the other of flowers, signed and in perfect condition, which joined the museum's fine series of flower pictures, dominated by a masterpiece by Redouté. Secondly, two oval portraits painted by Gabriel Lemonnier in c. 1780: a self portrait and a portrait of his second wife, closely linked with the history of the Rouen Musée des Beaux-Arts, of which he was one of the founders.
2009 and 2010: Purchase of three paintings by Marie Bracquemond, famous as one of the key female figures in Impressionism with Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot and Eva Gonzalès: a self-portrait (1870), a portrait of Pierre Bracquemond (1878) and a small landscape (1880).
2011: Purchase of an 18th century Normandy sideboard and an 18th century grand feu earthenware dish, which can be attributed to Edme Poterat.
Association des Amis des Musées
Esplanade Marcel Duchamp
Courriel: amismuseesrouen@orange.fr
Site: www.amis-musees-rouen.fr
Decoration in Five Colours
Glazed Pottery
Earthenware Paintings and Sculptures
Chinese Decoration and Objects
Monochrome Blues
Fine Earthenware and Porcelain
Rocaille Style and Cornucopia Decoration
The Introduction of Red
Delft, Lille and Nevers
12th Century Rouen Earthenware: the Poterat Family
Masséot Abaquesne
Niello Ochre
Sites Musées
Musée Le Secq des Tournelles
Musée de la Corderie Vallois
La Fabrique des Savoirs
Musée Pierre Corneille
Réunion des Musées Métropolitains Rouen Normandie

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The "automatically create new snapshot when saving" function in the Document History in Photoshop CC 2019 is not working at the moment, the snapshot is not created.
This issue should be fixed with today's 20.0.2 update. Please install the update and let me know if you're still having any issue.


Al-Ashmar sat cross-legged in the tent of Gadn ak Hulavar and placed his patient, a spotted cat, onto a velvet pillow. Gadn lounged on the far side of the spacious tent, puffing on his hookah and waiting for the diagnosis of his grossly thin cat.
Al-Ashmar held his fingers near the cat's nose. She sniffed his hand and raked her whiskers over his knuckles. When the cat raised her head and stared into his eyes, Al-Ashmar found a brown, triangle-shaped splotch in the right eye, along the left side of the green-and-gold iris. The location of the mark indicated the cat's liver, but in this case it was the strong color that was most disturbing.
"What have you been feeding her?" Al-Ashmar asked as he stroked the cat, noting its muscle tone.
Gadn shrugged his massive shoulders. "Nothing. Cats find food."
Al-Ashmar smiled, if only to hide his annoyance. The wealthy always wanted cats of status, but when it came time to care for them, they hadn't an idea worth its weight in sand.
"Not this one," Al-Ashmar said as he picked up the cat and stood, absently continuing to stroke its ears. "Please, go to the bazaar; buy a large cage and some swallows. Once a day, put her in the cage with one bird. The activity should interest her enough to induce appetite. Do this for a week and her normal eating pattern should return. If it doesn't, send me word."
A bald servant boy rushed into the room and bowed deeply. "Master, if you please, there is a messenger."
"We are done?" Gadn asked Al-Ashmar.
"Then bring the messenger here, Mousaf." Gadn handed Al-Ashmar three coins and then embraced him, kissing one cheek, then the other.
But the servant boy remained. "Begging your mercy, master, but they are asking for Al-Ashmar ak Kulhadn."
Al-Ashmar frowned. "Who is, boy?"
"A man, from the palace."
Gadn shoved the boy aside and rushed from the tent. "Why didn't you say so?"
Al-Ashmar was right behind him. Moments later, they reached the edge of the caravan grounds, near the pens holding dozens of Gadn's camels and donkeys and goats. A balding man with a reed-thin beard - the current rage in the Empress's courts - and wearing blue silk finery stood just outside the caravan grounds, on the sandy road leading back toward the city proper. Behind him stood four palace guards.
The first thought through Al-Ashmar's mind was the sort of beating Gadn's servant would get for referring to Djazir ak Benkada as a messenger.
The second was what sort of emergency would require the Empress's own spiritual guide and physician to personally come asking for him, a simple physic. At the least it would be to attend to a courtier's cat - after all, he'd been to the palace a handful of times for just such a purpose - but since Djazir had come personally, he could only assume it was for Bela, the Empress's cat.
Gadn ak Hulavar, as the caravan's master, stepped forward to meet Djazir. "Please, Eminence, would you care to join us? A smoke, perhaps?"
But Gadn stopped when Djazir held up an open palm and stared at Al-Ashmar.
"You will accompany me," Djazir said.
"Of course, Eminence," Al-Ashmar replied.


