During a simple discussion on investing, the topic turned to biases. We have learned to talk about a vast number of biases from behavioral economics. We now have a catalog of biases which makes them easier to mitigate, but there seems to be one bias that is very hard to address and that is the overarching theme of optimism and pessimism with managers. There may be only two types of managers - the stock buying optimists and the bond investing pessimists. I don't have empirical evidence for this but any casual discussion will usually tell you whether you are talking with someone who has a positive or negative bias.
The stock market optimist is the one who always finds good news on which to invest. They are driven by animal spirits that often cannot be measured. Buy value or buy growth. It does not matter. The optimist is positive on the future and looks for evidence to support this view. The theme may change but the result is the same. Buy investments that have long-dated future positive cash flows. It is hard to ever turn the stock buyer into someone who wants bonds or cash. They are always looking for the positive. Any move to cash safety is temporary while the manager looks to get back into optimistic investments.
This should not be surprising since an equity investment is a call option on the residual value of the firm. Increases in valuations are associated with growth and volatility. You have to be positive about growth prospects to hold a portfolio of call options.
The bond investor has a completely different mind set. Gains are associated with a decline in rates and a slower economy. At best, you receive your principal. Hence, the corporate bond investor is holding a portfolio of short put options on the firm and default free bonds. Even buying Treasuries, there is a desire for stability, safety, or protection.
The negative correlation suggests that these investors have different biases especially if we are not faced with rising inflation. The bond investors will usually be talking about how bad the economy is looking and we are in a new economy of slow growth. Everywhere they look, they see signs of a negative environment. The equity investor will look at the strong rally since the Financial Crisis and will focus on the advantages of buy and hold even through difficult times. Their idea of a new economy sees further increases in the value of financial assets.
You can call this entrenched asset class inertia. Pessimistic bond investors are going to need a lot of evidence to switch to risky equities. The same can be said of equity optimists switching to less risky bonds. Big changes in asset prices will be surrounded by the periods when this inertia changes.
Why is this bias discussion important? The optimist will have the bias of looking for positive information or filter information in an attempt to look for the positive. The pessimist will always use a negative filter and look for the bad news in the data. A model, however, will not have either bias, so systematic investing can eliminate this most fundamental bias.
I was reviewing an interesting research piece from Covenant Capital on kurtosis across different assets traded in the futures markets. They offer a spreadsheet tool that can allow anyone to find the number of fat-tailed occurrences relative to a normal distribution. The data show that there are fat-tails everywhere across all asset classes. We do not live in a normal distribution world. This should not be a surprise to most investors, but the important question is how do you effectively function in this non-normal world? Or, more precisely, how do you profit from this knowledge.
We have been strong believers in the concept of investment strategies falling into two categories based on market convergence and divergence. Some investment strategies are better able to exploit the fact that the world is non-normal because they will perform better during extremes regardless of time horizon.
If you live in a non-normal world, you will have to find strategies that will do well if there is a tail event. Nassim Taleb will say that you have to have some "anti-fragile" systems. You could just buy straddles to take advantage of the wings but you pay a premium while you wait for these divergent events. Another alternative is to invest in strategies that can exploit large divergences. The simplest of these could be trend-following.
Inherent in these divergent strategies are their success based on dislocations. If there is a trend that takes you to a positive extreme, the trend follower will buy and hold as long as that market continues to move in the same direction. There is no discussion on whether this is possible or not based on the fundamentals. There is no second-guessing. The strategies will make more money the further a market moves away from the norm. Given there is no view on normality, the strategy will do better when there are more extreme events. This strategy is "anti-fragile".
There implications of non-normality go beyond just looking at strategies. Risk management based on normality is a loser's game. The investor will expect limited tail events that will actually occur more frequently and will be bigger than expected. The market has been moving to more sophisticated approaches to tail risk but these are still the exception and not the norm. Investment reward and risk are in the tails if you look closely.
How do you know whether a model is broken? Or, how do you conduct a model review? There are many specific steps for any review but there are four major questions that have to be addressed that are separate from risk management. The key question of model efficacy should focus on forecasting skill and action. Does the model forecast correctly and is the model employed properly to make good decisions.
1. Is the data used by the model correct or timely? There is a wealth of data that can be used for building a model, yet this key input can be subject to delays and revisions. Hence, the first place to look to see if a model is doing its job is with the data. Many managed futures managers focus on price for the simple reason it is easy to get the data. The data can be smoothed to obtain a signal and the process of obtaining price data is cheap and efficient. This provides tremendous benefits for the investor. The same cannot be said for fundamental data. Any model with fundamental data is likely to have a delay issue, so data review is important.
2. Is the model using the data correct? It is clear that many financial models can only explain a small portion of the variation of the dependent variable. Additionally, models are subject to structural change when there are changes in the economy and there can exist alternative models that seem to fit the data but can still be wrong. Simply put, is the model theoretically sound, structurally stable, and consistent? This answer can change through time.
3. Is the interpretation of the model output correct? Given the low explanatory power of many models, there is still a lot of room for interpretation for what a model is telling us. The strength of the signal generated from the model can be weak.
4. Is the mapping from model to a decision action correct? What separate modeling research from investing is the mapping from the model to a decision. If the model is given too much weight positions may be too large versus the strength of the signal. Too little weight and the model will not generate any excess return value.
Every investor who uses a model should have a regular model assessment or due diligence. We offer a simple four-step process for discussion purposes. The investor may want to have a deeper analysis with standards for quality control and forecasting skill. What is important is having a review process for model assessment.
Globalization is a critical part of macro investing. There can be talk of separation politics, but for investors, you have to focus on the global economic cycle because the world is highly integrated. What is very interesting is that globalization has been fairly stable between the current environment and the Bretton Woods period as discussed by the recent work of Eric Monnet and Damien Puy who studied long horizon data available from the IMF. They find that there were two common shock periods which caused a highly synchronous global behavior. The first was oil shock period of the 70's and the second was the Great Financial Crisis. You could say that these were the two periods when "correlations went to one" across asset classes. There was no international diversification benefit.
However, the output variance will vary across countries and time. If you want international diversification, you should focus on the countries that have the lowest variance explained by the world factor. The authors also found that which seems counter intuitive is that during normal times deeper financial integration tends to desynchronize national output with the world cycle.
What does this mean from a practical sense for investors? For US investors, following the US business cycle and the Fed is not enough. This may seem obvious, but it has to be a point of focus given this new data. When there is a common global shock, there is no safety with diversification, the global business cycle will explain more than half of country variation. There is also no reversal to the old days. The era of capital controls and fixed exchange rates still had a high degree of business cycle integration. Financial integration and output integration are not the same thing and they may be negatively correlated. Finally, the data says that you should know your shocks. When there is a common global shock, the world can get exceedingly small.
You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don't understand that's going to happen, then you're not ready – you won't do well in the markets. If you go to Minnesota in January, you should know that it's gonna be cold. You don't panic when the thermometer falls below zero.
1. Asset Class Diversification - The only free lunch of finance. Since you may not have any idea when bad times will come, the easiest solution is to diversify across asset classes that behave different across the business cycle. If a portfolio is concentrated, don't be surprised if there are periods when it will do poorly.
2. Factor Diversification - Look at the factors and structure or diversify. There are macro and micro risk factors. For example, some portfolios will be more sensitive to inflation. Others will be sensitive to the market capitalization. Small cap stocks will have more extreme moves around the business cycle. If you are not sure what you want with respect to factors, then diversify.
3. Strategy Diversification - Since many asset classes will often correlate to one during a crisis, asset class diversification may not be enough or the only solution. A second tier of diversification is through different investment strategies. Managed futures will perform differently during risk-off regimes as opposed to risk-on. Credit strategies will perform differently during different point in the liquidity cycle. Strategy correlations will generally stay lower than asset class correlations when there is a change in the business cycle; however, this may not be the case if there is a financial crisis.
The performance cost from diversification may be less than the cost of specific tail risk strategies, so it seems as though diversification should always be the first line of defense against a negative market move.
A growing stream of thinking in microeconomics is the concept of "winner-take-all" dynamics. The idea seems simple. A combination of networking economics and classic economies of scale creates situations where there are just a few dominant firms or economic agents who are able to capture significant market share in a given industry. With the advances in technology over the last decade, many industries are seeing the impact of winner-take-all dynamics leading to the result of greater concentration.
There have always been economies of scale with a firm, but there were limits based on geography, distribution, or just the ability to gain broad exposure. However, with the internet and the ability to communicate information broadly and quickly, the power of networking generates further economies of scale.
There are some classic winner-take-all markets. For example, the music industry is dominated by a few singers who capture all of the market. Software, search engines, operating systems, or social media have all become winner-take-all markets. The first mover or close followers are able to gain strong market positions that cannot be broken by new entrants.
We may now be seeing the beginning of winner-take-all dynamics with hedge fund investing. The combination of scale for investing with wide distribution has caused large hedge funds to get larger and more dominant regardless of performance. Think of winner-take-all networking and scale and you can see the how size matters more with hedge funds. We are moving from a highly competitive fragmented industry to one that is more concentrated. This will not happen overnight, but the signs of growing concentration are starting to be seen. Start-ups are slowing and smaller funds are closing.
Economies of scale for passing due diligence - Passing due diligence for large investors requires more infrastructure from independent due diligence to redundant systems and independent trading. To gain money from large pensions, more scale is needed.
Economies of scale with compliance - Regulation requires more compliance which is a large fixed cost. Scale spreads this fixed cost.
Broader distribution - The costs of marketing are high. This is not just visiting investors but providing investor relations and answering questionnaires.
Platform access - More hedge funds need to be on platforms which have barriers to entry. Additionally, prime brokers want to only deal with larger firms.
Multiple products - Given the cost with reviewing firms, there is a desire for more products from the same firm. One stop shopping is gaining acceptance.
Matching with large investors - Concentration in banking and brokerage means that large firms will deal with other large firms.
Is this good for investors? Scale will allow for the lowering of costs and allow for better infrastructure development. These lower costs can be passed onto investors. The better infrastructure developments in compliance, risk management, transparency, and investor relations all reduce business risk and provide benefits to investors, but the larger firms may not always perform better. Performance is just one aspect with the decision to invest. Now small have to perform better with excess returns to offset the higher business risks.
The idea that a smart manager can open a shop and attract investors to their new business may be ending. Performance as the key driver for new entrants may be ending.
What has been at the vanguard of thinking in finance is the breakdown of returns into its constituent parts or risk factors. Finance has moved well beyond market beta. The primal breakdown for a portfolio is not returns by asset class but returns by risk factors. Some have criticized the current situation a factor zoo; however, even factor excesses does not change the fact that factorization is the paradigm used more and more by investors.
There are many factors and many assets to map with factor weighting. The shear size of the problem lends itself to computerization and data mining. The role of the analyst as story-teller is diminished when a stock can be described through a set of modeled factor. Investors now buy risk premia not stories or names. Individual names are just the means to the end of gathering beta risks. Smart beta is just the realization that if factors can be used to describe stocks they can also be used to weight stock portfolios. This may be smart or it could just be the outgrowth from how the finance world is being viewed.
Factors can be classified into two main categories: micro factors which are asset specific and macro factors which are related to macro events like the business cycle or changes in rates and credit availability. Hence, the type of hedge funds chosen by investors is bases on whether the manager focuses on micro or macro factors.
So what is the essence or purpose of global macro? In this new factor world view, global macro investing is a focus on economic wide factors which can be dynamically adjusted to generate excess return. Since factors move in and out of style or importance, the macro investor tries to find ways to exploit these changing weights.
The issue is which factors are relevant for global macro investing. We are aware of the criticism of factor timing, so we have to be precise for what factors we are discussing. Global macro has the overarching theme that the manager is trying to identify global business cycles or growth recessions which spill-over to the behavior of specific asset classes. Along with business cycle are credit and financial cycles which impact asset classes around the globe differently. The growth/inflation mix impacts policy choice which feed back on asset classes. What makes global macro so difficult is the low predictive skill by managers at forecasting these macro factors.
The difficulty with forecasting macro factors calls for managers to stay diversified, follow market trends, and take high probability tilts to specific factor opportunities. The poor performance for global macro is a function of the high uncertainty associated with the major macro factors. There is no smart beta in global macro if the macro factor directions cannot be identified. Global macro returns will only improve if the degree of uncertainty concerning growth, inflation, and liquidity falls to levels that allow for bets to be identified and managed.
The relatively better performance with managed futures programs is based on the core focus toward momentum and diversification and not fundamental macro factors. Managed futures captures macro events through the movement in asset prices, yet if there are no string trends there will ne only limited opportunities.
There has been a tremendous amount of talk concerning populism and politics, but for investors the focus still has to be on the economic and market impact of these movements. Discount the news headline and rhetoric and focus on the potential market impact, but a good definition for populism is necessary for building a framework to determine risks.
So what is populism from the perspective of an economist? Populism, according to Sebastian Edwards and Rudi Dornbusch, two leading economists who have written on the topic more than two decades ago, is "an approach to economics that emphasizes growth and income distribution and deemphasizes the risks of inflation, external constraints, and the reaction of economic agents to aggressive non-market policies". The euphoria of populist change must be tempered by the reality that there are limits to change. The risk is whether reality will temper behavior or whether extremism leads to a crisis.
The reality of not following budget constraints and not using existing institutions is what defines populism in terms of economics. This applies to both left-wing or right-wing populist upheavals. Current institutions and budget constraints should temper extremes in government and thus in populism. A populist government often begins as one that upends existing institutions and does not feel constrained by budgets and thus creates the potential for economic dislocations. The question is how far will this upheaval go and how much stress will be placed on the economy.
From an investor's perspective, it is important not to follow the rhetoric but how budget constraints will be placed under stress and potentially broken. This is the risk that has to be assessed. If the government tempers its behavior to stay within constraints, there is the potential for markets to remain relatively stable. If there is pressure to break institutions and budget constraint there is the potential for large market dislocations. This is why we have focused on the two tailed risks of extremes at the begging of the year.
Some of the political extremism has dissipated since January, but given its potential, we would argue that both left and right tail-risk exposure management makes sense. There is value in divergent hedge fund strategies that will make money if there is movement to market extremes. These are priced low given the current low market volatility.
Stephen Ross, the originator of the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT), died last month. He was a top finance scholar and the initial leader on factor investing. He was also one of the developers of the binomial pricing model for options and he was a co-author of a leading model on the term structure of interest rates. His work has been advanced by many others since his original research in the late '70's, but he provided the key foundations for a significant amount of finance that is used today. This does not even include his work on agency theory.
Interestingly, it has taken a long time for much of this work to truly become mainstream. Factor beta is now the rage of finance for new fund development. His work on agency theory has influenced much of corporate finance thinking. His work on option theory provided a strong alternative foundation to Black-Scholes on how to price options, and his term structure work is a mainstay of any fixed income quant research group. Outside of the agency work, you can think of Prof Ross as Dr. Arbitrage. He was able to push the limits on the basic idea that returns can be decomposed and priced through reconstituting the parts or through some basic components. He truly showed the influence of arbitrage as the core concept of pricing assets and finance.
An article in the Wall Street Journal, "Why Commodity-Index Investing May be Futile" has gotten a lot of interest by investors although there was not any new information in the story. The reasons for avoiding commodity indices should be taken seriously; nevertheless, the broader issue of differences between commodity and equity investing is actually straight-forward. Commodity investing in an index of futures is not the same as a buy and hold strategy for an equity index, yet the factors that make it different are also the reasons for the lower correlation of commodities with traditional investments.
Outlined below are the five reasons for why the WSJ thinks commodity index investing is futile and some elaboration on these differences. Simply put, different users and different markets will lead to different return outcomes.
Is commodity index investing futile? No, but, a buy and hold strategy during a period of market contango and low economic growth is a loser's game. The idea that investors should just hold a long-term investment in a commodity index to get a range of commodity exposure has come and gone.
There are a few key issues that have to be answered to be a commodity index investor even in the short-run.
Where is the global business cycle? - Commodities peak late in the cycle and there generally has to be higher than expected growth to create excess demand for commodities.
Are there current supply shocks? - Along with strong demand, commodity investing needs to expect or have supply shortfalls for prices to rise.
Are commodity inventories low? - For unexpected demand or supply shocks to significantly affect prices, commodity markets need to be in a lower than normal inventory environment.
Are commodity markets in backwardation? - The negative carry from market contango bleeds money for investors. Index investing needs backwardation condition in futures which has not been the case for most of the post Great Recession period.
Is there higher inflation? - While many have discussed the relationship between commodity investing and inflation, the link has been highly variable. Commodities have not been a reliable inflation hedge over the last ten years. Of course, this has also been a period of deflation or low inflation around the globe. Short-term dynamics and contango will dominate commodity index price moves in a 2% or less inflation world.
Commodity investing should be scenario-driven or situational and not buy and hold. Active management, where variable exposure is held in selected markets, may be a more reliable way of playing commodities. This can be done through sector exposure tilts to energy or agriculture or through active management of individual markets. This can be as simple as holding exposure in markets that show backwardation to some combination of momentum, carry, and fundamentals. Active commodity management is still difficult, so without strong conviction on the efficacy of active management, commodities should not be held as a core portfolio position.
Declining economic growth and managed futures strategy returns - Is something there?
Another simple test to determine whether managed futures returns will do better than average is through looking at economic growth. Now, we know that bonds and other defensive assets like managed futures will do better in "bad times" such as a recession, but there just are not many recessions. The cost of being defensive can be very high if you have to pay for downside protection through either explicit insurance or through holding assets that have a lower expected return.
The alternative is to think a little more broadly about the definition of "bad times". The deviations for growth or growth recessions are also periods when defensive assets should do better. If there is a slowdown in economic growth firms and market prices will adjust. Price discounting will occur when growth slows. Inventories will build during growth slowdowns. Investors will be more cautious.
A simpler test for defensive assets is to look at the deviations from trend growth. A simple index of deviations from trend growth that incorporates a significant amount of economic information is the Chicago Fed National Activity Index. If the index is negative, then economic activity is below trend. Positive values suggest economic activity is above trend. The switches between above and below trend growth are clear and these are the transitions that offer trading opportunities.
It is noticeable that there has been little deviation from trend since the Great Financial Crisis. The current period may be a better representation of the Great Moderation than the mid 1990's. The difference is that the deviations seem to be closer to the trend. This does to mean that we have exception growth in the current environment but only growth that is closer to trend. We show in green the 12-month rolling average value.
This research on "bad times" is ongoing but we have found that returns for managed futures are slightly higher during periods of declining or negative deviations from trend. This mean difference has a p-value of .2 for a one tailed test which suggests a weak difference. Our analysis shows that performance for managed futures is higher than normal when there is a deterioration of financial condition versus periods of just slower economic growth. Our ongoing research is to look at the impact of "growth recessions" on other hedge fund strategies.
The crisis alpha that may exist in managed futures shows stronger performance during market downturns, but more importantly, managed futures performance is tied to changes in economic performance. Deterioration of financial conditions or growth, the harbinger of a possible asset price crisis, are the more primal cause of excess returns.
The just released FOMC minutes provided a lot of information on Fed and shows they are real SOB's.
Sellers of the balance sheet. We learned that the reduction of their Treasury and mortgage holdings may begin as early as the end of this year. The market has been waiting for this day for a long-time. Now it may become a reality and that changes the dynamics of the Treasury and mortgage markets even if it is just a proposal of not reinvesting interest and maturing bonds. The Fed balance sheet is now $4.5 trillion, so there is a lot to sell. There will now be the new issue of balance sheet uncertainty for investor to face. New marginal buyers will have to be found and it will unlikely be at higher Treasury prices. This is not the same as a rate hike. We don't know the impact of balance sheet reductions.
Overvalued risky asset view. There was talk in the minutes that equities may be overvalued relative to standard models. This should not be considered new news and it should not be a surprise to have the FOMC mention it, but it is always sobering to read central bankers noticing and discussing overvalued financial markets. Investor will have to watch what the Fed may be watching to see if financial markets will affect policies.
Biased risks to upside for growth and inflation. Finally, we have an idea of their view on risks and their general bias is that risks for growth and inflation are more to the upside. If risks are toward the upside, there is less reason for a cautious Fed.
These FOMC minutes tell us that this is not a Fed steeped in extreme caution, but one that is planning the reversal of the big monetary experiment and may be worried about being behind as opposed to ahead of the curve. Of course, these minutes said the economy is doing well and can handle Fed normalization. That may be true, but markets react to policy on the margin. Investors have been euphoric, but now we have less reason to expect fiscal policy help and a central bank that is full speed ahead on normalization. This is bad for risky assets. This is bad for stocks and bonds. Time to get more defensive with investments.
Systematic and global macro managers have a hard time with turning points and market reversals. March is a simple case study of that truism. While many equity hedge funds made money in March, the macro crowd was a net loser. With reversals in bonds and currencies and relatively range bound behavior in commodities, there was little room for return opportunities. March performance pushed macro managers into negative territory for the year. On the other hand, equity hedge funds showed good returns consistent with their generally lower beta exposure.
There have been a growing number of stories on the poor performance of active managers including hedge funds. The number of fund managers outperforming benchmarks is near all time lows, yet some research shows that this under performance seems to be cyclical as opposed to a long-term secular trend. With more discussion of stock market overvaluation, this may be a year where the stock-pickers are able to show their value through avoidance of the bad firms. With macro changes and overvaluation in many markets, this is an opportunity for active management to prove their worth.
March was a tough month for making any economic judgments. The Trump rally in equities was expected to continue, but reality has been a switch to non-US risky assets. A bond sell-off was expected given Fed action combined with more fiscal policy revelations. It did not happen. The dollar was expected to continue its rally based on further confirmation of the Fed being out of step with other central banks. It did not happen.
In reality, stocks were ranged to the downside, bonds rallied albeit still in the range for the year, and the dollar sold-off on Fed action. Perhaps euphoria about fiscal policy change clouded the reality of current macroeconomics. We are neither in a strong secular stagnation or meaningful financial cycle adjustment, but the environment is still not ready for a new era of growth. Further upside in rates, the dollar, and equities will only come with a clear set of less uncertain policies and that is not likely this quarter.
The market focus has to be on the simple core of macro forecasting, real growth, inflation trends, capital flows, and central bank action. The emphasis has to be on what is and not what policies might be. Of course, forecasting is forward-looking, but given the level of uncertainty, the trends in economic data and actual prices are what should dominate and if the trends change, opinions have to be flexible and also change.
March saw a significant rotation in return performance from US equities to global and emerging markets and from value to growth. Our indicators show prices are starting to break to the downside albeit trends are currently flat. March was a transition month from euphoria to reality concerning US government policies. Future price direction will be determined by the real economy and not policy expectations.
There is a growing dispersion across sectors with energy, finance, and real estate showing strong loses for the month. Technology and consumer discretionary sectors were the only two sectors which showed strong gains and maintained good returns for the quarter. Those sectors expected to be most affected by Trump policies showed the largest reversals.
Country equity ETF all showed good returns for the months and quarter except for Canada. Clearly, opportunities outside of the US have been appealing for risk-taking investors. A major turn-around in Mexico suggests that the concerns about trade wars have significantly dissipated.
International and EM bond ETF's have shown positive returns for the quarter even after accounting for the moves in the dollar. Long duration and credit sectors lost money for the month, yet year to date returns are still positive in spite of the change in Fed policy perceptions.
March was a transition month as we started to move through this process of sector rotation. Up trends have flattened and return dispersion has increased. Whether we switch to stronger downtrends or more capital rotation is now a function of economic growth. However, the link between the real economy and asset prices can be highly variable. Bond markets are signaling a weaker economy while equities are suggesting more robust growth outside the US. These divergences in market behavior mark periods of potential dislocation.
What should investors expect from the largest managed futures managers? We can gauge expectations through looking at the average return and volatility for the component managers of the BTOP 50 index. We looked at the most recent three year period and calculated the annualized return and volatility. The average return for this period was 4.79 percent with an annualized standard deviation of 11.5% for the managers. We then calculated the standard error for the mean and the standard deviation and placed all of the return and risk combinations in scatter plot. The oval represents one standard error in each dimension - return and risk.
Clearly, there will be managers who will be outside the error range of approximately 2.5 percent for the mean return and 2 percent for volatility. These numbers will change with the sample size of managers. The BTOP index constitutes 50% of the AUM in managed futures and is currently represented by 20 managers who are equally weighted. These numbers will differ from the actual index because we use the current components of the index and annualize the yearly returns of the managers. We use the stated monthly standard deviations of the managers.
Looking at a breakdown of returns by year shows that 2014 was a very good year while 2016 was difficult for large managers. It is clear that returns are highly correlated and driven by the same set of factors.
These returns provide a good benchmark for any manager who wants to compete against the largest reporting. In a perfect world, you will want to generate higher average returns with lower volatility. Over the last three years, you would want to have a volatility of less than ten and a returns over eight percent to be credible. Of course, the excess return and lower volatility has to be enough to compensate for the potential business risk of being a small manager not in the index.
Looking at the scatter plot provides some interesting insights. No managers were able to generate annualized returns of more than 6 percent annualized over the last three years with 10 percent volatility or less. In fact, there was only one manager that generated more than 10% returns regardless of volatility. Information ratios were all below one and only two managers generated ratios above .9. Of course, three years may not be enough data to truly measure the success of a manager but it does provide a good starting point for analysis.
Managed futures declined on market reveals from the Fed FOMC announcement of a 25 bps rate hike. While the move seemed to have been baked into market thinking before the announcement, key asset classes revised trend direction after the 15th. The SPX, which was already flattening in trend, turned lower. Bond returns, (long duration), actually turned higher on a perceived more aggressive Fed. The dollar strength reversed and commodities moved higher after declining for the last month. You get the picture on the change. Trend-followers saw a reversal in performance which added to a lower overall return.
Looking only at monthly asset class return numbers will not show the trend reversal although a poor bond and currency month and declining commodity prices will provide a good tip that managed futures would not post a positive gain.
The gap between managed futures and equities is especially wide on a 12-month rolling average because the first quarter last year was so poor for equities. We expect the return gap will start to close as equity returns are normalized and managed futures finds better opportunities with the end of the post-Trump reflation euphoria period.
LMEprecious - Joining the futures world?
Any managed futures trader will tell you that trading metals on the LME is much more difficult than other "futures" contracts. Structural differences make for a more challenging environment from monitoring and capital usage to transaction costs. The continuous forward contracts of the LME are just more difficult to trade than the focused discrete delivery dates of futures because market liquidity is spread over a wider set of dates. Even if liquidity is centered at a three month prompt, the liquidity on exit before expiration may be more difficult to find.
This liquidity difficulty may be offset by the greater flexibility in contract expirations at the LME versus a futures contract. Hence, hedgers may find the LME a more attractive alternative than the traditional futures contracts which have greater basis risk from the limited contracts expirations. Speculators, on the other hand, who place a premium on liquidity and consolidation of order flow will find futures contracts more appealing. Nevertheless, it always becomes an issue of networking. Pardon the language, but traders trade where others trade. However, for speculators, there always is a choice of just avoiding markets that are more costly and difficult to trade which hurts overall liquidity and development. Market design matters.
These costs and issues show up in the convenience yield for different market participants. The convenience yield embedded within the futures price includes the cost of transacting but creates noise in the price discovery from the full cost of carry relationship. The convenience yield associated with using LME is higher for hedger because they can hold a forward that matches their industrial needs. The convenience yield for speculators is lower because the round-trip cost and uncertainty of liquidity is higher. Contract and market design has to be structured to minimize the dispersion in convenience yield to allow for maximum price discovery and minimum basis risk.
The reason for this discussion is that the LME will be offering new gold and silver contracts called LMEprecious that will have most of the characteristics of a traditional futures contracts and will not take the traditional form LME forward contracts. The LME has introduced other forward contracts that are more futures-like to consolidate liquidity and trading at specific points through their third Wednesday contracts.
The new LMEprecious contacts for gold and silver when they launch in June, will be subject to the same difficulties of most new futures contracts. New contracts will normally be relegated to failure with an occasional success. The success or failure of the futures contract will be based on its ability to gain a network and scale with liquidity and trading. If there is no liquidity, the trading convenience yield will be outside the range of other comparable futures contract with no mechanism for arbitrage, a market failure. However, the LME is doing more than most to help with success of these contracts. From the World Gold Council to selected dealer banks, the LME has attempted to solve the network problem on day one.
The gold market is especially crowded with alternative markets structures, in New York, Shanghai, and the host of OTC alternatives. Any gold contact has to overcome three structural issues: geography, (the market is moving east); clearing (the market is moving to centralized clearing and away from OTC), and liquidity (the market will always seek the highest liquidity place for trading). However, some strong trading backers, centralized clearing and the new regulatory regime may give LMEprecious a good chance for survival and a meaningful share of the gold trade.
For most managed futures managers, the modeling task is simple, look for trends or break-outs. Managers are not predictive but reactive to what market prices are doing. Looking at the current price data across the major sectors provide little evidence of strong trends or break-outs. Trends that seem to be currently developing are not strong enough to move beyond recent highs, so our trend sector matrix is showing sideways to a slight up moves across most sectors with the only strong trends in commodity markets.
These sideways indications do not mean that there won't be strong trends in April. It just says that trends at the end of the month were limited and any extrapolation will suggest limited returns. There were a number of strong trend reversals upon the FOMC announcement of a rate hike in mid-March. This central bank action and commentary arrested moves in currencies, fixed income, and rates especially within the US. The best trends may be in non-US global stock indices and fixed income.
The signals from price tells us the positive sentiment trades for Trump policies are being reassessed with non-US markets moving to a growth reflation story albeit one that is still modest by comparisons with the past. Generally, the markets have lost a clear direction from the macroeconomic environment. Commodity signals tell us that supply imbalances still exist and the work-off of inventories will take some time as long there are no surprise demand shocks.
We may be surprised later in the month, but April returns currently will have limited tailwinds from March trends that could drive managed futures performance.
Strong non-US returns for the quarter - end of the Trump effect?
The capital flows and returns for the month and quarter tell a risk-on story for global markets. This is not the case for the US where equity returns were at best flat and bonds showed negative returns in March. The dollar sold off for the month by slightly less than one percent as measured by the DXY dollar index. Even if we account for the dollar tailwind for international stocks, global equities did better than the US by well over 2% for March. Emerging markets have seen the best quarter in years with double-digit returns. Adjusting for the dollar would have placed international and emerging market bonds in-line with US bond returns.
We are a long way from the threat of a global slowdown based on trade wars. Similarly, we are a long way from the early Trump rally in US equities driven by bold tax reform and fiscal stimulus programs. All tax reforms have always taken longer than expected and there is no special magic with the current Trump administration at moving an agenda. Similarly, we have seen the problems with moving "shovel-ready" projects through Congress. Spending programs such as infrastructure development take time to move through the legislative process. Hence, the euphoric sentiment in US stocks has been tempered and the value for non-US markets has taken on new life with the higher expectations for global growth.
Fixed income has fallen in-line with a higher global growth story, stronger inflation numbers, and a Fed that is tightening faster than expected earlier in the quarter. The numbers tell us that we are close to optimal targeting for unemployment and inflation. Inflation itself, as measured by the latest PCE inflation index numbers, is closing in or around 2% but does not seem to be in an overshoot mode. Hence, bonds have not seen a large sell-off in March and still showed positive returns for the quarter. The outlier on the downside has been commodities which sold-off in many key markets.
Financial conditions can inform us about periods when there will be crises and market dislocations. The graph above shows the time series for the Chicago Fed adjusted financial conditions index. The index measures liquidity, risk, and leverage in money, debt and equity markets as well as measures of traditional and shadowing banking. If the index is positive (negative), financial conditions are looser (tighter) than average. A close look will suggest that when financial conditions are tight corresponds to periods when there has been a crisis. Generally, these have been period when the markets are moving to or in a risk-off regime. The change in financial conditions tells us something about transition in markets. If the index is moving from negative to positive, financial conditions are tightening. A decline in the index suggests that financial conditions are deteriorating.
During these periods of transition, divergent strategies such as managed futures should do better than other periods when financial conditions are good and there is a risk-on regime. In particular, we are looking to see if tightening or deteriorating financial conditions are periods when managed futures do better than average.
We have conducted some simple statistical analysis and found that what may seem obvious on a graph may actually be harder to find when looking closely at the data. We divided financial conditions into subsets based on whether the index was positive or negative and either moving higher or lower. We then compared these periods with the subsequent three-month returns for the BTOP 50 managed futures CTA index. We find that whether financial conditions are positive or negative does not really matter, but the change in the financial conditions does matter. If financial conditions are deteriorating, then subsequent BTOP index returns will be stronger than non-deteriorating periods and the average three-month return. However, there is little difference in managed futures returns during periods when financial conditions are loosening. Tightening of financial conditions lead to more market divergences. Unfortunately, a simple test for significant will find that these are not significantly different from average at anywhere close to 90% confidence.
Right now, financial conditions seem to be looser than normal and not at all tightening. By this description of the market, managed futures returns as measured by the largest managers who are usually trend-followers will fall into a normal range.


