Wow, the first few days have been brutal. I may be wrong on a lot of these things, so hoping that what community is left can help me understand the issues I'm hitting, and hopefully point me to documentation so we can try to make this better (or I'll start writing up some).
From what I'm seeing, the 'controller' emulation doesn't seem to work with games which my 360 controller works fine with. I tried setting the games to use WASD so that the Omni could control them, but then realized I couldn't shoot/aim. If I turn the controller settings on, the Omni doesn't work. If I use WASD settings, I can walk in the game but can't do anything else unless I'm carrying a keyboard...I believe the thing to buy here is xpadder...I'll try this tonight and report back.
If you're going to want to try Skyrim, I recommend the vanilla one, then going to get the nexus mods to enhance it and make it work in VR. I bought the special edition, which doesn't support some of the mods that are recommended for VR. It really feels like the original has the better mod support.
Right now I feel like to play a game I have to research what might work...then tweak Vorpx, map the controls in Xpadder, and then tweak the Omni settings to work. Then when playing, wait till you jump into the game before putting on the headset. It's only been two days, and about 5 total hours of downloading, installing, tweaking, and reading...but I'm hoping to have a decent experience at some point.
Any tips/tricks/ game recommmendations? I would like to get to the point where we can have a quickstart sticky that recommends this stuff to people (or maybe it exists and I'm missing it). Also, we seriously need not only a working game list, but the tweaks/mods/etc. per game. Suteki has a bit of an older one, but I think we need even more detail than if its native/headset/vorpx/etc. to really be useful. I also appreciate the work he's been putting in...it's really the most helpful thing I"ve found so far.
Some updates: Xpadder is a major answer to getting things working for legacy games. It's the magic sauce that lets you use the OMNI as a WASD device, but still use a controller to emulate other keypresses so you can shoot/cast/etc. in the game.
Also, I was wrong about what Virtuix released for Occulus..they did release two Travr titles for Occulus, and I got to paly training ops last night and get a feel for what a game dedicated to the Omni felt like. And holy crud was that amazing! Now I look at my Omni as almost an arcade system...it doesn't play a lot of games, but what it does play, it can be an amazing experience. I'll hopefully try Alice VR and some of the other games that are VR Native, but can use WASD, tonight.
Great updates! Would be awesome to start cataloging the VorpX settings for games as you determine what works best for each. Please keep going!!!
"To get it to work make sure to double click the mod file to install, in game select mod as per video but you must select map on the right, you cannot use mods on the main story game."
Picking mine up on Saturday, but worried at the total lack of activity on this forum. Afraid I bought a dead product before the damn thing is even available. Virtuix, what where you thinking focusing on Arcades. Arcades of any type, will NEVER make a comeback in the USA, never.
I'm hoping to find a one stop shop to do modding on this thing. Joe, how do you like the walking so far?


Most nights now, I sleep like a baby.
Tonight I am still awake at 2:30am with my thoughts and songs.
And I made peace with my past yet again.
And I realize that without the devastation, I would not know myself so well. I would not be so strong and realize it fully.
So much more importantly, without the horrible, I never would have known the enor ity of the love of God. I would never have known the vast depth of His comfort. I would have never fully comprehended that if all I ever had in this world was Jesus Christ, I would be perfectly complete.
So, having completed that very precious truth in my brain, I will now go to sleep. Peaceful and full of joy.
So I found out recently that a long lost friend of mine took up playing piano. And I was curious, so I checked it out and saw him play on a video. For someone who used to play drums in our band, I was super impressed he is shining on my instrument after only a month. He is either a natural or really passionate about playing. Either way will get you there and I am so very happy for him. I am sure he doesn't even consider me anymore, maybe forgot my name even by now, but I was happily surprised by his accomplishment and hope the Lord uses that to bring joy to his life because he seemed very unhappy.
Thinking about my life's journey has been a repetitive occurrence of late. I have wanted to leave no stone unturned in confessing forgotten sins I have gotten away with or just have forgotten and maybe didn't even realize at the time. And overall I believe my life has been like everyone else's in that I have done really great things and have amazing memories and I have been pretty much scummy also at times. I have said beautiful words that have inspired and I have said careless words that have cut people to the quick. I have told the truth and I have lied. I believe this is everyone's story with just the details different.
For my part, I am ashamed of the sins in my life and am truly sorry for them. And I wish I could go door to door and confess but I don't know where all over the world some moved to or last names now or whatever so have to rely on God to help them forgive me.
But I praise God where He has given me grace and mercy. There is no sin too little or too great that His grace cannot cover it with His forgiveness and purify us with His blood. He is perfectly capable of restoring our souls where we are at our level. And He can and will restore our souls in heaven someday soon. And all the regrets and sadness of people lost and loneliness and hurt and every ugly thing will instantly be forgotten and us restored to full life in our incredible Jesus Christ. And that day is soon and I long for it for my family.
At the same time, I have sadness for those left behind. It will get harder, much harder, when that happens. And I want everyone to be saved, as God also wants every precious soul saved. He loves us oh so much.


