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Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 8.2 Developer's Guide
Deploying and Configuring an Embedded Resource Adapter
A connector module can be deployed as a J2EE component in a J2EE application. Such connectors are only visible to components residing in the same J2EE application. Simply deploy this J2EE application as you would any other J2EE application.
You can create new connector connection pools and connector resources for a connector module embedded within a J2EE application by prefixing the connector name with app-name#. For example, if an application appX.ear has jdbcra.rar embedded within it, the connector connection pools and connector resources refer to the connector module as appX#jdbcra.
The association between the physical JNDI name for the connector module in the Application Server and the logical JNDI name used in the application component is specified in the Application Server specific XML descriptor sun-ejb-jar.xml. You can either hand code this association or use the deploytool to make this association. (For more information about using the deploytool, see deploytool.)
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8814
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From Wikibooks, open books for an open world
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8815
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Adam Casey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For the Canadian curler, see Adam Casey (curler)
Adam Casey
Adam Casey.jpg
Casey playing for Sydney FC in 2008
Personal information
Full name Adam Casey
Date of birth (1986-05-01) 1 May 1986 (age 29)
Place of birth Sydney, Australia
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 9 12 in)
Playing position Winger / Striker
Club information
Current team
Tuggeranong United
Number 17
Youth career
Townsville Warriors
2002 ACTAS
2003 AIS
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004 O'Connor Knights 12 (8)
2004–2005 Belconnen 3 (1)
2005–2006 Wollongong Wolves 20 (10)
2006–2007 New Zealand Knights 8 (0)
2007–2010 Sydney FC 13 (3)
2010–2011 North Queensland Fury 9 (0)
2011–2012 Dandaloo FC
2012 Dandenong Thunder SC 0 (0)
2012 APIA Leichhardt 10 (6)
2013–2014 Rockdale City 4 (0)
2014– Tuggeranong United 8 (0)
National team
2003 Australia U-17 16 (9)
2007 Australia U-23 3 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16 September 2014.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17:30, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
Adam Casey (born 1 May 1986 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian footballer who plays for Tuggeranong United in the National Premier Leagues.
Club career[edit]
Born in Sydney, Adam grew up in Canberra and Townsville joining the ACT Academy of Sport program before progressing in 2003 to a place in the Australian Institute of Sport program.[1] On completion of his AIS scholarship, he joined ACT Premier League club O'Connor Knights for the 2004 winter season and as the NSL had wound up removing any national level opportunities, he played at Belconnen Blue Devils for the NSWPL 2004/05 season. The following summer, with Belconnen outed from the competition, Casey moved to Wollongong Wolves for a brief spell before being signed to New Zealand Knights in April 2006.
Adam came on as a second-half substitute in the Knights opening game of 2006-07. In total, he made eight appearances for the club throughout the season although was unable to find the net, a not uncommon problem for Knights players with only eleven goals scored across the team in a disappointing season.
Sydney FC[edit]
On 30 January 2007, Casey signed a two-year deal with Sydney FC.[2][3] He played in four matches in Sydney's AFC Champions League 2007 campaign and also made his mark on the scoresheet in a friendly against Marconi Stallions.[4] He signed on another two year deal under John Kosmina after Branko Culina being let go by the club. Vitezlav Lavicka took the role and he followed up playing six matches during the A-League season and scoring once. Casey agreed to be released 1 year early off his contract and was signed by North Queensland Fury.[5]
North Queensland Fury[edit]
Casey made his debut for the Townsville club in their Round 1, 3-3 draw with Perth Glory.[6]
Dandaloo FC[edit]
With the demise, and eventual folding of North Queensland Fury due to financial reasons, Casey ended up signing for Illawarra Premier League club Dandaloo FC, joining former A-League players Alvin Ceccoli and Noel Spencer.[7]
Dandenong Thunder SC[edit]
Adam signed with Dandenong Thunder from the Victorian Premier League in 2012.
Adam signed with the Rockdale City Suns for the 2013 NSWPL season, joining his former Sydney FC coach Branco Culina at the club.
International career[edit]
While at the AIS, he was establishing a place in the Australian U17 squad, scoring six goals in the Joey's 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship qualification campaign.
Casey was included in the Olyroos squad for a tournament in Vietnam in 2006. He was recalled into the side in May 2007 for 2008 Summer Olympics qualification matches, making an appearance against Jordan.[8]
With Sydney FC:
1. ^ Whyte, Julia (25 July 2007). "Move to Sydney gives Casey chance to play at home". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
2. ^ "Adam Casey Signs for Sydney". 30 January 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
3. ^ Taylor, John (31 January 2007). "New deals for Corica and Bolton". Fox Sports. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
4. ^ Ormond, Aidan (4 April 2007). "Sydney slaughter Stallions". Australian FourFourTwo. Retrieved 2007-06-30.
5. ^ "Hyundai A-League 2010/11 List of Transfers". A-League. 17 August 2010. Archived from the original on 7 November 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
6. ^ "Fury pinch a point". A-League. 7 August 2010. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
7. ^ "Adam Casey signs for Dandaloo". Illawarra Mercury. 23 March 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
8. ^ "AFC Match Summary - Jordan v Australia, 6 June 2007". Asian Football Confederation. 6 June 2007.
External links[edit]
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Alex Prior
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Alex Prior (born 5 October 1992) is a British composer and conductor who studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.
Life and career[edit]
Prior was born in London to a British father and a Russian mother who descended from Constantin Stanislavski.[1] Prior began composing at the age of eight and has written more than 40 works, including symphonies, concertos, two ballets, two operas, and a Requiem for the children of Beslan. At an early age, he began piano lessons. He later enrolled in the junior department of the Royal College of Music. At 13, he entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory where, beginning in his third year, he studied composition with Boris Tishchenko and opera and symphonic conducting with Alexander Alexeev (a pupil of Hans Swarowsky). In 2009, at age 17, he graduated with Distinction two Masters-Degrees in Symphonic and Operatic Conducting, and in Composition from the St. Petersburg Conservatory.[2]
Prior has collaborated with many leading orchestras and ensembles, including The BBC Singers, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Opera Orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia, and the ensemble Endymion. Highlights include a performance of his Sonata for Cello and Piano at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and a symphonic poem, Stalin's March, as part of the Arts Council-funded New Music Day with the City of London Sinfonia. Other performances include The Prince's Feast with Prior conducting the National Symphony Orchestra of London at the Barbican Centre and the premiere of Svyatogor's Quest by the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio at Wigmore Hall. In Autumn 2008, following performances in St. Petersburg, the Rossica Choir toured the UK, featuring Prior's choral cycle Sounds of the Homeland and parts of his All Night Vigil.
Prior's Piano Concerto No. 1 was premiered at the V International Piano Festival in St. Petersburg in September 2006. Prior was runner-up in the 2008 International Prokofiev Composers Competition – his Piano Concerto No. 2 Northern Dances was performed by the State Academic Symphony of St. Petersburg in the Great Philharmonic Hall. In 2006, Prior's ballet Mowgli (based on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book) was commissioned by choreographers Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vassilev of the Moscow State Classical Ballet. The official premiere took place at the Kremlin Theatre in Moscow in February 2008.
Prior made his UK conducting debut with The National Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican in March 2007. He also conducted the State Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg in a performance of his String Symphony No. 1 and in a concert in the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall entirely devoted to his own compositions.
In November 2008 he conducted a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Tsar's Bride in St. Petersburg, followed by a performance of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker in January 2009.
In 2009, Prior received a commission from Channel 4 to compose a concerto featuring some of the world's most outstanding young musicians, as finally chosen by Prior, which included Zhang Xiaoming ("Jack") (age 10) on piano, Michael Province (age 13) on violin, Simone Porter (age 12) on violin, and Nathan Chan (age 15) on cello. The three-part series, culminating in a concert at The Sage Gateshead, was broadcast in June 2009, with Prior conducting the Northern Sinfonia.[3][4]
Prior was commissioned by the St. Petersburg Concert Society to write a choral symphony based on Nikolai Gogol's work "Nevsky Prospekt" and other stories such as "Diary of a Madman". Prior's Symphony No.4 "Gogol" was premiered on 19 December 2009 at the Smolniy Cathedral in St. Petersburg with Prior conducting the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra.
On 8 January 2010, the Seattle Symphony appointed Prior as an Assistant to Guest Conductors, a specially created six-month fellowship, for the period from January through July 2010.[5][6]
In Summer 2010 he was a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center.
In August 2011, he conducted the world premiere of his Triple Concerto, entitled "That which must forever remain unspoken", with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong.[2][7]
In 2011, Prior was the principal conductor for the Northwest Mahler Festival in Seattle, Washington.[8]
In December 2011, Prior was a conductor for the Royal Danish Ballet performing The Nutcracker at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen.[2]
He was commissioned to compose Los Angeles Opera's new opera for families, Jonah and the Whale, which will have its world premiere in March 2012 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, conducted by James Conlon.[9]
Prior has received some positive reviews for his recent concerto Velesslavitsa, both as a composer and a conductor.[10]
"But Prior was the real star. In his fourth year at the St Petersburg Conservatoire, he is in essence a Russian composer, and it was no surprise that Velesslavitsa sounded like an exuberant apotheosis, in concerto-grosso form, of Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and other Russian Romantics – the kind of over-the-top music a 16-year-old should be writing. At 47 minutes the structure could be tighter, but it has drama, colour and excitement in abundance.
And Prior the conductor is an absolute professional, clear in his gestures, authoritative in manner, supportive of his soloists. No longer a Wunderkind, he's well on the way to being a Wunder-adult."
"Prior certainly knows how to compose, and certainly has a bright future..." The Times
• 2nd prize at the Leeds conducting competition at the age of 16[2][8]
• International Prokofiev Composition Competition[11]
• In Russia he was awarded the order of The Blue Cross, for his contribution to the national and international arts scene, and for his charitable work within music.[11]
Selected compositions[edit]
"Horizons: An American Crescendo for Four Soloists and Orchestra" dedicated to John Adams.
• 3 Piano concertos St. Petersburg Dances of the North and No.3
• Concerto for 4 soloists and orchestra Velesslavitsa
• Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello "That which must forever remain unspoken"
• No.1 Karelian
• No.2
• No.3 "Northern"
• No.4 "Gogol"
• All Night Vigil
• Sounds of the Homeland
• At the North for SATB Choir on Ivan Bunin's poetry
Piano Solo[edit]
• 10 preludes
• Evenings on the Farm near Dikanka
1. ^ Franks, Alan (3 April 2010). "Meet conducting whizkid Alex Prior". The Times (London). Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
2. ^ a b c d Cf. Alex Prior website.
3. ^ Orr, James (19 June 2007). "British teenager scores Russian ballet coup". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 21 June 2007.
4. ^ "The World's Greatest Musical Prodigies", Channel 4, 30 March 2009
5. ^ "Seattle Symphony Names 17-year-old Conductor Alexander Prior Assistant to the Guest Conductors". Seattle Symphony Orchestra Website. 8 January 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
6. ^ Bingham, John, "British teenage 'prodigy' Alexander Prior joins Seattle Symphony Orchestra: Alexander Prior, a British teenager hailed as a musical prodigy, has taken up a conducting appointment with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra", The Telegraph (UK), 11 January 2010
7. ^ "Prodigies From Around the World", City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, July 2011
8. ^ a b "The 2011 Northwest Mahler Festival Principal Conductor: Alex Prior", Northwest Mahler Festiaval
9. ^ Cf. LA Opera website
10. ^ Martin Anderson (11 May 2009). "Northern Sinfonia / Alex Prior, The Sage, Gateshead". The Independent (London). Retrieved 4 August 2009.
11. ^ a b "Biography: Alex Prior" – Seattle Symphony Orchestra biography
12. ^
External links[edit]
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BFG (weapon)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from BFG10K)
Jump to: navigation, search
BFG 9000
Doom character
The BFG 9000, as seen in the Doom series.
The BFG 9000 as depicted in the original Doom (top) and Doom 3 (bottom)
First game Doom (1993)
Created by Tom Hall
Designed by Adrian Carmack and Kevin Cloud[citation needed]
The BFG is a fictional weapon found in many video game titles, mostly in first-person shooters such as the Doom and Quake video game series.
The abbreviation BFG stands for "Blast Frequency Gun", but is commonly known as the "Big Fucking Gun" as described in Tom Hall's original Doom design document and in the user manual of Doom II: Hell on Earth. The Quake II manual says it stands for "Big, Uh, Freakin' Gun". Another expurgated version of the name used in the Doom motion picture is "Bio Force Gun". The versions found in the Doom games are called "BFG 9000" and those in Quake "BFG 10K". In mods, various other versions made by fans can be found.
The first appearance of the weapon is the press beta release of Doom. In that version, the BFG 9000 released a cloud of 80 little plasma balls (randomly green or red) per shot.
In the first commercial Doom game, the BFG 9000 is a large energy weapon that fires giant balls of green plasma. The most powerful weapon in the game, it causes major damage to opponents and can clear entire rooms of foes. A direct hit from it is often an instant kill. The player is unaffected by the splash damage, which makes it possible to use the BFG 9000 safely in close quarters, unlike some of the other powerful weapons. In the first Doom the weapon can only be picked up in the third and fourth episodes. The BFG 9000 also appears virtually unchanged in Doom II: Hell on Earth, Final Doom, Doom 64, and Doom RPG.
Quake II and Quake III Arena pay homage to the BFG 9000 with a pair of weapons both called the BFG 10K. The Quake II version fires a slow plasma glob that separates into fast moving projectiles that target multiple enemies at once. The Quake III Arena version of the BFG fire a series of fast plasma orbs, and acts quite like the Rocket Launcher (Rocket Jump can be done also with the BFG 9000). BFG10K from Quake 3 also appears in OpenArena (different look, but same behavior) and Quake Live (with slightly modified characteristics). Rage also pays homage to the BFG 9000 with a weapon known as the "Authority Pulse Cannon", which fires "BFG Rounds".
In the Doom movie, the "bio force gun" fires a bright blue projectile which appears to burst on impact and spray a caustic substance over its target and the surrounding area.
Reception[edit] ranked the BFG 9000 at number two on their list of top video game weapons of all time, stating "it was marvelous and complex, and we should not hesitate to put this weapon down in history as one of the best."[1] X-Play ranked it number one on their list of top "badass" weapons, stating that while "not as fancy as the gravity gun", it was the first weapon that "really made us swoon".[2] IGN also listed the BFG as one of the ten best weapons in video games, placing it at number ten.[3] named it number one on their list of top video game weapons, stating "Do you really need a reason why this tops the list?"[4]
See also[edit]
1. ^ Top 50 Video Game Weapons of All Time. Retrieved on 2008-12-17, now on
2. ^ X-Play's Top 10 Badass Weapons: Part 2. G4. Retrieved on 2008-12-25
4. ^ Top 10 Video Game Weapons. Retrieved on 2009-01-30
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Battle of Kamatero
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Battle of Kamatero
Part of the Greek War of Independence
Date 27 January 1827 (O.S.)
Location Kamatero, Greece
Result Ottoman victory
Greece Greek revolutionaries Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Colonel Constantin Denis Bourbaki
Vasos Mavrovouniotis
Panagiotakis Notaras
3,500 soldiers 2,000 infantry
600 cavalry
2 cannons[1]
Casualties and losses
300[2] - 500[3] soldiers unknown
The Battle of Kamatero was an armed conflict during the Greek revolution between the Greek forces under the command of the Greek ex officer of the French army, Colonel Denis Bourbaki[3] and the Ottoman forces led by Reşid Mehmed Pasha. The battle ended with the decisive victory of the Ottomans on the night of 27 January 1827 (O.S.) in Kamatero, Greece (near Menidi).
Before the battle[edit]
In late 1826, the retired Colonel of the French army Constantin Denis Bourbaki (Dionysios Vourvachis), after getting permission from the Greek Government in Nafplio, formed a force battalion of 800-1000 men,[4][5] using his own money but also an amount that was offered by philhellenic clubs of Europe. During the last days of 1826, the battalion landed in Loutraki[6] to strengthen Georgios Karaiskakis army, but after government orders they moved to Eleusina to help Vasos Mavrovouniotis. A few days later, Panagiotakis Notaras arrived there as well, with a force of 1200 men.[7] From Eleusina, Vourvachis and the two other chieftains, with united forces moved to Menidi, where on the 22nd of January prevailed in battle against the Ottomans.[8] On the 26th of January, the combined force of approximately 3500[1] men camped in Kamatero.
The battle helped to distract Reshid Pasha's forces from engaging the armies of British general Thomas Gordon while they were completing their defensive fortifications on the hill of Munychia.[3] On the 27th of January 1827, 2000 Ottoman foot soldiers and 600 horsemen, covered by artillery, attacked under the command of Kütahı Pasha against the Greeks, who had split their forces in two. Vourvachis had lined his men on the field, while Mavrovouniotis and Notaras held positions at the foot of the adjacent mountain, a third of a mile afar.[1]
More specifically, the artillery of Kütahı Pasha attacked Mavrovouniotis and Notaras, while at the same time the infantry and cavalry of the Ottomans attacked the forces of Vourvachis on the field, who formed the vanguard. Despite the resistance of Vourvachis and his men, they were defeated, especially because of the Ottoman cavalry. The forces of Mavrovouniotis and Notaras were defeated as well and were forced to a disorderly retreat, most of them fleeing to Salamis Island, while the Ottomans chased them.[2]
Results and evaluation[edit]
The battle ended in a crushing defeat of the Greek forces. From the rebels’ side 300–350[2] fighters were killed, including two French philhellene officers, the surgeon of the army and Dionysios Vourvachis, the head of whom was cut off and sent by Kütahı Pasha as loot to the sultan Mahmud II.[9]
According to Trikoupis, the eve of the battle there was disagreement between the leaders of the Greek army about the tactics that they should follow. Trikoupis blames Vourvachis, while Makriyannis believes that Mavrovouniotis is responsible, arguing that placing the troops in such a weak position was his initiative.[5] Moreover, he expresses his doubts about the fighting abilities of the men that Vourvachis had enlisted.[5]
1. ^ a b c Spyridon Trikoupis [Σπυρίδων Τρικούπης], Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως, Έκδοσις τρίτη επιθεωρηθείσα και διορθωθείσα υπ' αυτού του συγγραφέως, εκ του τυπογραφείου της Ώρας, Εν Αθήναις 1888, vol.4 (Δ’), p.79.
2. ^ a b c Spyridon Trikoupis, 1888, vol.4 (Δ’), p.79-80.
3. ^ a b c Finlay, pp. 131-132.
4. ^ Spyridon Trikoupis, 1888, vol.4 (Δ’), p.77.
5. ^ a b c Memoirs of Makriyannis: Απομνημονεύματα Στρατηγού Μακρυγιάννη, vol.1 (Α'), Αθήναι, 1947, p.299.
6. ^ Makriyannis, p.300
7. ^ Spyridon Trikoupis, 1888, vol.4 (Δ’), p.77-78.
8. ^ Spyridon Trikoupis, 1888, vol.4 (Δ’), p.78.
9. ^ Apostolos E. Vakalopoulos [Απόστολος Ε. Βακαλόπουλος], Ιστορία του Νέου Ελληνισμού, vol.7 (Ζ'), Θεσσαλονίκη, 1986, p.644.
• Finlay, George. History of the Greek Revolution. W. Blackwood and Sons, 1861 (Harvard University).
• Koutsonikas, Lambros. Γενική ιστορία της ελληνικής επαναστάσεως, vol.2 (Β΄). Αθήνα: Ευαγγέλιμος Δ. Καρακατζάνης, p. 323-327.
• Kremos, Georgios (1879). Χρονολόγια της Ελληνικής Ιστορίας : προς χρήσιν πάντος φιλομαθούς, ιδία δε των εν τοις γυμνασίοις μαθητών. Αθήνα: Δημήτριος Ιασεμίδης, p. 28.
• Trikoupis, Spyridon. Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως, Έκδοσις τρίτη επιθεωρηθείσα και διορθωθείσα υπ' αυτού του συγγραφέως, εκ του τυπογραφείου της Ώρας, Εν Αθήναις 1888
• Vakalopoulos, Apostolos. Ιστορία του Νέου Ελληνισμού, vol.7 (Ζ'), Θεσσαλονίκη, 1986
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Beaver Brook (Merrimack River)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Coordinates: 42°39′32″N 71°19′06″W / 42.6589°N 71.3184°W / 42.6589; -71.3184 Beaver Brook is a 30.7-mile-long (49.4 km) river located in New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the United States. It is a tributary of the Merrimack River, part of the Gulf of Maine watershed.
Beaver Brook rises in Chester, New Hampshire, and flows south into Derry, passing through Harantis Lake, Adams Pond, and Beaver Lake. Continuing south, the brook forms the boundary between Londonderry and Windham, then flows through Pelham.[1] The brook crosses the state line into Dracut, Massachusetts, and reaches the Merrimack River in the city of Lowell.
Most of the brook's course is through gently hilly terrain that is rapidly being converted into suburban land use.
See also[edit]
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Britney & Kevin: Chaotic (EP)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Britney & Kevin: Chaotic (album))
Jump to: navigation, search
Britney & Kevin: Chaotic
EP by Britney Spears
Released September 27, 2005
Recorded 2002–05
Genre Pop, dance
Length 10:33
Label Jive
Producer Bloodshy & Avant, Guy Sigsworth, Britney Spears
Britney Spears chronology
Greatest Hits: My Prerogative
Britney & Kevin: Chaotic
B in the Mix: The Remixes
Singles from Britney & Kevin: Chaotic
1. "Someday (I Will Understand)"
Released: August 21, 2005
Britney Spears video chronology
Greatest Hits: My Prerogative
Britney & Kevin: Chaotic... the DVD
Britney: For the Record
Britney & Kevin: Chaotic is the first extended play (EP) by American recording artist Britney Spears. It was released on September 27, 2005 by Jive Records as a bonus CD to Britney & Kevin: Chaotic... the DVD & More and as a digital download. The EP features three songs: "Chaotic", "Someday (I Will Understand)" and "Mona Lisa".
Background and recording[edit]
In July 2004, Spears announced her engagement to American dancer Kevin Federline, whom she had met three months before. The romance received intense attention from the media, since Federline had recently broken up with actress Shar Jackson, who was still pregnant with their second child at the time.[1] The initial stages of their relationship were chronicled in Spears's first reality show Britney and Kevin: Chaotic, which aired on UPN in the spring of 2005. They held a wedding ceremony on September 18, 2004, but were not legally married until three weeks later on October 6 due to a delay finalizing the couple's prenuptial agreement.[2] In October 2004, the singer announced she would be taking another career break to start a family.[3]
On December 30, 2004, Spears made a surprise appearance at the Los Angeles radio station KIIS-FM to premiere a rough mix of a new mid-tempo track "Mona Lisa". Spears had recorded the song live with her band during the The Onyx Hotel Tour. She dedicated the song to all the "legends and icons out there". The lyrics lament the fall of Mona Lisa, calling her "unforgettable" and "unpredictable", and cautions listeners not to have a "breakdown". She also revealed she wanted the song to be the first single of her upcoming album, tentatively titled The Original Doll and hoped to release it "probably before summertime [2005], or maybe a little sooner than that".[4] In January 2005, Spears posted another letter on her website, saying,[5]
I think I should rephrase myself from my previous letters when I was talking about taking a 'break'. What I meant was I am taking a break from being told what to do. ... It's cool when you look at someone and don't know whether they are at work or play since it's all the same to them. The things I've been doing for work lately have been so much fun, because it's not like work to me anymore. I've been even more 'hands on' in my management and the business side of things, and I feel more in control than ever.[5]
A representative for Jive Records stated that although Spears was working in the studio, "no album is scheduled at the moment" and that there were no plans to service "Mona Lisa" to radio.[6] The song, which was written by Spears, Teddy Campbell and David Kochanski,[7] was later re-worked to be included on Britney & Kevin: Chaotic.[8] Spears composed "Someday (I Will Understand)" on the piano at her house, two weeks before she learned of her pregnancy with her first child, Sean Preston. She explained the song came "like a prophecy... when you're pregnant, you're empowered".[9]
Guy Sigsworth was the producer of "Someday (I Will Understand)", and he also co-wrote a song with Imogen Heap, Robyn and Alexander Kronlund, titled "Over to You Now", that was included as a bonus track on the EP.[10] "And Then We Kiss" was set to be included on a bonus disc too, but was left out for unknown reasons.[11]
Release and promotion[edit]
"Someday (I Will Understand)" was released as the first and only single from the bonus CD of Britney & Kevin: Chaotic in Europe on August 21, 2005.[12] The song reached the top ten in Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland and also charted in a number of European countries.[12] The black-and-white music video premiered on the finale of Britney & Kevin: Chaotic.[13] Directed by Michael Haussman, it features Spears as a pregnant woman and portrays a transformation of her character.[14] A remixed version of the song was included on the 2005 remix compilation, B in the Mix: The Remixes.[15]
The bonus CD was released as Spears' first EP on September 27, 2005.[16] The EP has sold 650k to date.[17]
The theme song, "Chaotic", received a promotional release in Japan, despite not being released as a single.[18][19]
Track listing[edit]
Britney & Kevin: Chaotic
No. Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Length
1. "Chaotic" Bloodshy & Avant 3:32
2. "Someday (I Will Understand)" Britney Spears Guy Sigsworth 3:37
3. "Mona Lisa"
• Spears
• Teddy Campbell
• David Kochanski
Bloodshy & Avant 3:27
Total length:
Credits for Britney & Kevin: Chaotic adapted from AllMusic.[25]
1. ^ Reporter, Staff (2008-07-31). "Britney Spears' Biography ". Fox News. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
2. ^ Heller 2007, p. 80
3. ^ Vineyard, Jennifer (2004-10-16). "Britney Spears Announces She's Taking A Break From Her Career". MTV. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
4. ^ Vineyard, Jennifer (2005-01-03). "So Much For 'Taking Time Off': Britney Previews New Song On L.A. Radio Station". MTV. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
5. ^ a b Vineyard, Jennifer (2005-01-04). "Britney Clarifies: I'm Taking A Break From Being Told What To Do". MTV. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
6. ^ Newman, Melina (2005-01-07). "Spears gives L.A. radio station 'Mona Lisa'". Retrieved 2011-07-10.
7. ^ "BMI Repertoire Search - Mona Lisa". Britney Spears Music. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
8. ^ Staff, RCA (2005-10-18). "Britney Spears. Chaotic - DVD out October 31st". RCA/Jive Label Group. Sony Music Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2005-10-19. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
9. ^ Maxwell, Alison (2005-06-14). "'Chaotic': Britney's happily-ever-after". USA Today (Gannett Company, Inc.). Retrieved 2010-03-05.
10. ^ "： ブリトニー&ケヴィン:ケオティック [DVD]: ブリトニー・スピアーズ: DVD" (in Japanese). Staples Inc. 2005-09-27. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
12. ^ a b "Someday (I Will Understand) on world charts". Ultratop. Hung Medien. 2005. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
13. ^ Staff, Associated Press (2005-06-12). "Britney to debut music video on ‘Chaotic’ finale". NBC Universal / Microsoft. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
14. ^ Reporter, Rolling Stone (2009). "The Complete Video Guide: "Someday (I Will Understand)"". Rolling Stone (Jann Wenner). ISSN 0035-791X.
15. ^ B in the Mix: The Remixes liner notes. Jive Records (2005)
16. ^ "iTunes - Music - Britney & Kevin: Chaotic - EP by Britney Spears". iTunes Store. Apple Inc. 2005-09-27. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
17. ^ "Is there money in remix albums". Music Tracker. 2012-08-02. Retrieved 2005-08-02.
18. ^ Chaotic (Promo CD single liner notes). Britney Spears. Jive Records. 2005. BVCQ-28030.
19. ^ "Britney Spears - Chaotic (CDr)". Discogs. Zink Media, Inc. 2005-10-26. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
20. ^
21. ^
22. ^
23. ^
24. ^
25. ^ "Britney & Kevin: Chaotic – Credits". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
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Category:Former populated places in England
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This category is for settlements within England's modern boundaries that have been abandoned or lost through human or natural causes. Some may have been re-established nearby or the original site may have been resettled.
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Charles Manson discography
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Several recordings by Charles Manson and members of his "Family" have been released since Manson was indicted in late 1969 for the Tate-LaBianca murders.[1]
Lie: The Love and Terror Cult[edit]
In 1968, Phil Kaufman, who had met Manson in prison, moved in briefly with Manson and his "Family". Kaufman continually urged Manson to record some of his songs.[2]
While Manson was being held on the Tate-LaBianca charges, he told Kaufman "please put out my music." According to Kaufman, Manson phoned him five days a week, even though he was allowed only three phone calls per day. Manson was "very anxious for his music to be heard."[2]
After established record companies declined to become involved, Kaufman raised $3000 and pressed 2000 copies of an album entitled Lie: The Love & Terror Cult.[2] Consisting of recordings made from 1967 to 1969, the album contained thirteen songs.[2] These included "Cease to Exist", a song the Beach Boys had recorded in modified form as "Never Learn Not to Love".[3] Each of the original 2000 copies came with a poster that was put out by "A Joint Venture" and that bore signatures of many prisoners and inmates, all supporting Manson and the Family.[citation needed]
The album was released March 6, 1970.[4] It was distributed on the West Coast, by the same people who did the first underground album, Great White Wonder, a collection of pirated Bob Dylan tapes.[2] Over the next couple of months, only about three hundred copies were sold.[5] Having supposedly failed to recover his investment, Kaufman signed an agreement with New-York-based ESP-Disk to distribute the album nationally.[2]
Other recordings[edit]
In 1970, the Manson family recorded an album, titled The Family Jams, of songs written by Manson, although he did not appear on the album.
In the 1980s, Manson made many recordings via tape recorders in prison. These were given to associates on the outside. It is not known exactly how many were made, however, over a dozen unique tapes have surfaced. These recordings were the source for several CDs such as Commemoration, Live at San Quentin and The Way of the Wolf. A short piece of spoken words by him also appears on a Greek private CD release by Anger Department. An album of acoustic songs titled Completion was recorded in the 1980s by Henry Rollins of Black Flag fame. The record was supposed to be released by SST Records, but the project was later canceled due to the label receiving death threats. Only five test pressings of Completion were made, two of which remain in Rollins' possession.[6]
Scheduled for release by Lupo Records on May 7, 2007, was the Charles Manson album The Summer of Hate – the '67 Sessions.[7] It was the first release of the complete recordings that were made in a rehearsal studio on September 11, 1967, that went on to be used as demos in an effort to secure a recording deal.
A former Manson family member, Bobby Beausoleil, who appeared as lead guitarist on several tracks from the Lie album, has released several recordings since being in prison. Another former Manson family member, Steve "Clem" Grogan, was actively involved in music. An unofficial CD of a prison concert from the 1970s is available in collectors' circles and since being parolled several years ago, "Clem" has been a member of several local bands in California.
An additional, limited edition two CD set, entitled The Wit and Wisdom of Charles Manson, has been sold on some sites. The release contains spoken word, interviews and unreleased music, only available on CD-R with a cover and artwork.
Some websites and blogs bring Charles' music to the forefront and share opinions and reviews of releases by Manson. The Charles Manson Music Spot houses reviews, downloads, and information on Charlie's releases.
• Lie: The Love and Terror Cult (LP, Performance, 1970. Reissued on LP/CD/MC on various labels). Recorded September 11, 1967 with overdubs added in 1968.
• White Rasta (MC). Songs and improvisations recorded in jail in 1983.
• Poor Old Prisoner Boy: The 55th Anniversary Album (LP, Remote Control Records, 1989). Contains 55 minutes of jail recordings. Edition of 555 copies, the 55th Anniversary Album.
• Son of Man (LP, 1992). The A side contains jail recordings, while the B side is etched with a reproduction of a drawing of faces done by Manson. Also includes liner notes of poetry attributed to Manson.
• Live at San Quentin (CD, Grey Matter, 1993). Contains the same tracks as White Rasta, in a different order.
• Charles Manson (CD, Grey Matter, 1993). A combination of Lie and The Manson Family Sings, packaged to look like The Beatles' self-titled album.
• Commemoration (CD, White Devil Records, 1994). Released to commemorate Manson's 60th birthday and "sixty years of struggle against cowardice, stupidity and lies", recorded in the early 1980s.
• Manson Speaks (2CD, White Devil Records, 1995). Contains recitals of poetry and Manson's opinions of current events.
• The Way of the Wolf (CD, Pale Horse, 1998). Music and some bonus conversation recorded in jail in the 1980s. This was a limited edition release of 1000 copies.
• Unplugged 9.11.67 Volume 1 (CD, Archer C.A.T. Productions Inc.). Recordings done by Manson on September 11, 1967 as well as spoken words between Manson and some people at the recording session.
• A Taste of Freedom (CD-R, 2001). Contains telephone conversations with Charles Manson recorded in late 1999 and early 2000. Very limited edition.
• All the Way Alive (CD,[8]). Thirteen previously unreleased studio recordings from 11 September 1967. (Formerly People's Temple Records, 2003, Edition of 1000 copies).
• One Mind (CD,,[8] 2005). Sixteen new recordings of songs, guitar, impromptu poetry and words.
• Charles Manson Sings (CD, ESP Disk, 2006). Digitally remastered combination of Lie and 12 of the 13 tracks on All the Way Alive.
• The Summer of Hate – The '67 Sessions (CD, Lupo Records, May 7, 2007), 18 additional tracks to Lie, also recorded 11 September 1967.
• The Wit and Wisdom of Charles Manson (CD, no label, 2008) 2 cd-rs full of interviews, spoken word and remixed music.
• Air (CD/LP/Digital Download, Magic Bullet Records, 2010) brand new unheard music. This album is the first of a four-part seasonal series which will spell out Charles Manson's life support acronym ATWA.
• ATWAR (Cassette Tape, White Devil Records, 2010) 25 minutes filled with new music and new spoken word recorded by Manson in September 1984.
• Trees (CD/LP/Digital Download, Magic Bullet Records, 2011) The second part of a four-part seasonal series which will spell out Charles Manson's life support acronym ATWA.
• The Lost Vacaville Tapes (LP, Underworld Productions, Inc, 2013) Lost tapes recorded through 1983-1984 at the California Medical Facility and released on vinyl available for a limited time.Recordings made by Manson at Vacaville during 1983-4 were released on a vinyl LP by Ben Gurecki in 2013.[9]
• "I'm on Fire" / "The Hallways of Always" - Tracks taken from Commemoration
• "Look at Your Game, Girl" / "Your Home Is Where You're Happy"
• "Inner Sanctum" (7", Holy Terror Records, 2010) 14 minutes of recent music and insight
• "Horsefly" (7", The Zou, Parasitic Records, November 11, 2011) Sixteen minutes and sixteen seconds of new and previously unreleased music. This record commemorates "The anniversary of Charles Manson's 77th year of resistance."
Recordings by The Family not featuring Charles Manson[edit]
• The Manson Family Sings the Songs of Charles Manson (LP). 1970 recordings of Manson's songs performed by Steve Grogan as lead singer, along with Red, Blue, Gypsy, Brenda, Ouisch and Capistrano.
• The Family Jams (2CD, Transparency 0011). The first disc is called The Family Jams and contains all the music on The Manson Family Sings the Songs of Charles Manson, while the second disc entitled Family Jams Too features previously unreleased recordings also dating from 1970.
• In early 1970, The Manson Family got everyone together in the Spahn Ranch Saloon late at night to record the Family Jams for Robert Hendrickson's MANSON film. Even Bruce Davis, then hunted by the FBI was there. Some of the songs were so new, most of the Family members did not know all of the lyrics yet. The Jam session lasted for hours, and the audio tapes remain buried in a vault.
1. ^ List of Manson recordings Retrieved November 24, 2007.
2. ^ a b c d e f Syndicated column re LIE release Mike Jahn, August 1970.
3. ^ Sanders, Ed. The Family, Thunder's Mouth Press, New York, 2002. ISBN 1-56025-396-7. Page 64-65.
5. ^ Rolling Stone story on Manson, June 1970
7. ^ Charles Manson early demos surface
8. ^ a b "Family Jams". Retrieved 2008-12-19.
9. ^ "Ben Gurecki interview on Outsight Radio Hours". Retrieved 23 February 2014.
External links[edit]
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Cilla (disambiguation).
Cilla is an English female given name, originally the diminutive form of Priscilla and less frequently Drusilla. It first appeared in the 20th century.
People named Cilla include:
Other uses of the name:
• Cilla (mythology), name of two Trojan women in Greek mythology
• Cilla (TV series), a three-part drama about Cilla Black's early life and career
• Cilla, a city in the Troad sacred to Apollo
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Deciduous trees)
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Deciduous (disambiguation).
Deciduous forest in autumn
Deciduous forest in winter
Mixed deciduous forest in spring
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity"[1] or "tending to fall off",[2] and it is typically used in order to refer to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally (most commonly during autumn) and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe. In a more general sense, deciduous means "the dropping of a part that is no longer needed" or "falling away after its purpose is finished". In plants it is the result of natural processes. "Deciduous" has a similar meaning when referring to animal parts, such as deciduous antlers in deer[3] or deciduous teeth, also known as baby teeth, in some mammals (including humans).
In botany and horticulture, deciduous plants, including trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials, are those that lose all of their leaves for part of the year.[4] This process is called abscission.[5] In some cases leaf loss coincides with winter — namely in temperate or polar climates.[6] In other parts of the world, including tropical, subtropical, and arid regions, plants lose their leaves during the dry season or other seasons, depending on variations in rainfall.
The converse of deciduous is evergreen, where foliage is shed on a different schedule from deciduous trees, therefore appearing to remain green year round.[7] Plants that are intermediate may be called semi-deciduous; they lose old foliage as new growth begins.[8] Other plants are semi-evergreen and lose their leaves before the next growing season, retaining some during winter or dry periods.[9] Some trees, including a few species of oak, have desiccated leaves that remain on the tree through winter; these dry persistent leaves are called marcescent leaves and are dropped in the spring as new growth begins.
Like many deciduous plants, Forsythia flowers during the leafless season
Further information: Autumn leaf color
The beginnings of leaf drop starts when an abscission layer is formed between the leaf petiole and the stem. This layer is formed in the spring during active new growth of the leaf; it consists of layers of cells that can separate from each other. The cells are sensitive to a plant hormone called auxin that is produced by the leaf and other parts of the plant. When auxin coming from the leaf is produced at a rate consistent with that from the body of the plant, the cells of the abscission layer remain connected; in autumn, or when under stress, the auxin flow from the leaf decreases or stops, triggering cellular elongation within the abscission layer. The elongation of these cells break the connection between the different cell layers, allowing the leaf to break away from the plant. It also forms a layer that seals the break, so the plant does not lose sap.
A number of deciduous plants remove nitrogen and carbon from the foliage before they are shed and store them in the form of proteins in the vacuoles of parenchyma cells in the roots and the inner bark. In the spring, these proteins are used as a nitrogen source during the growth of new leaves or flowers.[13]
Deciduous woody plants[edit]
Periods of leaf fall often coincide with seasons: winter in the case of cool-climate plants or the dry-season in the case of tropical plants,[15] however there are no deciduous species among tree-like monocotyledonous plants, e.g. palms, yuccas, and dracaenas.
Lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) dominated deciduous woodland in early spring.
Forests where a majority of the trees lose their foliage at the end of the typical growing season are called deciduous forests. These forests are found in many areas worldwide and have distinctive ecosystems, understory growth, and soil dynamics.[16]
Two distinctive types of deciduous forest are found growing around the world.
Temperate deciduous forest biomes are plant communities distributed in North and South America, Asia, Southern slopes of the Himalayas, Europe and for cultivation purposes in Oceania. They have formed under climatic conditions which have great seasonable temperature variability with growth occurring during warm summers and leaf drop in autumn and dormancy during cold winters. These seasonally distinctive communities have diverse life forms that are impacted greatly by the seasonality of their climate, mainly temperature and precipitation rates. These varying and regionally different ecological conditions produce distinctive forest plant communities in different regions.
Dry-season deciduous tropical forest
Tropical and subtropical deciduous forest biomes have developed in response not to seasonal temperature variations but to seasonal rainfall patterns. During prolonged dry periods the foliage is dropped to conserve water and prevent death from drought. Leaf drop is not seasonally dependent as it is in temperate climates, and can occur any time of year and varies by region of the world. Even within a small local area there can be variations in the timing and duration of leaf drop; different sides of the same mountain and areas that have high water tables or areas along streams and rivers can produce a patchwork of leafy and leafless trees.[17]
See also[edit]
1. ^ William Dwight Whitney; Century Dictionary. "The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: Dictionary". p. 1484.
2. ^ Debra J. Housel; Capstone Publishers (2009). Ecosystems. ISBN 9780756540685.
3. ^ Gause, John Taylor (1955). The complete word hunter. A Crowell reference book. New York: Crowell. p. 465.
4. ^ University of the Western Cape. "Trees that lose their leaves".
5. ^ Dr. Kim D. Coder; University of Georgia (1999). "Falling Tree Leaves: Leaf Abscission" (PDF).
6. ^ Science Daily. "Science Reference: Deciduous".
7. ^ J. Robert Nuss; Pennsylvania State University (2007). "Evergreen Shrubs and Trees for Pennsylvania" (PDF).
8. ^ "The Illinois - North Carolina Collaborative Environment for Botanical Resources: Openkey Project. Glossary of Botanical Terms. Page 22." (PDF). Retrieved 2013-07-17.
9. ^ Weber, William. 2001. African rain forest ecology and conservation an interdisciplinary perspective. New Haven: Yale University Press. page 15.
10. ^ Lemon, P. C. (1961). "Forest ecology of ice storms". Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club (Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. 88, No. 1) 88 (21): 21. doi:10.2307/2482410. JSTOR 2482410.
11. ^ Mohammad Pessarakli (2005). Handbook of photosynthesis. CRC Press. pp. 725–. ISBN 978-0-8247-5839-4. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
12. ^ Donald W. Linzey (1 April 2008). A natural history guide to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Univ. of Tennessee Press. pp. 27–. ISBN 978-1-57233-612-4. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
13. ^ Srivastava, Lalit M. (2002). Plant growth and development. Hormones and environment. Amsterdam: Academic Press. p. 476. ISBN 0-12-660570-X.
14. ^ Labandeira, C. C.; Dilcher, D. L.; Davis, D. R.; Wagner, D. L. (1994). "Ninety-seven million years of angiosperm-insect association: paleobiological insights into the meaning of coevolution". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 91 (25): 12278–12282. Bibcode:1994PNAS...9112278L. doi:10.1073/pnas.91.25.12278. PMC 45420. PMID 11607501.
15. ^ Cundall, Peter (2005). Flora: The Gardener’s Bible: Over 20,000 Plants. Ultimo, NSW, Australia: ABC Publishing. ISBN 0-7333-1094-X.
16. ^ Röhrig, Ernst; Ulrich, Bernhard, eds. (1991). Temperate deciduous forests. Ecosystems of the world, 7. Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISBN 0-444-88599-4.
17. ^ Bullock, Stephen H.; J. Arturo Solis-Magallanes (March 1990). "Phenology of Canopy Trees of a Tropical Deciduous Forest in Mexico". Biotropica (Biotropica, Vol. 22, No. 1) 22 (1): 22–35. doi:10.2307/2388716. JSTOR 2388716.
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Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The Earl of Worcester
Spouse(s) Elizabeth Hastings, Countess of Worcester
Henry Somerset, 5th Earl of Worcester
Thomas Somerset, 1st Viscount Somerset
Catherine Somerset
Blanche Somerset
Frances Somerset
Noble family House of Beaufort
Father William Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester
Mother Christian North
Born circa 1550
Died 3 March 1628
Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester, KG, Earl Marshal (circa 1550 – 3 March 1628) was an English aristocrat.[1] He was an important advisor to King James I (James VI of Scots), serving as Lord Privy Seal.
He was the only son of three children born to the 3rd Earl of Worcester and Christian North. On February 21, 1589, he succeeded his father as Earl of Worcester, and in 1593 he was made a Knight of the Garter.
In 1606 he was appointed Keeper of the Great Park, a park created for hunting by Henry VIII around Nonsuch Palace, of which Worcester Park was a part. The residence Worcester Park House was built in 1607.
He married Lady Elizabeth Hastings in December 1571. She was a daughter of Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon and Catherine Pole. Catherine was a daughter of Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu and Jane Neville. Jane was in turn a daughter of George Nevill, 4th Baron Bergavenny and Margaret Fenne. They had fifteen children among whom were:
Somerset is buried in the family chapel in the Church of St Cadoc, Raglan, Monmouthshire[4]
1. ^ "Somerset, Edward, fourth earl of Worcester". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
2. ^ a b "Somerset, Sir Charles". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
3. ^ John Burke and John Bernard Burke., Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies, pp. 369-370
4. ^ Newman, John (2002). Gwent/Monmouthshire. New Haven; London: Yale University Press. p. 305. ISBN 978-0-300-09630-9.
Political offices
Preceded by
The Earl of Essex
Master of the Horse
Succeeded by
Sir George Villiers
Preceded by
The 2nd Earl of Pembroke
Custos Rotulorum of Monmouthshire
Succeeded by
The 3rd Earl of Pembroke
Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire
jointly with Henry Somerset 1626–1628
Succeeded by
The Earl of Worcester
Preceded by
In Commission
Earl Marshal
Succeeded by
In Commission
Preceded by
The Earl of Somerset
Lord Privy Seal
Succeeded by
Sir John Coke
Peerage of England
Preceded by
William Somerset
Earl of Worcester
Succeeded by
Henry Somerset
Baron Herbert
(descended by acceleration)
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Eurynome (Oceanid)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Main myths[edit]
Eurynome (far left)
In the epic tradition, Eurynome was one of the elder Oceanides, that is, a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.[1] Eurynome was the third bride of Zeus and mother of the Charites, goddesses of grace and beauty.[2]
When Hephaestus was cast from Olympus by the goddess Hera, who was disgusted at having borne a crippled child, he was caught by Eurynome and Thetis (possibly a doubling for Tethys, her mother). Eurynome and Thetis nursed the god Hephaestus on the banks of the earth-encircling river Oceanus, after his fall from heaven.[3] Charis, Eurynome's daughter, later became Hephaestus' bride.[4]
Eurynome is closely identified with another Eurynome, Queen of the Titans. This Eurynome was an early Titan queen who ruled Olympus beside her husband Ophion. The pair were wrestled for their thrones by Cronus and Rhea who cast them down into the earth-encircling river Oceanus.[5] She may have been the same as the Titan Tethys whose river-god sons nurtured the pastures and whose daughter Eurynome was goddess of pasturelands. Eurynome's husband Ophion "the Serpent" was similar to Tethys' husband Oceanus, who in classical art was represented with a serpentine-fish tail in place of legs and holding a snake (ophis). It is also possible that Ophion and Eurynome (daughter of Oceanus) were equated with Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth). In the Orphic Theogonies Gaia was the daughter of Hydrus (Water), a primordial being similar to Oceanus. It was Uranus who Cronus wrestles for the throne of Olympus in Hesiod's Theogony.[6]
Eurynome was worshipped at the confluence of the rivers Neda and Lymax in Arcadia. Her xoanon, which could only be viewed when her sanctuary was opened once a year, was a wooden statue bound in golden chains depicting a woman's upper body and the lower body of a fish.[7] Her son Asopus was the god of a nearby stream in the adjacent region of Sikyonia. The fish-tailed goddess, Eurynome, worshipped in Arcadia, may have been Eurynome wife of Ophion, Tethys the wife of Oceanus, Eurynome mother of the Charites, the goddess of the river Neda, or a watery Artemis.[8]
Etymology of the name[edit]
The name is usually segmented Eury-nome, where eury- is “wide”. This segment appears in Linear B as e-u-ru–, a prefix in a few men’s names. It does not occur in any Mycenaean women’s names, nor does –nome.
The root of –nome is Proto-Indo-European *nem-, distribute, as in the Greek infinitive, nemein, “to distribute.” Words derived from *nem- had a large variety of senses. In the case of Eurynome, the two main senses proposed are “wanderer” and “ruler”.
Robert Graves saw in Eurynome a lunar goddess descending from the Pre-Hellenic mother goddess of Neolithic Europe. In that case, –nome is as in our word nomad. The nomad wanders searching for pastureland, or land that has been “distributed” for the use of domestic animals. The moon is to be regarded as wandering. In the other interpretation, –nome is as in English auto-nomy. A ruler is someone who “distributes” law and justice. Neither case has any bearing on the status of Eurynome as a possible Pelasgian mother goddess.
If Eurynome was the descendant of a pre-Greek goddess, she must have had a pre-Greek name, and not the Greek name, Eurynome. If the name is Indo-European, it might have evolved into Greek with the rest of the language. If it is not Indo-European, then it might result from renaming or from selecting the closest Greek homonym.
Some major sources are paraphrased or quoted below.
Iliad 18.388ff
The earliest known reference to the Oceanid is a passage in the Iliad relating what happened to Hephaistos after his mother, Hera, threw him from Olympos. Thetis and Eurynome, the daughter of Oceanus, offered him refuge. He stayed with them for nine years in their cave at the edge of the ocean making splendiferous artifacts.
355. Eurynome is among the daughters of Ocean and Tethys.
907. Eurynome bore the Graces to Zeus.
Homer and Hesiod establish that a belief in the Oceanid existed in the earliest literary times. The most likely circumstance, based on the testimony of Pausanias, is that both authors took their themes from a religion known to and believed in by all the Hellenes; thus, it is probably best to assume that Eurynome the Oceanid is the same Oceanid of ancient Greek belief mentioned in all the classical sources.
8.41.5, 6
[5] “Eurynome is believed by the people of Phigalia to be a surname of Artemis. Those of them, however, to whom have descended ancient traditions, declare that Eurynome was a daughter of Ocean, whom Homer mentions in the Iliad, saying that along with Thetis she received Hephaestus. On the same day in each year they open the sanctuary of Eurynome, but at any other time it is a transgression for them to open it.
[6] On this occasion sacrifices also are offered by the state and by individuals. I did not arrive at the season of the festival, and I did not see the image of Eurynome; but the Phigalians told me that golden chains bind the wooden image, which represents a woman as far as the hips, but below this a fish. If she is a daughter of Ocean, and lives with Thetis in the depth of the sea, the fish may be regarded as a kind of emblem of her. But there could be no probable connection between such a shape and Artemis.”
Hesiod repeats that the Graces are the offspring of Zeus and Eurynome.
1.2.2. The Oceanids, including Eurynome, were the daughters of Ocean and Tethys.
1.3.1. The Graces are the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome.
3.12.6. Some say the river Asopus is the son of Zeus and Eurynome.
Creation myth[edit]
Further information: Pelasgian creation myth
A few important sources relate a creation myth. The main source is Apollonius of Rhodes, who is quoted in the article on Ophion. The details are not repeated here.
Robert Graves, one of the chief scholars interested in the myth, saw in this passage a possible Pelasgian creation myth. Putting together what was then beginning to be known of Neolithic Greece and its connections to the orient, he hypothesized that Eurynome originally was another manifestation of the Neolithic mother goddess.
The Ophion article takes a skeptical approach on the grounds that he read too much into the sources. As he did not rely only on the sources, this article presents some of Graves’ wider arguments:
• The egg and the snake. The rebirth of the world from an egg and the use of the snake as a symbol of regenerative power is a strong theme of what Marija Gimbutas called “the language of the goddess”; that is, the common (but undeciphered) writing system attested on Neolithic pottery of much of Europe, including the Balkans. In another myth, the Pelasgians descend from the teeth of Ophion, which ostensibly means “snake.”
• As the Neolithics either entered the Balkans from the eastern Mediterranean region or kept close ties with the Natufians there, Graves makes comparisons with and draws parallels to mythic elements among cultures to which the Natufians descended; that is, the entire Middle East. For example, he compares her to Sumerian Iahu, “exalted dove”, which he believed became the name of Jehovah.
• Many if not most of the names of Greek mythology are believed to have come from pre-Greek elements. For example, the Proto-Indo-Europeans had no word for ocean or travel upon it. Okeanos is a pre-Greek word, as are Olympos, Tethys and Titan.
• The antiquity of Eurynome and Ophion are sufficiently attested in the sources to warrant a presumption that they descend from prehistoric times. Only the prefix, Eury-, appears in the most ancient known Greek, but that is sufficient to demonstrate the remoteness of the names in time from later poetic mythologizers such as Apollonius.
Graves’ views attract more attention as time goes by, perhaps because of increasing knowledge about the Neolithic. At the present time, however, they are still regarded as mainly speculation. Concerning prehistoric Europe, archaeology and speculation are all we have at the moment. Even if some of Graves’ detail can be shown to be wrong, no proof exists that his overall views, based on the synthesis of many elements, are either true or untrue.
1. ^ Hesiod, Theogony 346 ff (trans. Evelyn-White)
2. ^ Hesiod, Theogony 907 ff (trans. Evelyn-White)
3. ^ Homer, Iliad 13. 397 ff (trans. Lattimore)
4. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 35. 1
5. ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 503 ff (trans. Aldrich)
6. ^ Theoi Project, Aaron J. Atsma
7. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 8. 41. 4 - 6 (trans. Jones)
8. ^ Theoi Project, Aaron J. Atsma
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Grey's Anatomy (season 3)
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Grey's Anatomy (Season 3)
Grey's Anatomy Season Three DVD Cover.png
DVD cover art for the third season of
Grey's Anatomy
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 25
Original channel ABC
Original release September 21, 2006 (2006-09-21) – May 17, 2007 (2007-05-17)
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 2
Next →
Season 4
List of Grey's Anatomy episodes
The third season of the American television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, commenced airing on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) on September 21, 2006, and concluded on May 17, 2007. The season was produced by Touchstone Television, in association with Shondaland Production Company and The Mark Gordon Company, the showrunner being Shonda Rhimes. Actors Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl, Justin Chambers, and T.R. Knight reprised their roles as surgical interns Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Izzie Stevens, Alex Karev, and George O'Malley, respectively, continuing their expansive storylines as focal points throughout the season. Previous main cast members Chandra Wilson, James Pickens, Jr., Kate Walsh, Isaiah Washington, and Patrick Dempsey also returned, while previous guest stars Sara Ramirez and Eric Dane were promoted to series regulars, following the extension of their contracts.
The season followed the continuation of the surgical residency of five young interns, as they experience the demands of the competitive field of medicine, which becomes defining in their personal evolution. Although set in fictional Seattle Grace Hospital, located in Seattle, Washington, filming primarily occurred in Los Angeles, California. Whereas the first season mainly focused on the impact the surgical field has on the main characters, and the second one provided a detailed perspective on the physicians' private lives, the third season deals with the tough challenges brought by the last phase of the surgeons' internship, combining the professional motif emphasized in the first season, with the complex personal background used in the second. Through the season, several new storylines are introduced, including the arrival of Dane's character, Dr. Mark Sloan, conceived and introduced as an antagonizing presence.
In a departure from the previous season, the third season aired in a new competitive time slot of 9:00 pm on Thursdays, competing against the heavily promoted and highly rated dramatic television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which simultaneously aired on the CBS Network. Season three of Grey's Anatomy contained 25 episodes, in addition to two clip shows that were produced to recap the previous events of the show, before the introduction of major new arcs. "Complications of the Heart" aired on the same night as the season premiere, recapping the last episodes of the second season with insights into future episodes in the third, while "Every Moment Counts" aired before the twentieth episode. The season also aired a two-part episode arc, which primarily served as a backdoor pilot for a proposed spin-off, Private Practice, focusing on the departure of Walsh's character, Dr. Addison Montgomery.
The series ended its third season with an average of 19.22 million viewers per episode and a 6.8/35 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic, ranking eighth in the television season, outperformed by CSI. Television critics expressed a mainly negative outlook on the development of the series throughout the season, with the reviews ranging from mixed to unfavorable, as exaggeration and lack of realism have been highlighted as the main issues in the declining quality of the storylines. Despite the negative critical response, the performance of the cast members and the production technique of the crew received outstanding recognition through numerous awards and nominations. Earning major category nominations at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards and the 65th Golden Globe Awards, the season achieved the series' highest number of recipients, with Heigl being the most awarded cast member. The series was ranked sixth in USA Today 's "best of television" list, following the conclusion of the season.
Ramirez was upgraded to series regular status, after numerous appearances throughout the second season.
The third season had twelve roles receiving star billing, with ten of them returning from the previous season, out of whom nine were part of the original cast. All the main characters are physicians in the surgical wing of the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital. Ellen Pompeo portrayed Meredith Grey, both the protagonist and the narrator of the series, whose main goal in achieving a balance between the difficulties of the internship, and the complicated relationships in her private life.[1] Sandra Oh portrayed Cristina Yang, who quickly develops into Meredith's best friend, despite the continuous competition against the other interns.[1] Katherine Heigl portrayed intern Isobel "Izzie" Stevens, mourning the death of her fiancé as she unexpectedly decides to quit her job after the realization that her personal involvement in each patient's case is not accepted in medicine. Justin Chambers acted as Alexander "Alex" Karev, whose arrogant attitude develops into a more emotional and sensitive outlook on his career and relationships.[1] T.R. Knight played the role of intern George O'Malley, who gradually becomes more self-confident after his feelings for Meredith diminish. Chandra Wilson portrayed fifth-year resident in general surgery, Miranda Bailey, the resident in charge of the five interns.[1]
James Pickens, Jr. acted as Seattle Grace Hospital's Chief of Surgery, Richard Webber, who has to deal with the choice between his career and his marriage.[1] Kate Walsh played Addison Montgomery, obstetrician-gynecologist and neonatal surgeon, who comes to terms with her husband's desire to divorce, while dealing with the arrival of her former lover. Isaiah Washington played the role of attending physician and cardiothoracic surgeon, Preston Burke, whose long-term relationship with intern Cristina Yang leads to their engagement. Patrick Dempsey portrayed attending neurosurgeon Derek Shepherd, whose relationship with intern Meredith Grey has been the focal point of the series since its inception.[1] Sara Ramirez began receiving star billing in the season premiere, after numerous appearances during the last episodes of the second season.[2] She portrayed orthopedic surgeon and fifth-year resident, Calliope "Callie" Torres, whose relationship with intern George O'Malley evolves into a sudden marriage with unpleasant repercussions. Eric Dane was also promoted to the series regular status after a guest appearance in the eighteenth episode of the previous season, and an uncredited one in the second episode of this season.[2] He began receiving star billing in the third episode of the season, portraying attending physician, otolaryngologist and plastic surgeon Mark Sloan, whose arc, describing the attempt at resuming his relationship with Addison Montgomery, is heavily developed throughout the season.[3]
Numerous supporting characters have been given expansive and recurring appearances in the progressive storyline. Brooke Smith continues her role as cardiothoracic surgeon Erica Hahn, whose storylines include the rivalry with Preston Burke, her arrival to perform surgery of George O'Malley's dying father, and Richard Webber's decision to hire her in the hospital. Chyler Leigh portrayed Meredith's half-sister, Lexie Grey, who would eventually enroll in Seattle Grace Hospital's internship program after her mother's sudden death.[1] Kate Burton appeared as Meredith Grey's mother, Ellis Grey, a renowned surgeon suffering from Alzheimer's disease, who ultimately dies following a heart attack. Veterinary physician Finn Dandrige was portrayed by Chris O'Donnell and appeared in the first four episodes of the season to resume the storyline of his romantic relationship with Meredith, previously introduced in the second season. Deceased since the second season finale, Jeffrey Dean Morgan's character Dennsion "Denny" Duquette, Jr. appeared in two episodes of the season, during Meredith's limbo sequence.
Elizabeth Reaser portrayed recurring character and love interest for Alex Karev, Rebecca "Ava" Pope, a patient suffering from amnesia after being involved in a massive ferry crash. Loretta Devine acted as Adele Webber, Richard's wife, whose continuous struggle to have a normal marriage culminates in her asking her husband to retire. Other guest stars include Sarah Utterback in the role of nurse Olivia Harper, former love interest of both George O'Malley and Alex Karev, Kali Rocha portraying fifth-year resident Sydney Heron, who enters a competition against Miranda Bailey and Callie Torres for the position of Chief Resident, Roger Rees in the role of Colin Marlowe, a cardiothoracic surgeon and Cristina Yang's former professor and lover, Jeff Perry portraying Meredith Grey's father, Thatcher Grey, Mare Winningham in the role of Susan Grey, Embeth Davidtz playing Derek Shepherd's sister Nancy Shepherd, who is revealed to have slept with Mark Sloan, Tsai Chin in the role of Helen Yang Rubenstein, Cristina's mother, and Diahann Carroll portraying Jane Burke, Preston Burke's over-protective mother.[3] Future Private Practice series regulars Amy Brenneman, Paul Adelstein, Tim Daly, Taye Diggs, Chris Lowell starred in the twenty-second and twenty-third episodes of the season, portraying Violet Turner, Cooper Freedman, Peter Wilder, Sam Bennett and William "Dell" Parker, respectively, in order to make the transition to the proposed spin-off.[4]
No. in
No. in
Title Directed by Written by Original air date U.S. viewers
37 1 "Time Has Come Today" Daniel Minahan Shonda Rhimes September 21, 2006 (2006-09-21) 25.41[5]
The doctors of Seattle Grace Hospital help Izzie cope with the loss of her fiancé, Denny Duquette, whereas she struggles with her decision to quit the internship program, despite the advice she continuously gets from her friends. Meredith must decide what the future holds after she has sex with Derek, and is uncertain if he is willing to leave Addison, whom he has been with for eleven years. Addison finds Meredith's panties in Derek's shirt, and realizes that he had an affair with Meredith. The Chief is confronted by his wife, Adele (Loretta Devine), after spending the night in his office. She gives him an ultimatum, forcing him to decide between his career and his marriage. George seeks relationship advice from Derek after they are forced to stay in quarantine, while Derek confesses his feeling towards Meredith. Bailey gets attached to a patient whose wife dies and relives the moments when her husband's life was threatened.
38 2 "I Am a Tree" Jeff Melman Krista Vernoff September 28, 2006 (2006-09-28) 23.48[6]
Cristina meets Burke's parents and is surprised to that he is a "mama's boy", despite the self-confident attitude that he displays. Burke's parents believe that Cristina does not care about their son, and is only trying to take advantage of his extensive knowledge of cardiothoracic surgery. Cristina doesn't feel comfortable around them. Izzie uses baking to cope with her grieving, and bakes hundreds of muffins. Addison takes a break from the hospital and spends the day wandering drunk in the city. She neglects her hospital duties at Seattle Grace Hospital. Richard discovers that Callie is living in the hospital and is forced to get her out in order to respect the hospital policy. A surgical patient lives what may be her last day to the fullest, whereas Meredith's doubts regarding who is best suited for her result in her deciding to date both of them in order to see who impresses her most.
39 3 "Sometimes a Fantasy" Adam Arkin Debora Cahn October 5, 2006 (2006-10-05) 22.80[7]
Cristina is determined to get Preston to operate again and tries to help him cope with his hand tremor. Izzie attempts to return to the hospital for the first time since she left the program, but her hesitation results in her staying in front of the hospital all day long, afraid of confronting the Chief. Alex deals with a patient who has a long history of injuries that she doesn't feel, causing her to believe she is a super hero. George and Callie's relationship moves forward and they start taking big steps regarding their future. Meredith enjoys the benefits of her love triangle as she starts dating them both. Mark is determined to get Addison to get back together with him, but she continuously refuses his proposals.
40 4 "What I Am" Dan Lerner Allan Heinberg October 12, 2006 (2006-10-12) 22.88[8]
Addison works with Rebecca, a pregnant woman, who needs to have a caesarean section but is determined to give birth naturally. Addison begins to doubt her abilities as a surgeon after Derek breaks up with her for good, and tells him not to hurt her. He gets the wrong message and hesitates getting back together him. The interns work with Shawn Sullivan, a car salesman who wants to get his former routine after he has a risky surgery. However, when Shawn lights a cigarette that catches his face on fire, Derek and Mark argue over how they should proceed with his burn treatment. Meanwhile, Burke continues to rehabilitate from his arm injury with the help of Cristina, gradually progressing from operating on chickens to operating on a corpse. Meredith goes into surgery after her appendix bursts and after the operation, she finally makes a decision between Derek and Finn. Elsewhere, Callie and George continue to discuss their relationship, while Izzie meets Denny's father, who gives her 8.7 million dollars according to Denny's wishes.
41 5 "Oh, the Guilt" Jeff Melman Zoanne Clack & Tony Phelan & Joan Rater October 19, 2006 (2006-10-19) 22.05[9]
The interns are excited to attend the Morbidity and Mortality conference but their excitement evaporates quickly after finding out Denny Duquette is first on the agenda. Bailey is raked over the coals for letting her interns run unsupervised about the hospital for long durations. Bailey treats a young mother battling breast cancer and realizes that she blames her infant son for everything that had happened to her. Derek and Addison finalize their divorce with Derek giving up most of their property to Addison but learns that Mark and Addison's relationship was not just an affair and that they kept seeing each other for three months. In the midst of performing cardiac surgery, Burke's right hand begins to tremble again, so Cristina covers for him by asking to practice her running whipstitch. Meredith contemplates telling Derek about her breaking up with Finn, but is hesitant, despite the fellow interns telling her to let him know as fast as she can.
42 6 "Let the Angels Commit" Jessica Yu Stacy McKee November 2, 2006 (2006-11-02) 21.02[10]
Cristina scrubs in on the rare "humpty dumpty" surgery, much to the envy of her fellow doctors. Bailey wants to scrub in and writes her name on the surgical board as the resident in charge. Cristina erases Bailey's name in order to cover for Burke's hand tremor, which leads Bailey to believe that he was the one responsible for the deletion. Bailey starts questioning her talent for surgery and is discouraged. Alex questions his future medical specialty, as he begins to doubt his desire for plastic surgery due to Mark's inappropriate behavior. Derek receives a surprise visit from his sister and learns that she had slept with Mark, something that threatens their fragile friendship. George and Addison work with a pregnant woman with an unusual dilemma. Meredith becomes Izzie's boss for the day and the two treat a patient that may need to be admitted into psychiatry.
43 7 "Where the Boys Are" Daniel Minahan Mark Wilding November 9, 2006 (2006-11-09) 20.65[11]
Derek invites Burke to join him on a quiet camping trip, but George, Alex, Richard, Joe and Walter come along, ruining Derek's plans. Addison and Callie team up to work on a patient but realize that their passion for medicine is not the only thing they share, as they had both slept with Mark and later regretted it. Alex overhears Callie talking to Addison and tells George who is unable to accept the truth, even though he and Callie were broken up at the time. Meredith assists Mark on a sex-change procedure as he keeps trying to get her to sleep with him. Bailey realizes that it was Cristina who erased her name off the surgery board, not Burke, and finally regains confidence in her abilities as a surgeon. However, she gets suspicious of Burke's scheme and is determined to find out.
44 8 "Staring at the Sun" Jeff Melman Gabrielle Stanton & Harry Werksman, Jr. November 16, 2006 (2006-11-16) 20.92[12]
Harold O'Malley is admitted to Seattle Grace Hospital, and George's brothers come along and become friendly with Callie. George, however, does not want Callie to socialize with his family, so he assures her that their relationship is over, with no chances of reconciliation. Meredith tries to take things slow with Derek and refuses to have sex with him, while he tries to have a civilized relationship with his now ex-wife, Addison. Alex kisses Izzie after he realizes that he still has feelings for her which are not returned. George and Bailey are on the verge of discovering Burke's condition.
45 9 "From a Whisper to a Scream" Julie Anne Robinson Kip Koenig November 23, 2006 (2006-11-23) 18.51[13]
A traumatic car accident which fills the emergency room has everyone challenged emotionally. George calls Erica Hahn from Seattle Presbyterian Hospital to perform heart surgery on his father after he finds out about Burke's condition. Cristina has a crisis of conscience about her deceptive teamwork with Burke, and turns to the Chief. Burke is shocked to see that Richard is considering replacing him with Dr. Hahn as the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Seattle Grace Hospital but eventually learns that Richard's plan was to make him Chief after his retirement. However, after Cristina confesses about his hand tremor, Richard is forced to warn him about the severe consequences he will have to face. Addison and Mark work together on a pregnant woman which has them realize that they still have feelings for each other. Izzie has trouble with her probation and is desperately seeking an operation.
46 10 "Don't Stand So Close to Me" Seith Mann Carolina Paiz November 30, 2006 (2006-11-30) 24.01[14]
Recent events strain Burke and Cristina's relationship and they both realize that the chances of reconciliation are lowering. Meredith's half-sister, Molly, goes into labor and is admitted to Seattle Grace Hospital under the care of Addison. Meredith does not want to see or talk to Susan, her stepmother, and tells her that she is not family and their relationship should go no further. Derek and Mark must work together when two close-knit brothers seek medical help for separation. However, their spines might be affected after the surgery and Mark's plastic opinion and Derek's neurological advice create a conflict which once again threatens their friendship. Meredith has to tell her mother that Richard will not keep seeing her and she relives the night Richard left her for good twenty years ago. Meredith is devastated when her mother tells her that she should never have had a daughter as she has been the reason that she had been left.
47 11 "Six Days (Part 1)" Greg Yaitanes Krista Vernoff January 11, 2007 (2007-01-11) 23.03[15]
After a successful heart surgery performed by Dr. Hahn, George's father undergoes surgery to remove the tumor that has spread through his body. Richard and Bailey perform the surgery and do a certain procedure according to Mr. O'Malley's wishes, despite their medical opinion. Thatcher Grey visits Seattle Grace Hospital to stay by the side of his daughter, who has just given birth to a girl. Meredith has trouble connecting to him and hesitates talking to him all day long. Derek has trouble sleeping due to Meredith's disturbing snoring as she learns that he had been sleeping on the couch for days. A young girl is admitted to the hospital, suffering from a severe bone condition that is thought to be inoperable. Despite Derek's neurological advice, Callie believes that a certain expensive surgery might be live-saving. Izzie has trouble in watching the fellow interns perform surgery and is lectured by Bailey who tells her that a good surgeon does not let the feelings interfere with the career. However, Izzie donates a large amount of money from her 8.7 million dollar inheritance for the little girl's operation.
48 12 "Six Days (Part 2)" Greg Yaitanes Krista Vernoff January 18, 2007 (2007-01-18) 21.94[16]
George learns about the procedure Richard and Bailey performed on his father which ultimately leads to a worsening of his condition. The O'Malley family now have to face a difficult decision regarding Harold's inability to breathe on his own. They must take him off life support. Callie reunites with George after he realizes that she has been truly committed to him throughout this trying situation. Meredith finally talks to her father and realizes that her snoring is one of the many things they have in common, despite her inability to admit it. Addison confesses to Callie that she got pregnant with Mark's son but aborted him after realizing that Mark could never be a good father. Izzie is barred from the little girl's surgery after Bailey finds out that she paid for the operation, but she ultimately wins her respect after realizing that without the money the girl could have never been saved. The girl begins a new life as a normal child thanks to Izzie's generous donation. Derek comes back to sleep in Meredith's bed.
49 13 "Great Expectations" Michael Grossman Eric Buchman January 25, 2007 (2007-01-25) 21.50[17]
After the Chief announces his retirement, rumors begin to circulate on his departure and successor. Mark is determined to leave Seattle for good but Meredith accidentally has him stay after letting him know of the open Chief position. Derek is angry at Meredith for causing Mark to stay in Seattle, but soon realizes that she is not the reason he is really angry. The attending physicians at Seattle Grace Hospital fight to get Richard's attention, but he expresses his disappointment. He also displays his lack of support in Bailey's plan to create a free medical clinic, but she ultimately goes through with her plan when Izzie offers to spend her entire 8.7 million dollar inheritance on the project. George, devastated after his father's death, uses sex to overcome his grief, and eventually proposes to Callie. Cristina and Burke still don't speak to each other, but he breaks the agreement when he proposes to her. Richard endeavors to reunite with his wife, Adele, and decides to retire, only to come home and find his wife with another man.
50 14 "Wishin' and Hopin'" Julie Anne Robinson Tony Phelan & Joan Rater February 1, 2007 (2007-02-01) 24.18[18]
The race for the Chief's position is on, and the attending physicians, Derek, Burke, Addison and Mark, compete for Richard's affections by trying to help out everywhere possible. The Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic is open for business, but only one single patient shows up. Izzie is disappointed in what she invested Denny's legacy in, and tries to steal patients from the emergency room. Callie and George get back from Las Vegas, announcing their marriage, much to everyone's disbelief. Izzie is not supportive of their marriage and tries to get George to realize the mistake he has made. Meanwhile, Meredith's Alzheimer's-stricken mother, Ellis Grey, experiences a change in her medical condition by becoming lucid for the day. She is disappointed in the mediocrity her daughter has fallen into and begins to despise Derek, blaming him for what happened to the Meredith that used to be "a force of nature". Ellis has to have heart surgery and, despite her wishes, Meredith schedules her upcoming surgery. Richard talks to Ellis and realizes that she is still in love with him, but loses her memory after their talk ends, before Meredith has the chance to tell her how she really feels.
51 15 "Walk on Water" Rob Corn Shonda Rhimes February 8, 2007 (2007-02-08) 25.20[19]
A mass trauma situation, which turns out to be a ferryboat accident, challenges the whole staff of Seattle Grace Hospital. Richard finds difficulty in coping with his separation from his wife and dyes his hair "for the ladies", which becomes an internal joke between Mark, Burke and Derek. Cristina tries to tell Meredith about her upcoming marriage, but doesn't have the strength to. George promises to find a woman's son, who has been separated from her at the accident. The woman refuses to go into surgery until she is assured that her son is alive. Izzie has to take care of a man who got stuck between two cars on the ferry, but nobody helps her due to the large number of injured people. Alex rescues a pregnant woman with severe wounds on her face, and promises to take care of her. Meredith looks after a girl who has been separated from her mother after the accident, but accidentally falls into the water and drowns, with nobody but the little girl as a witness.
52 16 "Drowning on Dry Land" Rob Corn Shonda Rhimes February 15, 2007 (2007-02-15) 25.76[20]
Meredith is still underwater, but nobody seems to notice. Her worsening condition makes her rescuing an urgent matter. Derek finds her coat on a man she had helped, and starts looking for her and, much to his shock, the little girl Meredith took care of suggests that she is in the water. Derek saves her, but she is almost dead, due to hypothermia. Izzie has to perform brain surgery on a man stuck between cars, as he begins to experience seizures. She drills holes into his head, perforates his skull and ultimately saves his life before he is rescued and transferred to Seattle Grace Hospital. George lies to the woman whose son he had been looking for, in order to get to surgery, but still doesn't have any luck in locating him. Alex finds no hope in searching for the pregnant Jane Doe's family as she undergoes surgery. The interns find out about Meredith's situation and express their hopelessness. She wakes up in what appears to be limbo and meets her deceased acquaintances.
53 17 "Some Kind of Miracle" Adam Arkin Shonda Rhimes & Marti Noxon February 22, 2007 (2007-02-22) 27.39[21]
Richard struggles to keep Meredith alive, whose body does not seem to respond to treatment, much to Derek's devastation. Meanwhile, a metaphor shows Meredith in what she believes is limbo, displaying her interacting with deceased acquaintances whose decision would influence her chances of survival. Cristina remedies her grief for Meredith by leaving the hospital and going shopping, while Alex continues to bond with the pregnant Jane Doe who remains unclaimed, due to her incapability to remember anything. Derek is aware that Meredith is a good swimmer and blames Ellis Grey for her daughter's depression. Ellis goes into cardiac arrest and meets Meredith in the alternate universe, and declares her love and respect for her, telling her to wake up. She does so, and sees everyone who loves her by her side. Cristina lets her know about her engagement to Burke.
54 18 "Scars and Souvenirs" James Frawley Debora Cahn March 15, 2007 (2007-03-15) 22.68[22]
55 19 "My Favorite Mistake" Tamra Davis Chris Van Dusen March 22, 2007 (2007-03-22) 22.30[23]
In the aftermath of Izzie's affair with George, he doesn't seem to remember anything. Callie lets him know that they will be having dinner with her father, but George does not make a good impression, being hung over after last night's events. Alex helps Jane Doe choose how her face will look like after Mark Sloan performs reconstructive surgery on her. He also gives her a new perspective on how the world will see her from then on. The hospital board begins interviewing the candidates for the Chief's position, and Colin Marlow intimidates everyone with his ten-year plan. However, after taking advice from Bailey, Mark seems to have convinced the board that he is appropriate for the job, despite continuous efforts from Derek, Burke and Addison, whose careers in the hospital outlast his. Izzie seeks advice from Addison about her affair, telling her sleeping with George felt right, despite him being married. Mark takes Meredith as his intern for the day in order to impress the Chief, something that Derek doesn't approve of, feeling that Mark has become manipulative.
56 20 "Time After Time" Christopher Misiano Stacy McKee April 19, 2007 (2007-04-19) 21.12[24]
When Izzie's daughter, Hannah Klein, is brought to the hospital for leukemia treatment, her adoptive parents come searching for Izzie, and ask her to donate her bone marrow in support. She is saddened to learn that her daughter does not want to see her, but is surprised to see how much alike they are. Derek comes to the conclusion that his relationship with Meredith is the only thing standing in his way to become the Chief of Surgery. Colin Marlow continues to intrude on Burke and Cristina's lives with an impending surgery he will perform. He tries to convince Cristina to break up with him, due to their targets being completely different. Meredith starts to grow closer to her stepmother, Susan, but finds it difficult to connect with her father. A couple arrives at Seattle Grace Hospital to see Ava, whom they believe to be their daughter but are disappointed when they realize that she is not who they thought. Alex does not want to discharge her, which causes a fight between the two.
57 21 "Desire" Tom Verica Mark Wilding April 26, 2007 (2007-04-26) 20.08[25]
The interns of Seattle Grace Hospital start to use every free minute to study for their upcoming exam which will determine their entire residency in the surgical field. Cristina is jealous of George who can study with Callie, whose learning cards have become legendary. After the realization that George and Izzie might have feelings for each other, Callie decides to give the cards to Cristina. The attending physicians vie for the Chief position by tending to the chairman of the hospital board, after he is admitted as a patient. They soon learn that there is a fish in his urinary tract and is shocked to learn that his wife has been aware of his affair with his secretary. She eventually resigns and leave him, and his wife asks for divorce. Richard starts to question his decision to retire as he believes that there is a lot more he can do as a surgeon and cannot be done with his career in his early fifties. Addison sleeps with Alex, but he wants her to make sure that this will never happen again. Derek starts to question his relationship with Meredith, feeling that he is the only one putting an effort for it to work out. George tells Izzie that he is considering transferring to a different hospital.
58 22 "The Other Side of This Life (Part 1)" Michael Grossman Shonda Rhimes May 3, 2007 (2007-05-03) 21.23[26]
After things become too complicated in Seattle, Addison travels to Los Angeles to reunite with her old friends form Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Much to her best friend's shock, the real reason for her visit is in order to get pregnant but is devastated to learn that she cannot. Cristina finds difficulty in planning her wedding under the constant watch of her and Burke's mother, who are determined to create an extravagant wedding, despite her wishes of having a small ceremony. Callie is surprised to be invited to be Cristina's bridesmaid. With Meredith's father and his wife again in the hospital, she suspects that her stepmother might be trying to get her to talk to Thatcher by faking hiccups. Mark talks to Derek and expresses his disappointment in not working things out with Addison, who he had truly fallen in love with. Meanwhile, Derek must perform surgery on Ava and she gets her hopes high after Alex tells her that she might get her memory back. George is determined to transfer to Mercy West, despite Izzie's continuous begs.
59 23 "The Other Side of This Life (Part 2)" Michael Grossman Shonda Rhimes May 3, 2007 (2007-05-03) 21.23[26]
Addison becomes the temporary obstetrician-gynecologist at the Oceanside Wellness Center in Los Angeles and treats a woman pregnant with a child whose paternity is disputed between three men. She also deals with the aftermath of the discovery that she cannot have children and is comforted by Pete Wilder who flirts with and eventually kisses her. The doctors offer her a position, but she denies after realizing that Seattle is where her life is. After Susan returns to the hospital with a severe chest pain, she is rushed into emergency surgery and ultimately dies. Thatcher is devastated by the news and blames Meredith for her death, who had actually been by her side all this time. Izzie finds difficulty in accepting that George is going to transfer because of her, but realizes that she can't deny her feelings towards him. Burke confronts his mother who claims that marrying Cristina is a mistake, but confesses that she trusts her son's judgement and is confident that he will make the right decision.
60 24 "Testing 1-2-3" Christopher Misiano Allan Heinberg May 10, 2007 (2007-05-10) 19.58[27]
The five interns finally have to face one of the biggest test of their careers, which will influence the rest of their lives as surgeons. Meredith is still feeling guilty about her stepmother's death, but feels confident that she will pass the exam, despite warnings from both Cristina and Richard. However, after her father, Thatcher, causes a scene at the hospital, Meredith finds herself unable to focus and doesn't write anything on the exam paper. Meanwhile, George gets accepted in the Mercy West Hospital surgical residency program and has to face a decision which will change his relationship with Izzie forever. Callie's suspicions of her husband's unfaithfulness grow and is thrilled of George's transfer to a different hospital. Alex learns that Ava's memory has come back but is not willing to let her family know where she is. Bailey realizes that Callie's chances of becoming Chief Resident have increased considerably, while Burke cannot get Cristina to talk to him about their upcoming wedding. The attending physicians work with three injured mountain climbers who left their friend behind in order to save their own lives. Joe and his boyfriend consider adopting a baby, while Addison makes the shocking discovery that Adele, Richard's wife, is pregnant.
61 25 "Didn't We Almost Have It All?" Rob Corn Tony Phelan & Joan Rater May 17, 2007 (2007-05-17) 22.57[28]
The mountain climbers lie about the axe in their friend's head, telling Derek that it accidentally got there. During surgery, he and George discover that it was deliberately put there, and one of the climbers admit that he was trying to "put him out of his misery". Adele is saved after Richard finds her lying in the bathroom and is stabilized, but soon suffers a miscarriage. Richard learns Adele was actually pregnant with his son, not someone she had one night stand with. Bailey is disappointed to see that Callie is the new Chief Resident and begins to question her abilities as a surgeon. Richard chooses Derek as Chief of Surgery, but he refuses, telling him that he isn't done doing what he does best. Cristina and Burke's wedding day arrives, but Cristina won't stay out of the hospital. However, Cristina's nervousness results in Burke's realizing that he does not love the real Cristina and leaves her. Meredith and Derek are uncertain about their future and despite Derek admitting that she is the love of his life, they call their relationship over.
This season is the last to be produced by ABC Studios under title of Touchstone Television, as the company's decision to change its name occurred after the conclusion of the season.[29] Shonda Rhimes returned as the series' showrunner and executive producer. She also continued her position from the first two seasons as one of the most prominent members of the writing staff. Betsy Beers, Mark Gordon and Rob Corn also returned as executive producers, along with Mark Wilding, Peter Horton and Krista Vernoff, who have been in this position since the inception of the series. Allan Heinberg, however, joins the production team at the beginning of the third season as a co-executive producer, before his promotion to an executive.[3] Kent Hodder, Nancy Bordson and Steve Mulholland served as executive producers for four episodes during the season. Horton left the series at the conclusion of the season, whereas James D. Parriott, who previously served a writer and executive producer for the first two seasons, did not continue his work on the show during this season. Joan Rater and Tony Phelan continued to serve as co-executive producers, with Rater being a supervising producer as well. Stacy McKee, who previously served as a producer and writer for the series, was promoted to co-executive producer.
After having written three episodes for the first season and five for the second, Rhimes returned as a writer for six episodes, out of which one was written along with Marti Noxon. Krista Vernoff, Tony Phelan, Stacy McKee and Mark Wilding returned to the series as members of the writing staff, with Vernoff and Phelan writing three episodes and McKee and Wilding producing the script of two episodes. Gabrielle Stanton and Harry Werksman, Jr. worked together for the writing of one episode, after three episodes they have written for the series in the past. The season includes the first episode to be written by Debora Cahn, who would become one of the series' main writers, as well as a consulting and supervisor producer. Other writers include Kip Koenig, Carolina Paiz, Eric Buchman, Joan Rater and Chris Van Dusen. Rob Corn returned to the series to direct three episodes for the season, after writing two episodes in the second season. Greg Yaitanes is credited for directing two episodes during the season, the only ones to have been directed by him in the series. Other prominent directors were Jeff Melman, Michael Grossman, Julie Anne Robinson and Adam Arkin, each directing two or more episodes during the season. Danny Lux continued his position as the main music composer for the series, while Herbert Davis and Walt Fraser served as the season's cinematography directors. Susan Vaill and Edward Ornelas resumed their positions as editors, seeing David Greenspan, Matthew Ramsey and Avi Fisher being added to the team. Fisher, however, left the series at the conclusion of the season.[3]
Writing and filming[edit]
"Whatever I come up with, she is always game to play. She's been so good at what she's done that I've just let the character do what I've wanted the character to do, which has been wonderful. She's managed to sell every single thing because she's really believed it. The incredible thing is that you can have no fear to write what you think because she is always able to deliver."
– Executive producer Betsy Beers on Ellen Pompeo's portrayal of character Meredith Grey[30]
The season was primarily filmed in Los Angeles, California. Fisher Plaza, which is the headquarters building for the media company Fisher Communications and Fisher's ABC affiliated Komo radio and television stations for Seattle, is used for some exterior shots of Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, such as air ambulances landing on the Komo Television newscopter's helipad. This puts Seattle Grace conveniently close to the Space Needle, which is directly across the street from Fisher Plaza, the Seattle Monorail, and other local landmarks. However, the hospital used for most other exterior and many interior shots is not in Seattle, are shot at the VA Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center in North Hills, California.[31] Most scenes are primarily taped in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, at the Prospect Studios, and the set occupies two stages, including the hospital pieces, but some outside scenes are shot at the Warren G. Magnuson Park in Seattle.[32] Several props used are genuine medical supplies, including the MRI machine.[33] Before the production of the season officially began, producer Shonda Rhimes stated that she was planning a major development in Ellen Pompeo's character, Meredith Grey.[30]
"There's a spirit there that's just very interesting to me. She was charming and there was something about her so intriguing to watch", stated Rhimes in response to Pomepo's portrayal of her character. Executive producer Betsy Beers stated that the writing staff was going to focus on the balance between her vulnerability and her courage, also dealing with changes in the relationship with her friends. Pompeo noted that the uncertainty of her character's fate is what helped her evolve into a more adaptable actor.[30] Rhimes also disclosed that an episode with Ellis Grey's unexpected lucidity and eventual death was in plans since the beginning of the series. Rhimes described how Pompeo got through the challenge of sending Meredith in the afterlife: "It was an exciting place to take her. Exciting to watch her find her way back." In response to Izzie's arc, Shonda Rhimes discussed the impact Denny Duquette's death will have on her, noting that Izzie is forced to abandon her idealism, which in turn leads to her letting go of medicine.[34] In the aftermath of Denny's death, Katherine Heigl came to believe that Izzie was not cut out to be a doctor.[35] Executive producer Betsy Beers explained, however, that Denny's death served to make Izzie more mature, and Heigl affirmed that "At the beginning of the third season they were trying to show how lost Izzie was. She lost her optimism. She realizes now that life is difficult, but she still tries very hard to see the best in people."[35]
Creator Shonda Rhimes compared what she deemed the two "most iconic moments of the season", describing how the season begins with Izzie lying in the prom dress on the bathroom, and ends with Cristina standing motionless in her wedding dress. Cast member Eric Dane described the impact his first scene in the season had on him, stating that it was a spectacular entrance: "It was a brand new towel, which had a hard time staying together. So every time I put it together and let my hands go, it was almost like throwing caution to the wind."[30] Cast member Sara Ramirez noted that one of the most significant scene in the season was when Izzie and George "have this beautiful moment when neither of them speaks, but they say so much and it was just so rich", describing how their interaction during the scene determined everything that would be developed for their arc later. Betsy Beers, however, noted that the most "powerful" scene in the season saw Cristina Yang and Preston Burke in the on-call room, talking about the future of their relationship: "It's fascinating to see how their entire relationship changes and almost disintegrates in this one exchange".[30] Beers and Rhimes expressed their desire to introduce Patrick Dempsey's passion of car racing in the series, although this ultimately did not occur during the season.[30] "Patrick loved it. He's always driving something new, always trying something out", stated the series creator, regarding Dempsey's response to the storyline.