Join us for a very special private Christmas experience in Budapest! Learn about Hungary's holiday traditions and join the local crowds out shopping in Budapest's traditional Christmas markets. Along the way, you'll sip hot mulled wine and sample Christmas cake as you wander the wonderfully lit streets.
Deák Ferenc Square, in front of the large, light yellow-coloured protestant church. Your guide will have an Urban Adventures sign. Closest metro station is Deák Ferenc tér.
Merry Christmas! Dress warm and bring your holiday cheer on your very own Christmas-themed private tour of Budapest. Hungary is a Christian country, so Christmas is celebrated by almost all inhabitants. You'll learn about local holiday traditions and why Santa Claus comes on the 6th of December — not Christmas Eve.
You'll start your special Budapest tour at Deák Square, a common meeting point for the city's locals, before heading out to the local market in Obuda, where we'll show you the most typical of Hungarian Christmas goods. Along the way, you'll learn about the history of this inner-city area.
Next, your private Budapest tour will pass to the other side of the river Obuda, where you'll have the chance to see another non-touristy area, where the locals of the Buda side of the city come to sip mulled wine.
From here we'll jump on local transport to head back to the inner city, where we'll visit St. Stephen's Basilica, the most beautiful Catholic church in town.
After that, you'll continue to the next market for more Christmas customs. You'll get to sample some typical Christmas cake and learn why Hungarian families traditionally eat fish at this time of year.
As your Budapest tour strolls along the river, you'll end up at a Christmas market that's ranked one of the best in Europe. Celebrate the season under the biggest Christmas tree in Budapest.
Finally, your private Budapest walking tour will end at one of the most charming Christmas markets in the city's downtown, where you can stay as long as you like and keep exploring the culinary delights of an authentic Hungarian Christmas.
Confirmation of booking: Please contact Budapest Urban Adventures to confirm your tour 24 hours prior to departure.
Child Policy: Children between the ages of 6 and 11 inclusively are permitted on this tour at the rate listed above. Please select 'child' above when booking. Children below the age of 6 are not permitted on this tour. Because the legal age for alcohol in Hungary is 18, travellers under the age of 18 will be served hot tea rather than mulled wine.