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text:
Google Draws House Antitrust Scrutiny of Internet Protocol
New standard could alter web's competitive landscape, cable and wireless companies say
Google's plans have raised concerns among investigators of the House Judiciary Committee.
Photo: Dave Paresh/Reuters
John D. McKinnon in Washington and
Robert McMillan in San Francisco
Updated Sept. 29, 2019 7:15 pm ET
Congressional antitrust investigators are scrutinizing plans by Google to use a new internet protocol because of concerns that it could give the company a competitive advantage by making it harder for others to access consumer data.
In a letter this month, investigators for the House Judiciary Committee asked Google for information about its "decision regarding whether to adopt or promote the adoption" of the protocol, which the Alphabet Inc. company said is aimed at improving internet security.
House...
House investigators are also asking whether data collected or processed through the new protocol will be used by Google for any commercial purposes, according to the Sept. 13 letter.
The Justice Department is aware of concerns over the protocol change and has recently received complaints, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The new standard would encrypt internet traffic to improve security, which could help prevent hackers from snooping on websites, and from spoofing—faking an internet website to obtain a consumer's credit-card information or other data.
But the new standard could alter the internet's competitive landscape, cable and wireless companies said. They fear being shut out from much of user data if browser users move wholesale to this new standard, which many internet service providers don't currently support. Service providers also worry that Google may compel its Chrome browser users to switch to Google services that support the protocol, something Google said it has no intention of doing.
"Right now, each internet service provider has insight into the traffic of their users, and that's going to shift" as a result of the change, said Andy Ellis, chief security officer at Akamai Technologies Inc., which provides internet services to corporations but doesn't support the new standard.
Google, which has vast troves of consumer data because of its domination of search, plans to begin testing the navigation protocol with about 1% of its Chrome browser users next month, a first step toward more widespread adoption of the new technology.
Google said that it is supporting the new technology to improve users' security and privacy and that its browser changes will leave consumers in charge of who shares their internet surfing data.
The Department of Justice is investigating the U.S.'s largest tech firms for allegedly monopolistic behavior. Roughly 20 years ago, a similar case threatened to destabilize Microsoft. WSJ explains. The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition
The new standard modernizes a fundamental building block of the internet known as the domain name system, or DNS. This software takes a user's electronic request for a website name such as wsj.com and, much like a telephone book, provides the series of internet protocol address numbers used by computers.
"Google has no plans to centralize or change people's DNS providers to Google by default. Any claim that we are trying to become the centralized encrypted DNS provider is inaccurate," the company said in an emailed statement.
In a blog post earlier this month, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital-rights watchdog group, said it was "very excited" by the new standard's potential to improve internet privacy.
Nevertheless, the EFF is worried that the new standard could chip away at the decentralized nature of the internet. The solution, the EFF said, is for more service providers to support the new DNS standard so consumers have more choice.
Google and another browser maker, Mozilla Corp., want to encrypt DNS. Doing so could help prevent hackers from spoofing or snooping on the websites that users visit, for example. Such a move could complicate government agencies' efforts to spy on internet traffic. But it could prevent service providers who don't support the new standard from observing user behavior in gathering data.
Like Google, Mozilla's Firefox is planning a small-scale rollout of the protocol, expected to start in the coming weeks. Firefox is planning eventually to move most U.S. consumer users to the new standard, perhaps as early as year's end.
Attorneys General Launch Probe of Google
U.S. Antitrust Enforcers Signal Discord Over Probes of Big Tech
Mozilla is taking a more aggressive approach than Google. It will move most consumers—but not corporate users who use providers such as Akamai—to the new standard automatically, even if the change involves switching their DNS service providers.
That would shift DNS services used by consumers away from such companies as Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc.
Mozilla sees the antitrust concerns raised about Google as "fundamentally misleading," according to Marshall Erwin, Mozilla's senior director of trust and safety.
Service providers are raising these concerns to undermine the new standard and ensure that they have continued access to DNS data, he said.
While Google is taking a less-aggressive approach than Mozilla, the long-term impact of the change could be enormous. Google's Chrome has about 64% of the world-wide browser market, according to StatCounter, the internet data tool.
Do you think Google would be limiting competition on internet navigation? Why or why not? Join the conversation below.
Because Google operates its own DNS service, known as Google Public DNS, some are concerned that the DNS upgrade could ultimately concentrate too much of the internet's traffic in the hands of Google.
Internet service providers have recently stepped up their criticism over the issue, with some speculating that Google, too, might emulate Firefox's more aggressive approach, which gives the browser maker control over which DNS service is used.
"Because the majority of world-wide internet traffic…runs through the Chrome browser or the Android operating system, Google could become the overwhelmingly predominant DNS lookup provider," a coalition of internet service providers said in a Sept. 19 letter to lawmakers. "Google would acquire greater control over user data across networks and devices around the world. This could inhibit competitors and possibly foreclose competition in advertising and other industries."
They urged lawmakers to call on Google not to impose the new standard as a default standard in Chrome and Android.
A House Energy and Commerce Committee spokesman said the panel has "heard from stakeholders on all sides of this issue" and is following it closely.
Giving Google an unfair advantage in user data isn't the only concern being raised. Some also contend that the new system could harm security by bypassing parental controls and filters that have been developed under the current, unencrypted system. That has been an issue in the U.K.
—Brent Kendall in Washington contributed to this article.
Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com and Robert McMillan at Robert.Mcmillan@wsj.com
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There is meat and then there is meat! This is what the team of chef Pavel Straka knows the best. In Čestr, they specialise in the Czech piebald cattle and they process the meat traditionally by leaving it to mature. In Čestr, it is all about meat. You realise this as soon as you enter the doors. The logo of the company is a cow's head and it appears in many ways in the interior – on the porcelain plates, ceiling and tiled columns. There is meat maturing in the cool room, hung from the ceiling - marked with its date of slaughter and ready to use.
Gaskin, thurl, rump, and sirloin are just some of the meat cuts you can choose for your lunch. You will find them clearly illustrated in a beautifully wrapped paper menu. Čestr is a restaurant for men and you are expected to have more than one course. You will be excited about all the courses, no matter what you order – tenderloin steak, renowned chuck meat, or lighter roasted chicken with truffle stuffing – also great with draught Pilsner. You will not regret any of your choices. Also, when you feel peckish again, there are stuffed dough buns with rum-flavoured mousse and homemade ice-lollies on sticks which can be found on the dessert menu!
Another interesting thing about Čestr is that it is located in the building of the former Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia by Karel Prager. Firstly, it may not seem like a good space for a restaurant that combines Czech classic and modern gastronomy but in fact the space and restaurant compliment each other nicely. The interior is light and simple and still keeps its atmosphere. The building, probably thanks to Čestr, finally (after many years) got rid of the aura of normalisation and became an ideal place for managers' business meetings as well as romantic nights of Prague's foodies.
We were surprised how many people operate in the kitchen during the day. How do you manage such a big team? Does everyone have their permanent task or does it change?
When you are surrounded by reliable people who know what to do, managing them is then easy. Every team member has their section but the most important thing is cooperation. To make it work, they have to be able to help and support each other.
How long have you been a chef in Čestr? Where did you get experience before?
I used to be a part-timer at Hotel InterContinental Prague for two years and stayed there on a placement, too. I worked at the Radisson hotel for a year and I am grateful for the experience. Then I wanted to leave the hotel environment and find myself a job in a restaurant. I started at Ambiente in the Mánesova Street where I worked as a cook for 5 years. I started at Čestr as a cook, then I became a deputy chef and now I have been working as head chef for almost 2 years.
Along with a menu, customers get an illustration of a cow with a description of its body parts that you can prepare steak from. What part do you recommend and why?
I personally prefer a great sirloin of heifer. The meat is juicy, tender and of great taste. Heifer meat has a higher degree of marbling and that's why it's better and tenderer. Then I also like chuck grilled together with a bone, which adds an extra and interesting taste. The whole back matures hung for 50-60 days. This process is called dry maturing. We also bake Prime Rib from sirloin. It is part of sirloin baked on the whole on a low temperate of 58 degrees for 16 hours with rosemary, Dijon mustard, and butter. It is truly delicious!
Where does the meat you have here in Čestr come from? Do you personally search for the best farms?
We do look for the farms ourselves. We have different distributers for different meat and the same goes for other ingredients. From farmers we get everything from vegetables, fruit, eggs, to oils. When it comes to beef, the Amaso company inspects the quality of meat for us. The studs come from Litoměřice, Mžany, and Zbyroh, vegetables are distributed by the family farm Pesema in Semice, fish are from the South of the Czech Republic from the Pstruhařské mlýny farm, eggs from Mr. Matoušek from Čerčany, chicken from Mr. Martínek from České Meziříčí, cottage cheese from the Bio Vavřinec Eco farm. Cheese comes from the Mr. Kolman's the Krasolesí farm in Vysočina, who you can meet at the markets at the Jiří z Poděbrad Square and by the river at Náplavka. We strive to get more distributors like these who can guarantee the quality of their ingredients. Then we share the tips throughout Ambiente.
Even though Čestr is all about meat, you are popular for delicious desserts too. How is your menu created and how often do you update it?
We have two amazing confectioners and Lukáš Pohl helps us too. The whole team is involved in creating our menu. Every time we have an idea for a new recipe, we try and improve it for as long as it takes until it's perfect. We get other people from Ambiente, including Honza Všetečka and Honza Šavel who are in charge of all Ambiente restaurants, to advise us. The main element is an ingredient of high quality and the right technological procedure. A single step done differently will influence the result. We change our main menu and dessert menu according to the season and what ingredients are available. For example, it is necessary to put something lighter in summer on both menus.
Čestr is located in the building of the former Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia by Karel Prager. The building is perceived differently amongst people – admired by some and damn by others. How do you perceive it?
I don't like the appearance of the building very much but there is a lot of space outside in front of it and we use it as a summer terrace. It is ideal for summer barbecue! The other advantage is that the interior is very light thanks to the glass building.


Weedsport is a village in Cayuga County, New York, USA. The population was 2,017 at the 2000 census. The name is from Elihu and Edward Weed, merchants who helped found the village. The Village of Weedsport is in northern part of the Town of Brutus. Weedsport was a port on the Erie Canal, west of Syracuse, New York. Whitford's Airport is north of the village in the Town of Cato.


But what happens when all the numbers are technically true, depending on who's counting?
It's a question worth asking as Londoners consider whether Mayor Matt Brown, having set the city's budget, kept his most significant campaign promise: to keep tax hikes at the rate of inflation or lower.
Inflation is a funny word — a measurement that means different things to different people for different reasons. It's a Twain-esque reminder of the old saw that there are lies, damn lies and statistics.
By many reasonable measures, council's 2.8-per-cent annual tax hike means Brown fell short of his pledge. By some measurements, he was way off. By others, he just barely missed.
Or maybe voters shouldn't get hung up on a few decimal points. That's the view of one politics professor.
"Ask 10 average voters, 'What does rate of inflation mean?' and you'd get 10 different answers," said Zachary Spicer, who teaches at Brock University.
In December, when budget talks launched, the commonly used consumer price index had year-over-year inflation at 1.6 per cent.
The construction price index, a little-known metric city officials say reflects the "basket of goods" they buy, was at 3.1 per cent — averaged over the past decade.
But the construction price index over the past five years was 1.98 per cent.
City hall uses an inflationary metric to set annual raises for paid appointees to boards and commissions; last month, they set the raises at 2.4 per cent.
Interestingly, Brown suggested Monday that past figures shouldn't be the measurement when discussing the just-approved 2016-19 multi-year budget. But, rather, what happens in the years that lie ahead will tell the tale.
"Time will tell how close this (2.8 per cent) aligns with inflation over the next period of time," Brown said.
Brown noted London's Chamber of Commerce urges council to keep tax hikes between two and three per cent annually.
Last week, city council approved London's first-ever multi-year budget that will cover the years 2016 to 2019. It calls for an annual average tax hike of 2.82 per cent, or $76 annually on a typical London home assessed at $221,000.


Nasser Malalla advocates and Legal Consultants have team of specialists to collect debts, our team has high qualifications enable it to handle debts more effectively, and allow it to decide behavior of the debtor more accurately.
Our debts collection Net covers several and wide sectors such as persons, businessmen, and companies whether industrial, commercial, real estate, and other companies and institutions working in all emirates of the country. Principle at our office especially section of Debts Collection is accuracy, concentration, and speed in recovering rights of our client.


text:
Q: TypeError: Argument 'other' has incorrect type (expected spacy.tokens.token.Token, got str) I'm looking to get all sentences in a text file that contain at least one of the conjunctions in the list "conjunctions". However, when applying this function for the text in the variable "text_to_look" like this:
import spacy
lang_model = spacy.load("en_core_web_sm")
text_to_look = "A woman is looking at books in a library. She's looking to buy one, but she hasn't got any money. She really wanted to book, so she asks another customer to lend her money. The man accepts. They get along really well, so they both exchange phone numbers and go their separate ways."

def get_coordinate_sents(file_to_examine):
    conjunctions = ['and', 'but', 'for', 'nor', 'or', 'yet', 'so']
    text = lang_model(file_to_examine)
    sentences = text.sents
    for sentence in sentences:
        coord_sents = []
        if any(conjunction in sentence for conjunction in conjunctions):
            coord_sents.append(sentence)
    return coord_sents

wanted_sents = get_coordinate_sents(text_to_look)

I get this error message :
TypeError: Argument 'other' has incorrect type (expected spacy.tokens.token.Token, got str)

There seems to be something about spaCy that I'm not aware of and prevents me from doing this...