Rhimes also described the difficulty she faced in finding an appropriate love interest for the character of Alex Karev: "We kept meeting with people and it wasn't until we met Elizabeth Reaser and sat down with her, and in two seconds in realized that she was absolutely the one we'd been looking for."[30] Reaser explained that when she was cast, there were no definite plans for the development of her character, and that only the intrigue of the ferry accident had been explained to her. She also deemed her character "frustrated and scared". As for the make up process, Reaser stated: "The prosthetic changes your outlook on yourself. It can be very disorienting. It's intense." Beers, however, noted that the focus on Ava was mainly due to her inability to express her feelings through facial expressions, only communicating with her eyes and voice. Executive producer Rob Corn stated that his plan for the original arc was about Jane Doe's inner life, struggling to get out of the situation she is trapped in. He stated that the main characteristics they had been looking for in the actress for the part were strength and vulnerability. He also called Reaser's performance "heart-wrenching and wonderful".[30] Betsy Beers, the show's supervising executive producer, found Izzie to have been marked for life by Denny's death, which matured her "in a very sobering way", but played a major role in making her feel more confident. She also noted the undeniable connection between Izzie and Alex Karev, whose desire to do honorable things has been compared with his "cutting and sarcastic" personality. After Izzie's continuous efforts to change Alex during their relationship in the previous season, Beers announced the possibility of a relationship between the two of them. She also contrasted the female leads on the show with women in film, explaining how the characters on television are shaped in unique ways.[36]
Spin-off launch[edit]
On February 21, 2007, The Wall Street Journal reported that ABC was pursuing a spin-off medical drama television series for the series featuring Kate Walsh's character, Addison Montgomery.[37] Subsequent reports confirmed the decision, stating that an expanded two-hour broadcast of Grey's Anatomy would serve as a backdoor pilot for the proposed spin-off. The cast was reportedly unhappy about the decision, as all hoped the spin-off would have been given to them. Pompeo commented that she felt, as the star, she should have been consulted,[38] and Heigl, disclosed that she had hoped for a spin-off for Izzie.[39] The backdoor pilot that aired on May 3, 2007, sees Addison take "a leave of absence" from Seattle Grace Hospital, to visit her best friend from Los Angeles, Naomi Bennett, a reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist, in order to get pregnant. While in Los Angeles, she meets Bennett's colleagues at the Oceanside Wellness Center and even becomes the clinic's obstetrician-gynecologist for the day.[4] The two-hour broadcast served as the twenty-second and the twenty-third episodes of the third season, and was directed by Michael Grossman, according to Variety.[40] The cast included Amy Brenneman, Paul Adelstein, Tim Daly, Taye Diggs, Chris Lowell and Merrin Dungey. ABC officially picked up Private Practice for its 2007 lineup on May 11, 2007. KaDee Strickland's character, Charlotte King, who would be introduced in the spin-off's first season premiere, did not appear in the backdoor pilot. Her addition to the main cast was announced on July 11, 2007, prior to the commencement of the first season.[41] She did not have to audition for the role, but was cast after a meeting with Rhimes.[42] Also not present in the backdoor pilot was Audra McDonald, due to her character, Bennett, being portrayed by a different actress, Merrin Dungey. However, on June 29, 2007, ABC announced that Dungey would be replaced, with no reason given for the change.[43] The premiere episode followed the second part of the season debut of Dancing with the Stars, and provided a lead-in to fellow freshman series, Dirty Sexy Money. Pushing Daisies, a third new series for the evening, rounded out the lineup as a lead-in to Private Practice.[44] The series aired a total of six seasons.[45]
Critical response[edit]
"Tragedy is not always drama - sometimes you have to let your characters smile and allow the grin to stay awhile. Reducing everything to tears and hopeless self-loathing isn't good writing; it's desperate craftsmanship. Here's hoping that the show can perform some much-needed self-surgery before season four begins this fall."
– Christopher Monfette of IGN Entertainment on the characters' development during the season.[46]
The season received mixed to negative reviews, after two seasons that resulted in heavy critical acclaim. Following a positive outlook on the second season, Christopher Monfette of IGN Entertainment expressed disappointment during the third one, mainly due to the declining quality and lack of realism of the storylines. He noted a growing number of similarities between the season's arcs and the ones that are developed in soap operas, by stating that "the line which separates primetime television from soap opera is oftentimes razor thin" and admitting that, despite his considering the series "the best drama", he freely admits that it requires some inherent suspension of disbelief, after it "found itself mired in the annoying and absurd".[46] Whereas Monfette acknowledged that the fans would consider the problem to have been a simple case of lazy writing, he noted that over-writing played a main role in the series becoming unexpectedly unrealistic. He also noted the senseless intrigues in the Derek/Meredith relationship, by stating that the season would not have achieved high ratings if a functional relationship had been introduced: "The season generally opts to stall out for its vast majority, providing Meredith with some bizarrely under-developed sub-plot about depression and giving Derek a season's worth of reconsidering to do".
Monfette criticized the romantic development of the characters throughout the season, by describing Cristina and Burke's relationship as an excuse for the possibility of a wedding for Meredith, whereas Burke's unfair behavior towards Cristina is thought to be manipulative, exposing her to his overly romantic notion of an ideal ceremony. The way the doubts regarding the success of their relationship were resolved in the season finale was described as "most obvious and least compelling."[46] IGN Entertainment was also critical of Alex Karev's storyline, who is seen falling for a pregnant and badly injured Jane Doe, despite having always been "self-obsessed". Monfette once again noted the lack of realism in the improvement of Jane Doe's condition, as she gives birth to her baby and undergoes reconstructive surgery in a short amount of time. However, her incapability and continuous struggle to remember who she is was considered to be "the most affecting and honest plotline of the season", noting the nuanced and emotionally resonant scenes, which gave the show a "charmingly positive, feel-good foundation". Monfette considered Izzie's affair with George as the season's worst but most significant storyline, criticizing its being "force-red, emotionally incorrect, a mismatch from the beginning and a narrative long-shot", which does not express love, but lust. He agreed that the essential problem of the season was its reluctance to move, leading to frustration after seeing "the entertaining familiar characters so weighed down by their most annoying of traits".[46]
In response to the season premiere, Oscar Dahl of noted the predictability of the series, but expressed hope in its further development, by stating that it has become "a medical chick flick, but a damn good one" with a big and attractive cast. He also praised the interaction between the characters, noting the "smart" dialogue that helps each character evolve. However, Dahl expressed disappointment in the over emotional scenes, describing them as "off-putting" and "not believable", while comparing them to real life interactions between people who emote in a more subtle manner than displayed on television.[47] "Emotions ran high in the premiere and there was much crying", stated Dahl, but noted that the dialogue, who he had previously been worried would be "too cutesy", was not bothering, and rather realistic, noting how the show is "smartly written". He also described the acting of Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl as "worthy of attention".[47]
New York Post 's Robert Rorke reviewed the numerous characters with heavy romantic development, noting perpetual "merry-go-round of hookups, breakups and makeup sex", while describing the lack of sentimental involvement of Katherine Heigl's character in the first half of the season.[36] However, he deemed Izzie Stevens "the hear and soul" of the "sex-filled series", due to the season mostly focusing on the events that come to define her as a person. Rorke named her the show's heroine, and wrote that "Izzie is a welcome, calming presence, despite the devastation she experienced when she failed to save her patient and fiancé Denny Duquette", considering her to have been more prominent than the title character, Meredith Grey, whose storyline received negative critiques: "She used to be the queen of the romantic dilemmas. But lately, she's been a little dopey, with that endless McDreamy soliloquies." He also noted Meredith's decreasing importance in the ongoing arc, describing how Sandra Oh's character development was vital to the success of the season, as he compared her "cutthroat exterior" with the emotional side of her personality that evolves throughout the season. New York Post compared Izzie, who is described as having achieved a depth, to Miranda Bailey, noting the maturity they have, which is uncharacteristic to the fellow interns. Robert Rorke positively reviewed Chandra Wilson's performance by stating that she was "formidable".
Prior to the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards, Stuart Levine of Variety reviewed the performances of the three cast members nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actress category. "The ladies of Grey's Anatomy dominate the category, and it'd be far from a stretch to say at least two of those women rose to high dramatics last season", commented Levine, while praising Sandra Oh for her portrayal of Cristina Yang who endured a tumultuous seasoning relationship, seeing her trepidation at spending a life together with the man she loved. He regarded the appearances of Chandra Wilson as more subdued, though "by no means less well-executed".[48] He deemed Miranda Bailey a rock, being the most level-headed character on the show with a right thing to say in any situation. He expressed admiration towards Chandra Wilson, by describing her as being "flashy and over the top", which he considers better than being consistently good. Considering Heigl's chances of winning the Emmy, Levine assessed of her performance, by remarking the slight difficulty she has in reaching each emotional state Izzie Stevens has to go through: "Showrunner Shonda Rhimes puts a lot of pressure on Heigl to carry many intense storylines, and she's up to the challenge." However, he also noted that Izzie's irrational actions during crisis situations may be bothering.[48]
Heigl was awarded at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards, in spite of her mother's doubts.[49]
The season was one of the most acclaimed of the show, receiving numerous awards and nominations. Several cast and crew members were nominated for their work on the show during its third season at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards. Chandra Wilson received a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in "Oh, the Guilt",[50] the season's fifth episode, whereas Sandra Oh was nominated for the same category for her portrayal of Cristina Yang in "From a Whisper to a Scream",[50] the season's ninth episode. However, they both lost to co-star Katherine Heigl,[50] whose portrayal of Izzie Stevens in "Time After Time", the twentieth episode of the season, resulted in her first Emmy win.
T.R. Knight was also nominated for his performance in the third season in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category,[50] for the two-episode arc "Six Days", the eleventh and second episodes of the season. Elizabeth Reaser and Kate Burton were nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, for their performances as Rebecca Pope in "My Favorite Mistake", the nineteenth episode in the season, and Ellis Grey in "Wishin' and Hopin'", the fourteenth episode.[50] Linda Lowy and John Brace were nominated for Outstanding Casting in a Drama Series,[50] while Norman T. Leavitt, Brigitte Bugayong, Thomas R. Burman and Bari Dreiband-Burman were nominated for Best Prosthetic Make-Up.[50] The production team was acclaimed for the Best Drama Series category, but only received a nomination.[50]
Sara Ramirez was nominated at the 2007 Alma Awards for her portrayal of Callie Torres.[51] At the 65th Golden Globe Awards, the series was nominated for Best Television Drama Series,[52] while Katherine Heigl's individual performance resulted in a nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.[52] The show's third season was once again recognized at the 38th National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Awards, when the production team was nominated for Best Drama Series. Also at the 2007 ceremony, Isaiah Washington won Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Preston Burke in this season, while Chandra Wilson won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
Several cast members have been awarded at the PRISM Awards in 2007: Katherine Heigl in the Favorite Female TV Star category for portraying Izzie Stevens, Patrick Dempsey for Favorite Male TV Star in the role of Derek Shepherd, and Chandra Wilson in the Favorite Scene Stealing Star category for her performance of Miranda Bailey. Mark Gordon, Shonda Rhimes, James D. Parriott, Betsy Beers, Peter Horton and Rob Corn have been nominated at the Producers Guild of America 2007 Awards for Television Producer of the Year Award in Episodic Drama for the production of the third season, after winning the award at the 2006 Awards for the second season. At the 2007 Satellite Awards, Ellen Pompeo won the award Best Actress in Drama Series, while T.R. Knight was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or TV Film and Chandra Wilson for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or TV Film. At the 14th Screen Actors Guild Awards, the series' regular cast received a nomination for Outstanding Cast in Drama Series. Katherine Heigl and Patrick Dempsey were nominated at the 2007 Teen Choice Awards. Also in 2007, the female cast and crew of Grey's Anatomy received the Women in Film Lucy Award, which honors those whose work in television has positively influenced attitudes toward women.[53]
The second season of Grey's Anatomy ended with an average of 19.440 million viewers per episode and a 6.9 rating share for in the 18–49 demographic, determining the series to finish in the fifth place out of all the 100 television shows in the season.[54] Due to its high ratings, the series received a full third season renewal for the fall prime time line up. In response to numerous fan complaints regarding scheduling during the previous seasons, the American Broadcasting Company decided to do major changes in the season. After two seasons of airing as a lead-out to fellow ABC series Desperate Housewives, the network decided to move Grey's Anatomy to 9:00 ET in the Thursday night time slot, dominated by CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, where the series began airing as a lead-in to Ugly Betty, which aired in the time slot from its first season, until the conclusion of the third in 2009. The show maintained its position as a top ten series and became the eighth most watched program in the season, with an average of 19.220 million viewers per episode.[55] The highest-rated episode of the season was the seventeenth, the highly anticipated conclusion of a three story arc, which was watched by 27.390, receiving a 9.7 rating, a #4 ranking in the week and a #1 ranking in the time slot.[56] The episode outperformed CSI's "Fallen Idols", which ranked seventh with a 7.7 rating and 21.780 million viewers tuning in.[56]
The lowest-rated episode of its ninth, which was watched by 18.510 million viewers, ranking third in the week with a 6.5 rating, outperforming CSI 's Thanksgiving special episode, "Living Legend", watched by 17.170 million viewers with a 6.1 rating and #4 ranking.[57] The season premiere was watched by 25.410 million viewers and received 9.0 rating after being ranked #1 in both the time slot and the week. The number of viewers increased significantly compared to the previous season premiere, which was watched by 18.980 million viewers and received a 6.8 rating.[58] "Time Has Come Today" also outperformed the previous season finale, which was watched by 22.500 million viewers and was rated 8.0.[59] The season finale was watched by 22.570 million viewers and received an 8.0 rating, ranking third in the week after American Idol.[60] Wayne Firedman of Media Daily News described the move from the Sunday night time slot to Thursdays as "the network's boldest and biggest move".[61] He also expressed concerns regarding the tough competition the series will face, due to airing against CBS Network's CSI. Stephen McPherson of ABC Entertainment explained the reason for the change: "To have all hits on Sunday night doesn't help us. We wanted to be aggressive".[61]
DVD Release[edit]
"This release will appeal to die-hard Grey's fans who want to eat up every morsel of info they can about the show, but for casual fans the set doesn't really offer that much."
– Kelly West, Cinema Blend[62]
The third season was officially released on DVD in region 1 on September 11, 2007, becoming available in both the United States and Canada.[63] It was released two weeks before the fourth season originally began airing.[64] The title of the box set, "Grey's Anatomy: Season Three – Seriously Extended" is a pun, referring to the success the series had, using the medical term "extension". Also in the official title is the world "seriously", who is one frequently used in the series. The box set consists of episodes with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and widescreen format, enhanced for television with a 16:9 aspect ratio.[65] It was distributed by Buena Vista Home Entertainment.[66] The same set was released in region 4 on October 31, 2007, being made available first in Australia.[67] In region 2, the season was first released in Romania on August 12, 2008, shortly after the season concluded airing on national television. In the United Kingdom, the season was released on September 15, 2008, approximately a year after its original release in the United States. Although the season aired in high definition, it has not been released on Blu-ray disc in any region to date.
The box set includes all the original twenty-five episodes that aired on the American Broadcasting Company, being divided into seven discs.[68] Subtitles are available in French, in Spanish and in English for the hearing impaired, whereas the available languages for the character voices are English, French and Spanish. It featured audio commentaries with cast members Kate Walsh, Chandra Wilson, Ellen Pompeo, Kate Burton and Sandra Oh for the first, fourteenth and twenty-first episodes. It also featured the first, seventh, thirteenth and fourteenth episodes as extended episodes, with a longer running time. The bonus features were available on the seventh disc, including interviews with cast members Patrick Dempsey, Ellen Pompeo and Elizabeth Reaser, listed under the titles of "Making Rounds With Patrick Dempsey", "One on One with Ellen Pompeo" and "Prescription for Success: Making Jane Doe a Star", respectively. The region 1 release featured footage from behind the scenes, under the title of "In Stitches: Season 3 Outtakes" and unaired scenes from nine episodes, including the season premiere and the finale, under the name of "Dissecting Grey's Anatomy".[68] Omnipresent in the bonus material were executive producers Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, providing their outlook on characters, actors and the production process.[68]
Currently ranked 2144th in Movies and Television on[66] and 1713th in Film and Television on,[69] the box set received mixed reviews. Kelly West of Cinema Blend noted that the "seriously extended episodes" were not significantly expanded, only adding a few minutes of extra footage, which don't influence the storyline.[62] She also noted a "weakness" in the audio commentary provided by four of the actresses, who she deemed to have been fantastic during the series, describing the features as "random chit-chats". However, she praised Sandra Oh's commentary, noting that she put the most effort in hers by trying to come up with interest topics, while being "amusing and worth listening to". She described the bonus features as "mildly entertaining", emphasizing Dempsey's interview about his passion for racing cars, which she regarded useless.[62] USA Today had a positive perspective on the box set, by calling it "scintillating" and "addictive".[68]
Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Third Season - Seriously Extended
Set Details Special Features
• 25 episodes (1 extended)
• 7-disc set
• English (Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround)
• Audio Commentaries
• Extended Episodes
• Making ROunds With Patrick Dempsey- Spend Some Private Time With Patrick Dempsey At The Track
• Prescription For Success: Make Jane Doe a Star
• Good Medicine: Favorite Scenes
Release Dates
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
September 11, 2007 September 15, 2008 October 31, 2007
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33. ^ Clarendon, Dan. "Where Is Grey's Anatomy Filmed, Anyway?". The Cambio Network. Wetpaint. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
34. ^ Rhimes, Shonda (May 17, 2006). "From Shonda Rhimes (FINALLY)…". Grey Matter. ABC. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
35. ^ a b Rorke, Robert (November 12, 2006). "Heart Throb - Grey's Anatomy Katherine Heigl on, Sex, Love and Cupcakes". New York Post (Paul Carlucci). Retrieved September 5, 2011.
36. ^ a b "HEART THROB - GREY'S ANATOMY'S KATHERINE HEIGL ON SEX, LOVE AND CUPCAKES". New York Post. Retrieved May 19, 2012.
37. ^ Barnes, Brooks (February 21, 2007). "Delicate Surgery on 'Grey's Anatomy'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 22, 2007.
38. ^ Walls, Jeannette (March 7, 2007). "'Grey's Anatomy' stars fuming over spinoff". MSN. Today Entertainment. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
39. ^ Keck, William; Wloszczyna, Susan (May 21, 2007). "Katherine Heigl positively glows". USA Today (Gannett Company). Retrieved May 9, 2009.
40. ^ Adalian, Josef (February 26, 2007). "Director set for 'Grey's' spinoff". Variety. Retrieved February 28, 2007.
41. ^ Ausiello, Michael (July 11, 2007). "Breaking Grey's/Private Practice Casting News!". TV Guide. Retrieved August 24, 2008.
42. ^ Meltzer Zepeda, Dana (September 21, 2007). "Private Practice Preview: Hail to the New Chief (of Staff)". TV Guide. Retrieved August 24, 2008.
43. ^ "'Private Practice' Recast: Merrin Dungey out, Audra McDonald in, on the 'Grey's Anatomy' spinoff". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
44. ^ "ABC 2007-08 Primetime Schedule" (PDF). ABC. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
45. ^ MacKenzie, Carina. "'Private Practice' Season 6 is a go - plus good news for 'Body of Proof' and 'Apartment 23' fans". Zap2it. Fall TV Preview. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
46. ^ a b c d "Grey's Anatomy: Season 3 Review". Retrieved September 3, 2011.
47. ^ a b "Grey's Anatomy: Season 3 Premiere Review". Retrieved May 23, 2012.
48. ^ a b Levine, Stuart (August 13, 2007). "Supporting Actress: Drama - Shades of 'Grey' for ABC's hospital gal pals". Variety. Reed Elsevier. Retrieved May 9, 2009.
49. ^ "Katherine Heigl: Nobody Thought I'd Win The Emmy". Retrieved June 19, 2012.
50. ^ a b c d e f g h "59th Primetime Emmys Winners Revealed". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
51. ^ "Past ALMA Recipients". Retrieved May 19, 2012.
52. ^ a b "65TH GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD WINNERS". Retrieved May 19, 2012.
53. ^ Davidson, Ben G. (June 14, 2007). "WIF's Lucy Award goes to women of 'Grey's Anatomy'". The Hollywood Reporter (Nielsen Company). Retrieved January 22, 2012. (subscription required)
54. ^ "Season Program Rankings from 09/19/05 through 05/28/06". ABC Medianet. May 28, 2006. Retrieved May 19, 2010.
55. ^ "Season Program Rankings from 09/18/06 through 06/03/07". ABC Medianet. June 3, 2007. Retrieved July 3, 2007.
56. ^ a b "Weekly Program Rankings". Retrieved May 17, 2012.
57. ^ "Weekly Program Rankings". Retrieved May 17, 2012.
58. ^ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. September 27, 2005. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
59. ^ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC Medianet. May 23, 2006. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
60. ^ "Weekly Program Rankings". Retrieved May 17, 2012.
61. ^ a b "ABC Moves 'Grey's Anatomy,' Challenges Thursday Night Competition". Media Daily News/Media Post Publications. May 17, 2006. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
62. ^ a b c "Grey's Anatomy season 3 Seriously Extended". Retrieved June 19, 2012.
63. ^ "Grey's Anatomy on DVD". Retrieved June 19, 2012.
64. ^ "Grey's Anatomy Season 4". Retrieved June 19, 2012.
65. ^ "Grey's Anatomy Season 3". Retrieved June 19, 2012.
66. ^ a b "Grey's Anatomy Complete Third Season". Retrieved May 16, 2012.
67. ^ "Grey's Anatomy Season 3". Retrieved June 19, 2012.
68. ^ a b c d Season 3 DVD box set
69. ^ "Grey's Anatomy Series 3". Retrieved May 16, 2012.
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Homeland Security Advisory System
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Homeland Security Advisory System color chart
In the United States, the Homeland Security Advisory System was a color-coded terrorism threat advisory scale. The different levels triggered specific actions by federal agencies and state and local governments, and they affected the level of security at some airports and other public facilities. It was often called the "terror alert level" by the U.S. media. The system was, as scheduled, phased out April 27, 2011, and replaced with a new system called the National Terrorism Advisory System.[1] The phase-out was announced on January 27, 2011 by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano during a speech at George Washington University.[2]
The system was created by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 3 on March 11, 2002, in response to the September 11 attacks. It was meant to provide a "comprehensive and effective means to disseminate information regarding the risk of terrorist acts to federal, state, and local authorities and to the American people." It was unveiled March 12, 2002, by Tom Ridge, then the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security. However, responsibility for developing, implementing and managing the system was given to the U.S. Attorney General.
In January 2003, the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began administering the system. The decision to publicly announce threat conditions is made by the Secretary of Homeland Security in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, according to Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5.[3]
On January 27, 2011, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced that the Homeland Security Advisory System would be replaced by a new two-level National Terrorism Advisory System in April 2011. Napolitano, who made the announcement at George Washington University, said the color-coded system often presented "little practical information" to the public and that the new system will provide alerts "specific to the threat" and that "they will have a specified end date."[4][5][6]
Threat level Orange at Raleigh-Durham International Airport
Inspired by the success of the forest fire color system, the scale consists of five color-coded threat levels, which were intended to reflect the probability of a terrorist attack and its potential gravity.
• Severe (red): severe risk
• High (orange): high risk
• Elevated (yellow): significant risk
• Guarded (blue): general risk
• Low (green): low risk
The specific government actions triggered by different threat levels were not always been revealed to the public, although the government had provided general guidance for civilians[7] and federal agencies.[8] Actions previously included increasing police and other security presence at landmarks and other high-profile targets, a closer monitoring of international borders and other points of entry, ensuring that emergency response personnel were ready, and, in some cases, deployment of members of the National Guard and State Guard were sent to assist local law enforcement on security details.
Some of the actions taken as a result of the threat levels have been challenged as being illegal under the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment. For example, in November 2002, the city of Columbus, Georgia forced all people wishing to protest at the School of the Americas to first submit to a metal detector search.[9] The advocacy group School of the Americas Watch asked a federal trial court to enjoin the mass searches, but the court refused and simply dismissed the complaint.[9] When the protestors appealed, the city justified the metal detector searches in part because of the "yellow" threat level.[9] However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found that this was merely a post hoc justification for the searches, because the city had not even mentioned the terror alert system in its arguments at the trial court level.[10] Even if the city did in fact rely on the alert system at the time it acted, said the court,
We...reject the notion that the Department of Homeland Security's threat advisory level somehow justifies these searches. Although the threat level was "elevated" at the time of the protest, "[t]o date, the threat level has stood at yellow (elevated) for the majority of its time in existence. It has been raised to orange (high) six times." Wikipedia, Homeland Security Advisory System, available at http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Homeland_Security_Advisory_System (last referenced Aug. 16, 2004). Given that we have been on "yellow alert" for over two and a half years now, we cannot consider this a particularly exceptional condition that warrants curtailment of constitutional rights. We cannot simply suspend or restrict civil liberties until the War on Terror is over, because the War on Terror is unlikely ever to be truly over. September 11, 2001, already a day of immeasurable tragedy, cannot be the day liberty perished in this country. Furthermore, a system that gave the federal government the power to determine the range of constitutionally permissible searches simply by raising or lowering the nation's threat advisory system would allow the restrictions of the Fourth Amendment to be circumvented too easily. Consequently, the "elevated" alert status does not aid the City's case.
Bourgeois v. Peters, 387 F.3d 1303, 1312 (11th Cir. 2004) Incidentally, this was also the first time that Wikipedia was quoted in a published decision of a federal appeals court.[11]
The published terror alert notices urged American citizens, especially those traveling in the transportation systems, to "be vigilant, take notice of their surroundings, and report suspicious items or activities to local authorities immediately."[12] In addition, DHS advised the public to prepare an emergency preparedness kit and a family emergency plan.[12]
Criticism of the system[edit]
Objective criteria[edit]
There were no published criteria for the threat levels, and thus no independent way to tell whether the current threat level was accurate. The threat levels Green (low risk) and Blue (general risk) were never used. The evidence cited to justify changes in threat levels had been stated vaguely (see below) and its sources seldom been revealed. Supporters of the system defended this by stating that providing detailed, current intelligence about terror organizations would've endanger the ability to gather similar information in the future.
Some critics[13] worried that the absence of clearly defined, objective criteria had allowed the baseline threat level to be established as elevated (yellow), thus precluding the system from ever dropping down to low (green) or general (blue). That limited the communicative value and options of the system to the three highest values. As persons become habituated to the threat level being perpetually elevated, they were increasingly likely to pay less attention to warnings issued.
Political manipulation[edit]
The lack of disclosure made the system vulnerable to manipulation by government officials. These attributes had been criticized by cartoonists,[14] journalists,[15] entertainers,[16] and security experts.[17]
The alert level was raised once in 2004, an election year, leading some critics to speculate that the Bush Administration used them for political rather than strictly security reasons.[18][19] In 2009, Ridge alleged in his book The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege...and How We Can Be Safe Again that top aides to President Bush (including defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and attorney general John Ashcroft) pressured him to raise the alert level on the eve of the November 2004 presidential election. Ridge refused. "After that episode, I knew I had to follow through with my plans to leave the federal government for the private sector," he said.[20]
In December 2004, the Homeland Security Advisory Council voted to review the color-coded system. One panel member suggested that it had outlived its usefulness.[21] In a public forum, Ridge conceded the system had invited "questions and even occasional derision."[22] Ridge also said that he had not always agreed when others pushed to raise the threat level. "Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment," Ridge said. "Sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don't necessarily put the country on [alert]. ... There were times when some people were really aggressive about raising it, and we said, 'For that?'"[23]
On its terror alert page, DHS made clear that "Raising the threat condition has economic, physical, and psychological effects on the nation."[12] A study published in the January 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health found that the mentally ill, the disabled, African Americans, Latinos, Chinese Americans, Korean Americans, and non-U.S. citizens were likelier to think that the HSAS alert level was higher than it was, and to worry more and change their behavior due to those fears.[24]
Task force[edit]
A September 2009 report from the HSAS Task Force found that the "current system had functioned reasonably well" for institutional audiences, but that the "system's ability to communicate useful information in a credible manner to the public is poor", and that "there is a disturbing lack of confidence in the system." The task force recommended that future threats be more narrowly targeted by "specific region and sector under threat", rather than "elevating the alert status of the nation as a whole", and that the number of levels be reduced from five to three to acknowledge that "the new baseline for the United States is guarded." The task force was divided on whether to recommend abandonment of color-coding in the system, but asserted that if such a coding remains in use, "substantial reform is required."[25]
Threat level changes[edit]
Homeland Security secured the Prudential Financial Building in Newark, New Jersey in August 2004 following the discovery of evidence of a terrorist threat to it.
The HSAS threat level changed 17 times as of September 2009.[25] In August 2004, DHS began identifying specific sectors under possible threat, including aviation, financial services, and mass transit.[25]
Severe (Red)[edit]
The threat level has been raised to Severe only once, which applied only to flights coming from the United Kingdom:
• August 10–September 14, 2006, in response to British law enforcement announcing it had disrupted a major terror plot to blow up aircraft, DHS raised the threat level for commercial flights from the United Kingdom to the United States to Severe.[26] The alert was extended into mid-September 2006 to coincide with the 5th Anniversary of the September 11 Attacks. Other noticeable recent attacks are the targeting of US Military and Frankfurt Airport.
High (Orange)[edit]
New York City's threat level was High from the system's introduction.[27] On a nationwide level, it has been raised to High five times:
• September 10–24, 2002, the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.[28]
• February 7–27, 2003, near the end of the Muslim religious holiday Hajj. Intelligence reports suggested the possibility of terrorist attacks against "apartment buildings, hotels, and other soft or lightly secured targets."[28]
• March 17 – April 16, 2003, around the beginning of U.S. and Coalition military action in Iraq.[28]
• May 20–30, 2003, after the Riyadh compound bombings and the Casablanca bombings. According to Tom Ridge: "The U.S. Intelligence Community believes that Al Qaeda has entered an operational period worldwide, and this may include terrorist attacks in the United States."[28]
• December 21, 2003 – January 9, 2004, citing intelligence information suggesting large-scale attacks around the holiday season.[28] Since New York City's level was already at High, NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly characterized this increased threat level as "Orange Plus".[29]
In addition, the alert has been raised to High on a select or partial basis three times:
• August 1 – November 10, 2004, for specific financial institutions in northern New Jersey, New York, and Washington, D.C., citing intelligence pointing to the possibility of a car or truck bomb attack, naming specific buildings as possible targets.[30][31]
• July 7, 2005 – August 12, 2005, for mass transit systems only. The DHS secretary announced the level after the 7 July 2005 London bombings despite the absence of "specific, credible information suggesting imminent attack" in the United States.[32]
• August 10, 2006 – April 27, 2011, for all domestic and international flights to or from the United States, with the exception of flights from the United Kingdom to the United States, which had been under a Severe alert due to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, but were downgraded to High on August 13, 2006.[26]
Elevated (Yellow)[edit]
• March 12 – September 10, 2002
• September 25, 2002 – February 6, 2003
• February 28 – March 16, 2003
• April 17 – May 20, 2003
• May 31, 2003 – August 1, 2004
• November 10, 2004 – July 8, 2005
• August 12, 2005 – April 27, 2011 (Replaced by the National Terrorism Advisory System, but excludes domestic and international flights)
Guarded (Blue) and Low (Green)[edit]
The threat level was never lowered to Low (Green) or Guarded (Blue).[25] It was recommended in a September 2009 Task Force report to remove the Low and Guarded conditions from the Alert System altogether and set Yellow (Elevated) to "Guarded" as the new baseline of the system, without changing the baseline conditions issued when under Yellow in the current system.
Other terror warnings[edit]
Other official terrorism warnings issued without raising the threat level above Elevated:
• May 28, 2004, citing "credible evidence" of terrorist intent to affect upcoming elections.[citation needed]
• July 11, 2007, reports that Al Qaeda has rebuilt operating capability, strength to level not seen before the September 11 attacks; strongest since summer of 2001.[33]
• July 12, 2007, reports that Al Qaeda is stepping up efforts to sneak terrorists into the United States and has rebuilt capability to strike there.[citation needed]
See also[edit]
1. ^ "Color-coded terror warnings to be gone by April 27". Yahoo! News. Associated Press. 2011-01-26. Retrieved 26 January 2011. [dead link]
2. ^ Mathes, Michael (January 27, 2011). "New US terror alert system replaces color code". Google News (Agence France-Presse). Retrieved January 27, 2011.
3. ^ Office of the Press Secretary (February 28, 2003). "Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-5". The White House. Archived from the original on 2006-05-16. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
4. ^ the CNN Wire Staff (2001-09-11). "U.S. replaces color-coded terror alerts - CNN.com". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
5. ^ Mathes, Michael. "AFP: New US terror alert system replaces color code". Google.com. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
6. ^ (AP) – 1 day ago. "The Associated Press: Color-coded terror warnings to be gone by April 27". Google.com. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
7. ^ "Citizen Guidance on the Homeland Security Advisory System" (PDF). Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
8. ^ "Homeland Security Advisory System--Guidance for Federal Departments and Agencies". Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
9. ^ a b c "Bourgeois v. Peters, 387 F.3d 1303, 1307 (11th Cir. 2004)". Retrieved 2012-05-16.
10. ^ "Bourgeois v. Peters, 387 F.3d 1303, 1323 (11th Cir. 2004)". Retrieved 2012-05-16.
11. ^ Daniel J. Baker. "A Jester's Promenade: Citations to Wikipedia in Law Reviews, 2002- 2008". Retrieved 2012-05-16.
12. ^ a b c "Homeland Security Advisory System". September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
13. ^ "Homeland Security Advisory Council HSAS Task Force Stakeholder Feedback" (PDF). 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
14. ^ Kirkeby, Cynthia; Sarah Lane (Jul 13, 2004). "Pinning the Tail on Terror". Classbrain.com. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
15. ^ Miller, Sara B. (August 4, 2004). "Terror-alert system: how it's working". The Christian Science Monitor.
16. ^ J., Frank (May 22, 2003). "A Frank Guide to Homeland Security Alert Levels". Retrieved 2006-05-16.
17. ^ Schneier, Bruce (October 2004). "Do Terror Alerts Work?". Retrieved 2006-05-16.
18. ^ Kamen, Al (October 13, 2004). "Will Terror Alert Level Show Its True Colors?". Washington Post: A19. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
19. ^ "Dems Question Timing of Terror Alert". FOX News. August 4, 2004. Archived from the original on May 10, 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
20. ^ Knox, Olivier (2009-08-20). "Former Bush aide cites politics in 'terror alert'". Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2015-01-27.
21. ^ Sifuentes, Edward (December 15, 2004). "Ridge comes to San Diego and defends color-coded warning system". Retrieved 2006-05-16.
22. ^ "404 error". Archived from the original on May 14, 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
23. ^ "404 error". Wired. Retrieved 2006-05-16. [dead link]
24. ^ Disabled and Other Vulnerable Groups More Susceptible to Terrorism Fears Newswise, Retrieved on January 21, 2008.
25. ^ a b c d "Homeland Security Advisory System Task Force Report and Recommendations" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-01-27.
26. ^ a b Jordan, Lara (August 10, 2006). "U.S. raises airline threat level to highest level, first time ever, in response to British threat". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2006-08-10.
27. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/08/01/terror.threat/
28. ^ a b c d e "Chronology of Changes to the Homeland Security Advisory System". Dhs.gov. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
29. ^ http://www.foxnews.com/story/2003/12/23/nyc-seeing-orange-plus/
30. ^ "Gov't Warns of Threats Against Buildings (archived version)". Archived from the original on 2004-08-04. Retrieved 2006-11-21.
31. ^ "Homeland Security Advisory System". Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
32. ^ Stout, David (July 7, 2005). "U.S. Raises Threat Level for Mass Transit". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
33. ^ "Government report: Al Qaeda strongest since September 11, 2001". CNN. July 12, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
External links[edit]
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Hujjat al-Islam
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Hujjat al-Islam (from Arabic: حجة الإسلامḥujjatu l-Islām) (also Hojatoleslam) is an honorific title meaning "authority on Islam" or "proof of Islam".
Sunni Islam[edit]
In Sunni tradition, the title is used exclusively for the scholar al-Ghazali, due to his influential integration of Sufism and sharia.
Shia Islam[edit]
In Twelver Shia the title is awarded to scholars. It was originally applied as an honorific to leading scholars, but now the use indicates a status in the hierarchy of the learned below Ayatollah.[1] It is divided into two sub ranks, Hujjatu l-Islām wa l-Muslimīn ("Authority on Islam and Muslims") and Hujjatu l-Islām ("Authority on Islam"), given to middle-ranking clerics.
Hawza students start their studies learning fiqh, kalam, hadith, tafsir, philosophy and Arabic literature. After mastering these levels they are given the Hojatoleslam title, and can start becoming mujtahid by studying advanced textbooks known as satḥ, and research courses known as kharij.
Notable Hujjat-ul-Islams[edit]
See also[edit]
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Idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia
Classification and external resources
Idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia (ICL) is a very rare medical syndrome in which the body has too few CD4+ T lymphocytes, which are a kind of white blood cell.[1] ICL is sometimes characterized as "HIV-negative AIDS" by AIDS denialists, though in fact its clinical presentation differs from that seen with HIV/AIDS.[2] People with ICL have a weakened immune system and are susceptible to opportunistic infections, although the rate of infections is lower than in people with AIDS.[3]
The cause of ICL, like all idiopathic conditions, is unknown. It does not appear to be caused by a transmissible agent, such as a virus.[4] It is widely believed that there is more than one cause.[5]
The mandatory criteria for diagnosis of idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia include:[6]
• Low numbers of CD4+ cells, on two or more measurements over at least six weeks:
• CD4 cell count less than 300 cells per microliter, or
• Less than 20% of T lymphocytes are CD4+
• Lack of laboratory evidence of HIV infection
• Absence of any alternative explanation for the CD4 lymphocytopenia
A one-time finding of low CD4+ cells is usually associated with a recent infection and resolves on its own.[7] Alternative explanations for the low CD4 counts include conditions such as blood cancers (aleukemia), treatment with chemotherapy, immunosuppressive medications, or other medications that suppress or kill T cells, infections, and problems with blood production.[1][8]
All criteria must be fulfilled for a diagnosis of ICL. In addition, if these findings are present but combined with other significant findings, such as anemia or thrombocytopenia, then other diagnoses must be considered.
The loss of CD4+ T cells appears to be through apoptosis.[3][7] The accelerated deaths of the T cells is likely driven by crosslinking T cell receptors.[7]
Fludarabine-based hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has shown to be a feasible treatment for ICL.[9]
In contrast to the CD4+ cell depletion caused by HIV, in general, patients with idiopathic CD4 lymphocytopenia have a good prognosis.[5][10][11][12] The decline in CD4+ T-cells in patients with ICL is generally slower than that seen in HIV-infected patients.[2] The major risk to people with ICL is unexpected infections, including cryptococcus, atypical mycobacterial and Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PCP). The condition may also resolve on its own.[13]
ICL sometimes precedes and may be the first signal of several blood cancers. ICL patients have developed primary effusion lymphoma,[14][15] primary leptomeningeal lymphoma,[8] diffuse large cell lymphoma,[16] MALT lymphoma,[17] and Burkitt's lymphoma,[18] among others.
ICL may indirectly trigger autoimmune diseases. It has been associated with several cases of autoimmune disease Sjogren's syndrome.[3][19]
Because all of the reported autoimmune diseases and lymphomas involve B cells, one hypothesis proposes that ICL's narrow T cell repertoire predisposes the immune system to B cell disorders.[3]
ICL is a very rare disease.[1] In 1993, a total of 47 confirmed cases were reported in a survey sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control.[20]
1. ^ a b c Walker UA, Warnatz K (July 2006). "Idiopathic CD4 lymphocytopenia". Curr Opin Rheumatol 18 (4): 389–95. doi:10.1097/01.bor.0000231908.57913.2f. PMID 16763460.
2. ^ a b Luo L, Li T (December 2008). "Idiopathic CD4 lymphocytopenia and opportunistic infection--an update". FEMS Immunol. Med. Microbiol. 54 (3): 283–9. doi:10.1111/j.1574-695X.2008.00490.x. PMID 19049641.
3. ^ a b c d Wladis EJ, Kapila R, Chu DS (July 2005). "Idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia and Sjogren syndrome" (PDF). Arch. Ophthalmol. 123 (7): 1012. doi:10.1001/archopht.123.7.1012-a. PMID 16009850.
4. ^ Online Medical Dictionary entry on T-lymphocytopenia
5. ^ a b Duncan RA, von Reyn CF, Alliegro GM, Toossi Z, Sugar AM, Levitz SM (February 1993). "Idiopathic CD4+ T-lymphocytopenia--four patients with opportunistic infections and no evidence of HIV infection". N. Engl. J. Med. 328 (6): 393–8. doi:10.1056/NEJM199302113280604. PMID 8093636.
6. ^ UpToDate article on "Techniques and interpretation of measurement of the CD4 cell count in HIV-infected patients", by John G. Bartlett. Accessed 30 Oct 2006.
7. ^ a b c Laurence J, Mitra D, Steiner M, Lynch DH, Siegal FP, Staiano-Coico L (February 1996). "Apoptotic depletion of CD4+ T cells in idiopathic CD4+ T lymphocytopenia". J. Clin. Invest. 97 (3): 672–80. doi:10.1172/JCI118464. PMC 507103. PMID 8609222.
8. ^ a b Busse PJ, Cunningham-Rundles C (March 2002). "Primary leptomeningeal lymphoma in a patient with concomitant CD4+ lymphocytopenia". Ann. Allergy Asthma Immunol. 88 (3): 339–42. doi:10.1016/S1081-1206(10)62019-4. PMID 11926631.
9. ^ Hamidieh, A. A.; Pourpak, Z.; Hamdi, A.; Nabavi, M.; Ghavamzadeh, A. (2013). "Successful fludarabine-based hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in a pediatric patient with idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia". Pediatric Transplantation 17 (4): E109–11. doi:10.1111/petr.12086. PMID 23581828.
10. ^ Laurence J, Siegal F, Schattner E, Gelman I, Morse S (1992). "Acquired immunodeficiency without evidence of infection with human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2.". Lancet 340 (8814): 273–4. doi:10.1016/0140-6736(92)92359-N. PMID 1353194.
11. ^ Ho D, Cao Y, Zhu T, Farthing C, Wang N, Gu G, Schooley R, Daar E (1993). "Idiopathic CD4+ T-lymphocytopenia--immunodeficiency without evidence of HIV infection.". N Engl J Med 328 (6): 380–5. doi:10.1056/NEJM199302113280602. PMID 8093634.
12. ^ Spira T, Jones B, Nicholson J, Lal R, Rowe T, Mawle A, Lauter C, Shulman J, Monson R (1993). "Idiopathic CD4+ T-lymphocytopenia--an analysis of five patients with unexplained opportunistic infections.". N Engl J Med 328 (6): 386–92. doi:10.1056/NEJM199302113280603. PMID 8093635.
13. ^ Zonios DI, Falloon J, Bennett JE et al. (July 2008). "Idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia: natural history and prognostic factors". Blood 112 (2): 287–294. doi:10.1182/blood-2007-12-127878. PMC 2442741. PMID 18456875.
14. ^ Niino D, Tsukasaki K, Torii K et al. (January 2008). "Human herpes virus 8-negative primary effusion lymphoma with BCL6 rearrangement in a patient with idiopathic CD4 positive T-lymphocytopenia". Haematologica 93 (1): e21–3. doi:10.3324/haematol.12085. PMID 18166773.
15. ^ Richetta A, Amoruso GF, Ascoli V et al. (2007). "PEL, Kaposi's sarcoma HHV8+ and idiopathic T-lymphocitopenia CD4+". Clin Ter 158 (2): 151–5. PMID 17566517.
16. ^ Campbell JK, Prince HM, Juneja SK, Seymour JF, Slavin M (April 2001). "Diffuse large cell lymphoma and t(8;22) (q24;q11) in a patient with idiopathic CD4+ T-lymphopenia". Leuk. Lymphoma 41 (3-4): 421–3. doi:10.3109/10428190109057998. PMID 11378556.
17. ^ Longo F, Hébuterne X, Michiels JF, Maniere A, Caroli-Bosc FX, Rampal P (January 1999). "[Multifocal MALT lymphoma and acute cytomegalovirus gastritis revealing CD4 lymphopenia without HIV infection]". Gastroenterol. Clin. Biol. (in French) 23 (1): 132–6. PMID 10219614.
18. ^ Shimano S, Murata N, Tsuchiya J (July 1997). "[Idiopathic CD4+ T-lymphocytopenia terminating in Burkitt's lymphoma]". Rinsho Ketsueki (in Japanese) 38 (7): 599–603. PMID 9267164.
19. ^ Mandl T, Bredberg A, Jacobsson LT, Manthorpe R, Henriksson G (April 2004). "CD4+ T-lymphocytopenia--a frequent finding in anti-SSA antibody seropositive patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome". J. Rheumatol. 31 (4): 726–8. PMID 15088298.
20. ^ Smith D, Neal J, Holmberg S (1993). "Unexplained opportunistic infections and CD4+ T-lymphocytopenia without HIV infection. An investigation of cases in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control Idiopathic CD4+ T-lymphocytopenia Task Force.". N Engl J Med 328 (6): 373–9. doi:10.1056/NEJM199302113280601. PMID 8093633.
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Joseph Barcroft
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Joseph Barcroft c. 1940
Sir Joseph Barcroft CBE, FRS[1] (26 July 1872 – 21 March 1947) was a British physiologist best known for his studies of the oxygenation of blood.[2]
Born in Newry, County Down into a Quaker family, he was the son of Henry Barcroft DL and Anna Richardson Malcomson of The Glen, Newry – a property purchased for his parents by his mother's uncle, John Grubb Richardson and adjoining his own estate in Bessbrook. He was initially educated at Bootham School, York and later at The Leys School, Cambridge. He married Mary Agnetta Ball, daughter of Sir Robert S. Ball, in 1903.
He received his degree in Medicine and Science in 1896 from Cambridge University, and immediately began his studies of haemoglobin. In May 1910 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society[1] and would be awarded their Royal Medal in 1922 and their Copley medal in 1943. He would also deliver their Croonian Lecture in 1935.[3]
In both the First World War and Second World War he had the prestigious role of Chief Physiologist at the Gas Warfare Centre at Porton Down near Salisbury.[4]
In 1936 he was nominated, unsuccessfully, by Professor Arthur Dighton Stammers, Professor of Physiology in the University of the Witwatersrand, for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for his work on the respiratory function of the blood and the functions of the spleen.[5]
In the course of his research, he did not hesitate to use himself as a test subject. For example, during the First World War, when he was called to Royal Engineers Experimental Station (near Salisbury) to carry out experiments on asphyxiating gas, he exposed himself to an atmosphere of poisonous hydrogen cyanide. On another occasion he remained for seven days in a glass chamber in order to calculate the minimum quantity of oxygen required for the survival of the human organism, and another time he exposed himself to such a low temperature that he collapsed into unconsciousness.
He also studied the physiology of oxygenation at extreme altitudes, and for this purpose he organized expeditions to the peak of Tenerife (1910), to Monte Rosa (1911), and to the Peruvian Andes (1922).
Between 1902 and 1905 he was a Governor of Leighton Park School, the Quaker School in Reading. From 1925 to 1937 he held the chair of physiology at Cambridge. His final research, begun in 1933, concerned fetal respiration.
He was knighted in 1935.[4] He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1938.[6]
During the first years of the Second World War he was again summoned to Porton Down to consult on chemical weapons. He died in Cambridge in 1947.
• The Respiratory Function of the Blood (1914)
• Features in the Architecture of the Physiological Function (1934)
1. ^ a b Roughton, F. J. W. (1949). "Joseph Barcroft. 1872-1947". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 6 (18): 315. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1949.0001. JSTOR 768928. edit
2. ^ Dunn, P. M. (2000). "Sir Joseph Barcroft of Cambridge (1872-1947) and prenatal research". Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition 82 (1): F75–F76. doi:10.1136/fn.82.1.F75. PMC 1721043. PMID 10634847. edit
3. ^ "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal society. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
4. ^ a b
5. ^ "Nomination Database – Physiology or Medicine". Retrieved 16 June 2012.
Further reading[edit]
Most of this article was drawn from the corresponding article on the Italian Wikipedia retrieved (12 June 2006).
Academic offices
Preceded by
Arthur Keith
Fullerian Professor of Physiology
Succeeded by
Julian Sorell Huxley
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Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic
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Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic
Native to Israel, Italy
Native speakers
35,000 (1994)[2]
Hebrew alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3 yud
Glottolog jude1264[3]
Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic (also known as Tripolitanian Judeo-Arabic, Jewish Tripolitanian-Libyan Arabic, Tripolita'it, Yudi) is a variety of Arabic spoken by Jews formerly living in Libya. Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic differs from standard Libyan Arabic in that it closely resembles the original dialect of the sedentary population, whereas much of Libya's population now speaks Bedouin-influenced varieties of Arabic.[4] This language is recorded and there is a reference book on the grammar, text and glossary of the Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic language, written by Sumikazu Yoda.
General Information[edit]
There are 35,000 speakers of Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic. Most speakers now live in Israel (30,000) and Italy (5,000).[5] They are over the age of 40.[6] The status of the language is shifting, according to Ethnologue, meaning that the child bearing generation are able to use the language but it is not being passed on to children.
Short History[7][edit]
Tripoli is located in the middle part of the Mediterranean coast of Africa, in Lybia. Jews existing in Tripoli dates back as far as the 15th century. However, after the Arab conquest, the earliest information available is from the 16th century. During the 17th century, the Jews in Tripoli increased because of the arrival of the Jews from Leghorn. Jewish refugees from Tunis and Algiers also began to migrate to Tripoli, during the Turkish Qaramanli dynasty. Then in 1835, Tripoli was ruled by Turkey. Later, from 1911 to 1943, Tripoli was under Italian rule. There were 20,000 Jews living in Tripoli, in 1948. During 1948-1952, about 14,000 Jews migrated to Israel and Italy, following two riots. Only 6,228 Jews were still living in Tripoli and they also migrated to Israel and Italy, after riots that occurred during the Six-Day Ware in 1967. There were only a few dozen Jews living in Tripoli in 1970 and after 1970, no information is available regarding the current situation of the Jews in Tripoli.
See Also[edit]
1. ^ Yoda, Sumikazu (2005). The Arabic dialect of the Jews in Tripoli (Lybia): Grammar, Text and Glossary. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
2. ^ Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
3. ^ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
4. ^ (Russian) Judæo-Arabic languages. Jewish Electronic Encyclopædia.
5. ^ Spolsky, Bernard (Mar 27, 2014). The languages of the Jews: A Sociolinguistic History. Cambridge University Press. p. 270.
6. ^ Raymond G. Gordon, Jr, ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Further Reading[edit]
• Garcia Arevalo, T. (2014). "The General Linguistic Features of the Modern Judeo-Arabic dialects in the Maghreb". Zutot 11 (1): 49-56.
• Goldberg, H. (1983) Language and culture of the Jews of Tripolitania. Mediterranean language review 1. (?).
• Spolsky, B. (2014). The languages of the Jews: A sociolinguistic history.
• Spolsky, B., & Shohamy, E. (1999) The languages of Israel: Policy, Ideology, and practice. Clevedon.
• Frawley, W. (2003). International encyclopedia of linguistics (2nd ed., Vol. 2). Oxford.
External links[edit]
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Kazimierz Łyszczyński
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Jump to: navigation, search
Coat of Arms of Kazimierz Łyszczyński
Belarusian stamp in honor of the 375th anniversary of the birth of Kazimierz Łyszczyński (artist: N. Ryzy)
Kazimierz Łyszczyński (Polish pronunciation: [kaˈʑimjɛʂ wɨˈʂt͡ʂɨɲskʲi] (Born on March 4, 1634 in Łyszczyce (today Belarus) – March 30, 1689 in Warsaw, Poland), also known in English as Casimir Liszinski, was a Polish nobleman, landowner in Brest Litovsk Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, philosopher, and soldier in the ranks of the Sapieha family, who was accused, tried, and executed for atheism in 1689.[1][2]
For eight years he studied philosophy as a Jesuit and then became a podsędek (supply judge) in legal cases against the Jesuits concerning estates. He wrote a treatise entitled The non-existence of God and was later executed on charges of atheism. His trial has been criticized[3] and is seen as a case of legalized "religious murder" in Poland.[4]
Life, trial, and execution[edit]
Kazimierz Łyszczyński was a nobleman, landowner, philosopher, and soldier in the service of the Sapieha family. For eight years he studied philosophy as a Jesuit and then became a supply judge (podsędek) in legal cases against the Jesuits concerning estates.
Łyszczyński had read a book by Henry Aldsted entitled Theologia Naturalis, which attempted to prove the existence of divinity. But its arguments were so confused that Łyszczyński was able to infer many contradictions. Ridiculing Aldsted, Łyszczyński wrote in the book's margins the words "ergo non est Deus" ("therefore God does not exist").
This was discovered by one of Łyszczyński's debtors, Jan Kazimierz Brzoska, who was the nuncio of Brest in Poland or a Stolnik of Bracławice or Łowczy of Brześć. Brzoska, reluctant to return a great sum of money to him lent by Łyszczyński, accused the latter of being an atheist and gave the aforementioned work as evidence to Witwicki, bishop of Poznań. Brzoska also stole and delivered to the court a handwritten copy of De non existentia Dei, which was the first Polish philosophical treatise presenting reality from an atheistic perspective, and which Łyszczyński had been working on since 1674.[5] Witwicki along with Załuski, bishop of Kiev, took up this case with zeal. The King attempted to help Łyszczyński by ordering that he should be judged at Vilna, but this could not save Łyszczyński from the clergy. Łyszczyński's first privilege as a Polish noble, that he could not be imprisoned before his condemnation, was violated. The Łyszczyński case was brought before the diet of 1689 where he was accused of having denied the existence of God and having blasphemed against the Virgin Mary and the saints. He was condemned to death for atheism. The sentence was carried out before noon in the Old Town Market in Warsaw, where his tongue was pulled out followed by a beheading.[3] After that, his corpse was transported beyond the city borders and cremated.
Bishop Załuski gave the following account of the execution:
After recantation the culprit was conducted to the scaffold, where the executioner tore with a burning iron the tongue and the mouth, with which he had been cruel against God; after which his hands, the instruments of the abominable production, were burnt at a slow fire, the sacrilegious paper was thrown into the flames; finally himself, that monster of his century, this deicide was thrown into the expiatory flames; expiatory if such a crime may be atoned for.[3]
De non existentia Dei[edit]
Łyszczyński wrote a treatise entitled "De non existentia Dei" (the non-existence of God), which stated that God does not exist and that religions are the inventions of man.[6]
On the basis of a public accusation, a trial at the front of the Sejm Commission was conducted. There is an actual transcript of the proceedings in a Library of Kórnik, including a speech by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Instigator Regni Szymon Kurowicz Zabistowski, in which he cited fragments of De non existentia Dei. The treatise itself was destroyed by the diet but the cited fragments that survived are as follows:
I - we beseech you, o' theologians, by your God, if in this manner do you not extinguish the light of Reason, do you not oust the sun from this world, do you not pull down your God from the sky, when attributing him the impossible, the characteristics and attributes contradicting themselves.
IV - simple folk are cheated by the more cunning with the fabrication of God for their own oppression; whereas the same oppression is shielded by the folk in a way, that if the wise attempted to free them by the truth, they would be quelled by the very people.
V - nevertheless we do not experience within us and within any other such an imperative of reason, which would ensure us of a truth of divine revelation. Alas if they were present in us, then everyone would have to acknowledge them and would have no doubts and would not contradict the Writings of Moses and the Gospels - which is not true - and there would be no different congregations and their followers as Mahomet etc. Such an imperative is not known and there are not only doubts, but there are some who deny a revelation, and they are not fools, but wise men, who with a proper reasoning prove what? the very contrary, what I also prove here. Concluding, that God does not exist".[7]
During his trial, Łyszczyński claimed that the work was to be about a Catholic and an atheist having a debate, in which the Catholic would eventually win (he told the diet that the work would have had a different title from De non existentia Dei). The atheist was to speak first followed by the Catholic. He claimed that he only wrote the first half of the work (that is only the atheist's argument) and then stopped writing at the advice of a priest.
Status in modern Poland[edit]
Regardless of whether Łyszczyński was genuinely an atheist, in communist Poland he came to be celebrated as a martyr of the atheist cause. In a series of papers, Andrzej Nowicki presented a romanticized view of Łyszczyński, stating that "in terms of breadth of intellectual horizons, the thoroughness of philosophical erudition and the boldness of thought, he was beyond doubt the most eminent Polish mind of the epoch."[8]
In March 2014, his persona and ideas were the key theme in a public performace during the 2014 Procession of Atheists in Poland.[9][10]
See also[edit]
Citations and footnotes[edit]
1. ^ Aleksander Gieysztor, et al. 1979, History of Poland, page 261: A Lithuanian nobleman, Kazimierz Lyszczynski, was even beheaded for his alleged, or real, atheism (1689)
2. ^ Jerzy Kłoczowski, 2000, A History of Polish Christianity, page 155: The most famous episode was the sentencing to death of Kazimierz Lyszczynski, a nobleman accused of atheism, by the Sejm court in 1689.
3. ^ a b c (Skorobohaty 1840, pp. 412–415, "Chapter XV") Cazimir Lyszczynski, a noble and landowner of Lithuania, a man of a very respectable character, was perusing a book entitled Theologia Naturalis, by Henry Aldsted, a Protestant divine, and finding that the arguments which the author employed in order to prove the existence of divinity, were so confused that it was possible to deduce from them quite contrary consequences, he added on the margin the following words — “ergo non est Deus,” evidently ridiculing the arguments of the author. This circumstance was found out by Brzoska, nuncio of Brest in Lithuania, a debtor of Lyszczynski, who denouned him as an atheist, delivering, as evidence of his accusation, a copy of the work with the above-mentioned annotation to Witwicki, bishop of Posnania, who took up this affair with the greatest violence. He was zealously seconded by Zaluski, bishop of Kiod, a prelate known for his great learning and not devoid of merit in other respects, which however proved no check to religious fanaticism. The king, who was very far from countenancing such enormities, attempted to save the unfortunate Lyszczynski, by ordering that he should be judged at Vilna; but nothing could shelter the unfortunate man against the fanatical rage of the clergy represented by the two bishops; and the first privilege of a Polish noble, that he could not be imprisoned before his condemnation, and which had theretofore been sacredly observed even with the greatest criminals, was violated. On the simple accusation of his debtor, supported by the bishops, the affair was brought before the diet of 1689, before which the clergy, and particularly the bishop Zaluski, accused Lyszczynski of having denied the existence of God, and uttered blasphemies against the blessed Virgin and the saints. The unfortunate victim, terrified by his perilous situation, acknowledged all that was imputed to him, made a full recantation of all he might have said and written against the doctrine of the Roman Catholic church, and declared his entire submission to its authority. This was, however, of no avail to him, and his accusers were even scandalized that the diet permitted him to make a defence, and granted the term of three days for collecting evidence of his innocence, as the accusation of the clergy ought, in their judgment, to be sufficient evidence on which to condemn the culprit. The fanaticism of the diet was excited in a most scandalous manner by the blasphemous representation that divinity should be propitiated by the blood of its offenders. The diet decreed that Lyszczynski should have his tongue pulled out, and then be beheaded and burnt. This atrocious sentence was executed, and the bishop Zaluski himself gives a relation of what he considered an act of piety and justice! The king was horror-struck at this news and exclaimed that the Inquisition could not do any thing worse. It is necessary, on this occasion, to render justice to Pope Innocent XI., who, instead of conferring a cardinal’s hat on the bishop of Posnania, bitterly censured this disgraceful affair.
4. ^ The Spirit of Polish History by Antoni Chołoniewski. Translated by Jane (Addy) Arctowska. Published by The Polish Book Importing Co., inc., 1918. p. 38 "The execution of the nobleman Lyszczynski, accused of atheism, religious murder ordered by the Diet of 1689, remained an isolated case."
5. ^ Janusz Tazbir, 1966, Historia Kościoła Katolickiego w Polsce. 1460-1795: Catholics who were suspected of being atheists were treated much more severely than Protestants who openly proclaimed their beliefs. An example is given by a trial of nobleman Kazmierz Łyszczyński, who was sentenced to death for atheism in 1689. Łyszczyński is thought to have written a longer treatise on the existence of God, where he expressed his affection for atheism. The manuscript of this treatise was stolen by his personal foe, Jan Kazimierz Brzóska, who sent it to Poznań bishop Stanisław Witwicki, who accused the blasphemer in court. Other bishops supported this accusation. In effect the diet sentenced Łyszczyński to death by beheading and cutting of his tongue. King Jan Sobieski is said to have expressed his discontent by saying that the inquisition would not have undertaken a more severe decision. After the king's appeal the execution was limited to beheading only. The body of the blasphemer was burned. The trial was not well regarded in Rome. The pope thought that the bishops had abused their entitlements and that the sentence had been too severe. It is however worth noting that Łyszczyński's trial is the only known example in the 17th century of a noblemen being executed because of his beliefs.
6. ^ ATHEISM Polskie Towarzystwo Tomasza z Akwinu, p. 17
7. ^ Andrzej Nowicki, 1957
8. ^ (Pomian-Srzednicki 1982, pp. 103–104) It appears that Łyszczyński was sentenced to death for writing a treatise entitled 'De non existentia Dei' ... and all that remains are a few notes which were made during the trial. Apart from this and also the fact that his execution caused some controversy at the time on account of his being a member of the gentry, next to nothing is known about Łyszczyński. Łyszczyński's importance as a martyr of the atheist cause has led to his romanticization by Nowicki and to his rescue from a murky cell in the obscure by-ways of history. A copious amount of writing has appeared concerning both what is not known about him and what the content of his thought might have been. Nowicki writes boldly: 'Polish intellectual life cannot boast of any one figure who could compare with Łyszczyński in terms of breadth of intellectual horizons, the thoroughness of philosophical erudition and the boldness of thought. He was beyond doubt the most eminent Polish mind of the epoch.' What a pity that no one knows what the content of his thought was. According to the notes made at the trial, Łyszczyński, was curiously 'modern', even to the point of incongruity, in his critique of religion: all of his remarks might have been made by Marx or Lenin ... Łyszczyński clearly states his disbelief in God. The incongruity of this idea, however, lies in an inability to understand its genesis in the context of Polish society at that time ... there is no independent or clear evidence of other individuals with similar inclinations during Łyszczyński's time. To say that Łyszczyński was simply ahead of his time means nothing: it is an admission of the unavailability of an explanation.
9. ^ "Marsz Ateistów w Warszawie. Inscenizacja egzekucji na rynku".
10. ^ "Koalicja Ateistyczna: An Encounter with Polish Atheists".
• Skorobohaty, Walerjan (1840), Historical Sketch Of The Rise, Progress And Decline Of The Reformation In Poland V1, University of Michigan
• L. Łyszczinskij, Rod dworian Łyszczinskich, S. Pietierburg 1907.
• A. Nowicki, Pięć fragmentów z dzieła "De non existentia dei" Kazimierza Łyszczyńskiego (by a script fromLibrary of Kórnik nr 443), "Euhemer", nr 1, 1957, pp. 72–81.
• A. Nowicki, Aparatura pojęciowa rozważań Kazimierza Łyszczyńskiego (1634–1689) o religii i stosunkach między ludźmi, "Euhemer, Zeszyty Filozoficzne", nr 3, 1962, pp. 53–81.
• A. Nowicki, Studia nad Łyszczyńskim, "Euhemer, Zeszyty Filozoficzne", nr 4, 1963, pp. 22–83.
• A. Nowicki, Pięć wiadomości o Łyszczyńskim w gazecie paryskiej z roku 1689, "Euhemer, Zeszyty Filozoficzne", nr 4, 1963, pp. 40–44.
• A. Nowicki, Sprawa Kazimierza Łyszczyńskiego na Sejmie w Warszawie w świetle rękopisu Diariusza Sejmowego, znajdującego się w Wojewódzkim Archiwum Państwowym w Gdańsku, "Euhemer, Zeszyty Filozoficzne", nr 4, 1963, pp. 23–39.
• Ateizm Kazimierza Łyszczyńskiego, (w:) A. Nowicki, Wykłady o krytyce religii w Polsce, Warszawa 1965, pp. 51–68.
• Janusz Tazbir, Historia Kościoła katolickiego w Polsce (1460 -1795), Warsaw 1966.
• Pomian-Srzednicki, Maciej (1982), Religious Change in Contemporary Poland: Secularization and Politics, Routledge, pp. 103–4, ISBN 0-7100-9245-8
• Pomian-Kłoczowski, Jerzy (2000), A History of Polish Christianity, Cambridge University Press, p. 155, ISBN 0-521-36429-9
External links[edit]
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Central square.
Central square.
Coat of arms of Llucmajor
Coat of arms
Llucmajor is located in Spain
Location in Spain
Coordinates: 39°29′N 2°53′E / 39.483°N 2.883°E / 39.483; 2.883
Country Spain
Autonomous community Balearic Islands
Province Balearic Islands
Comarca Migjorn
Judicial district Palma de Mallorca
• Mayor Joan Jaume
• Total 20.25 km2 (7.82 sq mi)
Population (2009)
• Total 36,078
• Density 1,800/km2 (4,600/sq mi)
Demonym Llucmajorer/era
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 07620
Llucmajor (Catalan pronunciation: [ʎuɡməˈʒo, ʎumːəˈʒo]; Spanish: Lluchmayor) is the largest municipality (in terms of surface area) of the Balearic Island Majorca.
There are sixteen towns in the district, including the town of Llucmajor and parts of s'Arenal, Cala Blava and Cala Pí.
Towns in the district[edit]
The population numbers in parentheses are from 1 January 2005 and do not include people living outside settlements, so that the numbers do not total the entire population of the district. (Source: INE).
• s'Arenal (9,563 inhabitants)
• Llucmajor (9,312 inhabitants)
• Badia Gran (1,719 inhabitants)
• Badia Blava (1,536 inhabitants)
• les Palmeres (1,140 inhabitants)
• sa Torre (1,197 inhabitants)
• Son Veri Nou (651 inhabitants)
• Maioris Decima (628 inhabitants)
• Tolleric (336 inhabitants)
• Cala Blava (309 inhabitants)
• Bellavista (305 inhabitants)
• s'Estanyol de Migjorn (288 inhabitants)
• Cala Pí (241 inhabitants)
• Puig de Ros (187 inhabitants)
• es Pas de Vallgornera (76 inhabitants)
• Vallgornera Nou (54 inhabitants)
Town of Llucmajor[edit]
The town of Llucmajor, which has a population of 9,312 inhabitants, is the capital of the municipality. It is about 15 km (9.3 mi) southeast of Palma Airport, at the foot (about 4 km southwest) of Puig de Randa mountain on the road from Palma to Santanyí. Since the town is also about 15 km (9.3 mi) from the coast, it is not especially geared towards tourists.
The first church in Llucmajor was erected in 1259. In 1300 it was elevated to "villa" by James II of Majorca. The most important historical event in connection with the town is the Battle of Llucmajor, where in 1349 Peter IV of Aragon defeated his cousin James III of Majorca, resulting in the end of the independent Kingdom of Majorca. James was killed on the battlefield northeast of the city. He was first buried in the parish church of the town. Today his grave is located in the cathedral of Palma.
In 1543 Charles V granted the city the right to hold a market on Wednesdays and Fridays.
In the 20th century Llucmajor developed into a center for shoemaking and so achieved a degree of prosperity.
Llucmajor town is a solid manufacturing town that specialises mainly in shoes. The town economy also relies on tourism.
Air Europa is headquartered in the Centro Empresarial Globalia in Llucmajor.[1][2]
Main sights[edit]
• Town hall
• Church of San Miguel from the 18th century on the Plaça Santa Catalina Tomàs
• Memorial for James III on the Passeig Jaume III
• Shoemakers' memorial at the western town gate
1. ^ "Fact Sheet." SkyTeam. Retrieved on 27 December 2008.
2. ^ World Airline Directory. Flight International. 16–22 March 2004. "62."
External links[edit]
This article includes material translated from the German Wikipedia.
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Marmaduke Constable
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Jump to: navigation, search
For other people named Marmaduke Constable, see Marmaduke Constable (disambiguation).
Sir Marmaduke Constable
Flodden Memorial - - 39370.jpg
Memorial at Flodden Field, where Marmaduke Constable commanded the left wing
Spouse(s) Margery FitzHugh
Joyce Stafford
Sir Robert Constable
Sir Marmaduke Constable
Sir William Constable
Sir John Constable
Agnes Constable
Eleanor Constable
Father Sir Robert Constable
Mother Agnes Wentworth
Born c.1456/7
Died 10 November 1518
Buried Church of St Oswald, Flamborough, Yorkshire
Sir Marmaduke Constable (c.1456/7 – 20 November 1518) of Flamborough, Yorkshire, was a courtier and soldier during the reigns of Richard III, Henry VII and Henry VIII.
Constable was born around 1456/7.[a] He was the eldest son and heir of Sir Robert Constable (4 April 1423 – 23 May 1488) of Flamborough, Yorkshire, and Agnes Wentworth (d. 20 April 1496), daughter of Sir Roger Wentworth of North Elmsall, Yorkshire, by Margery le Despencer.[b][c]
According to Horrox, the Constables of Flamborough were followers of the Percys. Marmaduke's father was in the service of King Edward IV in 1461, but by 1470 both Marmaduke and his father were in the service of Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland. Marmaduke campaigned with the Earl in Scotland in the early 1480s, and Northumberland knighted him at Berwick in August 1481. Marmaduke's epitaph states that he had been with Edward IV in France in 1475, perhaps under Northumberland.[1]
By December 1483 Constable was a knight of the body to King Richard III, and was granted forfeited lands after Buckingham's rebellion. On 28 March 1484 the King granted him the constableship of Tutbury Castle, and other offices.[2]
According to Horrox, it is unclear whether Constable fought for Richard III at Bosworth. In any case, he was not attainted, and was granted a pardon by Henry VII on 18 November 1485, was a knight of the body to the King by May 1486, and accompanied him to the wars in France in 1492.[3]
Constable succeeded his father in May 1488, and in November of that year became sheriff of Yorkshire. The first three years of Henry VII's reign were disrupted by risings in the North. Constable's brother-in-law, Sir Humphrey Stafford of Grafton, Worcestershire, was executed at Tyburn on 8 July 1486 for his involvement with Francis Lovell's rising in Yorkshire in 1586, and the Earl of Northumberland was killed by a Yorkshire mob in a rising in 1489. After Northumberland's death, Constable became an associate of Thomas Howard, then Earl of Surrey, who nominated him in 1509 to the Order of the Garter. In 1513 Constable commanded the left wing at the Battle of Flodden under Howard, for which service he received a letter of thanks from the King dated 26 November 1514 in which he is addressed as Sir Marmaduke Constable the elder, 'called the little'.[4]
Constable died on 10 November 1518 after swallowing a frog while drinking a glass of water.[5] In the Church of St Oswald in Flamborough one may still read a rhyming epitaph describing his life and prowess.
Marriages and issue[edit]
Constable married firstly Margery FitzHugh, daughter of Henry FitzHugh, 5th Baron FitzHugh,[6] and sister to Alice and Elizabeth FitzHugh,[citation needed] by whom he had no issue.[7]
Constable married secondly Joyce Stafford, daughter of Sir Humphrey Stafford (1400 – 7 June 1450) of Grafton, Worcestershire, slain at Sevenoaks by the rebel, Jack Cade, and Eleanor Aylesbury (born c.1406), the daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury (d. 9 September 1418) and his second wife, Katherine Pabenham (c.1372 – 17 June 1436), by whom he had four sons and two daughters:[8]
• Agnes Constable, who married firstly Sir Henry Ughtred, and secondly, Sir William Percy.[16]
Another noteworthy member of this family was the regicide, Sir William Constable (died 1655) who fought for Parliament in the English Civil War, and was a signatory to the death warrant of Charles I of England.[18]
1. ^ He was said to be 31 at his father's death in 1488.
2. ^ The family takes its name from the office of constable of Chester, to which Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester, appointed his kinsman, Nigel, Baron of Halton, at the time of William the Conqueror. The founder of the house of Constable in Flamborough was Robert Lacy (d.1216), surnamed 'Le Constable', ancestor of Marmaduke Constable.[19]
3. ^ He had five brothers: Robert (late 1450s – 1501),[i] a lawyer; Philip; John, who became Dean of Lincoln; Sir William; and Roger, and seven sisters, Elizabeth, who married Sir Thomas Metham; Margaret, who married Sir William Eure; Agnes, who married firstly Sir Walter Griffith, and secondly Sir Gervase Clifton; Margery, who married Sir Ralph Bigod; Anne, who married Sir William Tyrwhit of Kettleby, Lincolnshire; Agnes, who married Sir William Scargill, and Katherine, who married Ralph Ryther, esquire.[20]
4. ^ Born Easter Day 1423, died 23 May 1488 – History of Parliament, a biographical dictionary of Members of the House of Commons[page needed]
1. ^ Richardson states that Robert was knighted.
1. ^ Horrox 2004.
2. ^ Horrox 2004.
3. ^ Horrox 2004; Brodie 1887, p. 43.
4. ^ Horrox 2004; Brodie 1887, p. 43; Richardson I 2011, p. 119.
5. ^ "King Richard III: Battle of Bosworth descendents to meet". BBC News. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
6. ^ Brodie and Horrox state that she was the daughter of William, Lord FitzHugh.
7. ^ Richardson I 2011, p. 528.
8. ^ Richardson I 2011, pp. 117–19, 528–9.
9. ^ Newman 2004.
10. ^ Bindoff and Horrox state that John Sothill was a knight.
11. ^ Richardson I 2011, pp. 529–30; Horrox 2004; Bindoff 1982, pp. 685, 687–8; Sullivan 2004.
12. ^ Brodie 1887, p. 43.
13. ^ Jane's twin sister, Elizabeth, married Sir William Drury.
14. ^ Raine & Clay 1869, p. 169; Clay 1908, p. 64.
15. ^ Brodie 1887, p. 43; Bindoff 1982, p. 684.
16. ^ Richardson I 2011, p. 528.
17. ^ Richardson I 2011, p. 185.
18. ^ Chisholm 1911.
19. ^ Brodie 1887, p. 42.
20. ^ Richardson I 2011, pp. 527–8; Horrox 2004; Baker 2004.
External links[edit]
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Michael Marcovici
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Michael Marcovici
Born Michael Marcovici
September 27, 1969
Vienna, Austria
Nationality Austrian
Education Autodidact
Known for contemporary art, digital art, conceptual art
Michael Marcovici (born 27 September 1969) is an Austrian software developer, patent holder, sculptor, painter, conceptual artist and designer of furniture. His works make statements regarding politics, science and technology, social topics and style. His artistic output includes media works of ironic content, lithe furniture designs, and abstract hi-tech sculptures. His formative years were spent as a financial analyst and outdoor sportsman. Marcovici turned to art in 1995 as the publisher of two art magazines: werk-zeug and streetfashion. Most of his art dates from 2005 to 2009.[citation needed]
Marcovici was born in 1969 in Vienna, he became interested in technology, especially electronics and mathematics, at the age of seven. By 12, he had worked as a programmer, and quit school at 17. He then started his first business in the financial field, publishing analysis on the financial markets [1] a stock newsletter published by the artist and managing funds, until he sold his business at the age of 23. Marcovici spent the next three years climbing and hiking in Africa, USA, Asia, and all over Europe.
From 1995 on he was the publisher of werk-zeug, a technology and art magazine, as well as streetfashion, a magazine featuring fashionable people on the streets of the world. He was also active as a software developer and inventor. Marcovici holds international patents for climbing equipment, bicycle gears, trading systems and electronic payment systems Page text.[2]
In 2001, he started a business on eBay that eventually became the world's largest power-selling enterprise on eBay, a company with 80 employees and a turnover of 20 million euros a year.[citation needed] In early 2005, the company went bankrupt.[3] He wrote a book, The End of EBay in 2008,[4] about the company and its demise.
Michael Marcovici is also the co-founder and joint director of the Domain Developers Fund, a Cayman Island domiciled investment vehicle investing in domain names. He lives and works in Vienna.
His work addresses a variety of fields such as technology, politics, science, social topics,finance, religion and style. In 2009 he created "One Billion Dollar", a sculpture made of 10 Million USD Notes. The Artwork itself is conceptual but Marcovici has built a model that has been exhibited many times.[5] Rattraders is another famous work, the artist has trained rats to trade in the financial markets, the work has received international attention in mainstream media[6][7][8] in the mids of the 2008 financial crisis. Another important work is Free Tibet, a 15 foot long sign made from special steel with the words "Free Tibet" the sign was produced entirely in China, the aim of the work was to show the unreflected industrial production process on one side and the need for global resources in controversy: "No anti globalisation movement without airplanes, no anti Google movement without Google".[9] Other works to mention are: Democratic Chess.[10][11] Rolex Time Sand.[12] Unix a concept of an underground robotic transportation system.[13][14]
• 2010 Burn at greenbench.[15]
• 2009 At Ofroom.[16]
• 2009 Speed Show.[17]
1. ^ Austria Boersebrief
2. ^ WIPO patent, patent for payment system.
3. ^ heise online, about the qentis bankruptcy.
4. ^ Amazon, book on qentis.
5. ^ One Billion Dollar, on infosthetics.com.
6. ^ Rattraders, article in the Financial Times.
7. ^ Rattraders, article in 'The Guardian'.
8. ^ rattraders, article in metro.
9. ^ Free Tibet, on newcurrator.
10. ^ Democratic Chess, on boibboing.net.
11. ^ Democratic Chess, review on kottke.org.
12. ^ Rolex Time Sand, article in gizmodo.
13. ^ unitx robot, review in boiboing.net.
14. ^ unitx robot, review in core77.
15. ^ [1], website of Greenbench.
16. ^ Solo exhibition, in Austrian State TV ORF.
17. ^ Speed Show, by Aram Bartholl.
External links[edit]
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Lust for Life (album)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Neighborhood Threat)
Jump to: navigation, search
For the film, see Lust for Life (film).
Lust for Life
Studio album by Iggy Pop
Released August 29, 1977 (1977-08-29)
Recorded April 1977 (1977-04)–June 1977 (1977-06), Hansa Studio by the Wall, Berlin
Genre Rock, hard rock, punk rock, art rock
Length 41:53
Label RCA
Producer David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Colin Thurston
Iggy Pop chronology
The Idiot
Lust for Life
Kill City
Singles from Lust for Life
1. "Success" b/w "The Passenger"
Released: 30 September 1977 (1977-09-30)
2. "Lust for Life" b/w "Success"
Released: November 1977 (1977-11) (NL only)
3. "Some Weird Sin" b/w "Tonight"
Released: 1977 (1977) (NL only)
Lust for Life is a 1977 album by Iggy Pop, his second solo release and his second collaboration with David Bowie, following The Idiot earlier in the year. As well as achieving critical success, it was Pop's most commercially popular album to date, and remains his highest-charting release in the UK.
The Lust for Life sessions took place soon after the completion of a concert tour in support of the The Idiot album, the tour ending on 16 April 1977.[1][2] Pop has stated, "David and I had determined that we would record that album very quickly, which we wrote, recorded, and mixed in eight days, and because we had done it so quickly, we had a lot of money left over from the advance, which we split."[3] The singer slept little during its making, commenting "See, Bowie's a hell of a fast guy... I realized I had to be quicker than him, otherwise whose album was it gonna be?"[1] Pop's spontaneous lyrical method inspired Bowie to improvise his own words on his next project, "Heroes".[2]
Bowie, Pop and engineer Colin Thurston produced Lust for Life under the pseudonym "Bewlay Bros." (name via the final track on Bowie’s Hunky Dory).[1] The recording was made at Hansa Studio by the Wall in Berlin and featured Ricky Gardiner and Carlos Alomar on guitars with Hunt and Tony Sales on drums and bass, respectively. With Bowie on keyboards and backing vocals, the team included three-quarters of the future Tin Machine line-up;[1] the Sales brothers’ "gale-force" contribution to this album led Bowie to invite them to join his new band twelve years later ("Check out Lust For Life," he told guitarist Reeves Gabrels, "I’ve found the rhythm section!").[4] The sleeve photo was taken by Andy Kent, who also shot the cover for The Idiot.[1]
Style and themes[edit]
Lust for Life is generally considered to be more of an Iggy Pop record than the Bowie-dominated The Idiot, being less experimental musically and having more of a rock and roll flavor.[5][6][7] However some of its themes were similarly dark, as in "The Passenger", cited by NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray as one of Pop’s "most haunting" tracks,[5] and "Tonight" and "Turn Blue", both of which dealt with heroin abuse.[8] In contrast were more upbeat songs such as "Success" and "Lust for Life", the latter described by Rolling Stone as Pop's "survivor message to the masses".[7][9][10]
According to Iggy Pop, Bowie's celebrated riff on "Lust for Life" was inspired by the morse code opening to the American Forces Network News in Berlin.[11] At various points in the song the melody is doubled by the entire band; in Carlos Alomar's words, "You can’t play a counter-rhythm to that, you just had to follow".[2][12] Joy Division and New Order drummer Stephen Morris declared, "On Lust For Life the drums sound not huge but massive! The loudest cymbals known to man, that riff! I wanted to sound like that, still do."[6]
"The Passenger" was inspired by a Jim Morrison poem that saw "modern life as a journey by car", as well as rides on the Berlin S-Bahn, according to Pop's former girlfriend Esther Friedmann.[13][14] The lyrics have also been interpreted as "Iggy's knowing commentary on Bowie's cultural vampirism".[6] The music, a "laid-back ... springy groove", was composed by guitarist Ricky Gardiner.[15] It was released as the B-side of the album's only single, "Success". Characterized by Allmusic as "a glorious throwaway" and by Rolling Stone as "an infectious throwaway", "Success" was a light-hearted track of the call and response variety.[10][16]
"Turn Blue", at just under seven minutes the longest song on the album, was a sprawling confessional that dated back to an abortive recording session by Bowie and Pop in May 1975, when the latter was in the depths of his drug addiction. Originally titled "Moving On", it was composed by Bowie, Pop, Walter Lacey and Warren Peace.[9][17] It was the only set of lyrics that did not appear on the original vinyl record sleeve. The album's remaining tracks included "Sixteen", the only piece written entirely by Iggy Pop, "Some Weird Sin", a hard rock number featuring a "lost-boy lyric",[18] the "neo-punk" "Neighborhood Threat",[7] and "Fall in Love with Me", which grew from an impromptu jam by the band to which Pop composed lyrics apparently evoking his then-flame, Esther Friedmann.[2]
Release and reception[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 5/5 stars[19]
Blender 4/5 stars[20]
Robert Christgau A−[21]
Rolling Stone 4.5/5 stars[22]
Lust for Life reached #28 in the UK Albums Chart and is still his highest-performing release in that country.[23] Initially the album sold well in the US but the death of Elvis Presley caused RCA to quickly reissue Presley's catalogue and any promotional focus for Pop's album was lost.[2] It eventually performed well in America, but only peaked at #120 on the Billboard charts at the time of release. Rolling Stone's contemporary review considered that "purely on its own terms, Lust for Life is a successful album" but complained that Pop's "new stance is so utterly unchallenging and cautious".[10] "Success", backed with "The Passenger", was released as a single on 30 September 1977.[5]
Covers and live versions[edit]
"Lust for Life" and "Sixteen" appeared the following year on the live set TV Eye. Bowie covered "Tonight" (minus the opening lines referencing drugs) with Tina Turner, along with "Neighborhood Threat", on his 1984 release Tonight. "The Passenger" has been performed by Nick Cave, R.E.M., Bauhaus, The Lunachicks, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Michael Hutchence (on the Batman Forever soundtrack), amongst others (Brazilian band Capital Inicial has recorded a version in Portuguese which is called "O Passageiro"). Duran Duran covered "Success" on the faves collection Thank You. "Lust For Life" has been played by many artists including Yo La Tengo, The Damned, The Smithereens, Tom Jones and The Pretenders, and David Bowie live, and is used as bumper music on The Jim Rome Show; it is also used as the theme music for the ongoing advertising campaign for Royal Caribbean International. Its distinctive riff is commonly cited as inspiring Australian band Jet in 2003 for their song "Are You Gonna Be My Girl",[24][25] while the drum riff was sampled by Welsh band Manic Street Preachers for the outro of their single "You Love Us" and by Scottish band Travis for the intro to their single "Selfish Jean". The main riff was interpolated into the break section of What Is Happening by Alphabeat as well.
Track listing[edit]
All lyrics written by Iggy Pop except "Turn Blue" by Pop and Walter Lacey; music composers are listed below..
Side one
No. Title Music composer(s) Length
1. "Lust for Life" David Bowie 5:13
2. "Sixteen" Pop 2:26
3. "Some Weird Sin" Bowie 3:42
4. "The Passenger" Ricky Gardiner 4:44
5. "Tonight" Bowie 3:39
Side two
No. Title Music composer(s) Length
6. "Success" Bowie, Gardiner 4:25
7. "Turn Blue" Bowie, Warren Peace 6:56
8. "Neighborhood Threat" Bowie, Gardiner 3:25
9. "Fall in Love with Me" Bowie, Hunt Sales, Tony Sales 6:30
1. ^ a b c d e Nicholas Pegg (2000). The Complete David Bowie: pp.383-384
2. ^ a b c d e Paul Trynka (2007). Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed: pp.263-272
3. ^ Joe Ambrose (2004). Gimme Danger: The Story of Iggy Pop: p.173
4. ^ David Buckley (1999). Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story: p.451
5. ^ a b c Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: p.118
6. ^ a b c Joe Ambrose (2004). Op Cit: pp.185-186
7. ^ a b c Allmusic album review
8. ^ Joe Ambrose Gimme Danger: The Story Of Iggy Pop 2007 "two other songs 'Drink To Me' and 'Turn Blue' which, with a new lyric, featured on Iggy's 1977 solo tour and in much altered form on Lust For Life"
9. ^ a b Allmusic song review: "Turn Blue"
10. ^ a b c Billy Altman (12 January 1978). "Lust for Life". Rolling Stone. [dead link]
11. ^ Nicholas Pegg (2000). Op Cit: p.137
12. ^ Allmusic song review: "Lust for Life"
13. ^ Nicholas Pegg (2000). Op Cit: p.160
14. ^ "S-Bahn brachte Iggy Pop auf "The Passenger"". Die Welt. 21 February 2013.