text:
It could be a massively lucrative two weeks for retailers who are ready. Source: Shutterstock
How e-commerce players can brace themselves for a Ramadan sales surge
By Mark Jones | 24 April, 2020
Current market conditions imposed by Covid-19 means e-commerce is surging right now
But another spike approaches – Ramadan – making the next two weeks a doubly-lucrative time for prepared retailers
How can they prepare?
The convenience, choice and competitive pricing of e-commerce has seen it steadily ramp up over the years.
Continuing to grow, it's become a multi-trillion-dollar industry worldwide, dominated by giants like JD.com and Amazon, while even the smallest retailers have their own online operations thanks to the evolving software and logistics solutions available.
In the midst of a pandemic, it's had a further spurt of growth. Consumers are largely on lockdown, while social distancing measures mean non-essential retail – sectors like fashion, health & beauty, and entertainment – have had to sub out their physical operations for an online presence where possible.
For e-commerce players who are prepared and reactive, it's a lucrative time. Web traffic is surging more than 50 percent globally, there is plenty of demand and still consumer money to spend, and those who can negotiate supply chain disruption to get products to doors can win big.
With Ramadan now beginning and lasting from April 23 to May 23, APAC retailers could face an additional spike as Muslims look online to prepare for the festivities amid lockdowns that have uncertain ends in sight, but are likely to extend beyond the festival.
"Online commerce has now become the lifeblood of Asia Pacific's consumers as they move online whether it's for work or everything else due to the global health pandemic," Criteo's director of account strategy for large customers, SEA, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Pauline Lemaire, told Tech Wire Asia.
"This trend will continue especially during Ramadan where more people are expected to turn to online shopping to prepare for this religious event."
Not only is this another boon for business, Lemaire added, it's a chance for retailers to demonstrate their readiness and commitment to supporting a large chunk of consumers in the region; "Brands and retailers are now presented with a new frontier to help shoppers maintain their traditions, assure, and prove that business continuity is in place at the same time."
'Unprecedented sales surge'
Given the uncertain circumstances, it's difficult to predict what consumers will be looking for and how much sales could ramp up throughout the period, but retailers could be faced with an "unprecedented sales surge".
Last year, Malaysia and Indonesia, for example, saw a 106 percent increase in e-commerce activity during Ramadan, according to Criteo, while preferred products may switch from Health & Beauty and Electronics, Toys & Games, to 'quality-of-life' oriented goods for comfort and entertainment.
"Brands and retailers need to think about the type of products which can complement an indoor-heavy routine or build an experience in a social distancing economy as more people spend their time at home," said Lemaire.
"It is also critical for brands and retailers to consider how their offerings should be presented at this point in time. For example, ads showing products that are suited indoors should be favoured over those depicting outdoor activities or crowded places."
As well as ensuring the right inventory is in place and being pushed across the right marketing channels and the logistics systems are in place to cope with the demand, retailers should also consider the best time and modes to target consumers.
Shopping happens more frequently when the sun is down; online web traffic starts to increase at 3am, indicating that shoppers begin to browse for their purchases when they wake up to prepare for the day. At 4am, retail sales are 3.5x higher in Ramadan compared to an average day. But sales drop at 6pm when Muslim shoppers preapre for their first meal after a day of fasting.
And while desktop sales account for more than 80 percent, mobile use increases during Ramadan as consumers use online religious app for prayers, grocery and food delivery services, entertainment and communications.
CAN RETAILERS EMBRACE AR FOR IMMERSIVE (AND CONTACTLESS) STORE EXPERIENCES?
Adlina AR | 21 April, 2020
With Ramadan set to arrive in unprecedented circumstances, retailers and their marketing teams must be prepared to capitalize on the circumstances. Here some final considerations:
# 1 | Monitor category trends closely
Marketers need to pay even closer attention than before to know what is happening and what would matter to consumers during this period. They should focus on expanding segments such as home-based learning, remote working, home fitness and entertainment.
# 2 | Drive conversations with today's context
While creating campaigns are still feasible, it needs to be around products which are most relevant to consumers. Campaign calls-to-action should focus on inventory, last-mile delivery and experience.
# 3 | Engage the audience
Explore interactive ad formats to engage with key shoppers as people spend more time at home and are looking to be entertained.
By Mark Jones
@mjtechno
Mark Jones | @mjtechno
Mark is Editor at Tech Wire Asia and TechHQ (part of the Hybrid group).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Cookies are small text strings, which the web sites visited by the user send to their terminal (usually the browser), where they are stored before being sent back to the same web sites during the next visit by the same user. During the browsing of a web site, the user could receive on his terminal even cookies that are sent by different web sites or web servers (so-called "third party"), where several elements can be stored (such as, for example, images, maps, sounds, specific links to pages of other domains) on the same site that is being visited.
The website www.gtsrail.com does not use this type of cookie.
Third Party Cookies. Visiting a website you may receive cookies from the visited site ("proprietary"), as well as from websites run by other organisations ("Third Party"), such as the "social plugin" for Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. These are part of the page visited, generated directly by said sites and integrated into pages of the host site. The most common use of social plugin is the sharing of content on social networks. The presence of these plugins involves the transmission of cookies to and from all sites operated by third parties. The same operators regulate the management of the information collected by "third parties". More information is available at the following web addresses for different policies and methods of managing cookies.
Some cookies (session cookies) remain active only until you close the browser or execute the logout command. Other cookies "survive" the closure of the browser and are also present in subsequent future visits.
www.gtsrail.com does not use persistent cookies.
However, browsing the pages of the website www.gtsrail.com you can interact with sites operated by third parties that can create or modify persistent and profiling cookies.
The settings can be specifically set for different websites and web applications. Furthermore, the best browsers allow you to define different settings for "proprietary" cookies and those of "third parties".