A: While the problem lies in the fact that conjunction is a string and sentence is a Span object, and to check if the sentence text contains a conjunction you need to access the Span text property, you also re-initialize the coord_sents in the loop, effectively saving only the last sentence in the variable. Note a list comprehension looks preferable in such cases.
So, a quick fix for your case is
def get_coordinate_sents(file_to_examine):
    conjunctions = ['and', 'but', 'for', 'nor', 'or', 'yet', 'so']
    text = lang_model(file_to_examine)
    return [sentence for sentence in text.sents if any(conjunction in sentence.text for conjunction in conjunctions)]

Here is my test:
import spacy
lang_model = spacy.load("en_core_web_sm")

text_to_look = "A woman is looking at books in a library. She's looking to buy one, but she hasn't got any money. She really wanted to book, so she asks another customer to lend her money. The man accepts. They get along really well, so they both exchange phone numbers and go their separate ways."
file_to_examine = text_to_look
conjunctions = ['and', 'but', 'for', 'nor', 'or', 'yet', 'so']

text = lang_model(file_to_examine)
sentences = text.sents
coord_sents = [sentence for sentence in sentences if any(conjunction in sentence.text for conjunction in conjunctions)]

Output:
>>> coord_sents
[She's looking to buy one, but she hasn't got any money., She really wanted to book, so she asks another customer to lend her money., They get along really well, so they both exchange phone numbers and go their separate ways.]

However, the in operation will find nor in north, so in crimson, etc.
You need a regex here:
import re
conjunctions = ['and', 'but', 'for', 'nor', 'or', 'yet', 'so']
rx = re.compile(fr'\b(?:{"|".join(conjunctions)})\b')

def get_coordinate_sents(file_to_examine):
    text = lang_model(file_to_examine)
    return [sentence for sentence in text.sents if rx.search(sentence.text)]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home Personal Finance Panel set to fail to cut deficit $1.2 trillion
Panel set to fail to cut deficit $1.2 trillion
WASHINGTON (AP) ? It's just about over for a special deficit-reduction supercommittee, which appears set to admit failure on Monday in its quest to sop up at least $1.2 trillion in government red ink over the coming decade.
The bipartisan 12-member panel is sputtering to a close after two months of talks in which key members and top congressional leaders never got close to bridging a fundamental divide over how much to raise taxes. The budget deficit has forced the government to borrow 36 cents of every dollar it spent last year.
In a series of television interviews, not a single panelist seemed optimistic Sunday about any last-minute breakthrough, and aides said any remaining talks had broken off.
The White House, however, continued to insist that lawmakers finish the task they were assigned.
"Avoiding accountability and kicking the can down the road is how Washington got into this deficit problem in the first place, so Congress needs to do its job here and make the kind of tough choices to live within its means that American families make every day," White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage said.
Monday is deadline day. The panel officially has until Wednesday to approve a deficit-slashing plan, but under its rules, any plan would have to be unveiled 48 hours in advance.
Instead, it appeared co-chairs Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas would issue a statement declaring the panel's work at an end, aides said.
The two sides had never gotten particularly close, at least in the official exchanges of offers that were leaked to the media.
"There is one sticking divide. And that's the issue of what I call shared sacrifice," said panel co-chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on CNN's "State of the Union."
"The wealthiest Americans who earn over a million a year have to share too. And that line in the sand, we haven't seen Republicans willing to cross yet," she said.
Republicans said Democrats' demands on taxes were simply too great and weren't accompanied by large enough proposals to curb the explosive growth of so-called entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
"If you look at the Democrats' position it was 'We have to raise taxes. We have to pass this jobs bill, which is another almost half-trillion dollars. And we're not excited about entitlement reform,' " countered Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"Put a bow on it. It's done," said an aide to a supercommittee Republican.
Failure by the panel would trigger about $1 trillion over nine years in automatic across-the-board spending cuts to a wide range of domestic programs and the Pentagon budget, starting in 2013, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This action, called a "sequester," would also generate $169 billion in savings from lower interest costs on the national debt.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the required cuts of up to $454 billion to the Pentagon would be "devastating" and leave a "hollow force." Defense hawks of Capitol Hill promise they won't allow them to be that deep. But that effort will be complicated by the insistence of other lawmakers that the overall amount of the budget cuts be left in place.
The panel's failure also sets up a fight within a battle-weary, dysfunctional Congress over renewing a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, both of which are set to expire at the end of the year. Both proposals are part of President Barack Obama's $447 billion jobs plan.
Extending the current 2 percentage point payroll tax cut isn't a popular idea with many Republicans, but allowing it to expire could harm the economy, economists say. So too would a cutoff of unemployment benefits averaging about $300 a week to millions of people who have been out of work for more than six months.
Serious negotiations ended Friday after Democrats rejected a $644 billion offer comprised of $543 billion in spending cuts, fees and other non-tax revenue, as well as $3 billion in tax revenue from closing a special tax break for corporate purchases of private jets. It also assumed $98 billion in reduced interest costs.
Earlier exchanges featured a more than $3 trillion plan from Democrats that would have increased tax revenues by $1.3 trillion in exchange for further cuts in agency budgets, a change in the measure used to calculate cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries, and curbs on the growth of Medicare and Medicaid.
"We put on the table a proposal that required tough compromises on both sides, and they never did that," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the only House Democrat on the panel to participate in late-stage bipartisan talks.
Republicans countered with a $1.5 trillion plan that included a potential breakthrough ? $250 billion in higher taxes gleaned as Congress passes a future tax reform measure. The plan was trashed by Democrats, however, who said it would have lowered tax rates for the wealthy too far while eliminating tax breaks that chiefly benefit the middle class.
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When it comes to motorcycling, there is so much protective equipment involved that one cannot help but doubt it whether they really need all of it. Well, one thing is for sure – you definitely need to have a good helmet whenever you go for a ride. Riders who don't wear a motorcycle helmet while riding are at a high risk of suffering a traumatic brain injury if they get into an accident. Even if they are riding at a fairly low speed, they still need to have their head protected.
Some people think that purchasing the most expensive helmet is the best option, but that is not always true. You will want to choose a helmet that is comfortable and offers sufficient protection. This means that besides design and aesthetics, there are many other features you will need to consider in order to buy the right motorcycle helmet. Here are some of them.
This is the most important quality of a motorcycle helmet. In the manufacturing process, the helmet's shock absorption ability is tested using the Finite Element Method Analysis (FEM Technology), which allows engineers to immediately evaluate the helmet's level of resistance and shock absorption. The higher they are, the better quality the helmet will be.
The use of advanced materials is another prominent feature of a high-quality helmet. Nowadays, the best helmets are produced with Carbon-Kevlar external shells – a material that combines carbon and Kevlar fibres in an extremely resistant and light combination, ideal for a moto helmet. The internal materials should be tested in the most extreme conditions to determine their endurance and resistance under pressure. The paint and decals should also meet high standards to ensure the durability of the colours.
High-quality helmets often feature advanced ventilation systems to help keep the rider cool and prevent the face shield from fogging up while closed. Considering the fact that the more time you spend with your face shield fully closed, the safer you will be while on the road, vents are an important feature to consider.
You will probably feel very annoyed if there is a strap flapping wildly against the side of your neck while you ride at a fast speed. So, make sure your helmet has a way of securing the tag of the strap out of the way. Padded straps also offer better comfort, especially on long rides.
Being such an important tool for personal safety, helmets must follow the national and international laws and standards http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/stayingsafe/motorcyclists/motorcyclehelmets.html. The certification includes a long process of testing where all the safety parameters of the helmet are carefully examined.


The West(ern) Chronicles: Welcome to Siouxpercon!
Welcome to everyone stopping by the website after picking up materials at Siouxpercon! Having a great time at this, my first visit. Friday was an atypical first day for a 3-day con, with things a bit slow for most of the day until everyone got off work. And then business picked up, and had one of the better first days (sales-wise) than I'd had in a while. Here's hoping for a great rest of the weekend...stop on by and pick up copies of my titles, including my latest, Stormrunner (which is making its con debut this weekend).
This fellow below (his name is Steve) is our neighbor across the aisle, courtesy of the folks at the Fear Asylum. He seems to sleep a lot, until someone inevitably wakes him up, and then he gets all loud and cranky (but don't we all!). It's always fun to see the reactions the crowd has when he awakens.
Another first this weekend is that I was able to meet my writer friend (whom I've known online for some time), Doug White. Stop by his table and check out his books as well!
Lots of good stuff to see here at Siouxpercon...and good thing they put these guys next to the Fear Asylum crew...because who else are you gonna call?