On the instructions of his sister Catherine, 19-year-old Andrew Suh shot to death Catherine's fiancé Robert O'Dubaine in their Bucktown garage in 1993. Andrew refused to testify on his own behalf, apparently to protect Catherine. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 100 years at Pontiac Correctional Center, later reduced to 80. Catherine was sentenced to life without parole.
Iris Shim was an 18-year-old student at the University of Illinois-Chicago in 2000 when she befriended Andrew through the youth group she led at Korean Martyrs' Catholic Church. Her prison visits evolved into the documentary The House of Suh, featuring extensive interviews with Andrew and others close to the case—an effort to understand the twisted family bonds that would lead a promising young man to take another's life. The House of Suh screens in the 16th annual Asian American Showcase, Saturday 4/9 at 6 PM and Wednesday 4/13 at 8:15 PM, at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. Shim and producer Gerry Kim will hold Q&A after.


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White Dwarf Surprise — Again!
by David Wilson | Jul 8, 2016 | Daily Paper Summaries | 0 comments
Title: Outbursts in two new cool pulsating DA white dwarfs
Authors: Keaton J. Bell, J. J. Hermes, M. H. Montgomery et al.
First Author's Institution: Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin
Paper Status: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal
The Kepler spacecraft, launched in 2009, is best known for its monumental contributions to the science of exoplanets. But the unique observing technique of the space telescope, staring at thousands of stars all day, every day for months at a time, has led to surprising new discoveries in many fields beyond exoplanets.
Nearly a year ago, Astrobites reported on one example of Kepler's unexpected findings: A pair of white dwarfs that were "outbursting", becoming as much as 20 percent brighter every few days before quieting down again. Although variable white dwarfs have been studied for decades, only the continuous data obtained by Kepler provided the coverage to spot these short, unpredictable events. Today's paper adds another two outbursting white dwarfs, and begins to explore the reason for this hitherto unobserved behaviour.
White dwarfs are the leftover cores of stars that have run out of hydrogen fuel. More than 90 percent of stars, including the Sun, will end their lives this way, a glowing ember roughly the size of the Earth. White dwarfs start off incredibly hot, millions of Kelvin, but with no more nuclear reactions taking place, they slowly cool down over many centuries.
As they cool past the (roughly) 12500 K mark, something odd happens: The white dwarfs begin to pulse, changing in brightness by about one percent every few minutes. This carries on until, millions of years later, they cool to below around 10600 K, and the pulsations stop.
The intriguing aspect is that those temperatures were not predicted by theoretical models of how the interiors of white dwarfs change as they cool, but come from observations. Although those models can reproduce the temperature at which pulsations start, they also predict that the pulsations should last much longer, enduring until the white dwarf reaches just 6000 K. So why do the pulsations suddenly stop? Bell et al. suggest that the new class of outbursting white dwarfs may hold the answer.
Figure 1: Kepler observations of the white dwarf EPIC 211629697. Each point is a measurement of how much light is reaching the telescope from the white dwarf, with the black data being taken every 30 seconds and the red every thirty minutes. The grey regions show the outbursts, where the brightness of the white dwarf increased by up to 14 percent. The right-hand-side figure shows an enlarged version of one outburst.
The two new outbursting white dwarfs were observed by Kepler in mid-2015. Over the roughly eighty days that each white dwarf was observed, the amount of light coming from them made sudden jumps (Figure 1), 15 times in the case of the first white dwarf observed and 33 times for the second. The outbursts were spaced seemingly randomly apart, and implied increases in brightness of up to 14 percent.
Figure 2: A collection of white dwarfs, comparing their surface temperatures (x-axis) and gravities (a proxy for the mass, y-axis). The blue and red lines show the hot and cold boundaries between which white dwarfs have been found to pulsate. The grey crosses show white dwarfs observed with Kepler that do not pulsate, yellow dots are Kepler white dwarfs that do pulsate, and blue dots are other pulsating white dwarfs. The four red squares are the outbursting white dwarfs, with a fifth candidate shown by the orange triangle.
Although these white dwarfs are interesting in themselves, being only the third and fourth examples of what was, just a few years ago, an unknown phenomenon, the authors find that they become even more revealing when compared with other white dwarfs. Figure 2 compares the surface temperatures and gravities of the four outbursting white dwarfs (red squares), with those of other white dwarfs, both pulsating and not.
All four of the white dwarfs are found near the cool end of the temperature range where white dwarfs pulsate—exactly the place that theoretical models find difficult to predict. The authors suspect that the two behaviours are linked, with the emergence of outbursts at low temperatures leading to the cessation of pulsation soon afterwards. However, more of the outbursting white dwarfs are needed to confirm this link, as the similar temperatures of the four discovered so far could just be coincidence. With Kepler's mission recently extended into 2018, new discoveries should not be too long in coming.
About David Wilson
PhD student at the University of Warwick working with Professor Boris Gaensicke. I study the remnants of planetary systems at white dwarfs, looking at what they reveal about planet compositions and searching for variability. When not doing that I mostly spend my time reading, writing, playing board games and building various little plastic people.
White Dwarf Surprise Tick Tock of a Double Celestial Clock: Discovery of a New Stellar Remnant System Dead Star, Dying Planets Cosmic Archaeology from an Ancient Pulsating Star
dark matter radio astronomy astrophysics Kepler supernovae cosmology AAS spectroscopy simulations stars black holes AGN habitability planet formation galaxy evolution binary stars observations solar system planetary science dwarf galaxies protoplanetary disks transits exoplanets star formation stellar evolution galaxies theory astronomy gravitational waves Milky Way


