Green Eyes

Joaquin Sabina

2007-10-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

Joaquín Sabina is a Spanish singer-songwriter and poet, well-known in several Spanish-speaking countries.

Biography and career

Sabina was born on February 12, 1949 in the city of Úbeda (Jaén Province, in Andalusia), Spain. His father was a policeman. By the age of 14, he began writing poems and composing music with friends. He enrolled in the University of Granada in 1968, but left the school, going into exile in London, using a fake passport, to avoid persecution from Francisco Franco's government. That same year, his father received an order to arrest Joaquín due to his anti-Franco ideals.

In 1975, Sabina started composing songs and singing at local bars. In a local bar called "Mexicano-Taverna" Sabina performed in the presence of George Harrison, who was celebrating his birthday. The ex-Beatle then gave Sabina a five-pound bill as tip, which Sabina still preserves to this day. When Franco's dictatorship ended in 1975, Sabina returned to Spain and enrolled in the military.

Sabina's first album, Inventario (Inventory) was released in 1978 by a small label Movieplay, but went unnoticed. Afterwards, he moved to the powerful CBS (today Sony) and released Malas compañías (Bad Companies). This album gave Joaquín his first number-one hit single Pongamos que hablo de Madrid' (Let's say I´m talking about Madrid) and wide recognition. He released a live album called La mandrágora (The Mandrake), sharing the spotlight with mates Javier Krahe and Alberto Pérez. The trio was currently enjoying much popularity thanks to their participation in a TV program. La Mandrágora created much controversy due to the racy content of the lyrics.

Sabina released his third album Ruleta Rusa (Russian Roulette) in 1983 and two years later, Juez y parte (Judge and Side). His political views led him to take part in the anti-NATO movement. He later published Joaquín Sabina y Viceversa.

In 1987 he released Hotel, dulce hotel (Hotel, Sweet Hotel), which sold a large number of records in Spain. That success followed with his next album El hombre del traje gris (The Man in The Gray Suit), and followed with a successful tour of South America. This was followed by the released Mentiras piadosas (White Lies) in 1990, and two years later Física y química (Chemistry and Physics), which led to another successful tour of the Americas.

His later albums Esta boca es mía (This Mouth is Mine), Yo, mi, me contigo (I, my, myself... with you) and 19 días y 500 noches (19 Days and 500 Nights), won him more recognition and multiple platinum albums.

After recovering from a stroke, he returned to the stage in 2002 with Dímelo en la calle (Dare to Say That Outside). He later released a double album called Diario de un peatón (A Pedestrian's Log), which included both his previous album and 12 new songs, along with a book illustrated by him.

In 2005 Sabina's released a new record Alivio de luto (Mourning Relief). The album release was accompanied by a DVD that includes interviews, music videos, acoustic versions of the songs, and home-made recordings.

Discography

Inventario (1978)
Malas compañías (1980)
La mandrágora (by Javier Krahe, Joaquín Sabina & Alberto Pérez) (1981)
Ruleta rusa (1984)
Juez y parte (Joaquín Sabina y Viceversa) (1985)
En directo (Joaquín Sabina y Viceversa) (1986)
Hotel, dulce hotel (1987)
El hombre del traje gris (1988)
Mentiras piadosas (1990)
Física y química (1992)
Esta boca es mía (1994)
Yo, mi, me, contigo (1996)
Enemigos íntimos (Sabina y Páez) (1998)
19 días y 500 noches (1999)
Nos sobran los motivos (Sabina y Cia) (2000)
Dímelo en la calle (2002)
Diario de un peatón (2003)
Alivio de luto (2005)

Wall Street

2007-09-12T09:08:00.001-07:00

Wall Street is a city street in lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs east from Broadway downhill to South Street on the East River, through the historical center of the Financial District. Wall Street was the first permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange, and over time Wall Street became the name of the surrounding geographic neighborhood.[1] Wall Street is also shorthand (or a metonymy) for "influential financial interests" in the U.S.[2]

Several major U.S. stock and other exchanges remain headquartered on Wall Street and in the Financial District, including the NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX, NYMEX, and NYBOT. Many New York-based financial firms are no longer headquartered on Wall Street, but are in midtown Manhattan, the outer boroughs of the city, Long Island, Westchester County, Fairfield County, Connecticut, or New Jersey.