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Homeowner living at former house of Suzy Lamplugh suspect John Cannan's mum reveals previous police searches
Officers arrived at the site on Monday
James RodgerContent Editor
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The owner of the house at the centre of police searches for Suzy Lamplugh's body confirmed he purchased the home from the mother of prime suspect John Cannan.
Phillip Carey, 52, said he bought 1 Shipton Road in Sutton Coldfield from Sheila Cannan some 26 years ago. Officers arrived at the site on Monday, he added.
Giving further details about the searches in 2003, father-of-two Mr Carey said officers had spent time on and off in the backyard from November that year to spring of 2004.
He said: "They knew what they were looking for. It was just patio they were looking at as far as I was aware.
"They were here in November, they came again, they were here all through the Christmas and into spring, on and off."
Police tents in Sutton Coldfield
Suzy Lamplugh murder police search former Sutton Coldfield home of John Cannan's mum - what we know so far
Mr Carey told the Press Association: "From our point of view, we bought the house 26 years ago, from the suspected person's mother, Sheila.
"We knew who she was, we became aware who she was as we went through the relationship, and obviously it was high profile at the time."
Mr Carey said officers also searched a similar area at the property in 2003.
At the scene, specialist forensics scientists from the private company Alecto have been arriving throughout the morning with their equipment.
Mr Carey, who lives at the address with wife Deborah, son Alex, 15, and daughter Amy, 13, said the police did not dismantle or remove anything during the previous search.
"Not as far as I am aware," he said. "Although I wasn't here all the time, once they arrived I just let them get on with it."
A tent behind the garden fence of a house in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands where police have begun a search for the body of Suzy Lamplugh. (Image: PA)
Suzy Lamplugh Trust issues statement as police search former Sutton Coldfield home of John Cannan's mum
Miss Lamplugh was declared dead, presumed murdered, after going missing aged 25 in 1986, having left her west London offices to meet a mystery client known only as Mr Kipper.
The Metropolitan Police on Tuesday were leading the search at a Birmingham semi previously belonging to John Cannan's mother.
The convicted killer, who is currently in jail for rape and murder, was named as the prime suspect by police in 2002 and her death has remained one of the UK's most notorious cold cases.
At the scene, specialist forensics scientists from the private company Alecto arrived carried equipment throughout the morning.
A blue tent was erected over what is believed to be a former garage in the rear garden of the property, the roof of which is just visible beyond the police cordon.
The Met, being supported by West Midlands Police officers, stressed that the current occupants of the property are in no way connected to the investigation.
Cannan, who was jailed for life in 1989 for the rape and murder of Bristol newlywed Shirley Banks, was named as the prime suspect by police in 2002.
On the day of her disappearance, witnesses reported seeing Miss Lamplugh argue with a man outside a property in Shorrold Road, Fulham.
Three days earlier, Cannan had been released from a hostel at Wormwood Scrubs Prison, where he had been serving a six-year sentence for rape.
Suzy Lamplugh was 25 when she went missing (Image: Mirrorpix)
He bore a strong resemblance to an e-fit of the abductor and, according to reports, he was nicknamed Kipper while serving his earlier sentence.
In 2002, claims were reported that Cannan had buried Miss Lamplugh's body under his mother's patio in the West Midlands.
A Scotland Yard spokesman at the time said the theory was "something we are currently considering", but did not confirm reports they planned to excavate the garden in the coming days.
On Tuesday a spokeswoman for the force declined to comment on why the dig was to take place now, citing the sensitivity of the operation.
No-one has been convicted over Miss Lamplugh's death and she was presumed dead in 1994.
(Image: Daily Mirror)
It is not the first site to be dug in the search for her remains. Police twice excavated sites in Worcestershire, first near Norton Barracks in 2000 and then a meadow several miles away in 2010.
Cannan, now 64, has been questioned several times over the murder and has denied the allegation.
Miss Lamplugh's parents, Paul and Diana, set up the Suzy Lamplugh Trust to support victims of stalking. Both died before seeing their daughter's killer brought to justice.
The trust said the latest development is a reminder of the "continuing tragedy", adding: "The thoughts of everyone at Suzy Lamplugh Trust are with Suzy's family today."
Cannan was ordered to serve a minimum of 35 years in prison, meaning he would be eligible to be considered for parole from 2024.
But the then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Lane, said he would "probably never be safe to release".
On Tuesday, a Met spokesman said: "Officers from the Met are currently carrying out a search at a premises in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham.
"The search follows information received in relation to a historical unsolved investigation being led by the Met's Homicide and Major Crime Command.
West Midlands Police
DWP issues full list of freebies and discounts for everyone claiming PIP benefit
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EmmerdaleA shadowy figure was seen popping the bonnet and cutting the brakes on Al's car at the end of tonight's episode of Emmerdale
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BBCThe star will be back on TV screens tonight (Wednesday, January 19) for another programme with his furry friends
ITV Emmerdale fans demand surprising career change for Charity Dingle
EmmerdaleFans were impressed with Charity Dingle during tonight's episode of Emmerdale.
EmmerdaleITV Emmerdale fans divided over identity of mystery villainA shadowy figure was seen popping the bonnet and cutting the brakes on Al's car at the end of tonight's episode of Emmerdale