text:
Q: Gem in Rails not loaded I want to use the symbolize gem (http://rubygems.org/gems/symbolize) with my Rails project. I added
gem 'symbolize', '4.2.0'

to my Gemfile and ran bundle install. If I run gem list --local I see the installed gem.
However, when I actually try to use the methods added to ActiveRecord by the gem I'm getting an error at runtime. I.e., I have:
class WrittenEntry < ActiveRecord::Base
  symbolize :entry_type, :in => [:blog, :vorfreude, :twitter], :i18n => false
end

Which throws:
/Users/haldimann/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p327/gems/activerecord-3.2.9/lib/active_record/dynamic_matchers.rb:50:in `method_missing': undefined method `symbolize' for #<Class:0x007ff7ee8ad570> (NoMethodError)
    from /Users/haldimann/Projects/nikhaldimann.com/app/models/written_entry.rb:4:in `<class:WrittenEntry>'
    from /Users/haldimann/Projects/nikhaldimann.com/app/models/written_entry.rb:1:in `<top (required)>'
    from /Users/haldimann/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p327/gems/activesupport-3.2.9/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:251:in `require'
    from /Users/haldimann/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p327/gems/activesupport-3.2.9/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:251:in `block in require'
    from /Users/haldimann/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p327/gems/activesupport-3.2.9/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:236:in `load_dependency'
    from /Users/haldimann/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p327/gems/activesupport-3.2.9/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:251:in `require'
    from /Users/haldimann/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p327/gems/activesupport-3.2.9/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:359:in `require_or_load'
    from /Users/haldimann/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p327/gems/activesupport-3.2.9/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:313:in `depend_on'
    from /Users/haldimann/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p327/gems/activesupport-3.2.9/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:225:in `require_dependency'
    from /Users/haldimann/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p327/gems/railties-3.2.9/lib/rails/engine.rb:439:in `block (2 levels) in eager_load!'
    ...

It appears that the symbolize gem is somehow never actually loaded. I might be missing something obvious, any ideas?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


MPI Inc. Which Will Conduct Business In California As: Metal Panel Installers is a forfeited Californian business entity incorporated 10th March 1986. United Corporate Services, Inc. is listed as the agent for this company.


In this polluted world it is very difficult to maintain an adorable and healthy skin because of the pollutants in an environment like dust particles, mist, mud, smoke etc. Since we remain so busy in our personal and professional regime, hardly time permits to pay attention towards our skin, which is the most vulnerable and prominent part of our body. So considering the practical life I am going to discuss some beauty advice which would help you glowing.
One has to be quite alert before using any cleanser. My suggested cleanser would be ORIFLAME ESSENTIAL GENTLE cleanser and its my personal choice too, it has a 3 in 1 formula as it nourishes, cleanses and moisturizes your skin.
ORIFLAME DIAMOND CELLULAR CLEANSER...is also advisable. Oriflame Milk and Honey Cleansing Mmilk, Royal Velvet Creamy Cleanser are some excellent Oriflame suggested brands.
ORIFLAME ESSENTIAL BALANCING TONER can be the best refreshing alcohol free skin toner to clarify and mattify your complexion. if you are in middle of thirty's ORIFLAME ECOLLAGEN REVITALIZING ANTI AGING TONER is suggested.
After toning your skin, its important to give little moisturizing massage to skin. There are lot of moisturizers available in the market but your moisturizer should match your cleanser and toner quality.
ORIFLAME ESSENTIAL SKIN LIGHTENING LOTION, ESSENTIAL MOISTURE CONCENTRATE, ORIFLAME TENDER CARE CREAM can be used in compliments to its cleanser and toner.
For best results on skin cleanser, toner and moisturizer should belong to same brand or close family brand.
If these three steps are followed every day nobody can stop you to have healthy skin. In addition to it if you want more clarity and purity in your skin at least apply scrub cream on your face once a week and wash your face with fresh cold water at-least 5 times a day and additionally 2 times with face wash. some suggested face wash and scrubs are as follows Oriflame PURE SKIN face wash and scrub, Oriflame PURE NATURE ORGANIC toner and wash etc.
Regular visits to parlor is not required if you follow suggested measures and brands. you should also steam your face once in 15 days but always remember to apply face pack once you steam your skin.
Entire process will help you to attain healthy skin without any further visits to parlor, this is how you would develop a good habit of taking care of yourself without making any whole in your pocket.