It was September 2016, and Hillary Clinton had a youth problem.
In a conference room at Democratic National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill, about a third of the folding tables and chairs sat empty at the height of a phone-a-thon for which staffers had bussed in local college kids from multiple campuses. Despite the free pizza and chipper call scripts, they were losing steam. They made the same pitch to likely voters their age, complete with assurances that despite her awkward Snapchat presence she "means well" – and a reminder that she'd poached key campaign promises from Senator Bernie Sanders by then: debt-free college, a minimum-wage raise, and health care as a human right – but mostly they filtered in and out.
In a portentous flourish, one skinny George Washington University sophomore filed in to the phonebank, joined a table of his friends and slapped a fat paperback on the table, announcing his true allegiance like it was the totem of his clan. It was Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) founding member Michael Harrington's Socialism: Past and Future, its bright red cover bearing a black fist raised in silent protest.
Clinton's problem – one of several, as it happened – came to bear, a self-styled billionaire found his way to the White House, and the socialist anxiety percolating among fervid Sanders never died down. It went mainstream. Sanders is on a reunion tour, but he keeps having to remind his fresh-faced electoral heirs that he was there first. In reality, he'd been dancing more or less alone out on fringes of the far left since the 1970s.
The Democratic Socialists of America were a non-entity on the political landscape until Trump won.
The Democratic Socialists of America were a non-entity on the political landscape until Trump won. Socialism itself had been something less than an electoral afterthought, relegated to the realm of fringe activism and academic esoterica since the age of Eugene V. Debs – whose speeches a 30-year-old Sanders used to edit for Burlington High School history class film projectors to supplement his freelance writing and amateur carpentry income.
But in the two years since the DNC sidelined him, the DSA's membership has grown from less than 5,000 to closer to 60,000 members. Last year, 53% of likely 18- to 29-year-old voters polled by Harvard's Institute of Politics favored democratic socialism – compared to 48% who expressed a favorable view of capitalism. Polling by Survey Monkey for Axios likewise showed a majority of 18- to 34-year-olds holding a positive view of socialism, and Gallup found the same among Democrats across the board.
To begin with, "I'm just really pleased," says pioneering late-20th-century socialist activist and reigning matriarch of City University of New York's famously lefty poli-sci department Frances Fox Piven.
A founding board member of the Democratic Socialists of America – alongside Michael Harrington – Piven was an early architect of the welfare socialist movement in 1960s New York. She and her husband Richard Cloward exerted prominent influence over public policy in the early Clinton years. Now, she's a "benign adviser" to the DSA.
The lefty podcast Chapo Trap House propagates so-called "dirtbag" socialism on the digital airwaves – making irreverent but ideologically strident fun of their neoliberal foes for an audience who funds their dirtbaggery through a flush of online donations. A new dating app, Red Yenta, hooks up socialist singles so they don't have to answer questions about dystopian Venezuela from the sorts of skeptics they'd meet on Tinder or Match.com.
the Berlin Wall fell, the more young socialists you'll meet.
The cultural prominence of socialism is but a secondary symptom of history's insistent arc toward fairness, Piven then counters. "The real idea is to recover America's capacity to support social programs that promote fairness," she says. "This is what we did in the 1930s and continued to do until the Reagan era." As more and more Americans come of voting age with no memory of the Soviet bloc before the Berlin Wall fell, in other words – the more young socialists you'll meet.
Come 2018, candidates inspired by Sanders' popularity to call themselves socialists ran at every level. The likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Andrew Gillum, and Julia Salazar gained national coverage they wouldn't have before Sanders – plenty of it critical, much of it fawning. Some of them even won their races.
Others, like James Thompson in Kansas and two of the four Pennsylvania state house candidates backed by the DSA, successfully primaried entrenched Democrats only to lose to Republicans. They're still at it, though: Thompson, for one, was already back in the news last month when he got picked up for speeding with a suspended license – and, per the Wichita Eagle's coverage of his arrest, he's already planning to run for retiring Republican Senator Pat Roberts' seat in 2020.
More socialist upstarts ran on the DSA's platform than actually won – but more are running than ever before. One such candidate was Nomiki Konst, 35, a fixture in far-left politics and a frequent cable news commentator ever since the 2016 race. Something of a self-promotional chameleon, her inconsistently accurate biography met new scrutiny during her recent campaign to succeed Letitia James as New York City's public advocate. She ran to the left of – and ultimately lost to – fellow democratic-socialist candidate, Jumaane Williams.
Konst is still weighing what her next role in the socialist revolution should be, she tells me – but, for now, she's "mainly resting." But whatever the political future holds, she doesn't doubt it will be dominated by angsty young socialists.
Her campaign volunteers were primarily young millennial members of the Democratic Socialists of America. Their eager embrace of socialist tenets – free health care, college, housing, and a universal basic income for all – has less to do with their having been born into a post-Cold-War world, she tells me, and more to do with those millionaires and billionaires Bernie Sanders mentioned.
Even Utah State University, in the deeply conservative canyon town of Logan, has a democratic socialist club, thanks to 25-year-old junior Diego Mendiola. Since he organized the group in mid-January, finally finding an adviser from the philosophy department after every political-science professor he approached recoiled from the "socialist" label, the mailing list has grown to more than 50 members. One girl who found herself accidentally added to their listserv blasted an all-caps reply-all, Mendiola recalls: "She wrote, 'I AM A RIGHT WING CONSERVATIVE WE DO NOT SHARE ANY VALUES PLEASE TAKE ME OFF YOUR LIST.' I replied with a private apology, and an invitation to come discuss ideas." She hasn't yet.
Their first "direct action" on campus was a silent protest, hoisting a banner that read "DOWN WITH KOCH INFLUENCE" during a talk by Sheryl Corrigan, the director of environment, health and safety for Koch Industries. "It definitely worked," he says, "The cops ended up coming at me." He and another student were questioned by police in the university's Huntsman Hall – and the campus and local papers both covered their protest. "I've never had so many people ask me, 'Who are the "Kotch" brothers,'" he laughs.
Like many millennials, Mendiola started calling himself a socialist in 2017. "But I was a lot further left than Bernie," he qualifies, "I considered myself an anarcho-syndicalist." Most of the critiques he hears from classmates concern Venezuela's dystopian hellscape of a socialist experiment. Some of Mendiola's critics on campus become tentative friends, like one libertarian classmate, Chris, whom he met during a demonstration a few weeks ago.
"Then we realized we have things in common: We like Radiohead, we like philosophy, we like traveling. Now we understand each other." They may not agree but Chris' views made sense, Mendiola then realized. "It's easier to lean toward libertarian ideologies because it's more familiar to the American way of life," he allows – in a kind of living affront to Konst's admonition that the era of compromise is over.
Among campus socialists Murphy sounds like something of a rebel, but he comes by it naturally, having grown up in Orange County, California – with Fox News a more-or-less constant background presence in his parents' house. "My dad is a Reaganite. He's like, 'What's going on here?' And I'm like, 'This isn't the Cold War.'" Murphy hopes to find work as a far-left political organizer after graduation but expects to move into a more remunerative field once he's ready to start a family – by which point, Murphy's dad believes, he'll be ready to reconsider his worldview too.
There might be something to that paternal prediction. Support for socialist programs is closely linked to age – with a majority of Americans under 35, those with no clear memories of 20th century communism in other words, increasingly favoring socialism. Gallup's 2018 poll of Democrats breaks the spread at age 30, after which support for capitalism increases from 45% to 58%. And Axios' data show that older millennials polled across party lines tend to soften on capitalism, which six out of 10 25-to-34-year-old respondents view positively, compared to five in 10 with a favorable view of socialism. Respondents in their late twenties and early thirties don't remember Reagan any better. But they have been living and working in American society longer than their college-aged counterparts – and, not unlike DSA Diego meeting libertarian Chris, they must have found something that made sense.
Alice Lloyd is a writer in Washington, D.C. and a Weekly Standard widow.