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Canon Unveils the Speedlite EL-5, a First-Ever Flash for EOS R Cameras
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Owners of Canon's EOS R mirrorless cameras might really like the Speedlite EL-5 portable flash from the same brand.
Canon has now announced the release of this powerful external device, which is the first of its kind for the Multi-Function Shoe that Canon's EOS R mirrorless models have.
The Speedlite EL-5 has quite a few robust features going for it. Among these is an LP-EL rechargeable Lithium-ion battery that lets the Speedlite fire off 350 full-power flashes and 95 flashes in a row on one charge. These can be done with a recycle time that ranges from 0.1 to 1.2 seconds between flashes, depending on the settings used.
The EL-5 also uses a 2.4GHz wireless radio transmission for timing communication during shooting sessions. It can be triggered wirelessly and also be used to trigger up to 15 flash units wirelessly within a range of as many as 98 feet, or 29.9 meters.
The Speedlite also comes with a maximum guide number of 197' for ISO 100 and 200mm. Manual power can be adjusted from 1/1 to 1/1024 and usability for zoom ranges of 24-200mm. This can be further lowered to 14mm if using the built-in diffuser panel. The flash also has plenty of steps for angle articulation.
Another cool feature is a built-in modeling lamp that lets users visualize how their flash lighting will spread across a subject before actively using it.
The Speedlite EL-5 also comes with a dust and moisture-resistant body that features a joystick, dial, several key buttons and a high-definition LCD screen as its main in-body controls, besides the controls that can be applied to it from the cameras it's mounted to.
Speaking of compatible cameras, this portable flash is specifically designed for usability with the Multi-Function Shoe on Canon's EOS R camera models such as the EOS R3, EOS R6 Mark II, EOS R7 and EOS R10 among others.
With these cameras, users can directly control settings between the two devices or they can take advantage of another handy feature. This is Canon's Camera Connect app, which can be downloaded to smartphones and used to manipulate both the EL-5 and its attached EOS camera.
According to Bob Davis, a photographer representing Canon, "The new Canon Speedlite EL-5 flash will give that magical kiss of light that brings a picture to life and illuminates your creative vision,"
If you're a Canon EOS R user and want a flash that's truly built for your specific camera type, the Speedlite EL-5 will be hitting the market as of March 2023, but it's available for preorder now at $399.
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Film Noir Friday–On Saturday Night. Half A Sinner [1940]
Welcome! The lobby of the Deranged L.A. Crimes theater is open. Grab a bucket of popcorn, some Milk Duds and a Coke and find a seat. Tonight's feature is HALF A SINNER, based on a story by Dalton Trumbo. The message is carpe diem, and who can argue with that? It's all fluff, no substance–I've heard it described as screwball noir. The film stars Heather Angel and John King.
Ignoring the advice of her crochety old grandmother, straightlaced schoolteacher Anne Gladden decides to discard her glasses, buy a new outfit and relish one day of freedom doing exactly as she pleases. Things don't work out exactly as she has planned, however, when, to avoid the unwelcome advances of a gangster, Anne jumps into a parked limousine and speeds away. Unknown to Anne, the car is stolen and a dead body is stashed in the back seat.
Posted in 1940s	| Tagged 1940, Constance Collier, Heather Angel, John King, Tom Dugan, Walter Catlett	| 6 Replies
Death of a Co-ed, Conclusion
In October 1969 Susan Atkins, aka Sadie Mae Glutz, was booked on the Gary Hinman murder, moved to Sybil Brand Institute (SBI) the women's jail for Los Angeles County, and assigned to Dorm 8000. She created a stir. She had that ridiculous alias and insisted on being called Crazy Sadie. If she hadn't given it to herself, she would have earned the nickname—the other inmates thought she had a screw loose. She seemed happy to be in jail and would sometimes sing or start go-go dancing. Odd behavior in lock-up.
In the bunk opposite Susan's was Ronnie Howard. Ronnie was in her early mid 30s. She was awaiting trial for forging a prescription.
Also, in the dorm was Virginia Graham. Virginia was about the same age as Ronnie and she was in for a parole violation.
Ronnie and Virginia had a history. They'd known each other for several years and worked as call girls together. They had more than that in common. Ronnie married Virginia's ex-husband.
Virginia and Susan worked as runners, that means they carried messages for jail authorities. When they weren't busy, they would sit and chat. In the evenings Susan would confide in Ronnie.
One day in early November, Virginia asked Susan how she ended up in the slammer. Common at the time would have been drugs, prostitution or bookmaking – that's why Virginia's jaw dropped when Susan admitted she was in for first degree murder.
Virginia thought Susan was wholesome looking, like a "babysitter" she said. She couldn't reconcile the babysitter with the crime she said she committed.
Susan was bitter about her co-defendant, Bobby Beausoleil. She figured him for a rat. He wasn't, but she didn't know that. The squealer was another Manson Family member, Kitty Lutesinger. Kitty, jealous and vengeful, was the real rodent. Family girls vied with each other for Bobby's affections. Nicknamed "Cupid," Bobby was the bait Manson used to lure teenage runaway girls into the Family. Charlie was charismatic, but the guy was a troll. Not heinous, just not in Bobby's league.
Virginia and Ronnie were accustomed to being locked up with women who committed non-violent crimes. Crazy Sadie's attitude toward murder, even the murder of a woman 8 ½ months pregnant, was an anathema to them.
The jailbirds were torn, to snitch, or not to snitch. It is an easy choice for anyone who hasn't spent time behind bars but, for two regular guests of the County, it was a conundrum. They realized the new generation of female criminals, represented by Crazy Sadie, committed acts of extreme violence as callously as their male counterparts, and it scared them into talking to the authorities.
Sheriff's deputies ran a "pipe" chase on Atkins' cell. What is a pipe chase? If you are a plumber, you know. For everyone else, a pipe chase is a vertical space enclosed by a chase, or false wall, for the purpose of hiding pipes—which makes it perfect for hiding a tape recorder and a deputy wearing headphones.
Before you get in a twist about Atkin's right to privacy, she gave that up as soon as she got to lock-up. If she insisted on running her mouth, every word she uttered was fair game and could later be used against her. Bad news for Sadie. Great news for the law.
With Family members in custody, the case against them for the Tate/LaBianca slayings, and the murder of Gary Hinman, came together. The viciousness of the murders caused cops to speculate. If the Family could commit those crimes, what about the 30 unsolved murders in California in 1968? Seven of the murders occurred in Los Angeles County.
Among the unsolved cases in Los Angeles was Marina Habe's murder and the murder of Jane Doe #59, stabbed 157 times. Both crimes involved a knife. Family members were familiar with knives. Most carried one—and knew how to use it.
Prior to her bone-headed decision to pull back from being the key witness for the prosecution, Susan over shared with anyone who would lend her an ear to garner favor. She revealed to a TV news team the approximate location of bloody clothing discarded following the Tate murders. The crew found three black t-shirts, one white t-shirt and three pairs of black jeans worn by the killers. Also found was the long barreled .22 caliber gun used to kill three of the victims.
The Tate/La Bianca murders were getting close to a slam-dunk for the prosecution. Would it be an overreach to pin some unsolved on the Family? Vincent Bugliosi didn't think so.
On November 5, 1969, police responded to a call at 28 Clubhouse Avenue where they found the body of John "Zero" Haught, a Navy veteran, lying on a mattress, gun and holster nearby, and a single gunshot wound to his right temple.
John "Zero" Haught
Madaline Joan Cottage
The people at the scene told police that Zero shot himself playing Russian roulette. Madaline Joan Cottage, said she was lying next to him in bed when he noticed the gun. It contained one round. He spun the cylinder, put the gun to his temple and fired. If you aren't familiar with Madaline, the Family nicknamed her Little Patty, sometimes Crazy Patty. She was the only eyewitness. Strange, isn't it, that when later dusted for prints the weapon came back clean.
Police interviewed others in the house. Among them Family members Bruce Davis, Sue Bartell and Catherine Gilles. Each told the same story.
During an interview of Leslie Van Houten at SBI later in the month, Sgt. Mike McGann told her about Zero's death. He told her Bruce Davis was there, too. She asked if Bruce was playing the game.
McGann: "No, he wasn't."
Leslie Van Houten: "Zero was playing Russian roulette all by himself?"
McGann: "Kind of odd, isn't it?"
Leslie Van Houten: "Yeah, it's odd."
Zero's death occurred a month before Manson became front-page news. In the weeks prior to his final arrest, Manson was increasingly paranoid. He worried that someone, like Zero, would rat him out. Did Mason order Zero's murder to tie up loose ends? We'll never know. The case is still on the books as a suicide.
Vincent Bugliosi followed up rumors that Jane Doe #59 was a regular at Spahn Ranch and that she answered the phone at 28 Clubhouse on the day of Zero's death. The rumors were never substantiated.
Jane Doe #59 was unidentified for 46 years until June 2015 when a friend of her family recognized her on a government run missing and unidentified persons site in the U.S. Jane Doe #59 had a name, it was Reet Jurvetson.
Jane Doe #59 morgue photo
Her identification answered some of her family's questions. The biggest one remains to this day, who killed her, and why?
Was Reet ever connected to the Family. When asked about her, Charles Manson said no. But is that good enough?
Manson further denied knowing anything about murdered co-ed, Marina Habe.
Marina and Reet were found within yards of each other, months apart, off of Mulholland Drive—six miles from where Sharon Tate was slaughtered.
Coincidences occur. By some estimates thirty serial killers hunted human prey in Los Angeles during that time.
Could Marina and Reet have been victims of a serial killer?
Maybe someday we will learn the truth.
NOTE: Thanks to friend, Scott Michaels at Dearly Departed, for his interview of Virginia Graham. It's quite remarkable.
Posted in 1960s	| Tagged Bruce Davis, Catherine Gilles, Charles Manson, Dearly Departed Tours, Gary Hinman, Jane Doe #59, John Zero Haught, Leno LaBianca, Leslie Van Houten, Madaline Joan Cottage, Marina Habe, Reet Jurvetson, Ronnie Howard, Rosemary LaBianca, Scott Michaels, Sgt Mike McGann, Sharon Tate, Sue Bartell, Vincent Bugliosi, Virginia Graham	| 4 Replies
Death of a Co-ed, Part 3
Sheriff's detectives couldn't catch a break. Marina's case went cold.
In August 1969, the news that five (*see NOTE below) victims were slaughtered at the Cielo Drive home of actress Sharon Tate and her husband, director Roman Polanski shook Angelenos worse than a 9-point earthquake. The brutal, some thought ritualistic, slayings of Tate, Abigail Folger, Voytek Frykowski, Jay Sebring, and Stephen Parent terrified everyone. Rumors that the murders were drug-related caused a panic among Hollywood celebrities. It wasn't only the glitterati who felt their lives were in danger, average citizen flocked to gun shops and dog kennels seeking to protect themselves against an unknown evil.
Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski
People over 40 saw every long hair as a potential mass killer, and even hippies were paranoid of one another. The murders drove a stake through the heart of the Summer of Love. Was it only two years ago that baby boomers believed they could change the course of the world with beads and flowers?
The level of fear in the city ratcheted up several notches when Los Feliz residents Rosemary and Leno LaBianca were murdered. Eerie similarities between the Tate and LaBianca slayings gave the cops cause to believe they could be linked.
Who committed the cruel murders? Charles Manson, an ex-con conversant with the basic tenets of Scientology and an avid student of Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" had a gift for convincing rootless teenagers to follow him. He lured them into the desert. He painted mind pictures of free love and great dope. Had he convinced his followers to murder for him?
As investigators scrutinized the "Savage Mystic Cult" who lived in squalor in the desert, they considered the possibility that the Manson Family committed over seven murders.
What about Marina Habe? Someone stabbed the teenager to death. The killer, or killers, used a knife to butcher several of the victims at Cielo drive. Another link?
The unsolved homicide of a young woman, Jane Doe #59, whose body was found close to where Marina was found might the Family's grisly handiwork.
On November 16, 1969, a teenager who was bird watching on Mulholland Drive discovered Jane Doe's remains. The young man was gazing through binoculars, checking out the various species of birds that populated the area, when his eyes came to rest on the nude body of a woman.
Police arrived at the scene. The victim was young. She was pretty despite the 157 stab wounds to her neck and upper body. Defensive wounds on her hands and arms meant she fought hard for her life. She was dead about two days. Overkill suggested to detectives that the murder was personal. A spurned lover might be capable of such rage; or the killer could be a madman.
Los Angeles Police Department detectives investigated the murder of Jane Doe #59, with the same zeal as their counterparts in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department had done in Marina's case. Both agencies hit a wall.
NEXT TIME: Who killed Marina Habe and Jane Doe #59?
*NOTE: Thanks to Cheryl, a reader who reminded me of a very important fact. There were six victims on Cielo Drive. We should remember Sharon's and Roman's son, Paul Richard Polanski.
Posted in 1960s	| Tagged 1969, Abigail Folger, Charles Manson, Flower Power, hippies, Jane Doe #59, Jay Sebring, Leno, Marina Habe, Paul Richard Polanski, Roman Polanski, Rosemary LaBianca, Sharon Tate, Stephen Parent, Voytek Frykowski	| 4 Replies