« Day 203 in Beijing: The War on Christmas?
Day 204 in Beijing: Don't Stand. Don't Stand. Don't Stand So Close To Me!
All respect to The Police and that amazing song from so many years ago.
It takes on a new meaning when one rides the subways and trains in Kuala Lumpur.
At least, it sure did for Jill and me.
If you look at the pictures, you can see that there are certain waiting areas, and coaches, only for women.
Men are not allowed on them and are not allowed to stand in the same waiting area.
There is a simple reason for this: The Muslim religion, as practiced here, does not allow for women and men to touch if they aren't married or in a relationship.
I've been in other countries where the Muslim religion is the major religion and yet I have not seen this before.
I actually found it quite wonderful and quite respectful. Instead of having men only trains, where women are not allowed, they have women only trains where men are not allowed.
Jill didn't ride the trains, as we were together and mixed couples are not allowed on these coaches either. Instead, we took the mixed trains and didn't have a problem.
There were also women in our trains, many wearing the Hijab, and some wearing the full Burka, but they didn't seem to have a problem since men tended to make sure they had enough room to stand or sit where they needed to be.
I have not tried to sit by women, while in taxis, and I am not sure if it would be accepted or not. I'm guessing it wouldn't and I'd rather not try it as I want to be as respectful of their culture as possible.