History

View in Wall Street from corner of Broadway, 1867. The building on the left was the U.S. Customs House at the time but is today the Federal Hall National Memorial.

The name of the street derives from the fact that during the 17th century, it formed the northern boundary of the New Amsterdam settlement. In the 1640s basic picket and plank fences denoted plots and residences in the colony.[3] Later, on behalf of the West India Company, Peter Stuyvesant, in part using African slaves,[4] led the Dutch in the construction of a stronger stockade. By the time war had developed with the English, a strengthened 12 foot wall [5] of timber and earth was created by 1653 fortified by palisades.[5] [3] The wall was created, and strengthened over time, as a defense against attack from various Indian tribes, New England colonists, and the British. In 1685 surveyors laid out Wall Street along the lines of the original stockade.[5] The wall was dismantled by the British in 1699.

Wall Street today

View up Wall Street from Pearl Street

Steam stack on Wall Street crossing William Street

To say that a corporation is a "Wall Street company" today does not necessarily mean that the company is physically located on Wall Street. It more likely means that the firm deals with financial services; such a firm could be headquartered in many places across the globe. Today, much of Wall Street's workforce tends to be made up of professionals working in the fields of law or finance who work for medium- to large-sized corporations. Many of the nearby businesses are local companies and chain stores that cater to the tastes of professionals and to the needs of the workforce. Most people who work in the Financial District commute in from suburbs in Long Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the lower Hudson Valley.

Wall Street's culture is often criticized as being rigid. This is a decades-old stereotype stemming from the Wall Street's establishment's protection of their interests, and the link to the WASP establishment. More recent criticism has centered on structural problems and lack of a desire to change well-established habits. Wall Street's establishment resists government oversight and regulation. At the same time, New York City has a reputation as a very bureaucratic city, which makes entry into the neighborhood difficult or even impossible for middle class entrepreneurs.

Since the founding of the Federal Reserve banking system, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the Financial District has been the point where monetary policy in the United States is implemented (although it's decided in Washington, D.C. by the Federal Reserve Bank's Board of Governors). As such, New York State is today unique in that it's the only state that constitutes its own district of the Federal Reserve Banking system. This is perhaps partly owed to population distribution in the United States of the time, however. Until the 1960s, New York was the most populated state in the U.S.; it now ranks third, behind California and Texas. The NY Federal Reserve's president is the only regional Bank president with a permanent vote and is traditionally selected as its vice chairman. The bank has a gold vault 80 feet (25 m) beneath the street. This depository is the largest in the world, larger even than Fort Knox.

Foreign exchange market

2007-09-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

The foreign exchange (currency or forex or FX) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. It is by far the largest financial market in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions. The average daily trade in the global forex markets currently exceeds US$ 2 trillion. Retail traders (individuals) are a small fraction of this market and may only participate indirectly through brokers or banks.

Market size and liquidity

The foreign exchange market is unique because of:

* its trading volume,

* the extreme liquidity of the market,

* the large number of, and variety of, traders in the market,

* its geographical dispersion,

* its long trading hours - 24 hours a day (except on weekends).

* the variety of factors that affect exchange rates,

According to the BIS,[1] average daily turnover in traditional foreign exchange markets was estimated at $1,880 billion. Daily averages in April for different years, in billions of US dollars, are presented on the chart below:

This $1.88 trillion in global foreign exchange market "traditional" turnover was broken down as follows:

* $621 billion in spot transactions

* $208 billion in outright forwards

* $944 billion in forex swaps

* $107 billion estimated gaps in reporting

In addition to "traditional" turnover, $1.26 trillion was traded in derivatives.

Exchange-traded forex futures contracts were introduced in 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are actively traded relative to most other futures contracts. Forex futures volume has grown rapidly in recent years, but only accounts for about 7% of the total foreign exchange market volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe (5/5/06, p. 20).