text:
Michigan community that requires church membership under investigation
The community near Petoskey requires cottage owners to have a pastor or church leader attest to their church membership or attendance.
Michigan community that requires church membership under investigation The community near Petoskey requires cottage owners to have a pastor or church leader attest to their church membership or attendance. Check out this story on Freep.com: https://on.freep.com/2MQWCoL
Associated Press Published 1:59 p.m. ET June 22, 2018 | Updated 4:26 p.m. ET June 22, 2018
Bay View Association near Petoskey, Mich.(Photo: Google Maps)
PETOSKEY, Mich. — Federal housing authorities are investigating religious discrimination complaints against a Michigan resort community that requires homeowners to be of "Christian persuasion."
The U.S. Department of Federal Housing notified the Bay View Association last month that the community near Petoskey failed to prove it's exempt from a law prohibiting discriminatory practices, the Petoskey News-Review reported. The seasonal community requires cottage owners to have a pastor or church leader attest to their church membership or attendance.
The woodsy resort town along Little Traverse Bay doesn't allow non-Christians to buy a home in the community. Some residents have even claimed that they were prevented from passing down their Bay View cottages to children or spouses who are non-practicing or affiliate with another religion.
A group of residents have filed a federal lawsuit to overturn the rule, alleging it violates the First Amendment. Attorney Sarah Prescott, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the residents, said the town is operating as both a state and religious entity.
"You can't have both," she told Michigan Radio.
"We need to do something," said Don Duquette, one of the residents involved in the lawsuit. "We're fighting for the soul of this place."
Duquette said his and 18 other formal complaints filed in 2016 allege religious discrimination in Bay View to federal housing officials. The complaints accuse the resort community of violating the Federal Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination based on religious beliefs.
Supporters of the religious requirement argue that getting rid of it would lead to less financial and volunteer support for the association because residents wouldn't be as invested in Christian values and tradition.
"It doesn't make sense to have members who don't embrace the mission voting on issues that will determine the future of our Christian organization," said Dick Crossland, a longtime Bay View resident.
A hearing is scheduled in federal court in Kalamazoo for July 30.
Cost to fix Detroit school buildings: $500 million
'Hobby breeder' made 108 animals live in feces
Read or Share this story: https://on.freep.com/2MQWCoL
Big changes could be coming to Michigan fishing
MSU case could nullify all sex assault findings
Many Mich. farmers got extra cash from Trump aid
Court rules on U-M records of anti-immigrant leader
What to know about Michigan fishing bills
Weather radar captures billions of mayflies over Lake Erie