Reflective Teaching is a habit of mind that requires consciously thinking about how teaching practices impact students' learning.
According to Kennedy (1989) reflective teaching promotes a thoughtful, contextualized view of teaching from which teachers learn how to make choices about educational goals and practices. Just as we hope our students will show growth over time, as teachers we can show growth in our practice if we take the time to reflect.
Professional growth can occur if we first look back on our practice to draw conclusions about events, then change our behaviors as a result of research, knowledge and reflection. Teachers can become empowered decision makers, engaging in systematic reflection of their work by thinking, writing, and talking about their teaching; observing the acts of their own and others teaching and by gauging the impact of their teaching on their students' learning (Farrell, 2004).
Here are 7 strategies to help you reflect on your teaching practice.
1. Stay committed to your personal practice: Growing in your professional practice means staying committed to learning as a student. The field of education is constantly changing and as it changes so must we in our practice. Attending professional development series and events will help you stay current and learn what works best in your field. You can attend online professional development for free from Stanford. After attending a professional development event, teachers should take the time to think about ways they can incorporate new strategies into their practice. Take time to share new practices with your colleagues.
2. Connect to colleagues: There is no doubt that teaching can be an isolating profession and unless we have an opportunity to engage with our colleagues then there will be little time for dialogue about our practice. Rather than sitting in your classroom, meet with a colleague or have lunch in the teachers' lounge. Connecting with colleagues can also take place when you get involved with school wide councils or professional development committees. Teachers stay connected to colleagues through grade level PLC's. Teachers meet weekly to plan lessons or common assessment so that reflection is a collaborative event in which teachers share strengths and weaknesses as a team. No time to meet face to face, use Google Tools and Google sites to share resources, join a Facebook Group to connect with other teachers and use Google Hangouts to meet virtually.
3. Your best teacher: Your students will always be your best teachers so listen to what they say and don't say. Observe their behaviors and reactions and take the time to think about how you can learn from their failures and success. You can create a survey to give your students mid semester in which you ask them questions such as "What do you like best?" or "What is an area in which I can improve". After I surveyed my students I was surprised to find out students felt I talk to fast. Once I made it a point to slow down and check for student understanding I was amazed to see how many students showed improvement. We are not perfect and as a teacher it can be difficult to step outside ourselves and think about what the students' perceive.
5. Stay connected to your personal practice: Your personal practice defines you as a teacher. Often when you begin teaching you become so overwhelmed with mandates and directives that your practice fades. Take the time to plan a project-based learning activity, technology based lesson or constructivist approach to problem solving. Think about the theories and strategies you learned while in graduate school or student teaching and make a plan to implement them. Invite colleagues, administrators or coaches to observe your practice and provide constructive feedback. Sometimes just having another person in the room with whom you can talk openly with about pedagogy will allow you to reflect in the moment.
6. Technology Tools: With the explosion of social media reflecting can take place on a virtual platform. Critical reflection can take place when you have an opportunity to discuss the goals and purposes of schooling and ASCD Edge provides the opportunity to connect with colleagues and share ideas, concerns or issues relate to topics. Teachers can use tools such as Blogs to share ideas with colleagues or students. In addition, tools such as Survey Monkey can be used to collect data for reflection.
7. Engage in Action Research: Action Research is one way that teacher can incorporate data into their reflection. Data is used to determine what effect teaching practices have on student achievement. Teachers select an aspect of their own practice and conduct an in-depth inquiry. Research is used to examine previous studies and significant findings. From this approach teachers decide what action to take, how they will implement their actions and then evaluate how the actions impact student learning.
Reflective teaching is key to professional growth in teaching and it begins by looking at what you do in the classroom. We can explore our practices and beliefs when we take the time to record what is happening and evaluate what this information means.
In "How We Think", Dewey (1933) defined reflective thought as the "active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends" (p.9) Without evidence our beliefs and our assumptions will cause us to think in a way that protects our ego. Akbari (2007) states, "Teachers' personality, and more specifically their affective make up, can influence their tendency to get involved in reflection and will affect their reaction to their to their own image resulting from reflection" Reflection is a tool to self-assess your practice. Once you have collected this information, plan a course of action so that you can implement change. You might decide to find more research on an area where you need improvement, attend a conference, or read magazines or books related to the topic for which you are seeking information. Once you begin to implement changes be sure you take the time to reflect once again. Reflection is a continuous cycle that begins once you develop the habit of mind to think about your practice.
In the Courage to Teach" We teach who we are, so who are we? What is your plan for growing as a professional in the three paths: intellectual, emotional and spiritual?
As a professional, I know that in order to grow I would have to collaborate with peers and other teachers. Intellectually, I have to admit that I don't know everything. Therefore, I should allow myself to make mistakes, learn from them and work it out. Emotionally, I can't go around thinking I can save the world. As long as I do my small piece, then I should rest assure that I did my part. Finally, for spiritual, I need to know that there are influences out there that I can't control. I can control what is in my classroom, but the forces and influences that affect my students are stronger. I have to know that at times, I won't be able to battle these wars.
Hi Carlos, I enjoy reading your post. I think that it is easy to get attached to our students and want the best for them, but as you stated sometimes we need to let go with love and realize that our students need to learn from their mistakes. Part of the beauty of this profession is that learning is a lifetime process and it sounds as though you have acknowledge that in your post. Earlier in our discussion we talked about the importance of joining professional organizations and being part of professional development. Are their any organizations you would like to join?
As a fairly young professional, my number one area of growth is intellectual growth. I have a lot of common sense and know how, but I will work to review/restudy aspects of the math I teach in order to create different approaches to them. Because I am a visual learner, visual teaching comes easily to me. With more research, I will help the students who need more kinesthetic approaches.
I feel quite secure in my emotional and spiritual paths. I connect emotionally with my students and strive to find out why they succeed and struggle. I plan to continue to connect with my students, even at times when I feel that they are/do not connect to me.
My spiritual cup is overflowing with positivity and possibilities. I gain strength from prior experiences to help guide me day to day, especially on THOSE days that seem that everything can go wrong. One such experience I tell my students every Halloween is of the story that changed my life. Six years ago last Halloween, I was hit by a car as a pedestrian, both of my legs were broken, pelvis and neck fractured. This event occurred the Halloween post master's degree and the day before I was to substitute at my current school. Instead of showing up at work the next day, I had several surgeries, a full leg cast and knee brace, and I was placed in a hospital bed in my parents' house for 3 and a half months. Because of this life changing event and the physical therapy which followed (that taught me how to walk again), it became clear to me that our life is not everlasting; what we choose to do with our life will change the lives of everyone in it; and that complaining and giving up will not lead to success of any amount. I plan to use my strength in spirituality to positively affect each student that is steered my way.
Wow what a life changing experience. I can't imagine what you went through but it sounds like you are stronger, wiser and spiritually connected. That is a gift.