Average daily global turnover in traditional foreign exchange market transactions totaled $2.7 trillion in April 2006 according to IFSL estimates based on semi-annual London, New York, Tokyo and Singapore Foreign Exchange Committee data. Overall turnover, including non-traditional foreign exchange derivatives and products traded on exchanges, averaged around $2.9 trillion a day. This was more than ten times the size of the combined daily turnover on all the world’s equity markets. Foreign exchange trading increased by 38% between April 2005 and April 2006 and has more than doubled since 2001. This is largely due to the growing importance of foreign exchange as an asset class and an increase in fund management assets, particularly of hedge funds and pension funds. The diverse selection of execution venues such as internet trading platforms has also made it easier for retail traders to trade in the foreign exchange market. [2]

Because foreign exchange is an OTC market where brokers/dealers negotiate directly with one another, there is no central exchange or clearing house. The biggest geographic trading centre is the UK, primarily London, which according to IFSL estimates has increased its share of global turnover in traditional transactions from 31.3% in April 2004 to 32.4% in April 2006.

The ten most active traders account for almost 73% of trading volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe, (2/9/06 p. 20). These large international banks continually provide the market with both bid (buy) and ask (sell) prices. The bid/ask spread is the difference between the price at which a bank or market maker will sell ("ask", or "offer") and the price at which a market-maker will buy ("bid") from a wholesale customer. This spread is minimal for actively traded pairs of currencies, usually only 0-3 pips. For example, the bid/ask quote of EUR/USD might be 1.2200/1.2203. Minimum trading size for most deals is usually $100,000.

These spreads might not apply to retail customers at banks, which will routinely mark up the difference to say 1.2100 / 1.2300 for transfers, or say 1.2000 / 1.2400 for banknotes or travelers' checks. Spot prices at market makers vary, but on EUR/USD are usually no more than 3 pips wide (i.e. 0.0003). Competition has greatly increased with pip spreads shrinking on the major pairs to as little as 1 to 2 pips.

Beyoncé Knowles

2007-09-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles (IPA pronunciation: [bi.jɔn.ˈseɪ][1]) (born September 4, 1981) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, dancer, and fashion designer. Knowles rose to fame as the creative force and lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, the world's best-selling female group of all time.[2][3][4]

After a series of commercially successful releases with the group, Knowles released her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love, in June 2003. The album became one of the biggest commercial successes of the year, topping the album charts in the U.S. and the UK. It also spawned the number-one singles "Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy" and earned Knowles five Grammy Awards in a single night in 2004. Knowles' second album, B'Day, which was released worldwide on September 4, 2006—coinciding with her twenty-fifth birthday—, continued her success. The album spawned the UK number-one singles "Déjà Vu" and "Beautiful Liar", as well as the worldwide number-one hit "Irreplaceable". It also earned Knowles her seventh solo Grammy Award (she has won ten in total).

Knowles is the elder of two daughters born to Mathew Knowles and Tina Beyincé in Houston, Texas. Her parents decided on her first name as a tribute to her mother's maiden name.[5] Her maternal grandparents, Lumis Beyincé and Agnéz Deréon (a seamstress), were French-speaking Louisiana Creoles.[5] She is the older sister of Solange Knowles, cousin to Angela Beyincé (her personal assistant and song co-writer), and aunt to Solange's son Daniel Julez Smith, Jr. By age seven, she was attending dance school and was a soloist in her church's choir. Her dance instructor took an interest in Knowles and took her star student to various competitions. Knowles went on to win over thirty local singing and dancing competitions.She is also kin to Nikkilicious especially since they share the same B-day

Early life

Knowles and her childhood best friends LaTavia Roberson and Kelly Rowland along with LeToya Luckett formed a quartet that would perform in their backyards and at Tina Knowles' hair salon. After singing at local events, they got their break when they entered Star Search.[6] The group, then named "Girl's Tyme",[7] were disappointed after losing the competition. Mathew Knowles, Knowles' father and Rowland's legal guardian, decided to help the girls reach their dreams of becoming singers. He quit his six-figure salary job as a multi-million dollar equipment salesman at Xerox to manage the group.[8] This decision by Mathew eventually affected the whole family. Their income had been cut in half, causing the family to move into two different apartments. When the group was signed to Columbia Records in 1996, it gave the entire family a second chance at making things work.