Home » Whose Money Is It?
Considers former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's reaction to the decision of the Israeli government to freeze its monthly transfer of $45 million in tax rebates and customs payments to the Palestinian Authority in response to the victory of Hamas representatives in the recently held Palestinian parliamentary elections. Impact of the decision on the Palestinian people according to carter; Nature of the money that the Israeli government is withholding.
The article reviews the audiobook "We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land," by Jimmy Carter.


St. Louis - Two-time US Open champion Brooks Koepka and 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel flirted with matching the lowest round in major golf history but fell short on Friday to leave Gary Woodland in the lead at the 100th PGA Championship.
Woodland fired a four-under par 66 to stand on 10-under 130 after 36 holes to finish one stroke ahead of playing partner Kevin Kisner with Koepka two adrift at Bellerive Country Club.
Tiger Woods, who birdied the second and third holes after an opening par, joined Rory McIlroy and defending champion Justin Thomas in the top afternoon group on a course offering near-record scores.
"I feel safe where my game is. I'm not too worried with what anyone else is doing out there," Woodland said. "The golf course is gettable. So we'll see some putts go in."
Americans Koepka and Kisner and South African Schwartzel excited the crowd early by chasing the all-time record low men's major score of 62 set by South African Branden Grace in the third round at the 2017 Open at par-70 Royal Birkdale.
Kisner, who also began off the 10th tee, made a six-foot birdie putt at the seventh to reach 7-under but found a bunker at the par-5 eighth and parred then at nine chipped 23 feet past the hole then two-putted for bogey and a 64.
Woodland eagled the par-5 17th, dropping his second shot five feet from the cup and holing the putt, then birdied the second and third and answered a bogey stumble at four with a 25-foot birdie putt at the eighth - all as Kisner watched.
Kisner, whose two PGA wins came in 2015, shared seventh in last year's PGA, his best major finish until last month.
Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters winner, didn't threaten the lead with his run at 62 but sank a seven-foot birdie putt at the par-3 16th to reach 7-under. He found a fairway bunker and parred the par-5 17th then left a 49-foot birdie putt five feet short at the 18th.
On the prospect of a 62 he said: "I didn't know there was that. I would have liked that."
Schwartzel, who matched the tournament record with a 63, was on 133 with world No 1 Dustin Johnson and Belgium's Thomas Pieters. South African Brandon Stone was seventh on 134.
Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth, ranked eighth, can complete a career Grand Slam with a victory this week. But the 25-year-old American shot 67 to stand on 137.
Woods, a 14-time major champion in his comeback season after spinal fusion surgery, and McIlroy grinded to 70s in round one before huge crowds.


text:
George Payne: Wild Man of Porn
George Payne, star of films such as The Taming of Rebecca, The Story of Prunella and The Back Row joins The Rialto Report for a conversation about his life and career in adult film.
George Payne is also a firm favorite of the Rialto Report. He appeared in many New York films – both straight and gay – and straddled the film and video era too. And he could really act; his performances seethe with a nervous, unpredictable energy.
He acted for many of the great directors of the era, including Radley Metzger, Joe Sarno, Chuck Vincent, and Phil Prince, and with many of the most famous golden age porn stars such as Annie Sprinkle, Joanna Storm, Lee Carroll, and Lisa De Leeuw. He dated Vanessa Del Rio, and was a fixture on the New York theater and party scene. He was a regular on the pages of adult magazine – both straight and gay – and acted with Jack Wrangler in films by the likes of John Amero.
He rarely gave interviews, and has remained an enigma and a mystery. Until now. So who is George Payne?
Nowadays he lives quietly with his wife Diane, a former acting agent, in New York, and works occasionally as security or in the bars of Manhattan night clubs. He also still looks great. He works out regularly and takes immaculate care of his appearance. We went to his gym and helped him film a short exercise video. He was keen to show how senior citizens can work out and be as fit as possible.
After we finished recording the podcast, we took a few pictures of him. Then he asked if we'd photograph him stripped to the waist. Who were we to disagree?
This episode running time is 57 minutes.
Here's the fully clothed George Payne:
The Prince of Porn (2002)
Posted On: 10th March 2013
Under: Podcasts


text:
Synthesis of 20S-Protopanaxatriol β-D-Glucopyranosides
Atopkina, L. N., Denisenko, V. A.
Chemistry of natural compounds 2019 v.55 no.1 pp. 82-87
Panax ginseng, Panax japonicus, chemistry, leaves, methylene chloride, organobromine compounds, sodium
Condensation of 20S-protopanaxatriol (3β,6α,12β,20S-tetrahydroxydammar-24-ene) (1) with 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-α-D-glucopyranosyl bromide (2) in the presence of Ag₂O in CH₂Cl₂ gave a mixture of acetylated 3-, 12-, 20-, 3,12-di-, and 3,20-di-O-β-D-glucopyranosides 3–7 that was dominated by 3-O-β-Dglucopyranoside tetraacetate 3 (47%). Subsequent deacetylation by sodium methoxide produced free β-D-glucopyranosides 8–12, three of which were identical to chikusetsusaponin-L₁₀, ginsenoside-F₁, and ginsenoside-Ia, which were isolated earlier from leaves of Panax japonicus and P. ginseng. 3-Mono- and 3,12-di-O-β-D-glucopyranosides 8 and 11 were prepared for the first time.
DOI (10.1007/s10600-019-02618-6)
Find in a library http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10600-019-02618-6 Download RIS File Export to Zotero


Quotations about Backstabbers. Quotes to stimulate mind and drive action! Use the words and quote images to feed your brain inspiring things daily!
Let's be honest, the cards' on the table: Jealousy's a sin, Cain killed Abel. Backstabber...Caesar had Brutus. It's hard to weed 'em out, even Jesus had Judas.
Backstabbers specialize in saying the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person.
She's not impressed by your fancy car. She got a body so she's snotty and she don't care who you are. So don't get mad and dis her reputation Callin' her a floozy, any conversation. Mad grammar, backstabber, girls they wanna be her. But like Stevie Wonder, none of y'all can see her!
Bestfriends has 11 letters, but so does Backstabber.
Stop believing the liars, trusting the backstabbers and loving the heart breakers.
Don't worry abt backstabbers, they're the people who tried their hardest finding faults in your life instead of fixing the faults in theirs own life.


Cohiba Black Pequeno - Cohiba Black Pequeno cigars. Just when you thought Cohiba had pushed the cigar makers art to the limit, Daniel Nu&nez introduces a new Cohiba with a spectacular blend that surpasses even his past achievements. The tobaccos read like a veritable who's who of great varietals. The wrapper is Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro, costly and smooth. The binder is top shelf Dominican Piloto Cubano with unparalleled flavor. And the long filler is an exquisite blend of Mexican San Andres and Piloto. Placed in tercios and aged three years, these tobaccos acquire a refinement and smoothness of taste that is the hallmark of Cohiba.
Consistently ranking among the best, Cohiba Black is the kind of cigar you buy where you can, when you can. As each comes packed in its own glass tube, no, they're not cheap. Instead, they are a solid value, a deliciously memorable smoke to be slowly savored. Based on prior experience with the fabulous Cohiba brand, you expect them to increase in value and taste even better with the passage of time; you put them away; you hoard them.