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The application period each year will run from September to December, with recipients selected in January.
Funds will be distributed based on the result of a competitive selection process coordinated by the HWA's Library & Literacy Program team.
The Library & Literacy team will select up to five recipients from the applications.
Applicants must fill in and submit the Application Form designed for that purpose; the Application Form will be published at http://horror.org/libraries but will also be made available by contacting libraries@horror.org.
Recipients are required to provide the Library & Literacy Committee with a report of how the monies were used within 12 months of receiving the endowment.
Endowment recipients agree to provide bios and photographs to HWA for use in promoting the endowment program; and recipients will also agree to reasonable requests for interviews regarding the assistance provided by the HWA.
HWA is dedicated to promoting the horror genre and providing education to both the general public (via our appearances at conventions and book festivals, our yearly StokerCons, and our iconic Bram Stoker Awards®) and to writers. The HWA's website features special pages dedicated to Young Adult Horror (http://www.horror.org/yahorror/) and Librarians (http://horror.org/libraries). Through its Library & Literacy Program, HWA partners with the American Library Association on various programs, and many of its members are regular guest speakers at libraries and schools.


Discover the charming city of Muscat in a day!
Our one day exploration of beautiful Muscat will begin with a visit of the grand Royal Opera house which is known as Oman's main centre for global arts and culture. We shall then visit the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, which serves as one of the greatest and most impressive highlights of Oman tourism. This grand structure is a manifestation of Oman's incredible prowess in architecture.


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Example Text:
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This is test...

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A: You could also use a BreakIterator:
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Spokane, Washington Est. May 19, 1883 36° Cloudy
VA Medical Center to be renamed
War heroes Mann, Grandstaff honored
By Jim Camden jimc@spokesman.com(509) 879-7461
Spokane's Veterans Affairs Medical Center will be renamed for a pair of local heroes, both houses of Congress decided Thursday.
The northwest Spokane facility will become the Mann-Grandstaff Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in honor of Pfc. Joe E. Mann and Platoon Sgt. Bruce Grandstaff, soldiers who won the Medal of Honor in two different wars.
Mann was a member of the 101st Airborne in World War II who was wounded four times while destroying an enemy artillery position near Best, in the Netherlands. Later that night, with both arms bandaged to his body, he volunteered for sentry duty. When the Germans attacked and a grenade was thrown, he threw himself on the grenade to save other members of his unit.
Grandstaff was a member of the 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam who was leading a reconnaissance mission that was ambushed near the Cambodian border. He crawled through enemy fire to rescue his men, and crawled outside the safe position to mark the location with smoke grenades for aerial support. He continued to fight until mortally wounded, then called in an artillery barrage to knock out enemy forces.
With time running out in this Congress, Thursday morning the Senate passed legislation sponsored by Democrat Patty Murray to rename the center. An identical bill sponsored by Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers passed the House later in the afternoon.
Mann was a native of Reardan, Wash., and Grandstaff was born in Spokane. Renaming the center was a way to pay homage to two Eastern Washington residents who paid the ultimate price in service to their country, the two sponsors said.
It took years of advocacy to ensure every backlogged rape kit in Washington is tested. Now, it will take years to investigate the results
Woodward appoints O'Sullivan as new city judge …
American families feeling the pinch of COVID-19 pandemic
The year 2020 hasn't been the most forgiving year for families and their pocketbooks.


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Is Monte Carlo Fashions Limited's (NSE:MONTECARLO) 3.9% Dividend Worth Your Time?
Simply Wall St
Simply Wall St. June 14, 2019
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!
Is Monte Carlo Fashions Limited (NSE:MONTECARLO) a good dividend stock? How would you know? Dividend paying companies with growing earnings can be highly rewarding in the long term. If you are hoping to live on the income from dividends, it's important to be a lot more stringent with your investments than the average punter.
With a four-year payment history and a 3.9% yield, many investors probably find Monte Carlo Fashions intriguing. We'd agree the yield does look enticing. Some simple analysis can reduce the risk of holding Monte Carlo Fashions for its dividend, and we'll focus on the most important aspects below.
Click the interactive chart for our full dividend analysis
NSEI:MONTECARLO Historical Dividend Yield, June 14th 2019
Payout ratios
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. So we need to form a view on if a company's dividend is sustainable, relative to its net profit after tax. In the last year, Monte Carlo Fashions paid out 44% of its profit as dividends. This is medium payout level that leaves enough capital in the business to fund opportunities that might arise, while also rewarding shareholders. Besides, if reinvestment opportunities dry up, the company has room to increase the dividend.
We update our data on Monte Carlo Fashions every 24 hours, so you can always get our latest analysis of its financial health, here.
Dividend Volatility
From the perspective of an income investor who wants to earn dividends for many years, there is not much point buying a stock if its dividend is regularly cut or is not reliable. Looking at the data, we can see that Monte Carlo Fashions has been paying a dividend for the past four years. The company has been paying a stable dividend for a few years now, but we'd like to see more evidence of consistency over a longer period. During the past four-year period, the first annual payment was ₹10.00 in 2015, compared to ₹12.00 last year. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 4.7% a year over that time.
We like that the dividend hasn't been shrinking. However we're conscious that the company hasn't got an overly long track record of dividend payments yet, which makes us wary of relying on its dividend income.
Dividend Growth Potential
The other half of the dividend investing equation is evaluating whether earnings per share (EPS) are growing. Over the long term, dividends need to grow at or above the rate of inflation, in order to maintain the recipient's purchasing power. Monte Carlo Fashions's earnings per share have been essentially flat over the past five years. Over the long term, steady earnings per share is a risk as the value of the dividends can be reduced by inflation. A payout ratio below 50% leaves ample room to reinvest in the business, and provides finanical flexibility. Earnings per share growth have grown slowly, which is not great, but if the retained earnings can be reinvested effectively, future growth may be stronger.
To summarise, shareholders should always check that Monte Carlo Fashions's dividends are affordable, that its dividend payments are relatively stable, and that it has decent prospects for growing its earnings and dividend. It's great to see that Monte Carlo Fashions is paying out a low percentage of its earnings and cash flow. Second, earnings growth has been ordinary, and its history of dividend payments is shorter than we'd like. Monte Carlo Fashions has a number of positive attributes, but it falls slightly short of our (admittedly high) standards. Were there evidence of a strong moat or an attractive valuation, it could still be well worth a look.
See if management have their own wealth at stake, by checking insider shareholdings in Monte Carlo Fashions stock.
We have also put together a list of global stocks with a market capitalisation above $1bn and yielding more 3%.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
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If you are looking to serve a special wine this holiday season or want to give a thoughtful gift to a wine lover in your life, look to Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon to make an impression. Whether you want a wine to serve for an elegant holiday dinner, a bottle to take to a special holiday party, or something for your boss who happens to be a wine aficionado, this list is all you need. This is not just any list, here you will find small, off the grid wines that are produced in small quantities by some of the best winemakers in Napa Valley. These wines are perfect holiday wines, elegant structured and very food friendly.
Smith-Madrone wines are made entirely from dry-farmed estate vineyards surrounding the winery on top of Spring Mountain in the Napa Valley. Stuart Smith chose specific slopes with different exposures for specific varietals when planting the vineyards, specifically southern and western exposures across flat stretches for the Cabernet Sauvignon. Stu was named one of the wine industry's most inspirational people in January 2018.
This wine opens with a concentrated nose of dark fruits, leading with notes of boysenberry and plum. The palate is remarkably seamless, an elegantly integrated mouthful with a velvety, silky texture which leaves you realizing how winemaking can 'distill' a grape into a powerful perfume, the essence of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Still in the white category, this week also included two ever-reliable sources of tastiness: the Falanghina from Feudi di San Gregorio in Campania (ocean-air crisp and lean) and the Riesling from Spring Mountain producer Smith-Madrone, which, as usual is one of the best Rieslings made in California.
Pale yellow-gold in the glass, this wine smells of petrol and pear and honeysuckle. In the mouth, lemon and pear flavors have a hint of tangerine and a touch of butterscotch as they crackle with excellent acidity across the palate. Wet-chalkboard minerality leaves a clean dry feeling on the palate with only the whisper of aromatic sweetness. 12.9% alcohol.