15. ^ Allmusic song review: "The Passenger"
16. ^ Allmusic song review: "Success"
17. ^ Nicholas Pegg (2000). Op Cit: p.223
18. ^ Allmusic review: "Some Weird Sin"
19. ^ Allmusic review
20. ^ Blender review
21. ^ Robert Christgau review
22. ^ Rolling Stone review
23. ^ Paul Trynka (2007). Op Cit: pp.417-426
24. ^ Jenny Eliscu (8 April 2004). "Jet's High Times". Rolling Stone. [dead link]
25. ^ single review
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Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever
An example of an adult female Toller
Other names Yarmouth Toller, Tolling Retriever, Little Red Duck Dog, Little River Duck Dog
Nicknames Toller, Scotty, Novie
Country of origin Canada (Nova Scotia)
Weight Male 20–23 kg (44–51 lb)
Female 17–20 kg (37–44 lb)
Height Male 48–51 cm (19–20 in)
Female 45–48 cm (18–19 in)
Coat Medium-length coat with a softer, dense undercoat
Colour Varying shades of red or orange
Litter size 6–10 pups
Life span 10–14 years [1]
Notes Provincial dog of Nova Scotia
Dog (Canis lupus familiaris)
The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, or Toller for short, is a medium-sized breed of gundog bred primarily for hunting. It is the smallest of the retrievers, and is often mistaken for a small Golden Retriever. Tollers are known to be intelligent, alert, high-energy dogs. Tollers get their name because of their ability to lure waterfowl within gunshot range. The breed originated in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, where they were used for tolling and retrieving ducks.[2][3]
The Toller was officially admitted to the Canadian Kennel Club in 1945.[4] Declared the provincial dog of Nova Scotia in 1995, the breed gained national recognition in 1980, when two Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers were awarded Best in Show at championship events that included many breeds.[5] On June 11, 2001, it was approved for admission into the Miscellaneous Class of the American Kennel Club and was granted full recognition into the Sporting Group on July 1, 2003.[6]
Use in hunting[edit]
The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever was bred to "toll", or lure, ducks into shooting range by causing a disturbance near the shore. After the duck is shot, the dog brings it to the hunter.
This Toller has the rich orange coat color and "foxy" head shape that are desirable for the breed.
Tollers are often mistaken for small Golden Retrievers, but the Toller is more active, both physically and mentally.[7] According to the breed standards, the Toller should be athletic, well-muscled, compact, medium boned, balanced and powerful. The chest is deep. Conformation judges require Tollers to be capable of tolling, and physical faults that inhibit working ability are heavily penalized. They should be of moderate build—a lack of substance or a heavy build are penalized by judges, as both detract from the type and athleticism. The legs are sturdy and solid. Tollers have webbed feet.[2][3]
Those who breed Tollers for conformation shows consider the head (clean cut, slightly wedge-shaped) to be an important feature, and believe it should resemble that of a fox and must never be blocky like that of a Golden Retriever. The ears are triangular and set high and well back from the skull.[2][3] The tail is well feathered and held jauntily when the dog is excited or moving.[2][3]
Color is any shade of red, ranging from a golden red through dark coppery red, with lighter featherings on the underside of the tail, pantaloons, and body. Even the lighter shades of golden red are deeply pigmented and rich in color. The Toller should not be buff or brown.[2][3]
The Toller has usually at least one of the following white markings: tip of tail, feet (not extending above the pasterns), chest, and blaze. Lack of white is not a fault. Dogs with white on the shoulders, around ears, back of neck, or across back or flanks, or with silvery, grey or black areas in coat are disqualified from conformation shows.[2][3]
The Toller was bred to retrieve from icy waters and must have a water-repellent double coat of medium length and softness, and a soft dense undercoat. The coat may have a slight wave on the back, but is otherwise straight. Some winter coats may form a long loose curl at the throat. Featherings are soft and moderate in length. The hair on the muzzle is short and fine. Seasonal shedding is to be expected.[2][3]
Size and proportions[edit]
Tollers are the smallest of all the retriever breeds.[2][3][4] They range in height from 17–21 in (43–53 cm) at the withers, and weigh 30–50 lb (14–23 kg), with females being slightly shorter and lighter (the breed standard does not specify weight).[7] Tollers are always a medium-sized breed, never large; however, there has been a trend towards larger dogs in recent years.[2][3][citation needed]
Tollers should be slightly longer than tall (a ratio of approximately 10 to 9). However, they should not appear long-backed.
Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers are known to be very intelligent, alert, high-energy dogs.[8] They tend to be very affectionate and outgoing animals with family members and are known for being very patient with children. Some dogs may be reserved in new situations but shyness in adult dogs is considered a flaw.[9]
A Toller retrieving
Duck Tollers are working animals and are happiest when they have a job to do. Tollers are excellent hunting companions.[10] They excel at many types of sporting competitions, such as agility,[11] dock diving[12] and obedience.[13] Their keen sense of smell, intelligence, working drive, and small size, also make them perfect search and rescue dogs.[14]
Physical stimulation should be provided for these dogs each day since they may become destructive when they are not exercised enough or left alone for too long. The breed standard states that the dog should have a strong retrieving drive, intense birdiness, endurance and a love for water.[3]
Tollers do not have an aggressive bark. Some have a unique sounding bark known as the "Toller scream", a high-pitched, howl-like sound which is often referred to as their "singing".[15] They do not use this in violent situations, however; for these they have a harsh growl.[16] The Toller scream is used to express excitement.
Tollers have the capacity to be very social dogs, as long as they are sufficiently socialized early on in life.[17][18][19] While Tollers are energetic and outgoing around their owners and family, their cautious nature makes them reserved around strangers.[18] Exposure to new people, locations, smells and sights are crucial to the healthy development of the Toller breed.[17][19] They tend to get along well with other dogs; however, they have a strong prey drive and may chase after cats or other small animals.[17][18] This prey drive can be avoided if cats, for example, are introduced early in the Toller's life. Failure to properly socialize Tollers at a young age may result in aggressive, destructive, or timid behaviour in maturity.[19]
Tollers are generally hardy.[1] However, like almost all dog breeds, certain genetic disorders are known to occur in the breed. This is sometimes blamed on a relatively small gene pool. The Finnish breed club states the largest health problems in the breed to be immunity related.[20] They can be affected by eye problems and hip dysplasia and are predisposed to immune-mediated rheumatic disease and steroid-responsive meningitis–arthritis.[20][21]
Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) affects about 7% of Tollers with an estimated 40% being carriers.[22] The type of PRA associated with the breed is known as progressive rod-cone degeneration. The disease causes cells in the retina to degenerate and die, causing night blindness at first and complete blindness eventually.[23] Collie eye anomaly is estimated to have a carrier rate of 5% and an affected rate of 0.5%. It generally only causes mildly impaired vision, but in more severe cases can lead to retinal hemorrhaging and detachments resulting in blindness.[24]
Thyroid problems have been identified by American breeders as a priority issue, together with epilepsy and hip dysplasia. As many as 1 in 6 Tollers may have autoimmune thyroiditis. Symptoms of thyroid problems includes weight gain, skin and hair problems including hair loss, weakness, cold intolerance or infertility.[25]
Addison's disease affected 1% of Tollers in a health survey, an incidence rate 10 times more than the general dog population. Carrier rate is estimated at 18%. This disease is also considered an important issue in the breed. Signs can include lethargy, decreased appetite, vomiting, weakness, diarrhea, increased drinking and urination, and shivering.[26]
Aseptic meningitis (sometimes called steroid-responsive meningitis) has been diagnosed in increasing numbers in the Norwegian Toller population in recent years. Symptoms include intensive neck pain, fever, and lethargy. Prevalence is estimated at 2.5% in the Norwegian population.[27]
Health tests are available for both eye diseases and autoimmune thyroiditis. A test for Addison's disease is available but it is only for one form of the disease and there are other forms which also affect the breed.[28] A test is also available for one form of cleft palate that is exclusive to Tollers. Early testing shows a carrier rate of about 15%.[29]
A survey conducted in 2002 by the Canadian breed club to discover which diseases and conditions occur in the Toller population, involving owners of 1180 dogs worldwide, showed 73% reported in excellent health and a total of 7.5% reporting poor or bad health. 141 dogs (12%) were reported as deceased with the average age at death being 6.4 years. The most common cause of death was cancer, reported in 25% of deaths, with old age being the next most common at 9%.[30]
Genetic diversity[edit]
1. ^ a b Burke, Don (2005). The Complete Burke's Backyard: The Ultimate Book of Fact Sheets. Murdoch Books. p. 842. ISBN 1740457390.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Canadian Kennel Club. "CKC Breeding Standards: Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever". Retrieved September 7, 2010.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m American Kennel Club. "Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever". Retrieved September 7, 2010.
4. ^ a b Government of Nova Scotia. "Symbols: Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever". Retrieved September 7, 2010.
5. ^ "Nova Scotia Legislature: Duck Toller". March 29, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
6. ^ Perrin, Terri. "The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever: A true Canadian canine (eh?)". Retrieved April 6, 2012.
7. ^ a b Palika, Liz (2007). The Howell Book of Dogs. John Wiley & Sons. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-470-00921-5.
8. ^ "Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever : Dog Breed Selector: Animal Planet". Animal Planet. Retrieved November 3, 2011.
9. ^ "Breed Standard | NSDTRC (USA)". Retrieved February 26, 2014.
10. ^ "Hunting | NSDTRC (USA)". January 24, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
11. ^ "Agility | NSDTRC (USA)". January 24, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
12. ^ "Dock Diving | NSDTRC (USA)". January 24, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
13. ^ "Obedience/Rally | NSDTRC (USA)". January 24, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
14. ^ "Search & Rescue | NSDTRC (USA)". January 24, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
15. ^ "Temperament | NSDTRC (USA)". January 24, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
16. ^ "Top 10 | NSDTRC (USA)". January 24, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
17. ^ a b c "Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever". DogTime. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
18. ^ a b c "Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever". Vetstreet. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
19. ^ a b c "Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers: Good and Bad Traits". Retrieved March 19, 2015.
20. ^ a b c Mäki, K. (2010). "Population structure and genetic diversity of worldwide Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever and Lancashire Heeler dog populations". Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics 127 (4): 318–326. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0388.2010.00851.x. PMID 20646119. edit
21. ^ Wilbe, M.; Jokinen, P. I.; Hermanrud, C.; Kennedy, L. J.; Strandberg, E.; Hansson-Hamlin, H.; Lohi, H.; Andersson, G. R. (2009). "MHC class II polymorphism is associated with a canine SLE-related disease complex". Immunogenetics 61 (8): 557–564. doi:10.1007/s00251-009-0387-6. PMID 19636550. edit
22. ^ "prcd-PRA Test For: Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers". OptiGen. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
23. ^ "The OptiGen prcd-PRA Test". OptiGen. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
24. ^ "Questions and Answers about Collie Eye Anomaly in the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever". Club Logo Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Club (USA). Retrieved August 27, 2012.
25. ^ Folkman, Jane. "Thyroid/Addison's Study In Tollers – Michigan State University" (PDF). Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Club (USA). Retrieved August 27, 2012.
26. ^ "Update – UC Davis Addison's Study In Tollers" (PDF). Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Club (USA). Retrieved August 27, 2012.
27. ^ "A retrospective epidemiological study of clinical signs and familial predisposition associated with aseptic meningitis in the Norwegian population of Nova Scotia duck tolling retrievers born 1994–2003". Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research 72 (4): 350–5. July 2008. PMC 2442678. PMID 18783024.
28. ^ "Explanation of JADD Testing Results". Orthopedic Foundation for Animals. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
29. ^ "Cleft Palate (CP1) in the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (NSDTR)". Orthopedic Foundation for Animal. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
30. ^ "2002 Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Health Survey". Toller Health Coalition/NSDTR Club of Canada. Retrieved June 28, 2012. [unreliable source?]
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Plaza de César Chávez
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The fountain in Plaza de César Chávez
Children playing in the fountain, during the San Jose Jazz Festival
A view looking east of Plaza de César Chávez
Plaza de César Chávez is a 2.2-acre (9,000 m²) park in Downtown San Jose, California, USA, named after César Chávez in 1993 (originally it was called "The Plaza", then "Pueblo Plaza"). It is surrounded by South Market Street, across which is The Tech Museum of Innovation, the San Jose Museum of Art, the Circle of Palms Plaza and the Fairmont San Jose Hotel. At the south end is the statue "Plumed Serpent" by Robert Graham.
At different times of the year it hosts live music, cultural festivals, arts and crafts fairs, food shows, the official city Christmas tree, water fountains, and open-air theater. There are free concerts in the park every Thursday during summer, the San Jose Jazz Festival has its main stage in the park, and every winter from Thanksgiving until New Year's it hosts the Christmas in the Park.
The Plaza was established when San José moved from its original location on the bank of the Guadalupe River to the current downtown location in 1797 and has been in use ever since, making it the oldest public open space in California.
The present-day park was the site of California's capitol from 1849 to 1851, a period during which the California Republic gained American statehood; hence, the site contained California's first state capitol. From 1889 to 1958, San Jose's city hall occupied the center of the park [1] before the local government moved it northward to North First and Mission Streets. The city hall was eventually moved once again to its present location at 200 East Santa Clara Street.
The interactive fountain has been the source of many outbreaks of flu-like symptoms. In 2006 an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis and salmonellosis made many bathers sick.[1] The illnesses were attributed to fecal matter that had leaked from toddlers diapers. The fountain was subsequently outfitted with additional devices to sanitize the water. However, monitoring of the water quality is performed by City Public Works employees on an infrequent basis.
1. ^ "National Institute of Health, Multi-jurisdictional investigation of interactive fountain - associated cryptosporidiosis and salmonellosis outbreaks - M. L. KIRIAN,G. MEREGILLANO,D. GENNETTE and J. M. WEINTRAUB National Institute of Health, Journal List Epidemiol Infect v.136(11); Nov 2008 PMC2870747 Plaza Cesar Chavez Fountain identified as Fountain "Y"[citation needed]".
External links[edit]
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Pret a Manger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Pret (sandwich shop))
Jump to: navigation, search
Pret a Manger
Industry Retail outlets
Founded 1986
Founders Morgan Rees and Jordan Townrow
Headquarters City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Number of locations
Increase 374 (April 2015)
Area served
United Kingdom, United States of America, Hong Kong, France
Key people
Clive Schlee (CEO), Nicholas Candler (COO)
Products Sandwiches, salads, sushi, soups, coffees and snacks
Revenue Increase £ 510 Million (2013) [1]
Increase £ 41 Million (2013) [2]
Owner Bridgepoint Capital
Inside Pret A Manger, Victoria Place, London
Pret a Manger /ˈprɛt ə ˈmɑːnʒ/ is a fast food chain based in the United Kingdom.[3]
The first shop called Pret a Manger was opened in Hampstead, London, United Kingdom, in 1984 by Jeffrey Hyman.[4][5]
The name Prêt à Manger (French pronunciation: [pʁɛt‿a mɑ̃ʒe], ready to eat) was coined by Hyman's sister Valerie Tomalin, who morphed the title from prêt-à-porter, meaning "ready-to-wear". The outlet focused on gourmet, ready-to-eat food which was inspired by what the traiteurs of Paris served; the store's design was inspired by steel and chrome sandwich bars in New York City.[citation needed]
The store was located opposite Hampstead Underground station, had its own kitchen, and offered ready-to-eat French food. Most of the products were sold for takeaway, but there was also a small cafe area for customers to eat and drink in the store.
To advertise, the company used poster sites, the London Underground, local press and door-to-door leafleting.[citation needed]
The original logo with a hand drawn art nouveau typeface, maroon and white house colours. 1984 Pret A Manger, 58 Hampstead High Street, London, United Kingdom
The company traded at 58 Hampstead High Street for a year. It closed following the erection of maintenance scaffolding outside the shop by The Greater London Council which stayed in place for 18 months.[citation needed] It was sold by company liquidator David Rubin to college friends Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe (who later founded the Itsu chain of sushi cafes); the two met while studying at the Polytechnic of Central London.[citation needed]
Beecham and Metcalfe had little business experience. Their company claims they "created the sort of food they craved but could not find anywhere else."[6] They opened their first branch near Victoria Station, London.[7]
In 2001, McDonald's bought a 33% non-controlling stake in the USA branch of the company,[8] which they sold in 2008 to private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital, owners of clothing retailer Fat Face.[9][10]
In 2011 its sales were £377 million.[11]
As of 2012, efforts were underway in London to unionise shop employees.[citation needed]
Exterior view Pret A Manger, Edinburgh, Scotland
The menu includes sandwiches, baguettes, pots and desserts, cold drinks, hot drinks, crisps and bakery items, as well as sushi, salads, soups, and cakes.[3]
The company emphasises the use of natural ingredients and advertises all sandwiches are made on the day of purchase in a kitchen at each location (with the stated exception of a few small outlets). Food left unsold at the end of the day is collected by charities. Sandwiches are packaged in paperboard rather than sealed plastic.[12]
67% of its trade is in London, where around three-quarters of its stores are located. As of February 2014, there were 289 UK shops, 187 in London, nine in Scotland and two in Wales. There are 92 outlets throughout the rest of the UK.[13] Pret has expanded to New York (38 stores), Hong Kong (14 stores), Washington, D.C. (7 stores), Boston (4 stores) and Chicago (9 stores). Unlike many other fast food outlets, Pret a Manger does not franchise.
Exterior of a Pret a Manger cafe on Coventry Street, London.
• Hong Kong: 14 outlets, as of February 2014.[14]
• New York: 38 outlets, as of February 2014.[15]
• Chicago: 9 outlets, as of February 2014.[15]
• Washington, D.C.: 7 outlets, as of February 2014.[15]
• Shanghai: 1 outlet, as of October 2014.
• Paris: 12 outlets, as of May 2015. The first outlet in France opened on 9 January 2012. The shop was opened in La Défense a major business district of the Paris aire urbaine.[16]
• Boston: 4 outlets, as of June 2014. Two stores opened in December 2012, in the Back Bay and Financial District.[17] In June 2014, Pret opened its largest American location in Boston's Downtown Crossing neighborhood. This location stands at 5,335 square feet and can seat 100 people.[18]
Pret A Manger graphic scheme, London storefront
In 1998, the company employed 1,400 people, of whom 19% were from the UK and 60% were from other European Union countries, mainly in Eastern Europe. Pret A Manger employs one in every 14 applicants. Applicants go on a one-day experience day at a shop and their success is determined by the other staff members, who vote the applicant in or not. Many managers and senior executives have come from within the company.[19]
The organisational structure of Pret a Manger is divided between its stores and the main offices. The London head office is the hub for the UK stores, while the office in New York City is the hub for the American stores.[20] Each store contains levels of positions that range from Team Member to the General Manager of the store.[21] Above the in-store manager is the Operations Manager who is in charge of a group of roughly 10 stores, and above that are more senior management positions based out of the offices that are tasked with coordinating an entire region and maintaining communication with the company’s CEO in London.[20] All the office employees are paired with a “buddy shop” where they work at least two days a year.[22]
While the uppermost levels of management are located in the offices, not all the office jobs are above the store jobs in the organizational structure. Pret does not franchise any of its stores, in order to keep management strategies uniform across the entire brand.[23] Orders do not strictly flow from the head offices in a top-down manner; instead, the channel of communication between the executives and the stores is open in both directions.[23]
Pret a Manger promotes an internal culture as described in a leaflet entitled “Pret Behaviours.” The Behaviours break down traits into three categories: passion, clear talking and team working – and identify specific behaviours as “Don’t want to see,” “Want to see,” and “Pret perfect!”[24] The number of Behaviours Pret hopes an employee exhibits increases with one's rank within the company: Team Members should practise around six Behaviours, Managers ten, and the company’s executives all of them.[25]
Affective labour issues[edit]
Pret a Manger has been cited as being particularly vigorous in extracting affective labour from its employees.[26] Affective labour (or emotional labour)[27] is work which involves manipulating a person's emotional state.
Pret a Manger demands go beyond traditional requirements for fast-food workers (such as courtesy, efficiency, and reliability) to such tasks as having "presence", demonstrating a quirky sense of fun, and exhibiting behaviour consistent with being inwardly happy with oneself.[28] Pret A Manger uses mystery shoppers to ensure that employees deploy markers of a positive emotional state.[26][29] This has led to some criticism of the company for overreaching[26][27][30] while drawing some praise for the business model.[29][31]
Pret a Manger Staff Union[edit]
In response to labour issues within the company the Pret a Manager Staff Union was established in 2012 as an independent union with its principal demand being made around calls for a Living Wage.[32] Andrej Stopa, the founder of the union was later sacked from his Pret branch.[33][34]
1. ^
2. ^
3. ^ a b "Company Overview of Pret A Manger (Europe) Ltd.". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved November 2012.
4. ^ Company Number 1763373, Pret A Manger (Hampstead) Ltd, incorporated 21 October 1983. Shareholders include Robin Wight, Peter Scott WCRS, James Pilditch, Monty White, Lynsey de Paul Singer, Jeffrey Hyman, Valerie Hyman.
5. ^ "The Food & Drink Innovation Network". The FDIN. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
6. ^ "About the Founders". Pret A Manger. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
7. ^ "Pret a Manger founders sitting pretty". The Daily Telegraph (London). 24 February 2008. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
8. ^ "G2: Pret a Manger goes global | World news". The Guardian (London). 1 February 2001. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
9. ^ "McDonald's offloads Pret stake to Bridgepoint". Brand Republic News. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
10. ^ Sibun, Jonathan (23 February 2008). "Pret a Manger to be sold to private equity". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 2010-02-25.
11. ^ "Morning business round-up: Eurozone unemployment rises". BBC News. 3 April 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2013. rose 15% last year to £377.3m
12. ^
13. ^ "Shops in the UK". Pret A Manger. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
14. ^ "Shops in HK". Pret A Manger. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
15. ^ a b c "Shops in the US". Pret A Manger. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
16. ^ "Pret arrives in Paris". Pret A Manger. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
17. ^ "Pret-a-Manger opens on Boylston Next Monday". Retrieved 21 January 2014.
18. ^ "Pret A Manger Opens its Largest U.S. Cafe in Boston Tomorrow". streetwise. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
19. ^ The Economist: Employment: A new mix - In London, almost one in every nine workers is a foreign citizen. 24 September 1998
20. ^ a b “Working at Pret,” Pret a Manger. Retrieved 15 October 2012,
21. ^ Richard Preston, “Smiley Culture: Pret A Manger’s Secret Ingredients,” The Telegraph, 9 March 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012,
22. ^ “Working in Hudson’s Place (our office),” Pret a Manger. Retrieved 15 October 2012,
23. ^ a b Julia Werdigier, “Rallying the Team to Cater to the Company’s Strengths,” The New York Times, 9 May 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012, .
24. ^ "The Pret Behaviours". Pret a Manger. Retrieved November 2012.
25. ^ Matt Blumberg (15 May 2012). "Pret a Manger". Business Insider. Retrieved November 2012.
26. ^ a b c Paul Myerscough (January 3, 2013). "Short Cuts". London Review of Books. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
27. ^ a b Timothy Noah (February 1, 2013). "Labor of Love: The enforced happiness of Pret A Manger". The New Republic. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
28. ^ "Pret Behaviors". Pret A Manger official website. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
29. ^ a b Stephani Clifford (August 6, 2011). "Would You Like a Smile With That?". New York Times. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
30. ^ Matthew Yglesias (February 2, 2013). "Caring Is Creepy (When Enforced By Others)". Moneybox. Slate. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
31. ^ Marty Lariviere (August 11, 2011). "Pret A Manger: A different way of managing fast food workers". The Operations Room. Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University). Retrieved February 4, 2013.
32. ^ "About Us". Pret a Manager Staff Union. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
33. ^ "Pret fires longstanding employee who attempted to unionise, asked for the London Living Wage for all employees". Boing Boing. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
34. ^ McDermott, Kerry (2 February 2013). "". Mail Online (London). Retrieved 21 November 2013.
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Pulmonary angiography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Pulmonary angiogram)
Jump to: navigation, search
Pulmonary angiography (or pulmonary arteriography) is a cardiological medical procedure. Pulmonary blood vessels are x-rayed to detect arteriovenous malformations.
Direct angiography is the injection of radiocontrast into the circulation with subsequent fluoroscopy (direct X-ray visualisation) of the lungs. A more common form of direct angiography, is the catheterisation of the right atrium of the heart and injection of radiocontrast into the right heart.
A popular form of pulmonary angiography is computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA). This involves venous contrast only.
Invasive pulmonary angiography was first performed in 1931 by Egas Moniz and colleagues.[1] Robb and Steinberg described pulmonary angiography by infusion of peripheral radiocontrast.[2][3]
1. ^ Moniz E, Carvalho L, Lima A (1931). "Angiopneumographie". Presse Med 39: 996–99.
2. ^ Robb GP, Steinberg I (1938). "A practical method of visualization of the chambers of the heart, the pulmonary circulation, and the great blood vessels in man". J Clin Invest 17: 507. doi:10.1172/JCI100977. PMC 434806.
3. ^ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Mgl9G8oU1IkC&pg=PA566
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Securities and Exchange Board of India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from SEBI)
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Securities and Exchange Board of India
भारतीय प्रतिभूति और विनिमय बोर्ड
SEBI logo.svg
SEBI Bhavan.jpg
SEBI Bhavan, Mumbai headquarters
Agency overview
Formed 12 April 1992[1]
Jurisdiction Government of India
Headquarters Mumbai, Maharashtra
Employees 643 (2012)[2]
Agency executive Upendra Kumar Sinha, Chairman
It was established by The Government of India on 12 April 1988 and given statutory powers in 1992 with SEBI Act 1992 being passed by the Indian Parliament. SEBI has its headquarters at the business district of Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, and has Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Regional Offices in New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad respectively. It has opened local offices at Jaipur and Bangalore and is planning to open offices at Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Patna, Kochi and Chandigarh in Financial Year 2013 - 2014.
Controller of Capital Issues was the regulatory authority before SEBI came into existence; it derived authority from the Capital Issues (Control) Act, 1947.
Initially SEBI was a non statutory body without any statutory power. However in 1995, the SEBI was given additional statutory power by the Government of India through an amendment to the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992. In April 1988 the SEBI was constituted as the regulator of capital markets in India under a resolution of the Government of India.
The SEBI is managed by its members, which consists of following:
1. The chairman who is nominated by Union Government of India.
2. Two members, i.e., Officers from Union Finance Ministry.
3. One member from the Reserve Bank of India.
4. The remaining five members are nominated by Union Government of India, out of them at least three shall be whole-time members.
Organization structure[edit]
Further information: SEBI Organization Chart
Upendra Kumar Sinha was appointed chairman on 18 February 2011 replacing C. B. Bhave.[3]
The Board comprises[4]
Name Designation
Upendra Kumar Sinha Chairman
Nishant Rathi Whole Time Member
Rajeev Kumar Agarwal Whole Time Member
S Raman Whole Time Member
Prakash Chandra Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance
V. K. Jairath magya Member Appointed
Anand Sinha Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India
Naved Masood Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs
Raje Kumar Part Time Member
List of former Chairmen:[5]
Name From To
U.K. Sinha 18 February 2011 present
C. B. Bhave 18 February 2008 18 February 2011
M. Damodaran 18 February 2005 18 February 2008
G. N. Bajpai 20 February 2002 18 February 2005
D. R. Mehta 21 February 1995 20 February 2002
S. S. Nadkarni 17 January 1994 31 January 1995
G. V. Ramakrishna 24 August 1990 17 January 1994
Dr. S. A. Dave 12 April 1988 23 August 1990
Functions and responsibilities[edit]
The Preamble of the Securities and Exchange Board of India describes the basic functions of the Securities and Exchange Board of India as " protect the interests of investors in securities and to promote the development of, and to regulate the securities market and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto".
• the issuers of securities
• the investors
• the market intermediaries.
SEBI has three functions rolled into one body: quasi-legislative, quasi-judicial and quasi-executive. It drafts regulations in its legislative capacity, it conducts investigation and enforcement action in its executive function and it passes rulings and orders in its judicial capacity. Though this makes it very powerful, there is an appeal process to create accountability. There is a Securities Appellate Tribunal which is a three-member tribunal and is headed by Mr. Justice J P Devadhar, a former judge of the Bombay High Court.[6] A second appeal lies directly to the Supreme Court. SEBI has taken a very proactive role in streamlining disclosure requirements to international standards.[7]
For the discharge of its functions efficiently, SEBI has been vested with the following powers:
1. to approve by−laws of stock exchanges.sebi
2. to require the stock exchange to amend their by−laws.
3. inspect the books of accounts and call for periodical returns from recognized stock exchanges.
4. inspect the books of accounts of a financial intermediaries.
5. compel certain companies to list their shares in one or more stock exchanges.
6. registration brokers.
There are two types of brokers:
1. circuit broker
2. merchant broker
SEBI committees[edit]
1. Technical Advisory Committee
2. Committee for review of structure of market infrastructure institutions
3. Advisory Committee for the SEBI Investor Protection and Education Fund
4. Takeover Regulations Advisory Committee
5. Primary Market Advisory Committee (PMAC)
6. Secondary Market Advisory Committee (SMAC)
7. Mutual Fund Advisory Committee
8. Corporate Bonds & Securitization Advisory Committee
Major achievements[edit]
SEBI has enjoyed success as a regulator by pushing systematic reforms aggressively and successively. SEBI is credited for quick movement towards making the markets electronic and paperless by introducing T+5 rolling cycle from July 2001 and T+3 in April 2002 and further to T+2 in April 2003. The rolling cycle of T+2[8] means, Settlement is done in 2 days after Trade date.[9] SEBI has been active in setting up the regulations as required under law. SEBI did away with physical certificates that were prone to postal delays, theft and forgery, apart from making the settlement process slow and cumbersome by passing Depositories Act, 1996.[10]
SEBI has also been instrumental in taking quick and effective steps in light of the global meltdown and the Satyam fiasco.[citation needed] In October 2011, it increased the extent and quantity of disclosures to be made by Indian corporate promoters.[11] In light of the global meltdown, it liberalised the takeover code to facilitate investments by removing regulatory structures. In one such move, SEBI has increased the application limit for retail investors to Rs 2 lakh, from Rs 1 lakh at present.[12]
Supreme Court of India heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by India Rejuvenation Initiative that had challenged the procedure for key appointments adopted by Govt of India. The petition alleged that, "The constitution of the search-cum-selection committee for recommending the name of chairman and every whole-time members of SEBI for appointment has been altered, which directly impacted its balance and could compromise the role of the SEBI as a watchdog." [13][14] On 21 November 2011, the court allowed petitioners to withdraw the petition and file a fresh petition pointing out constitutional issues regarding appointments of regulators and their independence. The Chief Justice of India refused the finance ministry’s request to dismiss the PIL and said that the court was well aware of what was going on in SEBI.[13][15] Hearing a similar petition filed by Bangaluru-based advocate Anil Kumar Agarwal, a two judge Supreme Court bench of Justice SS Nijjar and Justice HL Gokhale issued a notice to the Govt of India, SEBI chief UK Sinha and Omita Paul, Secretary to the President of India.[16][17]
Further, it came into light that Dr KM Abraham (the then whole time member of SEBI Board) had written to the Prime Minister about malaise in SEBI. He said, "The regulatory institution is under duress and under severe attack from powerful corporate interests operating concertedly to undermine SEBI". He specifically said that Finance Minister's office, and especially his advisor Omita Paul, were trying to influence many cases before SEBI, including those relating to Sahara Group, Reliance, Bank of Rajasthan and MCX.[18][19]...
See also[edit]
1. ^ a b "About SEBI". SEBI. Archived from the original on 3 Oct 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
2. ^
3. ^ A rendezvous: CB Bhave's 3-years at SEBI - CNBC-TV18. Retrieved on 2013-07-29.
4. ^ "Microsoft Word - Boardmembers.doc" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-02-28.
5. ^ "Former Chairmen of SEBI" (PDF). SEBI. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
6. ^ Govt appoints JP Devadhar as new Presiding Officer of Securities Appellate Tribunal - Economic Times. (2013-07-15). Retrieved on 2013-12-06.
7. ^ "Cyril Shroff Managing Partner Mumbai & National Capital Market head Amarchand".
8. ^ "Discussion Paper Implementation of T+2 rolling settlement" (PDF). SEBI. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
9. ^ "Sebi gets rolling on T+2 settlement schedule". economictimes. Jan 4, 2003. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
10. ^ Sebi’s 25-year journey. Livemint (2013-05-21). Retrieved on 2013-07-29.
11. ^ "SEBI makes it mandatory for companies to disclose promoters' shares". Economic Times. Oct 6, 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
12. ^ "Sebi doubles retail limit, tightens IPO norms". Retrieved 27 Oct 2010.
13. ^ a b "Is Sebi’s Autonomy Under Threat?". Nov 15, 2011. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
14. ^ "PIL alleges nexus in Sebi appointments". Nov 5, 2011. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
15. ^ "SC allows eminent citizens to withdraw petition against SEBI chief's appointment". Nov 21, 2011. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
16. ^ "Notice to Centre on quo warranto against SEBI chief". The Hindu. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
17. ^ "SC seeks Centre’s reply on PIL on Sebi chairman’s appointment". The Deccan Herald. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
18. ^ "KM Abraham's letter to PM". Prime Minister's Office. 20 Oct 2011. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
19. ^ "Pranab-Chidu feud may be revived over Sebi chief PIL". Nov 12, 2011. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
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Separation Party of Alberta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Separation Party of Alberta
Leader Bart Hampton[1]
President Glen Dundas[1]
Founded 2004
Headquarters Edmonton, Alberta
Ideology Separatism
Colours Green & Gold
Official website
Politics of Alberta
Political parties
The Separation Party of Alberta was a political party that advocates the secession of Alberta from Canada. Its leader was Bart Hampton. The party's president, Glen Dundas, was the party's only candidate in the 2012 provincial election. The party changed its name to the Alberta First Party on May 13, 2013.[2]
The party took over the rights of the inactive Alberta First Party in June 2004 and changed the party name. The party fielded 12 candidates in the provincial election, held on November 22, 2004. These candidates won a total of 4,680 votes, or 0.5% of the popular vote in the province. Here are the candidates, their ridings, votes and percentages:
In the March 2008 Alberta election, the Separation Party had only one candidate, who received only 119 votes, or 0.01% of the popular vote in the province. This was fewer votes than any of the Separation Party candidates in the 2004 general election.[3]
In the April 2012 Alberta election, the Separation Party had only one candidate, who received only 68 votes, or 0.006% of the popular vote in the province.[3]
The Separation Party was not the first separatist party to make a foray into Albertan politics. The Western Canada Concept (WCC) achieved success in the early 1980s, winning a by-election in 1982. The WCC's popularity declined before the end of the decade. The Alberta Independence Party ran 14 candidates in the 2001 general election, but these candidates were designated as independents because the party had not been registered with Elections Alberta. The AIP eventually disbanded.
The Separation Party had informal ties with the Western Independence Party of Saskatchewan and its website included links to the website of that party. The Separation Party was not affiliated to the Western Canada Concept Party of British Columbia or the British Columbia-based Western Block Party and has distanced itself from Doug Christie, the controversial leader of those parties.
See also[edit]
1. ^ a b "Parties". Elections Alberta. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
2. ^ Elections Alberta
3. ^ a b . Elections Alberta Retrieved 2014-12-19]]. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
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Shneur Zalman of Liadi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Not to be confused with Schneour Zalman Schneersohn.
Shneur Zalman of Liadi
Alter Rebbe
Schneur Zalman of Liadi.jpg
Term gradual – 1812-12-15 OS
Full name Shneur Zalman Borukhovich
Main work Tanya, Shulchan Aruch HaRav
Born 1745-09-04 OS
Liozna, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Died 1812-12-15 OS
Pena, Kursk Governorate Russian Empire
Buried Hadiach
Dynasty Chabad Lubavitch
Predecessor Dovber of Mezeritch
Successor Dovber Schneuri
Father Boruch
Mother Rivkah
Wife Sterna Segal
Dovber Schneuri
Chaim Avraham
Devorah Leah
Shneur Zalman of Liady[1] (Hebrew: שניאור זלמן מליאדי) (September 4, 1745 – December 15, 1812 O.S. / 18 Elul 5505 - 24 Tevet 5573), was an Orthodox Rabbi, and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism, then based in Liadi, Imperial Russia. He was the author of many works, and is best known for Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Tanya and his Siddur Torah Or compiled according to the Nusach Ari.
He is also known as the "Baal HaTanya" (Master of the Tanya), and by a variety of other names including "Shneur Zalman Baruchovitch," Baruchovitch being the Russian patronymic from his father Baruch,[2] by the acronym "RaShaZ" (רש"ז), by the title "Baal HaTanya ve-haShulchan Aruch'" (Master of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch), as the "Alter Rebbe" ("Old Rebbe" in Yiddish), "Admor HaZaken" ("Old Rebbe" in Hebrew), "Rabbeinu HaZokein", "Rabbeinu HaGodol", "our great rabbi", the "GRaZ", and "Rav".
Early life[edit]
Shneur Zalman was born in 1745 in the small town of Liozna, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (present-day Belarus). He was the son of Baruch,[3] great5-grandson of the mystic and philosopher Rabbi Judah Loew, the "Maharal of Prague".[4] He was a prominent (and the youngest) disciple of Rabbi Dovber of Mezeritch, the "Great Maggid", who was in turn the successor of the founder of Hasidism, Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer known as the Baal Shem Tov.
Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia e16 055-0.jpg
He displayed extraordinary talent while still a child. By the time he was 8 years old he wrote an all inclusive commentary on the Chumash based on the works of Rashi, the Ramban and Eben Ezra.[5]
Until the age of twelve, he studied under Rabbi Issachar Ber, in Lyubavichi (Lubavitch); he distinguished himself as a Talmudist, such that his teacher sent him back home, informing his father that the boy could continue his studies without the aid of a teacher.[6]
At his Bar Mitzvah celebration he delivered a discourse concerning the complicated laws of Kiddush Hachodesh, to which the people of the town granted him the title "Rav".[4]
At age fifteen he married Sterna Segal, the daughter of Yehuda Leib Segal, a wealthy resident of Vitebsk, and he was then able to devote himself entirely to study. During these years, Shneur Zalman was introduced to mathematics, geometry and astronomy by two learned brothers, refugees from Bohemia, who had settled in Liozna.[citation needed] One of them was also a scholar of the Kabbalah. Thus, besides mastering rabbinic literature, he also acquired a fair knowledge of the sciences, philosophy, and Kabbalah.[citation needed] He became an adept in Isaac Luria's system of Kabbalah, and in 1764 he became a disciple of Rabbi Dovber of Mezeritch. In 1767, at the age of 22, he was appointed maggid of Liozna, a position he held until 1801.
Children and succession[edit]
Rabbi Shneur Zalman's sons were: Dovber Schneuri who eventually succeeded him, Chaim Avraham, and Moshe, who allegedly converted to Catholicism.[7] Moshe's apostasy is denied by Chabad sources, but supported by Belarusian State archives in Minsk uncovered by historian Shaul Stampfer.[7] Rabbi Shneur Zalman's daughters were named Freida, Devorah Leah and Rochel. Other families have lore telling that they are also descendants of the Alter Rebbe, but they are undocumented in existing family records of the Alter Rebbe's descendants.
Dovber Shneuri[edit]
Main article: Dovber Schneuri
Rabbi Dovber Schneuri succeeded his father as Rebbe of the Chabad movement.
At the age of 39, while studying in the city of Kremenchug, his father died.[8] He then moved to the small border-town of Lubavichi, from which the movement would take its name.[8] His accession was disputed by one of his father's prime students, Rabbi Aharon HaLevi of Strashelye, however the majority of Shneur Zalman's followers stayed with Dovber, and moved to Lubavichi.[8] Thus Chabad had now split into two branches, each taking the name of their location to differentiate themselves from each other.[8] He established a Yeshivah in Lubavitch, which attracted gifted young scholars. His son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch, headed the Yeshivah, and later became his successor.
When Schneur Zalman died, many of his followers flocked to one of his top students, Rabbi Aharon HaLevi of Strashelye. He had been Shneur Zalman’s closest disciple for over thirty years. While many more became followers of Dovber Shneuri, known to his followers as the Mittler Rebbe, the Strashelye school of Chassidic thought was the subject of many of Dovber's discourses. Reb Aharon HaLevi emphasized the importance of basic emotions in divine service (especially the service of prayer). The Mittler Rebbe did not reject the role of emotion in prayer, but emphasized that if the emotion in prayer is to be genuine, it can only be a result of contemplation and understanding (hisbonenus) of the explanations of Chassidus, which in turn will lead to an attainment of "bittul" (self-nullification before the Divine). In his work entitled Kuntres Hispa'alus ("Tract on Ecstasy"), the Mittler Rebbe argues that only through ridding oneself of what he considered disingenuous emotions could one attain the ultimate level in Chassidic worship (that is, bittul).[9]
Moshe Schneersohn[edit]
Main article: Moshe Schneersohn
Moshe Schneersohn (born c. 1784 - died, before 1853) was the youngest son of the founder of Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidism, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. According to some scholars he converted to Christianity and died in a St. Petersburg asylum. Chabad sources say that his conversion and related documents were faked by the Church. His conversion and mental infirmity and apostasy have been denied by the Chabad movement consistently since his death.[10]
Documents found by historian Shaul Stampfer apparently document Schneersohn's conversion to Christianity. The original documents are located in the National Historical Archives in Minsk, Belarus. These include a letter to the local priest in which he states his intent to convert and his baptismal certificate dated July 4, 1820. The documents also show that after his conversion he worked for the Tsar to assist in the conversion of other Jews.[10]
In Lithuania[edit]
During the latter portion of Rabbi Dovber’s life, his students dispersed over Europe, and after Rabbi Dovber's death, Rabbi Shneur Zalman became the leader of Hasidism in Lithuania, along with his senior colleague Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk. When Rabbi Menachem Mendel died (in 1788), Rabbi Schneur Zalman was recognized as leader of the Chassidim in Lithuania.[11]
At the time Lithuania was the center of the misnagdim (opponents of Hasidism), and Rabbi Shneur Zalman faced much opposition. In 1774 he and Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk traveled to Vilna in an attempt to create a dialogue with the Vilna Gaon who led the Misnagdim and had issued a ban (cherem) against the Hasidim, but the Gaon refused to see them (see Vilna Gaon: Antagonism to Hasidism and Hasidim and Mitnagdim).
Undaunted by this antagonism, he succeeded in creating a large network of Hasidic centers. He also joined opposition to Napoleon's advance on Russia by recruiting his disciples to the Czar's army,.[12] He was also active in canvassing financial support for the Jewish settlements in the Land of Israel, then under the control of the Ottoman Empire.
Philosophy: Chabad[edit]
See Hasidic philosophy
As a Talmudist, Rabbi Shneur Zalman endeavored to place Kabbalah and Hasidism on a rational basis. In his seminal work, Tanya, he defines his approach as "מוח שולט על הלב" ("mind ruling over the heart/emotions"). He chose the name "Chabad" for this philosophy—the Hebrew acronym for the intellectual attributes (sefirot) Chochma ("wisdom"), Bina ("understanding"), and Da'at ("knowledge”).
Both in his works and in his sermons he "indicated an intelligent and not a blind faith",[11] and assumed an intellectual accessibility of the mystical teachings of the Kabbalah. This intellectual basis differentiates Chabad from other forms of Hasidism - in this context referred to as "Chagas"[13]—the "emotional" attributes (sefiros) of Chesed ("kindness"), Gevurah ("power"), and Tiferes ("beauty").
Opposition to Napoleon and support for the Tsar[edit]
The French retreat from Moscow
Kozienice Synagogue in Poland. Some Polish Hasidic leaders supported Napoleon
During the French invasion of Russia, while many Polish Hasidic leaders supported Napoleon or remained quiet about their support, Rabbi Shneur Zalman openly and vigorously supported the Tsar.
While fleeing from the advancing French army he wrote a letter explaining his opposition to Napoleon to a friend, Rabbi Moshe Meizeles:[14]
Some argue that Rabbi Shneur Zalman's opposition stemmed from Napoleon's attempts to arouse a messianic view of himself in Jews, opening the gates of the ghettos and emancipating their residents as he conquered. He established an ersatz Sanhedrin, recruiting Jews to his ranks, and spreading rumors about his conquest of the Holy Land to make Jews subversive for his own ends.[16] Thus, his opposition was based on a practical fear of Jews turning to the false messianism of Napoleon as he saw it.[14]
It should be noted that Rabbi Yisroel Hopsztajn of Kozienice, another Hasidic leader, also considered Napoleon a menace to the Jewish people.[17] However, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson identifies Rabbi Yisrael as the Chasidic leader who preferred that Napoleon defeat the Czar.[18]
In 1797 following the death of the Gaon, leaders of the Vilna community falsely accused the Hasidim of subversive activities - on charges of supporting the Ottoman Empire, since Rabbi Shneur Zalman advocated sending charity to support Jews living in the Ottoman territory of Palestine. In 1798 he was arrested on suspicion of treason and brought to St. Petersburg where he was held in the Petropavlovski fortress for 53 days, at which time he was subjected to an examination by a secret commission. Ultimately he was released by order of Paul I of Russia. The Hebrew day of his acquittal and release, 19 Kislev, 5559 on the Hebrew calendar, is celebrated annually by Chabad Hasidim, who hold a festive meal and make communal pledges to learn the whole of the Talmud; this practice is known as "Chalukas Ha'Shas".
In Habad tradition, his imprisonment is interpreted as a reflection of accusations in Heaven that he was revealing his new dimensions of mystical teachings too widely. The traditional tendency to conceal Jewish mysticism is founded on the Kabbalistic notion of the Sephirot. The side of Divine Chesed seeks to give physical and spiritual blessing without restriction. This is counterbalanced by the side of Gevurah, which measures and restricts the flow to the capacity and merit of the recipient. The subsequent Sephirah of Hod implements any restriction in order to preserve the glory of the Divine majesty. In the Hasidic story of an earlier episode among the "Holy Society" disciples of Dov Ber of Mezeritch, one of the great followers saw a page of Hasidic writings blowing around the courtyard. He regretted the undue dissemination of Hasidut for its desecration of Divine holiness. In the account, his vocalisation of these thoughts caused a Heavenly accusation against the Maggid, for revealing too much. The young Schneur Zalman replied with a famous Hasidic parable:[19]
A king had an only son who became ill and all the attending doctors were at a loss of how to heal him. A wise person understood the only possible cure. He told the king that he would have to desecrate the royal crown by removing its most precious jewel. This would have to be ground up and fed to the king's son. The king regretted the loss to his majesty but immediately agreed that the life of his son was more important. The jewel was ground and the solution was fed to the son. Most of the cure fell to the ground, but the son received a few drops and became cured. Concluded Schneur Zalman in defence of Hasidic dissemination, the king represents God, and the son represents the Jewish community, who recognise the "God of Israel". At the time of the emerging Hasidic movement, the Jewish people were at a physical and spiritual low ebb. The only cure would be the dissemination of the inner Divine teachings of Hasidic thought. Even though this would also involve their desecration, this would fully be justified in order to heal the people. The accusing student of the Maggid realised the wisdom of this, and agreed with Schneur Zalman. When the Maggid heard about this, he told Schneur Zalman that "you have saved me from the Heavenly accusation".
The story of this parable is famous across other Hasidic dynasties as well. Habad commentary asks about this the question of why a new Heavenly accusation would have arisen against Rabbi Schneur Zalman himself, and result in his incarceration in St. Petersburg. Had he not already received the Heavenly agreement to the wisdom of disseminating Chassidic teachings? Since Habad thought presented Hasidic thought with a new degree of elucidation in intellectual form, this caused a new, more severe Heavenly accusation to emerge. This went beyond the justified spiritual revival and healing of mainstream Hasidism. Here, in Hasidic thought, Schneur Zalman was seeking to fulfill the Messianic impulse to disseminate Hasidic philosophy as a preparation for Mashiach. Therefore, his subsequent exoneration by the Tzarist authorities is interpreted in Habad as a new Heavenly agreement to begin the fullest dissemination of Hasidic thought without its prior limitations. Habad tradition tells that in prison, Schneur Zalman was visited by the deceased Baal Shem Tov and Maggid of Mezeritch, who told him the reason for his imprisonment. In reply to the question of whether he should stop, they replied that once released, he should continue with even more dedication. Therefore, in Habad thought, the 19th day of Kislev is called the "New Year of Hasidut", complementing the other 4 Halachic "New Year" dates in the Hebrew calendar.
In 1800 Rabbi Shneur Zalman was again arrested and transported to St. Petersburg, this time along with his son Moshe who served as interpreter, as his father spoke no Russian or French. He was released after several weeks but banned from leaving St. Petersburg.[20] The elevation of Tsar Alexander I (Alexander I of Russia) a few weeks later led to his release; he was then “given full liberty to proclaim his religious teachings” by the Russian government.
According to some, his first arrest was not the result of anti-Hasidic agitators fabricating charges, or officials seeking extortion monies.[14][21] An accusation was made on May 8, 1798 by Hirsh ben David of Vilna accused him of trying to assist the French Revolution, by sending money to Napoleon and the Sultan. Since this Hirsch ben David was untraceable, some were led to believe that there was no such person as Hirsh and the authorities were attempting to stir up internecine fighting among the Jews.[14]
New guesthouse next to his Ohel
His grave in Hadiach
After his release he moved his base to Liadi, Vitebsk Region, Imperial Russia; rather than returning to Liozna, he took up his residence in the town of Liadi at the invitation of Prince Stanisław Lubomirski, voivode of the town. There his movement grew immensely, and he is still associated with the town to this day. In 1812, fleeing the French Invasion, he left Mogilev, intending to go to Poltava, but died on the way in the small village of Pena, Kursk Oblast. He is buried in Hadiach.
Subsequent history of Chabad[edit]
See Chabad-Lubavitch#History
Rabbi Dovber Schneuri moved the movement to the town of Lubavitch (Lyubavichi) in present-day Russia. A top follower of Rabbi Shneur Zalman, Rabbi Aharon HaLevi Horowitz, established a rival Chabad school in Strashelye, which did not last after his death.
In 1940, under the leadership of the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, the Chabad-Lubavitch movement moved its headquarters to Brooklyn, New York in the United States. Under the leadership of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Chabad established branches all over the world staffed by its own Lubavitch-trained and ordained rabbis with their wives and children. The number of branches continues to grow to this day, and existing branches continue to expand.
Many descendants of Rabbi Shneur Zalman carry surnames such as Shneur, Shneuri, Schneerson, and Zalman.
The Tanya, a classic text of Hasidic philosophy
Rabbi Shneur Zalman was a prolific writer. He produced works of both mysticism and Jewish law. Habad tradition recasts his Yiddish name "Shneur" (שניאור) as the two Hebrew words "Shnei Ohr" (שני אור-Two Lights), referring to Schneur Zalman's mastery of both the outer dimensions of Talmudic Jewish study, and the inner dimensions of Jewish mysticism. His works form the cornerstone of Chabad philosophy. His ability to explain even the most complex issues of Torah made his writings popular with Torah scholars everywhere.
Main article: Tanya
He is probably best known for his systematic exposition of Hasidic Jewish philosophy, entitled Likkutei Amarim, more widely known as the Tanya, first published in 1797. (The fuller and more authoritative version of this work dates from 1814.) Due to the popularity of this book, Hasidic Jews often refer to Rabbi Shneur Zalman as the Baal HaTanya (the author of the Tanya). The Tanya deals with Jewish spirituality and psychology from a Kabbalistic point of view, and expounds on such profound themes as the Oneness of God, Tzimtzum, the Sefirot, simcha, bitachon, among many other mystical concepts.
Shulchan Aruch HaRav[edit]
1875 edition of the Shulchan Aruch HaRav
Rabbi Shneur Zalman is well known for the Shulchan Aruch HaRav, his version of the classic Shulkhan Arukh, an authoritative code of Jewish law and custom commissioned by Rabbi Dovber of Mezeritch and composed at the age of twenty. The Maggid of Mezeritch sought a new version of the Shulchan Aruch for the Hasidic movement. The work states the decided halakha, as well as the underlying reasoning. The Shulchan Aruch HaRav is considered authoritative by other Hasidim, and citations to this work are many times found in non-Hasidic sources such as the Mishnah Berurah used by Lithuanian Jews and the Ben Ish Chai used by Sephardic Jews. Rabbi Shneur Zalman is also one of three halachic authorities on whom Shlomo Ganzfried based his Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh (Concise version of Jewish law).
Siddur Torah Or[edit]
He also edited the first Chabad siddur, based on the Ari Siddur of the famous kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria (Arizal) of Safed, but he altered it for general use, and corrected its textual errors. Today's Siddur Tehillat HaShem is a later print of Shneur Zalman's Siddur.
Music and arts[edit]
The current custom of Lubavitch is to hum a solemn melody[22] before the wedding canopy. It is tradition that the melody was composed by Rabbi Shneur Zalman. This melody is solemn in contrast to the joyous melodies sung by other Orthodox sects.[23]
Rabbi Shneur Zalman's other works include:
• Torah Or and Likutei Torah, chassidic explanations of the weekly Torah portions, Shir HaShirim and the Book of Esther, drawn from his Hasidic Discourses and published by his grandson, the Tzemach Tzedek, who added his own glosses.
• Sefer HaMa'amorim, also known as Maamarei Admur HaZakein, Hasidic Discourses: Hanachot HaRaP; Et’haleich Lyozna; 5562- 2 vol.; 5563, 2 vol.; 5564; 5565, 2 vol.; 5566; 5567; 5568, 2 vol.; 5569; 5570; 5571; Haketzarim; Al Parshiyot HaTorah VehaMoadim, 2 vol.; Inyanim; Ma’amarei Razal; Nach, 3 vol.
• Hilchot Talmud Torah, on the study of Torah.
• Sefer She’elot Uteshuvot, Responsa.
• Siddur Im Dach, a prayerbook with Hasidic discourses
• Boneh Yerushalayim.
• Me'ah She'arim.
• Igrot Kodesh, 2 vol.
1. ^ Schloss, Chaim (2002). A Chassidic journey. Feldheim. p. 199. Retrieved July 14, 2009.
2. ^ Lionel Menuhin Rolfe The Menuhins: a family odyssey - 1978 "Judah Lieb and Sara had a son named Moshe, who had a son named Schneur Zalman. This first Schneur Zalman married a woman named Rachel and they had a son named Baruch. Baruch married Rebeka, a descendant of The MaHarShal."
3. ^ Lubavitcher Rabbi's memoirs: The memoirs of Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn 1971 "Judah Loewe, as follows: Rabbi Judah — Betzalel — Samuel — Judah Leib — Moses of Posen — Shneur Zalman — Baruch — Shneur Zalman of Liady "
4. ^ a b Hayom Yom, introduction
5. ^ 'Sipurie Chassidim Lenoar' Kfar Chabad 1984
6. ^ The Lubavitcher Rebbe's Memoirs, vol 1.
7. ^ a b The Jewish Daily Forward, 25 August 2006, "New Book Reveals Darker Chapters In Hasidic History,"
8. ^ a b c d Encyclopedia of Hasidism, entry: Schneuri, Dovber. Naftali Lowenthal. Aronson, London 1996. ISBN 1-56821-123-6
9. ^ Ehrlich, Leadership in the HaBaD Movement, pp. 160–192, esp. pp. 167–172.
10. ^ a b New Book Reveals Darker Chapters In Hasidic History, Allan Nadler, August 25 2006, (Review of Assaf's book in The Forward)
11. ^ a b “Shneor Zalman Ben Baruch”.
12. ^ Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, Rabbi Nissan Mindel, New York: Kehot, 1973, pp. 251–252
13. ^ "Reference of Rebbe Rayatz to Chassidei "''Chagas''"". Retrieved 2012-01-13.
14. ^ a b c d Should Napoleon be victorious...": Politics and Spirituality in Early Modern Jewish Messianism, Hillel Levine, Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought 16–17, 2001
15. ^ Napoleon u-Tekufato, Mevorach, pp. 182–183
16. ^ Napoleon and the Jews, Kobler, F., New York, 1976.
17. ^ A. Marcus, HaChasiduth, p. 114.
18. ^ Igros Kodesh, Vol. 15, p. 450.
19. ^ The Great Maggid by Jacob Immanuel Schochet. Kehot Publications
20. ^ On learning Chassidus, Brooklyn, 1959, p. 24
21. ^ Kerem Chabad, Kefar Habad, 1992, pp. 17–21, 29–31 (Documents from the Prosecutor General's archive in St. Petersburg
22. ^ JInsider History Preservation Project, The Alter Rebbe's Niggun
23. ^, Jerusalem Day - See Further tie in to Jewish wedding
External links[edit]
Religious titles
Preceded by
Rabbi Dovber of Mezeritch
Rebbe of Lubavitch
Succeeded by
Dovber Schneuri
Acharonim Rishonim Geonim Savoraim Amoraim Tanaim Zugot
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Social accounting matrix
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) represents flows of all economic transactions that take place within an economy (regional or national). It is at the core, a matrix representation of the National Accounts for a given country, but can be extended to include non-national accounting flows, and created for whole regions or area. SAMs refer to a single year providing a static picture of the economy.
The SAM[edit]
SAM's are square (columns equal rows) in the sense that all institutional agents (Firms,Households, Government and 'Rest of Economy' sector) are both buyers and sellers. Columns represent buyers (expenditures) and rows represent sellers (receipts). SAM's were created to identify all monetary flows from sources to recipients, within a disaggregated national account. The SAM is read from column to row, so each entry in the matrix comes from its column heading, going to the row heading. Finally columns and rows are added up, to ensure accounting consistency, and each column is added up to equal each corresponding row. In the illustration below for a basic open economy, the item C (consumption) comes from Households and is paid to Firms.
Illustrative Open Economy SAM:[1]
Firm Household Government Rest of Economy Net Investment Total (Received)
Firm C GF (X-M)K I C+GF+(X-M)K+I
Household W GH (X-M)C W+GH+(X-M)C
Government TF TH TF+TH
Rest of Economy (X-M)K (X-M)C (X-M)K+(X-M)C
Net Investment SH SG SH+SG
Total (Expended) W+TF+(X-M)K C+TH+(X-M)C+SH GF+GH+SG (X-M)C+(X-M)K I
Abbreviations: Capital letters: Taxes, Wages, iMports, eXports, Savings, Investment, Consumption, Government Transfer Subscripts: Firms, Households, Government, Consumption Goods, K: Capital Goods
SAM's were originally developed at the “Cambridge Growth Project” in Cambridge, UK, which developed the first SAM in 1962 (Stone and Brown 1962). They were built as a matrix representation of the National Account, and came to the World Bank with Graham Pyatt in the 1960s (Pyatt had worked for Richard Stone at the Cambridge Growth Project). Pyatt left Cambridge and “developed SAMs, mainly at the World Bank”,[2] becoming together with Erik Thorbecke, the leading proponents and developers of SAMs.[3]
"By the early 1980s, CGE models were heavily ensconced as the approach of the World Bank for development analysis. Social Accounting Matrices (SAMs) were similarly a mainstay of Bank analysis, which had been adopted as a presentational device by the CGE modelers" (Mitra-Kahn 2008: 23)
SAMs can be easily extended to include other flows in the economy, simply by adding more columns and rows, once the standard national account (SNA) flows have been set up. Often rows for ‘capital’ and ‘labor’ are included, and the economy can be disaggregated into any number of sectors. Each extra disaggregated source of funds must have an equal and opposite recipient. So the SAM simplifies the design of the economy being modeled. SAMs are currently in widespread use, and many statistical bureaus, particularly in OECD countries, create both a national account and this matrix counterpart.
SAMs form the backbone of Computable general equilibrium (CGE) Models and various types of empirical multiplier models.
Appropriately formatted SAMs depict the spending patterns of an economy, as with IMPLAN and RIMS II data, and can be used in economic impact analysis.
Using a SAM includes the institutional structure assumed in the national accounts into any model. This means that variables and agents are not treated with monetary source-recipient flows in mind, but are rather grouped together in different categories according to the United Nations Standardised National Accounting (SNA) Guidelines. For example, the national accounts usually imputes the value of household investment or home-owner ‘rental’ income and treats some public sector institutional investment as direct income flows - whereas the SAM is trying to show just the explicit flows of money. Thus the data has to be untangled from its inherent SNA definitions to become money flow variables, and they then have to equal across each row and column, which is a process referred to as 'Benchmarking'.
A theoretical SAM always balances, but empirically estimated SAM’s never do in the first collation. This is due to the problem of converting national accounting data into money flows and the introduction of non-SNA data, compounded by issues of inconsistent national accounting data (which is prevalent for many developing nations, while developed nations tend to include a SAM version of the national account, generally precise[4] to within 1% of GDP). This was noted as early as 1984 by Mansur and Whalley, and numerous techniques have been devised to ‘adjust’ SAMs, as “inconsistent data estimated with error, [is] a common experience in many countries”.[5]
The traditional method of benchmarking a SAM was simply known as the "Row-and-Columns" (RoW) method where one finds an arithmetic average of the total differences between the row and column in question, and adjust each individual cell until the row and column equal.
Robinson et al. (2001) suggests an improved method for ‘adjusting’ an unbalanced SAM in order to get all the rows and columns to equal, and gives the example of a SAM created for Mozambique’s economy in 1995, where the process of gathering the data, creating the SAM and ‘adjusting’ it, is thoroughly covered by Arndt et al. (1997).[6] On inspecting the changes made to the Mozambique’s 1995 SAM[7] to achieve balance is an adjustment of US$295 million[8] which meant that $227 m US was added to the SAM net, just to balance the rows and columns. For 1995 this adjustment is equivalent to 11.65% of GDP. More disconcerting is perhaps the fact that agricultural producers (which according to FAO (1995) employed 85% of the labor force in 1994) were given a US$58 million pay raise in the SAM, meaning that 10% of agricultural income (equivalent to 5% of GDP) in the SAM was created, out of thin air. In other words, for a country where 38% of the population lived for less than $1 in the period 1994–2004 (UNICEF 2008), this SAM ‘adjustment’ added $4.40 to each person's income in the agricultural sector[9] – more than any of the later trade and tax models using this SAM could arguably hope to achieve.
Also, multiplier from Social Accounting Matrix can be used to analyse poverty through intra-linkage of economy. Income Injection and Increase demand through export can be an important factor in eradicating of poverty.[10]
See also[edit]
1. ^ See Mitra-Kahn (2008), pp. 54-56 for this SAM
2. ^ Vanoli 2001 p. 170
3. ^ See for example Pyatt and Thorbecke, 1976, Planning Techniques for a better future, International Labor Organization
4. ^ Imprecision is caused by omissions in the data-sets, but I use the word ‘precise’ rather than accurate, as the process from raw micro-data to national accounting data is not a streamlined system globally, and even if there is a 1% discrepancy in the account itself, this is more than often the result of careful double-entry bookkeeping and classifications, rather than accurate descriptions of economic activity, or theoretical reasoning. If data is consistently recorded the same way, there should be no issue comparing year to year, but the 1% precision is often a better indicator of the accountant, as opposed to the quality of the data.
5. ^ Robinson, Cattaneo and El-Said 2001: p. 1
6. ^ In Robinson et al. (2001) the reference is in fact to a 1994 SAM for Mozambique, as created by Arndt et al. 1997b, but this is somewhat misleading as IFPRI had already published Arndt et al. 1997b as a working paper (referenced here as Arndt et al. [1997]) which is the only available copy and which included Robinson as an added author. While both papers created a SAM for 1994 and 1995, the one used in Robinson et al. 2001 is in fact the 1995 SAM, not 1994 as referenced in the paper.
7. ^ The SAM is reproduced in appendix I of Mitra-Kahn (2008), for the unbalanced, the official balanced, and the suggested improved version
8. ^ Exchange rate used is the Bank of International Settlements (2005) average exchange rate for 1995 at 8819.75 Mozambique meticais per $1 US
9. ^ Both figures based on 85% of the population being in agriculture
10. ^ Durongkaveroj, Wannaphong 2014
• Arndt, C., Cruz, A, Jensen, H.T., Robinson, S., Tarp, F., 1997, "Social Accounting Matrices for Mozambique 1994 and 1995", TMD Discussion Paper 28, Washington D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute
• Bank of International Settlements, 1995, (on-line 15 Jan 2008) The Payment System in Mozambique, published by Committee on payment systems
• Mitra-Kahn, Benjamin H., 2008, "Debunking the Myths of Computable General Equilibrium Models", SCEPA Working Paper 01-2008
• Pyatt, G. and Thorbecke, E., 1976, Planning Techniques for a Better Future, International Labour Office.
• Robinson, S., Cattaneo, A., and El-Said, M., 2001, “Updating and Estimating a Social Accounting Matrix Using Cross Entropy Methods”, Economic Systems Research 13 (1), pp. 47–64
• Stone, R. and Brown, A., 1962, A computable model for economic growth, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Growth Project
• UNICEF, 2008, (on-line 15 Jan 2008) “UNICEF country overview: Mozambique”, in UNICEF statistical section
• Vanoli, A., 2005, A History of National Accounting, English Edition (original in French, 2001), Amsterdam: IOS Press
• Durongkaveroj, W. 2014, "Remedy of Poverty" (on-line 20 April 2014) [1]
Further reading
• Pyatt and Round, 1985, "Social Accounting Matrices: A Basis for Planning", The World Bank
• Mansur, A. & Whalley, J, 1984, “Numerical specification of applied general equilibrium models: Estimation, calibration, and data”, in Scarf, H.E., and Shoven, J.B. (Eds.), 1984, Applied General Equilibrium analysis, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press
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Southwest Georgia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Map of the many regions of Georgia. Southwest Georgia in Black. The Atlanta Metropolitan Area in Green, North Georgia in Gray, The Chattahoochee Valley in Brown, Central Georgia in Yellow, The Central Savannah River Area in Pink, Southeast Georgia in Red, Coastal Georgia in Blue
Southwest Georgia is a fourteen-county region in the U.S. state of Georgia. It has a 2010 census population of 496,433, and is the least populated region in Georgia, just slightly behind Southeast Georgia. Additionally, the area has historically been the poorest region of the state since at least 1995, when over 25% of the residents were in poverty.
It is commonly referred to as SOWEGA, pronounced "Sow WEE guh".
Southwest Georgia is anchored by Albany, the most populous city and region's sole metropolitan area.
Major cities[edit]
Metropolitan Areas[edit]
Micropolitan Statistical Areas[edit]
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Terrence Pegula
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Terrence M. "Terry" Pegula
Pegula addressing media at Buffalo Sabres press conference.
Born (1951-03-27) March 27, 1951 (age 64)[1]
Carbondale, Pennsylvania
Nationality American
Alma mater Pennsylvania State University (BS)
Occupation Businessman
Professional Sports Team Owner
Real Estate Developer
Known for Owner, Buffalo Bills (NFL)
Owner, Buffalo Sabres (NHL)
Owner, Rochester Americans (AHL)
Owner, Buffalo Bandits (NLL)
Natural gas tycoon
Net worth Increase US $4.6 billion
(September 2014)[2][3]
Spouse(s) Kim Kerr (m. 1993)
Children 5 (including Jessica Pegula)
Terrence M. "Terry" Pegula (born March 27, 1951) is an American multi-billionaire who holds business interests in natural gas development, real estate, entertainment and professional sports, including full ownership of the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League and the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League.
Professional sports[edit]
Buffalo Bills[edit]
On September 9, 2014, it was announced that Pegula had placed the winning binding bid to purchase the National Football League's Buffalo Bills, a team that was placed up for sale after the death of the original owner and team founder Ralph Wilson.[4][5] Pegula was a favorite among most local Bills fans and local politicians to buy the team due to his commitment to the Western New York area and local connections. He competed against real estate mogul Donald Trump and musician Jon Bon Jovi, the latter of whom was backed by principals of the Toronto based Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment for the team. It was reported that the Pegulas made a $1.4 billion bid, all in cash.[6][7] On September 17, 2014, the Pegulas were unanimously approved by the NFL's finance committee and were then scheduled to be presented at the NFL owner's meeting on October 8, 2014 for final owner approval; the Pegulas received unanimous approval from the league's owners on October 8 and closed the deal on October 10.
Pegula's first major order of business was to end the Bills Toronto Series, which he did in an agreement reached on December 3, 2014.[8][9]
Buffalo Sabres[edit]
On February 18, 2011, Pegula purchased Hockey Western New York LLC (the holding company that owns the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League) from previous owners Tom Golisano, Larry Quinn, and Dan DiPofi for $189 million.[10] Pegula's purchase made an immediate positive impact, with players,[11] fans and alumni[12] invigorated by his investment in the team, the First Niagara Center and the building of HarborCenter across the street. Pegula was quoted as saying, "Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres' reason for existence, will be to win a Stanley Cup."[13]
Rochester Americans[edit]
In May 2011, Pegula began negotiations on behalf of the Sabres to re-purchase the Rochester Americans, which had served as the Sabres' American Hockey League affiliate from 1979 to 2008 (and had been owned by the Sabres from 1979 to 1996); the deal was completed in late June 2011.[14] As part of the deal the Americans had to be split off from its NLL counterpart the Rochester Knighthawks since Pegula owned the Bandits. Along with the purchase of the Americans came upgrades to the team's arena the Blue Cross Arena.
Buffalo Bandits[edit]
Included in the Sabres purchase was their National Lacrosse League counterparts the Buffalo Bandits.
Natural gas[edit]
After working for a time for Getty Oil and Felmont Oil Co., Pegula founded East Resources, a natural gas drilling company, with $7,500 from family and friends. It profited heavily upon discovery of deep layers of natural gas in the Marcellus Formation and development of the hydraulic fracturing recovery process. Pegula eventually sold the Pennsylvania, New York, and Rocky Mountain assets of the company to Royal Dutch Shell for approximately $4.7 billion. He sold the Ohio and West Virginia assets of the company to American Energy Partners for $1.75 billion in 2014.[15] Pegula also owns Greater Rocky Mountain Regional Oil & Gas in Colorado and Wyoming, and JKLM Energy in Pennsylvania.[16]
Real estate[edit]
In 2012 he won a bid for the development rights to the Webster Block on Buffalo's waterfront.[17] The $170 million hockey-themed HARBORcenter building, which is anchored by the two rinks, a large parking garage, retail, restaurants, and a hotel. The building, which mostly opened in November, 2014 with the rinks, restaurants and parking garage, is expected to be fully open in 2015 with the completion of the hotel.
Pegula is also the operator of First Niagara Center.
Other investments[edit]
Pegula also owns a share of Black River Entertainment, an independent country music label. The label features such acts as Kelsea Ballerini, Kellie Pickler and Craig Morgan as well as the related Black River Publishing and Sound Stage Studio all under the Black River label based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Also under the Pegula umbrella is Impact Sports Performance, two high performance athletic training facilities which are based in Boca Raton, FL and HarborCenter in Buffalo. In addition Pegula owns 716 Food and Sport, a two floor sports themed restaurant which serves as the main business tenant of HarborCenter.
Pegula's combined company containing his sports and entertainment assets is known as Pegula Sports and Entertainment, with its sports properties operating under the brand One Buffalo. The company's offices are based in One Seneca Tower in Buffalo, New York.[18]
Penn State hockey[edit]
An alumnus of Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), Pegula donated $102 million for the construction of the on-campus Pegula Ice Arena in 2010.[19] As a result, Penn State, which had fielded club teams in both men's and women's hockey for years, would be able to transition both teams into Division I starting in the 2012-13 season.
This led to a domino effect across the men's college hockey landscape. Because six Big Ten universities now had Division I men's hockey programs (the minimum number of teams required under Big Ten bylaws for official conference sponsorship, and also the minimum required for a conference to be an automatic postseason qualifier), it was announced that Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State would join Penn State in the Big Ten hockey conference starting in the 2013-2014 season.[20] As a result, the CCHA ceased operations, with most schools (save for the three that joined the Big Ten and Notre Dame) joining the WCHA. Miami University and Western Michigan University, also previously in the CCHA, joined the upstart National Collegiate Hockey Conference along with former WCHA members St. Cloud State, Minnesota-Duluth, Denver, Colorado College, Nebraska-Omaha, and North Dakota. Ex-CCHA member Notre Dame joined Hockey East, which then recruited UConn from the Atlantic Hockey Association to begin play in Hockey East in 2014. After the dust settled, the ECAC was the only Division I conference not affected by the major conference realignment.[21]
Because Penn State's arrival gave the Big Ten only four varsity women's hockey programs, that conference was unable to add the sport, meaning that the women's hockey landscape did not undergo the radical changes that occurred in the men's game. The Penn State women's team settled in College Hockey America, a league that sponsors only women's hockey.
Houghton College[edit]
The Pegulas donated $12 million to Houghton College in Houghton, New York, of which Kim Pegula is an alumna, to build the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex. The facility includes new baseball and softball stadiums and a 115-thousand square-foot field house with an eight-lane 200-meter track, five tennis courts, weight room, cardiac fitness center, and locker rooms. The new facility is mainly targeted toward Houghton College intercollegiate athletics, which recently moved up to Division III Athletics and the Empire 8 Conference. It opened on October 4, 2014.[22]
Pegula was born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, where he attended high school at Scranton Preparatory School. From there he attended college at Penn State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum and natural gas engineering.
He currently lives in Boca Raton, Florida, along with his second wife, Kim Pegula (née Kerr),[23] a graduate of Houghton College and whose hometown is Fairport, New York.[24] Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea, and at age 5 was adopted in 1973 by Ralph and Marilyn Kerr.[25] He has five children, two from a previous marriage (Michael and Laura) and three with Kim (Jessica, Kelly and Matthew).[26] Jessica Pegula is a tennis player on the Women's Tennis Association's Pro Circuit.[27]
Political views[edit]
The Pegulas largely support and donate to Republicans but have also donated to Democrats. In 2010, Pegula and his wife donated $305,000 to Republican Tom Corbett's campaign during the Pennsylvania governor's race. They were the largest contributors for the Pennsylvania Attorney General.[28] In New York, Pegula and his wife have donated $25,000 to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's campaign during the 2014 elections and has also donated $12,000 to Buffalo mayor Byron Brown, $2,500 to senator Chuck Schumer and $250 to state senator Tim Kennedy, all Democrats.[16][29]
1. ^ Happy Birthday Terry Pegula! - Die By The Blade
2. ^ http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2214926-steve-ballmer-named-richest-owner-in-american-team-sports-by-forbes?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial&hpt=hp_t2
3. ^ Forbes: The World's Billionaires - Terrence Pegula March 2014
4. ^ Graham, Tim (9 September 2014). "Bills confirm agreement reached with Pegulas to buy franchise". The Buffalo News. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
5. ^ "Wilson trust reaches definitive agreement with Pegula family". Buffalo Bills. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
6. ^ "Buffalo Sabres Owners Reach 'Definitive Agreement' to Buy Buffalo Bills". The Wall Street Journal. September 9, 2014. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
7. ^ http://www.wgrz.com/story/sports/nfl/future-of-the-bills/2014/09/16/terry-pegula-buffalo-bills-cash-sale/15714123/
8. ^ http://www.tsn.ca/bills-reach-deal-to-terminate-remaining-toronto-games-1.150543
9. ^ Patra, Kevin (3 December 2014). "Buffalo Bills terminate Toronto series". National Football League. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
10. ^ Sabres sold to Pegula. WGR. Retrieved 2011-02-03.
11. ^ Vaughters, Al (2011-04-10). Playoff run gives boost to WNY area. WIVB-TV. Retrieved 2011-04-10.
12. ^ Malowicki, Jessica (2011-02-24). Pegula era kicks off with surprise. WGRZ. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
13. ^ [1]. ESPN. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
14. ^ Wawrow, John (2011-05-17). AP Source: Sabres interested in AHL Rochester. Associated Press. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
15. ^ Wawrow, John (August 5, 2014). Bills bidder Pegula closes $1.75 billion deal. Associated Press. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
16. ^ a b "At Number 4 Pegulas are among the wealthiest in NFL". Tom Precious. October 5, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
17. ^ (September 6, 2012). Buffalo, aka ‘Pegulaville,’ prepares for new downtown development thanks to Sabres owner. The Associated Press. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
18. ^ Guggenmos, Emily (October 12, 2014). Pegulas announce One Buffalo campaign. WIVB-TV. Retrieved October 12, 2014.
19. ^ Penn State Makes it Official: Varsity Programs on the Way :: USCHO.com :: U.S. College Hockey Online
20. ^ Men's Ice Hockey To Be Recommended As Official Big Ten Sport Beginning With 2013-14 Academic Year - BIG TEN CONFERENCE Official Athletic Site
21. ^ 2010–13 NCAA conference realignment#Men's ice hockey
22. ^ http://wivb.com/2014/10/04/houghton-college-dedicates-23m-kerr-pegula-athletic-complex/
23. ^ Buffalo News: "Sabres' owner-in-waiting comes across as Buffalo kind of guy" By Bucky Gleason March 24, 2011
24. ^ Golisano's Goodbye & Pegula's Prospects. WBEN. Retrieved 2011-02-03.
25. ^ Maiorana, Sal (September 9, 2014). "Bills: Wilson trust reaches agreement with Pegulas". Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
26. ^ King, Bill (December 8, 2014). Pegulas open up about vision for One Buffalo. Business First. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
27. ^ Pegula reaches USTA quarterfinals. The Buffalo News. Retrieved 2011-05-27.
28. ^ How Corbett fracked Pa.'s middle class. Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved 2013-11-06.
29. ^ Campbell, Jon (September 12, 2014). Pegula's riches come from fracking, not allowed in NY. Gannett. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
External links[edit]
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The G.G. Shinobi
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The G.G. Shinobi
North American cover art
Developer(s) Sega
Publisher(s) Sega
Designer(s) Masahide Kobayashi (planner)
Ryo Kudou (designer)
Composer(s) Yuzo Koshiro
Series Shinobi
Platform(s) Sega Game Gear, Virtual Console
Release date(s) 3DS Virtual Console
• JP March 14, 2012
• NA March 15, 2012
• EU March 29, 2012
Genre(s) Platformer, hack and slash
Mode(s) Single-player
The G.G. Shinobi (ザ・GG忍?)[2] is a side-scrolling action game by Sega released for the Game Gear in 1991. It was the first Shinobi game developed specifically for a portable game platform. The player controls the modern-day ninja Joe Musashi, protagonist of previous Shinobi games, as he goes on a mission to rescue four kidnapped comrades from an enemy, gaining control of the other ninjas (each with different abilities) as the game progresses in a manner inspired by Mega Man.[3] It was followed by The G.G. Shinobi II: The Silent Fury in 1993. The G.G. Shinobi was one of the first Game Gear games available on the 3DS Virtual Console on March 2012.
Terror and destruction have made their way to Ninja Valley. The Master of the Oboro school of shinobi sends his best students to investigate the suburban areas. They return with news of a powerful dark force that has established a base within Neo City.
The Master knows that only a warrior trained in the arts of ninjutsu can stand against this menace. One by one his greatest pupils enter Neo City to locate and destroy the source of the evil. Ninja Valley has lost contact with each of them. All are believed to be captured.
Now Joe Musashi the Red Shinobi, must carry out this dire mission. As the oldest and strongest of his ninja disciples, Musashi must use his special skills in the art of ninjutsu to free his fellow shinobi. With their combined strength, they can destroy the City of Fear.
The play mechanics of The G.G. Shinobi are roughly based on the Genesis game The Revenge of Shinobi, but with the addition of a character-switching system. The player starts the game as Joe Musashi (the Red Ninja), whose goal is to rescue four kidnapped allies who are being held captive in different stages. There are four stages. These can be played in any order. Each ninja character has a unique weapon, ninjutsu (typically consuming one ninjutsu spell) and ability.
After completing all four stages, the player automatically enters the fifth and final stage (Neo City), proceeding through a series of trap rooms. Each room requires the skills of a particular ninja character in order to pass it. Almost all rooms have two exits which lead to further distinct trap rooms. Whilst exploring Neo City, the player will encounter further bosses, finishing with the final one.
1. ^ a b c Shinobi release information at GameFAQs
2. ^ The game is simply labeled Shinobi on the cover artwork of the western versions, but the title screen still displays The G.G. Shinobi
3. ^ Okunari, Yosuke. Legend of Joe Musashi: SHINOBI Music Collection (booklet). Japan: Wave Master. p. 9. WM-0626~9.
External links[edit]
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Vespasia Polla
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Vespasia Polla from Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum. The abbreviation means: "Vespasia Polla Vespasiani Imperatoris Mater", which means: Vespasia Polla, mother of Emperor Vespasianus
Vespasia Polla (also known as Vespasia Pollia, born c. 15 BC, fl 1st century AD) was the mother of the Roman emperor Vespasian, and grandmother to the emperors Titus and Domitian. Polla came from an equestrian family at Nursia.
Suetonius identifies her father as the Vespasius Pollio who was a three-time military tribune and a praefectus castrorum. Her brother rose as high as the praetorship. The Vespasii were regarded as an old family of great renown, and Suetonius notes a site called Vespasiae where many of their monuments had been built. This site was located on a mountaintop near the sixth milestone on the road between Nursia and Spoletum (present-day Spoleto).[1]
Vespasia married a tax collector Titus Flavius Sabinus, and survived him. Their daughter Flavia Vespasia died in her infancy. One son was also named Titus Flavius Sabinus, and served as consul in 47. After her husband died she never remarried.[citation needed]
Sabinus achieved the senatorial rank, but Vespasian put off doing so. Suetonius (Life of Vespasian, 2.2) states that:
1. ^ Suetonius, Life of Vespasian, 1.2-3.
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Victor Premasagar
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Victor Premasagar
Church Church of South India
See Medak
In office 1983–1992
Predecessor B. G. Prasada Rao
Successor B. P. Sugandhar
Consecration 1983
Personal details
Born (1927-10-14)14 October 1927
Medak, Andhra Pradesh
Died 1 December 2005(2005-12-01) (aged 78)
St. Joseph's General Hospital, Guntur
Previous post General Secretary of the Church of South India
Victor Premasagar (Medak, 1927 – Guntur, 2005) was the fourth successor of Frank Whittaker as Bishop in Medak. He was an Indian churchman and Old Testament scholar. He also became Moderator of the Church of South India.[1]
Early years[edit]
Premasagar was born in Medak and was raised a Christian in what is now the Church of South India. In addition to the ancient Indian epics, his boyhood was filled with stories from the Bible. In the foreword to Promise in the Ancestral Narratives, his doctoral dissertation, Premasagar made mention of the Biblical stories that his mother told during his childhood and the promise they held. He completed his schooling from Wesley School in Secunderabad. It was around this time that he to study divinity.
He completed his college studies from the century-old Andhra-Christian College (under Andhra University), Guntur. His contemporaries there included N.T. Rama Rao[2] (a film actor and later Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh) among others. Premasagar was involved in athletics. Football and tennis being his favourite sport.[7]
Seminary studies[edit]
Victor went to the United Theological College in Bangalore and took his Bachelor of Divinity. While at UTC, Bangalore, his classmates included Rev. Dr. E.C. John (another Old Testament scholar and later the Principal of the United Theological College), Rev. Dr. Sam Amirtham (a renowned figure in the World Council of Churches), Rev. N.D. Ananda Rao Samuel (Bishop-in-Krishna Godavari and Moderator of the Church of South India in the 1970s), Rev. Dr. C.D. Jathanna (another Old Testament scholar who later was the Principal of Karnataka Theological College as well as Bishop-in-Karnataka Central of the Church of South India) among others.
After graduation, the Church of South India first posted him to a rural congregation.
Post-graduate studies and lecturership[edit]
In due course of time, he was sent to Cambridge University where he continued to study the Old Testament and was awarded the Cambridge tripos.
After returning from Cambridge, he undertook teaching the Old Testament in the Andhra Christian Theological College (ACTC) in the river town of Rajahmundry.
Doctoral studies and return[edit]
Later, the Board of Governors of ACTC accorded him study leave which Rev. Premasagar used to go to St. Andrews University, Scotland for further studies of the Old Testament. He studied in St Mary's College and was awarded a PhD. Afterwards, he returned to ACTC to continue his teaching and later became its first Indian Principal.
Bishop Premasagar delivering the graduation address in ACTC during the Principalship of Rev. Dr. S. Joseph.
Together with his wife Mrs. Daisy, they saw to the needs of the students, the staff, and to the faculty. Mrs. Daisy's nursing skills gained in England were put to use. On invitation from Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, in the United States of America, he took sabbatical from ACTC to teach there for a year. On his return, the Board of Governors was pleased to extend the term of Principalship by two more terms. Rev. Dr. K. David, a New Testament scholar succeeded Dr. Premasagar at ACTC.
While continuing to serve at ACTC, he was elected as the General Secretary of the Synod of the CSI based in Chennai. Later, he was elected as the Bishop-in-Medak, Asia's largest Anglican bishopric. It was at this time that indigenous methods were devised and put into practice for raising funds from the local congregations for supporting Church programmes which was met with widespread success.
During the 21st synod ( 13–18 January) 1988 of the CSI held in American College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, he was elected[3] as the Moderator of the Church of South India. He was instrumental in bringing rapid development of the Church – congregation-wise as well as in its social action.
As for the educational institutions in the diocese of Medak, schools were made to adapt to modern trends to face the changing pattern. St. George's Grammar School, Wesley College and other educational institutions were modernised during Premasagar's tenure.
Bishop Premasagar conducting service in a Church.
Premasagar on his consececration as bishop.
In the year 1983, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom came to Hyderabad. On 20 November 1983, the Queen celebrated her 36th wedding anniversary in the Holy Trinity Church in Bolarum, Secunderabad.[4] The Church service was officiated by Bishop Premasagar and his ministerial colleagues Rev. B. Prabhakar Rao and Rev. B. P. Sugandhar, the present Bishop-in-Medak and the Moderator of the CSI.
Lambeth Conference[edit]
The Bishops of the Church of South India are invited to the decennial Lambeth Conference held at the Lambeth Palace, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury in London. Rev. Premasagar attended the eleventh and twelfth conferences in 1978 and 1988 respectively.
Bible Society of India[edit]
Premasagar was a translator for the Bible Society of India (BSI) in its Telugu Bible Common Language Translation Programme since the 1970s. He headed the Translations Committee of the Bible Society of India Andhra Pradesh Auxiliary till the 1990s and then was followed by Rev. G. Babu Rao, his colleague while at ACTC. Premasagar was also the President of the Bible Society of India headquartered in Bangalore for a long period.
Bishop Premasagar poses with the team of the Bible Society of India. To his left is B. K. Pramanik, its general secretary.
After retirement from the bishopric, Rev. Ryder Devapriyam, Bishop-in-Nandyal and a former colleague of Rev. Premasagar while at ACTC, succeeded him as the Moderator while Rev. B. P. Sugandhar, Presbyter-in-charge of Church of St John the Baptist, Secunderabad became the Bishop-in-Medak.
Post-retirement, Premasagar spent about a year at the Presbyterian Church of Wales as an invitee[5] On his return to India, Premasagar taught part-time at ACTC. He was later invited by Dr. K. Rajaratnam,[6] Director of Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Chennai to teach and guide doctoral students and was Professor Emeritus of Old Testament.
In 2000, Premasagar accepted an to become Principal of Bethel Bible College, Guntur,[citation needed] where he taught until his death at St. Joseph's Hospital, Guntur on 1 December 2005.[7]
Works and legacy[edit]
He wrote several articles in scholarly journals and in other popular Church magazines. He also wrote:
• He emptied Himself – Bible Studies on Jesus Christ Frees and Unites', The Christian Literature Society, Chennai, 1976[8]
• Promise in the Ancestral Narratives: A theme of the early Hebrew traditions, The Christian Literature Society, Chennai, 2000[9]
• Interpretive Diary of a Bishop – Indian Experience in Translation and Interpretation of some Biblical passages, The Christian Literature Society, Chennai, 2002[10]
Some essays were written in his honour (festschrift) commemorating his shastipoorthi (completion of sixty years) and brought into a book entitled:
• The Church on the move – Edited by H.S. Wilson,[11] The Christian Literature Society, Chennai, 2002[12]
Educational offices
Preceded by
Saral K. Chatterjee
President Senate of Serampore College
Succeeded by
C. D. Jathanna
Academic offices
Preceded by
W. D. Coleman and William P. Peery
Principal of Andhra Christian Theological College
Succeeded by
K. David
Other offices
Preceded by
D. L. Gopalaratnam
General Secretary of the Synod of Church of South India
Succeeded by
M. Azaraiah[13]
Religious titles
Preceded by
B. G. Prasada Rao[13]
Bishop in Medak
Succeeded by
B. P. Sugandhar[13]
Preceded by
Sundar Clarke[13]
Deputy Moderator
Church of South India
Succeeded by
D. Pothirajulu[13]
Preceded by
I. Jesudason[13]
Church of South India
Succeeded by
Ryder Devapriam[13]
See also[edit]
1. ^ Former bishop passes away, The Hindu, 12 December 2005
2. ^ It is interesting to note that after a year of Dr. Premasagar's consecration as the Bishop in Medak, his college-mate, Sri N.T.R. became a Chief Minister. Soon, a visit to the Cathedral in Medak was arranged followed by a public meeting in the Church compound – photo study from the Bishop's archives.