The staff at St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School recognizes the importance of working collaboratively with our parent community to create an open, safe and caring environment for students, parents, and staff. If there a concern that you wish to bring to our attention, we ask that you familiarize yourself with our Parent Concern Protocol in Administrative Procedure No. 353. This will ensure that your concern receives an appropriate and thorough response as quickly as possible.
Ordering information can be found here. Our access code is SMBHL.
If your child requires school bus service for the 2018-2019 school year, please register online.


loft bed with desk for girls twin teenage girl.
loft bed with desk for girls decoration teenage beds bunk desks functional teen room furniture ideas toddler girl.
loft bed with desk for girls beds teens american girl.
loft bed with desk for girls beautiful full bunk student sized and system teenage girl.
loft bed with desk for girls how to build a bunk kid beds little girl.
loft bed with desk for girls related post teenage girl.
loft bed with desk for girls combo cool bunk beds teen bedroom ideas teenage girl.
loft bed with desk for girls teen beds tween futon combo little girl.
loft bed with desk for girls beds bunk study corner teenage girl.
loft bed with desk for girls and teen bunk teens beds apartments rent in hack elegant girl.
loft bed with desk for girls bunk beds little girl toddler.
loft bed with desk for girls full futon toddler girl.
loft bed with desk for girls bunk beds full berg teen little girl.
loft bed with desk for girls awesome beds teens resized girl.
loft bed with desk for girls assembling a futon bunk little girl.
loft bed with desk for girls white 2 little girl.
loft bed with desk for girls teenager room teen bedroom desks medium size of corner teenage girl bunk.
loft bed with desk for girls bedroom tween cool beds desks toddler girl.
loft bed with desk for girls teen beds amazon american girl.
loft bed with desk for girls perfect stairs and twin little girl.
loft bed with desk for girls full bunk low american girl.
loft bed with desk for girls girl bunk teen wood teenage beds teenagers toddler.
loft bed with desk for girls inspiration girl bunk slide storage pink cottage white jr tent and.
loft bed with desk for girls kids beds teen little girl.
loft bed with desk for girls bunk beds medium size of intriguing as wells american girl.
loft bed with desk for girls design ideas and benefits girl.
loft bed with desk for girls outstanding best teen bunk beds ideas on inside futon teenage girl.
loft bed with desk for girls beds desks and twin bunk white american girl.
loft bed with desk for girls home design bunk beds storage toddler girl.
loft bed with desk for girls bunk beds 4 teenage girl.
loft bed with desk for girls the amazing of beds ideas saving space in your bunk designs teenage little girl.
loft bed with desk for girls enage girl enager bunk beds image of room toddler.
loft bed with desk for girls boys bunk beds under kids girl.
loft bed with desk for girls kids beds boy intended teenage girl.
loft bed with desk for girls beds desks teenagers s teenager toddler girl.


Grace is a journey in which we can only experience when we have accepted the gift so freely given by our Savior, Jesus. We don't deserve it and it can't be earned. It's not a license to do as we please, but rather live in truth with the desire to pursue the heart of the Lord with all that is in us without the shame of our past to hold us back.
We can only begin to scratch the surface of what true grace is. Yet, we have such a perfect definition of it in the sacrifice that was made for us. What love the Father has for us! The words of this song illuminate this truth. We pray it renews your appreciation for His perfect love and grace for you.
Thank you for joining us every morning at Breath on Paper devotional blog.
Photo by Sabri Tuzcu from Unsplash.


text:
Pushing through the Baltic States, Justine Gosling finds a Latvia still bearing the scars of history
The border town I'm cycling through between Estonia and Latvia is a strange one with a complex, cross country, history. Valga and Valka are the same town, however Valga is in Estonia and Valka is in Latvia. When Estonia and Latvia first gained independence from the Russian empire after the October Revolution in 1917, the town sat exactly on the boarder of the two new states with a mixed Estonian and Latvian population. Negotiations between the two countries on which country the town should reside in were unsuccessful, therefore, the British Commissioner for the Baltic provinces, Colonel Stephen Tallents was bought in to chair the discussions. In 1920, when they were unable to reach a decision, Tallents decided to spilt the town by the small river that ran through it. Neither country contested the spilt and they now advertise themselves with the slogan "one town, two countries."
Initially, this spilt did have its problems. Many families, living on the same street, had different citizenships, meaning that they had to go through customs and border controls to visit each other. With the town using two currencies and under two jurisdictions the situation also created a thriving black market and resentments.
Like all three of the Baltic states, independence didn't last long. Firstly, with the illegal Soviet occupation in 1940 as a result of the 1939, non aggression, Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany swiftly followed by the occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany in July 1941. Then again by the Soviet Union in 1944 after their defeat of Germany. The Soviet occupiers immediately staged rigged theatrical elections with a pro-Soviet winning party. The resulting people's assembly immediately requested admission into the Soviet Union, which was granted. The result was that Latvia had a puppet government which was essentially controlled by Moscow, all its resources were nationalised and Latvia was renamed the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, bringing the country behind the Iron Curtain.
Under Soviet communist control, all Latvian farms, factories and businesses were collectivised to provide for the state. Russian was imposed as the main language and schools had to follow the Russian curriculum. There was an influx of labourers, administrators, military and medical personnel and their dependants from Russia and other Soviet republics in an attempt to further "Russify" Latvia. Latvian history and culture was effectively banned. The Soviet Union gave Russians incentives to migrate to Latvia to "dilute" its Latvian population, culture and language.
Ironically, the Soviet occupation of Latvia and Estonia from 1940 to 1991 essentially reunified the Valga/Valka town for 51 years. Border controls were re-established again in 1991 after independence which broke well established community and trade relations. It was only when both countries joined the EU in 2007 that border crossings and check points were finally removed in accordance with the Schengen agreement allowing free movement and trade. Today all that is left there is the small, dilapidated border offices and EU sign posts.
There was a lot of off roading cycling through the peaceful forests of Latvia. I got wet feet on the first day of the cycle not by the rain, but by cycling through streams to get to Ligantne. It was the one time classified, Soviet nuclear bunker at Ligantne that is now a museum that was of interest to my Iron Curtain expedition.
The bunker was authorised in 1968 by the Latvian Central Soviet Committee but didn't become operational until 1982. The 2,000 square meter Soviet nuclear bunker at Liagantne is nine meters below ground, of which five meters are made up of steel and concrete plates and gamma ray protection lead plate. It is concealed by a rehabilitation centre above ground that is still in use today. It was of such importance that the secrecy grading of the bunker was only removed in 2003. The bunker was built for the needs of up to 250 communist political and state elite in the 1980s for state administration in case of nuclear war. It is a huge, self-sustaining, underground structure with all the necessities to survive and communicate in the event of a nuclear war for three months without outside intervention.
On the tour we were shown the food stores, the 1980s style kitchen and canteen, the air purification and the ventilation systems which are similar to that of a submarine. Water was provided from the natural underground reservoir 150 meters below. We were also shown the electricity generators that can produce 200kw of power and uses 50 litres of fuel per hour. Over the course of three months, in the event of a nuclear war, 1,800 tonnes of fuel would be needed to supply the bunker. It's a massive Soviet design fault that the bunker only allows for storage of 40 tonnes of fuel, which is only enough for two day's worth. Luckily it never had to be put to use.
We toured the large map room with wall to ceiling maps of areas of importance, mostly of the Baltic states. I even sat in the original secretary's chair in the KGB office. The phone in that office doesn't have numbers with which to dial, it was simply a direct line to the authority in Moscow. In this original office the following philosophy demonstrating the Soviet totalitarian control is written in Russian on the wall:
"Without communication there is no order. Without order there is no victory."
I was told by our guide that this is meant to be understood as: "Without communication with Moscow there are no orders from Moscow. Without orders from Moscow no orders will be delivered". There is a whole room full of retro communications equipment and another for the gas masks that all personnel completing their mandatory military service had to be able to run 5km wearing whilst holding a rifle. I couldn't bear a minute standing still wearing one with the tight, musty smelling rubber against my face never mind whilst getting a sweat on running 5km. Outside there are two helicopter landing sites disguised as swimming pools and another is hidden as a basketball court.
Unlike Estonia, Latvia's neglect during the Soviet times is still clear to see. Riga feels chaotic and shabby, the buildings either desperately in need of repair or poorly restored. The roads are so badly maintained that they all have a valley to guide each car tire along. Cycling became a game of dodging pot holes and trying to decide which out of the million traffic lights affected me whilst avoiding the decrepit trams. The electrical wires over head look like a bowl of spaghetti thrown into the sky. This shabbiness represents Riga's life story with many chapters. Among the rags however, are many gems. Its past is not forgotten but embraced and makes this capital exciting to explore. It seems like every street corner has its moment in history.
The central market in Riga is where the locals bustle. Housed in the old Zeppelin air craft hangers it is a destination worth visiting itself just to appreciate the architecture of the huge metal framed space now lined with traders selling tones of meats, pickles and pastry goods. The former KGB offices in the centre of town are now a museum. The building and its contents detail the brutal treatment of anyone who was considered against the regime and is a chilling reminder of how restrictive life was during communist times.
Riga was an important strategic port in World War 2 and was therefore destroyed in the war. The re built, pebbled old town is quaint but mostly littered with loud, brash bars, even my hostel was above a bar offering me a free beer with breakfast.
A little known fact is that Riga was the birthplace of the Christmas tree. It's is said that on Christmas eve in 1510, a group of drunken bachelors hauled a pine tree to their local pub in central Riga and decorated it with flowers. After mid night they ceremoniously set it alight and burnt it to the ground. From this year on, decorating a pine tree has become an annual Christmas tradition world wide and the idea of a festive tree was born. Thankfully the burning of the tree at mid night never caught on. There is a plaque in the paving stones in the old town on the spot where this first tree was said to have been. The pub has long gone.
Since independence, Latvia has a multi-party political system, where no one party has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. Coalition governments have consisted of up to six parties. Parties have very frequent re shuffles and have been blighted with accusations of corruption, mostly owing to political leaders holding positions in large, sometimes Russian, owned businesses in Latvia. Fighting corruption is often the dominant feature in most political campaigns I'm told. When speaking to Latvians they don't like to talk politics with some suggesting that corruption and Russian influence remains.
On 20 September 2003, Latvia voted to join the European Union in a referendum. Virtually all of major political parties and major Latvian-language media supported the 'YES' vote. The Latvian government spent significant amount of money on the 'YES' campaign. The 'NO' campaign was virtually non-existent and lacked funding. According to government statistics, 66.9 per cent of voters in the referendum cast votes in favour of joining the EU. It is estimated that 84 per cent of ethnic Latvians voted 'YES', while 91 per cent of ethnic Russians voted 'NO' signifying a historical ethnic divide.
I got the impression that Latvia is still trying to find its way in the EU with political corruption remaining an issue. I'm cycling onto country number six on my Iron Curtain expedition, Lithuania, the last of the three Baltic countries to explore. I've now been away from home for two and a half months and have cycled nearly 1,000 kilometre, it feels like no time at all. My world is definitely expanding but big distances on maps are seemingly so much smaller the further my legs take me.
Previous ArticleThe Riddler's Motoring Life
Next ArticleRampley & Co Pocket Squares
Justine Gosling
Justine grew up in the East Sussex countryside where she forged a passion for the outdoors at a young age. When not on expeditions, she is an active half marathon runner and a passionate swimmer having already swum Loch Ness and the Bosporous. When she isn't doing adventurous things, Justine is an NHS Physiotherapist working with very sick patients on their rehabilitation, which she loves.
Kevo Wilderness Trail, Lapland
Bring Down the Iron Curtain Finishes Scandinavia
Iron Curtain Expedition
The Story of the White Reindeer
Santa Claus and his Lapland Home