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Geoff Dyer Interview
Geoff Dyer is undoubtedly one of the most interesting writers in the UK. The stock response for his books is 'genre-defying' – so often cited that it has more or less become a genre in itself. He is one of those few writers whom I will read on any subject – even those pieces he did with Maggie O'Farrell in Waterstone's magazine – and the breadth of his interests can be seen in Anglo-English Attitudes, his collection of "essays, reviews, misadventures". He has written a book about not writing a book about D.H. Lawrence (Out of Sheer Rage), a book about public memorialising of the First World War (The Missing of the Somme), and a travel book where "everything in this book happened, but some of the things that happened only happened in my head" (Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It). His latest genre-defying, Dyeresque book is a novel, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, which has been praised in the press as "an early contender for the most original, and the cleverest, novel of the year." If you haven't read Dyer, you must remedy that: and where better than with this interview he kindly agreed to do for this blog?
Geoff Dyer photographed by Jason Oddy
Martin Amis said that The Information was not a novel about a mid-life crisis; the novel was the mid-life crisis. Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi contains a narrator who achieves some kind of spiritual fulfilment in an Indian holy city. Is this a novel about a mid-life crisis? Or…?
I am resigned to the book being seen that way but would like to stress that the author is not in the grips of such a thing and, in fact, is not even convinced such a thing exists. Since we're quoting Amis, it's worth remembering that the war against cliché isn't waged just at the level of phrases and unthinking habits of expression. People think in clichés – and the notion of a mid-life crisis is just such an unthinking mental reflex. Having said that, if after all this grumbling, we extemporise on Amis's comment a bit, maybe the novel, as a form, is in a state of perpetual mid- or late-life crisis while appearing oblivious to the fact.
You've said that the distinction between your fiction and non-fiction "means absolutely nothing" to you, and also that you "dread" inventing things for books. In your new novel, when you blur the lines between Jeff and Geoff, are you making a virtue out of a necessity?
Yes, that's exactly what one learns to do as a writer, or as any artist. You arrive at your own style by default or failure. You know, Miles Davis wanted to sound like Dizzy Gillespie but couldn't do the high register thing so had to content himself with becoming… Miles! And although I dread inventing things I would get very bored simply transcribing things from life, as they actually happened. What I like is improvising on them, embellishing or altering them a little.
I would like to think that my books encourage readers to ask themselves about the kind of experience they are having – and that, in turn, raises other questions about the often unquestioned formal expectations brought to the act and habit of reading, i.e. to ideas of how a book is supposed to behave or comport itself in their hands! In this case, it's not that I've tried to write a novel like other novels and have failed ("The woman in the first half? Oh shit, you're right, I completely forgot about her. Sorry" ). I've tried to write a book which succeeds or fails within its own internal physics.
Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, like Yoga, Paris Trance or Out of Sheer Rage, is very funny but also very serious. "Everything began as a joke," observes Jeff, "but not everything ended as one." Do you feel ideas have to be smuggled into your books under cover of entertainment? Is one mode easier for you to write than the other, or do they all, as it were, come out of the same hands?
When you're with friends that you really get on with, there's a constant shuttling back and forth between joking and serious, with no change of gears at all and it's the same in writing. One of the things I've really worked hard to achieve in writing is a tone or style which enables me to move freely and quickly between comedy and more discursive and analytical parts. Actually even that's not right because the funny bits can be analytical too, so both things are happening simultaneously. I'm really not interested in entertaining the troops and can't imagine anything worse than being a so-called comic novelist. I never read comic novels: I almost never find them funny because they're always holding up this tacit sign saying 'LAUGH NOW' so one sits there, grim-faced. For me, the funniest writer is Thomas Bernhard who is also one of the most profound – you can't stop yourself laughing.
Actually, while we're at it here's an example of my idea of brilliant comic writing (from The Forever War, Dexter Filkins' collection of dispatches from Iraq and Afghanistan) about a suicide bomber in Baghdad:
Sure enough, they'd found the head. They'd placed it on a platter like John the Baptist's, and set it on the ground next to an interior doorway. It was in good shape, considering what it had been through… The most curious aspect of the face was the man's eyebrows: they were raised, as if in surprise. Which struck me as odd, given that he would have been the only person who knew ahead of time what was going to happen.
In Jeff in Venice…, Jeff recalls John Fowles' distinction between "the Victorian point of view – I can't have this forever, therefore I'm miserable – and the modern, existential outlook: I have this for the moment, therefore I'm happy." As a writer, you must have half an eye on permanence and posterity. Or do you, like the characters in the book, seek nothing but the ongoing moment?
The books preserve those fleeting moments so it's a way of having it both ways. And this is something that has been a major concern of many writers, since the romantic period especially. You know, it's Wordsworth's "I would enshrine the spirit of the past for future restoration." Personally, I think I've been quite good at depicting happiness which we're always told is difficult to do ('Happiness writes white' etc – another reflex non-thought). In terms of posterity etc, I think it's really unfortunate now that one's standing is decided so early on that it's increasingly difficult to distinguish from the pre-publication marketing campaign ("the next big thing…"). I've never really been plagued by doubts about the worth of what I've been doing, only about my ability to continue doing it which has not really been tied up with whether that high opinion was shared by others.
You portray yourself as terminally lazy and uncommitted, but few writers are as protean, or as widely and highly acclaimed. Is Geoff Dyer the George Best of literature, gifted with such a great natural talent that he can get away with not knuckling down to make the most of it? Or is this just a pose?
What an unbelievably flirtatious question! I don't think it's laziness so much as a chronic, deep-down existential desire to do nothing, to down tools, to just potter away my time. But if I succumbed to that – and I get closer to succumbing to it with every passing year – I would sink into depression. Paris Trance was ultimately about the siren call of that. In a way I would like to have acquired the habits and discipline of the career novelist without becoming one. And since Thomas Mann is lurking in the background of the new book I'll quote that line of his that I love so much: a writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. To be honest, it's an absolute mystery to me how I've ended up writing all these books. When you are younger there are more things to tempt you out but as you get older it becomes more difficult to concentrate.
You say your eclectic range of books comes from taking an interest in a subject – jazz, photography, Lawrence – and wanting to find out more about it. Are there any such projects which have failed to make it to book form? What topics do you have your magpie eye on currently?
There is something thing that I am very interested in at the moment but which I have no desire to write a book about: the US Marine Corps. My house is full of books about the Marines but there's nothing in it for me as a writer. That grew out of, or is a by-product of, the series and book Generation Kill but, more generally, I've been reading all these books about Iraq, Afghanistan etc: The Assassin's Gate, The Looming Tower, Imperial Life in the Emerald City, The Forever War etc. This is the big story of our time – in fact, these are some of the great books of our time – but there's no chance of me trying to write anything like that. I am tempted to write a whole book about Tarkovsky's film, Stalker. I like that as an idea: following up Jeff in Venice, which I guess has a wide potential readership, with one that has almost no readership at all. And tennis is a perpetual source of torment, both in terms of playing it and trying to write about it.
Can you recommend an overlooked book or author for readers of this blog?
I really love this American poet Dean Young, who I suspect not too many people in UK will have heard of (though I could be wrong). He comes out of that Ashbery surreal school but he's very distinctive. Also hilarious – and profound at the same time. The various volumes all have pretty much the same proportion of great, good and not-so-good poems but the first one I read – and therefore the one for which I have a special affection – is First Course in Turbulence.
Posted in Dyer Geoff, Interviews on April 21, 2009 by John Self. 33 Comments
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Lee Monks says:
It's impossible not to warm to the guy. Great questions and thoroughly engaging responses, as you'd expect. What a shame he isn't going to try the war book!
"Personally, I think I've been quite good at depicting happiness…"
Absolutely. I've always found Dyer to be a writer with a kind of Vonnegut-esque facility of mining misery for scraps of joy, or rendering torment something we can, in hindsight at least, laugh about.
gary davison says:
Enjoyed that interview John. I usually pop over hear when I'm on the hunt for a book. I think a book by Dyer might be just the ticket. I'm only ever really happy reading a novella, though. a 100-pager is about my stamp. Any blockbuster, stand out recent novellas in your stable at the minute?
John Self says:
Gary, what about The Blue Fox by Sjón? I read it and really liked it, but didn't write a review of it as I couldn't think of anything to add to what others had already said about it. It's just over 100 pages too.
Cheers John, I'll give it a whirl. Nice pic of the youngster. Just wait until she's crawling, or like mine, three and a half and ordering me around. I said something out of context the other day, apparently, and I was called a silly little man. Women.
Excellent stuff, John.
Great interview John, and a fascinating read. I like the reminder of the Thomas Mann line: "A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."