3. ^ CSI Church.NET [1] Sad News
4. ^ The Holy Trinity Church [2] Queen's Visit
5. ^ The Presbyterian Church of Wales
6. ^ Gurukul Lutheran Theological College [3] Director's page
7. ^ The Hindu [4] 12 December 2005
8. ^ Merging Currents [5] Books on Christianity in India, Hinduism and Indian culture and history. Retrieved 23 April 2006.
9. ^ Merging Currents [6] Books on Christianity in India, Hinduism and Indian culture and history. Retrieved 23 April 2006.
10. ^ Merging Currents [7] Books on Christianity in India, Hinduism and Indian culture and history. Retrieved 23 April 2006.
11. ^
12. ^ Merging Currents [8] Books on Christianity in India, Hinduism and Indian culture and history. Retrieved 23 April 2006.
13. ^ a b c d e f g h K. M. George, Church of South India: life in union, 1947–1997, Jointly published by Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Christava Sahitya Samithi, Tiruvalla, 1999. [9]
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Wayne Bennett (rugby league)
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Wayne Bennett
Personal information
Full name Wayne James Bennett
Nickname Benny[1]
Born (1950-01-01) 1 January 1950 (age 65)
Allora, Queensland, Australia
Playing information
Height 191 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Position Wing
Years Team Pld T G FG P
19??–72 All Whites
1972–7? Huddersfield ? ? ? ? ?
Brothers (Bris.)
1976 Ipswich
1977–79 Souths (Bris.)
Years Team Pld T G FG P
19??–?? Toowoomba
1971–73 Queensland 7 7
1971–72 Australia 0 0 0 0 0
Coaching information
Years Team Gms W D L W%
1987 Canberra Raiders 28 17 0 11 61
1988–08 Brisbane Broncos 532 339 12 181 64
2009–11 St. George Illawarra 79 51 1 27 65
2012–14 Newcastle Knights 75 34 1 40 45
2015– Brisbane Broncos 12 9 0 3 75
Total 726 450 14 262 62
Years Team Gms W D L W%
1986–88 Queensland 9 5 0 4 56
1998 Australia 2 2 0 0 100
1998 Queensland 3 2 0 1 67
2001–03 Queensland 9 5 0 4 56
2004–05 Australia 14 10 1 3 71
2010–12 NRL All Stars 3 2 0 1 67
Source: RLP
Wayne James Bennett AM (born 1 January 1950) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player who is the current head coach for the Brisbane Broncos of the National Rugby League (NRL). An Australian international and Queensland interstate representative winger or fullback of the 1970s, he also worked as a Queensland Police officer before becoming a Brisbane Rugby League premiership-winning coach, and in the 1980s earned selection as Queensland's State of Origin coach. After starting his NSWRL Premiership coaching career with the Canberra Raiders, in 1988 Bennett was appointed the inaugural coach of the new Brisbane Broncos club, later winning six premierships with them, and in 1998 was first selected to coach the Australian national team. He has since coached the St. George Illawarra Dragons (with whom he won the 2010 NRL Premiership) and the Newcastle Knights, and set Australian coaching records for most grand final wins[2] (7) and most seasons with a single club (21).
Born in the small township of Allora, Queensland,[3] Wayne Bennett grew up in a working-class family in nearby Warwick with an alcoholic father who deserted the family when he was eleven years old, forcing Wayne to enter the workforce at an early age. He has two sisters, Michelle and Gretta and two brothers, Robert[4] and Dwight. In spite of his upbringing he remains an avowed non-smoker, non-drinker and non-gambler. Before becoming involved with the Queensland Rugby League on a full-time basis, Bennett started to work as a police officer at the age of 15 while playing junior rugby league in Warwick. His family already had ties to the Police and rugby league in South East Queensland through his uncle, 1948 Kangaroo forward Eddie Brosnan.[5]
Playing career[edit]
From 1970, Bennett played football for Warwick, and also in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership for Past Brothers, Ipswich and Souths. He was a talented winger and goal-kicker, and represented Queensland 9 times between 1971 and 1973 ( including 7 games against New South Wales).[6] Here Bennett was coached by Bob Bax, who he has credited as being a major influence in his own later coaching career.[7] Bennett also played two tour matches for Australia on the 1972 tour of New Zealand. Also in 1972 Bennett played for Toowoomba in the last ever Bulimba Cup final against Brisbane.[8] After that he had a spell playing for Huddersfield in England alongside fellow Queenslander and future brother-in-law Greg Vievers.[9] He played for Brisbane's Brothers club and in 1974 under coach Paul Broughton reached the Grand Final which they lost to Fortitude Valley.
Coaching career[edit]
Wayne Bennett is the most successful coach in the entire Australian Rugby League history and has experienced success with the last three teams he has coached.
Early years[edit]
Bennett began coaching in Ipswich in 1976,[10] before moving to Brisbane Rugby League Premiership sides, Souths and Brothers. After the births of his 3 children, Bennett had a break from coaching. He returned in 1983 as coach of Souths Acacia Ridge under 16's as well as the Queensland Police Academy under 18's team which he took to a premiership. He also worked as the Police Academy's fitness instructor.[11] Bennett then took over the Souths job and took them to the 1984 grand final, which they lost to the Wynnum-Manly Seagulls. Revenge was to come a year later when the Bennett-coached Magpies defeated the Seagulls 10–8 in the BRL grand final to take the premiership. This was against a Seagulls line-up featuring Australian captain Wally Lewis and centre Gene Miles, both of whom would later captain the Brisbane Broncos under Bennett.
In 1986 Bennett took over from Des Morris as coach of the Queensland State of Origin team.[12] The Maroons were beaten 3–0 in a series whitewash that year, however Bennett was retained as Queensland's coach for two more years.
In 1987 Bennett moved south to join the NSWRL's Winfield Cup Premiership when he was appointed co-coach of the Canberra Raiders alongside then Australian team coach Don Furner. With the Queensland side, Bennett won the 1987 State of Origin series. By the end of the 1987 NSWRL season, He and Furner had guided the Raiders to their first Grand Final which was lost to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 18–8.
Brisbane Broncos[edit]
Bennett was appointed to be the first coach of the Brisbane Broncos when the club was formed in 1988. That season with the Maroons he defeated New South Wales in a 3 nil whitewash in the State of Origin, but Bennett discontinued his representative coaching to focus on the Broncos.
Bennett's reputation for being able to make tough and even unpopular decisions was characterised by his sacking of Wally Lewis as club captain in 1990. At the end of the season the King was not made an offer large enough to retain him, with Bennett citing salary cap restrictions and the need to keep Sydney clubs away from more junior talent coming through.[13] The Broncos won their first premierships in 1992 under Bennett. In the weeks following the grand final Bennett travelled with the Broncos to England, where they played the 1992 World Club Challenge against British champions Wigan, helping Brisbane become the first NSWRL club to win the match in Britain. The following season the Broncos again won the grand final, gaining a second consecutive premiership. During the 1994 NSWRL season, Bennett coached defending premiers Brisbane when they hosted British champions Wigan for the 1994 World Club Challenge and lost. Bennett was appointed as Queensland coach again for the 1995 series but pulled out of the position after players aligned with the breakaway Super League organisation (including the majority of his club team, the Brisbane Broncos) were refused selection. In 1997's Super League half of the football season, the Broncos under Bennett dominated, winning the 1997 World Club Championship as well as the Telstra Cup grand final in Brisbane. Bennett resumed representative coaching duties in 1998 with Queensland and was also given the honour of coaching Australia when he was appointed to replace Bob Fulton as Kangaroos coach. Australia was undefeated in two test matches against the Kiwis. Bennett won his fourth premiership with the Broncos when they took the 1998 NRL grand final and he was also named "Coach of the Year" at the Queensland Sport Awards.[14] Bennett ceased in his role as coach of the Australian national team in March 1999, being replaced by Chris Anderson.[15]
In 2000 Bennett won his fifth premiership with the Broncos. Following the premiership win the Australian Rugby Union tried to poach Bennett, but he declined.[16] Having won the 2000 NRL Premiership, the Broncos travelled to England to play against 2000's Super League V Champions, St Helens RLFC for the 2001 World Club Challenge, with Bennett overseeing Brisbane's loss. Bennett would again coach Queensland in 2001, gaining widespread attention after his decision to recall Allan Langer to the Maroons from the European Super League for the deciding third game of the 2001 State of Origin series. Queensland won the series and the decision was hailed as a "master stroke".[who?] Bennett remained Queensland's coach for the 2002 and 2003 series before stepping down again. He continued his involvement with coaching for Queensland through the Queensland Academy of Sport and in an off-field role with the Queensland Rugby League. On Australia Day 2004 Bennett was honoured as a member of the Order of Australia "for service to rugby league football, particularly as a coach, and to the community."[17]
Bennett with the Telstra Premiership trophy at post 2006 NRL Grand Final celebrations in Brisbane.
Bennett is a passionate advocate of international Rugby League, and was instrumental in the revival of the Tri-Nations series in 2004. In that year he was again appointed Australian coach, and took Australia to reclaim the Trans-Tasman Trophy (lost to New Zealand in 2003) and win the second Rugby League Tri-Nations Series. At the end of the 2005 season, after five successive years without a grand final appearance, Bennett decided to have a clean-out of the coaching staff, removing such long-time allies as Gary Belcher, Glenn Lazarus and Kevin Walters.[18] That year he received the Rugby League International Federation's coach of the year award.[19] However, on 9 December 2005, it was announced that Bennett had resigned as Australia's coach, after the Kangaroos lost an international series for the first time in 27 years,[20] and equalled their biggest loss in 98 years, going down 24–0 to New Zealand in the final of the 2005 Tri-nations series. In 2006 a secret deal being brokered between Bennett and the Sydney Roosters club for him to become their coach was made public. This is said to have caused the deterioration in his relationship with the Broncos management which eventually led to his resignation.[21] During the 2006 finals series, he became only the second person (after Tim Sheens) to coach 500 premiership games. He also signed on to continue coaching the Broncos for a further two years.[22] The sixth premiership final won by Brisbane against Melbourne made Wayne Bennett the most successful Grand Final coach in history.[23] He again was named Queensland's Sport Coach of the Year for 2007 and was made a life member of the Broncos club. His refusal to make an acceptance speech at the club's presentation ball showed the strain in his relationship with the Broncos.[24] Bennett coached the 2007 All Golds.[25] In doing so, he introduced the New Zealand players to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.[26]
Bennett and Tonie Carroll at Suncorp Stadium in 2008
Bennett was originally contracted to the Broncos until the end of 2009 [1], but on the night of 4 February 2008 at a Broncos board meeting, he submitted his letter of resignation and sought an early release at the end of the 2008 season. Bennett's coaching future was confirmed on 31 March 2008, when he signed a three-year contract to coach the St. George Illawarra Dragons from season 2009.[27] After much speculation, Bennett became assistant coach and advisor to New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney in 2008. This was in preparation for the Centenary test against the Kangaroos. Bennett was retained in the same role for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, which the Kiwis won. Former New Zealand coach Graham Lowe has credited Bennett with the victory.[28]
St George Illawarra Dragons[edit]
The Bennett era at St George Illawarra began with high turnover of staff and players. High performance director Jeremy Hickmans, conditioner Scott Campbell and manager/assistant Paul Massey were recruited to replace the existing staff, while the playing roster had recently lost high profile stars Mark Gasnier and Jason Ryles. The club's player recruiting however was extensive: Jeremy Smith, Darius Boyd, Neville Costigan, Luke Priddis, Michael Weyman, Mathew Head and Mickey Paea.[29] At the Dragons Bennett was to be re-united with former Broncos Wendell Sailor and Luke Priddis, both of whom had won premierships with him at Brisbane. Neville Costigan, who also played under Bennett at the Broncos joined the Dragons that year in addition to Darius Boyd and Nick Emmett who also moved from Brisbane to St. George Illawarra at the same time as Bennett.
His first game with the Dragons was a golden point loss to the previous season's grand finalists, Melbourne Storm.[30] In round 4 of the 2009 NRL season Bennett returned to Suncorp Stadium with the Dragons and for the first time coached against the club he helped build. St. George Illawarra defeated the Broncos convincingly as the Dragons continued to lead the competition in defence. However, after winning the minor premiership in his first season at the club, it was the Brisbane Broncos who knocked the Dragons out of finals contention at the end of the 2009 season. It was the Broncos' first ever finals win at the venue,[clarification needed] whilst Bennett's winless finals record continued at the same venue.
In 2009 Bennett was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.[31]
In the 2010 NRL season, Bennett guided the Dragons to their second consecutive minor premiership and on to the 2010 NRL Grand Final, the joint venture club's second. After years of having a "choker" tag they faced the Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium in the decider at the season's end. The rain fell across the ground during the match and Bennett's players had a fiery 2nd Half after a traditional spray at half time as they were being led 8–6 at the break. The Dragons under Bennett were successful in winning their first premiership as a joint venture who went on to beat the Roosters 32–8. It is a credit to Bennett as he has won seven from seven Grand Finals as head coach of a club, his only loss as co-coach of Canberra in 1987. He is arguably the greatest coach of all time, surpassing Jack Gibson's record of 5 premiership wins, two with the Roosters and three with Parramatta.
The Dragons went on to defeat 2010's Super League XV champions, Wigan Warriors in the 2011 World Club Challenge, but Bennett was absent, choosing to fly back to Australia days before the match to be with his ill mother-in-law, and leaving assistant coach Steve Price in charge.
On 30 March 2011 Bennett announced he would not continue on as coach of St George Illawarra beyond the 2011 season, in true Bennett style he kept his reasons for going close to his chest.
Bennett's final game at the helm of St. George Illawarra ended the way it started, with a heartbreaking golden point loss against his old club, the Brisbane Broncos, at Suncorp Stadium. This extended Bennett's winless finals record at the venue to eight.
Newcastle Knights[edit]
On 12 April 2011 Bennett announced that he would be joining Nathan Tinkler's newly acquired Newcastle Knights for 2012 on a 4-year deal. Darius Boyd again followed Bennett to his new club, moving with him to Newcastle as he had when the pair moved from Brisbane to St George Illawarra. During the 2012 Newcastle Knights season he was credited with the resurgence in Willie Mason's career after Bennett had agreed to sign the 31-year-old after an aborted attempt at a rugby union career in France. The Knights failed to make the finals in the 2012 season, the first finals series not to feature Bennett in 21 years.
For the 2013 Newcastle Knights season Bennett took the club within one match of the 2013 NRL Grand Final. Part-way through the 2014 Newcastle Knights season, during which the club's relationship with Nathan Tinkler ended, Bennett announced that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season, one year earlier than contracted, to return to the Brisbane Broncos ahead of the 2015 season.
Brisbane Broncos 2015[edit]
Bennett has returned to coach the Brisbane Broncos for the 2015 NRL season.[32] As a result of this, the Broncos odds of the club winning have swung in their favour and the Broncos are one of the 2015 NRL premiership favourites at the moment.[33]
Public persona[edit]
Bennett is known for a number of unusual and distinctive behaviours which have on occasion been the subject of media attention, both positive and negative. These include Bennett's taciturn nature and reputation for almost never smiling[34][35] and appearing outwardly unemotional.[36] Television coverage of NRL matches typically involves some footage of the coach's box at crucial points of the match whereby the coaches more often than not will reflect the on field status quo. Bennett, however, will normally be shown sternly and intensely watching the game, without any real signs of emotion irrespective of the events unfolding.
Bennett has stated that he detests the media commitments required as head coach of a high-profile football team.[37] Although on occasions he will happily give in-depth interviews, he has also been known to act with hostility towards the press, avoiding questions, starting press conferences early and at times simply refusing to answer. This behaviour has in some parts[who?] attracted sharp criticism although has been defended in other parts of the Rugby League community, in particular by former NSW coach and Nine Network personality Phil Gould.
Bennett coached the Brisbane Broncos for 21 consecutive years, since their first season. Under his leadership they were the most successful side, winning six premierships and never losing a grand final. It is unusual for a coach to remain at one club for so long and maintain success. The salary cap system in Australian rugby league makes it difficult to maintain a strong squad for long periods, although the Brisbane Broncos were fined five times for salary cap breaches during Bennett's tenure in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2007.[38] Additionally the Thoroughbreds, a group of high-profile Queensland businessmen setup with Bennett, provide support to Broncos players and is not subject to salary cap restrictions.[39]
Personal life[edit]
Bennett's brother Bob Bennett has also coached rugby league at international level with the Papua New Guinea team.[40]
The cover of Bennett's acclaimed[41] 2002 memoir, Don't die with the music in you.
With journalist Steve Crawley he wrote Don't Die with the Music in You whose title refers to a quote from the American intellectual Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. regarding failure to meet one's potential. The likes of Steve Waugh, Lachlan Murdoch, David Gallop, John Singleton and Jack Gibson attended the book's launch at the Australian Museum in Sydney on 7 May 2002.[42][43] It has become one of the best selling books about rugby league in Australia's history (ISBN 0-7333-1107-5, ABC Books Australia). It went on to sell over 100,000 copies.[44]
Bennett has also written a weekly column in The Australian. His second book, The man in the mirror was released in November 2008, soon after the New Zealand Kiwis' World Cup victory.
1. ^ Prichard, Greg (5 October 2010). "Dare I say it, Benny might have the edge on Gibson". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia: Fairfax Media). Retrieved 5 October 2010.
2. ^ Masters, Roy (2 October 2006). "Broncos shine on centre stage". The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax digital). Retrieved 16 December 2009.
3. ^ Heming, Wayne (5 October 2010). "Warwick to be Waynewick for a week". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia: Fairfax Media). Retrieved 6 October 2010.
4. ^ Hardwick, Peter (28 December 2009). "Wayne Bennett in town for lunch". The Chronicle (Australia: APN News & Media Ltd). Retrieved 5 October 2010.
5. ^ "Brisbane Bulldogs History". policerugbyleague.com.au (Australia: Queensland Police Service Rugby League). 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
6. ^ qrl.com.au. "Queensland Representative Players". History. Queensland Rugby League. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
7. ^ AAP (3 September 2008). "Broncos say goodbye to a legend". tvnz.co.nz. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
8. ^ Middleton, David (31 July 2011). "Lang v Bennett: the final duel". NRL.com. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
9. ^ "Sports Corner:Rugby League". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia). 10 October 1972. p. 21. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
10. ^ Lewis, Daniel (21 September 2010). "Bennett swears he has a sense of humour, just doesn't often show it". smh.com.au (Australia: Fairfax Media). Retrieved 20 September 2010.
11. ^ Hooper, Chloe (2009). Tall Man: The Death of Doomadgee. USA: Scribner. p. 182. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
13. ^ Harms, John (2005). The Pearl: Steve Renouf's Story. Australia: University of Queensland Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-7022-3536-8.
14. ^ "Queensland Sport Awards Winners 1995–2008" (PDF). qsport.org.au. QSport. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
15. ^ "Chris Anderson". BBC Sport 2001 Ashes squad guide (UK: BBC). 2001. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
16. ^ AAP (27 April 2006). "Union tried to poach Bennett". One News. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
17. ^ "Order of Australia". The Age. 24 January 2004. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
18. ^ Dick, Barry (1 October 2006). "Special day for Benny". The Courier-Mail (Queensland Newspapers). Retrieved 17 December 2009.
19. ^ "Awards". rlif.com. Rugby League International Federation. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
20. ^ Williams, Daniel (12 December 2005). "Keep It Simple, Sport". Time (Time Inc.). Retrieved 15 January 2010.
21. ^ Craddock, Robert (5 February 2008). "Why Wayne Bennett decided to leave the Broncos". The Courier Mail (Australia: Queensland Newspapers). Retrieved 7 January 2010.
22. ^ Walter, Brad (2 October 2006). "Coach hails sweetest win". The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Digital). Retrieved 16 December 2009.
23. ^ Prichard, Greg (2 October 2006). "Bennett still the master". The Sun-Herald (Fairfax Digital). Retrieved 16 December 2009.
24. ^ Clark, Laine (5 February 2008). "Statistics don't do Bennett justice". foxsport.com.au (Australia: AAP). Retrieved 7 January 2010. [dead link]
25. ^ "Coaching Staff". dragons.com.au. St. George Illawarra Dragons. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
26. ^ guardian.co.uk (14 November 2008). "Will it be a happy return to Brisbane for league legend Wayne Bennett?". The Sport Blog (London: Guardian News and Media Limited). Retrieved 19 September 2009.
27. ^ "2009 NRL Player Movements". NRL Live. 4 October 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2008.
28. ^ Lowe, Graham (24 July 2009). "Bennett the spark in Dragons' rise". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
29. ^ "2009 League Unlimited Player Movements". League Unlimited. 5 February 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
30. ^ "Bennett happy with Dragons despite loss". ABC News. 14 March 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
31. ^ "Mr Wayne Bennett OAM AM". Queensland Sport Hall of Fame. qsport.org.au. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
32. ^ http://www.nrl.com/bennett-returns-to-broncos-hot-seat/tabid/10874/newsid/82052/default.aspx
33. ^ http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/wayne-bennetts-return-to-brisbane-has-the-broncos-firming-as-2015-nrl-premiership-favourites/story-fniabm4i-1227122192357?nk=10b7d136ff8ab19d8655bd489d19c73a
34. ^ Jackson, Glenn (2 October 2006). "Hodges crows again". The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Digital). Retrieved 16 December 2009.
35. ^ Malone, Paul (24 November 2008). "Wayne Bennett's Kiwi coaching role shows league love". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
36. ^ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=k6MRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XOQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4082,2041330
37. ^ Phillips, Murray George (2000). From sidelines to centre field: a history of sports coaching in Australia. UNSW Press. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-86840-410-3.
38. ^ http://www.nrl.com/history-of-nrl-salary-cap-breaches/tabid/10874/newsid/58361/default.aspx
39. ^ http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/wayne-bennetts-secret-fund/story-e6frep5x-1111115066538?nk=2a2e6e9c1db5e8a02bb1ef0a0448c47d
40. ^ Hadfield, David (14 September 1996). "Eagles to share United's roost". Independent, The (London, UK: independent.co.uk). Retrieved 15 October 2013.
41. ^ Tom Smithies "Culina sings to Bennett's tune" (14 September 2007) The Daily Telegraph
42. ^ http://www.aapimage.com.au/Search.aspx?search=%22WAYNE+BENNETT+BOOK+LAUNCH%22&viewtype=Grid
43. ^ "Don't die with the music in you". [dead link]
44. ^ Bray, Nick (29 July 2008). "Wayne Bennett memoir deal signed with ABC Books". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
45. ^ "Bennett, Wayne James, OAM". It's an Honour. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
46. ^ "Bennett, Wayne James: Australian Sports Medal". It's an Honour. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
47. ^ "Bennett, Wayne James, AM". It's an Honour. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
48. ^ "Wayne Bennett AM". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
Further reading[edit]
External links[edit]
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Don Furner
Canberra Raiders co-coach
Succeeded by
Tim Sheens
Preceded by
Anthony Griffin
Brisbane Broncos coach
Succeeded by
Ivan Henjak
Preceded by
Nathan Brown
St George Illawarra Dragons coach
Succeeded by
Steve Price
Preceded by
Rick Stone
Newcastle Knights coach
Succeeded by
Rick Stone
Preceded by
Anthony Griffin
Brisbane Broncos coach
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Des Morris
Queensland coach
Succeeded by
Arthur Beetson
Preceded by
Paul Vautin
Queensland coach
Succeeded by
Mark Murray
Preceded by
Mark Murray
Queensland coach
Succeeded by
Michael Hagan
Preceded by
Queensland Tri-Series coach
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Bob Fulton
Australia coach
Succeeded by
Chris Anderson
Preceded by
Chris Anderson
Australia coach
Succeeded by
Ricky Stuart
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RAMADAN 2005 The 16th Day
The Evolution Deceit
RAMADAN 2005 The 16th Day
Ayat of the Day
[Dhu’l-Qarnayn said,] “But as for him who believes and acts rightly, he will receive the best of rewards and we will issue a command, making things easy for him.” (Surat al-Kahf: 88)
Hadith of the Day:
"Make things easy for the people, and do not make it difficult for them, and make them calm [with glad tidings] and do not repulse [them]."
Miracles of the Qur’an:
Then, when they reached the Valley of the Ants, an ant said: "Ants! Enter your dwellings, so that Sulayman and his troops do not crush you unwittingly." (Surat an-Naml: 18)
Scientific research into ants has revealed that these tiny animals have very organized social lives and that, as a requirement of that organization, they also have a very complex communication network. For example, National Geographic reports that:
Ants mainly communicate on the chemical level. These semi chemicals, known as pheromones, are chemical compounds that are perceived by smell and secreted by internal glands. In addition, they play the most important role in organizing ant societies. When an ant secretes a pheromone, the other ants receive it by means of smell or taste and duly respond. Research into ant pheromones has revealed that all signals are emitted according to the needs of the colony. Moreover, the intensity of the pheromone emitted also varies according to the urgency of the situation at hand.
As we have seen, ants require a profound knowledge of chemistry to do what they do. The fact that the Qur'an emphasized this fact 1,400 years ago, a time when there was no such knowledge about ants, is another one of its scientific miracles. (See Harun Yahya, The Miracle in the Ant, Goodword Books, New Delhi, 2002)
Wonders of Creation:
Plants' Mineral Selection Abilities How Roots Take in Ions from the Soil
The cells in the roots of a plant select particular ions from the soil to use in cell reactions. Plant cells can easily take these ions inside themselves, despite the internal concentration of some ions in the plant being a thousand times greater than that in the soil solution. So, this is a most important process.
Under normal conditions, a transfer of materials will occur from an area with a higher concentration to one with a lower concentration. But as we have seen, just the opposite takes place in the roots' absorbing ions from the soil. For this reason the process requires quite substantial amounts of energy.
Two factors influence the passage of the ions through the cell membrane: the membrane's permeability and the concentration of the ions on either side of the membrane.
Let us examine these two factors by asking some questions about them. What does a plant's choosing the required elements from those in the soil actually mean? Let us first take the concept of "requirements." A root cell has to know all the elements in the plant, one by one, to meet its requirements. It has to establish which of all the elements it knows are lacking in all parts of the plant and identify them as needs. Let us ask another question. How is an element known? If the soil is not in a pure state, in other words if there are other elements mixed up in it, what has to be done to distinguish one element from all the rest?
Will it be possible for someone to tell which is which if elements such as iron, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus are put in front of him all mixed up? How can he tell them apart? If he has received training in the subject, he may be able to identify some of them. It will be impossible for him to identify the rest, however. So how do plants make the distinction? Or rather, how is it possible for a plant to know elements by itself, and to find those ones most useful for it? Is it possible that such a process should have been carried out in the right way every time for millions of years by chance? In order to think about all of these questions-to which the answer is "Impossible!"-in a more detailed and deeper way, let us examine what kind of selective property roots possess and what happens at the time of selection.
A Perfect Design of Leaves: Pores
Lives of the Prophets:
The Outward Appearance of the Prophet (saas) -I
As well as verses from the Qur'an, statements from the Prophet (saas)'s companions that have come down to us also contain a great deal of information about the Prophet (saas). Many details, such as his relations with his family and the believers around him, details of his daily life, his physical appearance, the feelings of awe he inspired in those who saw him, the food he enjoyed, his clothes and smile are all described by Islamic scholars with the term "outward form" (shamail). The term comprises such ideas as "character, temperament, behavior and attitudes." Even if the concept of "shamail" originally had a broader meaning, it became more specific over time and eventually became a term used to describe the details of the kind of life the Prophet (saas) led and his personality traits.
Every detail of the character and manner of this chosen servant of Allah, whom He favored over all beings, is at the same time a reflection of his superior morality. The main intention for the composition of this chapter on the outward form of the Prophet (saas) is to examine those of his features that have been described in sources that have come down to us, and for us to draw inspiration from them for our own lives.
The physical beauty of the Prophet (saas)
Prophet Muhammad’s (saas) external appearance and beauty
His companions described the beauty of Prophet Muhammad (saas) in these terms:
" Prophet Muhammad (saas) had a most handsome constitution. Some gave the smile of his beauty to that of the full moon…His nose was thin… His face was smooth…His beard was thick…His neck was the most beautiful…If the rays of the sun fell on his neck, it appeared like a cup of silver mixed with gold… The place between his shoulders was wide." (Imam Ghazzali's Ihya Ulum-Id-Din [The Book of Religious Learnings], Islamic Book Service, New Delhi, 2001,Volume II, p.251)
Anas bin Malik (ra) says:
"Rasulullah (saas) was so clean, clear, beautiful and handsome." (Shamaa-il Tirmidhi, Islamic Book Service Publications, New Delhi, 2000, p. 17)
Anas bin Malik (ra) says:
"Prophet Muhammad (saas) was neither tall nor short. He was handsome. His hair was neither delicate nor curly. He was neither very white, nor very brown." (Imam Ghazzali's Ihya Ulum-Id-Din (The Book of Religious Learnings), Islamic Book Service, New Delhi, 2001,Volume II, p.250)
Evolution Deceit:
The Myth of Vestigial Organs
The whole assumption is quite unscientific, and is based entirely on insufficient knowledge. These "non-functional organs" were in fact organs whose "functions had not yet been discovered." The best indication of this was the gradual yet substantial decrease in evolutionists' long list of vestigial organs. S. R. Scadding, an evolutionist himself, concurred with this fact in his article "Can vestigial organs constitute evidence for evolution?" published in the journal Evolutionary Theory:
Since it is not possible to unambiguously identify useless structures, and since the structure of the argument used is not scientifically valid, I conclude that 'vestigial organs' provide no special evidence for the theory of evolution.1
The list of vestigial organs that was made by the German Anatomist R. Wiedersheim in 1895 included approximately 100 organs, including the appendix and coccyx. As science progressed, it was discovered that all of the organs in Wiedersheim's list in fact had very important functions. For instance, it was discovered that the appendix, which was supposed to be a "vestigial organ," was in fact a lymphoid organ that fought infections in the body. This fact was made clear in 1997:
In the years that followed, it was realized that the thymus triggered the immune system in the human body by activating the T cells, that the pineal gland was in charge of the secretion of some important hormones such as melatonin, which inhibits secretion of luteinizing hormone, that the thyroid gland was effective in providing steady growth in babies and children and in metabolism and body activity, and that the pituitary gland controlled skeletal growth and the proper functioning of the thyroid, adrenals, and reproductive glands. All of these were once considered to be "vestigial organs." Finally, the semi-lunar fold in the eye, which was referred to as a vestigial organ by Darwin, has been found in fact to be in charge of cleansing and lubricating the eyeball.
Beside all of this, the claim that an organ which is not used atrophies and disappears over time carries a logical inconsistency within it. Darwin was aware of this inconsistency, and made the following confession in The Origin of Species:
1. S. R. Scadding, "Do 'Vestigial Organs' Provide Evidence for Evolution?," Evolutionary Theory, vol. 5, May 1981, p. 173.
3. H. Enoch, Creation and Evolution, New York, 1966, pp. 18-19.
4. Charles Darwin, Origin of Species, http://www.zoo.uib.no/classics/darwin/origin.chap14.html.
Quick Grasp of Faith:
Who are the hypocrites?
Book Review:
Jesus (as) Did Not Die
"Like the other prophets, Jesus (as) called upon his people to worship Allah, the One and Only, and to avoid all forms of denial, polytheism, and evil. Those who rejected him oppressed him and his followers. However, their plot to kill him failed, even though they thought that they had succeeded, because Allah raised Jesus (as) to His presence. As the Qur'an reveals and the hadith corroborate, Jesus (as) will return to Earth. Those who claim that he was killed or is dead are seriously mistaken. This is one of the author's main focuses.
While revealing this truth, the author recalls other very important tidings, such as the fact that the signs of Jesus' (as) second coming are becoming ever more apparent. If Allah wills, this event is close at hand, and the world will witness momentous events when it occurs....>>
Site of the Day:
If we put all the news we hear from the media about peoples' turning to Islam together we can grasp the extraordinary course of events. The purpose of this site is to present all these developments collectively, to analyze them and thus help readers to appreciate the due importance of these events. By doing this, the site aims to increase believers' zeal and enthusiasm.
2007-12-09 20:19:30
© 1994 Harun Yahya. www.harunyahya.com - [email protected]
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The Federal Reserve Board eagle logo links to home page
Public Hearing on Home Equity Lending
August 4, 2000
Volume I
Pages 1 - 286
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD
HEARING RE: The Truth in Lending Act, The Home
Ownership and Equity Protection Act
of 1994, and Predatory Lending
Practices in the Home-Equity Consumer
Credit Market.
BEFORE: Edward M. Gramlich, Board of Governors of
the Federal Reserve System, Chairman of
the Federal Reserve Board's Committee
on Consumer and Community Affairs
Dolores Smith, Director, Federal Reserve
Board's Division of Consumer and
Community Affairs
Sandra Braunstein, Assistant Director,
Federal Reserve Board's Division of
Consumer and Community Affairs
Adrienne Hurt, Assistant Director, Federal
Reserve Board's Division of Community
James Michaels, Managing Counsel, Federal
Reserve Board's Division of Consumer
and Community Affairs
Richard Walker, Vice-President, Federal
Reserve Board of Boston
Held at:
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
600 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts
Friday, August 4, 2000
9:00 a.m.
Carol H. Kusinitz
Registered Professional Reporter
1 I N D E X
2 SPEAKER: PAGE
3 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
4 Dolores Smith 5
5 Edward M. Gramlich 8
6 OPENING STATEMENTS
7 Jennifer Davis Carey: Director,
Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation,
8 Commonwealth of Massachusetts 13
9 Thomas J. Curry: Commissioner of Banks,
Commonwealth of Massachusetts 16
Steve Nadon: Executive Vice-President and COO,
11 Option One Mortgage Corporation 19
12 Elizabeth Renuart: National Consumer Law Center 25
13 Howard Miselman: Chairman,
Massachusetts Mortgage Association 27
William Gothorpe: America's Community Bankers 31
Bruce Marks: Ceo and Executive Director,
16 Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America 34
17 Pam Kogut: Assistant Attorney General,
Commonwealth of Massachusetts 37
Richard Gravino: President,
19 Provident Consumer Financial Services 40
20 Faith Schwartz: Freddie Mac 43
21 Dwight Golann: Professor of Law,
Suffolk University Law School 45
Dennis Algiere: Vice-President of Compliance,
23 CRA Officer, Washington Trust Company 48
1 I N D E X (Continued)
2 SPEAKER: PAGE
4 Dolores Smith 51
5 Discussion 52
Dolores Smith 89
Discussion 91
James Michaels 133
Discussion 135
AFTERNOON SESSION
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Dolores Smith 192
OPENING STATEMENTS
Norma Moseley: Director of Housing Programs,
17 Ecumenical Social Action Committee, Inc. 194
18 Nadine Cohen: Lawyers Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law, Boston Bar Association 196
Leonard Raymond: Executive Director,
20 Homeowner Options for Massachusetts Elderly 198
21 Tom Callahan: Executive Director,
Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance 201
Allen White: Supervising Attorney,
23 Community Legal Services 204
24 John C. Anderson: The Real Estate Analyst 207
1 I N D E X (Continued)
2 SPEAKER: PAGE
3 CONSUMER OUTREACH EFFORTS,
CONSUMER EDUCATION CAMPAIGNS
Dolores Smith 211
Sandy Braunstein 212
Discussion 212
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Tim Davis: City of Boston Department
9 of Neighborhood Development 264
10 Daniel Ramgeet: Massachusetts ACORN 266
11 Ed France 269
12 Leonard Alkins: Boston NAACP 271
13 Jim Campen: Associate Professor of Economics,
U. Mass. Boston 273
Andrea Luquetta: Massachusetts Association of
15 Community Development Corporations 276
16 Bruce Fitzsimmons: Massachusetts Conveyancers
Association 281
* * * *
1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 MODERATOR SMITH: Good morning. I think
3 we're about ready to start. My name is Dolores
4 Smith. I'm the Division Director for Consumer and
5 Community Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board, and
6 I will be the moderator for this hearing.
7 This is the second of four hearings that
8 the Board is holding this summer on home-equity
9 lending. Our first meeting was in Charlotte last
10 week, and we have two more scheduled, one in Chicago
11 on the 16th and the fourth one in San Francisco on
12 September the 7th.
13 We have invited panelists and then we also
14 have members of the public who, as in Charlotte,
15 will be offering a wide variety of views on the
16 possible ways to address predatory lending practices
17 in the home-equity consumer credit market. We look
18 forward to hearing about these issues here in
19 Boston.
20 As in Charlotte, we will be discussing the
21 potential use of the Board's rule-making authority
22 under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act,
23 which we refer to as HOEPA. Also, we will be
24 discussing alternatives to regulation, such as
1 consumer outreach and consumer education.
2 First I want to start by introducing the
3 Board Panel. We have Ned Gramlich to my right, who
4 is a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal
5 Reserve System. He also is the chairman of our
6 Oversight Committee for Consumer and Community
7 Affairs of the Board.
8 To my left, we have Adrienne Hurt and Jim
9 Michaels. Adrienne is Assistant Director for our
10 regulations program, and Jim is Managing Counsel.
11 And the two of them are the people who are primarily
12 responsible for Truth in Lending matters at the
13 Board.
14 And then to my right we have Richard Walker
15 from the Reserve Bank, Federal Reserve Bank of
16 Boston. He is a Vice-President.
17 I'll start with a few introductory remarks
18 for the record about the Truth in Lending Act and
19 HOEPA.
20 The Truth in Lending Act requires creditors
21 to disclose the cost of credit for consumer
22 transactions generally, not just for mortgage
23 credit. But in 1994, the Congress enacted HOEPA, as
24 it is called, and HOEPA added special protections
1 under Truth in Lending for consumers who use their
2 home as security for loans when the rates or the
3 fees on the loans are above a certain percentage or
4 amount.
5 HOEPA was a response to accounts of abusive
6 lending practices involving unscrupulous lenders who
7 made unaffordable home-secured loans to consumers
8 who were house rich but cash poor. These cases
9 involved elderly, sometimes unsophisticated
10 homeowners who were targeted for loans with high
11 rates or high closing fees and with repayment terms
12 that were difficult or impossible for the homeowners
13 to meet.
14 HOEPA requires creditors to provide
15 additional disclosures at least three days before
16 the consumer becomes obligated for the loan. It
17 prohibits lenders from including certain terms in
18 loan agreements; for example, balloon payments for
19 short-term loans. It prohibits creditors from
20 relying on a consumer's home as the source of
21 repayment of the debt without considering whether
22 the consumer's income, debt and employment status
23 would support repayment.
24 For the Board, it also requires that the
1 Board hold hearings periodically to keep abreast of
2 the home-equity credit market targeted by HOEPA.
3 And we did hold hearings initially in 1997, about
4 two years after HOEPA became effective.
5 And for now we'll start with Governor
6 Gramlich, who is going to talk to us a little bit
7 about the purpose of these hearings.
8 GOVERNOR GRAMLICH: Thank you very much,
9 Dolores. We're all happy to be here in Boston, and
10 we had a successful hearing in Charlotte last week,
11 and we look forward to another one today.
12 Let me just say a few overall words about
13 the issue here. The last few years have seen a very
14 large growth in subprime lending. It's roughly
15 twice the rate of growth of other mortgage lending.
16 Most of us think that by and large this
17 growth was a good thing, that it generally brought
18 credit to low and moderate income families that
19 previously had been denied credit and opened up
20 credit markets and went along with a number of
21 things that we would put in the general category of
22 equalizing opportunities for groups of all income
23 levels.
24 But by all anecdotes there seem to have
1 been some abuses that have come along at the same
2 time. There have been a series of anecdotes that
3 I'm sure you've all heard, maybe are the source of
4 many of them, and we're trying to track this down
5 now with quantitative data. But there does seem to
6 be some rise in foreclosures that would otherwise be
7 hard to explain.
8 It's this kind of puzzle that leads to the
9 quandaries up here. We would like to encourage the
10 continued growth of subprime lending, the continued
11 opening up of credit markets, but we also want to do
12 what we can within our authority to curb the abuses
13 that are cropping up.
14 The Fed has some authority in this area, as
15 Dolores mentioned. We have some authority under
16 HOEPA. We also have some authority under the Home
17 Mortgage Disclosure Act. And these hearings are
18 fundamentally about aspects within our authority;
19 that is, what the Fed can do. We are trying to keep
20 our focus analytical and to keep our eye on the
21 ball, if you will, and try to find measures that we
22 can take that have more benefits than costs,
23 recognizing that nothing will be perfect.
24 One thing I should mention and that you'll
1 hear today is that our authority in the overall
2 scheme of things is a bit limited. We certainly
3 can't do it all. To make a broad-based assault on
4 predatory lending, it's going to take the combined
5 efforts of all financial regulators, of which there
6 turn out to be nine in Washington. It's going to
7 take a number of private sector efforts. It's going
8 to take a big push on consumer education, and that's
9 why the session this afternoon focuses on that
10 topic.
11 So a multifaceted approach will be
12 necessary. At the same time, the Fed can probably
13 do some good, and that's the kind of thing that we
14 are going to be focusing on.
15 These hearings build on others that we've
16 had in the past that Dolores mentioned. There have
17 also been some Treasury/HUD hearings earlier in the
18 year, and that led to a report that Treasury and HUD
19 made that had a number of suggestions for Federal
20 Reserve action.
21 So this is the more, if you will, the more
22 precise part of that. We're now getting down to
23 business on these recommendations and trying to look
24 at them one by one and see exactly what we should
1 and shouldn't do.
2 So with that I will stop and turn it back
3 over to Dolores so we can continue with the agenda.
4 But, again, thank you for coming, and thank you for
5 helping us with this difficult problem.
6 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you, Ned. I wanted
7 to talk a little bit about how our agenda is
8 structured. We're going to spend the morning
9 considering ways in which the Board might use its
10 rule-writing authority under Truth in Lending and
11 HOEPA to curb the predatory lending practices, as I
12 mentioned, while preserving access to credit for
13 homeowners who have less than perfect credit
14 records. And then this afternoon we'll turn our
15 attention to alternatives to regulation, such as
16 consumer outreach and consumer education, that also
17 might help address predatory practices.
18 At both sessions we hope to hear about
19 studies or research on subprime or equity lending
20 that would inform the Board in its deliberations.
21 And then we also this afternoon have set aside time
22 for members of the public.
23 For the morning session and the afternoon
24 panel, we have invited panelists. And then we will
1 have, starting at about three o'clock, what we are
2 calling an open mike session, so that members of the
3 public who are interested in presenting their views
4 may sign up at the registration desk outside and be
5 prepared to give us, in about three minutes, their
6 views on the topics we are discussing today.
7 For this morning's session we have some
8 rules of procedure. We will start with opening
9 statements by the invited panelists. Each person
10 will have three minutes. We have a timekeeper in
11 the audience, if you will raise your hand. We have
12 two of them, and they will give you, I believe, a
13 one-minute warning, and then they will tell you when
14 your time is up by saying, "Please finish." So that
15 if you're in the middle of a sentence, perhaps you
16 can get to the end.
17 But it's important to try to keep an eye on
18 the timekeeper. I know that the inclination will be
19 to look toward the Panel, but if you will just kind
20 of be mindful. I will also say that because
21 sometimes the attention is focused over here, what I
22 plan to do, when I see the signal, is do this
23 (demonstrating). This is not time out; this is time
24 up.
1 There will be an opportunity for you to
2 sort of extend your remarks in several ways, both in
3 the dialogue in the general discussion that will
4 follow our opening statements. Also, some of you, I
5 know, have prepared written statements. We will
6 include those in the record if you will give them to
7 us, please.
8 So with that, I think we are ready to
9 start, and we are going to -- oh, let me just
10 mention as far as the schedule generally, we expect
11 to take a ten-minute break sometime around 10:30,
12 and then we will reconvene. We will break for lunch
13 at one o'clock.
14 So with that we will start with Jennifer
15 Davis Carey, and if you will each just start with
16 your name and continue with your organization and
17 identify yourself. I can't see all the names from
18 here, so you just do your own thing. We're going to
19 go clockwise, so we'll just keep going.
20 MS. CAREY: Good morning, everyone. My
21 name is Jennifer Davis Carey, and I'm Director of
22 Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation for the
23 Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
24 Thank you for this opportunity to speak
1 about predatory mortgage lending and how we can
2 further combat its attendant abuses. Let me begin
3 by assuring you that my office and the Division of
4 Banks, one of the nine consumer protection agencies
5 under my supervision, are deeply committed to
6 protecting Massachusetts residents against
7 unscrupulous rogue lenders who engage in abusive and
8 unconscionable lending practices.
9 Predatory lending has no place in this
10 Commonwealth. We pledge to do everything within our
11 existing authority to stop this form of white-collar
12 mugging that robs people of the equity in their
13 homes, places them on a cycle of debt, jeopardizes
14 the sustainability of home ownership, destabilizes
15 neighborhoods, and thwarts the transfer of the hard-
16 earned wealth of working people to succeeding
17 generations.
18 This unconscionable practice preys on the
19 elderly and virtually assures that financially
20 unsophisticated working people and the poor, whom
21 these lenders target, consign themselves to long-
22 term, if not permanent, financial distress.
23 I commend the Federal Reserve for
24 maintaining continued focus on the issue of
1 predatory lending. As you consider this issue, I
2 urge you to consider its definitional, legal and
3 regulatory complexity. I also urge you to weigh
4 carefully how predatory lending, which is illegal
5 and clearly immoral, differs from other legitimate
6 forms of lending.
7 For example, flexible loan mortgage
8 programs under the Massachusetts and Federal
9 Community Reinvestment Acts and responsible forms of
10 subprime lending have resulted in the extension of
11 credit to countless numbers of creditworthy people
12 who in the past did not fit easily into conventional
13 loan underwriting standards.
14 Let me articulate what we believe to be
15 important governing positions. There must be clear
16 and meaningful disclosure. The extension of high-
17 cost credit should be only made to borrowers based
18 on the ability to repay and not on collateral
19 values. Financing of points or single-premium
20 payment insurance should be prohibited. Points that
21 deviate from industry-wide standards should be
22 prohibited. Loan modification and deferral fees
23 should be prohibited. And there are a number of
24 others, but in the interests of time, I will keep it
1 short.
2 One of the things that we are doing is I
3 have asked our Commissioner of Banks to look at our
4 regulation, and we are also creating an advisory
5 committee in our Division of Consumer Affairs to
6 work with the industry and with the advisory and
7 watchdog groups on this matter. Thank you.
8 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you very much.
9 Mr. Curry.
10 MR. CURRY: Good morning. For the record,
11 my name is Thomas J. Curry, and I am the
12 Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks. I do have a
13 written statement, which I believe has been
14 submitted for the record, but I would like to make
15 some brief oral remarks.
16 The Federal Reserve's reexamination of
17 Truth in Lending's HOEPA provisions is truly timely
18 and appropriate after six years. During this
19 period, we have observed the development and
20 marketing of new nonconventional mortgage products,
21 increased levels of consumer debt, and significant
22 appreciation of residential property values here in
23 Massachusetts, particularly in the Boston area.
24 From a regulatory perspective, my office
1 has also gained significant additional practical
2 experience with these new mortgage products and this
3 segment of the mortgage lending industry.
4 As you may know, the Commonwealth also has
5 a State Truth in Lending law, which is enforced by
6 my office. We too have looked at whether the
7 Commonwealth's HOEPA or Section 32 requirements are
8 adequate. Many of these same questions that were
9 raised by the July Federal Register notice have been
10 considered at the state level here and in other
11 states such as North Carolina and New York.
12 Given our licensing and examination
13 experience with nonbank mortgage lenders and
14 brokers, we believe that many of the specific
15 questions referenced in the public hearing notice
16 should be actively considered and pursued by the
17 Federal Reserve.
18 For our part, we have recently proposed
19 comparable changes and amendments to our state
20 regulations governing high-cost mortgage lending.
21 After collaborating with Director Carey's office, we
22 are proposing, one, to expand the coverage of the
23 Commonwealth's HOEPA regulations; two, to strengthen
24 its existing disclosure, limitations and prohibited
1 act provisions; three, to add a new provision
2 listing a series of high-cost loan unfair practices;
3 and four, to strengthen the penalties for high-rate
4 loan violations under the Commonwealth's mortgage
5 lending licensing and consumer protection rules.
6 The text of these proposed changes,
7 including an official summary, are found in our
8 proposed regulations which are attached to our
9 testimony. However, I would like to briefly
10 highlight some of the specific proposed changes.
11 We think existing HOEPA thresholds are too
12 low and underinclusive. We are proposing to reduce
13 the interest rate trigger from 10 to 8 percent, 9
14 percent for junior mortgages, and to reduce the fees
15 or points trigger from 8 to 5 percent, excluding
16 bona fide discount points.
17 The proposed regulations also govern junior
18 mortgage loans as well as first mortgages and
19 clarify the treatment of adjustable rate mortgage
20 products.
21 We also believe that our proposed new
22 section on unfair practices is significant. This
23 section addresses abusive high-cost mortgage loan
24 practices, such as the financing of excessive
1 points, fees and third-party fees; loan flipping;
2 loan packing; improper encouragement of default;
3 deceptive advertising; unconscionable rates, fees
4 and third-party charges; oppressive arbitration
5 provisions; selective credit history reporting; and
6 a prohibition on single-premium credit insurance
7 sales, as well as arbitrary loan call provisions;
8 and credit counseling.
9 We hope that our proposed state regulations
10 will be a resource to the Federal Reserve as it
11 considers any future changes to its own Truth in
12 Lending regulations. Thank you.
13 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Nadon.
14 MR. NADON: My name is Steve Nadon. I'm
15 the Chief Operating Officer of Option One Mortgage
16 Corporation. Option One has been in the subprime
17 business since late 1992. Our core business was
18 then and remains today the underwriting, funding and
19 servicing of subprime loans. As one of the largest
20 subprime wholesale originators in the nation, we
21 appreciate the opportunity to be heard on this issue
22 of what action, if any, the Federal Reserve Board
23 should take on HOEPA reform.
24 We are submitting written comments to the
1 Board which go into much more detail than I am going
2 to today, but for the purposes of this morning's
3 discussion, there are three important points we
4 would like to make.
5 The first is that subprime lending is not
6 the same thing as predatory lending. Second, we
7 need to take great care not to write new rules that
8 cause legitimate lenders to stop lending to
9 consumers in large parts of the subprime market.
10 Third, the best way to reduce predatory lending is
11 to create a better informed consumer.
12 First, again, subprime lending is not the
13 same thing as predatory lending. Option One is just
14 one of many responsible subprime lenders in the
15 industry today. We do not make high-cost loans. We
16 do not write credit insurance products onto our
17 loans. We do not solicit our servicing portfolio to
18 flip our customers into new refinances.
19 Our prepayment penalties are optional and
20 always come with reductions in rates and/or fees to
21 the borrower. We report loan performance to the
22 three major credit bureaus. We do not offer loan
23 products with short-term balloon payments. Our
24 loans have no negative amortization, nor do they
1 include any arbitrary lender call provisions.
2 Second, we believe it is important to keep
3 our eyes on the big picture. While we certainly
4 agree that the business practices of a few in our
5 industry are intolerable, we should all be very
6 careful to avoid writing rules that limit how any
7 lender can make loans in the hope of protecting
8 borrowers from the true predators. A likely result
9 of such rules is that the nonpredators in the
10 subprime market today may decide to stop making
11 loans, subject to the new restrictions.
12 As an example, Option One made a decision
13 in 1994 that we would not make loans that exceeded
14 the HOEPA triggers and voluntarily extended that
15 prohibition to all loan submissions, not just those
16 covered by the letter of the law. We were not alone
17 in that decision, and it has resulted in a segment
18 of the market that companies like Option One will
19 not serve.
20 If the Board decides to lower the triggers,
21 it will cause those of us who have been trying to do
22 the right thing to make a very tough decision: Do
23 we stay with our current policy or give in and make
24 a statement to the market that we've changed our
1 mind and being a high-cost lender is okay?
2 Going back to the big picture I spoke of,
3 if good, well-intentioned companies like Option One
4 further limit the loans that they will make, who
5 fills the void? These borrowers will still have
6 credit needs, but the only lenders that would be
7 left to help them may be the exact lenders that you
8 find to be the most aggressive and likely to engage
9 in predatory practices.
10 My sense is that the original intention of
11 HOEPA was not to drive more people into the hands of
12 predatory lenders, but rather to make an effort to
13 ensure that borrowers were provided good information
14 upon which to base a decision to borrow.
15 The third and final point I would like to
16 make again of the big picture. Why are we all in
17 these discussions about predatory lending in the
18 first place? It is not the result of whether we
19 classify borrowers as prime or subprime or whether
20 the loan is under or over the HOEPA triggers. I
21 have not heard any claim or seen any evidence that
22 indicates that predatory lending only takes place on
23 loans that fall below the HOEPA trigger.
24 If I am accurate on this, it begs the
1 question, why would we believe that lowering HOEPA
2 triggers, thereby expanding the number of
3 transaction covered by HOEPA, would reduce predatory
4 lending?
5 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you.
6 GOVERNOR GRAMLICH: Could I ask Mr. Nadon a
7 question. You indicated that you had taken a number
8 of what I'll call policing measures on your own, but
9 you more or less seemed to be cautioning us against
10 policing the whole market.
11 Are you concerned that you would lose
12 competitive advantage if you corrected some things
13 on your own and these practices weren't corrected in
14 the whole market?
15 MR. NADON: Well, we certainly did give
16 some business up when we elected, back six years ago
17 now, to not do anything that went over what were
18 going to be the established HOEPA triggers, which
19 was okay. The question becomes, at what point does
20 that competitive advantage begin to cost the company
21 too much? And it's a tough question.
22 As HOEPA triggers come down, we probably
23 will continue to take the stand that we are not
24 going to be making HOEPA loans, so the more that
1 those triggers are reduced, the bigger the
2 population that we're just not going to be able to
3 serve.
4 And probably more than the competitive
5 concern that we have is that there are some good
6 lenders out there that do not do a lot of the things
7 that get talked about as being predatory practices,
8 and we do that for a reason, because we don't
9 believe in doing those things. If we are serving
10 less of the market, then the people that will serve
11 those people are the ones that we don't want to be
12 helping those people. That's probably our bigger
13 concern than the competitive piece.
14 MR. MARKS: Since we're asking questions --
15 MODERATOR SMITH: I'm sorry, Mr. Marks,
16 we're not asking questions. Governor Gramlich has a
17 special status here, so he may ask questions. The
18 discussion will not start until after all the
19 opening statements have been completed.
20 MR. MARKS: Just on the record, we would
21 like to know what the rates that you charge are.
22 MODERATOR SMITH: We will discuss that
23 later, Mr. Marks.
24 Ms. Renuart.
1 MS. RENUART: Thank you. I'm Elizabeth
2 Renuart. I'm with the National Consumer Law Center
3 here in Boston. We are an advocacy organization
4 that has a national perspective on the problems of
5 low-income consumers in this country.
6 The impact of predatory lending on the
7 human side has been great. We saw it in the
8 mid-1980s. It led Congress to have a series of
9 hearings in the early 1990s that led to the
10 enactment of HOEPA, which we're discussing today.
11 Since that time, there has been a series of
12 additional hearings that have illuminated and
13 highlighted this problem. Hopefully this afternoon
14 there will be actual homeowners and others present
15 from the community that can talk about the human
16 face of what has happened to them as a result of
17 predatory lending.
18 Senator Grassley held hearings in 1997.
19 HUD and Treasury held hearings around country
20 earlier this year. There is ample evidence at this
21 point that there is a serious and growing problem
22 that, while HOEPA has been helpful to address, it
23 has not sufficiently addressed this problem that's
24 been growing since 1980.
1 The impact on minorities and the poor and
2 the elderly has been greatest. HUD came out with
3 studies earlier this year called "Unequal Burden"
4 from several cities showing the impact of predatory
5 and subprime lending, and the targeting of those
6 communities has been quite great in those large
7 cities, Atlanta, for example, Baltimore, New York,
8 Los Angeles and Chicago.
9 The Board is in a unique position at this
10 point. The Board has been delegated, although not
11 unlimited, certainly wide authority by Congress to
12 deal with this problem on its own and not have to
13 seek Congressional authority to go further.
14 It can, as we've heard, lower the annual
15 percentage rate trigger to at least 8 points. It
16 can add into the points and fees trigger any number
17 of points and fees that it chooses to do so, and
18 could in fact, under Congressional authority, adopt
19 an all-inclusive points and fees trigger, which we
20 would support.
21 In addition, Congress specifically
22 addressed refinancing, and as testimony in other
23 arenas have shown, it's the refinancing and the
24 inclusion of high points and fees which strips the
1 equity out of people's homes. So later, during the
2 panel discussion, I know we will reach the issue of
3 refinancing, and I will be happy at that point to
4 address some specific proposals.
5 The most important problems that we see are
6 the refinancing and charging of points and fees that
7 suck the equity out of the home. We are going to
8 ask the Board to limit the amount of points and fees
9 that a lender can finance to no more than 3 percent,
10 and that the interest rate and fees triggered should
11 be reduced.
12 We have evidence that we will be submitting
13 in written testimony that will show that lenders
14 like Option One and others can make loans, still way
15 below a lower trigger, and cover any losses as a
16 result of foreclosure. And finally, HOEPA must
17 apply to open-ended credit. Thank you.
18 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Miselman.
19 MR. MISELMAN: Good morning, everyone. My
20 name is Howard Miselman, and I'm President of
21 Continental Funding Corporation, located in
22 Stoughton, Massachusetts. We're a full-service
23 mortgage brokerage company serving the community
24 since 1989. We handle all types of financing
1 transactions, including conventional, government,
2 and the topic of today's discussion, subprime
3 lending.
4 Currently, I serve as Chairman of the
5 Massachusetts Mortgage Association, which is the
6 professional trade association representing mortgage
7 brokers, lenders and wholesalers throughout the
8 Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As professionals in
9 the mortgage industry, I can say confidently that we
10 are committed to ending abusive lending practices
11 throughout the country.
12 First of all, I would like to thank the
13 Board of Governors for extending me this invitation
14 to participate in the discussion on this very
15 important topic. I hope my comments and thoughts
16 help in the discussion.
17 The Massachusetts Mortgage Association
18 applauds the effort of the Board for convening this
19 discussion panel and scheduling similar public
20 hearings throughout the country. I welcome the
21 opportunity to discuss different ways to stop
22 abusive lending practices which target specific
23 consumer groups, including those with less than
24 perfect credit ratings.
1 As a long-standing member of the mortgage
2 community, I have personally seen the chaos in
3 people's lives that resulted from predatory lending,
4 and I would like see them stopped. Myself and all
5 other reputable firms conducting business in the
6 subprime arena are also hurt by the small number of
7 firms practicing predatory lending.
8 Recent public hearings conducted by the
9 Massachusetts Joint Committee on Banks and Banking
10 on this subject point clearly to a solution that
11 will involve initiating tighter enforcement of
12 existing regulations, as well as considering
13 amendments to these regulations.
14 Such an approach has been advocated and is
15 being pursued in the Commonwealth by Commissioner
16 Curry of the Massachusetts Division of Banks, and a
17 draft of proposed amendments to regulations is
18 expected shortly to be available for public comment.
19 Effective responses to abuses, using regulation to
20 fight predatory lending, are better suited to the
21 urgent needs of consumers.
22 Like the Commissioner, we are also
23 concerned that any legislative or regulatory
24 measures clearly acknowledge the difference between
1 abusive lending practices and appropriate lending
2 practices that serve the legitimate needs of
3 borrowers utilizing the services of subprime
4 lenders.
5 The subprime side of financing has come
6 about from a definite need by the public, and
7 consequently, any regulatory reform will need to
8 tread the line between stemming abusive lending
9 practices and keeping legitimate channels of credit
10 open to low-income borrowers and those with impaired
11 credit histories.
12 The most effective weapon against predatory
13 lending practices is a well-informed and educated
14 consumer. To that end, we will work with any group
15 or government body to establish a predatory-lending-
16 free environment so consumers can go out into the
17 marketplace and shop with confidence.
18 The Massachusetts Mortgage Association
19 maintains a proactive role on the issue of ending
20 predatory lending practices by engaging in specific
21 consumer outreach efforts. In 1999, for instance,
22 the Mass. Mortgage Association participated as a
23 contributor and active sponsor of the Massachusetts
24 Community Banking Council's "Don't Borrow Trouble"
1 campaign.
2 This well-thought-out education campaign
3 put effective information in front of the homeowner
4 who may be looking for a home equity loan. Just as
5 a conforming or prime borrower shops for the best
6 possible deal and knows the right questions to ask,
7 with the proper information and guidance, a subprime
8 borrower can do the same.
9 We are united in support of the Board of
10 Governors' efforts to address the issue of predatory
11 lending and ending abusive lending practices. Thank
12 you very much.
13 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Gothorpe.
14 MR. GOTHORPE: Good morning. I'm Bill
15 Gothorpe, President and CEO of Dedham Institution
16 for Savings in Dedham, Mass. I appreciate the
17 opportunity to testify today on behalf of America's
18 Community Bankers. They are preparing a formal
19 comment letter in response to your request, so my
20 remarks today will just highlight some of the
21 points.
22 Let me start by giving you some perspective
23 about my bank and other ACB members. We work hard
24 to help the average American become and remain
1 homeowners. We're permanent fixtures in our
2 communities. We have been in Dedham since 1831. I
3 would like to think that we will be there another
4 couple hundred years. And we depend on the economic
5 health of our borrowers for their success and for
6 ours.
7 Predatory lending that causes homeowners to
8 lose their homes and ruin their credit ratings
9 undermines our communities and damages potential
10 customers. So we want to help you and other
11 agencies eliminate predatory lending practices,
12 without damaging our ability to offer prime and
13 subprime loans to our customers.
14 Dedham Savings is not only not a predatory
15 lender, we don't do any subprime lending. We do
16 everything we can to make prime-rate borrowers out
17 of anybody who walks through the front door. As a
18 locally oriented community institution, we have the
19 flexibility to do that, but not everyone can operate
20 as we do.
21 There are many legitimate subprime lenders
22 that perform a valuable service by providing credit
23 to borrowers who cannot qualify for prime loans. At
24 the same time, we all know that predatory lenders
1 are also active in this market. Unfortunately, it
2 has been stated, the information is anecdotal, and a
3 good reason for that is that many of the predatory
4 lenders don't come under the net of a lot of the
5 regulatory agencies.
6 I'm here to urge you to take steps to make
7 sure that unsupervised nonbank lenders undergo more
8 strict supervision. The Federal Trade Commission
9 and the states could play a key role here. Without
10 better supervision, regulations will be imposed only
11 on banks, leaving the door wide open to nonbank
12 predatory lenders.
13 Believe me, a bank like mine wouldn't dream
14 of engaging in predatory practices, because it is
15 totally contrary to our mission and philosophy. In
16 any case, our federal and state examiners clamp down
17 hard on violations of consumer protection laws and
18 ask tough questions about the quality of the loans
19 on our books. This is why everyone recognizes that
20 banks are not part of the predatory lending problem.
21 We know the Federal Reserve understands the
22 risk that overregulation can discourage responsible
23 lenders from making legitimate subprime loans.
24 Drawing the line between subprime and predatory
1 lending has become increasingly difficult,
2 comparable to the problem faced by the Supreme Court
3 in a different context. Justice Potter Stewart
4 declined to define pornography but wrote, "I know it
5 when I see it." I think we all feel the same way
6 about predatory lending.
7 America's Community Bankers is recommending
8 the Federal Reserve lower the high-cost loan trigger
9 under HOEPA from the current 10 points over Treasury
10 to 8 points. We believe very few legitimate loans
11 would be adversely affected by this change and that
12 useful consumer protection will result.
13 I can see that my time is up. The rest of
14 the comments will have to be in written form. Thank
15 you.
16 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you very much.
17 Mr. Marks.
18 MR. MARKS: I'll try to do it within three
19 minutes. My name is Bruce Marks, and I'm the CEO of
20 the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America,
21 NACA, and I'm also an ex-employee of Federal Reserve
22 Bank of New York. Let me try to summarize my
24 Let's go back in history to understand
1 where the Home Equity Protection Act law came from,
2 where the legislation came from. We started in
3 Massachusetts with a campaign, a four and a half
4 year war against Fleet and its predatory lending
5 subsidiary Fleet Finance.
6 And when this organization, NACA, had over
7 500 people go to Washington and testify in the
8 Senate Banking Committee on May 17, 1993, when
9 Alphonse D'Amato, Senator from New York State,
10 sponsored the legislation, the HOEPA legislation, it
11 was opposed by the Federal Reserve Board. It's been
12 opposed by the Fed from day one.
13 So let's just listen to a few of the quotes
14 that were said by, let's see, Governor Lindsey. In
15 fact in a hearing on the legislation in the Senate
16 Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on
17 May 19, 1993, Federal Reserve Governor Lindsey,
18 representing the Fed Board of Governors, criticized
19 HOEPA, claiming that it overly restricted credit
20 contract terms and "could create a risk that credit
21 could be shut off altogether to marginal borrowers
22 who happen to need credit due to special
23 circumstances." He went on to state, "I'm sure that
24 we want to avoid the unintended consequences of
1 making loans more difficult to get, and we believe
2 the bill currently runs this risk."
3 He then recommended that the Congress raise
4 the threshold for each of the criteria for a high-
5 cost mortgage that would trigger the bill's
6 provisions. He further cited the widows who would
7 be deprived of the chance to do home improvement due
8 to HOEPA's income tests. He went on to claim that
9 an 8 percent limit on points or fees is, quote,
10 unduly restrictive. We're talking about a 17
11 percent, 18 percent trigger. That, by definition,
12 is predatory.
13 At NACA we do prime loans for subprime
14 borrowers. That means that someone who is B and C
15 credit can purchase or refinance a house with no
16 fees, no points, and an interest rate of 7.5 percent
17 fixed. So it's prime loans for subprime borrowers.
18 Brenda Williams, who is in the audience,
19 she had an 18 percent GMAC loan. She lost her home,
20 and yet now she was able to get a new home through
21 NACA, as did her brother, her three nieces, and many
22 of her friends.
23 So let's call it what it is. If any lender
24 here is saying that somehow a 17 percent trigger is
1 somehow a subprime loan and not a predatory loan,
2 that is outrageous on the face of it. And no one in
3 this audience would agree that that makes any kind
4 of sense and that's not predatory. That's not
5 subprime. So we should have it.
6 (Applause)
7 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you. Ms. Kogut.
8 MS. KOGUT: I'm Pam Kogut. I'm an
9 Assistant Attorney General in the Attorney General's
10 Office in Massachusetts, and I want to thank you for
11 inviting our office to be here today. We've
12 historically been interested in protecting consumers
13 where they have experienced problem mortgage loans.
14 We receive a fair number of consumer complaints
15 every year from consumers who are experiencing
16 problems with their mortgage loans.
17 And I wanted to just highlight one case our
18 office has been working on for a bit of time to
19 highlight problems that a law enforcement office
20 like ours sees in an area where the laws aren't
21 necessarily as tight as they could be.
22 Our office filed a lawsuit against First
23 Alliance Mortgage Company a couple of years ago
24 after Commissioner Curry's office referred the
1 matter to us. Their examiners were in the field,
2 saw that borrowers were paying more than 20 points
3 on a routine or consistent basis, and referred the
4 matter to our office.
5 Now, when we heard about the facts of this
6 case, we thought that it would be -- it was
7 obviously an important case to bring, there wasn't
8 any question that we were going to file the lawsuit,
9 but we also thought that it would be, you know, a
10 fairly easy, quick case, that we would get a result
11 in short order.
12 And that has turned out to be the farthest
13 thing from the truth. We are still in litigation
14 with the company now, and they've filed for
15 bankruptcy, and the end is not in sight.
16 But let me just highlight a couple of the
17 things that we learned from the case. We, in
18 discovery, obtained the 300 loan files of every
19 single Massachusetts borrower. Of the 300 loans
20 made, in 36 percent of the cases borrowers paid
21 points in excess of 20, and in two cases paid more
22 than 30 points.
23 We believe that the industry-wide standard
24 for point charges in Massachusetts is that borrowers
1 shouldn't be paying more than 5 points for these
2 kinds of loans, and in 96 percent of the loans the
3 First Alliance borrowers paid more than 5 percent.
4 Of the 300 consumers, 20 percent of them were
5 actually rated A or A- and could have gotten
6 conventional loans from other lenders, and their
7 credit rating didn't define the number of points
8 that they paid.
9 In every single one of the loan files there
10 was a mandatory arbitration agreement, and in every
11 single one of the loan files there was a prepayment
12 penalty, and borrowers were assessed prepayment
13 penalties every time they tried to refinance in
14 cases where First Alliance had the documentation to
15 support their ability to do so. So this is a lender
16 charging more than 20 points and charging prepayment
17 penalty.
18 From our point of view -- I'm just going to
19 wrap up, because the time people are telling me to
20 do that -- we really think that the more definite
21 the laws are in the area, the easier our job. As I
22 said, we thought this would be a simple case to wrap
23 up, and we are still in litigation with the company.
24 We would urge points to be limited. We
1 would urge the trigger to be lowered. We would urge
2 any laws that would eliminate flipping. 28 of our
3 borrowers, also their loans were flipped. So this
4 is a significant problem. And we would urge any
5 regulation to prohibit mandatory arbitration
6 agreements. And I could go on and on, but I won't.
7 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Gravino.
8 MR. GRAVINO: I'm really going to try to do
9 this in three minutes. Good morning. My name is
10 Dick Gravino. I'm President of PCFS, which is a
11 division of Provident Bank in Cincinnati.
12 I appreciate the opportunity to speak, be
13 here, and also to demonstrate our opposition to
14 predatory lending and loan-sharking. As part of my
15 comments, I want to address a concern of both myself
16 and from our colleagues over tinkering with the
17 HOEPA laws as currently written until we can answer
18 some questions:
19 What have been the real results of HOEPA
20 legislation? What are the meaningful by-products of
21 the law? What changes have taken place in the
22 consumer marketplace? Has HOEPA accomplished its
23 mission? Has the at-risk consumer's behavior --
24 what has been the behavior of at-risk consumers
1 resulting from this legislation?
2 Many legitimate lenders will not make or
3 purchase loans considered to fall under the HOEPA
4 guidelines, PCFS included. But where have those
5 consumers gone that would have been serviced? Their
6 choices certainly have been limited. They can't
7 shop around. Who has picked up the slack and filled
8 up the void? We all know that, when legitimate
9 businesses exit, the need still exists, the void is
10 filled.
11 Compliance with HOEPA today is difficult.
12 As currently written, there is room for a lot of
13 subjectivity. For instance, a $5,000 miscalculation
14 and a one cent miscalculation have the same penalty.
15 No legitimate subprime lender will endorse
16 practices which are predatory. We believe there are
17 many positives that are going to result with the
18 recent public awareness of predatory issues, but we
19 also believe the correct way to approach the problem
20 is through continuing education programs. We need
21 real education, education directed at the consumer
22 in advance, so that she can make a choice prior to
23 committing to a particular lender.
24 We also need enforcement of current
1 legislation. Very few of the predatory practices
2 you see in the paper here and on TV are legal.
3 We're for new legislation where needed, but only
4 after a rational analysis of the problem is
5 determined and we clearly understand what is
6 predatory, and we act only after a clear, well-
7 thought-out, rational solution is obtained, one that
8 creates a win-win environment.
9 Many legitimate subprime companies are no
10 longer in business today, and they're falling by the
11 wayside very fast. New entrants are few. The risks
12 are too great.
13 I think Mr. Marks mentioned the law of
14 unintended consequences. You could have unintended
15 consequences as a result of tinkering. You could
16 have the virtual elimination of loans under $60,000,
17 elimination of second mortgages as a borrower
18 choice, and also, believe it or not, having to send
19 a customer to two different lenders to get what they
20 need.
21 We all know that changes in business
22 products come after sufficient analysis, research
23 and testing and consumer focus groups have taken
24 place. These processes normally are void of emotion
1 and political content. We should treat the change
2 to HOEPA in the same way. Thank you.
3 MODERATOR SMITH: Ms. Schwartz.
4 MS. SCHWARTZ: Thank you. Good morning.
5 My name is Faith Schwartz, and I'm here representing
6 Freddie Mac today. I'll be very focused on my three
7 minutes.
8 The focus for us to be here is to update
9 the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
10 of our efforts to expand the range of low-cost
11 financing into the subprime segment of the mortgage
12 market and in particular our efforts to combat
13 predatory lending.
14 From the overview from the secondary
15 mortgage market, please note we are not an
16 originator in this marketplace, but we do create a
17 secondary mortgage market by offering and packaging
18 loans in the low-rate environment and having them
19 sold into investors through securities.
20 The secondary mortgage market rates, of
21 course, in the conforming mortgage market have
22 improved substantially with our type of involvement
23 in the secondary market. We are looking forward to
24 bringing those efficiencies into the subprime
1 segment of the mortgage market. One of the ways to
2 do that is by combatting this predatory lending
3 issue.
4 We have a three-pronged approach. One is a
5 public education initiative. We have raised the bar
6 and increased standards on what we will invest in as
7 a corporation. And finally, we have introduced new
8 products to add competition and borrower choice, all
9 of which we believe will bring down rates and add
10 value to this segment of the mortgage market.
11 From a public education initiative, we
12 think informed decision-making is one of the most
13 important tools for a consumer to use to avoid
14 predatory practices. We are proud to have
15 collaborated with Mayor Menino in the City of Boston
16 in the "Don't Borrow Trouble" campaign. That is a
17 series of ads that will be run on billboards, Web
18 sites, and public service announcements in English
19 and Spanish for those consumers to educate them
20 about predatory lending. That's one of the many
21 actions we've taken in the public arena.
22 The standards we've added are these: We
23 have required full-file credit reporting from any
24 institution we do business with on the borrower's
1 credit to the three repositories on a monthly basis.
2 We have banned HOEPA loans. We will not purchase or
3 add liquidity to the current version of the HOEPA
4 loan. We all know what that is; I won't describe
5 it.
6 What was our objective? We wanted to send
7 a strong signal that we do not like high rate and
8 fee lending. So we do urge caution when reviewing
9 what will go into the HOEPA limits, because it is
10 our job to keep liquidity in the secondary mortgage
11 markets, so this will be a good analysis.
12 Finally, we did ban credit insurance
13 front-end premium where it's attached to the
14 mortgage loan and financed over the life of the
15 loan. The objective there was strong signaling
16 regarding front-end practices. It is our interest
17 that financing should be a wealth-building tool, not
18 a wealth-stripping tool. We have done many other
19 things. I'll finish. Thanks.
20 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Golann.
21 MR. GOLANN: I'm Dwight Golann, and in
22 addition to teaching consumer law, as the bio notes,
23 I've been chief of the Consumer Protection Division.
24 I've also, I should say, counseled and represented
1 lenders, both regulated and unregulated, some of
2 whom were accused of some of the practices involved
3 here.
4 I have some thoughts, particularly about
5 education and better enforcement as alternatives to
6 regulation and why I think regulation is required.
7 Better education is a response. Since this
8 is Boston, let's remember that the average target of
9 predatory lending is inevitably, being credit
10 impaired by having built up equity, going to be
11 middle-aged or elderly. That means they went to
12 school in Boston before 1970.
13 Before 1970, as the Federal Courts have
14 found, Boston ran an intentionally segregated school
15 system. Minority students had no decent chance for
16 a decent education. Even the white student didn't
17 have much of a chance, because those who have been
18 here a long time will remember at least one member,
19 maybe more, of the School Committee was indicted for
20 larceny, and many of them seemed more interested in
21 serving themselves than the school system.
22 I think there is something to be said for
23 warning people against predatory lending, but anyone
24 who really wants to replace what people lost in the
1 school system of the '50s and '60s has a major job
2 in front of them.
3 Better law enforcement. I read Governor
4 Gramlich's testimony, and some of you confirmed that
5 predatory lending -- not predatory lending, but
6 subprime lending has mushroomed in the past five
7 years. I have seen no mushrooming in the staffs of
8 the Federal Trade Commission or the State Attorney
9 General's Office or anybody who's going to be doing
10 the enforcement in this area, and I am personally
11 not terribly optimistic that Congress is going to do
12 so in the next couple of years.
13 Private litigation, the record is somewhat
14 mixed. I guess I would like to say one thing in
15 particular. I think you can help enforcement
16 greatly by having clearer rules. My personal
17 experience counseling lenders, enforcing rules, and
18 lawyers for regulated institutions who have come
19 into my class and talked to my students have made it
20 clear that, if the rules are unclear, a couple of
21 things happen.
22 The Option Ones, the Dedham Savings may not
23 lend at all, and other people push the envelope to
24 its limits. Some of them in fact ask the question,
1 "How likely am I to get caught, and what are the
2 penalties if I get caught?", rather than where the
3 limit is. It is also, in my experience, much more
4 expensive to enforce the law.
5 The implication is, it's best to have a
6 clear rule, even if it doesn't work perfectly, it
7 doesn't fit the situation perfectly. You have some
8 false positives, some uncovered negatives. I would
9 encourage you to establish clear rules for the
10 benefit of both sides. Thank you.
11 MR. ALGIERE: Thank you. My name is Dennis
12 Algiere. I am Vice-President of Compliance and CRA
13 Officer at the Washington Trust Company, a midsize
14 community bank located in southern Rhode Island.
15 We've been in business since 1800. I would like to
16 thank the Board of Governors for inviting me to
17 participate in this very, very important discussion.
18 We all understand the importance of
19 reasonable, responsible and prudent subprime lending
20 and the dangers of unethical, uncaring predatory
21 lending. Subprime lending is a practice which
22 largely benefits consumers with less than perfect
23 credit history, but the financial damage wrought by
24 unscrupulous, fraudulent lenders has raised serious
1 concerns.
2 I am pleased to see that the attention
3 being focused today is on this issue. These
4 hearings have the potential to identify reasoned,
5 balanced actions that may greatly benefit consumers,
6 bankers, lenders in our communities.
7 As a banker, I am troubled that there are
8 consumers being victimized by dishonest, fraudulent
9 lenders. This situation begs an important question:
10 Why do consumers with less than stellar credit
11 histories choose predatory lenders rather than
12 legitimate lenders? This answer is critical in
13 finding a solution. I believe serious research and
14 not simple anecdotal-based hunches is required.
15 I suspect there are more than one or two
16 answers or reasons. Certainly some assume they will
17 not qualify for traditional loans. Some seem more
18 comfortable seeking the services of other lenders,
19 despite the fact that there are banks offering loan
20 products which could meet their needs. Is it a
21 matter of better educating the public on financial
22 issues? Is it a matter of marketing? Why are
23 consumers overlooking banks and risking their assets
24 with lenders who aren't reputable?
1 I believe that if the banking industry
2 joins with the Federal Government and consumer
3 advocates to address this issue, we will find a
4 multifaceted workable solution. New restrictions
5 and additional disclosures are being proposed.
6 Deceptive lenders will always find new ways to
7 victimize vulnerable consumers. Term-specific laws
8 simply cannot anticipate every scheme of the
9 imaginative unscrupulous lender.
10 I would first suggest that the unregulated
11 lenders be required to be licensed and examined as
12 depository institutions are. In many cases
13 reported, there are clear violations of existing
14 laws. Licensing and examination will augment
15 enforcement of existing laws.
16 However, laws, even when aggressively
17 enforced, cannot alone prevent predatory behavior.
18 Only knowledge and a minimum level of financial
19 savvy can truly protect consumers from deceptive,
20 unfair lending practices.
21 Private industry, community groups and the
22 government can serve an important role in education
23 and outreach counseling programs. The industry,
24 community representatives and government can help
1 consumers learn to protect themselves. This, I
2 believe, will be the most effective weapon.
3 However, such efforts will require imagination and
4 new ideas to get the message out.
5 I look forward to a productive meeting
6 today and thank you once again for the opportunity
7 to contribute to this discussion.
8 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you very much.
9 With that, we will move on into the discussion
10 phase, and we're going to start by examining
11 possible changes to HOEPA's scope of coverage.
12 First, HOEPA covers mortgage loans that
13 meet one of the two high-cost triggers. A loan is
14 covered if the APR exceeds the rate for Treasury
15 securities with a comparable maturity by more than
16 10 percentage points, or if the points and fees paid
17 by the consumer exceed the greater of 8 percent of
18 the loan amount or $400 indexed, which now is $451,
19 I believe.
20 HOEPA authorizes the Board to adjust these
21 triggers, to adjust the rate trigger by 2 percentage
22 points. So for the Board, the question is, what
23 basis should we use for pegging a change in that
24 rate? Is 8 percent the right number? Are there any
1 data that suggest how many loans are in fact covered
2 by HOEPA and how many more would be covered if the
3 APR trigger were lowered to, say, 8 percentage
4 points?
5 On points and fees, the test is, as I
6 mentioned, the $400 or 8 percent. For this purpose,
7 the points and fees include all items that are
8 included in the finance charge and the annual
9 percentage rate, except interest, and all
10 compensation paid to mortgage brokers.
11 The act specifically excludes reasonable
12 closing costs that are paid to unaffiliated third
13 parties. The act also authorizes the Board to add
14 such other -- to add other charges to the points and
15 fees test as the Board deems appropriate.
16 In the notice that the Board published
17 about these hearings, we identified three possible
18 fees that could be added: credit life insurance
19 premiums, certain prepayment penalties, and points
20 on refinanced loans.
21 So with that, I would like to have the
22 discussion start, and ask either Ms. Carey or Mr.
23 Curry to start us off on this discussion, if you
24 would, please.
1 MR. CURRY: Thank you. As you know, we are
2 proposing a lowering of the thresholds under our
3 State Truth in Lending regulations. I think what
4 we're relying on in terms of the economic impact of
5 lowering is really the public hearing and comment
6 process. We would be very interested in hearing
7 from the industry themselves. I think that's the
8 best barometer.
9 My concern -- this is really from practical
10 experience, and Ms. Kogut mentioned this -- on the
11 fees, given the existence of an APR system, the true
12 cost of credit, it amazes -- I question the economic
13 or risk-pricing practices of having excessive number
14 of fees, other than to confuse the consumer in the
15 marketing of what the real interest rate is.
16 My suspicion is that since my examiners
17 can't be there when loans are being marketed or
18 closed, that there is an overemphasis on contract
19 rate costs, rather than APRs. So I'm most
20 interested in seeing a lower fee threshold.
21 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you. Any questions
22 from the Panel first before I open it to other
23 discussion?
24 MR. MARKS: It would be nice to hear from
1 the industry about what is so unconscionable about a
2 trigger of 17 percent. I would like to hear the
3 argument of why 17 percent is such an unreasonable
4 rate and why that shouldn't be lowered.
5 MS. RENUART: Can I add right here, as some
6 data that we're submitting in our written report,
7 there was a study done by Cathy Lesser-Mansfield, a
8 professor at Drake University, being published in
9 the South Carolina Law Review, and she examined,
10 since there is no collection of data about subprime
11 lenders in any uniform way, she examined
12 prospectuses and filings with the SEC.
13 And her data, over looking at several
14 subprime lenders, shows that only about 25 percent
15 of the loans made generally by subprime lenders are
16 over 15 percent. And she also collected information
17 showing the loss rates, and we've collected some and
18 put it into our written testimony as well, showing
19 the loss rates of similar subprime lenders. And
20 their loss rate over their portfolio, either on an
21 annual basis or projected over the entire life of
22 the loan, was about 3 percent.
23 So there is no reason why, first of all,
24 you can't lower the interest rates and still not --
1 you're not going to affect very many loans that are
2 being made, less than 25 percent.
3 And we should make the point from the
4 consumer's perspective that some loans ought not to
5 be made, that it is a good thing to cut off bad
6 credit, because it only leads to foreclosure.
7 That's not a positive result from the idea of saying
8 everyone should get credit all of the time. That's
9 thrown out there as a mantra, but it has resulted in
10 devastation in neighborhoods.
11 So given that information that is more
12 fully spelled out in our written testimony, it shows
13 that you can lower the trigger and only affect a
14 small portion of the loans, and those loans are
15 being made at such high rates anyway, there is no
16 justification for the risk level of that borrower.
17 MR. NADON: I'll try to answer, but it's
18 probably coming from a little different perspective,
19 because we don't have anywhere near that kind of
20 percentage of our loans that are in that kind of a
21 price range.
22 For us, the 8 percent trigger would affect
23 about 3 1/2 percent of the business that's booked,
24 so it wouldn't affect us, the 8 percent trigger
1 wouldn't really affect us.
2 My question on lowering the trigger is
3 only, is that really going to get to the root cause
4 of the problem? And I'm not convinced that it is,
5 because I haven't seen any data other than anecdotal
6 stories; I haven't seen any data that says that
7 since HOEPA was put into effect that it has had a
8 positive effect on reducing predatory lending
9 practices, which would then help build an argument
10 that further lowering it would have an even greater
11 impact on reducing it. So I'm not sure that's the
12 answer.
13 Our answer, from an Option One standpoint,
14 is that probably the biggest thing that can be done
15 is to improve what's done to educate the consumer so
16 that they know what kind of a loan they're getting
17 into and they know what the right questions are.
18 One quick way to get there is to change the
19 way we have all of the documentation and all the
20 disclosures done, which, as you all know, are a
21 rather thick pile of documents. They're written in
22 a certain way that the average person is not going
23 to be able to understand exactly what is there, so
24 it can be intimidating. And if you walk into a
1 closing and the average person is intimidated by
2 what they see, they tend not to ask questions in the
3 first place.
4 So we would like to try to find a way that
5 we can make that process much, much easier for the
6 average person to understand, with very easy-to-
7 understand documents, fewer documents, so that when
8 they walk in there, they can see very clearly what
9 kind of a loan am I getting, what are the
10 consequences of this loan. And they can take that
11 kind of information and shop around themselves to
12 see if they can get something better somewhere else
13 in the marketplace.
14 MR. MARKS: We will agree with you that
15 absolutely HOEPA has not done what the intent of
16 HOEPA was to do; it has not stopped predatory
17 lending. But we should -- so you're right. But
18 we're here to talk about what the Federal Reserve
19 can do. But we shouldn't be talking about just to
20 reduce the trigger, not to prevent it, the trigger
21 for disclosure from 17 to 15 percent or the trigger
22 of at how many fees does a disclosure kick in, not a
23 prohibition.
24 So we should be looking at what the Federal
1 Reserve -- the Federal Reserve is the problem. They
2 have been, as the GEO study says, AWOL, and the
3 result has been that tens of thousands of people
4 have lost their livelihoods and have not had the
5 American dream of home ownership.
6 But the Federal Reserve can do a lot of
7 things. With Fleet, let's take Fleet as an example.
8 Fleet Finance was the predatory subsidiary of the
9 holding company. The Federal Reserve refused to
10 investigate the subsidiary, the predatory lending
11 subsidiary of Fleet. They could have done that.
12 They tried to prevent the other regulators from
13 doing any kind of investigation. So even without
14 HOEPA, there could be a lot of work that could be
15 done.