text:
Irmgard Bensusan (* 24. Januar 1991 in Pretoria, Südafrika) ist eine Leichtathletin mit deutscher und südafrikanischer Staatsbürgerschaft in der Startklasse T44, die sich auf Sprints spezialisiert hat.

Berufsweg
Irmgard Bensusan schloss ein Studium in Rechnungswesen an der Universität Johannesburg ab.

Sportliche Karriere
Bensusan läuft, seitdem sie drei Jahre alt war, fand in der Schule zum Wettkampfsport und gewann in dieser Zeit auch eine Nationale Meisterschaft.

2009 stürzte sie an einer Hürde und verletzte sich so schwer am Knie, dass sie eine dauerhafte Nervenschädigung im rechten Bein erlitt, was in Südafrika aber nicht als Behinderung anerkannt wurde. Durch ihre deutsche Mutter, die Kontakt zum Deutschen Behindertensportverband (DBS) aufnahm, und dem Leichtathletik-Bundestrainer kam Bensusan zum TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Seit 2014 startet Bensusan für Deutschland und errang bei den IPC-Europameisterschaften in Swansea Silber über 100 und 200 Meter hinter Marlou van Rhijn und über 400 Meter, die Marie-Amélie le Fur in Weltrekordzeit gewann.

2015 wurde sie in Doha (Katar) über 400 Meter hinter le Fur IPC Vizeweltmeisterin und kam beim 200-Meter-Lauf auf den 4. Platz.

2016 erreichte Bensusan in Abwesenheit von van Rhijn in Grosseto über 100 und 200 Meter die IPC-Europameistertitel. Über 400 Meter konnte sie le Fur nicht schlagen und wurde Vizeeuropameisterin. Bei den Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro lief Bensusan im Vorlauf über 200 Meter paralympischen Rekord und holte dreimal Silber, wiederum über 100 und 200 Meter hinter van Rhijn und trotz persönlicher Bestzeit über 400 Meter hinter le Fur.

2017 gewann sie bei den IPC-Weltmeisterschaften in London Gold über 400 Meter und Silber über 200 Meter. Beim 100-Meter-Lauf erreichte sie den 4. Platz.

2018 errang Bensusan bei den IPC-Europameisterschaften in Berlin trotz Meisterschaftsrekorden über 100 und 200 Meter hinter Marlene van Gansewinkel jeweils Silber.

Ehrungen
 Am 1. November 2016 wurde Bensusan für ihre sportlichen Erfolge mit dem Silbernen Lorbeerblatt ausgezeichnet.
 2019 wurde sie zur Parasportlerin des Jahres gewählt.

Vereinszugehörigkeiten
Irmgard Bensusan ist seit 2014 beim TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Sie tritt in der Startklasse T44 an, als Athletin mit Teillähmung Unterschenkel rechts mit Nervenschäden. Sie kam nach Deutschland, um an den Paralympics 2016 teilnehmen zu können, und hat auch an den Paralympics in Tokio teilgenommen.

Persönliche Bestleistungen
(Stand: 30. September 2018)
Halle
 60 m: 8,24 s (Deutscher Rekord)
 200 m: 26,53 s (Deutscher Rekord)
 400 m: 1:02,42 min (Deutscher Rekord)

Freiluft
 100 m: 13,01 s (Deutscher Rekord)
 200 m: 26,53 s (Deutscher und Weltrekord)
 400 m: 59,62 s (Deutscher Rekord)

Erfolge

international
 2014: IPC-Vizeeuropameisterin (100 m, 200 m und 400 m)
 2015: IPC Vizeweltmeisterin (400 m)
 2015: 4. Platz IPC-Weltmeisterschaften (200 m)
 2016: IPC-Europameisterin (100 m und 200 m)
 2016: IPC-Vizeeuropameisterin (400 m)
 2016: 2. Platz Paralympische Spiele (100 m, 200 m und 400 m)
 2017: IPC Weltmeisterin (400 m)
 2017: IPC Vizeweltmeisterin (200 m)
 2017: 4. Platz IPC-Weltmeisterschaften (100 m)
 2018: IPC-Vizeeuropameisterin (100 m und 200 m)
 2019: 1. Platz IPC-Weltmeisterin (200 m)

Weblinks

 Athletenporträt auf deutsche-paralympische-mannschaft.de
 Athletenporträt auf Vereinsseite
 Athletenporträt auf sportschau.de
 Athletenporträt auf paralympic.org
 Athletenporträt auf Verbandsseite
 Porträt auf leichtathletik.de

Einzelnachweise

Sprinter (Deutschland)
100-Meter-Läufer (Deutschland)
200-Meter-Läufer (Deutschland)
400-Meter-Läufer (Deutschland)
Leichtathlet (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
Deutscher Meister (Leichtathletik)
Behindertensportler (Leichtathletik, Deutschland)
Paralympics-Teilnehmer (Deutschland)
Teilnehmer der Sommer-Paralympics 2016
Teilnehmer der Sommer-Paralympics 2020
Sportler des Jahres (Deutschland)
Träger des Silbernen Lorbeerblattes
Sportler (Pretoria)
Deutscher
Geboren 1991
Frau

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Neil Postman, född 8 mars 1931 i Brooklyn, New York, död 5 oktober 2003, Queens, New York, var en amerikansk lärarutbildare, medieteoretiker och samhällskritiker. Han var professor vid New York University och gjorde betydelsefulla insatser inom områdena mediestudier, kritisk analys av teknologi och utbildningsfilosofi. Han är dock mest känd som debattör angående television och då främst reklamtelevision.

Postman föddes i en yiddish-talande familj i New York, tog en bachelorexamen (B.S.) vid State University of New York i Fredonia 1953, därefter mastersexamen (M.A.) 1955 och en doktorsexamen (Ed.D.) 1958 från Teachers College vid Columbia University. Han började undervisa vid institutionen för engelska vid San Francisco State University 1958, och 1959 började han vid School of Education vid New York University, där han stannade resten av sin karriär. Han grundade New York Universitys program i medieekologi 1971.

I sitt författarskap var Postman starkt influerad av Marshall McLuhan och Harold Innis. Han skrev bland annat boken Underhållning till döds år 1985, där han diskuterar kring frågan om den ständiga underhållningen i dagens samhälle. Han menade att folk låter sig förströs av trivialiteter och det kulturella livet begränsas till television och reklam.

Bibliografi (på svenska)
 Lära för att överleva: angrepp på en förlegad undervisning - förslag till en revolution (Teaching as a subversive activity) (skriven tillsammans med Charles Weingartner) (översättning Maj Frisch, Aldus/Bonnier, 1973)
 Skolboken: för alla som vill veta vad det rör sig om (tillsammans med Charles Weingartner) (översättning Harry Bökstedt, Aldus, 1975)
 Skolan och kulturarvet: om vikten av att motverka massmedia i barnens liv (Teaching as a conserving activity) (översättning Margareta Edgardh, Bonnier, 1980)
 Den förlorade barndomen (The disappearance of childhood) (översättning Margareta Edgardh, Prisma, 1984)
 Underhållning till döds (Amusing ourselves to death) (Prisma, 1986)
 När skolans klocka klämtar: om behovet av meningsskapande berättelser (The end of education) (översättning Ulrika Jakobsson, Daidalos, 1998)

Källor

Födda 1931
Avlidna 2003
Amerikanska professorer
Medieforskare
Män


National Central Vacuum Services, i.e., NCVACS, has been providing central vacuum installations and aftersale services to consumers and commercial clients since 1991. We pioneered and created this specialized industry niche. It's what we do...and we can do it for you.