As a teenager, Knowles attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, where she showed her musical talents. She later went to Alief Elsik High School, in the Alief neighborhood of Houston.

A lesser known fact about Beyonce's family is that they are descendents of Samuel Martin Knowles, a minor, but no less important, eighteenth century navigator and mountaineer. Though obscure, the Knowles name still brought the young Beyonce much mockery and bullying, especially from her more historically apt peers, Aaron Montesquieu and Andrew Descartes. [citation needed]

Golden Retriever

2007-09-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

Golden Retriever is the basic name given to a breed of dog, originally developed to retrieve shot game during hunting. It is one of the most common family dogs as it is naturally very friendly and amenable to training.

Usage

Golden Retrievers are usually compatible with children, adults,but aren't good with other dogs. They typically bark when startled, but generally their friendly nature makes them poor guard dogs. Golden Retrievers are particularly valued for their high level of sociability towards people, calmness,and willingness to learn. Because of this, they are commonly used as guide dogs, moblility assistance dogs, and search and rescue dogs.[1]

The ideal Golden is athletic,and well balanced. It is a symmetrical, powerful, and active dog. An American Golden is less stocky and lankier than a British. A male should stand from 23 to 24 inches(58.4 to 61 cm) in height at the shoulders, and females should be 21.5 to 22.5 inches (54.6 to 57.2 cm) at the shoulders. The coat should be dense and water repellent, in various shades of lustorous gold or cream, with moderate feathering. Excessive length, lightness, or darkness is undesirable. The gait should be free, smooth, powerful, and well-coordinated. In shows, any resistance to handling, shyness, or aggression is a serious fault.[2]

English goldens are easily recognized by their light cream-coloured coats which sometimes appear white. This type is bigger-boned, shorter, with a more square head and/or muzzle. They are more common in Europe, so breeders of this type in America may import their dogs to improve bloodlines. A Golden Retriever of English breeding can have a coat colour in the colour range of all shades of gold or cream, but not including red nor mahogany. While shedding is unavoidable with Golden Retrievers, frequent grooming (daily to weekly) lessens the amount of hair shed by the animal. Goldens are known to shed the most in the spring and summer months as this is when they drop their winter undercoats. Severe shedding that results in bald patches can be indicative of stress or sickness in a Golden Retriever.

The coat is dense and waterproof, and may be straight or moderately wavy. It usually lies flat against the belly. The American Kennel Club (AKC) standard states that the coat is a "rich, lustrous golden of various shades", disallowing coats that are extremely light or extremely dark. This leaves the outer ranges of coat colour up to a judge's discretion when competing in conformation shows. Therefore, "pure white" and "red" are unacceptable colors for the Golden coat. Judges may also disallow Goldens with pink noses, or those lacking pigment. The Golden's coat can also be of a mahogany color, referred to as "redheads", although this is not accepted in the British showring. As a Golden grows older, its coat can become a darker or lighter tint of brown, along with a noticeable whitening of the fur on and around the muzzle. Puppy coats are usually much lighter than their adult coats, but a darker coloration at the tips of the ears may indicate a darker adult color.

Typically, Goldens are fairly unruly as puppies and may chew and retrieve everything in sight. However, once they reach maturity, Goldens remain active and fun-loving while developing an exceptionally patient demeanor as befits a dog bred to sit quietly for hours in a hunting blind. Other characteristics related to their hunting heritage are a size suited for scrambling in and out of boats and an inordinate love for water.

Another legacy from their hunting background, Golden Retrievers are exceptionally trainable due to their desire to please their handlers and excel in obedience trials. In fact, the first AKC Obedience Trial Champion was a Golden Retriever. They are also very competitive in agility and other performance events. However, harsh training methods frequently cause Goldens to “shut down,” therefore positive methods are a better way to train these wonderful, gentle dogs.

They are also noted for their intelligence. As the name suggests, the Golden Retriever loves to retrieve. Retrieving a thrown stick, tennis ball, or flying disc can keep a Golden occupied and entertained for hours, particularly if there is also water involved. Goldens tend to be very tolerant of boisterous children. However, if not properly trained, they may accidentally injure a child in play.

As they age, they remain excellent friends and companions. They adore their owners and exhibit what can be described as unconditional love.