16 But let's get past this issue of saying,
17 "Oh, should it be 15 percent?" I mean, how could
18 anybody say that someone should get a loan for 17
19 percent? How could anybody afford that over the
20 long run? How is it that you are buying loans
21 from -- you're buying loans from, let's say, real
22 estate brokers, right?
23 MR. NADON: From mortgage brokers.
24 MR. MARKS: Right. You are buying loans
1 from mortgage brokers. Do you pay a yield spread
2 premium to those mortgage brokers?
3 MR. NADON: No.
4 MR. MARKS: Are you against any lender
5 paying a yield spread premium to those mortgage
6 brokers?
7 MR. NADON: Not per se, no. We just have
8 not been doing that for years.
9 MR. MARKS: Sir, is that true in your case?
10 Are you buying loans -- are you paying yield spread
11 premium to mortgage brokers?
12 MR. GRAVINO: There are a couple of things
13 on the table at once. If you don't mind, I would
14 like to stick with the original question, and then
15 I'll come back to your statement.
16 MR. MARKS: But let's talk about not just
17 lowering the rate to 15 percent or 8 points.
18 MR. WALKER: Excuse me. I just want to
19 make a comment to set the record straight on a
20 comment that Bruce made. It is not true that the
21 Federal Reserve kept any of the federal regulators
22 from going into Fleet Finance, and in fact we did
23 investigate Fleet Finance.
24 MR. MARKS: Richard, you should talk to the
1 OCC about that.
2 MODERATOR SMITH: The OCC is not here
3 today, so we're not going to get off into that.
4 And, Mr. Gravino, did you have a comment?
5 MR. GRAVINO: Yes. Frankly, as I said in
6 my opening comments, and to go along with what Steve
7 said and part of what Bruce said here, the problem
8 with the HOEPA laws as currently written is it
9 captures the law of unintended consequences. The
10 fee and percentages, by using percentages, you
11 affect the smaller loan more than the customer -- or
12 as much as the customer who actually should be
13 impacted by HOEPA.
14 When you start getting into loans, like in
15 North Carolina, you get into loans under $60,000,
16 all of a sudden the economics of the deal start to
17 become in question, so you start making decisions on
18 the economics rather than the needs of the consumers
19 in that state.
20 PCFS, yes, we do pay yield spread premiums.
21 What do they average? I don't know, 1 1/2 to 2.
22 And do we find them conscionable? We also find them
23 a cost of not having a branch network out that there
24 would cost us about the same if we were to originate
1 the loans through our branch network.
2 MR. MARKS: Then how can you -- I mean, I
3 would like to hear a discussion about, if you pay a
4 yield spread premium, you're paying for a higher
5 rate or for more points, right?
6 MR. GRAVINO: We're paying for the cost of
7 originating the loan.
8 MR. MARKS: But you are required to only
9 pay for services that are provided?
10 MR. GRAVINO: That's right.
11 MR. MARKS: So that's what you're paying
12 for. So if you've got a $100,000 loan -- and you
13 pay a percentage, right?
14 MR. GRAVINO: Right.
15 MR. MARKS: So let's take percentage. What
16 percentage do you think on average you would pay to
17 a mortgage broker for a loan?
18 MR. GRAVINO: On a $100,000 loan, probably
19 1 percent.
20 MR. MARKS: So you pay 1 percent, so you
21 pay them $1,000. Certainly we know that the
22 industry is much higher than that.
23 But let's say you pay $1,000. Now someone
24 comes to you with a $200,000 loan; you pay $2,000.
1 Are they doing twice as much services for a mortgage
2 of $200,000 versus $100,000?
3 MR. GRAVINO: First of all, you would find
4 that a $200,000 loan would not get you 1 point.
5 MODERATOR SMITH: I would like to take a
6 little bit of control over this and recognize Mr.
7 Golann.
8 MR. GOLANN: Trying to address the first
9 issue that you posed, I have some conceptual
10 difficulty understanding the disclosure statute,
11 particularly such complex disclosures for people who
12 have, by definition, as much difficulty with complex
13 financial transaction as the group we're trying to
14 serve. So I find myself wondering what the HOEPA
15 disclosures actually do.
16 That said, though, on the question of fees
17 or interest rates, my tendency would be to focus on
18 fees, because that is where I hear more of the abuse
19 has been and more of the uncertainty is. I would
20 tend to favor an all-inclusive definition in the
21 interests of a clear rule, even if that means that
22 the actual level doesn't go down.
23 Actually, I would also favor, if it were
24 possible, some kind of tolerance, because I have no
1 great interest in trapping people who missed the
2 limit by 50 cents or a dollar.
3 We can argue about what should be included.
4 Certainly single-premium credit insurance, if you
5 want to get into that, is something that I would
6 like to see included, even if it's voluntary.
7 I've seen notes in your hearing notice
8 about the possibilities for statutory change. That
9 would be wonderful if it occurred. I don't think
10 that the possibility of a statutory change sometime
11 in the future is a reason not to take action now.
12 MS. CAREY: I have a question for the
13 lenders. I've heard a number of people mention the
14 need for consumer education and the need for full
15 and clear disclosure. I would like to know what the
16 lenders are doing now in that area.
17 MR. NADON: Well, in a session like this,
18 we're asking that consideration be given to make the
19 disclosures a lot simpler than they are today. So
20 that's the first part.
21 The second part would be we're trying to
22 develop a document which is almost finished. We do
23 not do this today, but we have been working on a
24 document, through a lending committee internally,
1 that we would give, in addition to all of the other
2 advanced disclosures that the borrower gives at the
3 time of application, which tells them that credit
4 counseling is real smart thing and that they should
5 take advantage of it. It gives them direction on
6 where they can go with an 800 number or to a Web
7 site so that they can call and get any kind of
8 information they want from an independent third
9 party.
10 The concern that comes out of that is -- we
11 believe that's the right thing to do. The concern
12 that we have is that most of the credit counseling
13 agencies that we're familiar with are good at giving
14 information on purchase money loans. They are not
15 as skilled at giving information on cash-out
16 refinance loans. And cash-out refinance loans are
17 primarily what the subprime lending business does.
18 We are not really a purchase money market.
19 So we are concerned that there is, in
20 today's world, there is probably not consistency
21 among the credit counseling agencies. So if a
22 borrower were to go to one in Irvine, California,
23 where we're based, or went to one in Norwalk,
24 California, about 25 minutes away, I'm not sure they
1 would get the same answers. And I'm not sure if
2 there is a licensing that needs to be done to make
3 sure that all people that are in that practice have
4 been trained properly to give the right information.
5 But those are two things that we think
6 would help a lot to try to give people better
7 information before they commit themselves to any
8 kind of a loan.
9 MR. MARKS: Look, the idea around
10 disclosures and this idea around education, it gets
11 away from the crux of the matter. It's the
12 economics. Let's get down to the economics. If you
13 can push someone from a prime loan into a subprime
14 loan, if you could get someone from 8 percent to 12
15 percent or higher, you're going to do that.
16 Subprime lenders or predatory lenders are
17 not interested in education, and if someone is
18 targeted and someone is desperate to save their
19 home, you know, they're going to be -- they're
20 vulnerable.
21 So the fact of the matter is that just
22 because you have a stack of papers, as you said,
23 that is this thick, and I don't know anybody,
24 whether they make $1 million a year or they make
1 $10,000 a year, who has ever read every document at
2 a closing. It just doesn't happen. That's what you
3 hire lawyers for, and I'm willing to bet lawyers
4 have never read every document in that closing.
5 So let's get past the fact of disclosure;
6 let's get past the fact of consumer education.
7 Let's talk about the economics.
8 The economics say, if you're a mortgage
9 broker, you shop around for a lender, not because
10 they are going to give you the best interest rate,
11 but because they're going to get you the most fees.
12 That's the reality that is out there. That's what
13 you have to focus on.
14 So that's what you have to look at: What
15 are the economics? We've been hearing about all of
16 these subprime lenders that have gone out of
17 business, right? Why have they gone out of
18 business? Because the fact of the matter is you
19 cannot -- these loans are going to go bad at some
20 point.
21 Liz is right that some loans shouldn't be
22 made. This idea that if you don't do this stuff,
23 somehow someone else is going to come in -- those
24 loans are wrong. A loan at 17 percent should not be
1 made, should be illegal. There should be usury laws
2 in this country that say it's not reasonable. Who
3 can afford a 17 percent or 18 percent loan over a
4 reasonable period of time, for a long period of
5 time? It just doesn't make any sense.
6 So this idea that you're going to take the
7 conventional people out of this -- these predatory
8 loans shouldn't happen.
9 MR. ALGIERE: I think the discussion -- and
10 I agree with you, education alone and lowering
11 triggering fees, adding more disclosures, I think
12 the solution is multifaceted, and you have to look
13 at the economics. We're not going to come up with
14 one answer to a question, and we're not going to
15 come up with one solution, but let me ask a
16 question. Making changes that are proposed, is that
17 in itself going to solve the problem?
18 MR. MARKS: No.
19 MR. ALGIERE: Are you still going to get
20 that 17 percent loan being made by a fraud? Sure.
21 MR. MARKS: But it's a safety and soundness
22 issue. Let's look at it not just from the consumer
23 point of view, but it is outrageous and it is
24 predatory. And we can have a discussion about what
1 is a subprime and what is a predatory loan, but if
2 you define a predatory loan as a loan that someone
3 cannot afford over the term of the loan, that is
4 straightforward, that is a predatory loan.
5 But let's look at the safety and soundness
6 issue that's out there. You have got institutions
7 who have these loans. The key is, when you're a
8 lender, and the lenders know very well, the key is
9 you want to be the second-to-last entity holding
10 that loan. You don't want to hold that loan,
11 because you know that that loan is going bad. It's
12 only a matter of time that that loan goes bad,
13 because no one can afford that over the term of the
14 loan.
15 So it's safety and soundness. When we say
16 about the Federal Reserve, we say -- let's take this
17 real cynical argument; let's take the cynical point
18 of view that says the Federal Reserve does not care
19 about consumers, they care about -- let me just
20 finish this point, Dolores -- that what they care
21 about is the safety and soundness of the
22 institutions that they regulate.
23 Even on that point, they have got to take
24 action to say these institutions are vulnerable with
1 the predatory lending operations or subprime that is
2 going on.
3 MS. RENUART: To add to that, what we've
4 seen recently is, you know, Wall Street drying up
5 its money in terms of securitizations of subprime
6 lenders whose loans have been found to be faulty,
7 who are going into bankruptcy.
8 And to the extent that that is happening,
9 there is a recognition of that, that Lehman
10 Brothers, who securitized First Alliance's
11 mortgages, is being sued in the First Alliance
12 bankruptcy itself, that consumers are going to go up
13 the food chain to get restitution for what's been
14 done to them, that sounds a big bell on Wall Street
15 that helps to dry up the money.
16 Freddie Mac taking recognition of it so
17 they won't purchase loans under the APR and points
18 and fees triggers, if we lower these triggers, then
19 they will purchase loans that have even lower
20 triggers, and that sounds the bell to the industry
21 that you've got to shape up.
22 We have seen and our testimony provides
23 examples of loans where predatory lenders with the
24 predatory features that we will talk about later in
1 this discussion, balloons, prepayments, et cetera,
2 are making them just under the triggers. So the
3 benefit of lowering the triggers is you're going to
4 capture these predatory loans that, by all
5 definition in this room, are going to be looked at
6 as predatory.
7 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you. And with that
8 I'll recognize Mr. Walker.
9 MR. WALKER: Ms. Kogut, you mentioned the
10 litigation that you are involved with against First
11 Alliance and made a statement about an
12 identification of part of the portfolio of A and A-
13 people who were in the loans that were in the
14 portfolio. Was there any -- were you able to do any
15 analysis vis-a-vis who those folks were or how they
16 ended up with First Alliance versus a Washington or
17 a Dedham or any of the other more reputable
18 institutions?
19 MS. KOGUT: Yes, it's interesting. These
20 consumers were probably not themselves looking to
21 borrow money; they were solicited like crazy. In
22 fact, the only consumer complaints that our office
23 had on file against First Alliance, at the time when
24 the case was referred to us, were from consumers who
1 were saying, "Get these telemarketers to stop
2 calling me at night. I don't want to hear from them
3 anymore."
4 So these consumers, it didn't occur to them
5 naturally to even think to borrow money. They got
6 these solicitations pouring into their mailbox, and
7 they got telemarketing phone calls at night, and the
8 solicitations were deceptive. They said no
9 out-of-pocket expenses, low monthly payments. They
10 had a variety of very deceptive statements in them.
11 But consumers after a bit apparently did
12 take the bait and made a phone call and arranged to
13 meet with First Alliance. And it didn't mater what
14 their credit backgrounds were, it just absolutely
15 didn't matter. The amount of points that they paid
16 just had nothing to do with their credit histories
17 whatsoever.
18 MR. WALKER: So they were using --
19 consumers then were using these for home improvement
20 loans --
21 MS. KOGUT: Right.
22 MR. WALKER: -- primarily?
23 MS. KOGUT: Right. These consumers, these
24 were typically older borrowers who had been in their
1 homes for a long time -- First Alliance had
2 obviously bought a mailing list -- where the
3 original mortgage loan had almost been paid off, so
4 there was a fair amount of equity left in the home.
5 And consumers had perhaps a lot of credit card debt.
6 That was a typical profile.
7 But otherwise their credit histories
8 weren't -- they weren't terrible. They might have
9 had more indebtedness than would have permitted them
10 to get a prime loan. But as I say, there were some
11 that were A rated.
12 And, I mean, the problem with First
13 Alliance is that they had an extremely deceptive
14 program from start to finish, so when consumers went
15 and met with the loan originator, the loan
16 originator would completely deflect from the actual
17 costs.
18 And, you know, it's interesting, I think
19 consumers are pretty savvy about interest rates.
20 You know, partly because of the credit card
21 solicitations that are pouring out of their mailbox,
22 they know what competitive interest rates are. But
23 they don't know what a point is, they don't know
24 what an origination fee is, and they don't
1 understand, actually, the way the APRs work.
2 So in this case, probably two thirds of our
3 300 borrowers had variable rate loans as opposed to
4 fixed rate loans, and the riser was -- the index was
5 a LIBOR plus a very large margin, so that the
6 interest rates went up, you know, really quickly,
7 really fast, in ways that consumers didn't
8 understand.
9 So we started hearing from consumers when
10 their interest rates were going up. Actually, the
11 Minnesota AG's Office called these exploding ARMs,
12 because the increases went up so fast and so
13 crazily.
14 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Algiere.
15 MR. ALGIERE: Yes, thank you. A point was
16 made earlier by Dwight regarding FTC and enforcement
17 efforts. Here is a good example of existing laws
18 that were violated, deceptive advertisements. You
19 know, with the Internet now being used by more and
20 more companies and financial institutions, and more
21 bait and switch is being used, we have existing laws
22 right now that perhaps aren't being enforced.
23 And perhaps, you know, FTC's budget needs
24 to be beefed up a bit to go after some of these
1 deceptive advertising and deceptive techniques being
2 used, bait and switch, let's face it.
3 So I guess the point I'm trying to make is
4 there are existing laws on the books now that
5 perhaps need to be looked at more closely, and if
6 enforcement efforts need to be beefed up, perhaps
7 they should.
8 MR. MARKS: But one of the laws --
9 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you. I recognize
10 Mr. Miselman next.
11 MR. MISELMAN: I concur also with those
12 thoughts. There are a lot of laws on the books
13 currently, rules and regulations. We're very a
14 heavily regulated industry, and perhaps enforcement
15 -- as was mentioned, there is now a much larger
16 volume of subprime loans, where it's exploded. I
17 don't think the staff to handle regulation on that
18 has exploded with that.
19 But I've been a mortgage broker for the
20 last 11 years. I've seen the mortgage industry
21 change where brokers are now doing upwards of 60
22 percent of the loans in the country. And for the
23 most part, the Mass. Mortgage Association and the
24 people I come in contact with, they do not take the
1 opinion that if they can sell an 8 percent loan and
2 make a certain percentage or get a 12 percent loan
3 and get a certain percentage, that they will
4 automatically go to the 12 percent.
5 They don't find that in the long run that's
6 going to be beneficial, because many of them do
7 referral business. If you give someone a 12 percent
8 loan that can get an 8 percent loan and you're a
9 reputable company, you know that person is never
10 going to come back to you, because they will find
11 out about it.
12 In the mortgage brokerage industry what we
13 do, we've been notified a lot lately from
14 wholesalers, and a lot of it is coming from the top
15 down, they are now telling us what their definition
16 of predatory lending is. It has been a vague
17 concept for a lot of years. Right now it's starting
18 to come down.
19 What I do in my shop is we hold meetings
20 and we educate the loan officers of what to tell
21 people to look for, because we get shopped around to
22 various other companies. And when people call us up
23 on the phone and we give them, you know, a real
24 interest rate and someone else gives them something
1 different, you know, they might think something is
2 up.
3 So we educate the loan officers on how to
4 educate the consumer on a one-on-one basis. And
5 we're not interested in giving someone a 12 percent
6 loan who is eligible for an 8 percent loan, because
7 there is enough profit doing a prime loan from the
8 start.
9 MODERATOR SMITH: I'd like to --
10 MR. MARKS: If I could make one point.
11 There is a regulation that actually has worked very
12 well in Massachusetts, and that is the regulation
13 that mortgage brokers cannot -- that home
14 improvement companies cannot pass and cannot try to
15 be mortgage brokers at the same time.
16 If you look back to the second mortgage
17 scam and that four years that that was in the paper
18 virtually every day, that was one of the biggest
19 abuses out there, where you had contractors going
20 out there saying, "I will do the work. And by the
21 way, here are the papers, and I'm a mortgage broker,
22 and I'll get the financing," and the homeowner never
23 saw the money and the work never got done properly.
24 That has been in effect in Massachusetts
1 and has worked extraordinarily well. You don't hear
2 those abuses here in Massachusetts, and that's a
3 model that can be replicated and should be
4 replicated around the country on the mortgage
5 brokers.
6 There are going to be abusive mortgage
7 brokers out there. We're never going to regulate
8 all the abusive mortgage brokers out of existence,
9 as long as the lenders are willing to pay a fee for
10 that deal. When you talk to lenders, what they will
11 say is, "If I want the business, I've got to be
12 competitive in what I pay the mortgage brokers."
13 And so they are subject to -- because the mortgage
14 brokers shop it around, they shop the deal around.
15 So the fact of the matter is, you have to
16 regulate and prohibit these fees that lenders are
17 paying mortgage brokers, because that's an industry
18 now. We're getting more and more -- Howard is
19 right, we're getting more and more to the fact that
20 mortgage brokers are the way that lenders get their
21 loans. And as long as those mortgage brokers can
22 shop around, not for, you know, the best rate, but
23 for the best kickbacks, you're always going to have
24 this problem out there.
1 MODERATOR SMITH: All right. I would like
2 to turn the discussion a little bit to the points
3 and fees question. We had mentioned three types of
4 fees that could be included in the fee test, credit
5 life insurance premium, certain prepayment
6 penalties, and points on refinanced loans. Do we
7 have views from our invited panelists on any of
8 these particular items?
9 MR. GOLANN: Credit life insurance has been
10 a problem for at least the 30 years that I'm
11 available that I know of and probably for 30 before
12 that. I don't think it's going to go away without
13 regulation. I don't think more or different
14 disclosures are going to help very much. They
15 haven't helped so far.
16 One core of the problem is the payment and
17 the financing of lump-sum premiums. To the extent
18 you can forbid lump-sum premiums or you can require
19 that credit insurance be sold after the closing, so
20 anyone who wants to buy it can buy it, but it isn't
21 shoved down their throat in the pile of papers
22 that's been referred to, I think that would be
23 enormously helpful.
24 I understand that no regulation or
1 substantive prohibition is perfect and that there
2 will be somebody who would have liked to have it who
3 can't get it, but there will be many more that are
4 helped. And the Federal Trade Commission in the
5 unfairness standards adopted a cost/benefit test,
6 recognizing that regulation has costs and that the
7 issue is whether the benefits exceed the costs, not
8 whether there are no costs, and I think you should
9 apply that standard here. So I would first take aim
10 at credit insurance.
11 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Michaels.
12 MR. MICHAELS: Let me follow up with a
13 question, Dwight. I've heard the argument that the
14 sale of credit insurance with the lump-sum premium
15 ought to be banned, I've heard the argument that the
16 sale should be delayed, and I've heard the argument
17 that you should just prevent the financing of the
18 insurance, let them sell it, but just don't let them
19 finance it, which some would argue is just
20 effectively banning the sale.
21 What would be the effect, do you think, of
22 adding the cost of the credit insurance premiums
23 paid at closing to the points and fees trigger under
24 HOEPA? Would that in fact have the effect of either
1 delaying the sale, stopping the sale, or just
2 developing a product where the premiums would be
3 paid monthly?
4 MR. GOLANN: That's a more complex
5 question, and I don't have the empirical data to
6 tell you how many loans would become HOEPA loans if
7 credit insurance were added. For example, when I
8 last knew about this, there was a very low
9 penetration rate in Massachusetts and a much higher
10 penetration rate in other states, so I don't think
11 you are going to find much of that data here.
12 And of course, when you make it a HOEPA
13 loan, you might for Freddie Mac, for Option One, be
14 banning it, but for others you are simply adding a
15 layer of disclosure.
16 MR. MICHAELS: The question I guess I'm
17 raising is, by adding the credit insurance fees to
18 the HOEPA trigger, in effect you might be making
19 more loans covered by HOEPA; but on the other hand,
20 you might be encouraging people to move away from
21 the product where the premiums are paid at closing
22 and would be in the trigger to a product where the
23 premiums would be pay as you go. Is that --
24 MR. GOLANN: That seems like one of the
1 plausible results for a percentage of the market.
2 MS. SCHWARTZ: On the credit life issue, if
3 you look at the way the monthly programs work versus
4 the front premium financed programs for the
5 consumer, there is much lower cost. You can cancel
6 it at any time, and then you are very clear on what
7 the cost to the consumer is. So, in a sense, your
8 question is such that you will know your costs more
9 definitively for that consumer, and if that effect
10 is going monthly, then you've just moved the product
11 into a more attractive product, if that's your
12 question.
13 MR. MICHAELS: Has Freddie seen a lot of
14 loans where the premiums are paid monthly?
15 MS. SCHWARTZ: Frankly, that's an old
16 standard in the mortgage business, that you can
17 solicit credit- and life-related products, any
18 insurance product after the loan is closed, through
19 the servicing portfolio. That's a very standard
20 product in the prime business, less standard in the
21 subprime segment. And I would just urge you to
22 understand both segments of that market before you
23 make any decisions.
24 We have chosen not to buy any assets or any
1 bonds with any front premium credit life, because we
2 were uncomfortable with that product.
3 MR. MICHAELS: Do you have a speculation or
4 do you know why it might be less standard in the
5 prime versus subprime?
6 MS. SCHWARTZ: I don't have a speculation,
7 but what I would share with you is, there is some
8 front premium credit life in the prime market, so
9 don't think it's just a subprime product. So we did
10 affect the base when we announced that.
11 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Miselman.
12 MR. MISELMAN: That was kind of the point
13 that I was going to say, that the market, when you
14 are in the prime market, prime borrowers have the
15 option, if they have private mortgage insurance,
16 which is another insurance product that a borrower
17 has to pay when they put less than 20 percent down
18 generally, they do have the option of single-premium
19 up-front at closing.
20 Many of them choose, because they may not
21 be in the house or the loan that long, to take a
22 monthly premium, but they do have the choice. And
23 how you make sure that people in the subprime have
24 all the same educated decision-making process, you
1 know, could be disclosure, but, again, the consumer
2 has a choice in that case, even in the prime market.
3 MODERATOR SMITH: Any other comments, or
4 are we ready for our break?
5 MS. RENUART: One comment. Our position is
6 that you should include all points and fees, as Mr.
7 Golann had mentioned earlier, because that is a
8 bright line test. It's easy for compliance; it's
9 easy for a creditor to know to add them all up and
10 that's it. And so we would suggest that. Also, the
11 effect of that, of course, is going to bring in more
12 loans to HOEPA coverage. We think that's a good
13 thing.
14 In terms of the question about what's the
15 effect of including the single-premium credit
16 insurance into the points and fees trigger, just
17 like we've seen many lenders now bumping up against
18 the triggers that are just below them in order to
19 avoid HOEPA coverage, the same thing will occur. I
20 think that it will have an effect on reducing the
21 sale of that product in the subprime market.
22 And then finally because of the HUD studies
23 on unequal burdens that show that subprime loans are
24 made primarily -- the refinances, I should say, are
1 made primarily in low and moderate income
2 neighborhoods and minority neighborhood, that again
3 the sale of credit life insurance, single-premium
4 credit life insurance, again is sold mostly to those
5 same people. So there is a disparate impact in
6 terms of the sale of that product, which, if it's
7 reduced or eliminated, would be a good thing.
8 MODERATOR SMITH: One more comment?
9 MS. SCHWARTZ: Yes. Just I would offer
10 some thoughtfulness on this issue. If you add
11 prepayment penalties, if you add credit life, I
12 mean, in a sense all of this is making some sense,
13 but we should know the impact on how many loans
14 would become HOEPA loans. 60 percent of the market
15 has prepayment penalties that are legal. That is in
16 this market today.
17 So if you add all of this in, you will
18 create a huge segment of a $100 billion market that
19 will become a HOEPA loan market. I would just
20 suggest we certainly will have to reanalyze our
21 position, which has been largely saying high rates
22 and fees out, but be careful to not mix that with
23 any legitimacy that's in the market, because we all
24 believe there is some legitimacy to this market.
1 So I think it is very important, all points
2 and fee, plus credit life, prepayment penalties, we
3 should all be very thoughtful about what this means
4 to this segment. Maybe it's okay that 60 percent
5 will now become HOEPA loans, or maybe it's not.
6 MR. NADON: I certainly echo that comment,
7 because in today's environment there really is a
8 stigma attached to being a Section 32 lender, and it
9 is not a good stigma, which is a positive thing; we
10 don't want to be that. And so depending on what
11 adjustments were made, we would probably stay with
12 it, but if adjustments are made like that, credit
13 insurance doesn't affect us because we don't believe
14 in that product anyway, so we don't sell it.
15 But on prepayment penalties, which are an
16 integral part of the economics of the subprime
17 business -- they are not in the conventional world,
18 but they are in the subprime world -- we would have
19 to then ask ourselves the question, do we now want
20 to change our story, do we want to go into the
21 marketplace and say being a high-cost lender is
22 okay?
23 And the risk to that is possibly that once
24 people are forced into that decision and they become
1 that, there is almost no barrier at that point,
2 because if you are going to be a high-cost lender,
3 what difference does it make if you're charging 5
4 points or 6 points or 8 points? You are already
5 nailed with the stigma of being a bad guy.
6 So we're still, going back to the big
7 picture here, we're still not convinced that just
8 classifying more people as a HOEPA borrower or HOEPA
9 loan solves the problem. In some respects I have a
10 lot of agreement with what Mr. Marks is saying,
11 because I think he is trying to focus on the broader
12 and the bigger picture.
13 Well, that bigger picture says that that
14 isn't really going to do it, because there isn't any
15 evidence still that we've seen that says that the
16 HOEPA laws as they are today had any effect on
17 predatory lending practices. Simply to be
18 classifying more people to be that is not
19 necessarily going to get you the answer that you
20 want.
21 MR. MARKS: But the point that you said
22 which I think is very important is the economics.
23 You said, if you deal with the prepayment penalties,
24 you're dealing with the economics of the industry.
1 That's absolutely correct, because if a lender is
2 paying a mortgage broker a fee, they don't want that
3 loan refinanced until they can recoup that fee that
4 they paid.
5 So if that's an outrageous fee -- so if
6 you're paying a mortgage broker, if a lender is
7 paying a mortgage broker 5 percent on a $100,000
8 loan, that $5,000, if that person was to refinance
9 in six months, you are losing money. So you want to
10 make it as difficult for that person to refinance as
11 possible.
12 So absolutely, that is exactly why, if you
13 eliminated the prepayment penalties, if you put much
14 more restrictions on the credit issues -- because
15 you're right, that kind of insurance, it's
16 outrageous. I mean, people can go out and get the
17 standard credit life insurance; it's much more
18 affordable.
19 But getting back to the economics, the
20 prepayment, you prevent that, that allows people to
21 say, "Geez, I've got a high-rate loan now, but if I
22 make my mortgage payments on time for three, six,
23 twelve months, I would have the option to go out."
24 Let me just make this one point. Let's
1 just put this in perspective. The subprime and
2 predatory lending area came out of loan-sharking.
3 And the loan sharks, that issue was, if I had a
4 financial difficulty, I'd go to the loan shark on
5 the corner, and I would say, "I need a high-rate
6 loan." And you get it for a short period of time,
7 you bust your butt to make that payment, because the
8 consequences were pretty severe, but you can get out
9 from under it.
10 This whole subprime and predatory lending
11 issue has been corrupted that says, yes, sometimes
12 you have to get a higher rate loan to get past a
13 personal or severe financial difficulty, but you
14 should have the option, when making those payments
15 on time, to get out from under.
16 Prepayment penalties, balloon payments, all
17 those issues prevent you from getting out from
18 under. Once you get that loan, you're on the road
19 to losing your home. It's only a matter of time.
20 You're right. Let's deal with the
21 economics of it.
22 (Applause)
23 MODERATOR SMITH: With that, we're going
24 to take a ten-minute break, and I won't say from
1 when. Just look at your watches, because I'm sure
2 we all have a different time.
3 (Recess)
4 MODERATOR SMITH: We're ready to start with
5 the next segment, which will go from 30 to 40
6 minutes. We're turning our attention to examining
7 possible additional restrictions or prohibitions for
8 specific acts and practices.
9 Under HOEPA, the Board is authorized to
10 prohibit acts and practices, 1, in connection with
11 mortgage loans, if the Board finds the practice to
12 be unfair, deceptive, or designed to evade HOEPA;
13 and, 2, in connection with refinancing of mortgage
14 loans, if the Board finds that the practice is
15 associated with abusive lending practices or
16 otherwise not in the interests of the borrower.
17 The Board's notice raises several topics
18 for discussion. Because of the limited time, we
19 would like to focus on four of them: 1, loan
20 flipping; 2, unaffordable lending; 3, regulating
21 credit insurance, which we've talked a bit about
22 already; and 4, improving disclosures.
23 Now, flipping, as we are using the term
24 here, refers to the frequent refinancing of home-
1 secured loans, where the consumer derives little
2 economic benefit and the lender receives significant
3 income through fees. The fees are typically added
4 to the loan amount, thus reducing the homeowner's
5 equity in the property.
6 Among the questions that we might address
7 is what regulatory approach would effectively curb
8 refinancings that do not benefit borrowers, without
9 impairing transactions that help borrowers.
10 The recent report submitted to the Congress
11 by the Department of the Treasury and HUD suggested
12 that the Board should prohibit refinancings, such as
13 within a specified time period, unless there is a
14 tangible net benefit.
15 So among the questions that that particular
16 recommendation raises is, what would give the Board
17 the basis for deciding a particular period of time
18 in which to ban refinancings, 12 months, 18 months?
19 And then there is the question of how to measure
20 benefit to the consumer. For example, lowering the
21 payment amounts and extending the number of
22 payments, is that a benefit? Yes, some times? No,
23 other times?
24 Balloon payments in the context of
1 flipping. We understand that to avoid HOEPA, to
2 avoid HOEPA's restriction on balloon payments, some
3 lenders may include payable-on-demand clauses in
4 HOEPA loans. So we're interested in learning from
5 you, if we can, whether this practice is prevalent
6 where flipping occurs.
7 Should the Board consider restricting
8 payable-on-demand clauses in HOEPA loans to the same
9 extent that balloon payments are restricted, which
10 is to say that balloon payments generally are not
11 permissible unless the loan term is five years or
12 longer?
13 We'll have about 40 minutes for this
14 discussion, but before we start, I would like to
15 just remind the audience that if there are some
16 among you who have not registered for the open mike
17 session, and you are interested in presenting your
18 views, be sure and sign up at the first opportunity.
19 So, with that, do we have people ready to
20 comment? Ms. Renuart?
21 MS. RENUART: I'm always ready to talk, so
22 just give me an opportunity, and I'll be glad to.
23 Thank you.
24 Let me address the flipping issue first.
1 The problem is that the way loans are structured
2 with high points and fees, not only in the flipping
3 context, but just making a loan in that way in the
4 first place with high points and fees, it takes a
5 borrower a very long time to pay down those points
6 and fees before they ever start paying off their
7 principal.
8 So in our written testimony we have an
9 example showing the difference between a loan with
10 about $8,000 in points and fees and a loan with only
11 3 percent of the loan amount in points and fees, and
12 how much faster it is for that borrower to pay down
13 their principal.
14 So one of our recommendations to the Board
15 is to prohibit the financing, the outright
16 financing, as an unfair and deceptive trade practice
17 if more than 3 percent of the points and fees are
18 financed as part of the transaction. So that also
19 affects the flipping side, because the effect of
20 points and fees being charged on a regular and
21 constant basis just aggravates the problem
22 dramatically, and it sucks the equity out of the
23 home even faster.
24 So that's one way to eliminate the
1 incentive to flip and gouge the borrower by charging
2 high points and fees on a regular basis.
3 In addition, on the points, you know, what
4 points and fees ought to be included in the points
5 and fees trigger, another way to look at the
6 flipping issue is to say if, upon refinancing, there
7 is no rebate of the unearned portion of the points
8 and fees that were charged on the earlier loan, then
9 that portion that could have been rebated under the
10 actuarial method ought to be included as a point and
11 fee towards the HOEPA trigger in the first place.
12 That's another way of looking at the flipping issue.
13 On credit insurance, we've already talked
14 about that, so I won't address that again, and
15 that's also addressed at length in our written
16 testimony.
17 On the repayment issue, the ability to
18 repay, what we have proposed is that the Board adopt
19 some guidelines or create a safe harbor for lenders
20 who use the VA, the Veterans Administration,
21 guidelines for determining ability to repay.
22 VA has very clear rules. They're set out
23 in regulatory form. The VA and the FHA together
24 have been for years making loans to what now
1 everyone calls subprime borrowers, but those folks
2 haven't been called subprime borrowers in the past.
3 But because those two administrations reach
4 out to folks who, you know, haven't been homeowners
5 and are trying to create more home ownership for
6 people in this country, they have been dealing with
7 people who have had credit problems for a long
8 number of years.
9 So the VA has established a very reasonable
10 way of looking at that, where the debt-to-income
11 ratio is 41 percent, but they apply, against the
12 monthly income, certain deductions in addition to
13 what the proposed mortgage amount is. And whatever
14 the remainder is left over, they call that the
15 residual income that that family would have to live
16 on for their other expenses.
17 And they just have a chart, and every year
18 they update what the residual amount is. So if a
19 proposed loan would end up generating a residual
20 income below the chart amount that the VA has
21 established, that loan would not be made, because
22 there wouldn't be enough income to support the
23 family for their other expenses during that month.
24 So that's a very easy, clear, already-
1 established standard that the Board could adopt and
2 deal with this problem with the inability to repay,
3 because otherwise it's a fairly amorphous problem.
4 And creditors, I'm sure, have difficulty figuring
5 out what is the right debt-to-income ratio, is this
6 particular homeowner going to be able to make it, am
7 I going to run afoul of the inability to repay
8 standards of HOEPA if it is a HOEPA loan.
9 In addition, the Board -- this is not
10 something the Board has direct authority for, but
11 the Board could seek Congressional authority to
12 eliminate the pattern and practice requirements,
13 because that has made it very difficult for
14 consumers and expensive for consumers and
15 enforcement agencies. For example, in New York,
16 where the Attorney General sued Delta Funding, it
17 ultimately resulted in a settlement, but it would
18 have been very expensive for the Attorney General's
19 Office to have properly prosecuted that issue.
20 And certainly for an individual consumer to
21 prosecute that issue in an individual HOEPA case is
22 just way beyond the expense ability and certainly
23 oftentimes the attorney's ability to be looking at
24 numerous and thousands of loan files in order to
1 establish that.
2 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you.
3 MR. GRAVINO: I can't respond to all those
4 things; my memory isn't all that good. I do want to
5 talk to a couple of issues, though. The marketplace
6 being a fairly wonderful thing, a lot of things
7 happen when the business grows as fast as it's
8 grown, and those things are called becoming an
9 efficient marketplace.
10 And while we're probably not there, those
11 of you -- I've been in this business since 1963 --
12 in 1974, the standard for this loan was 18 percent,
13 10 points. I think you'd find in today's
14 marketplace, you're probably around 10 1/2 and 2 on
15 an average loan. That would be the B- type loans.
16 I'm sure you can find examples that go all over the
17 place, but when I look at my portfolio, that's what
18 I see.
19 Flipping, in terms of flipping, we as a
20 lender, of course, are benefited when loans do not
21 flip, and as a retail lender, it's very easy to
22 self-police that if you take a mind to or establish
23 a law that says you can't.
24 But we don't allow flipping within our own
1 bank within the first 18 months, and even after
2 that, then no new points and fees are allowed on any
3 new money extended. Whether that's the most perfect
4 way to do it or not, I don't know. But it works for
5 us, and it really meets our objective of trying to
6 keep the customer on the books for three years.
7 Insurance, we don't sell insurance.
8 Frankly, I won't even comment on it. I'll have to
9 let people who do sell insurance comment on that.
10 Prepayments, here again, you know, we
11 made -- Bruce, you made some comments about a lot of
12 companies that went out of business. We've done a
13 lot of research on these companies also, and what we
14 saw, as much as it was delinquency, it was more so
15 prepayment speeds, the inability of those companies
16 to hold onto their customers.
17 Here again, it's an efficient marketplace.
18 You have loans that were made in 1996 at 12 1/2 to
19 13 percent rates, rates drop, new products come in,
20 something called the two-year and the three-year
21 loan. These products all of a sudden start to make
22 the marketplace more efficient. The rates do get
23 reduced.
24 I mean, I've got a lot of friends in these
1 organizations, and I guarantee you that it wasn't
2 delinquency. You can plan for delinquency. You
3 cannot plan for a marketplace becoming that
4 efficient that quickly.
5 In looking at how do you judge a loan,
6 we've kind of borrowed a little bit from the VA. We
7 do something called the net disposable income
8 analysis, and it has to meet that test before we'll
9 buy it or make it.
10 But, you know, it's an imperfect
11 marketplace out there, but I think there's a lot of
12 good things that are happening, and I would like to
13 see more attention paid to those things that are
14 outside of the scope.
15 I'm going to go back to continuing
16 education. The smarter a borrower is, the better
17 off that borrower is going to be, the better deal
18 they get for themselves. The regulations that are
19 suspect, the things that are not managed right now,
20 they need to be managed. And if that means we have
21 to create new laws to do that, we're all for that.
22 But, you know, when you get down to the
23 economics of the loan, whether you originate that
24 loan or whether you buy that loan, the costs aren't
1 that much different.
2 If I didn't buy the loan from a broker --
3 and I don't allow brokers to shop. They either have
4 a direct relationship with me or I don't buy
5 business from them. But if I had that broker's
6 office out there, it would cost me almost the same
7 whether I originate it or whether I buy from him,
8 and that has to be built into the economics of the
9 deal.
10 MR. MARKS: Let me, if I may, make two
11 points. I understand, Governor Gramlich, that you
12 are into the free market. Your focus is to make
13 sure that the market works well.
14 Well, if the market is going to work well,
15 if a lender is making a loan and they think it's the
16 best rate that that person should get, and that's a
17 reasonable rate and they're doing the right thing by
18 the consumer, we shouldn't put any roadblocks into
19 the way that that consumer, if they make their
20 payments on time, should be able to find any other
21 loan, and that market should be able to dictate what
22 they can get.
23 And that's why you've got to prohibit these
24 prepayment and some of the balloon payments, some of
1 the way that the late fees are added onto the loan,
2 so that you can allow the free market to work.
3 Let's talk about the other point of
4 flipping, and let's look at it from your point of
5 view that says safety and soundness issue. Well, if
6 you look at a number of lenders out there, they will
7 refinance their own loans that they make.
8 Why would they do that? Why would a lender
9 out there say, "I'm going to give you -- I'm going
10 to make you a 14 percent interest rate loan at,
11 let's say, 5 points," and then in six months, "I'm
12 going to refinance that same loan at a lower rate."
13 Why do they do that?
14 The reason is they're booking the previous
15 fees as net income, they're actually defrauding
16 their investors, and that's not what the free market
17 is about. That's an incentive for them to go out
18 there and defraud their investors and frankly
19 defraud -- put that institution at risk. And that's
20 what it is.
21 So if the concern is, well, we're not
22 really concerned about the consumer, but we're
23 concerned about the safety and the soundness of the
24 institutions, you should be very concerned. You
1 should be concerned about -- take the model of what
2 happened to Fleet Finance and why they were put out
3 of business. You should be concerned about the
4 finance companies, the subsidiaries that are putting
5 the bank holding companies at risk. And that is
6 against the free market.
7 MR. MICHAELS: When you say prohibit
8 balloons, are you talking about just high-cost
9 balloons, or would you recommend prohibiting balloon
10 notes for all types of margins?
11 MR. MARKS: No, I think you have to look at
12 the high-cost balloons. I think it's outrageous
13 that someone can pay the high rates, the high fees
14 for an extended period of time, and on the face of
15 it, 15 years down the road, they have been paying
16 those on time, they owe more, they owe more at the
17 end of 15 years than they did on day one, and there
18 has got to be a clear benefit of the refinancing of
19 what that term is.
20 You know, let's get back, again, let's put
21 this in perspective of saying, what is -- subprime
22 lending was always meant to be a short-term stopgap
23 measure for someone who's got severe financial
24 difficulties. It was never intended to be, once you
1 get in, you never get out.
2 So if you take away the economics, again,
3 we can show thousands of people out there, and we've
4 got thousands of files that we have shown to the FTC
5 and other regulators about the abusive practices.
6 But let's take the cynical approach that says all
7 we're concerned about is safety and soundness of the
8 people out there and the concept. The fact of the
9 matter is that you've got to let people bust their
10 tail to make the payments, and then they should have
11 the option to get a better rate, better term, once
12 they can prove that.
13 And the difference -- we're talking about,
14 if the market is 8 percent, how could we be talking
15 about 9, you know, more than 10 percent, 200 basis
16 points? And how is it that Freddie Mac, who is the
17 government, who is subsidized by the taxpayer --
18 well, they shouldn't even be allowed to get into the
19 subprime lending market, because the fact of the
20 matter is, we should be focusing on expanding what
21 the conventional market is, because of the NACA
22 track record, with thousands of homeowners who have
23 gone through it, of prime loans for subprime
24 borrowers. It's a proven track record.
1 Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae should not be
2 allowed to constrict the conventional market to make
3 tremendous profits on the subprime lending market.
4 MR. MICHAELS: Would anybody on the
5 industry side like to expand on or elaborate on the
6 role of balloon notes and what kind of rules the Fed
7 might consider in terms of where balloons are useful
8 and help consumers and where balloons don't have a
9 legitimate role?
10 MR. GRAVINO: I'm not sure what -- I'm
11 sorry, go ahead.
12 MR. MISELMAN: Generally, we don't
13 generally even do balloon notes, because they don't
14 usually benefit the consumer. But if a consumer is
15 going to be leaving the property within or before
16 the period that the balloon will come due, then it's
17 a guaranteed benefit, because they will get
18 generally a lower rate on a five-year or a seven-
19 year, and they have ten-year balloons. You get a
20 lower interest rate versus if you took a straight
21 30-year fixed rate.
22 If you end up moving or selling the
23 property or refinancing within those five, seven or
24 ten years, by definition you will get a better deal,
1 because you will have saved every month that you had
2 the loan outstanding.
3 But, again, you have to be aware that that
4 balloon note is coming due. The disclosures that
5 they give you are in bold print, big capital
6 letters, that this is something that's coming due at
7 a certain point in time, and it's very, very clear.
8 Generally, what people see that disclosure,
9 at least in our shop -- I've been doing this for a
10 lot of years -- it's not worth the relatively small
11 benefit that they'll see month to month in payments
12 with a lower interest rate.
13 MR. GRAVINO: We don't do balloon loans,
14 with the exception of what we call a 15, 15 and 30,
15 and generally it is 1/8 to 1/2 of a point. And
16 frankly, I have no objection to anybody regulating
17 that you can't do that. The loans really do no
18 benefit for us. It's a marketplace-driven product.
19 I don't know that it benefits anybody over
20 the long term. You know, it's a 15-year payback --
21 the loan comes due in 15 years. The average
22 subprime lasts about 28 months. So I'm not sure
23 that anything happens or the customer gets a break
24 on the interest rate.
1 MR. NADON: If I could just echo that and
2 what Howard is saying, the one benefit, to answer
3 your question, that we see -- and we only do a 30
4 and 15, we don't do anything shorter than that --
5 that one product really is geared towards the people
6 that really do know that in their circumstances
7 they're going to be in the house -- usually they're
8 out within two to five years, because the loan life
9 on the loan is really not that long.
10 But they know that they're going to be
11 relocating or something, and because of the break
12 they get in the rate and the fact that they will
13 have moved or refinanced years before that balloon
14 comes due, they're just saving money. So that's the
15 benefit to the consumer, and it's the only kind of a
16 balloon product that we offer, and it's specifically
17 designed for that kind of a customer.
18 MS. SCHWARTZ: I thought I would mention
19 for the record that Freddie Mac is delighted to be
20 in this segment of the mortgage market, and we will
21 in fact, pursuant to our statutory requirement and
22 our mission, set standards, and we will better this
23 market, which now is very inefficient, nonstandard,
24 and has caused a lot of controversy.
1 I guarantee you, we will add the values
2 that we added to the conforming market to this
3 segment of the mortgage market, and you will stop
4 talking about the risk of prime versus subprime, but
5 will have a continuum of mortgage lending and credit
6 availability that is correctly applied to this
7 segment.
8 MR. MARKS: By your own records, your own
9 records, your own study says that at least 30
10 percent of the people that get -- 30 to 40 percent
11 of the people that get a subprime loan really should
12 get a prime loan. So your economics, you have a
13 responsibility to your stockholders to maximum your
14 profits. So since 40 percent of the people who get
15 your subprime loans could have gotten a prime loan,
16 you're really saying, "Geez, we made 200 basis
17 points," a lot of money for you guys, to really push
18 people into the subprime market.
19 That is, you're creating the market.
20 You're creating this market. I mean, we're never
21 going to be able to outlaw every predatory lender
22 out there. So you've got to deal with the market
23 issue. Well, if the GSCs are creating the market
24 because they're going to profit from it, that's
1 where the fight is, that's the focus. You are the
2 worst problem out there. You are the biggest
3 problem, the GSCs.
4 These predatory lenders, they're small
5 potatoes compared to what you do, but they will be
6 really upset when you pull that switch and you say,
7 "By the way, now we're going to originate
8 mortgages." And all of a sudden all these lenders
9 out there will join with the community and say,
10 "Geez, you know, we don't want Fannie and Freddie
11 to be out there originating mortgages."
12 MS. SCHWARTZ: Thank you.
13 MR. MARKS: You must have a response. I
14 mean, you just can't sit there. Come on, join in.
15 MS. SCHWARTZ: I stand on the record.
16 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Golann.
17 MR. GOLANN: I don't want to interrupt the
18 exchange.
19 MS. SCHWARTZ: Thank you, Mr. Marks.
20 MR. MARKS: Okay.
21 MR. GOLANN: I just, since you had
22 mentioned payable-on-demand clauses as an aspect of
23 balloons, I had thought that they had been banned.
24 I must say, they certainly have been banned in the
1 jurisdictions I have been involved in, other than in
2 commercial loans, of course.
3 I was trying to figure out what the
4 economic justification could be that could possibly
5 outweigh the consumer harm, and I can't think of
6 any. I've been waiting here for someone to
7 articulate the case for these things. I don't hear
8 it articulated.
9 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you.
10 MS. RENUART: Just to add for the record
11 that even though some of the lenders here are saying
12 that their balloons are very innocuous because
13 people have agreed to them and it's in exchange for
14 something else, and there is huge disclosures and
15 everybody is warned and everybody is knowledgeable,
16 that certainly is not true of the clients that I
17 have represented or the clients that other attorneys
18 have contacted me about who they represented who
19 were very surprised about the balloon payment that
20 was there and very shocked by it.
21 It was used by many of the subprime lenders
22 and predatory lenders that were involved in these
23 cases as a way to call them up and say, "Hey, now
24 you have a balloon. Why don't you come back in, and
1 we'll refinance you. Even though we made you the
2 balloon, come back in, and we'll refinance you for a
3 better loan without a balloon," the same lender
4 saying that.
5 People come in, and they pay a whole huge
6 round of closing costs, points and fees again, and
7 then the flipping starts. So it's used as a tactic
8 to get the customers to come back in and to scare
9 them into refinancing.
10 MR. NADON: Just to get some balance to
11 that, there are some people that actually don't do
12 that, and because we never solicit any of our own
13 portfolio, we never do. We actually have pooling
14 and servicing agreements with the people that we are
15 selling loans to that strictly prohibit us from
16 doing that.
17 So we have never in the last eight years
18 done that, and we will not be doing it in the
19 future. So we do not use it as a practice to try to
20 do that.
21 If I am a consumer, and I know that in five
22 years I am going to be moving or retiring or doing
23 whatever and I'm going to leave this house, and I
24 can get an interest rate of 8 percent by taking this
1 15-year balloon loan, or I can get a loan of 8 3/4
2 and get a 30-year fixed loan, my answer is going to
3 be I'm taking the 8 percent loan, because that's
4 going to save me 50 basis points for the first five
5 years that I'm in this deal, and then I'm selling
6 the house anyway.
7 The balloon has never had to be
8 experienced, and no one from Option One has called
9 me and asked me, "Would you please now refinance the
10 balloon that's coming due." Not everyone does that
11 practice.
12 It kind of goes back to one of the
13 statements I made in the opening comments. Not all
14 subprime lenders are predators. Some do some things
15 that have to be corrected. But that is not the case
16 for every one of us.
17 MR. MARKS: But then, would you define a 17
18 percent loan as a subprime or predatory loan?
19 MR. NADON: Yes, I would. That's why we
20 don't make them.
21 MR. MARKS: So you would consider that
22 every HOEPA loan is a predatory loan, then?
23 MR. NADON: A HOEPA loan?
24 MR. MARKS: Yes.
1 MR. NADON: And these are all high-cost
2 loans? That's very aptly named, it's a high-cost
3 loan. We do not make high-cost loans.
4 MR. MARKS: So then how would you define a
5 predatory loan? How would you make a distinction
6 between a subprime and predatory loan?
7 MR. NADON: That's such a -- that's sort of
8 a general and vague question that there is so many
9 factors that go into someone doing something that's
10 predatory, I couldn't give you a real brief answer
11 to that. All I can tell you is that if we're
12 generally going to say that if you make loans under
13 the current HOEPA guidelines, that that is high-cost
14 loan, we agree that is a high-cost loan, and we
15 don't make them.
16 MR. MARKS: But anybody who wants to get a
17 subprime loan, let's take your definition of
18 subprime loan, that means that they cannot get, in
19 theory, they believe they cannot get a conventional
20 loan. Therefore, if you want to look at the
21 marketplace, they're in weakened position, because
22 somehow something is going on that is preventing
23 them from getting an 8 percent conventional loan.
24 MODERATOR SMITH: I think we will --
1 MR. MARKS: So the fact of the matter is
2 this issue around disclosures and the issue around
3 education is just a false issue, because you're
4 talking about people who are vulnerable, who are
5 desperate, who are in a weakened position. So if we
6 focus on disclosures and on education, that's just
7 crazy. That's not dealing with the issue.
8 Your job is to maximize your profits. You
9 are targeting those people because they are
10 vulnerable because they cannot get a conventional
11 loan.
12 (Applause)
13 MODERATOR SMITH: We will nonetheless be
14 getting into some of those issues this afternoon as
15 far as education and how to better protect the
16 vulnerable consumer. So we will have some
17 discussion of that this afternoon.
18 MR. MARKS: That's what the regulators
19 should be doing now.
20 MODERATOR SMITH: Then, Dwight, did you
21 have a comment?
22 MR. GOLANN: On one of other issues you
23 raised, Elizabeth had mentioned the option of
24 counting unamortized points and fees toward the
1 points and fees tests on the, quote, flipped or
2 refinanced HOEPA loan. That sounds quite reasonable
3 to me, and I would be interested in whether the
4 creditors see a problem.
5 On the 18-month limit on refinancing that
6 Richard Gravino mentioned as just a practice that
7 they follow, I note that that's the same
8 recommendation that HUD and the Treasury make.
9 Given the number of points and fees on a
10 HOEPA loan by definition, it's hard to see how they
11 could be -- how it could make sense to refinance
12 within 18 months, given that interest rates simply
13 don't drop that fast. One would have to have a
14 truly precipitous drop in interest rates, it seems
15 to me, for it to make sense to refinance.
16 Points and fees only on new money extended
17 sounds like an excellent idea. You might want to
18 restrict it to related lenders, because that seems
19 to be where the flipping goes on, as opposed to
20 unrelated lenders.
21 CHAIRMAN SMITH: Yes, Mr. Miselman.
22 MR. MISELMAN: I think maybe a case of if
23 you have a lender who does both subprime and prime,
24 if somebody does reestablish credit within, let's
1 say, 12 months, and they're in their subprime
2 portfolio, and you prohibit them from monitoring
3 their portfolio because they could put them into a
4 prime loan then, it's the same company, and it might
5 be a disservice to the consumer.
6 MR. NADON: Something else just to think
7 about with that. We don't solicit our accounts. It
8 really doesn't affect me very much to put 12 months
9 or 18 months; that's not a practice that we do at
10 Option One.
11 Where I would just ask you to give some
12 consideration is, here is a circumstance that the
13 lender or a broker or somebody is not initiating the
14 contact, but I refinanced my house because of
15 interest rates, let's say, 12 months ago. Somewhere
16 after that, I found out that my wife is going to
17 have a baby, and we wanted to add a room, and I
18 didn't want to sell my house, I just wanted to add a
19 room, so I want a cash-out refinance because we want
20 to do an addition so we could have a bedroom for the
21 baby.
22 I call up the lender under this rule of 18
23 months, and I have had a good relationship with the
24 lender that I'm dealing with today, and I say,
1 "Would you please refinance my loan, because I want
2 $10,000 or $15,000 to put in an add-on," and your
3 answer is "No," regardless of how I've paid you,
4 regardless of the circumstance.
5 So as long as there is some room built in,
6 because there are some legitimate reasons why
7 people, other than interest rate, might want to do
8 some sort of a refinance.
9 MR. GOLANN: That seems a fair comment, and
10 one would have to make sure it didn't become a
11 reason to reimpose all the points and fees from the
12 first loan. But subject to that, I understand your
13 point.
14 MODERATOR SMITH: Yes, Mr. Curry.
15 MR. CURRY: The approach that we've taken
16 in our proposed regulations is really to try to
17 address some of those legitimate concerns. It must
18 be a high-rate loan being refinanced by a high-rate
19 loan, and there is also an exception for additional
20 proceeds that I think would deal with your issue.
21 With Howard's issue of being conventional, it
22 wouldn't meet the test, because both transactions
23 have to be high-rate transactions.
24 MS. RENUART: The problem with that,
1 though, is that there are many loans that were prime
2 that are being refinanced into subprime and at much
3 higher interest rates, and so that rule would not
4 cover it.
5 MR. CURRY: But if you are dealing with the
6 issue of flipping, then I don't think you have a
7 flip there, you really have a change in
8 circumstance. They are really entering into the
9 high-rate loan context with that second transaction.
10 MS. RENUART: But these are often people,
11 from our experience as consumer representatives,
12 folks who had a good loan sometime way earlier in
13 their life to purchase money, and now they're being
14 treated as a subprime borrower in the sense that
15 they either perceive themselves as unable to get
16 better credit or they're being treated that way by
17 someone who is soliciting them for their business.
18 And because the new lender wants to be in the first
19 position, they will only refinance, they won't make
20 them a second on their house.
21 So they refinance not only decent prime
22 mortgages but also rehabilitation loans made through
23 various cities in this country that are either zero
24 interest rate or low interest rate or not even
1 payable until the property is sold. Those are being
2 flipped into high-rate mortgages.
3 So there's a bigger problem than, I
4 think -- I don't mean to criticize your proposal,
5 but there is sort of a larger picture to look at
6 that would be not covered and not regulated by what
7 you're suggesting.
8 MR. GRAVINO: I think you have, continuing
9 on with what you say, you have a larger, a very
10 difficult problem when you start limiting points and
11 fees by using percentages.
12 Going back to Bruce's remarks, the
13 economics of the deal, I mean, this is just an
14 example. You do have unscrupulous lenders out
15 there. They're going to take advantage of the
16 situation.
17 I'm not sure how you end this up, but, I
18 mean, you have a customer who wants to take $20,000
19 to put an add-on on their home. They have an 8 1/2
20 or 9 percent first mortgage. The cost of doing that
21 $20,000 add-on is about $3,000. That's what it
22 costs to make the loan; whether you're first,
23 second, 200,000th, it doesn't matter, it's very
24 close to that number.
1 So, if you limit 5 points on the $20,000
2 loan, all of a sudden you're at a $1500 fee, which
3 doesn't cover the cost of making the loan. So what
4 do you do? Do you now take that loan, add it onto
5 your $80,000 first that you have, refinance that
6 whole thing, and charge them 3 points?
7 The customer, you know, if you charge them
8 10 points on the $20,000, he would have paid $2,000;
9 if you charge him 3 points on the $100,000, now he
10 is paying $3,000, and he is still paying $3,000 to
11 get $20,000 as opposed to $2,000 to get $20,000.
12 One comes under the HOEPA regulation, one does not.
13 The one that he pays more, and you've done
14 a disservice to him, is the one that doesn't come
15 under the HOEPA regulation. That's a difficult --
16 you know, you start to push people into those types
17 of arenas.
18 MR. MARKS: But so what if it comes under
19 the HOEPA regulation? I mean, it's not -- it should
20 be a prohibition to do things, but it's not a
21 prohibition, it's a disclosure. I mean, this whole
22 thing that somehow people are scared to death to be
23 subject to disclosure says, if they do something
24 that they should be scared to death, they certainly
1 should be disclosed.
2 MR. GRAVINO: I don't think disclosure is
3 the issue; it's the penalty for making a mistake
4 under HOEPA that's the real scary issue for most.
5 MR. MARKS: There should be a penalty,
6 shouldn't there, that says --
7 MR. GRAVINO: Not if they make an honest
8 mistake.
9 MR. MARKS: But you can't have the
10 exception make the rule. If the rule is that you
11 should be penalized if you're making a loan that
12 shows on the face of it that the borrower cannot
13 afford it, that's not an honest mistake, that's just
14 making a predatory loan.
15 MR. GRAVINO: Different issue. I was not
16 talking about that.
17 MR. WALKER: Dolores, I would like to ask a
18 question.
19 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Walker, please.
20 MR. WALKER: To what extent do appraisals
21 and rising real estate values add to the issue and
22 problem of flipping, I'm curious, to panelists.
23 MR. MISELMAN: I think it certainly adds to
24 it. As property values go up, you know, a subprime
1 borrower now has the availability, with his equity
2 in his property, to get cash. It is perhaps more
3 likely to be targeted. And if the property values
4 had stayed about the same or only increased
5 typically maybe 4 or 5 percent a year, they may not
6 be ready to get any cash out for several years. So
7 now when folks have a lot of equity in their
8 property, they could become a target.
9 So I think the fact that appraisals have
10 gone up certainly in Massachusetts, there is equity
11 there. You know, you have seen the advertisements
12 where you are sitting on cash in your home, and
13 whether that's appropriate or not for people to see
14 might come under HOEPA or not as far as advertising.
15 But when there's equity there, that's money that
16 could be tapped into, and people will try to talk
17 them into it.
18 MODERATOR SMITH: Ms. Carey.
19 MS. CAREY: I think that that's accurate,
20 and I think that goes to the question of ability to
21 repay as opposed to collateral values, and looking
22 at people's asset worth rather than their ability to
23 repay, as you mentioned. So I do think, yes, that
24 does tie in.
1 MS. RENUART: I just wanted to add briefly
2 historically the rise in predatory lending only has
3 occurred since the mid-1980s when property values
4 have risen dramatically. And so as they continue to
5 rise, the problem is still going to be there,
6 because this asset can be targeted by the lenders.
7 MODERATOR SMITH: Anyone else on that
8 point?
9 MS. HURT: I just wanted to ask -- I've
10 just briefly looked at the Massachusetts regulation,
11 but could you tell us or share with us some of your
12 deliberations on choosing two years in prohibiting
13 refinancing, as opposed to 18 months, or why you
14 chose to prohibit refinancings for a certain period
15 of time at all.
16 MR. CURRY: To some extent the prohibition
17 is arbitrary. It is part of the process of the
18 public hearing process. This is two years, put it
19 on the table, hear from the industry why it works or
20 it doesn't work from an economic standpoint.
21 We also looked to the North Carolina and
22 New York provisions in terms of establishing an
23 initial threshold subject to public comment. I was
24 interested in the comments in terms of 18 months
1 here as part of that process.
2 MS. HURT: So the choice of the time period
3 is fairly arbitrary.
4 MR. CURRY: To the same extent that, you
5 know, I think there is definitely a need to lower
6 some of the triggers, let's come out with something
7 to start the debate. That's really the approach
8 that we've taken.
9 MS. HURT: But you've also seemingly taken
10 the position that -- I don't want to put words in
11 your mouth, but one effective way to deal with loan
12 flipping is to impose some sort of time period in
13 which you couldn't refinance.
14 MR. CURRY: Yes, that the longer the period
15 that you have, the more likely that there is a
16 legitimate reason for refinancing. The shorter the
17 period, the more likely that it's an oppressive
18 tactic of loan flipping.
19 So we looked also to, you know, tie into
20 when you are financing a high-rate loan with another
21 high-rate loan and whether or not additional
22 proceeds were being advanced. We're trying to
23 distinguish between what might be a legitimate
24 transaction versus an oppressive tactic.
1 MS. HURT: Did you discuss or could you
2 share with us some of the other approaches to
3 addressing loan flipping that you decided against
4 adopting.
5 MR. CURRY: I think initially, you know,
6 when you start this process, with this ban of
7 refinancing outright, then you have to take into
8 account the economic and market issues, and this is
9 really what the process is: Yes, there are probably
10 legitimate reasons for this type of -- or why
11 refinancing might occur within a short period of
12 time; how can you try to differentiate and have some
13 flexibility with what otherwise would be a hard and
14 fast rule?
15 MR. MARKS: I would like to know from the
16 lenders, what is your position on the North Carolina
17 law where, on the flipping, there needs to be a net
18 tangible benefit for any loan that is flipped?
19 MR. GRAVINO: I think it's any loan that's
20 made, not necessarily just flipped.
21 MR. NADON: It's any loan that's
22 originated.
23 MR. GRAVINO: Any loan that's originated.
24 We frankly require that on all loans, whether
1 they're in North Carolina or not.
2 MR. NADON: When you are making a loan,
3 there should be a benefit to the borrower;
4 otherwise, you really have to ask yourself, why are
5 you doing this? We struggle with the wording of it
6 only to the extent that it says "a reasonable
7 tangible net benefit," and there is no definition
8 given, there is no guidance given as to what does
9 that mean.
10 So I don't know if it's as simple as we
11 reduced the borrower's payments by $300 a month, or
12 we reduced the interest rate on his underlying first
13 mortgage from, you know, 12 percent to 10 percent.
14 I don't know what those rules are.
15 And so as we are underwriting loans in
16 North Carolina, it gets to be a challenge for the
17 underwriters to know, what calculation am I supposed
18 to do, what am I supposed to take into
19 consideration? Over what term does that net benefit
20 need to take place? Is it over the potential 30-
21 year term of the loan? Is it over the average life
22 of three years?
23 It's very problematic for us. We're right
24 now asking people to try to help us get a
1 definition, frankly, of what that means.
2 MR. MARKS: But would you in general
3 support that?
4 MR. NADON: Absolutely. I think every
5 loan, as I said -- every loan that is made should be
6 providing a benefit to the consumer.
7 I will add, though, that this is a two-part
8 transaction. We are lending money; they are
9 borrowing. They are asking for money. So they also
10 have to have some hand in helping us define what do
11 they want and do they need it. I can't read their
12 mind. I don't know what's exactly in their head.
13 So we can only do our best efforts.
14 That's what we're trying to do in North
15 Carolina as we do in all the other states. Frankly,
16 we've tried to provide a benefit to the consumer on
17 every loan since we started our company.
18 MR. MARKS: Then I would like to ask Mr.
19 Curry, what would be the position of the State
20 Banking Commissioner on a similar kind of -- similar
21 piece of regulation that would say that, on any loan
22 that is made, there would need to be a net tangible
23 benefit to the consumer?
24 MR. CURRY: I think that's what we're
1 trying to say in the flipping provision that we're
2 looking at, that as an initial matter, that flipping
3 is questionable. We've carved out these areas of
4 advanced funds, additional funds are being advanced
5 for whatever the borrower's purposes are. That's
6 the carve-out that we've come up with.
7 I mean, we're open to it. We looked at the
8 North Carolina law as too vague, so we're trying to
9 provide some definition. And again, you know, we're
10 in the rule-making and public hearing process and
11 comments. We want to know what's a better way to do
12 it or a refinement of it. It really goes to the
13 same issue, I agree with you.
14 What I think is important too is the
15 borrower's ability to repay in terms of suitability
16 of these products. That's really the issue, is that
17 at some point in time it's unsuitable. That's where
18 I think there's a clear need to refine the existing
19 regulation, aside from the statutory issues. We've
20 seen in some cases where the forms, the files are
21 beautiful, but you know that that is not verified
22 income, and we want to tighten up that requirement.
23 MR. GRAVINO: As a lender in North
24 Carolina, it is the vagueness of the law that people
1 are struggling with. We elected to remain in the
2 state. Most of our counterparts have not done that.
3 But simply because of the way we had to
4 interpret the law -- we had to give it wide berth --
5 we're seeing, within one month, we have seen almost
6 a three-quarters drop in the number of applications
7 being submitted in that state. And that isn't
8 anything other than we're just not sure how to
9 interpret the law and how to make it reasonable and
10 make it work.
11 So we've taken a very conservative position
12 on it, and we've seen -- as I said in my opening
13 statements, there's a void that's going to be
14 filled. Somebody is going to fill it, and I just
15 hope they're reputable lenders.
16 MR. MARKS: But we keep hearing that, that
17 if you guys don't do it, and you guys consider
18 yourself legitimate and trustworthy and all those
19 nice things, but --
20 MR. GRAVINO: I feel very good about
21 myself.
22 MR. MARKS: -- but why shouldn't the issue
23 be that at some point no one should get those loans,
24 that because we have -- we have regulations in this
1 country that say, you know, if you go out and buy a
2 refrigerator and you make a mistake, well, you know,
3 the penalties on that are that you are going to lose
4 your money. But if you go out and you put your
5 house at risk, we're going to put protections in
6 this country to say, well, we're going to prevent
7 certain things from being done even despite
8 yourself, because the consequences are very severe.
9 Why isn't the position saying a 17 percent
10 loan that puts your house at risk shouldn't be made,
11 shouldn't be made, and saying that should be the
12 issue, not that somebody else who you consider more
13 devious and more underhanded should go out there and
14 do that?
15 MR. GRAVINO: Actually, the way the law is
16 written in North Carolina, you wouldn't get anywhere
17 near 17 percent, and we never were to begin with.
18 The issue, Bruce, I guess what you are saying is
19 going to happen, people are going to be restricted
20 from credit. We'll see what happens.
21 MODERATOR SMITH: I would also say at this
22 point that we can have this discussion about making
23 or not making loans or permitting them about 17
24 percent. To the extent that the focus of today's
1 hearing is on measures that can be taken within the
2 Federal Reserve Board's authority, that is not one
3 of them. So maybe we could just go on to other
4 items.
5 MR. MARKS: In that respect, we disagree,
6 that the Federal Reserve certainly has the
7 jurisdiction over its entities that it does regulate
8 to say that this is a deceptive or this is a
9 predatory practice to do that. This hearing
10 shouldn't be defined on some marginal issue of
11 whether HOEPA regs are going to kick in at 17
12 percent or 15 percent. You certainly do have that
13 authority.
14 MODERATOR SMITH: We will be discussing in
15 the next section some other items, and I think that
16 maybe we just ought to move along. Mr. Golann.
17 MR. GOLANN: I can't resist making one
18 comment, which is I heard an echo in Richard
19 Gravino's comments of something I said at the
20 beginning, which is if the standard is very vague,
21 it's not like not knowing where the cliff is. Good
22 lenders don't want to fall off; we'll stay well away
23 from the cliff. Other people might walk closer
24 because they're not so concerned about falling off.
1 We have an interest in defining where the
2 edge of the cliff is, and I think the Fed could be
3 very helpful, quite apart from whether you agree at
4 this specific limit.
5 MODERATOR SMITH: Jim.
6 MR. MICHAELS: This segment, our focus has
7 been on how could the Fed use its authority under
8 HOEPA to define specific acts or practices that are
9 unfair and deceptive, and flipping is the obvious
10 one that comes up.
11 We've heard people say, you know, it's hard
12 to define predatory lending, but you need to have
13 some specific rules that define certain practices
14 that are deceptive that's going to help. And there
15 are certain practices that are already clearly
16 unlawful or illegal, whether it is deceptive
17 advertising, misleading people about credit
18 insurance, falsifying loan documentation, falsifying
19 the applicant's income on a loan application; these
20 are all practices that are already unlawful.
21 The question I have is, if the Fed were to
22 use its HOEPA authority to define these kinds of
23 practices which are unlawful under other laws as
24 being unlawful under HOEPA, does that add anything
1 to the kinds of remedies that are available? Is
2 that a useful endeavor?
3 MS. RENUART: The answer in my mind is yes,
4 because the other laws you're referring to are a
5 patchwork of unfair and deceptive trade practices
6 acts that exist in the states, and in a significant
7 percentage of those state laws, they do not apply to
8 either credit transactions, mortgage lending, or the
9 particular type of lender might be excluded from
10 coverage.
11 So it's very unclear throughout the rest of
12 the nation whether the laws will actually pick up on
13 this type of behavior. If you're talking about
14 outright fraud, yes, every state has the common law
15 tort of fraud. But fraud is a very difficult thing
16 to prove, not only because of all the various
17 elements involved in reliance and damage and all
18 that, but you have to prove it by clear and
19 convincing evidence, so it is a much harder standard
20 than if all of the states' unfair and deceptive
21 trade practices acts would apply.
22 Now, Massachusetts happens to have a very
23 broad statute, but that's not true for other states.
24 Virginia, for example, excludes all credit
1 transactions outright, so you can't get to that type
2 of behavior, but for, in my opinion, the Board
3 adding a list of what it considers to be unfair and
4 deceptive trade practices to HOEPA, which, again, is
5 a small segment of the lending population. It's the
6 high-cost loans as defined under the act. We're not
7 talking about it applying to everybody; we're
8 talking about it applying to a smaller group of
9 loans.
10 MR. ALGIERE: Any definition must be clear
11 and concise; otherwise we could open up a floodgate
12 of litigation against banks or what have you. And,
13 again, I preface my remarks with fraud and deceptive
14 lending practices are unconscionable, it must be
15 stopped, but definitions have to be clear and
16 concise; otherwise we get into litigation. It could
17 potentially open up floodgates of litigation.
18 MR. MARKS: But every piece of legislation
19 is always broad --
20 MR. ALGIERE: Absolutely.
21 MR. MARKS: -- by way of definition. So
22 always the regulators are going to do that. So, you
23 know, this discussion of saying it has to be -- yes,
24 it's a truism.
1 MR. ALGIERE: Let's make an effort to make
2 it clear and concise.
3 MR. MARKS: Absolutely.
4 MR. ALGIERE: Since we're here discussing
5 if indeed something needs to be defined, my
6 statement is just let's try our hardest to make sure
7 it's clear and concise.
8 MR. MARKS: So the argument against the
9 North Carolina law can't be because it is vague,
10 because every piece of legislation is that way, so
11 therefore, it's always up to the regulators and the
12 enforcement entities --
13 MR. ALGIERE: I just want to make myself
14 clear. I did not make that statement, because I
15 haven't read the North Carolina law.
16 MR. MARKS: I'm saying, the comment from
17 the other lenders, that that can't be the argument.
18 That doesn't fly on its face.
19 MODERATOR SMITH: Jim.
20 MR. MICHAELS: I want to cover as many
21 topics as possible, and I want to change the focus a
22 little bit to this concept of unaffordable lending.
23 Under HOEPA, creditors may not engage in a pattern
24 or practice of extending credit without regard to
1 the repayment ability of the consumer. In that
2 specific prohibition, creditors are directed to give
3 consideration to the consumer's current and expected
4 income, their current obligations, and their
5 employment status.
6 For purposes of this hearing, there are
7 some questions that we may not be able to resolve or
8 that we could debate for the rest of the day, and
9 one of them is the merits of the pattern or practice
10 requirement which Congress has inserted into HOEPA
11 and whether Congress ought to lift the pattern or
12 practice requirement.
13 The other issue that it seems that we could
14 debate for the rest of the day would be what
15 constitutes a pattern or practice, how do you know
16 when there is a pattern or practice.
17 So, for the next 20 or 30 minutes or so, I
18 would kind of like to put those questions aside and
19 focus on perhaps some more specific issues.
20 Currently, there is no specific requirement
21 for documenting the consumer's repayment ability in
22 order to avoid violating this requirement. For
23 example, you could have a rule that says you are
24 engaged in a pattern or practice of making loans
1 without regard to the consumer's ability to repay if
2 you don't have a practice of doing the following,
3 and that list could include verifying the consumer's
4 income, verifying employment status, verifying
5 debts, using credit reports.
6 There are similar requirements which are
7 part of HOEPA in connection with the ability to use
8 prepayment penalties, and the question we would like
9 to focus on now for a little while is whether or not
10 it would make sense to use similar verification
11 requirements for purposes of this unaffordable
12 lending issue.
13 MR. ALGIERE: I would just like to make a
14 comment. I would hope that during -- this is
15 something under the Division of Supervision -- that
16 under a safety and soundness examination during the
17 review of loans, that if indeed an examiner or
18 examiners do come across some type of pattern such
19 as that, that some action would be taken. Am I
20 correct in that assumption?
21 MR. MICHAELS: We hope so.
22 MR. ALGIERE: I would hope so. If they see
23 a significant number or a number of files where
24 there is no income verification, credit reports are
1 poor --
2 MR. MICHAELS: Let me tell you the
3 distinction, which is that is true, but then you are
4 dealing with a safety and soundness issue, which is
5 different from dealing with a HOEPA violation, and
6 the ramifications and remedies come under HOEPA.
7 MR. MARKS: But that's what the Federal
8 Reserve, in my previous life -- yes, I mean, you
9 look at the CAMEL ratios, you look at all the
10 information, yes, you need to. That is part of what
11 the Federal Reserve does, it does the safety and
12 soundness, and that gets to the heart of HOEPA in
13 some ways. We're saying this is bad on all ends:
14 It's bad for the consumer; it's bad for the
15 investors and the lenders.
16 But let me start to address the issue of
17 what's affordable. When we do our lending through
18 NACA, we don't go by the ratios. We take the
19 person's rent, what the verified rent is, and we say
20 that's how much you're qualified for the mortgage
21 payments. And then we look at their regular pattern
22 of savings, and we say we'll increase it by your
23 regular pattern of savings.
24 We think that's a more accurate way to look
1 at it, not by the ratios, but look at whether
2 someone can afford the mortgage, even what people
3 consider subprime borrowers, and the results of the
4 performance of the loans has really been
5 extraordinary.
6 But to get to what is affordable, even if
7 you don't do that way of looking at what's
8 affordable, certainly if you're talking about ratios
9 that go above 40 or 43 percent, there should be a
10 test that says, document that this thing -- that the
11 borrower can make those payments. There should be a
12 threshold that says, at a certain debt-to-income
13 ratio, you've got to document that the person can
14 afford it.
15 And, you know, I guess we do it on a
16 personalized basis, we discuss it; that's what we do
17 as a nonprofit to make sure that it works. We're
18 not saying that should be what every lender does,
19 but let's have a justification, some debt-to-income
20 ratio that says, okay, that shows they can pay for
21 it.
22 And let's make it clear that you can't do
23 it on equity in-house, you can't do asset lending,
24 because I agree that a lot of lenders do not want to
1 foreclose on loans. Some do; some have that as a
2 practice. I assume that's not your business --
3 MR. GRAVINO: Can't afford it.
4 MR. MARKS: -- to want to foreclose, or
5 what Steve is out there doing. But there are some
6 that do that. We will agree that the majority don't
7 want to do that. Some might get as much money out
8 of the borrower and then not have to take the action
9 to foreclose. So asset lending doesn't make a lot
10 of economic sense.
11 MR. NADON: If I could just say, I
12 absolutely agree with you. It makes no sense in our
13 business to do asset-based lending, none. Frankly,
14 of all the people that I know in this industry with
15 the bigger companies, none of us do that.
16 Absent fraud, we are finding out what they
17 make, we're verifying the employment, we're running
18 merged credit reports to make sure we have all of
19 the credit information. You are looking at before
20 and after debt ratios, so you can see what can they
21 afford before and what are we doing to them after
22 the loan is done, so you can see what kind of an
23 impact you're having.
24 You're doing all of those things for just
1 that reason, because the loss severity, if you take
2 something to foreclosure, is in the 35, 36 percent
3 range of the principal balance. It's an absolute
4 lose-lose proposition: We lose a lot of money, and
5 the borrower loses their home. We do not want to do
6 that. So I don't know of someone that's a major
7 lender that is doing any asset-based type lending.
8 MS. RENUART: Is that the same as no-doc
9 lending in your mind?
10 MR. NADON: When you say "no-doc," I'm not
11 exactly sure what you mean. We're verifying the
12 income, we're verifying the employment, we're
13 verifying the credit, we're verifying the debt
14 ratios before and after. We're doing all that work
15 on every single loan that we do.
16 MS. RENUART: So when Bank One Financial
17 Services has a program of making light-documentation
18 or no-documentation loans, and New Century in their
19 latest prospectus shows that they make 30 percent of
20 their variable rate loans in the first quarter of
21 this year as no-document or stated-income loans,
22 would you find that acceptable to you in your
23 business?
24 MR. NADON: Stated-income loans can be very
1 acceptable as long as the income that you are
2 looking at is a reasonable figure for what the
3 person does for a living and you are verifying that
4 they're actually there doing the work. It is not
5 inherently a bad loan if someone doesn't hand you a
6 W-2.
7 MS. RENUART: Then how do you verify it?
8 MR. NADON: I'll give you an example.
9 Someone says that they are working at McDonald's and
10 they are making whatever they would make at
11 McDonald's, $5 or $6 an hour, and that's what they
12 put on the 1003. You do the math on your
13 calculator, and you say, "What they're telling me
14 they make is what they would make there."
15 I call McDonald's and find out if they'll
16 verify they're working there, are they in fact the
17 counterperson or whatever they would have as the job
18 title, and how long have they been there. And they
19 tell me that's how long they've been there and
20 that's what they do.
21 I take a look to see, on their past
22 servicing of debts, is the income that they needed
23 to have to service the debts that the credit report
24 and the borrower have indicated that they have, is
1 the servicing of the debt indicating that that
2 income has in fact been coming through the
3 household?
4 And if I look at my loan and I say, am I
5 doing anything that appreciably increases or
6 negatively then impacts his ability to continue to
7 service the after-loan debts, and if I'm not doing
8 anything, his outgo before in total was $800 a month
9 and his outgo after it is $800 a month, and he has
10 got a good performance record before, I have every
11 reason to believe, if I verify his employment just
12 as I talked about, that he is going to continue to
13 pay me the way he was paying other people before.
14 MS. RENUART: Based on what you said, you
15 absolutely verify something; you make no loans in
16 which there is no attempt at all to verify.
17 MR. NADON: That's correct.
18 MS. RENUART: So if other subprime lenders
19 were making, by their definition, no-documentation
20 and stated-income loans, which meant to them no
21 verification, you would think that would be
22 inappropriate?
23 MR. NADON: If they didn't do anything? I
24 think that's -- "inappropriate" might be -- I
1 wouldn't use the word "inappropriate" --
2 MR. MARKS: Come on, Steve, say it.
3 MS. RENUART: So it should be something the
4 Board should regulate, then, or prohibit?
5 MR. NADON: I think maybe they should just
6 rethink their business practices.
7 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Curry.
8 MR. CURRY: I would just say, from our
9 standpoint at the State, we are dealing with a
10 specific class of loans. Once you reach whatever
11 the final trigger is, basically a high-rate loan is
12 a predatory loan, and I think it is only appropriate
13 to tighten up the repayment ability requirements to
14 require verification. That's the approach we have
15 given.
16 I would also like to say, strictly from an
17 examination standpoint, trying for licensed lenders,
18 to the extent that we would want to have an
19 administrative enforcement action, let alone
20 litigation, pattern and practice is very difficult
21 to deal with. We have opted to eliminate it from
22 our regulations only because our enabling statute
23 allows us to do more than the Fed does. So that's
24 our approach.
1 Mr. Michaels' idea that the more clarity,
2 if you cannot eliminate it by statute, the more
3 clarity, a clear test you have to establish
4 predatory practice is great. We just have it a
5 little bit easier, fortunately.
6 MR. GRAVINO: I'm going to step in here a
7 little bit on the stated income, because we do
8 stated-income loans. But I believe we have always
9 limited the stated-income loan to a professional
10 borrower. We don't do --
11 MS. RENUART: To what, I'm sorry?
12 MR. GRAVINO: To a professional.
13 MS. RENUART: A professional person?
14 MR. GRAVINO: Yes. We don't do them to
15 McDonald's workers.
16 There is a market out there for that type
17 of loan. There are professionals who just really
18 don't mind paying an additional fee to not have to
19 disclose all the incomes or give you W-2 forms.
20 That market has been here for some time.
21 But I find, in terms of our own market
22 performance, that that is a very high-performing
23 marketplace. The loans that we make on stated
24 income to professionals, our delinquency is very,
1 very low.
2 MS. RENUART: But are these HOEPA loans?
3 MR. GRAVINO: No, they're not HOEPA loans.
4 I didn't think we were addressing just HOEPA.
5 MR. MARKS: Is there a certain -- what is
6 your threshold debt-to-income ratio that you use?
7 What is your threshold for total debt-to-income
8 ratio?
9 MR. CURRY: We're using basically 50
10 percent of gross monthly income against the
11 payments, monthly payments.
12 MR. MARKS: 50 percent. And are the
13 lenders that you're using?
14 MR. GRAVINO: (Inaudible)
15 MR. MARKS: And that's what you're doing at
16 Option One as well, 50 percent?
17 MR. NADON: We have programs, depending on
18 the loan to value, that can handle as high as 60
19 percent. Our average borrower is at 39.
20 MS. RENUART: Of gross?
21 MR. NADON: 39 percent of gross income is
22 our average.
23 MODERATOR SMITH: Yes, Mr. Miselman.
24 MR. MISELMAN: You know, what I've seen,
1 being in the mortgage brokerage industry, is
2 wholesalers will provide us the capital to provide
3 to the consumer. They don't just look at ratios
4 anymore. It's actually trickled down to even prime
5 borrowers, where you can run someone through an
6 automated underwriting system.
7 Automation is here, and many, many, many
8 brokers, if not all of them, should be on it if
9 they're not already. And it's almost like a black
10 box. The data goes in. You put it in accurately,
11 based on what the consumer tells you.
12 When it comes out of that black box, if
13 it's an approval, you don't know necessarily what
14 the criteria is, whether it was -- could it go with
15 a 65 percent ratio if they happen to have $100,000
16 in the bank and they're only borrowing $80,000? The
17 next day they could pay that loan off, should they
18 ever get into trouble.
19 So it looks at so many different scenarios
20 that to only focus on income as a criteria, we've
21 kind of gone in the other direction, and we're
22 looking at the whole package. And sometimes it's
23 tough to figure out, but it usually makes common
24 sense. The people with the higher ratios have very,
1 very strong compensating factors, either
2 particularly good credit or particularly high assets
3 or some combination.
4 MR. MICHAELS: Would there be any problem
5 with incorporating into this documentation that
6 assets could be considered as long as they were
7 liquid assets and were other than the home?
8 MR. MISELMAN: Sure. We have programs that
9 have requirements of six months worth of reserves
10 where, you know, that would carry them if they had,
11 say, some real tragedy happen, and they have to sell
12 the house and they can't work, the next day they're
13 out of work.
14 If they have six months' reserves, it gives
15 them six months worth of payments to handle while
16 they're not working. They could cover the mortgage
17 payment. You know, the ultimate worst case is put
18 the house on the market if it's a true tragedy. So
19 reserves are a big, big factor in prime and subprime
20 lending.
21 I would imagine that New Century at some
22 point, if they're doing a no-doc loan and it's to
23 someone who -- it's HOEPA loan or not, if they have
24 a high default ratio, as was said over here by
1 Steve, they lose money when they have to try to take
2 a house back, they will stop the program. So they
3 look at their data, and all wholesalers do, and they
4 respond to what the market wants.
5 MR. MICHAELS: Moving on to the next topic,
6 we have spent a lot of our time this morning talking
7 about the Board's regulatory authority dealing with
8 what sometimes is referred to as substantive rules
9 or substantive limitations.
10 We would like to talk now about disclosure
11 issues, and we could certainly have some debate
12 about the value of additional disclosures generally.
13 But we are asking for comment on a federal
14 regulation that has to be published, and we would
15 like to have some discussion this morning about some
16 specific disclosures as well. And I will list five
17 that are on our mind and then open up the
18 discussion, and we can take these in any order.
19 The first is additional disclosures about
20 credit insurance and similar products, such as debt
21 cancellation agreements. The second would be
22 disclosure about the availability of consumer credit
23 counseling services. The third would be additional
24 disclosures about balloon payments. The fourth is
1 whether the HOEPA disclosures that are given to
2 consumers at least three days before the loan
3 closing could themselves be improved. And the fifth
4 is additional disclosure regarding foreclosure
5 notices.
6 We're particularly interested in the
7 foreclosure notices and whether or not -- and this
8 is a somewhat different approach than is
9 traditionally taken, because foreclosure has
10 traditionally been a state or local area of
11 regulation.
12 What we're thinking about in terms of
13 foreclosure is whether or not there ought to be, as
14 part of HOEPA's rules, minimum federal standards for
15 the types of actual notice to consumers that they
16 will get in a default situation where foreclosure is
17 the next step, and what type of information would
18 need to be in that notice to prevent the possibility
19 that consumers who have been the subject of a
20 predatory loan or abusive practices will not have
21 ample opportunity to assert as a defense to the
22 foreclosure those predatory practices. So with
23 that, I would like to open it up for discussion.
24 Let me rephrase the foreclosure question.
1 Is there any reason why the Fed should not establish
2 minimum federal standards for giving actual notice
3 to consumers in foreclosure cases and for the
4 minimum amount of information that needs to be in
5 those foreclosure notices? Is there any reason why
6 that shouldn't occur?
7 MR. NADON: If I could ask just a general
8 question which is nonresponsive, so forgive me, is
9 there a reason to believe that all of the state
10 requirements that we currently have are inadequate?
11 MR. MICHAELS: Well, we have received
12 comment on this issue from time to time, and this
13 started back in 1998 when we were looking at the
14 issue of mortgage reform generally under Truth in
15 Lending and RESPA. We issued a report to the
16 Congress that went through the litany of the
17 problems related to predatory lending.