KevinfromCanada says:
Excellent interview — Dyer may be as good at doing interviews as he is at writing. I have only read two of his books (Jeff and Paris Trance) but off that exposure would have to say that he is deliberately misleading in how much research he does. His descriptions of artwork in Jeff in Venice (and all the works he describes are real) reflect a disciplined and knowledgable eye — I think that is one of the reasons that he can wander so effectively in the space between fiction and non-fiction.
Finally — and I may be projecting on this — my memory of your pre-parenthood gravatar says that Dyer and John Self has some physical similarity. And if I am projecting, I wonder whom I am projecting onto whom.
An interesting idea, Kevin. We're both tall and thin. Indeed one thing from Jeff in Venice which Dyer took from real life (as he also mentioned it in a journalism piece) was that, when he was younger, he was so embarrassed by his skinny legs that he used to play squash wearing jeans.
Thanks for the comments everyone.
Is there any way you could post your old picture, John? IActually, a new one would do just fine (and I am certainly not suggesting abandoning the gravatar of your son, although I do note we have retreated to an earlier version). I have become quite intrigued by my imagined similarity and I didn't know you were tall and thin.
And the postwoman just delivered Out of Sheer Rage and But Beautiful — I will probably start with the latter. My wife and I collect art, so one of the reasons I loved Jeff in Venice was Dyer's scrupulous attention to the art, as you can tell since I looked up and posted links in my review (I have never had to do that with any other book — and I do revisit both the dart boards and the boat almost every day). I also love jazz, so once I figure out the order of his profiles/essays/short stories, I will be programming the iPod to play the artist I am reading about. Dyer is not the only person who explores the boundary between fiction and non-fiction.
Seoman says:
Hello John, well done on the most excellent of interviews. You really capture the essence of Dyer, if indeed such a thing is possible. I read But Beautiful last year and the honesty say that it is one of the most wonderful books I have ever read. Fiction and non-fiction intermixed.
JRSM says:
Great interview, and a thoroughly engaging interview subject. Reminded me, too, of this David Sedaris quote: "When people ask me if these stories are true, I prefer to say that they are true enough."
Annabel Gaskell says:
I bought the book after your review, and after the insightful Q&A, can't wait to read it.
jwakeham says:
John, thank you for that — a very Dyer-esque Dyer interview. I'm not sure there's any other writer who makes me laugh so much: the Amsterdam sequence in "Yoga for People …", in which he battles with his trousers in a cramped cafe toilet is utter genius. And this makes me laugh every time:
"After that we continued strolling the streets and seeing the sights, even though nothing in Phnom Penh was quite worth seeing. The Royal Pagoda, the Silver Pagoda, Wat Phnom … they were, as Circle put it in a postcard to her mum, 'nothing to write home about.'"
Thanks for the comments again, everyone – delighted to see other Dyer fans out there. Seoman, I do have But Beautiful but haven't read it yet: it really is the acid test of my much-vaunted claim that I will read anything Dyer writes irrespective of subject. I have no interest at all – yet – in jazz, so it will be an interesting experiment.
This might be a good place to post one of my favourite pieces of Dyer in funny mode. It's from Mortification, an anthology compiled by Robin Robertson of 'writers' stories of their public shame' (usually involving readings performed to one man and his dog). I hope Dyer or the publishers won't mind my reproducing it here. By reading it you are contractually undertaking to buy a copy of Mortification, probably.
Dear Robin
I hear that you are publishing an anthology of pieces on the theme of literary mortification. Well I have to say I was very disappointed – mortified actually – not to be asked, especially when I heard the names of some of the writers you did ask (most of them your friends, I imagine, or people you publish). Some people have short memories, evidently. No doubt you have forgotten that I once specifically asked my agent to offer the manuscript of one of my novels to you even though she wanted to send it to a more established 'literary' imprint (I think you were at Cape at the time). Anyway, you have come a long way since then and have probably forgotten this and, frankly, I'd forgotten all about it too until I heard of this anthology and decided I'd drop you a note since it has been a long time since we were in touch. I think the last time was when you were editing Firebird at Penguin and I wrote a quite hostile review of it in the Literary Review. Surely that doesn't still rankle with you, does it? Some people have long memories, evidently. Personally, I'd completely forgotten about that too and I'm surprised you haven't. 'Get a life!' as Helen Simpson (I suppose she's in it) would say.
Actually, it occurs to me that you might be harbouring a more recent grudge. A couple of years ago I wrote quite a vicious review of a book you published: Thomas Lynch's The Undertaking. Obviously it is galling – one might even say mortifying in this instance! – when your authors are reviewed unfavourably but you have to respect the critical integrity of the reviewer's judgement, especially since I did not know you were the publisher at the time and, obviously, would not have written what I did if I had known.
Anyway, to get back to your latest project. I can imagine what these tales of woe are like without even reading them. Let me guess … Will Self on how he did an event with Irvine Welsh and the line for people wanting copies of Trainspotting went right round the world and the queue of people who were there for him only went twice round the block. Well, I've taken a lot of drugs too but some of us choose not to write about it the whole time. The older I get, in fact, the less patience I have with writers who are narcissistically preoccupied with themselves and their own experience.
So yes, I've got a pretty good idea what these hard luck stories are like and I have to say my heart is breaking. Spare me. Well, obviously you have spared me by not asking me to write anything and, as it happens, I am far too busy anyway. One thing you can be sure about: if I ever edit an anthology of great literary triumphs I won't be asking you to contribute. In fact I won't be asking anyone to contribute. That book will only have one contributor and it'll be me.
Having said that, if you decide that the anthology would benefit from some serious writing do get in touch with me directly (I don't have an agent anymore). I doubt if I would have the time to do something but it might be worth giving me a call on the off-chance if the book has not gone to press yet.
PS: I could turn it around quite quickly and would not require a fee.
gordon phinn says:
yes there are Dyer fans scattered all over! I'm in Toronto and I couldn't say I knew a lot of kindred spirits of a international maverick literary nature, and i'm so preoccupied with my own work that, look, took me a year to get around to discovering this. Great to feel Geoff as a fleshyreal opinionated iconoclast. Funny as hell too. 'Yoga' was a riot. Reminded me of my stoner days, now long gone. Very focused hard working Presbyterian type now.
thanks, appreciate your contribution!
gordon phinn, 'the word of gord'
Alright, as if I haven't felt bad enough already not having read any Dyer.
You have now, Trevor!
Thanks for that excerpt John. True Dyer trash — But Beautiful arrived today and I will be reading it as soon as I figure out how to program the iPod to produce the right artist at the right time.
That is an awesome project, Kevin! Can't wait to see how it plays out for you.
Good interview. Some very perceptive remarks, particularly about thinking in clichés and the mid-life crisis cliché, also the unfunniness of the average comic novel. The Thomas Mann quote deserves a regular airing, so very true.
Candy Schultz says:
Okay John Hans Fallada arrived today. You didn't mention it was such a heavy tome. I do look forward to reading it. My poor mail carrier must hate me.
I forgot. I also got Richard Price's Lush Life and Cynthia Ozick's The Shawl. Don't recommend any more good books for awhile. I need to catch up.
Well I hope you enjoy them Candy. The Fallada is long but does not take long to read. The Shawl is about 80 pages so your mail carrier can have no complaints there!
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sharon alexander says:
Coincidentally, I just finished reading Geoff Dyer's terrific new novel 'Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi' after reading your interview with him (really fascinating interview by the way). It seems it's not just Mann whose footsteps Dyer is following. On p.138 Jeff and Laura are sitting on the terrace of a café:
'Don't look now,' said Laura, pausing for effect. 'But Jay Jopling and Damien Hirst have just arrived.'
Penn Kemp says:
The brilliant but dire "Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi" is beguiling and captivating writing! The lyrical insights re the power of music and photography are in heightened contrast to the narrator's usual ironic, irritable and narcissistic voice. In the Varanasi section, the narrator switches person from "Jeff" to "I"… and then loses that very "I" in India…
So many worlds are whirling around the narrator's head at once, but he describes 'em all. P. 196: "darshan: the act of divine seeing, of revelation. This was what Hindus went to the temple for: to see their go, to have him or her revealed to them. The more attention paid to a god, the more it was looked at, the greater its power, the more easily it could be seen. You went to see your god and, in doing so, you contributed to its visibility; the aura emanating from it derived in part from the power bestowed on it.
It was an easy idea to grasp because of its secular equivalent, the worship of celebrity. The more celebrities were photographed, the stronger their aura of celebrity became."
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New yank reader says "great, can't wait to check out this bloke!"
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Peter McClelland says:
Great interview and truly wonderful responses… well, most of them.
Geoff Dyer should be knighted, or something like that? Maybe pole position at William and Kate's big bash? Or maybe a seat behind a pole at… ? Never mind.
Yes, all those beautiful words springing forth from just one head… tennis player, acclaimed novelist, ice-cool jazz raconteur and all-round funny guy.
And he's been to Venice, presumably.
You're a bastard Geoff Dyer, I hate you!
I bet he's got lots more to say too… unlike Randy Newmans's ageing rock star, tribute album, last farewell concert tours.
"He's got nothing more to say,
and he's going to say it anyway."
Goodnight, and good luck.