A few years ago I left ThoughtWorks and was considering leaving IT altogether.
Snowden revealed the NSA privacy issues.
After a long break and working at a couple more companies I am able to pinpoint some specific behaviours of individuals that have an affect on my work ethic and general work happiness.
Recently I read an excellent post about Contempt Culture. What resonated so much with me was that I remember being that way when I first started my career. I was impressionable and looked up to the veterans that I met at conferences that appeared to me as people that knew everything. They've seen it all. They would speak with such authority on all the things and I bought it all. I didn't question, nor probe for reasons.
Nowadays I feel like my attitude is much better (friends, please correct me if I'm wrong), but I still have a lot of room for improvement. But… I'm now one of those so called veterans I looked up to. I can see how much BS they were spouting and how overconfident they were. I don't believe I'm a bad developer, in fact I think I have a fairly strong skillset, but I definitely don't know as much as I perceived those veterans to know.
Reading the quote from my previous blog post reveals the contempt that I was feeling. Do I still feel the same? Sort of, but my energy is more focused on delivering value. It feels like a weight off my shoulders.
Part of me feels that bike shedding and the narcissism of small (code) differences are linked in some way. I don't have any evidence whatsoever, just something to ponder. It's easier to mock something that differs in a trivial way. Anecdotally, I've heard more criticism fired at Python because of the significance of whitespace more than any other parts of the language.
Please watch this discussion titled Why So Mean from the Alt.NET Seattle 2009 open space conversation. It does show many of the different personalities and perspectives.
My friend made that! I saw what was there before and they have improved it so much!
If it's so easy why don't you do it?
You're wasting energy, can we focus on the problem in front of us?
You're too stupid to understand the complexity of the problem they are trying to solve.
If everyone did things the way you think they ought to be done, you think the world would be better?
Not so healthy huh? I don't like having these thoughts. They drain me and dampen my motivation. What's worse is that I find myself absorbing a bit of their attitude and will potentially mimic it. I don't know why but I get the feeling my reaction to this is stronger than others. I wish I could ignore it, but if I could, I clearly wouldn't be writing this post.
Aurynn's post has a lot of good strategies to handle your own personal contempt, but what I need are ways to handle other individuals. If I don't, I could see myself getting overly frustrated with the industry again.
This response not only summarizes with a good list on how to deal with your own contempt but also brought up an interesting observation about identity. The language, tool, framework becomes an identity of sorts. However, that does bring up the point categorizing the individual is not healthy. Placing someone in a bucket doesn't move things forward at all.
Assume the person is experiencing imposter syndrome and is mimicing others in the field.
Ask why they have such a strong reaction. Try and find the root cause of the reaction.
Redirect the focus to the outcomes. Yes, language X has problems, but look how it is helping Y.
A recent EconTalk episode titled "What if We're Wrong" discusses in the first 10 minutes around the utility around strong statements. Understanding the individual may better lead to why they feel the need to voice their disdain so loudly.
Also that contempt culture can take many forms. This year has been full of unhealthy thoughts, but this post is intended to speak specifically about the programming industry.
Clearly I need some assistance with this. Please leave a comment with your strategies. Or, if this doesn't bother you much, I would love to hear why.


text:
Men's Volleyball Swept 3-0 at Dean
Dean College
Southern Vt. (0-11, 0-1) 14 16 19 0
Dean College (8-7, 3-0) 25 25 25 3
K: Te Hayward - 10
B: El Olivares - 1
D: 2 Players (#19, #20) - 8
SA: Isaiah Backels - 2
K: Diondre Gomes - 15
B: Moussa Seck - 4
D: Juan Fernando Ruelas-Garcia - 9
SA: 2 Players (#11, #24) - 2
FRANKLIN, Mass. – Southern Vermont College fell 3-0 Monday night in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's volleyball match at Pieri Gymnasium.
The Bulldogs grabbed the first two sets by 25-14 and 25-16 margins to take a comfortable lead in the contest; Dean then clipped SVC 25-19 in the third to sweep the first meeting of the season between the two sides.
The Mountaineers (0-11, 0-6 NECC) are back in action on Saturday with a pair of matches at Johnson & Wales University; SVC will first take on Emmanuel College at 1 p.m. before going up against the hosting Wildcats at 3 p.m.
Southern Vermont sophomore Te Hayward (Baltimore, Md.) led the visitors with 10 kills on the night while tying the team-high of eight digs. Junior Isaiah Backels (Derry, N.H.) registered another eight kills in addition to 13 assists, two kills, and two service aces as senior captain El Olivares (Miami, Fla.) tallied seven digs and six kills.
Dean grabbed the first three points of the opening set and never let go of the lead. Down 13-5, SVC rattled off four points in-a-row behind an Olivares kill and consecutive Backels aces, but an 8-1 Bulldog run finished the frame and put the hosts on top in the match.
Hayward notched a pair of kills to help his team go on a 4-1 spurt and make it a 7-5 Dean edge in the second game, but the Bulldogs took the next three for some extra breathing room. A 5-1 SVC run—highlighted by kills from Olivares and sophomore Hans Resignac (Philadelphia, Pa.)—cut it down to a three-point deficit, and service would be traded until Hayward's fifth kill of the set made it an 18-16 DC advantage. The hosts seized the momentum and won the next six, however, to take the game and go up 2-0 on the night.
Dean slowly padded its lead in the front-end of the third to go on top by seven (16-9), but Southern Vermont would stay in it and start to close down the separation. After Olivares landed a kill during a 6-3 stretch which got the Mountaineers within four, however, the Bulldogs won four of the next six to close out the victory.