18 What we heard at that time was that there
19 were some states that, first of all, still did not
20 require actual notice to a consumer, that
21 publication of an impending foreclosure was
22 sufficient. And what we've heard from some Legal
23 Aid attorneys is that when they go to see -- when a
24 client comes to see them and says, well, "I haven't
1 been able to pay my mortgage. Am I in
2 foreclosure?", the Legal Aid attorney has to say, "I
3 really can't tell you for sure."
4 So we do have reason to believe that it is
5 a live issue. And the subissue is, even in states
6 where the consumer does get actual notice, the
7 question is what is the quality of that notice and
8 what kind of information are they receiving; are
9 they getting the right kind of information about
10 their legal options at that point.
11 MR. GRAVINO: Isn't the intent to
12 foreclose -- is that a state requirement? I thought
13 that was a state requirement.
14 MR. MARKS: Absolutely. That is where you
15 can look at Massachusetts where you have -- it takes
16 a long time, Soldiers and Sailors. You have Georgia
17 where it is a nontraditional foreclosure; you just
18 have to notify the first Tuesday every month, it's
19 on the State House steps, and it's two weeks'
20 notice. So it really is -- it is very particular to
21 every state, and the disclosure would be particular
22 to every state that is required.
23 MR. GRAVINO: Our practice, when we send
24 out intention to foreclose at whatever level we send
1 out, 10 percent of all customers, we frankly think
2 that that's the right way to do it: This is
3 regardless of where you're at, what state you're in,
4 et cetera, we send it out at the 45-day or
5 two-payment-down delinquent notice. It goes out at
6 that stage. I'm in favor --
7 MR. MARKS: That's a demand letter that you
8 send out at that point.
9 MR. GRAVINO: Yes.
10 MR. MARKS: Which is a --
11 MR. GRAVINO: -- 60-day thing.
12 MR. MARKS: Right.
13 THE STENOGRAPHER: Could you speak into the
14 microphones, please.
15 GOVERNOR GRAMLICH: Let me ask a question
16 about this. Some of you were saying earlier that
17 already disclosures were so voluminous that the
18 added use was very slight. And if you look at any
19 one of these things that Jim has mentioned, they
20 seem to be logical on their face.
21 Is there a problem in just getting so many
22 disclosures that nobody pays attention to any of
23 them? Or is there some way we could -- some way to
24 deal with that issue?
1 MR. GRAVINO: I think that certainly is an
2 issue. I mentioned that we kind of poll our
3 customers quite often on what they like and what
4 they don't like, and one of the issues that they
5 consistently come up with is they did not understand
6 what they were signing at closing.
7 I don't know whether additional forms are
8 going to do you any good. I mean, Illinois is
9 having a terrible problem with predatory lending,
10 and I think in Illinois there is almost 12 state
11 requirements, 12 forms that are additional to the
12 federal requirements that you have to sign in that
13 state, which just gets to be mind-boggling.
14 We're all for one form, get it as simple as
15 possible, and I think the consumer would be a lot
16 better off if we could do that. I mean, I'm in this
17 business, and I go to closings and I'm confused. I
18 can imagine, you know, what happens out there.
19 MR. GOLANN: I would draw a basic
20 distinction between the first four items mentioned
21 and the last one, which is foreclosure. The first
22 four, I gather, would be along with the rest of the
23 pile at closing. Foreclosure is fundamentally
24 different. There is not the danger that it will be
1 confused with something else.
2 I know that the Fed has heard about this in
3 the Consumer Advisory Council, so I'm interested to
4 hear that one major lender actually does manage to
5 get out these foreclosure notices on a national
6 basis. It sounds like it's doable.
7 Then the question becomes how to make them
8 clear and simple enough that they -- without trying
9 to advise, "Now, these are your rights under Georgia
10 law. If you happen to live in states that begin
11 with the letter I, you have these rights," and so
12 forth.
13 MR. GRAVINO: You have to do that.
14 MR. GOLANN: Well, one could simply warn
15 about a foreclosure and say that you may have rights
16 or you should consult someone.
17 MR. MARKS: What he is saying is what every
18 lender really does, and that is at 60 days, if
19 someone is two months behind, they will send a
20 demand notice that says that you've got 30 days to
21 come up with full arrears. That's what every
22 servicer does out there. What you are saying, you
23 are taking the demand notice as a foreclosure
24 certification.
1 MR. GRAVINO: It's not the demand yet; it's
2 the intent.
3 MR. MARKS: The intent that you're going to
4 refer it to the foreclosure process if you don't
5 bring the full arrears up. That's a standard that
6 every lender does.
7 MR. GOLANN: Maybe we're holding this part
8 of this hearing in the wrong place, because I'll
9 just note that there are Legal Services attorneys
10 from places like Mississippi who at least have told
11 the Fed that it doesn't happen for their clients.
12 MR. NADON: What most of us do, that's
13 called a notice of intent to foreclose. And then in
14 addition to that, at least on our side in our
15 servicing group, we sort of pair up a loss
16 mitigation person with the people that are doing the
17 foreclosures. So at the same day that action
18 starts, the loss mitigation person is working
19 directly with the consumer, because we don't want it
20 to go down that process.
21 So they're trying to help them find
22 solutions, help them find longer-term ways that they
23 can either get themselves righted financially,
24 because oftentimes just the reason they came to a
1 subprime lender in the first place is some life
2 event happened to them, and that may happen again
3 after we made the loan to them. So we try to work
4 with those and find other ways, other solutions to
5 their problems, so we don't have to get to the bad
6 part.
7 MR. MARKS: There should be a way, to make
8 the distinction, there should be, at the actual
9 foreclosure, there certainly should be something
10 that's sent out that you can go to see these
11 counseling agencies for assistance.
12 I think it's clear that -- I mean, we do
13 hundreds of closings every month, and as much as we
14 want to spend the hours, two or three hours at the
15 closing to go through every document, the reality is
16 that, as clear as the disclosure might be or the
17 document might be, the person is excited about
18 buying the house, and they are going to take all
19 those documents, they're going to put them hopefully
20 in a safe place. And if any issue comes up, it is
21 probably a few years down the road, and no one, no
22 matter how well schooled you are or whatever, is
23 going to remember those documents.
24 Certainly to notify people when there is an
1 issue out there at the time the issue comes up of
2 I'm at risk of losing my house, there should be some
3 kind of way -- "Here's a foreclosure notice, but you
4 can go to see these agencies who can help you," and
5 then the Federal Reserve giving incentives to the
6 lenders to do workouts.
7 So it says that, you know, there is an
8 encouragement to say how do we prevent this person
9 from getting too far into it, because by the time
10 that -- the day you send it to the foreclosure
11 attorney, you've incurred over $1,000 of the
12 attorney's fees just on the face of that, to do
13 that.
14 So you want to prevent that, if the Federal
15 Reserve had stuff in there that would say, "Here is
16 an incentive and encouragement to work with people
17 to prevent it to be referred to foreclosure."
18 MS. RENUART: If I could sort of perhaps
19 help clarify the discussion about what's the
20 difference -- what do the states do with the notice
21 of intent to foreclose, and what does the industry
22 do, et cetera, and how the state laws might differ
23 on foreclosure, our organization writes several
24 legal treatises, and one of them compiles a list of
1 all the state foreclosure and right to redeem
2 statutes.
3 So based on my knowledge of that, and my
4 knowledge of having been a consumer legal services
5 lawyer myself for many years, I think the difference
6 is, in standardized mortgage documents, such as
7 Freddie Mac's, Fannie Mae's, the FHA and the VA,
8 there is a standard clause that requires a notice to
9 be sent out of an intent to accelerate, and it tells
10 you how many days you have to pay up your arrearage
11 so that acceleration and further action doesn't
12 happen.
13 Quite separate from that, though, many
14 states don't have any additional legal requirements.
15 That's just by virtue of the mortgage, what I just
16 described. But legally many states don't require
17 any notice of intent to foreclose, don't require any
18 actual notice of a sale date, they simply require
19 publication in a newspaper.
20 More than 50 percent of all the states in
21 this country allow nonjudicial foreclosure, which is
22 a very quick and easy process, and I'm sure many
23 lenders appreciate that. But on the other hand, the
24 consumers find it more beneficial to have judicial
1 foreclosure, because then they have an opportunity
2 to raise their claims and defenses.
3 So what we are recommending in our written
4 testimony is that the Board state that it would be
5 an unfair and deceptive trade practice in a high-
6 cost loan to proceed nonjudicially to foreclose, and
7 that because every state does have a judicial
8 foreclosure procedure, that that's the only way to
9 allow a consumer to have the real ability, a true
10 real ability to raise defenses, because otherwise,
11 in a nontraditional foreclosure state, the only way
12 you can raise anything to stop a foreclosure is to
13 find an attorney who is willing to do the extreme
14 amount of work it takes to get into court, get an
15 injunction, file all the papers to do that.
16 Most people do not have access to lawyers
17 on that basis. Even if there are Legal Services
18 lawyers in their area, many of them don't handle
19 mortgage foreclosure transactions. So there is very
20 limited and spotty representation.
21 MR. MICHAELS: We touched on counseling for
22 a second, and notice of available counseling at the
23 operative time when there is a foreclosure
24 impending. I mean, we'll talk this afternoon a
1 little bit about who pays for the counseling and how
2 to ensure that counselors are qualified. Is there
3 also a need for better information about the
4 availability of credit counseling at an earlier time
5 when the high-cost loan is first made?
6 MR. MARKS: Yes. I mean, certainly
7 counseling is important, but, you know, we've talked
8 about this subprime, focusing on the subprime and
9 the predatory lending practices. The vast majority
10 of those loans are made by mortgage brokers out
11 there, independent mortgage brokers that the lenders
12 are buying from.
13 They're not in the business -- and that
14 means that these mortgage brokers, they deal with
15 real estate agents at the purchase and sale. The
16 deal is already done. The deal is already done.
17 There is no counseling that's done out there for 99
18 percent of all the mortgages that are done, all the
19 subprime mortgages that are done in this country.
20 So we've got to get past this issue of, you
21 know, we're looking at the very small percentage of
22 loans that could involve counseling, because again
23 you get back to the economics.
24 The economics are, someone goes out there.
1 They find a real estate broker who gets them a
2 house. The real estate broker does a quick
3 qualification and says, "Yes, I think there is a
4 mortgage broker out there that I can do a deal
5 with." There is a purchase and sale on the house.
6 There is no counseling that goes on there.
7 They will refer people to the mortgage broker. The
8 mortgage broker will find the lender out there who
9 will table fund the mortgage, and the deal is done.
10 There is not -- if we focus on counseling,
11 come on, that's not the reality of the industry.
12 We're looking at that 1 percent that could be
13 affected versus getting to the economics. The real
14 estate agent wants to get the deal done, the
15 mortgage broker wants to get as much fees as the
16 mortgage broker can get, and the lender wants to get
17 the highest rate. That's the bottom line.
18 MODERATOR SMITH: Ms. Schwartz.
19 MS. SCHWARTZ: Speaking about counseling,
20 something kind of interesting that we introduced to
21 the market this year and are excited about is a new
22 product called Credit Works.
23 We're funding an initiative in 19 cities
24 where those borrowers who appear to be B and C
1 borrowers on paper, as would be defined by the
2 subprime lenders, we're having them go through an
3 18-month intensive counseling process, restructuring
4 of debt, and we're working with counseling, as well
5 as a couple large lenders are providing market rate
6 loans as market prices that are similar to prime
7 rate mortgages. But on paper those people would
8 definitely go to a subprime lender at much, much
9 higher rates and points, as is indicated in the
10 subprime segment.
11 It's new to our company because we're
12 betting on the counseling, because for every other
13 reason, if they came through our models with those
14 credit parameters and characteristics, they would be
15 qualified much more in the subprime segment than the
16 typical loans we buy.
17 This is kind of a new effort for us to
18 continue to expand the prime effort to bring more
19 people into better rate mortgages, and that's
20 something that we've introduced this year, as well
21 as the counseling.
22 MR. MARKS: There is no question that
23 counseling works. I mean, just --
24 MS. SCHWARTZ: We hope so. We're looking
1 forward to the results.
2 MR. MARKS: -- just the NACA program shows
3 that it works. I mean, you know, yes, we do -- we
4 will counsel people on whether they are NACA
5 qualified, meaning that they're credit qualified,
6 asset qualified, income qualified. And then once
7 they are qualified, then you determine how much they
8 can afford.
9 There is no question that it works, but we
10 just can't get the focus away from the economics of
11 the vast majority of the industry and that there is
12 no economic interest to educate the consumer,
13 because if Option One was to educate the consumer or
14 Provident was to educate the consumer, what you are
15 educating the consumer is what your options are out
16 there, and the options might be a lower cost loan,
17 and it might be another lender out there. So, you
18 know, that's the truth --
19 MS. SCHWARTZ: These loans were in our
20 pipeline. We couldn't buy them. What I'm trying to
21 make a statement here on, these loans would
22 definitely go to subprime lenders, but because of
23 the counseling program for 18 months that they have
24 to finish, in conjunction with our lenders and the
1 credit counseling agencies, we're making a market we
2 otherwise would be uncomfortable making because of
3 the credit characteristics. I'm just trying to
4 clarify that.
5 MR. MARKS: Well, let me ask you, do the
6 lenders in Freddie Mac look at the credit scores?
7 Do you do a lot of your lending based on the credit
8 scores?
9 MS. SCHWARTZ: There are numerous variables
10 that we base our lending criteria on. Credit scores
11 are one of them.
12 MODERATOR SMITH: How are you identifying
13 people for participation in your program?
14 MS. SCHWARTZ: We're working with the 19
15 cities in our Expanding Markets area in conjunction
16 with some of the largest lenders in the country that
17 are in those cities that will buy through at current
18 rates. So I should know, but I'm not in charge of
19 that program.
20 MODERATOR SMITH: And are they people who
21 consider themselves ready to go out and buy houses?
22 Are they willing to -- do you have any problem
23 keeping them in the program for 18 months?
24 MS. SCHWARTZ: There are 200,000 people in
1 that pipeline who are undergoing significant
2 foreclosure -- they've been either foreclosed, in
3 bankruptcy, and/or already are possibly in the
4 subprime segment or maybe are just looking to buy a
5 house. There is already a pipeline we can tap to
6 bring people into a market rate, prime-oriented
7 rate, that otherwise we wouldn't make if they
8 weren't in this program, because they didn't come
9 through our normal programs.
10 MR. MARKS: And out of that 200,000, how
11 many have closed?
12 MS. SCHWARTZ: This is brand-new. But
13 there is a pipeline, and we're pretty excited about
14 this. We will track it. We'll let the world know
15 as soon as we know.
16 GOVERNOR GRAMLICH: I had a question about
17 it too. So how do you get people to wait 18 months
18 before they get their house?
19 MS. SCHWARTZ: Well, the ones that can't
20 wait -- since there is already a pipeline in there,
21 obviously the people who want cash today, what is
22 their other option? We have another product that is
23 a merit-rate step-down product that will compete
24 with the prepayment penalty mortgages in, let's say,
1 the A- segment of the mortgage market.
2 We'll offer that at a higher rate, slightly
3 higher than our prime-oriented rates. But we'll
4 offer, after 24 months of current pay history, a
5 lower rate to that borrower, without having to get
6 flipped, refinanced, incur fees. That's through
7 market competition, that's what we're about.
8 GOVERNOR GRAMLICH: I see. So they get the
9 loan and they're in the counseling.
10 MS. SCHWARTZ: They don't have to be in
11 counseling to get that loan. If they need something
12 immediately, we have a product that we have at a
13 much lower rate environment than the typical
14 subprime segment that we offer to compete for
15 someone who needs cash today. That's out in the
16 market that we offer today. But if they go through
17 intensive counseling, they can get a lower rate.
18 MR. MARKS: What the difference between an
19 A and an A- loan?
20 MS. SCHWARTZ: Do you know the difference?
21 I don't know all the differences.
22 MR. MARKS: No, but I'm curious.
23 MS. SCHWARTZ: It is a nonstandard market
24 out there.
1 MR. MARKS: Okay. But what's the
2 difference between an A and an A-, other than it's a
3 much higher interest rate?
4 MS. SCHWARTZ: There is a range of credit
5 out there in the segment of risk across the spectrum
6 from A- to D, but I can assure you that most lenders
7 out there don't have the same programs that say A-
8 is equal to a B or a C; they all differ. That's why
9 we're being pretty cautious about how we buy all of
10 these loans.
11 MR. MARKS: It would be interesting to know
12 the difference between -- because you are charging
13 200 basis points more for an A versus an A-, and
14 there is no discernible difference between the two.
15 So I would love to know what the answer to that is.
16 MR. GRAVINO: There are discernible
17 differences. It's a lot of issues. You have to
18 look at -- you have to kind of look at the risk of
19 the deal. The difference between an A, which you
20 are talking about as a prime --
21 MR. MARKS: Yes.
22 MR. GRAVINO: -- and a subprime --
23 MR. MARKS: Something that Freddie or
24 Fannie would buy and then provide them the
1 conventional rating.
2 MR. GRAVINO: You're normally looking at
3 someone who has been late on their mortgage in the
4 last 12 to 24 months probably twice.
5 MR. MARKS: Two 30s.
6 MR. GRAVINO: Two 30s. You're probably
7 looking at consumer debt that is past due, probably
8 looking at a bankruptcy in the past 24 months.
9 MR. MARKS: For an A-? Come on, that's not
10 right.
11 MR. GRAVINO: I'm sorry, but --
12 MODERATOR SMITH: You asked --
13 MR. MARKS: I want you to be truthful.
14 MR. MICHAELS: I'd like to shift this a
15 little bit, because we started out talking about
16 disclosures generally.
17 MR. MARKS: A- is not bankruptcy.
18 MR. MICHAELS: We started talking about
19 disclosures generally, and one of the assumptions
20 was that consumers get an awful lot of information
21 at closing, perhaps more information at closing than
22 they can absorb, but there are a couple of these
23 disclosure options here that would not necessarily
24 be at closing. Obviously foreclosure is one of
1 them.
2 The other two that I would like to focus on
3 that might not be at closing would be a disclosure
4 dealing with credit insurance, which could come
5 after closing in connection with the consumer's
6 right to rethink the decision to buy credit
7 insurance and perhaps cancel and get a rebate. And
8 the other disclosure that might not come at closing
9 would be one pertaining to balloon notes, which
10 could come as early as application.
11 So let's focus on credit insurance, for
12 example. Would it make sense to give consumers
13 information about the purchase of credit insurance
14 that they may not have absorbed at closing? It may
15 have been there, but they may not have had an
16 opportunity to focus on it.
17 Would there be some consumer protection in
18 giving them a post-closing notice that says, "You
19 may not have focused on it. You just bought credit
20 insurance. This is how much insurance you just
21 bought. And in your state you may have a right to
22 cancel this and get this money refunded to you"?
23 Does that make sense?
24 MS. HURT: Can I just add to that, do you
1 think something along those lines would help the
2 packing issue, that is, consumers not knowing that
3 they signed up for credit insurance? Or is the
4 problem that, whether they knew or not, they felt
5 that they were coerced into taking it, that they
6 wouldn't get the credit?
7 Maybe I'm not being clear on that, but,
8 essentially, do you think that that would help the
9 packing at all, where consumers don't know they have
10 the insurance, so as Jim was saying, if they get a
11 post-closing notice, then they might, you know,
12 reconsider?
13 MODERATOR SMITH: Elizabeth, who should
14 have been recognized a little bit go.
15 MS. RENUART: That's okay. I've been
16 talking a lot. In response to your specific
17 question, I think it can have a positive impact on
18 the packing, but only if not only what is rebated is
19 the unearned insurance premium using the actuarial
20 method rather than the Rule of 78s, because that
21 unfairly benefits the insurer or creditor, whoever
22 is retaining the premium, but also the interest that
23 would be earned over the life of the loan on the
24 increase in the principal amount because that
1 insurance premium is being financed.
2 So, if you just simply rebate the insurance
3 premium itself, the amount that it originally cost
4 is still part of the principal amount and is still
5 going to generate interest at, since we're talking
6 about high-rate loans, very expensive interest
7 rates, which could be several thousands of dollars
8 over the life of the loan.
9 One example we've included in our written
10 testimony shows a credit insurance premium of
11 $11,000, and so over 30 years at 17, 18 percent,
12 whatever the rate is going to be, it's quite a bit
13 of money. So the packing, I think there is some
14 disincentive by the rebate and the notice that might
15 encourage some people.
16 MR. MICHAELS: I don't want to sound like
17 an economist here, because I'm clearly not, but the
18 other side of the argument is if they get the
19 $11,000 rebate, then they would reinvest the $11,000
20 or pay down the loan $11,000.
21 MS. RENUART: Well, some creditors might
22 say, "We're going to apply it against the
23 principal," and that might -- and that could
24 alleviate the problem of the interest accumulating.
1 But many people are just going to, say, quite
2 clearly not really understand what the amount of the
3 check was, whether it's the right amount or really
4 know what it's about, and cash the check.
5 So it doesn't prohibit the packing in the
6 first instance, which not only generates the higher
7 principal, but generates higher points on that
8 higher principal, higher points and amounts, I mean,
9 and also the higher interest that will be collected
10 over the life of the loan. So I think it will have
11 some impact, but not significant.
12 MR. MICHAELS: You might want to treat the
13 points issue different than the interest on the
14 financing issue.
15 MS. RENUART: I'm sorry?
16 MR. MICHAELS: You might be able to treat
17 the points issue differently than the issue of
18 paying interest on what you finance.
19 MS. RENUART: Well, I just think our
20 earlier discussion about credit insurance will have
21 the effect that you are asking about much stronger
22 than this notice about the potential rebate, and
23 that is just simply include it in the points and
24 fees or abolish it altogether in high-rate loans.
1 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Nadon, Mr. Miselman,
2 and then Mr. Golann.
3 MR. NADON: Just a comment, because we
4 don't sell the insurance, so I'm giving you just a
5 little bit of experience. I started out in the
6 finance company business about 20-some years ago,
7 and I remember firing somebody for doing this,
8 because finance companies, I think, still to this
9 day sell a lot of this kind of insurance stuff.
10 I found someone that was intentionally
11 putting insurance products into the loan, so that
12 immediately after funding, the borrower could
13 cancel, so that he could give additional cash to the
14 borrower. Our loan limits said he could only borrow
15 $25,000. By adding insurance on top, he got the
16 borrower $30,000, and the borrower wouldn't take the
17 deal unless he got $30,000.
18 So he said, "Let me just put the insurance
19 on the deal, and then immediately send me a letter,
20 and I will send you a check back for the other 5
21 grand, so now you have 30."
22 So I would encourage you, and that was --
23 you don't like to terminate people, but that was a
24 good termination, because I didn't like that
1 practice.
2 So I would encourage you, if you're going
3 to do something on this kind of insurance, if a
4 rebate is going to be done, I think it should only
5 go onto the principal balance, not back into the
6 borrower's hands, because they could also figure
7 that out, and that's just a way to kind of get
8 around the system.
9 That would alleviate certainly the
10 additional interest that gets charged on those kinds
11 of insurance premiums, because some of the premiums
12 I've heard are high, real high. So I would just
13 encourage you to do that; otherwise, you could have
14 all kinds of operational problems within the lenders
15 themselves.
16 MR. MISELMAN: It seems to me that as
17 brokers we don't generally sell, it is usually a
18 lender thing, so I don't really cross it day to day.
19 But it seems, from everything I've heard, the best
20 way to do it would be to do it prior to the closing,
21 involve the issues of perhaps paying down.
22 If somebody did have a $5,000 premium and
23 financed it, and then they wanted to cancel it, if
24 you put it towards the principal, their mortgage
1 payment isn't going to change, unless they happen to
2 have a short-term adjustable loan, so they're still
3 going to be stuck with the payments month to month.
4 I think the real way to do it is to make
5 sure they understand what they're getting into up
6 front, and whatever kind of disclosure is done,
7 people are doing it without the borrower's
8 knowledge, and that's obviously a problem.
9 I'm certain a signature on a form should
10 certainly be encouraged. The ability that they can
11 shop for this particular insurance with outside
12 folks probably would be a good thing. And then in
13 the case of a refinance or a second mortgage have a
14 recision period, where if they want to take any and
15 all of that paperwork back to their own personal
16 attorney, their significant other or a relative,
17 they have a chance to cancel the whole shooting
18 match and start all over again.
19 So prior to is, in my opinion, the absolute
20 best way to alleviate any problems.
21 MR. GOLANN: Another aspect of what I do,
22 I'm a director of an insurance company that does not
23 lend to consumers. In fact, I'm the Vice-Chairman
24 of the board, and I've just sat through two days of
1 annual meetings talking about things like loss
2 ratios. And I have to tell you that if I had a
3 product that had the kind of loss ratios that this
4 does, 25 percent, maybe, 20 percent, I would drool
5 all over it, and I suspect my marketing people would
6 too.
7 I suspect that there would be a significant
8 temptation, if I had to give a notice, to try to
9 give a notice in a way that produced the fewest
10 cancellations possible. You are relying more than
11 usual on the efficacy of disclosure and on the good
12 faith of the people that will implement this
13 disclosure. I think it's quite a temptation.
14 MR. MARKS: Just by the fact that the
15 commissions that are paid to the attorneys when they
16 get people to buy credit life insurance or any other
17 credit insurance are so astronomical, the profit
18 margins in that are just tremendous.
19 So, you know, without hearing all of, you
20 know, just the loss ratios and all of that, they are
21 very, very low, it's really that you've got the
22 closing attorneys and the other people in there just
23 really encouraging people and pressuring them to
24 take this, because it's extraordinarily profitable.
1 We're seeing closing attorneys getting 60 to 70
2 percent of the premiums on it, just because it's
3 such a great deal for the companies that do it.
4 So it's something that should not be
5 allowed to be financed, because it's not in the best
6 interests, in virtually every circumstance, of the
7 borrowers. And just these two lenders here, they
8 said that they don't do it, and they're in the
9 subprime lending market, and that's being kind.
10 That's your term. We call it predatory.
11 MODERATOR SMITH: Jim, did you have other
12 topics?
13 MR. MICHAELS: Yes. We're coming close to
14 the time that we need to break for lunch. I wanted
15 to get a couple questions in about disclosures, and
16 particularly the unique disclosures that come under
17 HOEPA.
18 Under HOEPA you get a disclosure three days
19 before closing, which is a fairly abbreviated
20 disclosure compared to what consumers are going to
21 see in closing. So one danger is, if you add
22 additional disclosures, that it will no longer be
23 abbreviated and simple.
24 But the question is, can that disclosure be
1 improved? Is the consumer getting the right kind of
2 information three days before closing? And I give
3 you one of the examples: A consumer will get on
4 that disclosure the APR and will also get the
5 monthly payment amount.
6 What we've heard people say is they can
7 sell a loan with that monthly payment amount because
8 that's a monthly payment amount that's lower than
9 what the consumer is currently paying on their
10 mortgage. What they don't know is that it could
11 still be lower yet, because they don't realize that
12 the monthly payment on that disclosure is one that
13 relates to a total loan amount that is larger than
14 their loan request. It includes a lot of financed
15 fees.
16 So it might help to have the consumer look
17 at that monthly payment in relationship to the
18 amount of the total loan, but that's not a
19 disclosure they get now.
20 The other thing that might go on that early
21 disclosure is the monthly income that the creditor
22 has used in underwriting that loan and determining
23 that that's an appropriate monthly payment that the
24 consumer can afford. There is an opportunity for a
1 consumer who has given their monthly income to a
2 broker, for example, to have the broker pad that
3 income so that the creditor can underwrite the loan.
4 Having that disclosure show the income used by the
5 creditor would hopefully deter some of that.
6 So with those two examples, can the HOEPA
7 disclosure three days before closing be improved?
8 That's the question.
9 MS. RENUART: Well, into a vacuum I will
10 march, a vacuum of silence, that is, not a vacuum of
11 will. I think that without destroying the brevity
12 and simplicity of the current notice, you could add,
13 I think, the things you're alluding to quite
14 quickly.
15 And that would be, what I think would be
16 important is the total amount of charges, prepaid
17 finance charges you are paying on the loan, so that
18 will list out the prepaids; the total amount of
19 other closing costs that are being charged, that
20 will list those out; and the total loan amount.
21 This gets to what the allegations in the
22 First Alliance Mortgage case are about, in the
23 Minnesota complaint filed by the Attorney General,
24 which is that First Alliance sells people on the
1 amount financed, they focus on that in their whole
2 sales pitch to the customer, that this is the amount
3 you're borrowing, which is the amount financed,
4 rather than the total loan amount.
5 So people then don't have a way, from what
6 they hear, leading up to the signing of the papers,
7 they don't have a way to see that what they think
8 they're borrowing is really much smaller than what
9 they actually are borrowing because of all the
10 points, fees and closing costs that are stacked on
11 top.
12 So just the addition of, I think, those
13 three numbers. I think there was some suggestion of
14 adding the interest rate. I don't think you should
15 ever add the interest rate in conjunction with the
16 APR, because it is too confusing, because then
17 lenders will say, "Look at the interest rate. The
18 government just confuses you by giving you the APR.
19 Ignore the APR, ignore the man behind the curtain,
20 just look at the interest rate." And of course we
21 know the interest rate is not the true cost of the
22 credit.
23 MS. KOGUT: It is true, in the First
24 Alliance Mortgage Company case, one of the things we
1 hear from consumers is that they had no idea how
2 much money they had borrowed. I mean, imagine that,
3 walking away from the closing and not knowing
4 actually how much money you borrowed.
5 But I'm reluctant to endorse any changes
6 that would just amount to more disclosures. These
7 consumers were treated to such an intense oral
8 deceptive sales technique that I think they are
9 really in a position to disregard anything they get
10 in writing.
11 I mean, I think it certainly would be
12 helpful if they got a piece of paper a few days
13 before the closing saying, "This is how much money
14 you're going to borrow," but it is still -- I think
15 still for many of these consumers, they might not
16 have even woken up to that or even read it, they
17 were so in tune with what the loan originator was
18 saying to them, which was so much along the lines
19 of, you know, "No need to read these pieces of paper
20 here. These are just kind of things the lawyers
21 make us give you."
22 MR. MICHAELS: What about the consumer's
23 monthly income; would that help?
24 MS. RENUART: Stating what --
1 MR. MICHAELS: Stating the monthly income
2 that was used by the creditor in processing.
3 MS. RENUART: I don't think that helps
4 significantly, because many of the brokers, in
5 particular, who are working with -- again, that's 60
6 percent of the market, and probably a higher
7 percentage of predatory loans that are being made by
8 brokers -- they say to our clients, you know, "What
9 I put down here, you know, don't worry about it.
10 I'm just putting down what you need to have on the
11 application."
12 And if the consumer ever questions, "Well,
13 that's not really my true income, that's too high,"
14 they say, "Oh, we have to put that down. It doesn't
15 mean anything," again, ignore the man behind the
16 curtain kind of discussion.
17 So, again, the more that happens, and we
18 have heard this from many clients, the less likely
19 it will be that, when they see that wrong figure on
20 the HOEPA notice, they will be alarmed.
21 MR. MISELMAN: When it comes time for
22 closing, a lot of lenders now actually have an
23 application, a typed application based on what the
24 mortgage broker submitted to them, so that if there
1 is a discrepancy, the borrower can catch it at the
2 closing.
3 So if they originally said $3,000 a month
4 income, when they actually get to the closing, one
5 of the forms is the actual application that was
6 transferred from the broker to the lender, to the
7 wholesaler. And at that point, you know, they can
8 review the application to see if the facts that they
9 originally gave to the broker are what ultimately
10 made it to the lender. So that's kind of being done
11 a lot in the marketplace right now.
12 There are a lot of other loans as well now
13 that have come up. There is the no-income loan,
14 which is what we've kind of -- no income
15 verification, where people can state an income.
16 They have come out with no-ratio loans, which is the
17 fact that you just state your job, you state your
18 job title, and as Steve was saying, an underwriter
19 will underwrite just to the reasonableness -- you
20 know, if someone works at McDonald's and they
21 state -- and they don't state, but they're going for
22 a $250,000 loan, you wonder how you could qualify
23 that unless they happen to own the franchise.
24 So they're starting to address all these
1 issues, where you can't fraudulently put down
2 different -- you know, incorrect income, and that's
3 what it really would come down to.
4 MS. HURT: May I ask, in the Massachusetts
5 proposal, you've added some enhancement, you've done
6 some enhancement about HOEPA disclosures by, for
7 example, requiring a disclosure that the consumer be
8 told that there may be a less costly alternative and
9 some other things. Could you share with us your
10 thinking on adding that disclosure versus some other
11 disclosure.
12 MR. CURRY: I think it's the same thought
13 process when you're probably getting any regulation
14 with a disclosure. Here, because of the nature of
15 it, you're already in the high-rate loan provisions.
16 You want to use the disclosures as last chances to
17 tell people to get out of the deal or to raise the
18 issue that it's financially questionable or has
19 serious implications. That's what we are trying to
20 do.
21 It's the same thing with the credit
22 products. We have a disclosure for that, basically
23 requiring acknowledgment that they know -- to sort
24 of reinforce the message that "You don't have to buy
1 this, and it's not necessarily in your best
2 interest. Let us know if this was presented to
3 you." That's really the rationale.
4 In my career as a bank regulator, I do fear
5 the accreted weight of all these disclosures, but
6 you have to make a decision, on a particular subject
7 matter, is it worth throwing an extra piece of paper
8 on it. In this type of transaction, I think the
9 balance favors disclosure. It's clear, so you can
10 see the financial and other implications of the
11 transaction ahead of time.
12 MR. GOLANN: Many of the disclosures that
13 appear in the Massachusetts real estate transaction
14 are proposed by the Legislature through somebody's
15 perhaps misguided hope to solve some particular
16 problem, and they're not the responsibility of the
17 Banking Commissioner.
18 I will just say that the most useful thing
19 that the Fed can do, and I'm not suggesting that
20 it's on your plate, would be to restrict the number
21 of state disclosures, so that at least there would
22 be a limited number and they would be accurate.
23 I'll say the other thing --
24 MR. CURRY: That's heresy as a former
1 regulator.
2 MR. GOLANN: I know that. I remember from
3 my state enforcement that the worst cases to
4 litigate were the ones that had wonderful paper
5 disclosures that they could point to that you knew
6 that the consumers had never really read or been
7 given a chance to digest.
8 MS. KOGUT: All of these problem mortgage
9 lenders have the cleanest files. The ones with the
10 highest costs and the biggest areas of deception,
11 the files could not be cleaner. That's always a
12 problem.
13 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Gravino.
14 MR. GRAVINO: We have a practice that has
15 been very effective for us in terms of income
16 disclosure, and that is we have a fraud unit. And
17 as part of our closing process, we give a customer a
18 notice that says, "We have a fraud unit. We are a
19 federally insured institution. Any information on
20 your application had better be accurate," or words
21 to that effect. And that has surfaced quite a bit
22 of the problem, and we're -- well, the form is
23 working for us, but it has real meat behind it.
24 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you. Any other
1 issues? Any other issues that we -- yes.
2 MS. RENUART: I'm sorry, I just wanted to
3 add about the notice issue that we think the three-
4 day advanced notice, because it's so unusual in
5 mortgage transactions -- you don't get that many
6 things three days in advance; the big stack is when
7 you get the closing -- so this is your big warning,
8 your advanced warning system is really what the
9 HOEPA notice is about.
10 And I think if the Board tied or sort of
11 thought of that mandatory counseling preconsummation
12 in conjunction with the three-day notice, it could
13 work very well, because if the homeowner then took
14 the three-day notice to their mandatory counseling
15 session prior to entering into it, the counselor,
16 properly trained, properly funded, whatever, and
17 those are all big ifs, if that system was in place,
18 that would be an additional person who would look at
19 this early warning system notice and say, "Oh, wait
20 a minute. What are you getting yourself into?
21 Let's just figure this out and see whether this
22 really makes sense."
23 So the two together, I think, should work
24 very well. But the National Consumer Law Center
1 really supports this three-day advanced notice as a
2 warning system.
3 MR. GOLANN: I would second that.
4 MODERATOR SMITH: Any other issues that you
5 would like to bring up before we adjourn?
6 MS. RENUART: I'm sorry to keep going. I
7 wanted to address one thing that was mentioned by
8 Dennis at the end, who is not here right now, when
9 he made his opening remarks, and that is that
10 perhaps we should have more enforcement of existing
11 laws.
12 And that ties to another area which the
13 Board did not specifically ask comment about, but
14 what has been mentioned by Ms. Kogut in the FAMCO
15 loan file, and that is mandatory arbitration
16 clauses.
17 So that no matter how much money we can
18 throw at the FTC or at the state attorney generals'
19 offices or at the private attorneys or the Legal
20 Services offices around the country to enforce these
21 actions through private attorney general
22 enforcements -- which is what the statute Section
23 1640 in Truth in Lending is all about, and Congress
24 envisioned private attorney general enforcement as
1 the main way to effectuate the public policies
2 behind the Truth in Lending Act and HOEPA -- if
3 everything is shunted off into mandatory
4 arbitration, where as we know there are no national
5 set rules, it depends on what arbitration company
6 handles it, and there are the big three, and then
7 there are many others out there, there is no
8 consistent way of knowing whether a consumer's
9 rights can actually be vindicated in that process.
10 There are high filing costs, there are high
11 arbitration costs, there is no rule of law
12 necessarily applied. The arbitrators don't have to
13 be attorneys, necessarily. It's sort of the Wild
14 West, once you're thrown into mandatory arbitration.
15 That's something that the Board, I think,
16 should give serious consideration to, because all of
17 what else we might say or all of what else you might
18 do might not amount to a hill of beans if everything
19 is thrown into this Wild West way of enforcing Truth
20 in Lending and HOEPA, through mandatory arbitration
21 clauses.
22 And those are appearing everywhere and
23 creeping ever more greatly into mortgage lending.
24 They're very widely used in credit card
1 transactions, automobile financing transactions,
2 certainly mobile home purchases and others, and they
3 are seen widely now in the mortgage lending side.
4 Finally, we haven't talked about open-ended
5 credit, and in our written comments, we talk -- we
6 specifically ask the Board to consider asking
7 Congress to include open-ended.
8 We have examples in our written testimony
9 of loan-splitting transactions where two very
10 major -- the biggest finance companies will make a
11 closed-end mortgage transaction on one day and, on
12 the same day or a few days after, make a much
13 smaller open-ended transaction, sometimes to fund
14 the points on the closed-end transaction. And
15 surprise, surprise, the open-ended transaction is 22
16 percent or higher APR, which would be a HOEPA loan
17 but for the fact that it's open-ended. Thank you.
18 MS. HURT: I'm sorry, I just want to follow
19 up on that. In the original HOEPA hearings we had,
20 and also in the legislative history, there was the
21 issue of whether HOEPA should apply to open-ended
22 credit. And periodically, and maybe you will have a
23 few examples, I would think, or just from my
24 experience, we've heard a lot of anecdotal evidence
1 about predatory or stories of predatory lending. It
2 doesn't often involve open-ended credit.
3 MS. RENUART: Well, I can only tell you
4 that Beneficial Finance and Household Finance are
5 doing this, and they are extremely large finance
6 companies. So if they are making open-ended loans
7 that may actually be spurious open-ended loans,
8 there may be a legal claim about that. But that
9 aside, I don't know how else to --
10 MS. HURT: I guess I would say that if you
11 have or you know others that have examples of
12 that --
13 MS. RENUART: Yes.
14 MS. HURT: -- because to my understanding,
15 based on the anecdotal evidence that we've heard,
16 and we've heard through the HUD and Treasury
17 hearings and in other instances, it very rarely, if
18 ever, involved open-ended credit. So I think if you
19 are suggesting that it should cover open-ended
20 credit, then anecdotal evidence of that, if you have
21 it, or if you know others that have it, it would be
22 beneficial to us.
23 MS. RENUART: Thank you.
24 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you very much. We
1 thank the panel for being here this morning and
2 sharing your views with us. We hope that, if your
3 schedule permits, you're able to stay for the
4 remainder of the hearing. And a reminder about your
5 written statements, if you would give them to one of
6 us or to Kyung who is in the audience.
7 So with that, we are adjourned until 1:30.
8 We will reconvene promptly. A reminder, if you
9 wanted to appear this afternoon, to sign up at the
10 desk. So thank you very much.
11 (Luncheon recess)
1 AFTERNOON SESSION
2 MODERATOR SMITH: I believe we're ready to
3 start, and so I will. I'm Dolores Smith. I'm the
4 Division Director for Consumer and Community Affairs
5 at the Federal Reserve Board, and I'll be moderating
6 for the hearing this afternoon.
7 For those of you who have just joined us,
8 we welcome you, especially the panelists, although I
9 was glad to see some of you here this morning. We
10 did hear some interesting things this morning. I
11 think they will be useful to us in our
12 deliberations, and we look forward to receiving your
13 views this afternoon.
14 Let me start by introducing the Board
15 Panel, and I will -- this morning Ned Gramlich, who
16 is a member of the Board and the Chairman of our
17 Oversight Committee for Consumer and Community
18 Affairs, was able to join us on the Panel. He has
19 left us for the afternoon, but I just wanted to let
20 you know that we did have him in attendance here.
21 And so on the panel this afternoon, I will
22 start at my extreme right with Richard Walker, who
23 is Vice-President here at the Federal Reserve Bank
24 of Boston. Then Sandy Braunstein from the Board,
1 who is Assistant Director in charge of Community
2 Affairs. Then we have Jim Michaels, Managing
3 Counsel for Regulations, and Adrienne Hurt,
4 Assistant Director for the Regulations Program.
5 Adrienne and Jim are the ones who are most
6 closely associated with dealing with matters having
7 to do with the Home Ownership Equity Protection Act
8 and in developing whatever regulations will come out
9 of these hearings. So that's kind of who we are.
10 We have some rules of procedure for this
11 afternoon, as we did this morning. First of all,
12 our invited panelists who have joined us here will
13 have three minutes each to give opening statements
14 before we get into the more general discussion of
15 the issue for the afternoon, which has to do with
16 consumer outreach and consumer education.
17 And we have, in the first row in the
18 audience, timekeepers. They will be lifting up a
19 card that says "One Minute Remaining," and then
20 "Please finish" when you are approaching the three-
21 minute mark. There is also, I think, a little
22 musical beep that goes off when the three minutes
23 are up, which you may or may not hear. You may
24 confuse it with some of the cell phones that keep
1 going off.
2 But aside from that, I said this morning,
3 although I didn't get around to using it, that if
4 perchance you are looking in this direction instead
5 of toward the timekeepers, that I would sort of give
6 you the time's up signal. But I think we'll do just
7 fine.
8 Then, at the conclusion of the opening
9 statements, then we will get into a more general
10 discussion where we are hopeful that, as in the case
11 this morning, it will be more of a round-table
12 discussion than just witnesses appearing before this
13 Panel. So that ought to be interesting.
14 So for the afternoon session, then, we will
15 start with the opening statements, and then we'll
16 go.
17 MS. MOSELEY: I want to thank the Board for
18 having us here.
19 MODERATOR SMITH: Would you state your
20 name.
21 MS. MOSELEY: Norma Moseley from the
22 Ecumenical Social Action Committee in Boston. I've
23 been working as a housing advocate for about 34
24 years, so I'm not the new kid on the block. And I
1 have been watching the cycles of predatory lending
2 in the '80s and early '90s and now starting all over
3 again.
4 I'd like to make one comment that, based on
5 this morning's testimony, I heard from the lenders
6 in that group that there are very small percentage
7 of predatory lenders out there and the rest of the
8 subprime lenders are good guys.
9 Well, for a small number, they're having an
10 enormous impact. I think part of this is because of
11 the massive advertising that they are able to do
12 over television, mail solicitation, door-to-door
13 solicitation and phone solicitation. So, for a
14 small group, they're spending a lot of money, so
15 there must be some money in it. So when you say
16 there are only a small group of predatory lenders,
17 don't let that deceive you into thinking that there
18 isn't a whole lot of predatory lending going on out
19 there.
20 The other thing I want to say right at the
21 beginning is that this is the third panel I've been
22 on in three months dealing with predatory lending:
23 The FDIC, the National Consumer Law Center and the
24 Federal Reserve. And it seems to me that after this
1 meeting the fact-finding should be complete, and
2 it's about time to get down to action. And action
3 isn't more disclosures, I can tell you that. Our
4 families don't even get through the disclosures that
5 they're given at the closing.
6 I'd like to talk with people about forming
7 some subcommittees or task forces and dealing with
8 it on parallel lines and levels as to how we can
9 come about getting some resolution to this problem,
10 not all regulation, not all disclosures, but what
11 can we do. There are a lot of people out there who
12 have a lot of good ideas, and I think that that
13 should be the next step. And I hope, at the
14 conclusion of this meeting, that there will be some
15 ongoing dialogue to really develop strategies and
16 not just talk about them any more.
17 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you.
18 MS. COHEN: Hi. I'm Nadine Cohen from the
19 Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the
20 Boston Bar Association, and I hope I get Norma's
21 extra seconds there. So make sure.
22 Subprime loans grew in the greater Boston
23 area by 435 percent between 1994 and 1998, and
24 subprime lending in high minority areas in that same
1 period grew by over 1000 percent. Subprime lending
2 in minority areas is three times greater than in the
3 general metropolitan area, and it's also greatest in
4 refinancing.
5 Now, while not all subprime loans are
6 predatory, it's clear we have a dual lending market
7 where low-income minority borrowers, who are most
8 vulnerable, are targeted by the unscrupulous
9 lenders, and they're targeted for high-interest,
10 high-fee loans that result in stripping homeowners
11 of color and communities of color of their wealth.
12 The word "sub "means below or beneath, and
13 we are accepting a dual market where people of color
14 are routinely given less favorable terms in loans
15 than whites, and often regardless of their ability
16 to pay back the loans or their credit history, and
17 they are thus relegated to a lower status.
18 Instead of helping people who have limited
19 incomes or past credit problems, by allowing the
20 predatory lenders, we are charging people of color
21 more than we charge wealthier white borrowers and
22 subjecting them to more onerous terms. The goal
23 should be to get all borrowers in the prime market
24 and get them loans at reasonable rates with
1 reasonable terms.
2 While consumer education is extremely
3 important, the Federal Reserve Board must use its
4 regulatory and enforcement powers to stop the
5 unscrupulous lenders from taking advantage of
6 people. The Lawyers Committee would support
7 lowering the interest rate, prohibiting the
8 prepayment penalties, all the things that were
9 probably talked about this morning.
10 We also want to see expanded HMDA data
11 collection, and most importantly, I think in terms
12 of this panel, there has to be support for financing
13 of consumer counseling programs and consumer
14 education and enforcement programs by private fair
15 housing groups and by legal groups. One suggestion
16 for ensuring borrowers are protected is support
17 funding of attorneys or lay advocates who can
18 represent borrowers at the closings and review the
19 loan documents. We need to put low-income borrowers
20 in an equal position.
21 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you very much.
22 MR. RAYMOND: Hi. I'm very pleased to be
23 here today. I thank very much the Board for
24 inviting me. I am Len Raymond. I'm the founder and
1 director of Homeowner Options for Massachusetts
2 Elders. We are a 17-year-old statewide nonprofit
3 that works with older homeowners in terms of
4 sustaining their independence in their homes.
5 I would also like to, before I get into my
6 short substantive statements here, to congratulate,
7 because I think I have to do this, the Bank
8 Commissioner of Massachusetts and the Secretary of
9 Consumer Affairs, because I was very proud that they
10 were, quote-unquote, lowering the bar this morning
11 in terms of the announcement of their regulation,
12 which I think is much needed, especially in the area
13 of elder homeowners who are victims.
14 There is no question in my mind, and we can
15 certainly hopefully discuss this later on in more
16 detail, but those regulations will have a direct
17 impact in alleviating some of those problems or
18 difficulties.
19 I'm going to also quickly run through some
20 issues here which I would like to have us hopefully
21 elaborate and hopefully the audience will
22 participate in and the panelists later on as well.
23 But certainly, as has been noted already,
24 the availability of counseling I think is going to
1 be a really critical issue in being able to make
2 things work for the clients that we're talking
3 about, the homeowners seeking the refinancing.
4 There are obviously questions of quality of that
5 counseling, its availability, the fiscal resources
6 to support it, and some sort of set of standards at
7 the same time.
8 I'm trying to reiterate Norma's point about
9 public awareness. Most people, I believe, by this
10 time have heard about the "Don't Borrow Trouble"
11 campaign, which was really started here in Boston,
12 and Norma had a lot to do with getting it off the
13 ground with MCBC and other folks. Now its
14 statewide. But that's an incredibly important
15 initiative there. Again, it shows the need for very
16 expensive, punchy, frequent and correctly timed
17 advertising on the other side of the issue here.
18 Education and outreach for the target
19 populations -- we're talking about on a long-term
20 basis -- is extremely important. Our program, the
21 HOME program, has been providing for some time now
22 and is continuing to refine it, but a program
23 designed specifically for senior homeowners that
24 deals with not only immediate financial questions,
1 but also such important life issues as remainder
2 life planning and successful aging in place.
3 The last thing I would like to comment
4 about is that we really need to get out of the box,
5 I think. This is my fourth session, which
6 unfortunately I think -- America has this penchant
7 for 30-second attention spans. No offense to the
8 Board, but I think we really need to seize upon, as
9 I read here from the Board, the desire to have not
10 just the regulatory remedies discussed but to have
11 very much a broad spectrum of possibilities
12 discussed, and I hope we do that today.
13 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you very much. Mr.
14 Callahan.
15 MR. CALLAHAN: Thank you. I thank you for
16 inviting us today. My name is Tom Callahan,
17 representing two organizations today: the
18 Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance, which I'm
19 Director of, and I'm the Co-Chair of the Mortgage
20 Committee of the organization called the
21 Massachusetts Community Banking Council, which is a
22 cofounder with the City of Boston of the "Don't
23 Borrow Trouble" campaign.
24 Consumer education is a very important
1 piece, I think, in the predatory lending issue.
2 That's why the Massachusetts Community Banking
3 Council, which is a consortium of nine banks and
4 nine community organizations, was formed ten years
5 ago to try to identify and continue to work on
6 issues of concern to both community groups and banks
7 specifically in low and moderate income communities.
8 A couple of years ago it identified this
9 issue of high-cost lending, predatory lending, and
10 tried to attack it in a way -- in a couple of
11 different ways. One, we produced a foreclosure
12 counseling guide that told people where they could
13 get assistance, basically from which types of
14 nonprofit agencies.
15 Two, we tried to encourage and we're still
16 trying to encourage banks to offer alternative
17 credit products so that people have an alternative
18 to the high-cost subprime and predatory lenders out
19 there.
20 And three, we tried to develop a very
21 broad-based consumer education campaign that would
22 at least in some small way attempt to match the
23 marketing muscle of the subprime lenders, which has
24 been impressive, to say the least, in terms of their
1 reach into specifically low and moderate income and
2 minority communities through the mail, through door
3 to door, through TV, through almost any medium you
4 can think of.
5 "Don't Borrow Trouble" is a campaign, like
6 I said, in partnership with the City of Boston and
7 now in partnership with the State Office of Consumer
8 Affairs and the Division of Banks that has developed
9 posters that will go in main streets, businesses,
10 mailings to homeowners, PSA, commercials for TV and
11 radio, ads on subway, the MBTA system and regional
12 transit systems throughout the state.
13 We think it's too new to judge its
14 effectiveness, but we think it will be a good
15 counter to, like I said, the marketing power of the
16 predatory and subprime lenders.
17 However, and I'll just finish with this --
18 we can talk more about this -- education, as I think
19 Nadine said, should not be a substitute for tougher
20 regulations. And I think Congressman Leach called
21 the Fed AWOL on this issue of regulation of subprime
22 lenders. And while I don't pretend to take a
23 position on that, whether or not the Fed is AWOL, I
24 think that the Division of Banks here has provided a
1 model for the Fed to follow into what can be done
2 within existing regulations to toughen up the
3 regulations on predatory lenders. Thank you.
4 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you. Mr. White.
5 MR. WHITE: I would also like to thank the
6 Board for giving us this opportunity to participate
7 in your deliberations. My name is Allen White.
8 I've been a Legal Services attorney in Philadelphia
9 for about 17 years now and have been interested,
10 along with a few other people who are seeing the
11 anecdotal stories about predatory lending, in trying
12 to gather some data and some research to try and
13 look at some of the big questions about subprime and
14 predatory lending on a more empirical basis.
15 And recently Professor Mansfield and I
16 gathered some statistics through a fairly tedious
17 process of going through SEC filings on both the
18 interest rates charged by subprime lenders and on
19 foreclosures.
20 One of the definitions that's been offered
21 of predatory lending is a loan that's made that has
22 a substantial likelihood of being foreclosed on.
23 And I think frequently these type of hearings in the
24 last year have begun with some untested hypotheses,
1 including the premise that a substantial portion of
2 the subprime mortgage lending that's being done is
3 somehow beneficial or providing useful -- or meeting
4 social needs, and there are a small group of
5 outliers who are harming consumers and homeowners.
6 And I think some of the data, the very
7 little data that are out there, suggests that there
8 is a serious problem. I think we handed out a
9 couple of slides that I brought with me, graphics,
10 that have the results of the tabulations that we
11 made about foreclosures and serious delinquencies,
12 and this was for about 15 or 20 lenders who reported
13 their data publicly.
14 Perhaps not surprisingly, subprime
15 foreclosures and serious delinquencies are
16 substantially greater than foreclosures and serious
17 delinquencies for conventional lenders. For
18 conventional lenders, it's a little over 1 percent,
19 and for the subprime industry, over 4 1/2. In fact,
20 the Mortgage Information Corporation is now
21 reporting for 1999 that those rates are approaching
22 5 percent.
23 But the other two slides that I brought
24 with me basically are intended to show that even
1 that 4.6 or 5 percent rate of serious delinquencies
2 seriously understates the problem. First of all,
3 every subprime lender whose data we've looked at has
4 delinquencies and foreclosures increasing year after
5 year, partly because their volume is growing, partly
6 because the loans are seasoning.
7 So we have the example here of Equicredit,
8 probably the number one -- it is in fact the number
9 one originator of subprime loans, and you can see
10 three years in a row having mounting delinquencies.
11 And this is the pattern you will see with all
12 subprime lenders.
13 Finally what the third slide is intended to
14 illustrate, instead of looking at the foreclosures
15 for a single lender -- for a single point in time, I
16 should say, if you look at loans that are made and
17 originated in a period of time and follow them
18 longitudinally as a cohort of loans, a pool of
19 loans, the numbers are much more dramatic.
20 In this particular pool of loans, of the
21 6,000 loans we saw, over 1300 of those people who
22 got those loans are now in foreclosure. And this is
23 two years after the loans are originated. So it
24 raises an interesting question, whether you should
1 disclose to people who are taking these loans out,
2 "You have a one-in-four chance of losing your home
3 if you take this loan out."
4 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you. Mr. Anderson.
5 MR. ANDERSON: Thank you. While the
6 participants of this meeting will discuss the
7 minutia of subprime lending, maybe we can also
8 answer the question of how many angles can dance on
9 the head of a pin.
10 And if you will pardon me for being
11 cynical, but after being in the real estate business
12 for 22 years, a great deal of what is called
13 predatory lending is little more than good
14 old-fashioned fraud.
15 I only have three minutes, which I will go
16 over -- my apologies to you up front -- so I will
17 spare you the statistical analysis, which the Fed
18 ignores anyway. Instead I'll give you a few
19 examples to show how widespread mortgage fraud is.
20 Very few mortgages go bad in the first few
21 months. Knowing that, Yawu Miller, a reporter for
22 the Bay State Banner, asked me for a list of recent
23 mortgages that are already in default. We found
24 Aryan Wiley, an 80-something-year-old black woman
1 in foreclosure on a loan from Advanced Financial
2 Services. The loan was originated after she had
3 previously defaulted on a loan to United Companies
4 Lending.
5 The story that Ms. Wiley told us, who was
6 clearly suffering from some sort of dementia, and
7 her grandnieces, who reeked of alcohol at ten
8 o'clock in the morning, told us something was very
9 wrong. She was referred to Ms. Moseley, who
10 uncovered more unseemly family finances. A few
11 months later she lost her home to foreclosure, and
12 no regulators did anything.
13 Surely the Fed can't be responsible for
14 every real estate transaction, so let's go back to
15 1990. As the New England real estate market was
16 collapsing, a condo developer develops several
17 new -- finishes several new developments. His first
18 eight sales go through Northeastern Mortgage
19 Corporation, a leading mortgage originator at the
20 time and a leader in originations that end in
21 foreclosure. Of those eight, all eight are
22 foreclosed.
23 When Northeastern Mortgage goes bankrupt,
24 Cawley has to come up with a new scam. He records
1 phony deeds and phony mortgages and creates a paper
2 trail needed to get a refinance mortgage. Of the 30
3 units he sold this way, all but three have been
4 foreclosed. One of those that was not foreclosed
5 supplied us with the RESPA form clearly marked
6 "Refinance." All this fraud and foreclosure, and
7 the Fed does nothing.
8 Back to developer Richard Cawley. With all
9 the foreclosures, there are bargains to be purchased
10 and flipped. This time he has a major bank willing
11 to finance his business, because they need loans in
12 minority areas for CRA compliance requirements.
13 A Boston Globe article that was July 2 of
14 '95 showed seven properties that Cawley had built,
15 arranged financing on, sold, then bought back at
16 foreclosure, then flipped through Fleet Bank. Fleet
17 and the Boston Fed have told us that all these loans
18 have been taken care of. So why, of the seven, have
19 four been foreclosed?
20 And the one who wasn't foreclosed told us a
21 very different story. The owner of Unit 9 bought
22 her unit for $90,000 in 1993. Cawley bought it for
23 $25,000 a month earlier. But the new buyer told us
24 that she didn't have a down payment. So Cawley gave
1 her a check at the day of closing to cover the
2 difference. Oh, those home buyer classes to make
3 sure inexperienced buyers don't get into trouble?
4 The Fleet originator told her it wasn't necessary
5 and checked it off on the form.
6 Did Fleet approach her to make sure there
7 were no problems with the mortgage, as they told the
8 Boston Globe and the Boston Fed they were going to
9 do? No. The owner said the only time she heard
10 from Fleet was when they came after her because she
11 stopped paying her condo fees because the common
12 electricity in the development was disconnected, and
13 there was a huge water and sewer bill. It seems
14 Cawley had omitted to tell her that the water and
15 sewer and the electric bills hadn't been paid in a
16 while.
17 With all this a matter of record testified
18 on this stage, did the Fed do anything? No.
19 But we were talking about subprime lending
20 and predatory lending. The owner of Unit 9, after
21 getting over the financial difficulties thanks to an
22 extra part-time job, was a bit short of money.
23 Since she overpaid for her condo six years earlier
24 and Fleet did nothing about her loan, she had no
1 equity to borrow against and had to go to a subprime
2 lender.
3 So her $81,000 Fleet loan and her $15,000
4 subprime loan means a principal of $96,000. But
5 since Fleet stopped doing business with Richard
6 Cawley, the most expensive condo to sell in her
7 development was Unit 8, right next door. It sold
8 for $78,000 last year. After six years, in a red-
9 hot real estate market, her unit is still not worth
10 what she paid for it.
11 This is all a matter of public record, and
12 the Fed knows this. At previous hearings I gave the
13 Fed data on about 80 Fleet-financed Cawley and other
14 speculator loans, and what has the Fed done?
15 Nothing.
16 If past is prelude, then these hearings are
17 a sham. What difference does a few points on an APR
18 trigger mean when the Fed ignores solid evidence of
19 good old-fashioned fraud? Instead of these
20 hearings, the individuals in the Fed should be
21 telling us why they haven't done anything in five
22 years.
23 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you very much.
24 We will now go on to the discussion phase
1 of this session, and I'll say that -- there are a
2 couple of general questions that we would like to
3 focus on. One of them has to do with your views on
4 what techniques have been or might be most effective
5 in performing outreach to the targeted populations,
6 the vulnerable individuals that might fall prey to
7 predatory lenders. And another has to do with what
8 role can the Federal Reserve play in community
9 outreach and consumer education. Are there
10 sufficient materials available? Are there delivery
11 system issues.
12 And then, Sandy, do you have anything
13 specific to get us started on?
14 MS. BRAUNSTEIN: Well, actually, I would
15 kind of like to hear a little more about the "Don't
16 Borrow Trouble" campaign, since that's a big thing
17 up here, from either Tom or Norma, more about how
18 did you decide what techniques to use, do you have
19 any information at this point on how effective it's
20 been in the communities.
21 MS. MOSELEY: I'll start, Tom, and then you
22 can pick it up. It's a fairly recent campaign, and
23 I don't believe, unless it's on Boston cable TV, I
24 haven't seen the TV spots aired yet. Am I correct?
1 MR. CALLAHAN: Correct.
2 MS. MOSELEY: But let me just say one thing
3 before we get into that specific thing. We're
4 talking about outreach to potential victims of
5 predatory lending, and yet the predatory lenders
6 call it "marketing." And there's a big difference.
7 Outreach is all squishy, fuzzy, see you at
8 a social gathering. Marketing is business driven
9 and profit driven. And until the same amount of
10 money can be put into marketing our solutions as
11 they can selling their product or marketing their
12 product, you're going to get nowhere.
13 These people are not easy to reach. I
14 mean, you can have billboards, you can have
15 newspaper articles like Yawu does. But when you
16 watch cable TV on any weekend or any evening, you
17 see ad after ad after ad, and they're talking about,
18 you know, "When the banks say no, we say yes," and
19 "The loans are out there," and "You can pay off
20 those high-interest credit card debts," and "You're
21 going to save $300 a month." And it's just one big
22 jolly thing. "We can do it over the phone." "We
23 close at your house." You bet they do. Boom, and
24 they're right there.
1 I'm just saying, until there is that same
2 dedication to wanting to prevent predatory lending
3 as there is to making the loans, all the hearings
4 and all the regs aren't going to happen. Education
5 is a really slow process. It isn't the solution.
6 You've got to market your solutions with the same
7 vigor and the same dollars that are put into the
8 lending process.
9 That didn't answer your question at all.
10 MS. BRAUNSTEIN: No, actually it did --
11 well, part of it. I want to follow up on that a
12 second. Where are the dollars coming from for the
13 "Don't Borrow Trouble" campaign?
14 MR. CALLAHAN: It's a collection of -- City
15 of Boston is putting in the most money, I believe.
16 The initial first-year contribution was $50,000 the
17 City of Boston is putting in. MCBC itself put in
18 $10,000. And then another $50,000 or so was raised
19 from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Mass. Bankers
20 Association, the Mass. Mortgage Bankers Association,
21 and I'm probably forgetting a couple. But it was a
22 team effort. The City of Boston went out and
23 recruited some of those folks, and MCBC helped in
24 that regard as well.
1 I think that is one issue. We've been able
2 to do that for the launching of this campaign, but
3 to sustain this campaign, will that same type of --
4 those same type of resources be there? I think the
5 City of Boston and the State have now committed to
6 this in terms of staffing hot lines in an ongoing
7 way for consumers to call.
8 I mean, I think that was one key element of
9 the "Don't Borrow Trouble" campaign. We wanted to
10 make sure there was a place where people just didn't
11 see a poster or get a brochure in the mail without
12 having a place to call that they could pursue the
13 issue and get questions answered and get help and
14 get referred to a counseling agency like Norma's,
15 which is part of the City of Boston's and will be
16 part of the State of Massachusetts's campaign.
17 But I'm worried about the ability to
18 sustain that type of funding over the long term,
19 because it needs to be a lot more than a one-shot
20 deal to compete with predatory lenders.
21 The other answer, just picking up a little
22 bit on what Norma said, I think the best outreach
23 method -- I think the best thing we can do from an
24 outreach perspective to low-income consumers is to
1 put the predatory lenders out of business.
2 I think defining predatory loans and doing
3 things like lowering the APR trigger to 5 percent
4 above Treasury, prohibiting balloon payments,
5 prohibiting prepayment penalties, those types of
6 things that I'm sure were talked about this morning,
7 I think are going to be the things that really help
8 us in our outreach, because it will give us a
9 starting point where at least people are not getting
10 the most outrageous conditions and terms that you
11 can imagine.
12 There are other programs, I think, that
13 exist out there. We have a program called the Home
14 Safe Program, which is a homeowner resource center.
15 It really evolved out of our success in helping
16 people get into homes through home buyer counseling.
17 This is a program that's really designed to
18 reach people in the first year or two of home
19 ownership, before they have a crisis, before they
20 need an equity loan, before they have problems with
21 their home that they can't deal with, with
22 information and resources that are available to
23 homeowners. But it's really trying to reach folks
24 in this non-crisis situation.
1 I think those types of things are key,
2 where you could talk to folks. Education up front
3 in the prepurchase about predatory lenders in the
4 prepurchase classes are important, but we find,
5 since the bulk of this problem is in equity-type
6 lending to homeowners, you don't really realize the
7 problems and the issues you're going to deal with as
8 a homeowner until you're actually in the door and
9 experiencing life as a homeowner.
10 So that's why the postpurchase classes, I
11 think, are so key. There is not a lot of support
12 for postpurchase classes out there. The banks fund
13 prepurchase classes because it's in their self-
14 interest. But postpurchase, not a lot of folks.
15 We've been able to scrap together some money to fund
16 that program, but there are only three programs that
17 I know of in the state, really, that do extensive
18 postpurchase counseling, largely because of a lack
19 of funding.
20 MODERATOR SMITH: Would you remind me when
21 the "Don't Borrow Trouble" was launched.
22 MR. CALLAHAN: Just in the last few --
23 earlier this year, basically the last few months of
24 spring. And it's being rolled out in different
1 phases. Many homeowners have already received the
2 initial mailing from the Mayor, but as Norma said,
3 the TV and radio spots are in production right now
4 and haven't aired yet. Posters are going up now in
5 community centers and in main street businesses
6 around the city. So it's just starting to produce
7 calls, and it's too early to track data from it.
8 MS. BRAUNSTEIN: Will you have any way of
9 being able to tell whether it's been successful?
10 MR. CALLAHAN: The call centers I think
11 will be our best way to track, both the State call
12 center that's going to be set up later this summer
13 and the City call center that's already fielding
14 calls.
15 I think we'll be able to tell, one, how
16 many people are calling, and, two, you know, what
17 level of assistance is needed for those folks.
18 There's going to be -- those folks answering the
19 phones will be trained to provide a certain level of
20 advice and assistance, but then for people that are
21 really in need of counseling and further assistance,
22 they will be referred to an agency like Norma's.
23 So I think there will be the ability to
24 tell what level of advice and assistance is needed,
1 and then once we find out how many people need the
2 real in-depth counseling and foreclosure-prevention
3 type assistance, we'll be able to track that as well
4 and see how successful --
5 MS. MOSELEY: It's already on the Banking
6 Commissioner's line. I think it's punch 4 or
7 something if you want the "Don't Borrow Trouble" hot
8 line. I know because I was trying to reach the
9 Commissioner's Office yesterday.
10 So it's already there. It's part of a
11 menu. It doesn't rise up and hit you in the face,
12 but it's part of a menu.
13 MS. BRAUNSTEIN: Can I just -- I'm sorry,
14 one more question on this. You mentioned, Tom,
15 letters going out. Who is getting -- is it just in
16 certain communities or every homeowner in the city?
17 MR. CALLAHAN: Mayor Menino in the City of
18 Boston is sending a letter to every homeowner in the
19 city. This is actually the second mailing. He did
20 last year send a general, just, letter, and then
21 this is a letter with the brochure which was
22 specifically designed for the "Don't Borrow Trouble"
23 campaign, which, I think, is more -- hopefully will
24 attract even more attention.
1 MS. MOSELEY: It goes out with the tax
2 bills.
3 MODERATOR SMITH: Ms. Cohen.
4 MS. COHEN: I just wanted to add something
5 to that. I think any communication, and I don't
6 know if the Mayor's letter is being translated into
7 other languages, but I think that's a critical
8 piece, because many homeowners and borrowers are
9 immigrants, people for whom English is not the first
10 language. And I think that we have to ensure that
11 any outreach materials get translated.
12 I always worry about all the HOEPA
13 disclosures and the Truth in Lending disclosures. I
14 don't think they even say anything that our
15 utilities bill say, that "This is an important
16 document. You should bring it to someone to be
17 translated."
18 And I have had cases where I've had a
19 family who spoke no English, were Hmongs, and they
20 didn't understand what they were signing. The
21 lenders just took them through the whole thing, and
22 there was no one to explain anything to them.
23 That's always the danger in disclosures.
24 I also wanted to emphasize, when you talked
1 about what techniques work, I think Tom really
2 identified it. I mean, we have to get rid of all
3 the balloon payments, the prepayment penalties, all
4 the indicators of predatory loans, and I think that
5 really helps. But short of that, I think you really
6 need people to be represented at these closings,
7 either by lay advocates like Norma and Len or from
8 Tom's group or by trained attorneys.
9 The Lawyers Committee is now working with
10 the National Consumer Law Center on a program to
11 train attorneys and later community people on how to
12 recognize predatory loans and what legal avenues
13 people have when they get involved in predatory
14 loans.
15 And I think that's critical. We're sending
16 people into these closings in a totally unequal
17 situation. It's hard enough -- I always tell the
18 story that I always thought it was easier to have a
19 nine-month pregnancy and have a baby than to buy a
20 house. I think I started the process around the
21 same time. And I as an attorney was overwhelmed by
22 the paperwork, by the numbers, by the whole process.
23 And we're sending in unsophisticated
24 borrowers, elderly people, people who don't always
1 speak English, who are most vulnerable, and they're
2 not represented. I don't think there are many other
3 situations in life where you are risking so much
4 without any real protections.
5 So I would push that as part of an
6 education and a funding campaign.
7 MR. CALLAHAN: Actually, if I could ask
8 Norma to tell that story about the time you did show
9 up at the closing. I think that's instructive to
10 Nadine's point, if I may be so bold.
11 MS. MOSELEY: Well, I go to all my clients'
12 closings, by the way. But this was an elderly
13 couple in South Boston who had gotten into a
14 refinance -- I think this was going to be their
15 second refinance in about 18 months. And
16 interestingly enough, on the documents it indicated
17 that "If you are elderly, call the Elderly
18 Commission. You may want to have someone with you."
19 So, they did, and I did, and I was there.
20 And I had prepped these people. I had seen the
21 documents. It was clearly a ridiculous loan. They
22 were elderly, and the gentleman was also
23 handicapped.
24 The closing was at their home. So the
1 lawyer came up, and just bit by bit he was asking
2 them to sign this, sign this, sign this. I said,
3 "Wait, wait, wait. Let's go over this." They had
4 been prepped. We had been over it. But they played
5 the part.
6 And so we did, and they would ask -- stop
7 and ask a question, "But I applied for a 30-year
8 fixed rate mortgage. Now you've got this as a 15-
9 year variable." "Oh, well, that must have been a
10 mix-up in the documents. But go ahead and sign it."
11 "No, we're not going to sign it."
12 And then, "So what does the rate go up to?"
13 And then they see all this LIBOR plus. "What does
14 that mean?" "It just means they base it on some
15 kind of prime rate in the market somewhere over in
16 London." I don't know what the hell it means
17 either.
18 But at each document, they HUD settlement
19 statement, "Where is the broker? What's this
20 broker's fee? We didn't pay a broker." "Oh, yes
21 you did. That gentleman who came to your house
22 wasn't from the bank. He was a broker." "Well, I
23 didn't know that. I thought I was applying to the
24 bank."
1 Anyway, to make a long story short, they
2 didn't sign anything. So the lawyer said, "Could I
3 use your phone?" He got on the phone, and he
4 evidently called the broker and said, "This family
5 isn't going through with this loan." And the broker
6 said, "Give me a minute."
7 And he came back from the phone and said,
8 "Well, look, we can make this a 30-year fixed. We
9 can drop the interest from 14 down to 10. We can
10 knock off these broker's fees and put you in a
11 really good loan."
12 And I said to them, "Do you want to go with
13 a mortgage company that just like that can change
14 the terms? Because if you were eligible for them
15 now, you were eligible for them before." And they
16 said, "No." So we went out and got a prime loan
17 with somebody else.
18 But I was so delighted. They called back
19 for three weeks in a row, sweetening the pie every
20 time, saying, "You can't get it. You have lousy
21 credit." They already had been approved for their
22 loan somewhere else.
23 So, I mean, it does make a difference. It
24 does make a difference if you are there. You don't
1 have to be a lawyer that can -- all you have to do
2 is ask the right questions, because the lawyer for
3 the lenders, they don't like to be asked the right
4 questions. And by the way, if you really want to
5 get a batch of scoundrels, get those lawyers who
6 close these loans. I don't know how they sleep
7 nights. They're sleazy.
8 MS. BRAUNSTEIN: To play devil's advocate
9 for a second, one of the things obviously we hear
10 everywhere is that one of the ways that the
11 predators operate most effectively is by gaining the
12 trust of their clients through all that personal
13 contact and even taking them to lunch, whatever.
14 Okay. So if there was a requirement that
15 people had to be represented at their closings, how
16 do we know that the trusted lender wouldn't say,
17 "Oh, don't worry about that. I'll get you
18 somebody"?
19 MS. MOSELEY: They do already, even though
20 their documents all say, "The attorney is
21 representing the lender. You have a right to an
22 attorney on your own," and it's there. You know,
23 disclosures aren't the issue. Everything is
24 disclosed. It's right out there. So what?
1 MS. BRAUNSTEIN: I'm just saying, how would
2 you make that happen to make sure that everybody has
3 good representation at closing?
4 MS. MOSELEY: I think it has got to be
5 almost -- I don't know how you -- whether legally
6 you can require it, a third party, you know, an
7 independent third party there. But if there were a
8 way to do it legally, you would save a lot of people
9 from getting into bad loans.
10 MS. BRAUNSTEIN: Well, another thing that
11 we've heard is that possibly people who are getting
12 HOEPA loans should be required to go to housing
13 counseling first. That's another kind of take on
14 what you're talking about.
15 We have had some conversations, and I would
16 like some reaction from the whole panel on this,
17 we've had some conversations with some housing
18 counselors who have told us that even when they can
19 get to a client before they enter into a deal, and
20 they go over it with them and show them how this is
21 not a good deal for them, that oftentimes the
22 client, because they're in need of the money to pay
23 a doctor bill or something like that, will enter
24 into the deal anyway, that there has been a great
1 deal of frustration with that.
2 And I don't know -- I was wondering if
3 that's been anybody here -- like Norma, I guess you
4 do more of it than anybody, or Leonard, your
5 experience, has that been the case?
6 MR. RAYMOND: Certainly that often is the
7 case. As I think, as Norma and I were sitting this
8 morning listening to the testimony, again, we
9 reiterate the issue that irrespective of the
10 substance and the length of the disclosures, that
11 oftentimes the people who are in these circumstances
12 are desperate, absolutely desperate. So they may
13 very well go through, although I would say our
14 experience, most of the time we see people post this
15 situation, not often previous.
16 If it's a situation where, indeed, we're
17 talking about, okay, three days before, pursuant to
18 the HOEPA regulations, we're going to get people
19 connected with a counselor, there might be some
20 possibility during some circumstances of making a
21 difference. I think a good number of people we
22 could perhaps make some difference. But there will
23 always be a minority of folks who, no matter what,
24 are going to go forward.
1 MS. MOSELEY: What happens is people get
2 into a situation where they're delinquent on a loan.
3 Let's say it's even a decent loan. They're just
4 delinquent and foreclosure is imminent. And
5 because, you know, when you're in foreclosure, that
6 doesn't give you a very good credit score, so you
7 probably already decide on your own, you can't go to
8 a regular lender and refinance out of this.
9 Subprime lenders are right there, filling
10 the gap. And even though, you know, you can point
11 out, as Len said, all of these things, they say, "I
12 have to do it, because I'm going to lose my home
13 otherwise, and I've got to close."
14 We do explore with them the options, if it
15 sounds like it can work, a Chapter 13. And their
16 response is, "Oh, but that's going to ruin my
17 credit." Here they are in foreclosure. And I say,
18 you know, "At this point, your credit is the least
19 thing to worry about. Let's look at saving your
20 home and starting to rebuild your credit."
21 But you see the reasoning isn't, you know,
22 the way you might reason it or you might reason it,
23 but this is what is going on. This is what they
24 see. Chapter 13 ruins your credit. A foreclosure,
1 being in foreclosure and then doing a subprime loan
2 somehow is going to keep your credit neat and clean
3 and dandy. I'm looking at the real world, the way
4 they see it.
5 MS. BRAUNSTEIN: Tom, you mentioned in your
6 opening statement working to try with lenders to
7 develop alternative products to subprime loans. I
8 was wondering how successful you have been at doing
9 that.
10 MR. CALLAHAN: I'll turn that back to
11 Norma, because she's actually been the agency
12 that's -- MCBC has tried to facilitate a little bit
13 of that, but Norma's agency has had the most
14 success. But it's been actually disappointing in
15 the overall response. We hosted a breakfast, MCBC
16 did, for some 30 lenders or so, and maybe one or so
17 has followed up with Norma to try to add -- Norma
18 has a list of four lenders that provide some
19 alternative financing in these, and I'll let her
20 describe that.
21 In response to your previous question,
22 though, I wanted to say, I think the later you see
23 people in the process, the more likely it is they're
24 going to go forward with that, maybe against their
1 own interests, but with that subprime loan or
2 predatory loan.
3 That's why I think this maintaining --
4 trying to maintain a relationship from prepurchase
5 to non-crisis postpurchase counseling to early
6 delinquency and foreclosure-prevention counseling,
7 we have had successful cases in our office of people
8 who have taken our non-crisis postpurchase workshops
9 and then have been marketed to by these, and just at
10 the very early stages of thinking about it call our
11 counselor, because they have a relationship with him
12 or her, and say, "This sounds attractive in one way,
13 but I have some questions," or "I'm a little leery
14 about it. Can you help me go through it." And they
15 come in, and our counselor sits down and we go
16 through it.
17 And more often than not, those folks who
18 are sort of at the beginning stages of thinking
19 about maybe they need some equity credit or for a
20 variety of reasons, those folks we can usually make
21 sure they don't fall into that trap and get them a
22 better deal, if they really do need that, or in some
23 cases work with them on budgeting issues. And one
24 of the goals of "Don't Borrow Trouble" is actually
1 convincing people at times they don't need to borrow
2 more money. That's the worst thing they can do in
3 certain circumstances.
4 So it's really, you know, budgeting and
5 money management as much as trying to find a loan
6 for them.
7 I'll let Norma talk about --
8 MR. RAYMOND: Actually, I wanted to
9 interject. I think it's very important for us to
10 get back, because that's a really critical question,
11 to those alternative products. But we've
12 participated in the "Don't Borrow Trouble" program
13 as well statewide, but I think that's a slice.
14 That's one slice.
15 I think there is another slice here that's
16 very important, that's more of a long-term kind of
17 prevention approach. Since we work exclusively with
18 people 50 and over, mainly elders, we are
19 continuously getting exasperated by the fact of
20 people coming to us late in the process, often in
21 foreclosure itself, and we're just mystified as to
22 why people made the choices that they did, et
23 cetera, how did they get trapped in these
24 situations.
1 We became convinced that we had to spend
2 some time, some considerable time putting together
3 what we called an elder economic literacy product,
4 which goes out to the community. We have done this
5 in 30 communities across the state. We work with
6 Councils on Aging. We developed a set of manuals
7 that deal with not just refinancing issues, but
8 important life skills.
9 Remember, we're dealing with a population
10 that has particular needs. For us, most of our
11 clients who are elderly are widows. In an average
12 year, 85 to 86 percent of our clients will be single
13 women, average age of 80, average income of $10,000
14 to $12,000, all homeowners, nonetheless, and
15 experiencing all kinds of difficulties.
16 So it was very important for us to go into
17 the community, with the Councils on Aging, bringing
18 in other professionals from Legal Services, from
19 various housing and other kinds of elder services.
20 And we present this as a part of what we call
21 Remainder Life Planning.
22 It's a set of skills in terms of surviving
23 in your house long term, preserving as much equity,
24 getting your options, finding out ways to off-load
1 your needs into various programs and services which
2 are low cost, no cost, preferably government
3 programs, et cetera. And we have been very
4 successful in that.
5 But that's, again, one slice of the pie.
6 It's one piece here, and I think we need --
7 MS. BRAUNSTEIN: How are you reaching your
8 audience? Are you using existing --
9 MR. RAYMOND: We go out to the Councils on
10 Aging. We have the Bank Commissioner's Office
11 working with us. They have been participating in
12 the program, the various AAAs, area agencies on
13 aging, housing advocates, as well as the Legal
14 Service folks who are working particularly with
15 senior citizens and their problems. It's scheduled
16 way ahead of time, so a lot of advertising.
17 One of the other techniques we have found
18 is we have what we call circuit rider counseling.
19 We actually have people who then show up post those
20 sessions at the designated times we'll announce. So
21 we have those wonderful situations where an elderly
22 gentleman will come in and say, "Well, I decided to
23 go by the COA today to pick up some information, and
24 by the way, I have this friend who has this
1 problem," those situations.
2 It's a piece of the pie. It's a small one,
3 but nonetheless a very significant one. And we've
4 reached several thousand elders this way and want to
5 continue on doing that, again, giving people some
6 tools, tools in terms of really important written
7 materials, manuals on various issues, refinancing,
8 the dangers of certain kinds of financial
9 situations, what kind of scams are directed
10 particularly at elders, what kinds of options and
11 resources are available to them, et cetera.
12 One of the biggest issues we deal with is
13 the problems of credit cards, which has absolutely
14 exploded. One of the biggest reasons why people are
15 moving at this stage of life into looking at
16 refinancing is because they've run up credit cards.
17 15 years ago, when I got started in this business,
18 it didn't exist. Now we're talking an average of
19 $7,000 or $8,000 per elder. The recent record in
20 the office is $146,000, one senior, of credit card
21 debts.
22 There is no question that there is an
23 informal network out there where essentially when a
24 widow reaches $10,000 or $12,000 of credit card debt
1 which she cannot maintain, and she gets harassed by
2 the collection agencies, interestingly enough the
3 question arises in those conversations with the
4 harassing collector, "Gee, do you have a home? Oh,
5 you don't have a mortgage? Oh, a small mortgage?
6 We can refer you out."
7 So, again, these are the kinds of things
8 we're trying to get people some basic skills, tools,
9 also very important for them to know that there are
10 places to go, numbers to call, et cetera.
11 Again, it's one basic piece, but it's a
12 significant one nonetheless.
13 MS. BRAUNSTEIN: Do you know if that kind
14 of thing is going on in other cities? Is AARP aware
15 of what you're doing? Do you work with them at all?
16 MR. RAYMOND: Well, certainly I think
17 they're aware of us and we're aware of them. But
18 this is a project -- we've essentially had a very
19 small grant from the Crossroads Foundation and a
20 small grant from the late, great Bank of Boston to
21 get this off the ground, but essentially we are
22 literally -- this is held together by baling wax,
23 strings and bubble gum, because we have to rely on
24 our community lenders to help defray some of the
1 cost who participate in the program.
2 MS. HURT: May I ask, do you have any
3 thoughts on reverse mortgages as an alternative
4 to -- that you would like --
5 MR. RAYMOND: Our organization basically
6 created reverse mortgages for this part of the
7 country some 17 years ago, and we have, last count,
8 I think, 68 community lenders, credit unions, mutual
9 savings banks, cooperatives, et cetera, who work
10 with us as. And we have created actually a whole
11 array of financial options for seniors, some of
12 which are equity conversions, some are not.
13 Our real strong feeling is that the real
14 success of aging in place successfully is preserving
15 as much equity as possible. Reverse mortgages can
16 be extremely good under some circumstances. They
17 can be the wrong thing for a heck of a lot of other
18 elders.
19 So we really take the maximum of equity
20 conservation, equity preservation, off-load it, and
21 only using loans as a last resort. That means any
22 kind of loan, but especially reverse mortgages,
23 because they are, pardon the expression, damnably
24 expensive, and they deplete equity. They can be
1 good tools under some circumstances.
2 Because of that we created a product called
3 SELOC, which is a senior equity line of credit
4 product, which is designed specifically for elders.
5 Again, it's more of a prevention tool. It was
6 designed for elders who have little or no debt, but
7 again, that large group of elders who are just
8 basically surviving by their wits, month to month,
9 and all it takes is one major problem to bump them
10 off. And these are the folks that are, pardon the
11 expression, the raw meat for predatory lenders.
12 You know, when the ten-year-old car dies,
13 when the roof goes and there is no public program to
14 pay for it, when there is an in-home care problem or
15 an expense with the hospital that is not covered by
16 insurance, that's often when people are driven.
17 They go to the local bank. The bank will make the
18 correct decision that your income is too small,
19 especially given your credit card debt.
20 So what happens next is they pick up the
21 newspaper with the wonderful block ad, "No credit/
22 bad credit?" Or they submit to that wonderful
23 advertisement which Norma alluded to. We won't name
24 them. Athletes should be selling underwear, not
1 loans. But essentially that's when they get hooked
2 into this stuff.
3 So this was a tool which we provided for
4 them, because it's a loan design that doesn't depend
5 on credit criteria. It's purely the fact that they
6 own this house. But it's a qualified loan, which
7 means disbursements are made after a consultation
8 with the program, because we try to find other kind
9 of solutions and ways.
10 But in addition to that, which is very
11 important, we have been able to really intervene in
12 terms of home repair issues, so they don't hopefully
13 get hooked into the whole home repair scam
14 situation. And they have options of either
15 amortizing the loan, paying the interest only, or
16 they can defer payment altogether. But it's a way
17 for us to stretch things out.
18 MR. WALKER: I wanted to ask a question
19 with regard to credit, and actually maybe Jim or
20 Adrienne can answer this question. I have an
21 elderly mother who continues to get almost daily
22 solicitations from credit card companies with the
23 checks in them. Does that continue to be legal for
24 them to do that?
1 MR. MICHAELS: Yes.
2 MR. CALLAHAN: Can the Fed do something
3 about that?
4 MS. COHEN: There is something the Fed can
5 do, perhaps. And it's not only elderly people. I
6 mean, I know I'm old, but I'm not that elderly yet,
7 and I get lots of those checks, and they're
8 tempting.
9 MR. WALKER: But for the elderly,
10 because -- well, for example, for my mother, I mean,
11 she has dementia, so to her it looks just like one
12 of her regular checks, and she has written herself
13 some credit loans as a result of that.
14 MS. MOSELEY: I wanted to talk about the
15 alternatives, going back to Tom's thing. We did
16 have a really neat program going with BayBank back
17 in the good old days when there was a BayBank.
18 We could bring troubled homeowners to
19 BayBank with a hardship letter explaining how they
20 got into their circumstances where they've got some
21 credit issues, you know, if there were extreme
22 catastrophic or unforeseen circumstances, so that
23 credit wasn't going to be the issue.
24 But we looked at LTVs of 80 percent, LTVs,
1 and debt-to-income, with everything paid off, about
2 max 38 percent. That is a damn conservative loan,
3 and the bank liked it. It was a money maker. And
4 Fannie Mae was buying them, because they didn't see
5 anything other than the LTV and the debt-to-income.
6 They didn't investigate the credit. The bank took
7 that.
8 We did, oh, probably 80, 85 of those loans
9 because it was statewide lending, and BankBoston
10 continued it on a scaled-down basis when they took
11 over BayBank, and Fleet isn't doing it at all.
12 So I'm back sort of behind the eight ball
13 trying to reach out now to the smaller community
14 banks and sell this program literally on a
15 community-by-community basis statewide, because
16 you're never going to get a whole bunch of them.
17 They may get two or three a year. That is not going
18 to break the portfolio. And they're performing
19 loans. So I'm out there trying.
20 MS. COHEN: I just want to say that also in
21 some of the settlements we did early on in the late
22 '80s with some of the banks around some
23 discriminatory practices, we did get programs also
24 that were similar to what Norma said, which shows
1 that the banks can do them. The mainstream prime
2 lenders can make loans to lower-income borrowers
3 that are successful loans.
4 I think when the Fed looks at -- does CRA
5 reviews and looks at banks' performances, you have
6 to look at how innovative are they in developing
7 products that can meet the credit needs of the
8 consumers. And I think too often we forget that.
9 I just want to add a few other things,
10 because unfortunately I have to leave at three
11 o'clock, but I think the mandatory reporting of
12 credit payments for borrowers who have high-interest
13 loans is critical, because for borrowers who do make
14 their payments on time, it's important that they
15 start establishing a good credit history. And if we
16 let lenders get away with not reporting them, I
17 think it's really a travesty.
18 I think in CRA and compliance review the
19 Fed really needs to look at the banks' subsidiaries
20 and affiliates and not just the banks, because
21 that's where a lot of the problems are. And, again,
22 in the regulatory field, when you do the CRA
23 reviews, to really not give CRA credit to lenders
24 who have all the balloon payments and the prepayment
1 penalties and all the indicators of those predatory
2 loans.
3 And lastly, I think this is something we
4 probably all would support, is expanding HMDA data
5 collection to include types of loans and loan
6 characteristics, like fees, prepayment penalties, as
7 well as borrower characteristics around credits
8 scores.
9 So I think that it really is such a
10 multi-pronged approach from the regulatory end, the
11 CRA review end, the HMDA data collection end, and
12 the education and outreach end. But I think we need
13 financial support in the outreach and education end,
14 and that's critical. You know, the "Don't Borrow
15 Trouble" campaign can be great, but it could be
16 short-lived unless it's continuing and unless there
17 is funding for lawyers and lay advocates to be, one,
18 trained in how you recognize predatory loans and how
19 you work with consumers and actually to provide
20 attorneys.
21 I am pretty sure -- the Lawyers Committee
22 works with many of the big law firms in town. Now,
23 some of them I think I could get involved in a
24 program to provide some kind of pro bono
1 representation, but I need some money to provide the
2 administration of a program, the training, the
3 resources, and that's not easy to find.
4 MS. BRAUNSTEIN: That kind of brings me
5 back to the question Dolores asked at the top that
6 we never really addressed, that taking aside the
7 regulatory answers to this, okay, just looking at
8 the outreach education piece of predatory lending,
9 what is it that we, the Fed, could do to help, in
10 the sense of we've heard various things from people,
11 you know, we see a lot of stuff going on around the
12 country, a lot of materials being developed.
13 I mean, is there really a need for more
14 materials, or is it more that there's a need for
15 better delivery mechanisms for the materials that
16 are out there? What is it that we could do to
17 facilitate this process?
18 MR. WHITE: Well, at the risk of diverting
19 the discussion a little, I would like to echo what
20 Professor Golann said this morning, which is -- and
21 I certainly don't want to take anything away from
22 community education and outreach efforts; a lot of
23 what is going on in Boston is wonderful -- but there
24 is a basic problem that you have with the complexity
1 of these transactions on the one hand and adult
2 literacy on the other hand.
3 You have an American population about 40
4 percent of whom can't really realistically compute
5 with decimals and fractions. That's what the
6 national adult literacy survey tells. Probably 90
7 percent of people can't understand the trade-offs
8 between points and interest over the life of a loan.
9 So you're just not going to -- Professor
10 Golann talked about the Boston school system as
11 being the culprit. I'm not sure where the blame
12 lies exactly. I think part of it is just that these
13 transactions are so inherently complex, we can't
14 expect 100 percent of the population to be fully
15 equipped to deal with the difference between an
16 advantageous and a predatory loan.
17 So I get back to the most valuable thing
18 the Fed can do right now at this moment in history
19 is exercise its power to substantively regulate
20 these credit transactions. And let me just suggest
21 what I view as the two most important, although
22 there are certainly a lot of things you can do.
23 First is to really seriously look at this
24 question of no-benefit refinancing. And it's very
1 difficult, it seems to me, for this industry to
2 defend a transaction in which you take somebody who
3 has a conventional 9 percent, 8 percent mortgage and
4 refinance it at 12 percent, and they get a minimal
5 amount of cash out, less than 10 percent of the
6 loan. They're paying an effective rate for that new
7 advance in the hundreds of percent.
8 Those are indefensible transactions, and
9 they should be outlawed. And there is a very
10 specific authority in Reg Z -- the Act, rather, for
11 the Board to do that.
12 The second substantive area I think the
13 Board really ought to look at is repayment ability,
14 which I think ties very directly to the foreclosure
15 numbers we've look at.
16 You know, you have this vast experiment
17 that's going on right now. It used to be, you know,
18 if a mortgage was going to be more than 41 percent
19 of your income, you weren't going to get that loan.
20 Now the standard in the subprime industry has crept
21 up from 50 percent to 59 or 60 percent
22 debt-to-income ratios, with very little regard to
23 residual incomes and serious problems with
24 verification of income.
1 Those are all areas that it seems to me
2 there is very clear authority for the Fed to
3 regulate. And I think at least the Fed ought to set
4 some guidelines and say, "Those of you lenders who
5 are going to venture into the great beyond in taking
6 risks with people's ability to repay are going to be
7 subject to the possibility of being found in
8 violation of these HOEPA standards."
9 Remember, the idea of a subprime borrower
10 is somebody who has credit problems; in other words,
11 payment history problems. There is nothing inherent
12 about taking somebody, you know, who has problems in
13 the past with paying their bills, saying, well, you
14 should also give them a loan amount such that they
15 are over conventional debt-to-income standards.
16 For some reason that has just happened and
17 become kind of a norm, and one of the things the Fed
18 can and ought to do is bring those payment ability
19 norms back in line with the conventional market.
20 One other point about the counseling
21 information to borrowers, I do think the North
22 Carolina model where you take somebody who's about
23 to enter into a subprime loan and you divert them
24 and say, "You cannot sign up for that loan; that
1 loan will not be valid or enforceable unless you
2 first go see a counselor," is probably one effective
3 technique of catching people, although obviously it
4 would be fairly late in the process at that point.
5 MS. MOSELEY: Is that legal? Does that
6 withstand the test of somebody exercising their own
7 independent rights to be -- I'm just playing devil's
8 advocate too.
9 MS. COHEN: It's in the North Carolina
10 legislation. So, unless it's challenged, it is
11 legal. I guess people could always waive it. My
12 concern is more of what John said, is the banks or
13 the lenders just go, "Oh, you know, you don't need
14 that," and you check it off.
15 MR. ANDERSON: That was exactly what I
16 was -- I think I'm a fish out of water with all of
17 these people discussing what we can do, because I
18 spoke with the people from whom the "Don't Borrow
19 Trouble" program comes from at the City, or at least
20 a person who was somewhat responsible for it, and at
21 the end of our conversation he said, "Well, how much
22 fraud do you think is in the market?"
23 And I said, "Well, I only know
24 intrinsically where I've been for the last 22 years,
1 which is the Dorchester-Roxbury-Mattapan market, and
2 I peg it at about 25 percent." And he looked at me,
3 "25 percent of the market is fraudulent?"
4 And I started second-guessing myself, and I
5 went and spoke with Ada Focer, who I've done work
6 with in the past and whose opinion I trust
7 implicitly, and I told her, "I said 25 percent," and
8 she said, "It's probably more than 30 percent," from
9 work that she had done with a couple of MIT grad
10 students in the early '90s.
11 For example, when we're talking about debt
12 ratios and income ratios, if a person wants to
13 borrow X amount of money and they don't have the
14 money to qualify for that loan, when you get out in
15 the real world, the mortgage originator is going to
16 be under great pressure, because it's their income,
17 to say, "You make $35,000. You don't make $30,000.
18 Why is your income so low this year? Well, we'll
19 write a letter to explain."
20 I had a lawyer tell me one time that he got
21 out of the traditional mortgage lending business in
22 the -- or representing mortgage lenders in the '80s
23 because he was having nightmares about all the
24 letters that were written to the lenders about why
1 there were problems. You just make them up as you
2 go along.
3 And the fact that, as I mentioned earlier,
4 there is so damn much fraud out there, which is so
5 obvious, which is recorded at the Registry of Deeds,
6 and you only have to go down and take a look at it,
7 and nobody does anything about it.
8 So of course this perfectly forthright
9 mortgage originator, who is a nice guy and has a
10 family with two kids and a dog and would never hurt
11 anybody, is all of a sudden under pressure to say,
12 "Well, Bill got away with it. Nothing happened to
13 Sue. Sure, I can puff those numbers a little bit."
14 And then you get the person who might be looking for
15 a perfectly legitimate loan who has now borrowed too
16 much, who is now in trouble.
17 How do you get rid of the fraud? You hang
18 a few lawyers. You put a mortgage company out of
19 business. You put a developer in jail.
20 When the developer that I made mention to,
21 when I was telling the Fed about all the nasty stuff
22 that he was doing, the Fed made such a small noise
23 about it that he was in court, in Federal Court plea
24 bargaining a mortgage fraud felony charge, and they
1 knew nothing about it. His lawyer was saying, "He's
2 the nicest guy on the face of the earth. That was
3 years ago," while we were in this room talking
4 about the fraud that was going on.
5 So, I mean, argue about the minutia, but if
6 25 percent of the market is fraudulent, unless
7 you're going to do something about that, then my 25
8 percent of the market is not going to be affected by
9 any of this. And in fact if your regulations get
10 too strict, you'll push more people into the
11 fraudulent range.
12 MS. MOSELEY: John, wouldn't you say, just
13 by going down Banker and Tradesman --
14 MR. ANDERSON: Oh, I don't use -- I use my
15 own data. It's better than Banker and Tradesman.
16 MS. MOSELEY: I read the Banker and
17 Tradesman each week, and under mortgages, I can put
18 a little X against those that are going to go bad
19 within five years or three years by name.
20 MR. ANDERSON: My kids can do it.
21 MS. MOSELEY: You don't even have to look
22 up anything. This is a bad one, this is a bad one,
23 and this is a bad one.
24 Then one of the techniques in trying to get
1 around how much you can lend on a first mortgage,
2 there's one very prominent finance company that
3 will -- someone will apply for a loan, and they will
4 break it into two loans. One is a first mortgage
5 with reasonably good rates, 30-year first, no
6 prepayments, all of this.
7 Then the second mortgage is an equity line
8 of credit which has the prepayment penalties, which
9 is negative amortizing, and they're going to pay off
10 more when they pay this off, if they ever pay it
11 off, than they will have borrowed. But because it's
12 an equity line of credit, it isn't the same. So the
13 secured loan is only, you know, within the ratios
14 that they allow.
15 So they have all of these little
16 techniques, and the interest rate on the equity line
17 is 18 1/2 percent. Actually, she is going to pay it
18 off and pay the penalty, and then we're going to
19 refinance her at a 12 percent one.
20 MR. WALKER: I just want to ask John a
21 question. John, in your opening statement you went
22 back to 1990. We're in 2000 now. What are you
23 seeing right now? Are you seeing the same kind of
24 flips that you --
1 MR. ANDERSON: The same guys are in
2 business. Nothing happened to them. Not only are
3 the same guys in business, but they're still doing
4 business with the same banks. Of course there are
5 new people, because they can do arithmetic. You
6 don't have to be a brain surgeon. You just have to
7 know real estate and do arithmetic.
8 The same guys are in business. Richard
9 Cawley has a new condo development in Dorchester,
10 closed a deed the other day where somebody paid him
11 $176,000 in cash. It's possible. I don't think so.
12 I don't know what the story is there.
13 One of the guys that I mentioned in my
14 previous Fed testimony was Jeff Roche. He sold a
15 property on Westville Street recently in which, if
16 you looked at Banker and Tradesman, because Banker
17 and Tradesman doesn't do loans or sales under $100,
18 it looks like a sale from Jeff Roche to a buyer
19 using an FHA loan. But since I don't use Banker and
20 Tradesman's data, if you looked an hour later, there
21 was a $10 deed from that person to another person.
22 I don't know what the situation is. I
23 don't have the time to track down every one. But
24 it's no longer -- the property is no longer in the
1 hands of the person who said that they were going to
2 live there for at least six months under the FHA.
3 Who is doing anything about it? Nothing.
4 Nobody. That's out there. It's as broad as day.
5 When I testified last year -- last time,
6 four years ago, I told you there was a property that
7 was owned for five minutes that was bought for
8 $35,000 and sold for $79,000 in five minutes, and I
9 submitted it to the Fed. The time stamps were on
10 it.
11 There was a property that sold recently,
12 bought for -- oh, geez, I can't remember the
13 address. It was bought for 79 and sold for 185 in
14 eight minutes. There was no renovation done. It
15 was just a pure flip, and it was done with a loan
16 with a small down payment loan from a major bank.
17 Since these guys didn't get hurt -- for
18 example, Jeff Roche went and originated a bunch of
19 loans through ACORN, several of which have gone bad.
20 Richard Cawley went to Capital Mortgage, which does
21 FHA funding, and several of those have gone bad.
22 There was an auction last week on Brunswick Street
23 in Dorchester.
24 I just spoke with Bruce Marks, who was on
1 your panel this morning, and he said he hadn't seen
2 me in a while. I said, "I get tired tracking down
3 all the investors, the non-owner/occupant investors
4 who are using your loan programs."
5 With the help of Yawu Miller from the Bay
6 State Banner we found three. We weren't even
7 looking for them. We were just looking at mortgages
8 that went bad really fast. We found investors
9 buying properties through NACA and Fleet. You get
10 tired of seeing it all the time. It's not even
11 surprising.
12 MR. MICHAELS: This is for Mr. White. You
13 referenced before the research that you and
14 Professor Mansfield at Drake Law School had done
15 regarding -- I guess you said you used securities
16 filings to analyze pools of subprime loans and
17 categorize them by rate so you can see where the
18 distribution was.
19 Since you were here this morning, you
20 probably heard our discussion about the Board's
21 authority under HOEPA to adjust the APR triggers and
22 the rates and fees triggers. I guess I would
23 appreciate it if you could sort of elaborate on how
24 you think the Board could use your data,
1 specifically what you think your data tells us about
2 how the Board should go about using its authority.
3 MR. WHITE: Well, one thing I think is very
4 helpful, in Professor Mansfield's article in the
5 South Carolina Law Review is a table with
6 distributions of interest rates from 1995 to 1999
7 charged by subprime lenders, the ones that are
8 publicly disclosed. And you can see the median rate
9 for mixed pools of loans is about 11 percent. Those
10 are the note rates, not the APRs.
11 And, you know, you can also see the
12 percentage, if you draw a line at any cutoff, of how
13 many loans in the market in those years you would
14 have excluded or included at any variety of
15 different triggers. I think all the proposals under
16 consideration for APR triggers would still only
17 affect a very small percentage of the loans.
18 But perhaps more significantly, if you
19 start with the idea that conventional rates have
20 been in the 7, 8 and 9 range, and the subprime
21 rates, the median rates, have been 10, 11 and 12
22 percent, and you look at the fact that these are
23 secured loans, so even if you have large numbers of
24 foreclosures -- some lenders may be 10 percent or
1 more -- if they're recovering 80 percent of their
2 money in the foreclosure, the actual losses on these
3 loan pools will be very small, 2 or 3 percent per
4 year. And that would be very high. Typically it
5 would be more like 1 percent a year.
6 So even a very risky pool of subprime
7 loans, the pricing should not be much higher,
8 however far up the risk scale you want to go, unless
9 you are really making loans that are guaranteed to
10 go into foreclosure.
11 So it seems to me you can take from those
12 ranges of interest rates and from, you know, the
13 real credit -- the cost of credit losses, that when
14 you get beyond 13 or 14 percent in today's interest
15 rate environment, you're really talking about
16 pricing that's not risk based; it's just price
17 gouging, price discrimination. You're charging
18 people more than the credit risk warrants and the
19 current cost of funds warrants.
20 So there shouldn't be any reservation about
21 discouraging or making impossible to do lending at
22 those kinds of rates above 13, 14 percent. And, you
23 know, nobody in the industry has tried to make that
24 case.
1 People in the industry have said, "Gee, you
2 know, we're worried you might start entrenching on
3 legitimate lending if you lower the triggers." But
4 I haven't heard a single member of the lending
5 industry come forward and say, "Let me show you a
6 loan product at 14 percent with 10 points or 7
7 points which is a beneficial, useful, appropriately
8 priced loan product," because they can't make that.
9 MR. MICHAELS: How do you think we can use
10 the data in your study to determine the percentage
11 of subprime loans covered by HOEPA now and the
12 percentage that might be covered if the triggers
13 were adjusted? Do you think we can use the data for
14 that purpose?
15 MR. WHITE: Certainly. I mean, it's not
16 comprehensive, because it's only the subprime
17 lenders who securitize, which is probably less -- a
18 little less than half of all the subprime loans that
19 are made. But as I say, there are tables in the
20 back of the South Caroline Law Review article that
21 will tell you the exact number out of the million or
22 so loans that were surveyed that were at 14-15,
23 15-16, 16-17. You can draw the cutoff anywhere you
24 like, and you can tell from those tables how many
1 ought to be affected.
2 But I do also think, when you look at the
3 loss rates, that you can also draw the conclusion
4 that pricing above a certain point is really just
5 not risk-based pricing anymore; it is just price
6 gouging.
7 MR. MICHAELS: Did you draw a conclusion
8 about the percentage of subprime loans that were
9 covered by HOEPA in your study?
10 MR. WHITE: Well, it would be fairly easy
11 to figure out, I guess, with a 10 percent APR
12 trigger -- well, let me say this: The information
13 that's in the article, which I didn't participate in
14 putting together, is just about the rates. There is
15 no public information about points.
16 A lot of us who see these loans anecdotally
17 feel like there's a lot more price gouging and
18 exploitation happening on the points than on the APR
19 end and that anything that can be done to drive down
20 the cap on those points is probably a good thing.
21 As far as the interest rates, as I say, it
22 is probably fewer than 10 percent of the loans that
23 are above the existing APR trigger. And in fact
24 most HOEPA loans that are HOEPA loans now are HOEPA
1 loans because of the points, not because of the
2 rates. If you lower the rate trigger from 10 above
3 Treasury to 8 above Treasury, you're still only
4 going to be capturing less than 20 percent, I
5 imagine, of the market, maybe less now.
6 MR. MICHAELS: When you say that most of
7 the loans covered by HOEPA now are covered by the
8 points and fees trigger as opposed to the rate
9 trigger, can you give me some idea of how you came
10 to that conclusion.
11 MR. WHITE: Well, I can't say I have a
12 statistical basis for that. I represent -- I've
13 litigated a number of cases under HOEPA, and I
14 represent a lot of clients who have HOEPA-covered
15 mortgages, and it's just been my experience, up
16 until about 1999, that charging 10 points was sort
17 of a standard in a given segment of the industry.
18 Lenders like UC Lending and FAMCO and a number of
19 others, sort of 10 points was the default number of
20 points they charged.
21 Now that HOEPA loans have become less
22 popular, it seems to be like 7 1/2 points seems to
23 be the standard that's being charged, you know, in
24 the high-risk end of the market, particularly for
1 loans of less than $50,000.
2 MR. MICHAELS: Thank you.
3 MODERATOR SMITH: With that, I will adjourn
4 this portion -- did you have anything else?
5 MR. RAYMOND: Excuse me. I apologize. It
6 seems that you were begging the question earlier,
7 and that is that we would -- in terms of having the
8 Board work with community advocates, we feel very
9 strongly that we would like to issue a challenge.
10 The challenge would be, can we leave here
11 with hopefully a commitment to sitting down with
12 some lenders and attempting to -- Norma was talking
13 about it earlier. She is having difficulty in terms
14 of providing these alternative financial
15 instruments. We tried the same thing ourselves and
16 have had some success.
17 But the issue that we feel very strongly is
18 that, okay, it appeared to me, from reading
19 materials and preparing for this meeting, that you
20 weren't only talking about regulatory issues in
21 terms of addressing this problem, which is obviously
22 very diverse and has a lot of different aspects to
23 it.
24 But unequivocally to us there is certainly
1 a large number of folks who are going to be victims
2 otherwise who, if we had a real program to provide
3 them with prime lending, despite the fact that they
4 may have some hardships or some extenuating
5 circumstance or, as was mentioned earlier today,
6 there was this whole issue of how many -- this large
7 number of folks, what is it, 40 percent of the folks
8 who, quote-unquote, are actually higher credit risks
9 than what they are ranked; they end up in the subpar
10 ranks, and in reality they are A credit.
11 These are the kinds of folks we think we
12 could provide for if we had a real alternative
13 program working with lenders, and we would like to
14 solicit the Fed to actually work with an actual
15 committee that's set up to deal with this.
16 MS. MOSELEY: How many banks do you hear,
17 mainstream banks, advertising on the radio for their
18 alternative mortgage products? No. They're talking
19 about their on-link -- I don't know. But, you know,
20 it's all that kind of technology stuff that they can
21 offer.
22 I'm suggesting that the predatory lenders
23 are out there selling their products. The banks are
24 out there selling technology. Why not have some of
1 the banks, particularly with this "Don't Borrow
2 Trouble" campaign, but "Come see your friend at X
3 bank"?
4 It can't just be "Don't do something"; it's
5 "We can offer you something better." That's the
6 missing part, that "We can offer you something
7 better. We can offer you a hot line number. We can
8 send you to a Len Raymond or a Norma Moseley."
9 MR. RAYMOND: A counseling agency.
10 MS. MOSELEY: And after 50 come in in one
11 week, you say, "Shut them off, I can't handle them
12 all. I don't have anywhere to take them."
13 MR. WALKER: Well, we'll certainly be
14 willing to sit down and talk with you in any way we
15 can be helpful.
16 MS. MOSELEY: That would be really good.
17 MR. RAYMOND: Certainly we think a credible
18 partner could be set up.
19 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you very much for
20 being here this afternoon and offering your views.
21 And we are ready to -- we're going to take about a
22 five- or ten-minute break, maybe five minutes, and
23 then go into the open mike session.
24 (Recess)
1 MODERATOR SMITH: Okay. We are ready, and
2 I think the mikes are live.
3 What I'm going to do is to read the list of
4 the people who have signed up for this session, and
5 we will be going in this order. What I would like
6 to do is for you to alternate mikes. You will each
7 have three minutes apiece. We have two timers, so
8 that depending on which mike you are using, you will
9 be looking at our person here at each end of the
10 table.
11 The names that I have, if I can read them
12 all correctly, Mr. Davis. Is it Tim or Jim?
13 MR. DAVIS: Tim.
14 MODERATOR SMITH: Okay, Tim Davis, City of
15 Boston. Daniel Ram --
16 MR. RAMGEET: Ramgeet.
17 MODERATOR SMITH: Ramgeet. All right. I
18 will ask you all, when you do come to the mike, both
19 to say your name and to spell it for our -- for the
20 record.
21 Willy Knight. Ed France. Lucille May or
22 Willy May?
23 FROM THE AUDIENCE: Willy May unfortunately
24 left.
1 MODERATOR SMITH: Okay. Ruth Dillingham.
2 Leonard C. Akins?
3 MR. ALKINS: Alkins.
4 MODERATOR SMITH: Alkins. Okay. Jim
5 Campen. Andrea Luquette?
6 MS. LUQUETTA: Luquetta.
7 MODERATOR SMITH: Okay. And Bruce
8 Fitzsimmons.
9 So that's the order. We'll start with Mr.
10 Davis. And then if the next person can kind of be
11 ready to go on the other side. Sit close.
12 MR. DAVIS: Hi. My name is Tim Davis.
13 That's T-i-m D-a-v-i-s. I am a senior program
14 manager with the City of Boston Department of
15 Neighborhood Development, and I oversee the "Don't
16 Borrow Trouble" program for the City of Boston.
17 Just to talk very briefly about that program and
18 also on the issue of what we are seeing with
19 subordination requests in our department as well.
20 First of all, we are pleased that through
21 the many years of effort we've put into our first-
22 time home buyer program, we're beginning to see
23 that, probably more so in Boston than in many
24 cities, that first-time home buyers now see
1 education as an integral part to the home-buying
2 process. And we're hoping that that will translate
3 with the "Don't Borrow Trouble" program to
4 homeowners as well.
5 And to give you some of the preliminary
6 results from the first couple of months of the
7 "Don't Borrow Trouble" program, from the calls and
8 inquiries we've received, 33 percent of our
9 inquiries have been general inquiries, people who
10 just want to know more about the program. Those are
11 the types of people that we hope that, when they are
12 looking to refinance, will call us later.
13 42 percent had specific questions about
14 loan terms. So hopefully those are people that we
15 are helping before they actually take the predatory
16 loan.
17 8 percent were behind in their mortgage,
18 but it was resolved by our staff without need for
19 further referral. 9 percent were referred to
20 foreclosure prevention services, specifically Norma
21 Moseley, who has been with you today. And 8 percent
22 were referred to our own City of Boston home repair
23 program, with an additional 1 percent with other
24 questions.
1 What we are seeing with that is that there
2 are a lot of people who are beginning to call us
3 based on the notion of "Don't Borrow Trouble" and
4 "Call us before you sign."
5 The program is still in its youth. We have
6 done mostly print advertisements and things like
7 that. We're just starting the TV PSA. We'll know
8 that really in a little while.
9 To finish up, I would like to say something
10 quickly about subordination requests, which we get
11 for grants that we have done. We have mortgages on
12 the properties. We are seeing a lot of people
13 coming who want subordination requests who do want
14 to refi despite what we tell them, despite the
15 problems they might see with the loan, because they
16 want to consolidate debts.
17 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you very much. I'm
18 not going to mangle your name again. I'll just say
19 Daniel.
20 MR. RAMGEET: Hi. My name is Daniel
21 Ramgeet. I'm a community organizer for ACORN, and I
22 am here to give testimony on behalf of my mother,
23 Sandra Ramgeet, R-a-m-g-e-e-t. She's the president
24 of Massachusetts ACORN.
1 ACORN members applaud the Federal Reserve
2 for holding hearings and starting to move forward
3 against predatory loans that are destroying our
4 neighborhoods. ACORN thinks that the Federal
5 Reserve has the power to put an end to predatory
6 lending and should have done so long ago. Too many
7 families have already been robbed of their dreams of
8 home ownership and have become hopeless of ever
9 owning a home.
10 ACORN thinks that the Federal Reserve
11 should use its regulatory authority against
12 predatory lendings. These loans which are targeted
13 to low income and minority communities cheat the
14 American people out of tens of thousands of dollars
15 and in the worst cases force families out of their
16 homes. Our community needs the Federal Reserve to
17 live up to its responsibilities and to help protect
18 families against these wealth-stripping loans.
19 ACORN's recommendation are that you, the
20 Federal Reserve, will support the prohibition of
21 lending without consideration of repayment ability
22 and prohibit the common practice of providing
23 teasers, which the American families can't afford,
24 then the interest rate goes up and so does the
1 monthly payments.
2 The practice of financing credit insurance
3 as part of loans is a deceptive practice. Predatory
4 lenders often finance high-cost credit insurance
5 into the loans, which also increase monthly
6 payments, even though the borrowers could get the
7 equivalent insurance from another carrier at a lower
8 rate without the additional interest.
9 The issue of loan flipping definitely needs
10 addressing. Loan flipping is where the lenders
11 refinance loans basically solely to generate extra
12 fees and to provide no benefits for the borrowers.
13 This often forces borrowers to either lose their
14 homes after years of paying their mortgage, and then
15 some borrowers refinance.
16 Predatory lenders are making a fortune from
17 our misery. ACORN president quotes, "There is
18 something very wrong when it is considered a
19 legitimate business practice to provide loans that
20 rob us from our life savings that we put in our
21 homes and leave us homeless."
22 I'd like to submit this on behalf of ACORN
23 members that have been victims of these predatory
24 lenders, and unfortunately they can't be here today
1 because they have to work.
2 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you very much. Why
3 don't you hand it to him, and he will give them to
4 us.
5 MR. RAMGEET: One other thing. Remember,
6 the people united will never be defeated. Thank you
7 very much.
8 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you. Thank you for
9 coming. Mr. Knight.
10 FROM THE AUDIENCE: He left as well.
11 MODERATOR SMITH: Okay. Mr. France.
12 MR. FRANCE: My name is Ed France. I'm a
13 Brockton ACORN member. I am also a victim of the
14 predatory lenders, as was stated when we came back
15 there.
16 I have a mortgage through Equicredit. I
17 had a mortgage through RMC, and then they sold it to
18 IMC. The loan was for -- it was 13 percent. I went
19 with Equicredit because I got 2 points lower on
20 that. And with Equicredit I'm paying a $69,000
21 mortgage. I have a ten-year mortgage. I'm expected
22 to pay, at the end of the ten years, a $64,000
23 balloon payment. At that time I will have already
24 paid off my loan. And I try to pay as much as I can
1 over and above my 654 that I owe.
2 Equicredit is constantly sending me letters
3 for insurance. They're telling me that I'm
4 eligible. They don't tell you how much it's going
5 to cost you. It's a constant, ongoing thing. I
6 just disregard them. I'm constantly getting letters
7 in the mail, you know, for other loan officers.
8 They keep getting information on me somehow.
9 With my loan through Equicredit I pay all
10 the insurance. I pay all my property taxes. And I
11 ask my -- the guy that did my mortgage, I says,
12 "Arthur, did you know about the $64,000 balloon
13 payment?" He says, yes, he did. He said that
14 Equicredit expects me to pay -- to refinance with
15 them within a three-year period, which is telling me
16 that I'm going to have to pay more brokerage fees
17 again, plus closing costs and everything else, to go
18 back with the mortgage with them.
19 This is very unfair and very unjust. I
20 wish we could put an end to this.
21 If I refinance in three years, I have a
22 prepayment penalty. And I wish you guys could do
23 something about, you know, putting an end to this.
24 We pray to a higher God up above, a spiritual God.
1 These people that are doing these loans, they're
2 praying to a higher money called the color green.
3 I thank you for your time here. I really
4 hope you can help us out.
5 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you very much.
6 Ruth Dillingham.
7 MS. DILLINGHAM: I'm going to cede my time
8 to Mr. Fitzsimmons. We're on the same topic.
9 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Alkins.
10 MR. ALKINS: Good afternoon. My name is
11 Leonard Alkins. That's A-l-k-i-n-s. I'm the
12 president of the NAACP Boston branch.
13 I thank you for having these hearings, but
14 at the same time I'm insulted that the NAACP was not
15 notified that these hearings were coming about, nor
16 were we invited to participate in a process that we
17 have been involved in since the mortgage scam here
18 in Massachusetts.
19 I don't know if you have involved the NAACP
20 in other cities that you have been in, but this
21 impacts people of color, and for us to be excluded
22 from the process leads me to wonder, is there going
23 to be any change in what has not been happening in
24 our community?
1 The mortgage scams, the flipping of
2 mortgages have been a problem for a long time. They
3 never went away. The message that's being sent by
4 State Government, Federal Government and local
5 communities, meaning the City of Boston, sends the
6 message that it's business as usual.
7 We have elderly people in our community who
8 are being ripped off by irresponsible contractors
9 who work with the City of Boston to repair elderly
10 people's homes. There is no accountability. There
11 is no monitoring of these programs.
12 You have legalized loan-sharking going on
13 by banks charging outrageous points for mortgages,
14 outrageous fees, when you talk about credit cards.
15 And what is the Federal Reserve Bank doing? Does
16 anybody care about poor people and elderly people in
17 this country? People who have power and don't use
18 it are just as bad off as the people who don't have
19 power.
20 We ask the Federal Government, the Federal
21 Reserve Bank, to enforce the regulations that are on
22 the books today, deal with those individuals who are
23 violating the subprime market laws. Get rid of them
24 once and for all, prosecute them and prohibit them
1 from getting back into the business. It's a
2 revolving door. And we must act.
3 These laws and regulations have been on the
4 books for a long time. Why has it taken us so long
5 to take a look at it again? And why are you only
6 giving the community three minutes to discuss the
7 frustrations that we have been putting up with for a
8 long time? You need to come into the community and
9 see firsthand what is going on, what is not being
10 done. Enough is enough.
11 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you. Mr. Campen.
12 MR. CAMPEN: My name is Jim Campen,
13 C-a-m-p-e-n. I'm Associate Professor of Economics
14 at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. I'm a
15 former member of the Boston Fed's Community
16 Development Advisory Council.
17 I've done a number of studies on mortgage
18 lending in Boston and surrounding cities, and I'm
19 now under contract with the Massachusetts Community
20 Banking Council to do a study using 1999 HMDA data,
21 which should be available, and HUD's list of
22 subprime lenders to do a study of subprime lending
23 in the Boston area.
24 Preliminary analysis using 1998 data shows
1 the same sort of thing in Boston that other people
2 have reported, I'm sure, this morning, when I wasn't
3 here, has been found in other cities. For example,
4 subprime lenders accounted for 9.4 percent of all
5 loans in the City of Boston -- that's refinance
6 loans in 1998; 24 percent of loans to blacks, but
7 only 5 percent of loans to whites; 32 percent of
8 loans in low and moderate income census tracts that
9 are more than 75 percent black and Hispanic, but
10 only 7 percent of loans in low and moderate income
11 tracks that are more than 75 percent white. So the
12 racial divide is a primary thing here rather than
13 the income issue, according to that data.
14 My comments have to be very brief, so I
15 want to make one point, which is that those of us
16 who do studies and people who look at the results of
17 studies and depend on the results of those studies
18 are hurting because of the lack of good data on
19 subprime lending. The situation now is that HMDA
20 data does not provide any information which allows
21 anybody to identify any particular loan as a
22 subprime loan. And of course they can't identify
23 any loan as a predatory loan.
24 The way that most studies are done is that
1 HUD produces a list each year of subprime lenders;
2 that is, lenders that they have determined make --
3 the majority of their loans consist of subprime
4 loans. But those lenders make other loans which are
5 not subprime loans, and there are many lenders who
6 make predominantly prime loans but also make
7 subprime loans.
8 So what we need, what I urge the Board to
9 do, using its existing authority under the existing
10 legislation and to push for additional legislation,
11 is to expand the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act to
12 include three different kinds of data: data about
13 loans, including interest rates, points, the
14 existence of prepayment penalties, balloon
15 penalties, balloon payments and so on; secondly, to
16 include information about borrowers to allow there
17 to be good data collected on the extent to which
18 subprime loans are going to prime borrowers who are
19 qualified for non-subprime loans; and third, since
20 there is a lot of evidence, a lot of anecdotal
21 evidence that there is a very large racial dimension
22 to the provision of subprime loans, it's important
23 to amend HMDA so that information on the race of
24 borrowers can be collected for all borrowers.
1 As it is now, loans taken over the phone or
2 through the mail or over the Internet, borrowers do
3 not even have to request -- lenders do not have to
4 request the information about the race of the
5 borrower. In Boston, for example, in 1998, for 30.2
6 percent of the subprime loans that were made, there
7 was no information on race or ethnicity of the
8 borrower, compared to 10 percent of the prime loans.
9 So I urge the Federal Reserve Board to use
10 its authority to expand the HMDA data that is
11 collected and made available to the public.
12 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you very much.
13 MR. WALKER: Excuse me, Dolores. Jim, do
14 you have that in written -- in terms of the
15 categories of information that you are suggesting?
16 MR. CAMPEN: I was planning to submit
17 written --
18 MR. WALKER: Okay. Thanks.
19 MODERATOR SMITH: Andrea.
20 MS. LUQUETTA: Good afternoon. My name is
21 Andrea Luquetta. That's L-u-q-u-e-t-t-a. I'm the
22 Director of Housing and Community Reinvestment for
23 the Massachusetts Association of CDCs. Our members
24 are nonprofit community-based organizations that
1 engage in a variety of community development
2 activities, often in partnerships with banks, often
3 under the CRA.
4 Over the past several years, MACDC and
5 allied organizations have successfully negotiated
6 with area banks commitments to increase CRA lending
7 by several billion dollars. We are motivated to
8 pursue such commitments in part because financial
9 institutions have not met the credit and capital
10 needs of LMI and minority communities.
11 However, we've also been motivated by
12 troubling instances where a bank or another lender
13 has created negative consequences as a result of
14 trying to originate CRA-qualified loans or to fill a
15 market niche through what has become known as
16 subprime lending.
17 Therefore, in addition to pursuing
18 commitments by the banks to lend at certain volumes
19 in LMI areas, we have also pursued mechanisms to
20 make sure that the loans are responsibly
21 underwritten and do not negatively impact the
22 borrower or community.
23 For example, several years ago one of our
24 members in Chelsea documented that a particular
1 institution's bank and mortgage lending affiliates
2 had originated home-secured loans to LMI and
3 minority borrowers in that area at much higher
4 amounts than all other lenders in that area.
5 For example, a mortgage -- I'm sorry, a
6 loan to a low-income borrower from the mortgage
7 lending affiliate was more than $8,000 more than the
8 typical loan originated by all other lenders in the
9 same population. On average, an African-American
10 applicant to the bank received a loan worth 30
11 percent more than all the loans offered by all the
12 other lenders. And the average Asian applicant to
13 the mortgage lending affiliate received a loan worth
14 more than 65 percent more than all other loans
15 offered by all other lenders.
16 This is 1996 HMDA data. It is old, but the
17 case was still made.
18 In at least one case, this had a negative
19 effect on the ability of the borrower to maintain
20 their home. A Cambodian family that had borrowed
21 from this lender faced not being able to make
22 necessary repairs to their home, including repairing
23 major code violations, because this lender had lent
24 them 145 percent more than the property was actually
1 worth, and this was confirmed by several appraisers.
2 In addition to the Chelsea examples, we
3 have also heard of similar activity, such as you
4 heard today from John Anderson, in the
5 Dorchester-Roxbury-Mattapan area. Thus some
6 lenders, in the name of helping to meet credit needs
7 of lower and moderate income and minority borrowers
8 and mortgage lending affiliates trying to fill a
9 market niche, have actually had negative
10 consequences and destabilized our communities.
11 For our part, we have negotiated with these
12 lenders mechanisms to ensure that folks do not get
13 in over their heads, that they use responsible
14 appraisers, and that they contract with community
15 organizations like Norma Moseley's -- I'm sorry, I
16 am going to go a little bit over -- like Norma
17 Moseley's to go through foreclosure counseling,
18 foreclosure prevention and postpurchase counseling.
19 However, the ability of community
20 organizations to document and address the activities
21 of lenders that destabilize our communities is
22 limited. The regulators, and specifically the
23 Federal Reserve Board, have many more resources and,
24 most importantly, the authority to regulate
1 practices that are currently on the legal side of
2 HOEPA thresholds but are nonetheless harming our
3 communities.
4 And I just want to emphasize this point. I
5 understand that you spent the afternoon discussing
6 community outreach efforts, and I did come in the
7 morning where you were discussing changing the
8 triggers and doing regulatory activities. And I
9 think that the community outreach part is very
10 important and necessary, but that's not the area
11 that the Federal Reserve really stands to make an
12 important change.
13 It's really in your authority as a
14 regulator, rather than as a funder of community
15 outreach or even a supporter or cheerleader of
16 community outreach, where you have the power and the
17 ability to make dramatic, dramatic changes that will
18 help all of the community outreach to have a smaller
19 market to deal with.
20 So I'm going to just summarize the rest of
21 my testimony and just echo some of my colleagues in
22 encouraging you to use your authority to lower the
23 HOEPA triggers; make them more inclusive; to revise
24 the definition of points and fees to include all the
1 costs a borrower is required to pay in order to get
2 the loan; to prohibit prepayment penalties, balloon
3 payments, frequent refinancing or flipping of loans
4 and lending without regard to the borrower's ability
5 to repay on all high-cost HOEPA loans, as well as
6 making changes, as Jim Campen said earlier, to the
7 HMDA data.
8 Finally, I would also urge that under CRA
9 examination procedures, that a lot of these issues
10 also be covered, including through the foreclosures,
11 because it's not enough that lenders are making and
12 originating these loans and therefore inflating
13 their origination numbers; it also has to be
14 reviewed what happens after the origination takes
15 place and what happens to the families and the
16 communities in order for the bank or the lender to
17 get CRA credit. Thank you.
18 MODERATOR SMITH: Mr. Fitzsimmons.
19 MR. FITZSIMMONS: Good afternoon. My name
20 is Bruce Fitzsimmons, F-i-t-z-s-i-m-m-o-n-s. I'm an
21 attorney practicing law in Boston. I'm also on the
22 Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Conveyancers
23 Association, a 3,000-member statewide real estate
24 bar.
1 In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, real
2 estate closings are conducted by attorneys. In most
3 cases, the closing attorney represents the lender
4 and also acts as the title insurance agent.
5 The MCA appreciates the concerns that have
6 led to the introduction of HR 4250 and 2415 and
7 related legislation. The concerns of the
8 Massachusetts Conveyancers Association relates to
9 technical issues with the proposed legislation.
10 First, the concerns raised about predatory
11 lending practices have related to refinances and
12 second mortgage transactions. There is no reason to
13 extend the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act
14 to residential mortgage transactions in which the
15 loan is being used to acquire or construct the
16 dwelling.
17 Secondly, the MCA believes that the
18 provisions of HOEPA which exclude fees or premium
19 for title examination, title insurance, or similar
20 purposes, as long as the charges are reasonable, the
21 lender receives no direct or indirect compensation,
22 and the charges paid to a third party unaffiliated
23 with the lender, should be retained. In
24 Massachusetts in particular, affiliated business
1 arrangements with lenders are exceptions rather than
2 the rule. The lender does not benefit from those
3 types of charges.
4 Thirdly, the MCA is concerned with the new
5 Provision 129K of the Truth in Lending Act which
6 states that "No creditor or other person may require
7 or allow the collection of a premium for credit
8 insurance or a debt cancellation contract on a
9 single-premium basis through an up-front charge paid
10 by the borrower at the initiation of the loan."
11 The objection here is with the words "No
12 creditor or other person may require or allow."
13 Members of the MCA are involved in the closing of
14 mortgage loans, and we believe it is an impractical
15 burden placed on the closing attorney, who might be
16 viewed as the "other person" who "allows" the lender
17 to obtain the single premium in connection with the
18 transaction, the role of policing the lender.
19 We're not aware of any other section of the
20 Truth in Lending Act or other consumer protection
21 statute that imposes such an obligation on third
22 parties.
23 Lastly, we note that HR 3901 contains a
24 provision that "A conforming home loan document in
1 which blanks are left to be filled in after the
2 contract is signed shall not be enforceable under
3 federal or state law."
4 We believe that room should be left here
5 for correction of scrivener's errors in a mortgage
6 or for the filling in of recording information on an
7 instrument which will be recorded simultaneously
8 with the mortgage which requires the instrument
9 number from the mortgage.
10 Thank you very much for the opportunity to
11 present these comments.
12 MODERATOR SMITH: Thank you very much, Mr.
13 Fitzsimmons. And I thank everyone who signed up for
14 the open mike session.
15 Is there anyone else who did not sign up
16 but who would like to offer their views at this
17 time? (No response)
18 Well, if not, with that, we will adjourn
19 this hearing. But, again, I thank you in the
20 audience both who participated and who came here to
21 hear the presentations made by the invited panelists
22 and by the open mike presenters.
23 We have, I think, gained some important
24 perspectives offered here today and will be taking
1 advantage of them in our analysis as we work to
2 develop proposals and recommendations to the Board
3 on measures that might be taken within the Board's
4 authority to amend the HOEPA provisions of the Truth
5 in Lending Act and to take other measures that might
6 be helpful in helping to eliminate predatory lending
7 practices.
8 So, with that, unless we have other
9 comments from the Panel, then we are adjourned, and
10 I thank you again.
11 (Whereupon the proceedings were
12 concluded at 4:00 p.m.)
1 C E R T I F I C A T E
2 I, Carol H. Kusinitz, Registered
3 Professional Reporter, do hereby certify that the
4 foregoing transcript, Volume I, is a true and
5 accurate transcription of my stenographic notes
6 taken on August 4, 2000.
9 _____________________________
10 Carol H. Kusinitz
11 Registered Professional Reporter
14 - - - -
August 4 hearing on home equity lending | Morning session | Afternoon session
Home | Community development | Public hearings
Last update: February 14, 2002
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Topic: is there any method to inculude live video streaming in html page (Read 2028 times) previous topic - next topic
Amin khan
i am working on home automaton project. i did every thing but i now need to see live streeming video on my browser page. like if i use web cam then how to connetc it to arduino or ethernet shield board.
i am using arduino mega with ethernet shield.
i think microcontroller will not support the video because its ram is not so big.
is there any alternative method.
Jul 17, 2012, 06:07 pm Last Edit: Jul 17, 2012, 06:12 pm by MichaelMeissner Reason: 1
I would imagine you need to have the PC talk directly to the web cam directly for ing. You may need a process on your pc, that combines the live feed from the web cam with the stuff from the Arduino (or just java/javascript in your browser).
Failing the ability of the PC to talk to the web cam, you likely will need to upgrade to a processor that can handle live video feeds. Presumably ARM processors (mbed, beaglebone, raspberry-pi, etc.) have enough memory and processor speed to handle it, but I don't know from personal experience.
If you just need to overlay some simple text over the video feed, you could use a video shield such as http://nootropicdesign.com/ve/, and then have the PC accept composite video input, possibly through a TV card or frame grabber.
As the arduino generally does not support video transmission, the most likely solution is to use an "IP cam" to supply the video to a web page. Look at the below page source code to see a method to put video in a control page. Note that the cam has a bad wire that causes the video to drop out in some positions.
As much as I love the Arduino, there are some projects which are better done with other hardware.
If you just want to see what's happening at a remote (but internet enabled) location, an IPcam is the way to go... there are many which have built in servers. You only need to leave the camera and the internet connection turned on. No PC needed.
Now... if you want to refine the CONTROL you have over the camera... position, on/off, etc., then you might have good cause to add an Arduino with an ethernet interface to the equation....
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Topic: How to scroll only 1 row? (Read 219 times) previous topic - next topic
Hi, I have this cute little setup with a normal Hitachi HD44780 type lcd display which displays some text in the upper row and the time since reset in minutes and seconds in the lower row. It works nicely if the text is only 16 digits/letters but if it's longer it obviously only displays the first 16 letters.
To solve this you can use the scroll commands. Sadly they all affect both rows, which also puts my little clock out of bounds.
My question is: How can I only scrow one row?
My question is: How can I only scrow one row?
The short answer is that you cannot do this using just the commands available in the LCD controller, you have to do it in software.
See if either of these old threads help:
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8939
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E46Fanatics (http://forum.e46fanatics.com/index.php)
- - adding subwoofers and amp (http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=31348)
jazzy_james 09-26-2002 04:10 PM
adding subwoofers and amp
First thought of getting the jl audio stealthboxes and an amp. Now due to some negatives comments, thinking of getting the jl cs210r-w0 (2 10W0-8 subwoofers in the prebuilt box) plus the jl audio 250/1 amp. Will be adding this to my non-hk system.
I didn't want to rid my rear speakers in place of the stealthboxes. Any thoughts or comments.
drgalleg 09-26-2002 04:42 PM
Ask yourself this...
What kind of negative comments did you hear?
Remember, the only real reason the stealthboxes exist is because regular sub boxes (including the one you mentioned)take over quite some space in your trunk.
So ask yourself: do you care about how much carrying space you have? If the answer is yes - then get the stealthboxes. If not, then by all means, get a sep. dedicated sub system.
If you do care about space - the stealthboxes are GREAT. Unless you have 1) lots of rear passengers 2) want a 5.1 surround sound system or 3) going for a TRUE audiophile Soundquality solution, then I think the amount of bass the Stealths give you will be fine.
Just make sure to also get some quality front components that can help blend the midbass/bass from the rear. This will aid in negating the "bass in the back" feeling. You will have some good front staging with this setup, however, which is why unless you care about rear passengers - you, the driver, will enjoy some great sound.
Quanius 09-26-2002 05:14 PM
It might even make sense to run a volume knob up to the front to control the stealths, yes? or is that just unnecessary?
Also, Where is the best place to install the AMP for the stealths?... under the trunk mat? In the CD changer mounting bracket?
drgalleg 09-27-2002 09:20 AM
You could put a bass knob control up front as that might help when you do have rear seat passengers who don't want to sit right in front of two subs.
As for where to install - that depends on the amp. and how much you want to spend for installation. If the amp is small enough, then you may be able to hide it near the cd changer bracket. I had mine mounted onthe back seat which worked out well when I needed/wanted to make adjustments to the amp.
Under the mat is not a good idea (assuming you plan to cover up the amp w/ the mat on top??), because the amp will get hot and needs sufficient air for cooling. You could just mount the amp on top of the trunk mat flush against the back near the rear seats. That would work. Make sure your installer does a good job of tidying up the power connections if he does this, as its possible you get water or snow in the trunk.
Hope this helps
Quanius 09-27-2002 12:05 PM
Thanks for the reply.. I was thinking of the knob since in other loud systems I have heard, depending on the style of music you might want less/more bass. This approach would be much more fine tuned since you are controlling just the sub and possible to do while driving. Now I havn't heard the stealths but I'm thinking they might not be as overpowering where this would be an issue. I.e. Instead the headunit bass levels would be adequate enough to make the appropriate adjustments.
drgalleg 09-27-2002 01:11 PM
Yes, I don't think the stealths will be all that overpowering. Even with a fairly powerful amp, the stealths are not built to win dbDrags ore SPL competitions. They do, however, sound very tight and accurate.
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AnimeSuki Forums
Go Back AnimeSuki Forum > Rising Dragon
Conversation Between Rising Dragon and mangatron
Showing Visitor Messages 1 to 4 of 4
1. mangatron
2013-04-03 02:56
It's from Date A Live, though I should warn the first episode out now is a pre-air streaming rip, so it's quality is... horrific
2. Rising Dragon
2013-04-03 02:06
Rising Dragon
Okay, gotta ask: Where's the sig from this time? :k
3. mangatron
2012-12-31 01:28
It's from Girls Und Panzer, the scene takes place in the 9th episode
4. Rising Dragon
2012-12-30 13:42
Rising Dragon
Okay, I have to ask: Where's your latest signature from?
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Go Back AnimeSuki Forum > Archon_Wing
Conversation Between Archon_Wing and bhl88
Showing Visitor Messages 1 to 10 of 62
1. bhl88
2013-05-13 16:39
I prefer Innocent animated xD
2. bhl88
2013-04-16 13:11
lol I'm just buying Blu-Rays once in a while...
3. bhl88
2013-03-21 12:02
XD lol...... slap Aki, he went inside the thread XD
4. bhl88
2013-03-15 02:10
Lol it took two threads xD
5. bhl88
2013-03-08 17:08
lol I can't repair that.
6. Archon_Wing
2013-03-08 15:31
Well, now we're flooded.
I'm not cleaning it up.
7. bhl88
2013-03-08 01:19
Repair it yourself XD I don't want to repair "all three messes"
8. Archon_Wing
2013-03-08 00:29
They are breaking. It is far too much to handle.
Go repair the walls.
9. bhl88
2013-03-07 16:36
XD he's safe in our walls XD
10. Archon_Wing
2013-03-07 15:29
*Stares at wall*
Uhh, pretty sure Akiyoshi doesn't need goading on my part. It's not like he listens to anyone anyways. ;p If anything, everyone should appreciate you and me for keeping him to our walls, as opposed to well... self explanatory.
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8951
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i have created an opengl gui with all of the common gui components. Some of them don't work like the text view and the listbox. if you would please take some time to try it and please leave any comments or questions you have. Its installed like any other open source thing except you don't compile this. If would like the source code, pm me. Thanks.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1Y05NIY1 (Its a 7-zip)
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8956
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8GB Apple iPhone FS
Discussion in 'iPhone Marketplace Archive' started by nospleen, Dec 25, 2007.
1. macrumors 68000
I am selling my 8GB Apple iPhone. It is in great/mint condition. The screen has had a protector on it since day one and is perfect! The phone was purchased on 09/10. It comes with everything, except the headphones. I have sold tons of stuff here and on ebay, mgheath.
$275 shipped...
Please email me with any questions or concerns. (emsdadATmac.com)
2. macrumors 68020
ill take it.
3. macrumors 68000
Damn good price. If kellen doesn't take it, consider me next in line. I can paypal now.
4. macrumors 68000
I emailed Kellen, I will keep you posted...
5. macrumors 68020
Back off, its mine!!!!:D
Payment being sent.
6. macrumors 68000
Goncrats. I'll give you $285 ;)
7. macrumors 68000
Too funny! Officially sold.
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8958
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Backup NAS to MacPro JBOD?
Discussion in 'Mac OS X Server, Xserve, and Networking' started by hayduke, Mar 22, 2011.
1. macrumors 65816
Hi All - I have a Thecus 8800 NAS (8x1TB, RAID6) that is working well as a fileserver, but we are not currently backing it up. I would like to use a 4-disk (4x2TB) JBOD in my MacPro (I have 6 drives total) to backup the NAS. My question is what software do I need to execute the back-up? I have used SuperDuper for years to back-up the MacPro, but that doesn't "see" the NAS. The NAS supports iSCSI, would that help? Different software? I would prefer to initiate all the back-ups from the MacPro, rather than from the NAS side. Any tips?
2. macrumors 68030
rsync will do the job. If you want a fancy GUI (but with a little less options) you can use Carbon Copy Cloner as well.
As long as the volume is mountable (which I assume you NAS shares are), you can back it up.
3. macrumors 65816
Thanks for the pointers. The NAS is (no surprise...) attached over the network, so I don't see it as an available drive in CCC (nor SuperDuper). Might be time to brush up on my rsync skillz.
4. macrumors 68030
rsync is very easy and you can schedule it with iCal if you want to.
However, CCC does work with network shares as well. Try google or the CCC forums for any information how to make this work.
I haven't tried it myself as I prefer rsync with iCal. It's probably easier to use this instead of making CCC work with the network device. ;)
5. macrumors 6502
I thought CCC could only copy to networks shares *hosted on a mac*, not NAS, but I could be wrong.
Chronosync will backup to networks shares, I use it to sync a local FW800 drive to a QNAP NAS, and it works nicely...
You seem to want to do similar but the other way around... I think it should work for that too.
6. macrumors 65816
Starting to wonder if I should just make the MacPro the server for the group to access and then back-up everything with Time Machine to the NAS. The problem is that the I was going to set the MacPro drives set-up as a JBOD, so I'm not very fault tolerant, but my back-up NAS would be RAID-6 with Time Machine's multiple back-ups. Hmmmm...
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8959
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Can anyone help me with Automator?
Discussion in 'Mac Programming' started by Lifequest, Nov 21, 2010.
1. macrumors regular
I'm not sure if this would work in Automator. I've never done this before and would really appreciate any help.
What I want to achieve:
1. Scan and detect separate items
2. Open those images and edit with photoshop
3. (this part might be done using Photoshop actions?) Resize images and set background to white (as the scanned images come out with faux-white/grey backgrounds).
4. Save to a certain folder as .jpg with a certain numerical naming system. i.e. 1.jpg, 2.jpg, 3.jpg, 4.jpg, etc.
Assistance much appreciated :(
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8960
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Can anyone spot me a ZAGG discount code for an Air skin?
Discussion in 'MacBook Air' started by BeyondtheTech, Dec 2, 2010.
1. macrumors 68000
I've got an awesome custom skin I'm designing, but thought of it a few days too late to get it in the Cyber Monday sale.
Can anyone spot me a 50% off code? Please PM me! Thanks!
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8961
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Clear Plastic film for iPod Touch
Discussion in 'iPod touch Accessories' started by aussie_geek, Oct 1, 2007.
1. macrumors 65816
I am after some clear plastic film for my iPod to protect it. I have This to protect my ipod video.
It is the back of the ipod I want to protect - from all the scratches. I can already see some now !!! :(:(:(
Is there anything like this out for the touch yet??
2. macrumors member
Invisible shield.
3. Moderator
Staff Member
4. macrumors member
I have used http://www.bestskinsever.com/servlet/StoreFront
I got one for the iPhone for my week 36 iPt and cut it to fit more closely.
I have ordered another one for my week 39, but I am getting the DIY sheet and cutting it to size. The home button hole may be hard to do.
Best Skins Ever is the same as Invisible Shield, but less expensive. Looks like they have iPt available: http://www.shieldzone.com/ipods/
5. macrumors regular
i still have the clear plastic covering over the screen that my ipod touch came in. does anyone know or has tried taking this cover off from the screen and placing it on the back? i would try this, but i am just afraid it would not stick to the silver back of the ipod. anyone havea reply?
6. macrumors regular
dood, do not take it off. I took mines off and didn't like the sticky feel of the glass and tried to put it back on.... It didn't work...
So yeah, the plastic curls up once u peel it and makes it pretty hard to put them back on.
7. macrumors regular
alright thansk for the reply. my ipod touch works fine with the clear covering on it, but do you think if i take it off,the sensitivity will be better or anything of the sort? do you like your touch better when the covering was on, or do you like it better now?
8. macrumors regular
pretty much the same. I liked it better with the cover on cause there were less finger prints. It was also easier to wipe the prints off. I'm waiting for my invisible shield to get here so i can cover it again...
9. macrumors regular
yeah the plastic was way better. now i feel like my fingers are to moist and it makes the screen sticky. Im gonna wait until the pre-cut bestskinsever cover comes out for the ipod touch. till then im just gonna put it back in the box and wait.
10. macrumors 65816
The iPod touch has the same scratch-proof coating as the iPhone. If you've seen the arstechnica stress-test it's very impressive and holds up against keys and even a knife and being shaken around in a bag full of rocks! The screen is almost bullet proof, but will start to crack if you're throwing it at the floor and then walking on it.
11. macrumors 65816
Genghis Khan
No coating required!!!
don't worry about scratches...worry about it breaking if you drop it
and people selling coatings for it should be sued for taking advantage of ignorant people
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8962
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Command Key & Troubleshooting keypad
Discussion in 'General Mac Discussion' started by AshleyBuckles, Aug 14, 2003.
1. macrumors newbie
First off, if anyone has experienced my problems, please contact me!! Thank You!
I am using an iMAC G3
When I use my command key alone with another, the command key symbol and an up arrow (as an example) appear on my screen...When this happens, I also hear a 'typewriter' effect.. Why does it do this and how can I stop it from doing this? It's VERY annoying.
My biggest problem is my keypad not working.. Of course, I have checked the obvious, such as turning on and off numlock, I have restarted, I have unplugged and replugged in the USB. I am using an apple pro keyboard. I can use the numbers on the keypad if I hold down the shift key or option key while pressing a number. CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP ME?
Thank You so much!
2. macrumors 6502
Re: Command Key & Troubleshooting keypad
It sounds to me that you have Sticky Keys on. To turn it off go to
System Prefs, Universal Access, Keyboard and turn them off. That might also fix your keypad problem. If it doesn't let us know.
The Sticky Key functions enable people who have disabilities that would not allow them to HOLD a key and press another key by queueing up the keystrokes you have made.
It gets turned on when u press the shift key 5 times in a row
Hope that helps...
3. macrumors regular
I just had a very similar problem yesterday where my whole numpad wouldn't work. I went to System Preferences then Universal Access then Mouse, thened turn OFF Mouse Keys. Though its kinda fun to keep them on for a while to play with moving the mouse with the numpad....
4. macrumors newbie
Reply to MacBoyX & EBUC
Thank you so much! Both of your solutions fixed my problems. I had no idea how to fix it. Thank you again! :D
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8963
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Handbreak crashing???
Discussion in 'Apple TV and Home Theater' started by aaronthomas, Jun 9, 2008.
1. macrumors regular
Hey all... thanks so much for your help in the past! Got another issue... Trying to rip some dvds (throne of Blood and Chushingura) some old Japanese fillms and I cant even get through the source loading before handbreak shuts down.... now this only happens with the new handbreak.... Any ideas.... im trying to run them through mtr to see if that helps. Thanks, Aaron:confused:
2. macrumors 68020
3. macrumors regular
Hmmm... nope... still crashen... even with the mtr....Cant figure out why it works on the old version thought.
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8964
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iOS needs wallpaper cycling
Discussion in 'iOS 7' started by cnev3, Jun 23, 2013.
1. macrumors 6502
Surely if OSX can have it, so can iOS.
This sounds like a simple feature to integrate, and I don't see how it would be something that would compromise performance or battery life.
I know its possible with Cydia, but i'm not interested in jailbreaking.
I dont like waiting until im sick of a wallpaper before I change it manually, and to change it manually every day would be tiresome.
Bring it Apple.
2. macrumors 6502
Dumb idea.
3. macrumors 6502a
Sounds like you spend too much time on the home/lock screen :p If there was genuinely enough interest, Apple probably would have implemented it. But I don't think there is.
4. macrumors 68030
Faster to do manually, and doing so doesn't require anymore code or battery power.
5. macrumors 6502a
"iOS needs wallpaper cycling"
Replace with:
"I want iOS to have wallpaper cycling"
6. macrumors 6502a
Good idea. I'd use this. The rude responses people post on here never cease to amaze me.
7. macrumors G3
I wouldn't say "need," but I'd use it if this feature were avaiable. So many beautiful wallpapers, so hard to pick just one! :D
8. macrumors 6502
I don't really have a desire for this feature, but it's incredible how rude people can be.
9. macrumors 65816
You change your wallpaper daily ? Damn.
I have the default background all the time ( I'm a power user, I don't care about wallpapers, how the phone looks, scratches and so on )
10. macrumors 68030
It's just wallpaper, who cares? I haven't ever changed the stock wallpaper. It just doesn't matter.
11. macrumors 6502a
We might be able to create our own dynamic wallpapers.
12. macrumors 6502
Yes... to you. Which is fine. It doesn't matter to me either but it obviously does to at least one person.
If you really cannot contribute positively (or negatively if it's constructive) then why waste your time, and the time of everyone who reads this, in replying?
13. macrumors 68030
Why does every contribution have to be positive? I'd hate to think that Apple's software engineers are wasting time on such meaningless nonsense.
It's just wallpaper, change it manually.
14. macrumors 6502
but apple spends lots of engineers time on things that are merely asthetic and nothing to do with performance. how much engineers time has been spent on changing the logos and app backgrounds to be less skeuomorphic or whatever the word is?
personally, i would really like my background pic to change every day. ive no intention of going into settings to do this manually, and tbh this would take away the magic of it. its nice when your desktop on your computer changes to a pic you havent seen in ages, and it would be the same if it did so on the phone.
given its such an easy feature to add, im surprised it isnt already there.
15. macrumors 6502a
Actually I don't mind the idea on a Daily basis, provided I can select the wallpapers and not have it cycle through the lot. Most people wont use it, that's fine, but how many of the Phone features are used by everybody?
16. macrumors 6502
Sounds like a neat idea. While I think daily would be a bit much, maybe something like monthly or even weekly. Personally, I change my wallpaper to match the seasons of the year (so roughly 4-7 times). If I could set that up to change every 3 months, that would be ideal. I live in Boston, Ma so I'd get dramatically different looking wallpaper every time they would change.
17. macrumors 6502a
It would a feature that I never use.
18. macrumors 6502
Agree that this would be a good addition. Granted its not 'needed' but plenty of people would use it.
I love the 'who cares?' Response to wallpaper. What a daft question. It's fair to say the majority of computer/phone users deem it important since every device with a screen basically has this feature. The lack of scope of people beyond their own needs is embarrassing.
19. macrumors 68030
Wow, the robot responses of "don't give us any choices!" amaze me. How long were people clamoring for folders before we got them? How about even being able to set wallpapers at all? Cripes. Talk about tow the party line.
Anyway, there's several JB apps that do this. Really nice. You drop half dozen images in it's folder and each time you hit the home pages you get a different image.
The home page images changes with the time of day (morning, mid-day, dusk, evening, etc.). Very nice.
..and in before the obligatory "it'll drain your battery!". Not noticeable on my phones (three of which I've use these)
20. macrumors 6502a
Interesting proposal. I never use that feature on my mac but I hear the iphone's battery life is already not that great, so how much of a hog would this be?
21. macrumors 6502
If its changing the background once a day it's fair to say its no hog at all surely? If you have it changing every few minutes that would be a bigger problem. Anyway. Can't imagine it would be any worse than having parallax wallpaper in iOS 7.
22. macrumors 6502
Why's it a dumb idea for iOS, but not for OSX?
A lot of Cydia users would disagree.
How can doing it manually be faster than automatic?
23. macrumors member
i dont use siri, therefore apple should completely remove it
i dont use newstand, therefore apple should completely remove it
i dont use itunes to download music, therefore apple should completely remove it
do you see how stupid your logic is? just because you don't use it, doesn't mean it wouldn't be a neat feature for other people.
24. macrumors 6502
I said or constructively negative.
Simply saying "Well *I* don't want it so it's stupid" is a stupid thing to say in and of itself.
Try being polite, it won't kill you.
"It's probably not a popularly desired feature" or "It would take up too much CPU" or whatever reason you think would mean Apple wouldn't introduce it. It's not an idiotic suggestion since they do it in OS X.
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8965
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iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter
Discussion in 'iPad Accessories' started by iPadFan, Apr 5, 2010.
1. macrumors newbie
Can this work on iPhone as well? Anybody tried?
2. macrumors 6502a
Unsure, but it's been confirmed the other way around, where the iPhone adapter will work on the iPad, so I'd assume that it would work.
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8966
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IPhone registration
Discussion in 'iOS 6' started by Roeltjah, Jun 11, 2012.
1. macrumors newbie
Hello, everyone :)
Last year my dev subscription ended and my iPhone was registrated back then... But can I still install IOS 6 beta on it eventhough my subr ended? Does it stay registrated?
2. macrumors 6502
afaik you shouldn't be able to install beta software once your subscription ended. guess you'll have to register again first.
3. macrumors newbie
Ok, I'll resubscribe :p
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8967
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Lion: Major issues with VMWARE, Disk Space, Shut Down, etc
Discussion in 'Mac OS X Lion (10.7)' started by mikefla, Feb 27, 2011.
1. mikefla, Feb 27, 2011
Last edited: Feb 28, 2011
macrumors 6502
Thought I'd share the issues I have experienced so far with Lion.
1.) When I shutdown the computer if I uncheck the option "Reopen windows when logging back in" the computer takes a very long time to shutdown and simply reboots instead of shutting down. I can reproduce this behavior all the time. I have also experienced several times a severe error during shutdown where I get the black screen with a message in various languages (this only happened I believe whenever I did not have the mentioned option checked during shutdown).
2.) Prior to installing Lion I had over 250GB free which included a 100GB+ VMWARE virtual machine. I have removed the 100GB+ virtual machine and I now still have less than 100GB free. I cannot account for over 200GB of free space that I should have. I have even download an application that interprets hard disk space and I cannot figure out what has happened to all the space. I also notice when I delete something that is over a GB in size and then look at disk space available, the available disk space is not accounting for the extra space that I just freed up.
3.) After installing Lion I could no longer open either of my two vmware fusion virtual machines. I ended up damaging one virtual machine trying to get it working so I just deleted it. My other virtual machine works but there appears to be serious issues with Lion and vmware fusion. For example if I shutdown my computer, turn it back on and open vmware and then open my vm, it will take about 15 minutes or longer for the virtual machine to resume from suspend! During this process the hour glass shows constantly under the virtual machine but I am able to run other applications on the MAC fine while I wait. Also as soon as I start to load the vm I notice a ton of free space disappears from the hard drive (like 40GB+). The size of my vm is 40 GB and the size of the actual folder that holds the vm is around 45GB. Once the vm successfully loads (after the huge delay) the space taken returns to the drive. If I don't shutdown the computer but simply put it to sleep I am able to resume the vm very quickly or normally. Actually I just noticed that if I close the VMWARE application and then later open it again (without shutting down or rebooting the computer) I also experience the long delay in resuming my VM.
Just noticed another VMWARE issue, if my VM is open but left unused for some time and I return to use it, I get the hour glass and it becomes non-response and un-useable and eventually it just suspends itself and gives me this error "Cannot find a valid peer process to connect to". Now when I click "ok" on the error I then get "Internal error, an uncaught exception was raised" and usually I click on crash and send in the report. Now I have to manually kill the "vmware-vmx" process" and then I can open vmware again and startup the vm. Eventually the vm loads but acts as if windows was not properly shutdown, I select to start normally and the vm is fine again. I never had any issue with my vm's under Leopard and they always loaded very quickly.
4.) I use gmail. For some reason the new version of Safari in Lion keeps disconnecting me constantly from Safari. I have to keep login constantly.
5.) In FireFox the Sling Player plugin no longer works. I believe this has to do with the sling media web site that somehow detects the OS being used and then just refuses to load the plugin. The good thing is that I still have the old Sling Player application and surprisingly it works fine with the Lion.
My machine specs: 8GB RAM, 2.66 i7, 500GB 7200RPM 32MB CACHE 4GB Solid State Memory Seagate Hard Drive, 64 Bit Kernel (always running 64 bit even before Lion install). I upgraded to Lion from Leopard 10.6.7 Build 10J860 64 Bit Kernel.
2. macrumors newbie
disc space
I do have the same problem and noticed the space on the disc is not regulated as normal - even if you trash or remove files. However - I did reinstalled Lion today the second time and now I do have the actual size of the disc like it should be but still the same problem occurs when dealing with large files.
3. macrumors 6502
I have resolved some of my issues already. I am going to post an update later. But as far as the disk space it has to do with Time Machine. Even though I don't use it and had it turned off it was constantly creating local snapshots looks like. Simply go to System Preferences > Time Machine > Options and remove the check from "Create local snapshots" and right after that you should see your missing free space show up. Another user on the forum mentioned this so credit goes to him. I'm just sharing.
4. macrumors 603
What about just creating a second partition on you're hd an installing lion to it?
5. macrumors 6502
Can I ask one unrelated question? Is cmd-tab still works? What about cmd-tab when you don't enable dock lights on?
6. macrumors 6502
cmd-tab works as far as switching between running apps. Not sure what you mean by "dock lights on".
7. macrumors 6502
Thanks for the answer! If you notice the dock lights that were used to indicate that the app is running is present by default in Snow Leopard, and in Lion it's off by default? When it's disabled, does cmd-tab work?
Thank you so much!
8. macrumors newbie
That works perfect Mike - thanks for that idea! it was really getting on my nerves
9. macrumors member
thank you
thank you so much for the help. That was driving me crazy. I have a 320gb hd and i woke up this morning and it was down to 120gb. This fixed the problem.
10. macrumors newbie
Similar problem, some difference with VM
Got similar problems.
- The extra space was taken by a hidden folder ".mobileBackup". I actually manage to delete it manually and the recovered the space (over 100G) -- of course, I also turned off the Time Machine local snapshot.
- My VMware Fusion behaved very strangely. I cannot open my previous virtual machines stored on my local drive, but I can start them when they are copied to a USB external hard disk. I have tried to install a new virtual machine. The installation was successful but when I tried to load some software it crashed and damaged. So far it seems launching VMs from external hard disk is the only stable solution to me.
11. macrumors newbie
Where is the .mobileBackup folder located?
12. macrumors newbie
In the Terminal, type
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true
Then restart the Finder and you will see it at the root of your hard disc.
13. macrumors member
It takes forever to shut down the computer. :|
14. macrumors 6502a
What does that do? Will I lose that really cool feature that allows you to see the previous page when you two finger right scroll?
15. macrumors 6502
My VM's are now working fine and so is VMWARE! Seems the issue had to do with a heavily fragmented hard drive after I disabled the Time Machine local snapshots. Once I got all my free space back I defragmented my hard drive using iDefrag (just a quick on-line defrag) which took a long time to run. After that all was back to normal with VMWARE, no more issues at all.
I still have issues with Safari, it keeps kicking me out of various sites and I have to keep logging back on. Like Gmail, this forum, etc. The "logmein" plugin which I use allot does not work with this new version of Safari. I did not try to install it again. But it does work with FireFox so i'm just using it there. The "sling player" plugin no longer works with FireFox so i'm just using the Sling Player software on the Mac and that still works fine.
Seems to be working a little better now. I can now shutdown quickly and properly even if I uncheck the new shutdown option "Reopen windows when logging back in". So far i'm not having any issues but need to test a little more.
16. Moderator
Staff Member
17. macrumors newbie
I had some trouble, too after I deleted Parallels and the associated virtual machines. I lost about 100 GiB space and it was also due to Time Machine. However, I was able to reclaim all the missing space by simply turning Time Machine *off*.
I suspect things will get a little smoother once July rolls around.
18. macrumors newbie
Hi, are you sure that slingplayer application work on Lion? That would be great, but here it doens't seem so… http://roaringapps.com/apps:table/p/10
what slingplayer version are you using, and what slingbox?
19. macrumors 6502a
Mine takes a good 20 seconds to shut down where it was almost instant on SL.
20. macrumors newbie
Create local Snapshots dosnt exist for me!
Im having the same free space problem but I can't even see the "Create Local Snapthots" option in my preference pane.
Is not there!
21. macrumors 65816
Thanks for the headsup.
I found (by accident) .mobileBackup but on mine it is reported as the same size as my HDD - 160GB - yet Finder shows the correct amount of free space :confused: :confused:
I do use TM but i'm not sure about the local snapshot setting, I'll check tonight.
22. macrumors newbie
Is this dead?
I have been having this same disk space, slow computer trouble as well. There are no pictures, music or videos taking up space. I am running Lion with Fusion 4. This may not be the same issues since i bought the computer with this iOS and didn't load it. I looked in the time machine options and i didn't see the check box that has been described. Any help would be appreciated.
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8968
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Navigon: First GPS Car Navigation Systems Available on iPhon...
Discussion in 'MacBytes.com News Discussion' started by MacBytes, Jun 22, 2009.
1. macrumors bot
2. macrumors 6502a
I've got this, its ok but rather annoying that i cant just enter a postcode and instead have to first enter the town, then the road.
It also a bit slow on my 3G and often says "turn Left' etc after i have passed the turning.
Another annoyance is that it doesnt seem to work when i lock the phone, meaning it kills battery life as the screen is on constantly.
3. macrumors G4
They have these things called "car chargers." I have two. They both work well.
4. macrumors G5
This looked really good from the screenshots (3D highway interchanges/bridges) but it's not available in the US yet.
That's probably a good thing: if I resist the temptation to buy too soon, then competition can develop and I can buy something even better later in the year.
5. macrumors 604
I couldn't resist to buy it!
Must admit it looks cool, and it does two things that are a must:
1) It really works (haven't tried using it in a city a huge amount of small roads which could confuse it...)
2) The iPod function of the iPhone works fine when Navigon is active.
It's quick in finding the GPS satellites, and has good spees in calculating the route.
And, it loosk really fine!
TomTom has a serious competitor, and Navigon are first on the AppStore... ;)
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8970
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set up mac os9 with lower res monitor
Discussion in 'Macintosh Computers' started by NOV, Jan 13, 2005.
1. NOV
macrumors 6502
recently i gave away my 266mhz g3 minitower to a relative and tonight i tried to install it.
problem is that when i used my own monitor it was capable of high resolution (1600*1200).
But now i attach the mac to my relative's monitor that's only capable of 1280 * 1024. The monitor doesn't give a signal, but a notion that frequency is out of range...
is there anyway to adjust this setting on the mac without having to take my Mac home?
Or will I have to lower the resolution with my own monitor and then reinstall the low res monitor? :rolleyes:
2. macrumors 603
The frequency is the Hz that the monitor refreshes at. 60 Hz, 85 Hz, etc, all are refresh rates. That doesn't have much to do with resolution. I think that by zapping the PRAM, you default it to 60 Hz and 640x480 which is supported by just about everything, but I'm not sure on that.
3. NOV
macrumors 6502
You're of course correct about the refresh rate vs. resolution :cool:
I'll have a look at zapping the pram.
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8971
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Setup Mixed Wired/Wireless Network
Discussion in 'Mac OS X Server, Xserve, and Networking' started by soulsurfing, Aug 19, 2008.
1. macrumors newbie
Newbie here in mixed networks.
I have the following scenario:
I would like to setup my iMac (Intel C2D with 10.5.4) to share its internet connection. The iMac is connected to the internet through AirPort but I would like it to share its internet connection via ethernet to my PowerMac (also 10.5). The powermac does not have wireless but is connected to the iMac through a router.
Is it possible to setup my iMac to share its internet connection with the PowerMac? Which settings do I need to set?
I currently have set my iMac to share its internet connection from AirPort to ethernet but somehow my PowerMac cannot connect to the internet. My PowerMac DOES see the iMac on the network, but just cant connect to the internet. Please help.
2. macrumors G4
If you are only using the router as a switch, that is both computers are plugged into "LAN" ports, and the router's DHCP server is disabled then this will work. But if you are actually using the router as a router then it will not work.
A "router" is a device that connects two different networks. This is not what you need, you want both computers on the same network.
You would be better off using either a switch, hub or just a cros over cable to connect the two computers. That said, must rounters can be used (abused?) to act as switches.
3. macrumors newbie
Thank you for clarifying that and answering my question. I really appreciate it. I was thinking of using a crossover cable next to get this to work.
4. macrumors 68020
This is basically 100% wrong.
If both the iMac and PowerMac are plugged into the router, they're almost certainly plugged into the switch that is built into the router. Those ports all act as peers to one-another on a switched network and have little to do with the routing responsibilities of the box.
Also, DHCP has nothing to do with routing or switching the network. It's just an extra service built into the box to make managing the network a bit easier.
To the OP: How is the iMac getting a wireless signal, if not through the router? Are you leeching off of a neighbor, getting it from a university network, or what?
At any rate any network cable between the two machines will work. Apple has installed "smart" Ethernet ports on its machines for years, so it can detect when a "straight" cable has been connected to the two ports and will automagically determine which port to "flip" to make the cable work correctly.
If you connect both machines to the router, disconnect the router from the internet (assuming that it has a cable or DSL modem attached to its uplink port), disable DHCP on the router, and enable sharing on the iMac, there's no reason why it shouldn't work.
5. macrumors newbie
My modem and wireless router and on one side of the building. My office where my computers are located are on the other side of the building. My iMac receives the signal just fine and therefore I would like to share the internet connection.
6. macrumors 68020
A standard ethernet cable between the two will do the trick.
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8972
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Upgrading to Leopard tomorrow...
Discussion in 'iPhone Tips, Help and Troubleshooting' started by glanv, Jul 13, 2008.
1. macrumors regular
Hi all
Firstly, many apologies if this is in the wrong section!
I got 16GB iPhone on Friday and have decided to upgrade my MacBook to Leopard - I know, I know, long overdue! Anyway, I have backed up what I need and am planning to clean install. I don't have a great deal on my Mac and hence feel a clean install is better. Also, I want to set my mail settings up from scratch as my .mac (mobileme) is now going to be my primary email and my isp (pop) email will now be secondary - previously it was the other way round. I will not be backing up & restoring my iTunes, as again there is not much in there (apart from the iPhone settings). Once i have done this what will happen when I connect my iPhone which was paired with my iTunes on Tiger? Will it just sync to the new iTunes & I'll have to re-setup the settings? Most importantly what will happen with the mail accounts set up on my iPhone, which were created when I first plugged my phone into my Mac on Friday? If it easier just to reset the iphone and start again I may well just do that.
Any help would be appreciated....
2. macrumors 68000
I upgraded a few months ago: backed up all my data (iTunes, mail etc.), upgraded to Leopard, restored all my data, synced iPhone and everything was exactly as before. "It just worked", to coin a phrase. If you don't back up your iTunes I would have thought it'll just ask you to set up the iPhone as a new phone since it won't recognise that it's been synced to that Mac before.
3. macrumors regular
Think I'll backup iTunes anyway, try it without restoring said backup and see what happens. If that isn't successful I'll restore iTunes backup and try that.
I'm sure everything will be fine - just wanted to be sure!
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8973
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whats the value of my digital audio G4
Discussion in 'PowerPC Macs' started by kenmasters, Dec 22, 2007.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
1. macrumors newbie
the specs on the G4 are.
533mhz dual processors
384mb ram
30gig hdd
dvd-rom drive
geforce 2 mx agp 4x
tiger 10.4.8
front row installed with a usb keyspan remote for controlling front row.
20inch monitor
i was thinking of selling the setup locally but how much is to much to ask?
2. macrumors 6502
Is the monitor at least a 20" LCD? If it's still a CRT the whole thing isn't worth much more than $200 if you're lucky. If it's an LCD monitor, the monitor may be worth more than the CPU. I've got a 733 D/A with 1.5GB RAM, 10.4.11, 2 x 120GB HDDs, a new DVD-rom optical drive, USB 2.0 IDE card, and I wouldn't ask more than $300 for it.
I may even be optimistic here.
3. Moderator emeritus
As you are not eligible to post in our Marketplace, you are also not eligible to place feelers or ask for pricing guidance on your sale at MR.
I would advise doing some searches for previous sales and also logging into eBay -- once you log into your account, you will be able to search closed listings and so you can see prices that resulted in successful eBay auctions. While you are not eligible to sell here at this time, typically you can expect that forum sales will net 80-90% of the prices seen on eBay (inclusive of shipping in both cases).
Good luck.
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8974
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Why to Ignore Forced Obsolescence
Discussion in 'MacBytes.com News Discussion' started by MacBytes, May 17, 2005.
1. macrumors bot
2. Moderator emeritus
Piss. Off.
What a moronic statement. Yeah, let's roll back to the old days, they were so much better...
3. macrumors 65816
wow, reading that article was the biggest 30 seconds i've wasted today.
i'd rather have watched one of those 'did you slip at work? here's £3000' commercials.
4. Moderator
Staff Member
What a craptastic article. Why sure I'd LOVE to still be using MS Word 5.1! Yes, software developers push the envelope, which encourages hardware developers to push the envelope, which encourages software developers to push the envelope, it was a dark and stormy night..
And this guy is JUST figuring this out now? Nice. :rolleyes:
5. macrumors 65816
James Philp
i was going to post a specific quote, but it's pretty much all tosh!
Apparently we're all using bloatware!
I think a good few 3d designers and computer scientists would disagree that computers speed etc are important.
Graphics pros: is it not more productive to apply a filter in 1 second than 1 minute? DO you want more sophisticated filters and tools?
Internet, video etc: Do you not want to be able to make better products that utilize HD and great visual effects.
Schools: Do you want to be able to offer more to your students?
Sure, older computers work, and do some things well, but newer ones do the same taskes, often faster and with a greater level of sophistication.
A self-employed graphics designer I know says the PM G5 is the best computer he's ever used, and he's used a Mac since 1984.
6. macrumors 6502a
That is probably the most moronic article ever written.
Let me tear this apart point by point...
It may not make the internet go faster, but without modern operating systems, more Ram, faster CPUs, and bigger hard drives most internet webpages would not display because the computer couldn't keep up with Java, large pictures, and audio streaming.
Actually, they do. My 4 year old laptop wont play DVDs as well as my 2 year old tower at work. Also, DVDs play better on new Mac than they would on my laptop.
Well, following that logic we should never purchase Photoshop and just do all your photo editing with old Microsoft Paint and whatever Macs version used to be called (I forget).
Wow! That is the most logical thing he wrote in the article. of course its gonna be that way. Why would anyone want to run a program that takes twice as long to do a task on an old computer when you can do it faster on a new one?
Not always. I do video editing and I need a top notch computer so it will last me 2-3 years before I have to replace it. Unless I want my videos to look like they were done in 1980, I need to have current equipment.
Ummm......... no! There is no way you could POSSIBLY do modern video editing on those computers. The hard drive maxed out at 4GB. That wouldnt even hold the programs needed to edit, let alone the VIDEO!! Not to mention it wouldnt run the OS needed to run the programs.
That may be true over a 3-4 year period. As I speak, I am typing on a 4 year old Dell Inspiron 8000. It works just fine to surf the web (most of the time) and type papers. But for anything other than that, forget it. Anything older than 5 years old is almost unusable. In fact, the only reason this computer is still good is because I maxed it out when I bought it so it WOULD last 4 years. Most computers that people are buying now are NOT maxed out and will be more than obsolete in 2 years.
7. macrumors 65816
James Philp
I am running on a 5 year old PB right now, running tiger, and the only upgrade i've done of it is to add 256MB Ram a year or so ago.
Most Macs last A LOT longer than PCs in my experience. I think I'll get about 1-2 more years from this laptop, and then will either roll back or stay on Tiger to browse the Web etc. I am planning a major upgrade to this computer (Ram to 768, HD up to 40GB) so it may last even longer.
I think you'll find this completely untrue for Macs. Sure it could be true if you mean unusable in the sense that Pro Apps may not run, but a 5, 6 or 7 year old Mac CAN be "used" for something!
8. Sly
macrumors 6502
Has this guy ever used a modern Mac or OSX, looking at his collection, I guess not? If you take his argument to its logical conclusion; why don't we save even more money and go back to pens, paper and scissors, worked ok 30 years ago? Goober!
9. macrumors regular
Paul O'Keefe
Low end users
The latest and greatest isn't always the fastest, best, or effective solution... it's definitely not the cheapest.
Does anyone remember when OSX first came out. It was impossible to use that in the studio because nothing was ported to it. It added nothing. It was actually easier and faster and produced a better quality to use an OS 9 workflow.
What good is the lastest OS or Quicktime or Safari if it blows your firewire devices, or stops playing files it used to play, or installed unwanted programs on you system? There are good reasons to stick with what you got.
I bet dollars to donuts that the person/company that upgrades EVERY OTHER cycle is more productive than the individual/company which upgrades with every new version of hardware/software each new cycle. Not only are they more productive, they are more cost effective.
What good is new accerated hardware if bloatware in the latest software version drags the effective time it takes to run back down. None.
God forbid that things take time and that people are forced to think about their processes and workflow before engaging in wasting time.
Before you purchase you should ask yourself... does this really increase my bottom line or do I want it just because it's new.
10. macrumors demi-god
This article makes me appreciate that PowerMac 7200/75 I still have lying around. I don't use it anymore, but it's there if I feel like reliving the old days of Mac OS.
11. macrumors 65816
James Philp
It's logical conclusion - that all progress is not essential to survival - means a rollback to the jungle baby! :p
12. macrumors 603
Actually, Word 5.1 was a damned good app. For example, when I deleted a large block of text, it was deleted instantly. Now in v.X it can take 5 seconds, on the top of the line iBook. It's pathetic that a simple word processor is less responsive now than it was more than ten years ago.
Overall I thought the article was a little simple-minded, but when my browser is a more responsive text-editor than my word processor, something's wrong.
13. Moderator emeritus
Wasting time is burning a CD at 2x, sorting out a misbehaving SCSI chain, storing stuff on a ZIP disk, stuffing a file before sending it by ISDN, distilling a publication on a beige box, ripping a CMYK 48 page publication on a G3, copying a 400mb work folder to a colleagues' Mac by T100 ethernet...
I could go on...
This eulogising of the past is just wistful and unrealistic nonsense.
14. macrumors demi-god
Word went downhill ever since Word 6 was introduced. That's why I used Word 5.1 extensively on my old PowerMac 7200/75, but avoid it like the plague now.
15. macrumors regular
This guy has a point, but only up to a point. Sure the old macs are great for some stuff - I keep a Duo 2300c in my car just for writing should inspiration strike when I'm away from home or office. But for my serious work I absolutely have to have the fastest computer. There is no way I could do my color work on an old Mac. It's just not feasible. Ten years ago I rarely had files over 10 Mb. These days I rarely have files under 100 Mb. And some days I color correct dozens of these monsters. Couldn't do that on 9600.