text:
Practice income
GPs to debate call for funding of £200 per patient per year
15 January 2016 By Sofia Lind
GP leaders are set to debate a proposal to demand that all GP practices receive at least £200 per patient per year.
The motion, to be proposed to the emergency LMC Conference by Leeds LMC, claims that the £141 average payment per patient is 'wholly inadequate' and unsafe for patients.
The motion, which forms part of the agenda published today, says: 'That conference notes that practices currently provide a year of care for an average of £141 per patient and believes that this is wholly inadequate to provide a safe, sustainable and responsive service that meets the growing needs of their patients and therefore calls on governments to ensure that all practices receive at least £200 per patient per year.'
Meanwhile, Birmingham LMC had proposed a motion, not put forward for debate by the agenda committee, which requested more funding, of £22 per month per patient. It said this would 'ensure the provision of safe GP services, including an increase in average GP consultation times to 20 minutes'.
Why general practice is such good value for money
An originally proposed motion from Leeds LMC, also not scheduled for debate, had further suggested the Government make a commitment to spend at least 11% of the NHS budget on general practice, in line with the long-standing demand from RCGP.
The Government has pledged to increase investment in general practice by at least 4% a year until 2021, but the Department of Health's evidence to the independent pay review body, also published today, indicated that this will unlikely be invested via the GMS contract - focusing instead on the Prime Minister's new seven-day access contract for larger practices with at least 30,000 patients.
The Government has mandated NHS England to ensure that the new models of care being developed by NHS England - including the larger-scale GP-led multi-specialty community care partnerships (MCPs) - will cover at least half of England's population by 2020.
The motion in full
LEEDS: That conference notes that practices currently provide a year of care for an average of £141 per patient and believes that this is wholly inadequate to provide a safe, sustainable and responsive service that meets the growing needs of their patients and therefore calls on governments to ensure that all practices receive at least £200 per patient per year.
Read the agenda in full here
LMCs support call for minimum funding of £200 per patient per year
Union backs call for more salaried GPs at emergency LMC conference
LMCs to debate mass resignation from NHS unless 'rescue package' is agreed
Partners at 'outstanding' practice forced to quit as funding is cut by 30%
Thousands sign petition for reversal of GP funding cuts
Practices face £35k funding swings as NHS reviews funding for deprived areas
Anonymous | GP Partner15 Jan 2016 4:44pm
My practice is on £107/per patient.We do all the LES/DES etc and make a huge effort.
But it is tough-I work some sessions for free.
Let's be honest...it is not sustainable to expect anybody to work for free just to keep the place afloat.
Last year I paid a total of £228 in premiums for insuring my cat! Having made a claim on the policy the premium for the coming year is £456!!! Says it all really.........
Anonymous | Medical student15 Jan 2016 11:00pm
£200 per patient per year - in their dreams!
Anonymous | Sessional/Locum GP16 Jan 2016 9:16am
Why £200? Its a rather round and arbitrary figure. We know we won't get 200 so if they want to make a point of saying what good care really costs they should be a little more professional and show how they arrived at that figure. I am afraid it makes Leeds LMC look a little amateurish.
Of course this motion will be pointless anyway if they vote to become fully salaried.
As per published HSCIC data, my Practice gets £90 per patient. £200 ?? There are Practices in Medway getting £165 under GMS Contracts and the APMS have even up to £2.5 million per year providing 7 day walk in service 8 to 8 from Porta cabins for 7 years now with no signboard that there is a Walk in Centre at the place- lest patients find them easily.
Anonymous | Practice Manager18 Jan 2016 8:42am
Not enough, not by far.
Anonymous | GP Partner18 Jan 2016 10:33am
Resign from this wretched penance of an imposed Contract [ Mr Hunt's words ] where GP land has been discriminated against [ Mr Hunt ].
Resign from this Contract which makes former heads of GP land ashamed to be a GP.
If we do not resign completely and redraw a fair Contract that has some degree of payment for work done and is not a free for all, catch all payment of 141, which includes staff wages and heating [ for goodness sake ], any number of consultations, dumped hospital work, cover for junior doctors and considered a cottage, corner shop Industry.
Why are staying in this most hated, despised, unfair, unjust Contract when all we get from every single person is abuse ?
For God's sake, please just go.
In any case, even if we don't, the machine will bung up with goo up and there will no GPs left anyway.
1 year health insurance for hamster £202.
My dog died but £450 and vets raked it in £6,500 in last year ,even came out at night for £400 ..so insurance was worth it


text:
Q: Reference to another field with in a func in the same struct in golang I have a struct looks something like this:
type Job struct {
    Action  func()
    Cron    string
}

So for an instance of this struct, is it possible for the code inside the implementation of Action to get a reference to Cron? Thanks.

A: Use a closure to create the Action function:
func MakeAction(job *Job) func() {
    return func() {
        // function that uses the variable job
    }
}

You can use the MakeAction function like this:
j := &Job{ nil, "foo" }
j.Action = MakeAction(j)

Notice that this will behave in possibly unexpected ways when somebody makes a copy of the Job structure—the reference inside the closure created by MakeAction() will still point to the original instance (instead of the copy).

A: You seem to have to pass a Job reference to the Action function in order for said function to access Cron.
See for instance:
package main

import "fmt"

type Job struct {
    Action func(*Job)
    Cron   string
}

func main() {
    j := &Job{f, "test"}
    fmt.Println("Hello, playground", j)
    j.Action(j)
}

func f(j *Job) {
    fmt.Println(j.Cron)
}

Output:
Hello, playground &{0x201a0 test}
test

None of the closures examples allows you to reference your own struct.

The OP adds:

The external framework expects a function like this: func().
  I'm wrapping this function into my homebrewed struct Job, and I put something else into the Job struct.
  Now I hope the Action could access other fields in Job, but it doesn't seem to be possible.
  Later I will pass the Action directly into the external framework.

I confirm that, just by wrapping func() (from external framework) in a struct of yours doesn't means f has access to the struct fields through closure.
You need a separate initialization, as FUZxxl's answer shows.
Otherwise, how that function (from an external framework) would even know about Job?
That could only work if that function expect an interface with a Cron() function, not a struct which it knows nothing about, with a Cron field.
As in this example.


ensure a detailed set of documentation related to all Enterprise Applications systems and processes is maintained – this includes development and ongoing management of a service catalog.
work closely with monitoring team to make sure applications are monitored, procedures are updated and team respond correctly to alerts.
drive continuous performance improvements: identify and implement process & procedures that improve the effectiveness of the team.
guide and coach team members in the areas of systems development and support.
authentic. be yourself. be you!
what is the one thing you have achieved in your life that you are most proudest about?


As I look back over my life, there have been many changes over the past forty years. I notice more and more just how drastic the world has changed. Some of the changes have been for the better, but many others make me wonder where we will be in the next forty years. As a father with two daughters, I'm both optimistic and concerned for what the future holds.
The advancements in technology have played a big role in driving changes across many fronts. Our day-to-day lives are nothing like they were a couple generations ago. As I survey the ever changing landscape of America and the world around us, the biggest change I see is found in people.
As I was growing up in a blue-collar family with a history of military service. I cut my teeth spending time alongside my grandfathers. One grew up on a farm and the other in the trucking and logging industry. One raised and grew his food off the land. The other hunted to live off the land. They were the hunters and gathers of generations past. They lived through the great depression and one served in WWII. They were old school providers and protectors of the family.
So many of these experiences helped to mold me to the man I am today. It was my father, grandfathers and the people I grew up around who instilled in me a deep appreciation for all things authentically American.
When we weren't playing sports, camping, hiking, fishing, or shooting. We would likely be at one of my grandparent's house listening to stories, cooking out and playing cards.
One thing these men had in common was a quiet demeanor and they were always willing to lend a hand to help someone. They were resilient and not one to call a doctor or a repairman. They would have to be near death to even consider going to the doctor and if they couldn't fix it, it probably couldn't be fixed.
The biggest thing my grandfather passed along to my Dad was a man's word is his bond. If you said it, you better damn well stand by it. My grandfather hated written contracts. He always said, I remember when a handshake was good as gold. I'll never forget that. My Dad instilled that into me growing up. It is about follow through and closing the say-do gap.
This was back before you heard much about military veterans or the words conservative and liberal. I don't think the words conservative and liberal were even used in daily conversations as they are today. These were old school American men and proud. They also shared another thing in common they each carried a knife. Not some large tactical fixed blade or high-speed automatic knife. They carried a small pocketknife without a pocket clip, with a 3-4 inch blade. This was a gentlemen's pocketknife that was in their hands several times a day for various chores. They used this traditional pocketknife countless times throughout their lives.
Think of the old traditional slip joint folder with a handle made from ash wood, deer antler or ram horn. This is truly a gentleman's pocketknife for every day chores. It is right at home slicing an apple, cheese, meat, vehicle fan belt or hose, a cardboard box, to opening mail. It's functional from home, to work, to the farm or the garage. Bottom-line is these men were always prepared.
Although my grandfathers owned several pocketknives, the ones I remember them carrying the most was a Case pocketknife and an Old Timer pocketknife. One had a single blade and the other had three blades. They would keep them clean and sharp.
For my father and grandfathers, along with many American men, a pocketknife is an essential tool for daily life. Or as this generation calls it part of our everyday carry, (EDC). To me the old school pocketknife represents the men who carry them. They are hardworking, do it yourselfers, who were raised to rely on themselves in nearly every situation. A trait you don't always see in today's generation.
The history of the pocketknife dates to the pre-Roman era. It wasn't till around 1650 that they were widely used and affordable. A cutlery center in Sheffield, England started large-scale production of the peasant knife, farmer knife and penny knife in 1700. The working class in England and across Europe used many of these pocketknives.
Over the years/centuries, many of these working class men would embark on the journey across the Atlantic to make it to America. They may have left their homelands behind, but they brought with them their peasant knives, which would continue to define generations of hardworking American men.
So who are the men in present day America that still carry pocketknives? To me they are the type of men who earn an honest living; work hard and stand-alone together in a world that you could argue has lost its way. Simply put, they are the type of men the world could use a lot more of these days.