I may not be typical but my case is not unusual, either. Faster computers are needed for bigger, more complex jobs. I have a dual G5 at work and I still hope to someday reach an apex where my needs do not overtax the hardware.
As a hobby, I often bring old macs back to life. One thing the author did not address is the fact that certain models cannot be upgraded past a certain point. For example, a Powermac 9600 cannot run an OS higher than 9.1 and you're stuck at that OS for the rest of its useful life. The latest version of OS X (Tiger) will not install on G3 Macs that do not have a firewire port, so those models are stuck at 10.3. If you want to enjoy the latest software innovations you have to keep upgrading your hardware.
BTW, has this guy tried surfing the net on a 9600? Even with a cable modem it is still very slow. You are stuck using Internet Explorer and even then many sites with Flash and Shockwave animations are doggedly slow. Don't get me started talking about Java!
So yeah, old hardware will get plenty of simple stuff done like writing letters and basic spreadsheets. But so many of us want to do much more than we did ten years ago that you really can't go back.
16. macrumors 68000
While I appreciate using older equipment in creative/useful ways (still get good use out of my eMate 300, thanks) and agree that one shouldn't jump on the latest technology for its own sake, the article completely misses all the geniunely useful hardware and software advances made in the past 8-9 years that significantly improve productivity and the quality of the work one can do.
A faster CPU doesn't make the Internet faster? Uh, a faster CPU has a pretty big impact on the speed that a web page renders on your system. There's a pretty dramatic difference in web browser performance between my Dual 2.0GHz PowerMac G5 and my 800MHz PowerMac G4 tower, and web surfing on my old 500MHz iBook G3 feels like molasses in winter compared to the G5.
Would we really rather be editing video on an 8500, importing analog footage via the video-in ports at 640x480 and saving it all off to 4GB hard drives, rather than importing HD and editing off a blazing fast Firewire 800 or external SATA array? And after using InDesign CS2 on any modern G4 or G5 system running Panther or Tiger, I couldn't begin to think of how painful it would be to step back in time and try QuarkXpress 4 on a 9600 running Mac OS 8.6 or 9.0.4 or whatever.
Getting actual work done trumps this whole computer museum mentality any day of the week.
17. macrumors 68040
I wrote my PhD thesis fifteen years ago, using WordPerfect, on a 386 PC running MSDOS with a 40 MByte HD and 16 MByte RAM (can't remember exactly, but it was less or equal to 50MB HD and 8 or 16 MB RAM). Couldn't do that now with any word processor.
However, each run of the transistor modelling process (code that I wrote myself) took a week to complete on the same machine and generated about 20MB of data, that I had to analyse then dump before the next run, because it would have taken 15 floppies to store.
Just for the hell of it, a couple of weeks ago I opened up my PhD thesis, and using it as a guide was able to repeat about the first six months of it in a couple of hours.
18. macrumors regular
Paul O'Keefe
I fully understand. There is a happy medium ground between conservative tech users who hold on to their hardware/software versions longer and the early adopters who get the latest and greatest with every new release.
Run old software on new hardware (if apple enables you) and you can find that it runs very fast indeed.
19. macrumors 68000
That made my day :D
20. macrumors 604
What the hell? Dumb article.
What about creating and editing High Definition movies? Does the article writer expect people to use an old Quadra to edit HD movies?
What about DVD compression?
What about H.264 encoding?
If anything, computers need to be faster.
Now, what about games? By following his logic, we'd all be still satisfied playing Pong and Frogger, instead of all the games we have now, like Doom 3 and Halo 2.
21. Guest
I can't wait till WWDC so these stupid articles go away. :rolleyes:
22. macrumors 6502a
thats like saying...
Why don't we all stop buying new cars and drive old early-mid 90's ones. They still get you from point A - pont B.
He's right about how it was "top of the line" back then, but the world changes. That's like saying, Why buy an iPod when we got by fine with records back in the 70's....
23. macrumors 68040
This quote seems appropriate here:
There are two kinds of fool. One says "This is old, and therefore good." And one says "This is new, and therefore better".
-- John Brunner, "The Shockwave Rider"
24. macrumors regular
Dang hippy.
25. macrumors 68020
Didn't see an Apple II in his collection...;)
I think that this guy is a fool...I want Tiger, I want Core Image, I want a fast, beautiful system. This guy can piss off. Probably just sorrow grapes anyways...
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8975
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Windows freezing on the desktop
Discussion in 'Windows, Linux & Others on the Mac' started by LostGirlKate, Sep 27, 2009.
1. macrumors newbie
I have a 24 iMac core 2 duo 2.16 ghz. I just installed OS X 10.6 and jumped head first into boot camp. I followed all the directions and installed Windows XP SP2. After I finished the install, I loaded the drivers from the OS X CD and rebooted, but now windows freezes on the desktop. I cant move my mouse or use the keyboard and I end up restarting the computer. How can I fix this, as I really want run some PC games on my Mac.
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global_05_local_5_shard_00000035_processed.jsonl/8993
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Jump to: navigation, search
Wilhelm Ewert about 1880. Scan provided by [ Mennonite Library and Archives MLA Photo 2003-0140]
Wilhelm Ewert, a Mennonite elder and leader, born 23 February 1829 at Stronske, Thorn, Prussia, died 21 June 1887 near Hillsboro, Kansas, was the youngest son of Peter and Maria Ewert. He attended a secondary school in Thorn, and learned carpentry. On 30 May 1854 he married Anna Janz, a daughter of Cornelius and Sarah Janz. Of the 13 children, only six outlived their father.
In 1843 Ewert was baptized by Elder David Adrian of the Obernessau Mennonite Church, which elected him as minister in 1860 and as elder in 1868. When the West Prussian Mennonites were in danger of losing their principle of nonresistance because of the compromise accepted by most of the West Prussians following the order of cabinet of 1867, he was active in finding a country which would honor their convictions. In 1870 he and Peter Dyck visited Russia to investigate settlement possibilities. When they saw that the Mennonites in Russia were confronted by the same problem, they directed their attention to America. Again Ewert was one of the delegates who investigated the prairie states and provinces.
In the spring of 1874 Ewert and his family and a few families of his congregation settled in Marion County, Kansas, joining with a group of Mennonites from Russia to found the Brudertal Mennonite Church the same year. Ewert was the first elder. He at once became active in community and conference activities and was one of the great promoters of elementary and secondary education, and particularly of Bethel College. He was always generous in aiding needy individuals and groups financially and spiritually. He was succeeded as elder by his son William J. Ewert. Another son, H. H. Ewert, was the well-known teacher of Halstead Seminary and Gretna Collegiate Institute.
[edit] Bibliography
Ewert Collection, Mennonite Library and Archives, North Newton, Kansas.
Goerz, David. "Wilhelm Ewert." Christlicher Bundesbote (15 July 1887).
Author(s) Cornelius Krahn
Date Published 1956
[edit] Cite This Article
MLA style
Krahn, Cornelius. "Ewert, Wilhelm (1829-1887)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 3 Jun 2015.,_Wilhelm_(1829-1887)&oldid=118163.
APA style
Krahn, Cornelius. (1956). Ewert, Wilhelm (1829-1887). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 3 June 2015, from,_Wilhelm_(1829-1887)&oldid=118163.
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Jump to: navigation, search
Portland, Oregon, chief city (population was 375,690 in 1959; 568,380 in 2007) and largest in the state, and county seat of Multnomah County, situated just above the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, the "vacation capital" of the Pacific Northwest, in the midst of a magnificent landscape.
There are over 300 churches in Portland; but of Mennonite churches there are only the Portland Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), the Rock of Ages Rescue Mission (Mennonite Church), and the Alberta Community Church (General Conference Mennonite Church) in this vast area. There are only some 125 Mennonites living in Portland's vicinity; within 100 miles to the south of Portland there are approximately 1500 Mennonites, most of whom are farmers. Directly north of Portland across the Columbia River, which is the Oregon-Washington line, there is a small United Missionary Church group. The Mennonites came to Oregon in 1890, and to Portland in 1922.
Author(s) Guy M Hostetler
Date Published 1959
Cite This Article
MLA style
Hostetler, Guy M. "Portland (Oregon, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 3 Jun 2015.,_USA)&oldid=84129.
APA style
Hostetler, Guy M. (1959). Portland (Oregon, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 3 June 2015, from,_USA)&oldid=84129.
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· If you're anything like us, you frequently watch Lost and wonder what in the sam hell is going on. Well, as it turns out, the characters are thinking the very same thing. [/Film]
· On the hunt for a birthday present for that friend of yours who's a real history buff? Look no further. [Custom Ink]
· We're loathe to admit it, but yes, we are a little bit hooked on Rock Of Love 2. For those of you out there who also suffer from the same affliction, this one is for you. Remember in yesterday's episode when Ambre claimed that she was a TV host? Well, here's the evidence. [Radar]
· This has precious little to do with our normal topics of conversation here on Defamer, but your Uncle Grambo's world was slightly rocked this weekend when my all-time favorite female musician wrote about my second favorite rockstar of all-time. Here's Liz Phair on Dean Wareham's new book, Black Postcards. [New York Times]
· Lastly, if you are on the hunt for a great website that covers all things retail related in LA (and, frankly, who isn't?), we would like to suggest that you pay a visit to the recently launched Racked LA. Definitely worth a click. [Racked LA]
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El Reciclado de People
It's a good thing we've been closely monitoring the pages of ¡Hola! magazine. Otherwise we might have never realized that the "EXCLUSIVE tour" of Ivana Trump's townhouse on People's website was comprised of the same photos that appeared in the Spanish-language tabloid almost two months ago. But it's a good thing that Ivana's shockingly embarrassing taste in home décor has now been exposed to readers on multiple continents, isn't it? [¡Hola!, People]
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Why We're Talking About Barack Obama and Derrick Bell Now
So Andrew Breitbart's belated death-rattle made its debut last night, and here's what it is: Barack Obama, in 1990, gave a speech saying nice things about a bad man named Derrick Bell. He also hugged the bad man, Derrick Bell. Ipso facto reduction ad absurdum habeas corpus hocus pocus, Barack Obama is a bad man as well. Airtight.
Bell was a former Justice Department attorney—a Justice Department attorney during the administration of Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower—and Harvard Law professor who was a proponent of critical race theory, a rather diffuse body of ideas about the American legal and political system concentrating on the fact that it was created by white people for the enrichment of white people. That's what makes him bad. The fact that a 29-year-old Barack Obama once praised him in public, and actually touched him, blackly, obviously means that Barack Obama wholly and unreservedly endorses critical race theory and is surreptitiously devoting his administration to instituting its ideas across the federal government.
And Breitbart posthumously busted the whole thing wide open: "The bombshell was the revelation of the relationship between Barack Obama and Derrick Bell," Breitbart.com editor Joshua Joel Pollak told CNN's Soledad O'Brien this morning. There are some problems with that claim.
Firstly, the video that Breitbart.com published wasn't video of Obama's 1990 speech. It was a partial video of a recent presentation by Harvard professor Charles Ogletree at which the video was shown, on a screen. In other words, it was video of a video of the speech. Yesterday afternoon, while Breitbart's minions were busy hyping the impending "revelation" of the tape, Buzzfeed mischievously tracked down the actual first-generation video of the speech from WGBH, the Boston public station that originally covered the rally at which Obama delivered the speech back in 1990. Buzzfeed reveled in double-scooping Breitbart by delivering a better copy of the offending video first for about ten minutes before it emerged that the same footage had been featured in a 2008 Frontline episode profiling Obama and McCain. And had been available, for free, on its web site ever since.
So: The thing that was being revealed had been, in fact, revealed for years, which is slightly embarrassing. But not fatal to the Breitbartian project, which has always been more about baiting and attacking media institutions than about discerning actual facts. So the scoop—or lack thereof—itself isn't as important as demonstrating that the media ignored the Derrick Bell connection back in 2008. It was there in plain sight, but nobody did anything. "This election, we're going to vet him," Breitbart told the CPAC audience not long before his death, "to show that racial division and class warfare were central to what hope and change were sold as in 2008." The implication was that the "mainstream media" failed to appreciate the gravity of the Bell tape when they had the chance.
"Why are we looking at this video in 2012?" asked Amy Holmes on CNN. "Why didn't we see in 2008?" The fact that Holmes actually did see it in 2008, if she was watching Frontline, is immaterial. It didn't cause a shitstorm in 2008. Why not? Where's my shitstorm?
Who knows. Because Jeremiah Wright was occupying that space? Because people were more reasonable? Because the Tea Party had not yet emerged to rabidly consume every scrap of Obama conspiracy marginalia that was thrown to it? Because Breitbart had not yet finished constructing the poisonous media economy that was his legacy? Whatever the reason, it's not because "the media" ignored Obama's relationship, such as it was, with former Eisenhower prosecutor and Harvard Law professor Derrick Bell:
• "In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice," Jodei Kantor, New York Times, January 28, 2007:
Even trickier, Mr. Obama was the most prominent minority student on a campus shaken by racial politics. A group agitating for greater faculty diversity occupied the dean's office and sued the school for discrimination; Derrick Bell, a black law professor, resigned over the issue....
As the president of the review, Mr. Obama once again walked a delicate line. He served on the board of the Black Law Students Association, often speaking passionately about the tempest of the week, but in a way that white classmates say made them feel reassured rather than defensive. He distanced himself from bombast; he did a mischievous impersonation of the Rev. Jesse Jackson when he came to speak on campus, recalled Franklin Amanat, now a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn. Mr. Obama's boldest moment came at a rally for faculty diversity, where he compared Professor Bell to Rosa Parks.
• 'Obama, the Postmodernist," Jonah Goldberg, USA Today, August 5, 2009:
• "Hannity & Colmes," Dick Morris, Fox News, January 9, 2007:
You are going to a see an avalanche of negative stories about Obama. I believe that that Insight magazine story that was inaccurate, that he went to a Muslim school, was indeed planted, as Insight magazine said, by somebody close to the Clinton war room.
And I think you can see two other lines of attack. The New York Times flagged it yesterday. In Frank Rich's column, he says that Obama said he admires Derrick Bell, who was the professor who resigned over wanting more affirmative action. And it quotes him when he was 28 years old on law review, saying, "I don't care about the suburbs. I'm not interested in the suburbs."
I can't find the Frank Rich column Morris was talking about. But he said it right there on Hannity's show: Obama could be attacked on his Derrick Bell association. Why did Hannity ignore him? What is he hiding?
Photos via the AP.
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Neanderthal Recreates Nirvana's Nevermind
Believe it or not, five-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte is still a thing. The swimmer, who took America by storm last year after winning five overall medals in the London Olympics despite barely being able to form complete sentences, is still hanging around the edges of pop culture before Dancing With the Stars or whatever inevitably comes calling. What does this month bring? Well, a magazine cover, of course.
The man who trademarked the word phrase "Jeah!" (shh, nobody tell him that's not a real word) will appear in ESPN the Magazine's upcoming music issue, which like Lochte himself, is a thing that exists for reasons no one can explain. Lochte will appropriately be playing the role of the baby in Nirvana's iconic cover for Nevermind, and as promotion for the issue, ESPN decided to make Lochte look dumber than one of the Subway sandwiches hawked by Michael Phelps.
Lochte's cover comes out this week, but ESPN has released a preview in which the gold-medal swimmer says the following things:
— "Iconic Nirc-vana"
— "The cover is definitely global, brah."
— "If you look at the baby, he's definitely happy in the water. And that's what I am."
— "He's chasing after a dollar bill. So he's always on the grind."
— "Trying to perfect the perfect the shot in the water was kinda easy for me. Just because I spend about four hours a day, every day of my life, in the water."
— "Usually when I go swimming, I have goggles on. So when I didn't have my goggles on for this shoot my eyes were definitely burning."
— [Blinks five times in two seconds] "Am I blinking a lot, cause I feel like it."
— "Hopefully everyone's reaction when they see it, they'll be like, daang, look at that guy. I honestly think I nailed the shot."
Whatever. Anyway, the most notable aspect of this entire ordeal is that Lochte was shot wearing a speedo, despite the Nirvana baby letting it all hang out. You could say that this robbed us of being able to find out if Ryan Lochte's penis is comparable to that of a toddler, except that we already know the answer to that one.
[via USA Today, image via ESPN]
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Embed Follow
They got my back to the wall
Nobody to turn to, nobody I can trust
I used to have friends
But all I could think about was hustlin
That was then, this is now
And this is how I must be
A loose cannon, with a cannon
Nobody can trust me
When half the world is sayin "Fuck Me"
The other half will fear me
Shit both halves will make one whole
But nothing can dare those cowards to come near me
Yeah they hear me, but fuck that
I want them cats to feel me
Cuz to feel me, is to know I'll be a problem till they kill me
It's from sun-up to sun-down
Got my gun up, and I'mma run down
On any ass coward that feelin that I can't get down
I'm a nightmare, the nigga that's always right there
Borderline, with two lines, a little too heavy to fight fair
Unload, reload, cock back, and pop that
And drag to where your top at
And guaranteed that I dropped that
You can't top that
I'm here to put them rumors to rest
Fuck the past
Fuck the present
I'm the future in the flesh
[Hook x2]
I'm the chrome before the storm
I'm the buzz before the storm
I'm the screech before the crash
I'm the click before the blast
I'm the rise before the fall
I'm the loss before the gain
Vacant Lot will keep it hot
Cuz we the future of this game
[Big Stan]
Coke game to sober
We takin rap over
Either roll with us or you gettin rolled over
But pardon, niggas is too hard for your squadron
Evacuate the buildin, save all the women and children
No way around it, niggas comin in thousands
M17s, grenades, and four-pounders
All you grimmy niggas get the fuck from round us
Y'all the same cock-housers from the blocks to gouchers
Celebratin is the the feelin when I catch a fake vilian
Send him brick style in the ceilin of an abandonded building
Feel me? y'all got to, I'm the voice of theory
My advice? keep rappin you ain't no where near me
Spillin blood for the dead, God bless them dearly
And look straight to the heavens so I know that He hear me
My shit fluxuate from the drop seven, to the wide bodied eight
Up on in corner, with the sweeper I let the body gate
[Hook x2]
When I do niggas, it's how I do niggas
And two niggas got nothin for me
When they saw me looked the other way and tried to ignore me
I put holes, like foot holes, in niggas buttholes
Stomp a mudhole, when I cut hoes, the fuckin blood flows
That was bustin niggas wide, I was 10 when I died
Now I'm walkin dead with the infared by my side
Keepin niggas in line like a parade
Then they scatter like roaches when they get sprayed with Raid
Like a grenade, playin with spades is the plan
Now what part of suck my dick don't you understand?
Better act like you know or get smacked like your ho
When you straped, toe to toe, but can't strap with the flow
And I gets down for mine, with the crime
And if I gots to do time, fuck it
I don't mind
I handle my business and I shoot snitches
Cuz I know nowadays niggas is more ass than loose bitches
It's all good, I'm still out
Knock on wood, robbin niggas like my last name is Hood
Cuz I could, go with that mob that goes out to rob
That mad scheme to get cream without the job
I house more niggas than a shelter
And if a nigga ever felt a, heltah skeltah
It'd would melt away, cuz the pain is too much to bear
Let the dead be dark while the Dark is here
[Hook till fade]
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Embed Follow
"We want Eazy!"
[Dr. Dre]
Well, clap ya hands then-come on
Clap ya hands everybody
Clap ya hands, come on, come on
Put ya hands together and clap 'em
Now can y'all say Eazy
Come on, say it
(Everybody come on)
[MC Ren & Dr Dre]
People from everywhere gather around
Checkin' out the sound that Eazy is throwin' down
With some help from Ren and Dre
Makin' a way with dope style
Yo Eazy, what ya gotta say
[Verse 1: Eazy-E]
A miracle of modern creation
Eazy E's on the set
Hyped up with the bass
And a little bit of what ya love
From a brother who's smooth like a criminal
I mean subliminal
Otherwise known as a villain
Because I'm ruthless
When I spot a sucka, I kill 'em
But most I think know not to deal with me
Hey eazy
(fan)Why you wear your pants like that?
(Eazy)I wear my pants like this, fo' easy access baby
Yeah thats right
(Ice Cube)
Yo homeboy, where we takin' this jam to?
[Verse 2: Eazy-E]
Yeah 'cuz this is the way I know you like it
So you won't strike it
I took it and I hyped it
And now that it's done, I know ya pleased
At how the E just duz it with ease
Just imagine a crowd screamin', a girl dreamin'
From the H-double-O-D
N.W.A., down with me
Strong 'n' I'm ragin'
Turn the page 'n'
See I'm not a son of a gun
I'm a gauge 'n'
Nuthin' can avoid this shot cause it's hittin'
It's so cool when you touch it, wear a mitten
I'm comin' off raw into ya speaker
Makin' the suckas on the street feel weaker
But most I think know not to deal with me
Yo man, you weren't born in no '73
Why you be lyin' bout your age?
Man, where you get that brain at, huh?
Yo, get this fool outta here!
Hey Eazy why you always cussin' on your records?
Who are you, Gene Autry or somethin'?
I just do that to get my point across
Now I wanna know who you came to see
[Verse 3: Eazy-E]
Aw, never, I'm just too clever
So, in fact, that no one can sever
A blow from a maniac and yo, I make it clear
So a register is all I hear
Money overturned, then I jet
To make another hit, for you to go and get
Record stores sold out because you love it
Another example of how Eazy duz it
We want Eazy...
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Xfan Xbox 360 Cooler Looks Crazier Than the Rest
Ever since the Xbox 360 Nyko Intercooler melted down consoles everywhere thanks to its siphoning off the Xbox 360's power, people have been wary of attaching any cooler at all. But as the failure rate shows, Microsoft's console could use a little help in the cooling department.
The Xfan from Titan Computer might be just the thing for you if you can get past the fact that it's convex—the 360 itself is famously concave—and the tacky looking green LEDs. Other than that, it's USB powered, which means it's a little safer to use, and will be released in the middle of June.
Product Page [Titan CD via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
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How Famous Tech Products Got Their Unforgettable NamesIt's not really hard to guess how OS X and Windows 7 got their name. But what about IBM's ThinkPad? Or Firefox? CIO has a rundown of the origins of 10 tech products' iconic names—like just where the hell iPod and Twitter came from. Surprisingly none were picked at random out of a hat after taking a large quantity of drugs, which is how I hoped at least one came to be. They also talk to David Placek, the brains behind perhaps more superstar tech brands than anyone, like BlackBerry. And Zune, though he doesn't deign to explain that particular mystery. [CIO via Slashdot]
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iPod Nano Review
The newest iPod Nano is incontrovertibly a step up from last year's model, crammed with new features including a video camera. But can the Nano stay the same cool little player while simultaneously invading the Flip-cam market?
This new Nano—the 5th generation—comes in the same 8GB/16GB sizes as the last one (and the one before that, actually), though it costs slightly less than the original price of the 4th generation Nano (which was $150/$200). The $20 price drop is nice, but we'd have preferred a capacity bump with the same price. Correction: This section originally compared the 5G Nano's price to the very recently discounted 4G Nano's price( $130/$150)—but as that price was only in effect for a couple days, it's more accurate to compare the 5G price to the 4G's launch price. Sorry for the confusion.
The new Nano has the same body as the 4th generation, but there are definite changes afoot. The screen takes a bump from 2 inches to 2.2 inches—a jump that may sound tiny but is surprisingly substantial. If you're used to the old 2-inch screen you'll definitely notice and appreciate the extra space for navigation. The resolution goes from 240x320 to the oddball 240x376. Though wider when viewed lengthwise, the new screen still isn't 16x9; even widescreen videos will be slightly letterboxed due to the unconventional size. Aside from the added real estate, it's also noticeably brighter and sharper than the previous model. It may still be too small to watch a two-hour movie on, but it's a pleasure to use for everything else, including shorter video clips.
Unfortunately, that larger screen comes with a caveat: The click wheel is even smaller than earlier Nanos. If you found the previous Nano's click wheel slightly thinner and harder to hit than you prefer, this will be even worse. If you had no problems before, then the slight decrease in size shouldn't affect you much. I personally found it too small, and my thumb sometimes hit the area around the controls instead of the control itself. This is especially true when the Nano is docked.
The anodized aluminum finish is also a little different—there's an added step in the process that makes it shinier and brighter than the previous generation's comparatively subdued matte finish. Oddly enough, it actually feels slightly lighter than the last model, though no less solid—this is an extremely durable player. It doesn't bend under pressure from any angle and a nerve-wracking fall onto a hardwood floor had no adverse effects. However, I found that sharp metal objects like keys will leave scratches, while the previous matte Nano showed no scratches under similar abuse. One bit of bad news: People who hated the sharp corners of the last Nano will have to put up with them for at least another year.
Did I mention Apple crammed a bunch of new features into the iPod Nano 5G? And that the most notable—and most thoroughly leaked—is a video camera? Here's the rundown:
Video Camera
The big selling point of this Nano is that the video camera theoretically puts it in a position to compete with the Flip, Creative's Vado, and Kodak's Zi6 and Zi8. Steve Jobs said so himself. But is it true? Well, yes—and no.
Like the Flip-class cameras, there's no optical zoom, and it can't take still shots (very few of these new camcorders can). Also, there's no on-device editing, just the option to delete what you shot. It too has video output, but only if you buy the right cable.
But the Nano is limited to VGA resolution—640x480—far less than that of current HD pocket cams which hover in the same sub-$180 price range. Casual videos meant for YouTube may not need more than VGA, and Apple sort of makes up for it by adding creative video filters, similar to those found in iChat and Photo Booth. These aren't just for fun, they tend to cover up the limitations of the video itself. On the other hand, if you're shooting your baby's first steps, or anything meaningful, no matter how short, you might end up regretting that you didn't shoot in HD.
That being said, it's a remarkably high-quality camera, as good as standard-def pocket cams like the Flip Mino (which I used in the comparisons below).
When you hold the Nano, you discover that the lens is placed in an awkward location—the lower right corner of the device's back. You can rotate it and the accelerometer will adjust, so it can actually be held in any way you choose, but the natural motion is to turn it 90 degrees counterclockwise (so the screen is on the left and the click wheel on the right), which leaves your fingers right in the lens's way. You get used to it, though. It's annoying but not a dealbreaker.
In video-camera mode, you can bring up those creative filters—cyborg, security camera, film grain, tunnel vision and more—by holding down the center button. They fit right in with the idea of the Nano as a quick-and-dirty camcorder: You wouldn't want your serious short film to have a red, pulsing cyborg filter, but it's really fun for 30-second clips. Speaking of which, the only limit on video length seems to be the remaining memory in the Nano itself.
Here are a couple comparison clips. This first is low-light, notoriously difficult for any budget camcorder to capture.
The Flip is far better here: You can actually make out the features of my kitchen with some certainty, and while it's blurry it's still watchable.
The Nano's low-light video is pretty much pitch black until I hit a patch of light, and it's extremely jerky. I should add that the kitchen wasn't really that dark, but it looks like that tiny sensor is just no good for situations with less light.
This pair of clips is to demonstrate macro. The Nano is actually a little better than the Flip here, with a sharper closeup picture, although color reproduction is a little more accurate on the Flip. Still, closeup shots are difficult and I'm really impressed with the Nano's clarity here. Here's the Flip:
And here's the Nano.
This last series is what most people will likely use the Nano's camera for: Shooting with a decent amount of light, natural or artificial. It's not quite as good here as the Flip—notice the tearing in the video as I pan, and again, color reproduction is a little darker and muddier than the actual object. But given that the Nano's camera is a tiny little lens crammed into an already-tiny music and video player that you may be intent on buying anyway, I'm really pleased and a little surprised at how well it performs.
This is the Flip:
And this is the Nano:
The microphone does a pretty good job at picking up sound. Speech is totally audible and it's sensitive enough to pick up a fairly quiet conversation 10 feet away. Wind shear can get really noisy, unfortunately, but unless it's incredibly windy it shouldn't be much of a problem.
So is the Nano better than a standard-def Flip? No, it's not: Besides poor low-light performance, the straight video quality is slightly inferior and there are no features like digital zoom (which some people like). This is a PMP with a camera, not a camera that plays music. But should Flip be worried? Absolutely. If you have a Flip already, you may not be swayed to purchase the Nano because of its video, but if you buy the Nano, you don't really need a Flip—and Apple's going to sell boatloads of these Nanos for reasons other than video camera anyway. Speaking of which...
FM Radio
Defiantly coming dead last to the FM radio party, Apple finally bestowed an iPod with a real FM radio, not some costly optional accessory. Why did Apple cave? Every single other mp3 player since about 2001 has had this. Your guess is as good as mine. The addition was announced without fanfare or explanation at the Nano's unveiling, and the tuner itself doesn't bring any new features like HD Radio, but it does come in with a suite of features proving, at least, that this wasn't an afterthought.
The radio gets excellent reception, though you have to use your headphones—not just Apple's white earbuds; I used my Shures—as the antenna. There's support for RDS data (station name and song title). That song title data can be used to tag favorite songs so that you can, well, buy them later on iTunes. The coolest radio feature is "Live Pause." You can pause a program for up to 15 minutes, and it caches it to memory. It's really nice addition, and you can even fast forward through the cached content, though you can't truly record and save radio.
Built-In Speaker
That's right, there's a teeny little speaker on the bottom of the new Nano. It's not particularly loud or high quality, but it's damn impressive that Apple could cram it into such a thin player. It's definitely audible in quiet rooms, although you'd probably want to use it for spoken word or video rather than music, as songs tend to get washed out and distorted. Still, I have a feeling I'll take advantage of the speaker even more than the video camera—there was one on the Samsung P3 and it proved extremely useful for those times when you want to share a quick video, or don't feel like plugging in earbuds.
It works, mostly, though it's not a substitute for Nike+. Even Apple says you can't use it for running. I tested five sets of exactly ten steps, and it registered the correct amount twice, but it also registered nine steps twice and thirteen steps once. It'll probably even out for longer walks, but you will never get perfect accuracy. It's still kind of fun, though: Turns out my nearest coffee shop is only 278 steps away from my bedroom, and I burned 14 calories getting there.
Voice Recorder
Using the built-in mic, you can record little voice memos. Sound quality is okay, but very limited by distance. I tested from different distances and found that while about one foot away from the mic, talking at a normal conversational volume (as in an interview or quick voice memo situation), sound quality was very audible and clear. From five feet back at the same volume, it was still clear but soft enough that the volume had to be upped quite a bit. From ten feet back it was still clear but only after I plugged it into my stereo and cranked the volume. When recording very loud music from a bit of a distance (sorry, neighbors!), the volume was fine but the recording came out way too distorted to be worth listening to. It looks like the recorder would be a good tool for memos or lectures, but forget about recording concerts with the Nano.
The Verdict
The iPod Nano is the best-selling MP3 player of all time, and this new model should keep that record alive. It's still an incredibly small and thin player with intuitive navigation and popular software, priced competitively. The new features are really nice—the video camera is good in a pinch, enough to supplant standard-def pocket cams—and the bigger, brighter screen makes navigating through the added options.
The video camera is a major feature addition, but this Nano is still an incremental upgrade. Apple hasn't changed the capacity or price in years—does it really not make sense to release a 32GB version? The 8GB version, only $30 cheaper than the 16GB, seems undesirable and outdated. But at this point what else could Apple add to the Nano? I'm just surprised everything they have added actually fits.
The iPod Touch and other full-featured touchscreen players like the Zune HD and Sony X-Series are the big attention-grabbers these days, and the Nano will surely be left behind as dedicated media players yield to convergence. The steady price and capacity of the Nano and the dropping price and skyrocketing capacity and functionality of the Touch signals the sea change better than anything: Soon the Touch will be top seller, and the Nano will slip into being a niche product for people who really prefer small form factors. There is much speculation that the Nano got the video camera—and the Touch did not—in order to slow this inevitable decline.
So the big question: Should you buy the Nano? Yes, if you want an easy-to-use, slick, full-featured and small PMP. No, if you just want an 8GB vessel for your MP3s.
If you're in the market for both a PMP and a cheap pocket camcorder, it's definitely a "yes." But think it over. If you've got last year's Nano and you have an interest in decent video quality, better to spend the money on a Kodak Zi8 (or the newly discounted Zi6). Or just wait for the iPod Touch to get a camera—now that's an upgrade. The camera alone isn't worth $150 or $180 if you've already got every other feature—maybe that's the reason Jobs himself said it was "free."
iPod Nano Review
Retains stylish and durable form factor, with bigger and better screen
iPod Nano Review
Camera is surprisingly good and really fun
iPod Nano Review
Price is very tempting considering camera addition
iPod Nano Review
Design, battery life and UI are unchanged, but still good
iPod Nano Review
Capped at 16GB capacity
[Complete Coverage of Apple's Only Rock and Roll Product Launch]
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Qualcomm's Snapdragon-Powered Lenovo Smartbook Is Coming To AT&T
Qualcomm is showing off its newest smartbook concept. It's a Snapdragon-powered, 10-incher for which they've already secured AT&T backing. Let's hope this isn't another disappointing and unholy union of a smartphone and a netbook.
There aren't many details available about the model as Qualcomm intends to truly show it off at CES 2010, but they do explain that the Snapdragon chip will result in "lower price and longer battery life than what netbooks offer." [PC World via Electronista]
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12 Monumental Gadget Firsts
These clunky "firsts" will leave you hungry for a game of Duck Hunt and your favorite cassette. Or possibly send you scrambling to hug your sleek iPhone while giving thanks for the goodness that is modern technology.
Disclaimer: These gadgets were chosen because they were the first available to consumers on the market—not necessarily the very first model invented. And if you'd like to check out some other ancient electronics, take a look at some of the earliest wrist watches, old analog computers, a visual history of video recorders, 10 neat vintage phones, or a collection of some of the earliest TV sets. [Oobject]
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UAV's are big, but they're not jet big—something the Navy's trying to correct with its X-47B, which aims to replace traditional fighters. Y'know, the ones with humans in them. Watch the drone killer stretch its wings a little.
This isn't the 62-foot wide X-47B's first time in the air. Rather, it's the first time it's been able to pull up its landing gear and go into full "cruise mode"—an important step that gives the craft a chance to flex all of its sophisticated onboard navigational and sensor equipment. It's still experimental right now, but if and when it's ever deployed for real, it'll be able to pack 4,500 pounds of weaponry, refuel in the air, and land at sea. That's a lot of killing power in a robot—and all guided by someone far away. Given the recent (huge) success of the military's drone fleet, I expect this thing to get some serious backing in the future. [Defense Tech]
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Richard Branson's Gorgeous Water Filter Would Fit Nicely in His Space Ship
Trying to predict Richard Branson's next business move is harder than winning the lottery. The man has conquered media, the airlines, and has now set his sights on your kitchen sink with his new Virgin Pure water filtration unit that promises a better H2O experience.
Virgin has actually teamed up with a company called Strauss Group to create two filtration units. First up, the $460 T6, which heats, chills, and purifies water using a triple filtration system including UV light. And then there's the slightly more expensive $590 T7, which has an improved chiller that can cool water 50% faster than the T6. Unlike a Brita pitcher, both models do need to be connected to your plumbing, but in the UK there's free installation for the time being.
The filters also need to be regularly changed to keep your drinking water as pure as possible, but buyers can opt into a 'WaterClub' whereby a monthly $18-$20 fee guarantees you replacements (including UV filters) as needed. Not as cheap as just drinking whatever comes out of the tap, but in the (very) long run it's probably more affordable than buying it bottled. And certainly more stylish. [Virgin Pure via Ubergizmo]
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You are here
Double Chocolate Crispy Bars
creative.chef's picture
Double Chocolate Crispy Bars! Searching for a popular and tasty dessert? Then Double Chocolate Crispy Bars is the answer to your prayers! Trust me, it is easy to make and will definitley become a family favorite overnight!
Crispy rice cereal 6 Cup (96 tbs)
Peanut butter 1⁄2 Cup (8 tbs)
Butter/Margarine 1⁄3 Cup (5.33 tbs)
Unsweetened chocolate square 2 Ounce (2 Square, 1 Ounce Each)
Marshmallows 8 Ounce (1 Package)
Semi sweet chocolate chips/6 ounces bittersweet chocolate 6 Ounce, chopped
White chocolate 6 Ounce, chopped
Shortening 2 Teaspoon (Divided)
Preheat oven to 350°F Line a 13X9-inch pan with waxed paper.
Spread cereal on cookie sheet; toast in oven 10 minutes or until crispy.
Place in large bowl.
Meanwhile, combine peanut butter, butter and unsweetened chocolate in large heavy saucepan.
Stir over low heat until chocolate is melted.
Add marshmallows; stir until melted and smooth.
Pour chocolate mixture over cereal; mix until evenly coated.
Press firmly into prepared pan.
Place semisweet and white chocolates into separate bowls.
Add 1 teaspoon shortening to each bowl.
Place bowls over very warm water; stir until chocolates are melted.
Spread top of bars with melted semisweet chocolate; cool until chocolate is set.
Turn bars out of pan onto a sheet of waxed paper, chocolate side down.
Remove waxed paper from bottom of bars; spread white chocolate over surface.
Cool until chocolate is set.
Cut into 2 X 1 1/2-inch bars using a sharp, thin knife.
Recipe Summary
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Average: 4.3 (19 votes)
Double Chocolate Crispy Bars Recipe
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IH Journal of Education and Development
IH Journal Issues:
Published in:
Michael Halliday at 80: A Tribute
by Mark Lowe
1. Happy Birthday
Michael Halliday, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sydney, is one of the great linguists of our time. Like his equally illustrious fellow-linguist, Chomsky, he has now turned 80. Everyone concerned with language will wish to celebrate.
Continuum Publishers are celebrating by bringing out a new 10-volume edition of Halliday’s writings – an initiative greatly to be welcomed. They have reissued two key titles that had long been out of print: Learning How to Mean (a classic study of child language development) and Language as Social Semiotic (a classic study of language in society). They are also republishing many important articles and conference papers that had been languishing unread in difficult-to-find specialist journals.
Anyone wanting to know more about Halliday’s ideas will find what they want in the third volume of the new series: On Language and Linguistics. The book contains three articles on his basic functional-systemic theory of language, together with an account of the theory’s development. There is a section on his child language development research, there are references to his British and Australian curriculum development projects and there are two fascinating papers on the language of science. In addition, there are comparisons of Halliday’s and Chomsky’s theories of language dotted round the text. This book is a very useful compendium of Halliday’s most important ideas and achievements.
Here is a quote from a review by Professor Sydney Lamb, Professor of Linguistics at Rice University, Texas:
‘This marvellous volume, with its kaleidoscopic approach to linguisic research, constantly turning language round and round, as Halliday puts it, presents an extraordinarily imaginative picture of language and its relationship to science, society and consciousness…’
2. Quotations
Here are some quotes from the functional-systemic articles: they show the core ideas in the theory that inspires much of Halliday’s work:
- Language development is the mastery of linguistic function. Learning one’s mother tongue is learning the uses of language – the meaning potential associated with words. It is not the acquisition of linguistic structures….
- The three basic functions of language are:
1. Instrumental (I want),
2. Interactive (relations with other people),
3. Experiential (describing the world).
- Subject-predicate propositions can be functionally analysed into:
1. actor – process – goal,
2. theme – rheme,
3. given – new.
Readers wishing to know more about the theory are referred to Halliday’s magnum opus: An Introduction to Functional Grammar.
3. Child Language Development
In The Functional Basis of Lauguage, Halliday uses functional labels to record the language spoken by his 19-month-old son, Nigel. At this tender age, Nigel could handle one- and two-word utterances such as the following:
Regulatory (I want):
food – bread, meat, cake
toiletries – tooth paste
amenities – light, water, Bartok (=music)
performances – Oranges and Lemons, Little Bo-Peep
repetition = again
Interactional (personal interaction with the people round him)
Mummy come
Where Daddy?
(NB. What does Nigel’s use of the word Bartok to mean ‘music’ tell us about the Halliday family? O Brave New World that has such a family in it.)
In his discussion of this language, Halliday shows how his functional theory of language works in practice. A young child first uses language to achieve things: to get what he or she wants. At this stage, a child uses language without a grammatical system: formal grammar evolves later to enable the growing child to fulfil more complex needs such as describing experience. The order of grammatical mastery follows need, interest and maturity, not an alleged ‘natural order’. In other words, form follows function. Halliday also suggests that child language development follows the same evolutionary path as the growth of language in our species. We come back to this idea later, in the section on language and science.
4. Origins
Systemic Background sketches the origins of Halliday’s functional-systemic theory. The article shows, among many other things, what a broad river the theory is – how many tributaries feed into it and how many flow from it. It also offers a bird’s-eye view of key stages in Halliday’s professional life and the development of his ideas.
Halliday tells us that the greatest influence on his thinking was his London University teacher, J.R Firth, a Yorkshireman like Halliday himself (they were both born and brought up in the small Yorkshire town of Wharfedale). It was Firth who contributed the concept of system to Halliday’s theory of language.
Both Firth and Halliday acknowledged their debt to Hjemslev, Troubetskoy and the Prague School of linguistics for their functional approach to language. They also acknowledge their debt to two philosophers – Whitehead and Wittgenstein. The functional analysis of language in Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations makes him a predictable influence, whereas Whitehead is unexpected. Halliday enjoyed the exuberant ideas expressed in Whitehead’s popular books, such as Science and the Modern World and Adventures of Ideas, but he was also impressed by the analysis of reality as process in Whitehead’s magisterial but sadly neglected Process and Reality. This analysis reappears in Halliday’s later work on language and science, as we shall see.
Malinowski’s anthropology was another seminal influence on both Firth and Halliday. Malinowski was a pioneer of the idea that language is a product of culture and that different cultures operate different kinds of languages and picture reality in different ways – ideas that are central to Halliday’s view of language and society.
Among contemporaries, W. S. Allen (author of the best-selling Living English Structure) showed new ways of describing grammar and comparing systems across languages. Basil Bernstein showed what it is that is achieved through language – the transmission, maintenance and modification of patterns of culture. He also gave Halliday the concepts of restricted and elaborated codes and the socio-linguistic insights that follow from them. From Bernstein, Halliday also learned, as he put it, ‘that linguistics cannot be other than an ideologically committed form of social action’, a belief that has influenced much of Halliday’s work.
Across the Atlantic, Benjamin Whorf was another seminal influence. Halliday writes: ‘Whorf’s conception of how grammar models reality in the mind… will eventually turn out to be among the major contributions of 20th century linguistics’.
Halliday also acknowledges his debt to Chinese language studies, quoting Walter Smith (Professor of Chinese at London University), together with Luo Chang Pei and Wang Li, with whom he worked while studying Chinese in China. They gave him key insights into the semantic basis of grammar – another basic idea in Halliday’s theory of language, and key insights into Chinese – a very different language from the standard Latin / Greek / Indo-European language family that forms the linguistic background of most British, European and American linguists.
5. Applications
The practical applications of Halliday’s functional-systemic theory of language are many and varied. He directed two important curriculum development projects in Britain in the 1960s and early 1970s. Both the primary project (Breakthrough to Literacy) and the secondary project (Language in Use) played a major part in modernising and improving the teaching of English in British schools.
Halliday has also had a significant role in the development of modern TEFL. His functional-systemic theory inspired much of the Council of Europe’s research on foreign language teaching – research which led to the Wilkins paper, the functional/notional syllabus and the Common European Framework. The communicative approach which dominates our field today stems from Halliday’s ideas on how people master languages. He influenced Sinclair and Coulthard’s study of classroom language. Henry Widdowson’s work on communicative methodology owes much to Halliday. Halliday’s work on the relationship of intonation and grammar has influenced the teaching of phonology, and his work on cohesion and coherence has deeply influenced the discourse analysis movement. Many M.A. programmes teach his functional-systemic theory, for example the programme directed by Thomas and Meriel Bloor at Warwick University. The Bloor’s book, The Functional Analysis of English, is one example among many of the volumes about Halliday’s theories that have been published. In short, Halliday’s influence on modern TEFL has been incalculable.
In addition to his work on teaching English as a Foreign Language, Halliday has been involved in many other language research projects. For instance, the Nuffield Foreign Languages Teaching Materials project, the OSTI Programme on the Linguistic Properties of Scientific English, Winograd’s Artificial Intelligence research project – and William Mann’s PENMAN project at the Information Science Institute at the Universitry of Southern California. He also helped to set up Australian language teaching curriculum development projects after moving to Australia in the 1970s.
It is clear from this awe-inspiring list of influences and projects that Halliday’s work on language does not inhabit an ivory tower. He wants his linguistics to be useful, to help children master language effectively, to make a difference in the real world. He thrives on inter-disciplinary challenges and real-world language problems. Halliday’s work is always socially committed.
6. Language and Science
Two of the most original and interesting papers in this collection deal with language and science: Language and the Order of Nature and On Language and the Evolution of Human Consciousness.
In the first of these, Halliday addresses the problem of how language can be made to describe faithfully the concepts of modern physics, and especially quantum physics. Newtonian scientific language pictures the world as a collection of ‘things’: we speak of velocity and weight, of gravity and light and matter and mind, rather than moving, feeling light or heavy – or thinking. However, ‘thing’ language distorts much of the reality of modern science. For instance, it distorts the quantum reality of ‘undivided wholeness and flowing movement’ – the picture of reality as a set of processes rather than a set of things that is found in the work of Niels Bohr and Heisenberg. Halliday circumvents this problem by avoiding noun-clause ‘thing’ language and reverting to an earlier form of language based on action and verbs to express scientific ideas. He refers to noun-clause academic ‘thing’ language as Attic, and verb-clause ‘action’ everyday language as Doric. An example will show the difference:
Attic: He also credits his former big size with much of his career success.
Doric: He also believes that he succeeded in his career mainly because he used to be big.
Halliday advocates using Doric language to convey modern scientific concepts. This kind of ordinary, verb-based language has evolved over many thousands of years as a uniquely flexible and faithful means of describing reality, and it is more suited than Attic language to describing the flux and process of quantum physics and relativity theory. Halliday’s debt to two philosophers becomes clear here. In Process and Reality, Alfred North Whitehead put forward a similar idea about the language of science years ahead of his time. Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations is permeated with the notion that ordinary language is the best vehicle for conveying a true picture of reality. As ever, Halliday uses ideas gleaned from many disciplines in his linguistic theories.
On Language in Relation to the Evolution of Human Consciousness shows how language both influenced the development of human consciousness and was in turn influenced by it. The paper quotes extensively from the neurobiologist Gerald Edelman’s Bright Air, Brilliant Fire: On the Matter of the Mind – demonstrating how the findings of modern neuroscience are consistent with his functional-systemic linguistic theory. Here are some quotes, to give a flavour of the ideas in this fascinating paper:
• Consciousness and language evolved by the same process of natural selection as other biological attributes of species…
• Edelman’s theory of neuronal group selection explains why consciousness is part of the physical world, why we can no longer pretend that there is some mysterious entity (or non-entity) beyond the reach of scientific enquiry…
• Edelman’s theory offers a coherent account of the evolution of linguistic competence, and one which is entirely compatible with what many linguists – particularly those working outside the Chomskyan paradigm – would say about the nature and function of language.
• The mind is not substance, it is process..
• The brain is a self-organising ecological system – like a jungle.
In this article, Halliday draws on ideas from many disciplines, including neurobiology, genetics, embryology, psychology and philosophy. It is a classic example of his inter-disciplinary approach to language. Integrating all these ideas into a global vision of mind, consciousness and language, Halliday answers ultimate questions: how did language evolve? What is the relation between mind and language? What is the relation between language and consciousness? This article shows Halliday at his most visionary.
7. Halliday and Chomsky
Halliday is always courteous and circumspect when referring to Chomsky: he only hints at their differences. Nevertheless, it becomes clear from the hints that their theories of language differ radically. Chomsky believes that language is innate: Halliday believes that it is learned. Chomsky believes that all human beings possess a grammatical programme hardwired into the brain: Halliday does not – he believes that grammar mirrors function and is mastered through experience. Chomsky believes in ‘Universal Grammar’: Halliday does not. Chomsky believes that language exists separately from experience: Halliday believes that language only develops through experience of other people and the world around us. Chomsky’s theory is Cartesian – in other words: mind exists separately from matter: Halliday’s ideas are Darwinian – in other words: language and the mind obey the same laws as all other aspects of reality. Chomsky’s theories are metaphysical: Halliday’s are scientific.
8. Conclusion
All this adds up to a lifetime of amazing achievement: a fundamental theory that has influenced every aspect of language studies; pioneering work on child language development; major studies of language in society and the language of science: important curriculum development projects; influential work on the relation between intonation and grammar – and on cohesion and coherence – and so on and so on.
Can there possibly be a downside?
Perhaps. There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that Halliday’s ideas are less widely know today than they were a generation ago. For instance, when I asked an experienced teacher training colleague the other day what he knew about Halliday, he mumbled: ‘ …important… difficult… can’t remember…’ I got similar responses from others that I asked. There are also those key titles that were allowed to remain out of print for far too long…… Things were different a generation ago: Halliday’s name was known then to almost everyone involved with language.
Does it matter that Halliday may not be as well known today as he was a generation ago? Does this mean that his ideas are no longer relevant to us, that they are no longer important? Does Halliday belong in the past? Is he an anachronism?
I don’t think so. On Language and Linguistics – and his many other titles – provide abundant evidence that Halliday’s ideas are as important and relevant today as they were a generation ago. His functional theory of language continues to inspire practical work on language, including the teaching of English as a Foreign Language. He has rare qualities that are as important now as they were 30 years ago: his refusal to plough a narrow linguistic furrow, his passion to understand how language affects and is affected by the world around us: the worlds of education, science, society, literature, and artificial intelligence – and his social commitment. Halliday stands out among the world’s linguists for the range, boldness and importance of his ideas – and for the way he applies his ideas to solve real-world problems. Halliday’s place is secure at the heart of the linguistic pantheon.
Many happy returns, Professor Halliday.
Author’s Bio:
Mark has recently moved from being DoS in IH Tbilisi to the DoS job in IH Sarajevo. He was educated at Clifton and King’s College Cambridge, where he studied music and philosophy. After nine years In the British Council, he Joined Longman as a commissioning editor, spending nearly twenty years as an EFL and general educational publisher. He did his Celta and Delta in the mid-1980s, and has been back in the classroom ever since, working In Saudi Arabia, Poland, Estonia, China, Azerbaijan and Georgia. He is mainly involved now with teacher development.
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Insurance Salvage
When certain property, such as vehicles or buildings, get damaged through an accident, fire or natural calamities, some insurance providers take over ownership of these properties after they pay for the claims that owners get for any insurance coverage for these items. The damaged properties are now classified as salvaged items, and the insurance company or provider has the option of selling these items as junk, or to third party companies that market salvage items. Some insurance companies hold auctions for insurance salvage properties.
A vehicle that is sold in an insurance salvage usually is recovered by insurance companies and can have damages from an accident, fire, floods or other natural calamity. Other vehicles may have been recovered vehicles that were previously stolen and were either vandalized or had damages when recovered. These can be bought and parts can be recovered, sold as junk, and some even buy cars and sell them as is. They can be made to run again, and if damages are severe can be rebuilt.
Some states allow insurance providers to sell salvage insurance for properties that were bought as salvaged items. Salvage insurance, if permitted, are regulated differently by different states. Some require vehicles for example, to undergo a thorough inspection from the DMV and the police before they allow them to be sold and for it to be covered by salvage insurance.
A good number of people who have bought salvage properties find out that many insurance providers do not want to provide salvage insurance coverage for these properties. Insurance providers usually shy away from salvage insurance since it is often hard for them to determine the real value of the salvaged property. And since it is property that may have been previously damaged to great extent, they may lose a lot of money in the end if they provide coverage for it.
Another form of salvage insurance is for marine vehicles. This is a kind of insurance coverage that is offered by insurance providers for individual or company marine vehicle owners. This will provide assistance to the marine vehicle in cases of an accident or break down at sea, but mostly when the marine vehicle gets damaged by being grounded or worst, sinks. Typically included in salvage insurance coverage are towing services, repairs and patching of damages, and refloating the vehicle if it has sunk. Salvage insurance also provides coverage not only for the marine vehicle but for important cargo as well.
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Joyce Carol Oates And Jeff Vandermeer, Together At Last
Back in 2002, superstar literary journal Conjunctions redefined the intersection of science fiction and lit with its "New Wave Fabulists" issue. Now they're trying to do the same for urban fantasy.
Conjunctions #52, out now, has a theme of "Betwixt The Between: Impossible Realism," and here's the description:
Postfantasy fictions that begin with the premise that the unfamiliar or liminal really constitutes a solid ground on which to walk.
No, I don't know what that means either. I guess it's something to do with the idea that the standard fantasy trope - the dreamlike realm, in which the protagonist learns that everything is weirder and brighter than he/she realized - is actually more "solid" than reality. Or something. In any case, who really cares, when we're getting literary "postfantasy" from Joyce Carol Oates, io9 contributor Jeff Vandermeer, and Elizabeth Hand... plus a selection from China Miéville's new novel The City And The City? Can't wait to get my hands on this. [Conjunctions, Thanks Michelle!]
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In the 1966 Toei fantasy flick The Magic Serpent, the hero Ikazuchi-Maru is ambushed by a gang of boomerang-wielding ninjas (who are way more dangerous than hula-hoop-wielding ninjas).
The dastards succeed in decapitating our hero, but he's got one last stupid ninjutsu up his sleeve. Also, witness the most ignominious death of a ninja henchman ever committed to celluloid.
This clip comes courtesy of Sardonicus1313's YouTube channel, which is chock full o' ninjutsu and kung fu weirdness, namely "The Vagina Bubble From Hell."
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This Is The Video CNN Will Play When The World Ends
Thirty-four years ago, at the launch of Ted Turner's Cable News Network, the founder made a grandiose and specific promise about his newly created round-the-clock operation. "Barring satellite problems, we won't be signing off until the world ends," Turner declared. And in anticipation, he prepared a final video… » 1/05/15 1:06pm 1/05/15 1:06pm
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Astronomers stuck on Earth miss a lot of astronomical wonders. Fortunately, the Curiosity Rover on Mars is helping to fill the gap with our first-ever look at another planet traversing our sun, as seen from a planet that's not Earth.
In addition to being the first time we've seen another planet cross the sun from another planet, this is also, in fact, our first glimpse of Mercury as it appears on Mars ever. If you're curious about contrasting the views from the red planet and our own blue marble, you'll have a bit of a wait, though. The next time Mercury's path across the sun will be visible from Earth won't be until May 9, 2016 and it will be almost another 70 years before Mars will be able to see the Earth traverse the sun.
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Funny picture #302 tags: bearapprovalsealgirlmirror
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Bob Lutz Confirms Cadillac CTS-V Wagon, Achieves Sainthood
Cadillac, by way of Bob "Too Cool to Live, Too Young to Die" Lutz, just confirmed that the already-kinda-confirmed Cadillac CTS-V wagon will see production. In other news, our heads just exploded.
556 supercharged horsepower, five doors, and rear-wheel drive. And it's actually going to happen. Proof, if you needed it, that someone out there loves us.
Bob, we forgive you for everything you did to Wes.
[Car and Driver]
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Spyder-pig, Spyder-pig... for $23,500!
With their compound eyes, multiple legs and silk-weaving antics, arachnids are pretty complex creatures. Now Nice Price or Crack Pipe wonders if an equally complicated Mitsubishi Spyder can lure you into its web.
Even though its asking price came in a happy-ending massage shy of twelve grand, yesterday's 2002tii could only sway 65% of you to give it a thumbs up. That was more of a squeaker than Tuesday's runaway Nice Price NSX, but then the Acura is something that seems to be on a lot of your personal must-do lists. A car that, back in the day, was somewhat a competitor of the NSX is the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4. While not quite as expensive new- although much closer in Spyder form- the Mitsu produced some amazing performance numbers making it perhaps a better value at the time. Today we have a '95 3000GT that has an asking price slightly higher than that NSX, and it's up to you to determine if it's something you'd want to sink your fangs into.
Based on the Diamante platform, the 3000GT (and sister Dodge Stealth) was a tour de force of 1990s technology- to wit, in VR4 form it came with a DOHC V6, twin turbos, twin intercoolers, four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, six-speed gearbox, electronically-controlled suspension and, in the case of the Spyder, an electrically-operated hard-top that could be raised or lowered in less than 19 seconds. The earlier cars (non-spyders) even had active aero-aides that worked above 50 mph.
That sidewinder 3-litre six came from the factory with 320-bhp, which, when applied to all four wheels, would rocket the car to sixty in under six ticks of the stopwatch. Massive four-wheel antilock brakes meant that the big Mitsu could dig deep into the corners, and the stability of all four wheels clawing their way for traction made exits just as fast. But all this tech had its downside. While that Acura was noteworthy for being made mostly of aluminum - and keeping its curb weight under a ton and a half - the 3000GT, with the addition of the retractable hardtop, tips the scales at a portly 4,123-lbs. That means that every one of those 320 ponies has to work with nearly 13-lbs in the saddle. By contrast, the NSX packs only 11-lbs on each of its VTEC-fed steeds.
But there's an answer to weight, and that is more horsepower- which is just what the seller of this 1995 3000GT VR4 Spyder claims to have added with a recent engine rebuild. The arrest-me red drop top is being presently offered at $23,500, but the owner threatens to raise that by two-grand should he get a wild hair and drop in a re-chipped ECM. That's some impressive salesmanship!
The upgrades to the motor are too numerous to mention- and the ad already does- but the claim of a dyno-tested 504-whp is eyebrow raising. That would make for some tire-meltingly good fun, and fortunately he's also throwing in a new set of Toyos, just in case. The car has a little more than 64K on the clock, and has had a run in with something at some point in its life, despite which the seller claims the frame to be true, and the suspension to be sound.
Much like the way fat men strangely are good dancers, the 3000GT handles with aplomb, and it's unlikely that you would be able to reach the car's limits on the street without risking what in latin is known as Licensus Interruptus. But the Spyder can be enjoyed even at only 8/10s, and in fact is a perfectly reasonable 4-season sportscar, what with its winter-traction four-wheel drive and summer-sun drop top. That top, by the way, was not done by Mitsubishi, but by ASC at their Dominguez Hills CA shop. The Nagoya factory in Japan would outfit the cars selected for topless treatment with special reinforcing, upgraded shock and springs and would omit the hatch before sending them on their way. At ASC, 40 new structural panels would be added as the 98-lb plastic top with its related motors and electrics was installed. All that added up to an expensive construction, and a resultant $65,000 list price. That price tag was part of the reason the Spyder only lasted two years, with fewer than 877 VR4 models built.
That makes this car not only fast and furious, but also rare- more rare in fact than the NSX that I inexplicably keep comparing it to. But is it $23,500 fast and rare? Does that price make this a spyder you would want to fly? Or, does that make you think the seller is weaving a web of deceit?
You decide!
Autotrader or go here if the ad disappears.
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Volkswagen Cross Coupé: VW builds an Evoque
Been wondering what a Range Rover Evoque would look like if VW built it? Behold the Volkswagen Cross Coupe, which combines all the disadvantages of a sports coupe — poor vision, a tiny interior — with all the disadvantages of an SUV — inferior fuel economy, huge proportions — to create a vehicle that's less desirable than either.
In addition to previewing a future SUV/Coupe abhorrence and more refined design, the Cross Coupe concept is also previewing a new plug-in hybrid AWD drivetrain configuration that actually sounds pretty interesting, even if it's not ready for production yet. There's two electric motors - one front and one rear - capable of distributing their 133 LB-FT of torque and 114 HP front-to-rear. They do so not through a long drive shaft, but by the individual motors, which can send their power to one another via cables. This frees up the space traditionally reserved for that drive shaft to be used to house the lithium ion batteries; an arrangement that optimizes the center of gravity.
There's also a TSI direct-injection, turbocharged gasoline motor that produces 147 HP, kills polar bears and will likely be the powertrain of choice when the Cross Coupe reaches production in the near future.
The Cross Coupe is also significant because it's the first vehicle to be shown that uses VW's new "Modular Transverse Matrix" or "MQB platform. Slightly larger than a Golf, yet smaller than a Tiguan, expect the MQB to underpin a wide variety of future VWs, some of which may even do what the Cross Coupe can't - be big inside and small outside.
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Seeing Ear Theatre: Fire Watch - Part 1 & Part 2
Fire Watch - Part 1
Fire Watch - Part 2
A student, having studied for one era is tossed back into a completely different one to carry out ... research seems too kind a word. Clumsy bumbling around while testing the limits of causal protection (for what it's worth, basically blabbing out history to come to people in WWII London does not break history) and making blind accusations of treason based on Insane Troll Logic (which to be fair, other people are also using) is a bit closer. He discovers WWII was in many respects unpleasant.
I had such fond memories of this story.
Every single thing that was wrong with Black Out/All Clear was there right from the beginning, wasn't it. Well, except for the page count bloat.
You know, one odd thing about this setting is that if this was my only evidence I'd conclude Willis never went near a university in her life but not only does she have a degree, her husband is a professor. Despite this, it's kind of hard to reconcile this with any post-secondary program I am aware of.
Did we get an explanation as to what happened to cats in the original story? And was it related to how every single revolving door in the world was removed so thoroughly that even knowledge of them was gone by the 2060s?
Did they expand the Commie Terrorists Destroy St. Paul's and also a lot of England and less important places plot? I don't remember that taking up as much time in the original short story. I also don't recall the pinpoint bomb being quite that powerful but it could be it was and I just missed it.
Ignoring Europe (which got done in by fallout), incinerating all of London out to the A20 takes a 10 MT device and since this was a ground burst I think you have to quadruple the yield. That sounds like a hell of a yield to get out of a nuke small enough to be hidden in whatever one Neo-Commie Terrorist could carry into St. Paul's without being seen. I think in theory you can get 50 kilotons/kilogram of fusion device but that would make still the St Paul's pinpoint bomb around 800 kg, which still seems a little big to slip into one's backpack.
Sebastian Roché as Bartholomew
Rika Daniel as Frieda
Ian Reed as Langby
George Holmes as Dunworthy
Rita Ben-Or
Anthony Ferguson
Nicholas Haylett
Gideon Juvenal
Ron Keith
Giovanni Pucci
John Rainer
Dieter Riesele
Vicki Stuart
Felix Van Dyke
Nicky as the Cat
A 40 MT bomb could be produced by the total annihilation of a shade under 2 kg of matter, so a kilo of antimatter in perfect annihilation.
I remember thinking that perhaps Willis' only experience of academia was in the hard sciences, and she didn't have the faintest idea what the humanities and social sciences were like. For one thing, actually traveling to the past wouldn't be history, it would be a form of ethnography.
I could never understand why her supposed honors/graduate level students seemed to know so little about the periods of history they were studying. I could see them being tripped up occasionally, if the story was recounting the first trip to a particular time period, but in many cases it seemed as though I, a person without any special historical knowledge, knew things about the time period that the characters didn't. Isn't there a bit somewhere in Blackout/All Clear somewhere in which a character fails to recognize the name 'Bletchley Park'?
When people took the rip out of Black Out / All Clear my thought was 'hmm, didn't Fire Watch have exactly the same sort of flaws?', but I couldn't recall in detail and didn't fancy reading it again to make sure.
It does, yeah. At one point while I was skimming to look for info about the scale of the attack, there was this bit:
"Part of the stone is sheared off. Historians argue there was another line that said, "for all time," but I do not believe that, not if Dean Matthews had anything to do with it."
...dude, it was destroyed in the 21st century! There would be photos of it, all over the world! There were almost certainly people at the dedication who were still alive at the time of the bombing. It's not going to be a matter for historians to get wrong. (which it is, it says "from destruction in War")
But the thing is, it's so much tighter than the weaknesses are outshone by the strengths, particularly the powerful repeated theme of salvation and loss. As the novels have gotten bigger and saggier, the strengths have gotten drowned.
I seem to recall that all the cats died as some sort of super feline distemper.
She also has a story where all the dogs die, but I don't think that's set in the Oxford time travel universe.
In the radio play there is a bit about all the animals dying in the fallout but surely that was just one small zone.
The radio play has what may be the least convincing self-defense ever: from a young lady who has just killed 11 million people: "People who don't like Communism have never tried Communism."
And the radio people stuck in perhaps the lamest sad song about the nuclear destruction of a major city:
Far away and long ago
London Town went up in smoke
Radiation slit our wrists
She was slain by communists, communists
Inexplicably the person responsible for inflicting that little ditty on a radiation-poisoned world was not in the dock with the Atomic Terrorist.
I really don't remember communism being significant in Fire Watch, I'm not even sure they mentioned the ideology of the pinpoint bomb terrorists. And my impression was that a fair amount of central London got destroyed along with St Pauls, but not the whole city. And I don't remember anything about Europe getting wiped out, the impression was of limited but devastating acts of terrorists (Denver and St. Paul's), not worldwide destruction.
The 'commies cannot be trusted' thing rings a faint bell but I think the whole bombing London thing has been ramped up in scale, possibly because the Seeing Ear Theater people didn't see in 2000 how a massive attack on a few buildings in a major city could be seen as provocative enough to have the effect they wanted on the protagonist.
The pinpoint was not even invented until the end of the twentieth century, and it was another ten years before the dispossessed communists got hold of it and turned it into something that could be carried under your arm.
Langby isn't a Nazi. He's a communist. I can hardly write this. A communist.
They do not know, cannot know, what the communists will become. Stalin is an ally. Communists mean Russia. They have never heard of Karinsky or the New Russia or any of the things that will make "communist" into a synonym for "monster". They will never know it. By the time the communists become what they became, there will be no fire watch.
The story is conveniently online, and describing her visit to the remains of St. Pauls:
"St Paul's Station is not there, of course, so I got out at Holborn and walked"
Holborn is less than a mile, and there are closer stations apart from St. Paul that presumably no longer exist or at least are not used, so that suggests that destruction went somewhere more than half a mile, but not much more. Definitely not out to the A20.
In fact, it says at once point exactly how far:
"The pinpoint was not even invented until the end of the twentieth century, and it was another ten years before the dispossessed communists got hold of it and turned it into something that could be carried under your arm. A parcel that could blow a quarter mile of the City into oblivion."
It does actually go on about communists a great deal more than I had recalled, though it's apparently some sort of future group of terrorists rather than the Soviet Union.
I am not 100% sure if one mentioned the Katyn massacre or the Great Purge to Bartholomew that he would have any idea what was being talked about. Mind you, it's not his period. Also, he's kind of an idiot.
I think the rule here is that whenever SET changes a detail of a story it's generally to the detriment of the story. Too bad, because in many ways it's a fine show.
This explains something that was puzzling me. If the bomb had basically erased the Greater London metropolitan area, why would the terrorist bother trying to smuggle it into St Paul's cathedral? And anyway, how would anyone know after the fact that the circle of destruction had been centred just there?
The A20 isn't an orbital, it's a radial, and the top of it (in New Cross) is about three miles from St. Paul's. A 475KT W-88 (aka a Trident D5 MIRV) would suffice to get the 4.6psi overpressure mark out to knock over the nice green road sign.
Edited at 2013-02-01 05:01 pm (UTC)
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Color Theory
To use color effectively, you must first understand the three basic components that make up a color: hue, saturation and value. If you were to try to explain a color that you see to someone, you might first say that the color is red or blue or orange. It may be a dark red or a light orange but you would first identify the base color, that if referred to as it’s hue. The hues are the colors that sit on the outer edge of the color wheel. [...]
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Do You Tell Sex Partners About Your STDs?
I have herpes. I've written about it on the internet before, and that fact comes back to bite me in the ass way more frequently than any blisters do. But it's somewhat of a relief that it's out there, because I feel less of a burden of having to tell new people I bang, since these days, the people I sleep with tend to have read up on my sexual history. But I never used to tell people, mainly because I only ever had that one outbreak, so it just didn't really seem like a part of my life. I was with my last boyfriend for a few years and we never wore condoms and he never broke out in blisters. (I also never told him about having herpes until like right before we broke up, after we hadn't slept together for a few months.) But I wonder if anyone tells the people they're sleeping with about their past or presently-dormant STDs. Let's figure it out by taking the poll after the jump!
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Nestle Invests in Magical Anti-Dementia Milkshake
Uuuuuuugh, milkshake—you cruel vixen. Milkshakes are simultaneously the food I most desire and the food I can least justify eating. Essentially a method of injecting massive amounts of melted ice cream into one's bloodstream the shortest time possible (YESSS), milkshakes are obv terrible for your body. But it turns out that they can be also awesome for your brain! As part of its "long-term strategy," the Nestle corporation has bought a stake in Accera, "a company that makes milkshakes for Alzheimer's patients." Accera's brain-shakes can supposedly "slow down cognitive decline," and Nestle wants in on the action.
Now, much to my disappointment (how great would a study be that said, "Science discovers that delicious milkshakes make your brain huge and immortal!"?), the milkshake part of Alzheimer's milkshakes is pretty much incidental—the milkshake is just a vehicle for a powdered additive:
Nestlé has long been interested in the links between food and brain health. In 2006, it invested 25 million Swiss francs in a collaboration with ETH Lausanne, a leading Swiss technical university, to develop food products that protect the brain against diseases such as Alzheimer's. The company's interest in the field intensified last year with the launch of Nestlé Health Science.
...Accera sells Axona, an easy-mix powder that is added to milk or other liquids to make a once-daily drink. Axona is already given to 30,000 patients in the U.S. Axona is made from a compound derived from coconut oil that purports to provide an alternative energy source for the brain. In theory, this would help Alzheimer's patients because their brains are less able to use glucose for the energy they need.
Nestlé Health Science! Whoa. If the end result is birth control Goobers, Snickers laxative minis, and chemotherapy Lik-m-aid, I suppose I'm PRO. Candy companies expanding into pharmaceuticals is pretty fucking weird, and probably has a bunch of hella creepy implications that I'm just not seeing because I'm too busy thinking of medicinal dessert puns. Baked Alaspirin. Profiterolaids. Let's do this.
Photo credit: g215 / Stockfresh.
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For her first English language film, French filmmaker Anne Fontaine (best known for 2009's Coco Before Chanel) decided to direct an adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author and bad bitch Doris Lessing's novella "The Grandmothers," about two lifelong friends who carry on affairs with each other's hunky surfer sons. Changing the title to the much younger-sounding Two Mothers probably helped attract stars Naomi Watts and Robin Wright to sign on for the title roles. But will that be the only Hollywood-friendly makeover the story received?
Lessing's short story is about two women, Lil and Roz, and told in flashbacks (presently, they are elderly grandmothers). They became best friends when they were little girls, attended the same college, deliberately chose spouses that got along, had a double wedding, and bought houses next door to each other. Eventually, though, Roz's husband leaves her because he always felt secondary to Lil. Shortly thereafter, Lil's husband dies. Now both single, each woman begins to notice how hot the other one's teenage son is, and start fucking the boys. The ladies finally decide to end the relationships when the boys (now men) are in their 30s, and encourage them to get married and have children of their own. But the fires of passion can not be squelched. The story is an uncomfortable one (as Oedipal tales often are) — about how it's not always the best idea to fully indulge our every whim — with allusions of incest and lesbianism.
From the trailer, it would seem that it's been reduced to sexy cougars lusting after washboard abs.
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You are viewing jody_macgregor
Inky Fingers [entries|archive|friends|userinfo]
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Two Things [Apr. 7th, 2011|06:28 pm]
One: I signed up for a Tumblr because what I really need is to join up with another website that goes offline all the time about three years after all the cool kids did it. It's at and obviously it's amazing.
Two: I wrote about the last couple of issues of Knight & Squire over at Rave Magazine recently, partly because I felt guilty about leaving Paul Cornell out of the 100 Comics and partly because it's really great. Here's what I wrote.
KNIGHT & SQUIRE #5 & #6 – Paul Cornell, Jimmy Broxton
(DC Comics)
Get your pants on, you’re nicked
Non-American heroes and villains are often portrayed as embarrassing stereotypes of their home country’s most obvious traits – Captain Boomerang, anyone? – an idea that Knight & Squire takes and goes way over the top with. It’s set in a Britain full of characters who are so stereotypically British that only an actual Brit could have come up with them. It’s so self-aware about this that you wind up with characters like Squire, whose superpower is the ability to cross class barriers. She works with Knight, who is essentially Batman crossed with Lancelot on a motorbike shaped like a horse. The delightful co-starring cast are similarly colourful, even by comic-book standards, including ‘cover versions’ of American characters such as Jarvis Poker, the British Joker (he copies the clownish look of the original, but says he just can’t bring himself to do the crimes). Artist Jimmy Broxton fills the backgrounds with cute details like Knight’s copy of Total Castle magazine left lying around and more small poppy uber-Brit characters like Salt Of The Earth and the Milkman. It’s not quite as dense with references as Top 10 used to be, but there are still enough that the back page each issue catalogues them. Previous issues have featured a glossary for American readers who might be confused by all the slang and references to morris dancing. Writer Paul Cornell did something similarly self-conscious when he was writing Captain Britain & MI-13 over at Marvel and the end result was just as charming. If it was this funny, I wouldn’t even mind them bringing Captain Boomerang back.
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100 Comics To Read Before You Die (or grow out of paying attention to lists) [Feb. 28th, 2011|08:18 pm]
This link should take you to entries 100-91 as a single page with formatting that's less ugly than the individual view, although you'll have to scroll upwards to get them in order.
100 Why I Hate Saturn
99 The New Adventures Of Hitler
98 From Hell
97 Palestine
96 Transmetropolitan
95 Maus
94 Ghost World
93 Li’l Abner & The Bald Iggle
92 Action Philosophers!
91 A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible
90 Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth
89 Watchmen
88 Yotsuba&!
87 Understanding Comics
86 Enigma
85 Hellboy: The Chained Coffin And Others
84 The Sandman #25
83 Squee!
82 Tank Girl Book One
81 Death Note
80 Persepolis
79 Sin City: The Hard Goodbye
78 30 Days Of Night: Juarez
77 Bone
76 Harvey Kurtzman’s Jungle Book
75 Blankets
74 Yummy Fur
73 A Softer World
72 Y: The Last Man
71 V For Vendetta
70 The Perry Bible Fellowship
69 Nat Turner
68 X-Force #116–129
67 Bookhunter
66 Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron
65 Killer Princesses
64 Scary Go Round
63 The Wallflower Volume One
62 Crécy
61 Pogo
60 Lost At Sea
59 Nana
58 The Fixer: A Story From Sarajevo
57 Little Nemo In Slumberland
56 Bolland Strips!
55 Uzumaki
54 The Left Bank Gang
53 Dropsie Avenue
52 The Maxx #1–12
51 Midnighter #7
50 I Killed Adolf Hitler
49 Jar Of Fools
48 The Sandman #19
47 The Nightly News
46 Pyongyang: A Journey In North Korea
45 Green Manor
44 Kabuki: Metamorphosis
43 Disappearance Diary
42 Platinum Grit
41 Mushishi
40 Frank
39 Calvin And Hobbes
38 Pictures For Sad Children
37 Saga Of The Swamp Thing Vol. 1–2
36 Deff Skwadron
35 Dice Man #5: You Are Ronald Reagan
34 Stuck Rubber Baby
33 Fun Home
32 Dungeon: The Early Years
31 Castle Waiting
30 Runaways #1–18
29 Nextwave
28 Stray Bullets #6
27 Tekkon Kinkreet: Black & White
26 The Muppet Show Comic Book #1–4
25 Britten And Brülightly
24 Phonogram: The Singles Club #4
23 Scott Pilgrim
22 Alan’s War
21 Alec
20 Cages
19 Ethel & Ernest
18 Berlin
17 Seven Soldiers Of Victory
16 Pluto
15 Comic Book Comics
14 The Pirates Of Coney Island
13 Through The Looking-Glass
12 Ranma ½
11 Glacial Period
10 Dream Of The Rarebit Fiend
9 The Abominable Charles Christopher
8 Upside-Downs Of Little Lady Lovekins And Old Man Muffaroo
7 Kiskaloo
6 The World Of Charles Addams
5 Sugarshock!
4 Penny Arcade
3 The Far Side
2 Hark! A Vagrant!
1 xkcd
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#1 [Feb. 27th, 2011|09:04 am]
Ever since my encounter with the fiend, I’ve been sleeping badly. Every dream is the same – I’m wrestling with a greasy beast that has 100 appendages. What can it possibly mean?
Using an oven mitt shaped like one of Mickey’s gloves I take another tray of Welsh rarebit out of the oven. Slice into the cheese and drizzle on the Worcestershire sauce like a pro. If you do it right, what you’ll have afterwards is a slimy tray of food that tastes like Worcestershire sauce.
I sacrifice a bite of rarebit to the mouth god. Nyam nyam nyam.
“Do you know what happens to gluttons in the third circle of Hell?” asks the fiend. He smells like mustard and ink, but mostly mustard.
“I’m pretty sure the boss monster is a three-headed stomach. Look, I summoned you again because I need some help. Troubling dreams.”
The fiend sits down across from me and takes a slice of rarebit off the plate. “Is it the one where you have to fight the beast?”
“How did you know?”
He chews thoughtfully. “Everybody has that dream now. It’s a symptom of living through an Age Of Glut. You don’t have much in the way of real problems, but you do have this never-ending stream of entertainment flowing towards you to deal with. That’s the beast. It eats attention and shits distractions. Fighting it is futile. All you can do is flail through its leavings, sorting the eggs from the crap. It’s the Glut Beast. Glut-Sothoth. The Black Glut Of The Woods With A Thousand Young.”
“Whatever. You didn’t bring me here just to ask about that, though.”
“No. It’s the 100 Comics list. I’m down to number one and I don’t know what to do.”
“You’ve only had three years to think of something.”
“I know, but I hadn’t really thought about it that way. It’s not supposed to be a ‘top 100’, carefully graded so that each entry is slightly more worthy than the one before it with something controversial slapped in at number one so that next month’s letter column can be full of outraged responses. I just put things in as I read them or think of them.”
“You’re expecting outraged responses?”
“Some. You know, Internet comments.”
“You know what happens to angry Internet commenters in Hell? We put them in the river Styx to fight with the wrathful. It’s getting pretty full in there.”
“I can imagine. What are the comments section for if not, ‘How dare you leave out The Dark Knight Returns’?”
“It was a good Batman story, but it wasn’t much more than that,” says the fiend, who is of course familiar with the works of Frank Miller.
“See, you agree with me. Admittedly, you’re a personification of evil.”
The fiend has finished his rarebit and is dusting crumbs out of his goatee. The motion makes him look wise. “You put a lot of webcomics in the list,” he says.
“You’ve been reading it?”
“You think we don’t have the Internet in Hell? It’s only dial-up, but still.”
“So even in Hell you can read Penny Arcade? That doesn’t seem so bad.”
“Actually, their site’s blocked. But we can read Ctrl+Alt+Del.”
“You poor bastards,” I say with feeling.
“Don’t you find that a lot of webcomics are just about the Internet anyway? Even when they’re not, the dialogue and the punchlines rely on a certain Internet-culture savviness.”
“Yeah, but a lot of newspaper strips reference current affairs. It’s only natural for art to comment on the thing it’s surrounded by. So what you’re saying is I should end with something that comments on what I’ve been doing? Yeah, that’s a good idea.”
“No, that's a stupid idea. I think you should hurry up and choose between Krazy Kat and Peanuts already.”
“It should be a webcomic, too. It would be fitting and they do deserve to be taken more seriously.”
“Do you know what happens to people who don’t listen in Hell? We shout at them till they learn.”
“I’ve figured it out. It’s perfect. Take this, Moby Glut! From Hell’s heart, and my LiveJournal, I stab at thee!”
The fiend quietly facepalms in despair.
#1 xkcd – Randall Munroe
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#2 [Feb. 24th, 2011|06:06 pm]
100 COMICS TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE (or are driven to a life of crime by them; Fredric Wertham was right)
#2 HARK! A VAGRANT - Kate Beaton
LinkLeave a comment
#3 [Feb. 23rd, 2011|05:53 pm]
100 COMICS TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE (or go blind from those 'close readings' of Catwoman back issues)
#3 THE FAR SIDE - Gary Larson
(Andrews McMeel)
LinkLeave a comment
#4 [Feb. 21st, 2011|10:03 pm]
100 COMICS TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE (or start writing fanfic about Superman meeting The Rolling Stones)
#4 PENNY ARCADE - Mike Krahulik, Jerry Holkins
Link1 comment|Leave a comment
#5 [Feb. 20th, 2011|08:57 pm]
100 COMICS TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE (or become one of those people who argues about the definition of the term 'graphic novel')
#5 SUGARSHOCK! - Joss Whedon, Fábio Moon
(MySpace Dark Horse Presents)
LinkLeave a comment
#6 [Feb. 19th, 2011|09:14 pm]
100 COMICS TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE (or the DVD box sets pile up and you have to choose between Batgirl and 30 Rock, you have to choose)
#6 THE WORLD OF - Charles Addams
LinkLeave a comment
#7 [Feb. 18th, 2011|05:48 pm]
100 COMICS TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE (or discover beer and sex)
#7 KISKALOO - Chris Sanders
LinkLeave a comment
#8 [Feb. 17th, 2011|09:36 pm]
100 COMICS TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE (or your partner tells you to stop filling the shelves with them, we're not going back to IKEA, we are not going back)
(The New York Herald)
LinkLeave a comment
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Is being a writer worth the spoon-ring job?
Posted: Thursday, February 12, 2004
Right before I moved to Portland, my landlord, Joe, wandered over to give me some advice about making it in the world Outside.
"I ought to teach you to make spoon rings," he said, giving me a serious look. As usual, he was standing on my front lawn in a Hawaiian shirt, holding a Labatts. "All you need are some spoons and a ring sizer. You make good money."
I didn't know it at the time, but Joe's sentiment was right-on. Everybody needs a spoon-ring skill, something you can do when money's tight and you just need a little extra cash. The way I had it set up, I was writing freelance stories part of the time and temping the other part. The idea was the temping was my spoon-ring job. And it was paying for the writing, which, at least in theory, was something I liked to do.
Then, around the middle of January, the temp agency quit calling. After three weeks without temp work, I decided I had to try something else. When I looked into it, child-care positions were all that were readily available.
How hard could it be? I'd baby-sat in high school, and even been a live-in nanny for a summer in college. I could read books and make peanut butter sandwiches and push strollers. A therapist once told me that watching kids was good for my inner child. Within a week, I had my first interview.
I met mother and son in a coffee shop near my house. Mother was pretty and from somewhere in the south. She gave son a sandwich cookie filled with jam, which he immediately spread on his lips like Chapstick. Mother left us to find napkins, and son conveyed the essentials: he goes to "Montessowri," has two pug dogs at home and he's recently had a birthday.
"I am fo-wer," he explained, holding up four jam-smeared fingers.
I liked him. The combination of jam and speech impediment was beguiling. Mother and I were just working out the details of a schedule, when son blurted, "I gotta go POTTY!"
Mother excused herself, and whisked son to the bathroom. Time passed. My tea grew cold. What were they doing in there? Then I knew. Despite the fact that he was theoretically potty-trained, son still needed assistance and was probably the type to yell for it from the bathroom. He was, as they say in the business, "a wiper."
I hadn't bargained for this. I had specifically decided I wanted to watch an older child because I didn't want to deal with diapers. But I would so rather have a diaper than a wiper.
Still, it didn't matter because it was too late. I had already committed.
I started to rethink my plan altogether. Was being a writer worth what I would have to go through in my spoon-ring job?
I suddenly wasn't so sure. Working in journalism is like going to college; you have to earn credits to advance. But to people at newspapers here, most of my credits in Alaska looked like they came from community college and didn't transfer. So, even though I have been working at newspapers for a while, I am a freshman again, delighted to take any assignment no matter how menial or boring.
I had just spent five days, for example, on a very dry story I'd been delighted to be assigned, covering city-planning issues. When it came out, a source's name had been misspelled through an editing slip-up.
When I write for newspapers, fear of mistakes tortures me, and even though the mistake happened not to be my fault, I still felt the smart of remorse. And all this - the worry, the dry stories, the freshman feeling - this is what I would be wiping for? I should have learned to make spoon rings.
Anyway, I thought about this all the way to my next dry assignment, a story about the anniversary of a 150-year-old Presbyterian church. I slipped into the back pew just as the old organ began to bellow. I was drifting off when the minister began a sermon about three servants who were given money by their master for safekeeping. Two of the servants invested the money, while the last one buried it. When the master requested his money back, he rewarded the two investors and tossed the guy who buried the cash to the lions.
I'm sure the story was partly meant to motivate parishioners to put bigger checks in the basket, but as the minister went on, I began to think about my spoon-ring job. It occurred to me that you never know when you are going to get fed to the lions, so you might as well invest time in something you care about, even if it is risky and hard.
The choir began to sing. I felt moved. Newspaper work is dry and worry-producing, but taking reporting assignments got me out into the city, and expanded my thinking. I decided that at least for the moment that was, for lack of a better phrase, wiper-worthy.
• Julia O'Malley is a former Empire reporter and now lives in Portland, Ore. She can be reached at [email protected].
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First Day Of Catholic Cardinals' Conclave Rich In Ceremony
Mar 12, 2013
Originally published on March 12, 2013 5:42 pm
And I'm Melissa Block.
As night fell over Rome, thick black smoke drifted from the chimney on top of the Sistine Chapel. That means no new pope yet. Clearly, no candidate secured enough votes in the first ballot. That smoke signal completed a day that, as NPR's Philip Reeves reports, was rich in ceremony.
PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE: The process of electing a pope is officially now under way.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Singing in foreign language)
REEVES: The day began according to rituals honed over the centuries. The cardinals, who are electing their church's 266th pontiff, gathered in St. Peter's Basilica for a special service, a Mass for the election of a pope.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in foreign language)
REEVES: These are turbulent times for the Roman Catholic Church; it's buffeted by division and scandal. So when, in his homily, Cardinal Angelo Sodano appealed for unity, it carried particular weight.
In the afternoon, the conclave began. Intoning Gregorian chants, appealing to the saints and the Holy Spirit for help making their decision, the cardinals filed in procession into the Sistine Chapel. They lined up beneath Michelangelo's tumultuous and dazzling biblical frescoes, a blaze of red in their cardinals' robes. One by one, they took the oath of secrecy.
CARDINAL ANGELO SCOLA: (Foreign language spoken)
REEVES: That's Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan. He's considered a strong contender. But Scola is far from the only one whose name is the subject of speculation.
CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN: (Foreign language spoken)
REEVES: Then, in line with tradition, came the order from the master of ceremonies.
FATHER GUIDO MARINI: (Foreign language spoken)
REEVES: Everyone out. The lock-in began, and, concealed from the eyes of the world, so did the first ballot.
REEVES: Outside, the weather played havoc. On the night Pope Benedict XVI resigned, a month ago, the dome of St. Peter's was struck by lightning. Today, there were more storms.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Foreign language spoken)
REEVES: In St. Peter's Square, a sparse crowd gathered in the cold to watch events on huge screens. As evening fell, their numbers grew, all eyes fixed on the small, rust-colored chimney on the Sistine Chapel roof.
It's 7:41, and rising out of the chimney above the Sistine Chapel where the cardinals have been deliberating for the last several hours is a stream of thick smoke, and it is black. Black smoke means no candidate received two-thirds of the vote.
No one really expected a pope to be chosen today. The outcome didn't seem to disappoint the crowd, who included Ximena Hernandez(ph), a student from Florida.
XIMENA HERNANDEZ: It is exciting. It's just like being in history, basically, in the making. So it's really exciting.
REEVES: Stella Jennings(ph) traveled to Rome from England to witness this scene. What was it like seeing it for real?
STELLA JENNINGS: Well, it was just amazing. I was amazed how many people stood there in the rain and waiting. They won't - they wouldn't go away just in case.
REEVES: Pope Benedict was elected after two days and four ballots. It took three days and eight ballots to choose his predecessor, John Paul II. No one knows how long this conclave will last. With no clear frontrunner, it may take a while. Philip Reeves, NPR News, Rome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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